Greetings,
I’m back home. Urbana is over and it went fabulously well . . . and I am convinced that it was because you remembered to pray, for some of you, you woke up and covered me in prayer at the exact time I was preaching, and for others you have been praying daily for the last 5 months. We’ll God heard your prayer and answered it abundantly. If these were the days of Paul, he would have written Acts 30 and said, “We spoke to them, God poured his power out abundantly, and the earth trembled”. Literally that’s what happened . . . let me explain.

For 5 months leading up to Urbana, I worked super hard to finish my work and leave Nov clear to prepare and pray. I finally finished my work 2 days before I left with only a ¾ prepared message. I was so tired I just couldn’t push myself anymore. I finally managed to squeeze out another 4 days before Urbana to prepare myself, but knowing I was going to address 25,000 people, I felt very unprepared even after practicing my message 3 times on the day.  

As I went up to the podium, my mind was fixed on the clock – we had each been given 25 minutes, and knowing how much premium the West puts on time, I was determined to finish within my allotted time. Also for each hour delayed. They had 3 lights on the podium, the venue was charging Urbana some astronomical figure like 20,000 $ for overtime pay for staff, etc, etc.

  They had 3 lights on the podium – a green light indicating 5 more minutes, a yellow for 3, and a red for 1. If it started blinking in Yellow it meant – “Get off Now”. Before I went up I was reminded of all the prayers that have been lifted up to heaven. They also prayed for me and anointed me with oil, and there was a special team that was in the back-room praying.  My mind was on the clock.  

In our final prayer time when they’d asked me how they can pray for me, I answered “Pray that I can give a solid punch, but with a smile”. I did not want to offend. So I preached my message in my miro style, stumbled over a few words, and occasionally forgot to stress at the right points – I was watching the lights. The green one blinked on, but I still had a long way to go. The yellow came on and I thot I’m in trouble. Finally the red on came on, but I still had 5 more minutes to say, so I started snipping the conclusion,. To my surprise the red stayed on for a long time and didn’t blink, so even as I preached I thot – they are being kind to me and giving me a few extra minutes, so I must finish.  

I gave the punch, but forgot to smile (too focused on task). I run overtime and came off the stage worried I had botched up the evening (I had tried to negotiate 5 extra minutes from the next speaker in exchange for a cow, but she wanted 10 of mine instead). Anyway, being so preoccupied with time, I completely missed what God was doing, and how electrified the hall became as I spoke. Several times as I spoke Paul Robinson told me he heard people around him say “Ouch”.  Mueni, my niece latter confessed that 10 minutes into my message she was thinking “Oh, oh”.  I heard people clap as I spoke, but 25,000 ppl is a large hall, and I figured if I keep waiting for them to finish it will kill my time - so I just kept going. Only latter did I understand what was going on.  

Jim Tebbe, the chief manager of Urbana came and told me they had intentionally placed me as the first speaker because they wanted me to set the tone of the conference – I didn’t know that (I’m thankful I didn’t). And he said thank-you because the message was prophetic and would change the tone of the conference completely. He said in Urbana 1970 one of their speakers spoke a similar prophetic message and it impacted missions profoundly. In his words this message was the same. Not being American, and having preached these things at Chapel, I thought he was being kind. But over the next few days so many, many people expressed their appreciation, I was bawled over. Knowing how unprepared I felt; knowing how I struggled with delivery and time, I can only say God took my simple words, gave them power, and the earth trembled. And this was only possible BECAUSE YOU PRAYED. Thank you.  

By the way, all the Urbana messages and testimonies are on the Web (www.urbana.org <http://www.urbana.org/> . Click Urbana 06 and look for messages. You can even download them free. Listen to Brenda McNeil (Wow – Pastor Jason said he was mad at God when he heard Brenda speak because she is a brilliant speaker and she sings as well! He feels the same way about Pastor Gowi. Listen to York Moore, after he spoke I said “When I grow up I want to be able to preach like that”. He was the evangelist. 30 % of people who go to Urbana are not saved – even though this is a missions conference. Rick Warren’s Message was also great. Now I can see why his church has grown so much. Listen also to Princess Zulu’s testimony, and to a Jewish girl who gave a powerful testimony for IJM. )  

My ‘claim-to-fame’ was that I got to meet Ray Bakke, Kay Warren (I still haven’t washed the hand she shook), Chris Wright, Rebecca Piperett, Paul Bothwick, and Steve Saint (son of Jim & Elizabeth Elliot, His story is told in the film “End of the Spear”). Bea led prayers one morning and wore African – Bright Red with a Manduli head-dress. One young man told her he was so dazzled by how beautiful she looked he could keep his eyes off her, even when she said we close them and pray. Ashindwe!  

God bless and thank you for your part in Urbana. Now may his will be done. In the meantime I am back to the mundane – worries of rain, mud and parking at the tent. Sigh . . . the mountain-top experience was great, now it’s back to the valley – but fruit is grown in the valley.