The Ekissa team was excited to worship at Ekissa Central Church on Sunday...although Tom Lancaster (Ekissa team member) was unaware that he would be called on to preach!---that's right...called on the spot to preach! However, God showed up big and the most beautiful gift of all came at the end of the service when roughly 15 individuals surrendered, accepting Christ as their personal Saviour!
The growth of the church was a pleasant surprise. "Pastor Henry" has been the Senior Pastor for roughly 18 months now. By profession, Henry is a much sought after nurse in the village and employed at a local clinic. He shared with me that what he loves about being the pastor and a nurse is that he is able to share the love of Christ while meeting their physical/ medical needs at the same time.
Henry is a young man filled with the gift of connecting with literally anyone. He has an infections smile, overflowing joy, paired with an extremely charismatic personality. The love of God radiates through this man and people are simply drawn to him. Henry has not only been successful in growing the attendance but has developed sincere leadership within the congregation. He has helped them realize their individual responsibilities of caring for one-another. Our team was encouraged with all that is happening at Ekissa Central Church!
Following the morning service it was a genuine treat to fellowship with the congregation and share lunch together. During the time of fellowship, Mark (our Ugandan Project Director), Eddie (our construction Superintendent), Abbey (Director of our orphanage/ children's home), myself and Tom Nelson (mission team member and Ekissa donor) walked the property to determine the placement of the construction of our new orphanage (children's home) and stake it out. This construction will begin within the next few weeks! This is a dream come true--so stay tuned.
Sunday afternoon we began our women's and men's conference, taught by Tom & Brenda Lancaster (Founder of Zookeeper's Ministries). The men's conference focused on the family-specifically 8 principles of marriage, and the women's conference focused on that, but also on the love and grace of God regardless of past mistakes or trauma's. I was blown away to the response (the # of men) of the men's conference! The men were extremely accepting of Tom's teaching.
The women's conference brought me to tears as roughly 25 women responded to the Savior's calling to become their Lord and Savior. It was absolutely beautiful!
Tom and Brenda are amazing teachers! Check out their ministry at www.zmiinternational.org
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