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Author: Moses M. Phiri

  • Twenty-Six Palaces in Twenty-One Days

    Twenty-Six Palaces in Twenty-One Days

    Northern and Luapula Provinces, Zambia · January 2026

    Moses M. Phiri standing beside a mud-covered vehicle on a rural road
    On the road between palaces in the rainy season.

    In January our team drove more than 5,700 kilometres through Northern and Luapula provinces and sat in twenty-six palaces.

    Over 21 days we visited twelve districts. We came to sit with chiefs and their chaplains: to listen, encourage, and share the gospel. Along the way, we witnessed moments that none of us had expected.

    Chiefs turning to Christ

    Five chiefs gave their lives to Christ during these visits.

    One chieftainess prayed to receive Jesus and afterwards described a deep change: her body and her heart felt lighter. Two of her nieces, who were there with her, also chose to follow Christ that day.

    In another chiefdom, the team prayed with an 84-year-old woman who had used insunko, a traditional tobacco snuff, for most of her life. Afterwards she testified that she had been freed from her addiction, and she handed over her insunko to be destroyed. Moved by her testimony, her chief gave his own life to Christ and renounced beer drinking.

    A hand holding three small containers of insunko, a traditional tobacco snuff
    The insunko she handed over.

    A palace visit turned into a revival meeting

    One chief asked our team to walk around the palace grounds and dedicate both the palace and the chiefdom to Christ. As we prayed, headmen who had been waiting to see the chief began approaching us to ask for prayer. Before long, hands were being laid on them, and the wait for the chief had become a revival prayer meeting.

    A family kneeling in prayer outside their home with two ministers
    A household prays to receive Christ.

    Pastors seeing chiefs differently

    We also spoke with around fifty pastors during the journey. Many had kept their distance from traditional leaders and felt unsure about how to minister to them. As we talked, those doubts began to give way. Conversations that began with “I can’t minister to the chief” ended with a different resolve: “I can.”

    By the end of the journey, thirty-four people had come to Christ, and around ten chiefs had asked for open-air gospel crusades in their chiefdoms.

    The team vehicle stopped on a muddy rural road with its bonnet raised
    A breakdown on the road.

    These testimonies are why we keep going, travelling long distances and driving on bumpy, sometimes dangerous roads that put us and the cars we use at risk. Yet the joy of seeing people move from darkness into God’s kingdom of light makes every kilometre, no matter how difficult or exhausting, worthwhile.

    Support my mission work with Overland Missions

    Would you like to partner with us in another way? Get in touch. We would be glad to hear from you.

  • Why Pastors Shouldn’t Work More than 40 Hours a Week – And Why Most Do

    Why Pastors Shouldn’t Work More than 40 Hours a Week – And Why Most Do

    A MUST READ FOR ALL PASTORS!

    The Rev. Erik Parker's avatarThe Millennial Pastor

    “If you want to see me on my day off, you will have to die.”

    A veteran pastor shared this line with me that he uses to protect his day off. He sets the boundary that the only work he is willing to make exceptions for, on his day off, is imminent death or funerals.

    Managing work time and hours as a professional in ministry is a constant struggle. I don’t know many pastors who work less than a 45 hour a week, with many working 50 or 60 hours. Being “busy” and over-worked is the norm for most in ministry (as it is for many in our busy-ness focused society).

    After 7 years of being in ordained ministry, I still have difficulty understanding just why so many pastors feel the need to work more than full time. While I have never heard anyone articulate it this way, I suspect…

    View original post 1,602 more words

  • Basics of Church Government

    Basics of Church Government

    The administration, management, rule, direction, control, command and supervision of any organization depend entirely on its system of government. The church is no exemption in this matter. church-sacred-place-also-symbol-catholic-53215232 There is need for a good and correct kind of government if the church is to thrive as an institution of noble cause in these last days. Some churches have turned into a political arena, (more…)

  • What Do You Know About The Deaconate?

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    What Do You Know About The Deaconate?

    Introduction
    Too often, many pastors and church leaders put men into the office of deacon who have no idea what that necessarily means. This usually is the case when the appointing authority lacks a deeper understanding of what a deacon is? It is therefore important for pastors and church leaders to equip themselves with adequate knowledge regarding this subject as it is there responsibility to teach qualified men what deacons are and what deacons do. You can never understand fully what God expects of a deacon without turning to his Word and find out how the biblical word is used. No one should assume that he knows what a deacon is or does until (more…)

  • Why you need to pray for your Leader

    “If God had a prison cell for erring ministers of the gospel, their congregations and followers would have an adjacent cell as an accomplice”. The church can never be radiant if its leaders are not adequately covered in prayers…! You must therefore consider praying for your leader right now.
    Watch this space for more radiant church insights.