Nous avons un jour pour volant á Dakar!

It's true, we do have a date for flying to Dakar! October 25th marks the date of our departure, so 27 days and counting!

Today I read the story of how Solomon asked God for wisdom to govern Israel. (When I realized this was the same man who wrote Proverbs 1:7, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge", it put that verse in a whole new light for me.)

As October 25th approaches, I ask that you pray something similar to the following prayer that spins off Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 3.


Now, O LORD our God, You have given this team of Your servants this ministry, yet this team is young and new to these experiences, in many ways like little children, not yet knowing the ins and outs of this ministry or of life in Dakar. Your servants will be in the midst of Your Senegalese people whom You have chosen, a great and numerous people. So please give Your servants understanding minds to obey you and to discern between good and evil. But even more importantly, please give Your servants hearts to love Your people, for without such a gift, who is able to love adequately this (or any) great people of Yours? For it is only because You have first loved us in so mighty a way that we can have hope-- and indeed it is a great hope!-- to tackle this Your assignment for us. May you get much praise, Isa al-Masih, for Your indescribable gift of true life!

Flooding and Health Risks in Dakar

The CNN story about recent torrential rainfall and the associated health risks in Dakar is linked here. The government and medical NGO's fear malaria and cholera outbreaks.

As you read this, please ask the Lord to protect the men and women of Senegal from the worst and thank Him that He is sovereign over all things; even things like sin, disaster, and tragedy will eventually be used of God to bring about redemption in the world.

Team prayer meeting

At 10pm tonight, our team is having a prayer conference call! We will to set aside some time tonight to pray for our supporters, so if you want us to lift something up tonight, post a response below. If your prayer request is a little more sensitive, then contact one of us in private and we'll pray about your request.

On a different note, I had the opportunity to present for six or seven minutes at West Shore Church of the Brethren [http://www.westshorecob.com/]. West Shore is a small community church where I immediately felt at home---which is strange, because my home church [http://www.fumchurch.com/] probably has 1,000 members and my college church [http://www.summitrdu.com/] is home to about 3,000 on any given Sunday. Meeting with the Lord God seemed to be the crux of the gathering. The senior pastor, Frank Leaman, so obviously cares for his flock and wants to introduce more and more people to Jesus.

My dad and I talked about how little fanfare existed in the service. Personally, I return again and again to God's Word in Isaiah that His house shall be called a house of prayer unto all nations---not a house of preaching, a home of entertainment, or even a house of great fellowship. In the "absence of distractions," I felt ministered to by the Lord and His Word. I loved being among that congregation and am eager to return next year to report about what God is doing in Dakar.