Classes resume in Liberia

Greeting from your fellow laborers at the Bear Valley Bible Institute- Liberia, hoping all is well with you and your families in the Lord's name. It is ways a great joy to share with you the many happenings in my country and from the Bear Valley school in Liberia.

STUDENTS RETURNED

After a three weeks break our students returned to the campus on the 17th of March in a very high spirit appreciating the school for the level of education imparted to them because their performances and contributions back to their local congregations and other places have helped the congregations and many individuals greatly. The students reported seven (7) baptism in all from the work that they were involved in.

Meanwhile, our regular classes for our last and final quarter has started with all the students present and all our instructors coming on their appointment time.

STEVEN VISIT TO LIBERIA

On Tuesday April 28, 2018, brother Steven Ashcraft and I returned to Liberia after the opening ceremony of the new school in Guinea. He spent three days in Liberia helping us understand what is required by Bear Valley and how to prepared, keep and have a very good record system for the sake of the future and accountability. There were also discussions about the completion of the students and the graduation of the first batch of our students.

Brother Steven also donated some very beautiful neck ties to all the students and Instructors which we appreciated do much.

INSTRUCTORS MEETING

After Brother Steven left, the instructors gathered for a meeting, in which we discussed the progress of the school and each students over the period of time. We also discussed about the upcoming graduation and the intake of the new students. It was a very rewarding meeting because great ideas were brought forth that will help with the betterment of the school. We also set up from among the instructor and students a planing committee to plan the graduation.

CAMPAIGNS

As part of our plans to reach out to many with the gospel, the school has decided to carried out five (5) extra campaigns excluding the four (4) required campaigns of Bear Valley this year. We have already effected three successful campaigns this year that has resulted in twenty seven (27) baptism and two new congregations establishment.

CONCLUSION AND APPRECIATIONS

We want to thank all of you so very much for all you love and partnership toward the work and growth of the Lord's church in Liberia and Africa at large. Thank you so much and may the good Lord keep using you for the sake of His work in Jesus Name.

REPORT BY: ROBERT P. DAHN JR.

DIRECTOR- BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE -LIBERIA

Fruitful activities in Cambodia

So many good things are being accomplished through the teaching our students in Cambodia.

We just finished two classes with our students. They are the book of “James” taught by Darat Run and “marriage and family” taught by Piseth Rin. The students of IBISR enjoyed very much the classes and they study diligently.

We thank God for our students who a do very good job every Sunday. Some of our students went to a village after worshipping God. They share the word of God to many people in the village.

Another thing we give thanks to is our big brother Wes Autrey for always helping by speaking in chapel every Friday through skype. Our students hearts get a very good lessons every Friday. This is a good way to share God’s word.

Last week on Saturday we had a very good seminar with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Cambodia. The seminar was on the topic of “Secular Philosophy Vs Christian Ethics”.

The Church heard very good lessons from four different teachers. They are Phanat Ouch, Kim Chann Lork, James Lork, and Rich Dolan.

The Church heard the lessons and sang songs from 8:45am - 11:30am. From 11:45 - 12:45 all the Church and students had lunch and fellowship that was provided by the Church in Siem Reap. From 1:00 - 3:45pm the Church and students heard the  lessons and sang more songs.

After the lessons and songs were finished everyone engaged in lots of different activities like games, sports, and then we all ate a good meal.

We thanks God for this seminar, because some of people are not Christians and some were hearing about God for the first time. There are many who come because they are interested in learning about God’s word.

Since we have the most Christian families in any province, we try to be the best godly examples for those attending the seminar.

Please keep us in your prayers. - Piseth Rin, Director

11 souls baptized in Ghana

Dear Brethren,

Thank God another period for our report is here and we are glad to present to you summary of activities for the month of March, 2018

CLASSROOM WORK

          Classroom work for both the full time and the part time went on successfully. All instructors and students were present which enabled us have a successful teaching and learning session

PERSONAL EVANGELISM

          The students continue with personal evangelism/visitation in the villages around the school. We continue to receive good response from prospects as they invite us for further studies. We need your prayers as always.

HHI SUPPORTED POULTRY PROJECT

          We are glad to report to you that the last batch of three hundred (300) birds are growing well. They are in their four (4) weeks now. We need your usual prayers for the sustainability of this project.

FUNERAL INVITATION

          In the month of March, 2018, one of our immediate past students’ wife passed on in th Central Region. The school was invited. The figure stated in the financial report was the cost of our transportation to and from to mourn with our colleague.

CAMPAIGN FOR CHRIST

We were able to have the campaign for Christ at Axim this time around. As was reported to you earlier, this program had been postponed on two ocassions. Eleven (11) souls were baptized during the one week program. Again, we followed the usual partern of night preaching and house to house personal evangelism during the day.

After the program, all particulars of those prospects who could not immediately respond to the gospel were compiled by the school and handed over the church for a follow-up. We are yet to receive any report whether there has been anymore baptisms.

God bless you all.

CHARLES

Off to a great start in Guinea!

Dear brethren,

By the grace of God after the opening ceremony of 25th February Bear Valley Guinea successfully started classes and the school was able to go through the following activities during the month of March 2018.

Classroom: The first quarter classroom activities began with 15 students on 5th March while the other expected 4 arrived on later subsequent dates concluding the number to 19. Three of the 5 major courses are being taught plus the French language. There is the spirit of anxiety and enthusiasm in both the students and staff. Some 60 percent of the students are on a higher level of understanding while the others are to double up efforts. Our classroom (the second) devotion is at 10 AM and the preaching schedule include both staff and students. Most of the sermons from the staff are exhortations to the evangelist and his work of gospel preaching for which purpose the students have come to be trained.

Evangelism: We have grasped the opportunity of public preaching through the local radio made available to us, the school by the local church in Gueckedou.. Once a week we are on the air for 30 minutes. A few of our students are on this preaching schedule too. We have also done a personal one on one preaching, firstly with family members, relatives and friends of the students and staff and this resulted in the conversion of 3 souls and one restoration.

Challenges: Besides the surrounding villages, Gueckedou is a bigger town and the challenge is for us to explore the school (which is a great blessing for us) to seek and to save the lost.

In the absence of our own copier which was bought, but was damaged by the bus accident, we are faced with an inexcusable need to continue to make copies of students and staff study materials on a general commercial basis. The repairs of the copier have taken too long and we are doubting or rather lost hope that it can be done.

Accomplishments: Until February the 25th, all of our dreams and efforts to establish a Bible training center in Guinea were, but a shadow. But since March the 5th the reality of that dream has been made real and a school, “l’Institute Biblique Bear Valley” has been established with 19 students and classes are in full swing.

Personal profile: Student Niouma 2 Kamano is a member of the Solondonin, Gueckedou church. He was converted in February 2014 in Conakry at the time when I was trying to build up a congregation in the area called Faban. His conversion was long and I was losing patient, but today I realize through his dedication and service that he was investigating to ensure the faith into which he later help to bring other friends. In 2016 when I was on my way to the regional headquarters of N’zerekore for a bible seminar, he encouraged me to stop for a few days in order to discuss God’s word with some 7 persons he had assembled. 5 of these were converted after a 2 days discussion and his wife was a part. Even now in Gueckedou he is of great help in the church work. He is one of those doing the baptism of the 3 conversions mentioned above under “evangelism”. In the academic performance, he is in the top list. If we have 5 of such people in a local church, that congregation will not only grow, but active in many good things!

Brotherly,

Frances Sahr Musa, Director, BVBI-G

Student evangelism in Ukraine

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

In the beginning of March, we had to unexpectedly deal with a housing problem. The landlords of the apartment we had been renting for the students for a few years sold it. We had to look for a new place. In Ukraine there are no strict laws about giving enough notice and sometimes they just give you no time. Thank God we were able to find a new place within a week and the problem was resolved. Sadly, if you are a renter in Ukraine you can be asked to vacate the premises by the end of the next day even though you had a legit rental agreement. The great news is the Jesus guarantees us a place in Heaven and He never neglects His promises.

In the end of the month our students had a week of practical evangelism in Kyiv, Konstantinovka, Bela Tserkva and Slovyansk. During the week our students distributed the tracts and had some personal approach conversations with public. In Bela Tserkva one lady with a child started coming to the church services. This was the second time they came, and she said she enjoyed the atmosphere in the Lord’s Church.

Also, the home study group brings good fruit. The students get together in the apartment that is rented by the Institute and have a Bible study. They invite neighbors to join. Starting from September of the last year they’ve had a regular Friday night study. The instructors helped them occasionally. But now more then ever some new visitors join them for the Bible Study.

In March our first-year students had the Book of Job (taught by Dmitry Galyuk) and the Wisdom Literature (Dennis Sopelnik), while the second year students had Religions of the World (Albert Bagdasaryan) and Contemporary Religious Thought (Dennis Sopelnik).

I had a wonderful opportunity to join Shevchenko District Church of Christ in Kiyv on the last Sunday of the month. Our graduate Yuriy Romanov is their preacher. He is working really hard and contributing a lot to the growth of the congregation. Yuriy graduated one year ago and since then he’s been teaching the sound doctrine to the brethren in Kiyv. Yuriy has a beautiful family with his wife Katya and their son Matthew. They do a lot for the Lord. This congregation numbers 25 people now. Since the history of this congregation is very complicated and they’d been through a few splits, in my opinion, all things considered, they are doing well now and work really hard on the growth of this congregation.

Our home congregation plans to host the Ladies Day in April. Our sisters do it regularly once a year. Usually we have a good attendance from different parts of Ukraine. We request your prayers for the event.

Our sincere gratitude goes out to all churches and individual supporters of the Bear Valley Bible Institute ministry. I’m very positive that so far we’ve accomplished so much due to your faithful sacrificial efforts and support.

God bless you, Your brother Dennis Sopelnik.

Making Plans in New Zealand

A few nights ago was my final class for Personal Evangelism 1 (Make Disciples Training Program). We will have a graduation of sorts for the class this coming Sunday, 15 April, where we will have our final numbers for religious conversations, Bible studies set, and Bible studies conducted. I hope to report on those next month.

We have begun seriously speaking to our full time students about their plans after graduation in July this year. One of them, Jay, will be working full time with the Porirua church after graduation. He will be preaching, teaching, leading singing, and conducting community evangelism. We really look forward to having Jay on our team full time!

We have been busy planning our upcoming campaign in May/June. We expect to have about a dozen Freed-Hardeman University students staying in Wellington to help us reach out to the community for two weeks. They will also attend our lectureship and camp. This year’s lectureship theme will be “Life After Youth Group: Growing Up With Our Faith Intact.” 

The staff has also been recruiting, and it looks like we may have four full-time students and a few part-time students joining BVBINZ in August. We are also drafting up the schedule of classes for the next school years.

We are excited about the things on the horizon for BVBINZ. Stay tuned. God bless you. Keep serving Him!
 
Lance Mosher, BVBINZ Director

Continued growth in Myanmar

We have had a great study for five weeks. The first two weeks was taught by Dr. Steve Christian from Double Springs, Al. The church of the Bible and The Life of Christ (four gospels). The third and fourth weeks were taught by Jerry Bates, Church planting and the book of Acts. The fifth week was taught by Jon Lucius from Florence, the Godhead. The students took as much advantage of the knowledge of the teachers as possible and busy with paper work and tests. 

We also had Myanmar Bible College at the same time  and seven people baptized during the session. 

Now I am in Kalay for Youth Camp with six BV students. After one week Youth Camp, we are planning to do some other campaigns in the hill areas as a part of learning and practical work. The other three students will do the campaigns at their places. 

My heart felt thanks and appreciation to Bear Valley. I hope and pray that this school will help the church in Myanmar a lot. 

Yours in His service

Philip, Director BVBI-M

Good news in Accra!

Prologue

With much thank to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we are grateful to you, sponsors and all the churches for the school.

First Quarter Completed & Vacation

We appreciate very well what the Lord has done in bringing to a finishing of the first quarter of the year, 2018. Courses as pertaining to this quarter has been successfully handled and well completed with its examination and short courses. School vacated on the 24th of March, 2018 and resumes on the 13th of April. All students participated effectively in class activities except our brother, Maxwell Owusu Ansah who couldn’t attend classes in the last two weeks of the term as a result of his wife being admitted at the hospital for pregnancy complications.

School Plot

There is a land being bought for the School in Accra and the students, staff and Travis visited it to see the state of the plot and how to work things out on the land.

The Director and staff of he Southern Insitute of Biblical Studies

Campaign Activity

As part of the school’s academic exercise, we had our first gospel campaign in the year at Immuna in the Central Region of Ghana.  We encountered some challenges with the Muslims. Their complaint was that during our dawn and evening public preaching, we spoke against them on the basis that Christ is the only One and only through whom salvation could be granted to humanity. Also, our preaching that it is biblically wrong to marry more than one offended.  Our campaign was blessed with 22 souls being baptized and 13 being restored.

Brethren at Jefferson City Church of Christ

Thanks to Fairgrounds Road church of Christ in Jefferson City and an anonymous donor who helped purchase the van for us. The van was very useful to our campaign at Immuna for conveying items and passengers all round. Without this, our cost of transportation would have been more expensive. We shall always say may the Lord who grants us mercies extend His blessings in abundance to you all.

Travis Hardesty’s Visit to Ghana

We were blessed to have brother Travis visiting our school, we were very grateful for his visit. He took some responsibilities by teaching our students in short course on the subject, “the Scheme of Redemption” and also participated in the evangelism program at Immuna, Central Region of Ghana. With him, we were able to convert the Preacher of a Baptist Church and some of his members. We really enjoyed his services and kindness of which we are always keen to have him any time he will come to Ghana.

Finally, pray with us as we also pray for you.

Campaign results in Cameroon

Dearest in Christ ,

Greetings from the beautiful Country of Cameroon. We send our deep love to you and hope you are doing fine in all that you. Life is going well in Wotutu just some sickness as many are having severe malaria but God is watching over us.

Our students are all back on campus and studies are going on without any major problems. December is fast approaching and we are not leaving any stone unturned to fully prepare these men into the world and devour the devil and his plans to disturb and stop as many from going to God. Graduation will be the open gate for them to go and MAKE DISCIPLES ALL OVER THE COUNTRY OF CAMEROON.

This quarter we are on and one week is already gone , with the following rich courses lined up for transplanting to the hearts and brains of these men ,ADVANCE HERMENEUTICS, ADVANCED HOMILETICS , MINOR PROPHETS , THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, THE BOOK OF JAMES, GREEK CHURCH MUSIC.

Our students full of gratitude to receive preacher boxes from Mission Printing containing books , that they will build their personal libraries in their homes after they left school, to stay on the pulpit and to remain sound you need to be a reader and researcher. Our students know this that is why they are sending special appreciation to all who donated books to mission printing so that they can send to them, especially brother Richard Renfro. They said more grace to them and all the volunteers working in mission printing ,God will bless them and keep them strong .

Statistics during our last mission work to 18 locations .

Total baptism =================== 28

Total restored  ================ 8

Total newly established congregation ========== 3

Total congregation revived  ============== 1

PLANS

We are sending students to our newly established congregations  every weekend to keep them worshipping. Brother Paul Kee is inviting us in May for a scholarship lectureships

APPRECIATIONS

God bless you for all your efforts towards this work ,Thank you for opening your heart to allow God to use you to accomplished all these , what would have been our fate without you , keep us God will pay you in due season. Share our reports with others.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-wotutu

A new van in Zimbabwe!

INTRODUCTION

The words of Jesus in Luke 10:2 keeps on remains alive at BVBIZ. He said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” The school is pleased to be doing her part in this ministry of winning the lost to the Christ and to keep the saved, saved. In this report, we give a glimpse into the role of the school in achieving Jesus’ desire towards lost souls.

CLASSES END

The current class is now through with its classes. All subjects were completed successfully including all examinations. We appreciate the teachers (both full time and part time for imparting knowledge into these students and all sacrifices they made to make this happen. We also recognise the effort that students put in to make this possible. Despite the rigour, they held on. The following batch of subjects were the last for the current class; Minor Prophets, Foundation of Missions, Elementary Hebrew, Research Methods, Christian Evaluation of Contemporary Ethics, Community Development and Poverty Alleviation, Preacher’s Life and Work, Geography of the Bible and Revelation.

PULPIT CONTEST

The term ended with students having a preaching competition. This took place on the 24th of March and each was tasked to present a textual sermon. The idea was for the students to display the knowledge and skills they accumulated as they were studying the various books, homiletics, public speaking, hermeneutics, languages amongst a variety of others.  Two who excelled than above others shall be awarded during their graduation.

PART TIME PROGRAM CONTINUES

Classes for the part time program that started in January have continued taking place. Classses are being held both at Dzivarasekwa in Harare and here in Gweru. This course takes longer to finish compared to our normal program. There are 22 students meeting in Harare whilst 5 meet in Gweru. Classes are being held during weekends.

DONATIONS

Our appreciation goes to members of the Prison Ministry in Harare for donating the following to the school; 1 Case ball point pens, 10kg  rice, 6x2kg sugar, 10 bars washing soap, 1 case surf, 12x750ml cooking oil, 20x250g bathing soap, assortment of clothes, 11 counter books.

We also appreciate the Sande family and Dururu family for their monetary donations that keep coming into the school as highlighted in the financial report. May God bless these families and the Prison Ministry. The opportunity to partner with the school in one area or another remains open.

SCHOOL VEHICLE

BVBIZ now has her own first vehicle. This is indeed a major development. Our evangelism task has been made easy. The vehicle was bought at Messina in South Africa. Appreciation goes to Brothers I.Mutichu, M. Muchingami and P. Kufa for making the journey. Bro. Kufa’s expertise in vehicles and engines was of much help. Our major appreciation goes to Bear Valley Bible Institute International for providing the funds.         

FIELD PROGRAM

BVBIZ emphasizes on practical. Almost every weekend each student is expected to put in at least 6 hours of evangelism every Saturday and be active in one or another every Sunday. Besides this, each student is expected to undergo an eight week intensive practical every year. The student will be expected to put into practice the theory that he would have learnt.

CONCLUSION

We thank God for what he has been able to do through BVBIZ in March. This would not have been possible without encouragements we keep receiving from you. Our appreciation continues to go to our sponsors for their unwavering support and to many others for their moral and spiritual support. The next report you shall be reading from us, shall be a report mainly based on the field program. To God be the glory!

 Mathew Muchingam

Director, BVBI-Z

Back to school in Tamale

Back to School: The school has reopened and the students except one have reported. The classes are ongoing and every activity in the school is going on as usual. All the teachers are seriously teaching their lessons and the students are also well participating in all lessons. We are praying and wishing them all the best for their fifth term. After this term there will be a long vacation for the students to do some farming which goes to support their families.

Administrative Activities: Administratively, whatever is needed to move the school forward is in place as everyone works within his capacity to bring growth and development in the school.

Reports from some students: During the break, Baaba Elijah, a student from Yuah community in Upper East of Northern Ghana was able to preach and teach and got one baptism of a new soul into the Church.

Samuel Jakum, a student from Zabliya reported the problem of lack of water to do baptism whenever there is someone to be baptized. He studied and got someone to be baptized but there is no water to do so as this is the dry season. In that case he needs to travel about 27 miles away to river Wanpu in Bimbilla in order to find water to do the baptism. That has not happened yet in this part of Ghana as the means is very high in cost to the average person.

Abraham also reported to the management having the same problem at his place of preaching. Water has always been a serious problem whenever it comes to the dry season in most of the places in the Northern Ghana.

Having received such a heartfelt report, what the school can do is to go there with the school car to help. But at the moment we lack support for such a noble task.

The Work Done: The renovation of the staff quarters is completed and is ready for use by the instructors of the school. The plastering of the students’ toilet and the changing of the water closets system are also completed. The painting work is on-going, hoping it will see completion this week.

The school is also blessed the purchase of a new freezer for the students’ and staffs’ use. This is a great necessity as it will help us keep and save some food items and vegetables.

Please pray with us, things are not well economically, with God, we can sail through. Thanks

Alex Jabado, BVBI-Tamale

Student evangelism in Cameroon

Calvary greetings from this part of the globe. We do hope you are fearing well. By God’s grace all is well with the work in Cameroon. Our country, Cameroon, is still undergoing her crisis in the English-speaking regions. Some divisions are out of it completely. We strongly commit our nation into God's hands. Accept salutations from our congregation in Mbanga. This is how our work in the school of preaching had been going all this while.

We are preaching in the congregation and in our communities. A family was baptized in Mbanga before traveling back to Douala. They came for a brief meeting with brother Evaristus, one of our students in school. This created an opportunity for them to fulfill the scriptures. Two of these visitors were baptized and they are worshipping in Douala. May God be praised for their souls.

We also assisted brother Agbor James during his baptism campaign in the Kumba central prison were God added some souls in the church. The prison ministry in Mbanga is also growing with the help of the students, brother Giresse, and Philippe who are assisting brother Nicholas in this work, most especially lately during his bike accident. Let us continue to pray for this work.

We also ended our ladies class successfully. The course for this quarter was "The Holy Women of God." I took plenty of time to explain to the sisters because this was to uplift their spiritual growth. Most of them had good knowledge about it. It all went well as we ended it with a women’s day celebration. Brother Konglang Patrick, a graduate from Wotutu taught the book of James to our students as one of the short course instructors. He did pretty good. Students are out on mission work and they have traveled to eight assemblies in the French speaking regions. We are praying for their safe return come April 2nd to resume with classes.

Mission work to other places.

We started traveling with the students immediately. Some we went to the same destinations as in the past while were left them along the line. I started my mission on the same day as the students. We attended a lectureship in Kake in the Littoral Region were brother Evaristus and Memvi helped in evangelism for four days before leaving for Bafoussam and Compenia respectively. I continued in my village in a newly created assembly. And, on that faithful Sunday after worship, God added these 3 souls. I spent 10 days with the van visiting some students and congregations together with bro Émile the driver. We recorded 5 souls for this trip. God is great. Our school van took us to very far places. We appreciate the donors.

We thanks God for this trip to our French speaking regions. We really still need a lot of work in our country. By his grace we shall keep on working until the Lords returns.

From Bénédict thé Évangéliste with the school of preaching in Mbanga

Good news from Takoradi!

Dear Brethren,

We thank God for taking us through another working month successfully, and also for His mercies upon you our supporters and also upon us as students and instructors. It is our fervent hope and prayer that He grants us all His rich blessings to be able to continue in our quest to teach those faithful men to go and teach others as well.

CLASSROOM WORK

Our classroom work for both the regular and part time students went on successfully. Both teachers and students were in attendance and on time for effective teaching and learning.

EVANGELISM/BAPTISM

The students continued evangelizing in the villages around the school. Their efforts and that of the teachers resulted in baptism of 15 souls. The students also continue to teach and preach in the villages Information Center. Prospects who have questions and invite the students are contacted for further studies

HHI SUPPORTED POULTRY PROJECT

We are glad to report to you that the project is going on successfully. As reported to you in our last report, we sold all the birds and placed an order for 300 birds. We took delivery of them last week Friday. 

WEDDING INVITATION

Brother Emmanuel Gyasi-Quansah, one of our regular students invited the school to his wedding ceremony in the Central Region. A delegation comprising both teachers and students represented the school. 

SPECIAL STUDENT PROFILE – ARTHUR MENSAH FRANK

NAME: -                                       Arthur Mensah Frank

AGE: -                                          36

MARITAL STATUS: -                Married

NUMBER OF CHILDREN: -      3

CONGREGATION:                     Akim-Manso/Oda – Eastern Region

DATE OF BAPTISM: -               December 15, 2005

SUPPORT FROM CONGREGATION: - No Support

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: -    100

REASON FOR ATTENDING PREACHING SCHOOL: - To win souls for Christ. To help the church abide in the sound doctrine of Christ.

WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO DO AFTER COMPLETING SCHOOL: - To help or assist the weak churches in my community, and to save souls through personal and public evangelism. I wish to become a missionary.

God bless you all.

CHARLES

Fruitful activity in Nigeria

Beloved in Christ Jesus,

Greetings from Nigeria. We decided ourselves into two groups on weekend to evangelized Badeku town and Butubutu village and two conversion were recorded in each of this group on Sunday.

CAMPUS CHURCH: Bro. Moses Ajibade led the church in songs, Bro. Abraham Idu Yeje taught on The Punishment of God while Bro. Sunday Umoh admonished the Church and Bro.Waleola James dismissed the Church with prayer.

MY OTHER ACTIVITY: I introduced a three months lessons in Onikokoro-Ibadan congregation titled Abiding in Christ on March 11 with first lesson on Who is Christ? and admonished the church on What it mean to abide in Christ on March 18, 2018.

WORLD BIBLE SCHOOL PROGRAM: Our WBSFUW is rounding up their activity before the schools in Nigeria closed for this term on April 6. We shall be printing another ten thousand introduction lessons for the recruitment of students for free Bible correspondence courses on April  2018 Lord's willing.

Makinde Ebens, Director BVBI-N

Short course in Liberia

We bring you greetings from the Bear Valley Bible Institute Liberia, hoping all is very well with you all by the special grace of God our loving and faithful father in heaven.

February was a very busy month for both the students and the instructors in that there were lots to be done in the class room. The students are doing very well and are all working very hard to become good workers in the Lord's kingdom.

Short Course

We were privilege again to have  Brother Nathan Tears from Bong mines for the short course in February . He took the students through the book of 1 Corinthians and they all were happy for the level of work He did with them.

I also had the privilege to teach a short course in Sierra Leone for the second time. I took the students through Marriage and Family life and I am so happy that I have been part of the lives and training of those students in that part of the world. As the assistant coordinator for this region, I also had the privilege to meet with the instructors and the Administration both in Sierra Leone and Guinea and encouraged them to do the same things as Bear Valley required from all of us. Giving out the rules and regulations that we all need to follow to make all of us better both the students and all of us instructors.

Brother Steven met me in Sierra Leone and together we traveled to Guinea where we had the opening ceremony of the newest Bear Valley school in West  Africa.

Appreciation

We thank you so much for making it possible through your sacrifices for the sake of the kingdom for the Lord's work in this part of the world to go on. May God richly bless you.

 In Him,

Robert P. Dahn Jr.

Director- BVBI-Liberia

Classes in full swing in Arusha

ACSOP March  Update 2018: 

When God is the center and theme of the faith, regardless of any circumstances, everything will work out well. In this manner I would like to greet you all brothers and sisters, knowing that our faith is centered in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ our savior. (Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible  and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you).

The ACSOP teaching schedule is now moving to the second quarter, from this Monday. We had four good teachers in last two weeks teaching short courses, Desidery Masawe, Mason Norman, Charle Herherth and John Hall. Now as I said we are going to have six weeks of long quarter which is second quarter for each class this year. We thank brother John Hall from Texas sacrificing his time to train preachers last week. 

On the other hand when John was teaching in ACSOP his friend from Texas also was doing evangelism at Kwamrombo along with Kenned Ngetich from Kenya ( Kennedy is graduate from ACSOP). Regardless of the big rain that God blessed us with last week, they reached many lost souls in Kwamrombo.  Through this big effort one soul added to Christ. So we thank God for this people as they are travelling back to US.

Finally we give thanks to our God for making all these possible, through many who love His work and sacrifice for training preachers. As you may be aware that the school is having four students from South Sudan and four from Ethiopia which makes the total of forty students. These nations are some the African countries that are tough to reach with Gospel. But through your prayers and supports now we are able to reach that far.

In His service, Ahimidiwe Kimaro

Director, Andrew Connally School of Preaching 

A Bear Valley Bible Institute International extension school

Arusha, Tanzania

Doing good in Malawi

BEAR VALLEY BIBBLE INSTITUTE MALAWI – MARCH REPORT

Introduction

We are in the second month since the school started this year! Lot of subjects have been taught like; writing skills, Introduction course, Scheme of redemption, the book of Acts, How we got the Bible and Hermeneutics. It is always encouraging to see great zeal in students wanting to learn.

Teaching work

Every teacher is busy with the notes, looking forward to teaching when his turn comes. It was an interesting week from 12th to 16th when Marc Veary (the overall Director) was teaching Hermeneutics. The class was full of laughter as the students came a cross to lots of passage of scriptures they have been misinterpreting for a long time. They have realized that it is easy to miss what the context mean, but it is always good to look to the context and explain it Exegetically. We still ask for library books if possible. We are lacking some very important books that could help the students in their research work. 

Students preaching

As you are aware that we have planned to conduct several campaigns this year, as part of the student’s practical work, still we take them out on Sundays to help the young congregations like Lupaso, Chankhombo and Chisangano. We are glad that some of the students have been preaching in their home congregations for more than 5 years. Therefore, it is very helpful to use them every Sunday in these small congregations mentioned above as they are still babies in Christ.

Good News

Brother Saliwa Nkosi a former graduate, always share with us good news of saved souls! The man can preach and lead many souls to Christ. Since he graduated in October last year, he has baptized more than ten people. We were happy to see Takesure Nkhoma retaking Hermeneutics class, he shared with us again the good news about the congregation he established end of last year after graduating. He said, he was with his fellow 9 starting the congregation, and now they are 39 in total. We praise God for the wonderful job these graduates are doing.

Thanks to a generous donation we have also managed to buy some more sewing machines for the tailoring vocational training. Most of the students enjoy the vocational training.

Thankfulness

We are always thankful to all who support the work of Bear Valley. Lots of good work for the Lord’s church is being done because of you.

By: Ephron Vincent Mbano (Local Director), on-behalf of the staffs. 

New Alumni Encouragement Plan in Accra

Praise is Him for the end of another month, February. The staff and the students are grateful to the Lord and to the Bear Valley Bible Institute for the kind and prayer all days to the growth of the school and the propagation of the gospel.

Regular Class

Classes are highly in session with all students and instructors. To our surprise, we had 9 students report at early start while gradually 3 men also have reported. We now have in sum of 13 men under training for the studies.

Staff Meeting

As part of the progressive report for the proper management of the school, the staff body; E. O. Larbi, Kwabena Gyan-Mante, Amo-Gyimah E., Kojo Acquah Beenyi and Samuel Ntim Sasu) has met on 28th February, 2018 to discuss the Dinner and Graduation Ceremony which is nearly to take place in April 13th and 14th.

Having met, the following conclusions were made on the programme for the day:

·         Guest of Honour: Steven Ashcraft

·         Chairman for the occasion: Adu Anane Antwi (Dr)

·         Guest Speaker for the graduation: Gary Fallis

·         Lectures on the day for the Dinner: Gary Fallis

·         M.C.: Yaw Amo Gyimah

·         Address: Emmanuel Odeng Larbi, the current Director of SIBS, Accra

Staff Visit to recent and past students

Also, the staff has added up to occasionally visit the past students in their congregation to check on the effectiveness and the growth of the church. A few days now, the director and his administrator visited one his students congregation thus Asuaba in the Eastern Region of Ghana. This student is by the name Afum Kwame Botwe who has just completed his two years course in Accra.

On his visit, he (Director) encouraged the church to pray and support their preacher in all means to enable him work hard and to instruct according to the gospel upon which they were called. Also, they should endeavor to abstain from all manner of life that does not bring fruit to the Holy Spirit.

Chapel Hour

On the curriculum of the school as the school’s chapel time, students and instructors participate effectively as in exhortation, songs leading, prayer and reading of the scripture. Having done, assessment is carried out to check on vocal, style of presentation, clarity, etc.

This period has improved the students in their boldness before audience and in their outing programmes.

Conclusion

We are always glad for your concern for remembering us in your prayers as we do here.

Keep praying with us.

Southwest Institute of Biblical Studies

Mass evangelism in New Zealand

Last month, BVBINZ had our third door-knocking campaign, which was organised by John Jones. We worked in the Wellington Region in Wellington city, Petone, Carterton, and Masterton to drum up some contacts for Bible study for the local Christians. We had about a dozen participants, including guests from the USA, Brittany and Scott Simpson. Unfortunately, we were all so busy with the campaign and fellowship, we forgot to take a group photo. The statistics from the campaign are:

• Days worked: 4
• Doors knocked: 1,132
• Conversations: 487
• Bible study contacts: 23

The BVBINZ students are over halfway finished with their Personal Evangelism 1 course, which is being fulfilled through the Make Disciples Training Program. You can read about the latest news at this link.

Thank you to everyone who is involved in making anything related to Bear Valley possible. To God be all the glory!
 
Lance Mosher, BVBINZ Director

Progress in Togo

TOGO MISSION FEBRUARY, 2018 GOD GIVES THE INCREASE It is always a joy to see people respond to the gospel invitation through baptism. During the month under consideration the Lord blessed our efforts with eight (8) baptisms. These conversions have been made possible through radio programs, church activities, personal work, public morning devotions using the Chariot, tract distributions and World Bible school correspondence course.

I was personally glad to witness one of such conversions after my preaching at Akata church of Christ, while there to inspect the newly constructed meeting place. BVBI IN KPALIME Front view of Bear Valley Bible Institute We thank the almighty God that all the twenty students continue to attend classes regularly. We had one incidence of sickness but the school took him to see a doctor. The principal and the staff spent time to read out and explain the rules and regulations governing activities of students in the school.

STUDENTS ASSIST THE AKATA CHURCH OF CHRIST All the men in this picture are students of BVBI who have come to assist the Akata Church complete work on the place of worship. On Wednesdays, classes end at noon to prepare for midweek bible class. 

RESOURCE CENTER During the month under review, the resource center’s record indicates that 1,047 tracts were handed out and 47 bible studies held. WEEKLY RADIO PROGRAM Attah Piere an instructor at the BVBI is also the presenter for this first quarter of the year. He has been teaching on the subject of worship. MONTHLY PREACHERS MEETING Unity of the preachers is very vital to the growth of the church in the region. This unity has been sustained over the years through the monthly meetings which ended with a meal fellowship. The recent graduates were inducted into this group recently.

Report by: H. WILLIE GLEY