“Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.” Isaiah 12:5
“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” Psalm 23:5
The Lord will guide you always: He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11
“With Joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” Isaiah 12:3
28 of the 34 Pastors just finished a conference in Mbarara. The theme of the conference was Vision and Call. Hab 2:2-3
“Then the Lord replied ”Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it. For the revelation waits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.”
Here is a part of Emmy’s email from a few days ago:
I started by speaking to the Pastors that there is a reason why the Lord has gathered us all here.
The first reason is to refresh and encourage us after all that straggle and challenges in the work we are doing to serve Him in our Churches. Yes Pastors there is a time because of the challenges and pains you’re passing through in the Ministry has caused to reach at a point of saying like Prophet Elijah that “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers!” 1King 19:4 The Lord had used him in a might way to transform Israelites and through him the Lord performed great things like the time he called fire and consumed his enemies. But this time because of Jezebel he couldn’t remember that he can call even fire from heaven. He ran away in fear. He was totally discouraged and asked to die.
You’re here Pastor you have been also in that state by the time you came here. You have been about to abandon the Church you’re Pastoring because of the fire and challenges you’re passing through.
You have been regretting why the Lord called you to be a Pastor.But the Lord’s eye is not blind to not see what you’re passing through and His ears are not deaf to not hear your prayers.
He has brought you here for 4 days just to reveal to you His amazing plan for you.
Elijah walked in the strength of the food which the Lord gave him for 40 days more to the Mountain of the Lord. I trust the Spiritual food which you will get in this conference will help you to walk towards the presence of the Lord for some time. Fellow worker in the field of the Lord, it is not time to quit but it is time to strengthen ourselves because the harvest is ready but the laborers are few. Luke 10:2
It is time to keep that Call and Vision which the Lord gave you by the time He called you into Ministry. The enemy is fighting very much to make you lose it but hold it tightly beloved. I continued by telling them that that dream which the Lord gave you one day it will come to reality.
Pastors have given testimonies how this conference has really helped them. Some Pastors has told their friends that really they have been about to quit the Ministry but they thank God for those who planned this conference for them. Every evening from 7pm-9pm we have been having the time of prayer and they have been praying in power. We have prayed for a number of things beloved including the prayer request which you sent dear. We trust the faithful Lord will surely answer all our prayers. We prayed for the Parental Care Ministries USA Board members and all donors and their Families.
We had a meeting and came up with these resolutions:
1.Pastors gave thanks to me for being used by the Lord to bless them all that much.
2.Pastors asked me to let you know that they are really appreciate you and all friends in US who have supported our Ministry all that much.
3.Pastors promised to keep you all in their prayers.
4.They asked me at least every year to have this kind of Conference two times.They told me that not all Overseers are willing to organize such conferences for the Pastors they lead but they are very good.We really pass through lots of problems and you reach at the point of being unfruitful to the people you serve but this is very good I wish this conference was for the all week not only 4 days. Pastor James said.
5.We discussed about our team of Evangelism which we have formed to keep on moving all around the Churches and will pray about the Lord providing a PA system and a truck to do so.
6. We also discussed about the Church needs and we have 6 Churches which have no their own Land. But each Church needs to get it’s own Land. Then Other Churches they have Land but they are straggling to build the Churches. Here I asked them to start making bricks with their Church members and we shall all stand in prayers to ask the Lord to provide all other building material which we cannot make by ourselves like Cement,Iron sheets etc. But you cannot start praying to God to build you the Church when you are folding your hands not to do what you can do and wait the faithful God to do for you what you cannot do.
7.Some Pastors houses are really in a very bad state ie Pastor Reuben’s house.They really facing a very big challenge but we also asked them to do the same thing.To make the bricks and after making bricks they can now show God those bricks and ask him to give them the other requirements.
Pastor Emmy
We have visited Pastor Reuben’s house twice: once in March and once in November of 2008. Many of you know Pastor Reuben as Emmy’’s #2. He does an amazing job encouraging so many with what the Lord has given him. He pastors Emmy’s big 1st church in rural Uganda that he left to come to Mbarara. As you can see above , his house is a humble place……..off a long narrow road that is often hard to get to, especially in rainy season. In fact they built the church totally out of bricks before even fortifying their own homes with bricks. I can still hear Pastor Reuben playing the drum, his wife singing so beautifully and the church with a couple hundred people filled with Christ’s love. It’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Pastor Emmy is concerned that the walls of Reuben’s home may fall down and Pastor Reuben is making bricks one by one to hold his house together. He hopes to have all of the bricks made very soon.
We have been greeted here so warmly each time we have visited. I think of this place often as I sit in my own fortified house, reclining on my comfy couch. What have I had to sacrifice for my faith? Have I built the bricks of God’s church before I made plans concerning my own home? I think of the stories he and Emmy share of the men in the church carrying the long wooden beams 2 miles on their backs from the distant road all the way to the church site. These pastors have sacrificially given so much more to Him before taking care of themselves and their own homes. What a testimony to the right priorities in life. I think that is why this place makes such an impact on me. If forces me to look at what I am doing, look at what He has given me, and make decisions that are for the Kingdom of God and not of this world.
Here is another picture of Reuben’s wife in her house after lying one of their children down for a nap. Here is a lady who is in love with the Lord and is so thankful for the provision of this home. If only you could hear her sing. Oh Lord, to have joy like her….putting her youngest child down for a nap on a small straw mat in a barren home without electricity or running water in remote rural Uganda…….and smiling with a grateful heart.
1 Peter 2:5
Come and, like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house, for a holy priesthood, to offer up those spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.
Thank you for helping to build God’s spiritual home……… within the hearts of these beautiful Ugandan people.
******* BREAKING GOOD NEWS FLASH***********BREAKING GOOD NEWS FLASH****************************
Fresh water is now flowing at Parental Care School Mbarara. The orphans have been drinking deeply and washing in the water from the brand new well that is up and running today. The district water supervisor has analyzed the quality of the water and it is good. We hope to have some powerful pictures very soon. Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In May of 2008 a nonprofit ministry was formed in Tyler Texas. During this past several months the Lord has been helping us understand the work He desires to see accomplished in Uganda. Our motto verse is, Isaiah 61:1: ”The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because the Lord has annointed me to bring the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners. ”
PCM’s vision:
P is for Provider. We at Parental Care Ministries are seeking to provide for God’s children both physically and spiritually.
Matthew 6:31 ” For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.”
Jer 33:3 “Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.”
C is for Comforter. Our goal is to comfort and encourage God’s children.
2 Cor 1:3-4 “I am the Father who comforts you in all your afflictions.”
Psalm 34:18 “When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you.”
M is for Must Proclaim. We must proclaim the Good News.
Mark 13:10 “And the Good News must first be proclaimed to all the nations.”
Romans 1:16 ” I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
The following is an explanation as to why we chose the banana tree as the logo for Parental Care Ministries:
Banana trees can grow nearly anywhere. They just need a mild climate. In Uganda, these trees are everywhere. We mistakenly thought that each plant just continually produced a big bunch of bananas time after time and all you had to do was cut down the bananas when you were hungry. We were wrong. Each mature banana plant actually grows up over approximately 12 months time to produce just 1 bunch of bananas. That is it. A lifetime of growth for one bunch of fruit.
Matt 7:16 “By their fruit you will recognize them.”
What most people don’t realize is beside each mature banana plant is an immature, young needy plant. It is very close in proximity to the parent plant and grows right next to it. Often when you look at a plantation you only see the mature trees. But if you look closely, you will see the young sprouts. They are present but not often noticed. They don’t have any fruit yet, but they sure are growing.
2Cor 12:14-15 “After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well.”
There comes a time in each healthy banana tree that the fruit is produced. It is a beautiful sight to behold. The bunch of bananas is cut down carefully and set aside to provide essential nutrition for many. The rest of the parent banana tree is also cut down to the ground entirely. It’s trunk is composed of tiny channels which allow nutrients and water to get to the fruit, but as the tree is chopped down, it is wholly sacrificed for the good of the young offspring plant. It is cut into small pieces with a machete knife giving everything for its young plant. Nothing on the parent plant goes to waste. Even the leaves are used to wrap the precious fruit so that it may be carried away.
Heb 9:28 “so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people”
We are thankful to so many of you for joining us in being part of a ministry that is producing fruit: both literally and spiritually.
We are seeing much growth in the most rural Ugandan churches and growth here in our own United States by those following the ministry.
We are called to come alongside “these young plants/orphans”and tend God’s garden of believers on the other side of the world.
We are thankful to have a Savior that has sacrificed everything for His children and that we might be fruitful to His glory.
We are blessed to have a Father who has shown us the way.
SOME NEWS from Uganda: