Strategic Impact Africa - National & Regional Directors
2019 ALL-AFRICA Fan-the-Flame Summit
FAMILY UPDATE
Greetings from the McCartys! Time for another quick update on Family and Ministry! We are grateful for your continued prayers for our family as we walk together through life and chase after God’s calling to saturate Africa with the gospel!
Tracy continues her work at Born2Be Therapeutic Equestrian Center, teaching horsemanship to adults and children with various disabilities. She is truly gifted both with her riders and in ministering to their families and loves her work!
The Chidesters are doing great! Cody faithfully continues his work at Moore Supply, and Dakota is in her first year as a Physical Therapist at Medical City Lewisville. (Proud dad moment) - She was already awarded Rehab Team Member of the Month!
Trinity is nearing graduation, and we were overjoyed to hear that her hard work and diligence paid off! She has earned the Valedictorian position for her graduating class! She plans to attend Texas Woman’s University in the fall and pursue a degree in Dietetics. (more senior pics below)
Remington (seen here as a zebra… because I can) is finishing her 8th grade year, and has decided to pursue volleyball more heavily through high school. Her goal is to eventually play at the college level, and she just might have the talent to do so! Remi is happy to remind everyone that she is presently the tallest McCarty girl
Sierra continues to be a blessing as the “exclamation point at the end of our family sentence.” She has enjoyed riding and competing in horse shows, and discovered a new passion in 4H’s Food Challenge! (think team cooking competition with nutritional facts incorporated) She plans to get more involved in this throughout next year
Maw has continued to struggle with her health. Just this last week, she had another bit of discouraging news - but we are hopeful and have an excellent set of doctors overseeing her treatment. Right now, she is waiting on the installation of a pacemaker, which should happen in the next few weeks. We covet your prayers.
MINISTRY UPDATE
Top Tier Leadership
I recently returned from our very first ALL-AFRICA Fan-the-Flame Summit held in Chisamba, Zambia. This gathering is for National and Regional Directors, and it is the first time we have brought together leaders from across the entire continent in one place. It was a glorious time of prayer, personal sharing, encouragement, training, vision casting, and problem solving as a unified team. Our theme for the year is “Revival, Abiding, and Action!” and I am confident that as we abide in Christ and take the faithful actions to which He has called us, God will bring revival across the continent! 2019 is going to be an exciting time of expansion and growth! Already prayerful plans have been enacted to launch Strategic Impact into 4 more nations in addition to all the the local multiplication which is taking place in areas where we have a presence! Please join us in prayer for Africa to be reached with the Gospel!
BONUS: Side-Stories/Outtakes
The last day of the Fan-the-Flame Summit, I received a concerning text from my sweet bride on the other side of the planet. There had been STRONG winds the evening before and she thought she heard some sort of "electrical sound" that night. Now, she was pretty certain she smelled smoke! (NOT the sort of news you want to receive when you can do nothing to help!) She called our friend Tim (Tim Johnson Contracting - 940.898.9976) And he IMMEDIATELY came over and got his electrical guys (Ferguson Electric) to rush over. Friends, they saved our house from igniting! There was a short in the meter box which heated up and caused the studs in our closet wall to start to smolder (photos below). I typically don't shamelessly promote businesses in my newsletters, but I cannot recommend these two enough!
THEN on the heels of that near-disaster, and on the 12+ hour drive to Luwingu from the Fan-the-Flame Summit, we made it about 2 miles before overheating. We discovered there was no coolant in the engine - at ALL, and replaced a faulty radiator cap which was agreed upon as the culprit. (I had actually purchased the new radiator cap before we departed, but no one put it on!) We then drove another 2 hours - early evening - before the motor died. I guided us toward the side of the road out in the bush and finally found a place to safely pull off into the ditch. We tried to revive it... sent Sainet into town to get a new battery (thought maybe the alternator went out and the battery went dead on the trip). That didn't help. Finally we concluded that the motor had seized or came really close to it. Looking at the oil, it was pretty black. SO... We sent word for help from Lusaka, arranged for a "tow truck" to come hook on, and waited. The next day (after dividing the team to address the problem and continue on the mission) we made the remaining journey to Luwingu... with a stop in the bush to buy fuel by the side of the road, since there was no petrol station! [more photos below] All in a day's work!
Building Sustainability
We continue to work to free our teams from dependency on outside funding and resources. The goal is for “Africa to reach Africa” with the Gospel - so that IF no one is ever able to come from the U.S. again… Africa will still be reached! As Mamahase (a member of our Lesotho team - see photo on the right) recently said, “We don’t only need to be responsible, we need to be accountable! There will come a time soon when Dustin will not come from Texas anymore - and we are accountable to reach Lesotho! We must own this!” However, the attitude of ownership is only one side of the equation. The other side is the practical. If the work is going to be truly sustainable long-term, it will need to be internally funded. So in addition to our work of training leaders to multiply leaders, disciples, churches, and movements, we also work on breaking the deeply rooted cycle of dependency and building up opportunities for self-sustainability to be established!
You see, there is strong paradox in what we do - the more we expand, the more resources we need (materials, travel, communication, etc.). Most of these practical resources are purchased with money. Therefore, in order to build sustainability, we must develop some form of self-funding model - both on a local scale and on a regional scale. Launching each of these self-funding projects requires cultural understanding, basic local business training, and some seed capital to get things kicked off. Praise God for His provision through a few donors which have funded the start of some successful ventures AND for those who have joined the 169/52 Fellowship (we are seeking 169 families to give $52 a month to keep the whole work going until we reach self-sustainability in every nation. You can join by sending a text on your smartphone to 619-552-3355 - or by clicking here. You’ll even get a cool Africa pendant with your individual member number on it when you join!)
So far, we have had successful ventures in: - Rwanda: Fleet of 8 motorcycles leased for use as taxis in Kigali. (now inactive, but ready for a re-launch) - Ghana: 3 Bajaj motor-rickshaws leased for use as a taxis in Navrongo. (See Stephen Aputara in one above)
Now, after 2 years of slow progress, we have finally purchased land in Northern
Zambia to launch a cement sale and paving stone production business! [Right: Team members standing in the mostly-finished house on our property in Luwingu. More photos in gallery below] This is Phase 1 of a longer-term vision for regional funding for Sub-Saharan Africa. Please pray for Strategic Ventures Zambia to be a success!
The work is going magnificently! Hundreds are being won to faith in Christ by their own countrymen every week! Cell Churches are being planted and Leaders are being equipped to shepherd those Churches! Movements are being multiplied across several nations! These are all great praises to our God! But, we are aware from Scripture and experience that when the kingdom is advancing, opposition is mounting. Please pray for the Lord to keep us focused on His vision, for unity among our teams to be the normal condition, for love to abound in all things we do, for protection for all our team members and leaders involved in these multiplying movements, and for more laborers for His harvest. God is bringing forth much fruit! Please join us in prayer that it will continue!
Be sure to check out NEW Personal Website: www.McCartyMinistry.com
THANK YOU for YOUR partnership!
The McCartys
Two BIG "Through The Nations" Events Coming SOON!
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