We asked some of our Zambia Impact Team to reflect upon highlights of the week of Impact Ndola. This contribution highlights the men’s conference, which was led by Pastor Duane Brooks from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston Texas. The particpants were current Theology students from Northrise University and local Ndola pastors.
By Charles Kachikoti
Twenty-three participants attended Day One of the Men’s Conference which Pastor Duane Brooks conducted at Caravelle House in Ndola on Tuesday July 14. The speaker challenged the participants, mainly current and former theology degree students, on the theme What It Means To Be A Leader. References were Psalm 78:70-72 which outlined the leadership qualities of King David of Israel, and I Samuel 16:1-5 which reported the anointing of the shepherd boy for kingship. 
Much discussion surrounded the theme which unfolded with the observation that David was as unlikely a leader as Deborah, Gideon and Samson had been, as captured in Judges 17:1 and 21:25. Jesse, David’s father, and Eliab, David’s oldest brother, thought little of the boy’s ability to become king. While that was the case, God had spotted qualities in David that the men around him had not. Psalm 78:70, Pastor Dwayne explained, showed how God took David from a sheep’s pen in conditions where even the shepherd boy saw himself only as a servant. David had a humble attitude, which was comparable to other leaders God had chosen who at first were reluctant customers. The passage showed that David, for all his moral failures and errors, had integrity of heart. He had the wholeness of life in the grace and goodness of God, able to repent and not repeat sin in his life. Notably, Pastor Duane told the participants that in the same way that King David had leaders of various categories and at different levels, they too should ensure that they empower and inspire their congregations to perform and fulfill their roles in keeping with their giftings.
Important questions were asked:
1. Is it wrong for one to feel that one has delivered a good sermon? Open discussion concluded that the motivation for that viewpoint would determine whether that attitude arose from pride or genuine humility. It was better to be grateful for the opportunity to do ministry.
2. What do you say about observations that the church is the only army in the world that finishes off its wounded soldiers during wartime, instead of carrying them away to safety? Open discussion concluded that pastors should teach their congregations to value the family spirit and treat one another like missionaries, not mercenaries.
3. What is the position of the church on the gay rights legalization in the US? Pastor Dwayne explained that the church is there to minister to all people with the love of Christ, gays included. The church is there to stand on what the Bible teaches, and while gays cannot be turned away from church, the church cannot marry men to men or women to women as that would contravene biblical teaching.