CALLING (by Jaydie Johnson)

Jaydie Johnson
AIMer to Togo

Calling: defined as summons, a strong impulse or inclination, or an inner urge and literally means "to stand at the door and call.”  Jesus said “Behold, I stand at the door (the door of your heart that is) and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door (or, answer the call), I will come in to him.”  How does one explain such a monumental, life-altering event? 

For me, calling is quasi-Samuel.  It’s that same Voice that wakes you up night after night and wonder why you’re staring into the refrigerator with such an unsettled feeling.  You’ve heard that Voice before but are uncertain how to respond.  Calling is also part Jonah - a perpetual nagging of sorts, the prick of your conscience, the tugging of your heart (always tending to surface at the most inconvenient times: when a telemarketer calls or drinking coffee with friends and you have to abruptly leave for fear of flooding those nearby in unexplainable tears).  A cancer that continually eats away at your desires, your hopes and dreams until you stand, alongside Paul, completely bare in surrender before your Creator, saying “Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.”  The call.

The call for each is immediate and definite: Go, seek the lost, preach, teach.  The process, the journey are a lifetime in development and achievement.  I began my journey 7 years ago when I and about 30 other young people took a Youth On Missions trip to Ghana.  My world was revolutionized by what I saw: abject poverty, yes, but moreover, the desperate hunger for the Word of God as 25 received the gift of the Holy Ghost during our short stay.  From that point forward, I knew that I wanted to live, work, breath Africa. 

I attended Indiana Bible College and during my sophomore year, the Lord called me to preach the Gospel.  Me: tiny, not-even-5-foot, single me.  A call to missions and a call to preach.  But the specific place, other than the vague idea of Africa, was unclear.

Searching out the will of God, I spent the summer of my junior year, 2006, in Ghana with the Poitras family and AIMers Colleen Carter & Vicky Cabel.  We saw many receive the Holy Ghost and many healed in Jesus name but the most unforgettable part was traveling to the predominately Muslim city of Tamale in Northern Ghana.  Outside Tamale, we visited a village called Fuu and their dilapidated UPCI church.  The people had no shoes and ragged clothes, if any; but OH! they were all smiling, laughing.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ had given them life everlasting and they needed nothing else in this life for satisfaction.  He truly had become their All-in-All.  I discovered that it’s not possible to give the world enough food or clothes or money to make a true difference-food is consumed, clothes wear thin, money runs out-but the message we bear and share will change a life forever. 

During a Sub-regional Conference, the many African nations without a witness or work were discussed.  When I returned to IBC, one nation’s name was spoken to my mind over and over in prayer: Mali.  So I set out after graduation, taking small steps in that direction: AIMing in Togo & Benin for a year to learn French under the Adams.  And today, here I am again, living in Togo, for another year or two, attempting to use my French in Sunday School and around town as I grow in the knowledge of African culture and of missionary work. 

To be perfectly honest, the complete picture still is not clear to me and I often question the plan of God for my life.  You see, I’m still that tiny, not-even-5-foot, single me, and Mali is a Muslim country, not especially friendly to Americans or women, a vast desert dotted with 13 million people.  Jesus often answers my objections with I Corinthians 1:25-31, telling me that I was not called for my own merit but so that He would receive the glory through the work of such an unlikely vessel. 

It is the call (that call that wakes me up at night, and eats away at ‘me’ during the day), keeps me pressing on, despite the difficulties, the impossibilities, the insurmountable obstacles.  I hear Jesus saying: “I will work but who will let Me?  The harvest is ripe; where are My laborers?  I need hands and feet to go, to reach those who are lost in sin and utter despair, to share the hope of the Gospel, to shine marvelous Light into the darkness.  I am here standing, knocking, waiting.  Who will go for Me?”  Can you hear it?  Jesus is calling: the Voice whispering, blowing His consuming fire across your heart.  The call.  May your answer and mine ever be: “Here am I, Lord.  Wherever You lead, I will go.  I am willing.  Send me.”

Miracle Birth in Burkina Faso (by Ken Cantrell)

Ken & Ginny Cantrell
Missionaries to Burkina Faso

From our rooftop in Ouagadougou you can see the presidential palace. I invited our pastors for an all night prayer meeting on my roof. I was showing the pastors my vision for Burkina Faso.

We were taking spiritual possession of the political climate. For 7 hours we interceded for the country of Burkina Faso. We bound the spirits of the fetish worship, and loosed the Grace of God among the Muslims.

We opened spiritual doors and closed the mouth of the enemy!

Little did I know, my night guard who was Muslim was listening to the prayers that ascended to the heavens. He came to me asking question about our doctrine and requesting some literature. Last Tuesday, we baptized him, his wife and his older brother in the name of Jesus!

That is not the end of the story. As you know the one way to win over a Muslim is through signs and wonders. His wife was 9 months pregnant when she was baptized. This was on Tuesday, on Wednesday she went into the hospital. For at least 12 hours she was in extreme pain.

The doctor said that the baby’s head was not in the correct position, the mother’s body was not responding to the contractions. She began to loose blood. The prognosis was grave. We feared that we would lose both the mother and the baby.

My wife began to pray. I called our pastors, and they began to pray. My wife contacted the Benson family in Togo, and they began to pray. Immediately! –not 12 more hours later. This new convert gave birth to a beautiful baby boy! To God be the Glory! There will be a witness in the Muslim community to the power of Jesus Christ!

The results from the prayers on the roof were a sign that the hearts of the Muslims have been opened to the Gospel and that many babies will be born in the church.   

Sibri's Heart (by Ken Cantrell)

Ken & Ginny Cantrell
Missionaries to Burkina Faso

It was a day like most days in Burkina Faso, the temperature had reached its peak, quite possibly 103 degrees.  In our room I had just gotten cleaned up, that is washing the sweat from my brow, when there was a knock at the door.

“Pastor Sibri is here, sir,” the man said.  I walked outside to greet our Assistant Superintendent.  He is an elderly man for Africa, most likely in his late 50s.  Thin around the belt with specks of grey in his hair.  He greeted me in typical African style, first a handshake and then an embrace.

It was not clear why he had come to visit.  I believe it was just to see where we were staying.  We talked about my vision for Burkina Faso and how the North American churches had prayed on a map of Burkina Faso as we deputized raising our support in preparation of coming to Burkina Faso.  We continued our conversation, talking first about the beginning of Bible school classes, and then I showed him pictures of our children and grandson in the States.   It was a time of connecting our hearts together for one purpose — to see Burkina Faso, West Africa bring in a great harvest of souls.

Pastor Sibri carried a worn leather sack with him.  At the time the contents were unknown to me.  Maybe it was full of important documents, possibly official church papers.  In my bag were my laptop, a calculator, money, passports, and such.   His worn hands reached down for the bag as I waited to see the secrets it contained.  Within the worn leather sack were several stacks of paper.  More important than a laptop, more important than official church papers, more important than pictures of family and friend — the stack of papers were invitations and teaching on salvation.  Some were written in French and some were in the Moore (more-ray) language.   The bag must have had over 60 or so tracts that he had purposed to give out.

This great pastor had one objective that day — to evangelize his city.  After an hour or so of us communicating in my broken French, he exclaimed that it was time for him to go.  We finished our drink and I walked with him to the gate.  “Where was his moto (motorcycle)?”  I wondered, “Did he take a taxi here?”  I know he lives at least four miles from where we were standing.  He then walked to his bicycle that was most likely 20 years old.  This pastor had spent a part of his day traveling to greet me and was evangelizing all along the way.

Emotions filled my heart as my thoughts continued, “Would I be able to evangelize my city with a few tracks in hand, riding an old bicycle – or would I find yet another excuse to live another day not making any difference at all?”

This day I found the heart of a man, a man who is serving Christ while living the great commission (Matthew 28:19).  Off he rode on his bicycle.  I stood watching him leave — I was changed!

Finally Home! (by Ken Cantrell)

Ken & Ginny Cantrell
Missionaries to Burkina Faso

When the man put his ink to the parchment in Ecclesiastes 3:1, I wonder if he really knew how applicable the words would be in this dispensation?

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;”

It is my understanding that there is or should be a precise time or place when a missionary feels a direct calling to the foreign field.  Possibly during a service when the word was being preached and you knew that it was a rhema word for only you, or even in a quiet closet of prayer.  Regardless, most if not all missionaries can point you to the time or the place.

1996 was a year of spiritual transition for the Cantrell family.  God had begun to deal with my wife, Ginny, and I about Africa.  We loaded a plane to Arusha, Tanzania with one objective in mind, to find out if God was calling us to this Dark Continent.  My mind clearly remembers the morning after our arrival, the sounds of children playing outside our window, roosters welcoming the sun.  At that moment, less than 12 hours from our landing, God spoke and said, “This will be your land.”  I also remember dancing wildly outside in the courtyard after preaching in the headquarters church in Moshi, again God spoke, “Just like Abraham, I will give you the land you walk upon.”

This was 1996, the call was given, we would wait for God’s timing, and wait we did.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;”

It seemed that the years passed quickly and we lived almost every verse in Ecclesiastes 3, we lived, we died, we planted, we harvested, we received and lost, finally, we loved and yes at times it felt like war.  Still through all of the blessing and all of the trials the call was sure and God was true. His grace was sufficient.

May 16th, 2010; fourteen years later the plane begins it’s decent into Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.  I look at Gin and hold her hand.  The lights of distant villages come into view first, then the city where we will live and serve the Lord.  Suddenly all of the deputation miles were worth it, suddenly all of the tears shed in telling our children goodbye made perfect sense.  All at once all of the unknowns had vanished.

The airport was hot that night.  It could have possibly been over 100 degrees as we pressed our way to the luggage area.  There were hundreds of Burkinabe people pushing, customs agents directing, me smiling.  I glanced over at Ginny who was standing along the wall waiting for me.  No words needed to be spoken.

We were here!

We were home!

Women's Conferences - African Style (by Pamela Smoak)

Pamela Smoak
Missionary to Tanzania

Babies crying, lots of babies crying…must be an African women’s conference.  For every two women attending the conference there will be at least one baby making it a 2 to 1 ratio.  It has always amazed me that African women can repent, receive the Holy Ghost, take copious lesson notes, be healed or “shout the house down”  all the time carrying a baby on their back; but, I have seen them do all these things.  According to the United Nations ranking of the number of children born per woman of childbearing age, 35 of the top 50 countries are in the African Region. (Wikipedia: UN TFR Ranking)

African women’s conferences are an exciting experience filled with worship, praise, anointed teaching, deliverance from demon possession and great surprises.  In one conference after hearing teaching on witchcraft, a woman asked what to do about witchcraft charms that had been imbedded under the skin of her chest when she was an infant.  She wanted to know how to rid herself of the witchcraft articles.

In another country, while I was teaching, one of the attendees had a baby in the Bible school dorm.  A regional ladies’ leader became a grandma during a lesson on holiness!

The women of Africa make great sacrifices to attend these conferences.  They travel many hours or even days by bus, foot or bicycle to reach the venue.  Their beds are straw mats or thin blankets on the floor of the church.  Food is shared with all participants equally.  In one country they only eat fruit and drink tea for meals so that none of the women have to miss sessions to cook.

I have taught women’s conferences in large auditoriums with electricity, PA systems and pews, in crowded upper rooms as the women sat on the floor for hours, under trees and under large yellow and white striped tents.

All the sacrifices are worth it when the presence of God breathes newness of life, healing, salvation and deliverance across the gathering of women.

So let the babies cry!  When African women come together, there will be babies, lots of them; but, that is part of the African life, the African church, the African woman and the African women’s conference.

Fishing Season in Africa (by Jim Poitras)

Jim Poitras
Former Missionary
to Ghana

It’s fishing season in the Africa Region. We have launched out into the deep. Forget the single pole. We’re casting our net. Our Regional Director, Jerry Richardson compares our ministries and multiple nations to the rope that holds the net together. Every nation - where the United Pentecostal Church International is present - is bent on being fishers of men. We will double in less than ten years.

Strengthening the catch is the Vision for Africa Ministries. We have seven specialized groups assisting us. First things first: Africa Network of Prayer represents our prayer needs throughout the region. We are not only a continent in need of prayer ,we are one that is in prayer. Africans everywhere are on their knees with raised hands storming heaven for revival. Under promotions in our region, we have the Africa@Revival Newsletter bringing good news from far countries. Both the Africa Network of Prayer and Africa@Revival have monthly e-letters that go out to thousands of friends and supporters. Join the list by writing vdrichardson@gmail.com or AfricaAflame@aol.com. We’ll be happy to welcome you on board!

Africa boasts the largest number of Bible schools and nations presently desiring to be part of the Global Association of Theological Studies. Over half of the nations worldwide that have sent letters of intent come from the Africa Region. We are thankful to be leading the way in Bible school education. We believe in trained workers in every nation. Brother Nicky Sisco is our new leader of GATS-Africa.

Africa Aflame is a long standing ministry of the Africa Region producing an annual CD of print and non-print resources. Requests come from around the world for our resources in English, French, and Swahili. We have literally hundreds of resources available.  Need help in resources? Write us at AfricaAflame@aol.com.

Leadership Development Africa is now under the capable leadership of visionary Ted Grosbach. He writes lessons regularly, has taught in loads of countries over the last year or so, and is planning to put his material on a CD for distribution. With the catch that’s coming, we need qualified leaders to facilitate our anticipated growth.

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations once said something like, “If you want to know how the future of any nation would look, you do not need super computers to predict. They are already represented in the minds and hearts of the young people.” There’s a lot of little fishes in our fishing pond. They are our future and believe me, the future is bright. Over fifty percent of our population is below the age of fifteen. So, we have two ministries preparing for the gigantic catch. Campus Ministries Africa reaches students at every level. Reaching Africa’s Children envisions a children’s ministry in every United Pentecostal Church on the continent.

Someone has said, “No one leader has all the answers, but by combining the most brilliant ones, you have everything you need to lead your organization to success.” In Africa, no single ministry takes its fishing pole and expects a gigantic catch. Together, as strands of rope in a fisher’s net, we are working to lead the United Pentecostal Church International in Africa to unprecedented success.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT (by Jerry Richardson)

Jerry Richardson
Regional Director - Africa

When you pick up a newspaper, listen to a radio commentary, or speak to Africans on the street, the subject that seems to come up is that of time.  Everyone is time conscious. It is recognized that time is truly short.  The church, as well, realizes that time is short because of the soon coming of our KING JESUS.  However, to many, time seems to be even shorter.  Political battles, genocides and the battles with diseases may mean that the end is nearer than one would expect.

In a recent report, I picked up some alarming statistics on the HIV/AIDS virus that is rampant in so many parts of Africa.  In the age group between 15 years and 49 years of age, Kenya reported 14 percent infected.  Further south, the figures worsen.  These include also Malawi with 16%, Mozambique 13%, Zambia 20%, and Zimbabwe with a whopping 25% of the population in this age group infected with this terrible disease.  Even South Africa has climbed to 20% and Botswana is all the way up to a 35.8%.  If these figures are only depicting the ages between 15 and 49, then the overall figures could rise even higher.  So many are destined to die lost without ever hearing of a Savior that can deliver.  We are racing time to see how many can be reached before it is too late.

The more than 700,000,000 people occupying sub-Saharan Africa are participating in many different religions.  Some are Muslims, some Christians, and some just follow the ancient ways of their ancestors.  How can they hear the truth?  Some 24 missionaries families are endeavoring to carry this message, but they are so few among so many.  With their tremendous dedication, they have affected entire nations, but even with that, time is running out for so many.

This is where I have to lift my hands in thanksgiving to God for what He has done.  He has spoken to the hearts of pastors and evangelists along with some church members across our fellowship to join the efforts in Africa.  The efforts of great men and women of God who have joined their efforts with the efforts of the missionaries and many national ministers will help bring us much further along in the task of reaching Africa for Jesus.  The shortness of TIME requires our best.  How could we stand before God if we have not awakened to the fact that time is short and have given our best effort to HIM by working together to reach AFRICA?

The number would grow into the thousands of how many people have been snatched from Satan’s grip this year because of these efforts.  Let us rejoice together!  The lost one has been found!  We must not allow one to be lost when it is within our power to make the difference.  I pray that others will step forward and say, “Let me also be a part of this great effort to evangelize AFRICA.”