Dear NDI Partner,

Loving greetings in Christ from Timbuktu!  Yesterday it was 120 degrees here!  So if you think it is getting warmer there in America during springtime, you should be here!  When we arrived here a week ago, the weather was unseasonable cool.  I actually slept under a sheet the first night I was here, which was a first for me in my four trips to Timbuktu.  Just like many of you are experiencing a change of seasons in America from winter to spring, they are going through the same thing here in Mali.

May and June are the hottest months of the year here.  Generally the seasons are hot, hotter and hottest!  But during May and June you just go into a survival mode here with daily temperatures ranging from 120 - 140 degrees! Fortunately, it cools down at night to the low 100’s!  So everyone sleeps outside during those months in order to catch any breeze that might blow, which is seldom.  So thankfully, we are here this time just before the hottest weather.  However, my first trip here was during May 2003, and it refined my theology of hell!  They say that if you die in Timbuktu, you bypass Purgatory and go straight to heaven!

God has marvelously blessed our Conference here in Timbuktu.  It is our third one here.  We had a wonderful group of men and women from 5 major cities and towns around Mali.  There were also more than 10 distinct tribal groups represented.  I taught the men and women together in the morning and then we divided in the afternoon.  Patt, Maribell Chittenden and Pat Sebby taught the women.  We had around 100 attending the Conference, which is a BIG Conference in Mali since it is an overwhelmingly Moslem country.

While there is religious freedom in Mali, Islam dominates politics, culture, education, economics - everything.  Since there is little or no separation between religion and culture, conversion to Christianity is exceedingly difficult just like in most Moslem countries.  It is not just a matter of accepting Christ.  It is a matter of denying one’s family, religion, culture, politics, and total way of life.  So, conversion to Christ always means rejection, ostracization, persecution and sometimes death.

The best estimates today are that there are only a total of 200 Christians in Timbuktu - and that includes Protestants and Catholics.  The population of this city is between 30,000 and 50,000, depending upon how many nomadic squatters are in Timbuktu proper from the “Belt of Misery” that surrounds the city in the Sahara Desert.  And while the Catholics came to this city first in 1895, they are so small that they do not even have a full time priest living here.  The majority of Christians here are Protestant.

The very first convert here to Jesus Christ is our national partner, Nouh Ag Infa Yattara.  After accepting Christ as a young adolescent, he ultimately grew up to become the first national pastor in this city.  And his church is still the largest with around 100 members.  There are two other smaller groups here, one with between 20 and 30 attending and the other with only 3 or 4.  So the Body of Christ is still very small in this city.  We had pastors and leaders from all three churches attending.

Because of its almost mystical history, culture and religion, the city of Timbuktu is being targeted by the World Islamic League to become the very capital of Islam in North Africa.  And the presence of tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts here - predominantly all Koranic - only intensifies the drive to make this an exclusive Islamic city.  In fact, the discovery of these ancient Koranic manuscripts have the potential to become to Islam what the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls are to Judaism and Christianity.

Already, Timbuktu is considered the fourth holiest city to Islam behind Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.  But there is a strong concerted effort to make it the single holiest city of Islam outside of Saudi Arabia—only superseded by Mecca and Medina.  Until just a few years ago, there were only 10 mosques in Timbuktu.  Today there are over 30, and all of the newly built ones are more fundamental and jihaddist in persuasion.  The radical Wahabbi sect from Saudi Arabia have financed the majority of the new mosques.  And if they have their way, Timbuktu will become an exclusive Islamic Holy City to the degree that there will be a “no fly zone” here for any other faith - especially Christianity.

Another strong and growing political and religious emphasis here is coming from President Ghadaffi of Libya.  He is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the country of Mali - and especially into the City of Timbuktu—just as he is doing across the entire Islamic belt of North Africa.  All over this desert city are signs boasting the presence and partnership of Libya.  Ghadaffi is building mosques, Koranic chools, paved roads and a water canal for boats from the Niger River right into the heart of the City.  And he recently bought the largest tourist hotel to make it his showcase here.  In addition, he bought a huge tract of land very close to the Ahara Kabara Church that NDI was able to help build last year.  It is the first daughter church of the mother church in Timbuktu led by Pastor Nouh.  So because of his growing financial influence all across northern Africa, it would seem that Ghadaffi is seeking to become the major Islamic leader of this region of the world.  And regardless of his recent peaceful overtures with America, he is still fundamentalist Islamic to the core!

So these are just a few of the reasons why we MUST be here in Timbuktu.  We must “seize the moment” while we have it and “redeem the time,” as Paul exhorted.  We do not know how long Mali will be able to remain a rather stable and moderate democratic country with religious freedom.  Just like in every other Islamic country of the world, the fundamental jihadist are seeking to impose their radical form of Islam and Shairi Law.  So we must do all we can to encourage, equip and empower the national Christian leaders of this country and city.

One of our other strategic partners here is the Living Water Project.  It is the largest farm in the area and the only green belt you see from the sky, in this sea of Saharan sand, as you fly into Timbuktu.  It was the vision of Pastor Nouh, and is headed by Rich and Anna Marshall.  And these “sea of green” farm plots can be seen from our American satellites.  It employs some 72 families who have now been taught successfully how to farm.  But to date, none of them have become followers of Jesus Christ.  So pray that God will bring a “double harvest” spiritually to match the agricultural one that is now taking place.

Finally, I want to share some urgent opportunities we have to strengthen and encourage the Christian leaders here:
1. $10,000 to build a pastor’s home (2 are needed right now)
2. $2,000 to build a basketball court for Sports Evangelism
3. $5,000 to drill a village well beside a new church
4. $2,000 to put a roof on a new small primary school

Most of all, we are praying for a gift of $30,000 to buy a Hydra-Form Brick-Making Machine.  It will produce hundreds of inter-locking bricks a day.  They are made of existing local clay with only a small percentage of cement.  Once we have this, we can more quickly and cheaply build better churches, pastors’ homes and schools.  And in the process it would generate jobs and income for the local Body of Christ.  This would make a VERY strategic one-time investment for some church or businessman.

Thanks so much for praying for us while we are here.  And Patt and I are especially thankful to those of you who gave toward the $10,000 we needed to sponsor this 5-day Leadership Conference.  We just could not be in remote and strategic places like this without your spiritual and financial support! So may God richly reward you for your faithful “partnership in the Gospel!”

From the Cutting Edge,

PS:  By the time you receive this initial report from Timbuktu, we will be on our way to Ghana for another weeklong conference.  I will write more from there where we will be joined by several other couples and NDI partners.  After our week of ministry in Ghana, I will go on to Ethiopia for a final week of ministry, some will return home and yet others will go on to Kenya for another week of ministry.  So please continue to pray us all through this challenging and diverse times of travel and ministry.