Three Dreams                                           

by  Evelyn Knapp                                                                                                                                                                   Vol. XIX, No. 8, October 2006

     Missionary Emeritus to Tanzania

Nineteen volunteers from Community Heights Baptist Church of Cedar Bluff, Virginia went to Kyela, Tanzania for two weeks in July. This project of the International Mission Board fulfilled three separate and distinct dreams.

Dream #1

Pastor Allen Jessee of Community Heights Baptist Church visited Tanzania in 1991 as a young pastor. God became very real to him while in Tanzania. Jessee had a life-changing experience there and knew God was with him and would guide his ministry. His church has grown in the 19 years since he had his encounter with God in the African bush. There are now 600 members and there are three services every Sunday morning. Jessee has always wanted to take a team from his own church to return to Kyela, but he was unsuccessful
in finding someone to help with this. There was no resident missionary in the area and he didn¹t know who could help him.

In January 2006 Dr. Edson Knapp and his wife Dr. Renda Knapp had accepted medical positions in the Cedar Bluff area and needed to find a home for their large family of six children. Realtor Vicky England of Richlands, Virginia offered to help them. Hearing that they were Baptists, England insisted on first introducing them to her pastor, Rev. Allen Jessee. During the introductions, Dr. Knapp mentioned that he was an MK (missionary kid)
from Tanzania in the Kyela area where his parents, Douglas and Evelyn Knapp had been Southern Baptist missionaries for 26 years. Jessee was astounded and knew God had sent the Knapp¹s to help him fulfill his dream of taking some of his church members with him back to Tanzania. After becoming members of CHBC, Dr. Knapp agreed to lead a team to go back to Kyela to visit in the churches and schools. Allen Jessee¹s dream came true when the team of 19 visited 65 schools and 130 churches which resulted in an astonishing 12,289 men, women and children who prayed to receive Christ in eight days of intensive evangelism ministry.

It was especially rewarding when two young people on the team came forward the first Sunday home dedicating their lives to full-time Christian work and to missions.

Dream #2

Dr. Knapp¹s older sister and brother-in-law are SBC missionaries in Ethiopia. They had written to him about the successful use of Artemisia plants in curing malaria. Knapp remembered his frightening encounter with malaria as a teenager in Tanzania many years ago. He dreamed of introducing the plant in the Kyela valley to the 250,000 Nyakyusa people who suffer from malaria on a regular basis and many who even die from the disease.

On Friday July 21, the team planted 2,000 Artemisia cuttings at the Uhai (Life) Medical Clinic and Demonstration Farm as another dream was fulfilled.

Dream #3

A dream come true for Edson and

 Renda Knapp was to attend the dedication

of the 80-bed orphanage built by the

Makwale Baptist Church.

Two years ago on a volunteer

mission trip to Kyela, the pastor of the

church, Oscar Mwakipesile, told the

Knapp¹s of a problem the church was having.

Parents in the area were dying of AIDS and their children were not being cared for by the community. In the past the few orphans in an area were gladly taken in by the extended family, but the vastly increased numbers had overwhelmed them. The church had offered its building for the children to sleep on the floor, but it was becoming increasingly difficult for the nearby church families to feed the children as the numbers rose

 to 30 and then 40 with no end in sight.

Renda had a dream one night after her return

from Africa, and she saw herself taking care of

many children in an orphanage. Upon waking,

she immediately knew what they must do. Another

Kyela supporter, Bob Caudill, a member of First

Baptist Church of Naples, Florida, confirmed

the Knapp¹s in their desire to care for the

children. He too, had seen the need and felt

God¹s leadership in this direction.

Other churches helped also and $126,000

 was raised. In October 2004 the first funds were on their way and plans and blueprints drawn up. Construction began in January 2005 and the building was finished in June 2006. Each member of the Makwale Baptist Church made at least 300 bricks; the Uhai Medical Clinic next door donated the land for the orphanage and a dorm parent home. They promised free medical care for all the orphans.

Today, the dream of the Knapp¹s, Caudill¹s and others have been finalized as the dorm parents are in place and 80 orphans are housed and fed in the modern, attractive facility.

What dreams do you and your church have for missions? How can you demonstrate God’s love to those who need Him so much? Seek His will and dream big.