At the beginning of our trip, I read a tweet from Craig Groeschel which said, “You can have faith, or you can have control, but you can’t have both.” I knew this was a word for me. Usually every event is scheduled and budgeted before I leave the country, but it was not to be so on this trip.

The Lord dropped it into my heart in the Spring of 2017 to have a WACA Team Meeting for our West African leadership in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in 2018. But planning such an event from the U.S.A. while still recovering from the midbrain hemorrhage was not an easy task. The poor communication with our team in Côte d’Ivoire due to language and cultural barriers only added to the difficulty.

We were having the mother of all meetings with some keynote guests from South Africa and the U.S.A. I was trying to have our team of volunteers that we have the least experience with plan the logistics and provide a budget for two weeks with five different venues in different geographic locations across Côte d’Ivoire the second week. It was either going to be an utter catastrophe or a real work of faith! I was still recovering and could not “take control of the situation” even if I wanted to do so.

We ended up with about 50 in attendance compared to the 9 we had when we did this back in the fall of 2015. Wow! God has caused great growth in the WACA Project! Back then we were in 11 of 24 countries. Now we are working in 21 of 24 and plan to begin work in the final 3 countries by the end of this year, which obviously is a huge milestone for us. It was a real walk of faith, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. To see God move miraculously in situations and circumstances time and time again has only made me stand in awe of His goodness, His holiness and His unrelenting love to reach those who have never heard. To Him alone be the glory.

Once we arrived in Côte d’Ivoire, it was evident that God had it all under His control. Through the hard work of our Côte d’Ivoire Coordinator Wodji Barthelemy, his wife Hermence, his assistant and wife, Aser and Veronica Legre, and all the Cote d’Ivoire team (Rom 10:11).

“You can have faith, or you can have control, but you can’t have both.” Yes, Craig Groeschel had the word of the Lord for me!