The rest of the story
This is the second part of the story "Enlarge my borders." If you haven't read that part, scroll down to it and read it first.
Pius turned out to be one of our best students. He completed his fourth year and graduated with the rest of his class.
Ruth and I returned to Africa the next year to teach the first term again. Pius went back to his hometown in Western Kenya to complete a one-year internship in his home church. He traveled back to see us a couple of times while we were teaching. He had met a girl and they had decided that they wanted to get married. We had met her and she seemed like a nice girl.
In that culture, when a boy finds a girl that he wants to marry, he sends his father to her father and they negotiate what is called a "Bride Price." This is a price that the boys father, or in this case the boy since the father had no money, must pay the girl's father for his daughter. Well, unfortunately Pius aimed a little to high and this girl happened to be the Bishop's daughter. His price was $7,000.00. Now $7,000.00 doesn't seem like a lot of money to some of us Americans, but in a country where the average daily wage for a worker is $1.00 per day, it's the same as a million. Pius was shooting for the moon and he only had a BB gun. The marriage was called off and Pius was shot down.
Pius had told me that when his internship was over he wanted to pursue his vision. It seems that in the middle nineties God had given him a vision to start a church in a Muslim town on the Kenyan-Ugandan border. The town is called Malaba. When he told me of this vision I told him that when he completed his internship, Ruth and I would help support him for the first two years to get his church up and running. In October of 2003 he moved up to Malaba and started knocking on doors and doing street and market evangelism. We rented a hall for him to meet in and his first convert was the wife of the landlord, and wouldn't you know it the landlord was a Muslim.
Pius was 32 years old and was still single. He expressed that he would like to have a helpmate in his ministry. He had met a girl in his home church who was the worship leader and he eventually asked her to marry him. I told him that Ruth and I would help him with the bride price. His father went to her father and after a hard day of negotiation, they came up with a price of 7 cows and a goat. The value of 7 cows and a goat came to about $1,000.00
Now I had been sharing with people about our negotiations for a bride for Pius. One day I received an unexpected check in the mail for $500.00. People came up to me and offered to help buy the bride. One man gave me a $100 bill on a Friday and the next Monday he told me that over the weekend he was cleaning out his glove box on his pickup and ran across an old travelers check, and it was for $100.
I sent the $1000.00 over to Pius and he had his bride, free and clear. Most men buy their bride on the installment plan and if they ever default, the father-in-law can reposes her along with the kids. I wanted no financial encumbrances on this marriage, in other words I wanted a clear title.
Pius' church grew and his landlord told him that he didn't want him meeting in his hall any longer. I asked Pius to look into buying some land. We bought a lot for him for a little over $3,000.00 and then for another $1500.00 put a church building on it. The week that they were to move into the building, they were kicked out of the rented hall.
About this time their first baby came along and they called her Ruth, after my wife. If they have a boy it is to be James after me.
As we near the end of our two-year commitment, we are in the process of building them a house on the property. It is time for the church to be on its own so we are cutting them loose. I don't believe the people can have a sense of ownership in this church with American money paying the bills. They need to get behind this thing themselves and look to the Lord instead of looking for some rich American sending money over every month.
They are up to 70-75 people in church on Sundays with home meetings going on during the week as well.
My goal is to let them go and with the freed up money start another work.
This is the second part of the story "Enlarge my borders." If you haven't read that part, scroll down to it and read it first.
Pius turned out to be one of our best students. He completed his fourth year and graduated with the rest of his class.
Ruth and I returned to Africa the next year to teach the first term again. Pius went back to his hometown in Western Kenya to complete a one-year internship in his home church. He traveled back to see us a couple of times while we were teaching. He had met a girl and they had decided that they wanted to get married. We had met her and she seemed like a nice girl.
In that culture, when a boy finds a girl that he wants to marry, he sends his father to her father and they negotiate what is called a "Bride Price." This is a price that the boys father, or in this case the boy since the father had no money, must pay the girl's father for his daughter. Well, unfortunately Pius aimed a little to high and this girl happened to be the Bishop's daughter. His price was $7,000.00. Now $7,000.00 doesn't seem like a lot of money to some of us Americans, but in a country where the average daily wage for a worker is $1.00 per day, it's the same as a million. Pius was shooting for the moon and he only had a BB gun. The marriage was called off and Pius was shot down.
Pius had told me that when his internship was over he wanted to pursue his vision. It seems that in the middle nineties God had given him a vision to start a church in a Muslim town on the Kenyan-Ugandan border. The town is called Malaba. When he told me of this vision I told him that when he completed his internship, Ruth and I would help support him for the first two years to get his church up and running. In October of 2003 he moved up to Malaba and started knocking on doors and doing street and market evangelism. We rented a hall for him to meet in and his first convert was the wife of the landlord, and wouldn't you know it the landlord was a Muslim.
Pius was 32 years old and was still single. He expressed that he would like to have a helpmate in his ministry. He had met a girl in his home church who was the worship leader and he eventually asked her to marry him. I told him that Ruth and I would help him with the bride price. His father went to her father and after a hard day of negotiation, they came up with a price of 7 cows and a goat. The value of 7 cows and a goat came to about $1,000.00
Now I had been sharing with people about our negotiations for a bride for Pius. One day I received an unexpected check in the mail for $500.00. People came up to me and offered to help buy the bride. One man gave me a $100 bill on a Friday and the next Monday he told me that over the weekend he was cleaning out his glove box on his pickup and ran across an old travelers check, and it was for $100.
I sent the $1000.00 over to Pius and he had his bride, free and clear. Most men buy their bride on the installment plan and if they ever default, the father-in-law can reposes her along with the kids. I wanted no financial encumbrances on this marriage, in other words I wanted a clear title.
Pius' church grew and his landlord told him that he didn't want him meeting in his hall any longer. I asked Pius to look into buying some land. We bought a lot for him for a little over $3,000.00 and then for another $1500.00 put a church building on it. The week that they were to move into the building, they were kicked out of the rented hall.
About this time their first baby came along and they called her Ruth, after my wife. If they have a boy it is to be James after me.
As we near the end of our two-year commitment, we are in the process of building them a house on the property. It is time for the church to be on its own so we are cutting them loose. I don't believe the people can have a sense of ownership in this church with American money paying the bills. They need to get behind this thing themselves and look to the Lord instead of looking for some rich American sending money over every month.
They are up to 70-75 people in church on Sundays with home meetings going on during the week as well.
My goal is to let them go and with the freed up money start another work.
posted by Jim Burton at 7:47 AM
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