Be God's Family
S3 E28. Elisha Takes the Mantle
this is the Be God's Light Podcast with Ben Greenbaum and Mark Elsasser. Here in 2024, we're spending the entire year in the Old Testament. And we've been looking at how God has been working from the very beginning. Today, I am sitting here with a friend of mine, his pastor Nate Stewart, and we're at Kaffa Kumba. And it's a blessing to be here in Zambia and Africa to learn a little bit more about what is happening here in this part of the world and to dive into our scriptures. So I would just like to say, first of all, welcome, Nate. And thank you so much for joining us today. It's my pleasure. Really glad to have you here. And it's been great having you here for pastor school and just getting to know you a little bit better. Thank you. Yeah, you're definitely welcome. It's really been an honor. We've been treated like royalty. I'll tell you, Nate and his wife, Belinda, have welcomed us into their home and to their family and been so gracious to us. So I really appreciate you doing that. I know I would imagine a lot of people that are listening don't know anything about the word Kaffa Kumba or the background, the history of Kaffa Kumba. But it's been part of your life and your family forever. So talk to me a little bit about what Kaffa Kumba is and what the background of it was. I actually grew up as a missionary kid in Kenya, East Africa, and ended up marrying one of the Enright children, Ken and Lorraine's Enright children, who came to boarding school. We met there at boarding school in Kenya. So it's certainly been since then that that name and the Enright name has been familiar to me. And so a lot of people in Indiana do know the Enright name. Ken and Lorraine were missionaries for many, many years. And then their son, John and his wife, Kendra, were also served in the Indiana conference at a couple of churches, but then also as missionaries here in Africa as well. So they were at Lake, they had a place at Lake Kaffa Kumba in Congo. And it was there that that Ken Enright started Kaffa Kumba pastor school. When they had to relocate after another, yet another coup, violence in Congo in 1999, they kind of just decided to bring the name with them since that was a name that was familiar to their friends in America. So they named a place in Zambia, also Kaffa Kumba. So we have a place here called the Kaffa Kumba Training Center. I'm learning that the Kaffa Kumba Training Center is vast. It's at one point in time, I thought it was only pastor school. And then I've learned that it's much more expansive than that. And I know that we've spent time already with Pastor Kolymbo and last week's podcast, learning more about what takes place here. But within that context, what are your roles? But what do you do as part of the transformational outreach with Kaffa Kumba? I'm actually a pastor in the United Methodist Church in the annual conference and an appointment beyond the local church. So my heart is a pastor's heart. That's what brought me out here when I when we moved out here in 2013, my brother in law, John Enright wanted me to primarily be involved in business training and leadership development and discipleship training. And that was where my heart was. So the journey of transformation is one discipleship path that I'm very passionate about. And that's also what I teach at pastor school and what we train. We have a clinic here and we have a school here and we're training our clinic staff and our our school staff as well and all that. So that's one of my roles. I'm also I was an accountant before I was a pastor. So I also do the treasure and basically any administration, you know, payroll, all the paperwork that's required with keeping companies like the school and the business of going and all the administrative details. That's my role. My wife is a nurse and a previously a professor of nursing at a school in the United States. And so she's very much involved in the clinic, but she's also on the board of the school loves the kids and things like that. So we we wear whatever hat the day calls for the journey of transformation. I'm learning bits about that while I'm here. And I'll put you on the spot. You know, can what is the journey of transformation and, you know, the thumbnails sketch of it so that can help us to understand how you're guiding people and discipling people here in Zambia? Well, you know, the United Methodist mission statement is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. So that transformation word is right there in the middle of it. And so our deep desire and and wish and hope is to bring the transformation that God brings or be a conductor of that power of God through transformation. So when I came over initially, John asked that I disciple some of these folks. And so we developed this three year journey of transformation, which starts largely with kind of helping people understand what a worldview is or what. Kind of, you know, the glasses that we see the world through. And of course, we all have a pair. We just don't all know we have a pair. And so it's helping people to become aware of what a worldview is. And then also teaching them about the worldview of the kingdom. And then we spend the rest of the time just kind of helping people understand what that means, what that looks like in a practical, everyday living way, how they live that out in their relationships with their families, with their friends. And that's the desire is really the transformation of individual lives. But then that pours over into families and communities. So give us one or two of those teaching points and how they've had an impact on people's lives. For me, the biggest one here in Africa is so much is done using motivation by fear. Parenting, unfortunately, pastoring. You know, they use that scare the hell out of them theology sometimes. And it's not always the, a lot of people don't really know this loving God that Jesus came to show us and demonstrate for us. And so the switch from motivation by fear to motivation by love has been dramatic. And when we go over that chapter, I think that's the one where I get the most kind of aha moments from people going through that journey of transformation. Because they're like, we never knew God was like this. We thought God was somebody we had to be afraid of, run from, you know, out to get us kind of thing. And so for me, that's one of the keys. I think another one is really the sense of non-violence. We live in a culture here where violence is accepted, particularly in marriage relationships, a lot of spousal abuse. And that's normal to the culture. And we say, you know, no, that's not who Jesus is. That's not who Jesus taught us to be. So those are those are the two, I think, they get the biggest reaction from people and the biggest aha moment that I'm hoping carries out into lived lives on the other side of the door. That's really incredible to me. I love that so much. You were, you were minding your own business, pastoring in Florida. For 20 years or something like that, I think you said. So where did you, where were you appointed in what cities in Florida? And then why leave? Why Zambia straight out of seminary? I went as an associate pastor at Kendall United Methodist Church in Miami for about a year and a half. And then I got my first appointment as a senior pastor down in Marathon in community church in Marathon, the United Methodist Church down there in the keys, the Florida keys and then was there for about five years. And then we moved up to the Melbourne area, kind of the coastal side of Melbourne in Indiana and had St Mark, we were at St. Marks for 13 years. And yeah, we were happily going along. Most of our kids were through school. We had raised our children mostly in the Indiana area. Our daughter was just going into 10th grade. And that's when we got the, the nudge from God. I had been coming out here and teaching in pastor school for a couple weeks for most of the years between 2000 and 2013. So I was familiar with the ministry here and stuff, but I'd never really consider moving here. But Pastor Kilimba, who you heard last week, came to the States for general conference, we spent some time together and God just kind of started nudging me through the, some of the things he said. And that's where we said, maybe this is a possibility. And so I talked to my wife about it. And when we came out, we really felt like that was where God was leading us. So it was not in our plans, but, you know, that's where God surprises come from. So your wife, Elinda, is a nurse. She's a professor of nursing and you have four kids. Was this a hard sell for, for her and for your, for your kids? And then, but now you have them involved either from the States or from here and another coming here soon. So talk about your family a bit. Yeah, it was, it was a hard sell. Um, we dragged two of them along with us. One was my son, Mark, who had just finished high school. And so he took a gap year and came with us to Zambia. My daughter, Lindsey had the hardest time adjusting to the idea. She was in ninth grade. Uh, we told her we were going to uproot her and drag her halfway across the world, leaving all her friends and she ran into the room, threw herself on the bed and knew that her life had ended. Um, having said that, she has now become our most prolific world traveler and, uh, is actually moving out to be with us next year in October, November to live out here with her husband, um, because she really feels like this is where God wants her. So we also have our son, David, who's out here with his wife, Amber, three grandkids down the sidewalk. So we are very blessed as missionaries go because we have so much of that here. And then at the end of this month, my son, Mark and his wife are moving out. He's a nurse. She's a teacher. And so they're going to be joining us at Kefakumba as well. So this is not something we had planned at all, but, uh, we feel very blessed by all that. My other daughter lives in Idaho. She's a professor of accounting, but she does a lot. She comes out often and she does fundraisers and stuff for the school and things. So she's also her hearts here as well. Yeah, that's, that's incredible. And just spending some time with your, your son and daughter in law and your, your grandbabies. I mean, those boys are sweet and fun. They make me miss, miss my grandchildren who are back in the States as I'm recording is so yeah, they're full of energy and they're so, so much fun. Well, let's take a look at some scripture today. We're going through the Old Testament this year and Nate has graciously agreed to just jump in where we are in the middle of the, in the middle of the story. And we're in first Kings 19 for the, for the beginning part of this. And it's, this is the, um, the moment where Elijah has already had the confrontation with the prophets of Baal and one, God, God did a great victory. And then he went often and got kind of depressed. So he went on a long journey. He walked all the way from the northern, northern part of the Israel where he had the confrontation to the very southern tip and then beyond Israel to Mount Sinai where Moses had received the 10 commandments. So he was like a long, long way from home. He had been all depressed because like he felt alone in, in life. And sometimes I know everybody feels alone and when he was there, it says in first Kings 19, the Lord said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? And in verse 10, Elijah replied, I have zealously served the Lord, God, almighty, but the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left and now they're trying to kill me too. I resonate with that sometimes when I feel like I'm the only one left. I'm alone. There's nobody with me and I don't know where to go from here. God said, go out and stand before me on the mountain. I remember he's on Mount Sinai where Moses received the 10 commandments. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by and the famous passage, almighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind after the wind. There was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Nate, I love that story, and sometimes I focus just on the gentle whisper part, but I can't ignore the fact that he'd already witnessed like this massive windstorm and earthquake and fire and all of this. And that had to prepare him to see the Lord in the gentle whisper. It's kind of dramatic. And in some ways, I think about John Enright, your brother-in-law and his father, Ken, who began this ministry dramatic. You say they're called to this part of the world was dramatic. You know, I don't know a whole lot about their call to this part of the world, but they themselves were very charismatic. Anybody who knew Ken and Lorraine Enright or John Enright and his wife, Kendra, knew that John and Ken were larger than life, I think, was the term you used earlier. And I think that fits them very well. When you, you know, they're just people that, interestingly, when John died, everybody came to me and said, I was John's best friend. And they just made you feel like that. They were just people who well, warmly welcomed you into their lives and they had a ministry that was tremendous. So yeah, they were superstars in my view. Yeah, that's amazing because they definitely planted something that we see going here all these decades later, even though it had to get moved to another country, the impact is incredible, just truly incredible. So Elijah's there with God and the Lord is in this gentle whisper and Elijah doesn't know what to do. We pick it up in verse 15, the Lord told him, go back the same way you came. All right, so let's think about this. He had just come from the northern tip of Israel to the southern tip and then beyond that, end of the desert, up the mountain, Mount Sinai. And when God appears to him, he said, go back. That doesn't sound like a very exciting call. And he was basically told to go back and then we, you pick it up later in that verse where it says, go back and anoint Elisha to replace you as my prophet. So that's your call, Elijah. You're going to be replaced. You're going to die here sometime in the future and you are finding your successor. Nate, I know in some ways that you came here, of course, not knowing what would happen to John with his life and his death and in, in some ways, you've become his successor as well as others have. I know as well, but does this story resonate with you in any kind of way as we, as we talk about this? When Pastor Mark asked me to look through some of the passages at, at what resonated, this was definitely one because I do feel like, um, although Elisha is somebody who's very familiar with us now, uh, you know, at the time, I think he was probably a no name and nobody knew him, uh, looked like he was a farmer, I guess, out plowing with his oxen at the end of 1 Kings 19 when Elijah came along and, and basically called him, he was out plowing and, uh, I was not a farmer, but, uh, you know, I felt like a little bit of that, you know, no name, um, coming to be involved in a ministry that was started and enlarged by people who I looked up to significantly and not only me, but who were well known in the Christian community, certainly in Indiana and some other parts of the U S, but also here in Africa, we're just known, uh, for the work that they did. So yeah, yeah, I did feel a little bit like, uh, wow, this is, this is a big call. It simply says in that passage, when he called the farmer Elisha, the Elisha left and became his assistant. And there's, I think there's something to that Nate, like when, when you're not saying I'm going to make a name for myself, going to be somebody, but I will just help. I will, I will do what's needed and I will assist. And we know from the latter part of the story, we're going to look at here for in a minute that Elisha becomes someone significant in scripture, but he didn't start off like that. He said, I'm your assistant. I'll carry your water, whatever, whatever you need, I will do. And I see a lot of that servants heart and you and a Linda and your family and the other people that you would call the leaders of this ministry in Kavacumba. I see true servant leadership where you folks are willing to do whatever it takes, not only to meet the needs of, of me who I'm here as a, as a missionary, teacher of the pastor's school this week, but of the actual pastor's, the students, the, their wives, their children. And I'm, I'm watching this all the time. There is really something to this idea of servant leadership. I talk, talk about that a little bit. Yeah. One of the, one of the seven principles that John, uh, and Pastor Casongo Munza kind of summarized the teachings of Jesus into seven principles. And one of those, two of those I mentioned already, uh, earlier through motivation by love and non-violence also. Um, but, uh, servanthood is definitely one of those as well. And, um, yeah, when, when John died, it was kind of an, an Esther moment, I guess in a way, you know, for such a time as this, we felt like, you know, God had us here for that. Um, but I also realized I am not John and right. I am not Ken and right. I cannot be those people. Um, but I've also heard that, that great story about one of the Jewish rabbis, Rabbi Zusia, who said, when I get to heaven, God is not going to ask me, why were you not Abraham? He's going to ask me, why were you not more like Rabbi Zusia? So I think God has created us to be who we are and to live that fully out. And, and I think Catholic home is at a place right now where it does need a little bit more just kind of running, you know, the day to day administration, which John and Ken both hated. They were pioneers. They were out starting new things and, uh, you know, on big adventures. And, and I'm okay being here, just helping keep things running. And so I, which, you know, it takes all kinds for a tournament leadership, but I see that as my role right now. And I, I love what I'm doing. I just think that's, that's phenomenal. Sometimes what is needed is someone just to help that the electricity is been off almost every day that we've been, I've been here now for over a week. And, uh, what do they call it? They intentionally turn it off load shedding, load shedding. Um, so they, they decided to shed the load where we are. That's, that's what I know. And, um, and that's common. It's common part of the world. And the folks here, Nate and the Linda and everybody comes and finds a way to, to meet the need and, and run a generator so that you can have a little bit of electricity somewhere in order to have the necessities of life. And there are a thousand examples of that servant leadership. So if you flip over to second Kings in chapter two, after Elisha had been following around and serving and assisting Elijah for a long time, in second Kings chapter two, verse one, it says, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal and Elijah said to Elisha, stay here for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel. But Elisha replied as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you. That, that phrase is so interesting when he said, I'm going to be with you. And then it goes on to describe other places that, that Elijah went and he kept telling Elisha, stay back, you don't need to go with me. And Elisha just kept saying, no, I, I'm going, I will never leave you. I, he says, I get, I will never leave you. It's all throughout this passage. I, I just think there's something really phenomenal about that. Finally, we, we get down to verse seven, 50 men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River, then Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the water with it, the water divided and the two of them went across on dry ground. This is not the first time we've, we've seen this in our study of the old Testament. There was a time when Moses was at the Red Sea and the water parted and all of Israel walked on dry ground. There was the time that Joshua stood at the banks of the Jordan River and the priests entered with the ark, ark of the covenant and the water stopped flowing and they, all of Israel walked through on dry ground. And now here's Elijah doing something similar in that moment. And remember that when Jesus showed up at the mountain of transfiguration, it's Moses and Elijah who show up and have a meeting with Jesus in the, in the presence of a few of their disciples. So it's really this power moment of a declaration of God's great work in their, in their lives. And I would almost say in some ways, Elisha had to be dumbstruck by it. Like this man is really, really powerful just for like, take, take me through in your, in your mind. I mean, we have to get an imagination here. What do you think's running through Elisha's mind is all of this is going on? One thing that, that Elisha asked for there in two, verse nine is a double share of your spirit, which, you know, that's a pretty big ask when you consider who Elijah was, but Elisha was not shy about that. So, you know, while, while I think he was deeply impressed by who Elijah was, one thing that I really noticed in the first king's 19 passage is his commitment to not look back, you know, at first when Elijah comes and kind of throws his mantle on him and he says, "Let me go say goodbye to my mom and dad." And Elijah says something that I'm not really sure was dismissal of Elisha or not. But one way or another, Elisha goes back and he, he takes all those oxen that he was plowing with and he sacrifices them and basically uses the, the yoke to, to burn them and to, to give it to the people. Um, and what that brought to mind to me was, I don't know if you heard that story of Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, when he went to conquer the Aztecs and his men were kind of waffling about, you know, what if this doesn't work out and whatever and I'm not advocating any war or violence here, but I love the metaphor here and the metaphor was Cortez said their option, that retreat is not an option and he burned their ships. And to me, that's what Elisha is doing by slaughtering these oxen and, um, you know, cooking them up. He's like, I'm not going back to farming. And that I think is what leads to him in, in 2 Kings 2 to say, and I'm not leaving you. I've burned my ships. I'm not going back and that commitment and desire to go forward to not look back is something that I see in Elisha that when I see that in somebody who's following Christ, uh, God does stuff with people who are that committed who are just, they, they burn their ships. Do you look back and think Florida wasn't so bad? No, I really don't. Um, I love Florida. We have some good friends in Florida. We had a wonderful time in Florida. Um, but, and we believe we were supposed to be there then and we believe we're supposed to be here now and, uh, no, uh, that rear view mirror feels like it's been ripped off. That's amazing. It really is. So in the story that it goes on, Elijah indeed is carried up in a whirlwind to heaven and then pick it up in verse 13. Elisha picked up Elijah's cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. That's the same cloak that he touched the water with and part of the water. So Elisha returned to the bank, then, of the Jordan river. And with Eli's cloak, he struck the water and cried out, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Then the water divided and Elisha went across. And the story continues on really throughout second Kings of Elisha and he had, he had a different ministry than Elijah. It was during a different part of history. There were different Kings, different people, different miracles that he performed. It was not exactly the same. It was similar. He was a successor, but it was very different. And in his own right, God used him to do what was needed in his time, just like Elijah had done what was needed in his time. I think there's something for all of us in this. What, as you kind of summarize this discussion that we've had here today, what's a takeaway that you can give from all of that? Yeah, I think you're right. You know, God's creativity has not made any two of us the same. And I have seen in my 20 years of pastoring in Florida, but also in my serving here in Zambia that God puts the right people in the right places at the right time and all my best laid plans just can't be anywhere, can't even measure up. So I think on some level, it's just trusting that God's in, I'm sure people that knew Elijah were like, what Elisha is going to try to replace you? There's no way. He can't, you know, he's not as good as you. And, you know, it's, but it's not how we see things. It's how God sees things. And I think just trusting that through the changes and things that come in our lives, just trust that God's got the last word, that God's at the helm and God's going to take us where we need to go, when we need to go there. And maybe kind of a second, the second lesson to take away here is that, you know, are you ready to be committed? If God's calling you, if God's, you know, leading you into something or towards some sort of ministry or calling you somewhere, are you ready to burn the ships or, you know, kill the oxen or whatever it is that, that to you represents that I'm committed. I'm jumping in with both feet. I'm not looking back because when people get to that level of commitment, there's no stopping what God can do with you. I really love that whether or not you're called to go across the sea or across the street or sometimes across the hall in your home, the call of God cannot, should not be ignored. And it must be, if we are a follower of Jesus, we have to say yes. We say yes first. Now, what's the question? And, and then he asks, will you do this? So I love that. Nate, would you close our time and prayer? Lord, thank you so much for the stories you give us in your word that are so rich and so deep, more stories that we can read on about 15 different levels. And every time we read them, they take us deeper and deeper and help us examine ourselves and see how we can know you better. And so I pray that somehow what the conversation we've had today can be something which grows deep in the hearts of those who listen and plants a seed there that in your time and in your way will grow into just what it needs to. So guide us and help us to be open to what you want to do in our lives and to do it with all our hearts in Christ's name, amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much, Nate. I appreciate you doing this with me. It's really been a privilege and an honor to be here and even have this conversation with you this morning, Nate invited me to preach at his church. He has a church here in Zambia. So I've been honored so many times. I can't thank you and you lend in all of your family enough. Next next week, our podcast will cover Joel, the prophet Joel and his call to repentance when the people of, you know, you think with all these prophets that they would have said, we're hearing the message like Elijah in Elisha, but they had turned away. And so Joel calls people to repentance. Folks, if you want to jump in deeper, go to our church's website. Fisher's UMC org or find the church app and then click on the be God's light link. And that'll take you to more elements in this year long study of the Old Testament, including we have daily Bible readings and devotions and poems and weekly sermons and then other episodes of this podcast. And if you want to stay up to date with the be God's light podcasts, we encourage you to follow and rate wherever you get your podcasts until next time. Make God bless.
Pastors Mark Ellcessor and Nate Steury share from Kafakumba Training Center in Zambia about Elisha taking up Elijah’s mantle as prophet in Israel.