John Shrader 21: Nine Years in Zambia and Still Failing

[Bastet]

6 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm going to go totally Pollyanna about this but perhaps Bro. Wade and wife will have a positive experience and be a positive influence on the Shraders. 

I'm reading between the lines a bit here: ex-military man Bro. Wade  appears to be very disciplined person man who likes structure. I hope that translates to him being organized and organizing others to get things done, and not to being simply rigid.

Also, as a man who's had an actual career that wasn't based on God Bothering, perhaps he can be a role model of sorts for the Shrader boys and get them to think about a career and skills. 

I truly hope he and Vicky prioritize learning the local language and  simply succumb to the sweetness of the Zambian people.

So that's my wish for them, because any of those things has the potential to be of benefit to the Zambian people, who should not suffer from these interlopers. 

Here's something else to think about.  Bro. Wade will be getting $$$ every month from his military retirement.  Don't know if Sister Vicky has any income from whatever.  Will John expect them to tithe give John money for Truthy Bible Church John?

 

 

   Yes, especially the part about Wade being a source of career information for John’s boys, but I hope that one way or another, he and his wife can facilitate getting the kids back to the US. (I guess it’s possible the older children have somehow made lives for themselves in Kafue, but I suspect John keeps them too isolated for that. )

  This is likely  just wishful thinking on my part, given that in order for John to agree to a change, he either would have to be convinced it’s his idea or it’s presented as a solution to a problem he acknowledges. (What does John imagine are his children's futures? ) 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Bastet

[apandaaries]

13 minutes ago, Bastet said:What does John imagine are his children's futures? ) 

Wow. I did something very strange to that quote.

but I know the answer! The girls will be wives and mothers, and the boys will be preachers and missionaries! Easy peasy.

John is careful to appease his father with lots of praise, but does he realize how much Rick truly does to support him? That it’s maybe not sky daddy, but earth daddy keeping him afloat? I honestly don’t know if John can distinguish  the difference. 
I definitely get the impression that John plans for his future the same way the Rods do: prayer and willful ignorance. Actually, that’s also the same way they raise their children. And live their lives. 🤔 

[Bastet]

24 minutes ago, apandaaries said:

Wow. I did something very strange to that quote.

but I know the answer! The girls will be wives and mothers, and the boys will be preachers and missionaries! Easy peasy.

John is careful to appease his father with lots of praise, but does he realize how much Rick truly does to support him? That it’s maybe not sky daddy, but earth daddy keeping him afloat? I honestly don’t know if John can distinguish  the difference. 
I definitely get the impression that John plans for his future the same way the Rods do: prayer and willful ignorance. Actually, that’s also the same way they raise their children. And live their lives. 🤔 

  Sure, but how does he think God/Daddy will manage this? John likely wants his children to acquire white spouses, so does  he really believe his father can arrange this from a distance? (Can he?) As for the sons’ careers, perhaps at one time he thought his mission would grow to have all his boys work as pastors in it, but does he still? Is Rick supposed to hand over his congregation to a grandson at some point? Or does John think his time in Africa will come to an end soon, he will succeed his father and deal with his children’s futures then? As you suggest, I’m probably giving this way more thought than he has. 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Bastet

[Ozlsn]

16 hours ago, Bastet said:

Sure, but how does he think God/Daddy will manage this? John likely wants his children to acquire white spouses

Are the ones that were in Texas back yet? 

[gustava]

17 hours ago, Bastet said:

Or does John think his time in Africa will come to an end soon, he will succeed his father and deal with his children’s futures then?

Given the arrival of the Mears, I think Bastet may have hit the nail on the head.....though the congregation would soon shrink to the size of his Kafue church.

Edited June 19, 2023 by gustava
clarity

[Xan]

Nothing new on John's page.  Wade did show a brief video of himself and John driving into the capitol and having to stop for a herd of goats.  One of the people commenting asked how he and Vicky were doing and he replied that they were still in a hotel but hoped to be in the guest house next week.  I suppose they're paying for the hotel room.  I can't see John volunteering to do that.

[gustava]

39 minutes ago, Xan said:

they were still in a hotel

I am still vastly puzzled as to why the guest house wasn't ready with at least a basic kitchen and bathroom.

[Gobsmacked]

1 hour ago, gustava said:

I am still vastly puzzled as to why the guest house wasn't ready with at least a basic kitchen and bathroom.

Because that would have involved John spending money in advance 

Just now, Gobsmacked said:

Because that would have involved John spending money in advance 

Pressed send by accident! John would then have to ask for the money back. As we know John NEVER asks for money. No siree. Money just appears magically. 
John probably thought the Mears would have taken the new bathroom as a gift from the church, ( John would think like that himself), so he couldn’t take that risk. Therefore no bathroom on arrival. 

[Howl]

I wonder if Bro. Mears is having any intrusive "WTF did we get ourselves into?"  thoughts.

Bro. Mears is career military.  He likely expects people to have their sh*t together and to GET. THINGS. DONE. 

John lives in a fantasy world with wild ups (da plane  da plane! seminary! library! chickens! preaching in the bush!) followed by crash and burn (John's on his fainting couch, if not actually in bed). 

I don't think John anticipates or fantasizes about returning to the US. He's too deeply entrenched in his great white savior role, they have a roof over their heads and food on the table. 

I don't know what the heck John's gonna do when Rick crosses the rainbow bridge, the income stream dries up and they still have 8 or 10 kids at home.  

I anticipate Esther still has a few viable eggs waiting in the wings and they could still crank out two or three more blessings. 

If John could rub two or more brain cells together, he would make sure each boy has a viable trade to help support him in his dotage.  A community college program in the US would be ideal - certification in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, nursing - whatever. 

However, these kids have slack homeschooling. The rigors of community college, where you have to exhibit discipline and motivation and complete assignments on a schedule, may be beyond them.  

[Ozlsn]

On 6/28/2023 at 6:55 AM, Howl said:

don't know what the heck John's gonna do when Rick crosses the rainbow bridge, the income stream dries up and they still have 8 or 10 kids at home.  

I'd be interested to know if John's visa is dependent on him having income - if it is he and the family could be on a plane home sooner than anticipated.

On 6/28/2023 at 6:55 AM, Howl said:

Bro. Mears is career military.  He likely expects people to have their sh*t together and to GET. THINGS. DONE

This may actually help if Bro Mears just does it and stops waiting for John's permission or direction. I can see him getting frustrated and just taking over the organisation, which will come to a head when people start looking to him rather than John.

Or of course they could decide that God actually called them to be missionaries somewhere else, like Katy, Texas. Or Florida. Or somewhere near to their families.

[Xan]

It was John's birthday and he wanted to thank people for remembering from his "heart of hearts".

How can he only be 46?  He seems so much older.

[Expectopatronus]

So far, Mears seems more likeable than John; his posts aren’t “poor me” and he seems pleased and grateful for the help he has been given. 

[llucie]

On 6/19/2023 at 2:23 PM, Ozlsn said:

Are the ones that were in Texas back yet? 

Since they started to upload the services to youtube instead of facebook a month ago they are just uploading the sermons by the pastor and not any of the singing so impossible to know.

[Ozlsn]

Still no updates from either of them. Wondering how the Mears are settling in.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Ozlsn
Autocorrect

[NoneIsEnough]

Was just coming to post the same thing. According to Wade they should have been out of the hotel and into their house the last week of June. I wonder if they just don't have good internet or what. 

I imagine it's a busy time getting settled still. Either things are going great with John (he miught still be on his "best behavior") or reality is setting in. I'm really curiious how it's going. 

[Howl]

On 7/11/2023 at 2:30 PM, NoneIsEnough said:

I wonder if they just don't have good internet or what. 

I'm wondering if they've decided to go dark on public social media, and limit everything to followers and friends. 

[Xan]

It's been 3 1/2 weeks and there's still nothing new from Wade.  To go from someone who wrote long posts about the move down to no posts, this feels odd.  I imagine that they're still working on that mess of a house.  I wonder if the shiny has already worn off the Mears' adventure with John?

[Gobsmacked]

Is it possible that now the locals have decided they are not too happy about having another great white saviour in town? 

[FiveAcres]

I wonder if John expects/expected Wade to be a subordinate and Wade expected to be treated as a peer?

[Ozlsn]

On 6/19/2023 at 5:33 AM, Bastet said:

What does John imagine are his children's futures?

I was thinking about this this morning. I don't think he thinks the boys will ever grow up - they'll always be subservient to him, under his umbrella of protection. The girls will likely find carefully chosen umbrellas, but even then I can see John stifling them so that doesn't happen either. In the same way that other adults aren't separate human beings to him his children aren't either, they're just tools to reflect John's grandeur.

It's interesting that John now has three (?) officially adult children, and not one has challenged him in any way. I hope that they will break away at some stage, but they are woefully unprepared to live independently in either the US or anywhere else.

[Ozlsn]

8 hours ago, FiveAcres said:

I wonder if John expects/expected Wade to be a subordinate and Wade expected to be treated as a peer?

I would 100% think this is what is happening. I really wish they'd update!

[NoneIsEnough]

47 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

It's interesting that John now has three (?) officially adult children, and not one has challenged him in any way. I hope that they will break away at some stage, but they are woefully unprepared to live independently in either the US or anywhere else.

I couldn't remember this myself, so I looked it up. 

Enoch is 20. Alatheia is 19. Timonthy is 17, but will be 18 in August. 

So technically 2 adult kids, but soon to be 3.

[NoneIsEnough]

New prayer letter from John. The poor Mears have been robbed several times. John doesn't say whether this was at their home or while they were out and about. That must have been scary though. I guess that explains the lack of updates. Maybe not wanting to draw attention to themselves online. Or just too much to process. 

Not much else in the way of updates from John. More of the same. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[gustava]

John is so matter-of-fact about the Mears being robbed.  Odd.

[Xan]

33 minutes ago, gustava said:

John is so matter-of-fact about the Mears being robbed.  Odd.

That's because it was the Mears' who were robbed.  If it had been John being robbed, that would have warranted a long post about Satan attacking him.

In the prayer letter, John writes about a man who "has been trusting in his own goodness, even though hearing the preaching, having sat one-on-one with myself & other men in our church numerous times, finally seems to be seeing he is lost."  This is John's whole mission in a nutshell.  He is picking individual people to harass until he can put them into his "saved souls" tally.  I can't imagine a preacher from my childhood church choosing to lean on someone like this and to have other church members lean on him as well.  Imagine that -- the man thought he was living a moral and valuable life already.  Good thing that John was there to waste everyone's time and set him straight. /s