“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4)
“Your Words were found, and I ate them, and your Words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by Your Name, O LORD, God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16)
As humans, we are all familiar with hunger – physical hunger. And while some suffer from this ache more than others, we are all acquainted with the yearning and desperation that accompanies the need for food. Hunger can be relentless, rippling through our whole body while commandeering everything from our mood, our rationale, and our ability to perform routine physical tasks. Hunger can literally subdue a person and make them nothing more than a shell of themselves.
But there is another type of hunger, and it is not physical; it is spiritual. And when you are overcome with this spiritual hunger there is only one thing that can satisfy it.
As a full-time pastor, I have the privilege of ministering to a whole congregation’s spiritual hunger with the Word of God each and every Lord’s Day. And as an adjunct faculty member of ELI, I am also blessed to offer this same Word of God, to a group of spiritually hungry pastors and leaders in the African nation of Zambia.
Since May of 2023, I have led my church to partner with ELI in facilitating training in the Eastern Province city of Chipata. Under the faithful leadership and guidance of my national partner and ELI faculty, Rev. Dr. William Zulu, we are now half-through the training program with our current group of Timothys, and joyfully celebrating all that God has done and will continue to do through this ministry.
In July, I traveled to Zambia with my church’s Pastoral Intern, Nathan Hoch, to teach two courses: “Church History” and “Doctrine of the Holy Spirit”. We conduct our training at the Reformed Church in Zambia’s conference and training center in the nearby village of Madzimoyo.
The Timothys travel there from all throughout the province and stay on-site together during the week. Classes are conducted from 8-5 PM with time for breaks and lunch. Much to our delight, all 27 Timothys were able to be with us!
I give God all the praise and glory for how He is working through this group. Our role is to faithfully teach others and to trust God for the results. And the results we are witnessing are phenomenal.
Not only are the Timothys spiritually hungry, but the more of God’s Word we give to them, the hungrier they become. Their hunger is like a fire that burns within them – it grows and grows – but unlike physical hunger, it does not consume them and make them weak. Rather it strengthens them and catalyzes them to go out and minister this Divine food to others.
One of my favorite parts of our week is our celebration feast on Friday. It has become our practice to have a braai (a cookout) together.
During this time, we not only celebrate God’s faithfulness to us, but we also take time to share about how God is using the ELI training to multiply disciples and change lives through the spiritual growth and ongoing training the Timothys are conducting.
As we hold the food in our hands that satisfies our physical hunger, we can rejoice together at the spiritual food we’ve received and get to pass along to others in the name of Jesus Christ our King.
I invite you to not only pray for ELI’s ministry in Zambia, but to join me in giving thanks to the LORD for the great provision of His Word to us. May it sustain us and give us life, and may we, like the prophet Jeremiah, find them to be the joy and delight of our hearts as we serve God for His glory and the good of His Church. Amen and amen.
