West Africa Ministry 2009 Trip

Day 5 - Kumasi, Ghana

Dear Family and Friends: Aug. 6, 2009

We have started the first day of our Conference here in Kumasi, Ghana, which is a more developed country than Burkina Faso. It is very forested as well and the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans. So Janice is glad to be in a nation that makes chocolate, but I feel Janice has more intercessors praying for her than me. She got a bus that didn’t smell, but my greatest fear coming to Africa is taking a cold shower. Sooo… this morning-no hot water. We found out later it was just our turning the faucet handle the wrong way, so my attitude is looking up again, ha.

On the way to the conference, Bro. Harrison our host pastor, took a few extra minutes to show me a monument to Christianity in the city center. He said when the first Christian missionaries came to Ghana from Europe in the early 1800’s, the local Africans sent them to an area they called the "Evil Forest" as it had many dangerous animals and curses put on the area by witch doctors. They did this in hopes they would just die there and not bother them. However, the Christians had miraculous tenacity against the wild animals and they planted churches that grew. Even when some missionaries died from Malaria or Yellow Fever, another one showed up to take their place. If that one died, another showed up to take their place. This impressed the natives so much they began to believe a power greater than the animals and evil spirits. So later the main city developed around the churches feeling a security there. They later erected this statue of a Ghana citizen standing on the back of a lion and ringing a bell to bring the people to hear the Gospel in spite of the dangerous animals (see attached picture).

Well just when you think God cannot do any better than our stay in Burkina Faso, He reveals Himself even greater. Pastor Harrison has not been the best communicator via the internet, and he has surprised me at the size of the ministry here. There were over 200 at the conference, which included some members of his congregation that were not pastors, but still over 90 were pastors. Of these 60 are committed to Crio and are supporting the Bible College and meeting the last Sat. of every month as a group for teaching by Bro. Harrison. I had only included the five churches we had built buildings for as members here. So Crio just grew by 55 churches today!!!!!!

Then we arrived at Bro. Harrison’s church building that he had just moved from another plot nearby one month ago. Next to that I got to see for the first time the construction going on for the permanent home of Crio Bible College, Kumasi. It was such a blessing to be preaching in the church and building the pastors’ hearts spiritually, and then looking outside to see the Kingdom being built physically as the masons were laying concrete blocks for the college.

The pastors were very responsive as they speak English here, and you get an instant reaction to what you are saying compared to depending on an interpreter. So with that many here my excitement was hard to contain, so I felt the anointing very powerful and closed with leading them in a prayer to have the Lord reveal and take from their lives whatever might be restraining them from being a servant of God. There was good feedback from the pastors and many said they were bringing even more pastors tomorrow. So please pray the revival spirit continues.

Janice and I then had a nice meal back at the hotel prior to me meeting individually with representatives from three different nations for three hours afterwards. It was a blessing to strategize with the pastors how we can get them better established in their churches and communities. The Liberian pastors had a unique proposal to develop a mobile health clinic, as they each have nurses in their churches qualified to do this, and then go to rural communities who have no medical facility. They said this clinic will bring favor with the village chief who will then give us land to plant a church on. They said this should be done soon as Muslims with funding from Pakistan are moving into these communities strongly. To me this is the best way to get back at Muslims for 911-get souls saved that might be snatched into Islam.

The pastor from Benin is a new nation, so it was interesting finding out about his nation and needs.

Tomorrow looks like another awesome day serving Him!

For building the Kingdom, Ron and Janice