Seven years ago a fire was kindled. Today it burns strong and bright.

Aflame are the hearts of nine men who have been studying for the full time ministry since 2011. It was then that they first entered the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi.  It was last year that they all finished the Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia.

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37).

People asked and God answered. Nine more workers in Malawi’s harvest field. Behind them are the rigors of the classroom.  Ahead of them are the pastoral responsibilities of the congregation.  For the past 10 months, each one of these young “Timothys” has been getting a taste of practical ministry: “Vicar year.”

Vicar year has been “boots on the ground” service.  Learning the ropes.  Testing the waters.  Getting a “feel” for real life ministry:  writing and preaching sermons, leading Bible studies, counseling the troubled; meetings and devotions with the elders, the children, the youth, the ladies.

Out of the classroom but in the congregation.  But still students of the Scripture.  Alwaysstudents of Scriptures:  reading, learning, experiencing, applying the Word of God.  Ah, yes, the best tool in the ministry toolbox:  the Word of God. Useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

Just one month to go before their Vicar year is finished. This past year has been a warm up for what lies ahead:  becoming a full time ordained minister of the gospel.

No wonder that Wednesday, the 30^thof May 2018 has become so special to these men:  they each received a double blessing:  a diploma and a Call! The two-fold celebration was combined into one grand day:  Graduation and Call Day.

It was marked with just what you’d expect:  the presentation of diplomas, the announcement of Calls, the delivering of speeches and the giving of gifts.  But the special day was punctuated and highlighted with something greater than all of those combined: The Word of God.

Rev. Gilbert Mwangomba preached from his chosen text in the book of Jeremiah. He gave his sermon the theme, “Let God’s Word be Strong in Your Heart!” (Jeremiah 20:7-9) An important message from God for graduates turned vicars turned pastors; an equally important message for you and me.

After all, we can relate to what Jeremiah was going through, can’t we?  He suffered opposition because of the Word he shared.  Taunts and insults came his way.  Give ear to Jeremiah’s book and you’ll hear the bitter cries of an anguished, rejected man.  Jeremiah is not just dejected, he’s on the verge of despair.

Empty of joy and full of complaints. “Cursed be the day I was born!” (Jeremiah 20:14) Though down and out, Jeremiah still grasped the promises of God.  One thing had not been extinguished: The fire.

In his heart, it was still there.  The wick was not snuffed out.  Faith still flickered.  Love still burned.  His passion for lost and straying sheep, still aglow. The Holy Spirit had kindled the fire in Jeremiah when he was a young man and He continued to stir, stoke and fan it into flame.  Jeremiah himself announced: “His Word is in my heart like a fire…”  (20:9)

Denis Wortman noted the same thing when wrote his hymn, God of the Prophets (CW 543):

Anoint them prophets, men who are intent
To be your witnesses in word and deed,
Their hearts aflame, their lips made eloquent,
Their eyes awake to ev’ry human need.

His vision was not so much looking backat the prophets of old like Jeremiah but looking ahead to the preachers who were still to come.

And they still are.

Go back and read the hymn verse again.  Meditate on it.  Ponder it. Note that Wortman’s words are really a request to God.  Untold thousands of hymn singers have prayed that petition ever since.

May I humbly beg the same of you?  Ask the Holy Spirit to “anoint” these nine men with an extra measure of love for the souls which will be under their care.  Plead persistently that Jesus grant them a love to be His witnesses and speak with clarity His amazing gospel of forgiveness.  Ask unwaveringly that God the Father awaken them to see the most important needs that the people have.

To be sure, most of you, if not all of you, will be praying for men (and their families) whom you will never meet this side of heaven.  They have names you’ve probably never heard and come from villages you’ll likely never visit and serve churches you’ll perhaps never enter.

But just think, because of the grace of God and the work He is doing through the WELS through generous gifts and offerings, Malawi now has…

• Nine more preachers to proclaim God’s love in Jesus Christ.
• Nine more teachers to share Bible Stories and Bible Studies.
• Nine more ambassadors to represent the King of Kings.
• Nine more shepherds to feed and water the sheep.
• Nine more pairs of beautiful feet to climb the heights and descend into the depths to share the good news of the Savior.
• Nine more…
                Hearts Aflame.

The 2018 Graduates are:

• Banda, Johnston Chilembwe
• Kachimangah, Billy Hardwell
• Macherenga, Ammon Mangungu
• Mandevu, Stanford Charles
• Mitengo, Medson Dyton
• Mpingiza, Joseph Joab
• Msiska, Khwima Kajitaye
• Mukhweya, Frank
• Munangali, Lameck Chaponda

Sincerely,
Your Malawi Mission Partner,

John Holtz

Presentation of diplomas at LBI (https://youtu.be/zKSvYn08qAs)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKSvYn08qAs]

On September 24, 1977, my wife Beth and I, married only two months, stepped off a plane in Lusaka, Zambia for the first time. I was four months out of the seminary and was about to begin my ministry by serving as a missionary with the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA). It was a difficult time for the 13-year-old country. Store shelves were all but empty as the import routes were cut off by the violent war of independence taking place on our south in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). But the welcome of the mission staff and especially the warm and cheerful Christians of Zambia helped us quickly make Zambia our first home.

In the six years that followed we were blessed with two healthy children, and we became absorbed in helping the Lutheran Church of Central Africa grow in numbers and spiritual maturity. I oversaw congregations in urban Lusaka and in the rural Eastern Province (a 3-4 day, 1,000-mile round-trip visit each month). I also ran the Lutheran Press and taught at the Bible Institute and Seminary in Lusaka. Our ministry lasted until 1983, and those six years were formative to our lives and ministries ever since.

This month, we stepped off the plane in Lusaka again for the first time in 35 years. We knew things would be different, but our 17-day visit truly amazed us. While the country has slowly modernized and improved its economic and educational levels, the changes in the LCCA were even more clearly visible. The three preaching stations I used to visit in the Eastern Province had now multiplied into 35 congregations. The over 50 years of faithful worker training at the Lutheran Bible Institute and the Seminary has resulted in over 50 well-trained African pastors who faithfully preach the Gospel and minister to over 50,000 souls.

On Easter we worshiped at St. Matthew’s Church on Burma Rd. in the Kabwata section of Lusaka. I had served as the pastor there for almost my entire 6 years. We received a joyous reception, with numerous choir songs, and a special luncheon. Especially wonderful was reconnecting with one of the remaining members from those early days. The church we had worshiped in is now a parish hall, and the current worship structure is much larger. Everything indicates God’s blessings during the past years when they benefited from having a Zambian as their pastor.

We had similar Sundays in 2 other churches, and reconnected with other old friends. The greatest joy, however, took place in our classrooms. Beth ran a workshop for the wives of seven pastors, exploring ways to increase literacy in their churches and to use language teaching in congregational outreach. The Christian maturity and zeal for ministry of these women was inspiring. I taught an advanced church history course to 21 pastors from Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, and Cameroon as a part of the Greater Africa Theological Seminary Institute (GRATSI) program. Some were finishing a Bachelors program; others were in a Masters program; the rest came solely to improve their biblical and historical knowledge and to further their knowledge of confessional Lutheran teaching with other African brothers.

One of my students was the grandson of a pastor I had worked with years ago. Several others were already serving as instructors at the Bible Institute (now located in Malawi) and the Seminary. The educational level had increased substantially in 35 years; and the Christian maturity of these men made it a joy to teach them. Tough times still lay ahead for any church in Africa, but I left knowing that these men will be a strong bulwark for the Lutheran church there. Please keep them and our hard-working missionaries there in your prayers always!

It was good to return “home” to Hong Kong spiritually refreshed. No more quiet starlit nights here, but also no electricity or water outages!  Back to finishing out the courses for this semester, and making preparations for the next year. Back to the eager faces of my Chinese students rather than the cheerful faces of Africans. But back to the same work—training pastors who will faithfully preach Law and Gospel to their people, who will always keep Christ at the center of their message, and who will be ready to pass that message to the next generation.

One final highlight. We paused during class one day to allow my African students to meet and talk with our Chinese students via Skype.  The African pastors asked about the challenges of outreach in East Asia. The Chinese students asked about ministry in a culture and environment so different from theirs.  The few minutes we spent together showed clearly how their Christian faith could create instant bonds across continents and cultures.  May God continue to bless our mission seminaries and allow them to continue to be an important tool in expanding His kingdom.

Dr. Glen Thompson, Academic Dean of Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

I felt it but I didn’t see it.

I was settling into my tent for the night.  Fumbling around with my backpack and belongings, something poked me in the finger. But what?  I didn’t know. An acacia thorn?  A bare wire?  A stray needle?

I was tired and ready for sleep but the thought of not knowing what had impaled my skin was bugging me. I turned on my solar light and I scoured the tent but found nothing that could have been the culprit.  So I got thinking…what if it was something else?  Something alive and hiding?  Something like…

A scorpion?

With that pleasant thought I continued looking.  Still nothing.  I finally gave up the search but my mind wouldn’t give up the thought: what if it is a scorpion?  Then it is still in this tent! Restless with the thought that it would get me again, I lay wide awake for hours. So I turned my attention to the events of the day.  It had been a long but remarkable.

It was Easter Sunday,  1 April 2018. I was in the northern region of Malawi at St. Michael’s in Mzuzu.  All the northern region congregations had gathered at that one location for a four day camp meeting, Maundy Thursday through Easter Sunday. The church building was packed, the choirs were many (20), the worship service long (4 ½ hours!).

What a day to join our Chitumbuka speaking  brothers and sisters to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ!  He is the reason why the people gathered, the pastor preached, the choirs sang and the confirmed communed.   Take away the Sunday Surprise and you may as well take away the sermons, songs and supper.  In fact, you may as well stay home and stay put.  If Jesus has not been raised then our faith is futile, our hope is lost and our preaching is in vain.

Somewhere in those thoughts I drifted off to sleep.  But not for long.  I sensed something crawling on me and I shot up to my knees. The moonlight penetrating the tent walls gave just enough light for me to see the devilish beast.  It had a segmented body, loads of legs and nasty looking.

It wasn’t a scorpion.  It was an African Centipede.

Deep brown with a tinge of blue.  It stood in stark contrast with the white sheet I had been lying on. Writhing and squirming, it was doing everything it could to find traction and crawl away to hide once again in the dark tent.

That’s the last thing I wanted to happen. If it did manage to hide I certainly would have had to kiss a good night’s sleep goodnight and goodbye. Without taking my eyes off this creepy crawler I reached for anything I could get my hands on and gave it a whack before it slipped over the camping mattress. I stunned it, slowed it down a bit but didn’t kill it.  The mattress was too soft and it cushioned the blow too much.

But I kept hammering away with my weapon: a travel size shampoo bottle! I finally managed to crush the body and sever the head.  As it flailed around in the throes of death, I had this thought: You got me once, but you’re not going to get me again! It finally lay still.

Then, in a contented way, so did I.  I breathed both a welcomed sigh of relief and a prayer of thankfulness!  Now with that battle behind me, the thought came to me: I wonder if Jesus said something similar when he rose from the dead and stepped out of the tomb:

You got me once, but you’re not going to get me again. 

Paul said it another way: “Where, oh, death, is your sting?”

The persecutor turned preacher posed that question long ago; ever since, it’s been a common question in Christian churches on Easter Sunday.  Even when the Resurrection celebration falls on the first day of the fourth month, it’s definitely no April’s fools and it’s certainly no joke!  Jesus truly did rise!  In doing so He really did destroy that devilish beast called death!

“It has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10).

That’s good news to know, especially when the one fumbling around in the tent is you!  Or, when the time comes when the tent coming down is yours.

But wait a minute, you argue, I don’t camp and I don’t spend any nights in a tent and I certainly don’t live in a tent!

Oh, but you do!

I’m not talking about your beautiful house in the burbs or your cabin in the woods; but is not your body a temporary dwelling…a tent of sorts? According to God, yes.  He moved Paul to write about it in 2 Corinthians 5:1, “…the earthly tent we live in…” Peter mentions it in his second letter: “It (the tent of our body) will be destroyed and be put aside.” (2 Peter 1:13).

Not only do we live in a tent but sooner or later it is going to come down! No matter how many pushups we do, investments we make, medals we win, awards we receive or degrees we acquire, our tent is still as flimsy as it is temporary. Maybe the stakes aren’t being pulled up just yet, but is there anything bugging you in that tent of yours?

Impaled too many times with sharp comments from mean people?

A bit sore from the things life pokes at you?

Stuck with a relative or a spouse with whom you just can’t get along?

Feeling stung with unfairness?

Frustrated because you can’t seem to find the solution to the problem?

Ouch.

We all know how that feels.

Life is full of pain and sorrow.  Grief and mourning.  Tears.  Cries.  Sobs.  Looking for answers?  Searching for clues? It’s important to know wherein the real problem of it all lies.  In the dark corners of our tent: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56).

Doesn’t sound too helpful or look too hopeful helpful, does it?

Neither did Good Friday.

A dark day.
Fearful disciples.
Difficult questions.
Hard to come by answers.

But look again!  That dark day was part of the answer!  Three days later Jesus came out of the grave, the Easter SON did shine and death gave way to life. “Thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57. No wonder on Easter Sunday St. Michael’s Lutheran Church was alive with song and dance, preaching and praise!  And I’m sure yours was, too!

There was a wonderful message to share with the people:  “He is risen!  He is risen indeed!”

The devil’s head crushed.
Sin defeated.
Death destroyed.

And we are forgiven.

And as we reflect on the true meaning of Easter, knowing full well the answer, we can ask the question:

“Where, oh, death is your sting?”    

In God’s grace,
Your Malawi mission partner,
Missionary John Holtz

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa