Extraordinarily Blessed
December 4, 2018
Dear family,
Heidi and I want to communicate with our friends again this Christmas season about what is happening with Iris Global, and what we are learning and experiencing in the Lord these days. We feel extraordinarily blessed by our worldwide...
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A Pure Heart
January 25, 2016
“The human heart is the very throne and citadel of God. When he moves in, heaven begins.” —Sadhu Sundar Singh
I want to write about the heart. That’s what determines who we are, what we’re worth to God, what we mean to God—and what we mean to eac...
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A Missionary Legacy
December 16, 2015
[Every few years I have been re-posting this newsletter I wrote in 2001, and again I would like to remind those interested in the work Iris Global about one of the great catalysts of our ministry—my heritage from my grandfather. During this Christmas...
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Five Essential Core Values
November 2, 2015
Hi everybody!
A lot of people want to know more about our Iris values and “DNA.” I know I’ve written about these before, but I think in the Lord that it would really help if I sent you this. It’s a very fresh and to-the-point description that is a...
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Confidence in Him
February 12, 2015
“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1:9).
Faith and joy are rare commodities among us, but valuable and precious b...
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Onward and upward in Jesus!
February 1, 2015
Twenty years ago Heidi and I landed in Mozambique with a vision: to see what only God could do in the worst circumstances we could find in the world. We wanted to prove that the Sermon on the Mount was as valid there as anywhere. The blessings of the...
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Thanksgiving in the bush
November 27, 2014
To our worldwide Iris family!
This week, like every other week, on Thursday afternoon we piled into my Land Cruiser with four bright-eyed children, joyful Mozambican leaders and friends from around the world uncertain of what they were getting them...
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Relationship in the Kingdom
July 16, 2014
Our years in Pemba have been tumultuous, intense, filled with demonic attacks, violence, threats, opposition from the government, discouragement, theft, loss, disappointments, failures, staff turnover, and the constant, unrelenting demands of extreme...
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Faith in the Flood
April 10, 2014
First, here’s a Facebook quote written by one of our staff members.
Dawn Wilk:
Feeling very thought provoked after our staff meeting today… There I was, sitting in a room full of people who were just resurfacing from massive flooding; people wh...
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Our ministry outlook at Iris
November 9, 2013
We love video newsletters, but we also want to communicate more verbally and thoughtfully as well. For this reason we will start again to send out written newsletters along with more still/video galleries.
Recently I completed a Doctor of Ministry...
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Jesus our life in Mozambique
February 10, 2013
Dear friends of Iris around the world,
We in Iris continue to face more need, challenge, opposition, helplessness and perplexity than we can bear, yet daily God shows up and we soldier on. We are jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power...
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Iris India & Village of Joy
November 19, 2012
During this Thanksgiving holiday season God’s glorious love is being poured out on the poorest of the poor, and we want to thank you for your part in remembering the least of these!
Here are two more Iris Media videos. In the first, Iris Missionary...
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So much good news! New Iris Media Video Updates
October 23, 2012
One picture is worth 1,000 words, and we want to invite you to come and experience the beauty of God’s goodness in our lives in Mozambique. We have created an Iris Media team to produce video updates that will be posted on our website so we can celeb...
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Flying and bush conferences again!
July 24, 2012
Travel by Iris Air!
Thursday, July 22. It’s been a peaceful flight so far, flying at 10,500 feet westward toward Malawi from Pemba on our first long trip in our new Kodiak. The air is smooth, the sky cloudless. Our passengers are reading or doz...
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Another day at Iris
March 30, 2012
Outreach!
THURSDAY AFTERNOON, February 16! Time for outreach again! We do this every week! And we take all our visitors, ready or not, on the Iris version of an African bush safari, hunting for souls and the glory of God.
Packing starts early in th...
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Christmas with Jesus
December 21, 2011
Christmas in Pemba
THIS IS WHAT Christmas week looks like in our part of the world from our front yard, far from snow and sleigh bells. Even in the squelching heat, we revel in beauty all around. Ocean ripples arrive softly on the shore as the tide...
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Dreams becoming reality.
November 24, 2011
What a great time it is to be alive! Testimonies of the goodness of God flood our conversations and the experience of His goodness fills our lives! God is moving through the lives of a beautiful team. The following includes some of our stories. Enjoy...
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Jesus our perfect Savior!
September 7, 2011
South Sudan
WE ARE IN AFRICA among the poorest of the poor because we love seeing what our perfect Savior can do! For example, here’s Elaina, a fifteen-year-old when she was brought to our Iris base in Yei, Sudan, by the UN. She escaped to the Sud...
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Children's Day at Iris!
June 5, 2011
OUR CHILDREN could hardly sleep last night. Today is their day! Our magnificent staff in each base in Mozambique have been working for months to prepare for this fabulous day. Each center has a giant “festa,” a feast of feasts, to celebrate like neve...
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Another day in the life of Iris!
January 29, 2011
THE PHOTO GALLERY
This time my latest gallery has over 100 new photos showing you everything I can of our recent activities and ministry world. You can see more ocean baptisms, village outreaches, Mozambicans of all ages in their cultural glory, chil...
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Core values at Iris: simple, controversial and not optional!
September 8, 2010
IRIS GLOBAL LEADERSHIP MEETINGS IN PEMBA
It was an unlikely spot for a leadership conference aiming for global revival! Hidden away in our cozy little African prayer hut on the beach, with stiff ocean breezes whipping our crude canvas walls, we gathe...
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Revival as missions, pure and simple!
June 25, 2010
JESUS OUR FOCUS
“But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3 NASB).
We stay on track through all the differing ideas and strea...
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Enjoying our God!
May 8, 2010
IS REVIVAL NORMAL?
The Westminster Shorter Catechism, written in the 1640s by English and Scottish divines to educate lay persons in matters of belief, is part of the grandest doctrinal statements to come out of the English Reformation. It is compose...
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Pressing on to the best yet!
February 27, 2010
Heidi and I are back in Pemba after traveling since January on an intense ministry schedule that has taken us all over Asia, to Europe and across Africa. It has been a thrill to see the power of God fall on hungry believers all over the world. The Bo...
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Christmas in Pemba
December 21, 2009
It’s a dark, rainy day, unusual for Pemba. The southern hemisphere’s summer is upon us, and our fans feel so good in the heat and humidity. No white Christmas here, but we have been celebrating the season in our own way, and spirits are high. In a fe...
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The spreading kingdom
December 8, 2009
NEW LIFE AT LONDO
The water is warm and clear, absolutely beautiful, lapping quietly on the sandy beach. Rich green trees line the shore, trunks half-covered by the high tide. The sounds of splashing and the laughter of children are all around. Beaut...
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Pressing on
September 24, 2009
PRESSING ON
Heidi and I would both be dead by now if our doctors had been right.
A few years ago Heidi was in the hospital for a month with a staph infection that went out of control. The doctors gave up on her and told her she could write her tombst...
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Well drilling and a new children's center!
September 11, 2009
WELL DRILLING PROGRAM
I want to give you a quick update on our well drilling program. There has hardly been a week that goes by without something happening in this amazing journey. As you probably know, one of Iris’s core values is “going lower still...
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A Day in Our Lives
July 19, 2009
A DAY IN OUR LIVES
We went out on outreach again last night. It was a perfectly normal outreach. Which is to say, practically the entire village gave their lives to the Lord on the first night, and one young boy who had been deaf received his hearing...
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July Iris Update
July 5, 2009
Dear Friends of Iris,
Four years ago, in the South of Mozambique, one of our African youths shared his dream to see Mozambican worship music change the world. At the time, no resources were available for that music to be distributed, but his vision...
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News From Pemba
May 23, 2009
Video, Heidi Introducing New Childrens Program Building
Dear Friends of Iris,
God is moving in the hearts of many children at the Pemba base. Some of you may already know that we feed the children lunch every day from the surrounding village. Jesus...
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Unstoppable Love and a Boat
March 20, 2009
Greetings from Iris to all our friends and family around the world; blessings, joy and peace.
As another wonderful outreach in the north of Mozambique concludes, I want to thank all of our amazing donors once again. Your love for the poor and your re...
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Thank You! We Have Been Blessed!
December 28, 2008
Followed By Reports From Base Centers In Pemba; Zimpeto; Lichinga; And Chimoio, Mozambique; Iris Madagascar; Iris Sierra Leone And Iris Sudan
God has been blessing us at Iris. We wanted to send you some testimonies from a few of our Iris bases aroun...
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Ground Breaking News!
September 12, 2008
Victory: after years of praying, planning, crying, working and networking, today — Friday, September 12 — we broke ground with our enormous well drilling rig in Pemba, Mozambique! Rejoice with us!
We want to thank everyone who has been involved in th...
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Living on the Edge
September 7, 2008
These are exciting times. Despite the worst Satan can do, we and our churches in several provinces continue to grow in number and strength. The Kingdom of God is upon us. The power of the age to come is breaking into our world on earth. We stay fille...
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The Great Wedding Feast
July 18, 2008
FROM HEIDI: THE GREAT WEDDING FEAST
Thank you for remembering us as we stay hidden in our beloved Mozambique. Thank you for supporting all the hungry people Jesus has asked us to feed spiritually and physically. Even though months have gone by withou...
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His Presence in the fire
December 24, 2007
FROM ROLLAND: HIS PRESENCE IN THE FIRE
The cool wind of the dark night blustered against our faces, and most of us were wrapped up snugly with jackets, sweaters, blankets and wool hats. We were gathered up on a little hill, and so felt exposed to the...
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FLOODS OF REVIVAL
March 6, 2007
MORRUMBALA, SATURDAY, 3 MARCH 2007
Heidi and I have one more day in the flood zone before we fly our Cessna back to Pemba. So we are up early at the World Vision compound in Morrumbala, loading our Land Rovers and big trucks for a trip to more refuge...
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Christmas in Revival
December 22, 2006
SOMEWHERE IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: FRIDAY, 8 DECEMBER 2006
The spinning wheels are spraying mud as once more we push and try to get the old Toyota Prado to move. Wiping globs of mud off my glasses, hat and shirt in the cold night air, I t...
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Overnight in the Bush
September 27, 2006
Village outreaches are Iris at its most basic. This is the core of what we do. Here is where we meet the poor, the remote, the forgotten lost sheep of the world. Here the Gospel shines deeply into the darkness, facing head-on our frail human predicam...
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African Diamonds in the Making
May 29, 2006
The sparkling edges of the Indian Ocean are rippling gently on the rocky sand before me at low tide here in Pemba. The brilliant noon sun is accenting ribbons of green, turquoise and blue tropical water with intense flashes of reflected light that ad...
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Christmas In Revival
January 10, 2006
26 DECEMBER 2005
I can hear the waves of the Indian Ocean softly wash up on the rocks and coral of Pemba’s beach out in the dark. The air is warm and still. All is peaceful at our funky, thatched house far to the north in Mozambique. And it is three...
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Revival Fire for the Poor in Spirit
September 14, 2005
LILONGWE, MALAWI, 8 SEPTEMBER 2005
I’m back in Africa after weeks of conferences in the West. And I’m facing another kind of conference: a gathering of the poor, hungry, ragged, barefoot and sick from among our churches in the central region of Malaw...
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Congo and Beyond!
June 7, 2005
SOMEWHERE IN CENTRAL AFRICA, 27 APRIL 2005
Dark rain clouds loom on the northwest horizon, directly in our flight path. Row after row of mountain ridges stand before us. We have no weather briefing. We have never flown this route before. We are headi...
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Nias Island: Onward and Upward!
April 23, 2005
SUMATRA, FRIDAY, 15 APRIL 2005
Our Merpati Airlines Fokker F-27 is old. The interior is faded and stained. The seats are frayed, and tiny. My briefcase won’t fit under the seat. But at least I am on the plane, along with Steve Lazar, director of our...
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Glory from Village to Village
April 8, 2005
Kakala is grinning broadly, so excited. Heidi is prompting her syllable by syllable, and she is answering perfectly into the microphone. This stirs the whole watching village, which knows that Kakala has been a deaf mute all her life. They run to get...
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Khartoum to Chennai: Jesus on the Move!
February 5, 2005
SUDAN
The children’s voices are strong, determined, fervent. I hear them all around me. Down myself on dust and dirt, I look up briefly and realize this is no ordinary children’s church. Eight-year-olds are pounding their fists on mud-clay walls cryi...
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One Night in Pemba
November 16, 2004
SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF PEMBA… TUESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2004
The night is so dark. The road south of Pemba is finally paved, but the villages we drive through are the same as they have been for centuries. Each seems still, quiet, lifeless, almost ghost-like in...
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Faith, Love and Joy in the Bush
June 29, 2004
Francisco is smiling, seated comfortably on the platform in a coat and tie, obviously very special for him. And this is a very special day — Resurrection Sunday! It’s Easter in this poor township in South Africa, and today Francisco is getting marrie...
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Faith and Revival
February 28, 2004
The rain is beating on the windshield of our little Cessna. Five of us are packed in cozily together cruising along at eight thousand feet. The heater is on. My daughter Crystalyn, my niece Marissa and one of our boys are in the back, wrapped in slee...
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On we go in Jesus!
October 21, 2003
What does revival look like among our churches here in Africa? Big crowds, exciting meetings, singing and dancing until all hours? Sometimes, but here’s one portrait that focuses clearly on what is different about the heart of our God.
Iris Africa ha...
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Pressing Toward Revival
August 27, 2003
Friday, 4 July — The quiet little town of Chimoio is getting dark. Cool wind is gusting in from the lonely hills, and the sun is disappearing over nearby Zimbabwe to the West. Heidi, Surpresa and I just flew in to encourage our believers here, and we...
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From Glory to Glory
June 22, 2003
Tuesday, 3 June — Silver streaks of smoke lie painted over the marshy plain before us. They stream north against us from dozens of fires, held low by strong winds. We descend through hazy, gray skies in the sunset, straining to see our dirt airstrip...
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The Chicken Church
April 16, 2003
Our churches in Niassa Province wanted another conference, this time somewhere we had never been before, like Mocuba, in the center of the province. There was serious food shortage in Niassa, and many of our people in the bush had not seen a good cro...
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Gathering the Harvest
December 24, 2002
It’s Christmas Eve tonight. Maputo is hot. Thunderstorms gather and darken overhead. My fan is blowing on me full strength. We are far from a white Christmas Western-style. But through my office windows I can hear the shouts of our children playing....
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Revival in Heat and Famine
November 4, 2002
We have a thirty-knot headwind, adding an hour to our flight to Beira up on the coast of central Mozambique. The turbulence is rough. It’s a hot day, even at seven thousand feet, and our air vents are fully open. There’s four of us, Steve, Gordon, An...
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More than Conquerors
August 13, 2002
3 AUGUST, MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE
Surpresa Sithole, our Mozambican national director, seems incapable of a negative thought. Brimming over with the Holy Spirit, he grins broadly and laughs easily in all circumstances. He is my constant companion in the bu...
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Rags and Riches in the Bush
June 4, 2002
16 MAY 2002, BANGULA, MALAWI
Again I am racing for time. Malawi does not permit night landings in the bush, and I have only minutes before official last light. I just left Blantyre and am sinking down toward southern Malawi’s sea level plateau, an ar...
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Jesus on the Move
April 30, 2002
PEMBA, MOZAMBIQUE
It is late Saturday night, and again we are meeting in the moonlight among the poor in a far corner of Mozambique. A crowd is gathered at the front of our unfinished mud, stick and rock church watching the Jesus film. Children are s...
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Revival and Famine in Malawi
March 25, 2002
BANGULA, MALAWI
The full moon is bright, casting sharp shadows from the thick trees overhead. The warm night air is loud with the cries of hundreds of voices. In the dirt alongside the road, without lights or sound equipment, village pastors are on t...
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Back from the Dead
January 14, 2002
Lino is intense. His eyes are wide and lit up, his hands are waving and gesturing. He turns and shifts excitedly. He can’t be quieted. He knows what he’s talking about, and he sounds like it. He speaks with authority, and I am listening, taking down...
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Jesus in the Heat and Dirt
December 12, 2001
“We have to go to the east bank,” Surpresa tells me. “Nobody ever goes there. The people need to see you. We must encourage them.” And so we plan a bush conference in a tiny village across the river to the east from the main road leading down through...
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A Missionary Legacy
November 21, 2001
The rocks are slippery in the dark. I slide, catch myself, and notice with my dimming flashlight that I’m at the edge of a cliff. The footpath gets steeper and even rockier. I come to streams and choose stepping stones carefully. I and half-a-dozen o...
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The Face of Revival
November 5, 2001
Night is falling. Towering rain clouds threaten across the horizon ahead. Lilongwe has been reporting an intense downpour all afternoon. Our pastors have been waiting for us there, patiently and eagerly, for days. We’ve been promising them a conferen...
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What Happened at Morrumbala?
August 21, 2001
Here’s the sequel to our last newsletter, “HOW TO HAVE A CONFERENCE (for the poor)”:
“Nothing’s getting across the Zambezi,” Darryl announces over the phone. “The ferries aren’t running and I had to drive my Isuzu back down the Caia road. The truck...
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How to Have a Conference (For the Poor)
August 5, 2001
Zambezia Province wants a conference. Our hundreds of churches there are far away and have been left out of previous conferences. They don’t have telephones or post offices. The people live in mud huts. Heavy rains have washed away their crops. Their...
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I Was Thirsty and you Gave Me Drink
June 16, 2001
Nampula’s lights finally appear dead ahead in the fading sunset as we descend out of the clouds. We followed the coast up from the Zambezi, then turned inland, and now we see the rocky hills of Mozambique’s northern interior, a thousand miles from ou...
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Easter in Marromeu
May 3, 2001
The East is glowing. Resurrection glory is painting itself steadily and irresistibly across the Mozambican sky. Dark, gray layers of cloud low over the sea yield one after another to color and warmth, and then pure, fresh brightness. The air is still...
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Jesus is in Marromeu!
March 25, 2001
The rain is pouring down. It’s pitch dark. Mud and water are all around. Clouds of mosquitoes are biting. The air is steamy hot. Heidi and I are tightly packed on a little cement platform under a tin roof along with hundreds of villagers. Our sound s...
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Dangerous Cholera Outbreak / God's Response
February 28, 2001
The rivers of central Mozambique continue to rise, cutting many thousands of our own church members off from food supplies and medical help. Upstream dams are being opened up to prevent them from overflowing and breaking. The rains continue, and now...
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Disastrous Flooding Again this Year
February 21, 2001
God isn’t done with his drastic dealings with Mozambique. Almost ceaseless rain for the last month up and down the country has resulted in the overflowing of major river systems again this year. Last year’s incredible flooding, the worst in memory an...
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Christmas for the Poor
December 26, 2000
”When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame,...
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Crusading in the Bush
September 2, 2000
MAPUTO, SEPTEMBER 2
Malawi stretches ahead, its hills rising seven thousand feet below us from the Zambezi River valley of Mozambique. Pure, dazzling cumulus clouds add grandeur to the fresh, clear air of the north, far from the smokey brush fires th...
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