CLEAR Conference in Soroti

By Anthony:

In August 2022, a Resonate partner called LEMA hosted a theological conference in Soroti where we live. LEMA has a school in Nigeria and partners with Resonate there, and they have just started a school in Uganda as well. Joshua Amaezechi who leads LEMA was a classmate with us at Calvin Seminary. Resonate partnered with LEMA for this conference and it was a joyful time of reunion, fellowship, and teaching. Here is Josh on the left with me.

The conference was a big success with around 250 pastors and leaders present. There were plenary speeches and then breakout workshops. We were grateful that LEMA invited Mary VandenBerg from Calvin Seminary to teach at the conference. We know Mary and had her as a teacher, so it was great to have her and her husband Skip visit us. They were a great encouragement to us personally in our ministry and a joy to spend time with. Mary led a workshop on the Kingdom of God which is a very important topic here, one that is not talked about much. Thank you Skip for your photography! The good photos in this post are from him.

 

The conference was held at Soroti Secondary School which has a large number of classrooms and halls.

I led a plenary on God's sovereignty and the problems of the prosperity gospel. Pastors found it to be a very new teaching and very challenging, but it was warmly received and many people told me how much they appreciated it. I decided I should try to wear my suit at least once every three years, so I took it out for my plenary. And then Sara convinced me I should wear my clerical collar. I have never had so many of my friends needing to take my photo, haha. Now I know that people think I generally dress like a too casual American.

Many of our Resonate colleagues were able to lead workshops. Jonny Kabiswa led a workshop on community development, Stephen Omoko led a workshop on pastoral care, Barbara Kakembo taught about caring for people with disabilities, and I taught about setting up a local church's benevolence ministry. My friend Bishop Okwalinga Emmanuel led a workshop on preaching Christ in the Old Testament. We also had a fascinating panel discussion on the state of theological education in Africa. 

Emmanuel during his plenary:

 

Mary VandenBerg with Barbara Kakembo from Resonate.

 

Me with Jonny Kabiswa, my Resonate colleague and Helping Without Hurting in Africa co-author (center), and Stephen Omoko (left) who works on Timothy Leadership Training with me.

 

Mary, Emmanuel and his wife Joyce, Jonny, and us at our home.

Other facilitators were from the US, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya from various theological colleges and organizations. Since the conference was such a big success, LEMA is planning to do another one in the coming years. Here are two photos of the facilitators and conference planners.

Permit me to share a bunch of photos of me teaching because it's rare that I think about having someone take photos of me in my work.

Snapshots from Daily Life

By Anthony:

We hope you enjoy these photos and videos from the last few months. First, here is a picture taken from Soroti's big market building, overlooking part of the city and Soroti Rock:

Here is a photo of Robert Okello, a PAG pastor we know well. He is one of the pastors we have been sponsoring to complete a degree online through Christian Leaders Institute. An in-person school in Uganda would have been preferable but it's hard for pastors to leave their churches and families for so long. He was very happy to receive the diploma for his Associate of Divinity degree! If you have wanted to get theological training but don't have time or money to go to a college in person, I recommend Christian Leaders Institute to you. And for those who don't need the actual degree, but still want more knowledge, you can still take classes online at their website for free.

This picture is self-explanatory:

Here is Sara with Beorn:

Here is a video of a hailstorm we experienced in Kampala:

Here is a video of our colleague Stephen explaining how he harvests and cooks "white ants" (we also eat them).

Sara reuniting with some of her Bible study youth during one of their term holidays:

Sara and Walter (one of our guards) harvested the first jackfruit the tree in our yard produced. It is a fruit Sara loves, but which I loathe and even the smell makes me want to leave the house!

We had to fix our vehicle at the mechanic recently. Our mechanic did not have one intern, but literally had around 30 student interns that were going to be with him for several weeks. It was quite a crowd of people working on our vehicle.

Sara's ducklings. It's an old picture, they have already grown up!

The only problem with ducks is that you have this every morning:

This is a group of women that Sara taught about chaya. It is one of the things she commonly teaches people about as she shares with them stems so that they can plant it. Slowly but surely she is spreading it around Uganda.

Sara roasting a marshmallow:

A nice photo Sara took near our house when it was raining in the distance:

This proverb makes us laugh and cry as it is truly how many Ugandans live. At least once a week, a random friend will tell us that you can't trust anyone. Therefore, we often teach about forming close friendships and how to build trust and keep confidentiality.

You never know what you will see on the road. Sara managed to get a picture of two precarious setups at the same time. There is a bicycle underneath all of those baskets:

Interesting creatures in hotel rooms:

I went to the burial recently of a friend, Pastor Opio Brian. This is the same pastor that Resonate made a video about. His brother is the Bishop of Apac PAG Pastorate and also our long-time friend. Brian had just graduated from TLT and he was going to be an excellent facilitator. He died of spinal tuberculosis after weeks of sickness. He was a man of solid reputation and integrity, a real servant of the church and of the community. He was well loved by many and I think there were around 2000 people at the burial. At the burial, they invited me to speak briefly, along with other TLT facilitators who had known Brian. His wife is now left with many young children. Please pray for the family. Here are some photos and videos from that burial. At the burial, they announced that another of the pastors from the same area had just passed away, from tetanus, after stepping on a nail.

When it rained there wasn't much some people could do except use their own chairs as umbrellas.

Guest Post: Mary VandenBerg

Hello! My name is Mary VandenBerg and I am a professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI. Back in the Spring, Anthony and a colleague from a partner institution, LEMA, invited me to come to Uganda and speak at a conference that Resonate and LEMA were sponsoring in Soroti. It was clear soon after the invitation came that God was calling me to do this, in part because my husband, Skip, was willing to accompany me. Thus, we ended up in Uganda in late August. I will just add that this was definitely NOT on any “bucket list,” but I want to give just a brief picture of how God worked and what he taught us during our time there. I will divide this into four parts: The Country, The People, The Work, and Transformation.

The Country

Sara and Anthony encouraged us to come to Uganda a bit early and enjoy the country. We did that, arriving about a week ahead of the conference and spending several days on a trip to Murchison Falls National Park, about a 7 hour drive from Kampala, a trip they had recommended. Skip and I both love being outdoors, observing and learning about the natural world. The trip was a wonderful opportunity to see this uniquely beautiful country and the unique vegetation and wildlife it offers. Seeing animals we usually only see in a zoo, both on game drives and on a boat ride on the Nile river was amazing. The short hike to Murchison Falls was also very interesting. The Falls itself is one of the most powerful we have ever seen. But at least as incredible was the savanna itself. The wide open space where land and sky seem to go forever makes the plains of the “big sky” state of Montana look small. The beauty of the country overall is breathtaking both in places like the National Park, and on nearly every drive we took with Sara and Anthony. It is not hard to see why humans fall into the trap of worshiping the creation instead of the Creator.

The People

The highlight of our visit to Uganda was meeting the church there. As Sara wrote earlier, we traveled with them to Morulem, a few hours from Soroti. Sara introduced the community there to a new, easy to grow nutritious plant called chaya on Saturday, also leading a Bible study. I preached Sunday to a fairly large crowd gathered at the church. The preaching was preceded by at least a hour of worship including boisterous praise from men, women, and children. Despite having my notes blow away at one point, it was an extraordinary experience for me. We were warmly received and greeted by the crowd, often by the words, “praise the Lord.” We learned that the appropriate response was “Amen” and soon found ourselves greeting them as they had greeted us. It is a challenging area in which to work. The roads are difficult to travel and very slow. The churches are dispersed across a wide area. It is hard to imagine how Pastor David manages all the work. 

We drove back to Soroti Sunday afternoon and the CLEAR conference began Monday morning. It was a very busy schedule each day and we went home exhausted but full of joy. Skip served wherever he was needed, distributing handouts, taking pictures, and generally helping out. He even helped resolve a problem with Anthony and Sara’s car! I taught about the Kingdom of God, with a special emphasis on God’s power and control. This is important in Uganda because many people there mistakenly believe that Satan has nearly as much power as God. Anthony coached me to emphasize for this audience that God alone is almighty king and that Satan is merely a created being with limited power. Yes, he can cause problems. But he is on God’s leash and nothing he does is out of God’s control. Read the first chapter of Job for a vivid picture of this.  

The Work (Anthony and Sara)

Anthony and Sara are humble, willing servants of God in Uganda. You already know that, but we got to see that. The work they do is amazing. Their dedication to the Gospel is clear in everything they do. Sara could just do the agricultural development work like what she did in Morulem. But she takes the time to begin with Bible study, even tying her teaching to her work in a way that is not artificial. The breadth of her knowledge as an agriculturalist is incredible. We enjoyed her descriptions of the various plants in her garden in Soroti, along with how those plants could be used. Did you know that you can eat not just pumpkins, but pumpkin greens? We had no idea! We also learned about cover crops, giant avocados, and so much more. We saw Sara plant a sucker from a banana tree (meaning she just stuck it in the ground), and returned two days later to see a new green shoot that was already almost 12 inches high! And if you want to know what bird you are looking at, just ask her. She knows.

Anthony is a gifted teacher. His plenary at the conference was well organized, biblical, and engaging. There were 250 people at CLEAR and he kept their interest for well over an hour, even getting them to interact with him at various points in his presentation. He is passionate about the Gospel and passionate about teaching and equipping the ministry leaders in Uganda for their work. We learned that many, if not most, of the pastors there are not paid, so helping them lead their churches while also working another job to provide an income for their families is part of his task.

In the U.S., we sometimes speak of “power couples,” meaning a married couple where both the man and the woman are in high-powered careers. I would suggest that from a Christian perspective, Sara and Anthony are a power couple. Their work together through the power of God’s Spirit is changing lives and shaping the church in Uganda. I can’t think of anything more powerful than the work they are doing. It is inspiring!

Transformation

Both Skip and I had a wonderful experience in Uganda. In my case, the opportunity to join Anthony and Sara in a very small way in their work in Uganda was transformative. I left the U.S. depleted after a very busy academic year that stretched into the summer, and having to conduct a funeral for my nephew the day before we left. I truly wondered why I said yes. Had I heard God wrong? How would I manage a full schedule in Uganda? How could I know if my preaching and teaching would be appropriate for the people I was ministering to?

I was smiling as I wrote those words because of course, when God calls you he equips you. I know that. But I had forgotten that, at least to some extent. I realized that in the west, many of us live with the illusion that we are in control. We plan. We prepare. We do. There is nothing wrong with that in and of itself. But in a country like Uganda, you quickly realize how little control you have. The electricity randomly goes out. The internet may or may not work. It may take an hour and a half to get somewhere or it may take 3 hours. Events may start when they are scheduled to begin or they may start an hour later. And that is just the beginning.

God taught me – again, because he has taught me this before – that I am not in control. That his plan works best when I do my part, and then surrender to him. And he reminded me, that when I truly let go, the possibilities for what he will do are unimaginable, not just for those I am ministering to, but for me.

I left home empty. I returned full. Spiritually refreshed. Ready once again to serve where God is asking me to serve, but with hands clenched less tightly than before. Praise the Lord! Amen!