More good in Guinea

Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute Activity Operations Report – Feb. 2020

Greetings to you all, our supporters, friends and well-wishers of the Gueckedou, Guinea Bear Valley Bible Institute. This report will be very brief and will discuss only 2 items, the classroom and congregational visit activities both of which were successful.

The month of February has since ended, but we were tied up with the following month’s graduation preparations for the first batch of students here. Because of the much work needed for that program, we had, but a little time to attend to some usual activities such as evangelism.  Nevertheless, a few conversions did take place. Here is a summary of the events which occurred here in February.

Classroom: Having started classes by mid-January courses then progressed and are now in full swing for all the second batch of 20 students. Courses completed during the month include Homiletics 1, God’s Plan of Salvation and the Acts of the Apostles instead of Christian Evidence which was rescheduled for another quarter when hopefully the instructor, bro. Nestor would fully recover from his hypertension problem.

Congregational Routine Visit: As part of our usual congregational routine visit to keep the saved always save, our students and some staff had gone out to strengthen the new congregations. During 2 of these visits we converted 5 souls (4 women and 1 man) in the village of Dendesou. All the other congregations are also going well. Conversion photo is attached.

Conclusion: We wish to thank and appreciate you all for your support of every kind – Finances, materials and prayers. Your spiritual and material supports are always desired to continue this work of soul-saving through preacher training.

Until then, your servant

Francis

Gueckedou, Guinea – BVBI

Making the best in Zambia

Warm greetings to you all brethren! We are always humbled to God who has given us this opportunity to work for Him in His Vineyard. We give glory and honor to Him! 

The month began on a vibrant note with school making good progress and preaching. Out of these efforts we had 5 restoration and 3 baptisms. Students were sent in streets and door knocking and out of this they had set Bible studies of which has yielded good results. One of the restored brother (Collins) had to walk 21 kilometres to go and preach in his home village and in return restored his two siblings. We also have the New congregation in Muchinga province which had six members on her first meeting on the 29th of this month under the tree. more work is needed here and we pray that we have more opportunities to strengthen this Church.

The COVID-19 has not spared many nations and Zambia is not an exception. Zambia has since recorded 36 cases and the number is increasing every day. Two weeks ago the Government of Zambia mandated that all schools and colleges be suspended. And announced preventive measures concerning this pandemic.

As BVBI-Zambia, we wanted to comply with this directive but we have delayed the suspension (with the letter from the health ministry) of the lessons until the first week of April. This was done because we did not want to fall too far behind in our school calendar. We have given all the remaining lessons of the quarter to our students to take home during the suspension. The government has given some guidelines to prevent this scourge. The schools and colleges are not the only institutions that are suspended but even all church gatherings have so far been suspended. We believe that only buildings (which is a meeting place) were suspended Christians met for worship but in homes, we had our service at school with the gate closed some neighbours wanted to join us when the heard us singing and praising God. All restaurants are only operating on takeaways basis. But we are very glad to say that in spite of this, the work of the Lord is going on steadily. We pray that this pandemic comes to an end so that normality is injected back into the world.

May the unity of the Holy Spirit continue to be shown in this trying moments. We also pray that you all stay safe and well during this outbreak of the virus, We continue to praising God for the partnership. Moreover, all your efforts and prayers for the work here are highly appreciated. 

We love you all!

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred 

Making adjustments in Peru

Dear brothers,

This is an update of information about the BVBI PERU. It has been and continues to be a very challenging time, the problem with the Covid-19, has required us to make some changes to ensure that we can continue with our work and the plans that we have outlined for these months, but always grateful to God for keeping us firm and constant and thank you who are there for us too, supporting our work.

In the country we are in a "state of emergency" and will continue to do so according to the presidential announcements, until April 13, although possibly this will last a little longer. Meanwhile, depending on our possibilities, we will continue to teach the courses.

In the month of March, the course “Prison Epistles” was presented to the students with Yens Nima as instructor, the first two Saturdays were face-to-face and the last two were virtual. (In the images that I attach this Yens dictating his class accompanied by two students and broadcasting live to the other students who are far away). Anyway, the course was concluded. And this is what we will do while this state of emergency lasts.

In this month of April we have the I DE CORINTIOS course. I (Juan Abanto) will take care of this class and it will be done virtually through our Facebook page. In addition, we had our second Bible conference scheduled for April 9 and 10, this will also be broadcast virtually.

We hope in God that this difficult time that we are having to live in the whole world, may happen soon, if that is God's will, but whatever happens, we will continue to do our best to serve the Lord in his kingdom.
Thank you for taking the time to read these notes.

Juan Abanto and Abraham Alata
Co-directors of BVBI PERÚ

Many activities in Nigeria

Dear fellow workers in the vineyard of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace , peace and mercies be multiplied unto you all from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
We always appreciates God for all your supports  for the growth of the Lord's church in Africa, Nigeria in particular.
Below is the summary of our activities for the month of March 2020.

OVERVIEW
1. Third Semester Classes.
2. Weekend Evangelism.
3. World Bible School Follow Up Team.

THIRD SEMESTER CLASSES COMMENCED:
As God will have it,the 3rd Semester Classes commenced as scheduled on March 6,2020 and will come to an end Lord's willing on May 2,2020.
Bro. Kayode Solomon Eniafe is handling: OT Wisdom-2;OTP(minor) & The book of Hebrews.
Bro.Abiola Joseph Olusoji is handling Marriage & The Home.
Bro.Silas Guda Mazi is handling The book of Romans and 1st Corinthians.
Bro.Isaac Oluwole Olaniyan is handling LOC-3(Luke ); Bible Geography and Biblical Eschatology.
Bro.Andrew Adeolu is handling 1&2 Thessalonians and 1&2 Peter and Jude . And I, Bro. Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi is handling NT Church-2(Worship); Preacher: His Life & His Work  and Teach With Success.

WEEKEND EVANGELISM:
Our students and staff continue actively in the evangelization of Butubutu, Ajia,Egbeda and Asejire town-Osun State every weekend in the month of March and the Lord crowned our joint effort with two souls in Butubutu village and two in Asejire town of Osun State with many prospects in Ajia and Egbeda town

WORLD BIBLE SCHOOL FOLLOW UP TEAM:
Our WBSFUW were able to recruit over 600 Students from two schools visited in Omu-Aran, Kwara State and Osun State before the compulsory closure of all Government and private schools in all most all the States of the country, Nigeria. These lessons will be posted to WBSTC % Bro. Joel Coppinger in the early week of April, Lord's willing.

ABOUT A STUDENT:
Bro. Enyi Amos Chikodinaka is from Eboyi State.Born in 1986 at Ilesha, Osun State. An active member of the Lord's Church in Abakaliki and formerly the pulpit Preacher of Campus Church of Christ in Ilorin ,Kwara State. His mission is to be one of the ministers of the Lord's Church in Ebonyi State after his two years training in BVBIN AND SWSE IBADAN.

SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT:
With the help of God coupled with my regular visit and placement of membership of one of our students in Egbeda congregation, Egbeda Local Government of Oyo State, we were able to restore the New Testament pattern of worship in Egbeda  congregation.

UPCOMING PROGRAMME:
Due to the directive from the executive Governor of Oyo State on the Corona (Covid-19)pandemic and the State's effort to curtail the spread of the virus from nearby States; After all " prevention is better than cure". The School authority therefore postponed the BVBID degree program of April 6 through 17 to April 20 through May 2,2020.

An update from Trinidad

TRINIDAD SCHOOL OF PREACHING

MARCH 2020

March came and so did the much talked about virus. TSOP is now on an extended shut down as we follow the instructions from the government to close all schools. That however does not stop us from actually having classes. As we speak, our teachers are online and giving classes via skype, zoom, whattsapp, and regular emails. Of course our students are really enjoying this! Sure!! Some are even getting to class late while at home! No, that is not entirely true. We all miss our classes and the social closeness that each day brings with chapel, sharing lunches, sweet fellowship and the opportunity to laugh together, or cry at times!

St Lucia Mission trip has been cancelled however we hope to arrange with Caribbean Airlines to have the tickets rescheduled for some time when this virus takes a rest. I spoke to some brethren in St Lucia and the excitement that was brewing is just out of this world! We want to say thanks to brother Solomon and the church there for making arrangements for us to come and help in this wonderful work!! See you as soon as  God permits!!!

Nearly all our foreign students are back home. The only one here is Alexandra from Romania. We are not certain if travel will permit by the time she is ready to travel but we are praying for the best. Our two from Grenada, Sheldon and Leshon, as well as our Guyanese Paul, were able to get flights out just when things were heating up. We are glad they were able to go home and be comfortable. While I was concerned about them traveling at the time, I am glad they were able to make it safely. They are all well!!

Graduation 2020 may need to be shifted a bit so we will stand by and await guidelines from the health department to determine if we can still host. However for now, graduation more than likely will not happen as we planned. Maybe, both classes could graduate in 2021. Lets prayerfully wait on the Lord for this one.

Allow me to say a hearty thank you to all those who help make TSOP what she is today. Thanks for your prayers, support, encouragement, funds and general well wishes. We remain humbled by your kindness to us. We also extend an open invitation to prospective students for our next class hopefully in September. We will not hesitate to say as well that classes may be fully available online by September so you may still join the class and come to school when all of this is done!! Stay tuned for further details as the virus is not here to stay!! May God bless you richly!!

An update from India

Respected the International director Mr. Keith Kasarjian, our coordinator Mr.Mark Reynolds, supporters and prayer partners of BVBI-Tiurpati, A.P, India behalf of our Bible college we convey our greetings to you in the precious and matchless name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ . We hope that this reporting letter may serve us to convey gratitude and thanks to each one of you for your love, prayers and encouragement. 

BVBI-Tirupati has completed three semesters and began our fourth semester in month of March 2nd 2020. By the grace of God we had successful classes for three weeks . We suppose to complete 6 courses but we have completed the  book of  Galatians, First Thessalonians and Second Thessalonians, First Peter, Second Peter and book of  Jude. Students they had  their class room work, home work, memory work, weekly exams. Their class room running note books were  being observes on each daily by each teacher.  After the closing the daily classes students and staff  work for the Healing Hands International Agricultural Gardening work in the evening and receive good exercise to the body and even they have been refreshed mentally also. We treat it as blessing of God and thankful to HHI for this wonderful provision .

We were highly delighted to share with you about the surprise visit of our International director Mr.Keith Kasarjian  which took place on March 4th , 2020 at 11:00 am while our classes were being  seriously going one . We are thankful to him for greeting all the teaching staff, non-teaching staff and students . He is kind enough to meet the building owner for keeping right relationship with them. He could able to check the stock room, kitchen room, Avro system (water purified), account books and appreciated my wife swarupa who serves in keeping accurate accounts and hygienic stock room. He appreciated the truth for today books which we collected for the for the library We enjoyed his great fellowship until he reached airport on March 5th , 2020.  His sudden visit tells us his great concern and compassion for the Indian ministry.  He encouraged the students and reminded them how much privileged they are to study in BVBI, he said that BVBI students are having two families, one is spiritual family of God and second  one is the family of  BVBI which functions in several other countries . We praise God for this great opportunity to be a part of these two families.

Regarding Covid-19 : Indian government has declared holidays for all the schools, colleges and universities due to threat of Corona virus.  We had our staff meeting and decided to suspend the classes from March 23 Monday to 27 Friday). According to our India Prime mister action again Covid-19 We had full day curfew on last Sunday 22nd, 2020 from 7-00am to 9:00 Pm. Our local churches were able to obey the Govt , we  met for the morning service at 4:30am to 6:30pm and evening service after 9:00pm.  We planned for All India Gospel Preachers work shop which we suppose to conduct on March 25th, 2020 but we have been postponed the workshop , because all the trains and  public buses have been stopped until March 31st,2020. We humbly share with you about the positive cases of Covid-19 in India and request your prayers for victims. We hope that you may add your prayers for other countries also. We are thankful to our International director Mr.Keith Kasarjian  for sending a Video  regarding the Corona impact, we thank him for trusting us and given freedom of choice to break the classes according to Governmental rules and regulations and public health sake. We feel as we are most privileged work  with  BVBI. We request you continual prayer and encouragement.

Thanking you.

Yours brother in Christ.

B.Vijaya Kumar

Behalf of BVBI-Tirupati, India.

Evangelism leads to a new church in Port Harcourt

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE PORT HARCOURT RIVERS STATE NIGERIA

PROGRESS REPORT

Bear Valley Bible Institute Port Harcourt Rivers State started on the first week of November 2019 with two centres and has a total of 61 students. The centre in Port Harcourt Metropolis is located at the meeting hall of church of Christ Rumuokwuta - Port Harcourt and has 33 students among them are:2 sisters, 7 pulpit preachers and 1 senior citizen of Nigeria. 

The second centre is located at the meeting hall of church of Christ Ahoada Town in Ahoada local Government Area of Rivers State Nigeria. Ahoada is about 1 hour 30 minutes drive from Port Harcourt town. This centre has a total of 28 students including: -2 sisters, 6 pulpit preachers and 1 elderly brother in Christ.

From the month of November 2019 to February 2020, the students have studied and written exams on 4 courses which are: Life of Christ, Acts of the Apostles, Christian Evidences and how we got our Bible. For the two centres, we have 5 regular committed teachers.

EVANGELSIM - OUTREACH

On Friday 28th and Saturday 29th February 2020, the students of the two centres and their teachers went to a community known as Edeoha in Ahoada - East for evangelism outreach which featured:

·      Open air evangelism

·      House to house evangelism

·      Tracts distributions

·      Street rally

Before we went to the community we visited the traditional ruler and all leaders of the community and obtained their permission to preach the gospel in their community. During the two day evangelism program, we used public address systems for the open air preaching, while a few students took turns to speak publicly on the street and the village square, many of the students and teachers went into the shops and the homes of the dwellers for house to house preaching.

At the end of the two day intensive evangelism, we got many prospects that were willing to study more with us; we discovered 3 sisters and 2 brothers who were living in the community but had nowhere to worship. We also discovered two families who were members of the church but backslide because they could not found a congregation to worship.  So, we saw the need to establish a congregation in the community. On Sunday being the 1st of March 2020, the director of Bear Valley Bible Institute in Rivers State and a few students who stayed back in the community worshiped with some of the prospects and those brethren who were restored. The worship took place in the community hall and that was how a new congregation was established in the community. A total of 22 worshippers were in attendance.

After the worship, a student of Bear Valley Bible Institute known as Victor Udo who is living in the community but worshiping in Ahoada town was asked to become the preacher of the newly established congregation.

We are therefore, appealing for support for the new congregation and for the young man who is now working as the preacher there.

Report submitted by:

Anthony E. Oluria

Director of Studies

A preachers seminar in Visakhapatnam, India

It was my honor and pleasure to be able to present a preaching seminar to 86 students, alumni, and area preachers at the Bear Valley school in Visakhapatnam, India. It was such an enjoyable and encouraging time for all of us. Many times preachers need some fellowship from their brethren to remain zealous and encouraged and that was available in great quantities.

John Dean and Samuel Raju, along with the other instructors, are doing an excellent job there. I was impressed by what I witnessed and by the interactions I had with the students. And, of course, I was treated to outstanding hospitality in the true Indian way.

Click HERE to see a short video from the event.

The government has made things difficult for our brethren, but they remain steadfast and unmovable. Continue to pray for them.

Keith Kasarjian

Guest teachers in Ukraine

Greetings, dear brethren, churches and families,

These days, just as always, church should be the foundation of truth and refrain from panic over the viruses threats. All over the world corona virus pandemic is spreading and panic overwhelms even some of the church leaders. There some confirmed cases in our country and a lot of people are scared of the future events. However, in the Bible Institute everything is happening according to the schedule. In a week we will have a week of personal evangelism practice and then a week of break. We will be careful and diligent with precautions and I am sure God will take care of us.

In February we started the prison ministry. The governmental officials gave us permission to visit a maximum security colony three times a month. It's a very unusual ministry for us. Our congregation never had this experience. But we have graduated some people who had had personal history of incarceration and now they are a part of prison ministry evangelical team. We are not allowed to take photos or make videos there. We can take nothing with us except for the Bibles. Currently we have a Bible study group with 11 regular attendees. Every one of them is a convicted felon, some are murderers but they assure us that they are very sorry and repentant and want to change their lives for better. Of course, actions speak louder than words, and we will see if there are real changes in their lives.

Also last month Michael and Janine Underwood ministered alongside with us. It's a wonderful family of missionaries who demonstrate an example of faithful service, patience and Christian care. Every year Michael teaches two courses in a row. This year he taught 1 and 2 Peter and Jude and also a course of Pauline Prison Epistles.

We found some potential students for the next school year. There is a young family from Poltava. They both want to study and we had a meeting to discuss some peculiarities of their education. And another contact is a young man from Odessa. He graduated from a naval school and couldn't find a job in the field. He was interested in applying to our Bible Institute.

Last week we hosted a local seminar on "Motivation in Service". We had guests from a few Ukrainian congregations. There were brethren from Dnipro, Kiyv and Brovary. We discussed how to motivate the church to ministry, what kind of ministries are there and how to strengthen the Church from within. We try to broadcast our lessons in the social media and make it available for distant brethren.

Brother Denton Landon, who taught the Book of Isaiah, had to leave one-day sooner. As you know, nothing like this was really had been anticipated, but all flights from Europe to the States were canceled and he found an emergency flight via London to return home. We are very grateful to brother Landon for his service to us and his active part in the life of our Bible Institute.

We are thankful to everyone who keeps us in your prayers, who supports our ministry. Apostle Paul encouraged us to cast all of our cares on Him because God cares for us. The whole world is scared of the corona virus but sadly not fearful of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God grant us wisdom in everything.

God bless,

Your brother Dennis Sopelnik

The Good News spreads in Cameroon

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from your brothers and sisters here in Cameroon. We are doing well in health but most of the students in the Christian schools here are having mumps. (swollen jaw) It is common at this time of the year. Some children at the orphanage also are having it. We are aware of the general panic because of the outbreak of Corona virus. I told the Wotutu congregation yesterday while I was teaching that we are gathering but they should be aware that many of our brethren across the globe will not gather to worship because of the ban of gathering in different countries.

Many congregations have but a live stream of their worship because people can only worship through that directly from their home. My son Ray asked, “How then will they partake of the Lord supper?” I said, “I don’t know, maybe each will partake in their own homes, I cannot tell. I told them that is the more reason we as a church should pray and pray harder for God to intervene as fast as possibly as it pleases Him because if it comes to our country many will not be able to worship nor worship through live stream because many don’t have the type of phones that can help them. Please pray for our country as we pray for you all.

The graduates of our Bear Valley Bible Institutes in English and French Cameroon converged in mile 4 Limbe for evangelism and souls were added into the church there. Keep this work in your prayers.

Brother Abanda Edwin, one of our graduates, spend some time with us preaching and teaching and this gentleman with a Muslim background obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep him in your prayers.

Brother Yerima put a smile on his face as he put on Christ. Pray for him so that through him, many of his family members will follow Christ as well.

PLANS

I will be around the border to Nigeria as some students are doing some work there. I will be able to cross the border to check on a few things in Nigeria by tomorrow. Keep me in your prayers.

The West Coast Mission is on as some students are there now to nurture the new congregation there.

APPRECIATIONS

Thank you very much for all that you have done. Thanks for your prayers and support towards this work. May God bless you and keep you safe. Please share our work with others.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

In full swing in Tamale

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE GHANA

FEBRUARY REPORT 2020

We are very grateful to God for many things He has done in our lives. Thus we are more than prepared to expend our energy and time as a sacrifice service to God so that we can assert our profession to others that there is salvation in God through Christ. Henceforth, remain blessed and joyous in the faith for your consistent financial support and prayer

CLASSES

As reported last month; the remaining four courses for the term were treated by the following Brothers: James Legend Bisong Church History, Albert Malir Tamanja Old testament 4, Anthony Atumwini 1, 2 & 3 John and James Legend Bisong Congregational Development, tests and exams were conducted respectively with student’s performance encouraging.

The administration is active in its management, working hard to bring reality of changes into manifestation both in the school and the Churches in Tamale. We have started reasoning with the preachers in Tamale Township individually as to how we could rub shoulders to unify the college and the Churches in town in order to be triumphant over some petty resistance the school has encountered since its initiation. In our interaction we could smell an atom of reconciliation; it is obvious or sensed the need to call for a general meeting preferably in March to seek individual opinions regarding rumors and facts about our difference.

RECRUITMENT

Campaign for students is in progress, consequently, four prospective brothers among filed applicants have being confirmed for next batch, three of those who applied last year and one of those who took forms when we took part at Bimbilla- Chamba annual camp. There is hope for more but competent students to be trained and work for the Lord’s Church in the Northern Ghana. One student has submitted his application form and more are yet to also come and submit.

The irrigation project is not able to withstand the weather in the northern region but rather had incurred us a debt because there was a rise in water bill in December January water bill as a result of consistent watering we did during this period. Notwithstanding, some of the leafage vegetables were able to mature except those that bear fruits like tomatoes, watermelon and others were not able to withstand. As a matter of fact the community is benefiting from the “well”.

We ascend all our gratitude to healing and helping hand that made all these things a reality in Tamale and its environs.

An update from Takoradi

Dear Brethren,

We thank God for another successful month of operation and I am glad to present to you our financial operating report for the month of January, 2020.

1.     Classroom Work

While the part-time students attended classes every weekend, the regular students returned from their recess on the second week of January. Right on the resuming date, January 7, 2020, intensive classes began. Classes for both part-time and regular students continued throughout the month with no interruption. And all the instructors attended to their respective class schedules regularly and punctually.

1.     Evangelism

In the month of January brother Charles Mensah organized campaign for Christ in one of the village congregations which is being taking care of by one of the regular students. Brother Charles invited some few of our past students, and immediately after Friday Class, some of the regular students joined them at the village. The school’s public address system was used for this program. Two (2) souls were baptized.

Also, some of the regular students were involved in personal evangelism and three (3) souls were baptized.

We thank you for your great love towards God’s work. God bless you for all that you do for us.

For the Master.

Joshua Aidoo.

A campaign in Lagos Island

REPORT OF THE BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – LAGOS ISLAND CENTER

December 2019 - February 2020

INTRODUCTION:

Our God is gracious in caring for all who are in the kingdom till date. It pleases Him to find us useful in the church especially in the 2nd quarter of the existence of Lagos Island Study Center in Lagos Nigeria. We are were for the first time involved in door-knocking as part of the school program and it worth it all.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES: Let me start my report with academic activities in the past few months. We are on the 6th course presently. Bro Abiola Olusoji just finished teaching Homiletics and Bro Frank Ekpodikpo started Old Testament 2 (Study of the History: Joshua - Esther). Having 3 new students. We were 13 before and adding 3 making a total of 16 students. The new students are all male. One of them is a serving minister. 10 students took the last course. We will be visiting congregations to seek for new students. Tim Iwe had a wonderful experience in teaching Evangelical Epistles in Agege and Ikorodu Centers respectively. The wealth of experience gotten during interaction in both centers humbled me and shows the impact of BV program in Lagos. God will bless the brotherhood so much that this program will continue effectively over time.

CAMPAIGN PROGRAM: A great job was done for the Lord in Lagos Island church. We knocked doors at the main wing of the Police Barracks in Obalende and it was an interesting outing. We were 25 in attendance out of which students were 11. We had 22 prospects to follow up by the congregation. We thank BV for giving us this chance to reach out. More of such will help the students have practical field experience in the Lord's work. Also Satellite Church of Christ had her 7th Annual Bible Lectureship. The Theme for the year was The Power of the Resurrected Christ. It was a four days event in which the last day had three sessions. There was Door Knocking in the morning in which 15 congregations attended. 79 brethren went out and had 28 prospects. The afternoon session was an Open Air Preaching which the Gospel Chariot was used. Two speakers were involved and lastly, we had an evening session the same day in the church compound. The church gave out 4 copies of the Bible with other Study materials. The church will continue with the follow-up.

WBS ONLINE STUDY HELPER: We thank God also for finding Tim Iwe worthy to be involved in online Study help with the WBS program. Am having 1,254 students presently. Two Instructors and graduated students of BV have register to join the Study Help program too.

CONCLUSION: We thank God for the good working going on in Lagos Nigeria. Keep us in your prayer as we pray for you too.

Thanks and God bless you.

TIM IWE

Lagos Island Center, Director

An update from Trinidad

TRINIDAD SCHOOL OF PREACHING

TSOP BUS

May God bless you plenty plenty for twenty twenty!!! God continues to bless TSOP and as such we want to share those with all of you! Firstly, the new “Betsy” ( how Parker Henderson called the bus years ago) is on the road! Brother Robin Achaibar worked day and night to make it possible. Her maiden voyage with all the students will be February 7th 2020 when TSOP  will visit and participate in an evening of songs at Morvant congregation. Pray for a safe journey.

Secondly, as a result of having the bus, we will plan to visit several congregations. Please do not mind if we just turn up but we will try to call first so that arrangements could be made to partake in the Lord’s Supper. We want to sing, preach,  teach, read, be ushers or just be there to encourage the brotherhood and to share the joy we have found in the Lord. Do not hesitate to contact the office if you would like to invite us over.

VISITING STUDENT PREACHERS

Thirdly, we have been blessed with a group of awesome students who would like to visit and teach or preach during the year. The practice will allow them to experience the preparation and delivery of lessons they did in class. They are all willing and able so please open your doors for this opportunity. All we ask is that you help them with transport to and from your building and an honorarium. Please contact the office for arrangements.

BARBADOS STUDENTS VISIT

Our Barbados visitors Yonnick  August and Justin Parsons have returned home safely and we anticipate great things from them as they serve there!! These young men were allowed to attend classes here while they are doing the online program. We are excited about the possibilities for the church in Barbados

LIBRARY NEEDED

Fourthly, due to our increased efforts to upgrade the teaching staff with the aid of Bear Valley Bible Institute,  if you have books and you are willing to donate to our library or you know of someone willing to donate books, please consider us. While we understand and accept the web sites that are available, we want to open our library to congregations and those who do not have access to internet. This blessing has already started as we received donations from brothers abroad and we are preparing to set our library in order.

TEACHERS WORKSHOP

Our school continues to play its part in congregational development and as such we invite congregations to utilize the faculty and students in whatever way possible to help build up the cause for Christ. On this note alongside teachers in San Fernando we hosted a Teachers workshop designed to help teachers prepare better lesson plans and assessment strategies for use in the children’s Bible classes. Sisters Denise Dimsoy and Karen Achaibar did tremendous jobs delivering. Both are teachers  and we extend a hearty thank you to both.

CONGREGATIONAL INVOLVEMENT

The San Fernando congregation has launched training towards eldership. Both the Director and Trovel Emmanuel are assisting in teaching. We commend the efforts of this congregation towards eldership. Pray for them that this goal be reached soon.

A surprise visit in India

Reporting letter for the month of February -2020

We hope that this reporting letter may serve us to convey our greetings, gratitude and thanks to each one of the prayer partners and supporters of Bear Valley Bible Institute, in Tiurpati, A. P. State in India.

We are thankful to Mr. Keith Kasarjian for visiting our BVBI-Tirupati on March 4th ,2020. We  are happy to report that all the students, teaching staff, non-teaching staff and building owner’s family members have been  encouraged by his kind  visit. He also visited our HHI-Agricultural kitchen garden which was being established at just opposite side of our college building , he appreciated the  innovative methods of raised beds, dip irrigation system, self making compost, building perfect fencing to prevent from the animals like cows, pigs, chickens etc., and cultivating organic healthy vegetables. We are thankful to Mr.Carl Burkeybile who is the director Agriculture -HHI for his guidance and encouragement to establish this demonstration AG garden. We are thankful to Mr. Keith Kasarjian for visiting the girls school where my wife works, he is able to witness the HHI-Bore well and sewing centre, he appreciated these projects over there.

We are happy to mention about Mr. Dennis Winder , one of the elder from Foothills church of Christ , AR,USA who has visited our Bible college in the month of February 24th , he preached a wonderful sermon on Living sacrifice from the 12 chapter of the epistle of Romans.  He is interested  to discuss with one of the bible teacher from their local church and send to our BVBI to teach few courses, we are thankful for this great provision . It would be much blessing for our students.

Brother.Dennis Widner was able to work with us from February 24 to 28. We were able to travel and visit  few places like Vidyanagar-Village, Kota-Town,Jangapalli-Village, Gunapadu-Village,  Venkatagiri-Town,Gudur town, Nellore-city, Circus colony etc…God has blessed our travelling and visitings .We are thankful to Mr.John R.Vaughan the senior  minister from Graymere church of Christ who brought Mr,Dennis Widner to our place , we are ever grateful to Mr.John R.Vaughan who spoke highly about BVBI and encouraged to have their extension centre at our city, we are thankful to the elders of Graymere church and foothills church for their love and commitment for the church plantation ministry at our place.

We are thankful to our Coordinator Mr.Mark Reynolds for his dedication and sacrifice to travel in the month of January and teaching for one week , we also grateful to Mr.Damon Vincent( sunset church of Christ)  for his teachings and also conducting Christian growth bible seminar in the month of January 2020.

According to the BVBI-calendar  soon after two months period of class work the students need to be sent out for the one month practical work. Therefore all the students of Bear Valley Bible Institute at Tirupati have been sent out for the field work in the month of February. This one month break is so much  useful and helpful for our students to work with different  local congregations and gain more practical experience .We thank you so much for your loving cooperation and fervent prayers for the success of the spiritual educational project (Bible College). Please keep on praying for the 4rd Semester as began our classes from March 2nd Monday onwards , during this semester it is our goal to complete 6 courses which includes

Personal Evangelism 2 (Church planting) 1 & 2 Peter, Jude, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Worship (Principles, doctrine and practice of N.T. church), SC Leadership, Galatians (suggested to emphasize the relation to Hebrews). Beside their class room work students are given home work, memory work , weekly exams and their class room running note books are being observes on each daily . BVBI-Tirupati is trying  level best to maintain the good standard in preparing effective spiritual soldiers for the sake  dying souls in our county. We strongly believe that only the word of God is solution for all the spiritual problems.

Thanking you.

Yours brother and sister in Christ.

B.Vijaya Kumar, Behalf of BVBI-Tirupati, India.

Special guest in Zambia

March, 2020

Report

Greetings to you all Brethren in the Lord! We are always humbled and thankful to God for the great privilege He has given to us to work for Him. 

It is indeed another period of time to report and update you of what is happening as far as the school is concerned. As a school, we have this sense of duty and we are very glad to do this each month.  

We have had a very enriching and very fruitful month here at BVBI-Zambia, besides our busy schedule in class, we also had time and allowed students to visit and strengthen various congregations on the copper belt. we had thirteen (13) restorations of which Joseph illunga and Sthembiso Magawa worked extra had in their preaching. Students have also set various Bible studies in our neighborhood which is going on well and we pray for the good harvest. Students were also involved in community work, keeping church buildings clean.

We have been blessed to receive Donnie Estep our Country Coordinator who arrived on 23 February and left on 29th February 2020.  He taught a short course in the book of Romans for the final year students, we were also very delighted for the wonderful fellowship we had together. After traveling and teaching in two different countries here in Africa, he concluded his travel and teaching with BVBI-Zambia. We believe he was saving the best for last! We are encouraged each time he comes our way. We thank God for  him.

The students will on Friday 6th March, 2020 go on a one week break and they will come back on Friday 13th March, 2020. This break will allow them to prepare for the next quarter which starts on 16th March, 2020.  Once again this holiday provide as teachers ample time to prepare for class work and to mark the exams and grade all the assignments of the students. We are also preparing for a national Youth conference for the Church of Christ to be hosted here on the copper-belt province in Ndola, this will start on 9th April and ends 12th April 2020. Our Institute has been invited to attend and we look forward to this meeting, our last year’s meeting was very successful and we continue soliciting for your prayers for its success

The students will be taught the following courses in the next quarter: Old Testament 5 (Study of the Minor Prophets: Hosea - Malachi), Life of Christ 4 (The final days: Passover through the resurrection)

Preacher’s Work and then the Book of Hebrews. During this quarter brother Kennedy Mukuka will teach a short course. Our country has been attacked by what is known as ritual killings which started here on the copper-belt and spread to the rest of the country please pray for our country that peace avails and the gospel be preached with courage.

We continue to be very grateful to the Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for the continued support of the work here. Without which the work that the school is involved in would be very difficult to achieve. Moreover, all your efforts and prayers for the work here are highly appreciated.

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred

Tremendous successes in Zimbabwe

FEBRUARY 2020 NARRATIVE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

BVBIZ continues to do her part in equipping men and women to be vessels in God’s kingdom. Building blocks are put up gradually till we get the final product. The month of February was not an exception. Classes proceeded as planned, evangelism was done and development at the permanent site continued. These are covered hereunder.

1.0 CURRICULUM PROGRESS

The current class is now in its last term of study. Class shall come to an end on the 31st of March. After that they shall be going for a supervised six months practicum in various congregations. It has been a long journey for the class. The following subjects have so far been completed already for this class; Revelation, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Minor prophets and Christian Evaluation of Contemporary Ethics. Subjects yet to be completed are Hebrew, Foundations of Missions, Preachers Life and Work and Community Development and Poverty Alleviation.

2.0 DONNIE ESTEP’S VISIT

BVBIZ was blessed to have Donnie Estep from the 7th to the 15th of February. On the he preached at a memorial service of the late Ajusa Suwari in Macheke and then preached at Dzivarasekwa the following day before heading to Gweru. He taught students 1St and 2nd Thessalonians that week. Donnie also had an opportunity of visiting the school’s permanent site to appraise himself of the developments that had taken place since his last visit. As is the culture at BVBIZ, Donnie planted a fruit tree in the orchard.  

3.0 EVANGELISM

Evangelism continued in the month of February. Four congregations continue to be assisted by students every Sunday, namely Mkoba 17, Mkoba 12, Nashville and Redcliff. However, in February, much work was done at Redcliff, Mambo and Binga.

3.1 REDCLIFF

Students continued to go to Redcliff for weekend evangelism in an attempt to sustain this newly established congregation. The congregation at Kwekwe continues to pay for the rentals where the church is meeting. 7 people are awaiting baptism. The nearest river is about 6km away and transport is needed. A mini campaign also took place at Mambo in Gweru and in Binga

3.2 MAMBO

This is one of the closest congregations to the school and six students went there daily for 5 days. There were 4 pending baptisms at the end of their campaign. The challenge, like in the case of Redcliff, was a baptistry. Booking has to be done at the nearest pool which is run by the city council.

3.3 BINGA

The other batch of students traveled the whole day by public transport and arrived at Binga around midnight on the 18th of February. They students brought a new life to the congregations there. The following was the report from the local preacher there.

The team worked so tirelessly and proved that they were zealous, keen, hardworking and love God’s work. The turn up of people to services proves that they were really a blessing to us.Every day from 19-22 February, the team worked from morning till late. Even though food was a challenge but whatever we ate, they accepted as well. Our challenge remains the shortage of hymn books and Bibles (in Tonga, Shona and Ndebele). Another challenge is severe drought in the area. May God protect the team that came from the darts of the devil. We even request them to pay another visit. Homes reached were 22, devotions 5, five were baptized whilst 6 baptisms are outstanding). The six were from one family and had to travel to Bulawayo for a funeral. The total number of people who attended service were 130.

4.0 CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Work continued on the school’s first major structure. The roof to it has been completed successfully. The structure shall house students and offices pending the development of other structures. The next phase will be plastering, window frames, doors, floors, plumping and installation of a solar system.

CONCLUSION

As BVBIZ continues to put one block on top of another in molding preachers, great appreciations goes to God and to you all for your constant spiritual, moral and financial support. Thank you for this great partnership. A partnership that continues to enable souls to be won to Christ and congregations sustained through the provision of workers. To God be the glory!

Upcoming opportunities in Kenya

We at K.S.O.P have closed for March holidays. In the last weeks of this quarter, we were able to send 8 students to help with edification in new local congregations and as a result, 6 souls were baptized into Christ. Nixon Ochieng together with Moses Simiyu also had a chance to conduct their one day seminar at Chwele town. The 19 undergraduate students have returned to their respective local congregations. They will remain with their family and church members till April 9th, 2020. As from April 10th-13th, 2020, they will be leaving their homes for KSOP again. This will mark the beginning of the third quarter in their second year in school. Their graduation day is drawing very near and soon it will come to pass. 

The Master class students are to report as from March 12th-15th, 2020 to be able to begin their second class on March 16th, 2020. 

Prayers on  behalf of these Bible students with great potential for service in the Lord's kingdom. Thanks all and  be blessed.

Your brother in Christ,

Elias

24 new students in Arusha!

Grace and Peace to you friends. 

     I hope that this note finds you well.  Things are going well for the Lord's work in Tanzania.  Churches that work with us reported 21 baptisms and 6 restorations in the short month of February.  The picture with this note shows one of those baptisms at the Lerai congregation. 

     Also, a fresh crop of 24 preaching students have reported to the Andrew Connally School of Preaching (BVBII-Arusha) to replace the 20 that graduated at the end of last year.  Providing for the training of these local men for a life of evangelism and service to the Lord is a tremendous thrill.  It is exciting to think about how God will use each of them in the future!

     In my last short report, I mentioned my daughter's Lads to Leaders project that she did to help a number of congregations in Tanzania.  You can read the report that she submitted HERE if you would like more information about that project.  As a proud Dad, I thought I would share it with you!  

Now as I often do, I'll close with a student spotlight to help you get to know one of our fine students:

Student Spotlight: Justine Rwaha  

     Justine is a second year student who comes to us from a non-religious, polygamous family.  He is the first-born child of his father's second wife. Justine and his wife, Happiness, have 6 children of their own.  

     In his own words, "I joined the ACSOP because I felt that it was the perfect school for me as I wanted to learn more about God, His word, His work and His ministry; in order to gain more knowledge and increase in some points my understanding of the word, for the purpose of helping myself, my house hold, my congregation, and wherever God will sent me to help the community."

     When he graduates, Justine hopes to start a bible school and to plant new congregations. He wishes to pass along the message that, "I am very thankful to God for this institution, the way He is using His faithful men and women who are endlessly giving for us have this opportunity of getting the knowledge we need in this school."

     We are thankful for students like Justine, and for supporters who make this work possible!  

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

A productive break in Liberia

Fellow Kingdom Workers,

We bring greetings from Liberia west Africa to all of you who continue to support the work in this part of the world. We thank you so much for making it possible through your sacrifices for the sake of the kingdom.

SCHOOL RESUMED

I am so very happy to inform you that our students returned in full after a very successful Christmas and New year vacation. I am saying successful because of the many good work they were able to do back home and the reports gotten from the churches they worked with. Most of the preachers from the congregations they worked with called back to thank the school for the level of maturity seen in their students send to the school and the great future they foresee in the students preachers

VACATION REPORTS

As part of our tradition after vacation, student are required to write on their vacations activities, that includes:  where they spend it, what were they involved in doing, the results of their work and contacts of the preachers or church leaders they work. Interesting results came from our students that we think you need to know. To summarized their vacation works and experiences, all of them were involved into preaching and teaching at their different congregations, and deeply involved into houses to house evangelism. This resulted in eighteen (18) baptism from 6 of them and 37 person restored with one new congregation planted. After confirming these information by placing  phone calls to their congregations, I am so proud of the practical work out of the classroom.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:

Since our returned from the year end vacation, everyone is in high spirit to play their own role very well. Students playing students roles very well , whiles the instructor are also playing their instructing roles very well .

Conclusion

We want to thank all of you so much for supporting the work in Liberia. Without you, this effort would not be possible. May God richly bless you.

In Him,

Robert P. Dahn, Jr.

Director- BVBI-L