Breaking Ground in the African Bush

Half an hour outside the dusty congested slums of Lubumbashi, Congo, a dented van bumped along the dirt road with us 2 muzungus (white folk) and a dozen or so students of AMC (Congo School of Missions). Behind us sat Reverend Jules Wazeng, leader of this ragtag bunch.

Wazeng started this school over a decade ago and has grown it to a 2-year missionary training center with dozens of students taking courses from Systematic Theology to History of Missions in a rented church along one of Lubumbashi’s packed dirt corridors.

When you think of Wazeng, think Mike Ditka…. Reverend Mike Ditka. Big heart. Thick skin. In fact, I’ve come to affectionately call him “coach.” Tough, passionate, always doing several things at once, he’s the guy for the job: the guy to yank the Congolese from their too-familiar ministry mold… build a church, draw a crowd, make some money… and challenge them to lay down their lives across the globe for the gospel. At the height of one of his super-charged locker-room style speeches the other day, he exhorted the students, "Once you've left here, go buy a passport! You may ask yourself, 'what should I do with my training?' Just get your passport. That's the first step.Get your passport. Because we're going to send you to the ends of the earth. So go buy yourself a passport."

Now, bumping along that dirt road, the scenery changed and bits of green began to speckle the arid landscape. Low sloping mountains canvassed the near horizon. Soon we were gliding past shrubby savannah with tall, spindly trees offering shade. The stress of constant honking, crowding, haggling, shouting began to melt away for the first time here in the Congo .

At a little outpost of tin-roofed homes, each student grabbed an earthy red brick from the floor of the van and began walking single-file in the woods. Passing 30-foot tall anthills, we came at last to a shady grove where two men measured out a plot roughly the size of a football field. I guess you can get one of those out here for about $3,000.

This shady spot is the future home of AMC. As “Coach” showed us around, he talked about dorms, classrooms, and guesthouses. “If you come back in 2015, God willing, you’ll just be sleeping right here,” he said indicating a patch of ground. “What, Coach!  You mean out here under the stars?” I smiled. “Not too hospitable!”

There was a sort of buzz in the air while Coach began spelling out the vision and leading the circle in a Conglese-style (everybody talking at once) prayer. Then the students began singing worship songs (I recognized the Swahili version of “How Great Thou Art” which involves a lot more clapping than our version). While they sang, Dave and I were invited to lay the first bricks of a 3-foot brick and mortar monument to dedicate the land. A layer of concrete was spread across the top and an inscription was made: “Mark, Dave, and Nate: 8-23-12).

It’s exciting to be part of the beginning of something. To think, that in a few years, buildings will spring up. And if I am so fortunate, I may have the chance teach disciple-building on this very plot, and train Congolese Christians who are not just reaching Congo, but travelling worldwide with a passion for God’s Kingdom…

I wish you could have been there with me.

In other news, we’re through with our seminars and got great feedback from our week 2 participants. We’re heading home Monday!! But it looks like I may have a stopover in Atlanta for a couple days to close on our very first house! Debra says we’re 80% sure on a closing date of the 28^th. Then home to my kiddos (one of which is climbing stairs and cutting and the other of which can now write the letters “O”, “A”, “X”, and “H”) and my beautiful amazing wife who is doing a fabulous job being a solo mama AND processing stuff for the house. Yep. I married up.