Beginning March 11th, 2007 - I will be heading to South Sudan for at least one year with Samaritan's Purse. Hopefully I will be able to keep this blog up although I am sure it will not be as good as my cousins, at least it should give you some idea of what I am up too. I do covet your prayers during this time of transition.
My job in Sudan will be to locate and verify the history of destroyed churches in Sudan.
Here is a story from one pastor there:
"Philip Ayou Kuku was spared much of the persecution and hardships that many pastors faced during Sudan’s civil war. Most of those years, he was in the national capital serving as general secretary of the Sudan Church of Christ.But as soon as the war ended last year, Pastor Philip returned to the remote village in the Nuba Mountains where he was ordained more than 40 years ago, where the brick church built by missionaries had been destroyed, and where he didn’t even have a grass hut to sleep in.What compelled him to leave his family behind and go to such a desolate and dangerous place? The news that Samaritan’s Purse was going to rebuild churches like his all across southern Sudan.“The people here need a church and a pastor,” said Pastor Philip, who preaches to congregations meeting under shade trees in five war-ravaged villages in the Nuba Mountains while the buildings are under construction. “This gives them hope.”Pastor Philip beamed with pride as he watched Nuba workers pressing concrete bricks and raising the walls, incorporating the one standing corner of his old church. Construction takes about three months, and then the workers move to another village.Samaritan’s Purse has similar teams building churches in locations across southern Sudan. We also are developing Bible schools to teach pastors and evangelists. God is raising up new church leaders to replace those martyred during the war, but very few have even basic Bible training.The people of southern Sudan see the peace agreement as an answer to prayer and an opportunity for evangelism, with churches at the center of the communities they will rebuild. As Isaiah prophesied, “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings” (Isaiah 58:12, NIV). "
