Update from Johannesburg

We are having a wonderful time seeing God at work in Johannesburg.  We are feeling great and energized by all that God is doing here.

We had a great 2-Day Celebrate Recovery International Seminar in Johannesburg with over 60 people from 18 churches in attendance, some with existing or developing ministries and others just learning about Celebrate Recovery. They are excited to get their CR ministries going strong and then adding The Landing and Celebration Place for which there is a great need, including discussions of how to take them into the schools.

We have visited several churches and met with their leaders to coach them toward healthy Celebrate Recovery ministries. It is so encouraging to see how God is using this ministry in South Africa.

We’ve attended 3 General Meeting nights at different churches. We’ve seen much of Gauteng (the JoBurg region) as we travel from place to place.  We’ve heard many testimonies of how God is working in people’s lives and bringing healing through Celebrate Recovery.

We’ve enjoyed wonderful fellowship with our Regional Rep for South Africa and his wife, Tobie and Ria Tolken, and have been blessed to stay in their home. They are doing an awesome job representing Celebrate Recovery in South Africa and helping churches build strong, healthy CR ministries.

We visited Modderbee Correctional Facility with 6000+ inmates.  They have a church of 300 members led by inmates along with an awesome rehabilitation program that is serving as a model for South Africa.  They have 2 different 24/7 prayer vigils in the units.  Pray for them as they will begin Celebrate Recovery in the near future. 

This evening we fly to Cape Town where we will hold another 2-Day CR seminar for churches in the Western Cape before heading home on Sunday.

Prayer requests: Travel mercies, good rest, wake up refreshed for the seminar which begins in the morning. Pray for those that will be attending for willing hearts and open minds. Pray for the churches both in JoBurg and Cape Town as they go forward with Celebrate Recovery. Pray for Tobie as he carries the torch of Celebrate Recovery in South Africa.

Leaving for South Africa

Jana O’Guin, John and Linda Brennan will depart October 7 for South Africa and return October 20. We will visit several Celebrate Recovery programs in the Johannesburg area and conduct a 2-Day Seminar for churches in Johannesburg. We will fly to Cape Town and hold another 2-Day Seminar for churches in the Cape Town area.

Your prayers are so important, please pray throughout the trip. Check back for updates and specific prayer requests.

Tuesday - Wednesday, October 7 - 8 – John & Linda will depart from Chicago and Jana will depart Dallas midafternoon. We will meet in Atlanta and fly together on to Johannesburg, arriving late afternoon on Wednesday.
Please pray:
• For travel mercies, airline connections, luggage arrival and safe passage through customs.
• For our health and for strength throughout this missionary journey, to accomplish the tasks God has set before us.
• For peace for family members and friends at home.

Thursday, October 9 – Meet with ministry partners to finalize plans for the seminars.
Please pray:
• To wake up refreshed and Spirit led for all of the divine appointments ahead.
• For the details about of the seminars to be worked out smoothly.

Friday & Saturday, October 10 & 11 – Hold 2-Day Celebrate Recovery seminar for churches in greater Johannesburg.
Please pray:
• To be used for God’s purpose and help the attendees to understand how to start or grow their own CR ministry.
• The Holy Spirit opens hearts of those attending to hear His message.

Sunday - Thursday, October 12 - 16 – Visit & speak at churches that have existing CR ministries. Meet with leaders to help them develop strong CR models. Thursday evening fly to Cape Town.
Please pray:
• For connections with the people that God wants us to visit.
• Wisdom and guidance for how best to help their CR ministries continue growing strong.
• A fun time of fellowship.
• For travel mercies going to and from Cape Town and reconnecting with friends.

Friday & Saturday, October 17 & 18 – Hold 2-Day Celebrate Recovery seminar for churches in Cape Town
Please pray:
• To be used for God’s purpose and help the attendees to understand how to start or grow their own CR ministry.
• The Holy Spirit opens hearts of those attending to hear His message.

Sunday, October 19 – Attend church. Flight departing Sunday evening from Cape Town, connecting in JoBurg then on to Atlanta.
Please pray:
• A day for Divine Appointments He has set in advance

Monday, October 20 – From Atlanta, John & Linda will go on to Chicago while Jana travels to Dallas, all arriving home around noon on Monday.
Please pray:
• For travel mercies, airline connections, luggage arrival and safe passage through customs.
• For reunion with family members and friends at home.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

Our Time in Rwanda

We had such a blessed time in the Land of a Thousand Hills although I think they underestimated the number of hills, it’s more like a million! The country side is beautiful with constant rolling hills covered with home sites with small terraced farm plots growing everything they eat from rice to cauliflower, potatoes, beans, cassava, maize and bananas.

We visited 4 churches in western Rwanda that have existing CR ministries. They have begun with Large Group meetings. Two of the churches are ready to begin step study groups and we trained them to do that.

We heard testimonies of healing, restoration and changed lives. CR ministries are growing in size and have expanded to 6 churches.

We attended church service on Sunday in Kigali at a church that is interested in starting CR. We met with their Bishop about how to move forward. We are praying about timing for the next trip and when to train his church leaders.

We can't wait to see what God does in this country and the hearts of the beautiful people here through Celebrate Recovery.

A Week in Kenya

We visited Kapenguria Prisons seeing both the men and women. We shared our testimonies and encouraged their CR ministry. We visited Kitale Women’s prison and shared our CR stories and encouraged them. We brought some basic necessities for the women which they greatly appreciated and honored us with their singing.

We spoke at a Women’s Conference and laid the foundation for Deliverance Church Kitale to relaunch CR in September. It was a great time of fellowship.

We got to spend awesome time with my 5 God children. They are growing so much and doing great. We took them to visit their grandmother in a village in Western Kenya, a blessed time was had by all. We took them shopping for new shoes and got to ride on a moving sidewalk to the second floor. They were so excited and had many firsts during our visit, including their first hot showers. :-)

Three of my kid’s moms are serving their remaining sentences at Kitale Women’s prison and we were all able to have a great visit together. Nolaga (mother of 2 children) is serving a sentence for manslaughter, went through CR and is now the woman’s pastor at the prison and will be released in 2 years. Rose, the mom of Rosie gets out in 2019 and is going through CR.

We got to spend time with some long time friends while in Kenya too.

We are in Nairobi on our way to Rwanda and excited to see what God has in store for our time there.

Kenya & Rwanda Celebrate Recovery Mission Team Leaves Tomorrow

Isaiah 6:8 “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said,
‘Here I am. Send me!’”

Jana O’Guin from Preston Trail Community Church in Frisco, TX & Cyndi Crawford from The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, TX will depart August 20 for Kenya and Rwanda and will return September 5. We will visit Celebrate Recovery ministries in churches and prisons in the Rift Valley, along with friends and our 5 beautiful Kenyan children. We will fly to Rwanda where we will visit & encourage existing CR ministries in Muhanga District and Karongi District and churches in Kigali that are just beginning Celebrate Recovery. Check back later to read about the trip and for prayer requests as they come up.

Wednesday, August 20 – Depart DFW midafternoon on a non-stop flight to Amsterdam. After a 3 hour layover, take an 8-hour flight to Nairobi, arriving the evening of the 21st.

Friday, August 22 – Meet with prison headquarters in Nairobi to about of CR ministries in the Kenya prisons.

Saturday, August 23 – Fly to Kitale.

Sunday- Friday, August 24 - 29 –Visit CR ministries in the Rift Valley and take our 5 children to visit their mothers who remain in prison there.

Saturday, August 30 – Fly from Kitale to Nairobi, then Nairobi to Kigali, Rwanda.

Sunday - Thursday, August 31 – September 4 – Visit existing CR groups and those just beginning to encourage them to the “next steps” to having strong CR ministries.

Thursday - Friday, September 4 & 5 – Depart Kigali in the afternoon for Nairobi, after a brief layover then on to Amsterdam, arriving in the early morning. After a 5 hour layover, take a non-stop flight on to DFW arriving home around noon on Friday.

Isaiah 6:8 “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said,
‘Here I am. Send me!’”

Jana O’Guin will depart March 19 for South Africa and return April 1st. I will be with African ministries partners and friends throughout the trip. We will visit several Celebrate Recovery programs in the Johannesburg area and hold an advanced Celebrate Recovery seminar for churches that have previously been trained and most have started their own CR ministry. I will fly to Cape Town to meet with a church wanting to transition their current recovery program to a model Celebrate Recovery ministry.

Your prayers are so important, please pray throughout the trip. There will be updates and specific prayer requests during the trip on my Facebook page and this CR Africa blog.

Wednesday - Thursday, March 19-20 – Depart DFW to Atlanta then on to Johannesburg,

Friday, March 21 – Meet with ministry partners to finalize plans for the trip.

Saturday, March 22 – Spend the day with friends made during previous trips.

Sunday - Tuesday, March 23 - 25 – Visit & speak at churches that previously attended CR training. Attend CR meetings. Meet with leaders to help take them develop strong CR models.

Wednesday – Friday, March 26 - 28 – Wednesday morning flight to Cape Town, meetings with senior pastor and recovery ministry leaders, guide them toward growing a model CR ministry. Friday evening flight back to Johannesburg.

Saturday, March 29 – Advanced Training for CR ministries in Johannesburg.

Sunday, March 30 – Attend church with CR, spend time with their leaders.

Monday - Tuesday, March 31 – April 1 – Flight departing JoBurg to Atlanta, then home to DFW.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

Rwanda Trip update

A trip was taken by Saddleback Church to Rwanda October 16-25, 2013 to introduce Celebrate Recovery in Kigali and follow up with churches in Muhanga and Karongi that have active CR ministries.

Kigali Senior Pastor Introduction
A total 17 pastors from 15 different churches attended the CR Introduction meeting at the PEACE PLAN office. Most of the pastors were interested in having CR in their churches. We requested that they choose 2 or 3 people that could be CR champions to attend the training scheduled for Saturday.

Kigali Church Leader Training
Thirty five church leaders from 20 different churches attended an all day training held at Christian Life Assembly. We trained them how to begin Large Group meetings in the morning and in the afternoon they led their first Large Group meeting. Afterward we had a time of discussion but in the end they were equipped to begin Large Group meetings in their churches.

Iwawa
On Monday the team traveled to the small island of Iwawa near the Congo border. The Minister of Youth requested our visit. Iwawa is a rehabilitation center that the government started about 3 years ago to help rehabilitate young men ages 18-35 that are drug users among other things. There are almost 2000 men presently there and have had 2700 graduates. They spend 6 months focusing on rehabilitation then 6 months on occupational training.

We introduced Celebrate Recovery and they were very eager to learn more about it. We gave a brief training and suggested they begin Step Study groups with their staff to get more familiar with the materials. When they get approval, they can begin teaching the Large Group lessons for the residents.

Muhanga
The team drove to Muhanga where we met with the CR leader who is a widow with 2 teenage children named Prisca of Liber Methodist Church. They have had an active CR ministry since 2009. There are 2 groups that meet, one on Tuesday mornings at 5:30 with 8 participants and another group of 15 people meet on Thursday afternoons at 2:00. They each begin following the Large Group format then break into groups of 2 people and share about how the lesson applies to their lives and other things that going on in their lives. On the second Sunday of each month they all meet together. The church has grown as 5 non-churched people attended CR then joined the church. The church has about 60 members total.

Karongi
Tuesday afternoon we met with Pastor Silas and CR participants of Friends Church. The church is has 35-40 members that are mostly women. They have an active CR ministry. They first began with 5 home groups which included Large Group teachings but then added some other things like Bible study and prayer groups. People were not really opening up in the home groups.

Recently they restarted with Large Group meetings at the church before the Sunday morning service. After Large Group they have Open Share groups then join the church service. They shared testimonies about how great it was to have someone to trust and really share their life with and how that brings peace in their lives.

We encouraged them to combine some of their groups to form larger groups for Open Share and they were very uncomfortable with that idea. They liked having only 2 or 3 people together. They wanted more to study and after some discussion, they agreed to test something for CR and have Step Study groups during the week with their current Open Share partner. They will continue attending the Large Group meetings on Sunday mornings. That will give us valuable feedback applicable to other churches in Rwanda, especially if Step Studies can be done in groups or if they are more effective with just 2 people going through together.

Wednesday we met with 5 church pastors, 2 that are doing CR and 3 others yet to start. There are 3 active CR ministries in the Karongi region - Friends Church, Goshen Holy Church and ADEPR Gishyita.

Pastor Alloys from Goshen Holy Church attended and reported what they were doing. They printed the 8 Principles of CR and posted them in their church. They read them during the Sunday church service. 100% of the 66 church members attend CR during the week. They have 4 different Large Group meetings – one each for men, young men, women and young women. They break up in groups of 2 and share about how the lesson applies to their own lives and any other challenges they have had that week. Each group works independently and they are on different lessons.

Since having CR at their church, Pastor Alloys has observed the church members working together and his job is so much easier. Members are even doing things for the church now like purchasing chairs, etc.

ADEPR Gishyita has its CR meetings on Tuesday afternoon. We hope to visit them next time.

Resources
We met with a translator about Celebration Station and The Landing and feels confident that he can translate the curriculum to Kinyarwanda as well as make the necessary cultural adjustments.