Evangelism in Mbanga

Our God is exalted far above all heavens and His glory is above all the earth. God blesses his church and the work of the Bear Valley Bible Institutes in Cameroon. I hope all is well over there. 

Cameroonians, since Monday, have been so busy with back to school or school resumption which has been a major problem to our English-speaking brothers. Nevertheless, we of the school of preaching are very busy with examinations, short courses, and the sister’s class. We praise God almighty for another successful week that our students and the church passed through. It was a very busy one with examinations for the students. 

This is when the students are presenting, “Practical Homiletics” for their exams. It was good for them to present in front of their peers for “Homiletics I.” For “Homiletics II,” it shall be with the congregation.

As we were rounding up with exams it was time to go to Bomono Ba Mbenge, a community along the Mbanga Douala highway were one of our graduates, Raoul, is working full-time. There was a mini lectureship for the zone. Tracks we carried along including “The Good News and Seven Ones,” in French. The students motivated evangelism, singing, reading of the bible, and many other activities as one of them won the best price for bible quiz. Souls were touched during door to door evangelism and even open-air preaching. It was a blessing as the zone expect much from the students and staff of the Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon. Our challenges there were the poor sound system which has been a problem most of the time. Keep our hundreds of prospects in your prayers and for brother Raoul to get have good follow- up with them. We returned Saturday evening after the last evangelism.

Please continue to pray for us.

Challenges in Wotutu

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this great country of Cameroon. We are doing fine even though many are sick here. I took four students to the hospital in Limbe for further medical findings. I also took two of their wives who came for the classes and took ill here. Keep us in prayers because it seems we are facing more challenges now.

God is still on the throne. And, in the midst of all this, the work He entrusted in our hands is moving ahead. The separatist movement declared a lock down in the entire English-speaking Cameroon. It came just at the time that our student’s wives are supposed to make their way to Wotutu for their class. Some made it under very harsh risky conditions. It was very expensive, even above our budget, to get them to and from the villages.

The third quarter ends today successfully without any major problem from all the staff and students of Bear Valley Bible Institute Cameroon Wotutu. But, because of the lock down, our students cannot go to the field as the case use to be immediately after their short courses. They will wait until Sunday afternoon to move and they need to move faster. The school van and the orphanage van will be used to transport them faster out of the English-speaking zones to French speaking areas so that they can continue to twenty different locations for mission work. Among these twenty, we have two virgin lands to preach in and plant new congregations in and we also have a place in which to revive a dying congregation. Keep these in your prayers.

This new week and new month open with the short courses and also the women’s class. The women’s class was sensitive with good lessons on “THE HOME GOD’S WAY.” I decided to teach the class so that I will be able to make better explanations and applications. With experiences from my family, I can help build these families. They took courage to leave their different villages. Some even came with their smaller children because of fear of insecurity back in their homes.

The seventeen total lessons in the handouts were great. As the one that instructed it, I am not left with any doubts that this course will go a long way to build families and makes families stronger and more focused. Sound messages bring smiles as you can see the ladies smiling. Many thanks to sister Robin Martin for putting together this great piece of work.

 PLANS

All students will be out for mission work. The staff of the Bible school will be out to strengthen different congregations. I will be out also to visit congregations. Some of my visits will be will be where our students will be for serving for these two weeks.

APPRECIATIONS

Thanks very much for all that you are doing. Thanks for your prayers and deep support you are rendering to make it happen whether in the school of preaching, in the orphanage, or in the Christian schools. All of these helps to make the work entrusted in our hands move with ease. Please continue. Our God will surely continue to bless you and continue to replenish your pockets.

Please do your best to share this report with others. Make a great day.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Building improvements made in Arusha

Grace and Peace to you friends.

This week I'd like to give you an update on some building projects that have been undertaken by some of the congregations in Tanzania. Construction loans are not really a thing in Tanzania, so building projects have to be done bit by bit as funding becomes available. Just like Americans, Tanzanian churches desire to have a safe, dry place to worship that communicates permanence and legitimacy to their community. A couple of our sister congregations have been able to take strides forward in their facilities thanks to help from some of you.

First, the Lulumbela congregation is thankful for their new roof. Meanwhile, the Kazibizyo congregation is thankful to have been able to put in a floor for their building, and a coat of paint on the outside. Another congregation is in need of some help with their facility. The Ibambula church's building was heavily damaged by rainstorms earlier this year (as pictured below). They've made do for a few months like this, but now the local officials have ordered them to not use the building until it is repaired. We're currently in the process of trying to determine how much it will cost to repair the facility.

We do have a few dates open this fall if your congregation would like a visit. Also, if you know of a another congregation that might be able to help with the work, then we would appreciate a reference.

We hope that your day is very blessed!

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

Mission Printing and WBS helping in Kenya

This is students' report for August 2019 at the Kenya school of preaching- a branch of Bear Valley Bible Institute.

We have got 20 Bible students who are currently being trained, three (3) African teachers ,(Charles, Ochola and Elias)and three American teachers (Timothy, Peter Ray and Mike Reese).

The 20 students had been knocking doors in the nearby villages around the preaching school as they try to reach the locals with the gospel. They as well visit local congregations in order to help local preachers with services and even to learn from experienced ones. This they do on Saturdays and Sundays. This time they had visited and served 14 local congregations, attended 6 gospel meetings conducted by these churches, made 20 evangelistic trips as they evangelize and edify the saved. They had conducted 52 Bible studies and preached 72 sermons. As a result, 13 baptisms have been conducted apart from those baptisms at Ahono Youth Camp.

Thanks to Mike Reese and brethren for the funds which he (they) contributed for the purpose of sending these preachers under training to evangelize and visit local congregations.

On Friday 23rd of August, we closed the school for September holidays till October 7th 2019 when the classes will resume again. The next quarter will begin year 2 quarter 1. For now the students will be away helping their home congregations and preachers. When they report back, they will, to keep us updated, give a report of all they do now at these congregations.

Another unique blessing which we can share with the brethren everywhere, is that the Bear Valley Bible Institute has agreed to conduct a full masters programme at the Kenya School of Preaching, which will commence as from December 2nd - December 13th 2019. Those former graduates who had already completed the under graduate classes in the previous 3 intakes, will now join and begin, and there are already 20 graduates who yearn to report when the time arrives. We are glad to have such a chance/opportunity which should be grasped with immediate effect. May the Lord God bless the BVBID and those who are involved in making this opportunity a reality.

Still another blessing is present with us at KSOP which has been brought by Mission Printing INC. and World Bible School materials in a container. These bring tremendous help to the local congregations and non-believers. Local churches use the Mission Printing tracts and booklets in edifying the saved, in teaching their new converts to grow in the knowledge of the Bible and of Christ. Church preachers use these to evangelize the lost, refute error and uphold the truth. Preachers as well use these tracts to help High School students to forsake or beware of alcohol and drug abuse, a major problem in our generation. The preachers' boxes are best with books that are used in this regard, eg. "Sabbatarian concordance and commentary". "Now that is a miracle", all by Gerald Wright. It is a fact that even the local preachers themselves are growing in tackling difficult texts of Scriptures. We request many of the preachers' boxes again, for those who have not collected the boxes are the majority compared to preachers who have.

With the World Bible School courses, the preachers evangelize their areas and motivate people to study the Bible as they read and fill up the blank spaces .More so, those who are really benefiting from these, are non- believers. Right now, Nixon Ochola, WBS teacher, is grading 100 and over WBS booklets that have been read and filled by non- believers who have registered. These students have made an appointment with Nixon that he will go and teach them face to face and answer their questions from the Bible. This he is going to do in a weeks time from now. The WBS materials are opening doors for evangelism. One of our current students at KSOP, called Moses Simiyu, is now conducting a gospel meeting in his area around Mt. Elgon (in Kenya) and he took with him several of WBS boxes to distribute to the

locals. The idea of receiving a copy of God's word the Bible upon completion of these courses, has motivated many. Congratulations Richard Reignfro and the Mission Printing I.N.C. together with those at WBS.

Thanks to each and everyone who, in one way or another, whether in prayers or monetary help, has participated in supporting KSOP here at Kisumu, or at the other 4 small preacher training schools ( Butere, Christians for Kenya, Bomet and Maasai Mara) in the country.

We pray for you, we remember you, we love you." May the Lord bless you and keep youk The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to youk The Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace", Numbers 6:24-26.

In His service, Elias Omollo

School resumes soon in Sierra Leone

OPERATIONS REOPRT FOR JUNE 2019 KENEMA BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE SIERRA LEONE

Dear Friends, Greetings from me, my family and from all those that are laboring with me in the recruitment of able men for God’s vineyard. Staffs and students send their greetings. We wish everyone by God’s grace a sound health in Christ Jesus.

The month of June was loaded with intensive teaching and learning. We were a bit behind the schedule in the proposed curriculum. We have to repeat teachings on Personal Evangelism due to late arrival of 5 students after the lesson has been taught by Robert P. Dahn Jr from Liberia. Nevertheless we endure and ensure that the 1st quarter syllabus is completed.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

With the special grace of God we have 16 Students in class when regular classes resume. We started off with Brother Gabriel Abu who taught Old Testament 1. He is one of the able preachers in one of our congregation in Kenema Town.

Trust me 40 credible hours of intensive teaching and learning was effectively done by each of the lecturers. 8 hours of class work and 1 hour Lunch per day. The First Quarter contain the following

1.     Old Testament 1 (Genesis) Taught by Gabriel Abu in Kenema Township

2.     How we Got the Bible taught by Brother Samuel Bangura from Freetown

3.     Christian Evidences taught by Brother Osman Sheke from Kondu Town

4.     Gods plan of salvation Scheme of Redemption taught by Emmanuel Focko from Kailahun

5.     Personal Evangelism taught by Joseph Masseley in Kenema one of our excellent pass graduate

6.     English taught by Brother Richard Saidu Saffa Christian Brother

EVANGELISM

The subject Personal Evangelism was theoretically and practically carried out in class and in the field. A product of Bear Valley Bible Institute in Kenema in the person of Joseph Masseley was mentoring student in One to One contact. The amazing part in the one to one contact was that most of our Students could communicate with the people through their own dialect, this makes the reception good.

We are looking forward to the increase by faith in our next venture. Keep us in your prayers.

CONCLUSION

The Institute is on vacation at present. Hopefully to reopened on the 14th of August 2019. We are almost to the month of continuous raining period. Remember us in your prayers as we do for many.

May God bless our joint efforts for the purpose of His Kingdom.

Attached below are photographs relating to the report.

Your Brother and Humble Servant

Brother Jacob Sesay

Admin/Director – Bear Valley Kenema

Guinea growth

Gueckedou, Guinea Bear Valley Bible Institute Activity Operations Report for July 2019

The activities of the month of July were few, yet we have the obligation to give you an update. We had only 13 week-days during the month of July having been on break till the 14th, but our in and outdoor activities were good even though to certain extent the rains limited the frequency of our movement. While we did not reap much fruit as in previous months due to this and other gospel preaching difficulties, we were on the other hand blessed by one congregation with a reasonable amount of funds for the purchase of equipment for that exercise. Here below are some of the details of what happened during the month.

Classroom: Our third quarter course schedule commenced with the Minor Prophets and was completed in 7 days instead of 8 so that we had a day off used for an outdoor activity. The 29th up to the 2nd of August was the final part of the course ‘Christian Evidence – the Bible and Science. Students’ participation and evaluations results were good and all 17 students are still on roll.

Evangelism: As usual, individually and as a group we went out to preach whenever the opportunity presented itself. This is how we had one day of preaching from the 8 days scheduled for the Minor Prophet course which was completed in 7 days. One of our men was successful to convert 1 soul in the village of Yabehma on the 7th of July. Then on the 21st and 22nd respectively we baptized 2 young men in Gueckedou town and these brought us to the total of 3 conversions in July.

Evangelism Equipment Request Answered: In our May report we made an open request to any well-wishers for evangelism equipment such as loud speakers and amplifiers. By the grace of God the church of Christ congregation at Niceville, Florida through the hand of brother Ken Stanley wired the amount of $800.00 for that purpose. Being the pioneers of the gospel work in Guinea, they have once again demonstrated their financial support in addition to the regular assistance rendered! Niceville had also help for the worship hall at the village of Bandalo-leh. 

Conclusion: The month of July this year was one of those months that fell within our break periods and it is in the rainy reason thus limiting our outdoor activities. By His grace however we successfully went through our classroom work and also converted 3 souls to Christ. We are also thankful to the Niceville, Florida church of Christ for the evangelism equipment cost provided. It is our appeal and prayer that others will be touched also to help in other areas such as participating in worship hall construction for the new congregations being established.

A few photos are attached.

We thank and appreciate you all.

Francis

65+ students in greater Accra

Introduction

Report on July for the external and internal activities for the full-time school and extended schools.

Prologue

We always thank God for the help and mercies He bestows on us throughout all activities in the benefit and progress of the schools. Praise is to God for the remembrance of our brethren, who support the schools in diverse ways and the brethren in Ghana who also gave out their resources for the progress of the school. Our prayer is that God continue to bless everyone.

REOPEN

This is to mention that the full-time students went on break and hopefully, resumed for the continuation of their programme. The school resumed on 14th of July and classes started on 15th July. The first instructor to teach was Amoo-Gyimah Emmanuel followed by Kojo, Gyan-Mante, Emmanuel Odeng Larbi, Samuel Sasu Ntim and George Osafo.  

We have thirteen students and they have all reported.  We are so grateful to see our students in good condition.

COURSES FOR THE THIRD QUARTER

This is third quarter courses which include Denominational Doctrine, Life of Christ IV, World Religion, Epistle to the Hebrews, Galatians, Counseling, English Language and Computer Studies.

Br. Amoo-Gyimah has started teaching his course on Life of Christ IV and followed by the subsequent instructors.

STAFF MEETING

Land

The staff of the school has met to discuss on the school land registration and the preparation to start the building on the said plan. As per the directors’ comments, the registration is in progress starting with search and indenture.

Students Visitation to the congregations

The last quarter students visited assigned congregation to improve their practical ability and as per the order, there has been rotation which commenced on 18th August, 2019.

Activities for in August discussed

In our discussion the following were activities to carry out:

·         Evangelism (follow up) at Obeyeyie – Accra

·         Evangelism (follow up) at Ada Ngiresi – Central Region

·         Evangelism (Church Planting) at Ayaldu – Central Region

·         Attend up Seminar in Takoradi – Central Region

·         Attend up Graduation which would be held in Tamale – Northern Region  

It is the hope of the staff and students that the Lord sees us through successfully in all preaching and transportation.

We request that you pray with us as we embark these activities to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

KASOA

The regular attendance was 12 of the 13 students in each day in the month. The courses were The Scheme of Redemption which was handled by Kojo Acquah Beenyi and Old Testament II by Roger Asante.

Most of these students are preaching and teachers in their congregations and they are grateful to the school as they see how the school is being a blessing to them.

The school here was blessed with the visit to us by Keith, as he encouraged us and admonished us to be faithful to the work we have chosen to do.

Preachers camp in Peru

Dear Brothers,
Hoping that each of you is well, both in your personal, family and ministerial lives, after a little time I write these lines to update the progress of BVBI PERU.

The students in the institute are doing a great effort and a good job to make sure that the contents presented by the teachers are assimilated, the last subject was taught by Abraham Alata (Homiletica 2), this month our brother Andres Nuñez is speaking the Oratory course.

Thanks to the support of Abraham Alata, Andres Nuñez, Jens Nima and Alejandro Manrique, and other Church leaders here in Lima, we organized our first CPP (Camp for Preachers), in which 18 leaders from different congregations were involved. July 28-29, we developed a series of activities with the purpose of further strengthening the bonds of friendship and fraternity, in addition to building each other, the plan is to have a CPP promoted by the institute every year, we hope to have sat a good president to Future events

Following our calendar of activities, the students supported an evangelistic activity in the Church of Christ in Pachacamac on August 3-4, an activity that left many contacts and prospects for conversion, of which the church is already taking charge. The church of Pachacamac decided to support two of the students financially to count on their help in the evangelistic task, this will be done until the end of the year, the two students are Alejandro Berrio and Moises Guevara.

An update from Cambodia

IBISR Report July 2019
Hello from your Christian Family on the other side of the world. We hope everyone is doing well.

IBISR
The third trimester of IBISR's academic year finished on the 28th of July, 2019. Our institution has finished the last trimester of the first academic year. This trimester has four courses which had already taught by our two instructors (Run Darat and Rin Piseth).

STUDENTS
We currently have five students in total. We are on a a break to go and recruit new students. We have two good prospects who are still in High School but they are still undecided. We are advertising our school on Facebook and getting some response from that. PLEASE PRAY for us to have good results in attaining more students that are truly interested in learning about God and the truth in the Bible.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
We were exceedingly grateful for brother Wes Autrey who had spent his time with us in order to share his Bible knowledge and build a good relationship with us through Skype each week.

VISITING OTHERS
We went to visit Mr. Lam who worked on our building addition. We had a wonderful day and ate lunch with him at his house. All of the students showed a good example to others in that village. We hope that Mr. Lam and his family will study the Bible with us in the future.

ASKING FOR YOUR PRAYERS
As we are new in leading this institution, we would like to ask you to continue to help us in many ways. Especially, please continue to pray for our work and Bible students in Cambodia.

We really appreciate your help with the all the work in Cambodia . Thanks for supporting our institution , we could do all things through Christ who strengthens us . God is amazing and made all these things happen.

Servants of Christ,
Your Brothers
Piseth Rin - Co Director
Pros Rok - Staff

New congregation in Harare

Harare Extension students continue to do great work in the areas were they are attached. Of great interest is the new work established in Charlotte Brook. Gellie Chenche (our student) is resident in that area and was a member at Borrowdale church of Christ. Due to distance and the biting economic challenges, the knowledge acquired had to be put into practice.

A team of ten (10) went for weekend evangelism on the 20th and 21st of July and the work was done.
The first worship service was held on 21 July 2019. On that day six (6) prospects visited and two were added to the Lord through baptism. On the second Sunday, another soul was added and we praise God.

As we praise God for the work started, we thank Borrowdale church of Christ for being a mother to this new work. It is my sincere hope that the work will grow by day.

HOPE FOR THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER CONGREGATION

The month of September 2019 will mark the beginning of another congregation in Dzivaresekwa Extension. The planning for this work has reached an advanced stage and the place of worship has been secured. The church in Dzivaresekwa and the church in Westgate have come together to mother this congregation until such a time when the congregation is weaned to stand on its own feet.
As Harare Extension school, our plan for 2019 was to establish two congregations and we have also adopted a strategy whereby we have existing mature congregations who will adopt the work and work with the newly established congregations until they reach a stage of maturity.

May God bless BVBII for all the work being done around the world. We are grateful for the cooperation we have and may the Almighty bless you always.

STAY BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING TO ALL

Stay blessed and be a blessing to all,

Howard Suwari

Agriculture seminar in Zambia

July 2019 Report

Warm greetings to you all brothers and sisters!! We give honor and glory to God who has given us the opportunity to work in His Kingdom.

The school is on a short break and some students remained for catch up courses, the rest of the students have gone back to their respective home congregations. The school reopens for the first quarter of 2019/2020 school calendar.

We have received the good reports from all of the students who have gone for holiday are that they are doing fine in their work as preachers. They have been conducting personal Bible studies during this break with a number of people in their localities. Before going on short break, we had what we called “friendship evangelism” were students’ patrolled streets, houses and shops. This mission was intended for students to know how to make friends for evangelism. It was very interesting once again to see different talents. Students had set Bible studies with members of the community and they will continue as they resume their second year.

Brother Joseph Ilunga went back to Lubumbashi, DRC. He went to see one of his brothers who was reported to be sick but he has since recovered. Before coming to BVBI-Zambia, Joseph was doing some business ventures to enable him take support some of his siblings. Ever since his parents passed away, some of his siblings depended on him for their schooling and day to day survival. Hence even now, he has a very huge responsibility on his shoulders as far as supporting these siblings is concerned. Joseph has proved to be a dedicated servant of God and we believe he is going to make a good preacher.

Stephen Ngosa is one of the former graduates who is putting to use the knowledge he got from BVBI-Zambia. Stephen is totally committed and he is working closely with the youths at Luanshya Central Church of Christ in Luanshya District of the Copper Belt Province. Since his wife left him for another man, he has proved to be devoted to the work of God. Please pray for Stephen that he finds a life partner who can understand him and his work of preaching. On the other development Austin Musonda and Hornbye Mupengu have done a good Job this month by teaching the Sundays school classes as you will see in the pictures, Brother Cephas Mwamba has visited their respective congregations to see how these brothers are doing and indeed it is a great work.

Vinicent Simwanza, one of the devoted servants has been preaching and restored three souls back to the sheepfold. He got engaged to Twiniss Chanda who was a Pentecostal believer, Vinicent preached to her and she has since become a Christian. We believe they will make a good couple, we invited her for a short course, and she has proved to be a lady to support her future husband and his work. Pray for this upcoming Christian couple.

As mentioned in our previous communiqué that the students had a very successful survival gardening workshop with Brother John Dube from Zimbabwe. Brother Dube is the country coordinator of Healing Hands for Zimbabwe. It was a full packed one week of survival skills taught by Brother Dube. He taught gardening and entrepreneurship to the students and other members of the Church in Luanshya who attended the workshop.

The 2019/2020 school year starts with the following courses of the first quarter: “Church History” and

“Old Testament 3b (Study of Wisdom Literature: Psalms - Song of Songs)”. These two courses will be taught by Brother Cephas Mwamba and “Life of Christ 3 (The ministry of Jesus)”and “intertestamental History” will be taught by Brother Fred Kanangu.

We are also looking forwarding to having Donnie Estep come later in the quarter to teach “2 Corinthians” as a short course. And Brother Kennedy Mukuka will also teach “Marriage and Family Life” as a short course during the same quarter.

Our hearts are truly thankful to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for financial support and all the encouragement in this good work. We will likewise pray that God will bless the works that you all are involved in as well.

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred

An update from Arusha

Grace and Peace to you friends.

I wanted to tell you about some of the things that have been taking place in Tanzania. The church in Elk City, OK was unable to take their normal campaign trip this year so they decided to do something a little different. They financially supported some of the churches on the east side of Arusha in conducting their own campaign. So the Manyire, Maji ya Chai, Usa River, and Lerai congregations worked together to conduct 50 bible studies and 3 baptisms on their own.

Also school has started back at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching. We're thankful to Mark Phillips for recently teaching a course in our graduate program. He had 6 students there working on their Masters degrees.

Meanwhile our brother, Yusuph, reports that the congregation at Ushirombo was able to turn tragedy into an opportunity for the gospel. A death in the congregation led to the chance to distribute 500 tracts. We pray those tracts find fertile soil. The death was of a faithful widow who leaves behind 8 children. The local congregation is trying their best to help with the needs of the children.

In recent weeks I've had the opportunity to connect in person with churches in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Kentucky. I have a trip to Texas and Oklahoma planned for early September, and I would like to get to Virginia and West Virginia in early November. If you would like for me to visit with your congregation, then I would love to make that happen! Just reach out to me and we'll get you scheduled.

I'll also be at Polishing the Pulpit next week, so if you'd like to get together there to talk Tanzania, then that is also possible.

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

15 more souls baptized in northern Ghana

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE

TAMALE, GHANA 

JULY REPORT 2019

We again thank God for His favor shown on us to witness the end of yet another month. We wish to express our appreciation for the good work you continue to offer to us as brothers in the Lord. May God increase you in every aspect of life to enable you finish or achieve your ambition.

LECTURESHIP

The classes for the second term are  ongoing, Brothers Acquah Beenyi Kojo for The New Testament Church 1 and Ayillah Roger Akumse for Old Testament 2 {Historical books Joshua-Esther  and The Life of Christ 1 is in session with Brother Albert Malir remaining two more courses {Godhead & Homiletic 1} to end the term.

BONGO CAMPAIGN

As part of the activities scheduled for the second term is a campaign at Bongo. Bongo is the capital town of Bongo District, one of the nine (9) districts in the Upper East of northern Ghana. Bongo is nearer to Bolgatanga, the capital of Upper East Region. It shares borders with Kassena-Nankana District in the West and the Bolgatanga Municipal District in the South.

Bongo is a rocky area, the Bongo rocks is a  tourism site, which provides a beautiful view of all the Bongo districts landscape and allow an easy ascent. The predominant occupation in Bongo district is subsistence farming along with some handicraft production. Nearly 90 percent of the district’s inhabitants speak Gurene/Frafra.

As a result, on the 29th day of July, 2019 the entire students’ body under the leadership of James Legend moved to Bongo where they stayed and evangelized for seven (7) days. Brother James led the team because the brother in charge of campaigns (Preacher Francis Ayine) had a car accident on the 22nd of July, 2019.

There were about fifteen (15) souls that were added to the Church through baptism. These were people we preached to from all the four (4) communities in and around Bongo. These fifteen people include the chief of a village called Agamolgo.

ADMINISTRATION WORK

We remain committed to the course of advertising and elevating the image of the college in Tamale higher to attract the attention of the prospects. Sixteen students are currently in school and more prospects are calling for the admissions that are not members of the Church. We are communicating tediously to convert them before we offer them the admission as the doctrine of the Church is concern. Some members who are government workers are also calling for part time course implementation to enable them also have the benefits. We need your prayer and discretion on these matters.

We are working diligently on the impending workshop for the Sunday School teachers and seminar for the preachers and positive responses from participants are realized and we have done our best to inform them the order of the programs. We can now ascertain the fact that the programs will be a fruitful one.

PROJECT

The wall work on the Church plot was perfectly done to the level of four blocks on two sides and other side three blocks. We are very happy about it because now we can claim full ownership of the plot as that have stopped the land being used as road.  We pray that you continue to assist us in such ventures like this to expand the work of the Church in this part of the country-Ghana.

God keeps us all safe in all we do amen!

Your steward in Christ

Albert Malir Tamanja

Off to a great start in India

Respected beloved brothers in Christ warmest greetings to you from the  Bear Valley Bible Institute, Tirupati-city, India. I take this opportunity to send you update news regarding our bible Institute.

Tirupati -city in India is a famous pilgrim place, Hindu religious people call it as temple city of India, because their prominent temple being constructed in this city on the top of seven hills, each day about 1,00000 to 1,20,000 people visit this temple,  there are seven universities have been established in this city by the Indian government .

Almost all we were praying and planning for the establishment of the Bear Valley Bible Institute in this city for many years , we did correspondence with the director of the International Biblical studies in Bear Valley in USA enough time, But God has His own  plan for everything to be established in His own time.

Behalf of the  Bear Valley Institute Mr.Keith Kasarjian  has visited India and  stayed with us enough time in January -2019 and completed the  survey work. In The month of May-2019 We have conducted one week youth camp and given awareness  of the Bear Valley Bible Institute,  and many of the students could able to take decision to join in the Bible College for the two years preachers bible training.

The Inauguration event of the Bear Valley Bible Institute took place on May 28, 2019, several gospel preachers from different local churches in India were able to attend and witness the program, they felt so happy to see the infrastructure of the Bible College and impresses to send the young men for the bible training.

Bear Valley Bible Institute’s first semester has  started on  June 3rd, 2019,  God has blessed our classes  with 24 students , they did hard work in following the most experienced teaching faculty as Bear Valley is having sound and effective syllabus, in our first semester we have completed The Books of Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, How we got Bible, Basic principle of Indian constitution, English skills  and began the  Christian evidences, each day we had few guest students beside our regular students  for the  classes.

Our students are privileged  to attend for the local church  weekly programs, they did attend for the eight  midweek bible studies and  eight Sunday worship services and also for the few  praise meetings which we conducted in the families of local church.

Our First campaign of the first semester  we had  at Yerravaripallem village , it is about 40 miles away from the Bible Institute, it has been located in the hill side ,  on that day two souls were baptized and local church  members  over there could able to construct new church building in that hill side rural area, one of the student  from BVBI goes each Sunday for assisting them in preaching and every Thursday evening he goes for bible study.

We conducted second campaign at  Nellore district, Vidyanagar village which is about 100 miles far away from the Bible Institute,   we invited college young girls and boys, we had full day meeting  and presented good lessons concerning young people.

The Month of August is break time for the Bible Institute in Tirupati, during this short period our students were instructed to participate in the practical gospel ministry along with the recommended local preachers, they need to submit daily report  beside that they need to write assignment work from the completed syllabus and submit when they turn back to the Bible Institute after the short break.

Our coordinator Mr. Mark Reynolds did  correspondence with several guest teachers and able to fix few of them to visit us and teach in our Bible College, lord willing one of the brother Mr. Jerry Bates and his wife Mr.Paula Bates, (USA) may travel to our city  and they will be teaching from August 25 -30 in our Bible college, all the students, teaching and non-teaching faculty join with me to convey our biggest thank to our director Mr.Keith Kasarijian,  we appreciate his out standing efforts for the success of establishing the bible college in Tirupati-city,  we also thankful to our coordinator Mr.Mark Reynold, Bear Valley Bible Institute staff in USA and all the donors and prayer partners , special thanks to our local churches in Vidyanagar and Tirupati, Iam thankful to my wife swarupa for her great assistance in doing several things concerning college set up works and also keeping the  accounts most accurately for the sake of  Indian GOVT and also to be submitted to our Director and the coordinator , we are ever grateful to our good father in heaven for His continual guidance, love, mercies, grace, kindness and concern, we request each one of you to continue to pray for the function of Bear Valley Bible Institute in Tirupati, India for the glory of our good father in heaven.

Thanking you.

Yours brother in Christ.

B.Vijaya Kumar,

The Director of

Bear Valley Bible Institute in Tirupati

My recent visit to Nigeria and Ghana

It has recently been my pleasure to visit several of the schools in west Africa. Specifically, most of the ones I have visited have been of the 4 year, or “extended” model. There are a number of benefits to this model.

> It allows a student to keep his job and not face the dilemma of leaving home and family.

> The knowledge gained often makes an immediate impact on the church because many of the students are already preaching for churches.

> While the same curriculum is used and standards are expected, funding is much more manageable.

While we never intend to get away from the 2 year, or “accelerated” school model, the 4 year option is filling a much-needed niche in many places. Enrollment in these schools is now well in excess of 300 worldwide. What I found in my visits we eager students, who were appreciative of the opportunity to to learn and prepare themselves for even greater service in the Kingdom.

Fraternally,

Keith Kasarjian

Things are going well in Philippines

The extension school in Cebu, Philippines is blessed to have Jerry Bates as our instructor this June. He taught our students Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Jerry has been a part of the work in the Cebu, Philippines for many years but it was his first time to visit Cebu.  Our students learned a lot from him and they are excited to have him back next year.

Last Summer, two of our students, Bonifacio Labroso J.r and Rene Silva joined by some of the brethren in Cebu had an evangelistic campaign in Toledo City and it was a successful campaign. They baptized 6 souls and they were added to the Lord’s church in Toledo.

Lastly, one of the our student, Luisito Oliveros started a Bible Study Center in his area. He is now entrusting the Word to faithful people. All glory to God for these wonderful works.

God has blessed the work in this part of the world and we are excited for His plans for us in the coming months. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

God bless us all!

Neil Emperado

Director-BVBI Philippines

Summer outreach in Ukraine

Dear brothers and sisters, as well as the churches,

Currently our Bible Institute has summer evangelical practice for students. Many of them take part in the VBSs as teachers, volunteers and helpers.  It is a big blessing that many congregations of the Church of Christ can host their VBS utilizing local resources. 

There were 7 VBSs during last month: in Poltava, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Vorokhta, Dnipro, Brovary, etc. In the middle of this month our congregation in Bela Tserkva is having the VBS as well. The preparation is under way in full force. It's always an exciting time for our congregation.

As for the next school year we have recruited 5 new students. They filled out the applications and submitted all necessary documents. And there was also a couple who refused to finalize the application process at the very last minute because the college they were currently attending extended the time of studies for another 6 months, and they were under the contract to complete those studies.

Two weeks ago my family went to a sea side for a vacation. My family really enjoyed the week off. They deserved to get some rest. On the way back we stopped at the city of Nikolaev to see a Christian family. The population of the city is 600,000 people and as of right now there is only a handful of Christians who congregate in private houses. We tried to encourage them and spend a few days together.

We had a group of American Christians in Bela Tserkva for 6 weeks. They were doing the LST program. The idea is to teach English using the Bible. Thanks to the effort we've got a lot of new contacts. In the beginning of August, they returned to the States and we are following up with the students. Of course, there are many opportunities to study English these days. In Kiyv, the capital of Ukraine, a lot of people understand English. But in little cities people are excited about the opportunity.

The Bible Institute classes will start in the first week of September. We have 7 second year students. I sure hope all of them are coming back. Unfortunately, in the previous years we had some sad instances where a student wouldn't return after the summer break. We need to continue praying for our students.

As always we are very appreciative of your involvement and support of the Bible Institute. We are going to start training new students and it means the Institute will need funds. If you are interested in supporting the program, please contact Bear Valley Bible Institute Ukrainian extension coordinator Terry Harmon.

Your brother and co-worker in the Lord's Vineyard, Dennis Sopelnik.

Campaign planned in Fiji

Bula Vinaka from Fiji!

Things are going well at the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa. We just finished up our short courses. My son, Josh, came out and taught a class on Youth and Family Ministry. Josh has been a youth minister for about 24 years and did a great job. The interest level was high and we had three to sit in on the class in addition to our regular students. We also had Paul Meredith, who taught a class on Church History and did great as well. This is Paul's second time to teach and he relates well to the students and does a good job of presenting difficult material in a way that it can be easily understood.

We are currently on school break. Lord willing, Emosi (one of our instructors), his wife Nancy, and I will be traveling to the north to spend a little time with the congregations at Labasa and Buca. We plan to make an audio and video recording of their singing to produce a CD and DVD to be distributed to other congregations to encourage them and to help them learn new songs. We will be working with Atu (whom I hope to persuade to enroll in the school at a future date) who is an excellent song leader. He has singing practice every Saturday and he has several that come regularly to learn new songs and practice old songs. This will be the second time I have recorded them. This has been a real encouragment to the brethren in Fiji.

I have also purchased my airfare to Denver to attend the annual fall staff retreat. Lord willing, I will leave Denver on Sunday afternoon and arrive back in Fiji on September 2. Jason and Emosi are teaching the classes in my absence. When I arrive back in Fiji I will work on finalizing preparation for the upcoming campaign to Nadi, Fiji.

Two weeks ago Jason and I spent a weekend in Nadi so that we could meet with Jone Qoro, the preacher there. We were able to finalize plans for the student led campaign which is scheduled to take place September 9 through the 15. We plan to knock doors during the day. The students will be divided into two teams. One will focus on visiting wayward members and the other on inviting people of the community to the lectureship on the family, which will be Friday night and all day Saturday. The students will be teaching in the program as well. Please keep the campaign effort in your prayers and also the brethren in Nadi.

Following the campaign, classes resume on Tuesday, September 17. I am excited about teaching the Scheme of Redemption. This will be the second time I have taught this at the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa and I have spent a good deal of time updating and reediting my textbook for this class. I will teach this course for three weeks and then I am scheduled to teach Paul's Prison Epistles for two weeks. Jason will be teaching Old Testament History II, Hebrews, and Ethics this term. Emosi will be teaching Denonominational Doctrines.

May God bless you with a wonderful day!

Rocco

Incredible student practicum results in Zimbabwe!

                                 JULY 2019 NARRATIVE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

The great commission continues to be obeyed and disobeyed in many circles. At BVBIZ students are trained so that they be able to obey and fulfil this commission. Despite the various challenges that the nation is facing, BVBIZ continued to do her part in fulfilling this commission in the month of July. The major activity in the month was the field practicum currently underway. This is reported hereunder.

1.0 FIELD PRACTICUM

The field program that started on the 22nd of June progressed well  in the month of July. The program will end on the 8th of September.  During this year’s program, students have had their fair share of joyous moments and challenging incidents and situations. All these are vital in building a highly competent servant of God who will be able to transform communities. Great appreciation goes to the congregations and individuals who are sponsoring this work in terms of food and accommodation. Teachers followed up on the students many times during the month. Their task was to evaluate students, observe challenges and other notable issues.  The visits will continue in the month of August. The month of July saw 35 souls being baptized and 37 being restored to the Lord.

Students based at Igava Mission have been dealing mainly with the Primary and Secondary Schools there. Their work included devotions at assemblies and in classes. As schools go on break in early August, the word shall now be taken to communities. On the other hand a new congregation has now been established at the town of Redcliff. Students. From the many pictures that were send from the field, we have included some at the end of this report.

2.0 SITE DEVELOPMENT

After constructing two rooms measuring 6mx4m each, a house (hostel) to accommodate students is the next building project. The plan for this building was submitted to Vungu Rural District Council and was finally approved on the 23rd of July.  A plan for pit latrine (toilet) was also approved. Gathering of materials for the construction of a foundation for the student house started on the 30th of July and will continue into early August. Currently all bricks, pit sand and river sand needed for the foundation are now at site. Construction of the foundation will start during the month of August. More resources will be needed to move to another stage.

CONCLUSION

Great appreciation goes to God for taking us this far and for guiding students who are currently in the field doing their practicum. Please continue to pray for them as they put theory into practice and in their in obedience to  the Great Commission. We also appreciate our partners for their many sacrifices being made towards this work. To God be the glory!

Upcoming lectureship in Nepal

Nepal Center for Biblical Study

July  2019

Respected brothers in Christ,

Greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. May grace of God, love and peace always be with you.

Our regular teaching at classes

We have almost finished our curriculum. This month brother Jerry review classed from different topics: (1) Lesson and sermon preparation & presentation (2) How to interpret the scriptures rightly (3) How to teach the Bible to the Hindu and denomination people? (4) How to mature individual and local congregation.  I was repeating New Testament books on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, 1, 2 and 3 John. Arun was reviewing books of Pentateuch. This month sister Sunita came to the school and gave lessons of series to only our lady students. All of her lessons were based on "Fundamental truths of Christianity".

Campaign

We were thinking to do one more campaign before our graduation. But, due to heavy rain fall, mud slide, land slide, and damages of the road, we planned not to do any campaign till graduation. We are locally visiting different congregations within Kathmandu valley. We will do one campaign after graduation.

Local evangelism

Every week we take our current students in two different local congregations beside school building worship service. Two of the current male students are given opportunity to give sermon and lessons on the local congregations every Sunday worship. While there are women's classes most of our female students are giving classes and lessons. Twice in a month we had women's Bible study and men and Women combined Bible study. We studied book of Ephesians in our combined groups of study in July. Four of teachers presented their short lessons from Ephesians and we had discussions. Women had chosen their study book from book 1, 2 & 3 John. Six of the ladies prepared and presented their 20 minutes of lessons and had final groups' discussions conclusion.

Preparation

We are beginning our preparation work for lectureship and graduation on the month of September 24th-26th September 2019. Beside of this preparation we are translating Voice of Truth International into the Nepali language.

Thank you all of your prayer, love, suggestions and guidance.

Brother in Christ,

Gajendra Deshar