John 9:4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”
Dear Prayer Warriors, (Please excuse the editing, this is going out without El’s usual corrections)
I am going to use the next three blogs to give a report on your ministry with me at the Miango Conference Center, north of Jos in northern Nigeria. I say “with me” because God the Holy Spirit clearly teaches that those who pray for missionaries on the mission field are co-laborers with those who go. This is taught, among other places, in 2 Corinthians 1:11 “you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.” What follows is the first of the three reports -
When Eleanor dropped me off at the airport I was met by a Skycap who had helped me before. One of the senior Skycaps has asked me to email him and let me know when I am arriving. I have ministered to him in the past. I am known as “The Rev” by the Skycaps and they are always eager to help get the boxes of Bibles and Bible study aids to the conveyor belts and on their way. Usually one or more will stay with me till I am checked through to make sure all details are taken care of and they are tagged correctly. This particular Skycap had lost his wife to cancer last year and I had prayed with him several times about this. This time he was burdened by the fact that his adult daughter now has the same form of cancer. He asked to see the verses that I had shown him during his illness and to pray for him. As we prayed there in the airport several came up to see if there was a problem and I was able to share with them as well. It is not uncommon when I pray with people in public for those who are curious or concerned to end up being ministered to in some way and this occasion was no different than the others. The flight itself was an overnight flight and I had the row to myself so was left to my prayers, the Word of God and sleep as I might take it sitting up. I had an uneventful plane change in London. I know my prayer warriors and support team do no send me on mission trips to be a tourist or waste my free time so I spent the ten hours of my layover writing thank you notes, working on my messages and witnessing to a Muslim man. (I have found three great opening questions for witnessing to Muslims. I ask them, “Does it bother you that the only countries in the world where you may safely practice Islam are in Christian countries?” When they answer I say, “If this country converts to Islam, to what country will you flee that you might safely practice your religion?” Then I ask them, “Would you like to know the truths of Christianity since it is responsible for your life, your prosperity and the safety of your family?” The time went by quickly and then it was on to Abuja, Nigeria.
When I landed, because of security I could not be immediately picked up by my ride. As I waited I was looking for someone to minister too, always remembering the exhortation of God the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” It was then that a well-dressed Nigerian businessman asked me about my boxes. (Each one is inscribed boldly with the exhortation by God the Holy Spirit in English, Hausa and Yoruba “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” As I began to witness I discovered that as a university student he had been involved in the Navigator student ministry, and though still a church member his zeal for the Lord had grown cold. I was excited to be able to introduce him to Jonathan, my ride who has an active professional men’s Bible study. Jonathan has his own limousine/cab service. He was a business major at the university.
Jonathan was led to Christ and disciple in the Navigator student ministry and has been married a little over a year to a fine Christian wife he met in that same ministry. We had a wonderful time during the four hour drive north and discussed many topics including the Church, Eternal Security, Witnessing, Balance in Work, Marriage and Family and many other topics. The usual three hour drive took over four hours because of the many military checkpoints along the way. Every major intersection and the entrance and exit from every major town had one of these. As you approach you can see the sandbags and barbed wire blockades set up in such a way that the car must slow down and zig zag between them. Then you come to the main check point where a military man in full battle gear and automatic weapon is waiting to inspect your car. To the side is another sandbagged area with several other soldiers at ready, all with automatic weapons. As we passed through each one I always took the time to share with the solider manning the checkpoint Romans 13:2 that the military are “a minister to God to you for good”, then gave each one candy which El sent with me for gifts and a pocket New Testament. I was able in this way to distribute over 40 pocket New Testaments as well as leaving them with a quick prayer of God’s blessing on them and always closed by thanking them for their ministry to their country. These gifts, prayers and words of encouragement were universally met with smiles and sincere expressions of thanks. Many shared with me that they were Christians and it was good to know they were prayed for and appreciated. As an aside I would like to say that it continues to amaze me how little the military is ministered to by the church outside the US. The Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Catholics have a long history of encouraging and ministering to the military yet this fertile field of ministry has gone fallow in most countries outside the US.
The conference was held just north of Jos in Miango at the Sudan Interior Mission’s conference grounds and missionary refreshment center. These living spaces were individual “cabins” made of concrete, mud or wood depending on the age of the building. They were overlaid with plaster and had metal roofs. The room I was staying in was very nice - hot water, screens on window and a ceiling fan!!! This is the rainy season in northern Nigeria and it rained every day in the afternoon or evening which keeps temps down and bugs away. The drumming of the rain on the metal roofs was very pleasant and helped me get to sleep at night. Around the compound were a number of buildings which had been erected by churches in the U.K. whose church member or family member had died in service of the Lord in Nigeria. I was humbled by the cost those who have gone before me had paid to make my ministry possible and was once again reminded of God the Holy Spirit’s exhortation in Hebrews 12:3-4 “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;” It made the small inconveniences which I call “suffering” seem as nothing. One building was erected by parents whose daughter gave her life in service in northern Nigeria in 1934. Another had below it the picture of the three man team from the U.K. who came to build the rest home and conference center back in 1914. Two of the three had died before the first building was completed. Others followed and gave their lives – some by disease and others by martyrdom, but all in the service of the Lord.
Whenever I speak at a conference center there are always opportunities to minister outside my formal responsibilities and the Miango SIM Center was no different. As usual I invited anyone I met to sit in on the meetings as their schedule permitted and several did. One of the men I met was Warren, 82 young and a widower. Warren had a construction business in north Texas when his wife died suddenly about 17 years ago. He said rather than mope around that he wanted to give his last years to the Lord. He sold his business, moved to SIM Headquarters where he does work at no cost and travels to their mission centers like the one at Miango to do the same. He has written a book on mission construction and repairs which is widely used now on mission stations around the world. I took time out to pray and encourage Warren every day, dropping by his shop during the “sports” time. I don’t know though who encourage the other more. I told Warren that should the Lord give me another 20 years that I hoped I would finish as strong for the Lord as he and he teared up as he prayed for me that I would remain true to the Lord to the very end. I have been privileged to know a few men like Warren – John Crawford, Gene Warr, Rod Sargent, Wyman Mitchell, Richard Price – who served the Lord actively until their death and by God’s grace I hope to do so as well. I am reminded of the exhortation of God the Holy Spirit as He reveals this truth concerning the great missionary Paul in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Another couple I met were Wycliffe Bible Translators there for a marriage get-away. They were both in their early 60’s and I was humbled by the simplicity of their faith. One of the things I do is empty my suitcase of over the counter meds, hangers, etc. when I leave the mission field for there is always a missionary, pastor of staff who need these hard to find objects. (Even socks are appreciated for in many countries long lasting socks like we have here in the US are unheard of). This gentle couple were moved to tears as I turned over these items to them. They are very hard to find at the station where they are translating the Bible into a native language which has never before had the written Word of God. Again my heart was convicted that by doing so little I had elicited such a response. (On a side note, I continue to be embarrassed by short term missionaries who return from the field with overt the counter meds and other incidental items which are so hard to come by on the field and so easy to resupply here in the US).
Then there was the Dutch team who are members of Brother Andrew’s ministry in Holland (I refer you to the book “God’s Smuggler” by Brother Andrew). I was able to minister to these men in the area of the inerrancy of the Word of God and the sin of homo-sexuality and homosexual marriage. I say minister, as these men held to the true doctrine but their beliefs were under constant attack in their native Holland. I was grieved to find that it was pastors of the Dutch Reformed Church, that church which has produced some of the greatest theologians and scholars of the Reformation, who gave them the most grief and trouble. They were greatly appreciative of my encouraging them in the Word of God on these areas. As God the Holy Spirit exhorts us in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. “ and again in Hebrews 3:13-14 “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,”.
By His mercy, II Corinthians 4:1 Rev. John S. Mahon Director – Grace Community Int.
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