Shraders in Zambia - Welcome to Poisonwood, Stephen- Part 3

[It'sFunToRun]

Sometimes I wish I had hair that texture because of the awesome things you can do with it. And because that this of hair stays where you out it, unlike mine.

Honestly, there is no way that I would have the patience to make all of those tiny braids anyway. However, if I could somehow get someone else to do them for me while I surf FJ...

[ILoveJellybeans]

Woah, she does have cool hair! :)

[slickcat79]

Can someone who still has access to Shrader's FB answer a question? When he wiped it and then made it private did he ever put the old posts back or did he just start again anew?

As far as I know, he never wiped it but just went private. There may have been some entries altered or deleted between the time he went private and the time he started friending randoms again, but he's got a pretty solid string of entries going back to 2010.

He was priming his grifting efforts even then. God miraculously provided them with a house, someone to pay off their (medical?) bills, and a Christmas turkey+gift cards to walmart within like 2 weeks. John sure is something special, no? :roll:

[klavierspieler]

John was originally planning to go to Kafulafuta in the Copperbelt. That is where Bobby Bonner's I AM Ministries had a base, preacher training institute, and a clinic. It's also where all those pictures and videos of thatched roof mud huts came from in John's fundraising materials. It seemed that John and Rea were looking to take over there, and I AM mentioned them in it's newsletter and said they were badly needed.

Why the sudden change to Kafue (or as John says Kaf-few-ee) last year? I want to know! No explanation from John, just that God was leading them to Kafue. Furthermore, I AM seems to have folded it's tents in Kafulafuta and no longer has a web presence for the Zambia mission that I can find. Bobby Bonner has returned to the US and Dennis Anderson, I AM co-founder, has moved to Botswana. It's unclear whether anyone took over in Kafulafuta.

When Bobby Bonner moved back to the US for health reasons, John and Lorna Sarra took over the running of the mission station. I don't know if they are still there or not, but I believe they were still there as of the end of 2012 (which was when I started to lose touch with that part of my life). I AM is still active in Kafulafuta, though, web presence or not, because I am personally acquainted (or was, anyway) with one of the missionaries couples there and still stalk them on Facebook occasionally. They are still there and it appears from what I can see that everything is still chugging along as usual. Dennis Anderson being back in Botswana is not really that unusual and doesn't necessarily mean anything about the continued existence of I AM considering that I AM has been in Botswana for a really long time, along with about a dozen other African countries. I have no idea why John picked Kafue, out of all the places he could have gone, but there was at one point already a church plant there started by I AM, with a Zambian pastor.

[Gobsmacked]

Have any sheeple who listen and are taken in hook, line and sinker by John ever checked out his background, job history etc?

The hospital pager story definitely sounds suspect.

I personally suspect that no one has ever checked his background out. He talks at the congregation so quickly that they are all just sucked into the vortex of Johns imagination and cheerfully give, give,give without realising quite what hit them.

Example - the mystery benefactor who gave the money for the mysterious plane. :?

[feministxtian]

I was always under the impression that missionaries were putting this particular passage from the bible into action:

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.â€

But what do I know....I'm not an IFB "theologian" and I'm a girl.

[Trynn]

The expressions on the face of the little boy around the middle of the song... priceless!

Also, who is the person who's name I can't spell who is apparently recording this? Alatheia or however you spell it.

I ran out of vodka and I have to watch this sober.

John can't sing.

He also needs to work on his video recording skills.

Why is he repeating Tito? Tito doesn't even seem to have a hard to make out accent. I admit I have a hard time with thick accents sometimes due to hearing issues, but I'm not having trouble making out Tito at all.

Oh God, I remember the screaming fests er, singing, that we children often subjected the adult audience to.

Is English a major language in Zambia? Why are the kids saying a bible verse in English?

HIs kids are adorable.

Why does Shrader need to borrow a car? What happened to the infamous troupie?

[Miggy]

Alatheia is a Shrader daughter.

As for John's singing, yes it's bad but I always remember a discussion I had with Mum when I was little;

Me: Mum, I'm a bad singer. I didn't get into the school choir. I better not sing in church. I do not want to spoil the sound.

Mum: Do you like Rock music?

Me: Yes.

Mum: I think it sounds awful. We hear things differently. When you sing in church the only person who matters is God and, as he is the one who gave you your voice, I think he'll enjoy hearing you no matter how you sing.

The musician in me screams when I hear people like John sing but I do try and think back to Mum's words.

Of course, in a normal situation, you find a great singer in the congregation and let them lead the singing. That's not going to happen under John. Anything he likes to do like preaching or leading the music, he is going to keep doing no matter how good or bad he is at it and no matter how many people come along who are better than him.

[Gobsmacked]

English is very widely spoken and taught in zambia,

Does john perhaps need his tonsils and adenoids out?

Any ENT folk out there?

He seems to grunt and snort a lot at the end of his sentences.

[slickcat79]

I was always under the impression that missionaries were putting this particular passage from the bible into action:

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.â€

But what do I know....I'm not an IFB "theologian" and I'm a girl.

It's kind of funny you would quote that. John was just saying a couple of weeks ago that he couldn't possibly provide any more food for the widowed/orphaned family of his new "friend" Roderick. He needs a troopie and a printer instead.

[Gobsmacked]

Is no news good news?

:wink-kitty:

[slickcat79]

Shrader made a LOOK HOW MUCH I LOVE MY WIFE post on their anniversary a week ago. Other than that, he hasn't made any personal updates about the family since 10/26. I'm not sure what to make of that.

[GeoBQn]

Did he showcase the Shrader family menorah again?

[slickcat79]

Did he showcase the Shrader family menorah again?

:lol: He actually did, and I noticed it. I looked closer at the picture, like, is that a menorah? But why? :?

[SoSoNosy]

Please forgive me, I'm going completely off topic here. I am too paranoid to start a new thread, but I have to vent and this is close.

There is a family that used to belong to our church, but have moved to a small town a couple of hours away. They want to go to Nicaragua to be missionaries, and they are doing the same thing the Shraders did, in going from church to church, speaking and begging for "monthly partners". They have seven children and counting, and they were off my radar after they moved; the only way I knew of them before was that their baby girl was absolutely beautiful and had a cute personality. Dad looks about 25, Mom looks about 20, honestly. But yesterday they were at our church, I guess they had spoken in a Sunday School class. My daughter turned to me after we had sat down, and asked how much cash I had on me. I had a couple hundred dollars because I had been reimbursed at my office from a petty cash loan, I gave it to her, she took it to this couple. They had come to town running on their spare tire because they had a blowout and couldn't afford a new tire.

I did not begrudge the money, at all. I won't do without because she gave it to them. What I do begrudge is the fact that (I looked at some of their social media) there are times they don't know how to pay the essential bills, and recently they didn't have a vehicle for all their children. I only saw two yesterday, they may still not be able to transport all of them. But she keeps having babies, and they are begging for monthly money to go to a country that has a strong religious foundation. I know that because I have a friend who goes there on his own money.

Okay, thank you for letting me hijack this thread. I am just frustrated.

[slickcat79]

Yesterday Shrader posted asking for prayers for Arcade's country of Burundi. Apparently there is a lot of political unrest leading to fighting and possible police attacks.

John is asking everyone to pray for the unrest...because BURUNDI NEEDS THE GOSPEL. And they can't move forward with the Lord's work of Biblical Baptist church planting with all that pesky in-fighting. Nothing about the continued safety of Arcade's family or a stop to the violence, just the future of missionary efforts :roll:

[lulumama]

So....where is the airplane? Has he mentioned it since he's been in Zambia?

Has anyone asked about it on his Facebook?

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

SosoNosy that would irritate me too! Seriously if you believe the pill causes abortions use condoms! If God didn't want them to use birth control it would work!

[Gobsmacked]

Please tell us about the plane John :worship: .

We know you are keeping an eye on us. :liar:

[countressrascal]

Any news (good or bad)?

[Palimpsest]

I missed a couple of things I should have responded to before.

As far as I know, he never wiped it but just went private. There may have been some entries altered or deleted between the time he went private and the time he started friending randoms again, but he's got a pretty solid string of entries going back to 2010.

He was priming his grifting efforts even then. God miraculously provided them with a house, someone to pay off their (medical?) bills, and a Christmas turkey+gift cards to walmart within like 2 weeks. John sure is something special, no? :roll:

Thanks. I'm glad he didn't delete the lot. We had quite a lot of content copied on FJ before he went private and we needed to paraphrase. There is some pretty good evidence on FB of his long-term grifting that his funders need to look at.

I don't think we ever found out what provoked the tantrum that made him go private. Pity. Come on, John! Change your FB settings to public again so we know that you aren't ashamed of your testimony. :wink-kitty:

[formergothardite]

Isn't it about time for a November update video?

[Palimpsest]

When Bobby Bonner moved back to the US for health reasons, John and Lorna Sarra took over the running of the mission station. I don't know if they are still there or not, but I believe they were still there as of the end of 2012 (which was when I started to lose touch with that part of my life). I AM is still active in Kafulafuta, though, web presence or not, because I am personally acquainted (or was, anyway) with one of the missionaries couples there and still stalk them on Facebook occasionally. They are still there and it appears from what I can see that everything is still chugging along as usual. Dennis Anderson being back in Botswana is not really that unusual and doesn't necessarily mean anything about the continued existence of I AM considering that I AM has been in Botswana for a really long time, along with about a dozen other African countries. I have no idea why John picked Kafue, out of all the places he could have gone, but there was at one point already a church plant there started by I AM, with a Zambian pastor.

You are quite correct, Klavierspieler, about John and Lorna Sarra. Thanks. I found a June 2014 reference to them still active in Kafulafuta a few weeks ago. It wasn't on the I AM blog, that still seems to have disappeared, but on another Missionary blog. I wish I could find it again. I still can't find any evidence that I AM ever planted a church in Kafue, but I'll take your word for it. :P

I still find it very strange that John doesn't mention his connection to I AM openly -- if a connection still exists.

[Palimpsest]

Yesterday Shrader posted asking for prayers for Arcade's country of Burundi. Apparently there is a lot of political unrest leading to fighting and possible police attacks.

John is asking everyone to pray for the unrest...because BURUNDI NEEDS THE GOSPEL. And they can't move forward with the Lord's work of Biblical Baptist church planting with all that pesky in-fighting. Nothing about the continued safety of Arcade's family or a stop to the violence, just the future of missionary efforts :roll:

The bolded reminds me of something John put on FB back in July 2013 that infuriated me. Arcade is vulnerable to people like John Shrader because he is a) not very old - they referred to him as a "boy" in Burundi - and b) an orphan. From the horse's mouth, here is how the "preachers" sucked the poor guy in by telling him that his parents are in eternal hell because they didn't follow John's version of God.

As we discussed the many false teachers and false churches in Burundi, Arcade asked, "What about those in my family and those in these false "churches"? What about those who have already died believing error?" With a broken heart we asked him to turn to and read Revelation 20:15. It was a sobering moment. It was heartwrenching to watch the awareness that came over him at that moment. I wonder, have you ever had such a moment in your heart? Then we shared with him that this was why God has placed a desire to preach within his heart, that his Nation might hear the true Gospel and learn of true Salvation. The evening ended with a special note. If you have been following our posts, you will remember that Arcade was orphaned when his parents were killed in the war here in Burundi. He has little or no family to speak of. We asked him to turn to Psalm 68:6. After he read this, we told him that we three men (Pastor Douglas Sakuwaha, Bro. David Rea, and myself) considered him a part of our families. This was a precious moment as we all hugged him and knew that he felt our love.

viewtopic.php?f=132&t=18333&start=60

How very precious. I suppose I should give John credit for continuing to keep in touch with Arcade. I wonder how he got from Burundi to Kafue because I'm sure Shrader did not help with his travel expenses. I also doubt that he considers Arcade really part of his family..

[anjulibai]

Poor Arcade. :*(