Composting

I teach composting as the key way that ordinary farmers can have the best fertilizer without spending any cash (which they may have in short supply).

The process of composting takes dead and decaying things and turns them into food for the future growth of the plants in our garden.

This is the same spiritually. I was thrilled to see a simply profound post on blog I normally follow. I have been going through one of those times when past failures and sins had been bothering me -- if for no other reason than I wish I hadn't got caught in them. But of course that is just regret and it won't get me far... God has a better plan; he wants to take our sins and troubles and turn them into stepping stones for a more pure, righteous and joyful life in Him.

Please enjoy this lesson on composting. http://goo.gl/SVV4d

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An Old Barn

I was recounting my Grandfather's love for creation to a friend recently and I thought of this "old" poem I write a while ago.

Today's entry is in memory of my Grandpa Willems. He loved Creation and he loved the Pslams. One of his particular interests was photographing old barns on the prairies. My Grandfather's name was R.B. Willems.

 
                             An old barn
                                      First stanza
 
I’m creaking,
I groan
 
I’m teetering,
I lean
 
I’m fading,
I’m brown
 
But RB comes to see me,
He comes out from town
 
What does he see in me?
What does he know?
 
Does he like the way I lean?
Or does he remember what I’ve been?
 
Does he enjoy the wind whistling through?
Or does he imagine me, once new?
 
Perhaps, is it the contrast
Of my faded wood against prairie skies?
It could be the prophetic way I’m leaning
To remind him how time flies by
 
                                   Second stanza
 
Well, I haven’t seen RB for a while,
I would like to see him smile,
Or wink at me through his lens,
 or mutter some prose from David’s pen.
 
I heard he was creaking and groaning too,
to leave his body and join the Creator who’ll make him new.
 
A few others pass by my leaning frame,
I wonder – do they know of my fame?
 
Do they see my prophetic lean?
Or remember what I’ve been?
 
Do they know man’s future – man’s past?
Do they know things  made of wood, hay and stubble don’t last?
 
Do they know they are unlike me?
Once fallen, once dead  - a few more things will be done a few more words said –
 not by the wind or a barn like me – not even David will utter these.
 
The Creator Himself will tell men their lot.
 
Did they heed the Prophet’s words,
did they hear the Wind speak?
Did they turn from their sins and seek their Creator,
did they hear the Message given so clear?
 
These flowers and the grass around me – soon they will fade,
Soon I’ll be gone too – I won’t point the way,
But the Words of the Creator forever will stay.
 
                                                                                    By C.S. Sperling
                                                                                Upon the death of my grandfather Reuben Benjamin Willems

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An Old Barn

I was recounting my Grandfather's love for creation to a friend recently and I thought of this "old" poem I write a while ago.

Today's entry is in memory of my Grandpa Willems. He loved Creation and he loved the Pslams. One of his particular interests was photographing old barns on the prairies. My Grandfather's name was R.B. Willems.

                             An old barn

                                      First stanza

I’m creaking,

I groan

I’m teetering,

I lean

I’m fading,

I’m brown

But RB comes to see me,

He comes out from town

What does he see in me?

What does he know?

Does he like the way I lean?

Or does he remember what I’ve been?

Does he enjoy the wind whistling through?

Or does he imagine me, once new?

Perhaps, is it the contrast

Of my faded wood against prairie skies?

It could be the prophetic way I’m leaning

To remind him how time flies by

                                   Second stanza

Well, I haven’t seen RB for a while,

I would like to see him smile,

Or wink at me through his lens,

 or mutter some prose from David’s pen.

I heard he was creaking and groaning too,

to leave his body and join the Creator who’ll make him new.

A few others pass by my leaning frame,

I wonder – do they know of my fame?

Do they see my prophetic lean?

Or remember what I’ve been?

Do they know man’s future – man’s past?

Do they know things  made of wood, hay and stubble don’t last?

Do they know they are unlike me?

Once fallen, once dead  - a few more things will be done a few more words said –

 not by the wind or a barn like me – not even David will utter these.

The Creator Himself will tell men their lot.

Did they heed the Prophet’s words,

did they hear the Wind speak?

Did they turn from their sins and seek their Creator,

did they hear the Message given so clear?

These flowers and the grass around me – soon they will fade,

Soon I’ll be gone too – I won’t point the way,

But the Words of the Creator forever will stay.

                                                                                    By C.S. Sperling

                                                                                Upon the death of my grandfather Reuben Benjamin Willems

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Stewardship Farming

In my teaching lately with Farming God's Way I have been struck with how the idea of stewardship is much closer the Biblical model for business and farming than the mostly capitalist model I was told was biblical in the Christian world view teaching I received when I was younger. In this earlier teaching private ownership was emphasized as the correct way to view our lives and it influenced the treatment of all material goods around us.

In our training material we teach farmers that they need to aim for sustainable profitibility. Profit is not wrong! God is a God of multiplication -- a God of plenty. If there is no profit then there will be no life on earth. But the way in which we earn our living from the land must not rob the land of long term fertility just for gains in the short term -- it must be sustainable year after year; generation upon generation. We must add to our account (the soil) as much if not more than we subtract from the account. Our care for creation is not just a nice modern "green" idea but it is our job and our responsibility. If we do not care for our farmland we will see low yields and losses and hunger as the order of the day! 

Of course, the solution is not socialism either, but an understanding that ultimately we own nothing (including our very lives) but are caretakers of all that comes under our influence. We are stewards who will give an account to our Creator.

The question is not whether any of us will be a steward -- the question is: what type of steward will you be?

 

I was inspired to write this short post when I found this devotional in my inboxthis morning, underlining the shift in my thinking. http://www.icr.org/article/20161/

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Keep on Sowing

My garden is a akin to a mechanic's car -- it's in rough shape because my time is spent teaching other people how to farm. So, now that I have had a bit of time recently, I have been busy planting a few things -- and harvesting some too. It struck me the other day that we were harvesting or about to harvest some nice things from the garden - some strawberries, cucumbers and in a while some broccoli and cauliflower. Now these crops are all the more wonderful to harvest here because they are not common at all! So the thought occurred to me that it we had the privilege of harvesting some tasty fruits from the garden because we had made time to plant and care for what little we could manage.



This is so true in our work as well. I am often a little wary and even discouraged at peoples responses to Farming God's Way. It's not that people aren't excited about it. More often than not people are VERY excited about it! What is disappointing is that this excitement often does not translate into any practical application of the principles... or at least not from what I can see. I understand a little what Jesus felt when He saw people following Him for healings and miracles but few actually becoming His disciples and walking in His ways.



So as I was harvesting a little bit of produce from my garden I was heartened to remember that in the same way if I keep sowing Farming God's Way there will be a harvest of many beautiful changed lives!



Do you feel discouraged too with your work too? Have you seen changes as you persist in continuing to "sow" and continue to be faithful in the work God has called you to?

The Revolution Continues

"Don't plough your land; you are destroying your soil", I tell people who come to our kiosk at the Ugandan national agriculture show.

I wait for their surprised look -- sometimes the new idea doesn't register until I start elaborating on the reasons why turning their soil with a plough or even with a hoe will lead to it's demise.

I explain," By inverting your soil with a plough or hoe you break the soil into small particles which will easily be eroded, compacted by the impact of the heavy tropical rains we receive and clog the pore spaces that are supposed to naturally occur in a fertile soil". I move on to the next point but very quickly someone in the small audience looking at our display says" Wait a minute -- back up! You said that ploughing is BAD? What do you mean??" I gladly continue my explanation which includes pointing out the fertile soils in forests and native grasslands that are unturned and have been producing a bountiful diversity of plant life for thousands of years. It gives me an opportunity to explain and contrast mankind's ways with God's ways in nature -- a natural and logical lead to contrast God's ways with ours; I discuss how, without God, we use, abuse and destroy almost anything for selfish gain yet, as stewards of what God has given us to take care of we should be caring for and protecting all that God has given us. He will ask for an accounting for all we have been given at the end of time.

Currently, with Farming God's Way in Uganda, we have a short timespan during which we can introduce these revolutionary and exciting ideas of minimal tillage with the gospel of the Kingdom of God. I have found that when a new crop is introduced with a growing methodology it becomes a huge success with those who decide to grow that crop. In a similar way I believe we have the same opportunity to introduce this new (actually ancient) way of farming with a methodology which incorporates the idea of trying to imitate what God does in nature and follow what He tells us to do in His Word. We have a chance to bring an agriculture revolution along with a spiritual revolution -- the most exciting prospect in agriculture missions!!

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July Newsletter

Julyl 2011 Equiplet.pdf Download this file

Hello friends -- here's our latest letter!
 

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When the Boughs Break

For my Canadian and American friends,

On our respective "Big Days"  (July 1 in Canada and July 4 in USA)of celebration of the freedoms and great things we have in our countries we need to realize that we are, and have been for a while, on the brink of disaster. May we turn from our wicked ways and may God heal our land.

When the Boughs Break July 4, 2011 "When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favor." (Isaiah 27:11) Like a mighty tree towering over the forest, God raises up a mighty nation from time to time, with a great leader, to accomplish some purpose in the divine plan. He "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" (Acts 17:26). But when that nation and its leaders become proud, and its people become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, it becomes like a tree whose branches wither and whose core becomes riddled with insect-caused decay. Finally, the boughs break, the kingdom will fall, and down will come that nation, its leaders and all! That happened even to God's chosen nation, Israel, though only for a time in her case, since God's promises cannot fail. One after another, the mighty nations that God used to chastise His wayward people--Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Rome, etc.--have in turn been judged for their own rebellion against the God who "made them" and "formed them." God has warned that "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psalm 9:17). Is that about to happen to our beloved USA as well? The signs of self-seeking power and pride among our leaders and moral decay and spiritual rebellion among our people are widespread and growing worse. Our prayer should be that of the ancient prophet. "O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, . . . in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2). "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" (Psalm 85:6). HMM Print this article | More Days of Praise articles Institute for Creation Research | 1806 Royal Lane | Dallas | TX | 75229 Powered by phplist. This email was sent to sperling_equip@yahoo.ca. To unsubscribe, change your email address, or update your subscription, please go to www.icr.org/change

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Our eyes are feasting!

Hello Friends and Family,

I recently had the pleasure of attending the graduation of the 6 studenst at the first Come, Let's Dance (CLD) Vocational Agricultural School Graduation. This was the first class to graduate after finishing their Farming God's Way Course. I have been the Instructor for these great men and have enjoyed my time seeing them grow in their knowledge of the kingdom of God and farming.The day was ideal except for the early morning downpour that mucked up the roads pretty good and put out the fire on the pig-roasting spit -- but hey, which farmer is 'gonna complain about rain, right? The day turned sunny quickly and the stage and tent were set up in the middle of the beautiful fields on the farm. Guests and students enjoyed a wonderful and meaningful ceremony with the beautiful and appropriate backdrop of the lush green crops.These young men are now equipped to bring lasting, meaningful and grass-roots change to Africa. They have been taught how to live out the Kingdom on their land!

I decided to take a few of my model farmers from my region along with me for the graduation ceremony. I knew they would find the farm inspiring and they would make more connections with more enthusiastic farmers. Shortly after arriving I told a couple of "my" farmers that I needed to be busy helping to set up and I wouldn't be able to give them a proper tour right away. One piped up right away " that's OK, our eyes are feasting!". They were so thrilled with their day and I believe it will encourage them in their farms and churches (many of my model farmers are also pastors).

Well, onto the next exciting FGW event! This week I will be helping to facilitate the National FGW workshop held in Kampala annually. We are looking forward to touching base with many excited friends of FGW and to making more connections and train more people in the transformational tool that FGW is.

The following week I will be setting off for South Africa to be a part of the African FGW Extension Discussion workshop in Port Elizabeth. This will be an exciting time to touch base with so many experienced trainers and farmers on the very important topic of Extension. "Extension" is the training and equipping of farmers in their actual use of FGW. It includes teaching these farmers in different contexts, visiting them for follow-up and blessing, encouraging and equipping them on their journey in application of FGW principles and techniques. The FGW team in Africa is such a great family of encouragers and exhorters. I know our time will be rich!

Of course the downside to all of this activity is that I will be away from my wonderful family.

Please keep us all in your prayers as the enemy often tried to bring sickness and difficulty during my absence. We would treasure your prayers during the next two weeks. We want to see our family healthy and blessed even during my absence. Please pray for us all to have good health and that Jane will have the wisdom and energy to lead the family in my absence.

Jane has been away for a number of days overseeing some renovations on a house on the family homestead. Construction here can be pretty slow and of poor quality unless the owner is around to check on the workers. So, I have been mom and dad here at home for a little while so it will be Jane's turn over the next few weeks as I am away.

Please keep is in your prayers as we minister to those around us - whether they be farmers or not! We continue to need wisdom and courage to preach the good news -- in season and out of season!

Thanks everyone for all your care and support which takes so many forms,

Chris for the whole gang!

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Happy Easter and a Trip to South Africa

Hello Friends

We trust you are going to enjoy your Easter weekend at church, at home, perhaps on vacation -- with friends and with family!

We, too, are in the midst of Easter Celebrations. One encouraging new item in the midst of our "Walk to Work" demonstrations against high fuel prices(read "riots") has been the recent decision by Uganda's largest daily newspaper to let Uganda clergy edit the Sunday Vision Newspaper this coming Easter weekend. You can read about that here: http://goo.gl/P32oD

We have a very large "Christian" population in Uganda but when you see the way people think and behave it is evident that first of all our Christianity runs very shallow and second of all it has not brought the transforming power that Jesus talked about in the parables of the salt and leaven. People were shocked in 2004 when Rwanda, what was thought to be a very Christian nation, was plunged into the genocide that we know all too well. Please pray for our nation Uganda and the the work we (and many others) are doing so that people will truly be transformed from the inside out so that Christianity will cause real, deep and lasting change to the glory of God. This process happens through discipleship which is a much slower but surer process of development and transformation.

We continue our work with Farming God's Way (FGW)which takes us into the homes and gardens of many people around Uganda. We try to use these chances to challenge those who know Christ to bring His government into all areas of their lives and for those who are not Christians it is a chance for them to hear the gospel in a way that they may have never heard before.

One of the tasks that I have is to loosely oversee the training that goes on here in Uganda. One way we assist those wanting to implement FGW is by holding monthly FGW forum meetings where people from many different churches and NGOs have a chance to ask about FGW and how to put it into practice. Members also get a chance to share their successes and struggles with using FGW. At one of our meetings a pastor from Northern Uganda who is planting churches in the rural areas told shared how he tells new members of the congregation that they must use FGW because he is not willing to come a pray against the "demons of poverty" when the real issue is a change in the way people live and farm!! Maybe a bit extreme, but when people don't want to change (and suffer for it) some extreme measures may be needed to "encourage" them!

As one of the leaders of the Steering Committee for the Uganda FGW forum and one of two Accredited Trainers in the country I have been invited to attend the FGW Extension Discussion meeting in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (June 16/17) where FGW trainers and implementers from all over Africa will be meeting together to discuss their extension strategies and plans as well as successes and challenges. This will be a tremendous time to learn and share with many skilled individuals including some key farmers (like Dixon, from Malawi) who will be contributing to the discussion! 

In order to go, obviously, I will need to fly down to South Africa. I am planning to be there a few days after the Workshop and have more time with Grant (the chief African trainer)and his family and continue building our relationship from the last time I had there when I was down in Lesotho and SA in September of last year.

Would you be willing to make a contribution to this trip to make it possible? It will cost about $1200. I already have a $200 donation from friends in SA. So I am remaining with $1000. You can donate to our Work Fund Account which is specifically for such expenses.

Follow the link right here to donate on line  in Canada (or here : to donate online in the US)or just go to our website links below at the bottom of this mail.

To donate by cheque through the mail you can send the cheque to the address below:

Equip Inc. PO Box 1126 Marion, NC 28752-1126 USA call Equip's USA Headquarters at 828-738-3891

Equip Canada PO Box 683 Duncan, BC  V9L 3Yl CANADA

Blessings to you all as you continue to be a part of the success of God's Kingdom in Africa.

Chris for the whole clan!

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

 

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April Newsletter

April 2011 Equiplet.pdf Download this file

Here is our latest news...

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Cookbook for Sale!

Friends, this is a wonderful cookbook put together by our friend Angelica Weiss. You can order one by sending her an e-mail. They are $10 each and the profits go towards our work here (about $5/book). Nicely laid out and over 400 "taste-tested" recipes from great people in Canada! The book has already raised a significant amount of money for us and no doubt has brought some great food to many a home!

In British Columbia

e-mail Angelica <angelikaweiss@shaw.ca>

Subject:Order Cookbook on behalf of Sperlings

In Saskatchewan

e-mail Ken and Dawn Sperling <ken.dawn@sasktel.net>;

Subject:Order Cookbook on behalf of Sperlings

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Off to Arua

 Soon I will be enjoying a low elevation flight from Entebbe up to the West Nile region of Uganda. The rolling hills and the papyrus swamps will pass alternately under the wings of the little Eagle Air plane as we head North-West, first over the Central Buganda region and then over the north end of Lake Albert where the White Nile flows into the northern tip of Lake Albert and then very quickly out and north towards Sudan and then we will finally  land at Arua Town where it is most likely to be very hot and dry. I have been invited by the Director of Here is Life, Isaac Anguyo to help them train their Agriculture teacher at their Technical School. We will also see if we can do some planning for the hundreds of acres of land they have. They want, like so many other ministries here to make their ministry self-sustaining through farming projects. 

It is exciting to have the chance to get Farming God's Way started in West Nile. The people of the West Nile region, the Lugbara, are known to be hard working people. The specific place is called Aringa which is actually a separate area with it's own dialect of the Lugbara language. Pray that God will work in and through me to encourage these people to let His Kingdom come in the area of agriculture -- so that his glory may be revealed in how they live and farm everyday. 

Pray for the agriculture teacher Godfrey whom I will be spending a lot of my week with; pray that he will catch the spirit of Farming God's Way -- having a heart for the poor and helping them in wisdom (Psalm 41:1)

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A time to teach

Well, there's a time for everything -- including a time to train and teach farmers. That time, for me, here in Uganda, is during our dry season. We are still in the first and longest of our two dry seasons here in Uganda and I have been able to successfully run workshops in all four of the Deliverance Churches where we are training local farmers. I was also able to add another training hub in a small village called Bubugo which is also in the same region but is a church that is under a training program run by my friend Nathan  Jore. I also ran a three day "Introduction to Farming God's Way" seminar for church and NGO leaders in the Jinja area. As well, I continued teaching and training at the Come Let's Dance  (CLD)Agricultural Vocational Institute. The CLD course wrapped up with the first group of students yesterday as they sat their final exams and attended the Farming God's Way forum monthly meeting.

It has been crazy, but in many ways it must be that way. I have determined to reach our farming communities in the dry season for the training workshops so that the farmers have time to think about, observe and plan for a Farming God's Way (FGW) garden on their farm. If we don't reach them in time they will have planted all of their crops and will thus not have any place on their farm to plant according to FGW methods. And having no place for a garden means they will not have tried to adapt theses revolutionary farming practices -- which means they will not have a chance to test and taste the fruit of doing things God's way. We measure our success by adaptation and the quality of that adaptation. 

Our dry seasons are usually from the end of December up until the end of February and then also during the months of July and August. During this times the farmers have more time to attend workshops and are not so tied to their gardens. In Farming God's Way timing is one of the major keys to success in farming; it is also a major key to the success of training. So I have had about one seminar per week in the last month and a half. The rains haven't yet come and I am breathing a sigh of relief as the training is done and I can now get ready to do farmer visitations; helping keen farmers to set up their fields and to encourage them on their new journey.

The attached photo is of the area in which we do our rural church ministry. North is to the right (West is towards the top). The roads are mostly poor so it takes about 30 minutes to the closest church and more than an hour to the further ones (Kamuli, Kisozi and Lwanyama). Jinja to Kamuli is less than 60km as the crow flies but takes about an hour with current road conditions.

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