What We Are Up To

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 20:53:06 +0200

Greg has been in the States for the last 2 weeks visiting supporting churches, family, friends and for a conference at our home church, The Life Church of Memphis.

Isaiah and I (Kristin) stayed here in Durban as we were advised not to take Isaiah because of the extreme climate change. We just had the hottest month of the year, and the weather in the States has been extremely cold this winter. Babies his age don’t do great with regulating their body temperature and extreme changes. We are all hoping to go later this year.

Just before Greg left we had an exciting development. We signed the lease on a spot for The Life Church of Durban! It in central Durban near the the beach and the International Convention Center. It’s going to take a bit of renovation, but not as much as other places we were considering. A big bonus is it already has working air-con (air conditioning) which is not standard here even though it gets super hot and humid in the summer.

The Life Church is sending a team in April to help with the renovations. If you are handy with tools and would like to come to Africa to help, check out the trips here. We’d love to have you!

Zambia

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:31:23 +0200

Just over the Zambezi River from Zimbabwe is the country of Zambia. Zambia was a British protectorate in the late 19th century but gained independence in 1964 and became a multi-party democracy in 1991. Like many African countries, Zambia struggles with poverty and AIDS but their economy has begun to stabilize. When President Mugabe ran white farmers out of his country, Zambia became a safe haven for many so today farms are beginning to thrive in this country. Greg said you could see the difference driving from Zimbabwe - with abandoned farms - into Zambia where farms were plentiful.

Greg, Scott and Charles visited some of Scott’s friends in the capital of Lusaka and a missionary couple that Greg has known for a long time.

Celebration Church Bulawayo

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 20:01:11 +0200

One of the reasons Greg wanted to go to Zimbabwe was to see how Celebration Church operates their feeding program. When we were in Swaziland, we saw how feeding programs worked when they operated around CarePoints, but in Zim they are operating them from the local church at schools.

Celebration Church has 21(!!) different campuses of their church in and around Bulawayo who run the different feeding programs. Back in 2008, when we first arrived in Swaziland, Zimbabwe had really hit bottom. There was no food available in the grocery stores - literally, the stores were stocked with only sugar and condoms! Pastor Dixon and his family would travel to South Africa to buy food and bring it back to Zim. They greatly increased the number of children they were feeding at that point. Now they are up to 23,000 children a day!

Zimbabwe and Zambia Trip

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 08:51:53 +0200

Greg invited two local pastor friends to accompany him on a trip to Zimbabwe and Zambia last week. They drove 18 hours the first day, leaving Durban at 3a to make it into Zimbabwe by that night. He visited our friends Pastor Dixon and Mike Pier with Celebration Church in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. They are a campus from Celebration Church in Jacksonville, FL - a sister church to The LIfe Church of Memphis, our home church.

In case you don’t know, Zimbabwe has been in a tough situation for many years now. The democratically elected leader decided not to leave his position since 1980! You can read more about what has happened to the country under his leadership here. Because of hyper-inflation of the Zim dollar, they now only use US dollars and Rand (South Africa’s currency). Greg said it felt strange to have all the prices given to him in dollars but not to be in the States.

One of the things that they do there is run feeding programs that feed 23,000 children a day! Things got really desperate for a while there and there was no food - kids were starving. But the church stepped up and now is making a huge difference!

Answers to Prayer

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:35:50 +0200

We have been seeing answers to prayers from our Wednesday prayer gathering.

A few weeks ago, one of the guys who has been attending - Paul - asked for prayer concerning his father’s financial situation. Paul had found out that his father had a huge debt that he could not pay. After the group prayed, a few days later, his father’s debt was forgiven by the people he owed!

Another young man who has been attending - Justin - asked for prayer concerning his job. He is working but has not been making enough to cover his expenses. After the group prayed, about a week ago, Justin was promoted to Assistant Manager with a pay raise!

One of the Reasons Why We are here

Sat, 9 Jan 2010 14:00:56 +0200

This makes me so sad I can hardly stand it.. a newborn baby was found in a garbage bag left for dead in an upscale area of Durban. A maintenance man found the child by chance as he sorted through the garbage to see if there was anything useful being thrown away. Thank God that he opened that bag that day. Having a precious little baby boy whom we treasure makes me feel even deeper the tragedy of this little child’s abandonment. One day we hope to have a place here where young women who feel like they have no other choice but to leave their child can surrender the baby to loving arms. The day can’t come soon enough!

Meeting with Pastor Gary

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 07:04:18 +0200

Greg had the opportunity to meet with Pastor Gary Skinner and other pastors and leaders in the Durban area. Pastor Gary Skinner is the lead pastor of the 20,000 member Watoto Church in Kampala and Gulu, Uganda. They also care for orphans in a family style ministry - it’s an awesome model birthed out of the local church and the family structure that God created.

A church that we’ve connected with - Kloof Harvest - is in the beginning stages of building a Watoto-style ministry to orphans. They have raised the funds for the first phase of clearing the land and beginning to build homes. We’re excited to know this church and look forward to partnering with them in the future.

Greg came back from the time with Pastor Gary and the other pastors inspired and challenged! We are anxious to get the church started and see ministry flow out of it!

Prayer for Durban

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 15:41:27 +0200

Greg has been meeting with a small group of guys every Wednesday during lunchtime to pray for Durban. The men who are coming to prayer are all interested in seeing a church started in the city. Most of them are also interested in getting involved with The Life Church of Durban! Please pray that this group grows with other like-minded individuals.

Some of the things they are praying for Durban:
City officials - to be good leaders and of good character
World Cup (Soccer) 2010 - for the city to be prepared to handle the influx of people and that it would be a positive experience for everyone-tourists and locals
Churches - that they will thrive in this city and make a difference in the communities
That God would send laborers to this city who would bring in the harvest that is here

Baby Update - It’s A Boy!

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:21:10 +0200

We are so happy to announce that Isaiah Samuel Evans was born November 19th at 12:02 AM. He is a healthy little boy! He is 3.4 kg/7.8 lbs and 49 cm/19.5 inches long. We are so thankful!

Everyone is healthy and home recovering and enjoying life with a new baby. Thank you Jesus!

Baby Update - 38 Weeks

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:41:31 +0200

We are in the middle of 38 weeks and everything still looks great! The doctor seems to think we won’t deliver until a few days after the due date (Nov 22). So it seems the little one is quite content right now!

I’ve had mild swelling in my feet recently as we’ve had some warmer temperatures here in Durban. Getting in water helps beat the heat and the swelling.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us through this pregnancy! We definitely feel God’s blessing- it’s been such a great pregnancy. Please continue praying for the smooth delivery and birth. Thank you so much!