Up We Go!

We are excited to announce we are ready to move ahead with construction of the beginning phase of Kingdom View Fellowship Center and Guest House across from Uganda Christian University!

For years we have been teaching the necessity of laying our foundation on the Rock of Jesus (Matthew 7:24-27). What a blessing it is now to witness building on that foundation both literally and figuratively.

New life; new friends and shoes After teaching about being a believer the lady asked Margaret if she would pray with her to receive Jesus. Margaret noticed she was barefoot so she left her flipflops with her.

After two years of planning, we expect to break ground by late September and have the foundation completed
this year for the Priscilla and Aquila Ministry and Missionary House. We believe we will be able to move in by next summer. Thanks to all of you whom the Lord used to help get Kingdom View off the ground. This is the first phase of a long range plan including meeting and media space, outdoor pavilion, guest house and retail training center.

We also are delighted to see those mentored in the ministry building on their foundation of Jesus by sharing and telling of His love through selfless ministry. We spent July 4 deep inside a sugar cane plantation preaching and teaching with John Mugowa, a Rock graduate who was ministering at his childhood home.  John, who now has his own IT business, has started Develop a Child Africa Ministries.

He focuses not only on sharing the Gospel with children, but also meeting their needs holistically through ministering to their parents. One program provides goats and pigs to the parents. As the animals reproduce, they give back one of the offspring to the ministry so another family can benefit.

Laying foundations on campus continues to be a focus with our ongoing series of practical discipleship seminars. It is encouraging to see these seminars spawning lasting fellowship groups of students who take the initiative to form their own Bible study groups after they complete their study with The Rock.

John presents Bibles at his boyhood village

As we teach each student, we ask them to share what they are learning with two other students; whether it be through the seminars; identification of God-given skills as Margaret helps them develop their resumes;  or insights they gain from discussions on "Movie Night" every Saturday.

Our current seminar is for 20 Honors College students with the topic "God's Plan for Money." Students voluntarily meet for three two-hour sessions. They also are divided into teams and meet between sessions for Bible study and to answer questions. The recent assignment was on King Solomon and the Book of Ecclesiastes. The students were fascinated with the practical presentation of one of our Uganda board members, John Ggayi Bugembe. Hearing from a strong Christian, successful businessman with a great marriage and family provided them with a much-needed role model.

Blessings and prayers,

Mark and Margaret Noblin

Followship

“The best leader is a great follower of Jesus” is the first tenet of our Rock Leadership Creed and the basis for upcoming leadership training we have been invited to provide to Honors College students at Uganda Christian University.

Team from previous Rock seminar for Honors College students

The concept of “followship” is not as familiar as the many teachings on leadership. It is similar to the “servant leadership” model but with perhaps more emphasis on following along with serving.

Followship is not leading from behind, but rather seeking God’s leading and following hard after Jesus. As we do, others follow us. The Bible tells us Saul failed as the first king of Israel because he impatiently acted on his own rather than following God’s directions. “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord's command." (1 Sam 13:14)

Joseph, son of Jacob, is a great example of one who followed God at every step. As a result, he overcame being thrown in a well by his brothers and imprisoned due to false accusations to save his people and be second in power only to Pharaoh in Egypt.

Jesus also reminds us that without Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Other key followship and leadership aspects which we will share with the Honors College students in three two-hour sessions on consecutive Sunday afternoons beginning May 24 are:

*  A leader leads by example. (1 Cor 4:16)
*  A leader does everything as if unto the Lord, not men. (Eph 6:7)
*  A leader serves rather than being served. (Matt 20:28)
*  A leader considers others more important than self. (Phil 2:3-4)
*  A leader prays without ceasing, giving thanks and inquiring upon the Lord.
  (1 Thess 5:17)
*  Without Jesus, we can do nothing; with Jesus we are more than conquerors.
  (John 15:5; Rom 8:37)

As always, we will make the training fun by dividing into teams with friendly competition for points based on attendance, timeliness, riddles, problem-solving exercises and team-building activities. All who faithfully attend will receive certificates and the team which collects the most points during the training will receive a special treat at the end.

Please pray God will make an eternal difference in the lives of the Honors College students to lead others by following hard after Him.

Blessings and prayers,

-- Mark and Margaret Noblin

Ripe for the Harvest

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
John 4:35

Little did we know when we began to purchase land for Kingdom View that God was putting us in the middle of an upcoming boom in construction of student housing (hostels) for some of the 8,000 students at Uganda Christian University.

We are purchasing the land from the estate of a former bishop who had a small hostel down the hill from us. Now we have new buildings on the north and east sides of our property that can house nearly 1,000 students. And two more hostels being built are within a three-minute walk from Kingdom View property. How exciting it is to be located where we can do life with this many students, right next door.  As we develop more relationships with the students and others – we believe it is God’s affirmation of His leading to us to disciple those He puts in our path.

To date, we have purchased three of six plots to complete the 1.25 acre acquisition. A final payment for a fourth plot (about $9,000) is due by June 15. We are praying for favorable consideration of a proposal to provide an additional $53,000 to complete purchase of all the plots, plus more funds to get us started on Phase One of our construction plan. Please pray as a decision we are told will be made by May 30.

With the Noblins’ move to Uganda last month, the need for Kingdom View as a place for discipling, teaching and mentoring students and others wanting to grow in their walk with the Lord continues to be highlighted. They have been busy as guest instructors in the UCU Christian counseling department helping students incorporate their identity in Christ into career planning.  Also, the Noblins have the joy of assisting young couples in pre-marriage counseling.

Hope ministers to children while taking her bar course in Uganda.

Margaret is busy providing assistance to students and graduates trying to sort out their skills and life plans.  She incorporates an evaluation from the book What Color Is Your Parachute? along with a discussion of how God has designed each of us for a significant purpose.   She helps them create one page resumes which paint a thorough picture of their skills, education and outside interests in a quantitative way.  Providing mock interviews and practice aptitude tests helps them gain confidence before appearing for their job interviews.  It also helps them discern what jobs are best suited in the context of  their life plans.

In April, Northwest Bible Church in Dallas included the Noblins among its list of missionaries receiving financial and prayerful support from the church body. We are excited to begin planning a short term mission trip for people to come and participate next year in what God is doing through the ministry.

We Dig; God Fills

The story of God miraculously providing three kings water without rain but not before instructing them to dig ditches to receive it is an encouragement to us in pursuing Kingdom View.

The scripture from 2 Kings 3:16-18 shows our dependence on God, our duty to respond to Him by faith rather than sight and His unique provision.

The kings, all with powerful armies, were brought to their knees against the Moabites by a simple lack of water.
 
When they turned to the Prophet Elisha, he inquired of the Lord who instructed, “Make this valley full of ditches … You shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water, that you may drink …"
 
At The Rock, we continue to dig more ditches. Praise God He has provided funds for three plots and a down payment on another toward acquiring six plots totaling 1.25 acres we believe He has set aside for Kingdom View. We need another $78,500 to complete purchase of the land.
 
Meanwhile, about $7,500 has been donated for construction of Phase 1 on land we already own for the Priscilla and Aquila Home. About $67,500 is still needed to complete the ministry home where Margaret and I plan to live sometime after moving to Africa next Spring.

Margaret and I are digging ditches for what we believe is God’s leading for us to move back to Africa. This includes unglamorous tasks like making repairs and improvements to our home in the U.S. so we can rent it when we leave for Africa. It also includes reaching out to more people and raising additional support for our mission. Our passion is to disciple Africans to embrace their freedom and identity in Jesus, break economic dependency and lead fulfilling spiritual lives as disciples themselves.
 
We’ll keep digging those ditches. Would you pray if God would have you be a part of filling them up?
 
As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon concluded his sermon Make This Valley Full of Ditches:

"Come to Him, trust in Him, make your heart this morning full of trenches, full of great desires, longings and prayers! If so, God will fill your soul, for He hears the humble, and despises not their tears.”

Mark and Margaret Back to Live in Africa

Our calling to move back to Africa is in line with God's character of revealing His itinerary for us one step at a time.

God told Abraham to "go to the land I will show you."(Gen. 12:1)  After his blinding encounter with Jesus, Paul was told to "get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."  (Acts 9:6)

Now we believe He has called us to the next big next step -- moving back to Africa to establish Kingdom View.  Twelve years of ministry have given us a clear focus to help Africans understand their freedom and identity in Jesus.  This is the only way they can overcome economic dependency on the west, endemic corruption and a continuing influence of witchcraft. 

As usual, the implementation is totally beyond our means.  That gives confidence God is in it as we know He wants the glory.  We believe where God provides the vision, He provides the provision.  In faith, we are planning on returning to Uganda for a month on Sept. 7 to continue our discipling in person and to lay the groundwork for a move there by April 2015.

In the meantime, we are preparing our Dallas home for rental and seeing who God will provide to stand with us.  We trust God to assemble teams of prayer warriors, ministry boosters and financial partners (see chart below for specifics) to help the vision of Kingdom View become a reality.

We have land to build an "Aquila and Priscilla Missionary Home" (the circular banda #1 on the site plan) which would serve as our residence in Phase 1.  Our land also is sufficient for three guest bandas with two self-sustainable units each and a pavilion with kitchen for 150 people serving campus fellowships in Phase 2.  A fellowship center and guest house is Phase 3.  An adjoining two-thirds of an acre is needed for retreats and future expansion (funds needed now as land could be offered to other buyers).

 

Prayer Warriors	Ministry Boosters	Financial Partners
Email lists	Home Dessert Gatherings (Oct.)	$75,000 Priscilla & Aquilla Home
Monthly home prayer meetings	Freedom Family Picnic (July)	$82,000 additional land
Daily personal prayers	Pancake Breakfast (Dec.)	$125,000 pavilion and bandas
Weekly prayer conference call	Informal Restaurant Fundraisers (Monthly)	$600,000 fellowship/guesthouse

If you think God may be prompting you to use your spiritual gifts to be a part of this vision, please contact marknoblin@rockoutreach.org or call him at 214.912.2198.

Mark and Margaret Noblin

God the Great Multiprocessor

It's an awesome thing to see the Hand of God clearly at work and multiprocessing in ministry. What a great blessing for us to see Joseph grow from a difficult beginning as a boy in western Uganda.

Joseph with baby, teen mom and Constance

We saw him blossom as he assumed leadership in a mercy home the Lord allowed us to launch. He then entered our university scholarship program and beat the odds in Uganda by getting a job when he graduated last year (only about 35 percent do).

Now he is listening to Jesus to use his limited spare time to minister to teenage girls in crisis.

Joseph said his heart was touched when pregnant girls and new teenage moms would knock on the door of his apartment while in university. Many asked if they could wash his clothes to earn money to feed their babies. Joseph says Jesus spoke to him and told him to minister to them.Joseph shared his passion with friends and some joined in. He met Constance, who now has received her university degree in social work, while doing a university internship. She has come alongside him to minister to these girls. Many of the girls face being outcast from their families because they no longer can command a bride price. In the Ugandan culture, they may also be seen as bringing shame on their households.Joseph formed a Community Based Organization, Teenage Mother's Outreach (TEMO). Its vision is "A youthful generation that is morally, socially and spiritually pleasing to the Lord."

He also reached out to Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital, which agreed to refer girls in crisis to the budding ministry. Many of the girls contemplate abortion, which is illegal but frequent in Uganda. Others who have their babies would have no idea of how to care or provide for their babies without guidance from TEMO.Joseph has sacrificially given from his modest earnings to support the ministry and has not asked for nor received financial support from the West. We are thrilled to be able to come alongside Joseph by not only mentoring and giving spiritual guidance, but also by allowing him to plant crops on a portion of the land The Rock has purchased for Kingdom View. Joseph always has had a "green thumb" and is excited to grow crops on .25 acre to produce income and provide food for the benefit of the girls.

It is wonderful to see God putting the land to work for His purposes already as we continue to acquire more land and raise funds for the Kingdom View Fellowship and Guest House.

Mark, Margaret and Dan

This Makes It All Worthwhile

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." (3 John 4) We experienced this joy in a recent follow up visit to the Village of Hope in Northern Uganda.

In April, we taught freedom and identity in Jesus to leadership of Village of Hope, an organization that has taken 250 children out of internal displacement camps (IDPs). These camps were the result of the mayhem of rebel Joseph Kony, who turned children into soldiers and forced many to kill their own parents.

Most of the abducted kids have grown and moved on but their siblings remain and suffer scars by the past. A few of the former child soldiers still live in the camp with unspeakable memories.

The leadership at the Village of Hope fully embraces the message that we are who the Bible says we are as believers in Jesus - accepted, secure and significant in God's eyes. Several leaders said it was life changing and they are eager to teach and model this to the kids. Mark preached to the kids and they got it!

This was confirmed in our recent follow up trip. Many of the kids are no longer victims of the past. They now know their heavenly Father who loves them as believers in Jesus. They see themselves as the beloved they really are. Bad behaviors and destructive habits have changed. Several leaders also confessed their own lives changed.  They have been relieved of the burden of not forgiving others which had held them back.

A great testimony of how the teaching is ingrained in the kids' DNA is the song "Who Are You?" that they composed and offer unto the Lord. Click on the picture and enjoy the 4 minute 30 second music video!

Dan, Mark and Margaret