Santino Back is one of the recent graduate pastors from our Bible school. He is pastoring a church in the village of Maloney.
He has been living in the village now for over 6 months.
A few days ago, as he shared the gospel with a group of Dinka men in the village (elders), the men became so upset with him because he was sharing the gospel message. The men of the village started to tell him he is not from their village they don’t have to listen to him, and they don’t like his message, the message of the gospel, because it is contradicting to the Dinka way of life and their tradition. They’d like to stay in the worship of idols and ancestral spirits.
They started to insult him and tried to provoke him. Santino remained calm, even though they were threatening that if he doesn’t leave the village, they might harm him.
That happened while Dr. Tom was seeing patients. When they came back, during devotions they asked all of us in the compound to pray for Santino; he is facing a big opposition and we don’t know if the men are going to attack him as they have threatened him.
The whole staff at our devotion prayed earnestly for Santino. Pastor Judah, who is the chaplain at the clinic, shared a story of how he had faced the same opposition in the past. When they were evangelizing a certain village, they were marching, singing songs, praying and proclaiming the gospel message; then one man was furiously opposed them, threatening to spear them if they stepped on his property.
Then the Lord rebuked that man in his heart that night and he couldn’t sleep for the next few nights. It bothered him until he had to return to the pastors who were doing the evangelism and beg them to come and visit his house, apologizing and saying that God rebuked him in his heart that night and showed him he was mean against God Himself. The pastors went and shared the gospel in his house and he was saved along with his household. Everyone at the devotion was very encouraged by that real story.
Some of our staff started to come with suggestion on how to win the village over to Christ, one person suggested for Santino to do a house-to-house prayer walk and every house that accepts them they bless the house with the word of God and the seedlings of a mango tree. Like a tree grow by care from the owner, so is the faith they have put in Jesus like a tree; if they keep Jesus commandments and stay in fellowship with God and the brethren, they will grow and be fruitful like a mango tree. That was so neat because there are two blessings for the village here, the first is the Word and the second a physical one, a Mango tree.
I called Santino to encourage him and see if he is in any danger, but Santino was quick to say he was very happy to be opposed like His Lord Jesus who was opposed and persecuted. “It’s my joy to be insulted and threatened for His name’s sake”, Santino added. He felt the Lord was still leading him to stay even with the difficulty that he is facing.
This week I had the honor to visit Santino to encourage him and also to encourage the church he has started in Malony. I was encouraged very much when I saw how the church, what the Lord is doing among the members, the love they have for each other, the way they worshiped in a beautiful Dinka worship song. Some of the church members are teachers of the primary school and some are the students, some young mothers of the community and even one elderly person that gave his life to Christ recently.
I had the opportunity to celebrate a baptism with them, the first baptism since the church was started. An incredible group of young mothers and teenagers declaring publicly their faith in the Lord Jesus and committed themselves to the new way of life that Jesus offers to them.
Please continue to pray for Santino safety as he continue to pastor the Church in Malony. Pray for the upcoming prayer walk in the coming weeks for the strong hold walls of Malony to be brought down like the walls of Jericho.
Pray for the church to continue to grow and be fruitful, especially as they start CHE in the village.
Pastor Santino (left) , Mary being baptized (center) and Sabet (right)
As we waited on the Lord’s will we felt an urgency to get her out of the gloomy crowded observation room that had become home to her. Yesterday we choose to have a bedside vigil throughout the day so she would not be alone and to help her. Each staff took one hour to be with Ayak, praying and talking and encouraging her. Today we managed to get her into a wheelchair and I offered to sit with her while I homeschooled Hannah in the garden. We drank ice tea and I rubbed lavender lotion on her body. Even though she had hardly spoken in days she told Awad she liked being outside. It really was a beautiful day, shady under the Neem tree, birds singing, cool breeze rustling the branches. While Awad and I were tending to her she transitioned from being fidgety and uncomfortable to being peaceful and sleepy. Five women relatives (never happened before) stopped by to greet her. They saw Ayak asleep and after 10 minutes asked to leave and come back later. I felt an urgency to pray with them before they left and asked Awad to translate the prayer. The prayer in my heart was for them to understand our Lord’s mercy and love. Ayak’s body was failing but her spirit was healthy and needed to move on. When we finished praying some were weeping, all thanked me and left. I positioned a small fan on Ayak’s lap to help keep her cool and sat watching her sleep peacefully. Just a few minutes later she slipped into the arms of her Lord and Savior. Though she is absent from her body we are confident she is present with the Lord, no tears, pain or cancer.