Mar 2004 Special Edition
Beloved Partners &
Friends
It is always a blessing and comfort
as well as a great joy to share the victories and seeming
defeats of the Ministry
and work. Actually, I do NOT
believe in defeats where the Lord is concerned. I am FULLY PERSUADED that if I am
walking in obedience to Him and His will for my life, then there are only
CHANGES OF DIRECTION or FIRES OF REFINING.
And, change of direction means that the Lord is taking us to a higher
place, a greater purpose. We have
ALWAYS believed in ?going for broke? with the Lord. When we started the Sudan work, we went
into this most hostile war zone with the attitude that we might lose everything,
even our lives. My famous statement
was, ?If I die, I die! So what, I
have nothing to lose.? We have kept
that idea always before us as we have seen the most incredible growth over the
last seven years. The great news is
that the story of those years is fully told in ?Sudan ? To Save A Nation? that
is now in the hands of the printers and will be out shortly! Please order your
copy.
May I remind you that when the Lord
called us to Southern Sudan, I requested of Him three things before I would
venture into these zones of chaos and war.
The enormity of the calling and ministry that He gave was by no means
apparent at first but has been clearly manifest in the last few years. I specifically told the Lord that I
needed His supernatural provision, His Divine protection and His daily, tangible
presence. He has been SO FAITHFUL
to grant and provide all as we have lived through the bombs, mines and ambushes
to establish the Academy and see men of God raised up in the most troublous of
times. We are about to have our
third graduation. The report of
graduates from the field is most encouraging, as they have done what the Lord
has called them to do. One young
man has already raised three people from the dead and this has been
independently verified and documented by the authorities. The most exciting aspect of this to me
personally is the humility with which these young men are operating. Raising the dead is as natural for
them as breathing and they simply carry on with their work and
ministry.
Kalibu Academy in Yei, New
Sudan will officially close as at the end of July 2004. We have just passed through eighteen
months of the most harrowing negotiations, arguments and counter-arguments
regarding the College. The
buildings and land that we now occupy formerly belonged to the Ministry of
Agriculture. They were awarded to
us with an accompanying document.
USAID has recently made available 22.5 million dollars for Agricultural
Revitalization in New Sudan.
Consequently, beyond anyone?s imagination, the Ministry of Agriculture
has demanded back ?their lands and buildings.? Whilst all these negotiations and
waiting and uncertainty have been in progress, we have been unable to say
anything to our Partners and Friends for we ourselves, were not sure of what was
going to happen.
Since He was the Lord who called us
and the Lord who has kept us, He must also be the Lord who removes us or changes
our direction. I committed our way
unto Him and waited for Him to bring to pass His ways.
USAID made clear that they did not
pay out to any organization but the Lord is much bigger than USAID. This was not a matter of dollars and
cents or people?s plans and programmes but of the Lord. CRS ? Catholic Relief
Services ? that was handling USAID funding was ordered to make funds
available. A private, independent
Quantity Surveyor was flown in from Kampala and carried out a thorough on site
investigation and examination. He
presented his figure to CRS. In the
meantime, I fought from every angle until I decided to leave all in His most
capable hands. In a letter drafted
to the President of New Sudan, I made very clear that I would abide by the
decision of the entire Executive Council.
What I told the Lord was that He might easily sway the hearts and minds
of all on the Executive Council and that a decision from them was a decision
from Him. They voted that the
College should be returned to the Ministry of Agriculture and that compensation
be paid to Kalibu according to the Quantity Surveyor?s report. The complete sympathy and support of the
Leadership Council has been fully our portion. There is nobody in the leadership of New
Sudan who has not recognized and effusively appreciated all that
Kalibu has done in the nation and locally in Yei.
At the same time, the Leadership
Council requested that we build again and gave strict orders that Kalibu was to
be given any piece of land they desired.
We are in process, as I write this, of obtaining over 100 acres of land
directly on the banks of Yei River so that we might irrigate our gardens
directly from that River. The
compensation money will not cover all the costs of rebuilding but it is a most
magnanimous gesture by tough fighting men who have really appreciated what we
have done in the land. This type of
gesture is unheard of in Africa and surely shows the caliber of these men and,
of course, the presence of the Lord with us. It is wonderfully exciting to see the
honour and respect afforded to the Lord and to His servants who have shown
themselves faithful for His glory.
I can honestly say that I am satisfied with the outcome? We have fought as much for you as for
the Lord and ourselves. Of course,
it is very inconvenient and it is going to take a huge effort to rebuild and not
what we wanted at all. I still do
not fully understand why it all has happened but must be content to leave it all
in His mighty hands and see Him work further great miracles.
The support programme for students
and graduates will continue. The
responsibilities are more enormous than ever. We will have an entire first year class
whose studies will be interrupted for a year before being able to continue. They will spend a year on the field and
will need their support during that time.
As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed except for the fact that
we have to rebuild. In the
meantime, the College in Malawi nears completion and will take up much energy
and time.
As you have done so faithfully in
the past, we urge you to continue your support. Nothing that you have devoted has been
lost or wasted. Actually, nothing
has been lost at all. The lives of the graduates alone, is testimony to your
wise investment for which your returns will be enormous and eternal. It has been an enormous honour to work
with you to build His glorious Kingdom on earth. In practical terms, we will hold our
final graduation here on 3rd July 2004. All of our supplies will have to be
packed and stored as we contemplate our move to the new site. We are more committed than ever to His
work in the nations. Other very
exciting plans are afoot of which we will share just as soon as we are able and
plans are concretely in place.
Michael,
Roz, & Entire Team.
TESTIMONY
The following is a letter received from a pastor in charge of the Dudu
Labe Parish in Southern Sudan.
This is an example of the fruit of our labors?yours and the staff of
Kalibu/Shekinah Ministries.
This situation is just another hiccup in the course of events. We are not finished in Southern
Sudan.
I say like this because we claimed to be Christian and read the Bible but
all the way round we fail.
Through your evangelist we have learned about salvation and I have become Born Again and
baptized with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Please send us some more of your evangelists to preach the light of Jesus Christ.
KALIBU ACADEMY, SOUTHERN SUDAN - BEFORE
KALIBU ACADEMY, SOUTHERN SUDAN - AFTER
KALIBU ACADEMY - MALAWI
