Madagascar 3M

Last week, we were at Ampopoka Golf Biblical Baptist Church in Fianarantsoa, a city 270 miles from the capital city, where I had the opportunity to teach on the topic of “Christians and sin”. I was really moved by the interaction and how we were all challenged by God’s Word to strive for holiness.

However, one of the highlights of our visit was the opportunity we had to visit Sahambavy, a smaller town 25 miles from Fianarantsoa. Sahambavy is the tea “capital” of Madagascar and is as such characterized by beautiful lush green tea fields surrounded by humble habitations.

My parents started to pray 25 years ago for the gospel to be able to penetrate Sahambavy, a bastion of Roman Catholicism. In 2014, an evangelization campaign was conducted using both door-to-door evangelism and a Christian movie played in the townhall. 200 people attended then and a handful of people were saved. A home cell was started at one of their homes. Since, the church in Fianarantsoa led by Pst Francois regularly sends teams to continue the evangelization efforts and build up the believers.

Subsequently, more people got saved, around 15 have been baptized and 2 men are currently being groomed to lead this budding congregation. We had the privilege to visit them and they welcomed us in one of their very modest homes. I encouraged them from God’s Word to have an unadulterated devotion and a vibrant love for Jesus Christ. They reminded me of the Macedonian believers, poor and fervent.

They are very simple people. They are brothers and sisters in Christ. They are looking to build a basic church building where they can gather. If the Lord places on your heart to contribute to this need or if you would like to know more, please free to contact me.

Pages were falling off this young mother’s Bible. “Yes, it is rather worn out. But it’s the only one we have in our family. It got even more damaged during the last hurricane. Now I only have Genesis 22 to Philippians 3; the pages before and after are all gone!” Many were in similar circumstances.

We were blessed to be able to distribute Bibles to a few ladies during our visit to Ambohimanja Biblical Baptist Church, around 110 miles from the capital city.

Lily was invited to be the keynote speaker for the church’s annual women’s conference. Around 140 women were in attendance as Lily taught on “Loving your Neighbour as Yourself.”

She first laid down the biblical principles on the necessity for believers to live a life characterized by a love for God and for others, and then she expounded 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 helping the ladies to understand how a loving heart practically impacts one’s dealings with others.

Furthermore, the men provided a practical example of love and servant-heartedness as they elected to be in charge of preparing the meal so the ladies can enjoy the conference.

We were blessed by the rich fellowship and the eagerness of the ladies to learn from God’s Word. Some heard about the conference by word-of-mouth and walked around 20 miles to be able to attend. We filled the car to the brink in order to give a few of them a ride home.

We left encouraged, thankful and prayerful. We were invigorated by their hunger for the Word. We were grateful for being used by the Lord as instruments to bring His Word to His people in Ambohimanja. And we were imploring the Lord about the men; that He would touch their heart so that they would lead these godly wives spiritually, love them sacrificially, and parent their children alongside their spouse. We prayed that these ladies would faithfully love, respect and submit to their husbands. “Loving others as Yourself” starts within the home. We pray for many fruits from the conference, for many homes governed by biblical truth and marriages thriving through the Word.

 

 

The recent opportunity I had to teach a group of students on creationism vs. evolution brought me back to a couple of months ago. In July, I was granted the privilege of joining a group of Christian leaders for a 7-day trip of a lifetime rafting down the Grand Canyon. The prospect of being amidst PHDs, college presidents, professors and field experts was a bit daunting, but I figured that I could not say anything dumber than I really was, so it was worth going even if it were just to entertain them.

23 attendees, 5 trip leaders, and 3 boatmen were divinely brought together for the trip. My confidence in the biblical account of the flood got bolstered as we looked at the text of Scripture as well as the scientific evidence of a 6-day creation and a Global Flood from the rock and fossil records in the Grand Canyon.

Even though my assurance of the inerrancy of the Genesis account of creation comes from Scripture, I was amazed to discover the numerous proofs from nature of the truthfulness of the biblical text. As an example, the “Great Unconformity” is the name that has been given to the unexplained absence of material between two layers of rocks (here between my index and middle fingers) which are dated one billion years apart. If such an amount of time really went by between the formation of these layers, where did all the sediments go? This question remains unanswered by secular scientists.

I also learned about the Coconino sandstone. I found out it was not a Hawaiian beach cocktail but one of the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon formation. Old-earth proponents claim that is composed of fossilized sand dunes formed by the wind. However, sampling and observations made by young-earth scientists revealed that the grains in the Coconino are more angular and are sitting in a gentler slope than what is observed of desert sand dunes; in fact, their features are similar to underwater sand dunes (here demonstrated by Dr John Whitmore).

I believe in the biblical account of Genesis. God created the earth in 6 literal days around 6,000 years ago. He then sent a literal global Flood to punish mankind because of its sinfulness. The recently issued movie “Is Genesis History?” investigates biblical, historical, and scientific evidence for Creation and the Flood with interviews from dozens of scientists, including Dr. Andrew Snelling who was one of the leaders one the Grand Canyon Tour. Invest time and money in this movie if you are still making up your mind on this matter. Also, make sure to check out  answersingenesis.org where the biblical worldview is defended and many of the questions you might have answered.

The majestic Grand Canyon is the result of God’s judgment. How much more beautiful will the New Heavens and the New Earth be, where God will dwell eternally with those who repented from their sin and gave their lives to the One Seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, who crushed the head of the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) through His death and resurrection.

Someone said, “Be careful what you pray for, you might get it.” Well, we have been praying for having the opportunity to have a presence on a local radio station, providing more sound teaching as an alternative to the “feel-good”, heretical or theologically hollow teaching most commonly aired in the capital city of Madagascar. God might have answered our prayers as I had the privilege yesterday to be invited as a surprise guest speaker on “Olivasoa Radio 91 FM”, one of the main Christian radios in the capital.

The show was very interactive and organized around conversations between the two hosts of the show and myself as we discussed on the theme commitments, and the importance to keep them regardless of the cost especially when they are made with God, because of who He is, His promises and the heavenly reward promised to those who faithfully endure to the end. A power cut towards the end of the show led to the unfortunate loss of the recording.

After the show, the hosts and I discussed the possibility of more regular appearances in the future as we enjoyed the view from the radio station studio. We will see what the Lord has in store for us, but the prospect of airing 50 messages a year or so, is very exciting! Please pray with us as we seek God’s will for that aspect of the ministry. We will keep you posted.

After two days of travel, the first from 2 am to 2pm, the next from 5 am to 8:30pm due to boat delays, broken cars, overheating engines, late buses, etc. we finally arrived in Tana. The team was exhausted but still in a jovial mood. After a quick dinner, everyone went to rest to be ready for the Lord’s day.

Today, we visited Ankadivato Biblical Baptist Church, our home church. What a joy it was to be reunited with the body of believers we grew up with and we served prior to going to seminary. They gave us a heartwarming welcome and immediately adopted Dave, Ashley, Scott and CJ as their own.

The youth leaders kindly offered on the spot us to take over the Sunday afternoon youth meeting. Dave had the opportunity to share his testimony, encouraging the teenagers and young adults in attendance to examine their own hearts to determine who was the Lord of their lives. Scott then taught from 1 John on the zeal for sanctification through confession and repentance as being a test of the genuineness of one’s salvation. A spontaneous Q&A followed suit and we were able to leave only after many one-on-one conversations, hugs, and pictures.

Dave and Ashley are leaving Madagascar tonight, while Scott and CJ leave on Tuesday. It is very difficult for us to see them go.

We are praying that the time they were able to spend here would help them to ascertain the Lord’s will for them and see the great need for biblical teaching on our island. We are praying that the Lord will provide for all their needs, spiritual and material. We are beseeching the Lord of the harvest that they will come back soon. Here, the workers are few.

The past 3 years have been grueling on our family. The move to America, seminary studies, fundraising, ministry, moving back to Madagascar, it all seemed like an unending succession of straining happenings one after the other. After a week and a half of ministry in Madagascar, we are so happy to have this time of debriefing and relaxation, as a team and as a family.

These few days on the beautiful island of Sainte Marie allow us to catch our breath, nurture mutual bonds and seek the Lord’s guidance on the way forward.

The team particularly had fun to learn the skill of balancing bags on their heads as locals do.

We also have had the joy of watching the humpback whales passing by on their way to the southern pole.

Please pray that the team will be refreshed physically, morally and spiritually. God “has made everything appropriate in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11), times of activity and times of rest. May He be glorified in all instances.

 

We held a pastoral training conference for over 90 people in Ampitambe. Here is our new vlog with some clips from our sessions!

It is truly fascinating to notice how easy it is Christians to connect and enjoy fellowship with one another despite diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, lifestyles and even languages. Under the headship of Christ, we have been brought into one body. We experienced it firsthand this weekend as we visited 3 churches on the lush green east coast of Madagascar.

On Saturday, we first went to Antanimenakely Biblical Baptist Church. Pasteur Pierre and his flock graced us with a warm welcome. David preached from Isaiah 66:1-2 on the nature of true worship, then we fellowshipped and shared a simple meal with them.

After the service, some of the church members took us to their village, opened their homes to us, fed us to satiation with coconut juice, and even showed the ladies how to make Malagasy baskets.

We then visited Antanambao Nosy Be where Pasteur Julien ministers faithfully to a flock of 7 adults and 24 children. Scott and Dave shared their testimony and gave a few words of encouragement. I also gave a short exhortation to value Jesus more than anything else from Matthew 26.

The day ended with a visit to my 98-year old grandma and the celebration of my brother’s 18 birthday, rejoicing in God’s goodness at all stages of life.

On Sunday, we worshipped with the flock at Salazamay Biblical Baptist Church in Tamatave. It was an emotional time for me as I have attended this church in my childhood and have fond memories. During their equipping hour, I encouraged them to display the graciousness that is to characterize all believers from Philippians 4:5; then during the sermon, I exhorted them from 2 Timothy 1:13-18 to guard the truth and to fulfill their God-given ministry.

Paul says: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” (1 Cor 12:13) We are so thankful for the unspeakable privilege of being part of God’s universal church.

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.” Psalm 115:1 (NASB)

Praise be to God for the completion of the Pastors Conference in Ampitambe. Pastors representing around 25 churches attended the training. They listened to 14 messages on the whole book of Titus and a final charge from 2 Tim 4:1-8. Every day ended with a Q&A taking us to the late hours of the day.

Around 90 people attended. Many ladies came along with their husbands and some other joined simply because they heard that some training was offered.

During these three days, Ashley, CJ and Lily provided more training than what they had prepared for to meet the ladies’ hunger for God’s Word. Some friendships were also developed.

We are so thankful for the many people who labored tirelessly behind the scenes to make this training possible.

We are grateful for so many of you bathing the whole event in prayers. We marvel at the power and sufficiency of God’s Word to do His work. And we are humbled that He would choose feeble vessels like us to carry out His purposes. May the teaching of His Word bear eternal fruits in the lives of many, and may the name of Christ resound in every part of our island.

 

 

A vlog of our activities in Sakalava. (You can also read about them!)

More vlogs are coming!