Young And Old Alike Benefit From The Van In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from your brothers and sisters here in Cameroon. We do hope you are doing great in health and sound in your faith.

Life is going on well and we praise God for His providence. Some are sick in our congregation. A brother was involved in a car crash, but he is getting better in the hospital keep him in your prayers, Atara Jarvis.

Last week in the Bible college went on well. Students continue to grow and are gaining ground for ministry as they are enjoying weekend evangelism. Keep them in your prayers.

Our children were happy to study the Bible this morning in their hall which is attached to the church hall. The class continues to grow as kids in Brightland Christian Academy love to study the Bible with the church of Christ. We shall easily get to their parents through these kids. Keep these efforts in your prayers.

The Christians in Wotutu this morning surprised me as a preacher. They brought cooked food, fruits juice, and biscuits to celebrate the goodness of God because of the arrival of the new bus.

Our children were part of the joyous moments. We love involving our children in many things that bring glory to God because they will continue tomorrow.

Brother Masango is a widower who lives 6 miles away from Wotutu. Today he was blessed to come to worship through the bus. He continued to smile and praise God for this providence. God bless you who made this possible. God will bless and replenish your source for your kind heart that is touching the lives of many here.

Little children will go round and round touching the bus. Our Bible students who are the beneficiaries of the bus continue to lift up prayers to the donors and that God alone will reward them in due season.

Our students are given opportunities now in the Wotutu congregation to officiate on the Lord’s table, not only in preaching and teaching. This will help them be balanced preachers in the future.

Plans
Our west coast mission trip is still in program. Keep it in your personal prayers.

Pray for the newly established congregations during this new batch of students..

Appreciations
Many thanks to God for you and your family for all your prayers and support towards the work here. We are blessed to know you and to work with you. We lack words to use to thank God for you. We pray God will watch over you and keep you stronger to do more for His glory.

Do your best to share this report with others.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Praying For The People Of Nepal...

The primary concern on everyone’s mind this week is the earthquake in Nepal. Various news agencies report a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Kathmandu, Nepal around noon on Saturday. The results devastated an area from Kathmandu down into India. Recent reports claim the death toll is now well over 2,500. Without any doubt, millions of lives were changed in a just a few moments. We ask you all to pray on behalf of all those in this area.

Several of you asked about the families we know and the school we are affiliated with in Kathmandu. We are thankful to report that Jerry Golphenee (American missionary in Kathmandu), Gajendra (director of Nepal Center for Biblical Studies), and all the students are safe and suffered no physical harm. Jerry reported that the flat where he lives was not damaged during the earthquake. He did report that the students are sleeping outside, but it is out of concern over the aftershocks that continue to occur.

As we learn more information, we will provide reports to keep everyone updated on the situation. We hope to learn more about how you can help our brethren in Kathmandu and other affected areas in the days ahead. Thank you for your concern and we ask you again to pray for those living in this area. We pray God will use this situation as an opportunity to work though us to show His love and light to a devastated part of the world.

Additional reports this week share news about the growth of the work. We are thankful for the opportunity to read about the souls who were added to the kingdom and the strengthening of the church. The reports speak for themselves.

Now on to this week’s incredible reports...

Coordinator Updates
Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-schools/

Extension Reports 

Transportation In Cameroon Aids The Development Of The Church: After waiting almost six months, a van to help in the work of the church and school in Wotutu, finally arrived.

Nigerian Instructors Travel To Ghana For Continuing Biblical Training: Staff members from the SWSE in Ibadan, Nigeria traveled to Accra, Ghana to participate in continuing education.

Translation Team Hard At Work Preparing For Safari For Souls: Materials to be used in the Safari for Souls campaign are now translated and ready for printing in Tanzania.

Changes Bring Challenging Decisions For The Stafford Family: Cy and Stephanie need our consideration to help them with recent changes to their family and the work.

Long Overdue Rains Come To Tanzania: While the Lord reigns from heaven above, rains fell from the sky in a much needed area of Tanzania. Additionally, the work continues to grow.

Final Thoughts 
You are a blessing to this work. Thank you for all you do to help make training workers for the kingdom of our God a priority. We pray God’s richest blessings on each of you. We also ask you to pray about this work.

God bless
Bob

Transportation In Cameroon Aids The Development Of The Church...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ here in Wotutu. We are doing better, even though some of us here are sick. Keep praying for the many who are sick. We do hope you are doing great and we keep you in all our prayers.

Last week went on well with our studies in BVBIC-Wotutu. Students continue to grow both spiritually and physically. Keep praying for them.

Weekend evangelism is going well and we continue to witness growth and love for the Lord and His church for the young congregation in Menji. Many continue to admire and love the New Testament way of worship, while others are like sister Dorothy are still under strong persecution from family. Keep her in your prayers. It is not easy for them. I sent one of our graduates there and he stays with brother John Nkemenkeng to help with the work over there. Keep evangelist Itoe David in your prayers as we will change them to help till we graduate a student in December of next year to go there permanently.

Brother Mendel stood up in class to ask a question for clarifications and to gain more information. We love to see our students being eager to know more and to share their views on subject matter. This helps us keep them on tract as many who have been preaching to know now how to handle the truth.

They manifest their studies in Wotutu congregation, who are directly assessing them as they can see them growing from the time they enter school and as the months are passing by. Brother Abanda Edwin taught this morning on “Religious Titles Today.”

Evangelism is still going on, early in the morning and from house-to-house here in Wotutu. God continues to use our PA system to reach out to the communities every day in the morning, and we go by the nickname now in Wotutu: Church of Christ, the village clock, because we get up early and as we preach many also get up to prepare to go to their farms, businesses, and schools. 

This week, sister Linda Obie obeyed the gospel in the water pool of baptism. Some students, with brother Maurice stood by to watch her baptism. Keep her in your prayers. Her husband has been a Christian in Wotutu for the past two years. He was happy to see the wife obey the gospel and they have one focus now.

We are serving a great God. Today, after worship it was all joy and joy as we saw the long awaited van that was bought last November to enhance our evangelistic efforts. The students and the entire congregation shouted for joy as we prayed and thanked God for using all those He used to realize the dreams of this van. Only God will replenished it for them.

The van will carry our students around to evangelize. The van will also stand as a means of advertising for the church of Christ and the preaching school as we wrote on the wall of the van. The van will take 15 seats instead of the 19 seats we were intending to have. It seems the shipper sent to us this, but the good thing is that this one has four wheel drive.

This morning, the car took some students to nearby congregations for worship and it equally carried some Christians from outside Wotutu who came down to worship with the congregation in Wotutu. To them, it is an answer to their prayers to have free transportation to worship at any time.

Plans
We are still planning to go to Ideanau for evangelism and possibly start a new congregation on the west coast of Cameroon.

Appreciation
God bless you and keep you strong. Thank you for standing by us. God bless you for sharing our newsletter with others. Keep doing it. God bless you and watch over you.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Long Overdue Rains Come To Tanzania...

Things are continuing to move right along here in Tanzania. We are still the only American team-members in the country right now, but we are looking forward to Cy's return in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we are busy making plans for what promises to be a very busy Safari for Souls season. Our first campaigners will be here next week to do work in Njiro Chini. Exciting times!

At the school, I am currently teaching a class on Christian Evidences. It's one of my favorite topics, and it is rewarding to see the students growing in this area. 

We are finally getting some very long overdue rains and the crops are happy because of it. It makes travel on all of these dirt roads a little more treacherous, but the rains are very much a blessing to the people of Tanzania. The drought has caused reservoir levels to drop dangerously low, and has been a serious concern.

The electrical situation has stabilized (somewhat). For several weeks the power was going out for several hours each day, and even for several days in a row at one point. A couple of weeks ago we used more gas in our generator than we did in our vehicle. In fact our generator has already logged twice as many hours this year as it did all of last year. However, the past several days have presented no problems in that area, and we hope that will last a while. 

An acute awareness and gratitude for the blessings of water and electricity are just part of life in the African mission fields! 

Daniel Gaines

To see Daniel’s report with pictures, please click here.

Changes Bring Challenging Decisions For Stafford Family...

Greetings Fellow Servants;

We thank you, we thank our God for you, and we are thankful for the privilege of service. It has been a “whirlwind” of a furlough and a true blessing. I have shared the good news of God’s work in Tanzania with congregations in TX, IN, MS, AL, GA, TN, VA, SC and with several individuals. Because you care, pray and support this great mission effort, God continues to answer your prayers to the saving of countless souls. Thank you. 

Fariji reports: “In March, we studied with 14 people, one of them was baptized into the kingdom of Christ. Nelson Sango said that he desires to serve God in His kingdom, and has just completed the Bible correspondence course. He asked us to pray for him so that may overcome the false prophets. A future church plant is to set up at Tengeru, please pray for that.” 

Charles Hebeth reported three souls being added to the church today at Kwa Mrombo, Amen!

Stafford Family Update: Stephanie and I have struggled much lately with a major decision. We both love the Lord with our all. We love one another more than life itself. We love “Granny” so very much. What to do? Stephanie’s mom will not be able to return to Tanzania due to health issues. She does not, nor do we, want to be put in a nursing home. We do not want to leave the Lord’s work in Tanzania. Stephanie and I do not want to be separated. What to do? 

After a great deal of prayer and discussion we have concluded the following. I will be going back to Tanzania on May 6th, if the Lord wills. Stephanie hopes to come the first week of June for a month (Stephanie’s sister hopefully will be able to care for their mom for a month). Stephanie will return to the States while I remain in TZ through the end of July. I will come to the States the first part of August to raise much needed funds, speak at Polishing the Pulpit, conduct a wedding, attend the Bear Valley staff retreat and the return to TZ at the end of September. 

We need your help! We do not believe it to be wise to be separated more than few weeks at a time. Therefore, until things change with Granny our plans are for me to travel back and forth. I will be in TZ for six weeks at a time, or so, back to the U.S. (fund raising as much as possible and reporting on the good God is doing in East Africa) and then back to TZ. We need your prayers and we need congregations (families) who would be willing to help with my (our) travel fund needs.  We need to raise $8,500 for this year to help with our travel needs. Please prayerfully consider this need. 

Much has been accomplished in East Africa over the last 17 years and if the Lord wills, much more will be done in the coming 17 plus years. To His glory, great things He is doing. 

In Him,
Cy, Stephanie & Granny

Translation Team Hard At Work Preparing For Safari For Souls...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "The things which you have heard from me...entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." II Tim. 2:2

This week is one of the busy weeks for ACSOP instructors, especially those who are working with the translation team. The translation team this week dealt with translating a series of six lessons from English to Swahili, each one of them has three to five pages. These series of lessons are purposed to be used in June evangelism campaign. This work was assigned to be done for three days (Tuesday - Thursday) only. The good thing is the work was done on time and it has been submitted to the chief of translators.

This second quarter of studies here at ACSOP is impressive. Our lecturers are working harder and harder to impart to these fellows the knowledge of God’s word. They are doing exactly what I have quoted above for this week. The first year students are showing a great improvement in their studies. Last quarter we had some who were struggling to cope with their studies but now they are okay.      

On the other hand, things are moving well with the ACSOP staff; all the cooks, cleaners and students are okay. We all are enjoying God’s blessing of heavy rains here in Arusha. The school farm and the vegetable garden are blooming. We hope this year we will have a good harvest of corn and more vegetables.

We ought always to GIVE THANKS to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting..." (II Thess. 1:3) for all you have done and for your faith in us and the work going on here. "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified..." (II Thess. 3:1)

In His Service,

Losotwa Michael
Dean of Academics, Andrew Connally School of Preaching
A Bear Valley Bible Institute International extension school
Arusha, TZ

Nigerian Instructors Travel To Ghana For Continuing Biblical Training...

Beloved in Christ,

Greetings from the staff and students of the Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan and the satellite campuses in Lagos state, Nigeria.

Two of the twelve SWSE Ibadan instructors (brother Isaac Olawole Olaniyan and myself- Mak) joined our Ghanian brethren in a three years Master's program conducted for gospel preachers in West Africa by the Bear Valley Bible Institute International of Denver, Colorado USA from April 6 - 18, 2015.

We thank our guest speaker, brother Gary Fallis, for taking his time to come to West Africa for the cause of Christ. We appreciate the effort of brother Steven Ashcraft, brother Bob Turner, brother Wagner, brother Doug Wheeler, brother Jerry Bates, brother Joel Coppinger and all of you who are contributing in one way or the other to the growth of our Lord's church in Africa. May the Lord of blessing continue to bless our joint effort in Christ name, amen.

The two week program was attended by seventeen brethren from three African countries: Nigeria, Togo, and Ghana - the host country. Classes began at 8:00 am and end at 6:00 pm daily with a one and half hour break from 12:00 pm through 1:30 pm.

On Monday, April 13 brother Steven Ashcraft, BVBI - West Africa coordinator and brother Gary Fallis met at 6:30 pm through 9:00 pm with five directors of Bible schools affiliated with BVBI for heart-to-heart deliberations.

When in Ghana, we worshipped with the Church of Christ, Sarpenman - Accra. On April 5, 2015 I taught on “Saved to Serve,” while brother Gary taught on “The Kingdom of God” (Matt.13:31-34). On April 11, brother Gary taught on “What the Church Is and Does” from the book of Ephesians, while I admonished them on “Witnessing for Christ.” We had an average of attendance of 120 worshippers with average collection of C64.

We appreciate the generosity of brother Seth Larbi and his family during our two-week visit to Ghana.

Our second international trip will again come up, Lord willing, on August 2015.

Brethren, I will embark in a one-week visit to our students in Vocational Studies.

Big thanks for your prayers for us in Nigeria before and during our March and April election. May the Lord grant your countries peace and good governing in Jesus name, amen.

I remain your co-laborer in Christ,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi (Director of Studies)
Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan & Lagos campuses, Nigeria

What Opportunities Await You This Year?

Now that the major tax deadline is behind us, opportunities for the remainder of the year are the focus of this week’s report. Consider five of the following opportunities that await over the next eight months: 

1) An opportunity to attend graduation. The Bear Valley Bible Institute will host the 50th year graduation for its next class of students May 31. If you can be in the Denver area, we would love to have you share in this great occasion. Perhaps there is also an opportunity to visit one of several locations around the world to attend a graduation at one of the extension sites. Consider how you can bless these graduates with your presence.

2) An opportunity to attend Bear Valley’s annual lectureship. September 17-20 are the dates scheduled for this year’s lectureship. The theme is based in the second half of the minor prophets. If you enjoy a rich and deep study of the Old Testament, we encourage you to be here. While here for the lectureship, plan to join us for the “free” banquet where the focus is on the work of the Bear Valley Bible Institute.

3) An opportunity to go on a mission trip. Opportunities abound globally for you to travel to Asia, Europe, Africa, India, Nepal, Central America, South America, the South Pacific and everywhere in between. We are privileged to work with brethren in 18 different locations in 14 countries. Please consider how you might take advantage of a great opportunity to see the work first-hand and participate in sharing the gospel with others.

4) An opportunity to share the report of extension training with others. If you are as encouraged with the news each week as we are, we ask you to send the report to others who might also share in the excitement. If you know of someone who would like to receive the report each week, please let us know and we will add them to the list of recipients.   

5) An opportunity to pray. While the work of extension training has extensive needs, nothing is more important and essential than your prayers on our behalf. As the program grows, we ask you to pray that we have wisdom to know the right locations and people with whom to work. We ask you to pray that God will continue to provide for all our needs.

Now on to this week’s incredible reports...

Coordinator Updates
Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-schools/

Extension Reports 

A Remarkable And Historical Week In Wotutu, Cameroon: A young couple, who only spoke French, needed patience while learning, but they are now a brother and sister in Christ. 

Growth Occurs As Students Return To Class In Kenya: After a short break, students are back in class and the report indicates they are growing numerically and spiritually in the church.

The Lord Has Done A Special Thing In The Arusha Congregation: Souls repented and returned to fellowship with the Lord at the Arusha congregation. The report shares more.

Final Thoughts 
Thank you for reading the report each week and sharing in this work. If you receive this report it is because you are involved at some level with the work at Bear Valley. This work continues to succeed because each of you love the Lord, His church, and those who need a Savior. We appreciate your willingness to share with us in task of training kingdom workers. We pray God’s richest blessings on each of you.

God bless
Bob

Growth Occurs As Students Return To Class In Kenya...

Receive greetings from your Kenyan family. Just to let you know that we are all doing well, we were not affected with the terrorism act that hit our country. Kisumu has been safe and peaceful and that can be proved by the students coming from far places like Mombasa and find a peaceful home in Kisumu. We ask you to keep mentioning us and our country to God in prayers. 

The 20 KSOP students who went for a short break are all back for classes which began on April 13. Since these students joined the school it has been very dry and hot. This month we were blessed with good rain and the weather now is cool, while for others it's cold. 

Classes began well with Elias teaching 1 and 2 Corinthians, Matthew. I am teaching Joshua - Ruth and English II among the 7 courses for the quarter. 

In this second intake, we have 5 students from four congregations who  came from the Rift Valley part of Kenya. They had attended Bible training at Nairobi Great Commission School before. The school has been training and ordaining women as pastors and using instruments among the other many errors they teach. 

These 5 students visited me in my house to appreciate the preaching school and the Bible truth we stand for. Within the two quarters, they said their spiritual growth has changed. They each shared how they had been given big titles that they didn't qualify for. They lamented how they had been having incomplete worship without Lord's supper and when they do have it is with the wrong elements. 

Two of them come from a congregation which has an NGCS extension program and they said the leaders there are not willing to change because of the support, but these two men will not stop teaching the truth either.  

They requested Bibles in their native language, song books, and gospel campaigns in their areas to raise more awareness to save souls. Keep these brethren in your prayers so the zeal to contend for the faith will not go down. Anyone touched and would love to help these brethren with Kalenjin  Bibles and/or Swahili song books can contact the Charlotte Avenue Church or Mike Reese. 

We had the largest number worshipping with us at Hellena court. Thanks to the great work of evangelism being done by the students under the leadership of Elias and Nixon, our former graduate. We expect the students to begin going out to help local churches around. This is and has always been a great opportunity to put into practice what they learn in class. 

We thank God for the sacrifices you are all making on your end to keep this great cause going. It's effect is felt near and far. 

Blessings to you all. 

Fellow servant, 
Charles Ogutu

The Lord Has Done A Special Thing In The Arusha Congregation...

Greetings Fellow Servants;

We rejoice knowing your prayers are offered up to our God and that He gives an ear to His Saints. In answering your prayers, He is adding to His Kingdom daily in East Africa. We thank you for your support of this amazing work of God. 

I am often asked; “What are the people of Tanzania like? What are their struggles and hardships? What is the Lord’s church like? What struggles and hardships do they have?” The best answer comes from a very wise man; “…there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc. 1.9b). The struggles and hardships of the church family in Tanzania are no different than that of the church family in America or any other place on this earth. 

This recent report from the Arusha church says it all: “The Lord has done a special thing in the Arusha congregation. Six brethren have come back to the church after making open repentance. This is Gumbo and his wife and an additional four souls. Glory be to God who has enabled me to talk to them by showing them the correct way.” We praise our God and we rejoice in the repentance and return of our brothers and sister who had strayed from the family of God, yes, God Himself. 

The church of our God is growing by leaps and bounds. The spiritual growth is so amazing. The numerical growth is also amazing. This is made possible by God, through the power of His Word and yes, through the faithfulness of his Church. Thank you all!

Update: Our prayers have been answered and the funds are now available to purchase a passenger van for the Andrew Connally School of Preaching. The purpose of this vehicle will be to propagate the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ throughout Tanzania. The student body will be able to go out each week to conduct Bible studies and also work and worship with various congregations throughout the Arusha area. There will be transportation for our short-term workers who sacrifice so much to come, assisting us in the ministry of God. Thank you, each and everyone, who made this a reality. 

Update: Through the generosity of many, we are about to make our second purchase of Bibles in preparation for the upcoming Safari for Souls campaigns. We will also be printing tens of thousands of Bible tracts and Bible correspondence courses to also be used during and after the upcoming campaigns. Thank you so very much for making this a reality and for the many souls who will become New Testament Christians through the sharing of God’s Word. 

Update: Thank you to our good brother and sister in Christ in South Mississippi who helped Stephanie and I with our recent loss of support. With their $200 per month commitment we are now only $300 per month short in our support. We still lack the medical support needs. 

We solicit your prayers as our campaigners prepare for their journey to Tanzania, and for church in Tanzania as we all prepare for this year’s Safari for Souls campaigns. Our good brothers Dennis Dickey and Rod Minor are leading two small groups and will be coming in the very near future. We also have a group from Elk City, OK and Hoover, AL that will join us in June. There are others as well and we all need your prayers and God’s blessing that many will hear and many will obey. 

In Him,
Cy, Stephanie and Granny

A Remarkable And Historical Week In Wotutu, Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from the brothers and sisters in Christ here. We do hope you are doing your best in health and otherwise.

We are doing better here and God is blessing the work. Some of our students are doing okay while others are sick, maybe because of the climatic changes now.

Last week was great as students keep growing with the studies. The Homiletics and Hermeneutics courses will play a great role in making them handle the words.

Our brother Mote Daniel, 86 years of age, was baptized less than 3 months ago. He is sick, Jesus said, “I was sick and you visited me.” He is having prostate problems. Keep him in your prayers as we search for medical attention or herbs that may help him be okay.

This week was a remarkable one also as we see again the history of this congregation in Wotutu, where a husband and wife have been studying together with us. It took them time to understand because both are French speaking, but thanks be to God that we have students who can speak both French and English. They helped them to know the truth and they both accepted the word.

Sister Emilie is the wife of brother Cedric, and entered into the water pool of baptism. Keep her in your prayers. Their son attends Brightland Christian Academy. Wow, this young school is a great tool for us to pass through the children to reach their parents. Keep praying for the work here.

Brother Cedric obeyed the gospel as well with great joy and smiles. They are very happy to be a part of the Body of Christ. Pray that we be the source of encouragement to help them grow to maturity.

We had time to sing to the glory of God. What He has done as we are living witnesses to the fulfillment of His word. We prayed with them and we appealed that you keep this couple in your prayers, so that many in the family who have very strong satanic belief, will come to know the truth and come out of that error.

Plans
We are still planning to move to Idenau for the establishment of the second congregation on the West Coast of Cameroon.

Pray for the Ladies class that we are planning for its start in BVBIC-Wotutu. Many sisters keep coming to be to be part of the class. We thought from the onset that it will be only for preachers wives, but some sisters asked me, “does it mean because we are not married to preachers, we don’t need to have a good knowledge of the Bible?” It was not easy, but I told them you are all suppose to have the knowledge. We may not be able to accommodate all at this time because of finances, to keep ladies for the whole week is not easy and at times it is difficult to manage ladies than men. 

Our students keep going to places for weekend evangelism. It is working well. Lebialem, which is the youngest congregation, is growing. Two of our new Christians who were facing persecution, one of them had a balance this weekend with one of our students. The family accepted that she will stay in the home, but as long as she continues to worship with the church of Christ they will not sponsor her in school, feed her, clothe her and if she is sick it will be the responsibility of the church. They are just shy to send her out of the house. But the other young Dorothy continues to be mocked, humiliated, and denied of family rights as long as she worships with the church of Christ. Continue to pray for them as it is not easy.

The deeper life congregation that we baptized in Belengh, all continue to enjoy the way the New Testament congregation is organized. The number is increasing, as there were 23 who worshipped today. Keep the work in your prayers.

In other for the work to keep moving smoothly, we need to keep sending students there till we graduate this batch in 2016. If we relent our efforts, it may kill the congregation.

If I have the financial means, I will travel with my wife to Ghana to witness a graduation ceremony of the Bible school in Ateiku and also to visit other works of the Lord there. That will help us apply with the ongoing work here.

Appreciations
We shall continue to use our mouth to appreciate you as God continues to use you to accomplish His work here. Thank you for allowing yourself to be used by God. God alone will reward you. Thanks and remain blessed.

Do your best to share this report with others.

Elangwe and family
By His grace Director BVBIC-Wotutu

Power-Packed News From The Extension Schools...

Each week moves the Denver campus closer to graduation next month. The seniors are excited about the possibilities waiting for them in the various areas of ministry ahead. All of these men and their families are prepared to enter the work and they will move to specific areas upon completing their courses this quarter. The exciting part of their ministry involves the locations they will serve from the West to the East Coast of the United States.

Reports from the extension schools this week also include a recent graduation in India, an incredible story of God’s providential working in Tanzania, souls reached with the gospel in West Africa, and a little bit of fumigating humor. Reading each report reveals additional layers of how God continues to bless the work and give the increase at every level of the program.

We have a few less reports this week, but the news packed into each one is worth the time to read. The development of preacher training at the Bear Valley Bible Institute grows and every day that passes opens new opportunities for growing the kingdom. Your attention to the needs that exist does not go unnoticed and it is appreciated.

We could not do this work without you. Thank you for making the Bear Valley Bible Institute part of your mission outreach in the Lord’s church. You are blessing in every area of the program. 

Now on to this week’s incredible reports...

Coordinator Updates
Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-schools/

Extension Reports 

When Part Of Our Physical Family Becomes Part Of The Spiritual Family: An event such as this is exciting for everyone and the report from Cameroon shares the awesome news.

Nine Baptisms And Two Restorations In Recent Campaign In Ghana: Staff and students at SIBS participated in a recent campaign that yielded powerful results.

Making A Pulpit Out Of An Ant Hill In Uganda: One never knows where the best place is to proclaim the word of God, but this report shows you can do so from about anywhere.

A Special Graduation Day At Visakha Valley Bible College: Students work hard for two years to reach this day and the experience in India is special as these 12 men complete the journey.

An Ethiopian Experience At The Andrew Connally School Of Preaching: The providential working of God is amazing and the report from ACSOP shares such working.

Learning To Sing Bible Class Songs, Swahili Style: The Gaines’ family shares their experiences in learning to sing in Swahili. Video’s are attached to this link.

Sometimes The Funniest Things Can Happen In The Mission Field: Different terms and their use in other countries can bring a smile to our faces and this is no exception.

Final Thoughts 
On a final note, we thank our God each day for your support of preacher training. Your involvement in this work is making an eternal difference in the lives of wonderful people around the world. To God be the glory!

God bless
Bob

When Part Of Our Physical Family Becomes Part Of The Spiritual Family...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings to you and family in the name of Jesus Christ. We are doing better, even though many are sick here. It may be because of the climate change  moving from the dry season to the rainy season. We do hope your family is doing fine. You are in our prayers.

Last week was good to students in BVBIC - Wotutu because they received their very first quarter results which gave them ample opportunity to assess themselves and their growth on paper. We are encouraging those who are weak and we know they will make it as they work harder. Keep praying for them.

Our students continue to do their practical and grow. The Wotutu congregation continues to give students opportunities to preach and teach and also do house-to-house evangelism every Saturday for those who will not travel out for weekend evangelism. Brother Mendel spoke during today’s worship.

Brother Otte Daniel did a good job preaching today. Keep the students in your prayers, so that before the two years are over they have grown well.

The Wotutu congregation continues to be blessed with new born babies. Today was the turn of sister Bernice and husband, as they brought their little boy, Gene, for prayers. Keep them in your prayers to bring forth this son in the fear of God.

This weekend was another weekend full with joy as I saw another graduate, evangelist Orock Yanick, getting married. It was awesome for me to be part of the life making event. In Mamfe, sister Mabel was very happy to be part of the ever growing BVBIC - Wotutu family. She is eager and interested to travel to Wotutu to study during the preacher’s wives class which will come up, the first of its kind, in few weeks, or next month as long as we have resources put place.

It was a time for us to meet with the Alpha and Beta batch of students. Our family is growing.

One brother started studying with me; he is my cousin. Since October 2014. He argued a lot about his denomination, but today he accepted the gospel and was ready to make a confession of the sonship of Christ. Keep brother Romanus Botekela in your prayers, so that he will teach the gospel to his wife.

He was buried with Christ so as to live a new life. Keep brother Romanus in your prayers. One individual, who stood by the side of the river was surprised and asked a lot of questions. We are already studying with him now.

We are making more effort to teach music to our students because music will help many of them in congregations. We want to make sure our students are complete before they leave school.

Students returned from mission work and congregations continue to send letters of appreciations. Weekend evangelism is doing a lot of good for the church in recent times.

Our young convert, Dorothy, was not a part of worship today because her parents soaked all of her clothes in water early this morning. She said if that is the case, she will still not attend Roman Catholic church. She was in tears, “what shall we do now?” They are ready to throw her out of the house. If it were here in Wotutu, we could give her accommodation. The Menji congregation is made up of young converts. Oh God, help your daughter.

Plans
Another Macedonian call is ringing bells to my office for evangelism in Idenau, so as to establish a new congregation. This will be the second congregation on the west coast of Cameroon. We shall go there for a survey. Keep praying for us.

Appreciations
God bless you. We thank you for all that you are doing. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Request
Please pray for me as I wish to travel to Ghana for a visit to some Bible colleges and orphanages to add to our learning.

Do your best to share this report with others.

Elangwe and family
​By His grace director of BVBIC - Wotutu

Sometimes The Funniest Things Can Happen In The Mission Field...

Greetings Fellow Servants, 

We hope and we pray our God is blessing your lives in a very special way. We thank Him for you, your prayers, and your partnership in the “seeking and saving” of the lost of this world. It has been a busy and blessed week in His Kingdom’s work and in my travels here in States. 

Last week, I was blessed to share God's mission work in Tanzania with two new congregations of the Lord’s saints. First, I was at the Ashville Road congregation in the Birmingham, AL area. The second was with the Boiling Springs, SC church family. The interest in God’s desire to have the whole world “be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth” always brings hope and joy to this missionary. Thank you Ashville Road and Boiling Springs church families for this wonderful opportunity. 

I will be with our Westside church family this Sunday. The Westside, VA church family has supported the Tanzania mission effort from day one. We struggle finding the words to fully express our thanks for their partnership in this amazing work of God in Tanzania. As it is said; “Westside, is the Bestside.” Amen! 

The reports from our co-workers in Tanzania continue to bring forth good news of souls being taught and souls coming to Jesus in repentance and faith. The work at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching is in full swing and with the new outreach program is producing much fruit. Mission work always brings its challenges and can be illustrated by this recent note from our brother Ahimidiwe: “I hope you are doing well there Babu (grandfather). We are in this part of the world, scratching our heads on the followed things. First, we have an emergency need for the fumigation people to help us, all rats from the field have come to school eating everything and now are running in the roof like pikipiki (motor cycles).” Now that’s funny! 

Last week, I reported Stephanie and I’s need. We lost support from one supporter who helped for many years with our health insurance needs and another who has been a part of our mission efforts since 1992. The bottom line is we needed to make up $1,900 a month. We were blessed by a bother and sister in Mississippi who have committed $200 of this short fall. We are humbled by their sacrifice and we thank God for them. We are looking at options to hopefully get our health insurance costs down, praying we do not have to drop it completely. Your consideration in this matter and prayers would be greatly appreciated. 

We close with thanksgiving for each and everyone one of you who pray, support and engage in God’s outreach where you are and in Tanzania. We love and appreciate your sacrifice and commitments, making God’s work possible. Heaven is growing in numbers because you care, thank you. Always remember, God loves you!

In Him,
Cy, Stephanie & Granny

Learning To Sing Bible Class Songs, Swahili Style...

For those of you who might visit Tanzania, and plan to help with a children's Bible class while you are here, we thought we would provide you with a little tutorial on how to sing a few Swahili songs. If you learn a few of these, it will put you much more at ease in front of those sweet little faces. Even if you're not coming to Tanzania, maybe your Bible school class might enjoy some of these songs. Hope you find these videos interesting and helpful! You can download the lyrics HERE.

Daniel Gaines

To see video of the songs, please click here.

An Ethiopian Experience At The Andrew Connally School Of Preaching...

There came a woman of  Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” (John 4:7,15)

This is the occasion whereby Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman there at the well. She came to draw water as one of her daily activities, but she found Jesus, the Man with the living water. 

The Gospel has the power to bring people to God through many ways we cannot imagine. This week I had two visitors at my office here at the School of Preaching, Angelina and Luke. They both work as gardeners who go around town looking for somebody with a garden or backyard that needs to be cleaned and decorated. As they came to my office, they asked me if there is any job that they can do. We did not have a place for them to work. Angelina started by asking, what are we doing as the school in this area. That is a good question, which opened the door for more preaching. I spent two hours studying with these two gardeners. Luke knew some about the Lord’s Church, but Angelina did not know anything. After much discussion with them, as we have heard from the Samaritan woman, Angelina asked the most important question which has ever been asked, “What must I do to be a Christian who is following just what the Bible says?” I was thrilled to hear that question because it sounded like the one that the Philippian Jailor, Jews on the day of Pentecost, and the Ethiopian Eunuch asked. We continued with the study on one faith (Ephesian 4) as taught by Jesus and Paul in the Bible. We have planned to meet next week and continue with our study. I believe Angelina is one of the good soil the Lord spoke about. 

This is but one event done through the Andrew Connally School of Preaching. Many lost souls have been in contact with the blood of Jesus just because the school exists in this place. Thank you for making this possible.

May the Lord of Peace bless you beyond measure as you strive daily to support this school through your prayers and finances.

Your servant in His Vineyard,

Charles Heberth
Assistant Director
Andrew Connally School of Preaching
An Extension of Bear Valley Bible Institute
P.O. Box 14041. Arusha- Tanzania

A Special Graduation Day At Visakha Valley Bible College...

Dear Brethren in Christ,

Greetings to you in the precious name of Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Hope this message finds you all well.

We are extremely blessed to work with the preacher training school in Visakhapatnam. It is such a blessing to see our men who has a desire to learn and preach the word coming to the school and willingly go through the school for two years in order to receive the diploma for successfully completing the course.

‘Go into all the world’ is an authoritative command issued to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus sent His 12 equipped apostles to fulfill this ministry. Likewise, we are able to introduce the 12 preaching students who completed their two-year course of study and ready to sow the seed of God’s word. These men are effectively trained both to be evangelists and for doing every good work, as every man of God ought to be.

“I can do all things in him that strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

Our association with Bear Valley Bible Institute International has been our strength.  Actually, standard of teaching  and training methods are strengths of our school, but our strength has been increased as our faculty that has enhanced their biblical knowledge by completing the MA course offered by Bear Valley Bible Institute.  Also, there was a tremendous development in our teaching system since some teaching aids were brought to use in the class room.  Noticeable strength is our teamwork attitude; our combined efforts with a proper guidance through the director of our school has provided some inspiring results. Together, we were able to share our ability and strength in a great capacity to educate these young men and equip them to be effective evangelists. Our greatest strength of all is the output of our efforts which is the 12 graduates who successfully completed the course and are going to be effective instruments in spreading the Good News across India.

Words cannot completely express our thankfulness and gratitude towards the brethren at Lake Houston Church of Christ for their continued trust and confidence in the work we are doing with the school. We are grateful to them for continued support and other encouragements. With their encouragements we did a massive Hurricane Relief Program helping over 42 preachers and a couple hundred other individuals. This act of charity was published in the newspapers, helping the people of our city know that we, as Christians, care for others by sharing what we have.

At this time, we must mention the great leadership behind the oversight of the school, the elders of Strickland Church of Christ. Through helping brother Jerry Bates, they often check on the things at the school, which has been a great encouragement for us. We are so thankful for their great interest to oversee the school. This is certainly a blessing for us.

We do thank brother Jerry Bates who provided the majority of funds for holding the graduation exercises and for buying bicycles, lanterns, Christian literature etc. We must also mention sister Connie Barden who was instrumental in providing the rest of the funds for the same cause. We appreciate the elders of Colony Church of Christ for being there during the need.

We thank the elders of Bear Valley Church of Christ for taking up the challenging mission of establishing extension schools across the world. We are privileged to be part of this.

Our preaching students are doing some amazing work. So far 41 graduates have been sent out from the school, almost every one of them is involved in the Lord’s work at their capacity. We had most of them attend this graduation ceremony.

Thank you very much brother Bob Turner for your encouragements, also to the faculty who come and teach the short-courses in the school. Please continue your prayers as we also do for you. Attached pictures showing the graduation ceremony, also our students baptizing the believers of Christ. Kindly pray for their success.

Thanking you all.

In Christ, 

John Dean M
for Viskha Valley Bible College

Making A Pulpit Out Of An Ant Hill In Uganda...

Blessings from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died for His church. On the 12th of March 2015 Churches of Christ from Busia and Namayingo District went to the Bulukuyi church of Christ for a gospel campaign.

We had to use a big lorry because of the load we had  to carry. We had to carry the chairs, mats, pans, and firewood for the camp. The gospel campaign started on Friday the 13th of March 2015. The nine congregations which participated  were (1) Nandwa (2) Bulukuyi (3) Junge (4) Bugati (5) Bukalikha (6) Namungodi (7) Buswale (8) Bwoya (9) Namagenge. Each congregation contributed beans, maze, and money to be used during those three days. The day began at 7:00 am when we all went for breakfast. After breakfast we went for the first lesson which was 45 minutes. A second lesson ended at 15 minutes to 10:00 am. From that time we went in groups of two or three from house to house or door to door and came back at 1:00 pm for lunch which ended at 2:00 pm. From 2:00 pm  we continued with classes up to 5:00 pm and went for open air preaching using a public address system. This ended at 6:00 pm and we went for supper. At 8:00 pm I started teaching the slides which I converted into powerpoint translated into Lusamia language, which was spoken in Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya. The Bulukuyi congregation was planted in 2010. The whole of 2014 they were not meeting. The Nandwa congregation just sent Joel Kizito to revive them. During these three days we reached over 300 hundred people. Please pray for these works so that some may obey and become members of the Bulukuyi congregation.

We were not able to build a platform, but God is great. He provided an anthill which was improvised and it served very well. We discussed this with brother James Olendo and he agreed to plant some grass on it so that it may be our permanent platform for future use.

The truck helped us with a place where men slept. We just connected power from the generator and it served from 7:00 pm to  2:00 am when it ran out of petrol. For me, I slept in the cabin. The speakers were placed on the top of the cabin.

Part of the group listened to the open air preaching. The theme was “Know the church of Christ from the Old Testament Anti-types.” Our sisters lodged for three days sleeping on the mats. In my February report, I spoke about the need which these brethren have. We have not received anything. They still need $5,000 dollars to construct their small church building. We are appealing to any God-loving Christian who can sympathize with these brethren.

After supper, when it was dark enough, I started teaching by powerpoint through a projector. I have been down loading images from creation to the birth of Moses. By this time I had not finished all, but now I almost finished this work. I am getting the idea from Jule Miller slides. I taught this in the Lusamia language. I nearly completed the Patriarchal  Age. I will continue to compile the Mosaic Age, Christian Age, God’s plan for Redeeming man, and last, Church History. This will take me some time but I am determined  to finish wit God’s help. In total, I will make about 500 slides. For two days  I had about 300 people at night. Pray to God so that I may have strength to finish this project.

My wife, Margaret, with her team helped us with the cooking. She has been feeding two hundred people including children at every meal.

After our Sunday morning service, we had our lunch and left. Some people left on Saturday to go back to their congregations.

The second large pond is now finished, with the remainder of shaping and stocking the fish. The water has started coming and we will be stocking at the end of April.

The two old small ponds, which we did not stock last year because of their shallowness,  this time we are going to stock them with fish and rice. The deeper area is 5m x 18m by 1m deep. It is where we will stock 200 tilapia and 70 catfish. On the higher side which is a half a meter we are going to plant rice. This is called a fish and rice culture. When the rice is up, water will be filled to cover the rice.

Our garden has not been doing well. There has been a lot of sun, and all our vegetables  dried up. Our water is salty, it does not work well with drip irrigation. We plan to dig an under ground tank where we can harvest water from the roof and use it for irrigation.

Rains have started and these brethren will soon lose the top of their building the day the storms pass around that area.

We need to buy our own public address system. The one we use we are charged 50,000 per day. This is very expensive.

It is our hope that you will read this report prayerfully and respond positively. May our God bless you and your work.

Yours in Christ

Francis and Margaret Wechesa

Nine Baptisms And Two Restorations In Recent Campaign In Ghana...

At [SIBS], our emphasis is practical training of ministers to preach the gospel of Christ. Throughout the two-year period of training, the board ensures that students not only involve in weekly campaign visits to nearby congregations, but also extensive weekly campaigns in each term.

Campaign – Akim Akropong

In the month of February, some of the students from [SIBS] traveled among a team of preachers to Akropong in the eastern region of the country. The objective was to start a church in not only this strategic small town because of its location, but also its history. This campaign meant so much to us because, besides the fact that it is located in a predominantly Calvinistic district, the Presbyterian church was first established here in the late twentieth century. Two chiefs in the town both welcomed us, and pledged their support to our mission here, provided we have come with the gospel of peace.

The campaign involved a week of personal evangelism – studying with prospects from house to house, in the market square and along the streets. Abundant tracts were distributed to as many people as could read. In the end, the campaign resulted in nine baptisms and two restorations. As a means of follow-up, an old and mature brother from a nearby congregation was charged to visit the new congregation on weekends to assist them in teaching and preaching. The seed has been sown here, and we pray that it grows to bear much fruit.

Meanwhile, the infant church now worships in one of the Presbyterian primary school classrooms. This new church needs your prayers, first to relocate and then to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

The [SIBS] students were unusually ecstatic and encouraged.

Hope you continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Seth Osae-Larbi

New School In Mbanga, Cameroon Begins Monday...

Classes begin tomorrow with the new school in Mbanga, Cameroon. This school will operate in the French-speaking section of Cameroon. Brother Ititi is a graduate of the school in Wotutu, Cameroon and he serves as the director of the new school. We anticipate hearing about the ways God is working through the staff and students at Mbanga in the weeks ahead. Please pray for this new work and the men who are part of the program.

Beginning a new month brings several reports from schools throughout the program. The exciting part of incoming reports is learning about the ways God continues to bless the work of these brethren. Students are not only diligent about their studies, but they spend numerous hours each week reaching out to others with the gospel.

The past week in Denver afforded an opportunity for returning students to share information about recent campaigns in Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, and Grand Cayman. As students spoke of the camaraderie among themselves, they shared a common thread of congregations that were encouraged, faith strengthened through gospel meetings and seminars, as well as, five baptisms and one restoration. Please remember to pray for the progress of their efforts throughout these locations.

Based on reports received this week, the news is just as encouraging around the world. Information from each location speaks to the ways the Lord’s kingdom benefited from the work done by staff and students. Pictures that accompany these reports speaks volumes to the the progress made this week in spreading the gospel.

As we work together throughout the world, we glorify our God through participating in the great task of training preachers, missionaries, youth ministers, and kingdom workers. The opportunities are unlimited as we expand the program throughout the years ahead.

Now on to this week’s incredible reports...

Coordinator Updates
Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-schools/

The latest report from Howell Ferguson can be read by clicking here.

Extension Reports 

Persecution Reported With A new Convert From Lebialem Campaign: News from Cameroon emphasizes persecution for one of the young ladies who recently became a Christian.

Positive, Enthusiastic, Infectious, And Motivational Staff In Nepal: The report from Nepal shares descriptive words concerning a new staff member to aid in the work at Kathmandu.

A New Brother And Sister In Cambodia: As the third class at IBISR approaches graduation, a new brother and sister in Christ plan to be part of the next class set to begin later this year.

Graduation Nears For the Visakha Valley Bible College, India: In just over a week, the next class of students will graduate from VVBC and enter the ministry of preaching the gospel.

ITL Graduation: By clicking on the link in this post, you will find an host of pictures from the recent graduation event at ITL in Guatemala City. 

Precious Sound And Need For Peace In Ukraine: Although the fighting has calmed, to a degree, peace in Ukraine does not exist, but BVBIU continues to share true peace in Jesus.

We Be The Voice Of Nigeria: Recent elections in Nigeria send a positive sound for the voice of Nigeria, but the true voice of Nigeria is sounding forth from the staff and students at SWSE.

Good But Difficult Month: Troy Spradlin’s report shares the good and the challenge parts of living on the mission field. Please remember Troy and this work in prayer.

A Glimpse Of Graduation Scheduled For Tamale, Ghana: Another graduation in the program is scheduled for July 2 at the Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies, plus additional plans for growth.

“The Only True Church Found In This Area,” Please Read This Report: Recent help to a local preacher made a powerful impact on the community concerning the church. Please read.

Spiritual Disciplines’ Seminar Continues With Each Congregation In Arusha: Daniel Gaines reports on the continuation of a SD seminar, along with other activities in Tanzania.

Incredible News Of Kingdom Growth And A Brother In Need: The news from Tanzania is encouraging and we ask you to consider the need of our brother Cy Stafford.

Final Thoughts 
A closing note of gratitude. As we consider the incredible opportunities God gives each of us, we remember each of you. Thank you for your confidence in Bear Valley to share in the training of faithful men who will teach others also. We appreciate the blessing provided to participate in God’s great mission.

God bless
Bob