Robby and Naty’s Africa Weblog

This week, we had the privilege of going to Blantyre, the next major city after Lilongwe. It is known as the commerce capital of Malawi. We went to visit Pastor Willie Chaponda, his wife, Doris, and their family. Pastor Chaponda has a ministry called Mustard Seed Ministries, and Doris also has a ministry called Women of Victory.

Mustard Seed is a ministry that mainly works in the villages. Pastor Chaponda told us that real need in Malawi is in the villages, not in the cities. What he has done, as of now, is plant about 85 churches in as many villages, with about 15,000 members total. Another big part of the ministry is his radio ministry. Many people (around 20 million) listen to his radio program throughout Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. The amazing thing is how God is using this program to change lives. They have heard stories of whole villages converting, coming together to form a church, and then sending a leader to Pastor Chaponda so that he can train him and send him back as a pastor of the church. Because of this ministry, Pastor Chaponda is quite well known, and many doors have been opened to him, even in Muslim areas. Besides these ministries, they also have an orphan feeding program and private school, and pastoral training program. In 2004, there were reportedly more than 11,000 orphans in the part of Blantyre where they live, which is not a large area.

It was our privilege to participate in the Wednesday night services of 2 such village churches. The first church meeting was in a house, and about 50 people were packed into the house, almost all leaders in the local church. I was asked to give a 30-minute exhortation to the people, and it went quite well. Immediately afterward, Pastor Chaponda took us to the church that meets in his house, where there were about 60 people. He had told me that some would be non-believers, so I gave an evangelistic message. By the grace of God, 18 people accepted Christ for the first time, and another 5 people rededicated their lives to Christ! The Pastor and his wife will now plug them all into churches in their own areas and villages. It was really an amazing experience and we thank God for letting us take part in it. Once again, straight from this meeting, we headed to another meeting where we met up with some other church leaders to talk about putting together a RREACH conference for Malawi. By default, I was the one who presented it, and afterward everyone seemed pretty excited about it.

Thursday, we visited their private school. It was originally set up like any other private school, however, the kids could not afford it. So, they decided front the bill and have an orphan school. There are around 100 kids that they provide for uniforms, books, and lunch everyday. Naty was able to give a lesson during their meal. We also visited another village church, and were able to give them a word of encouragement. This particular church has around 150 members and is praying for money to buy land to start a hospital in their area. The nearest hospitals are 4 kilometers on each side, and by the time the people are sick enough to need to go to the hospital, they are not able get transport and resort to “traditional” healing or end up dying.

Even though we had so many opportunities to minister, we also had time for some tourism. We were able to visit a small game reserve, where we saw giraffe and some other animals we hadn’t seen yet. We also visited Mt. Mulanje, which is the second largest mountain in Africa, after Mt. Kilamanjaro(sp?) in Kenya (I think!). In that area there are large tea fields and it really is a very beautiful place.

We thank everybody for their prayers. We did not experience any witchcraft, although it is very apparent that it is a very real thing in that area. We heard some very crazy stories of what they have gone through and experienced in these villages. This coming weekend, we hope to go to Zomba, another southern city, where Pastor Chaponda has invited me to participate in a conference and evangelistic crusade. Once again, we ask for your prayers of safety and that God will continue to give us courage, strength, and boldness in the witnessing of His gospel.