Do you know that it is closer to the beginning of 2011 than it is to the beginning of 2010? Hard to believe isn’t it? Over half this year has passed. Time is moving swiftly and I am getting older! Plus, now I have to start thinking about Christmas gifts! It will be here before we know it.

Anyway, it is a good time to take a quick look at what God has done through the IMFC ministries in Uganda in 2010 and celebrate it. Here is a quick look at the first six months. I find it absolutely exciting. I believe you will also.

•2,437 people have prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, enrolled into Bible Way and received the first book, Who Is Jesus. At this rate almost 5,000 people will receive Christ as their Lord and Savior and begin to be discipled in 2010! Beginning now, I am asking God for 5,000 people in 2010. Join me. Celebrate it!

•In June alone, IMFC gave out 1,888 discipleship books and 180 Bibles! 521 were the first book of the Bible Way Material, Who Is Jesus. The remaining 9 books of Bible Way made up the 1,367 books distributed. This work is exploding! Celebrate it!

•23 Churches have been started: 17 in Naguru and 6 in Natete. Celebrate it!

•528 Bibles have been given to people who have completed the first five books of Bible Way, successfully passing the exams and memorizing 60 Bible verses. Celebrate it!

•6 new Bible Way Clubs were opened in 6 High Schools in Kampala. This brings the total number of schools IMFC is in to 26. Celebrate it!

•73 new believers have been baptized. (Note: baptism happens mainly when volunteers are present to pay for transport to Lake Victoria. There are many waiting.) Celebrate it!

•Jinja Prison has been engaged. 3 wards of this huge prison are now involved in the Bible Way Program. This makes 14 prisons in 7 different facilities. Celebrate it!

•Leadership training is now taking place in Naguru and Natete with over 30 people participating. Celebrate it!

•These numbers do not reflect the food that has been given out month by month to over 700 people and the lives that have been changed through it. (You have read their stories here.) Nor do they reflect the volunteers that have traveled to Kampala and had their lives impacted as well. Celebrate it!

This has been a great first half to 2010. But, the work is just beginning.

I want to share the final paragraph from an email Joseph Esiana sent me who leads our IMFC team in Uganda. It is written for all of you who have prayed or given to this ministry.

I know the Lord has used you incredibly to give that has led the success as outlined above. God has multiplied your gifts and produced a bountiful harvest for himself. Will you continue to join Him even this summer and fall in what He is doing in Kampala and Uganda? Remember; “The harvest is plentfull but the laborers are few” Will you be among the few to join Him?

May the Lord God bless and honor your efforts.

Joseph Esiana

Team Leader IMFC – Uganda

I want to thank you and ask you to keep praying and giving. The growth of this ministry is hard to keep up with. Thanks.

I received this update from Douglas on the first food distribution for the next six months in Naguru. Naguru is a large slum that sits in valley overlooked by the wealthy. Huge home dot the hillsides that surround this slum. It is truly a picture of the have and have-nots. The picture above overlooks the slum.

Because of its size we decided to divide Naguru into two parts and spend a full year here to provide food and relief and plant churches. We call this second six month period of time, Naguru Act 2.

Douglas writes,

We had a very good food distribution in the midst of a very rainy day to start the new ministry in Naguru, Naguru Act 2. Kampala that morning was just wet and we thought that many would not show up––but they did. We even had a lot of the old Naguru Act 1 beneficiaries come. Some of them were hoping that they too could receive some food, but we have enough only for the new beneficiaries.

We had three beneficiaries who did no show up, so we gave their food to those people who were waiting with lots of hope. And at last everybody went home happy and peaceful.

We have some beneficiaries from Naguru Act 1 that we carried forward into Naguru Act 2. These include a lady whose husband died just a few days before the distribution. She used to brew alcohol for a living. We have taken her in so that she can save money, change business, and have a transformed livelihood. We have hope that she will tell another story.

Since January there has been 6 house churches planted through the Manna food program and evangelism. Deo, church planter for IMFC working Nagrur says,

“I have been encouraged by the former drunkards, who are now saved and they are growing in faith in Jesus, meeting every week for discipleship and training in Bible way. Felix testified in one of our meetings that he was so blessed the house church plant in his house because his brother used to be a drunk but now he is sober, even now contributes monthly money for food at home.”

Continue to pray for this work.

Manna Ministry is off and running in Nateete! Food and mosquito nets have been given to the beneficiaries of Manna and four churches have been started. This is a great start!

The LC Chairman said,

“No one has ever done any distribution in our area like you have, in a way that is so peaceful, so organized and respectful to our people. We are grateful to Manna Ministry and its partners; we will continue to help with any needs.”

We have four house churches actively meeting during the week. One house church was started as a result of the food distribution of Manna Ministry. The other three started from the efforts of the IMFC staff and a team of volunteers from the US in January doing door to door evangelism.

One other “person of peace” has been found. This offers potential for a fifth church start come March.

Benon, church planter for IMFC who works Nateete, reports that the heavy rains have made it hard for most of these groups to meet. He says, “last week when we had just started singing a heavy down pour of rain came. We just had to say the grace as people scattered in different directions to hide away from the rain.” (See a video here of what a ten minute rain can do to Nateete!)

Benon adds,

“I have been humbled to see people walking through the flood filthy, dirty water, lifting up their cloths to knee level, in order to make it for the house church meeting”.

Pray for this work.

Friday morning 50 new families will enter the Manna Program and begin to receive food for the next six months. Naguru is such a large slum that we divided it into two sections. This is the beginning of Naguru Act 2.

Over the past six months many families in Naguru were helped spiritually, physically, financially through Manna ministry. Many of the participants worked at brewing alcohol. Today, several of these have become followers of Jesus Christ, have left their old jobs and have found new ones!

Eight churches have been started. 200 – 250 adults now meet weekly in Naguru slum to worship the Lord and study his word. All of these are new believers and many are involved in Bible Way. Over the next six months we hope to see this number of churches rise to over twelve.

The picture above is a picture of one of these churches. It literally meets at the edge of where they brew alcohol!

I remember when this church begin with 13 people. Eight were men. All drunk. Today, they almost number 30. Many have been baptized. Most are actively studying the scriptures through Bible Way. And, they are no longer drunks! As I look at this church, I see the book of Acts come alive!

The first food distribution went very well. No rain. No flooding. This is truly a blessing because it has been raining since and the entire place has been under. We could have never given out the food under these circumstances. So, we pray the Lord give good weather next month as well.

Three churches have also been started in Nateete. Two were started while the volunteers were present in January. Since then another church has opened. God is doing a good work in Nateete.

Beginning February 2010, IMFC will begin work in the slum Nateete through Manna Ministry. Disease, poverty, witchcraft and constant flooding make this area extremely destitute. Pray for the people of Nateete and the IMFC staff.

Nateete, One Bad Slum! from Jimmy Barry on Vimeo.

Pam and I rode with Benon to Biina Zone to meet with the House Church there. This small group of believers formed in February when Manna Ministry came to the area and it has been meeting for almost six months.

I really enjoyed meeting with these people. There was no pretense. No performance. No hype. Just simple people, very poor people meeting together to worship the Lord. The singing was not great. There was no music. No sound system. Just the natural voices of the people as they sang, prayed and clapped.

We stood outside in the courtyard in front of several small mud homes in the light of the fading evening sun. Mats were strewn out on the ground for the people to sat on. Chairs were brought out for Pam and me as we were their special guest.

About 20 adults in all gathered. (Benon says that they usually have more than 30) Mostly women. Only two men. Some old, some young. There was one young lady there with twin babies. I came to find out that her husband died while she was pregnant with HIV. She is also HIV positive and is a participant in the Manna food program in Biina Zone. This lady is one of the reasons that the Manna program is so important. Her physical life has been lengthened, and through it she has found the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord!

When prayer requests were taken, everyone had a request. Everyone was sick. One of the little babies was sick with pneumonia. One man need a job. Probably everyone did but he was the only one to mention it. One JaJa (Elderly Grandmother), wanted prayer for her eyes that were simply growing old and dim.

We prayed. One of the men led the prayer asking the Lord to heal and help the people. For some reason, prayer seemed a lot more real coming from these people who have such great need and so little hope of ever getting it. This is for sure, it was very genuine. Simple. Real. Unpretentious.

I led a Bible discussion from Matthew 9:35-38. Simple. Interactive. Read the text. Ask three questions.

1. What did the scripture say that we just read?
2. Is there anything we need to obey in this scripture?
3. Is there something we need tell others?

Why do this? Because we wanted to teach them. What? That they can sing together. They can worship. They can pray for each other. They can read the scripture. They can discuss it. They can live it out. They can share it with others. They can do all of this without depending on outsiders to provide them a pastor, a building, a sound system. Dependancy upon money from outsiders destroys. We can help and we should, but we must be careful or our “Good intentions” will backfire and be used by the Devil to destroy.

It was amazing to hear them. They understood the story and knew how to apply it to their lives. They knew what they should be sharing with their friends. No preacher had to instruct them. It was amazing to listen to these common people grasp the truth of God’s word. To simply “Be the church.” Almost everyone there committed to tell at least one thing they had learned.

As we left, they were receiving Bible Way Discipleship materials from one of the Bible Way leaders. Several of these people are actively studying the Scriptures, memorizing the Scriptures through Bible Way.

These dear, simple people are the hope for Biina Zone. They are the seed that the Master has placed into this area to spout and take root and to produce a harvest of souls for the Kingdom. They have the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit. They have the word of God. They are the church of the Living Lord Jesus Christ.

We will pray for them. We will supply them with Bible Way discipleship materials to grow them. We have church planters that can help train leaders. But – this is the simple church of the New Testament. Join us in praying for them.

Here is the latest from Kampala. Manna is serving two areas Kawepe and Kifumbira. Work in these two areas begin the first two weeks in February while I was there with a mission team from Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Alexandria, Alabama. Since then one Church has been started in Kawepe with sixty-five adults in attendance last week. In Kifumbira, one church and one Bible fellowship has been started. The church has more than twenty adults and the Bible fellowship has eight men. Many of these have now enrolled in Bible Way Ministry and are being activity discipled. All of this has taken place in two highly Muslim populated areas in only two months.

 Here is the four step strategy the IMFC Kampala staff is using to further the work:

1. Build relationships with the people. The people are divided into small groups and the IMFC staff works with them to get to know them better.

 2. The IMFC Staff seeks to discover the people’s spiritual condition so they can minister to them better. Are they born again or not?

 3. Then the team seeks to enroll the people into Bible Way. Those that can read into the book courses and those who cannot read will get the material through teaching.

 4. The last step is to have the people point out to them people who live in these areas who are worse off than they are. These people will be targeted for Manna Ministry in the future.

 Our Staff in Kampala works hard at this strategy and the Lord is blessing it. Pray for them as they continue to serve the Lord in their area. 

One year ago, Manna Ministry worked in the Makerere Kivuulu area of Kampala. As the love of Christ was displayed through the giving of food to the people in greatest need and the gospel of Jesus Christ was shared, a church was soon started. This new church in Makerere Kivuulu has now been involved in planting three churches in Kaswa, which is over four hours away by car.

How did this happen? Here’s the story. Two of the ladies who came to faith in Jesus Christ in Makerere Kivuulu and became a part of the new church there were from Kaswa. They wanted their village to have a church like the one they were now a part of, so a group from the Kampala Christian Church Network traveled with them to Kaswa, preached the gospel and planted a church. Let me let Pastor Deo tell you the story.

It began with two ladies coming to faith in Jesus Christ who had a passion to see their village have this same experience with Jesus Christ! I now know firsthand why the Apostle Paul evangelized the cities. If you can reach the cities, you can reach the villages. It’s like dropping a pebble into a lake. The splash it makes is small but its ripples travel far. This year we chased the ripple from Kampala to Kaswa near Ft. Portal in Western Uganda.

As we began to plan this year’s mission trip with Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Alexandria, Alabama, it seemed a natural to include a few days of ministry in Kaswa. Why? Because a volunteer team from their church last year helped to plant the church in Makerere Kivuulu. They were there on the opening day of food distribution in February, 2007. They shared their testimonies of faith and the gospel of Jesus Christ. They saw the birth of the first believers who began the church in Makerere Kivuulu. The volunteer team spent almost four days in Kaswa this February and the Lord blessed. Many people came to faith in Christ. The team shared the gospel, and the Lord used them to strengthen the new believers in Kaswa. Together they prayed over a new area for a church plant, saturated it with the gospel of peace, and found a person of peace who was willing to open his home for a Bible study. That happened four weeks ago. Today, I learned that three more churches have been born in this area.

Thanks, Mt. Zion, for your faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and for being willing to go to a different land, culture and people to share God’s love. Thanks, Kampala Christian Church Network, for laboring long in Makerere Kivuulu and Kaswa. Thanks, IMB missionaries, for consistently communicating a vision of church planting to the leadership of KCCN. And thanks to all of you who gave to Manna Ministry and opened the door for the gospel of Christ to be shared in a place filled with poor people who are predominantly Muslim.

If you would like to go to Kampala to engage in the Lord’s harvest there, contact me. I will be glad to talk to you. Be sure to look at the images below of our time and experiences in Kaswa and continue to pray for the church there.

[View with PicLens]

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