Church in Dagore, January 15th

Location: N 11deg2.330min, W 3deg7.683min
Road distance from Dano: 18.1 km
Distance as the crow flies: 13.4 km Southwest

At 7 am this morning I picked up a friend Renaud and we headed to Dagore.
You all will remember that Dagore was the village that Archie and I were team
teaching in before I left for furlough. Renaud has family out in this village
and
though he lives in Dano it is still part of his "turf." The day before I left
for
furlough, there were there so I had no idea what this church was going to look
like.

Our team has started a rotating schedule to make sure we are uniformly
plugged in with the various churches. This works out to be quite a balancing
act since there are now seven different villages meeting on Sundays. This
week my lot fell on Dagore. As you read these stories over the next few weeks
remember that each congregation is different: different regions, songs,
procedures, personalities, numbers, and age groups.

We arrived before 8am in Dagore and though village was still in a sleepy
state we greeted the chief whom we saw on our arrival. Since the market
place was empty we went to a leaders house to check where church was
being held. Along the way it was a joyful time of greeting several people we
knew in the village. These folks were not necessarily Christians but people
we have built relationships with during our visits in Dagore. We eventually
caught up with a leader named Zorbashawn.

We were delighted to see each other and he quickly sent the news around
that it was time to meet. After a little discussion He shared that is the only
adult
male left in the church currently. About ten other men in the church have left
for a couple of months to work in a gold mine before they are needed for
fieldwork. So once we started there were a group of five teenage boys, eight
children, and Zorbashawn.

It turns out that he has been quite the songwriter over the past few months.
We had an opening prayer together and sang a series of songs, three of
which were totally new to me. Below is a dynamic translation of those songs.

Lift up, Lift up the name of God to the highest (x3)
The savior is a comin'.

Clap you hands in praise (x3)
God is sending his son to save us.

If we are not ashamed to proclaim the word of God.
Then the Holy Spirit is truly with us.

I really enjoyed the tune of the third song and after spending some more time
in prayer Zorbashawn started to tell the story of Moses. Once he told the part
about the burning bush we spent some time talking about hearing God's call
in our lives today. That is when we came back to something he brought up on
our arrival. Two nearby villages, Mani and Dakola, are potentially interested
in having evangelism meetings there. So we appropriately spent time in
prayer for direction and then decided that next Sunday afternoon to visit their
markets, beginning the process of exploring potential preaching points.

Pray for this young church. They are learning more, bit by bit, about Sundays
place in their life as church. Pray for the frustration Zorbashawn currently has
with parents sending their kids but not coming themselves. Pray also for the
safe return of the Christians from the mines and the eagerness they have to
share what they know with their neighbors.