Roasting Plant, that’s the name of the community in which we have opened our newest Celebration Church, Zimbabwe location, bringing us to a total of 23 across the nation. I love to see Jesus’ church growing.  What in the world is a Roasting Plant you ask…I did too. All I could think of was peanuts. I told the church this yesterday and they thought it was quite funny. I get laughed at a lot here. Even after 18 months of living in Africa I am only beginning to scratch the surface of understanding the culture.

Roasting Plant is in Kwe-Kwe, a city located 230 km from Bulawayo in which we have had one location meeting in town for some time now. The community was named after what they do there, namely “roast” gold ore. It’s been built around a gold mine and (as I have learned) the type of ore coming from the mine is not well suited to conventional methods of extracting the gold without roasting the ore to remove sulphur and other elements. So there’s your lesson in gold processing for today.

As soon as I saw the community hall where we were to hold services I knew it was a perfect spot for a Celebration Church….right next door to a bar!!!!  It’s a L-shaped building, we have one side and the Rayi Bar occupies the other leg. The community has been receptive to our presence and actually quite excited. Our worship team here is unbelievably talented. The worship leader has a voice that rivals Stevie Wonder and actually leads while playing the drums.  The patrons at the bar actually said they enjoyed the worship and I saw some of them also listening to the message that was preached (masterfully I may say) by Pastor Albert Ngalu, our Bulawayo Central campus pastor.

The best part…13 people gave their lives to Jesus yesterday. The beginning of another transformed community. God is GOOD. It’s what makes it all worthwhile, its why I do what I do!!

 2 Peter 3:8-9

 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.