John Shrader 21: Nine Years in Zambia and Still Failing

[anjulibai]

5 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

If that’s the church, they are roughing it approximately two miles from the mall.  😄

Basically, he lives in the suburbs. 

[Bastet]

If Brother Mears has already met John and didn’t notice the cray, it makes it a little harder to estimate how long before there is a breakup. Could be a while.
   It’s unlikely he is less personable than John, so the Zambians may prefer him, and if they are at all open about it, John will suffer yet another narcissistic wound and take to bed. Do we know what prompted his break with other unfortunates who tried to help him? 

[Xan]

Particularly if Bro Mears learns the local dialects.  I was looking at the church location and came across some videos.  He still seems to be using an interpreter.  He's been there over 9 years.  He hasn't learned the language yet?  How pathetic is that?

As best I can remember, John usually paints his break-ups as being over doctrinal differences.  He thinks he's right about everything and anyone who doesn't agree is wrong.  Does anyone else know any specifics?

[NoneIsEnough]

The Mears were delayed out of Chicago. 

Quote

Kindly asking our Praying Friends for your Intercession

To those following the amazing raising up by God of the Wade Vicky Mears Family to add to TeamZambia:Tri-County Baptist Church, well... today is the day they are supposed to arrive!

They made it safely from Houston to Chicago, but their flight from Chicago to Addis Ababa was delayed and is currently 53 min. late, which means they will only have about 30 min to make their connecting flight, instead of the original 1 hour and 25 min.

Please pray that they make their next flight which will bring them here to Zambia, and also their luggage all makes it as well. We had one of our bags lost when we arrived here 9 years ago on the 8th of June, 2014.

Thank you for your faithful prayers dear friends,

Bro. John

Zambia

 

[Gobsmacked]

3 hours ago, NoneIsEnough said:

The Mears were delayed out of Chicago. 

 

God or fate trying to tell them not to go. 

[Ozlsn]

On 5/28/2023 at 1:25 PM, Expectopatronus said:

So this highlights the question; how the heck does he think a major city has anyone who has has not heard of Jesus? What a buffoon.

But have they heard the One True John-Approved Version of Jesus using The Only Correct KJV Bible? I mean how could the locals have ever have been exposed to The Truth in a Christian-free landscape like this?

Spoiler

Still want to know how faithful their "correct" translation of the KJV1611 is to the language used in that time period in Zambia. 

[Xan]

John posted on Facebook that the Mears safely arrived in Zambia.  I eagerly anticipate further news as to whether John was able to get a crane to move the packing crate.  Welcome to Poisonwood, Wade and Vicky!

[Zebedee]

I feel like a hypocrite, slagging John off for not learning the language. I've been here 6 years, and my German is atrocious. OTOH, I'm not standing up and preaching and grifting; if I were, I like to think I'd actually try to be competent *before* I tried to tell everyone they are going to hell, and, btw, can I have some money, a house, a plane, a washing machine, an ice machine, a car, sure I've missed some stuff out...

[Xan]

If I were John and I liked control as much as he seems to, I'd be worried that the interpreter wasn't getting the message across accurately.  

John:  "You must believe that Christ died for your sins or you will never get into Heaven.  Good works don't count."

Interpreter:  "This fool thinks saying some words is more important that taking care of your family and neighbors."

Honestly, if I were an interpreter, it's what I'd do.  I guess the kids probably know enough to say something if the message isn't given exactly.

[Expectopatronus]

1 hour ago, Xan said:

John posted on Facebook that the Mears safely arrived in Zambia.  I eagerly anticipate further news as to whether John was able to get a crane to move the packing crate.  Welcome to Poisonwood, Wade and Vicky!

Tata Jesus is bangala !

[Howl]

1 hour ago, Zebedee said:

btw, can I have some money, a house, a plane, a washing machine, an ice machine, a car, sure I've missed some stuff out...

Sunflower seeds...!

[apandaaries]

20 hours ago, anjulibai said:

Basically, he lives in the suburbs. 

I think you mean the suburbs in (scary, foreign) subsaharan AFRICA. 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

Well this is a surprise. I think it's been 5 years since I've checked in on this thread and John and he still doesn't have converts...is this correct? 
I admit when he first went to 'subSaharan Africa' I gave it a year.

But on reflection now of course he is still there, where else can he feel special and superior? 
 

The narcissist in him is so strong, he makes me sick. He has not helped one person since arriving, keeping money and luxuries for himself. 
 

I hope the kids all go back to the US, what are the 3 adult kids even doing all day? Well the daughter is of course a full time mum but the two men?

 

[Giraffe]

14 minutes ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

Well this is a surprise. I think it's been 5 years since I've checked in on this thread and John and he still doesn't have converts...is this correct? 
I admit when he first went to 'subSaharan Africa' I gave it a year.

But on reflection now of course he is still there, where else can he feel special and superior? 
 

The narcissist in him is so strong, he makes me sick. He has not helped one person since arriving, keeping money and luxuries for himself. 
 

I hope the kids all go back to the US, what are the 3 adult kids even doing all day? Well the daughter is of course a full time mum but the two men?

 

He has two converts! ...just not the same as before and there've been many come and gone in between, lol.

[Xan]

He always seems to have two or three converts but, as @Giraffe said, they change from year to year.  It makes me really proud of the Zambians who have managed to tolerate him but just can't bring themselves to join his cult.  I'm just surprised that the local government allows him to stay.

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

Just now, Giraffe said:

He has two converts! ...just not the same as before and there've been many come and gone in between, lol.

He had 2 the first year who posted very biting accurate Facebook posts when they saw him for who he was. 
So all that time and still 2. But a different 2 obviously. How long have these 2 been his converts? 
hmm honestly, it does remind me a bit of my narcissist ex...He could keep a relationship for about two years before the wheels fell off, and the woman would break up with him after seeing him for who he was. 

[Ozlsn]

11 hours ago, Giraffe said:

He has two converts! ...just not the same as before and there've been many come and gone in between, lol.

It's always hard to tell with John. I suspect there may be some actual longer term converts - but being women they obviously don't count in John's eyes. I do wonder if some of the women come over less out of conviction of the Truth and more out of pity for Esther and the children though.

[Freejin]

Does anyone else find it surprising that John wanted people to come work with him? I mean, within the first two days they will realize he is running a sham operation. 

[apandaaries]

4 hours ago, Freejin said:

Does anyone else find it surprising that John wanted people to come work with him? I mean, within the first two days they will realize he is running a sham operation. 

I think we see that. I think John sees disappointing sinners and false believers and whatever else he needs to tell himself to stay on top. He must notice now and then during his bed rests, but eventually he overcomes any worries or doubts about himself and carries on. 
Having watched SHP and seeing the mechanisms in place for ensuring patriarchs stay on top, I think there’s enough structurally ingrained support to deter deep questioning. There are a lot of built-in excuses for things going wrong, usually satan.

 

I think John sees himself uniquely apart from and special compared to the average person, and to him, an average person is a white, married, American (preferably Texan), Christian man. Any deviation from that “standard” renders them even more subhuman.

This justifies treating all women as substandard and less than. It also means that any potential Zambian convert already begins as Black and African, and if they’re a woman…do those souls even really count, actually? I mean, they’re just women! (Heavy sarcasm) I suspect John is unconsciously driven to assert his superiority in any/all situations with other people, and the greater his bias, the worse he treats them. 

I think John can conceive of these men who come to help as almost as good as him, so he tries to work with them. I suspect John’s internal need for attention and admiration for being the most righteous lends itself to sabotaging relationships. The speed of the sabotage depends on the level of threat. 
I say all that as an observer, with a better (but certainly imperfect!) view. John comforts himself with being apart from the world, but I think he’d love worldly acclaim, especially from churchgoers. He’d love to sell his books of pathetic poetry and have books written about his bravery in Africa. It compels his bravado.

So of course he’d love to have good, Bible believing missionaries join him (oh yeah, and his family)! Nothing could go wrong!

Yet each time, things go wrong.

It’s weird, but it’s probably Satan. 😈

[gustava]

14 hours ago, apandaaries said:

The speed of the sabotage depends on the level of threat. 

Excellent insight.  To a certain extent, the Mears are stuck for some time, as they shipped everything over and apparently intend for Zambia to be their forever home....before heaven, of course.

[Howl]

15 hours ago, apandaaries said:

I think John sees himself uniquely apart from and special compared to the average person, and to him, an average person is a white, married, American (preferably Texan), Christian man. Any deviation from that “standard” renders them even more subhuman.

Excellent post - you nailed the Bro. Shrader dynamic!  The whole thing.  

I'm wondering if any of the Schrader children who are growing up there speak the local language - Bemba, if my google results are correct. There are an entire passel of Schrader kids that should be native speakers.  If not, it's a damn crime.

 

 

[Ozlsn]

On 6/9/2023 at 7:30 AM, apandaaries said:

I suspect John is unconsciously driven to assert his superiority in any/all situations with other people, and the greater his bias, the worse he treats them.

Oh yes. I wonder how much his family unconsciously and consciously avoids any situation where John doesn't feel in charge, and how much placating there is after situations with Zambian authorities who are undeniably in charge. 

9 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm wondering if any of the Schrader children who are growing up there speak the local language - Bemba, if my google results are correct. There are an entire passel of Schrader kids that should be native speakers.  If not, it's a damn crime

I really hope that at least the younger ones have picked it up, and that John hasn't realised the extent of their fluency - partly so he doesn't start using them as translators, but also so they can overhear what is being said about John... and hopefully start questioning. 

[NoneIsEnough]

Update from Bro Mears. It's long so it's in the spoiler. Mostly the recount of their trip to Africa and not much else. And 3 pictures. 

 

Spoiler

On June 6th, our plane was to leave for Chicago at 5 am from Houston. Which meant we had to leave for the airport at 2 am! So on June 5th, I was able to work with Pastor Taylor on my last project, mounting a metal door on the barn. Took most of the day to get in finished but we got er done!

Because we had to leave so early in the morning on the 6th, we decided to stay up and not go to sleep. We had to get up to check-in with the airline at 5 am on the 5th so we were up for 24 hours before the flight even started! Not a good idea…we won’t do that ever again! Lol!

Pastor Shrader took us to the airport. He is such a blessing to us! The plane was delayed and we didn’t leave until 50 minutes later. We arrived at Chicago late as well. However, we caught our connecting flight with no issues. The flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was 15 hours long! Which wouldn’t have been too bad…if we had gotten some sleep before departing!

One tremendous blessing and answer to prayer happened at the Addis Ababa airport. By the time we arrived, we had only 25 minutes to catch our connecting flight to Lusaka, Zambia. What was supposed to happen was we would depart the plane, be put on a bus, and transported to the terminal, go through security (again), go to the departure gate, and then take a bus back to the plane. There was no way we could do all of this in 25 minutes. As we were departing the plane, we were asked where we were heading. When we told them Lusaka, they put us over to the side and told to wait. Everyone else got off the plane and got on buses and left. Everyone going to Lusaka was getting nervous. We just stayed calm and prayed all would be well. Then a bus pulled up and we got in. It went over to another plane and stopped. We got out and were escorted directly onto the plane! We bypassed all the normal procedures and departed only 30 minutes late! Bro John said that has never happened before. God is so good!

Another 6 hours of flying and we finally landed at the Lusaka airport! Vicky and I were exhausted! We had gone a total of 58 hours without sleep! When we arrived, we went to get our bags and we had all of them within 10 minutes! None of them were damaged or broken into. Praise God for that! We loaded up our bags on carts and headed for the customs office. Everyone ahead of us had to put their bags through an x-ray machine. When we got there, a lady came and asked us if we had anything to declare. I let her know we were coming to live in Zambia as missionaries. She was so surprised and thankful that we were coming to help her country that she let us pass through customs without having to go through the x-ray machine!

Bro John and Sister Esther met us just outside the door and we embraced! It was an amazing moment! They got us signed up for Zambian cell phone accounts right there and then we headed to Kafue! It felt so good to finally be where God has called us to be! We stopped at a nice restaurant and got something to eat before heading on to our new home! Our container was already in Africa and making its way to the Zambian border when we arrived.

Because we didn’t have any of our things and the rental property houses were not ready for us to move in, the Shrader’s reserved a room at the Olive Lodge, a local hotel right next to the church for us. We went over to the Shrader house and got to see all the children before we headed to the hotel. It was so nice to be able to lay down on a bed and go to sleep. But the following day, we were having to leave for Lusaka at 6:30 am. But now, some well-deserved sleep was needed!

As usual…the saga continues to continue!

 

[marmalade]

John looks like he lost weight. 

[sleepygirl1]

Do the Mears have children?