Strange Twist

We sometimes refer to the phrase "wearing a different hat"; today we did that for our evening service at the Bible College Church (Bwiru Hill Christian Center). In fact, it is the first time we have done this since 1995.
For thirteen years we have been missionaries; we have traveled to churches both here in Tanzania and in the US. We have been announced as "the missionary" and dealt with all that goes along with that title; the good and the bad.
Today, however, as acting Senior Pastors of BHCC we were once again the Pastor presenting the missionary. We had the privilege of entertaining and presenting a visiting missionary to our congregation. Pastor Kennet is a missionary from Tanzania to the country of Burundi and is back in Tanzania doing his one year deputation/itineration. He is one among a handful of Tanzanians who have been sent out by the national TAG church to be missionaries in other countries/cultures. As a Tanzanian he has done the same things we have done by leaving his country, going to a land where things are foreign to him and his family, learning new customs, eating new foods and learning a new language. One thing he doesn't deal with is always standing out in a crowd as the "white person"; as a Tanzanian he blends in well with his African brothers and sisters in Burundi.
It was a joy to be with him and to spend time getting to know him after the service as we, the Senior Pastors, took the missionary out to a restaurant after the service. It was a nice change to wear the other hat for a brief time; however, we much prefer the missionary hat although these days we are missionaries, Senior Pastors, and Bible School Principals so we are wearing a variety of hats at the same time. It's all a part of that "flexible" thing we hear about all the time as missionaries; wearing whatever hat is necessary to the what needs to be done.
Be blessed