Well, SOAP is up and running and so far there has been some great feedback. There have also been some questions and even some concerns. I want to take this opportunity to respond to some of the questions and concerns.

While we highly recommend SOAP as a really effective Bible Reading Plan, it is by no means mandatory. If you already have an effective plan that provides a regular (daily) Bible reading diet go for it. However, if you have no plan and are doing very little, give SOAP a go and see if it works for you.

There are 3 levels. Please feel free to choose the level that suits you best. You may even change from level to level depending on your time constraints. To be doing level 1 on a daily basis can certainly be effective. It means you are meditating on a number of verses every day. That is probably a lot more than you were doing before (365 per year!).

There is something very special about a whole lot of people doing the same verses every day. Already I am hearing about how exciting people are finding it to be discussing the Word of God with others on a regular basis.

Remember it can help to do your Bible Study in a place you like and doing something you enjoy. Examples: Having breakfast when it is quiet and peaceful OR with others having coffee at your favorite cafe.

If you have a testimony connected to the SOAP plan please make a comment. Also if you have any questions please let me know. Make a comment and add it to the blog.

Make sure you keep checking out www.libertychurch.org.au for helpful information about SOAP.

God bless you!  Richard

We were back in Dar es Salaam, relaxing, waiting to leave for South Africa and then for home. A knock on the door and Pastor John Meadth entered with the news that his passport and wallet had been stolen. Indeed it had and thus commenced a pretty hectic day and an especially stressful day for John. Australia has no embassy in Tanzania. We discovered this after a fruitless search in the embassy area of the city. I remembered that Canada can be approached for help.

A trip to the Canadian Embassy proved partially successful. John was told he would be able to get travel documents to Nairobi in Kenya but not to South Africa. We all went to the airport so I could catch my plane, while John went off to collect his travel documents so he could get to Nairobi. I felt a bit funny leaving John, but I didn’t have a visa to enter Kenya and John assured me he would be OK.

As I write this I am in Perth waiting for a plane to Melbourne and John is in Johannesburg waiting for a flight to Perth. My trip to Perth was not without incident. About an hour after leaving Jo’burg we noticed that the plane was not gaining height and speed as it usually would. The captain then announced that there was a technical problem and that we would need to return to Jo’burg. Once pointed out we could see that there was a small problem with the wing. I was sitting next to a Qantas engineer who was able to give a running explanation about what was happening. We then flew in circles as the plane off-loaded most of its fuel so we could land.

There was a little bit of tension as we flew into the airport with fire-engine lights flashing around the run-way. The landing was perfect and within an hour and a half we were back in the air! It has been a long night!

I obviously missed my 9.00am flight to Melbourne and now am waiting for for a 6.10pm flight.

In spite of all this it has been a really wonderful trip. More than ever I am convinced of the importance of what we are doing in Africa. It is all worth it.

Hope to see you on Sunday with a personal report.

Richard

I have been coming to Africa for 20 years but never experienced the adventures I have this time. Most of the adventures centred around African buses.

We left for the bus station in Dar es Salaam at 5.00am. Apart from the fact that Nathan temporarily lost his bag with the camera and all his documents, money, passport etc, all went well up to Manyoni. Nathan can tell his story when he returns. John who was seated near the front had to stop looking at the road. Fast drivers, bad roads and close calls don’t make for a relaxing journey.

From Manyoni to Sanjaranda we entered another world of bus travel. With standing room only, being squashed against dozens of sweaty bodies, being defeaned by the calls of several roosters (who were not enjoying the trip) and bumping along an even worse road, this we thought was as bad as it gets. We were wrong!

On the way home we boarded a bus called “Arafat”. Arafat, the man, died a few years ago. Arafat the bus was about to become deceased. We boarded Arafat at 5.00am. it was dark and the bus’s lights were struggling to work. An old VW would boast of glaring search lights compared to Arafat.

It wasn’t long before we broke down. A broken fan-belt I believe. With a push start we were off again. Soon another problem emerged. After this was fixed we made it to Mayoni and finished the first section of our journey with Arafat crashing into a pile of wood, a bike and a truck on the other side of the road. Thankfully the cyclist had jumped to safety and no-one was seriously hurt. If the crash had taken anywhere else it could have been far more serious. The driver fled from the scene pursued by an angry truck driver.

Pastor Komba suggested we catch another bus. We opted to pay the extra for a taxi with bald tyres. Sure, we suffered a puncture, but did arrive in Dodoma in relative comfort.

In Dodoma we caught another bus and apart for crammed conditions arrived in Dar es Salaam 15 hours after we had left Sajaranda.

I have run out of internet time and shall continue the story in an other posting.

See you soon.

Richard

A Different View of Leadership

As you probably realise I do a lot of leadership teaching and training, not just within Liberty, but with leaders in other churches in Australia and Overseas. The more I study this topic the more convinced I am that generally speaking, the church doesn’t do leadership very well or very biblically. From a biblical point of view, especially from Jesus’ teachings, leadership should not separate people into leaders and non leaders in a way that gives the inference that the leaders are better than others.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi Everyone!

I arrived in Johannesburg this evening after a really successful time in Congo. In some ways it was hard to leave Congo. There is a tremendous openness to the Lord and we were treated very well. The Christians who organised our program made us feel very welcome and appreciated.

I met some great pastors with wonderful churches. The AOG here is doing very well and is very open to the body of Christ. I was really impressed with their churches. A Ps Vernon from S

witzerland came over as a missionary about forty years and has established a really good foundation. Those outside of the AOG are not in such good condition but some have a desire to

do better and overcome the disunity and other problems that have plagued them. We are hoping to be able to help them with ACMI and our Bible College courses.

Well that’s about it from Africa for this trip. Hope you are all doing well and that you are benefitting from the fast.

I will see you on Sunday!

God bless!

Richard

Greetings from Kinshasa, Congo!

It has been a great week with a Leaders’ Conference each morning and a church to preach in each evening. We have prayed for many people and seen numbers of instantaneous healings. I felt the Leader’s Conference was outstanding. About 1000 leaders attended and there has been a very warm response to what we shared. The team is getting on pretty well. I am sharing a room with Domenic Strangio. Some of you will know him. We are having plenty of laughs and apart from some outbursts of loud snoring that breaks out from time to time we are getting on famously.

We are being looked after very well by our hosts and we certainly have plenty to eat. French is spoken here and as a result I am trying hard to communicate with my very inadequate knowledge of French. There have been some very awkward times sitting in a pastor’s office with the two of us struggling to understand each other. We both breathe a sigh of relief when the interpreter arrives. Dave and Alexis you need to be here1

I think we have a free day tomorrow (Saturday) and then I preach on Sunday and start the trek back to Aussie on Monday. Before you know I will be back home.

Hope you are all receiving a lot from the 21 days of fasting. I am sure it is going to have a significant impact on the church and those involved. It is a bit difficult to join in from here, but I will looking forward to doing so when I return on the 9th July.

Once again thank you for all your support and prayer. It is greatly appreciated.

Have a great weekend.

Blessings,

Richard

 Well, here I am in the centre of Africa!

Would you believe that this morning I awoke to sound of drums beating out a message of war? This is not unusual here as we battle savage natives nearly every day as we make our way to those in need. Half of our team are sick with dysentry and yesterday we buried a pastor who was mauled by a lion. Today we enter into the mosquito infested area of central Congo. Our major dangers will come from the many poisonous snakes that abound in this area. We are told that it is only three weeks more trekking through thick jungle and crocodile inhabited swamps before we reach our destination.

Not exactly true. However the truth is that if I was here as an early missionary it would have been something like that. Praise the Lord things have changed. Now it is the sounds of machines from a building site outside our hotel window that awake us and  thick smog, diabolical roads, crazy drivers and showers that fail to work that challenge our faith.

The ministry has been going well. We have just completed a two day conference at the university which from all reports was very successful. We are seeing numbers of healings as a result of words of knowledge. Hopefully I will get some written testimonies. Spoke at a large church yesterday. The meeting went from 8.00am till 12.30pm!

Today is a free day. It is actually Congo’s Independence Day. I believe that we are going to do some sight-seeing.

Hope all is going well at Liberty. I miss you all but I know I am where I am supposed to be. Thanks for the prayer support. It has been great to know I am covered! I have been well and all is good in Kinshasa.

Blessings from Congo,

Richard 

I am in the Kingdom of Swaziland at present.

We have just finished our first day of conference. It all went pretty well I think. My friend, Pastor Tshalo from Cape Town shared really well and was certainly a good choice to join me as a speaker here. We are staying at Mountain Inn Hotel, which has a wonderful view – spectacular!

It is really good to be sharing my passion with these leaders. I think many Africans are sick and tired of their problems that seem to be getting worse and worse. Some are ready to do something to bring about transformation.

That’s all for now.

Richard

Greetings from Johannesburg in South Africa!

I survived the long haul across the Indian Ocean very well. With plenty of spare seats on the plane I managed to get a seat with plenty of room and stacks of leg-room.

I am staying at The Airport Grand Hotel, which is quite nice but not grand. However it certainly deserves the word “airport” in its title. Evry ten minutes a plane flies directly over the hotel.

Yesterday was a day of preparing for the rest of the trip and getting my visa for DR Congo. At around 10.00pm Peter Bondole arrived with my passport and the entry visa for DRC. Today I leave for Swaziland where I will be having a two day ACMI Confererence with around 50 senior pastors.

If I am staying in a place with the internet I will send some blogs through to keep you in touch with what’s happening over here. Whenever I am away I am especially aware of what a great lot of people we have at Liberty. Without a team of great people we could do very little as individuals. It is so true that being part of a team/family empowers each of the individuals in that team to do far more than they could by themselves.

Well, that’s about all for now. Please keep praying.

God bless you all!

Richard

It was good to receive some comments. Keep them coming!

I am starting to hear some good testimonies from some people who have joined the 21 day fast. God’s grace has really been there for some people to fast far more easily than they thought possible. We have been having some powerful times of prayer. At times I have finished the day knowing that the half hour of prayer we had at lunch time was the most important time of the day – more was accomplished then than for the rest of the year. Also I am hearing of some great visions, dreams and prophetic words that people are receiving.

Catch you later!

Richard