Uganda Report and Expositors Collective Update

[00:00:00] Hey, what's up, Expositors? I'm your host, Mike Neglia and this is a bonus episode. This is actually the first ever solo episode that has ever come out on the podcast.

[00:00:17] Most of the time, I am interviewing fellow preachers or I'm interviewing authors or seminary professors.

[00:00:26] Sometimes every once in a while on the podcast, it's recordings from the main sessions or panel discussions that are Expositors Collective Training Events.

[00:00:34] Sometimes that's me, but I'm actually talking to people in the room.

[00:00:40] So this is the first time that I've just been alone in room talking to a microphone.

[00:00:46] So I'm trying to picture the listeners to make this a little bit less awkward for me.

[00:00:53] We'll see how this goes. Maybe we'll do more of these in the future, probably not. This could just be a one-soft but let me know what you think.

[00:01:00] I want to let you know about some of the exciting things that God did in Uganda and then I also want to let you know about some future plans for Expositors Collective.

[00:01:10] You're going to be hearing some American voices, some Ugandan voices giving testimony to their experience at the conference mixed in with my own thoughts and my own updates.

[00:01:24] For me, it was a pretty full-on trip and maybe you could tell I've got a stuffy nose.

[00:01:32] I've been coughing and weasin all day.

[00:01:36] I've just got kind of the the post travel sickness.

[00:01:40] I've been running on adrenaline for my whole time in Uganda.

[00:01:45] I am back home in Ireland and I'm just getting sick.

[00:01:49] So I'm trying to hurry up and record this before it gets any worse.

[00:01:53] So I arrived at a Tuesday evening about the same time as Pastor Ed Compion arrived and we were greeted at the airport by Pastor Zedimozungu and Brian Kelly.

[00:02:06] Brian arrived a day earlier.

[00:02:08] Brian Kelly was part of the team that planted, covered Chapel Campola back in 2002.

[00:02:15] And Brian passed her that church up until 2012 when he transitioned the church over to Zedimozungu leadership.

[00:02:25] It is a real success story when it comes to international church planting.

[00:02:31] Over the past dozen years, Brian has visited Uganda I think two times.

[00:02:36] So basically he's been like out of the picture for about a dozen years.

[00:02:39] And here's something that blew my mind.

[00:02:42] Right as Brian greeted me at the airport.

[00:02:46] Somebody else recognized him and then ran up to him to greet him.

[00:02:51] Pastor Brian, Pastor Ryan, do you remember me?

[00:02:55] And Brian actually did remember him and greeted him by name.

[00:02:59] And that was one of the first of a handful of times in which I was walking around with Brian and then people on the street randomly recognized.

[00:03:09] And remembered Brian, even though hotel where we were staying at, one of the staff as we checked in recognized Pastor Brian.

[00:03:16] He was a member of Calvary Chapel Campola in the early days, but now he's part of a church that was planted by Calvary Chapel Campola.

[00:03:27] So I just had to say that I was very encouraged and a surprising thing for me to witness.

[00:03:35] Here is a recording of Brian himself with some of his thoughts on the conference.

[00:03:43] Hey, what's up, expositors, Brian Kelly here.

[00:03:46] You know when we first started to organize this conference in East Africa and Uganda I was wondering how effective it would be.

[00:03:54] What would be the turnout? I was so surprised.

[00:03:57] We had almost 300 guys come out and you know I think the thing I was shocked about the most is the transformation over the three days of these pastors and ministry leaders that showed up.

[00:04:10] We had a preaching workshop in a few of the young man and young women shared that we're learning the principles of inductive Bible study, Christ center preaching expository method.

[00:04:22] And to see the transformation of these young people and pastors, ministry leaders just the way they preached the way they taught the word it was really impressive.

[00:04:34] I had one young pastor say to me that it was a pivotal moment in his life in his ministry that the conference has changed he said the conference changed the way I preach.

[00:04:45] He's going to be Christ center he said and that's great because Africa is known for especially Uganda having a lot of Christians someone once said it's 100 miles wide and only an inch deep.

[00:04:57] A lot of Christians not a lot of depth of Bible study but these men and these women that came out for the conference were hungry for God's word some of them traveled over a thousand miles to get there by bus.

[00:05:10] And so I was just really impressed by by the turnout and also the transformation of a lot of these men and women over those three days.

[00:05:21] What they said when we laughed was we need this kind of thing we need this kind of of a conference here and so they made us they made us promise that you will come back and do this again and we know that we're going to bring some more people out to it.

[00:05:39] So overall I thought it was just really a great a great conference a great three days and to see just the the eagerness and the joy and the times of worship you know that's one thing I really love the times of worship.

[00:05:53] In between the sessions and the workshops that it wasn't just an academic exercise these men and women these ministry leaders these children's ministry leaders these pastors were really a genuine about their desire to preach.

[00:06:08] The word of God be instant in season and out of season they're going to go back to their villages.

[00:06:14] They're going to minister to their congregations to their small groups wherever they're ministering and I was just blown away by the response and by the fruit I think I could describe it in one word that would be fruitfulness of this conference big thanks to Mike big thanks to expositors collective to all the listeners with the podcast.

[00:06:33] To the supporters those who enabled these men and women to come out from the villages by donating we just had a great time I was so thankful to be a part of it can't wait to do it again God bless.

[00:06:48] Yeah, so that's Brian himself and he actually sounds a little bit sick too we both been coming down with the the post travel sickness.

[00:07:00] So Brian met us at the airport we grabbed quick bite to eat and then went to bed at the hotel.

[00:07:09] So then things got going like straight away the next morning Wednesday morning for those of you who have attended an expositors collective event before you know that a big component of what we do involves group leaders.

[00:07:23] You see we have teachings from the front that have to do with various aspects of sermon preparation and delivery.

[00:07:30] But we've built into it that at regular intervals we break up into groups for discussion times and assignments and like group projects working through texts together discussing interpretive methods and then leading up to the final day when the members from the group will give like a short sermon at.

[00:07:52] And they'll get feedback and critique to help them grow.

[00:07:57] So with the help of Zeddy we assembled a team of 15 group leaders and I had met some of them on zoom in advance but for others I was meeting them for the first time and so Tuesday morning it was some introductions getting to know each other.

[00:08:13] I talked through the format of the conference what their involvement would be with their group leaders and then had like a real special like sustained time of prayer together.

[00:08:24] For me it was a real treat to meet in person three of the faculty members from Uganda Baptist seminary.

[00:08:35] I admit a man named Eric Lockhart over Twitter earlier in the summer and in my mind he was just a random account that retweeted a post that I sent out.

[00:08:48] And you know I glance at the notification and I saw that he had the word Uganda in his bio.

[00:08:55] So then I did some snooping and I learned that he was the academic dean of Uganda Baptist seminary.

[00:09:03] And he teaches preaching at that seminary so I reached out and we finally arranged a phone call back in August and I asked if he would like to be involved in what we're doing.

[00:09:16] And he was all in not only was he all in he also brought two other faculty members of UBT.

[00:09:26] He brought Roy Casica and James Sanyon Jo and they made like a three plus hour drive and I really appreciate it.

[00:09:38] They were willing to pause the important work that they were doing to sacrifice your income and to serve as group leaders and panelists and speakers to bless us.

[00:09:48] I just love to see this kind of cross the nomination all camaraderie.

[00:09:54] It was it was really special of course you know in the Calvary Chapel world like we actually have a lot in common with our Baptist brothers, but it was just a great thing that like this was not their thing at all.

[00:10:08] But the willingness to come into lend their credibility and also lend their like local knowledge was was super super cool.

[00:10:17] And I look forward to releasing the episodes of the panels and even the main sessions from these brothers.

[00:10:25] So speaking of like friends and co-laborers that I made while in Uganda, I have to say that the level of main session speakers that ZDSM was just off the church.

[00:10:33] So in the USA and in the European conferences that we've done over the years, I usually have a pretty involved role in the selection of the main speakers.

[00:10:45] And when I say a pretty involved role, I mean usually I do all of it.

[00:10:50] I try to keep up to date on quality preachers and where they live and I work really hard to invite speakers who have something worthwhile to say and who will really add value to the attendees.

[00:11:03] But here's the thing, I hardly know anyone in Africa and I hardly know anyone in Uganda.

[00:11:12] There is, yeah it's just outside of my realm of knowledge.

[00:11:15] And so I came into this kind of blind but pastors that he introduced me to some people that he knew would do a good job and then he also suggested what topics that they have experience in.

[00:11:25] So I love getting to know Raymond Buchania, listening to his excellent talk on preaching mentorship, Dr. Juvene Tine M. Emecue, who's a medical doctor as well as a church planter and he's kind of an elder statesman amongst the cavity chapels of Uganda.

[00:11:43] He did an excellent message on the character traits necessary of a healthy Bible teacher.

[00:11:48] And of course, Zedhi himself brought the heat with two sessions.

[00:11:52] But a guy that I really connected with was Moses O'Nyu.

[00:11:57] He's been training leaders in northern Uganda in the inductive Bible study method for years and so he was an obvious choice to teach our inductive Bible study session.

[00:12:10] And he traveled a great distance to be with us.

[00:12:15] It was a seven hour drive in a 14 passenger van with 15 people and so I'd like you to hear from him yourself.

[00:12:29] Hi, my name is Moses O'Nyu. I'm a pastor and also a trainer for young pastors and leaders in our region.

[00:12:37] I want to thank the organizers and the people who put together the expositors collective workshop with two-placed in Campana.

[00:12:45] It was such a wonderful wonderful experience and a great time of fellowship and eating from God's Word.

[00:12:51] I actually traveled with a team of 15 young pastors and leaders from our region.

[00:12:59] We spent seven hours on the way and traveled at all of four hundred and sixty-five kilometers to come to this workshop.

[00:13:07] I had about the workshop through the brother and friend pastor Zedhi Musungou is the pastor of Calvary Chapo Campana.

[00:13:13] He told me about the conference that was going to take place and where that was going to be interested in attending.

[00:13:18] I said, sure, I really want to come and ask him, is it okay if I come with some leaders?

[00:13:24] You said, yeah, you can come with so we decided to come 15 of us to attend this program.

[00:13:29] My first thinking was that this was going to be like any other Bible teaching conference.

[00:13:34] I saw the word exposed as well and it was going to be an exposition workshop or conference.

[00:13:39] What you was going to be okay because in exposition if it's done well, there's always going to be a benefit.

[00:13:44] So we came thinking it was going to be a time of sitting and listening to the word taught in a systematic way.

[00:13:51] But I'm telling you, when we reached there, things were different.

[00:13:55] It wasn't what we were expecting.

[00:13:57] Our expectation was that they were going to be worth food.

[00:13:59] That we would feed on and grow in our work with Jesus.

[00:14:04] But actually what we found there was that, instead of food, they were giving us tools that we would use to plant the food for ourselves.

[00:14:14] So what we came with from the conference was that we came with back with a handful of tools.

[00:14:20] The tool of art lining, the tool of inductive Bible study observation, interpretation, application, the tool of how to prepare a summon and preach it systematically.

[00:14:33] This was some of the tools that we gathered at this conference.

[00:14:39] Which is not common in most workshops and conference when you go, it's a time of just sitting and listening.

[00:14:44] But here we were able to do things practically.

[00:14:48] We did a time of assignments.

[00:14:53] We also did a mock ceremony which was very, very interesting for us.

[00:14:58] And so we are really thankful, really thankful to Pastor Mike and his team for coming and sharing this with our people in Uganda and the region.

[00:15:08] I know this seminar is going to change the lives of so many pastors and congregations.

[00:15:15] What I saw from the conference was a, or a transformation.

[00:15:18] Everybody went back when they were satisfied with what they got.

[00:15:22] I want to encourage Pastor Mike and expose that collective program.

[00:15:29] That this would be the last time they come here.

[00:15:31] Our region is lagging behind one we are living in a time of of air.

[00:15:36] Where people are looking at money and position on film instead of feeding the flock.

[00:15:42] So I want to encourage the organizers and the ministry of Excel as a positive collective that they should really think about bringing this program back again.

[00:15:53] Actually soon so that what we have invested in the people can really be.

[00:15:58] We can encourage them.

[00:15:59] We can encourage the participants once more and help them in their journey of a of a of exposition.

[00:16:07] So really I was talking to a brother from Tanzania who was really really thrilled.

[00:16:13] He said his life has been changed because he has never been to a workshop where similar like this.

[00:16:18] So we really want to thank God that many think many people have learned a lot and thank you Pastor Mike thank you for collective.

[00:16:27] Exposed that's collective and for Kalborechia for Campalla for helping to put this thing together.

[00:16:32] Where was to behind this in prayer and financially we want to say thank you the Lord as done.

[00:16:39] Isn't that awesome to hear like it means a lot to hear a man like that speak so highly of what we're doing.

[00:16:47] And the type of impact that we want to make and by God's grace I believe have made on these Bible teachers and preachers.

[00:16:57] I want to also echo what he was saying at the end to those who stood behind us in prayer thank you very much to those who in addition to prayers also gave financially thank you very much.

[00:17:11] It was really heavy on Zedius heart that this event should be a blessing not just to the pastors who live nearby in Campalla City or county but to those on the outskirts of Uganda those who are a seven hour drive away.

[00:17:30] Those who live not in the cities but in the rural villages and especially those who are under resource.

[00:17:39] So he invited us to come and he made it clear that he did not want this to be a burden upon the Ugandaans who were invited.

[00:17:50] And so we said a goal of raising at ten thousand US dollars to pay for the transport of those who would be unable to pay for themselves.

[00:17:59] We also wanted to provide two hot meals a day that were provided all the participants and to sponsor hotels for those without the means of paying for accommodation.

[00:18:12] This is in general an under resource country and many of the pastors and leaders are bi-vocational or tri-vocational and for, well, for faithful Christians anyway.

[00:18:26] The church is not a get rich quits scheme.

[00:18:30] So our goal was 10k and thanks to your generosity we are able to meet that target and to exceed that target.

[00:18:40] We're able to give more than we planned which was used to bless more people.

[00:18:45] So thank you very much.

[00:18:48] We're going to be releasing the audio and the video on our own podcast feed later on.

[00:18:52] I've still got some interviews to release in some audio from Indianapolis and other stuff that's earlier in the queue.

[00:18:58] But if you, if you don't want to wait, you can go to the Copy Chapel, Kampala YouTube channel and they've live stream the whole thing on their channel.

[00:19:08] So you can see all of the unedited footage there.

[00:19:12] There's like there's three videos, each of which are six hours long and they include like the lunch break and all the, this and that.

[00:19:21] But you should check it out.

[00:19:24] Also for my fellow, Mizzungu friends, for my fellow non-Africans, you've got to watch the worship sessions, especially on the third day.

[00:19:35] It's just this like celebratory, just joyful.

[00:19:39] There's singing in different languages. It's just fantastic. Do check it out.

[00:19:44] And I've been told that what we did, you know, especially the recordings of it, it's actually a gift to the African church,

[00:19:52] especially the Q and A times because we had panels every day and the Q and A time.

[00:19:59] Well, of course, those questions about sermon preparation and delivery.

[00:20:03] But every session also included questions that were unique to the African setting.

[00:20:10] The types of questions that are being asked were like incredibly localized and context specific about faithfulness in an east African context.

[00:20:21] In Uganda or Tanzania or Kenya, and it was great for me to just shut my mouth and let the African pastors speak out of their wisdom

[00:20:31] or their experience through their handling of God's Word.

[00:20:36] So I believe even the panel discussions themselves are going to be a blessing for others who are following Jesus in Sub-Saharan Africa.

[00:20:47] I've been getting a lot of texts and what's that message is since we wrapped up and left, and I want to read a few of them.

[00:20:56] One participant said super blessings to you expositors collective, the organizers facilities and coverage Apple Campalla, you are a generation of blessing.

[00:21:08] Every second of these three days made sense. Long travel, long journey but no regrets.

[00:21:17] Someone else says thanks for the great work. I'm going to be starting an inductive Bible study from my church leaders straight away.

[00:21:24] Brother Candorites says one of the highlights of the year. I am greatly identified. Thank you for organizing this.

[00:21:33] Lastly, someone writes praise God for the entire arrangement of the expositors to collective Uganda conference.

[00:21:40] I was inspired by the teachings and I was enriched by the practical ways of preaching the word of God.

[00:21:49] So all at say, for those of you who prayed, for those of you who gave, thank you once again.

[00:21:55] I want to end this part of this episode with Pastor Emmanuel Absalom and he came from Tanzania.

[00:22:06] He mentions this that he drove more than 2,000 kilometers but you should know is that that is more than a 19 hour drive.

[00:22:16] How can I say this delicately? The roads there are not the smoothest roads I've ever driven on.

[00:22:24] So I'm going to let you listen to as kind of a final word for this part from Pastor Emmanuel Absalom from Tanzania.

[00:22:33] First guy, my name is Pastor Emmanuel Absalom. I'm coming from Tanzania all the way to Tanzania and I'm a true god of the world.

[00:22:43] You got a component to tell us that.

[00:22:45] So blessed to be here in this expositoric, for example. I have a lot on that. He's like I'm exposed myself now to the new world of preaching and preaching.

[00:22:59] I'm not the most in months of preaching and there. It just exprims me a lot and I feel like I'm in power that become new.

[00:23:10] When I go to Tanzania to prevent this, I really have to live there so much so I bless all the open eyes and everyone who has organized this year.

[00:23:20] I want to start a collective here in Campalle, Gandap, Goldbletsu and you're on the left by Mountain Bay. You have the best that it would be your better person in Tanzania.

[00:23:32] And I'm going to also be better to add us and I'll get more and more about this. Not less or so much. We love you so much for what you're doing.

[00:23:40] All right, very encouraging isn't it? Very, very cool. And again, for those who prayed those who gave this is like fruit that is a bounding to your accounts as Philippians would put in that vocabulary.

[00:23:56] So are we coming back to East Africa? Well, maybe.

[00:24:04] I got my yellow fever vaccine, which is a life long immunization. It's required to enter into Uganda.

[00:24:14] And so I'm good for the rest of my life. I'm also an Irish citizen, which means that I don't even need a visa. That means that if need be at a moment's notice, I can hop on a plane and fly there.

[00:24:29] But that means that I don't have any immediate plans to do so in the next year. Maybe 2026.

[00:24:36] But it is a cool thing. We're so glad to be able to do that. And it is within the realm of possibility that we will be back.

[00:24:46] So what are we going to be doing in 2025? Well, myself and the rest of the leadership team of exposures collective.

[00:24:53] We've been talking about the coming year. And something important has come up. I've actually received a gentle rebuk from my fellow leaders.

[00:25:02] I've been told that I need to get better at giving you opportunities to get involved financially with this exciting ministry.

[00:25:11] I'm seeing so many of you rise to the occasion and help make a way for those leaders.

[00:25:20] For Absalom and Moses and others making a way for them to come and be invested into that has actually been a little bit inspiring.

[00:25:30] Many of you gave because you were asked, you were made aware of a need and so you contributed to meet that need.

[00:25:37] So let me tell you about another one. Okay, another need. The work of exposures collective has pretty consistently broken even over the past six years.

[00:25:50] You know, we've put on events. I think this was our 17th in person training events and these events cost us money to organize. There's travel expenses, lodging for most of them.

[00:26:03] We charge admission and then that usually covers the cost that it costs us to travel and to put on these events.

[00:26:13] We put out a weekly podcast, which has a modestly priced editor who fixes the audio makes the social media clips and the video shorts and that cost money.

[00:26:25] Sometimes we have ads, which helps out but usually we don't.

[00:26:30] We're getting more and more international.

[00:26:34] And as we go to under resource areas, we've committed to not charging admission for our events back in January.

[00:26:43] We were in Serbia and that was a free event that we put on obviously.

[00:26:49] Compolla was more than free. We actually gave about $12,000 that was raised to carry chapel compolla and they distributed to the under resource pastors who were attending.

[00:27:00] So here's the point. I'm going to be highlighting our giving page more frequently and I'll be letting you know that you can sponsor an episode.

[00:27:09] We do ads if you have a product or an event that we can promote that aligns with our values.

[00:27:14] Get in touch expositors at cavichapold.com is one of the ways to get in touch or you could direct message through any number of social media platforms.

[00:27:25] And we could begin talking about an ad for you could sponsor an episode or a series of episodes.

[00:27:33] But here's the thing.

[00:27:34] I actually believe that we're doing a good work here.

[00:27:39] And I know that people are benefiting and we want to at the very least break even.

[00:27:48] We don't want to be an unsustainable ministry that fades away after a few fruitful years.

[00:27:54] And so would you consider giving with a once-off donation or an ongoing monthly donation as a way for us to cover expenses?

[00:28:08] And then perhaps even be able to expand to do more events in person, or perhaps even to put more and more content out online.

[00:28:19] We have no plans on fading away though.

[00:28:22] I'm not making the ultimate of here, okay?

[00:28:25] So we're doing this. We got one more year of this at the very least.

[00:28:29] In 2025, we're planning on putting on training events in the great nation of Mexico.

[00:28:35] We're also going to be in Colorado and Tennessee.

[00:28:40] And there's a possibility of adding a fourth location if that works out as well.

[00:28:45] So in 2025, Lord Willene, the plans are beginning to be made for Mexico, Colorado and Tennessee.

[00:28:54] We also are going to be releasing our online preaching training course, hopefully before the end of 2024.

[00:29:02] And the podcast is going to continue to release Christ-centered conversations that are designed to help you grow in your personal study and public proclamation of God's Word.

[00:29:15] And I believe that these podcast episodes are doing a bit of good.

[00:29:21] On the one hand, I know that it's just one podcast amongst many.

[00:29:24] But on the other hand, I know that it is drip-feeding skills and encouragement into the hearts and mind of Bible teachers.

[00:29:35] Of youth group leaders, of women's ministry directors, of Sunday school teachers, of assistant pastors, of preachers, of all sorts.

[00:29:44] And I believe since God's Word is powerful, that encouraging those that are digging into it and then bringing out the message to those that will listen.

[00:29:55] I think that's an important thing to do.

[00:29:58] I'm going to end with a tweet that I got tagged in recently.

[00:30:03] And this is from a man by the name of Barrett case. He lives in Rich Hill, Missouri.

[00:30:10] And he just wrote this. He says, fellow preachers and Bible teachers, let me encourage you to listen to expositors collective podcasts.

[00:30:20] I wish I had known this existed for as long as it has.

[00:30:24] There's some really good content and discussion. It is encouraging and it is challenging.

[00:30:30] Just what I need. So Barrett, thanks for your kind words.

[00:30:36] And I don't have to encourage listeners on this podcast to listen because they are, especially if they got all the way to the end.

[00:30:45] But what are a reminder that they're in Rich Hill, Missouri?

[00:30:49] Somebody is getting encouraged by this podcast and so much so that he wants other people to know about it, so they can be encouraged too.

[00:30:58] So thank you for your prayers. And then for those of you that are even considering whether you should sponsor an episode with an ad for an event or for a book or for a product.

[00:31:09] Man, all of me is sponsored by a mattress or a food delivery company. Those align with our values got to eat, got to sleep.

[00:31:17] But if you're also just considering a once-off donation it would help us out.

[00:31:22] Like I said, we're doing some good in the world and if this is something that you want to invest in, we would definitely appreciate it.

[00:31:29] Thanks for listening all the way to the end. I hope that this update and all the other regular episodes help you to grow in your personal study and public proclamation of God's Word.

[00:31:40] There's a regular episode coming out this coming Tuesday. God bless.

[00:31:45] This podcast is a part of C.G.N. Media, a podcast network that points to Christ.

[00:31:49] We are supported by listeners like you to help us create more great shows visit cgnmedia.org slash support.