Continuing the Feeding Program Amidst COVID-19
/0 Comments/in News /by Emily PadillaEach week we are still working with feeding malnourished, under 5 year old children in Zambia Compound 3 times per week. The program has changed a bit due to COVID-19. We no longer meet once a week with the children to serve them hot porridge. Now we are only able to provide them with a dry High Energy Protein Supplement (HEPS) 3 times a week. We make it here at NLC each week and deliver it to one of our Community Health Educators (CHEs) who live in Zambia Compound. The family of the children in the program then come and collect it from the CHEs. It is still helping children stay nourished and healthy. Thank you to all who make this feeding program a success!
Abram Gets a PET!
/0 Comments/in News /by Emily Padilla
This is Abram. He is 5 years old and lives in Solwezi. Earlier this year he became very ill with malaria and stayed in the hospital for about 2 months. There were complications that led to his feet and his hands being permanently damaged. He has lost all his toes and many of his fingers. His hands have already healed but his feet remain in bandages. His wish was to have a bicycle, so for his 5th birthday he was given a small bike but because his feet are in bandages and still very painful he is unable to ride the bike. He sits each day on a mattress outside his house while his siblings and friends play on the street and learn to ride bikes. Receiving this new PET has given him a new life, one where he can be mobile again and play outside with his brothers and friends. It has given his mother and father hope for his future and much reason for his family and friends to celebrate! Thank you so much for enabling Abram to have one of these PET bicycles.
The Growing Church in Zambia!
/0 Comments/in News /by adminHere we are in May already…WOW! We hope your year has been filled with lots of great memories and health!
We have been very busy holding conferences, building sister churches and church benches, building and distributing PET handicap tricycles, working on our plans for the new Livingstone center, and we have much more planned for the year.
We want to bring some of the highlights to your attention. Let me remind you, as well, that you can follow these events as they happen on FaceBook. We really encourage you to join. These posts are loaded with pictures and videos!! We have two main pages…
- New Life Center Zambia
- PET Zambia.
First… we just held the 2019 Holy Spirit Encounter here at NLC. This was, once again, a very special time for our pastors and leaders of the Zambia UMC Conference. We had a number of speakers from Zambia; Rev. Kenneth Kalichi, Rev. Robert Kilembo, Chaplain Beatrice Soko, Rev. Delbert Groves as well as Rev. Scott George, along with his wife Tammi and daughter Alison, from PineCastle UMC, Orlando, Florida. This was the 5th time for Pastor Scott to join us. Our time together was simply outstanding! The words of faith and encouragement to the leadership of our growing Zambia United Methodist Church is always so very important for those that are pioneering the way! It refreshes all of us to keep going in our work for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Spirit Encounter – April 19th to 23rd, 2017
/0 Comments/in News /by adminDear Partners,
For the last fifteen years we have hosted the Holy Spirit Encounter gathering here at the New Life Center in Kitwe. This has become one of the key events for pastors and church leaders in the Kitwe area and actually all of the Zambia Conference. Our UMC pastors and their families are true pioneers when it comes to building the church in Zambia. Their living conditions are difficult. There are difficulties getting enough money for food and for their children’s education. Many of them do not have their own church building to worship in so they must find money to rent a room for Sunday only. Bibles and study material to help them grow in their personal faith are not always available. The purpose of the HSE is to encourage and bring fresh insight and vision to those that work so very hard, in these difficult situation, for the Kingdom of God.
This year we once again have three wonderful speakers coming to share and encourage those that are able to come. Evangelist Blake Lorenz from Orlando, Fl., who has been coming each year from the start. Then Rev. Scott George out of our home church, Pine Castle UMC in Orlando, Fl. And then Evangelist Ken Suckling, a missionary’s son who grew up in Zambia, coming from Bristol, England. This is the third year these three have teamed up and it has been a great encouragement for all of us. It’s such a blessing to have them!
Each year everyone that comes leaves recommitted to their faith and call in ministry. So often there are times at the alter for specific commitments of their lives and some of our visitors even give their lives to Christ for the first time. However, before this gathering takes place it’s always best if we ask God to lead and bring favor on this special time. That’s why I’m sending this quick update out. We want to ask YOU to take time between now and April 19-23 to pray for The Holy Spirit Encounter and our Zambia leadership as they come and learn. Ask God to help our speakers, to give them clarity and annointing as they speak. This is your time to be in ministry for the church of faith in Zambia through your prayers. These are your brothers and sisters in Christ giving themselves to a great and wonderful calling…. To make disciples of all nations.
We’ll be sending more after the Holy Spirit Encounter…
Faithfully, Delbert & Sandy
Holy Spirit Encounter 2017
/0 Comments/in News /by adminOver the last few weeks it’s been a whirlwind of ministry time filled with every kind of emotion from the happiest to the saddest as well as much wonderful spiritual growth. I trust that many of you have been following some of this on the “New Life Center Zambia” Facebook post. If you have not joined, I would once again recommend that you do. It’s the easiest way to quickly keep an eye on what God is doing here in Zambia through the New Life Center ministries. And, it’s a lot easier for us to post things, as they happen, with our smartphones!
The Holy Spirit Encounter, once again, has been the highlight of the year for many of our Zambia pastors and church leaders, as well as for us. It is truly a time of spiritual refreshment and learning for all who attend. Each year there is always one or two things that stick out and will linger in our minds until next year or sometimes even for our entire life. Our three evangelists; Blake Lorenz, Ken Suckling, and Scott George, poured their hearts into each session. I, Delbert, even had a chance to share in one of the sessions.
If you think YOUR local pastor at your church doesn’t need time to renew the spiritual fire in his or her heart so they can best serve your church family you need to think again. For pastors in Africa that are on the cutting edge pioneering the way, this need for spiritual renewal is even greater. Life in some of the poorest conditions the mind can imagine causes many difficulties. Most of our pastors are living by faith day to day. However, God is so good and somehow keeps the needs of everyone met in a supernatural way as His word is shared throughout the land. We, you and I, need to keep supporting ALL of our African pastors throughout Africa. That’s what missions is all about.
Sandy and I and the NLC staff are blessed to have our hands play a small roll in the Zambian lives God has given us to minister with. Please keep your prayer and support coming. It is making a difference. It’s going to be wonderful to see, one day in heaven, how the time and investment all of us have put into the life of ministry, both in our local church and here in Zambia, has made a difference in the lives of those suffering around us. Remember, it doesn’t end when you stop breathing air, there is so much more!
I’m adding a bunch of pictures from the HSE at the end of this email.
They tell the story so much better…
Emily Padilla and Cathy Hatcher did a wonderful job of taking pictures… THANK YOU!
One of the saddest, yet happiest, moments this last week was when one of our dearest and closest friends stepped into Heaven with our Lord. Dr. Chola Mutale has been fighting cancer for the last few months. He left behind his dear wife of 47 years, Evelin Mutale, who he met in Germany while attending Medical University. He was an orthopedic surgeon. He was also one of the smartest, sharpest, well-read, and spirit-filled men I have ever known. He was a constant, living testimony for Jesus Christ (Evelin is too) to all he met. They have two grown children, Bianca and Stanley, with families. Sandy and I met the Mutales in 2000 and have been close friends ever since. Chola asked me before his passing to bring the message at his burial. I was deeply honored. They took his body to the small, family village outside of Ndola, where his mother was born. I’m telling you about this because I had something happen to me the morning of the burial that has happened one other time in my life when my father passed away. I’m trusting the rest of this will be a testimony of God’s power and love for us.
About one o’clock in the morning, while I was sleeping in the Mutale’s house, I heard someone calling my name, “Delbert – Delbert”. I woke up and looked around. It sounded just like Chola’s voice, but no one was there. Of course I couldn’t go back to sleep and I started thinking about Chola and why, out of all the great people and pastors he personally knew, he would ask me to bring the message at his burial. Then I heard this voice again. It sounded just like Chola saying, “I’m alright”, then as if this voice was reading my mind it said, “Tell my village family to get ready”.
Now, I have never preached at a burial service before so evangelist Scott George shared with me an outline he has used over the years. “The three things Death cannot steal from us; Our LOVE, our MEMORIES and our VICTORY. So about 5:00am, Emily Padilla, a missionary who is part of the NLC staff, and I drove to the village. Sandy stayed in Lusaka at the Mutale’s house. Evelin had already left the day before to accompany the body to the burial site. The service started at 10:30am and ended at 3:00pm. It was really a wonderful tribute to Chola filled with personal testimonies from family and friends. Africans know how to do it right! Then it came time for the message. I used the outline that Scott had given me.
As I began speaking, I felt the anointing of God all over me. What a peace! I shared how death cannot take our Love for one another away. How Chola’s life poured love out to everyone he met and especially to his patients. Many were there and gave their testimony. Then I shared about the Memories we’ll have forever, especially Evelin after 47 years of being his help mate and closest friend. Then I went on to Victory. 1-Cor 15:55…. “O Death where is your victory. O death where is your sting”. John 14… “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” As it came to the end of the message I found myself saying, “If you, and not Chola, was the one in this box do you know for sure, 100%, that you will be in heaven? ARE YOU READY?” I said many other things, but I asked them, “If you have any doubt about where you stand with God and eternity let this be your day to fix that. Stand up right where you are and I’ll lead us in a prayer called a salvation prayer”. There were over two hundred people there. More than half of them stood up and prayed a prayer asking God to forgive their sin and inviting Jesus in to take leadership of their lives. It was a wonderful moment for all that prayed. It was a wonderful moment for me and Evelin and all of us there that knew Jesus as Lord and Savior. One of the village headsman came to me afterward, with tears in his eyes and said, “Because of Chola and your message today thousands will be found in heaven one day.” Oh how I pray that will be true!
Faithfully Serving,
Delbert & Sandy Groves
About New Life Center
New Life Center Zambia is a Christian ministry located in Zambia, Central Africa, just south of the equator. The New Life Center helps facilitate a development ministry to equip believers to respond to the Great Commission. This is done by training people to be leaders in their community in areas of spiritual education and community health development. Areas of focus are training in evangelism, discipleship, Bible study, and teaching skills, as well as nutrition, maternal and child care, home care, and prevention of basic diseases. We also provide mobility to the disabled. To learn more check out the other areas of our website.