Does it get any better than this?

Hello,

Well, I don't even know how to describe the last week. Amazing, Revolutionary, Exciting, Humbling, Exhilarating… I could go on and on! This past week we have been working with the greatest group of pastors I have ever had the privilege of working with (and that is saying a lot!). They were all chosen by us as and the director of a local organization here as the best & brightest pastors in the area. Many have been to a few years of Bible School and they were all hungry to pass along these methods to other pastors and leaders, especially taking it to the rural areas.

You can click on the following link to see the pictures and even a video I posted on my website as well as an audio update from one of my teammates, Sarah. www.ToMakeHimKnown.com/training.html

I don't even know where to start. From the first day, they all showed up excited and eager to study. There were just 10 that were chosen and the all showed up on time ready to go. We started off going through the book of Jonah with them and then we went on to the book of Ephesians. After that we had a day of them teaching each other and us the methods we had been teaching them. I can't count the number of times I had to put my head down to wipe tears of joy away as I considered the gravity of what the Lord was allowing us to witness and be a part of. I have never been part of a seminar where it seemed that despite our own lack of understanding really where we were wanting to go and do, because it is the first time Titus Project has ever done this kind of a training, every moment was perfectly planned. I would go so far as to say divinely planned. It really was that smooth. We didn't always feel that way ahead of time, but God moved so powerfully. So many times I had no idea what I was supposed to do, even walking up to speak not having any idea of what to say. One time as I walked forward, panicking, praying that God would show me what to do, I grabbed one set of notes, then set them down, then grabbed another set, then set them down, then started quickly flipping through the Bible trying to find something to say, then I started asking them if they had any questions and after a few minutes of silence, I just opened my mouth and the message God gave was the perfect message for that time and the next hour was just anointed as we looked deep into the scriptures & allowed the Word to penetrate our lives. I just don't know how to explain it other than a perfect week.
I could go on for a hundred pages speaking of what happened, but here are a couple highlights:
- I think the biggest highlight for me was on the third day, one of the most senior pastors came up to me and asked to speak to me in private. He started telling me that he had been to 5 years of Bible college and been a pastor for many years and studying the Bible for more than that and then he said, "but I have never experienced anything as powerful as this training." He went on to say, "James, I need more of this! I must get more of this training, where can I go, what can I do, tell me!" Well, when I told him about the School of Biblical Studies in Capetown, he said, "Alright, I'm going to go there, when do they start?" I couldn't believe it! He is one of the more influential pastors in the area and is now planning on setting aside his very large church, leave his wife and kids behind, and go get trained for 9 months because he is so desperate for what God has been teaching him! Talk about hunger!

- I have never been in a seminar where almost every passage we looked at , the pastors took it to real, practical application & truly took it to heart to transform their own lives and their churches. Every major point we hit, they would get excited about and discuss with the other pastors how they weren't doing this or how they needed to do that. Especially as we went through the letter of Ephesians, they were seeing on their own, how the theologies and doctrines they had gained from Bible Schools had shaped their world views and that they needed to get their understanding of God from the Bible, not from a text book. They had revelation after revelation and would get excited and blurt out whatever new revelation God was giving them with a great big smile on their faces.
- During the Teachback time when they were teaching each other doing a "mock-seminar" I often was emotional as these guys did and amazing job. One of the guys, Collins, actually went home & in just one night came up with about 7 or 8 of his own unique illustrations that had never been done before to help explain how to study the Bible. One of the illustrations to show the need to study inductively and listen to what God has to tell us was He had a cassette player and he put a tape in to show that "people are always telling the Bible what they want to hear, but what we need to do is stop playing the tape and turn on the radio to see what God is trying to tell us, and listen to him instead." He also numerous other great ideas that left me in tears. Every pastor added their own twist to the method and made it their own, it was so exciting to watch them and see this ministry being multiplied before our eyes!

This evening the rest of our tam comes up from down South and together we will be traveling to the Western side of Zambia for two more seminars there before finishing up with a final week of training in Livingstone in the South. I can't believe we only have a month left! Wow this has gone by fast.

Thank you so much for your prayers this past week, God moved so much!
- Please continue to pray for the anointing of the Lord on our team and in the lives of the students
- Pray for those who were just trained, that they would get out and use what they have learned and train others. Also, please pray that the Lord would allow us to come back and do a follow-up training with them next year to build on the foundation that has been laid. They are all eager to do so and so are we.
- Please pray for our health and safety as we travel to the other side of country and train there.
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers!

Sincerely,

James
www.ToMakeHimKnown.com

Quote of the week: "This is REVOLUTIONARY!"

Hello,
We just got back from Ndola Zambia in the North and had such an AWESOME time! Instead of just writing about it, I have made an "Audio Newsletter" that you can listen to by clicking on the following link http://www.tomakehimknown.com/news2.htm That will go to the page of my website. Take a listen and be encouraged!

Just a short summary, we had a great small group of pastors from the Vineyard fellowships in that area and were able to go deeper into application than I have ever been able to go. This is one of the hungriest groups I have ever been a part of and it was so hard to leave. When one of the pastors was asked to apply the letter of Philemon to his life, his answer was simply, "this is revolutionary!" I asked him to elaborate and he went on & on as to how this message will completely transform the church and how he had never seen this before and now wants to go back home and teach this any chance he gets. Oh, what a wonderful time. Listen to the update to hear more.

Thank you for your prayers and your support.

James
www.ToMakeHimKnown.com

Thank you for your prayers, another great week

Hello,
Thank you so much for your prayers. We just had an another awesome week with a great group of pastors and leaders. For this one we moved out to the village and were able to spend our time with the people there.

Just a couple praise reports:

- Last Sunday I had one of the greatest experiences I have ever had in ministry. I spoke at the church of one of the pastors who came to our seminar last week and who wants to teach the method in rural villages. He got up for their "back to the Bible teaching" which is normally a 30 minute Bible reading time. However , he began by sharing one of the passages we had gone through in our seminar. He then asked the class how to apply that verse to their lives. I was so disappointed because we spent the whole week teaching that application is the final step of Bible study. But then he totally blew me away as he told the church he was just tricking them and application is the final step, but first they have to pray, then observe, then interpret. He then proceeded to spend the next hour giving a perfect teaching of how to use the Inductive method to study through the Bible. I was holding back tears, trying not to make a fool of myself as I saw this great servant of God teaching the method better than I can. He was interacting with the whole church and they were getting it. It was such a gift to see him not just using what he had learned, but excited to get his whole church using the method and now he wants to teach others as well. He later showed me that their weekly Bible study has changed & is now using the Inductive method of Bible study. He is so excited for what he has learned and is now wanting to share it with as many others as possible.

- That leads to the second major praise report. While here we are partnering with a ministry called Every Home for Christ, a wonderful ministry that is focused on reaching every home in every village across the entire nation. We are working directly with its Zambia director and it has been so amazing for the first time in my experience to partner with a long term evangelistic ministry. The reason why this is so awesome is that right before we came, this ministry had been praying for God to provide a way for them to offer deeper discipleship methods for training pastors around the country, but did not have the means to do it. That same week is when they heard we were coming to Zambia. Now they are so excited to work with us and are committed to do follow up in every location we have gone, but what is even better, is that now they are asking for us to train up a handful of the best & brightest pastors/teachers that have attended the seminars (included the pastor mentioned above) to teach the method around the country so that even when we leave, the work here will continue. Just yesterday we finalized a follow-up training seminar where we will spend a very intensive week training this small group how to teach this method in a seminar setting and then they will go out across the country teaching it themselves! I just can't tell you how awesome this is. Even when we leave this work is going to continue on without us. They are so excited by what we are doing and they are even wanting to raise money to bring us back again! Every time we meet with them they just keep saying over and over again, "you have no idea what a blessing you are to this nation, Zambia will never be the same." What a privilege!

- Also, last time I asked you to pray about the arrangement of seminars. Well, Every Home for Christ has helped with any potential gaps and it looks like we will be packed out with 2 seminars every week from now until the time we leave! Thank you so much for your prayers!

Please also continue to pray:
- the team is splitting up for the next couple weeks. I will be going north with one team member and three will be going south. Pray that God would guide them, anoint them, & give them great wisdom in leading the seminars on their own.
- Please pray for this "training seminar" in one week's time. I am trying to fit 9 months of training in to one week and need a lot of guidance and wisdom in how to do that. Also for the students to all grasp all that they need and be fully equipped to do it on their own across the country.
- Please continue to pray for our health. This past week two members of our team got sick and how to sit out of part of the teachings.

Thank you SO MUCH for all your prayers, I honestly can't express how grateful I am for your support.

Thank you,

James
www.ToMakeHimKnown.com

It's Good To Be In Africa Again

Hello, just a quick update.

We have arrived safely in Zambia after a few days on a long bus journey. After arriving late at night and being on the bus for 3 days, our contact told us we would be teaching all day the following morning. No one really felt up to it, but the pastors had already gathered, so I agreed. It ended up being a good time. I taught the whole first day and the team taugh much of the rest of the seminar. The first seminar just ended yesterday afternoon and it was quite wonderful. Though it started off a bit sketchy, poorly planned and not a great turn out, starting on Monday everything turned around and we had a large group of local pastors and leaders who were so hungry to learn. The reason why I feel the seminar was so great is because by the end of the week, most of those in attendance were completely understanding everything we were doing and best of all, close to 10 of the pastors there are now planning to go teach this method to others! How excting is that? Not only do we get to come and train pastors, but now they are going to go and train other pastors! They were so excited by what they were learning and asking great questions. It really was a awesome time.

Another highlight of the week, started off as a rather scary moment. I arrived at a new church on Sunday and the pastor told me he wanted me to teach on their Marriage seminar that afternoon! He had assumed I was married and surprised to learn I wasn't. I couldn't turn him down, so I ran and for 2 hours madly prepared & prayed. I ended up just expositorily going through the end of Ephesians ch. 5, but I had no reason to be scared. I honestly can't think of the last time I had so much fun teaching! I would have all the women literally jumping out of their seats screaming "AMEN!" at one moment and a few minutes later the men doing it in return as we discussed the Biblical view of marital relationships. It was such an awesome time as both sides saw from a 2000 year text, affirming words for each of them and how they should love, affirm, & serve one another. Their response was incredible! Not just having fun, but seriously considering how they love and treat one another. One of the funniest moments was when I asked the men when the last time was that they stayed home and took care of the wives in order to let their wife go out with her girlfriends. It took awhile for the women to quiet down after that one and the men actually admitted and saw the need to share some of the load in raising children. Most of the men said they could not remember the last time they had cared for the children on their own. I left that time thinking, "Man, I can't wait till I get asked to do this again!"

Thank you so much for all your prayers, you have been such a blessing to me and the team.

A few points that we could really use prayer for at the moment:

- Arranging seminars. Right now, things are very up in the air. This is the least organized I have ever seen an outreach so far. We don't know what we will be doing next week or where we will be staying and after that, only one of the remaining weeks are planned. So please pray that the Lord would bring us the right contacts and that we would be able to meet the needs He has set for us.

- Please continue to pray for wisdom for me in leading this team. That I might have the right words to affirm and encourage them as they grow in their teaching and the tact in guiding them in the midst of many unknowns.

- Please continue to pray for our health. So far we have done well & I praise God for that, just please pray that our good health continues.

Thank you so much for your prayers and please let me know how I can be praying for you as well.

Sincerely,

James

www.ToMakeHimKnown.com