ccm Cross 0102 Emmanuel Fellowship, Gweru, Zimbabwe

ccm Cross 0102
February 7, 2017

Emmanuel Fellowship
Gweru, Zimbabwe, Africa
ccm Cross 0102

Additional pictures after testimony

4267 cdd Still Here
Cyber Daily Devotion
Volume 18 Number 037

Today’s Author: Pastor Bill

Scripture: Mark 16:15-16
He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” NKJV (Emphasis Added)

Hello, my name is Pastor Jim Borden from Emmanuel Fellowship in Gweru, Zimbabwe. This is my Cross testimony how at eight years old I told my dad I was going to be a missionary to Africa and 71 years later I’m still here.

I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was first born as a twin, just three and one half minutes ahead of my brother. My dad and mom were attending Northwestern Bible college at the time. Today it is Northwestern University – St. Paul.

Dad and mom graduated from Northwestern while we were still toddlers and dad became a representative for what is called today the American Missionary Fellowship. His job was working with missionaries from all over the world. When they visited Minnesota, they stayed at our house. I met them all and learned about what God had called them to do. They came from Asia, South America, Europe and Africa. By the time, I was eight years old, my dad told a story about me. It went something like this, “My son Jim has spoken to missionaries all over the world and learned what they do and whom they serve. He has emphatically announced that the Lord wants him to be a missionary to Africa.”

My mind was set. I would be a missionary to Africa. Soon after that statement my mom and dad took the whole family to what is today Tanzania. Here for four years my dad was the national director of the Livingstone Memorial Mission. My life as a missionary to Africa had begun. From that time on until now I have served in Africa. All except for four years when I returned to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis – St. Paul for four years of education at Northwestern.

My parents moved on to become Wycliffe translators in Bolivia and I have been in Africa serving the Lord for 71 years. My travels for the Lord have taken me to almost half of the 54 countries in Africa.

In 1968, at the age of thirty I married my first wife Joan from Rhodesia. Joan accompanied me throughout Africa as we raised our family. In 1978 we settled in Rhodesia as it was becoming Zimbabwe. Here we began Emmanuel Fellowship. Joan went to be with the Lord and our children moved away. That left me alone in Zimbabwe. Africa was my home and here I would stay.

For many years I was a bachelor leading the church. Then I received a book in the mail with a story about my father and his missionary exploits. The author was a graduate of Northwestern and I recognized her as someone I had met many years before — almost 40 years before. I called to speak with her and congratulate her on the book and complimented her on my father’s story. I learned her husband of many years had recently passed away.

When we ended our conversation I nonchalantly invited her to visit Africa one day. She did. We found missing pieces in each of our lives and two years later we married in 2004. We have been married now for 13 years and Naomi has been by my side in ministry ever since, here in Zimbabwe.

Throughout years of ministry I’ve seen the Lord Jesus Christ do some very interesting things. He has done, through me, too many miracles to count — some more spectacular miracles than others. Here are a few.

Two blind individuals, years apart, received their sight — Countless have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit — Innumerable healings — Uncountable set free of addictions, bondages and oppressions.

All this Jesus activity has given our church a special place with many people. They say, “Emmanuel is the Hospital Church.”

Some time back a young man was having serious heart problems. He had been to multiple doctors but they could not heal him. He was scheduled to fly from Africa to Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore for a heart transplant. When he came up for prayer we could hear a whoosh sound in his heart. We prayed. The Lord heard. He was healed that night. His doctors insisted he continue to Johns Hopkins. He did. They found a perfectly beating healthy heart.

My favorite Bible verse is Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” NKJV

The Cross today will speak to the passers-by. It will tell them this is a place of Jesus. And they too will soon have testimonies of what Jesus Christ has done in their lives.

For me, my life with Jesus Christ began at eight years old with my desire to be a missionary for Him in Africa. 71 years later my desire to work for Him as a missionary in Africa has never been stronger. Africa needs Jesus. America needs Jesus. Europe, Asia, Australia and South America needs Jesus. We all need more of Jesus.

Prayer: Father thank you for dedicated missionaries the world over who left home and family for you. Bless them abundantly. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Checking the hole for depth