theexpandingshrink

Much of the curriculum is now in written form in preparation for an accreditation process in the States which will allow students, who desire, to use the training in getting an associates degree.

I found it invaluable to experience the power of each part of the curriculum and to experience how the different parts of the curriculum fit together. It was also a joy to learn to know the very gifted faculty who come from all over the world and who are highly motivated and grateful to be a part of this missionary training school.

It was gratifying to learn how faculty and others with missionary training experience outside of Kenya perceive the Ukunda Missions School (UMS). They perceive UMS to be one of the best missionary training schools in the world. We are humbly grateful for such assessments for we are training missionaries to go into some of the most dangerous places with a clear message that will change lives and ‘turn the world upside down’ but that could also result in their deaths. And we want to know that our missionaries are well prepared for such a calling.

The biblical Stephen is held up as a model to the students. Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, did all that he did with excellence. As a deacon he stabilized a chaotic situation in the Church. He then moved among the people as a powerful evangelist doing signs and wonders and miracles.

He was so effective at advancing Christ’s kingdom that the devil decided to take him out. Stephen was brought before the Jewish nation on false charges. He confronted the nation and was stoned to death. As he was dying he cried out, “I see the heavens open and Jesus standing. ..”

And Jesus was standing to celebrate the victory of this overcomer. Through the open heaven brought about by the testimony of Stephen, thousands upon thousands came to Christ, including Paul, the apostle.

The devil overplayed his hand in the death of Stephen and suffered much damage to his kingdom. The devil much prefers to corrupt the messenger and the message before he takes out the Christians so that their deaths do not bring about an open heaven and great damage to his kingdom.

We pray that we will be found among those who “overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony and by not esteeming their lives unto death” (Revelation 12:11) and who see open heavens with a great advance of the Kingdom.

Pastor Gerhard Barnard father of Lukas, one of the graduates, gave the graduation address. Pastor Bernard is a leader in a world/ wide missions movement based in South Africa. His own church of approximately 300 has sent out over 80 missionaries.

Pastor Barnard stated that being a part of the Jesus Movement is simple but not easy. We need to hear what Jesus says to do; we need to do what He says; we need to apply it to our lives and we need to share the message with others.

He added that each student needs to know their own story and be able to tell it and they need to know God’s story and be able to tell it.

He said that as we weep about the brokenness in our society, God will speak to us.

Vaughn Martin, Director and Founder of Ukunda Missions School commissioned the graduates to continue to maintain an altar of prayer and worship at the center of their lives. He assured them that God would meet them with the fire of His presence on the altar and this fire would burn away their fears and empower them with His world-changing love.

This is a week of laying everything on the altar, all plans and desires and preferences. It is a week of hearing from God in worship about God’s assignments. It is a week of strong expectation that His voice will change the course of life. Some will be promoted to new assignments. Others will sense God is calling them for more preparation for more difficult assignments later. And for all, there is the commitment to take on God’s assignment whatever the cost.

As I participate in the prayer and fasting, I am drawn into the awesomeness and joy of His presence. And for a moment, I feel as though I am in the large upper room with the 120 saints in Acts 1 & 2, waiting to receive the promise of the Father, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

What joy!

Chronic patterns hold us back: patterns like fear of failure, the need to impress people, unrealistic expectations of how we need to control others’ behavior, fear that traumas of the past will be repeated in the future and even a secret offense with God that He has not done things the way we had expected him to do them.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”

My experience of the past week teaches me that those who mourn that they’ve not been able to move further in their lives, will be comforted by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will reveal to them what it is that holds them back and will give them a word that sets them free from the lies they have come to believe.

But for those who do not grieve but who say, “I do not have a problem; I’m content with life as it is; I’m satisfied with the sensation of movement”, the Holy Spirit will not be able to give His comfort.

So I will grieve; I will mourn for the things that hold me back, that hold us back as a Church, that hold us back as a nation, confident that God will bring his comfort.

How great will be his comfort. We will run and not be weary; we will walk and not faint; we will mount up with wings as eagles.

Blessed be the God of all comfort.

I had spent the last week teaching and listening to these beautiful students. As a result I felt I had some awareness of the heart cry of each one of these newly trained missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world.

All testified that the 7 months at the Ukunda Mission School (UMS) were more transformative than any educational experience they had ever had.

One student, already possessing a college degree said, “This training took me to a new level.” Another said, “I knew about God, but this training took my understanding from my head to my heart.” Still another said, I will never be the same again; and I never want to go back to the way I was.”

It is sobering to participate in the shaping of others’ lives, knowing that they are being shaped to lay down their lives to take the Gospel into some of the most dangerous places in the world.

Will some of them or will I pay the ultimate sacrifice of martyrdom for His name? As I stand on this holy ground with these new graduates, I know that God’s grace is amazing and that He gives grace to live and also the grace to die. Blessed be His name.