Speaker: Jan Van Amerongen Scripture: Romans 5:1-11 Full Service Video Sermon + Conversation Guide Sermon Audio ..read more

For those of you who continued to be gripped by my travelogue, you will remember our ride from the airport to the safari and then to Abaana’s Hope, where our trainings were held. We had a rookie driver named Rodgers (no relation to Aaron). He was slow, unsure of himself, and spoke in such a quiet manner we ended up guessing at what he was saying.   If Rodgers was an 8th round draft pick from UW-Platteville, today’s driver, Otim (oh-team) was a Heisman trophy winning #1 pick in the Ugandan driver draft. He has made the trip from Abaana’s Hope to Entebbe at least 50 times, speaks loud ..read more

Speaker: Kevin Christopher Scripture: John 5:16-30 Full Service Video Sermon + Conversation Guide Sermon Audio ..read more

Usually, we leave for the Entebbe airport shortly after we finish our teaching on Friday. Friday afternoon, a second cohort of leaders come to the training center. We stuck around because Gar was going to spend early evening Friday and all-day Saturday giving exams to this group of leaders. The cover picture is Gar walking away from the clinic. His totals for the week were…  114 adult exams  10 child exams  71 pairs of adult glasses  0 pairs for children  3 eye infections  4 cataracts-all mild  There were a lot of grateful people who are reading with greater ..read more

Pickleball hit Gulu this week! Well…Cwero (pronounced Chweroh) actually, which is forty minutes north of Gulu. In past trips, I noticed a decent-sized basketball slab and I enjoyed playing, but there were very few takers. I decided to see if I could make pickleball happen here. I ordered a net, four paddles and balls, a line-striping machine and some spray paint. A chalk line and a tape measure gave me everything I needed. A friend came forward and gave me two hockey bags, with enough room to fit everything in. A friend from FCC laid out a drawing and we were good to go…almost.   Sp ..read more

The vision of the Pastoral Training Center which we help lead is an:  Abiding Network of  Gospel-Centered,  Bible Saturated,  African Led Churches  In other words, a relational and self-sustaining group of churches, with indigenous leadership and the Gospel at the center.  This all hinges on what we call LEAD Trainers (LT’s), previous participants who have set themselves apart and have responded to the invitation to be trained to advance this cause. The hope is that they will take over leadership in 2026 (we finish this cohort in January of 2026, God willing). Th ..read more

It’s Monday night and we have our first day under our belts. It is always good to make our way down to the PTC (Pastoral Training Center) to the smiles and hugs and greetings of our Ugandan brothers on Monday morning. We all met at the PTC, sang a song, prayed a prayer and I introduced Tim Prince and Gar Christenson. They clapped for Tim when I told them he would be preaching at our Wednesday evening gathering and for Gar when I told them there would be free eye exams and free glasses for those who need them. Gar saw 31 pastors and roughly half of them needed glass. It was fun to see them com ..read more

Speaker: Tim Porter Scripture: John 5:1-15 Full Service Video Sermon + Conversation Guide Sermon Audio ..read more

Having Gar Christenson with us on this trip has been helpful and an absolute gift. He has been fun to get to know and a great storyteller. He has reminded me of the wonder of the people all around us on the trip. In some ways, I have gotten used to the amazing things going on all around us. A new set of eyes is always instructive.   The official reason he is here is to offer eye exams (He’s Dr. Christenson, my eye doc), glasses, medicine and a few procedures for the pastors we serve, and the staff that serve at the compound here. Health care, on a number of levels, is hard to c ..read more

Having arrived Wednesday evening, we stayed in a guest house and sought to get some sleep. The idea was to get up for a 6:30 Thursday breakfast and to hit the road for the 6-7 hour trip across country. Our driver’s name is Rodgers (no relation to Aaron, though I’m sure he wishes he was) who I misunderstood to be Ridges and called him that until the last three hours of his time with us. He is a young man with big glasses, he spoke in a very gentle manner and was often hard to understand. We had Tim Prince sit in the front seat next to Rodgers so that he could experience the differences and som ..read more