Saved by A Gas Seller

Last week we helped host our first visitors from churches that we knew, who came to visit our church partners as part of a frontier fellowship organization.  It was a positive experience for everyone, as the church got to tell a lot of their story and new people got to hear the news about what God is doing in the Sahel.  I think the three hardy visitors that came left with a positive impression of what the church here is doing.  After processing things a little with them on our lengthy car rides, it seems like they came away with two major themes.  First, that there are so many needs at the Bible schools here simply in terms of infrastructure, like securing a steady water source or fixing existing wells.  If it would be possible to help solve these problems (which talking with some long-timers here is apparently a big question mark), then training leaders for the church and new outposts could happen on a more sufficient scale.  Second, there is a lot of potential for evangelists to reach out to communities here if there is a better way to help them be and stay in the community.  Learning a trade, business, or even hosting secondary level students are some of the possibilities that look promising to meet that need.  But that's all just introduction for the most compelling story that I heard during their visit.

The evangelist from this story is in the center.  On the right is the
president of our partner church.

On our trip back to the capital we stopped at a village along the way, where our church partners hope to establish the first center for hosting secondary level students who walk long distances to get to school in this village.  When asked about how receptive the village has been, the evangelist who has been there for six years replied that there have been mixed responses, but they now have about 20 people attending worship in their thatched structure.  However, a few months ago, he had someone attempt to light him on fire.  There was a bus driver in town (I'm assuming just resting or visiting), and they started talking beside the main road.  The driver began to complain about the people in a village about 20 km down the main road, who have two prominent churches in their village, so they must be a "lost-cause."  The evangelist said if he was going to complain he'd should start with the person right in front of him as he is a Christian as well.  Immediately the driver grabbed a liter bottle of gasoline from a nearby gas seller's stand and poured it on the evangelist's head.  As he began trying to light a match, he had to be physically restrained by the gas seller in order to let it go.  I'm impressed that the evangelist has some respect from the locals or was fortunate to be around peaceful people.  But this story does give a serious picture of what someone could be up against in an everyday conversation.

--El Padre