Receiving Thanks!

(written March 21, 2015)

This morning, Fanosie and I received guests at our hotel…guests who came to say thank you!

For the past two weeks Fanosie and I have had the amazing pleasure of training and learning together with more than 200 leaders from 7 different denominations!

Our guests were the regional leaders of these denominations – some had been a part of the training days, others had not – all brought heartwarming words of thanks!

Sitting around the table from left to right:

Pastor Kebede, Full Gospel

Pastor Nigusie, Meserete Kristos Church

Pastor Mamo, Mekane Yesus

Pastor Abraham, Genet Church

Pastor Mengesha, Hiwot Brihan

Pastor Solomon, Emmanuel

Pastor David, Emmanuel Baptist

Fanosie Legesse

Tsega Legesse (Fanosie's brother)

Pastor Desta, Coordinator of the East Shewa Emmanuel Evangelical Fellowship – our host.

To hear from these leaders that our training efforts had already begun to bear fruit makes this trip worth the effort.

One of the leaders shared that a group of their church planters, who had been part of the first week of training, indicated that the training time had given them new ideas and fresh perspectives on how they might re-engage an unreached area that had been hostile to them in the past. I was humbled to hear that my insistence that we wrestle with the implications of how Jesus sent out his disciples in Luke 10, had led this group to consider going into unreached communities as disciples in need…literally living out the challenge Jesus gave his disciples “do not take a purse or bag or sandals” and “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you…”

The invitation has also been extended to return…and as the morning turned into lunch, the pressure of the invitation began to increase…can we expect to see you again in 2016? How about 2017?

To each inquiry, Fanosie and I kept our response simple…only God knows!