What a joy fills my heart to sit down and write about what the Lord is doing, both in our church and in our country for His own glory! The words I’m going to use here cannot express the gratitude we have toward the Lord and His servants (our partners) for what is happening among us!  January 12th we had two ordinations at Reconciliation Baptist Church. We began by setting our brother Richard Nsenga apart to go and officially plant a church in a place called Kakerenge, not far from Kampala city.

1. First Missionary of RBC Set Apart 
Richard Nsenga is a born-again Ugandan brother who loves the Lord. He is married to Mary, and the Lord has blessed them with four children. He is currently lecturing at Uganda Baptist Seminary in Jinja as he prepares to graduate with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies.  I’ve known Richard for many years now, since both of us were still part of Charismatic churches. It is amazing the way the Lord made both of us fall in love with reformed theology! I fell in love before Richard, and never had opportunity to introduce him to my new faith. 

Then his friend from the States, Timothy Greene, pastor of Living Word Bible Church in Illinois, was looking for biblical church in Uganda to work with Richard. Pastor Timothy directed him to us, and that’s when Richard learned that the Lord had changed my theology. Although Richard had been my friend before, when the need was presented to us, we didn’t want to rush into laying our hands on him. 

We deliberately decided to give it some time to check whether he simply wanted to be a ‘big man’ somewhere or not. Richard passed our test! He is truly a humble brother who wants to serve Christ. We thank the Lord for him and pray that God will use him mightily for His glory, both in Kakerenge and around the world. As RBC, we also thank the Lord for starting to plant our future sister churches….we’ve been lonely in this country! This is just the beginning, more church plants are coming, by God’s grace, and the future of Uganda is promising. 

(Note from S.R., Coordinator for Africa – I had the privilege of meeting Richard over a year ago. He had launched out on his own to plant a church without a sending church or elders to confirm his calling and send him. Richard realized that his work was not biblical. He submitted himself to elders Bill and David, and the members of RBC. He attended their leadership training meetings. He patiently waited for over a year to be sent out by them. Such humility is a rare and beautiful thing in today’s church!)

2. First Deacons of RBC Set Apart 
Our second ordination was to officially set our three acting deacons apart by the laying on of hands as seen in Scripture. We have also conducted this ordination only now for two reasons: 1) We wanted to first prove the seriousness and patience of our brothers before we could lay our hands on them and, 2) two of them, Marvin and Emmanuel, had still been going through their pastoral internship at Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia. 

All our three brothers have heartwarming testimonies of their spiritual journeys! Asuman came to Christ from Islam, Emmanuel came to Christ from Pentecostalism, and Marvin came to Christ almost from nowhere! They are all a great blessing to both our church and country.  Beginning with the Lord’s Day, January 12th, they are now, officially, the very first deacons of RBC – glory to the Lord. 

3. A Word of Thanks from RBC 
Allow me use this opportunity to extend our word of gratitude to: 1) The Lord (who is behind everything), 2) HeartCry Missionary Society (and all their donors & supporters) and, 3) Kabwata Baptist Church (Lusaka, Zambia) for the training of our two deacons, Marvin & Emmanuel. What should I say!! It’s amazing what we see in these soldiers after spending one year with our brethren in Lusaka! When their efforts to implement what they were taught are mixed with their youthful vigor, ooh no, no stone is left unturned for Christ…and ours is only to give glory to the Lord! Sincerely speaking, any money, time, and energy that was put into these brothers’ training in Zambia was not wasted! Soli Deo Gloria!