Pictures from Uganda

Picture #1 - A group is "acting" out the Bible story of Matthew 17: 14-20 where the disciples cannot heal sick boy because they "have little faith".

Picture #2 - Peter is walking on the water towards Jesus in the Bible story of Matthew 14: 22-33.

Picture #3 - Luke Kuepfer is discussing God's Unconditional Love at the conclusion of this group activity.

Update from Uganda (June 22)

Saturday, June 22.

Greetings from Uganda!

Today was a very good day! We were picked up right on time by Pastor Daniels but ended up starting about an hour late as about half the class called in with one problem or another. It was OK because we ended up staying an hour extra to make up the time. Overall, this group is very good about being on time. Unlike much of our experience in most places we've been to before in Uganda.

Today we conducted practice teaching sessions and let each person present small portions of the materials at least three times. We divided the group into four small groups who took turns teaching each other. Luke and I went from room to room to observe and give them some coaching and feedback. Twice during the day, once just before lunch and once at the end of the day, we debriefed the larger group and gave them some general feedback.

The first few presentations were rough. They are not used to "facilitating" learning. Because most of them are pastors, they like to "preach". But, they soon understood and started to do a lot better. At least most of them did. By the end of the day, most of them were doing much better and on track.

After we finished the practice teaching sessions, we spent about an hour preparing them for the two (2) Encounter workshops that we will be having on Monday. We divided them into two groups of eight people each and gave each of them a different part of the material to present.

So, it was a very good day, and only got better when I returned to the hotel and was able to get on the internet with my ipad!! Yeah God!! It was so frustrating not to be able to access the internet last night. I tried everything I could think of and it still would not access the hotel's wifi login page? I finally clicked on the "renew lease" button on the wifi page and the login page came right up??

Tomorrow, we will go to church. The plan has changed slightly. We will leave for the church at 10 am. I will teach a large group adult Sunday school class at 10:15 am and Luke will preach at 11:15 am. In the evening, we will visit Pastor Jimmie's church (a new church plant from a year ago) for their evening service at 6 pm.

Things are going really well. In fact, amazingly well!! God has linked us up with the right person (Pastor Daniel) and he has brought the right people to become part of this four year process.

The weather has been warm (mid-80's) but not too hot or humid, and it has rained only once since we've been here. The staff at the Mum's Hotel are coming around as well. They recognized us from last two years because of Lead Like Jesus and have taken care of us very well. We even got our dinner tonight in about 30 minutes after we ordered it!! Amazing! Life is good!

I'm looking forward to Sunday and spending time worshipping and praising God, and in Uganda they can really worship! It should be a very enjoyable day.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Blessings!

Fred



Sent from my iPad

Update from Uganda (June 21)

Luke washing Pastor Daniel's feet.

Update from Uganda (June 21)

Greetings from Uganda! We are having Internet problems at the hotel and today I am only able to get online with my phone. So, this post will be short one.

What a day! We concluded our teaching, reviewed the material with them, and now we are ready for them to do teach-backs tomorrow. The discussions that we had, their questions, and their thoughts and ideas, showed me that these 16 men and women really understand what it means to lead like Jesus.

To top it off, we had the most moving "foot washing" activity that I've ever experienced. Luke and I decided early on that we would wash their feet. So, I arranged for a basin, water, and towel to be provided for us. At the very end, Luke explained what we were going to do and the significance of it and then we took turns washing and drying their feet. I think it really surprised them to see the both of us on our knees washing their feet. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room and just as we were washing the last person's feet, they starting singing and hugging us and each other. We must have worshipped like this for a good 30 minutes or so.

What a day!!

We met with Pastor Daniel this evening and jointly laid out our strategy for the next Three years.

Hopefully, I'll be able to access the Internet with my iPad vs cellphone.

Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Blessings!

Fred


Sent from my iPhone

Update from Uganda (June 20)

Thursday, June 20.

Today, we began our training. Pastor Daniel picked us up a few minutes late and we were about 10 minutes late arriving at the church. But, because we are not using laptops or projectors, it took us about five minutes to get ourselves organized, people to take their seats, and get started.

We have a total of 16 people that came for the training. Two of them are women leaders. We did have three young men in their early to mid-20's. Most of them were from the local area. However, we did have one pastor from South Sudan, one from Gulu, and one of the women drove 300 kilometers (approximately 200 miles) to attend.

Those that came made an upfront commitment to Pastor Daniel that they would be faithful to attend all of our sessions over a four year period, that they would take this back to their community and teach others, and that they would select and train others to also be able to teach. Daniel even had them sign a commitment form and they also had to pay a small fee to cover the cost of their meals. Undoubtedly, several people decided not to make the commitment because originally we had 25 sign up but only 16 showed up!

Overall, this was a very, very good day. We quickly found that approximately one-half of the people had never attended one of our Encounters, so this was their first exposure to Lead Like Jesus. Initially, this slowed us down a little as we focused a lot of time to discussing the concept of "influence", the "not so with you" mandate, and the transformational leadership cycle and making sure they understood. Several of those who had been a pastor for several years really asked us a lot of questions about servant leadership and how they can apply the "not so with you" mandate in their situation.

Once, we got them through this initial section, the light bulb came on as we talked about Edging God Out, Pride, Fear, and Exalting God Only. We ended the day with covering about seventy-five percent of the material and we should be able to cover the remaining amount in the morning before lunch. Both Luke and I are very encouraged by what we did accomplish today. They get it!

So, tomorrow we will finish teaching the material, review the key concepts from each section, and instruct them on ways to facilitate and present the material. If time permits, we may have them start the teach-backs (practice teaching) of the material.

Great day! I'm excited thus far. It is a wonderful experience to look into someone's eyes and as you are covering a particular concept or idea you suddenly see their entire face brighten up as they grasp it - they get it! I saw this on numerous faces today. Yes, it was a good day. Thank you Lord.

Continue to pray for us and these leaders who are devoting a lot of their time and personal resources to become men and women who are committed to Leading Like Jesus.

Blessings from Uganda!


Fred


Sent from my iPad

Photos from the Women's ministry

Update from Uganda (June 19)

Wednesday, June 19., continued.

Yesterday afternoon, Pastor Daniel took us to visit some of the projects/ministries that his church sponsors that give people a "hand up" and not a hand out. The first place that he took us was to visit two of his church plants and their woman's craft-making project. Both these churches are in very rural areas, and with the help of Monica, a young lady from Iganga who teaches the women, they make and sell necklaces, bracelets, purses, handbags, etc., to help support their families. Most of the women are single mothers with small children. However, several are older widows. (See pictures) What a great ministry! They could use your help. If you know of any business that sell items like these or you think might be interested in selling them, please let me know. Also, this could be a great project for your churches' women's ministry.

The second project that we visited is a small farm that Pastor Daniel raised his own funds to purchase. They will use this project to fulfill two purposes. First, their plan is to bring young men and teach them how to farm. They plan on raising corn, oranges, coffee, bananas, chickens, cows, goats, etc. At the same time they are teaching them to farm, they will be training them to be a pastor or teacher. It is Daniel's goal to send them back to their village where they can make a living for their family and also teach others the farming skills they have learned so they can be more productive. This project is just getting started. They have bought the land and have just finished planting their first crops, orange trees, banana trees, etc.

After our visits, Daniel took us back to the hotel. Brittany and I stayed at the hotel and ate dinner while Luke went with Daniel to preach on his ministry's radio show. PS: the service in the restaurant is not any better than it was the last two times we were here. Go figure?

Luke preached on a local secular radio station and they even had people call in. The station here has a coverage area of approximately 10 million people in eastern Uganda and parts of Kenya. Luke said that it very well and several called and asked some great questions.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Blessings from Uganda!

Fred


Sent from my iPad