Seventeen members of Calvary Baptist Church in Lake Havasu City recently left the comfort of home to travel nearly 10,000 miles to Zambia. The group was divided into three school teams, five preaching teams and one team dedicated to introducing Zambia to Celebrate Recovery.
The missions trip was part of the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists’ partnership with the International Mission Board’s sub-Saharan Africa Affinity.
RELATED: Check out more stories on international missions here.
The Calvary group was in Lusaka for 10 days in June, and the preaching teams branched out to five Baptist churches: Fairview Baptist Fellowship Church, Twin Palm Baptist Church, International Baptist Church of Lusaka, Trinity Baptist Church and Central Baptist Church.
Real struggles exposed
Zambia church leaders were impressed with the transparency of those who told their stories of walking with Jesus. The stories exposed real struggles that are not commonly spoken of in Zambia, especially among church leaders. These stories showed that as Americans, we have problems, too, and Calvary’s transparency helped Lusaka church leaders see that it is all right to be vulnerable.
“I have learned that when we trust God and share our testimony, it is not only for our freedom but also gives others hope that they aren’t the only ones to experience certain sins or trauma,” said teammate Stephanie. “It encourages others to stay connected to God and helps them to know healing is possible from the worst of circumstances.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Terri McElrath and originally published by Arizona’s Portraits.
