A Partner Testimony from Long Hollow Church
Ashley & Mama Black
I met the Murdocks almost a decade ago. I watched as they walked in obedience and created an incredible ministry here in Middle TN. If you have served there, you understand their excellence in ministry.
Alan and Michelle reached out and shared their vision for South Africa and in a few short months they were off and planted. We quickly settled on some dates and put together a vision trip from Long Hollow Church. Our team has just returned, and we are blown away by the relationships formed in 12 weeks.
I don’t know exactly what I had in mind, our personal life has been crazy the past few weeks (months let’s be honest) and I knew it was similar to the model that Alan and Michelle had set up here in Nashville. But friends, the mission model is again excellence.
When you look at pictures you will quickly think "vacation". God's creation there is undeniably beautiful. But what is even more beautiful is the people. Unfortunately, racism is extreme there- and is not changing quickly enough. This is a much longer conversation.
Here in the states hope is often underlined with opportunity. However, in SA you truly only have hope. They call it a funnel: migrants from China, North Africa, all the way down to South Africa those looking for any opportunity to survive. Most have fled and taken many risks to provide for their families. If you are “colored” (this is SA terminology, it’s their culture and they love it-please don’t take offense to the word) you may make $1.90 a day. You may be an engineer, doctor, attorney, accountant - but because of the color of your skin, you often make very little. Enter Masiphumelele, a community of those who are highly intelligent, educated, brilliant dreamers but forced to live in extreme poverty. They work so hard but because of the broken system, it's hard to create a better life because the decks remain stacked against them.
The Oikos team is befriending, listening, and coming alongside the people of Masiphumelele and creating entrepreneurial opportunities! It's not enough to teach them work skills, job creation has to be part of the solution.
Final thought~ HIKING. Many people living in “Masi” have never seen the beauty of their own country so we hiked, taking in "firsts" together. Clinton led us on a walk up into the beautiful peaks overlooking the amazing landscape. For hours we were able to talk about broken systems and a broken world. For hours we talked about biblical marriage and biblical parenting. For hours we talked about the Word of God and how it transforms us. Hiking was by far a high point for me — listening and learning, but also growing in Christ together. It was definitely physical, spiritual, and even emotional but most of all transformative. I did not come back the same person and I’m thankful for that.