Simple Update on Life

I just wanted to give you an update of my life and family and where God is leading us.

In late 2005 I was appointed by The Mission Society to be the African Regional Coordinator; that is, to give visionary oversight to all of our fields on the African continent. We have folks working full time with The Mission Society now in Ghana, Togo, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. There are families that are soon to be sent out to Senegal and perhaps South Africa. We also have seconded relationships with folks that are serving in difficult places on the African continent. It is exciting to see God at work here.

Since January I was also appointed to be the missionary observer participant on the board of The Mission Society. This has been a dream fulfilled for many of us serving on the field to have some voice and interaction with the governance board. Our president, Phil Granger, recently went through a life threatening surgery and was in ICU for many days and we can say that God truly brought him back from the brink of death. We are thankful that he is back in operation and working hard throughout the world.

The most ominous and yet rewarding thing in my life at this moment is my PhD study. Even though I’ve continued to give guidance and leadership to many of my coworkers here in Ghana, I have really been a full time student at Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture here in Akropong, Ghana. I started my course work in the Fall of 2006 and completed that portion in June of 2007 and was approved to continue my work on my PhD. My studies have led me into the bowels of the archives here in Ghana, London and Oxford. I have found some incredible letters that were written from 1835-1890. It is in those letters that I have found incredible insight into missions, life, applications that will assist me in my current ministry and in my future. One quote that I cannot forget from Thomas Birch Freeman, the man that I am studying for my PhD said when he was 28, “It is necessary for me to go (on the mission field) but it may not be necessary that I live.” He is the man that I want to emulate and it compels me to ask the question, “Where are the men and women who have that passion and zeal any more to proclaim the Gospel?!” I am thankful to work with many who have considered their lives and put all on the altar in answer to HIS call.

Recently I attended a seminar by a Ghanaian woman who’s name is Mercy Odudoye. She said, “If we don’t know where we’ve been, how can we know where we are going?” It is the essence of my passion to learn history! At the same time it is essential for me to realize the situation we are in as a nation and as a world. Christianity has indeed shifted in our direction in the southern hemisphere, including South America, Africa and parts of Asia while Europe and North America fade in their Christian fervor. Africa is the fastest growing continent in Christianity today.

I still continue to preach at my home church of Asbury Dunwell every third Sunday and our family shares the Gospel once a month at Pram Pram to a childrens’ home. I continue to travel as African Regional Coordinator and will be visiting our people in Kenya in December and assisting a new family to determine if Senegal is the place God has called them in January.

Our family is blessed. Anna is thriving at Asbury, Maggie is loving being a sophomore at Lincoln, in the winter play and playing soccer, Luke loves his school and all of his friends, especially Momo, his best friend from South Africa. Claire continues to manage our home, the kids, short term teams, discipleship of her Muslim friend Suaba, prayer groups and Bible Study. She always amazes me.

God is good, we continue to pray for all of you in the midst of these economically challenging days. We love you and seek God’s Highest for you in all things.

Attacked by a mother hen

I've lived in Africa for the past ten years. I've seen a lot and done a lot of very interesting things. I've sat on the back of a crocodile, held a crocodile's tail, thrown a live chicken into a crocodile's mouth (don't tell the animal rights people), but I've never been attacked by a mother hen. I have walked hundreds of miles in dusty villages, seen thousands of animals in those villages, chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys, cows, monkeys, parrots, mice, rats, dogs and cats. In all those miles and with all those animals, I've never been threatened once until now, by a chicken!

This past weekend our family travelled to Kumasi to visit some of our very ill colleagues who were diagnosed with terrible malaria and to pass on the generous contributions of a church in California to over 200 orphans at Adullam Orphanage by purchasing beans, rice and fish for them. While Claire and our intern Rebecca went to deliver the food items, Luke and I stayed behind in Kumasi to meet with some of our leaders. Luke and I went to lunch with our dear friend Joe Otsin and then decided to take a nostalgic walk through our old village of Adiebeba. As we got down from Joe's car and crossed the road we decided to walk on the back side of the village between the houses rather than go on the main road. Usually this is the place where people direct their run off water from their houses so it's very narrow, undulating and smells interesting. As we were making our way up the alley I saw a bevy of chicks drinking the run off water and the mother hen was close at hand. As I started to step in their general direction, the mother hen went into attack mode, threw her wings out and went bezerk on my feet. Thankfully she didn't draw blood and I decided to back up and start over. When I backed up, a sweet Ghanaian lady had heard the commotion out the back door of her home and she was laughing hysterically at my predicament. Luke was standing just behind me and said, "Daddy, I'm not going that way." I started up again and she went after me a second time. But, I persisted and made it through, Luke had no choice but to follow suit and he was right on my heals as he didn't want to meet the fury of a mother hen feeling threatened.

Great life lesson. God says he will cover us in his wings...I know that experientially now. God really loves us and doesn't want anything evil to happen to us. Luke and I have a new appreciation for mother hens and for how much God longs to protect us. We finished our walk through the village felt the extreme heat that Ghanaians live in everyday. We loved the old scenes of banku being boiled, sellers selling their wares and school children buying their snacks during their break.

We made it to Ankaase later that afternoon to find our dear friends and colleagues, the Dalenbergs, prayerfully concerned for their son Samuel. He originally had +5 Malaria which is very dangerous and his body had reacted to the treatment of quinine and damaged his liver and kidneys so he was jaundice, weak and on a drip. We prayed for him and spent time with the family. Since that time they've had to move him to the teaching hospital in downtown Kumasi. Samuel is not out of the woods yet and desperately needs your prayers. If you read this, pray for Samuel Dalenberg and his family.

Blessings,

Michael