AFRICA JOURNAL: 'Radicals' Head To Entebbe

24 May 2011

EN ROUTE TO ENTEBBE, Uganda — Riding the heavenly contrails at 35,000 feet here from London, Heathrow Airport with Parental Care Ministries was a trip in itself. The Boeing 767 aircraft was full of missionaries. In my row alone, three “sent ones” from three different ministries flanked me on the right and left, so between us there was the confluence of four outreaches to Uganda.

This makes one wonder, “What is God up to in Uganda?”

On my right was 31-year-old Amanda from the Alabama church of David Platt — the author of “Radical: Taking Your Faith Back From The American Dream.”  I showed her where just one night earlier, while flying to London, I had written a comment in his book about what the 32-year-old pastor of The Church at Brook Hill said.   

Platt wrote that Jesus called his disciples "to abandon their careers. They were reorienting their entire life’s work around discipleship to Jesus. Their plans and dreams were now being swallowed up in his.

My margin comment was, “Is the author doing this? Or does it just make good copy?”

“Oh, David is doing it, I assure you,” said Amanda, who has attended Platt’s church for three years. “It’s not easy, and we’re not perfect, but I can tell you this is foremost on our minds."

Then there was Becky, 38, of Cypress Creek Church of Wimberly, Texas, leading a team of nine to do work among the Karamong tribe in Mbale. It was her ninth trip and she assured me I would “fall in love with the land and the people.”

And sitting on my left was Ken, the 6-foot-6 inch serious 21-year-old university student wanting to be a career missionary, going for a two-month internship to help Open Door Baptist Missions get started in Entebbe.

Each of these missionaries told me that God had made such a — well, radical — difference in their lives, they wanted to do something to help, and this was their way of doing it. 

It’s a funny thing that happens when people encounter the living God. Life just doesn’t seem all that fulfilling unless it’s shared with someone. Here were four “ministries” represented by four people on a single row of an airplane, who were willing to go great distances to share that encounter with people who need encouraging. It seems what the world needs now is more people to be willing to do the same, step out, and see what happens.

I’m along with the team to observe the result and let everyone know just what does happen.

Patrick Butler is the editor of Resonate News. He is visiting Uganda with Parental Care Ministries, an organization dedicated to helping the country's orphans.