Pastor Phil and Bethany Lawton of SDB Chicago hosted the Visiting Instructors for a full day in Chicago, IL. Pastor Kingsley Gauti, National Youth Director of the Malawi SDB Conference, Pastor Quistin Chalwe, General Secretary of the Zambia SDB Conference, and Carl Greene, Executive Director of the SDB General Conference of USA and Canada were in Chicago with the Lawtons on October 24th.
We walked with Pastor Phil in his ministry context, discussed the church planting efforts underway, and sought out opportunities to join God in His gospel work while we were there. Pastor Kingsely has been instrumental in church planting in Malawi, the largest SDB Conference in the world. Pastor Quistin has been involved in the rapid expansion of churches taking place in Zambia. Their interaction with Pastor Phil and Bethany offered encouragement and also some great dialog about evangelism and church planting efforts.
Pastor Phil and Bethany are undertaking a significant work in Chicago. As Pastor Phil describes it, “God has chosen to plant us here in Rogers Park. He has a work He wants to do through us. We are in a community of people who do what is right in their own eyes. Yet we are not alone. God is building His church through others faithful to the Kingdom of Jesus.” Let’s keep praying alongside the Lawtons as they continue in the planting work on the northside of Chicago. For more about their recent work, please check out this post.
Finally, the Pastor Phil and Bethany are delightful hosts. From taking the Visiting Instructors to downtown Chicago to hosting us in their home, we experienced a tasted of the hospitality that the Lawtons extend to their surrounding community.
