Presentation
of Kombolcha, Ethiopia Mission Trip
Rob
Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC
Sunday,
May 20, 2012
(1)
LEAD UP TO THE TRIP
In
December 2009 my wife Candy Tennant and a dozen others traveled to Ethiopia and
visited “care points” run by Children’s Hope Chest. One of those sites was Grace Baptist Church
in the city of Kombolcha.
In
March 2010, Peter Abera, an Ethiopian man from Kombolcha visited here and told
his story to HillSong Church. He was born Ethiopian Orthodox, a form of
Christianity and the most prominent faith in Ethiopia. During the famine, he worked at a World Vision
feeding center run out of Grace Baptist Church in Kombolcha. There, he accepted Jesus as his Savior. I am not
suggesting the Orthodox Church does not preach the Gospel. But Peter did not learn to be a Jesus
follower in the Orthodox Church. He
didn’t come to Christ until he was mentored by a World Vision worker who shared
both food and the Gospel.
Word
traveled to Peter’s father who came to the Grace Baptist Church with a gun, intent
on killing his son for leaving Ethiopian Orthodoxy. Peter was terrified, but the man who had
discipled told him to go into the building.
That man brought out a table and poured some coffee.
Peter’s
father set his gun on the table. The man who himself had grown up Muslim and
then turned to Jesus at Grace Baptist Church, explained the gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter’s Father listened. His heart softened. They called Peter. His father put the gun away and embraced his
son.
These
events took place in the 1990’s. Peter
toured the United States in 2010. One of
his stops was here, HillSong Church. He
shared his story, which I just told. That
day, we invited people to support Grace Baptist Church by supporting the
Children’s Hope Chest Care Point there.
Support
is rendered by sponsoring a child. You
send $34/month and you begin a relationship with a child who is educated at the
school run by Grace Baptist. The child
gets a uniform, school supplies, and a meal every day. Some of these kids live with their parents who
are extremely sick. Some have lost one
parent and live with the surviving parent; these kids are called single
orphans. Some children lost both parents
and live with a relative or guardian.
These are double orphans. Whether
the child is a single orphan, a double orphan, or a kid whose parents are alive
but very poor, their needs are tremendous.
We have poverty in America, but in most cases, even our poor would be
relatively well off compared to the poor in Kombolcha.
When
Peter spoke at HillSong, people signed up to be sponsors. Today, there are over 160 children in the
program at Grace Baptist Church and about 90 are sponsored. Over 40% of those sponsors come from HillSong
church.
What
if we went to visit these kids? What if
we did that every year?
(2) WHAT WE DID
In 2011, Candy and I went to Ethiopia to adopt our daughter
M__. While there, we went to
Kombolcha, an 8-hour bus ride from the capital city, Addis Ababa. We saw children who have great potential but
are shackled by poverty. The kids
embraced us and loved us. All we did was
pass out care packages and take pictures.
And give hugs. Lots of hugs.
I met with the leaders because I wanted HillSong to visit but
only if that would be a good thing for them.
Maybe hosting a bunch of Americans would put an unneeded burden on
them. They assured me that a visit would
be most welcome.
When Candy and I returned to the United States, we began
planning. There was enthusiasm for the
trip here at HillSong. I imagined us as
a church visiting Kombolcha every year.
That’s still my vision, but now that we have been on the firs trip, the
vision is expanding.
Last year, May to November, many at HillSong attended the
initial meetings. Then, the interest
waned. Conflicting schedules, health,
family obligations and other things got in the way. For various reasons, autumn was passing and
we had me and Sara Timmons and Laura Driggers.
Candy has also advertised the trip to sponsors outside our church, and
they began signing up. Soon, we had a
team of 15, people from Michigan, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Virginia, and North
Carolina.
We
began preparing through conference calls.
I asked team members to share their Christian testimonies, on the
calls. In addition to that time of
sharing, we planned our Bible camp.
Essentially what we would do in Ethiopia is go to the Grace Baptist
Church every day and put on a 3-hour Bible camp for some of the kids in the
morning. The camp consisted of Bible
lesson, arts/crafts, recreation/parachute games, and the distribution of care
packages. We also had several donations
to pass out – balls, backpacks, water bottles, etc. And, each day, we fed the kids a snack. We’d take one group through in the morning
and the other in the afternoon.
As our team took shape, I thought, “This is not what I had in
mind.” I envisioned a HillSong
team. This team was a collection from
all over with only three HillSong members.
But God was in it. I was affirmed
in the calling that yes, we were to go to Ethiopia. At the same time, God showed me it wouldn’t
look exactly as I thought.
The
time for the trip was getting closer, and I got a phone call. “Rob, I need to come and talk to you.” That usually means something is wrong, which
is OK. Christians walk with each other in
life when something is wrong. “Rob, I
need to come and talk.” Heidi Soden
called and said those words, but it was because deep inside her, something was
very right. Even though all the
deadlines had passed, she felt compelled by God to go on this trip. So, she
came to see if there was any way. I
called the organization handling the logistics of our trip, the One Child Campaign. Thy made it happen. Our team of 15 was now 16, four from
HillSong.
Then
March 21st came – the day of our departure. I learned that Sara Timmons can sleep
anywhere – plane, floor of the airport, uncomfortable, crowded van. Because she can do this, she is rested. When the team is groggy and tired, she is awake,
smiling. We were working with 160 kids
who speak Amharic. A bright smile goes a
long way.
I
learned that nothing seems to faze Heidi.
She handles it all – the travel, the jetlag, the moments of scheduling
uncertainty – she handles it with grace.
And she steps right in to any situation.
I
learned that it is important to have a physician like Laura on the trip. I also learned if you sit next to her for 13
hours on a plane, you won’t get bored.
She is extremely committed to Jesus and she is a conversationalist.
We
all learned that the Ethiopian airlines feeds a lot of meals and when it is
meal time, they wake you up no matter how much your seatmate urges them to let
you sleep. Every time poor Laura would
talk herself tired and drift off to sleep, they’d come with more food. I would say, “Just let her sleep.” Ignoring me, the flight attendant would shake
her and say, “Chicken or fish.” Half the
time, I think she was so tired she wasn’t sure what she ordered even after she
ate it.
I
learned (again) what a fantastic my wife is.
With M__ only being with us 10 months, it wasn’t right for Candy to
leave for 9 days. But the entire time we
were in Ethiopia, her fingerprints were all over the trip. She was the conference calls in on all the planning.
Here’s
an example. At the guest house, when we
checked in, I was given a cell-phone. Then
I looked at the rather detailed notes Candy had put in a folder for me. It said, “When you get to the guest house, a
woman named Mercy will give you a cell phone.”
I looked at the woman and said, “Um, is your name, Mercy?” She smiled and said, “Uh huh.” I thought to myself, “I better read this
folder carefully, every day.” And, by
the way, four members of the team used that phone to call back home throughout
the week.
Our
team was truly brought together by God.
We had a teenager, a nurse, a waitress, two pastors, a physician
assistant, a school principle, a special ed teacher, a university professor, an
office manager, a groundskeeper, and five stay-at-home moms. There are super-Christians or sophisticated
world-class travelers. Some are over 50
years old, and one is 14. Some are have
a lot of formal education. Some do blue-collar
work. One team member is a diabetic and
she did fine. One is a vegetarian, a vegan
in fact, and she had some food challenges, but also did fine. Look at these people. YOU can sponsor a child and you can go on one
of these trips. You can be spectacularly
used by God just by making yourself available.
At the Bible camp, the kids loved the games and the care packages. They threw themselves into the crafts time. They listened and participated when I taught the Bible lesson. As we did our camp, in the distance, over a loud speaker, we would hear the Muslim call to prayer. Many Muslims live in Kombolcha. Among the children and within the Grace Baptist Church Family, some come to Jesus from a Muslim background.
(3) WHY
This trip is about telling Jesus’ salvation, sharing basic
needs of food and education and love with extremely poor children, and
establishing relationships with those kids and the adults who care for them
daily. With the sounds of Islam filling
the air, we told these kids that Jesus is God come in the flesh to take the
sins of the world. We went to Ethiopia
to share this, to meet material needs, and to love the children in person.
The most emotional portion of the trip for most of us came
when we got to visit the homes of the children we sponsor. We got to see 3rd world poverty
up close. This wasn’t a CNN report. With our bags of gifts –fruit, coffee, sugar
– we went and visited the children. The
child Candy and I sponsor lives with 5 others in a home that’s not bigger than
my office here at the church.
There is a reality about who Jesus is and some of us cannot
see that reality until we step out of our familiar surroundings and into
another world. We go to help the kids
yes, but also because we need to. In
order for us to become who Jesus is calling us to be, we need to go.
(4) WHAT’S NEXT
Next year’s trip is March 9-18. That corresponds with UNC’s spring
break. MY hope is that we double or
triple the number of HillSong people who go.
I’d love to see five from the Encounter small group on next year’s
trip. Already, 17 people have signed
up. I now know this trip is God’s, not
Hillsong’s. The people in Ethiopia were
so enthused with our time with them, they are eager for us to come back. They cried when we left, and we did too – a
lot. Many have already signed up to go
back.
I
am convinced God is calling Hillsong to be part of this. I urge you to pray and
ask God if you are being called to sponsor or to go.
(5) LONG-TERM
I see this as the beginning of a long-term relationship: HillSong Church, Children’s Hope Chest, Once
Child (the organization handling logistics), and Grace Baptist Church in
Kombolcha. In 2013, our Bible camp there
will be during UNC’s spring break March 9-18.
We might plan other 2013 trips to Kombolcha. I am exploring the possibility of a medical
team going in the Fall.
(6) WHY IT MATTERS (TO
YOU) (ON MAY 20, 2012 IN CHAPEL HILL)
What does this mean here, now?
We invite you to be part it. Sign
up now, so we can begin preparing. See
Candy or me if you’d like to go. All you
need to is be available. Teachers,
waitresses, maintenance workers, nurses have all gone – these aren’t
extraordinarily wealthy folks. They are
folks who hear God’s call, trust in his help, and sacrifice things so they can
go where He is at work. Teens, people
over 50, diabetics – all are happy they went and plan to go back. You can do this too.
Or, maybe you’re called somewhere else. Laura Shrewsbury goes to Ukraine nearly every
year where she is a part of a Bible camp for Gypsy children. Uganda, South Africa, Haiti – we have people
who have been or are going to these places.
There is the potential for a future trip to the Dominican Republic.
Maybe you are called locally.
Jonathan has the youth on mission every summer. It’s home repair work and has been done in
downtown Roanoke and on an Indian reservation.
We have numerous ministries right here in Carrboro-Chapel Hill and right
in our own church. Personally, I want
everyone to go to Ethiopia. But more
than that, for the sake of your growth in Christ, I want you – every one of us –
to answer God’s call to step out of comfortable places and into uncertain
places where trusting Him is essential.
We don’t live in Faith until we truly give up control.
INVITATION
As we move into a time of prayer, singing, and invitation, let
this also be a time of considering. God
is calling you, maybe to Ethiopia. Maybe
to something else. As we sing during
this time, I invite to come to the front and pray, asking God where He is
calling you. Or come and ask God, if you
already have an idea, to clarify the call on your life. This isn’t only for young people. This isn’t only for travelers or people with
a certain skill set. God has a call on
every life here. I am asking today that
all of us come and kneel and pray and ask God to reveal the call, clarify the
call, and solidify the call. Maybe
coming to the front to pray is not what you usually do. Maybe that’s the first step in being willing
to say to God, “I’ll do as you command.
As the worship team leads, come and pray and ask God to show you the way
to the live of service in Jesus’ name he is preparing for you. Come.
