Day 2 in Kumi, Uganda

It is the 2nd morning here in Kumi, a small town here in northern Uganda. The landscape is indentical to what I’ve seen throughout the country – dry red dirt with small brush interspersed with big Mango trees. Scattered throughout are little round huts made from mud bricks and straw roofs. It kinda reminds me of the pictures I saw as a kid of the houses that the Three Little Pigs lived in.
The bishop I am with had a crusade here years ago and hundreds got saved. He says the Lord spoke to him to build a church here, not in the city. It is pretty big by Ugandan standards but it is only walls and a roof. The floor is made of hardened cow dung mixed with mud, which makes for a rock hard surface. There are no windows or doors, only openings in the walls. While it may seem crude, it works just fine. Africans don’t need anything fancy to worship God – a lesson we could learn from them.
My challenge, however, is to break open their minds to grasp the enormity of what God is offering them. Just like most of us, our eyes and ears are so used to “church as usual” that we have a hard time breaking wide open in total realization of the spiritual realities of Eternity. Our ears are stopped, our eyes are dim because the fallow ground of our hearts is not broken through repentance. We don’t even know what to repent of, never mind that we even need to.
Yesterday, the Lord pierced their hearts with passage after passage that emphasized that if we do not win souls, we may not be allowed to enter Heaven. The whole idea of bringing forth fruit started with Rachael’s cry in Genesis 30:1 and went through the parables, including the Good Samaritan which very clearly states the answer to the lawyer’s question of how do you gain Eternal Life. Simple. Win souls. Don’t pass by the wounded sinners like the Priest (read Pastors) or the Levite (read Church people) do. The True Vine, the Strait Way, The Church of Ephesus … on and on, the Scriptures came forward and pierced them to the quick of their souls. Very simple – you say you want revival? Pay the price! You say you want to go to Heaven? Win souls. If you don’t, your salt has lost it’s savour and you are good for nothing.
They get it. In America, I’d probably be thrown out the door for accusing and offending everyone there, especially the pastors. Here they cheer and fall to their knees in repentance. That’s why revival will come here first, and then, if at all, maybe to America … if she repents.
But first, I have to preach under the anointing so that God can open blind eyes, open the ears, and pierce their hearts. We’re talking bringing forth the Word that breaketh the rock in pieces. Dear God, please, please, please, give me the power to preach your Word like you would preach it!
Today will be Day 2 here in Kumi. I have no idea what God will bring forth; I only know that He cares a helluva lot more for these people than I ever could, so I guess it’s a safe bet to trust that He is going do what He is going to do.
Dale