The Mission Foundation
P.O. Box 46358
Baton Rouge, LA 70895

February 20, 2009

Dear friends,

Bec and I are presently traveling by car from Mbeya, Tanzania back to Dar es Salaam. We just saw another highway accident. They are very frequent here. We ourselves had a very, very close call on the way to the seminar last weekend. We appreciate all of your prayers for safe travel.

Our Langham Preaching seminar went very well. We had 54 delegates who came primarily from the Moravian Church and the African Inland Church (established 100 years ago by African Inland), although there were also Baptists and Pentecostals. This morning, during our sharing time at the end of the seminar, one brother remarked about the uncommon sense of unity they had experienced this week. It was indeed very apparent throughout the seminar. I would like to add that this group in Mbeya was quite diligent in the carrying out their workshop assignments. They were extremely focused on their work and produced some good sermon theme statements and outlines.

LETTER CONTINUED IN DAR ES SALAAM – SATURDAY NIGHT, FEBRUARY 21ST –

Tonight I am writing from the African Inland Mission guest house in Dar es Salaam. Tomorrow morning at 3:30 a.m. the taxi will pick us up to take us to the airport for an early morning flight to Accra, Ghana (by way of Nairobi). Then tomorrow night we will begin our fifth Langham Preaching seminar in Ghana. It is known in that country as NEPS, i.e. National Expository Preaching Seminar. We will be doing a Level Three program, which means that this group of delegates will be receiving their certificates, having completed the three-year sequence.

Following the Level Three program, on Sunday night, March 1st, I will preach the induction sermon for the new pastor of Accra Chapel, Rev. Emmanuel Osae-Addo. Accra Chapel meets on the campus of the University of Ghana Medical School and has been pastored for many years by Rev. Theopholis (T. B.) Dankwa, a member of the Langham Preaching seminar committee for Ghana. It is a wonderful congregation that God has used in a very significant way in this West African country. I have preached there before and am honored that my brother T. B. has invited me to share in this special occasion as he passes the mantel of pastoral service to another brother. Please pray for us and for Accra Chapel.

On that same day, Sunday, March 1st, we will begin our two and a half day “Training of Local Facilitators” program. I mentioned this program to you in my last letter. It is extremely important to the future of the expository preaching movement in Ghana.

Please pray for Becky (who ministers to women) and me that we will have the required energy and the wisdom needed to finish our work well. We are very grateful to God for allowing us to participate in His work here in Africa through Langham Preaching (John Stott Ministries). Please see websites for more information.

For those who desire to support the work of The Mission Foundation, we will not be able to send out an envelope this month. We will only be able to communicate with you by email. Please see the address given in the heading. We are sorry for this inconvenience. We greatly appreciate your willingness to provide financially for our work. Thank you for ALL that you have done and continue to do!

Laboring and looking for His coming!

Rod and Bec

Langham Preaching Seminar in Tanzania

Becky and I are in the city of Mbeya in the deep southwestern part of Tanzanian tonight. Our Langham Preaching seminar is going very well.

We greatly appreciate the prayers of our friends. We had a very close call on the highway coming down here from Dar es Salaam. A large bus almost flipped over as it met us in a blind curve. It was going at a very high speed and fish-tailed as it was struggling to avoid hitting us. We give thanks for God's protection.

The delegates at the seminar are very eager learners. They come from a number of denominations, and most of them serve up here in the southern highlands.

Again, we are very grateful for the prayers of our friends.

Letter, January 31, 2009, "The Preacher, Standing Before"

The Mission Foundation
P. O. Box 46358
Baton Rouge, LA 70895

January 31, 2009

Dear friends,

We give thanks for God’s blessings in January. I was privileged to preach at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Jackson, MS and at The Cornerstone Chapel in Baton Rouge. The Gathering of Men is off to its best start in years, as men are bringing friends, and the Lord has granted us a very special awareness of His ministering Presence on Thursdays.

Next Sunday, February 8th, Bec and I will be leaving for Tanzania, Ghana, and Sheffield. We are joining with our British colleague Tony Swanson in holding a Langham Preaching seminar in a new area in the southern part of Tanzania, while our Tanzanian co-laborer Frank Luvanda will be leading a team in the north. The Tanzanian movement is growing by leaps and bounds. Tanzanian brothers, who participated in our “Training of Local Facilitators” seminar a year ago, have led regional seminars all over the country! When we finish our seminar in Tanzania, Bec and I will rise at 3:30 a.m. to catch a flight to the western side of Africa where we will be with Emmanuel Ahlijah and others for a preaching seminar in Ghana. The following week we will hold a “Training of Local Facilitators” seminar for participants who have been carefully selected by the Ghanian leaders. From there we will take an overnight flight to England and will see our friends at Christ Church in Sheffield where I served as a guest minister for most of 2005. I am very much looking forward to being with the Thursday Morning Men’s Group that has met every week since its beginning at Stumperlowe Hall, home of Andrew and Melanie Dunigan, during our happy days at Christ Church.

Today I wrote the poem below while meditating on Jeremiah 23:16-32, a text on which my fellow preachers in Ghana have asked me to preach at our Langham Preaching seminar. I send it to you with deep gratitude for all that you do to help Bec and me fulfill our mission.

– Your brother, Rodney


The Preacher, Standing Before

Stand before God
Before you stand before men.
Keep still, listen,
Go speak what you hear.
For one day you will
Stand before God.

“Lord, I stand in Your presence,
Waiting, longing to be sent.
Please, I pray, send me, Lord,
With words from Your Mouth in mine.”

(Jeremiah 23:21-22, “I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.”)