Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Somewhat Unrelated Update
It has been some time since I posted anything on the goings on in South Sudan and what Empower Sudan is up to. I've been a little busy with our new baby boy Paul Kelly Garrett. He was born January 11, 2014 and He is the greatest thing in the world! I could tell you all about him until we ran out of internet but I'll just post a few pictures. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
I'M OFFICIALLY ON STAFF WITH EMPOWER SUDAN
Mong, Mong, Mong (Hello, Hello, Hello)
I’ve recently taken a part
time staff position with Empower Sudan. I’m
in the process of raising monthly support for this position and wanted to give
you an idea of what Empower Sudan does, how I fit into all of that, and what my funding will look like.
THE GOAL
Empower
Sudan’s (empowersudan.org) goal is to reach the 20 million people in South
Sudan and Sudan who have never heard the good news of Jesus. We do this by providing support to
South Sudanese nationals to plant churches, disciple others, and create
positive change in their communities. The reason we are called “Empower” Sudan
is because our goal is to provide knowledge and resources to South Sudanese
pastors so that they can do evangelism and discipleship in their communities.
 |
| This map shows Sudan and South Sudan |
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| Can you find Torit on this map of South Sudan? That's where I go every year. |
THE METHOD
Our organization is made up equally of
Americans who provide support and South Sudanese who live and minister in their
local villages and towns. We do
not have any Americans on staff who live full time in South Sudan. The reason for this is that we do not
want to the South Sudanese to be dependent on us for leadership. We empower them to lead and then we
step out of the way and let them do so.
As
a result of this model most of our work from the American side is done through
short-term trips. Teams of three
to six will go and do a myriad of different trainings in everything from
theology to community development to education to evangelism. We have knowledge and resources that
the pastor’s there do not have but they are more equipped to minister to the
people in their country than we will ever be.
 |
| These pictures were take at our community development training in Torit last October. |
If you visit the invest section of the website (http://empowersudan.org/home/invest/) you can see that we do a lot of things on top of training church leaders. We operate a Bible School that provides theological training. We provide physical resources to help pastors like bicycles and motor-bikes. We even have staff who focus on educator training for church leaders who have started schools in their communities.
WHO IS EMPOWER SUDAN
To
help you understand a little bit more about how the organization works I’ll
tell you about some of our key leadership.
Mike Congrove is the head of
Empower Sudan from the American side.
He takes frequent training trips and oversees all operations and
fundraising.
Pastor David Kaya is the
head of Empower Sudan on the South Sudan side. He’s been church planting in South Sudan for at least ten
years. He and Mike equally share
all decision making for the organization.
 |
| David Kaya (left) and Mike Congrove (right) |
Brian Bain is the Regional
Strategy coordinator for the Eastern Equatoria State (There are ten states in
South Sudan). He takes four to
five trips to South Sudan each year to train pastors and teach at the Bible
School.
Dominic Africa is the South
Sudanese pastor of the church in Torit where I have visited the last two years. He partners with Brian in the planting
of churches in the Eastern Equatoria state.
Then there is Me.
 |
| Brian (left) Dominic (middle) Me (right) |
MY ROLE
I
will work directly under Brian leading one trip a year to support Dominic and
the churches he has planted. Each
year we have four to five specific trainings that we plan to do with each of
our South Sudanese pastors. These
trainings are designed to give the church leaders a solid theological
foundation, leadership skills, and vision for planting churches.
A
typical trip will have three to six people visiting from Monday to Friday. Each day our mornings and early
afternoons we do training with church leaders. In the late afternoons we usually invite all the church
members and people in the community to larger bible teaching. We have a lot of children attend these
teachings. The well being of the
children in South Sudan will have a major impact on the future of the country
so ministry to the younger generations is a key part of our what we do. My next trip is scheduled for the end
of May this year and I'm still looking for people to go with me so let me know if you're interested.
In
addition to leading one trip a year I also take part in strategy development
with the American team here in Dallas.
 |
| Nothing is cuter than kids in suits........... so read on |
HOW MY FUNDING WORKS
My
goal is to raise $4,500 a year.
This is the average cost of the one trip I will be leading each year. Supporters can give one time donations
or now you can give monthly!
While
one-time donations are always welcome I’m currently looking for monthly
supporters. This would allow me to
have a majority of my support raised before the months leading up to a trip so
that I can put more time into planning and preparing instead of fundraising.
If
I do not reach full support from monthly donations I will look for one-time
donations to cover the remaining cost of a trip as trips are scheduled. So if you are not able to give monthly
you will have plenty more opportunities to give.
YOU CAN SET UP RECURRING PAYMENTS OR GIVE ONE TIME DONATIONS HERE
I
want the people who invest in the work of Empower Sudan to be confident that
their money is being used well. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any
questions about our model or my role.
I love sharing about what God is doing in Sudan. I feel that Empower Sudan is an
excellent organization doing very important work in a place where not many
people are willing to go.
 |
| Cows are a currency in South Sudan but unfortunately you can't donate them to Empower Sudan |
SOUTH SUDAN IN THE NEWS
I want to talk a little about the current conflict in South Sudan. If you haven’t read anything about it
in the news there is fighting right now between two of the major tribes. I won’t go into too much detail here
because there is more to explain than I can in this space but if you want to
learn more I would love to talk about it and clarify anything. The BBC coverage has been good and this
site has also been very informative http://sudanreeves.org/.
We
are still assessing how this will affect the work of Empower Sudan. The mission of reaching the 20 million
has not changed and will not change although our methods might. Thankfully all of our pastors and
church leaders were safe and accounted for the last time we spoke with
them. The town of Torit, where I
go, has not seen any violence and is relatively safe.
It
is sad to see disunity among some of the people in South Sudan but it is
evidence that the people there need the peace that only Jesus can give. My next trip is scheduled for May of
2014 and as of now we are still planning on going (and are still looking for
people to join us). We will not
take any unnecessary risks but we are hopeful for peace and want to be ready to
go if we are able.
Monday, November 4, 2013
SOUTH SUDAN OCTOBER 2013
Here is a more in depth look at the work we did in South Sudan. Hopefully this gives a broader picture of what Empower Sudan is doing and how I am a part of it.
T H E J O U R N E Y
Getting
from Dallas, TX to Torit, South Sudan takes a little bit of time. Just to give you some idea we left
Dallas Friday afternoon and flew overnight to Amsterdam. We spent our Saturday on the 8 hour
flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi, Kenya where we stayed overnight. We were at the airport by 8am Sunday
morning to take a short flight to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. From there is took 5 hours to travel
the 80 miles of unpaved road to Torit where we arrived safely Sunday
Evening. It’s a long journey but
thankfully every flight was on time and there were no logistical issues, which
makes such a long trip much easier.
 |
| The journey is long but the scenery is great! |
W H A T ’ S I T L I K E O V E R T H E R E ?
Upon
arriving back in the US last week the passport control officer asked me where
I’d been. “South Sudan” I said. He
then asked me “What’s it like over there?”. It’s not an easy question to answer in such a brief
interaction but I’ll try to give you a little better an answer than I gave him.
South
Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 after 5 decades of civil war. The government is still getting on its
feet and is dominated by one party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. There is very little infrastructure
although it’s improving. It’s also
not uncommon to see military personnel anywhere you go although their presence
is not intimidating.
The
terrain is typical of what you think of in Africa: tall grass, trees and some
small black, rocky mountains. Some
locals claim there are still lions lurking around but all I saw were goats,
chickens, stray dogs and some cows.
Juba,
the capital, is busy. It has most
of the paved roads in the country and it’s full of motorbikes and cars (all 4
wheel drive). There are no tall
buildings and most of the construction is new but the city is still dusty and
dirty. If you imagine what the
Wild West would look like today then that’s probably an accurate picture of
Juba.
Torit
is a small town by our standards and most of the town lies off of the main
road. Even here the majority of
people live in tukols, which are mud and brick houses with dried grass roofs
and dirt floors. As you drive
outside of Torit on the dirt road you can see a far off mountain range that
leads to Uganda. Along this road
are villages, like Helieu, spread out and hidden behind tall grass. The people in the village grow most of
their own food, live in tukols, and have no electricity. Water comes from wells or from the
nearby river and people only focus on what they need to do that day to get
by.
-->
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| Pastor Dominic Augustin Africa has a lot to smile about |
As
I looked for the words to sum all of this up to the passport control officer
the first reply that came to mind was “it’s rough”. “Rough” serves as a good summary of South Sudan compared to a
lot of other parts of the world but as I thought about the work that we were
doing and the progress we’ve seen I had to add “but its getting better.”
So
what's it like in South Sudan? It’s
rough but its getting better.
T H E D I F F E R E N C E A Y E A R M A K E S
Last
year was my first trip to Torit.
There I met Dominic, the young pastor who leads a small church in the
village of Helieu outside of Torit.
Dominic is young and passionate and a very gifted teacher. Last year we were there to help Dominic
develop a vision for planting more churches and finding tangible ways to serve
the community. I was very blessed
to see a lot of growth in Dominic’s ministry.
In
the last year Dominic and other church leaders started a primary school in the
village as a means of serving the people there. The school was started initially with funds from Empower
Sudan supporters but is on its way to being self-sufficient.
Dominic
has also planted two new churches.
One in a nearby village called Africa, and the other about 2 hours from
Torit in the village of Kormush.
Dominic travels to these villages regularly to teach and mentor young
Christians.
 |
| Dominic rides his motor bike to other villages to teach about Jesus |
T H I S Y E A R ’S G O A L S
Empower
Sudan takes roughly 4 short-term trips to Torit each year led by Brian Bain,
the Regional Strategy Coordinator for the Torit area. Each trip has a few training objectives for the church
leaders there. One principle we
follow in our trainings is that we not only want the people we train to have
new knowledge but we want them to be able to go and teach others everything
that we teach them. This makes
them less dependent on us and allows more people to be affected by the
knowledge we share.
This
trip consisted of two trainings:
1. Community
Development Training for Church leaders.
2. Bible teaching
through storytelling.
C O M M U N I T Y
D E V E L O P M E N T
I N T H E
N E W E S T C O U N T R Y
O N T H E P L A N E T
South
Sudan has a lot of challenges and no one understands the problems of South
Sudan better than the South Sudanese.
This is why the focus of our community development training is to teach
them a process for identifying problems and coming up with solutions using
resources they have in country.
Our approach is to ask a lot of questions and let them do most of the
talking.
The
model we taught has 5 simple steps.
1.
Build a
Coalition- Who can help you create positive change?
2.
Dream a Better
Future- What good things do you want for your community?
3.
Find the bright
spots- What resources do you have in your community?
4.
Develop a Plan-
What are the steps you need to take?
5.
Reproduce what
works- How can you do this again?
D R E A M I N G A B E T T E R F U T U R E
 | ||
A
common theme we noticed is that many people in South Sudan do not think ahead
or plan for the future. That is
why trainings like this are so important. If we teach a few people in the
village how to create a plan for solving problems they will be able to teach
those critical thinking skills to others and slowly the culture will
change.
F I N D I N G
T H E B R I G H T S P O T S
One
of our major goals is to not create dependence on outsiders and outside
resources. Instead we want to help
the church leaders identify the resources, or bright spots, they have right
there in their village. The
members of the training were asked to identify six types of resources: natural,
human, physical, economical, spiritual, and institutional.
As
I reflected on which of these types of resources is the most important I came
to the conclusion that it is human resources. These include the skills, knowledge and drive that people in
a community possess. People with the passion to do something
positive are the starting point for creating lasting change in any environment. You can have all the physical and
economic resources in the world but if the people don’t use them well they are
useless.
 |
| Dominic, Johnson, James, Okello, Joseph, John, Jacob, Dominic |
S T O R Y T I M E
O N T H E O T H E R S I D E O F
T H E W O R L D
In
the late afternoons we would gather the children in the village and teach Bible
stories. There are New Testament
Bibles written in Lotuko, the local language, but they are scarce and literacy
is low so storytelling is a great way to teach scripture. As a visual aid we used a scarf with 21
pictures that represented different stories from the Bible.
 |
| Ryan and I teach as the other Dominic translates |
Each
day we would teach about five stories with the help of a translator and as with
everything we did the hope was that those listening would be able to go and
teach the stories. By the end of
the week we were thrilled to hear some of the kids reciting stories back to
us. We left some of the scarves
with the church so they can use them to teach others in the village. The Torit county commissioner told us that
a lot of the hope for South Sudan lies with the next generation so it’s
important that they grow up knowing Jesus. Pray that these young ones continue to grow and share the
love of Jesus with their friends.
W H A T ’S N E X T ?
I
am now officially on staff with Empower Sudan as an Area Strategy
Coordinator. This is a part-time,
non-paid position that includes me leading a trip to Torit once a year and
being a part of the American team here in Dallas. While I will only go once a year I’m making a long-term
commitment to be a part of the work in Torit. I will be raising support solely for my yearly trip and
recruiting people to go with me so think about how you might want to be
involved. It’s really fun to tell
you about South Sudan but it would be more fun for me to show you. I will be sending out more information
on how you can be involved in the coming months.
I
have to end this letter with a BIG THANK YOU to all the people who funded this
trip, prayed for me, and who were excited and worried for me. I don't take it for granted that I am
blessed to do this kind of work and I want YOU to know I couldn’t have done it
without you. You are a part of
this work and a bright spot for me and for the people of South Sudan. THANK YOU
SOUTH SUDAN FALL 2012
our team: Steven Samantha Hailey Brian Bart Me
T H
E M I
S S I
O N
The
purpose of our trip was to expand the church planting work that E3 ministries
is doing in the Eastern Equatoria state of South Sudan. Our destination was a village
called Helieu outside of the town of Torit, which is the largest town in the
Eastern Equatoria state. The main
goal for our team of 6 was to assist the pastor in Heliu with strategic
planning for church planting in the region and to do evangelism in the
village. A personal goal for
me was to assess if this is a place that I would like to return on a yearly
basis to take part in the church planting work that E3 is doing. As you may know I spent some time
working with refugees from South Sudan when I lived in Cairo and it was my
desire to go there ever since.
This trip was in many ways a fulfillment of that desire and an
opportunity to see how I can serve this group of people that I care a great
deal about.
T H
E J O
U R N E Y
On our way from the United States to Torit we
experienced some travel difficulties that required a little creativity and a
lot of patience to overcome. We
began our trip with a flight from Dallas to Amsterdam, followed by another from
Amsterdam to Nairobi. After
spending a night in Nairobi the plan was to fly to Juba, the capital of South
Sudan and then drive to Torit.
This is where we had some difficulties. The South Sudanese government had changed their Visa policy
that week and said that we were supposed to have our visas before we entered
the country meaning we could not board the plane from Nairobi to Juba.
Thankfully our trip leader, Brian Bain, who works
full time for E3 and has traveled in Africa extensively, was able to keep us
moving forward. We were able to
fly to Entebbe, Uganda and spent the following day driving across most of
Uganda to the town of Adjumani, close to the border with South Sudan. The following day we met Pastor David
Kaya in the town of Moyo, on the border of Uganda and South Sudan. Pastor Kaya is the Sudanese pastor who
heads all of the church planting that E3 does in South Sudan and he was our
driver and guide for the rest of our trip. An hour later we were finally in South Sudan!
Thankfully
we had no problem buying visas at the border and after a short stop in Kajo
Keji, where the E3 headquarters is located, we were off to Torit. The roads between the major cities in
South Sudan are unpaved and require dodging potholes and at times crossing rivers
and streams. To give some
perspective of traveling in rainy season, as we did, it can take between 3-4
hours to go 70-80 miles. An hour
into our drive our land cruiser got a flat tire. While were able to put on the spare it was not safe to
travel the other 8 hours to Torit without a spare so we went back to Kajo Keji
for the evening while Kaya and his team repaired the tire and made sure that
our vehicle was ready for the trip.
The following morning our team set out again for Torit and after a long drive
we arrived safe and sound that evening.
Despite all of the difficulties God brought us safely to our destination
and although we were exhausted from the journey we were joyful to be there and
eager to minister to the people in Helieu. I thank God that I was with such a great group of people who
had incredible patience and humor as we made this journey.
T H
E D E
S T I
N A T
I O N
Helieu
is a village about a 30-minute drive from Torit. The surroundings are picturesque; blue skies, green trees,
tall grass, and mountains in the distance with mist on them in the morning and
white fluffy clouds during the day.
I didn’t think Africa could actually be as beautiful as it is on TV but
it is. For all it’s typical
African scenery there were no lions or giraffes, only cows, goats, a few stray
dogs, and a lot of chickens. The people there wear western clothing and for the
most part grow their own food and raise their own livestock. It’s somewhere
between a modern industrial city and the dramatic images you see of people in
loin cloths dancing with their faces painted in the middle of the jungle. They
live in small brick and mud homes called tukols. They don’t have running water
or electricity but they do have schools and books and plates and cups and no
one has their face painted or carries a spear. The men play dominoes and the children play soccer with a
ball they made from rubber gloves borrowed from the local medical clinic. It is very third world to our eyes but
when you think of the history of war these people have endured and look around
you at the natural beauty they call home it is a place that makes you feel very
humble.
T H
E W O
R K
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
The first day in the village we were introduced to
pastor Dominic Africa Augustan the pastor of the church in Helieu. Yes his middle name is Africa and I’m
jealous that my name doesn’t roll off the tongue the way his does. He is in his late 20s, is a graduate of
the bible school in Kajo Keji, and has an adorable wife and three
children. He is an earnest young
pastor with a sense of humor that will surprise you. He spent the morning giving us a tour of the village and
teaching us enough of the local language to at least greet everyone. “Mong mong (Hello)”. “Ongai (how are
you)?” “Ongneeda (good)”. We got to know some of the men
that Dominic is mentoring and hoping to eventually send out as church
planters. Serrano is a middle-aged
man who oversees the local elementary schools. He is warm and has the fatherly demeanor of a teacher. John
is quiet but speaks great English and came out to see us despite the fact he
was getting over Malaria. Paul
seems younger than he is and surprised us with his fervor for the Lord.
Brian Bain
Dominic Africa Augustan Me
We spent the morning learning about the lives of the
people in the village. We heard
stories and sampled some local food; sorghum, some kind of dip and nuts. So much of ministry in South Sudan is
about relationships. In a place
that has known more war than peace it takes time and a lot of listening to gain
trust. So we listened to the men
talk about their families and about some of the things they had experienced in
and after the wars. We showed them
maps of South Sudan and the area where they lived to show where we are hoping
to plant churches. It was a
valuable time of building long term relationships.
DEVELOPING A VISION
We spent the afternoon with Pastor Dominic, Pastor
Kaya, and Brian developing a strategy for church planting in the Eastern
Equatoria state with Torit and Helieu as the base. David Kaya is Southern Sudanese, was educated in Uganda
during the war, and has been planting churches in South Sudan for a decade
now. He is joyful, discerning and
equal parts optimistic and pragmatic.
He was able to share the broader vision for reaching the region while
Dominic shared with us the needs of the people in Helieu. The overall vision is for Dominic to
continue to develop disciples who can then go and plant churches in nearby
small villages and then larger towns that are nearby. Then those disciples will mentor others who will plant
churches in more villages and towns and so on until there is a network of
churches in the Eastern part of the country. Right now Helieu is one fruitful tree and we are praying
that it will produce a forest. One
practical need we were able to assess is more consistent discipleship and
theological training for the men in the church in Helieu. Our short-term trips are a means of
progressing this work. Another
practical need is getting Dominic a motorcycle to travel to more villages in
the area. We are currently trying to raise funds for this.
David
Kaya Dominic
Africa
PLANTING SEEDS
The following days in Helieu consisted of mornings
doing evangelism in the village and holding special services in the church in
the afternoon where we would share the gospel. In the mornings we would set out with another member of our
team and a translator. While a lot
of people speak enough English to communicate, most communicate best in the
local Lotuko tribal language. I
spent most of my time with Brian and Dominic walking through the village and
speaking with the people. When telling people about Jesus in South Sudan you
run into a similar problem that you do in Dallas, TX. Almost everyone would say they are Christian but they might
not understand who Jesus really is.
Christianity became part of the cultural identity of the people in the
South as a way of differentiating themselves from the Muslims in the North who
they were at war with. Many people
can tell you things about Jesus but they have no relationship with Him. This is the challenge that Dominic and
the church there are trying to overcome.
We spent a lot of time praying with people for practical needs and for
Spiritual fruit in their lives. I
felt great power in our prayers as we are trusting God to do a work in the
hearts of the people that only He can do.
In our short time in Torit we were able to build many
relationships with the people in the village, both church members and
non-church members. We fulfilled
our goals of planning for the future of the ministry as well as sharing the
gospel in the community and spreading the word about the work that Dominic’s
church is doing. I walked away
with was a greater understanding of the people of South Sudan and how I can
contribute to their spiritual well being.
W H
A T ’S N
E X T
?
This
trip was an opportunity for me to explore the possibility of serving in South
Sudan in some sort of long term capacity.
Brian has been looking to develop a team of people who would be willing
to go on a short term trip once a year to continue the discipleship work that
is happening in Torit on a more consistent basis. There are still a lot of details to work out but I’m
planning to be a part of this team and hope to lead a short-term trip sometime
next year and in the subsequent years. Mo has a similar passion for the South Sudanese as a result
of our time in Cairo and while it is doubtful that she will be able to go every
year we are hoping that she will be able to go with me on the next trip.
Thank
you so much for your support and prayers concerning the ministry in South Sudan. As I have written before it means a great
deal to me when people take an interest in this part of the world because it is
a place that I cared deeply about before I ever went there. That passion of mine has only grown and
I’m always eager to share with anyone who wants to learn more.
mind the gap
IF YOU'VE READ THIS FAR THEN YOU HAVE READ PAST ALL OF MY EMPOWER SUDAN POSTINGS BUT FEEL FREE TO READ ON IF YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT I WAS DOING IN EGYPT FROM 2006-2008. THERE'S SOME GLIMPSES OF SOUTH SUDAN IN CAIRO AND EVEN A FEW PICTURES OF ME WITHOUT A BEARD. ENJOY.
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