Zambia Hunt

Here is a reflection on the past 60 years of life and a life lesson I have learned from each decade.

Decade One

My life began on April 4, 1966, in the village of Brooks, Maine, where my father had planted the Brooks Bible Church. Born into a Christian home, I heard the gospel from the very beginning. My father and mother faithfully taught me the Scriptures and pressed upon me my sinfulness and my need of a Savior. My heart was tender before the Lord, and shortly before my fifth birthday, my dad asked me to pray for the breakfast meal — and instead, I asked Jesus to be my Savior.

I was baptized in 1972 by my father in a lakeside service when I was six years old, while he was pastoring Trinity Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. I had desired baptism even earlier, when our family attended Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. But when I walked into the baptism changing room, I remember being overwhelmed by how large it was, and I changed my mind.

Within a couple of years of my baptism, our family moved to Denver, Colorado, and my father began to slip into depression, which would eventually lead to a psychiatric diagnosis of manic-depressive disorder. The remainder of my childhood and teen years were years of instability, frequent transitions, and periods of abuse at the hands of my father.

The first ten years of my life were marked by God demonstrating His sovereign power — first by placing me in a home where the gospel was central, and by saving me at such a young age.

Decade Two

In my early teen years, we lived in Mustang, Oklahoma, before my mom moved us closer to the church and Christian school we attended. My mom still lives in the house she purchased on Donald Avenue in Bethany, Oklahoma.

In my teen years, the Lord graciously placed within my heart a passion to know God more and to serve Him faithfully. I devoured missionary biographies and dreamed of doing hard things for God in hard places. It was during this period that I finally yielded to God’s call to serve Him as a missionary at the age of sixteen. It was also in these years that God began to convict me of the bitterness I held toward my father. He taught me what biblical forgiveness truly means and pressed upon me an increasing sense that I must forgive my father for his years of physical and psychological abuse.

The second decade of my life was marked by spiritual growth and a growing desire to live in full abandonment to Christ and His purposes, whatever that might require of me.

Decade Three

In my early twenties, I began ministering as a lay leader and teacher at Pentucket Baptist Church in Atkinson, New Hampshire, working under the leadership of Bruce Richards with the youth group. It was there that I met Lori, and at twenty-three, I had the joy of marrying this wonderful woman. In March 1992, at the age of twenty-five, Lori and eight-month-old Cherith boarded a British Airways flight to Nairobi, Kenya, where we began our missionary service and underwent our missionary orientation in Mombasa.

In 1993, we moved to Kitwe, Zambia, with Neil and Jeanie Whitwam and began reaching people in the Riverside community. This resulted in the planting of Faith Baptist Church of Riverside. These were years of all-in labor, learning the culture, and developing a biblical philosophy of missions and church planting. The growing congregation was being discipled, and we began more formal training through a church-based Bible institute. Churches began to be planted from the mother church in Riverside. During this period, God also blessed our home with our second child, Austin.

The third decade was marked by wrestling with theology and developing a biblical missiology. I had been privileged — if that is the right word — to observe many poor models of missions, which drove me to the Scriptures to develop a sound philosophy of missionary work. It was in this decade that the missiological foundations were laid for what was to come.

Decade Four

In 2003, plans were laid to found Faith Children’s Village. Property in Kakolo, Zambia, was acquired adjacent to Faith Baptist Church of Kakolo, which had been planted from Faith Baptist Church of Riverside in 1999. Two years later, Central Africa Baptist College (now University) opened for classes in February 2006 with nine students. Both ministries grew out of urgent needs within the work and from the local church that was growing and reproducing. The burden of planting healthy, reproducing churches created an urgent need for leadership development and training. Trained men planted churches — and we came to realize that to see healthy, reproducing churches, the leaders of leaders must be deeply formed in theology and ministry philosophy. 

The fourth decade was marked by development and the emergence of ministries in response to specific needs within the local ministry context.

Decade Five

In 2006, God blessed us with our seventh child, Corban. In 2007, I handed over the first church plant to competent local leadership and transitioned more fully to serve at CABU. Through it all, we learned that the Lord can be trusted and will provide for His work. God also blessed us with four more children: Collin, Ashlyn, Carman, and Tamaryn.

In 2010, God provided for the founding of Faith Radio as a ministry of Central Africa Baptist University. The University was growing and maturing. Training efforts expanded through Theological Studies by Extension into South Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Partnerships with other institutions for advanced training developed and continued for over a decade, until we were able to launch our own master’s degree. CABU launched a chaplaincy programme in 2014 and an education programme in 2016, and we were accredited as an institution of higher learning by both international bodies and the Zambian government. While CABU was developing, Faith Baptist Church of Riverside sent us to reach people in Kitwe who were not being reached by other churches. This outreach began in 2014, and in May 2016, Kitwe Church was formally constituted as a local church. From the beginning, I served as the lead teaching pastor.

The fifth decade saw the identification and growth of local leadership, the transition to local leadership at Faith Children’s Village, and the continued development of the leadership team at CABU. This period brought a multiplication of leaders across the spectrum of ministry, and churches continued to be planted.

Decade Six

By 2017, the maturing of the University was visible to all. A Zambian board of directors was formed, and oversight shifted from an international board based in the USA to a local board. In 2020, CABU was accredited by the Higher Education Authority in Zambia, and the College was upgraded to university status. Campus development continued with the construction of the Athanasius Student Centre, the Olive Doke Computer Lab, the Kasongo Theological Library, and the launch of Imbila Publishers in May 2024. During this period, CABU gained increasing visibility both on the continent and internationally, with a growing number of visitors coming to discuss ministry, theology, and ministry philosophy. This was also a decade of deepening discipleship relationships for leadership development. We saw our first missionaries sent from Kitwe Church and the implementation of our pastoral internship programme. This decade concluded with the announcement of a leadership transition at CABU, with Chopo Mwanza named the incoming Vice-Chancellor and me appointed to a new position on the team.

The sixth decade was marked by the delegation of leadership — a season in which decisions and problem-solving increasingly resided in the hands of those who had been discipled. It was a time to step aside and hand over leadership while continuing to serve faithfully on the team. We witnessed a multiplication of disciples and churches planted across the African continent.

What Next?

Today marks the beginning of my seventh decade of life.

The question I return to again and again is this: How do I invest what I have learned? 

I am a debtor to grace — grace for salvation, grace to know the Scriptures, and grace to develop a biblical philosophy of missions and ministry within the cultural context of Zambia. I am a debtor to the many people God has brought into my life to teach me, shape me, and hold me accountable to His Word. I am deeply indebted to and grateful for my wife, Lori, who has been a faithful partner through four of these six decades.

As I look to the future, my prayer is that God would grant me health to serve Christ faithfully, and a deepening vision and passion for His glory to be exalted across the continent of Africa — through the establishment of healthy, reproducing churches in every village, town, and city. I long to disciple younger men in their walk with God and in their ministry.

My greatest desire is to leave behind a line of leaders equipped to serve Christ and His church — men and women who will, by His grace, bear fruit that remains.

If you would like to partner and participate in this training of leaders, please take a moment to donate as an investment in training a leader at CABU by clicking the link below. Thank you!