As
a result of being on furlough last year, we cancelled our 2014 youth camp, and
there was concern that it would affect the momentum that had been built over
four years of our Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism. Well,
during the 2nd week of August, Truth Baptist Church witnessed our biggest SMITE
ever [campers pictured], with over 150 campers gathering to receive teaching on how to reach children
and conduct Bible Clubs. The youth
enrolled more than 1750 in the Bible Clubs and nearly 1000 were saved. For the
4th time, Pastors Sonny McGuffee and Jared Decker led the camp together, and
this year we were happy to welcome youth evangelist Bobby Decker to the team. The week ended with 14 graduating from the
4-year program.
During our travels to
Bible-believing churches throughout America on deputation and furloughs, my
family has been excited to meet many Nigerians, several of whom have relatives
and friends in Abuja. Please help us to spread the word that we now have a
growing church inside the capital city of Nigeria. Grace & Glory Baptist
Church (started on May 31st) has grown to 13 families [first baptism pictured]; Missionary Israel
Thompsons and I would be glad to follow-up on any contact information that we
receive from Nigerians in the U.S.
Overseeing two churches has
certainly been taxing to my schedule, but it is rewarding to see both works
continue to grow. For the first time in its nine-year history, Truth Baptist
Church had three morning services in two months with over 250 in attendance.
After a successful Family Day in June, the church responded by inviting many to
a Baby Dedication on July 12th [pictured], and the month was capped off successfully by
our first-ever Fathers Day celebration where the "papas" gave
testimonies and cooked for the whole church.
A big "thank you" to
several churches and individuals who contributed to make it possible for us to
put a roof on the widow's house, the need that was included in our last prayer
letter. We are grateful for the way that our supporters allow us to present
requests in order to help others. One reason we are able to focus on various
projects that arise from time to time is because many of our church-planting
graduates now receive a monthly support for their basic needs from helpful
American ministries; the latest of these for us has been GOWIN (Global Outreach
Worldwide Involving Nationals: harborbaptistchurch.org). It would directly assist
us for you to visit their website and contribute to the national pastors they
support.
Video of one of our graduates, supported by CORE, the ministry I mentioned in our March/April letter
Video of one of our graduates, supported by CORE, the ministry I mentioned in our March/April letter
No comments:
Post a Comment