Paul
said in 1Corinthians 3:6, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave
the increase." During this nearly six-month furlough, I have testified in
almost 60 meetings about what our family is doing in Nigeria. Lest anyone assume that I am taking singular
credit for our church, institute, college, conferences, or the statement that
those we have trained or ordained have started over 20 churches, I would like
to highlight some ministries who have "watered" as we have served in
West Africa, now beginning our tenth year. This is by no means an exhaustive list, for
reams of letters could be written highlighting each of our over 100 supporting
churches and their pastors, any one of our almost 50 visitors to Nigeria, or a
host of friends and family members who have contributed to our work in very
special ways. Any support that is rendered to the following ministries ends up
being a help to us and to those they directly assist.
Since June of 2002, when Sabrina and
I were appointed as missionaries with Fundamental Baptist Missions
International (fbmi.org), they have been a wonderful advisory and assistance
board in the areas of preparing for deputation, getting setup on the field, and
also finances, taxes, accountability, communication, and encouragement once we
established our ministry. As soon as we gave them an address, Bible Education
And Missionary Service (beamsbibles.org) began sending us whole hardback King
James Bibles on a monthly basis for the benefit of those we won to Christ.
Several years ago, they raised money for almost 4000 Bibles to be included in a
container we had opportunity to share with another missionary. Working closely
with BEAMS is Bible Believers Radio (biblebelieversradio.com) who often include
preaching/conference DVD's with the monthly shipments of Bibles; to our last
three pastor's conferences, they have sent "pastor's packs" for each
church represented [pictured]. In July of 2008, our church was only 26 months old, yet
International World Wide Evangelism (iwwe.net), under the leadership of Dr.
Mike Wells, brought a full conference program, guest preachers, helpful
materials, and generous gifts for pastors from all over Nigeria who would
attend our first Soul-Winning and Leadership Conference. Humanly speaking, we
would not have such a meeting without IWWE and the continued participation of
Pastor Ken Shinn (six times) and Evangelist Don Wattenbarger (three times). Last year, Final Frontiers Foundation (final
frontiers.org) brought a wireless and battery-powered way for us to be able to
show the Jesus film in villages. The Power Pack [pictured below] served as the catalyst for
several churches to be started, and we have used it multiple times in the last
eighteen months. Final Frontiers also helps through me to support two graduates
we recommended to them and two others with whom we fellowship.
Our previous update included a
paragraph on how Global Baptist Church Planters (globalbaptist.net) has aided
in the recent starting of four churches with our graduates. In several letters
over the years, we have also highlighted each of our SMITE youth camps (with
Pastors McGuffee and Decker), missions conferences (recently with Evangelist
Jim Belisle), and SWLC pastors' conferences (recently including Dr. Mike Cox).
In conclusion, I would want to join in the chorus with each of these ministries
that "all the glory belongs to Jesus;" none of these men or
organizations would want to singularly take credit, but all have been a part of
what we continue to do by the Lord's grace in Nigeria.
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