SAYING NO TO SAY YES

Have you ever had a phrase or quote stuck in your head, like it was now a part of your DNA?  In fact, some might say it was there all along, but you just discovered it. 

Before my family and I made the voyage across the Atlantic and over two continents to love on those less fortunate, I decided to sit down with a few of the men that had helped shape my life, and ask them for any last words of wisdom. 

I remember many…and have them written down.

But the one that keeps coming back more than any other is this simple phrase…

“Say no to the good things, so you can say yes to the great things.”   

(Hank Wilson…husband, father, pastor, church planter, and lover of Jesus.)

9 years ago, Hank and his family decided to up root all they knew and were, and plant a church in inner city Boston, MA.  When I spoke to Hank, via SKYPE, they had been there for nearly 7 years, and the small church that began in Hank’s living room, had quickly spread to a church of more than 500, now renting out the local Hilton lobby for their two services, and had also planted a sister church.  If any of you reading know about the cultural landscape of Boston, the success Reunion Church has had and continues to have is staggering. 

To this day, I’ve never asked Hank if he came up with the phrase, and honestly I don’t really care.  The fact is whether he heard it, read it or made it up, the wisdom he shared with me that sunny afternoon day via SKYPE is something that has helped me shape the culture of Friday Night Church Uganda. 

When we first began FNC, we tried many things, and we failed many times.  Every once in awhile we would stumble onto something good, and we would go with it.  Besides, we were brand new, fish out of water in a community that was less than welcoming especially to white skin. 

Most of you that follow our story here in Uganda know that we recently started a school called FNC Academy.  The school focuses solely on the underprivileged.   As noted above, we’re used to starting new things and seeing them either fail or succeed.  

But this time something was different. 

After the first day of school, I looked at Michael (my right hand man and best friend) and said I think we might have stumbled onto more than something just good.  From that moment on, God has shown us just that. 

Not only has the community (which once looked at us as just another “white” ruled ministry), gotten behind the school, the support stateside has been equally gratifying.  With 39 full-time students, and 36 of them fully sponsored, God is showing us what great really looks like.  All of this takes our all, and we feel we can do even better to love on these less fortunate children. 

Which is why we are saying goodbye to some of the good things we have been doing here at FNC, so we can make even more room for the great thing God has revealed, the FNC Academy. 

So what will remain besides the school?  Joy Club (our weekly children’s ministry), World Changer’s (our teens ministry), and The Fire Place (our monthly ALL age large gathering).  As you can tell, our focus is now on the children of our community. 

But what about the men and women? Don’t they still need to be reached and encouraged?  The answer is most definitely.  Here in Kampala, we’ve found the best way to love the parents is to love their children.  But here’s something else to consider…within a less than 20 minute walk/radius of our compound (ministry complex), you will find more than a 100 Bible churches, and ALL of them focus mainly on the men and women of the community.  If you’re lucky, you might find a Sunday school class. 

The fact is, children of Uganda are treated as 2^nd class, and the underprivileged are treated well below that.  We’ve decided to serve the Last first.  We’ve decided to make disciples with those that have been thrown to the curb, to live life with them and love them as they are, not as they should be.    

This is now our focus.