Bauchams Moving to Africa

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

gracefamilybaptist.net/blog/following-call-2014-11/

[Trynn]

1. Why does it seem fun dies lately always choose Zambia? How many missionaries does Zambia NEED?

2. At least they look better prepared than John Shrader. It sound like whoever wrote the blog has a job at the school that will at least support the family.

[Rebelwife]

gracefamilybaptist.net/blog/following-call-2014-11/

What is it with fundies and Zambia? Those poor people........

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

What is it with fundies and Zambia? Those poor people........

Hmmm. Apparently, I am unaware that Zambia has become a "thing" for other fundies. How did I miss this? Examples?

I wonder how Jasmine feels about it. I have to wonder, honestly, if she's relieved she got married before this happened.

[ILoveJellybeans]

John Shrader wont be impressed. Someone coming over to take his job who is better prepared for this and has far more supporters.

Poor people of Zambia getting more fundies though.

[16strong]

Hmmm. Apparently, I am unaware that Zambia has become a "thing" for other fundies. How did I miss this? Examples?

I wonder how Jasmine feels about it. I have to wonder, honestly, if she's relieved she got married before this happened.

The Allen Family (the travelling family band) went about 3 or 4 years ago. And of course there's Shrader.

[dairyfreelife]

Apparently they are unaware that more than 95% of Zambia identifies as Christian (I include Catholics and even if I did not, it's still more than 75%), so why do they need Christian missionaries? Also, do they speak Bembe? Or any of the other 10 languages that are spoken ahead of English? If not, how exactly can they communicate to help at all?

[thoughtful]

Apparently God calls them to Zambia, you guys.

Or maybe just Zambia calls.

When Zambia calls, I just have to fly,

Without us they can’t make Heaven.

Turn them to the right, I’m such a white knight!

I’ll lead them to my true Heaven.

I see a native face, a backwards place, so primitive!

Before I got here, nobody knew how to live.

Just Jesus and me, we’ll get them to see,

Without us they can’t make Heaven!

[bBvideo 560,340:kv6tn1kc]

[/bBvideo]

[MamaJunebug]

Thoughtful, if you don't stop doing that I'm not going to be able to stop laughing and gasping in outright admiration all at the same time!

[thoughtful]

Thoughtful, if you don't stop doing that I'm not going to be able to stop laughing and gasping in outright admiration all at the same time!

You are so good for my ego.

Oh, and you might want to go look at the Starbucks thread . . .

:whistle:

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

Sorry about not breaking the link, I didn't even think about it :embarrassed:

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

Apparently they are unaware that more than 95% of Zambia identifies as Christian (I include Catholics and even if I did not, it's still more than 75%), so why do they need Christian missionaries? Also, do they speak Bembe? Or any of the other 10 languages that are spoken ahead of English? If not, how exactly can they communicate to help at all?

I suppose there is some missionary-ness involved, but technically Voddie is going there to be the president/head of African Christian college. (Which I didn't even know existed until now.)

[Jasmar]

Maybe they think patriarchy will be an easier sell in Zambia?

But I have been wondering what the fallout would be from VF's implosion.

[dairyfreelife]

I suppose there is some missionary-ness involved, but technically Voddie is going there to be the president/head of African Christian college. (Which I didn't even know existed until now.)

I meant for all these fundies going there, not just the Bauchams, but them too. And I did not know such a thing existed either. Seriously, I think the people living in Zambia need a real education, not some bullshit Creationist, Revisionist history.

Seriously, if they want to help Zambia, get healthcare there. Good care. People who can work to get them clean water and food and medical care and proper education (again, not creationist crapola). Only 40% of people use birth control and no, they do not need more babies. The majority of people in the country are children and the life expectancy is only 51. They have the 4th highest birth rate in the world, 21st in death rates, rank 26 in maternal mortality and 17th in infant mortality. The average woman has her first baby at 19 and has an average of six children. They are number 7 in adult AIDS/HIV, number 11 in people overall with AIDS/HIV (over 1 million people in a country of a bit over 14 million), and number 14 in AIDS/HIV death rates. The major infectious disease risk is labeled very high and water and foodborne illnesses are high, along with malaria, dengue fever, and schistosomiasis. 15% of children are underweight, only 61% of the population can read with the female literacy rate significantly lower than the male. 41% of children are being used for child labor (that's all children under 15). More than 60% of Zambians live below the poverty line.

*All information obtained from the CIA. Unlike some fundies we know, I don't pull statistics out of my ass. :lol:

[Palimpsest]

I suspect that the Fundie Call to Zambia in particular is because it is comparatively easy for "missionaries" to get residency permits there. At least easier than other African countries.

I rummaged through the Christian Biblical gobbledygook (they must have their own gobbledygook generator!) on the African Christian University site and noticed the following:

1. ACU is the brainchild of one Kenneth D. Turnbull. He has a genuine Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC, Riverside and has taught at the University of Arkansas. He never reached full professor but maintains an adjunct status there. His original mission to Mozambique seems to have been sponsored by UA.

2. Three (3!) Boards of Directors in Zambia, South Africa and USA. Complicated to maintain and probably just figureheads.

3. Other than Turnbull as Vice-Chancellor, ACU has no staff listed yet. So is Voddie going to be the Chancellor?

4. ACU has no campus as yet. It does have architectural drawings for a spiffy looking campus.

5. The first group of "scholars," beginning in January 2015, are expected to build the campus. This is all hidden in gobbledygook about learning various hands-on skills Biblically. I doubt that they will be paid for the hard labor. They will be doing this work at the same time as studying for some entrance exam set at "A-level standard." I'm guessing that Zambia still uses British pre-GCSE terminology for secondary education -- it translates to 12 grade. One wonders cynically how many of the first group will pass the entrance exam.

6. ACU is going to use a "cohort mentor" approach. No operationalization of what that term means but just a statement that it will work best. In Africa. And beyond.

Eh, the whole thing looks like another over-blown Fundie Field of Dreams. "I have a wondrous vision so give me $$$$$$$ to build it. We'll think about whether people will come later!"

[Peas n carrots]

So they are opening a bible college in Zambia, because they don't, like need any doctors, engineers, and teachers?

[divadivine]

So they are opening a bible college in Zambia, because they don't, like need any doctors, engineers, and teachers?

Silly, you don't need doctors because Jesus saves!

[DGayle]

Apparently they are unaware that more than 95% of Zambia identifies as Christian (I include Catholics and even if I did not, it's still more than 75%), so why do they need Christian missionaries? Also, do they speak Bembe? Or any of the other 10 languages that are spoken ahead of English? If not, how exactly can they communicate to help at all?

So 95% of the population in Zambia is missionaries now?

[Palimpsest]

You people are completely missing the point. :penguin-no:

Wake up and smell the coffee! It's not about whether Zambians identify as Christian. Turnbull, Baucham and Shrader have a direct message from the LORD that it's not the RIGHT KIND of CHRISTIAN.

Kenneth Turnbull, Ph.D. has a whole scholarly treatise out there, with lots of statistics and obscure references pulled out of his ass, about how Christianity in Africa is "a mile wide but an inch deep." This is in spite of many dedicated missionaries trying to convert Africa for over 100 years!

See, Africans have the unmitigated gall to tell naïve missionaries what they want to hear, take their Bibles, sing their hymns, eat their food and so on. But then they go off and revert to their satanic beliefs worship in their traditional beliefs, or adapt Christianity in their own way, behind the missionaries' backs! The horror!

Turnbull, et al, don't understand that Africans aren't stupid. Initially they will get converts to the Right Kind of Christianity people checking them out to see if they will provide desperately needed material assistance. However, if "missionaries" only offer prayer, Bibles, and tracts then, of course, most conversions are only temporary.

[thoughtful]

ACU is the brainchild of one Kenneth D. Turnbull. He has a genuine Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC, Riverside and has taught at the University of Arkansas. He never reached full professor but maintains an adjunct status there. His original mission to Mozambique seems to have been sponsored by UA.

Other than Turnbull as Vice-Chancellor, ACU has no staff listed yet. So is Voddie going to be the Chancellor?

I wonder if part of the impetus behind hiring Vo-do-de-oh-do is that his face is brown. Being able to point to the American leader of the pack and say "see -- we're not condescending whiteys -- he's brown!" could be part of the appeal.

And it's a fresh new start for him, away from Dominionist scandals in the US. Win - win (well, except for the Zambians and anyone naive enough to contribute money).

missionfrontiers.org/pdfs/33-6-Discipling-Africa-Through-Christian-HIgher-Education.pdf

acu-usa.com/partners/acu-board-members/

Ted Tripp is on one of the boards of directors Palimpsest mentioned.

http://arkansascompanies.us/african-chr ... 09.company

[Palimpsest]

It probably is a good move for Voddie (I call him "Fauxdie" to remember how to pronounce his name) to get away from the scandals. He's spent a lot of time being the token black around VF. Now he can be a brave missionary to Africa instead.

I don't really have a very good take on exactly who Voddie is -- except that he's comparatively educated, allowed Jasmine to be educated, and has put his foot down over some bad behavior in the past by others, I think. I haven't yet developed the hatred for Voddie that I have for other patriarchal preachers anyway.

I doubt his color will make much difference in Zambia although that might be the plan. Voddie will be easily identifiable as American as soon as he walks down the street - let alone opens his mouth. He may be even less sensitive to cultural differences than the other imported staff, especially if he assumes he knows it all because he is back in Africa with his people, IYKWIM.

It would be much wiser for ACU to recruit more Zambian nationals anyway and make it a Zambian rather than a US/SA lead project. There are plenty of Zambians with degrees, many have studied overseas, and there are plenty of real universities and colleges in Zambia already. Just not any that are the right kind of Baptist ones for these folks.

My objection is not that they are trying to found a new "university" in Zambia. Many universities have religious roots. It's that the language and rhetoric are so overblown and the claims are so wildly inflated. This is a Bible College not a university.

I'd be much more impressed with ACU if it were partnered with an existing University degree program somewhere and intended to give out real accredited degrees. I can't see any evidence of that or a real curriculum.

I found the ACU Facebook page. A lot more information there: facebook.com/pages/African-Christian-University/108426315848593

It looks like they have recruited some US missionary staff already. They have a librarian, who just had her laptop stolen. They have a library, which is housed in a large shipping container. They built the Olive Doke Pavilion, which promptly started to fall down and needs reinforcing.

Good luck, Voddie. Looks like you will need it!

[nelliebelle1197]

I can't believe how much you people miss the point on this. The Zambians don't need food, education, doctors, a strong economy or clean water. Once Shraderfriends bring the real Jesus to them they will have all those things, just like true Christians like the Shraders, the Bates, the Rodrigues', XgSquared and Dsquared.....oh. Wait a minute....

[hoipolloi]

Have to wonder how Mrs. Voddie is going to handle this, even if she "sensed Voddie's the Lord's will" in moving to Zambia.

Doesn't she have lupus or MS or something that required significant child-rearing support from Jasmine, apart from the SAHD bullshit?

[Daenerys]

5. The first group of "scholars," beginning in January 2015, are expected to build the campus. This is all hidden in gobbledygook about learning various hands-on skills Biblically. I doubt that they will be paid for the hard labor. They will be doing this work at the same time as studying for some entrance exam set at "A-level standard." I'm guessing that Zambia still uses British pre-GCSE terminology for secondary education -- it translates to 12 grade. One wonders cynically how many of the first group will pass the entrance exam.

A Levels still exist in the UK. We take GCSE Exams at 16, and then A Level exams at 18.

[Palimpsest]

Have to wonder how Mrs. Voddie is going to handle this, even if she "sensed Voddie's the Lord's will" in moving to Zambia.

Doesn't she have lupus or MS or something that required significant child-rearing support from Jasmine, apart from the SAHD bullshit?

Yep. Bridget has lupus. :( What a genius idea for Voddie to move his family to sub-Saharan Africa when his wife has that Dx.

I just took a look back in the archives to refresh my memory. I take it back, I detest what Voddie preaches.

See this thread viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8337&start=20 for more about Voddie's ideas on adoption with a chronically ill spouse, and on child training in general. :angry-banghead: