Nicodemus Revisited

In Burkina Faso, it is not the socially acceptable thing to ask Jesus to come into your life and save you from your sins. The reality is that your family could choose to disown you. As a result of that dark atmosphere the Southside group currently in Badara is experiencing several Nicodemus type encounters. Burkinbe are coming in the dark of the night to inquire about this Jesus that “the ones on the hill” are talking about. It is a great experience for those on this trip.

The term “the ones on the hill” comes from the location of our property that was given to us by the chief of the village. We had our choice of a few parcels and chose the piece on the hill simply for ease of recognition. God has used that in an incredible way. As the team made there way through village market, many people referred to them as “the ones on the hill.” People are coming to the hill to find out what we are there to tell them. What a coincidence that the Sambla people of Badara are going to the hill to find salvation. All people need to be pointed to the hill--the hill of Calvary in order to find salvation. The move to the hill has been a good one. The people of the village are constantly coming by to visit. They are also bringing food--this is good and bad. It is good that they are showing hospitality to us but can be bad, very bad if the food is something we don’t eat. The team will come home with some interesting food stories I am sure. When coming to visit, the team plays the Gospel on CD using a battery operated portable stereo. The report is that “people come and listen for hours.” There have been fourteen come and listen that have responded with something like “we believe you are telling us the truth. We will think on this and let you know our decision before you leave.” Pray that these people will respond to the truth that has been confirmed in their hearts.

Many of you sponsored t-shirts for the Sambla. This has been a very successful outreach effort as well. All t-shirts were sold (at a price well below cost) in less than twenty minutes. There were many people asking for more t-shirts. This sounds like something we need to continue.

Once again, I would like to applaud your faithfulness in this mission endeavor over the last two years. We have spent many hours in prayer for the Sambla. We have sent seven teams to Burkina Faso. We have spent well over $150,000 dollars on this in the last fourteen months. We saw very little fruit during this time. Other churches who started after us have already seen people save, but not us. Even so, I heard almost no complaints. Yes, we could have reduced our debt by more than half. Yes, we could have been more elaborate in our kitchen and fellowship hall remodeling. Yes, we could have done billboards, commercials and all the PR work we wanted to with the resources that we expended. BUT...there would have been no dreams confirmed in the lives of the Sambla; no seeing the specific people listed as a man of peace coming to faith in Jesus; no Nicodemus experiences; no “people on the hill” comments; no inability to explain the movement and power of God in Badara. Thank you Southside for praying, going and giving according to the call of God on our church even when we did not see fruit immediately. Bless you for being faithful to obey no matter what.