July 18-21 I traveled to Richmond, VA for the Journeyman Expo Conference. At the Expo, we were presented with a list (an 80-page list) of all the different opportunities to go and serve overseas for our two-year term as Journeymen. I had no clue how I was going to filter through the list and turn in 3 choices after just a few short days.
But God knew. He had a plan. And He began to show me. He immediately burdened my heart for shattering the silence in Sub-Saharan Africa. You see among the 2,000 people groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, more 600 of them have never once heard the gospel of Jesus. Not once. And so there is silence.
And I don't know about you, but I'm just not okay with that. And I don't think God is either.
Romans 15:20-21 says,
'Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.'”
And God broke my heart for the silence among the people of Sub-Saharan Africa. And He called me to go and shatter it.
I am only one person. And the silence is great. It's completely overwhelming. It stretches over countries, people groups, and languages. And I know I cannot shatter the silence for all of them. But I believe God calls me to be faithful to shatter the silence where God places me, in the people He surrounds me with, and that is enough. God is calling me to be faithful to Him in the small--in the one person, in the one village, and then trust Him to be faithful in the rest. Trust Him to raise up and call out missionaries to come join Him in His mission to shatter the silence that has plagued Africa for far too long now. Trust Him to raise up local believers in Sub-Saharan Africa and empower and equip them to share and shatter the silence.
Because He can. And I believe He will.
Join me in shattering the silence.
Pray--get on your knees before the Lord, interceding for the lost peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa (www.imbafrica.org/pray).
One missionary at the Expo shared with us a story from her time serving overseas. She had moved to a different country than her first country and her closest friend from her first country brought a team over to serve in her new country. While they were there, one of the girls on the team got dysentery. They took her to the local doctor and she had to stay there for several days to be treated, so the team stayed with her. While they stayed in his house, they shared the gospel with the man. And he told them that a few days prior to their arrival, he had a dream that a people from their country would come to him and tell him important news and that he should listen to it. So he listened as they shared the gospel. And he accepted Christ as the Lord of His life.
So get on your knees and pray. Pray that God will open hearts to the gospel before they even know what the gospel is. Pray that when they hear the gospel they will realize this is what they have been waiting to hear. Pray for a move of God among the people of Africa that shatters the silence.
