Over the last month, we had the opportunity to speak at several different places about Zambia. Our first stop was Fox River Baptist Church in Appleton, WI. We got some video of Derek preaching, so hopefully we can edit that and make it into a shorter video later.
Our next stop was Community Church of Appleton, one of our supporting churches and also the church that Derek grew up in and where we were able to spend our first year of marriage. It is always fun to see our friends there and has always been a second home to us.
And our last stop was a 2-part stop at Faith Community Church in New Market, MN. This is the church that my brother-in-law and sister planted 3 years ago. Derek presented our mission – ACTION Zambia – as well as our ministry – CROSS – and did a great job. We showed our “Pray for Zambia” video, and after we left the church, we both agreed that it still always makes us cry. There is so much suffering and hurt in Zambia, and it is so difficult to see what people go through. But like we keep saying, we couldn’t go to Zambia if we didn’t have the hope of the Gospel within us. It is sufficient in the light of such sadness.
The second part of our time at Faith was at their Vacation Bible School, where I talked briefly with the kids about missions, what being a missionary is, and what we will be doing in Africa. One of the helpers told me that after church on Sunday, her 8-year old boy asked a lot of questions about missions, HIV, and about being a missionary. She said that she never dreamed he would understand our presentation, but he definitely got the gist of it and was so interested. So, my prayer was that God would spark a lasting flame for the nations in the hearts of some of the kids’ lives at VBS – maybe they don’t understand it all, but you never know how the Spirit might be at work in their hearts! That’s how it all began for me.
Derek and Kristin Dearth 