God is bringing life from death in Ebola stricken Liberia, and Kingdom Way Ministries is blessed to be a part!
While training 15 new Kingdom Leadership Council group facilitators in nearby Ghana, my son Seth and I were privileged to spend a couple of “FULL” days with some incredible servants of Christ in Liberia.
The purpose of this brief trip was to visit Pastor Moses and the ECOL Leadership team, encourage and strengthen them, and see how God might be leading us to continue and expand what God is calling KWM to in Liberia.
Moses (pictured above) serves as the president of the ECOL (Evangelical Churches of Liberia), providing equipping leadership to over 100 churches, and seeking to plant more.
Moses also serves as the Ministry Director for KWM in Liberia and produces and broadcasts a weekly radio program (consisting of messages I and some fellow pastor friends have preached over the years) at two radio stations for Kingdom Way Ministries. These messages reach most of Liberia and even some neighboring countries, but are projected to reach up to 16 West African countries in the next 1-2 years.
I’d like to share some of the highlights of the trip as means of updating and thanking those of you who pray for and support KWM, and as an avenue to invite others of you who might be reading this to prayerfully consider how God might be leading you to be involved.
KWM Radio Broadcast
Seth standing in front of the radio station and the place where Pastor Moses spends hours editing messages for broadcasting.
Since we were staying close to the radio station, we popped in for a brief visit to meet the station manager, see where Moses spends hours in editing messages for the broadcast, and to conduct a brief radio interview greeting KWM listeners and sharing a little about our ministry with those unfamiliar (see below)
Is the investment of $1500+ a year and the amount of time Moses spends on the broadcast worth it?
The answer is an easy Yes! The ECOL sometimes use it for local ministry in conjunction with the need of the moment. For instance, during the Ebola crisis the radio program was vital to their ministry, providing encouragement and strength to many who were in quarantine for months.
In addition, Pastor Moses utilizes the broadcast as an equipping tool for training leaders, reaching others for Christ, and discipling them. After each broadcast, Moses provides contact information for listeners to reach out for further instruction or help.
David Mason (pictured above) was one of the many who have taken advantage of Moses’ offer. When he found out I was going to be in the country, he went way out of his way to meet us at the airport before we left for home. He wanted to express his thanks and share how God has used the broadcast to richly deepen his walk, and has encouraged him to, (in my words) stop “drifting” and “get back on track” with the Lord.
The ECOL Lead Team
What does the leadership team of approximately 20,000 followers of Christ in Liberia look like?
Pictured above is most of the leadership team who work with Moses providing leadership to all the ECOL churches. I was privileged to spend several hours with them while…
- They dispersed bags of rice, oil and soap to a church of almost 100 people who had just lost their homes and the church building they had worked hard to construct together for more than 12 years! The Liberian government wanted to expand the university near their village and just came in and bull-dozed all their homes and the ECOL church, taking possession of it. The encouragement and assistance the ECOL team offered was truly remarkable.
- We celebrated the work of Pastor Jallah Smith’s church. Jallah is the Director of Church Planting for the ECOL. He also pastors a church that is seeking to reach Muslims for Christ. KWM was privileged to help them finish building / making much needed structural improvements to their church a few years ago. What a thrill it was to see their work first hand, to be able to share a message of encouragement from 1 Peter 1:3-7, and for my son Seth to be able to share the gospel and some candy with the kids
- We visited the ECOL’s agricultural site near Pastor Jallah’s church where I had been a part of a Pastor’s Conference for 2500 Pastors a few years ago. The ECOL has had a vision to plant palm trees that produce oil used in cosmetics and other products, in order to raise capital needed to expand their ministry. After several years their vision is finally starting to take shape (see featured picture of Moses and myself behind one of these trees), but they still have a long way to go, needing the finances to purchase over 100 trees yet to complete the project.
- We discussed plans for the future, including the possibility of returning in November to speak at the ECOL’s Annual National Leadership Conference dedicated to equipping and encouraging all the Pastors and key ECOL leaders.
Needless to say, I was greatly encouraged and challenged to see the perseverance, resourcefulness, and resilience of a people who have experienced years of suffering and hardship through the turmoils of 10+ years of civil war and the tremendous spiritual, emotional, and physical death tolls associated with the Ebola crisis.
The followers of Christ in Liberia embody the words of the Apostle Paul:
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed…always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8-11
Yet I also left with a heavy heart, feeling the desire and need to do so much more.
If you share that burden with me, I would love to connect with you here to discuss how you can be of further assistance.
Thank you again for loving, caring, praying and supporting. Your investments are truly having an eternal impact.