Recently as I was challenged to review some research that I had done a few years back, to find some information for a friend,I stumbled across a bit of historical trivia--that was rooted in my family connections about 100 years ago.
I have been doing research on a school in southern Virginia, that my family has connection to. The school is no longer in existence. In reviewing some research that I have, I learned that a person from the Maasai tribe in Kenya when to the school. His name is Molonket ole Sempele, and the dates fo his attendance were from around 1909-1912. He sold family cattle to attend. The school he attended was the Boydton Institute, in Boydton, Va. It was at the time when the Christian and Missionary Alliance operated the school.
We have a group here on Pray!Network about a missionaries work in Tanzania, with the Maazi tribe. This is the same tribe, which apparently is in two countries- Kenya and Tanzania. In getting to know this missionary to that tribe in Tanzania, Pamela Johnson, I have been praying for the Massai--the same tribe as attended the school mentioned above. Pamela has a group about the Massai here on Pray!Network.
The Town of Boydton, Va,where the school was located, is the home town of my family. My Great Great Grand Father wrote the charter for the facility, which was first used as a Methodist College (which relocated after the Civil War to another location), and later the facility became the Boydton Institute.
Seeing this item from my past about the Massai -- and my intercession today for the Massai make me wonder--how much of our intercession has roots in history? What I have shared, is one case.
Perhaps someone or several in our group might have found something similar that might she some light on or add to about historical roots of our intercession.
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Many take the phrase to 'not look back' and do just that and press on. However, learning of roots in our ministry, helps us honor those in our family who sought the Lord before us and left us a legacy. The Bible says to honor your father and mother. I have a friend who writes the Daily Jot, a news brief helping us to look at current events in light of scripture, and that person has traced his ancestry back to the Mayflower. What he has learned from study of the Mayflower and that colony has impacted his ministry and helped him in his focus.
In my family, not only what I shared above, important, but two more items:
1. The start of a Methodist College (Randolph Macon College, was probably the result of the 2nd Great Awakening--and that action was in 1830--my family's involvement through my Great Great Grandfather's involvement in writing the charter, and later serving as a trustee of the college.
2. 4 pages of my Great Great Grand Father's diary have been found that described in the late 1840's, his desire to bring the family together on Sundays, discuss the day's sermon and have family prayer. ---What a legacy those 4 pages show my family!
I am sure if all of us look hard enough, there are other ministries that have past family roots that still impact the family and urge us to follow the Lord today.