Posted in General Posts by Warren Cheely on 1/24/2010
Our month in Malawi was very focused on three different components. One being door to door evangelism and had the joy of seeing a ton of people put their faith in Jesus. Hannah Olsen had a cool chance to sit down with a family who did not even know that God even existed. She had the joy of walking them through the creation story and the Biblical narrative that points towards the cross of Christ. The people were amazed, thankful, and prayed to receive Jesus into their lives. It was really cool. The second component of the month focused in on doing new believers services for the local churches and the final component had to do with leadership training.
As we sat with Antwan our contact in Malawi, it became clear that one of the greatest areas of crisis the church in Malawi is facing is a lack of discipleship and he wanted us taking time to train the Pastors. The Lord began to stir my heart for another two day conference. The last time we ran a leadership conference, it was back in Viile Techi Romania and despite a huge amount of obstacles, the Lord showed in a powerful way. I mentioned the possibility of another two day conference to Antwan and he was thrilled about the opportunity. Through much prayer, we felt led teach on the book of Philippians. It was interesting and originally I pushed back from it a bit. The idea seemed exciting but it had been a little while since I had studied the book and was not sure exactly what to Spirit wanted to say to the leadership of the Malawian churches through it. Yet as I started reading through this beautiful book again, the Lord showed up in some major ways and truth began to flood my mind. Seeing Paul in the worst of situations and writing to the church challenging them to love Jesus with their all, hold to joy in the midst of suffering, look towards an eternal citizenship, clinging to a satisfaction in life that is deeply rooted in Jesus, the necessity of humility, and the call to shine as stars in the universe. Needless to say I was very excited.
The team came together in an awesome way and everyone played such a key role. And so for two days, we poured out truth over these church leaders, most of whom are about as discipled as a high school junior. And the Lord showed up in a powerful way in the lives of these men and women of God.
Hearts were transformed.
Sin was rebuked.
The Cross was lifted up.
Humility was called for.
The Kingdom was proclaimed.
We were able to give Antwan and his team about 700 sermons that would take them a decade to normally download with the internet in Malawi, a digital commentary on every book of the Bible, bunch of digital John Piper books, and much more as a gift as well to help in their efforts to make disciples in the nation. God is doing great thing in Malawi and I got a chance to see some of it very close up.
for God
for People
for the Nations
for the Kingdom
w
Posted in General Posts by Warren Cheely on 1/18/2010
Christmas has always been my favorite holiday for a number of reasons. Love the weather. The caroling. The food (especially the little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes from Kroger). The joy that is in the air. The lights everywhere. How easy it is to strike up a conversation with someone about Jesus. Having a great excuse to watch Elf again. Starbucks hot chocolate. I flat out love Christmas. It really is the best time of the year.
Yet this Christmas would be devoid of almost all of that. We were in a small village in Malawi called Likuchi. The place where we were staying did not have electricity, running water, or a toilet. Honestly, these are never things I would have classified as luxuries back home. I would never have thought someone was living the high life they had a kitchen sink. This Christmas would be devoid of all American luxuries and pretty much all American basic norms. There was no Christmas tree with presents under it. It would be a very different type of Christmas.
It was in the middle of all of this that the Lord spoke very clearly to our team about what Christmas really is. For so many of us, Christmas seems to come in a box, wrapped up in a bow with a price tag on it. It is a beautiful mosaic of fun, family, lights, and spending money. Christmas seems to be this time of the year when we spend a great deal of time thinks about spending time with our families, giving presents to them, and also looking forward to getting presents from others so that our lives may be materially enriched. Thoughts of a manger, a star in the sky, angels singing, and a Kingdom coming seem to be limited to group caroling and a candle light service. The focus of the American Christmas seems to be more about the worship of consumerism than it does Jesus.
And yet this Christmas was full of something very different. It was filled with something pure. We arrived to Likuchi on Christmas Eve and spent most of the day setting up tents, picking up food (chicken, beans, and rice), and enjoying what felt like 95 degrees of heat. There were no lights. No huge feast. Yet it was amazing. We made a few paper snowflakes that were taped to the wall. We laughed a lot, listened to a sermon by Louie Giglio on the Cost of Christmas, and worshipped the Lord. It was amazing. There were no presents exchanged. No bows to unwrap. No boxed up open up. Yet Jesus met us there.
Christmas day was filled with multiple church services, preaching, and doing an afternoon Q&A for the community about any Bible questions they might have (which some of them were crazy- Where do black people come from, where in the Garden of Eden, what kind of fruit did Adam and Eve eat, the list could go on). We continued to have a great night celebrating the Lord and Him coming into the world to bring us redemption. It was amazing.
I missed my family and friends greatly. It was hard not getting to see my parents, my friends in both Dallas and Atlanta, my extended family (missed ya Julie). Yet this was probably the first true Christmas I have ever had. The first Christmas that was a true celebration of Christ. The first Christmas that was not blurred by the idolatry of American consumerism. The first Christmas were everything else was stripped away and only what was pure, good, and true remained. It was the first Christmas where I can really say, it was all about Jesus!
Posted in General Posts by Warren Cheely on 1/5/2010
So we had one amazing journey from Mozambique to Malawi. We were picked up by a huge flat bed truck around 8 pm on Tuesday night. There were 27 of us that crammed and I mean crammed into the back of this truck. Never imagined that I would see the day that I was sleeping in the back of a small flat bed truck but what the heck, why not. It's the world race after all. We were pretty much squeezed in about a tight as possible. Sleeping was very difficult and for some people almost impossible. The roads were very bumpy and dusty. And this went on for about 40 hours. The best part of it where when we stopped on the side of the road and threw down some bamboo mats outside and were finally able to stretch out for an hour and a half. But all in all, it was an amazing experience filled with a lot of laughs and a ton of fun. Can't really say I would want to repeat the experience, but it was priceless none the less.
And so we arrived safely in Malawi. This month are partnered with Harvest ministries. They are a church planting organization with a high emphasis on evangelism, preaching, and leadership development. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about the opportunity. My team is joined by our Squad leader Tiffany Berkowitz as we are soloing it this month in the north part of Malawi around Lake Malawi.
Our first village was called Chentechi. The people there were some of the most welcoming and gracious people ever. Pastor Manda opened him home to us and his family was so kind. It was actually pretty eye opening to be there during the few days leading up to Christmas. The picture of the American Christmas is filled with consumerism while we did not have the luxury of electricity or a toilet seat. It definitely changed your perspective.
Harvest is moving our team around a lot this month. We will have about 4 days in each small village. On Tuesday we did an evangelism outreach. We split up into pairs and traveled throughout the village area. Cori and I had a chance to visit three different homes and spent time with the families there. The immediate family here is much larger that what we would think of back in the states. It almost seemed as if a family reunion was going on. The second family that we had a chance to visit with had never heard the gospel and pretty much knew nothing about Jesus. The family was ruled by an elderly matriarch who called the shots. We spent about 30 minutes unpacking the gospel to this group of people. There was one guy there named Norman. He was just an average guy who walked out of his house and sat down to listen. It was obvious that he was just a normal teenager who was living a normal worldly life and had no clue that there was something that was bigger than him in the world. As we opened up the Bible, his face started to stir with a conviction that only comes from heaven. And when we asked if anyone wanted to put their faith in Jesus, only a few people raised their hands but he was the first one. The rest of the family finally put their hands up after the matriarch of the family said we are in. But Norman stood apart from the family. He made his decision for the Son of God before the rest of the family even had time to think about it. And Jesus changed his life that day. Afterwards he walked with us some more as we shared Christ with some more homes and I had a chance to speak life over this young man, telling him that God loved him and had a huge plan for his life that was better than anything the world could ever give him. Norman showed up to our new believers service the next day excited and transformed. It was amazing.
Services went great that day. Jessica did an amazing job leading the new believers service and I was asked to do some leadership training in the afternoon. Felt led to talk first on how a leaders first ministry is to the family, not the local church. After that I walked the group through the qualifications of a pastor/elder in 1 Timothy 3 because there seemed to be some kind of disconnect around this issue. Probably the most interesting question that was asked during the Q&A time was "If I am a polygamist and have just found out that this is a sin, should I divorce my second wife and keep those kids or divorce my second wife and get rid of the kids as well." Can say I really did not see that one coming. By the mercy of God, I heard somewhere in my life a pastor answer this question so I just stole his answer which seemed as true to the Bible as it could. I told him that both of these women are his wives and he is to love both of them as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5). He is not to divorce these women because divorce under non-biblical exceptions is a sin (Malachi 2, Matt 5). And so his role because of the decisions that he has made is to love both of these women and care for them as Christ would call him to instead of throwing one to the side, which will lead to her being thrown deeply into poverty and likely prostitution to be able to feed herself. I told him that is to care for these children and raise them up in Godliness holding to the truth of the Word of God and teaching them that monogamy is the only Biblical answer. He is to lead his family in truth and stop the cycle of polygamy in his family. It ends with him. I also told him that because of the decision that he had made he would never be able to be a elder in a church (1 Tim 3) yet God can still use him greatly to change his village for the glory of God. What a day.
All together over the few days we saw about 80 people put their faith in Jesus. God is moving mightily in Malawi. And we are getting front row seats to the awakening!
For God
For People
For the Nations
For the Kingdom
W
Posted in General Posts by Warren Cheely on 1/2/2010
Our team had three different opportunities to visit the local prison in Vilanculos. I did not have the chance to be a part of the first visit. The story that was recounted to me was amazing though. Jaco took about 8 members of our squad into the prison. It smelled of death. Erin would later tell me that there was a spirit of hopelessness and death was over the entire prison. The battle to even enter the prison was one of great struggle. The local government had not been to keen on Jaco going to the prison to share Christ with them. Finally after much prayer, the wall came down and the government conceded to giving Jaco 2 days a week where he could only visit for one hour. The team entered as the guards had assembled the prisoners into a large meeting room.
Jaco began by sharing the gospel to which the prisoners seems pretty unresponsive at first. Jessica felt the Lord prompting her to speak as well. She shared about how Paul was a murderer of Christians, how Moses killed a man, how David committed adultery and God still not only pursued them but used them greatly. All of a sudden the Lord opened up their eyes to see that God actually loved them regardless of their broken past. They saw a God who they could put their faith in who offered a life of hope and one free from condemnation. 120 of them put their faith in Jesus Christ in that moment. It was amazing. I remember seeing the faces of the group as they returned rejoicing over what the Lord had done. And everything in me was so excited about Thursday and the chance to go the prisoners and the life change that Jesus had taken place.
When we arrived at the prison a few days later, I felt an impression from the Lord to talk through a section of Philippians 1 where Paul rejoiced in God using him greatly in the midst of his Roman prison. The guards opened up the doors for us to enter and before us was a dirt courtyard with a few small rooms that connected to it where the prisoners would sleep. We were led to one of the larger rooms on the left where the 120 men and a few women were sitting down waiting on us. There was a spark of life in the eyes of these people that could only be described as the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Yet there was a still a spirit of hopelessness over the lives of the people there. They had met Jesus but for most looked at their lives as being over. I felt the Lord saying that He wanted to them to know that He still had a purpose for them. So I walked them through Philippians 1 and how Paul was able to not waste his life even though he was in chains. The attitude of the room began to shift. Those with short terms realized all of a sudden that if God could make something out of a terrible situation like Paul's, then He could redeem them. And then a huge light went off for the rest of them as well. The countenance on the faces of the rest changed. The Holy Spirit was revealing to them if they ran after Jesus and did everything they could to lead people to Him, then their lives, despite their external prison bars, could count for something great. Their hearts came to life in a brand new way and the room was covered with smiles. I asked the men and women in the place if any of them wanted to make their lives count for an eternal God and all but about 3 hands shot up immediately with joy. I was blown away. The team went away rejoicing.
Yet the work here was not finished. It was obvious that Satan made another run at tearing this group of people down. When we arrived for our last visit on the following Tuesday, there was still a glow from the life change the Holy Spirit did a few days before. Yet there was a sense in many of disbelief. Satan had been speaking over their lives all weekend that they are worthless and that there is no way God could redeem their situation and their lives. One of the worship leaders for Jaco's church was with us and translating this time. We had the chance to worship with them and the atmosphere began to shift. All of a sudden, the cross and the goodness of God was in the eyes of the people there instead of the lies of Satan and their situation. We had a chance to walk them through Ezekiel 37 and the Valley of Dry Bones. This was a prophecy of God to a "dead" nation that God would indeed restore, rebuild, and bring life to His people. As we talked through this, the hopelessness faded and was replaced with worship. Their situation was not to deep or dark for God to bring life out of it and they finally understood. We began to sing again "hosanna halleluiah" and they rejoiced in their God who is Mighty to Save. This was followed by one man in the back yelling out "Whose the Name above all names" and the men shouting JESUS!!! "Whose the Name that heals us" JESUS!!! It was beautiful.
Jaco is continuing the ministry there and money was donated to provide 200 Bibles for these men. Redemption had come to the prison and even though the physical bars did not fall, the prisoners were set free!
Posted in General Posts by Warren Cheely on 1/2/2010
Back in Swaziland, I watched Tiffany love on a boy named Clive. He was a troubled youth whose parents had died from AIDS and he had been thrown out of his sisters house because as a prostitute, she needed the house for her nightly business. Clive was distant from most and had no real concept of the love of Jesus. Jesus broke Tiff's heart for Clive and she poured out compassion upon compassion over him. His life was changed and for the first time he understood that God loved him because of the love Tiffany showed him.
For the most part, I have never considered myself to be that good with kids and when it comes to ministering to children, well let's just say I am no where near close to par. Yet God had done something in my heart as I watched Tiff show Clive love and so when we got to Mozambique, I felt that God would open up a door for me to learn what it means to show a child the love of Christ. Enter RUDO.
Rudo is Jaco's son. He is a 10 year old boy with a very strong passion for Jesus. Rudo is by far one of the strongest 10 year olds I have ever met when it comes to his faith. Rudo would go out with us on many occasions to share the Gospel. It was amazing to see a 10 year old boy share the love Christ with people. He spoke with such boldness and conviction. It was almost like watching Billy Graham when he was younger. There was a passion and fire in his eyes for the Kingdom. Rudo would go with us to the hospitals and pray hard for God to bring healing over the sick people of this very poor hospital.
For the first time ever, I began to see what it must be like for parents to disciple their child. We invited Rudo to come with us on our village outreaches to which he was always up for. He did not just sit on the side lines but was right in the middle of the battle. I will never forget one night we were having a worship night and part of this was to minister to one another. Rudo had a bucket of water there and asked me if he could wash my feet as Jesus did in John 13. I was totally shocked and had no clue what to say but I did agree to it. He began to encourage me in amazing ways that I will never forget. He told me how he saw Jesus in me and he admired me. I was pretty much speechless. Never in my life did I believe that I could have an impact of a child's life like this. I proceeded to wash his feet as well and tell him that I would be honored to have a son like him one day.
Now Rudo is not perfect even though he is a strong boy of God. Right now Satan is trying to tear down Rudo through anger. As amazing as he is, Rudo has a serious temper and can go from loving to rage in less that a second. It was amazing to see as the course of the month went on, through prayer, compassion, and patience God start to reshape this area of Rudo's life. All of a sudden, he was not getting angry as much and at times we could actually reason with him. We began to each him how when he gets angry, he can start praying and looking to the cross of Jesus for strength to control this anger. By no means did this issue just disappear while we were there, but God grew him and matured him in this area.
Rudo has a massive calling over his life and he will be used so greatly of God to change the world one day. It was such a joy to spend time with him and to be able to call him my friend. Rudo changed my life in some pretty amazing ways. For the first time, I saw Jesus use my imperfect self to bring love and grace to a young boy and see the hand of God bring transformation into a young life.
Posted in General Posts by Warren Cheely on 12/7/2009
I honestly was not sure how the holiday season would affect
me being away from home. I love my family back in Atlanta and I greatly miss my
friends back in Dallas. Thanksgiving is always a time where my parents go to
North Atlanta to spend the day with my mother's side of the family. It is one
of my favorite times of the year. They are all so amazing and every year seems
to get better, especially hanging with my fun and crazy cousin Julie. I have
one of the most amazing extended families on the planet and not getting to
spend Thanksgiving with them I knew would not be easy.
The Lord provided in great ways though. We ended up having
the finances to go pick up some amazing food and have an amazing meal thanks to
our team members who are incredibly gifted in that area. We talked a lot about
what we were thankful for which is a list in my life that could go on for
hours.
Amazing parents who have always stood by me
Bob and Linda Dukes who have been spiritual parents to me
since I came to Christ
The financial provision that the Lord has done in my life to
allow me to go on the World Race
My amazing community group back in Dallas that is still
praying hard for me
My amazing friends in Atlanta,
Dayton, and Dallas that has been such a constant source
of life and encouragement.
My amazing squad that I have the chance to travel the world
with telling people about the love of Christ.
My Amazing Heavenly Father who have brought me from death
into life by His grace alone.
Just to name a few. The list would take hours to go through
if not days. I have so much to be thankful for. The meal ended with a lot of
joy and we started our Nightwatch, a time which we as a team with pray through
the night for the nation of Mozambique
and whatever else the Lord lays on our hearts. It started at 8pm and ended at
6am. We take shifts and continue to pray the Kingdom of God over this area. It
was an amazing time to ask the Lord to transform this land like He has
transformed our lives.
My birthday was a few days later. 28 years old. My friends here
did some amazingly gracious things for me. I got breakfast in bed, which was
amazing. Had a chance to enjoy the
beaches of Mozambique
which are amazing and beautiful. Spent a great amount of time with the amazing
friends I have on this squad. Got to spend some time online (here that is a big
deal). Was blessed to have the chance to talk to my mom back in the States.
Came back to the house/campsite and was given an amazing cake while my friends
sang Happy Birthday to me. The night ended with us singing to God in worship.
It was such a great day.
So I greatly miss home. And I know with Christmas coming
that will probably intensify some. But the Lord has been so good in allowing me
to have an amazing holiday season here in Africa thus far. To my family and
friends back home, I miss you greatly and can't wait to see you again. Until
then thank you so much for your prayers and support. It means more to me than I
can ever say. Love you all.
