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ZuluI just returned from Africa where we led three (3) women’s leader disciple-making conferences in Kenya and Uganda.
This mission was one of the best missions in our ten-year ministry history. I’m trying to discern why that is, but I’ve identified four main reasons:
1) Heaven Came Down
Something unusual happened during the first conference in Kenya as we were teaching about prayer. I started to pray, and women joined me silently in praying. But as we prayed, I could feel something different. I got on my knees and continued to pray. Seconds later, everyone started praying aloud—including my travel partner Bobbi—as she described, “from their souls.” Women came forward, dropped to their knees, and prayed with tears. My translator, who is a gifted senior pastor at his church, continued leading the prayer time in Swahili.
Our national leader, Pastor Charles, said that in his 20+ years of ministry he’s seen “heaven come down” only one other time. It was one of many ways we experienced God during this mission.
Occasionally, I’m asked when we see big moves of God. My answer is the same—always in the context of disciple making. If you want to experience Oneness with Jesus, trust Him and do what He says with Him. (Our free Be a Disciple Maker Course can help you take next steps.)
2) The Right People at the Right Time
Our in-country partners worked hard to coordinate the conferences to invite women leaders, including many national women’s ministry leaders from multiple denominations (e.g., Southern Baptist Convention, Reformed Pentecostals, Salvation Army, and more).
These devoted and influential national women leaders came and brought other leaders with them. They set the tone of expectancy to hear from God. Every time a Bible passage was mentioned, all women wrote down the passage address. It was as if we were giving away the secret code to unlock a treasure. There were many testimonies of women being equipped for the first time to be disciples and make disciples—and lives changed as they shared how “God awakened what was dead inside” or “gave hope when life felt hopeless.”
The national leader opened the conferences, “Every year, I’m asked why there is always mens’ training and women have nothing?” He proclaimed in a loud voice, “Now is your time!! The Bible calls women and men to work together. The church will not go anywhere unless women are equipped and doing their part.”
We repeatedly heard how women had been asking for training for years, and this was the first disciple-making training for women in their nation’s history.
3) Immediate Next Steps with Follow-Up Resources
While grounded during COVID, we revised our training curriculum to focus on immediate lesson application with more group discussion and practice training. Women listed those in their life who were “far from God.” They learned God’s story and how to share their story (testimony)—and were challenged to teach/share immediately. They learned how to have a quiet/abide time (using our Abide Time 3 Simple Steps using the 10-1-1 approach) and listed people to invite into a weekly Bible study gathering.
We gave away copies of our new Bible Study, Your True Story: The 50-Day Essential Guide to Your New Life with Jesus, to participants, translators, and pastors. Even more, we talked about Unreached People Groups (UPGs) in their nations and gave out UPG lists to participants to pray, send, and go to these people. They received these lists like it was their mission assignment!
At the close of the second conference, the Bishop addressed the crowd, “Other missionaries have come and confused us, taught us heresy, and divided us, but not this conference.” He emailed us to report that ALL 140+ women leaders had started weekly Bible study gatherings using the approach we taught. (You can also learn a simple Weekly Gathering Outline here).
4) Undergirded with Prayer
You do not have to be around All In Ministries long to learn how our intercessory prayer team undergirds all we do. Our strong team of trained women met before we departed for a time of pronounced prayer. These dear sisters “abide in Jesus” (John 15) consistently as they receive our daily updates and pray for each ministry step around the clock.
It’s by God’s grace and prayers of the saints that our ministry can have any impact at all. Our ministry prayer team is not new to our ministry. But I would be remiss not to list them as one of the main reasons this mission was so effective. Our ministry prayer team often does the hardest part by fighting spiritual battles on their knees in prayer. I’m grateful for their commitment to saturate our ministry with prayer, approaching God’s throne of grace on our behalf daily.
There are many people to thank that contributed to this mission, especially our incredible ministry team, travel partner (Bobbi), Uganda missionary (Linda), Africa connector (Stan), our national leaders, translators, and dear family and faith family at Chets. If you donated, prayed, coordinated details, or encouraged us with feedback on social media, thank you for your part on our team.
If you are interested in investing in God’s work worldwide through All In Ministries International, consider becoming a Monthly Change Partner. Our monthly partners provide the stability and strength we need to provide free resources, decide where we go next, how to grow, and more.
Please keep praying for the disciple-making seeds sown in the Kenyan and Ugandan women leaders to produce a 100-fold harvest. With God’s help, we truly can “Change the World One Woman at a Time.”
5 thoughts on “One of the Best Missions Ever! Four Reasons Why . . .”
Thank you for sharing. Amazing movement of God.
Thank you Rick! All God and always glad to share what incredible moves God makes!
God is visible if we just look and listen. You and your team saw the power of prayer. You left two countries in better shape with the possibility of hope. God bless you and All In.
What an awesome trip that I’m sure will produce fruit for a long time! One woman at a time. To God be the glory!
Wow! Thanks for sharing what God has been able to accomplish through your ministry.