Maranatha Fellowship Church

What a blessing the Missions Conference has been!  Last evening, we welcomed a different missionary family for our third straight night.  Don and Joan Ewan represented Ecuador on Sunday night.  Reynold and Betanie Jean-Baptiste represented Haiti on Monday night.  And last night, Toby and Kiersten Hull were here to represent the nation of Burkina Faso in West Africa.  Toby and Kiersten, along with their lovely family, gave a memorable and thought-provoking presentation about God’s enduring love for lost people.

The Hull Family

It wasn’t the first time that the Hull’s had been with us.  They had visited our church back in 2005 while on the mission tour for the Southeastern District of the C&MA.  And our former Pastor, William Austin, hosted Toby’s ordination service while serving at Fort Gatlin Alliance Church in Orlando in the late 1990′s.  So even though we’re not the Hull’s home church, our people have always felt a special connection to their ministry.  And that connection was evident in the affection at Maranatha last evening. 

Daniel (Toby) and Kiersten Hull began their C&MA missionary assignment to Burkina Faso in July of 2000.  When on the field, they reside and serve in the second largest city of their country, Bobo Dioulasso.  Kiersten reported on how she supports the 16 Alliance churches in their city by equipping with resources and ministering through women’s discipleship opportunities.  Toby is involved in some administrative work with the area churches, but much of his time is spent in equipping many of the churches in the rural villages.  In addition to all of this, the Hull’s are blessed to raise their four children – Kenna, Colby, Laura, and Lucas. 

As they began last evening, we realized that we were slower than some of their other audiences in learning the African version of the song, “There’s Power in the Blood.”  But we had fun learning and singing it anyway!  The children helped provide the tempo by playing the bongo drums and other musical instruments.  But I was impressed with the fact that in any language, or even in a broken language, the message of Christ’s redemption is just as wonderful!

We were excited to see the visible testimony of the Lord’s work there in Burkina Faso through a multi-media presentation.  Pictures and video told the story of a lively missions operation in the heart of their cities and surrounding communities.  Individuals were being transformed by the soul-cleansing power of Jesus Christ.  Families were turning away from their animism and false teachings, leaving their impotent fetishes behind.  Whole tribes were being captivated by Christ’s gospel as a result of their sharing the Jesus Film and other evangelism resources. 

Toby reminded us from Scripture in Luke 15 that lost people matter to God, borrowing the line from a previous missions conference theme.  I like how he explained that God was trying to get our attention with a three-fold repetition about His concern for something being lost.  Whenever God repeats Himself, Toby told us, He wants us to especially remember it.  But when He says something three times there is even greater emphasis!  In that passage, the Lord gives us three parables to teach us something about the heart of God that is inclined toward compassion.  Praise God for His everlasting love!

After the Scriptural exposition, Toby then used three real life examples of how lost people matter to God.  He told us the story of Youssuf (Joseph) who was considered to be the village lunatic.  Youssuf had always been bright but he had been affected by their practice of witchcraft and worship of evil spirits.  Consequently, he began neglecting his proper responsibilities and started doing peculiar and bizarre things.  Youssuf’s father had heard the gospel story and invited the missionaries to help his son.  He said, “If this message is true, then the only one who can help my son is Jesus Christ!”  So they began meeting with Youssuf, and he quickly began to show genuine interest.  Before long, Youssuf gave his life to Christ and was completely changed from his eccentricities.  Now he glows with the glory of God upon his life. 

On another occasion, the missionaries approached a village named Siri that was known for its unusually wicked ways.  Others would try to keep their distance from Siri people, who often disguised themself when visiting other villages.  None of the tribal people expected to see any good results from their work in Siri, but the Lord had other plans.  On only the second day of their ministry to that village, there was a remarkable harvest of souls that led to a late night worship service.  Now, Siri has more Christians than many of the other places that they had reached for the gospel.  Only the Lord could perform such a wondrous act for His glory!

A third story was shared by Toby regarding a lost boy named Baba.  Baba was a three year old child in the village where Toby was supposed to lead a discipleship meeting.  When no one came to the meeting, he quickly learned that the whole village was engaged in a search party to find the mission boy who had evidently wandered off.  After hours of searching, they were afraid that they would never find the boy.  But, finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the boy was found.  Some shepherds had found him out in the wilderness and brought him back to town.  Every one was overjoyed when he was reunited with his mother.  Toby shared that this provided a tremendous illustration for every one of them what it means for us to be lost and then to be found by the Father.  God had used it as a perfect object lesson for their meeting. 

Our church was thrilled to have the Hull’s share their experiences with us last night.  And that was only part 1!  Toby will be coming back to be with us again this evening for more inspiring stories of the way God is opening doors in Burkina Faso.  We look forward to great things for God’s glory!