Questions to ask regularly of disciples:  such as my friends like Benj & Mamadou & Ousman & Oumar, & Adama, & Modibo, & Samba, & Houseni, etc.

Adama & Samba in Dakar

-What r u reading in Bible?
-Prayer needs?
-How is the relation w/ wife n kids?
-Ministry activities?
-What books r u reading?
-Do u feel close to God?
-Do u feel on fire for God?
-Are u fruitful?
-Is your love for God growing?
-How are u doing in holiness?
-What are your spiritual gifts?
-Are you filled w/ HS currently?
-How r u helping the poor or oppressed?
-Are you being persecuted?
-Can you praise God in spite of health problems?

-What is God teaching you?

Things I've learned in Africa!

Some Things Learned Since Coming to Africa in 1984!
Not all perfectly, of course!
Some (tech items) we all learned during this period, but we learned them while on the field, in Africa :-) 

·         French language

·         Bambara language

·         Pulaar - Fulani language

·         Salutations in Moor, Wolof, and Soninké

·         Raising kids to adults!

·         Diapers and discipline!

·         4-wheel driving off-road

·         Diesel engine maintenance

·         Riding a moto in the bush

·         Living in Africa and the importance of greetings

·         Eating w/ hands (giving a new meaning to eating together)

Oumar, a Fulani evangelist, and two of his kids

·         West African foods

·         Sleeping on hard mats

·         Mali bathrooms!

·         All computer and i-net stuff

·         Networking ministries

·         Reconciliation and dialogue

·         Construction Mali style

·         Well digging

·         Car & generator mechanics

·         Games: Quarto, Phase 10, dames, Trente Deux, Speed Uno, Pigs, etc.

·         Archaeology of Israel

·         Living w/ diabetes and depression

·         Living with shoulder and back pain

·         Mali & WA social and political life and issues

·         Travel in African transport (giving a new meaning to rubbing shoulders)

·         Sahel flowers, trees and trimming them

·         Reading the Quran and Hadiths

·         Reading the Maccabees and all the Apocrypha

·         Staying cool in a hot place!

·         Digital photography 

·         WA history and slave trade effects

·         WA tribes and social structure

·         TEE & BCC ministries

·         Read classics i.e. Augustine, Origin, Knox, Eusebius, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pascal, Brother Lawrence, Francis, Gill, Carey, Josephus, Jerome, Ignatius, Wesley, Kipling, Bunyan, Beza, Luther, De Sales, Hugo, M’Cheyne, Newton, Fenelon, Polo, Owen, etc.

·         Greek studies and exegesis

·         Liturgy appreciation

·         Church dependency issues

·         Eating healthy

·         College financing

Bala teaching about Abraham's sacrifice
after I showed him how to.

·         Stocks, bonds, mutuals, annuities, IRAs, etc.

·         Cross cultural teaching

·         Development work

·         Refugee help            

·         Mali business contracts & hiring and firing

·         Dealing w/ beggars and the poor

·         Storying of Bible for evangelism and discipleship

·         Sonlife (living with Jesus)

·         Training for Storying

·         Handling short-term teams of many kinds.

·         Digital audio ministry

·         Partnerships with 2/3^rd World churches

·         Partnership w/ WA churches and missions

·         Partnership w/ African Americans, Brazilians, and Chinese!

·         Math teaching and home schooling

·         Sending kids to boarding school

·         Fallacies of Islamic theology and practices

·         Witness to Muslims

·         Islam structure & different groups in WA

·         Bible school teaching

·         Animism theology in WA

·         Language learning techniques

·         Studio building and setup

·         French typing and letter form

·         Solar and battery living

·         Depending on God for support: always

·         Continued learning of Gods’ grace

·         Contextualization of the gospel

·         Teaching contextualization (in other languages even!)

·         Use of OT in SLM evangelism

·         Seeing Jesus in every part of OT

·         Audio recording and editing

·         Difference of  sheep and goats J

·         Navigate in bush w/ or w/o a GPS

·         Geocaching!

·         To terimelike (bartering) for everything you buy, except what has a fixed price, and knowing the difference!

·         Fine tune theo.: NCT & Unfulfilled Prophecy, but opposing Open Theo., Emergence, Preterism, & Prosperity Gospel, etc.

·         Abortion protests and support of prolife positions

·         Alphabetization (Literacy teaching) in Bambara and Fulani

·         Walking in intimacy w/ God

·         Flexibility in ministry opportunities.

·         Prison ministry

·         Christian schooling

·         Orienting new mis’ies to life and ministry in Africa

·         Walking and exercises for heart & back health

·         Christian ‘salat’ prayers to help Fulani believers

·         Field finances and spreadsheets

Pastor Moise getting ready to make a compressed dirt brick

·         Management objectives and vision

·         Casting vision & team leadership

·         Servant leadership

·         Foreign currency handling

·         Living thru a coup d’état

·         Moving family across borders

·         Understanding JWs and Mormons a bit better.

·         Losing parents & other mentors

·         Asking questions of people and scripture

·         Recognition of personal limits

·         Adaptability of media in ministry

·         Tolerance of limits in partnership

·         Allowing expression in delegation

·         Foreign language book sales

·         Film and projector operation

·         Recruiting and training new workers, 17 so far!

·         New 2012: compressed mud brick construction

What we did in 2010: by the numbers

1: woman of the Soninké tribe discipled through weekly Bible studies and baptism preparation. (Jennifer)
1: Christian FM-radio station launched by a Malian Christian NGO with help from UWM (we have provided facilities and electricity, and helped them to find equipment); they currently broadcast about 18 hrs/day.
1: semester served on board of Dakar Academy. (Jennifer)
1: graduate class for education degree. (Jennifer)
1: son graduated from Dakar Academy, with honors.
2: new missionaries recruited for MALI, in a seconding agreement with WEC.
2: evangelism and medical teams to the Moors (about 15 participants all told, to 8 villages altogether).
5: meetings of the Malian Assoc. of Evangelicals attended by Jim, where he is serving on the Committee of Reconciliation to head off a split in the organization.

6: men taught in Bambara language Bible school (in partnership with Norwegian Lutheran Mission).

10: meetings with the local Christian school committee (see pix).
10: ESL teachers whom Jennifer observed and trained in Bamako during 2 weeks in January.
15: meetings in churches last summer, and we were featured at the Missions Night of the Annual Conference of the Church of Christ (Holiness), an African-American denomination, in St. Louis.
22: visits to disciple new Fulani believer in Kayes (who came to Christ through the controversial "Common Ground" method of evangelism). (Jim)
27: women trained in leadership seminars (in partnership with Marcie Harris). (Jennifer)
28: years celebrated married to same spouse!
35: Christian Fulani leaders hosted in MICCAO annual conference in Kayes for one week
30: visits to Fulani villages for outreach and supervision of the well project in Duduya. (Jim)
40: meetings with the Kayes Pastors' Cooperative for prayer and planning of joint evangelistic events. (Jim)
49: shows of original Star Trek watched!
52: beggars helped on our front porch by prayer, food, Bible reading, cash, work, clothing, loans, empathy, medicine, counsel, etc.

75: visits drinking tea to do friendship evangelism among mostly Fulani friends, often playing Bible story cassettes or mp3 players like the Megavoice. (Jim)

150: radio broadcasts managed in the Fulani & Moor languages (on 2 different stations).

12,000: miles traveled June-August in the USA & Canada to facilitate partnerships, raise funds, promote ministry, and keep in touch with supporters including many visits with churches and dear friends.