BACK AND FORWARD
I am back from Uganda after a marathon of flights from Uganda to Amsterdam to Detroit to Los Angeles. It has taken me a few days to adjust to the 10-hour time change but I am getting there. My On-Expedition team member Doug Dorman said of our trip:
“It is hard to believe it is over and I am headed home. Time flies when you don’t have electricity, internet, toilets that flush, hot water, paved roads, or Starbucks (My first stop in Amsterdam).”
One of the highlights of the trip (there were many) was to work through the book of Daniel with our Ugandan lead trainers. Each night we read and interacted about a chapter.
On one of our 7-8 hour bumpy road trips, I was thinking of postponing one of the chapters until the next day. The Ugandans wouldn’t hear of it, so we continued on pace and completed all 12 chapters. What a book!
Our On-Expedition training went well too. The Ugandans are really getting the vision to “multiply viral, missional, church planting movements,” and are taking the training forward regionally. Our Ugandan team members did the majority of the teaching. In Phase 2, they did 100% of the training.
THE MULTIPLICATION
I’ll write more in my next update but keep this letter to our first stop in the northern Ugandan city of Gulu, where we completed the 4th of our four-phase training. One of the things we did was to send the participants out to connect with people, and share their testimony and a one sentence Gospel (“I was lost, Jesus rescued me, and He can rescue you too!”) based on Romans 3:21-22. In 30 minutes eleven people committed their lives to Christ. People have come to know Christ each time we have done this training.
We got some great feedback from previous trainings and gave certificates to 18 people who completed all four On-Expedition phases. More importantly the training is multiplying out. Pastor Martin who leads Gulu Bible Community Church commented: “We have come to the end of the training, but for me it is the beginning. We now have to do the practical work.”
Forming a core group of trainers, Pastor Martin’s plan is to reproduce the training in and around Gulu as seen in the diagram that follows:
We are excited about what we see God doing. People are coming to know and follow Jesus in deeper ways. Leaders are being raised up and new churches are being planted. Most exciting is the multiplication of leaders who have a vision to multiply viral, missional, church planting movements.
Thank you for praying and contributing to our ministry.
With affection and appreciation in our Savior and King,
Linus and Sharon
On Expedition + 