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PRAYER LETTER NO.56  www.greatlakesoutreach.org


Dear Team,                                                      8th October 2008


Are you ready for some weird, wonderful and whacky stories of God at work in Burundi? Some stretch credibility, particularly for a Western mind, although an African wouldn’t blink twice about what I’ll share with you. It’s quite long, but it’ll blow your mind, and is worth the read…

 
My last letter was asking you to pray for Onesphore and his band of fearless disciples as they piled upcountry into unreached areas to share the love of Jesus in word and deed. Well, as usual, I am beautifully blown away by what happened. If you take a fresh look at the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, you could almost substitute ‘Antioch’ or ‘Ephesus’ with ‘Burundi’ and it would read in a similar vein. Here’s a sample of what happened:
 

In Muyinga, a prostitute called Victoria was kidnapped by cannibal witchdoctors who took a bite out of her thigh but found she tasted bitter (it sounds almost comical except that it is true – one of the female members of the team later on asked to see it to verify that she wasn’t lying, and the mouth-shaped wound needed serious medical treatment). So the witchdoctors didn’t eat her. Instead they cursed her and she became dumb. For three weeks she hadn’t said a word when the evangelists arrived. She’d gone to the local administrator to press charges, and he challenged the team: “If you want us to listen to you about your Jesus, then do something for this girl.” They promptly gathered around her, prayed in Jesus’ name, and Victoria began speaking again! The whole community was blown away by this obvious demonstration of God’s power. The administrator promptly offered them land to build a church, and two months on there is a church of a hundred members meeting there. Victoria is now a reformed ex-prostitute.


At Mukabira, a powerful witchdoctor was converted. On the spot he became an evangelist(!), and invited the team to join him in addressing six other witchdoctors.  Those six duly gave their lives to Christ. They brought out all their charms, idols and spells, and had a public burning session, at which point the local craftsmen who had made the idols were in uproar (remember what happened in Ephesus?). They complained: “How dare these people come from outside and introduce strange ideas which take away our business?” They complained to the local authorities. Three of the team were arrested and beaten, and held overnight. In the morning, when it was established that they’d done nothing wrong, they were released. As they were sat outside the police station, still talking to several policemen, a tornado flared up. It is generally believed here that a tornado is actually an angry python underground sent by witchdoctors. The policemen fled as the tornado approached, but the three believers stood their ground, at which point the tornado split in two, went around them, and demolished two houses on either side of them. The policemen then returned totally awestruck, asking: “Who are you people? What is your secret?” They replied: “The One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.” More people were converted.


Another example of Acts-style persecution involved a group being invited into a house under pretense to share Christ. However, once inside, they were beaten with sticks and a hoe. One young lad was seriously wounded in his head and spent three days in hospital. Although they were the ones attacked, the evangelists were the ones arrested. Onesphore drove there immediately, mediated, the aggressors begged forgiveness, and yet more people were touched by the power of God.


Vincent was steeped in witchcraft. He had made a pact with Satan, and for twenty years hadn’t been able to wear clothing, as it felt like pins were pricking him when it contacted his skin. He hadn’t cut his hair in that time either, and looked completely deranged. The whole area around Bubanza submitted to his spiritual leadership and lived in fear of him. He refused to listen to the team’s first attempt to tell him about Jesus, but they persisted and returned. He was delivered, and when he burned all his charms, the community was so astonished that on the spot twenty other people gave their lives to Christ.


There are many more stories, but those are a selection. You get the idea. Our God is a big big God! May He forgive us for keeping Him caged and domesticated.


Various radio stations broadcast multiple testimonies of the events, and the impact has been to stir and challenge the Church to step up to the plate. Numbers aren’t everything, but here is the top-line summary of what happened in just two weeks:


325 young people went out to share Christ in 26 of the least reached areas of Burundi.
46,917 people were spoken to one-on-one.
19,533 people were prayed with to receive Christ.
5,250 people were backslidden and recommitted themselves.
10 new churches were planted. Usually the idea was to work alongside a local church, but in some cases none existed.
74 witchdoctors and 101 Muslims were converted.
15 marriages on the point of divorce were reconciled.
67 recorded healing miracles took place, including 5 paralytics walking, 3 blind people seeing, 8 demon-possessed people exorcised, and more.
 

Last time I wrote, I mentioned what was said of Dorothy Sayers: “She loved the truth enough to live it.” I found that incredibly stirring and it forced me to ask myself: “Do I love the truth enough to live it?” Taking things one stage further, I’ve been thinking about love, and its opposite. You might think that the opposite of love is hate, but as followers of Jesus, I think the opposite of love is apathy. There is so much apathy in the Body of Christ! These guys above don’t display a shred of it. They love the truth enough to live it. And they challenge me to do the same.
 

The context for most of us is so very different. We can’t relate necessarily to the above stories. I hope at the very least they help sharpen our prayers and make us understand that even where we are there is so much more going on than meets the eye. The battle is real. The enemy is real. The stakes are high. Prayer is crucial. Yes, we are in a different context, but it’s the same Jesus we believe in, the same gospel, the same urgent message, the same imperative to go and love and serve and change the world in Jesus’ name. Enough apathy! Let’s get out there, fully alive, and be who He is calling us to be!


Amen!


In Him,


Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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Dear Team,     
 
She lunges into my face with an open mouth, makes contact, and pushes. Whether it’s my nose she’s latched onto, or my cheekbone, or my chin (or even occasionally when she hits her intended target, my mouth!) she pushes hard and continues breathing through her nose. Grace is learning to kiss, and it’s a very wet process. Her efforts are clumsy but committed.  She’s nearly 12-months-old. I’m her Daddy. I love her, and I think she loves me! Click here to see the little beauty.
 
There are worse things you could be called than ‘clumsy but committed’. ‘Clumsy’ may simply be a reflection of limitations, whereas ‘committed’ reveals the positive heart attitude. The Greek word for worship is ‘proskyneo’, and means literally to lean forward and kiss. I want to give God my best worship - indeed I am totally committed to that - but even my best efforts are at best clumsy in relation to his glorious perfection. But if, when I reach out to him, he feels similar to how I feel when Grace slobbers on me, then I know he’s just thrilled!
 
I’m no namby pamby sentimentalist when talking about the love of God, don’t worry, but I love that glimpse he’s given me. His love cost him a lot, and was very raw. So we’re called to similar costly and raw commitment.
 
Anyways, this was just touching base with you with two brief requests, one for prayer and one for help to make Christmas a memorable one for many. Here goes:
 
1. Congo’s in a hideous mess, and what with all the US election news right now, it might have dropped off the radar. But please continue to pray for peace. I dread to think of the number of women raped over the last few days, along with all the other unbelievable suffering that goes on (click here www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=863 for info on the sick strategies of war that have become commonplace).
 
2. Concerning our Cows for Christmas appeal to move the orphanage towards self-sustainability, one of our GLO supporters has come up with a great idea. They downloaded and printed out our Christmas giving certificates and pledge forms, took them along to church, and told everyone there about the different potential presents to buy. They’re going to do that a few times leading up to Christmas. Then they will send the donations in to GLO, with a list of donors and completed forms. Then the orphans will get regular milk, keep healthier, and the excess milk will be sold to generate funds for their education. Is this something you can do? Church…office…friends...? Just click here for the Burundi Christmas 2008 donation certificates and for ways to donate from around the world.

Any confusion drop me an email.
 
Great, that’s it, God bless you all loads, thanks for being with us on the journey, maybe clumsy, but at least committed!
 
Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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PRAYER LETTER NO.58  www.greatlakesoutreach.org
 
 
Dear Team,                                                                            19th November 2008
 
Greetings from Burundi! I’ve just written to a friend to respond to his question, “What’s happening with you?” and thought I’d fill you in:
 
“Where shall I start?
 
We have so much to be thankful for. Zac and Grace are generally very healthy. Lizzie continues to have the constitution of an ox, with the beauty of a fat cow (a woman is referred to as a cow here in the marriage ceremony, and fat is good, so that’s a compliment!). I am recently over some dysentery and so am firing on all cylinders again. Health is not taken for granted, as German friends are evacuating today because of their sick baby, following on from some American buddies last month.
 
Sat at my desk at dusk in humid Central Africa, I’ve just done a live breakfast radio interview for a station in freezing Canada – very surreal! The interview was to talk about how God has amazingly opened the doors for us so that three containers that have just arrived from Edmonton have been released without any ‘charges’, something simply extraordinary as customs issues pretty much have to involve corruption. But no bribes with us, no weeks of bargaining and pleading, and five new donated vehicles as well as many other things are now ours to use for God’s glory. So many people around the world were praying. This saved us tens of thousands of dollars, and we’re all thrilled. Imagine the scene: as the containers were being unloaded, we had ten volunteers trying to ward off a hundred customs officials who were prowling around trying to steal anything when backs were turned!
 
As I wrote the above paragraph, a colleague came in and asked for help. The heavy rains have washed away his roof, and with five children he has nowhere to shelter them. I have already helped him, and this time I’ll just pray. The fact is, he is the fiftieth person I’ve met this week, and indeed every week, who has urgent needs and who wants me to bail them out. We can’t help everyone financially, so we pray and ask God and hope to be strategic and discerning in what we do get involved in. But it’s hard.
 
Today on the news, a 6-year-old girl was found decapitated and without arms and legs. The reason? She was an albino, and albinos in Burundi are terrified right now as they are being killed to satisfy the market for body parts that witchdoctors in neighbouring Tanzania use in their ritual magic.
 
At the moment we have visitors who are helping us get ready to launch what we hope will be the best conference centre in Burundi by March. We are feeling overwhelmed at how complex it is, and how much work has to be done in the coming months, but hopefully Goretti and Meg will recruit a fine team, get systems in place, and we will then not only be able to be self-sustaining but beyond that profits will be recycled into God’s work elsewhere around the country – I love that vision!
 
I have started a construction company with a gifted engineering friend called Emmanuel, and that is going great guns – again, profits are fed back into our other projects, and Emmanuel will in due course be able to build his own house with what he earns from it. Tomorrow Freddy (head of Youth for Christ) is moving into his very own house, that GLO paid for him to build. Onesphore (head of Harvest for Christ) will move into his own house next month. This was part of my strategic vision to free up key leaders from worrying about providing for their family so they can concentrate on what God’s given them to do.
 
Last Friday I wandered up the highest mountain in the centre of the country with a sharp knife, a goat and a lamb, to sacrifice them at the top. What happened on the peak? You’ll have to wait to find out, as the film we are making is not yet ready. I have teamed up with a film-maker friend called Seth to make 13 short films for a DVD to accompany each chapter of my book. The June deadline is tight, but the four films produced so far are superb, and I hope they will in due course be seen by millions of people and change many lives. Then the rest of the weekend our Scripture Union team split up and spoke to fourteen school groups, in order to equip them to shake the whole region. It was a great time.
 
Our building of the PTI Bible school is moving forward well, and we have been involved in three other school building projects – one is finished, one half-way, and one not started. Our plans to build the best school in the country to raise up a new generation of leaders excites me as much as anything else, and now we are just waiting for the right person to project manage it, and raise a mere $5million! God will do it in His timing, I have no doubt, and then in the coming decades many of the key people in positions of power will have been through our school with leadership development and Christian education at their core. Brilliant!
 
Lots of visitors come and go. We have someone coming to stay with us tomorrow to do a week’s intensive training in Evangelism Explosion, which is already living up to its name in terms of how many people are coming to Christ through this tool.
 
Before preaching this Sunday, I will run down to the beach at 6am to meet with a team of passionate young evangelists, and at 630am we will begin a new jogging club/outreach. There are several thousand joggers who meet there, and as they are jogging, they aren’t going to church. We’ll do a sketch to draw the crowds and then preach for just 5mins, then we’ll go off running, come back, do the same sketch and preach to a new crowd, talk to people one-on-one, and then come back next week and do the same. So we are right at the start of this, and I am both very nervous and excited, as I believe many will come to Christ in the coming months. I suspect Jesus would prefer to be jogging and hanging out with those guys than being sat in a pew, what do you think?!
 
Our Muslim evangelism team (APRID) is in as good a shape as it’s ever been, slogging their guts out in dire poverty, facing very real threats of assault and murder, but willing to lay their lives down for the Truth. I find their example humbling.
 
A high-ranking official from Iran is here this week developing trade links. Iran follows Sudan and Libya as the key countries seeking to ‘help’ Burundi. Can you spot what the conditions are? Beggars can’t be choosers and Burundi is sadly forced to take help from wherever it can get it. Islam’s growth is very concerning indeed.
 
Across the lake in the Congo, things are just terrible. Some refugees have arrived here, although mostly it’s further north from us. Systematic rape, murder and pillaging have taken place. It’s all happening on our watch, but the international community simply doesn’t have the will-power to intervene…
 
I can’t really talk about politics if I want to carry on working here, but the challenges are massive and I really hope the recent arrest of a high-profile journalist-turned-politician isn’t a sign of increasing repression and human-rights abuses as we approach the 2010 elections. Things are actually very unstable right now, with political stalemate and African Union troops about to pull out. They’ve helped keep the peace. When they go, what will happen? Serious praying needed…
 
Burundi lurches forward. The situation is superficially calm, but in reality it is grim for the vast majority and quite tense. From being here over the last ten years, I’ve now got a lot of potential influence, which is a mixture of humbling, terrifying, and thrilling. Many people are trying to do bad things, and I feel tired yet so alive in doing exactly what I think Jesus wants me to do; and so there’s nothing, nothing like it. But it hurts and it’s draining to care. As Jesus said, “To those who have been given much, much will be required.” I take that on the chin, and it’s a pleasure and privilege to play a small part in His big plan.
 
That’s a little of what’s happening – you didn’t expect such a long answer, did you?!
 
God bless you loads, thanks for your support. There’s plenty of ammunition in the above for prayer. Let’s do it!
 
Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org
 
 
P.S. Ideas for Christmas:
 
Copies of my book, For What It’s Worth, click
 
Cows (and other gifts) for Christmas for our orphanage, click
 
Cards produced by child-headed households, click

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PRAYER LETTER NO.59  www.greatlakesoutreach.org
 
Christians have bumper stickers and catch phrases.
Believers have creeds and promises.
Disciples have scars and stories.
 
Dear Team,                                                      11th December 2008
 
I’m feeling raw. I want to share that rawness with you, so apologies in advance if the jumbled thoughts lack coherence, but please feel the anguish with me:
 
Today’s my prayer day. There’s a half-built cathedral a hundred yards from my office, so I often go there, take my shoes off, and stomp up and down praying in the cool and quiet. After about an hour, this young lady interrupted me. Now you have to understand, I spend my life out here getting asked for money. It’s relentless and draining to deal with. So I thought to myself, whilst ‘in the Spirit’, as she approached me: “Just go away, leave me alone, can’t you see I’m praying? Don’t you dare ask me for money!”
 
Her lips were quivering. She was dressed reasonably well, but she looked rough with beads of perspiration on her nose. I could tell she was scared to approach me. But she was also desperate, and desperation triumphed over her fear as she tentatively but boldly broke in on my special time with God.
 
Now hear me, I’m compassionate. I feel people’s pain. I do care, and I vote with my feet by going and giving, crying and caring. But I still thought: “Oh God, please, can’t she just leave us alone together? I’ve had enough! Of course she’s in need, but there are thousands of people in need. I can’t give to everyone. Surely I can tell her to go away?”
 
“No, give her a chance, just a few minutes, listen to her story, give her some dignity.”
 
So I did.
 
Sam told me she was feeling terrible. She’d just gone for an AIDS test, to confirm the almost inevitable. She’d already been kicked out of her family and is 4-months pregnant through a boyfriend who loves her but wants her to have an abortion. She talked of a wound that would never heal, and eventually showed it to me. It was disgusting! She peeled back her trouser leg to reveal an oozing puss-filled mess from above her ankle to below her knee. She could hardly walk. She’d had a motorbike accident the previous week, her back was sore, and she wanted to do an ultrasound to see if the baby was still alive.
 
Apart from feeling angry that my precious time with God had been interrupted, a number of other thoughts were going through my mind. I was asking God whilst she spoke if He wanted me to intervene. Or should I just pray for her? That’s what I wanted to do, because then I could get back to my prayer time. But then I thought of one of my sermons last summer, which included the true story of a pastor who was too busy for a homeless lady who’d asked him to help her, so he fobbed her off with a promise to pray for her instead. She wrote this poem and gave it to a local Shelter officer:
 
I was hungry,
And you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.
I was imprisoned,
And you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.
I was naked,
And in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick,
And you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless,
And you preached a sermon on the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely,
And you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so close to God
But I am still very hungry – and lonely – and cold.
 
Ouch!  So, Simon, are you going to practice what you preach?
 
“She’s my daughter, Simon, in obvious pain, in a worse state than you’ve ever been, and all she’s asking for is $10.”
 
She carried on pouring out her woes. I carried on thinking as she spoke. She’s messed up. It’s her own fault. She shouldn’t have got herself pregnant. Why didn’t she use a condom at the very least, especially if she has AIDS? That baby’s going to be born into a hell of a life. How irresponsible! She’s reaping what she sowed. I’m sorry, but we’re all responsible for our actions…
 
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
 
Did you stay chaste until you got married, or are you still a virgin, waiting to get married? If so, well done! I mean it. That’s truly special.
 
But for most of us, there’s no way we can cast the first stone. I can’t. All it takes is one time, to get pregnant or to catch AIDS…
 
It could have been me. It could have been you.
 
But it’s not, thank God.
 
At least Sam wants to keep the baby, although she’s being pressured to have an abortion. She’s a victim in this – yes, she’s guilty before a holy God, as we all are – but right now she needs love, dignity, acceptance.
 
I asked if I could pray with her, and shared the love and hope of Jesus. She didn’t need to be told she was a sinner. She did need to know that it wasn’t too late for her to turn. She decided to turn, and repeated a prayer after me. Maybe it was just to please me. I hope not. God knows. That’s between the two of them.
 
I gave her $10. I wanted to cry, but settled for a sad sigh.
 
So can we agree to pray about this?
 

    * for Sam, that when she comes back to see me tomorrow, she’ll be able to tell me she’s not got AIDS, she’s embracing a fresh start with Jesus, the baby’s still alive and kicking, and that her story will have a redemptive ending.

 

    * for me, that God would forgive my bad attitude, that my heart will remain soft, and that I’ll be Jesus’ hands and feet out here in Burundi, rather than just talking a good game.

 

    * for you – what should we pray? Be assured that however hard you have been squeezed by the credit crunch, things are not that bad. It’s a question of perspective. You’re still probably near the top of the pile; you’ve just allowed yourself to be deceived into thinking that so many luxuries in your life are needs.

 
We can’t change the millions of Sams, but we can all do our bit. Will you do your bit, will you care in a way that costs you? As God has made us in his image, have we gone and returned the favour? Maybe there’s some serious repenting we need to do…
 
But as Christmas approaches, it’s not too late to choose to believe – maybe for the first time – in the radical incarnate message of Jesus, rather than being sucked into the consumerist lie. And not just to believe it’s true, but to act out the truth of that belief. Not out of guilt, but out of gratitude. He did so much for me, I’m thrilled to be his. Sign me up! The Christmas story involves scars, not bumper stickers or slogans.
 
I said at the start I was feeling raw, so there’s the raw challenge. Your call. I’ll pray for you as you pray for me.
 
Here’s to Christmas scars, from the stable to the cross, or wherever our journey with him leads us,
 
Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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PRAYER LETTER NO.60  http://www.greatlakesoutreach.org

 

12th January 2009

 

Dear Team,

 

I have a confession to make: I smoke marijuana each Sunday morning before going to church, and I don’t feel bad about it. In fact, it’s my highlight of the week. More on that below…

 

I hope the New Year has gotten off to a good start, and I want to ask you two questions:

 

    * What is God saying to you (presuming we believe God speaks) about your life in 2009?
    * And will you follow Jesus wherever he leads you this year?

I don’t in any way claim to have a hotline to God in terms of constant audible-voice experiences, but I do believe he is constantly speaking, if we’d only switch off the car radio, TV, iPod, email long enough and really seek to listen to him. Silence is threatening to so many of us, but surely that’s when we’re able to hear God’s voice.

 

During the early part of last year, he spoke to me Sunday after Sunday as I drove to church. I would see thousands of people congregating on the beach and then jogging around together. If they were on the beach, then they weren’t going to church. If they weren’t going to church, then they weren’t hearing about Jesus. So it made me think that Jesus himself would probably prefer to go to the beach than to church, as he said he hadn’t come for the healthy but for the sick. Well, I decided to do both beach and church!

 

It took six months for me to respond to the regular nudges he was giving me, and after plenty of excuses – some lame, some legitimate – we kicked off a jogging outreach on Sunday mornings. It’s not very slick and polished, it’s just fifteen passionate disciples of Jesus who want to meet people where they’re at. So we hook up on the beach at 6:30am, do some exercise drills followed by a sketch and quick preach, and then split up and talk to those that have gathered. We get laughed at, shouted at, scorned and slighted, but it’s fine because Jesus is there, and literally every week we introduce him to new people! It’s a beautiful sight to see people praying to receive Christ whilst footballs are flying overhead and crowds are jogging past.

 

I leave to jog back home at 7:30am, thrilled that people have caught the sweaty fragrance of Christ in our midst. However, that’s not the end of it. On the second Sunday, I said goodbye to the lads and headed home. I took a shortcut behind a shed and jogged past a few dozen youths smoking pot. I greeted them, they jeered at me, and I carried on past. But again, I believe God spoke to me: “Go back and hang out with them. Church can wait. This is much more important.” I carried on running, but then thought: “Simon, you may regret missing out on something special that God could be lining up for you.” I turned back and went up to them.

 

“Hey, whitey, what do you want?”

 

I sat down on the ground with them. We got talking. Some were rude, some aggressive, most plain intrigued. They handed me a joint. I hadn’t smoked one since I was eighteen. As a servant of God, this was probably not the best idea. Hmm...

 

Anyway, every week since then I have loved jogging back home and stopping off  to chat with the likes of Tigana, Abu, Fiston – young misguided messed up men, who have so  much potential for good or ill. They want to work, but there’s no work to be had. It makes me wonder whether I too in their position would embrace their escapism as the best solution to the constant suffocating blanket of despair which envelops them.

 

I could share a number of little vignettes with you from these times together. This Sunday just gone, one of the brash loud-mouths took me aside from the rest of them. Claude had been incredibly rude and abusive to me a couple of weeks back, to the extent that even the others were embarrassed. He now appeared sheepish, but also determined to get something off his chest. “Simon, on TV last night they were talking about forgiveness, and I thought of you. I realised when you come and talk to us, it’s because you care, because you want to help us. I’m sorry for what I said to you.” He looked me in the eye, smiled, shook my hand firmly, and ran off…

 

Well, by the time I get to church I’m exhausted! After all the running, my legs are heavy as lead but my spirit’s soaring. Jesus is definitely at church, but he’s no less at the beach, and we’ve already had lots of time together!

 

So back to my two questions:

 

    * What is God saying to you about your life in 2009?
    * And will you follow Jesus wherever he leads you this year?

Well,

    may we believe that God is constantly speaking ot us throughout the coming year;

    may we tune out all the competing sounds to listen to our glorious God who desires to communicate with and take us on a great adventure;

    may we follow Jesus wherever he leads us - to the beach, the bar, the brothel, or the bank.  Anywhere. Everywhere;

    and may we be obedient to his call to embrance a messy, gritty, costly discipleship.

Let’s do it!

Simon Guillebaud

 

 

P.S. If you’ve caught the whiff of scandal from my comments about smoking pot, then do now breathe a sigh of relief – it was only passive smoking!

 

P.P.S. Sam (from my last prayer letter) never showed up, so still no news. Do continue praying for her.

 

P.P.P.S. As this is meant to be a prayer letter(!), I would love prayers for the following:

    *
      After three years of planning and building, we are opening Scripture Union’s King’s Conference Centre on 7th March. There is much to be done before then (staff recruitment, finishing touches, etc), so please pray for Goretti, Meg and Citegetse. We want a strong opening to launch us as the best conference centre in Burundi so that many funds will be generated to sow back into God’s work.

    *
      Money! You hear what incredible stuff is going on in Burundi. Well, money is a key (not the key, but a key) ingredient to making things happen. We’re running very low right now, and I can’t believe it’s God’s will that we cut back on our strategic involvement. Please pray in the funds!

    *
      Before Christmas, our Muslim evangelism team were stoned as they preached Christ and saw a number of Muslims respond. They won’t stop their work because of a few stones, however. I love those guys, and they’ve got their work cut out as Islam is spreading fast. Do pray for their protection, boldness and sensitivity.

    *
      For more prayer requests, if you’re not yet on our ‘Warriors’ list, then email back with ‘warrior’ in the heading, and I’ll add you to an ‘inner’ prayer list with more detailed and privileged(!) information.

P.P.P.S. Last chance to respond to our Christmas cows for orphans appeal, Click here

 

Bye!

 

Great Lakes Outreach

21 Brook Street

Tring

Hertfordshire

HP23 5EF

 

Telephone: +44 (0)1442 823816

Email: simon@greatlakesoutreach.org 

[ccarr]

Dear Team,


We have 4 days to find $70,000. It’s a race against time. Can you help?

 

Strategic land bordering our conference centre is about to be sold to someone else. I’ve asked those who are selling for a week to find the money, as it would double our property size, give us access to the busy main road for us to put our entrance, and help leverage our profits massively in years to come to sow back into Kingdom work in Burundi. Land is a huge problem and very hard to come by in  Burundi, so this is our only chance to do this. In the first 3 days, we’ve found $10,000, but we need another $70k. This would be an outstanding investment that will repay itself multiple times. Do you have someone in mind who might help us purchase this land? Have you got any money stashed away not knowing what it’s for? Could you ask your church if there is any money left in the annual budget? Any end-of-tax-year money left over? Or could you just plain dig deep and help us nail this so that we can continue to the max our job of transforming Burundi? PLEASE HELP! Please rise with me to the challenge. I love this journey of faith, have countless stories of God’s incredible provision in the past, and long to see another one here for His glory. You can be a part of it!

 

Click here for UK donations and for USA donations and for elsewhere do get back to me, and please keep praying. We are due to open what outside people are already saying is going to be the best conference centre in Burundi is just 5 days time, and we are nowhere near ready yet, so it’s going to be tight!!!

 

Together in the Great Adventure,

Simon

 

Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

 

 
PO Box 2379 | Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465 US

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PRAYER LETTER NO.61  www.greatlakesoutreach.org
 
Dear Team,                 4th March 2009
 
We had seven days to find $80,000 to buy a crucial piece of land. Did we make it? Read on…
 
This week, I’ve experienced both highs and lows on my knees before the unfinished cement altar in what will be soon be Bujumbura’s new Episcopal Cathedral. It’s a stone’s throw from my office, and it’s where I go to pray - particularly on Wednesdays, which is my prayer day. I love it there. A half-built church resonates with me: it speaks of work in progress, a long way to go, messy but constantly evolving, and hopefully becoming steadily more beautiful.
 
Over the last few months, the builders have gotten used to my showing up, taking my shoes and socks off, and stomping up and down, either singing on the guitar or seemingly muttering to myself. Then one day I asked permission from the foreman if I could share something with them all as a group. He agreed. So one lunch-time, as they munched away during their break, I took the opportunity to tell them about the Master Builder.
 
I told them what a privilege they had to build such a temple for God to dwell in. But did they know the One they were building it for? If they didn’t, the incredible news was that they could. Of the fourteen there, one of them had the courage to raise his hand to accept the invitation; four of them came back to my office to get Bible-reading notes. Then the following week, whilst I was praying again, another one of them sidled up to me, genuinely convicted, and wanted to surrender to Christ. Holy highs indeed…
 
Back to this week: On Monday and Tuesday I was there, on my knees, feeling discouraged and low, and pleading with God for Him to give us the strategic land for SU’s conference centre. It would be an incredible asset, and would help us in due course multiply profits to sow back into Kingdom work in Burundi. Surely He wouldn’t let us miss the opportunity. We’d been given a week to find $80k, and after three days only $10k had come in. That’s when I shared the burden with you.
 
The response was incredible. I want to say a big thank you for all your prayers. So many people have made contributions, large and small, over the last few days. I am delighted to say (and have been on my knees in gratitude today at that unfinished altar) that we have got more than the required amount for the land, with a day to spare. I feel as high as a kite. We’ve contacted the owner and will sign for it when he returns on the 14th from a trip abroad (do pray that there are no complications, and don’t let this news stop you giving(!), as there are plenty of additional costs like building a perimeter wall, etc.).
 
And then just a few minutes ago there was a knock at my office door and in walked Sam (Remember Prayer Letter No.59, last 11th December?). I’d not seen her since that day, just under three months ago, when our encounter in the unfinished cathedral broke my heart. I’d prayed for her ever since, and subsequently kicked myself for not doing more for her at the time. It was another holy moment. Her leg is still oozing puss. She’s now 8 months pregnant, and through lack of food is likely to have a premature birth. We’d prayed for her back then to receive Christ, and I’d wondered if she was just doing it for me, but here she was, telling me she’d just come from praying at church.
 
A high.
 
She smiled a pained smile.
 
I had to ask her.
 
“So, was your AIDS test positive or negative?”
 
It’s such a blunt question. You know that in the next breath you’ll find out whether this person in front of you will be dead in the next few years or not.
 
“Positive… (pause)… that’s life. I’m on anti-retrovirals so hopefully baby will be fine.”
 
A low.
 
Why did you send her today, Lord?
 
I was just getting this prayer letter ready. I think He wanted you to know.

Holy highs and lows in Burundi. That’s life…

So thank you for sharing this incredible, raw, rollercoaster adventure in Burundi with us. Thank you for lightening our load. Thank you for encouraging and loving and praying and giving.
 
And if you, like me, resonate with the image of a half-built church - if you recognize you’re a work in progress with a long way to go - then enjoy loving and living for the God of big strategic land acquisitions but also small seemingly insignificant lives, our Emmanuel through both highs and lows, wherever we are.
 
In Him,
 
Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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PRAYER LETTER NO.62  www.greatlakesoutreach.org

24th March 2009

 

Dear Team:

 

I don’t know where this email will go, but I want to get something down on paper/computer. My emotions are raw. I’ve just seen Sam again…
 
Two weeks ago she showed up, eight months pregnant, and confirmed the worst news – tests revealed she was HIV+. The following Sunday, our baby Grace was very sick and so I stayed at home to look after her. That’s the only Sunday in many months that I was at home, and I think it was providential, as Sam rang. She’d been hit by a car and given birth to a dead baby. She wouldn’t be released from hospital unless she paid her bills, which needed paying immediately (unpaid bills here means imprisonment). So I was able to help get her out of hospital and avoid jail.
 
Sam, 28-years-old, is at the bottom of the world’s pile. Her system is slowly shutting down. Her leg is oozing puss. She has nobody in the world to look out for her.
 
And she came back to see me just now.
 
She is ‘one of the least of these’ that Jesus was talking about (Matthew 25); and so what I do for her, Jesus says, I’m doing for him. Somehow she is Jesus for me today. And what should I do with this Jesus sat in front of me…?
 
She’s in pain. Her leg wound stinks. Her bleeding post-miscarriage is continuing. Her hands are trembling. She picks nervously and aggressively at her long grimy fingernails.
 
“Simon, can I ask you something?”
 
“Go ahead.”
 
“I don’t want to beg. I want to work. I need to earn enough money for food and medicine. Can you give me enough to start a business?”
 
I’m so glad she’s not begging, that she has the will to work, that she still has some form of bent hope.
 
“How much do you need?”
 
“$100 is enough to buy a phone and some units to sell to people who can’t afford their own phone.”
 
I’m aching inside. I’m challenged. You see, I’m all about the big picture and strategic involvement. Sam, however, is very small picture, and not strategic at all. To be blunt, she’ll probably be dead in the next few years.
 
But God doesn’t see her that way.
 
So neither can I.
 
I give her $110, the bit extra to treat her leg wound. I squeeze her, in an attempt to show her some real, pure, non-sexual fatherly love.
 
And as soon as she walks out of my office, three of my colleagues run up to me and warn me about her. She’s a thief! She’s a loose woman! She’s a liar!
 
Angry tears well in my eyes.
 
Come on, guys! She may have been all three of those things, but she also bears the imprint of Christ! And hopefully she’s changing. She’s definitely not lying about her repulsive stinking wound, her HIV status, her lost baby. She’s messed up - that’s as clear as can be - but please, who are we to judge? First take the plank out of your own eye and deal with your own Pharisaic yeast infection!
 
Although I’m angry, I realise that my judgmental anger towards them risks worsening my own Pharisaic yeast infection…
________________________________________________________________________


Did Jesus come to you today, in whatever guise?
 
I think he did. I think he does, every day, sometimes very ‘inconveniently’. So when he came, what did you do? What did you say?
 
If you didn’t recognise him, don’t worry, he’ll be back; and now maybe you can choose to get ready.
 
So when he comes, what will you do? What will you say?
 
Because Jesus tells us what he will say in those awe-full words in Matthew 25:
 
“Whatever you did (not do) for one of the least of these, you did (not do) for me.”
 
Thank you, Lord, for sending Sam into my life to challenge my selfishness, my business, my hard heart and my abstract theology.
 
May God help us to
                            see Jesus in others,
                                                         and be Jesus to others.


Thanks for your prayers for Burundi. God bless you,
 
Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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Music for Orphans in Burundi…
 
Dear all,
 
I wanted to share two things with you. Here’s the first one, then the second will follow shortly:
 
I have teamed up with a record label called Hi-Sonorous. They are superb professional musicians and totally committed to the work GLO does in Burundi. As well as assisting us on the music side with our film project (15 raw and challenging short films coming out by Christmas as a DVD), they have also just released 6 brand new quality songs for FREE (a la Radiohead) for anyone who wants them. Please do sample their music by downloading ‘The Waiting Line’ EP, and pass on the link to your network of friends. The bonus for us is that there is an option to donate any sum you like for the music, with every single bit of money going to our Future Hope Orphanage in Gitega, which is busy raising up the next generation of leaders for Burundi in a very intentional way. You can download and donate by hitting www.thewaitingline.co.uk right now!
 
Go for it! God bless you,
 
Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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Teeth and KCC Burundi 29 April 09

Hi, me again. Hope you enjoyed the music.
 
We have a dental team here right now at the orphanage pulling lots of people’s teeth out, with an evangelistic team working outside with the crowds waiting for treatment. They’ll be busy for the next three weeks at several venues in the bush. Yesterday alone, 105 people gave their lives to Christ! That is what we’re all about at GLO, bringing physical and spiritual healing to the hurting and lost. I love it!
 
So the second thing I wanted to share with you is about KCC:
 
KCC stands for King’s Conference Centre.
 
A number of our future outreach projects around the country are going to depend on KCC. Its aim is to be a centre of the highest quality to God ‘s glory and to generate funds for His work countrywide, so that no more outside support is needed by Scripture Union – they will become self-sustaining. That’s a great vision! Once it’s achieved, I will feel it’s mission accomplished with them and I’ll go and settle for a quiet life somewhere else!
 
The building and finishing work’s nearing completion, with the official opening just over three weeks away, and we’re already operating smaller conferences to oil the wheels. The wife of the President of Burundi (both of them are committed believers, by the way) came to take part in a conference yesterday, and she was blown away. She said she wanted to be an active supporter and promoter on our behalf. We had 9 government ministers use us last week and they said they didn’t know something of such high quality existed in Burundi. I am meeting tomorrow with a lady who runs Burundi’s premier tourist group, and she is recommending KCC to all her clients as the best conference centre in the country.
 
All great news, I hear you say, and you’re right, but…
 
Humanly-speaking, everyone is looking to me to provide the cash to get everything finished. Realistically, we are about $100,000 short. We have our last container of imported goods stuck in customs with the authorities playing hard ball on wanting massive taxes. We have a toilet block that needs to be built very quickly. We need air-conditioning units bought and installed in at least some of the bedrooms. We need computers for the internet café, a photocopier, and other office and kitchen gear. Aaargh!
 
I’ll be honest and say that I’ve not enjoyed this experience in the last few months. So many things can go wrong in big building projects. There are so many details to consider. We then have thefts in customs, and such like to deal with, as well as officialdom, corruption, etc. I sometimes think my brain’s so overloaded it’s going to short circuit. It’s constantly on my mind. I know, I know, I should just trust God! And actually I do, but I know he calls us to play our part, and not to sit back, and many of you want to have the chance to do battle with and for us out here. Hence sharing this heavy load with you.
 
So we’re in the final straight. But it’s maybe the toughest bit. And I’m asking for your help. The whole point of KCC is so that our Burundian brothers and sisters won’t need to ask for money but will be empowered to generate funds themselves. And the work they are doing is so sacrificial and impacting. So can we make it happen? A couple of months ago, you helped us get the adjacent land, which was a huge coup. I didn’t expect to be writing another similar email again, but why not? We’re in a very tight spot. You rose to the challenge last time, and this is so crucial. We just want to change lives.
 
So firstly, please cover us in prayer this month as we press on towards the goal; and secondly, if you buy into the strategic vision, then please also consider buying a plate, spoon, shower curtain, computer, photocopier, anything you can, by clicking  www.justgiving.com/conferencecentrefinalpush
 
Do stick the 22nd May in your diary. Pray us through. We’ll get a film out on YouTube so that you can actually see the result. Bring it on!
 
I’m so grateful to have you share this incredible journey. God bless you all,
 
Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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Did the President make it? The Grand Opening of King's Conference Centre...

Dear Team,


Wooooooow! After 3 years of hard work, a massive team effort, some sleepless nights, a shopping trip to India, importing hassles, customs victories, blood, sweat and tears, we have now opened what, according to Burundi’s premier tourism expert, is the best conference centre facility in the nation. Please click http://www.greatlakesoutreach.org/ to see a quick video by Seth (with whom we’ll be releasing 15 short very raw films by the end of the year to accompany each chapter of my book), and enjoy seeing the fruit of so many of your prayers and generous contributions. From a 4-year-old to a 99-year-old who contributed, from small to massive donations, it all added up to about $1.5million. The opening went largely smoothly with great organisation, beautiful weather, creative presentations, long speeches(!), dodgy sound system, and a whole lot more. We got great TV coverage on both the national French and Kirundi news reports. Sadly in terms of further promotion and marketing, the President didn’t make it, although we saw him both when I preached Sunday night at the palace and with my Dad on Monday to present a potential business development initiative; and he will hopefully come for a private viewing this week some time.

 

If you want to see the contrast of a year ago, it is unbelievable. Click The SU Conference Centre to see Seth’s film from back then.

 

Please pray on for this project. It has massive potential to set the standard and raise the bar for what the people of God can aspire to in this nation and further afield; and also to raise significant sums to empower local believers so they don’t need outside financial support. We are not resting on our laurels. There is a huge amount of work to be done. Standards of excellence are aspired to but certainly not yet attained. There have been some significant building errors which need addressing. So whilst everyone was congratulating us effusively, in my speech I insisted that there was no room for complacency, that we had a long way to go, and any congratulation needs to wait several years until we have proven that we have delivered on what God has entrusted to us.

 

Enough said. Thanks again SOOOOO MUCH. Please continue with us on this incredible journey, particularly praying for Goretti, Olivia, Meg, the whole team, and for funding to come in so that we can complete all we need to do to a level of excellence. God bless you loads,

 

Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
http://www.greatlakesoutreach.org/

simon@greatlakesoutreach.org

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Echoing Christ's 'Come' in Burundi.



 PRAYER LETTER NO.63

 "If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, "Come," then He
 will continue to say, "Come," through you. You will go out into the world
 reproducing the echo of Christ's "Come," That is the result in every soul
 who has abandoned all and come to Jesus. Have I come to Him? Will I come
 now?" (Oswald Chambers)



 Dear Team,                                                      14th June 2009



 I've just preached my last sermon in Burundi. I'm packing up and leaving.
 That's it. The journey's over - at least this stint is, and at least for a
 while we'll be elsewhere. But Burundi still beats in my blood!



 I'm not prone to nostalgia or excessive introspection, but my sermon on
 Abram's call allowed me briefly to look back at the incredible joy of living
 dangerously for Jesus in this precious land. It's just over a decade ago
 that I arrived, having left behind family, friends, career, security, etc.
 I'd had most of my money stolen in Rwanda, got mugged on my first day by
 street kids, didn't know where I'd work, listened to regular shooting and
 grenades/shells going off, and with only a few hundred dollars in the world
 was believing and acting on what God said to Abram: "Leave (everything) and
 go (where) I will show you." Well, true to His Word, He showed me alright!



 I never thought I'd reach the age of thirty. I never thought I'd have the
 chance to get married and make babies. Friends died. I nearly did. Many
 times. And if I had, I'd be celebrating right now and having a whole lot
 more fun than even this 'life to the full' that I am currently enjoying.



 My biggest lesson?



 Everything's a gift. My roaring untamed Saviour Jesus; my faithful, fun and
 feisty wife Lizzie; my gorgeous two and a half children, Zac, Grace, and no3
 due end of July; our supportive families and friends; Burundian brothers and
 sisters who raise the bar to what is possible if we embrace a costly cross;
 freedom to be who we are created to be; health, daily bread, education; your
 prayers and financial support; hope - both now and eternal. The list goes
 on. But I encourage you to take stock right now, because grateful people
 make happy people, and yet most of us spend way too much time moaning about
 how hard our lot in life is.



 The Lord continues to do incredible things in Burundi, and it's such a
 privilege and joy to be a part of. He has truly done 'immeasurably more than
 all I could ask for or imagine' over the last decade, and long may it
 continue. It blows my mind to review what has happened (just the fact that
 we are now living in peace, however fragile it is), and all glory goes to
 Him.



 Olivia Perry-Smith (she's dynamite!) is taking over GLO in-country
 operations management whilst we as a family move to USA for a season. If you
 want to know why on earth we'd want to move from one of the poorest and most
 raw countries in the world to the richest and most blessed nation, then
 click on 'Why on earth are you moving to America?!' for a fuller
 explanation. In brief, it's to preach around America, to stir up more
 radical disciples, and also to network and mobilise resources for Kingdom
 work back in Burundi.



 Back to this morning's sermon. It was entitled 'The Adventure of Calling',
 and if you want to experience it, like Abram, you have to COME:



 Claim God's promises

 Obey God's instructions

 Maintain faith in God's leading

 Embrace risks for God's glory



 So, if you COME to Jesus, "if you abandon everything to Him, and come when
 He says, "Come," then He will continue to say, "Come," through you. You will
 go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ's "Come," That is the
 result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus. Have I come to
 Him? Will I come now?"



 Here's to reproducing that echo!



 Simon Guillebaud

 Great Lakes Outreach

 http://www.greatlakesoutreach.org/

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Latest (and Last) Addition to the Gilbo Clan!

Just a quickie to say that we are chuffed to welcome little Josiah Monty in our midst. He took his time, but eventually arrived this morning at 507am, weighing in a 8lbs5oz. He looks to be in good nick. I'm writing because Lizzie is off on a 5 mile run to get her body back in shape (no, not really, she's a little sore, but should be back by this evening). I was just doing an altar call at New Wine with the youth when she called me to say birth pains were kicking in, so I wrapped it up quickly and blasted home, and within a few hours we were at the hospital. We thank God for the timing, and that everything went smoothly. Thanks all of you who prayed. We've committed Josiah to God as an incredible gift on loan to us, and asked that he'll be a passionate, anointed, dangerous lover of Jesus in his generation, so we'll see what happens... God bless you all,

 

Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

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Radical Boldness, Radical Results in Burundi


Dear Team,


A repeat of the Acts of the Apostles will be happening over the next couple of weeks. There are few such hard-core, fruitful and strategic ventures on the whole planet.


We are sending out upwards of 430 young evangelists in 35 teams into unreached areas from 2nd-16th August to go and share Christ, cast out demons, heal the sick, get their heads kicked in, face imprisonment, and a whole lot more!

 

Last year's saturation evangelism saw upwards of 19,000 people spoken with one-on-one respond to Christ, and this year we have c.100 evangelists more signed up, so we are expecting to make a massive impact.

 

So I'd love your prayers for Onesphore and Harvest for Christ as they embark on this wonderful venture. It is my single most exciting event of the year. I'll post some stories below from our previous effort to give you an idea of what happens, but if you're out of time, please do just pray for (and try to remember to lift them up daily in the coming fortnight)

 

    * Safety and good health of all involved
    * Favour with all authorities
    * Boldness in outreach
    * Anointed preaching and sharing
    * Masses of high-quality long-lasting fruit
    * Numerous demonstrations of power in the form of exorcisms, healings, etc
    * Unity of all the teams
    * Clear communication along all the battle lines

 

GOD BLESS YOU ALL, I'll feedback in a few weeks,

 

Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

 

 

Below is a reminder of what happened last year with a few of the crazy stories. I wrote this after last summer's outreach:

 

My last letter was asking you to pray for Onesphore and his band of fearless disciples as they piled upcountry into unreached areas to share the love of Jesus in word and deed. Well, as usual, I am beautifully blown away by what happened. If you take a fresh look at the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, you could almost substitute 'Antioch' or 'Ephesus' with 'Burundi' and it would read in a similar vein. Here's a sample of what happened:

 

In Muyinga, a prostitute called Victoria was kidnapped by cannibal witchdoctors who took a bite out of her thigh but found she tasted bitter (it sounds almost comical except that it is true - one of the female members of the team later on asked to see it to verify that she wasn't lying, and the mouth-shaped wound needed serious medical treatment). So the witchdoctors didn't eat her. Instead they cursed her and she became dumb. For three weeks she hadn't said a word when the evangelists arrived. She'd gone to the local administrator to press charges, and he challenged the team: "If you want us to listen to you about your Jesus, then do something for this girl." They promptly gathered around her, prayed in Jesus' name, and Victoria began speaking again! The whole community was blown away by this obvious demonstration of God's power. The administrator promptly offered them land to build a church, and two months on there is a church of a hundred members meeting there. Victoria is now a reformed ex-prostitute.

 

At Mukabira, a powerful witchdoctor was converted. On the spot he became an evangelist(!), and invited the team to join him in addressing six other witchdoctors.  Those six duly gave their lives to Christ. They brought out all their charms, idols and spells, and had a public burning session, at which point the local craftsmen who had made the idols were in uproar (remember what happened in Ephesus?). They complained: "How dare these people come from outside and introduce strange ideas which take away our business?" They complained to the local authorities. Three of the team were arrested and beaten, and held overnight. In the morning, when it was established that they'd done nothing wrong, they were released. As they were sat outside the police station, still talking to several policemen, a tornado flared up. It is generally believed here that a tornado is actually an angry python underground sent by witchdoctors. The policemen fled as the tornado approached, but the three believers stood their ground, at which point the tornado split in two, went around them, and demolished two houses on either side of them. The policemen then returned totally awestruck, asking: "Who are you people? What is your secret?" They replied: "The One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world." More people were converted.

 

Another example of Acts-style persecution involved a group being invited into a house under pretense to share Christ. However, once inside, they were beaten with sticks and a hoe. One young lad was seriously wounded in his head and spent three days in hospital. Although they were the ones attacked, the evangelists were the ones arrested. Onesphore drove there immediately, mediated, the aggressors begged forgiveness, and yet more people were touched by the power of God.

 

Vincent was steeped in witchcraft. He had made a pact with Satan, and for twenty years hadn't been able to wear clothing, as it felt like pins were pricking him when it contacted his skin. He hadn't cut his hair in that time either, and looked completely deranged. The whole area around Bubanza submitted to his spiritual leadership and lived in fear of him. He refused to listen to the team's first attempt to tell him about Jesus, but they persisted and returned. He was delivered, and when he burned all his charms, the community was so astonished that on the spot twenty other people gave their lives to Christ.

 

Various radio stations broadcast multiple testimonies of the events, and the impact has been to stir and challenge the Church to step up to the plate. Numbers aren't everything, but here is the top-line summary of what happened in just two weeks:

 

    * 325 young people went out to share Christ in 26 of the least reached areas of Burundi.
    * 46,917 people were spoken to one-on-one.
    * 19,533 people were prayed with to receive Christ.
    * 5,250 people were backslidden and recommitted themselves.
    * 10 new churches were planted. Usually the idea was to work alongside a local church, but in some cases none existed.
    * 74 witchdoctors and 101 Muslims were converted.
    * 15 marriages on the point of divorce were reconciled.
    * 67 recorded healing miracles took place, including 5 paralytics walking, 3 blind people seeing, 8 demon-possessed people exorcised, and more.

 

COME LORD JESUS, DO THE SAME AND EVEN MORE THIS TIME FOR YOUR OWN GLORY!

[ccarr]

PRAYER LETTER NO.64  www.greatlakesoutreach.org


Dear Team,                                                      24th August 2009


We had high expectations.


Each successive year our Harvest for Christ summer campaign has been both bigger and better. But could we really surpass last year’s amazing outreach stories and impact? Some of you have told me how you struggle to believe the numbers and the testimonies I share. They seem so off the chart. All I can say is that this is a movement of God, involving hard-core passionate disciples who are willing to step out and risk all and suffer for their King, and He responds to their obedience in great power. We sent out 436 young firebrands for the first two weeks of August to 33 largely unreached parts of Burundi. There’s so much to share but I’ll have to limit myself to just a few typical stories and I’ll give you the statistics too. Here goes:


Fidel had lain paralyzed in bed for seven months. He’d sought healing from both normal doctors and witchdoctors. Then the team came, full of faith, and commanded him to stand up and walk in Jesus’ name. He stood up, and the next day walked the six mile round trip to and from church where he testified to God’s power with tears of joy. Others gave their lives to Christ as a result.


In Bukeye, as the evangelists went to get permission from the regional administrator, they actually led him to Christ. The local church is just a shack, so an ‘important’ man couldn’t possibly (in the culture) go to such a church. Well, off went the team of evangelists and they soon led a wealthy businessman to Christ who lives next to that shack. He will hopefully now provide the finance to build the church properly. This man had left his wife and had a number of concubines. Now thoroughly convicted and converted, he rang up all his concubines, said the relationships were over, but that he’d financially support them and the kids they’d had together. He then rang his wife, they met, and reconciled; and now he is back with her and integrated into that church!


Onesphore complimented one of the young church leaders on being ‘fat’ (it’s a real compliment in a land where most people struggle to eat daily). The man told him how it was just two years ago when our guys did the same outreach that he was a streetkid, taking drugs, sleeping with madmen, the lowest of the low. He’d tried many times to kill himself, but then he got converted by our team (in summer 2007), and was now one of the spiritual leaders and facilitators for our outreach!


The gospel is so beautiful, so powerful, so relevant, so true.


Onesphore has sent me the top-line summary of what happened. As always, I don’t get carried away with numbers; and although committed to follow-up, we know some will fall away. But still, these are incredible. He writes:


“Over the two weeks our 33 teams shared Christ with 60,988 people. It’s wonderful and a great sign of coming revival when 436 people are willing to give two weeks of their time, without getting paid, to sleep rough, eat horrible food and risk disease in the most inhospitable areas to reach out to lost souls. These guys are so on fire and have returned passionate to change the nation and beyond. 26,308 believed the message and prayed to receive Christ. There were 140 miracles, ranging from healings (paralytics, death, blind, etc) to exorcisms, and these signs and wonders led many others to faith. 97 Muslims and 31 witchdoctors surrendered their lives, with many sessions of burning their charms and crafts. We planted four churches where there was no local church. The biggest challenge is the follow-up, and we notice that even where there are pastors, they have mostly minimal Biblical knowledge, hence wanting to do our mobile Bible school around the country. We were so covered in prayer by your network and others that there was less opposition and persecution than previous years. Praise the Lord! Keep praying for us and for the fruit to be effectively followed up, so that it lasts.”


Wow! And praise God indeed!


Another brilliant encouragement is that our King’s Conference Centre is firing on all cylinders with 2 conferences this week, all rooms booked, a partnership agreement freshly signed with the World Bank for them to run EVERY CONFERENCE  through us, and the President of Burundi currently attending as I write. So this week alone, we will have receipts of around $10,000! This brings me so much joy, as we begin to see the vision of recycling profits back into God’s work coming into being. There are still some big issues but I love it that we are already totally on the map as the best centre in Burundi for God’s glory.


Both of these very different ministries are exactly what we are about - seeking to equip, empower, envision and release the local believers in Burundi to transform their nation. It’s happening. God bless you for sharing the journey with us. Please keep praying, and if you want more detailed updates for strategic interceding, do get back to me and I'll put you on the list


Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask for or imagine, to Him who surpasses expectations, to Him be all glory!


Go for it!

 
Simon Guillebaud

Great Lakes Outreach

http://www.greatlakesoutreach.org/

[ccarr]

Dear GLO Gang,


Woooooooohoooooo!
     The big day has arrived.
          The website is hereby launched,
               so check it out at

www.more-than-conquerors.com

You can preview each film, make orders, etc. Any glitches, get back to me ASAP! Or if you want to order directly and not through the website, we can do that, just get in touch.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON to as many people as possible.

Please respond to my challenge to buy 3 each (at least) for a few friends or people in ministry. That way it'll get out all the more around the globe. We've already had pre-orders across 5 continents but I so want this maximized for Christ's glory, and you people are right at the start of what could be a massive movement, so do help us make it happen!!!

I'm back to Burundi on Thursday, God bless you loads, thanks for being on the team, big love,

Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org

[ccarr]

Subject: Back in Burundi!

Dear GLO Gang,

Welcome to all new members, we're up to 2,772 now, which is nearly three times what we were a fortnight ago. Thanks to all of you who have forwarded invitations to join, please, you new members, invite others, as it's a great gang to be involved in!

I'm back in Burundi and loving being here. The impact we are making is amazing, I'm telling you. For example, I'm writing this from the King's Conference Centre which we launched in May. It already has the reputation as the best dedicated conference centre in Burundi, is taking loads of bookings, we've just had to take on another 18 staff as the 31 already employed were totally overrun, so the team is now 51 strong. I love it! That's 51 families being provided for, which is beautiful, as well as modelling excellence in Jesus' name, with literally tens of thousands of $$$ being made to recycle into God's work in due course. Being in touch with my emotions, I admit it has brought tears to my eyes! There's a long way to go and we are not the finished article, but it's going as well as I could have hoped. Do enjoy a quick look at the polished new website which is just about ready for launch – www.kccburundi.org]http://www.facebook.com/l/7b4e6;[url=http://www.kccburundi.org]www.kccburundi.org[/url]

Please, if you haven't ordered our DVD with 13 beautiful raw films on it, go and see the previews and order one or hopefully several copies at www.more-than-conquerors.com]http://www.facebook.com/l/7b4e6;[url=http://www.more-than-conquerors.com]www.more-than-conquerors.com[/url] After a week of being 'live', we have sold about 2,000 copies in 20 countries on 5 continents, which is fabulous, but with your help we can take it to a whole new level.

I'll stop there for now. Burundi is such an incredible country. There is so much pain, so much darkness, so much hurt, dysfunction and mess, but also some incredible brothers and sisters doing amazing things for God's glory; and by your prayers and support, you are a part of it. It's such a privilege to be involved, I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to serve the Lord here, and you also have a potentially key role to play.

So be encouraged, keep praying, help us out by passing this on, buying the DVD, whatever, here's to action and not being yet another random slightly pointless Facebook group!

God bless you,

Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org]http://www.facebook.com/l/7b4e6;[url=http://www.greatlakesoutreach.org]www.greatlakesoutreach.org[/url]

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“As long as there are people suffering without the basic necessities of existence, to hold onto riches displays an attitude of disobedience to God.”
 
Dear GLO Gang,
 
I’m back in Burundi and today we’ve been part of a beautiful project reaching out to and empowering some of the poorest people on the planet – the Batwa pygmies. They have a life expectancy of twenty eight, an annual income of c.$50, and 47% of them die before the age of five. Shocking. They are the forgotten third tribe of this nation, totally scorned, despised and marginalized from mainstream society. Most Burundians, for example, refuse to eat with their Batwa colleagues, forcing them to go off and eat alone, and then insisting they wash their plates twice. Consequently the Batwa themselves believe that they have no value and live on the fringe of society in abject poverty. As a people group, they are highly resistant to the gospel and enslaved to witchcraft.
 
So Harvest for Christ, believing in both life before and life after death, has a long-term strategy to enable the Batwa to regain a sense of dignity and self-worth, and to come to know the great Liberator for themselves. It is a project based on trust that is slowly unfolding over a number of years, and we’re helping HfC gain credibility and acceptance with these precious people. To ensure efficient use of their limited land we’re equipping and training in farming techniques and have given out quality seeds for growing crops. Each week there are literacy classes, and today we gave out goats. Three people will share ownership of three goats to raise and breed, fostering a sense of communal accountability and responsibility. A school is under construction which will enable them to rise up out of poverty and oppression, and equip this community to not just survive but thrive in the fast-changing world pressing in upon them. The Batwa community is warming to us, suspicion is fading, and already there is a trickle of new believers embracing Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
 
I love this holistic approach, and here’s where you can get involved:
 
What do you want for Christmas?
 
That new gadget, iPod, article of clothing? As with past years, when I’m asked that question by family members, I reply that I honestly don’t want anything for myself. I’ve got everything I need. But I’d LOVE them to sponsor a child’s schooling, buy a goat, some seeds, or contribute to building a basic house for those destitute Batwa. I agree with the opening quote above, and choose to live more simply that others may simply live.
 
How about you? Do you want to join me?
 
It could be seeds for next season’s crops for $10, a child’s schooling for $20, a goat for $30, a house for $500, or anything in between.
 
Here’s to the joy of giving! Why don’t you help make their Christmas and their future more hope-full? Click here to make a difference and help us transform a whole community of the last, lost and least of Burundi – and feel free to forward this message to friends and family.
 
God bless you all,
 
Simon Guillebaud       
 Great Lakes Outreach
 www.greatlakesoutreach.org
 
PS Remember also to buy your More Than Conquerors DVD (or several – they make a great Christmas present too!) by ordering on www.more-than-conquerors.com

[ccarr]

Dear GLO Team,
 
If you haven't yet done so, please do visit www.more-than-conquerors.com and place an order for a DVD and/or book for yourself or someone you love for Christmas. Sales are going well on all continents (bar the Arctics!), thousands of lives are being impacted, but we need to build up momentum to make it a worldwide success and maximise the impact, so I really appreciate your prayers and help in getting 'More Than Conquerors' out there. Do pass on the link to your contacts too. Thanks.
 
And as Christmas approaches and presents still need buying, do remember our alternative idea of buying for your family member a goat or seeds etc for Burundi's most marginalised people group, the Batwa pygmies. To do so, click here (Cheryl can you get the link just a click please http://www.greatlakesoutreach.org/Groups/110660/Great_Lakes_Outreach/Get_Involved/Burundi_Christmas_Appeal/Burundi_Christmas_Appeal.aspx).
 
God bless you so much.
 
Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org
www.more-than-conquerors.com
PO Box 2379 | Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465 US

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Happy New Year!
 
Here’s a few questions to ponder as we embark on the year 2010:
 
1 Will I love the truth enough to live it?
2 Will I choose to live by fear or by faith? And following on from that,
3 Will I choose to play it safe or take risks?
 
The choice is ours, the consequences either way absolutely huge.
 
I long for all of us to love the truth enough to truly live it, by embracing honesty and brokenness and sacrifice and surrender.
I long for all of us to choose the freedom of living by faith rather than being shackled by fear.
And I long for all of us to choose to step out of our comfort zones and see what God can and will do with someone willing to risk his/her all on the reckless pursuit of the Kingdom of God.
 
Let’s do it!
 
Otherwise we’ll end up echoing these sad words:
 
To sinful patterns of behaviour that never get confronted and changed,
Abilities and gifts that never get cultivated and deployed –
Until weeks become months
And months turn into years,
And one day you’re looking back on a life of
Deep intimate gut-wrenchingly honest conversations you never had;
Great bold prayers you never prayed,
Exhilarating risks you never took,
Sacrificial gifts you never offered
Lives you never touched,
And you’re sitting in a recliner with a shrivelled soul.
And forgotten dreams,
And you realise there was a world of desperate need,
And a great God calling you to be part of something bigger than yourself –
You see the person you could have become but did not;
You never followed your calling.                   
You never got out of the boat.
 
NO WAY!!!
 
Do start this new year and decade off with a challenge by viewing the first film on our DVD series ‘More Than Conquerors’. It’s called ‘Risky Business’. It’s what we were made for. Click YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. and please do forward the link: www.more-than-conquerors.com to as many people as possible to help us get the message out there. Thanks a lot. God bless you loads.
 
Here’s to a rocking 2010!
 
Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org

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PRAYER LETTER NO.65 
www.greatlakesoutreach.org
 
 
Dear Team,                                        12th January 2010
 
God is great!
 
Yesterday I emailed one of my closest friends in Burundi, who runs what I believe in due course will be the most strategic Christian ministry in the country. I had some incredible personal news for him. I’m changing his name here to protect his identity and that of his organization, as things are too volatile right now - these prayer letters get forwarded to all sorts of people and could easily end up in the wrong hands. (One of our key people was murdered a couple of years ago in front of his wife and kids as a result of his work with M’s).
 
So ‘Peter’, founder of ‘Burundi Bible Ministry’, started BBM two years ago. We got our Masters together at All Nations Christian College, England’s leading mission training institution, and he was sponsored by John Stott no less because he is so gifted. As with any pioneer ministry, Peter and his wife have been under interminable stress and pressure. There were so many calls on his time. Ministry as well as family finances were permanently stretched to breaking point. It was unsustainable.
 
As GLO we want to get behind the most strategic leaders in the country to empower and release them to accomplish their God-given dreams. Yet many leaders are stunted in their effectiveness because they simply can’t afford to live and pay the bills. So my email was to tell Peter that we had agreed to finance the building of his house, to free him up from so much added tension and pressure and thereby help him more fully concentrate on God’s work through BBM. His reply was as follows:
 
“Dear brother in Christ,
 
There are moments in life when we are not sure whether we are dreaming or living a reality. Yesterday was such a kind of day. When my wife told me of your email, I was standing near a swimming pool ready to baptize an Imam, the third most senior Muslim in Burundi. I had had to stop a meeting I was having upcountry with the leadership team of the Great Lakes Initiative for Reconciliation to urgently come back to Bujumbura because this man was asking to be baptized as he thought he might get killed because there were already death threats from the Muslim community. He had come to BBM on Sunday (I was upcountry at the time) after Jesus appeared to him and to his wife on Saturday night and asked him to stop worshipping a dead religion. He said he did not know who the One he saw was. Elihud and Bosco at BBM explained to him that it was Jesus. They prayed for him and delivered him from many demons. He had been involved in all sorts of witchcraft and magic. After his baptism yesterday, we arranged to burn his tools, which included all sorts of things: clothings, Koranic books, bones, threads, pens etc. He resigned from his position on the Islamic Council for Burundi today and we are supposed to offer him, his wife and two children support. Of which kind, we don't know exactly yet.
 
Regarding your email and the incredible news of the house - to tell you the truth, I am "like them that dream" to use the Psalmist’s expression. Whatever it may be, its significance to me goes well beyond having a place we can call ‘home’. It is a living testimony that God is to me what others said he is: "The One who sees me". Simon, the coming of this man (his name was Omar but yesterday he asked to be called Paul) opens a new chapter for BBM and already before that I needed God to show me where and how I stand in relation to so many unbelievable pressures. May His name be glorified!”
 
Wow!
 
This is the latest of a number of stories I could share with you of Muslim leaders coming to know Jesus. The cost of their decision is huge. They usually lose everything – job, livelihood, house, children, family network, safety. Saleh of Prayer Letter no.34 had to flee several times for his life and is now destitute in Eastern Congo. From being a chauffeur-driven Iman he now sleeps under a car bitten raw by mosquitoes as a security guard on a few bucks a month. From riches to rags, his testimony remains: “I’ve lost everything, but I’ve got peace in my heart, I’ve got Jesus!” I find it profoundly challenging and humbling what these men are prepared to suffer for the Truth that sets them free.
 
One of our team reaching out to Muslims said to me: “Simon, I hesitate to share Jesus with Muslims, because I know that the cost for them to convert will be so high. If I can’t provide them with a living, I am basically contributing to their being rendered destitute.”
 
So Omar-now-Paul is the latest that needs our help. Please pray for him, his wife, and their children – that God would keep them safe, that Paul would become a powerful witness to the many others in Burundi who want to follow in his footsteps and convert from Islam to Christ, and that God would provide them with an alternative source of revenue to live by.
 
Or could you be the answer to that last prayer? If so, please reply to this with whatever contribution to the cause. You see, there are many other brothers and sisters in Christ from a Muslim background we’d like to support who are suffering unimaginably, and they have the potential to have a huge impact in redressing the rapidly expanding Muslim community.
 
My favorite worship song includes the words:
 
I’ve given like a beggar but lived like the rich
I’ve crafted myself a more comfortable cross
But what I’m called to is deeper than this
It’s time you had my whole life
Jesus have it all.
 
So I resolve to give it all
Some things must die, some things must live
Not what can I gain, but what can I give
If much is required when much is received
Then you can have my whole life
Jesus have it all.
 
Worth meditating on…
 
Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org

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This Comes with a Warning...

Dear Team,
 
This raw and challenging film, 'Ubuntu', from our More Than Conquerors series, comes with a warning as there are some graphic images:
 
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lab6g-6YSUg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lab6g-6YSUg</a>
 
Each month we release a new one for free but I'd urge you to buy one or multiple copies of the high-quality DVD (which includes 13 short films) by going to www.more-than-conquerors.com where you can also see all the previews. Thanks for helping us to get the message out there.
 
God bless you all,
 
Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org
 
 
 
P.S. On other news: there was an alleged plot/coup attempt last week in Burundi, although it goes down as the biggest damp squib of an effort, which came to nothing at all. However, it does highlight the need for prayers as we draw nearer to the elections in a few months time. Please do pray, as the stakes are very high for our precious nation; and if you want to join us in fasting on the 28th of each month leading up to the Presidential Elections on the 28th June, do get back to me and we'll keep you more closely in the loop.
 
Our ongoing visa issues for the USA continue. So meantime I am working flat out for GLO from the UK (do invite me to preach, always keen!), whilst also being Missionary-in-Residence at the UK's leading missions training institution, All Nations Christian College. So if you want to invest in training, this is the place to do it, from a 5-day course for preparation for a short-term missions trip, to a 10-weeker to full BA and MA. I totally believe in the product and am glad to help them out. If interested, get back to me and check out www.allnations.ac.uk
 
I'll leave you with Smith Wigglesworth's challenge:
 
“Live ready. If you have to get ready when the opportunity comes your way, you’ll be too late. Opportunity doesn’t wait, not even while you pray. You must not have to get ready, you must live ready at all times. Be filled with the Spirit; that is, be soaked with the Spirit. Be so soaked that every thread in the fabric of your life will have received the requisite rule of the Spirit – then when you are misused and squeezed to the wall, all that will ooze out of you will be the nature of Christ.”
 
Amen! As the message of the film above says: "Choose life!"
PO Box 2379 | Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465 US