(From Eric Bolash)

A Pastor and a King

Bishop Jered Kalimba told us Monday night that he grew up in a nearby village taking care of cows and working with his father, a carpenter. He knows how to build things. He knows the people. He grew up with them. He knows how the live. He knows their needs. He has compassion for them.

Bishop Jared taking us on a tour of the building of the Diocesan Training Center Dormitory

He told us, “I am just a pastor.”

On the other hand, Bishop Jered told us, “I am a king.”

He didn’t mean that in a power-hungry, prideful way. He simply accepts God’s call to lead the churches. To raise up young pastors. To build a three-story training and retreat center. To encourage churches like Gikomero to trust God for a water well and a health clinic. To always seek to “train the trainers.”

He is a caring pastor. And he is a bold king. He is a bishop. The boldness may come from things like hearing something drop from the trees to his feet and realizing the next morning that the Lord had saved him from a live grenade. He knows Jesus saved his life. And he knows Jesus saved him from his sins. The Lord kept him alive to serve him.

So he loves the Lord, loves the pastors, loves the people and leads them to dream big.

Our team has wrestled with that. Do we dream big as a church at Apostles? What might the Lord lead us to follow him into that could not occur without his power and leading? How might the Lord give us bigger plans the require him to come through? What would take us more deeply into the vision he has given us?

We are curious to see what our King will lead us into to build his kingdom.

The Avocado tree planted by our 2012 team at Gikomero