Dear Brethren,
We thank each and every one of you for supporting our efforts in this part of the vine yard. May God prolong your lives in order to see the fulfillment of the “Great Commission” being accomplished through the sacrifices you are making for the promotion of the gospel in this part of the Vine yard.
ACADEMIC WORK
Moving lecturers from Bo and Freetown to teach our students has made significant impact in the learning process of students with a performance increased in knowledge of the bible. We are making the mark towards Bear Valley requirements for preachers with the method of learning outlined in the curriculum as spelt out in each class module such as assignments, research work, memory verses, essays writing, quizzes, devotions as well as pulpit preaching and teachings on a daily routine basis.
We have come to the end of this quarter’s teaching exercise which ended with a short course on “Mission in the new testament " I have prepared the first year’s results in which almost all the student passed.
We have one lecturer from Bo city who is Bro Banya for short course, Bro A.J.S. Koroma from Freetown, and Bro Samuel Bangura from Freetown.
We are also sending students on personal work to various congregations to preach at the end of every month. A memorandum of understanding has been established between us and congregations in the communities they belong to give them the chance to do their practical work when they are on vacation break. The unfortunate part is one student had dropped out of the course half way this second quarter which is due to his persistent ill health. However, he completed the first year successfully and started half way in the second year. His name is Mohamed Gassama. We are now left with fifteen students. we hope and pray that these ones will make the journey to the end.
AGRICULTURE /FARMING PROJECT
We are hereby drawing your attention to a small scale groundnuts farm that we planted on the new land bought for the school. The purpose of this farming is to secure the land from intruders or trespassers till the time comes for a building project. Even though we have prepared all the necessary documents but yet we need to secure the land by occupation. We have planted three hundred cups of groundnuts in this plot which will supplement our feeding program for students. We are yet to harvest this groundnut farm but hope to do so before we go for break.
NEW CONGREGATION We have planted a new congregation outside Kenema town which lies about a mile from the center of the town. We have presently an average of forty worshipers in this congregation. We were meeting inside a house of one family member, because of the increase in the number of members each Sunday, we have the cause to move out of the house and pitch a tent outside the building where the congregation is presently meeting. The school is using this opportunity to send student preachers every Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays to conduct service as part of their practical work.
SCHOOL STAFF
We have the Director for local studies, the Dean of students’ affairs, two long course teachers, two short course teachers, one cook, two security men, one in the day and one at night, and one computer lecturer. All of these staff belongs to the Lord’s church which makes us unique at work.
STUDENT PROFILE
Joseph Missailie was born on the 22ND September, 1992.
He attended school in the city of Kenema
He was baptized on the 8th December, 2008 at the Church of Christ Kissy town, Kenema.
He became interested in the work of the lord and decided to be enrolled in the school last year to pursue his dreams in the lord’s vineyard.
He is married with one child. Before then, he has been working as a teacher and an associate minister in the Lord church, because of his heart burning desire to do God’s work, he decided to come and gain more knowledge. Joseph is presently participating in the grooming up of the Church we have planted in the BURMA community. Since there is no preacher in-charge yet Joseph and his other colleague’s preachers are mending the flock at the moment.
CONCLUSION
We have done lots of conversion over the one and half years of our program and handed them over to the various churches we visited during our campaigns. We have planted one church at Burma Community.
We have restored a congregation from Kono District at Gbaneh village to the Lord’s church.
We have been participating in cooperative evangelism with churches of Christ in Kenema on weekends.
We have also been taking part in church programs such as lectureship, seminars, weddings, funeral service. etc, etc,
We are also planning on another campaign this week and will give you an update on the outcome. We are moving the office next week to the new building site we rented and will inform you after the transfer
SUBMITTED BY: Ishmael S. Bangura, Director, BVBI-SL