One scholar is predicting a clash of "Christian" and Muslim civilizations in the future, with inevitable victory being won by the more "dedicated" and persistent Muslim forces.

Others see Muslims as our enemies right now: "They are all terrorists at heart," they say.

Conservative Christians believe Muslims and Christians pray to different Gods, and that the true God does not hear a Muslim when he prays.

What do you believe?

Many followers of Jesus believe a proactive way to respond to the growing influence of Islam is to fast and pray during the month of Ramadan, the 30 day period each year when Muslims around the world fast and pray from sunrise to sunset. Learn how to be part of this world wide prayer movement at this website: www.30days.com.au. l. If you would like help thinking through these issues, or just some practical advice on how to reach out to Muslims, I recommend you check out this link today.

A helpful book on Islam is written by Carl Medearis, titled Pillars and Prophets. Carl lived in the Middle East for over ten years and offers insights into Islam without fear or prejudice. You can order his book for $10.00 US, plus $3 for shipping and handling. Order it at: carl.medearis@nowmail.org

A massive fire has been raging around one of the townships we are working in, just minutes from where we live in Cape Town, and then last night one of the pastors was killed. The township is called Massipumelele. Last night when the fire was blazing, there were emergency vehicles coming......we thought it was for the fire, but they turned into Massaphumele.The pastor who was shot and killed - Pastor Phillip Mokson - is a very good man who has done much good for the community of 18,000 people. He was a real elder in the community. There was a man in the church that he had been counseling. He was struggling with depression. He came into a prayer meeting with a gun, and shot the pastor in front of his family He just lost it. The pastor's family, his grandson, daughters and others - were there and saw it. The pastor has daughters with young children - he was the family patriarch.

Word has spread and people are all gathering at the church from the community. Members of our project team are helping to serve tea and snacks to people gathering at the church from the community.

This kind of violence hasn't happened in the community in a quite a while, so it's really shaken people. Please pray for God to bring good for the community out of the loss of this dear man's life. With the fire burning for 2 days (it's still going this morning, but smaller), there has been an uneasy "spirit" here.

Please be in prayer for the pastor's family and the community.

We want you to know our plans and projects for the coming year – for prayer and accountability:

1.    We are building relationships. We spend lots of time with non-Christians, with government and business leaders, with co-workers, with potential students and with team members. Ministry is built on relationship, and that takes time and energy. We believe this is the way Jesus did ministry. Beside, we love people!

2.    We are laying foundations. We are praying, teaching, and mentoring to be "wise master builders." We are intentionally imparting the core values God has put into our lives so the work is built on a strong foundation. That means lots of one-on-one time, lots of discussion with leaders and future leaders, and lots of prayer into how we plant reproducing churches.

3.    We are getting to know the needs and challenges of Africa up close and personal. We are spending time with people in the nearby townships. In the process we are developing a plan of action. We want to build a local ministry model that by God's grace will be reproduced throughout Africa. The pieces of a master plan are starting to fall into place that includes job creation, response to disease and AIDS, housing for the homeless, a micro-lending bank and church planting, integrated in a holistic and sustainable way.

4.    We are building a core team. God is bringing people to us. Our team does outreach among the poor as well as all the practical aspects of ministry. Our team will help spearhead the church planting work we do in the two local townships of 20,000 and 35,000 poverty-stricken people.

5.    We are challenging others to get involved. We are busy most weekends speaking in conferences, retreats and local churches to equip and mobilize others to get involved. We believe God wants us to mobilize thousands of workers to go north into Africa and East into Asia.

Please, please, please pray for us. The challenge of Africa is immense. Only a God sized answer will do. Pray we will have God's discernment and strength, the right people to join us, and provision of finances for our personal and ministry needs. Thank you!

I have posted Lessons 6 & 7 in my Articles section.

Lesson 6: Seasons of Isolation

Lesson 7: Responding to the Sauls in Your Life

Let me explain what we are planning and praying about as our part to in responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. The closest "township" to us is just a two minute drive away - this is where we will train workers for planting churches in Africa and learning to work in the African context. It is called Massiphumelele. There are about 20,000 residents. 27% of the people are HIV positive, the highest rates of HIV of any community in this region of South Africa. Most of the people in Massiphumelele live in very small tin shacks.

One of the greatest challenges facing young people here in South Africa is hopelessness. There are three things that cause hopelessness in Africa: disease, poverty and not knowing Jesus. One teenage girl from the township, age 14, told a local pastor this story when he asked her how she felt about being pregnant at the age of 14. She told him she looked around at other peoples lives and saw that the only work available was being a servant to a white family. She had no hope of not living in a tin shack or to escape the poverty. She said she didn't want to spend the rest of her life being a domestic worker earning menial wages (being a servant for a white family). She heard that sex made you feel good, so she decided she would have all the sex she could, then get AIDS, with the "hope" she would die before she was 20. Why? So she wouldn't have to live in a tin shack and work as a domestic worker all her life.

I am deeply passionate about responding to this type of poverty, disease and hopelessness. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by it, but we must respond. We know it is what Jesus would do if he was here.

We are developing a sustainable model for responding to the AIDS crisis. We run a baby house for AIDS orphans in Mozambique, and are planning on starting a second house in '07. We have decided not to multiply an indefinite number of baby houses, even though they have an important role in helping in crisis situations where a baby will probably die if we don't take in the baby.

What we are going to do in the future is identify the African "grannies" who are the care-givers for AIDS orphans in the villages and townships of Africa, and work with them. When the parents die, the "grannies" are the ones who end up caring for the babies and children, often their own grandchildren. We will come along beside them and train them about HIV/AIDS, how and why it is important to give the ARV drugs (ARV's = anti-retro-viral drugs), make sure they have access to the drugs, provide them with food to feed the babies and children, and then work with the village and community leaders as they help the grannies. We have plans to develop a micro-lending bank and start small businesses to create jobs as well. Three young entrepreneurs who volunteer with us are giving the next ten years to develop small business models to under gird this strategy.

A key to sustain this strategy is to start small, simple churches beside the grannies to support them and carry on the care our full time workers will give. In this way we will be working with African social structures that are already in place, instead of creating Western models that are dependent on outside money and finance, like big orphanages.

The greatest need to implement this strategy is for dedicated workers and finances to start things rolling. Please pray with us as we seek to put this strategy into practice. Perhaps you would like to help?

It's hard to put into words what has happened in the last three days. But I must try!

Sally and I just returned an hour ago from three wonderful days with our All Nations leaders from around South Africa and Mozambique. There are are a little more than 50 staff and volunteers working with All Nations in this part of the world. They are involved in 21 different church plants and some amazing ministries to the poor. The churches range in size from a new church in Maputo, Mozambique of three young men who are being discipled in a "simple" church, to a thriving house church that has just sent out four teams to the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent.

We came away from these three days tremendously encouraged because of the unity between our workers, the vision they have for discipleship and reaching the nations, the maturity level of our leaders, and the passion they carry for Jesus. After the team that went to Lebanon (there were 32 people on the team divided up into five locations around the country) gave a report on their time of ministering to children, counseling and praying with parents who were traumatized by the war, doing construction on a lone church building in the Hezbollah dominated south of Lebanon, we had an awesome time of prayer for that war torn country. There were many tears shed, and some people who made commitments to go back full time. We have been invited to start a full time leadership training program (CPx) in Lebanon and we are taking steps to accept the invitation.

We also spent time discussing and strategizing how to respond to the AIDS crisis in Africa and how that works with our vision to build church planting movements. We agreed that we must respond to the widows and orphans who are left behind when mothers and fathers with AIDS die. This often means there is no hope of work, food or medicines for those left behind. We have adopted a new strategy as our main thrust of caring for AIDS impacted widows and orphans. That is to support the grandmothers and grandfathers left behind who are caring for their grandchildren, to train them about AIDS, get them food, and help them qualify for ARV's (anti-retroviral drugs). We will train long term workers to equip the "grannies" who are left to care for the children, enlist the help of the village heads or local social agencies and humanitarian organizations, and follow up with church planting teams to win and gather a supportive community of believers who will gather around them. In this way we are working through the existing African social structures, co-operating with the village and township leaders as they seek to care for their own people, and start small churches in each community that will carry on the work of loving those in need.

We will continue to operate baby houses for crisis situations where there is no one to take care of an orphaned child, but we feel in the long run we can do much more by working through the existing African social structures instead of creating new structures (orphanages) that are totally dependent on outside money and expertise.

Of course, the key to all of this is mobilizing and equipping workers who will lay down their lives to bring the good news of Jesus in word and deed. Pray with us for those workers, will you? Our commitment is to train them, partner with local churches to send them, and coach and care for them as they serve on the front lines.

Pictures From Our Retreat

Would you like to visit the recent retreat through viewing a few pictures? Click here to view the pictures

Thank you for your interest of our work in this wonderful continent. God loves Africa... and so do we!

Yours,

Floyd and Sally McClung

Is America a Christian nation? Muslims believe America is a Christian nation. They read about the “Christian West” in our newspapers, see American TV evangelists and evangelical leaders on their satellite fed TV stations (and then see them exposed in their sexual sins), and watch our president carry his Bible to church on Sunday mornings.

Our “moral standards” as a Christian nation are repugnant to Muslims. One surf ride on the Internet is enough to convince the average Muslim that they don’t want anything to do with our so-called Christian culture. America is famous for pornography, Hollywood, the lifestyles of the rich and famous, divorce rates, and child abuse.

To probe a little deeper, we must ask if America was ever a Christian nation? I don’t think so. My read of American history convinces me that most of the founding fathers were not fully devoted followers of Jesus, but theists and humanists. The history of our nation is characterized by violence, slavery, injustice and exploitation, not the kingdom of God on earth.

For sure, there are some great things that I love about my nation. I appreciate freedom of speech and religion. I am grateful for the optimistic, can-do spirit of America. I love the vastness of the American landscape, the beauty and grandeur of our mountains and prairies, and the friendliness and generosity of our people. There is greatness in America.

But speaking as an American, I don’t believe we are called by God to recapture something that was lost in the past of our history as a nation, but to be live and love in the present. Our goal is not to win a battle for our culture, but to be like Jesus to our friends and neighbors. My ideal as a Jesus follower is not to fight a culture war to recapture our lost heritage, but to obey Jesus commands to love and serve and share the good news I have found in Him.

To idealize the past is to create an idol and then fall down and worship it. The prophets in the Old Testament called the people of Israel to repent for the same sin. They were guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry. They mistakenly fused their religious practices and political beliefs with God’s kingdom on earth. I believe many American evangelicals are guilty of the same sin. They have polluted their understanding of the Kingdom of God with their political ideals and agendas.

To expose the myth of America as a Christian nation is to step on some big toes. There is a lot at stake in American evangelicalism’s desire to recapture America’s so called lost heritage as a Christian nation.  The evangelical fund raising machine is big and powerful in America. Many people have staked their identity and their cause around the ideal of recapturing what has been stolen from us by the “liberals and the leftists.”

But I don’t buy it. I think we are fighting the wrong battle if we are fighting to preserve a “Christian nation.” We are not called to ‘take our nations back for God.” I think we are fighting the wrong battle by fighting against people we are called to love. There are battles to be fought for sure, but those battles are against evil and abuse and greed and pride, starting in my own heart and in the “church.”

But even the language of “fighting for a cause” makes me uncomfortable. What kind of message do I send to a gay person or someone of a different political persuasion if I present myself as someone who is fighting for “the cause?” I don’t believe we are to coerce people’s behavior but to love them as friends. I don’t believe we are called to impose our beliefs, but to share with others the same mercy we have found for our sins and pain.

Does “fighting for the past greatness of Israel” sound like what Jesus did when he came to Palestine? I read that he came to do away with religion, not fight for it. I read that he loved those who didn’t believe and scolded those who did. Did Jesus come to fight for Israel’s lost greatness as a nation? Is that how he lived his life?

My challenge to all sincere followers of Jesus is to study Jesus’ life and teachings and obey them, without prejudice to your political persuasions. Don’t judge the teachings of Jesus, but let his teachings judge you – and your political beliefs.

What does all this have to do with living in South Africa? Everything. If being a true follower of Jesus means fighting for a lost heritage, then I should join a few white extremists in this country and fight for the so-called lost heritage of South Africa’s “Christian” apartheid past. You see, a small minority of white South African Christians suffer under the same illusion as most American Christians. That is, that they once were a Christian nation. It was written into their constitution. They read the Old Testament and concluded they were a chosen people. They saw themselves as people called by God to preserve a way of life.

Sadly, their misinterpretation of the Old Testament led to the founding of a nation that was far from Christian. They justified slavery, oppression, and exploitation of people of color as their God ordained right. The fused their version of Christianity with the kingdom of God. They didn’t understand the kingdom of God as a kingdom of grace set up on earth in the hearts of willing followers of Jesus, but a political kingdom established to enforce God’s moral laws.

Fusing the kingdom of God with any human version of government is idolatrous, and as a result, has a horrible impact on how governments see their role and followers of Jesus see their calling.

The early white South Africans were brave, hardy, amazing people. I have huge respect for their courage and their sacrifice. There is greatness in those early settlers. I love their people today. But there was a flaw in their thinking, and that was the lie they believed that it was God’s will that they found a nation based on the color of a person’s skin and the religious beliefs of that person’s heart.

God has not called any people to found or fight for a “Christian nation.” To believe that is to live and die for a lie. We are called to be part of the kingdom of God, but it is not a kingdom of political power. It is a kingdom that is based on the example of the Lord Jesus while he was on earth. It is a kingdom that is different in every way from every other kingdom. Think of it as a slave kingdom, as a realm of people not a reign of a powerful person. The king in the kingdom of God came in weakness, in simplicity, in humility. The question is not can Jesus force people to do what he wants, but what does he want from people?

He wants their hearts.

Jesus has captured my heart, and Sally’s heart. We believe he has called us to serve in the same style and manner he had while on earth. We have been won to his kingdom by his kindness and grace, and we hope to do the same for others. We have been won by his deep concern for the poor and the oppressed, and we share his concern for those in this land and in “all nations” who have no choice about their poverty or their spiritual hunger.

If you share the same passion and the same vision of Jesus, we invite you to join us as we live and learn and love the peoples of this wonderful land.

A week ago I wrote to quite a few friends about a possible house for us to rent or buy here in South Africa. We asked for wisdom and guidance about a particular house. We received a clear answer the next day. The owner of the house we were interested in called us and said she wanted more money, so we said no thanks. We were disappointed, but we had asked for God's direction, and we trusted that he was guiding us. The day after that we heard from two of the people we asked to pray with us. They said they didn't feel at all peaceful about that particular house, so that encouraged us.

I feel very conflicted searching for a comfortable house when so many people in South Africa live in tin shacks. But when I pray I feel God's pleasure and peace, especially when I pray with Sally in mind. Sally is on a journey with the Lord about which home we live in. She takes this process very seriously and has a deep sense of God's desire to provide a home she likes and can live in happily for years to come. I agree with her.

She has prayed for years for the opportunity to live by the water. Sally grew up on an island so it would mean a lot to her to have that blessing from God. She doesn't make demands of the Lord. She is not testing God in any way. Just honestly expressing her heart to her Heavenly Father ( to follow Sally's journey here in South Africa please visit her page on the tab above - her most recent entry about God's care for the "little things" will give you insight into her heart, and more importantly, insight into God's heart for the "little things" in our lives).

We would like to find a home that we can rent with an option to purchase, a home that we can live in long term. Actually, we would like to purchase a house now, but we don't qualify for more than a 50% mortgage until our permanent resident permit is granted. So that means renting.

Unless God does a miracle… which we are also praying for!

Today, we went to several open houses, what the South Africans call "on show," and for the first time we walked into a house that both Sally and I really liked. Sally said to me later, "For the first time I walked in and thought, "This is home.'"

So again, we ask for your prayers. If this is to be "home" for us, please pray for favor, miracles, and God's provision. We'll let you know how God comes through for us!

I received this wonderful testimony concerning Earl, the brother who chose to follow Jesus last February in the maximum security prison:

"A quick testimony is that Earl lead someone to the Lord in his cell on Sunday night, and then another 11 guys at a bible study he lead yesterday morning!! I had the privilege of being there and it was simply amazing. There were 11 unbelievers and 7 believers in attendance. The lesson was about the nature of the wide road vs the narrow road, and at the end when he asked if anyone wants to give their lives to Jesus, all 11 unbelievers stood up as one... Earl was almost speechless at God's goodness and so we left with everyone in the room being saved!!"

Please pray for Earl and the new brothers in the Lord, and for Maritza is discipling Earl.

Baptizing men who have been transformed by the power of God is am awesome privilege. It has been like a kiss from the Lord for our arrival here in South Africa. The three pictures of the baptism capture people's faces but not the emotions we experienced. The three pictures are of me baptizing Earl, one of the inmates and a leader on the church behind bars, the entire group of guys who were baptized, and the courtyard where we held the baptismal service, right in the center of "maximum", as it is called.