The Church Storms A City In Nigeria...

We thank God today. One Pastor of a denomination heard the gospel through our radio program and stumbled at the gospel tracts of the mission printing distributed during burial ceremony some where at Ikwo side of Ebonyi state. There he traced the church and eventually got baptized into Christ instead of a denomination.

When this information was revealed during our meeting with the Preachers in Ebonyi State yesterday, some brethren(3) and I agreed and decided to visit the Pastor's church. A brother handled moderation and Songs while I handled Sunday school, Sermon, Giving and communion. It is good to hear that all the members (Nine-9) present today were baptized into Christ. That excludes the Pastor who was baptized before today.

I am glad to state that the Lord's church has increased by one today in Ebonyi State. My team and I shall visit again next Sunday to follow up the work. Arrangements to train the Pastor in the Truth as he desires and to build up the church are going to be the collective efforts of the churches of Christ around that area of Ebonyi State. The Pastor and the new church including the entire community need our prayers. We wish to storm the city with the gospel as the door has been opened.

Reuben in His Service.

Planting the Seed in Arusha...

Greetings Fellow Workers:

Stephanie and I thank you, for your continued prayers, words of kindness and concerns, and for your continued support of the TZ2000 mission work. We are indeed blessed beyond measure and are thankful for being part of God’s family. 

I am currently in Ft. Word, iced in! I will be heading back to OK this weekend, sharing God’s mission effort in TZ with others. From there I will head to TN for the Freed lectureship, then back to Hattiesburg to meet with the KW Elders, then on to Warner Robins, GA, then to Hoover, back to Hattiesburg and then fly out on the 22nd for TZ. 

Much of my travels this year have been without Stephanie, who is staying with her mother as she recovers from her accident and who is to have surgery again next week. Please remember them both in your prayers.

Below are three short reports from three of our graduates. I thought you would enjoy, be lifted up and see yet again the power of the Gospel in able bodied, trained evangelists!

“Hello brother Cy

It is our hope that you and your family are doing good back to us we are doing good we traveled through Longido to Engarenabro we did evengelism  five souls obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in Ngarenabro in Longido there is classes which is going on even in Ngarenabro we have people who are very close to be baptize in kioga we are doing good classes are going on also we are trying to restore the backsliders.....yours in Christ.  

DAVID BAYI

Need: Communion Trays - Bibles 500 @ $5 = $2,500

These are the reports I received from Benard and Charles of their work during the year 2010.

BENARD KAGAG

1. I conducted 9 Seminars.
2. 7 Gospel meetings.
3. 3 preachers Bible Classes.
4. 2 New planted churches.
5. 16 Restorations.
6. 21 Baptisms.
7. 14 school visitations.

CHARLES OGUTU

42 - baptisms

17 - Restorations

2  - Churches planted

6 - Gospel meetings

3 - churches restored to N.T doctrine”

I close with two challenges: 

1. Communion Trays (at least 12 sets)
2. 500 Bibles (English and Ki-Swahili)

We need some communion trays for some of the new Church plants. If you have used ones or would like to purchase new ones, let me know and I will send you a mailing address to send them to. 

If you would like to purchase Bibles please send the funds to Kensington Woods to be transferred to TZ, with a short note for the purpose of the donation. 

We thank you all and pray God’s richest blessing be upon you in the coming year as you serve Him faithfully. 

In Him, Cy & Stephanie

To our Supporters, Family, and Friends, 

We are very happy and appreciative that Chad Wagner and his father, John Wagner, came here on short notice, answering the "Macedonian Call" when one of our teachers was unable to make the long trip.  Chad will be teaching Advanced Biblical Exegesis and Church History at the ACSOP and John, an electrician, will be busy working as a handy-man with Elly (our building and maintenance supervisor for TZ 2000).

Emmanuel Mwizerwa, a graduate student, preached on the topic of brotherly love this morning at Kisongo.  Trena’s Genesis class studied the first half of chapter six.  The subjects we discussed were (1) the all-seeing eye of God, vs. 5 (2) walking with God, vs. 9 and (3) God's deliverance of the righteous.

On Friday, Trena studied with new converts, Katherine and Therasia concerning "How Do We Know the Bible is From God?"  These very attentive ladies were almost "sitting on the edge of their seats" and hanging on every word.  They asked good questions, one being, "Are there any other 'Bibles' out there that God has written?"  It is a real joy to teach people who are so interested. Katherine's friend, Agnes, joined us about half-way through.  She is not a Christian yet, so we agreed to also study separately with her Saturday evening. 

On Saturday, a total of fourteen ladies attended the monthly 2-hour Child-Training class.  Trena was very encouraged by the attendance and by the fact that four ladies arrived early.  The remainder showed up only 15 minutes later (big improvement).  Laughing and learning at the same time, we used a large Pooh Bear as the "mtoto" (child) being trained.  The goal is to lay a foundation of biblical principles and show practical ways to train children to obey.

Our study with 23-year-old Agnes went well.  She and her husband "Burtwell" are expecting their first baby in April.  When she lived in Mbeya she attended the Lutheran church. She was asked several questions, one being "why do you want to study the Bible?"  She replied, "to find out more about God so I can follow Him."

For the past few months, a Catholic lady has "set up shop" up the hill from our house.  Bus loads of gullible people arrive at her place about twice weekly for prayer and for personal "blessings" ...all for a price, of course.  It's a great opportunity to hand out tracts and set up Bible studies with people coming and going who are searching for spiritual guidance.

Our deep appreciation is extended to you for your love, prayers, interest and support of this fruitful work.  It truly is a privilege to work on the TZ 2000 team and to live in Tanzania, East Africa.  Have a wonderful day! 

Because He Lives,

The Jimmy Gee family

Planning The Future of BVBIU...

Greetings, dear brethren,

Hope you are doing well. January was a very productive month for us and we accomplished everything that had been planned. We thank God for your support and your prayers.

Trips to the Churches of Christ & potential students.  

On January 2 my wife and I visited our friends (Valeriy and Julia Kachuk) in Kharkov and worshiped with Kharkiv Church of Christ (Alekseevsky district). We have very good relationship with the preacher of this congregation and hopefully next year we will have a student from Kharkov. His name is Vlad. Please pray for him.

On January 22 we went to a rehabilitation center that is located in the village of Malomihailovka in Dnepropetrovsk region (they work with alcoholics and drug addicts). The center had been established by church of Christ Christians. Our purpose was to tell them about the Institute and invite people who were seriously interested.

Also we have plans to pay a visit to Church of Christ in Petrovsky district of Donetsk. It’s one of the largest congregations in Ukraine that has its own eldership. They are looking forward to seeing us and would like to hear about the Institute and its work.   

Also I was contacted by two more church of Christ members. One of them is a young lady from Russia. Her name is Julia. And the other one is a guy from Kramatorsk whose name is Yury. They’d like to join the program beginning next school year. Please pray for them too.  

Work at the Institute. 

Everything is fine with the Bible program. During this month the first year students had Joshua, Judges, Ruth and these were taught by Alexander Rodnaev who is a preacher in Krasnoarmeysk. Now they are studying 1 and 2 Samuel  taught by Viktor Semikoz and the Book of Isaiah taught by Andrew Zhuravlev.  

The second year students had 1 and 2 Thessalonians that I taught and The World Religions taught by Albert Bagdasaryan. At present they are having Prison Epistles. All of our instructors have Master Degree from Bear Valley.

We rent a gym for our students. We play soccer and volleyball there. Not only our students but the young people who come to the Central Church of Christ in Gorlovka go there too. I think it’s a very good evangelical strategy and also a bonus for us in attracting new students.  

Heating And Utility Bills

This year we can’t use our heating fully, the prices on electricity in Ukraine went 30% up. We are still using electric fans and convectors in the classrooms. Practically all utility bills went 10-20% up (the land lease, water bill, taxes on the workers in the building). 

Work In The Lord’s Vineyard

One of our students leads the worship service at his house in Dimitrov. His name is Roman Kamaev. Please pray for him and the future of the church in this city. My family is fully involved in the work of Central congregation in Gorlovka. We are trying to encourage the brethren and be useful in all spheres of service. I like to work with the preacher (Andrew Zhuravlev). I think we are a good team. Last Sunday my wife Vera taught the Ladies’ class – it was her debut.   

Thank you again for the prayers, patience and care that you provide for us. The students and I give our regards to all of you and we all are really looking forward to Howell, Denton and many other brothers (if it’s God’s will) coming to Ukraine.   

“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36)

The need of having the Bible Institute in Ukraine.   

At present the mission that is being accomplished by the Bible Institute can not be underestimated. First of all, we constantly get together with the preachers who hold on to the sound doctrine. Secondly, we train men with the right understanding of the Biblical doctrines. Thirdly, we are trying to influence the liberal movement that is present in Ukraine. And fourthly, we are enlarging the circle of communication and spread the right doctrine. 

I think these are weighty factors for the God’s work in Ukraine, just like Paul wrote in 2Tim. 4:2-3. The work needs to be continued with all the responsibility before the Lord. 

If you have some comments or wishes please let me know. Also I have a request: if you have some important books that we need to have in our library please send them to us. We will find a way to have them translated.  

May the Lord bless you, 

Your brother in Christ, 

Dennis

An Exciting Future For Cambodia

Greetings brethren! It is my honor to share some wonderful news about the work of Christ in Cambodia for the past month. We are having a great start to the new year and are praying that you all are too. God has blessed the work here in so many ways and I would like to share those blessings with you so that you can rejoice with us. 

First and foremost, I would like to thank brother Joe Hickey and the congregation at Portal Way for their continual demonstration of love for the work here. Joe is such a wonderful Christian example to the churches here in Cambodia. I thank God for great leaders like him in the Lord's church. He is definitely a great example of an elder and inspires many of us to want to be qualified to be elders in the future. It's fitting that he taught 1 and 2 Tim/Titus as a short course, because he is a living example on what it takes to be an elder in the Lord's church. We will miss him as he will depart tomorrow night. 

We are able to purchase land for the church in Takam village due to its growth. We hope to build a Christian school in the future over there and teach God's word along with basic education that the villagers lack. We pray that God will provide the resources needed for such a goal. 

The picture left is a sewing machine that Joe Hickey and family purchased for the home. We will train Sopen how to sew and she will in turn train the others. They will be able to make clothes for the children themselves! 

This month we had a total of 4 new souls added to the church! Glory to God for such a bountiful increase! Hannah's hope also took in and saved another infant. We thank God for that great work and its influence. This is Sopen (Hout's wife) and Chanrith (our newest edition to HH). He is 7 weeks old and was severly malnourished when we took him in. He is doing a lot better now and we look forward to raising him up in the admonition of the Lord!

Saran and Ussa got married on the 20th! Darat and Saray are next in line, their wedding date is set for April 1st. It's encouraging to see Christians marrying Christians in a Buddhist country. We are starting a wonderful foundation with these students. The future looks bright for Cambodia if we can continue to use God's word to guide us in all of our choices, not just choosing our spouse. I am so blessed to be a part of this wonderful work. I know that Saran, Ussa, Darat, Saray and anyone else will have a wonderful marriage if they stick to God's Word for guidance! I wholeheartedly believe that because its happening before my eyes in my marriage! God is so good. 

The church in Siem Reap will host its second annual lectureship in the month of March with the theme, "Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" from Eph 4:1-6. This program will give our staff the opportunity to learn, gain experience, and grow at the same time teaching others to do the same. I will give more details concerning this activity as it approaches. 

This is our new brother in Christ with Sokchea at Leang Dai village. It's very rare to have a man at Leang Dai so this was truly a blessing from God. Sokchea can now teach and train him to help in leading worship services!

 This is Yao, our newest sister in Christ. She came to Christ by way of Hannah's Hope's influence. She is a neighboring child who came in to study with our orphans for a few months before she decided to follow Christ.

The work continues to grow and be exciting. We really look forward to this new year and pray that God will continue to bless this work. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to keep you in our prayers.

Phanat

Me, my beautiful daughter Katesana (8 months), and virtuous wife Chakriya in front of the Hannah's Hope's new playground set!

Freed Hardeman Lectureship...

Next Sunday marks the beginning of the 75th annual Freed Hardeman Lectureship at Freed Hardeman University. The lectureship provides opportunities on a number of levels.

First, and foremost, the lectureship is designed to present the sound truth of God’s word. Several faithful men throughout the brotherhood are assembled to speak on various subjects. This year’s focus is “Proclamation and Promise: Major Themes in the Minor Prophets.” The subjects are handled in a manner to present the truth powerfully and lovingly.

Second, the lectureship affords opportunity to connect with brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world. A time of reuniting with others gives a glimpse of how incredible heaven will be when we are united around the throne of God. While the lessons are powerful, the singing is incredible. It makes me look forward to gathering around the throne of God.

Third, the lectureship opens doors to share the work of the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver. Training men to preach in Denver and 15 other locations around the world is one of the most exciting works on earth. The more we can inform others of this work, the more exciting it becomes for everyone.

Finally, the lectureship makes it possible to learn about the work in the Lord’s kingdom in other locations. It is encouraging and uplifting to hear of the great ways God is working through His people, both domestically and internationally.

I want to invite you to join us at the Freed Hardeman Lectures. Stop by the Bear Valley booth and visit. We look forward to seeing you there. 

The reports from the extension schools are listed below. I always enjoy reading about the work in this program. Please take a moment to read through the reports turned in. It has been another exciting week.

Coordinator Updates

Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is /extension-schools/

Gary Fallis and Jerry Bates are now in Visakhapatnam, India to work with the Visakha Valley Bible College, one of Bear Valley’s Extension Schools. Please remember them in their travels.

Donnie Bates is now in Honduras. Read Donnie's latest report.

Extension Reports

Evangelizing Cambodia: The report from Cambodia continues to show growth.

Short Courses Begin in Visakhapatnam: John Dean shares a report about the classes in India.

Campaign In Cameroon: The Extension in Cameroon just completed a successful campaign. Read brother Elangwe's report. 

God Gives The Increase In Arusha: Jimmy and Trina Gee continue to report great news in Arusha. 

From Persecution to Opportunity: Read Willie's report about the continued efforts in Togo.

Final Thoughts

I feel compelled to apologize for the length of the reports each week. However, at the same time, I can hardly believe how awesome it is to read about the work around the world. I know you feel the same.

I am thankful for all of the men who are laboring in the kingdom, who love sharing the progress of the work. I share in the excitement and it charges my batteries to know their diligence and success. Thank you for communicating so adequately and frequently. 

I also want to thank each of you for taking time to read the reports and share them with others who can benefit from knowing about the work. Thank you for your support of Extension Training. I look forward to sharing more each week.

God bless

Bob

From Persecution to Opportunity...

Center for Biblical Studies, Kpalime, Togo

The following report from Willie Gley continues to remind us of the difficulties the men who are in school face in standing true to the gospel.

In my last report I mentioned the difficult situation in which David finds himself as a preacher. His former boss was angry with him for leaving the church that brought him to Akpadape about nine years ago. He was evicted and warned not to have anything to do with the church. Later, David was 

summoned to appear before a judge in Kpalime, his crime was that he left the church and has taken some members with him to Church of Christ.  The judge referred them to the chief of Akpadape to resolve the conflict. The two parties appeared before the chief but he also concluded by 2.

Saying it was not a crime to leave one church for another. The surprising thing was that, the chief became interested in knowing more about the Church of Christ and therefore requested some literature to read. Now, we are contemplating organizing an open air preaching in the 

village. During my visit in December for the end of year program, I visited the chief’s palace to meet the chief and the elders of the village. The meeting was cordial and the chief expressed his appreciation for the Church. David has now been summoned to appear before his former Church council in 

Lome the capital of Togo. I will inform you of the outcome. 

Willie Gley

Evangelizing Cambodia...

Greeting in behalf of the church in Siem Reap

I am exiting to write you this report, after reading some news and leadership which posted by brother Bob Turner that helped me to grow more as a leader.

There is some news that happened recently in Siem Reap, such as Takam now. The church there owns a piece of property that can be useful for the villagers over there and villages around. We as the local people and local members of the church at Takam appreciate brother Joe Hickey and brethren from his congregation who helped to get this property as the church at Takam requested, in purpose to build another small building to have separate classes between adult and children. As some of you may know, we have children at Takam much more than adults and it is a little bit difficult for them to study together. Now children are meeting at one of the members house, but her house is small and cannot keep all the children and the owner worries about her house that soon will break down. That's why they requested this and I think it would be a benefit for the church up there and especially the gospel can reach more and more people at the villages around. Lord willing we can build up the school there for children (this is just my opinion). We need to talk about this with the brethren in Bear Valley to see what we can come up with this situation. 

The work of evangelism is going alright. Last week we went to join in a wedding of our students down to Svay Reang next to the border of Vietnam. Everything went well, but Phanat's car got a flat tire three times when we were on the way back, which is amazing to me. This is also the first time for me to experience something like that. 

Concerning the school, I'll let brother Phanat let you know more about it. 

All in all, everything is doing okay here in Siem Reap, Cambodia and I am very appreciate to you all for your support and prayers, encouraging also your love for the work of God in Cambodia.

May our mighty God bless you. 

I love you all brethren.

Chann

Short Courses Begin In Visakhapatnam...

Greetings to you in the precious name of Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.   We are all doing fine, having a great time during these short course classes.

Gary Fallis & Jerry Bates arrived on Saturday at 1 pm. I came from Skinner's Garden to pick them up and drop them at the hotel.  Sunday, they both worshipped with the congregation that meets at the school. Jerry preached a good sermon from Luke 5 about how to become real disciples of Christ. Except 4 students who worship here, everybody else went to their respective places to conduct worship services. 

Sunday afternoon they did not have much to do, so they took rest to get ready for next day class.  

Monday, our students and faculty have given a great welcome to both Gary and Jerry.  We had all the students present for both classes. They are going on well. Today we had 18 undergrad students and 16 of them are regular. We have 9 graduate students present.   

Our undergrad students are having great time during the Leadership class taught by Jerry bates. He is doing great job teaching the subject of 'Leadership'  This class is very practical which our students are enjoying. I bet this would help them a lot to do serious work on making themselves as leaders.  

They had a nice stay at the same hotel. Since they have to come to school each day to teach the classes, I am driving them back and forth everyday. It is taking 45 minutes to travel one way to pick them and 45 minutes to bring them to school. We pray that our Lord will open doors so that our brethren would have a facility to stay in the school premises, which would help us to save lot of time and money.  Hope things would workout for good.  

Thats all about the short courses until today....more as the days progress. All our students, faculty and staff send their greetings to you.  

In Christ,

John Dean Muppidi

God Gives The Increase In Arusha...

Hello Fellow-Workers,

Our neighbor Katherine was baptized into Christ!  If we understood correctly, she had previously studied with Jacob Jensen and Stephanie Stafford (many months ago) before studying with me during the past 5 weeks. We are thankful for the good foundation of knowledge that was laid before my studies with her. The titles of our lessons were "Seeking God,", "Finding God," "Jesus---The Way, The Truth and The Life" (2 lessons) and "Jesus---The Way to the Church." We never asked her if she wanted to be baptized...only presented her with the Truth. It is a thrill to study with "spiritually hungry" people and be a part of the TZ 2000 Mission Work.

The new Christian, Therasia and Trina met to discuss which topics she would like to study. She believes the Bible IS the Word of God but is curious as to how we have it. Trina plans to use the book "How Do You Know the Bible is From God" by Kyle Butt, M.A. as the basis for our study. We very excited and plan to invite other new Christians. Therasia lives with her husband, Peter, and 1 year old daughter, in a very small, 2-room mud hut. Afterwards she showed us their small corn field, stating that if rain didn't come soon their efforts would be in vain. Last week, while Therasia and Peter were attending church services, someone brought their cow over to eat from their corn field. We told her not to let that discourage her from attending (Matthew 6:33).

To update you on Lembris and Rosemary (new Christians):  Rosemary continues to be faithful despite family problems. Lembris has missed several services and needs our prayers. We will continue to study with them as long as they are willing. Thank you for allowing us to be here and spread the Good News.

Our monthly Child-Training class is scheduled for this Saturday and we hope the attendance remains high. These mothers are interested in knowing how to train their children to live godly so that future generations will walk in Truth. We feel humbled and privileged to teach this class…which also reminds us of our personal duty.

Some of the graduate students of ACSOP have begun to arrive. We busy finalizing things for the new incoming undergraduate class (presently twelve students) who will begin their studies on February 14th. Lindsey and Abigail will be taking the Genesis course (taught by their father) on Mondays and Wednesdays.

We are enjoying good health and very warm days with very little rain. When rain is scarce, we have to buy water ($28 for 2,000 liters or, when available, $50 for 10,000 liters). What we are mainly paying for is the fuel required to deliver it. This extra expense is irritating because we have already paid the yearly fee (required in advance) due to our being on the government water line. There is no refund for the absence of water...you pay but you don't always get what you pay for. When our landlord paid (quite a bit) to hook this house up to the government water line, it was in our agreement that our rent would be raised. Previously we just had to depend on rain water and we bought water every month. Now our rent cost is higher and we STILL have to buy water in the dry season. Stay tuned for next week when I harp on the electrical outages and the high cost of petrol to run the generator! All that aside, Tanzania is a great place to live and work! 

On a very, very sad note, Matthew's physical therapist (Stephen) died recently due to drowning in the ocean. Stephen, about 30 years old, was married and had a newborn. His death as a non-Christian has broken my heart and has been a painful reminder  that "today is the day of salvation.” TODAY, ask an unsaved person if he/she would like to study or simply invite them to services. Stephen was a great person...but now must suffer eternally. Oh, the regret of not being more diligent to share the Good News with him.

In Christ (our only hope for salvation),

The Gee family

Campaign in Cameroon

Dearest in Christ,

It is amazing to say hello to you and to all those around you this moment.  We are excited about your welfare. We are appreciating God for you and your family because of all that you do for the gospel of Jesus.

Your family here in CBIW is doing great. We thank God for His care and providence to us and the work He has entrusted in our hands.

Brethren, you can’t imagine how time flies. CBIW is already one month in existence and we are thankful to God for the work so far, which is becoming interesting daily to our students and the staff. Students are all up right in health and their morality for this past month that we spent together. It is our prayer that all we planned to do keeps going smoothly so that we shall always have opportunity to appreciate God.

The studies keep exposing our students to the realities of the Ministry of Christ. It sounds very wonderful for them as they confessed, they shall never regret their Divine calling into the ministry of preaching to save souls (PROV 11:30).

Last week was characterized with a test from all lecturers just for us to see how far our students are able to absorbed the knowledge. Next week we shall mark the script and we shall really see the realities of our findings. Just wait as we shall share that with you.

Thursday, after school the students and I embarked on a trip which is marked in history as our first missionary journey to MALENDE church of Christ. This is a congregation which was established above 30 years ago but it is still a baby at that age.

We used the other hired van till we reached our destination safe and sound. The students set for work as they stormed the village. You can see brother Norbert and brother Muofo Bernard preaching to this couple for house to house evangelism. Other students where scattered all over the village. This was the time for us to put into practice our school motto, EVANGELISM IS OUR MISSION, AND OUR MISSION IS EVANGELISM.

Mulango baptized another convert. We really appreciate God for blessing our efforts of evangelism to help that weak congregation with 8 souls and 4 restoration and more than 20 prospects who came for worship this Sunday but need to be baptize. The work really is great but few laborers,(Matt 9:36-38). What shall be the fate of the church which has been strengthen to that level? The students are back in school. Who will conserve these souls and nurture them to maturity? There is no preacher. That is our worries.

You can see our students being happy for the first outing which was fruitful both physically and spiritually. The host congregation, even though in that state, gave food stuff  like plantains (bananas), garri, and cooking oil to the students. This will help feed the students for some weeks.

The host congregation appreciated CBIW for the wonderful work and the revitalization of their spirits  and prays that CBIW administration think about them daily, and should do everything possible to transport a student on weekends to come and help them while they will help in feeding the student when ever he is around. The question to this appeal is difficult for CBIW because of finances.

The congregation also offered a special prayers for CBIW and Bear Valley and all those who are in partner to see that this work keeps moving because the school will do great things in Cameroon in the area of evangelism and demolishing all strong holds of the devil.

The student’s commitment for evangelism was a strong tool for growth and also a way of attracting other young men who have shown interest to come to school to be trained. But I have encouraged them to stay focus till 2013 for the next intake. We are happy because we see our prayers answered with glory to His name.

The presence of CBIW in this lectureship created a strong hope for the future of the church in Cameroon. Many congregations will need them in their areas to help, just like the Macedonian call to Paul. We are willing to go far and near, but we presently have no strong financial means to meet up with all this invitations. The nature of the congregations here is pitiful. They are not capable to help us financially to help them. That is a stumbling block for the work, but we are trusting God to take it off our way.

Mile fourteen congregation came crying that we should come over to their place and dismantle denominationalism in February, ending before the school goes for break for the first quarter in March. We have accepted, but we still put all our trust in God to support us with any means for us to go and do His will. Soul saving is our business.

We continue our classes normally again, as we enter another week full with activities. We pray you will always remember us and see how you can push this work ahead.

Stay blessed and stay safe and sound. We do appreciate you for all you are doing for us. Please continue because we lack words to appreciate your gestures towards us. Do your best to tell others about this work. I am very excited that God has given the power to serve, and I am happy with all that He is helping me to accomplished. Please, you are the tool in His hands. God bless you, the church and your family. 

Elangwe Esowe Greg

By His grace Director of CBIW

Changes In Chimala...

Changes of a wonderful nature recently began with the work in Chimala. Previously, two schools of preaching operated at the Chimala Mission. The Chimala School of Preaching (CSOP) is a nationally operated Tanzanian school taught in Swahili. The Chimala Bible College (CBC) is a Bear Valley Extension taught in English to students from Tanzania and Malawi.

Beginning this month, these two schools will come under one umbrella as one Extension for the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver. The Extension will be known as the Chimala Bible Institute (CBI). Both sides of the program will still exist, one taught in Swahili and the other in English. This approach will allow students from southern Tanzania and northern Malawi to learn in their own languages.

Garry Hill will serve as the Administrator for the Chimala Bible Institute. Several local men will share administrative and teaching responsibilities within both sides of the work. Howell Ferguson will continue to coordinate the Extension. Rebecca Benson will assist Garry in some of the administrative responsibilities, serve as the librarian and dean of women. A complete report is included below with all the development news. Please take time to read about the exciting news. Bear Valley is excited to see these two schools come together and serve as one extension for the Bible Institute.

Coordinator Updates

Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is /extension-schools/

Gary Fallis and Jerry Bates are now in Visakhapatnam, India to work with the Visakha Valley Bible College, one of Bear Valley’s Extension Schools. Please remember them in their travels.

Extension Reports

Powerful Preaching In Nigeria: Chad Wagner reports about the work in Nigeria, including information about the Extension in Abakaliki. Please read his report.

Chimala Reorganizes: The full report explains all the details about the latest changes in Chimala.

An Interesting Week In Arusha: Take a moment to read the news in the Gee's report.

Work Extends In Cameroon: The outreach of the new school in Cameroon is making an impact in several ways. Read the latest report.

Impact In India: John Dean explains the latest development with the work connected to the Visakha Valley Bible College in India.

Exciting News At ITL: This is worth the read. Byron and Hawatthia report about news of a van for the school.

Final Thoughts

I know the reports appear to be getting longer with each passing month in the Extension Work. It is exciting for me to see the flow of communication improving with those who are serving as coordinators, administrators, directors, teachers and everyone connected overseas.

As each report brings news of the activities in each location, we grow in our understanding of the work. For everyone receiving the Weekly Report, you are beginning to see the magnitude of what is taking place around the world. I am so thankful to have a part in such an awesome mission.

I think my favorite quote of the week is the motto for the Cameroon Bible Institute of Wotutu,  “Evangelism is our mission, and our mission is evangelism.” Now there is something worth chewing on. This should be the focus of every Christian in every country on every continent in the world. It certainly lines up with the purpose of Extension Training. Thank you for being a partner with us and sharing in this work.

I pray God will richly bless you all.

Make a great day.

Bob

An Interesting Week In Arusha...

Dear Co-Laborers:

As some of you know, Jimmy has been in the states for 2-3 weeks and that is why there has been no report from us.  It was certainly not due to a lack of activity.  

First of all, a member named Zeno had been studying with his wife, Sophia, for some time.  She had also attended some of the services of the church.  After further study, she was ready to put on Christ in baptism last Sunday.  What a wonderful day!

Trena’s study with Katherine is going very well. One of her questions was "Will Muslims go to the same Hell as other sinners?" That was an easy question to answer. Her neighbor is interested in studying and asked to join us next week.  Also, a new Christian named Tarissa, the wife of Peter (see, Peter did have a wife!) requested further study in order to strengthen her faith.  How many people have asked you to study the Bible with them this week?  This past year? 

Right before Jimmy left to go to the states, a 5000 liter water tank was stolen from the school.  It wasn't the first time items had been stolen. Several of the Tanzanian staff decided they would play detective and get to the bottom of the case.  They sent out some "local private eyes" and found the water tank at a wealthy man's house.  Long story short, the man was in the habit of knowingly buying stolen goods from these thieves.  A week after his arrest, he was in court facing the Tanzanian representatives of the ACSOP.  Because the judge assigned was going very "soft" on the accused, the representatives from the school accused him of taking a bribe from the wealthy man.  The judge immediately excused himself from the case and the accused decided to settle out of court.  He returned the water tank and agreed to pay all the expenses (from paying fuel for the vehicles to paying the "private eyes") involved in the case.

While Jimmy was gone, Trena awoke one morning to find a snake (2 ft long...may not seem long to you but it was to Trena!) making its way into the bathroom. Our guard earned his entire months' salary just for killing that snake!

We have two visitors here from Texas:  Stan and Carol Crowley. Stan conducted a seminar yesterday on the Fundamentals of the Faith, preached at Arusha this morning, will do personal evangelism this week, plus teach our class at Kisongo on Wednesday night.  If you will come and visit, we promise to keep you busy!

By next Saturday the graduate students should be here ready to start class on Monday the 31^st. Jimmy will be teaching Old Testament Criticism and Chad Wagner of Arkansas will teach Advanced Biblical Exegesis the next week. After that, Chad will teach Church History to the incoming class of undergraduates. They are supposed to start on Monday, Feb. 14. Jimmy is looking forward to the new class and school year. Thanks for all you do to make it possible for us to be here!

In Christ,

The Gees

Work Extends In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

It is amazing to share with you over there. We bring you God’s grace and best of life, as we share with you from the big CBIW family. We thank you for your prayers and concern over this family here in Wotutu, Cameroon.

We are still excited over what is happening here in CBIW. We still stay focused over our mission which is to monitor our student’s performance and to equip them well for the great task of planting and nurturing congregations around the country.

The school is planning for outreaches which will make Christians feel the impact of the school in their different congregations. We are also enhancing the spiritual formation and academic development of the student’s hard work and practice of worship. They are not allowed to preach now in the Wotutu congregation and during chapel, but after this first quarter they shall be giving opportunity to do so.

We thank God for the past week as all that was on the agenda went on well. The lecturers were all on time to carry on with their lectures and the students were ready on their part to receive lectures with open hearts.

In this picture, director brother Elangwe Esowe and two other students sit on a bike set to travel to Tole congregation for Bible studies. The bike is the means of transportation now, but we are believing in God for a school Bus which will help in many ways for our campaigns as we shall start fully after this first quarter to meet up with the focus of the school which is EVANGELISM IS OUR MISSION, AND OUR MISSION IS EVANGELISM.

We are also thankful to God for the French students who are coping well with the studies in English. They are here in the school because we are having the vision to start up a French department of CBIW upon their graduation, so that CBIW will be able to reach out to the whole nation and neighboring French speaking countries.

CBIW is doing great things as the news keeps flowing over the country. We are having visitors on a daily basis come and visit the school and attend chapel service and some spent vital time listening to lectures. That is what we prayed for and it is happening the same way. Glory be to God.

The week was not the best with the student’s health but we appreciate God as everything is under control. This coming week is a week characterized with lectures and test. We want to see how far the students are acquiring the knowledge.

Students received back from lecturers’ assignments papers and it is really encouraging. It brings joy into the hearts of the four lecturers that the students are really on the right track with the studies.

This picture shows the students on the road, keeping fit. They do sports every Saturday to help the studentskeep fit.

Please, we appeal to you to keep us in your prayers as the students will be going for their first outing this weekend for Bible lectureship in the Malende congregation. It is about 32 kilometers from Wotutu. They will be there with the director from the 27 Jan to the 30 January, when they will return to the school. This outing will give ample opportunity for students to do house to house evangelism for three days and worship with the congregation on Sunday. It is another way to expose the school to other Christians and to also prepare their minds for student’s individual campaigns in March at the end of the first quarter.

We wish you the best as you continue your prayers and support for this great work in Cameroon. Stay blessed in all that you do for the Lord.

The greatest worry now in the school is that we do not have a canteen and students are not allowed to leave the campus to any where to buy some basic things. We hope to put that in place with the shortest possible time.

By his grace director

Elangwe Esowe Greg

CBIW

Chimala Reorganizes...

Garry Hill and Rebecca Benson moved to the Chimala Mission on January 15, 2011 to operate the preaching school aspect of the Mission. The New York Avenue elders, as overseers of the Chimala Mission, have given Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver (BVBID) permission to run the preaching school. New York Avenue church of Christ still finances the majority of the school’s budget. Garry is the school’s Administrator and functions as Academic Dean under New York Avenue and BVBID. Rebecca works as the Administrative Assistant, the school Librarian, and the Dean of Women. Howell Ferguson is the Stateside Coordinator under BVBID.

Chimala Bible Institute (CBI) successfully started on January 17, 2011 at 7:45 AM. CBI’s two departments were formally the Chimala Bible College and the Chimala School of Preaching. They are now the English and Swahili Departments, respectively.

The English Department has 13 students, 7 first years and 6 second years. Peter Kamatula is the Director of the English Department.

The Swahili Department has 14 students (half are first and half are second years). Joseph Haongo is the Director of this department.

Six prospective students from the Congo, who are living in refugee camps, have expressed an interest in attending the Chimala Bible Institute. They wish to learn more about the Bible and methods of preaching so they can return to their war-torn country and preach the gospel. Also we found out this week that ten students per year have been slated to come to CBI from the Tanzania Bible College in Dar-Es-Salaam. Brother Hill and Sister Benson already have plans to travel across the country and to Malawi to recruit new students. Our current student capacity is 50 students. We want to be able to expand our capacity to correspond with the interest to attend CBI. Last year alone at least 10 to 12 students were denied the opportunity to study at the Chimala Bible Institute because of lack of funds.

We have had one meeting on the general operation of the school and one meeting on the evangelism aspect of the school. The first meeting resulted in three basic principles:

1) Keep things the way they are as much as possible.

2) Continuing education is required for all teachers.

3) Form 4 will be required to enter the bachelor’s program starting next year.

We will also be working on the curriculum to make sure that all degrees offered are equal to the degrees offered at Bear Valley in Denver. We will be creating curriculum for an Associate’s degree. This degree will most likely take place through the Swahili program as it is not as intensive as the English program.

Another exciting development in the improvement of quality in training at CBI is the introduction of the Master’s program on April 25^th. We are already at our maximum of 15 students that we can enroll in the Master’s program. Seven students are currently on the waiting list. Interest is rapidly growing in the Master’s program and is exceeding our current resources.

Rebecca will be spending an inordinate amount of time organizing and cataloguing the library. She will also teach an intense course concerning library research and how to write research papers. Rebecca will also help the students improve their English so they can go on to the Bachelor’s program if they so desire. Women’s classes will further be incorporated to teach female students about women’s responsibilities and abilities in the church and evangelism.

The students will be widely involved in evangelism, teaching Bible knowledge classes at the primary and secondary schools, and improving the CBI campus. We have plans to repair buildings, build more desks and chairs, convert one of the classrooms into the chapel room, create a new sign, and remodel the dormitories. Student representatives were selected from each department and specific teachers were selected to take care of the food and dormitory requirements.

We also discussed the need for a tardy system. We want to make sure students are earning the classroom hours corresponding to their degrees. Teachers will be responsible for taking note of absent and tardy students and reporting them to the secretary for entrance into each student’s record. A new student database will be created containing detailed information on each student.

A new faculty hierarchy was created and is attached. In addition to that is a list of positions and their specific responsibilities. Each faculty member will be given a copy of these two sheets so that everyone understands their responsibilities.

The meeting about evangelism began with the 2010 report. Joseph, as director of CSOP, was in charge of evangelism last year. He reported there were 267 baptisms and 161 restorations. This year evangelism will be a cooperation between the two departments and under the direction of Joseph and Peter. Each weekend, a group of students will go out to a different village to participate in door-knocking campaigns and preaching the gospel. Seminars this year will include the Bible Cup, the Gospel Chariot, and a ladies’ seminar, among others. Students will be highly involved in the Gospel Chariot, which will take place July 18 through August 28. We will be expanding our radius to include more churches. This will result in the need for more space to house visiting congregations.

We will be meeting about dormitory improvements at the beginning of next week. Currently two million shillings (about $1500) are available for these improvements. We want to be able to build a new dorm and convert the oldest dorm into a combined dining and kitchen area. We also want to make study areas available at the dormitories, either in the form of a gazebo or desks and chairs in the rooms or both.

We are very excited about the improvements coming to the new Chimala Bible Institute.

Exciting News At ITL...

Greetings from the south!!!

We pray that this message finds you well and enjoying this brand new year. We are doing fine here in Guatemala. We arrived back to Guatemala on late Monday night, January 10. 

Last Tuesday night was a very exciting time for the Instituto Teológico Latinoamericano (ITL). In fact, the entire afternoon was filled with emotions as we led up to that night's events. As most of you know we have been raising funds to purchase transportation for ITL. Now we have it! The Lord blessed us to be able to raise most of the funds to purchase a BRAND NEW diesel 15 passenger Nissan Urvan.

Please allow us to tell you a little about the evening. First, all the staff, students and their families went to a local restaurant for dinner. After dinner our president made lapel pin presentations to the local teachers. This was the first presentation of these pins to anyone. Following the lapel pin presentations, we did what HAS to be done at every official gathering: announcements! :-) And, following the announcements, everyone was invited to go outside for a quick outdoor excursion.

This was very exciting as we all stepped outside and on the other side of the parking lot was a beautiful new van with a giant red bow on the front of it. And, as we got closer there was a magnetic sign on the van with the institute's name and logo. At this point there was no doubt that the van belonged to ITL.  A couple of the students began crying. Our ITL truck driver, Francisco Ramos, was in shock and did not know what to say. The students and their families walked around the van, touched it and made remarks like “wow - look at this!”

The president presented van key to Francisco Ramos. It had been decided that since he, for more than a year and a half, had driven our somewhat dependable ITL truck (really, it was Francisco's pickup), he would be the first to drive the new van back to the institute. It was also decided that our students and their families would be the first to be passengers as the van went for the first to time to ITL. Of course, everyone was ready to leave to experience a comfortable ride home until they heard that dessert awaited everyone back in the restaurant.

We returned inside where a carrot cake with a big “congratulations” on it and ice cream awaited us.  Someone commented that this would be a true test for the van with a full load of passengers all full of cake and ice cream. :-) After dessert we went back outside. The sentiments were still high. They walked around the van. They got in and out of the van. They touched the van to make sure it was real. _ What a blessing from God! Afterwards, everyone loaded up and headed home. Byron got the privilege of driving the truck home and NO ONE offered to ride with him. :-)

THANK YOU for the love and concern for the Guatemala work. We send a special THANK YOU to all who contributed funds to help make this moment a reality for the ITL family. Without generous people like you willing to allow God to use you in this way, we would not have enjoyed an evening such as this. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

As we close let us inform you to be on the look out for other messages from us coming soon. One will be an invitation for you to come to Guatemala to be a part of our first ITL graduation. The graduation event will be combined with our 2nd Annual ITL Lectureship. So, it will be a great time to “experience Guatemala.” The dates are Thursday, March 31 through Sunday, April 2. Lord willing, you should receive all the details very soon. PLEASE make plans to be with us!!!!

May the God of heaven shower His blessings on each one of you! We love you! Enjoy the pictures that follow.

Con amor en Cristo,

Hawatthia

Byron

Powerful Preaching In Nigeria...

The Lord Is Good!

The Lord is always good to us! We should always wait upon the Lord to provide for whatever is needed! The mission work in Nigeria is no different. The Lord is busy working through His ministers in Nigeria to reach lost souls with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Ebere Ezurike is a fantastic preacher in Nigeria who is a tireless worker for the Lord. Read below an excerpt from his recent report." I will continue to teach well thought out lessons to the congregation where I am serving on Sunday morning, mid-weeks and any time an opportunity called for teaching here.   I will also preach Bible sermons that are aimed at the needs of the congregation here. I shall continue to help the church next to our community where I teach Bible classes every Thursday.  I will continue my ministry among the old women who are mostly widows -- a work I carry out through my wife.  

I shall continue to work with other preachers in Ugwunagbo to evangelize all the corners of Ugwunagbo L.G.A and its environs. Every 3rd Saturday of the month we go out to one community and preach. That have given birth to a young congregation at Amavo-oza in Ugwunagbo L.G.A. We have raised some money locally to build a meeting hall for this church but we have been hindered by the activities of kidnappers, but now that things are coming back to normal we are going to build a meeting hall for this small and young congregation.

Last year I worked with the church at Abayi Ogbuligba in their outreach called "Ariaria must hear it" because of the nature of business in Aba that is people go out very early in the morning and come back late in the evening. It was denominations who started preaching in Ariaria market. The Abayi church has tried it and it is working and they are happy to go with me every second Tuesday of the month. We will be at one corner of Ariaria international market to preach. This program has provided me an outlet to distribute tracts in great numbers. For the last year I distributed thousands of tracts at Ariaria market."

As you can see, the work is fruitful and exciting in Nigeria!

NIGERIA NEEDS SPOTLIGHT
There are always needs for the mission work in Nigeria. This month's spotlight is a small congregation in southern Nigeria that was having a Gospel Meeting while their building was blown away by a storm. No one was hurt, but the building was a loss. We are in dire need of some funds to help put a tin roof back on the building. We are hoping to raise $2,500 for this.  If you can help, please let us know.

Nigeria Trip

I am planning on traveling to Nigeria in June/July 2011 to teach at CSMT in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. I will teach two graduate school classes to finish up several of our graduate students. I will teach New Testament Theology and the Preacher and his Work.

As you may be aware, the violence and crime in Nigeria has escalated in the last few years. As a result, we have had to stop sending teachers to CSMT. This trip will be to teach, but also to assess the situation and safety of travel.

I will also be talking with a congregation about the future of the work in their area.

The cost of the trip is expected to be around $5,000.  If you are interested in going, let me know! I'm in need of another teacher to travel with me.

Sponsor a Preacher!

The best method of evangelism is for local preachers to teach local people. We are always in need of sponsors for Native preachers. This can be done for $100/month. A sponsor will receive all of the preacher's reports as well as a relationship with a great Gospel minister! If you're interested, let me know!

This month's preacher spotlight is Michael Utom.  Michael is currently a student at CSMT in Abakaliki, but he also travels about 2 hours each week to preach at a small congregation threatened by greed and sin. After paying all of our preachers for January, there was not enough money to pay Michael's small stipend of $200. Can you help?

INTERESTED?

If you are interested in this mission work and would like to sponsor some of this work, let us know. You can send a check to:

Gainesville church of Christ
165 Greene Road 155
Paragould, AR  72450

You can make a note stating what work you would like to support that those funds will go ONLY to that work.

Impact In India...

Work Report: 

From December until this week of January we had over 38 people baptized into Christ. Several of them are young adults. We have witnessed 22 baptisms by ourselves. Below is the description of things happened during December until last week. 

Addition to the Church:  “And the Lord added to the church* daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:47

It was an amazing start. We are so happy to see these young adults come forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is certainly a great beginning in the lives of these young people during this New Year. We baptized 16 on three different occasions.

Brotherly Reunion:

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven  you.” Eph 4:32 (pic. vvbc 8,9,10)

Operating a regular Bible school with students coming from different backgrounds is sometimes a little challenging. Challenging because it is difficult to get everybody on the same page every time, but that is how an organization works perfect.

Brother Chandar Rao, a working helper at VVBC, has been a member of the Church from a long time. Brother David is one of our students, who tries to be very particular about the things he does and says. Unfortunately, it happened one time there was a harsh exchange of words between them. From then onwards they weren’t talking to each other even though they both stay in the same facility. On the 22^nd of Dec when we had the Christmas gifts distributed. Some of the students brought it up and wanted both of them to reconcile each other. Samuel, Director of the School, took control of the discussion so that it won’t turn out to be harsh. Their angriness has come down, then he explained the necessity of forgiving each other as Christian brothers and also to honor each other by not saying any harsh words. After hearing him, they both came forward to forgive each other, and then we had a prayer together thanking God for the peace He blessed us with and proceeded to dinner. We really enjoyed the reunion of those brethren. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” Ps 133:1

Students – Preachers & Teachers (pic. Vvbc2)

“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Tim 2:2-3

Brother DV Prasad is from Visakhapatnam City only. He is not a preacher by profession but he wants to be a preacher soon after he completes his 2 years course at VVBC. He is basically an aggressive student, wanting to do everything perfect. He is from a denominational background. That is one of the reasons for his aggressiveness. This motivates him to preach without any fear at any place. During the 18^th we had the Preachers’ Fellowship meeting for the preachers working Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam and Srikakulum Districts. This gentle man did a good job of teaching about ‘rightly dividing the word of God’. It is truly encouraging to see our students coming forward to preach/teach whenever they had the opportunity.

Cell Phones in the Class the Room: (Pic. cell)

In this rapid developing/changing India community, the cell phone has become a necessity to each individual in the country. Out of the 1.3 Billion people, 78 million people own a cell phone. With this, one can understand how much we are tied up with this new technology, which probably is a must for every Indian. Well, all of our students have a cell phone. It is very inappropriate to let the students use their cell phones during the class. This pictures describes how we are handling this tough task. During the morning devotional John Dean has collected all the cell phones and placed them on the table, which won’t be returned until the class time is over.

Christmas Gifts: 

Like we do every year, we had Christmas holidays for a week. Before the holidays we had the new clothing distributed to each of the students, faculty and staff of the VVBC. We were able to buy some clothing, sarees and blankets as Christmas presents.

Short Courses:

We shall have short courses taught from 24^th January till 4^th February. Garry Fallis and Jerry Bates will be coming on the 22^nd. They will be teaching the both graduates and undergrads from 24^th until 4^th February. Please pray that these classes would be successful.

Future Plans of our student:

Our student D.V.S. Prakah is planning on holding gospel meetings at his town for three days during this summer. It is scheduled in the last week of April. We are all going to play a big role in making this convention a big success. Brother Prakash is originally from a Hindu family and later became a Christian believer. When Samuel got to know him, Samuel encouraged him to enroll in the School. He is one of the outstanding students. He is very evangelistic. Prakash has great plans to spread the word in his town. He was the reason for their congregation to accept the true church. Kindly pray that our team work would bring several lost souls to the Savior Jesus Christ.

Annual Work Report: (Jan-August 2010)

Gospel meetings conducted – 135
Bible studies conducted (students and staff) - 261
Preachers fellowships conducted – 8
Number of people baptized: 92
Bibles distributed – 165
Congregations established – 5
Gospel Campaigns conducted: 6
Doors knocked - 5731
Bible studies held During the Campaigns: 483
Gospel Tracts distributed: 52,000
Denominational preachers converted: 4 (Couple of the small congregations completely converted that make 26 members)

We thank you so much for your concern for the Lord's work in India. God bless

in Christian love
Samuel Raju & John Dean Muppidi

Challenges...

2011 will bring challenges to the work of Extension Training, just as previous years. Challenges present both a positive and a negative side to the work.

One of the challenges for 2011 is to ensure each school reaches their full capacity of students. Considering all 15 extension locations, we are operating around 55-60% of overall capacity. The major factor is funds. Therefore, with incoming classes for 2011 we are striving to raise the necessary funds to move closer to 75-80% capacity.

Another challenge will be finalizing the standardized curriculum format in each extension. We are working diligently to make sure the material used in each location is the same consistent quality as taught in Denver. The challenge in several locations involves getting the material translated into the language of the students.

The challenge of finding qualified short-course teachers is an area we are working to improve this year. Short-courses involve 30 hours of teaching in a number of Biblical books and related subjects. There are also some academic qualifications needed. If you would like to be involved in training men to preach the gospel, please drop me an e-mail and I will be glad to give you all of the necessary information. My e-mail address is bturner@bvbid.org. 

There is also a challenge of aiding students who deal with the religious practices in their culture. Obvious denominational challenges are faced. However, struggles exist in the areas of Islam, Buddha, and Hinduism. In some locations, i.e. Nigeria, these struggles increase. We want to find ways to strengthen these men who are teaching the gospel in adverse circumstances and the congregations diligently holding up the light of Christ.

As well, there will constantly be challenges to ensure funds for students, administration in each extension, travel costs for coordinators and instructors, as well as, personal support for each staff member. 

While there will be other challenges throughout 2011, we will be faithful in addressing and overcoming these challenges. We ask for your prayers regarding all of these areas.

Coordinator Updates

Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is /extension-schools/

Gary Fallis and Jerry Bates are now in Nepal and next week travel to Visakhapatnam, India to work with the extension schools in each location. Please remember them in their travels.

Mission 2011: Jerry and Paula Bates provide a report for 2010 and look to the future in 2011. Read their report here.

Extension Reports

Powerful News In Arusha, Tanzania: Cy Stafford's report brings great news from Africa.

Profitable Cambodian Work: The news in Cambodia continues to be exciting as the church grows.

Final Thoughts

The year ahead will open many doors of opportunity for training men to preach the gospel. I look forward to strengthening the brethren we are working with and establishing new schools.

Thank you for your support in every way. This work continues to grow stronger because of your assistance. It excites me to share with you the growth of the Lord’s kingdom around the world. Please continue to pray with us for the Lord’s blessings on our efforts.

God bless

Bob

Mission 2011

Happy New Year!

I hope all of you had a happy holiday season. Another year has come and gone, and it is now time to begin another year. 2010 was another good year for the World Evangelism team as we try to evangelize the world, particularly Southeast Asia. The work actually expanded significantly in 2010. Let us recap what was accomplished. We made three mission trips overseas. In May, Jerry made one trip to Takoradi, Ghana in Africa to help a Bear Valley school. Later, we both traveled to Tamale, Ghana to teach in the Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies, which was combined with our fall trip to India.

Three trips are currently planned in 2011, but we will tell more about that later. The two Bear Valley schools in India continue to do well. The one in Chandigarh has been having facility issues. They actually had to move to a different place. Hopefully that will soon be settled so that they will have a permanent home. The school in Vishak will have their first graduation in April of this year.  

Literature distribution has also expanded significantly. Seventy-six different tracts were printed and are currently in our warehouse, in addition to printing several new books in 2010. Thousands of copies have already been shipped to various countries in addition to some that were ordered for use in the U.S. We made some contacts with groups that are sending containers to various countries. Since shipping by containers is much cheaper than current mailing rates, this allowed us to ship many more books, magazines, tracts, and old Bible class literature than we normally would. In August we shipped about 2,000 pounds of books in a container shipped by Mission Printing to Ghana. About the same amount went to the Philippines in November. Betty took several boxes of French books to the Crieve Hall church in the Nashville area to be loaded on a container bound for Benin in Africa. The same weekend she also carried some French books to Judsonia, Arkansas to be sent to Haiti. Plans are being made to do even more of this in 2011. This is great for the church wherever the books are sent, but it requires much work on our part to get these shipments ready.  

Book Distribution

November started with a bang with four volunteers from Middle Tennessee coming to help us organize and pack books to be sent to Nigeria and other foreign schools. One of the ladies was Ruth Orr. Some of you may be familiar with her. She makes several trips a year to other countries herself, working with World Bible School contacts. She has been to Nigeria many times, thus she personally knows many of the preachers in that country. These volunteers helped us pack many boxes of books to be sent to preachers. We are also shipping one copy of all our books to various Bible school libraries in various countries. This is a tremendous undertaking, considering we have over 110 books currently in print, not counting our mission books, which are not usually sent overseas. These have to be packed in three different boxes. Many of you would be amazed at the number of libraries in other countries. When volunteers come, they help greatly, but of course, that makes us work even harder. All of our other work nearly ceases, then we have to work to catch up.   

On November 18-19^th, we made a quick trip to Dallas, Texas to deliver some books which were sent to the Philippines on a container. We had about 2,000 pounds of books and Bible class literature. This Bible class literature was collected from several congregations, and we are glad to be able to help reuse leftover literature. 

We did not take too much of a break even during the Christmas and New Year holidays. On December 29^th, some of Betty’s family visited, and they gladly consented to help us pack books. Ed Mosby from Searcy, Arkansas made several trips to Nigeria, and he sent us nearly 350 names of preachers to whom he wanted books to be sent. Thus, Betty’s family helped us pack a small box of books to be sent to them on the next container. We had our youngest member ever to help us, Betty’s six year-old granddaughter. We take any help that we can get. She really enjoyed the work. They did not hardly complete the process, since we included one more book on the Holy Spirit, which was being reprinted. That book arrived January 5th, and a large group from Strickland and Plain View, near Henderson, TN, came down to help us finish the job. 

Mission Printing in Texas is sending a container to Nigeria the first part of February. For this reason we are making such a diligent effort to get so many boxes ready to be sent to Nigeria. We do not want to miss such an excellent opportunity to ship literature to that country. On this container we will probably send about 8,000 pounds of books.

We print four issues of the Voice of Truth International each year, and we always work in the shipping and receiving of those in between our mission trips.  The last issue arrived December 21st,  and on that same truck, we shipped out about 75 boxes of books bound for New York, which would then be shipped to various countries.  

Other Activities

These two months have also been very busy with other activities. We have been very busy as usual visiting congregations that support us. We are continually visiting with other missionaries whom we can assist by sending literature or other ways. Some of the missionaries with whom we regularly correspond are Robert Martin in the Pacific Islands, Loy Mitchell in Zimbabwe, Ed Mosby in Nigeria, Barry Baggott in the French work, Gordon Hogan in Singapore, Rod Kyle in New Zealand and James Jones in Kenya. One day, we and Wayne Barrier, visited with Steve Worley in Savannah, TN. He works in four different countries in Africa, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Uganda. He helps schools in all those countries. After being very ill this last summer, he wanted to visit with us about helping out in the future in case he was not able to continue. That was an interesting meeting. Due to our very busy schedule, we will not be able to get as involved in that work as he would like, but we might be able to help in case he is not able to continue. This simply illustrates how far-reaching our work is and one never knows what future opportunities may come our way.

Future Plans

The next four months promises to be very busy as well. Jerry leaves on January 13th for one week in Nepal and two weeks in India. He will be teaching in a Bear Valley Extension all three weeks. In some ways, it is a relief to travel overseas. When we are here we are busy with books, visiting churches, getting lessons ready, etc., and so it is nice to have a change of pace. Jerry has also been very busy this last month getting his lessons prepared for his next trip. He hopes to be able to meet with a brother from Nepal who wants to translate the Voice of Truth into the Nepali language. Many times, we can accomplish multiple goals on our trips, which, of course, allows us to do more, with little more effort. Paula will not travel on this trip. She will stay here and do all the end of the year activities that has to be done in the World Evangelism office.

About mid-March we will embark on our normal spring trip. We will spend two weeks in Myanmar teaching in a school there, teach a week-end seminar in Sri-Lanka, and then wind up with about three weeks in India. We will arrive back in the states about the end of April. We always look forward to these trips with anticipation, but we are also always glad to return home. We thank God for the opportunity to serve Him as we do, and we constantly are mindful of all of you who make it possible for us to do this work. Keep us in your prayers, and may God bless you with a happy and prosperous 2011.

Jerry & Paula Bates

Powerful News In Arusha

Greetings Fellow Workers:

Stephanie and I remain grateful for the many blessing we have in Christ Jesus and for your continued love, prayers and support. Stephanie’s mother continues to improve, thanks to your prayers and God’s blessings.

Below are some excerpts from some of our co-workers in the Kingdom, enough said:

William, Maji ya Chai evangelist: “We have baptized the son of Josephat after a long study with him, Glory be to God. We have some classes going on knowing that the false teachers roaming, we need to pray all the time without ceasing. I Thess. 5:17.”

Josaphat, Moshi evangelist: “To us it has been a really happy new year especially when two precious souls were added to Lord's Church.  daughter Lucy and Ana a daughter of one of the faithful we pray that they continue to grow in faith.” 

Innocent, Monduli evangelist: My son Patrick was baptized 2 weeks ago after he came back from young camp at Kisongo also there is another one called Moita from Olesokoine school baptized too. The young boys who came from camp are teaching Bible class and preaching Sundays, then the Church knows how they learn and apply their knowledge, they did wonderfully. This month 2 workers Dr. and Nurse were baptized and we pray for them to be faithful.

Kambarage, a wise and faithful Christian at Arusha: “…when we arrived it was a great joy to see my parents, relatives and family in Christ were very well. Our happy father and mother are proceeding well but they are becoming old. On the new year we had a meal together it was a joyful occasion. I (KAMBARAGE) preached in the evening, on “the Church” and PATRICK (our oldest son) also preached twice on Sunday on two different congregations. My father, CHANDO (who preached for the Arusha congregation for 20 years was very excited for PATRICK (his grandson) to be able to preach and he thanks you both for nursing them physically and spiritually… BY KAMBARAGES FAMILY.” 

We hope and pray this note finds you blessed and off to a great start to our New Year in the Lord. May our God be with you all each step of the way.

In Him,

Cy & Stephanie