Leadership Development

I've lived in Africa for the past 8 years now and have seen and experienced many things. One theme that has emerged as I have traveled around Africa is the need for Godly, servant-hearted, leadership. As John Maxwell says "everything rises and falls on leadership".

As Children's Cup we have been working hard on being intential about developing leaders at every level of influence that the Lord has allowed us to have. We know that in the long term our effectiveness will be defined by our ability to develop leaders.

Children's Cup (thanks to our many partners) works with almost 30,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa everyday. We believe that many of tomorrow's leaders will emerge from these children. Children that the world has kind of written off. (I love how God values people the world considers worthless)

We are building intentional programs to foster character in all the children that God allows us to connect with. Like our kid's club program that teaches kids how the Word of God applies to their everyday life in a fun and relevant way all the way to the new DreamCenter (drawing that is above) that will be used to help train young leaders in an intesive one year leadership academy.

Children's Cup is greatly influencing the next generation in Africa. Check out the blog posts over the next several weeks to read more about the details of each of these awesome program.

The Chambuta Crusade report from 25-28 of August

When we arrived the people were all waiting to receive us, we had a good welcome and they were so excited. Our team of about 33 people blended well with celebration Chambuta team. They had cooked for us. The people there are full of love and they are hospitable.


The first day, the excitement and the atmosphere was conducive for a crusade. It was a power full time in the Lord as the people flocked to the crusade, the place was electrified by the presence of God as our worship serving team ministered on Tuesday in Chambuta .We witnessed 210 people come and experience God and 22 of them receiving the Lord Jesus .


We left Chambuta on Wednesday in the morning with our team and all our instruments to go to Chibweziwe. It was powerful to see people waiting to serve us in Chibweziwe. We had a team of about 60 people that came from Chambuta to camp together with us as we used the school for camping.


This crusade almost turned into a conference as we had devotions with every one in the morning. Pastor Noah took leadership lessons with all the leaders, Maggie was teaching the worship team, in the after noon we all went for sports where we played with people from the community.


In the evening God was at work as the sound traveled a long distance attracting many people. Our attendance grew to up to 860 people and 357 got saved.


There is a lot of potential in Chibweziwe to grow a 500 membership Church. As we walked in the community many people who came for the crusade and got saved promised to make Celebration Church their home. There is also need for a trained Pastor on ground or to empower the Lay man on ground.








Thank you for giving us the opportunity to minister, it brought exposure to our team. May God richly bless you.

Pastor Samson Saurosi.

Check out this video about our new internship DreamCenter.

Sunday

We are up early for quiet times and breakfast. The place where we are staying has a tradition of singing before breakfast. So all of our guys break forth in Hillsong music and the lady that runs the place starts to cry. (at that point I did too cause they really did a great job)

We eat quickly then off to church. Pastor Isaac and Carol Williams have really done a great job over the last two years working in the community of Nkobe. The really have turned the church into a Healing Place for a hurting world. I think they must feed 300 plus orphans everyday, help build houses for widows, visit and pray for the sick. Do you get the drift... a real church that is making a real difference.

We get there and enjoy worship in a different language. It was fun and lively. Then I get the chance to share with Pastor Isaac translating. We are talking about a receipe for a heart for missions. I cannot tell you how hard it is for me to share with people that have almost nothing about giving. However in my time in Africa I have realized that is exactly the message that Africa needs. It was fun to share with Isaac translating because of the interaction. We had a sword fight with a pocket knife and a cake knife at one point.

After church we had some lunch with the Mozi guys and headed for home. I have never seen young people more tired than I did yesterday. It was a good kind of tired though. The kind that knows that you did the will of God and left everything on the field.

Thank you to everyone that helps make Children's Cup and HPC Swazi work. Lives are being changed everyday.

Day 2

Saturday we are up early to have a time of devotions. Our youth intern Tyrone shares about looking down on people. Very interesting because Swazis look down on Mozambiqueans because in general they are poorer. Great discussions

Then we are off to pick up some supplies but not before we have our first run in with the Mozi police. They see our foreign license plates and stop us to see what were doing. For many of our young people this is the first time to see a police man with a AK47 strapped to his shoulder. After a few minutes he is satisfied an off we go.

We get to the CarePoint and work with the members of HPC Mozi to visit church members, widows, and the sick. I made friends with lots of the kids. Giving them cookies to take to the children in the community and inviting them to church. (Who says you have to be an adult to start a Servolution)

We then have some partially cooked chicken for lunch and we go back to the church for the weekly youth meeting. This is a first for our Swazi youth to do anything in a place where they cannot communicate with anyone. Everything has to be translated (our Swazi youth speak English but in Mozambique they only speak Portuguese). We had a great time dancing, shouting, and praising God. Our Swazi kids learned that Mozi vibe is awesome. They did a drama without words to communicate the importance of serving. Karl Marx, HPC intern, then shared a brief message to end things up.

Then off to town to grab some grub. On the way back to our place to stay I got lost and made a illegal turn. But thankfully the Mozi police were there again to help us. They very kindly (not really)pointed out to us that we had commit ed a very serious crime. As I was busy trying to plead my ignorance our youth's eyes were getting bigger and bigger. The police then decided to help escourt us to the place we are staying. So one of our girls has two policemen on each side of her with their AK47 guns in their laps. They helped me to reach our place then wished us well... (in a Mozambiquean police sort of way)

then in bed a little after midnight....

Swazi Missionaries?

This past weekend I had the privledge of leading a team of youth leaders and interns from HPC Swaziland to our sister church in Mozamabique. For many of these young people this was their first experience outside the country. As HPC and Children's Cup we want to see the heart for others (MISSIONS) instilled in these young people. We know they will be much more effective in reaching their generation in Africa than I will ever be. So we invest, train, encourage, and love these young leaders greatly so they will bring Jesus into the middle of all the issues in Africa.

So here is a little recap.

Friday:
It took us a little while to get everything together. Everyone is upbeat and excited. It's a 3 hours road trip from Mbabane, Swaziland to Maputo, Mozambique. Going across the border in Mozambique is always a bit intimidating. Swaziland is so laid back and Mozi is just a little more aggressive about everything.

We have a little KFC (KFC is taking over the world) and then we go off to the sands of Nkobe where HPC Moz is located. The sand is deep so it is like driving in the Baha5000 (which I love). We have a few hours for everyone to get the tour and play with the kids.

We tried to play dodge ball but our team of Swazis learned quickly that communicating cross culturally is very difficult. The kids all jumped on the ball like a Rugby game. Then super man Karl Marx jumped in and taught his great Zimbabwean dance moves. I think I know now where Michael Jackson got his moves.

We had some supper and then off to the bed but wait.... We have to sleep under mosiqtoe nets. It is like sleeping in a spider web. Everyone was really tired so it didn't take long for people to enter lala land.

check out pictues at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32765&id=1418732406&l=c39210c823

A Great Testimony from Zimbabwe

This is a note I just received from one of our pastors in Zimbabwe that is doing a fantastic job in an area that is one of the most difficult places I have ever been. It is difficult because almost nothing grows in this area and the people are very poor and hard towards many things. Take a look at this report.

CHAMBUTA CHURCH “TESTIMONY”
The lord remembered me by allowing the man of God in to my life. I was ill most of the time before I met Pastor Mafukidze. I usually felt dizzy and had a heart attack. Before the Lord was introduced in my life, this problem hounded me for a long time. When I was introduced to the man of God I received my healing.
The Pastor did not stop teaching me that with God all things are possible .I also had a marital problem because my husband had gone to South Africa to seek for employment and had not returned for a period of 2 years. This was a very difficult time for me and the children. I had no money for school fees food, clothes, and other necessities. I introduced the matter to the church and we prayed over it . I am happy now to say my husband has since returned home.
I was hoping for something good after his arrival but he wanted to divorce me. I went to the Pastor for councelling.The man of God did his best to help me as he was lead by the lord. Our marriage was restored praise God.
Having failed with the above trials, the devil thought if he could introduce illness in the house I could be blamed for demon infecting my child. My child became very sick that day that people were so astonished.Pst Mafukidze prayed with us and our child was miraculously healed.
For our daily food the lord blessed our field the moment the man of God prayed for the seeds and the field. Even working in the field was not tiresome because we prayed every time before working I the fields.
This shows the power of God in my life with God nothing is impossible.
A testimony from Mrs. G Samu
SUBMITTED BY PASTOR .G.MAFUKIDZE

HPC Swaziland's future looks bright

Last Sunday I had the privilege of watching the fruit of our youth ministry known as "412". 412 comes from

1 Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone look down on you for being young. Instead, make your speech, behavior, love, faith, and purity an example for other believers.

Check out some of these quotes all from young people under the age of 21.

"We can't manufacturer love for God its a response to his love, grace, and mercy." Waterford student

"When I have faith it puts a smile on God's face" an HPC intern

"If there is not any pain, giving, or sacrifice its probably not real love" HPC Intern

"Prayer is talking WITH God not talking at Him" HPC Intern

Do you see what I mean? These are young people that have decided to live fully committed to Christ. It was hard to fight back the tears of joy in seeing these guys minister God's truth in such a proficient manner.

This event sums up what Children's Cup/Healing Place Church's purpose is to see the transformation of a generation of young people and children that the rest of the world has written because they are orphans. Isn't it so much like Jesus to use a bunch of kids like this to CHANGE THE WORLD!!

Check out some pics at:http://www.hpcswazi.com

The effect of our GoGlobal conference that happend almost two months ago here in Swaziland is still making waves. We had a pastor's breakfast yesterday to follow-up with some of the pastors that attended. Many of them shared how the messages rekindled a passion in the hearts for the lost and hurting. They wanted me to be sure to pass along their gratefulness to everyone that helped make it happen. Eternity will be different because of some people deciding to get out of the boat.

You can check out some pictures of the event at http://www.hpcswazi.com

Father's Day Tribute

A Tribute to my Father

Like many kids growing up I tended to be focused on the things that my father wasn’t that I have largely overlooked the things that he is and the great things he instilled in me.

Here a just a few things that my dad is:
1. My dad loves people and has taught me to do the same. My father is not a pastor or a touchy feely kind of guy but I have watched over the years time and time again where my dad would go out of his way to meet a need of a neighbor, an employee, or someone who was hurting.

My dad ran his own business for most of my growing up years and my brothers and I were personally involved for working for him. He always pushed people to work hard but also demonstrated servant leadership in that he would never ask someone to do something he wasn’t doing or willing to do. He cared for his employees and would try his best to meet their needs. His businesses goals never seemed to be how much money he could make but it was more about being a person that treated people fairly.

2. My dad taught me how to work hard. It’s very true that most of my growing up years I really didn’t appreciate this character attribute very much but I have seen through my life that this one character attribute (other than giving my life to Christ) has been the most responsible for any success that I’ve experienced. I remember my dad putting a little shovel in my hands as a little kid as I was planting little trees for his nursery and landscaping business. It was through a lot of experiences with landscape crews (which always had a few questionable characters) that I learned to lead, care for people, and work as a team. Those experiences and the example that my father provided me the foundation of who I am today.

3. My father is comfortable being who he was made to be. This is one character attribute that I did not get from my father. I’ve always admired it greatly and I’m growing in this area of my life but I have always marveled at regardless of the situation my dad is himself. It’s like he has a shield around him that protects him from what others think of him. He isn’t prideful in this but just REAL. His ability to be real always makes people comfortable around him and willing to be themselves too.

Thanks Dad