Tribute to Emmanuel Dembele

Emmanuel and Florence Dembele were faithful friends and colleagues when we lived in Mali. It has been 24 years since we left Mali and they remain dear friends.

When we received the email that Emmanuel had been in a tragic bus accident in Tunisia it was like one of those bad dream experiences. Can’t be! Clearly in the top 10 worst communications that I have received over the years. We had just memorialized Martin Sanders, a dear friend locally, now Emmanuel. And our hearts were immediately stricken with grief for Florence.

My tribute to Emmanuel -

I met Emmanuel in Koutiala, a few days after beginning my new role as Field Director in 1996. He was serving as an evangelist with YWAM. He would eventually become the Malian director for YWAM. When I met him, there was a magnetism about his personality.

I’ve come to realize this quality as favor. Biblical charters were described as having favor -Joseph, Ruth, David, Esther – they all had favor. Even Jesus grew in favor with God and man. When God marks you with favor, you must steward the favor. Emmanuel was a good steward.

Emmanuel heard a calling to follow Jesus, first as a rescued son and then as a commissioned servant. But from day one, he had a vision that allowed him to see further down the road. He set off to Switzerland, for theological training at Emmaus (today, Haute Ecole de Théologie, HET-PRO).

In an interesting providential move of God, Ingrid and I ministered to the faculty and student body of HET-PRO in a seminar and retreat format in 2023. Each day while we were in Switzerland, Emmanuel would call to celebrate our ministry there – he was proud of his alma mater and wanted to introduce us to his colleagues that remained in Switzerland.

Because Emmanuel was an advanced visionary, it would have been easy for him to remain in Europe and serve. This reflex has created a dynamic that sociologists call “brain drain” – well educated people in the majority world who take their gifting and educational learning to places that are already over-served. Not Emmanuel. He wanted to bring what God was doing in him back to his beloved Mali, as challenging as that would be.

I could tell many stories of moments shared but I will highlight three things in my tribute to Emmanuel.

Family. Emmanuel’s service to the church and world began in his own home. He loved Florence. In traditional societies, women are still significantly marginalized as domestic servants in marriage. Not with Emmanuel and Florence. They were friends and partners in ministry.

Their children were miracles. They waited many years for the Lord to bring them fertility. We prayed often about their desire. Anais and Asael were God-gifts and they wanted flourishing for them. Emmanuel spoke often of his love for his early adult kids as they found their way through the challenges of those turbulent adolescent to adult years.

And he loved our children as well. Every call – how are Christian, Linnea, and Jordan doing? How is Charles, Declan, and Grant?

Vision. I am a sucker for vision. I could recount dozens of stories of his vision but I will only recount one example.

Emmanuel had the dream of developing a farm outside of Bamako that would be a contained eco-system to serve as a resource for Malian pastors. The farm would have business elements to create cash flow; self-sustained food projects to feed people living on the property; a retreat house so that pastors could get away for spiritual renewal; and a plan for added housing so that retired pastors could be cared for. Emmanuel saw the opportunities that he had been afforded as a man of favor, were a means of blessing others. He merely had to steward the opportunity.

He secured the land. It took 8 years to get official papers. He saved and built the first structure. The second structure. He built walls. He secured grants to start a chicken/egg project. He planted fruit trees. He added farm animals for more nutrition sources. He even envisioned a fishpond – I am not sure if that one was completed.

What was his motive? There is no social system or retirement back-up for pastors in Mali. Emmanuel was clear-eyed in his vision - he could not serve every retired pastor, but he would serve who he couldBottom line – as a visionary he saw things that others could not see. And he disciplined himself to see it unfold step-by-step over many years as he secured funds. A vision without a strategy or execution is a pipedream.

When I returned to Mali in 2018, he was so delighted to take me to the farm. I was proud of my brother. Emmanuel had stewarded well the vision that God had given him.

Joy. Emmanuel’s joy was evident in his smile and laugh. I can still hear his laugh in my imagination. Many times, a smile and laughter reveal what is going on in the heart. Emmanuel’s heart was full of gratitude and hope. These could not remain trapped in his interior, they had to flow out.

Joy is different than happiness, at least to me. Happiness is often rooted in my circumstances. Joy is despite my circumstances. Mali is a challenging place to live and serve. The poverty is in your face all the time. The brokenness of our world can create compassion fatigue. Drought. Heat. Famine. Illness. The mere wear and tear on one’s body with repeated rounds of malaria and dysentery. Emmanuel and Florence fought much illness. They experienced heart wrenching pain from decisions that people close to them made – family, colleagues, friends.

In all the challenges of life and leadership in Mali, Emmanuel remained the same. No bitter spirit. No playing it safe. Just joy and hope. That is Hebrews 11 type of faith – “the world is not worthy of them.”

Family. Vision. Joy.

In December 2019, I heard the Lord challenge me to put together an apostolic and global prayer group. I prayed about what visionary, boundary crossing leaders to invite into the group. Some business leaders and some vocational ministry friends. All people who I had crossed paths with or served with in previous contexts. The group included about a dozen leaders from Palestine to California – that was enough time zone crossing to make a central time possible while having a global feel.

Emmanuel was part of that group. Every two weeks through Covid we gathered to pray, minister to, and fan the flame of vision.  Ingrid started a similar group with some of the wives of these friends. Florence is part of that group. Emmanuel and Florence immediately fit in even with the challenge of English being their  4th or 5th language. That is what apostolic leaders do!

We were family – loved by the Father; secure in the Son; and united by the Spirt.

Emmanuel visited us when we lived in Nyack and Greenwich. He is one of four Malian friends who spent extended weeks with us in the States. He was just a part of our family. I spoke with Emmanuel via WhatsApp just a few days prior to the accident. We had talked over the past couple years of getting Emmanuel and Florence to our new home in Florida. My only regret on this side is that we did not pull that off.

But no regrets on the other side. I grieve the loss of Emmanuel. But I am so happy for him. I used happy because it is circumstantial. The tragedy of the bus crash was his transportation to be face-to-face with Jesus. Emmanuel lived for that encounter and served to help others live for the same encounter.

When I grieve, I go to a song by Julie Meyer, “Beyond Tomorrow.” I first was mesmerized by this anthem of heaven at the tragic death of another kingdom brother who served in Lebanon. This song still brings tears of joy in my loss because it makes me realize my transported friends’ gain.

There's a place beyond tomorrow
And my soul does long to go
No more tears, or pain, no more sorrow
And my soul does long for home

CHORUS:
And the songs of heaven ring out
And you can hear the casting down of all crowns
As the saints all gather round the crystal sea
Oh eternity, eternity

There's a place beyond tomorrow
And my soul does long to be
Where the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd
Will give drink from eternal springs.

There's a place beyond tomorrow
Where I dream, I dream to be
There I'll join with the angels singing "Holy"
And Your face, at last I'll see.

BRIDGE:
Oh, what a day when I see You face to face
Oh, what a day, I am going to see You, to see God
No more looking dimly through a mirror
I'm gonna see, face to face to face
I'm gonna see You, I'm gonna see God
There I'll join with the angels singing "Holy"
And Your face at last, I'm going to see

Emmanuel has seen our Lord face-to-face.

Florence, Anais, Asael – we are carrying you in prayer.

Emmanuel – we choose to live out your legacy of family, vision, and joy, by not wasting a day of our lives. Each moment is to be stewarded to a great return.