The Chronicles of Meng

Well we made it to the end of our time here in Kenya. All said and done there were 32 people trained in the IBD Method of Scripture Engagement and from their feedback everyone was very pleased with the course. I look forward to hearing there testimonies in the coming months and hope and pray that this will be a stepping stone to a greater hunger and passion for the Word of God amongst the oral peoples of Kenya and beyond. Below is a picture of those who completed the course, pray for them that the Lord would use them mightily in carrying His Word to those who have not heard!

Yesterday I promised that I would post some pictures of the training and so here are a few. We had a few new people join this morning who had been traveling from other areas so we are up to 29 trainers now. I must say that this has been by far the best training that I have been a part of to date. Throughout the course the trainers are taught how to learn and tell Scripture Stories accurately in order to take them to the oral learners whom they work and live with. They are broken into small groups to practice the various stories. Then each group must decide on one person to tell the to the larger group as a whole. During the second day we practice what it will be like for them as individuals to be sent to another group, church, village, etc. And so when they have decided within the group who there "missionary" is they lay hands on that person and "commision" them to go and "send them to their target village" (Read other group) to...

As I sit here in Nairobi, Kenya I thought I would take the time to write a brief update of my experiences so far doing training in Uganda and Kenya. Firstly I was quite amazed at the beauty in Uganda. For some reason I had in my head that Uganda, being near central Africa, would like all those pictures you see of the African plains. As you can see from my picture below that is not the case. In fact if I hadn't known better I would have thought the plane accidently went to an island somewhere in the Philippines or somewhere similar. The people of Uganda are just as beautiful as the landscape they live in. I had the privilege of training 15 trainers(10 from Champions United Sports Ministry and 5 from the Bible Society of Uganda). While our time was brief(we compacted 3 days into 2 because of schedules) it was fruitful and several said they would like to work towards becoming IBD Master Trainers meaning they would then organize and conduct Interactive Bible Discovery trainings wi...

I keep trying to sit down to do this and end up getting busy with other things, however since I will be leaving for Uganda and Kenya(Lord willing) in two weeks I figured I should probably just "get 'er done"! For those who read the last post you know I was teaching the Interactive Bible Discovery Course on the DTS(Discipleship Training School) at the YWAM Muizenberg base in Cape Town. It was so refreshing to teach on a DTS again and exciting to see the students eyes being opened not only to the challenges of reaching Oral peoples but also seeing them stirred to a greater hunger for the Word of God personally. Many of them were commenting how the Word had come alive to them in a new way and that they were getting more from the Word through the IBD study method than they had previously. In total there were 29 students and about 5 staff who completed the course and they were equipped with 8 Audibibles to use on their outreaches(2 per outreach team). I am really looking for...

Given that the beginning of the year found us moving to Pretoria, having a new baby, and me starting a new ministry role, you would think that the rest of the year would have paled in comparison. But it feels like the end of the year has been even busier if possible! Next week our whole family is headed to Cape Town for two weeks. A couple months back I received an invitation to teach the Interactive Bible Discovery Course on the Muizenberg DTS(Discipleship Training School). We decided to take advantage of the opportunity and all go. Additionally we will be taking an extra week and, for the first time since before having kids, we will have a family vacation. We are very excited all the way around. From a ministry perspective I am looking forward to getting to teach on a DTS again and am hoping that this will open more doors with YWAM in terms of partnership with Davar. As a family we are stoked to have our first real family vacation that is longer than 3 days. Plus we all really love...

I arrived home late Saturday from the Venda training. By the end of the training those who had attended had learned 4-5 Bible Stories, more importantly they were all equipped with the basic principles of learning and telling more Bible stories accurately! Each one was also equipped with their own Audibible loaded with both an English Full Bible and a Venda NT as well as some other community development programs. It was really cool to see the excitement on everyone's faces as they sat to listen to their Audibibles for the first time. Check it out in the video clip below.

Spent several hours teaching roughly 34 pastors, pre school teachers and church leaders today about Interactive Bible Discovery. Was a bit challenging due to the heat and having to rely on translators. But on the whole has been good so far. Here is a pic of the group working on the story of Nathan and David found in 2 Samuel 12:1-7a

Has been a busy couple of weeks since last I posted and looks like the rest of this year will continue to be quite hectic. In line with that I will be flying to Venda up in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. I will be conducting 2 days of Interactive Bible Discovery training with 40 Early Childhood Development Teachers that Flying For Life employs. For those not familiar with FFL they are the South African arm of Missionary Aviation Fellowship and have work in a number of rural communities throughout South Africa running various community development programs. ECD Teachers I will be training are part of a network of ECD centers that FFL oversees that helps take care of +-2000 kids daily throughout the Limpopo Province. FFL is hoping to expand their network to 200 teachers in the next couple years and to have each of them trained in IBD in order for them to better teach/train the children they serve in knowledge of the Bible. I am very excited to see how God uses this open door t...

I was reflecting this morning with the Lord as I drove into work and I started to just thank Him for all that He has done in and through me in the course of my 34 years of life. It was both humbling and overwhelming to realize just how good He has been to me. Here are just a few of my reflections...      I have been married nearly 11yrs now to the most wonderful woman on the planet in Angela Meng. I have 5 amazing boys, each of whom are so unique and whom I love dearly. I have had the privilege of working in ministry in some form or another now for nearly 20 years(Thank you Myron Friesen for asking me to join the youth worship team when I was 13!). In the course of my life in ministry I have seen the Lord provide for countless missions trips, ministry projects, and just generally provide for the needs of myself and my family. We have been given computers, guitars, cars, clothes, furniture, appliances, and beds just to name a few things. We have learned to be content wi...

For those who read my last post you know that I was spending Monday and Tuesday in Olievenhoutbosh near Joburg doing training with some of the staff from THF Youth Development. Originally it was supposed to be myself and my director Johan presenting the training together, but due to some other things that came up unexpected I ended up presenting by myself. I must admit that initially I was a bit nervous as it was my first time presenting the full course on my own. However, once we got started, I settled down and I can honestly say that I felt the Holy Spirit take over. In total I trained 10 people, 6 from THF and another 3 who came with Ruth Israel(a former YWAMer and fellow missionary). It was exciting for me to see peoples "eyes being opened" to the need for oral strategies, moreover to see how through learning and telling the stories from the Bible that several of them expressed a greater hunger for the Word. I look forward to getting to followup with them all in the n...

Next week Monday and Tuesday I will be headed to Olievenhoutbosh(one of the many townships in SA) to conduct two days of Interactive Bible Discovery training with staff from Trust Hope Faith Youth Development(THF). THF is a non-profit ministry that works with the youth in the Olievenhoutbosh community in Johannesburg. They run multiple after school programs ranging from sports, music, general tutoring and Bible study. You can check out their website at www.thf.org.za I am excited for the potential fruit that will come through partnering with THF. Please be praying for myself and Johan in our preparations that we would be able to conduct the training well and that the THF staff would be able to put it to good use within the Olievenhoutbosh community!

Finally getting around to an update on my travels. Last Tuesday I returned home after spending 6 days in Zambia at the Love Africa Conference hosted by OM Zambia. Love Africa is an annual event held by OM and attended by both local and international missionaries and ministries as well as OM leaders from around Africa. This years conference, we were told, had over 800 attendees from more than a dozen nations. Morning Worship on Saturday... Davar had to privilege of having a exhibition booth as well as facilitating a workshop session on "Impact Amongst Oral Communities". Myself, Johan(my director), and Corne Loots(order fulfillments) each took turns manning the booth and sharing with the many attendees who came to check out Davar. It was an great time of networking with missionaries and ministries from all over Africa and hopefully will translate to open doors for training and Scripture Engagement in the future. Corne helping one of the visitors to the Davar Booth.....

So today I am back in the office after what was a very wonderful trip to Mozambique. The Celebration itself was excellent and the training following the celebration saw us equip roughly 170 pastors and leaders from Makonde churches throughout the region with Audibibles. All said and done I would say it was a successful trip and I am looking forward to hearing reports of the fruit that comes among the Makonde peoples. In my last post I promised some pictures upon my return to SA so here they are, hope you enjoy!