Greetings come from your fellow Christians, who are your fellow laborers in the Lord.
We are pleased to submit for consideration the report for January 2013. Among other things, the report covers major events that took place during the month of January, including evangelistic outreach, the beginning of the second term of instruction, visit of the vice president of Mission Printing. Also included in the report is the statement of income and expenditure for the month of January 2013.
Beginning of School Term
The second term of instruction at Liberia Bible College started on January 7, 2013 with all of the 15 students returning to school. This term is expected to run from January 7th through March 31st. Second term course schedule meets from Monday until Thursday of each week. The schedule of the classes is as follows:
New Testament Church - 3 hrs - Daniel B. Sackey
Life of Christ - 3 hrs - Philip G. Montgomery
I & II Thessalonians - 3 hrs - Jerry D. Wamah
Public Speaking - 3 hrs - G. Moses Beh
Book of Acts - 3 hrs - Maxwell J. Whea
Biblical Interpretation - 3 hrs - Alassis N. Goldore
Evangelism During the Break
Being on vacation does not stop our students from evangelizing. During the vacation our students taught and preached the word. As they returned to their home congregations for the Christmas and New Year break were actively involved in personal evangelism, teaching Bible classes, visitation, and preaching from the pulpit. Twenty persons received water baptism directly from the work of our students.
Week End Evangelism
For the month January campus based students of the Liberia Bible College were engaged in outreach activities to include personal evangelism, distribution of WBS courses to eager students in the community. Our students baptized four persons and restored three others.
Spotlight on Student Convert
Student Ojuku Smallwood became a new convert in the New Year. Smallwood enrolled at Liberia Bible College in September 2012. He came to the preaching school as a non-Christian. He was only sprinkled as an infant. Having received intensive instruction in the biblical text during the Fall Semester, Smallwood was prepared to make a decision for Christ.
So on the New Year’s Day (January 1, 2013) Smallwood sent a text message to the director of the school declaring that he wanted to become a member of the Lord’s church through baptism. His text follows: “Hi elder, I have made up my mind to be a member of the Lord’s church and is willing to be baptized at anytime. Please help direct or lead me in the upright way.” With great delight, the director was on hand to assist the young man obey the gospel. On January 2, 2013 at about 11:15 a.m. Smallwood was immersed for the remission of sin. He now worships with the brethren at the VP Road Church of Christ.
Visit of Brethren Steven and Renfro
Through the instrumentality of brother Steven Ascraft, brother Richard Renfro, Vice president of Mission Printing, paid a five day visit to Liberia. Both Steven and Renfro arrived in Liberia on the 9th January 2013 and stayed until the 13th of January. During their stay they had a meeting with a committee set up by the director of LBC to manage the distribution of tracts that will be shipped by Mission Printing. Brother Renfro informed the brethren that his organization will be shipping containers laden with tracts (some 750,000 copies) over the next six months or year provided he could get others to share the shipping costs. He also intimated that in case he didn’t find anybody or organization to share costs, he would arrange for several pallets of tracts to be shipped initially.
While at LBC the guests interacted with students and instructors in Chapel. Following couple of songs and introductory students, the guests were given the opportunity to speak to the student body. First to address the audience was Brother Steven whose presentation was centered on false teachers and false teachings. He told his auditors that false teaching or departure comes gradually and with subtlety because false teachers appear harmless as sheep but are ravenous wolves. Using such scriptures as Jude 4, Matthew 7:15, etc. he therefore admonished the students to beware of false teachers and their teachings. For his part, Brother Renfro encouraged the students that they have chosen a worthy vocation. They needed to persevere in their training and not to give up the worthy cause.
Brother Steven Meets with Board
The governing board is the highest decision making body of LBC. The current board is chaired brother David S. Dahn and has nine members including elders, preachers and other church leaders.
Brother Steven, in his effort to encourage consistent and regular Liberian support to the college, met with members of the board on January 12th. In that meeting the board members renewed their commitment to continue to contribute to the budget of the school as well as appeal to local congregations to commit resources as well as recruit students now and in the future.
Brother Renfro Preaches at Smythe Road
On Sunday, January 13, 2013 both brothers Renfro and Steven worshiped with the Smythe Road Church of Christ. Brother Renfro preached the message for the day. His was an evangelistic sermon with text taken from Matt: 28:19 – 20. He briefly historicized about Mission Printing and stated its goal: “World evangelism by the printed page.” He then exhorted the congregation to participate actively in evangelism using tracts in order to enhance the preaching of the gospel. At the close of the sermon, many people went forward for various petitions, with three declaring their intention to be baptized. Those three prospects (two females and one male) were baptized right after service.
Alassis
To see the report with pictures, please click here.