New developments in Zimbabwe

MAY 2019 NARRATIVE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

The vision of BVBIZ remains, “To be a leading and preferred spiritual and academic centre in Zimbabwe and beyond.” Our mission is also remains, “To empower men and women through training and development.” The school’s core business is training and development whose objective is to have  a “relevant, robust training and development  programme that empowers servants of God to transform communities.” The aim is to produce highly qualified, equipped and competent servants through this robust training and development program. The month of May saw BVBIZ continue advancing this agenda as reported hereunder. This report will also highlight events to be anticipated in no distant time.

1.0 TERM ENDS

BVBIZ students are now on break. The term came to an end on the 25th of May. This is their first break since the second of January when they resumed school. They will be back at campus on the 18th of June in preparation for their practicum. Exams were also written successfully. The following subjects were taught;

Church Leadership

Christian Spiritual formation

African Traditional Religion

Greek

Advanced Homiletics

Church History

Marriage and Family Development

Research Methods

2.0 FIELD PROGRAM

This year’s field program shall start on the 22nd of June end on the 8th of September. Teachers will make follow their follow ups as the program proceeds. This program shall be longer than the other programs the school has run so far. This is in line with BVBIZ’s thrust of producing a well-trained and competent product. This practicum enables this to take place. A six month practicum is scheduled to take place next year before the students graduate. This is over and above weekend evangelism programs and one week campaigns that take place each term in various areas.

3.0 DEVELOPMENTS AT SITE

Some developments continue to take place at the school’s site. A comprehensive report on what has been done so far and anticipated developments shall be made in the subsequent reports. This month we are pleased to give a report on three developments;

3.1 UPDATE ON BOREHOLE

BVBIZ first borehole which was drilled in February of this year has now been fitted with a solar system and a 2500litre tank. Great appreciation goes to Partners for Africa for making this a success.

3.2 FRUIT TREES

BVBIZ is in the process of digging 1m x 1m x1m holes for the planting of fruit trees around the site. The target is to plant a total of 100 fruit trees such as avocadoes, oranges and mangoes. More will be planted in future. The focus will be to improve the diet of students and provide more income to the school.

3.3 FUNDRAISING PROGRAM

BVBIZ board and management shall be rolling out a local fundraising program scheduled to take place in the next few weeks. This is in line with the school’s three year strategic plan. The first fundraising program shall take place in Harare. The idea is to harness resources towards the development of this site. Everyone both within and outside the country is encouraged to join this effort. A committee to run this program has been selected and more people will be co-opted in to serve in various committees. More details shall be made in the subsequent report. Suggestions are always welcome.

4.0 EVANGELISM

Students continued going for their weekend evangelism in the month of May. This is done every Saturday and Sunday. Congregations that benefitted included Mkoba 12, Mkoba 17, Nashville, Mambo and Julena. 2 WBS seminars were also held in Mkoba. BVBIZ students and teachers served in many capacities. Senior preachers were also available to teach classes also. These included Brothers K.Dominico, S.Nyarugwe, D. Chikware, C.Mafusire, G.Mutambara and L.Manyanhaire. The last seminar that was held at Chikumbiro Primary school saw BVBZ students distributing over 3000 fliers prior to the seminar. Three were baptized during these efforts.

CONCLUSION

We thank God for what he has been able to do through BVBIZ in June. 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 reporting on our much anticipated field program. To God be the glory!

Active students in Zambia

Warm greetings to you all brothers and sisters!! We give honor and glory to God who has given us the opportunity to work in His Kingdom.

We continue to thank our God that the current students are clocking a year studying at BVBI-Zambia. The crop of students that we have, have not only impressed us in their academics but they have also overwhelmed their local congregations with their improved work in preaching. As mentioned earlier, they have proved this to us in their daily performance in the courses that they are taking. They are taking four regular courses and one short course this quarter. These courses are as follows:  

Personal Evangelism 2, this course emphases the importance of Church planting. And it is being taught by Cephas Mwamba who is also teaching Worship of the New Testament. In this course the emphasis is placed on the principles, doctrine and practice of the New Testament Church. The remaining regular courses of this quarter which are textual studies are being taught by Fred Kanangu. These are 1st & 2nd Peter, Jude, and then 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. 

The short course on the Book Galatians or on Leadership will be taught by Brother Kennedy Mukuka. The suggested emphasis on the course on Galatians will be placed on the relation to Hebrews. And Leadership course will furnish the students with leadership styles that God would want His servants to have.

Apart from their class performance, students are busy doing personal evangelism. This is also to fulfill their partial requirements of their course on Personal Evangelism 2. They are translating what they are learning from the class to the real world. We are very glad as a school for these men and indeed the programs and we are happy to report that through these programs Mathew Chisupa, Misheck Chileshe and Twiness Chanda have been baptized and restored back three souls. We as the Institute for this month have concentrated much on three districts here on the copper-belt, namely Luanshya, Kitwe and Mpongwe. On the other development brother Cephas and Kennedy were in Lusaka and taught the gospel and Royd Kabonga a police officer gladly submitted to Christ in Baptism

The school was also invited by Wusakile church in Kitwe to participate in their city wide gospel meeting that started on Friday, 24th May and ended on Sunday, 26th May 2019. The team of the Gospel chariot for World Bible School from Malawi en-route to DRC was also part of this Gospel meeting. Brother Cephas Mwamba was one of the regular speakers invited to speak during these meetings. He with the BVBI-Zambia students braved the coldness to participate in all the proceedings of these meetings. Though no Baptism but only restorations recorded we had a good experience.  

The school has continued being recognized by the congregations in the Copper Belt Province of Zambia and beyond. This is evidenced by many invites that the school receives from these congregations. Copper Belt churches of Christ hold an annual Gospel conference between June and August. And for the time the school has been in existence it has been invited to participate in teaching during these conferences. Brother Cephas Mwamba will be one of the Keynote speakers during this year’s conference which will be held in Ndola. He will be speaking on “Sin”. This meeting starts on the 29th June 2019 and ends on 1st July 2019. We continue soliciting for your prayers that all the meetings succeed and that through these meetings many will come to the full knowledge of God. 

BVBI-Zambia has continued to work with our former students and through Stephen Ngosa we have baptized 7 souls in this month. We witnessed the conversion of these seven souls from two families, Grant Chisenga, Chrisford Chisenga, Chrispine Chisenga, Peter Chisenga and Memory Kaulai, Thandiwe Kaulai, Kingslee Musonda. Stephen is preaching at Baluba Church of Christ, here in Luanshya District. 

Joseph Musonda is still in Mansa, Luapula Province of Zambia where he is doing a very commendable job. He is currently worshiping and working with Mansa Central Church of Christ. He has so far converted one soul and restored back to the Lord three souls. He also reports that the Central Church, Mansa had two gospel meetings in the space of two weeks. One was held at Chipili at which a new congregation has been stablished and another at Mano at which the Institute has been invited to help in evangelism. Albert Phiri is actively working with a congregation in Myengelwa, Mpongwe District. He also reports that he has continued conducting Bible studies and door to door personal evangelism with some brothers at Myengelwa, though this place is 65 Kilometers south of Luanshya the Institute is constantly in touch with Albert to encourage him with his effort to preach.  We had thirteen (13) baptism and six (9) restorations and one New congregation planted.  

Please continue to pray for the overall work that we are involved in here in Zambia. Pray for the Word of God to continuously have an impact on our lives and also the lives of those we are teaching.

Our hearts are truly thankful to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for financial support and all the encouragement in this good work. We will likewise pray that God will bless the works that you are all involved in as well.

For the sake of Christ,

Cephas and Fred

Making a difference in Lima

Dear brothers in Christ,

The Bible Institute continues, we started our second semester with a lot of encouragement, both students and teachers have done and are doing a great job. We concluded the previous semester with the Homiletics 1 course with Abraham Alata and we began this semester with the course of Hermeneutics 1 with me as a teacher. Students do their best to take advantage of this instructional time.

As part of our calendar of activities we had two days of Bible conference in the month of April (18-19), Christians from different congregations were invited to participate in this event, we received the visit of approximately 60 people each day, the exhibitors were the teachers of the institute two per day, the conference was based on the book of Philippians ("Prisoners of Joy"). This was also a very good time of fellowship and instruction for the brotherhood. If God allows it, we are setting precedents for future events, because we want to do it every year.

The students, as part of their training, developed an evangelistic activity together with some members of the Church of Christ in America (where the Institute currently operates), on May 1st this activity was developed.

We greatly appreciate the time taken to read this report and to support the activities both spiritually and materially, our Lord keep and bless you.

Your brothers,

Juan and Abraham

Continued growth in Guinea

Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute Activity Operations Report for April 2019

Our major second quarter activities at Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute commenced on 22nd April 2019. As in previous quarters we had both indoor and outdoor activities though this time for a limited period compared to other months in the past. Nevertheless, we did our best to fulfill all necessary requirements one of which considered the central focus of all outdoor activities is evangelism resulting to the conversion of 3 souls. Below are the details.

Classroom: By His grace we are still maintaining the 17 students on roll. Regular classes did commence, but we had to adjust the course schedule especially for the short course initially set for the 7th week. Bro Balla was rescheduled to conduct his class right from day 1, the first and only week to finish the month. This was done because the instructor was not sure of being available in any other week during the quarter. The results were very good.

Evangelism: The new congregation at Bilin which was started during our first quarter break on 31st March had another one soul added on 14th April. Since all the conversions so far in that village were during our break when I was also away, necessity was laid upon me not only to participate evangelize the village, but especially to go see the new converts. Therefore Sunday, 21st April just before classes resume the next day we made a visit of acquaintance and to strengthen the brethren. Our meeting was one of delight! It resulted to the conversion of 2 additional souls that day.

In our last report for the month of March we explained the conversions of persons in 2 different villages (Foidou and Bilin) said to be 2 new congregations. The good news now about especially the men at Foidou is that they have taken upon themselves even while we were on break to advance the message in most of their surrounding villages, thus paving the way for a greater conversion in May. Details of this are soon coming in our next report.

Dining Hall Repairs: The first rains of Gueckedou town were accompanied by violent winds and thunder blasts. Many families saw the roofs of their houses fly away. Bear Valley’s dining hall was no exception. Tarpaulins of one-half of the shelter were torn apart and destroyed. We had no option, but to speedily engage repairs which were completed in 2 days.

Literature Reception and Distribution: We owe a big “thank you” and appreciation to the “French World Outreach” / Barry Baggott based in Nashville, TN who is a great blessing to our preaching ministry. In deed bro Baggott had sent us 4 cartons of New Testament Index Bibles, tracts and pamphlets most of which (except Bibles) are often distributed during all our campaigns and evangelistic trips. These too have their part in proclaiming the good news of Christ (and his church). French World Outreach must be recognized as a part in the conversions being done at the Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible School!

Conclusion: We had only 1 week of major activities for the month of April, but are thankful to God for the classroom and outdoor activities especially for the 3 souls converted. With the initiative of advancing the gospel message by the men of Foidou, an exciting report of greater conversions is on the way.

Our thanks and appreciations to you all especially those of you who support this paramount work. God bless us all!

Francis

Reaching the most populous country in Africa

Beloved fellow soldiers of Christ.

Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and great Redeemer, Jesus Christ from your fellow servants of God in Nigeria,most especially in the BVBIN and SWSE Ibadan main campus located in Butubutu Village via Badeku/Jago,  Oyo State.

Here are some of the report of our activities in the Lord for the month of May 2019.  

 OVERVIEW

i.  Students now in a month Vocational training.

ii. The Lord's Church planted in Salako's Village via Igbo-Oloyin Road,Ibadan.

iii. 4th Semester begins on June 3 through August 25,2019

iv. Four muslim believers converted  during WBS Seminar in Itu, Akwa-Ibom State.

v. 6,000 Copies of VOTI Volume 100 ready for distributions in Nigeria.

A MONTH STUDENTS' VOCATIONAL TRAINING :

All our year one students are presently in a month Vocational Training which will end on June 1, 2019 while the year two students return to help their different congregations in the evangelization of their communities and in edification of the saints. Nine of the year one students are with me in Ibadan studying electrification, tailoring,motor mechanic, e.t.c.

THE LORD'S CHURCH PLANTED IN SALAKO'S VILLAGE OFF IGBO-OLOYIN RD. AKINYELE L.G.A.OYO STATE:

In continuation of our mission as a School of Biblical Studies and Evangelism, the staff and seven of our year one students and one of our graduates and one of the recent students in BVBII degree program, Bro.Oladokun Samuel and a fellow WBSFUW named Bro.Dele Shotola evangelised Igbo-Oloyin,Salako and Aroro villages in Ibadan rural area on May 10 and 11 and started the first Church worship in Ile Olopa ,Aba Salako(I.e, Police' s house,Salako's Village) on May 13 with 12 brethren and the total collection was N2,250.On May 20, a soul was restored after many years of self disfellowship from the Lord's church. Bro.Oladokun Samuel and one of our students is now working with that young congregation in Aba Salako. To God be the glory and honour.

FOURTH SEMESTER CLASSES BEGINS ON JUNE 3 AND CONCLUDE WITH A MONTH TEACHING PRACTICE FROM JULY 27 THROUGH AUGUST 25,2019:

Our last semester for this session begins on June 3 and will be concluded on July 26 follow by a month T.P( Teaching Practice) between July 27 through August 25,2019. We are planning to send the 33 students to four out of six geographical zones in our country, Nigeria. This will cost us between $600 to $750 for transportation and reprints of our local gospel tracts and we can conveniently raise about $200 among Nigerian brethren for this spiritual exercise.

A DAY WBS SEMINAR: A day World Bible School Seminar conducted by Bro.M.B.Archibong in Mbak Itam, Itu on May 15 led to conversion of four Muslim believers. Several tracts from both local and gospel mission International and Voice of the Truth International volumes 98 & 99 were freely distributed during this one day WBS seminar.

SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT:

The BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan ,Butubutu village is  using this opportunity to appreciate in advance Bro.Keith Kasarjian and the BVBID and association for assists us with fund to purchase a bigger generator plant to supply electrification to our schools community. We shall be purchasing the generator as soon as we receive the fund on June.

6,000 VOTI VOLUME 100 : The Voice of Truth International Volume 100 is now ready for distributions to churches in Nigeria. We deeply appreciate the World Evangelism crew for this great job for the growth of the Lord's church in Africa and the world as a whole.

ABOUT A STUDENT: Bro.Baruch Uchenna Okpulor is one of our year one students. A member of the Lord's church in Osusu Elendu,Aba,Abia State.Join the school in 2017. Became a member of the Lord's church in 1987.A graduates of Enugu state University of Science and Technology. Presently, our student's leader. His mission is to be trained as a preacher of the gospel and to become a missionary in the near future.

OTHER COMMENT: The Onikokoro /Gbongudu congregation have started another three month series of Studies every Lord's day under the theme:THE NEEDS OF THIS CONGREGATION and I spoke on Our Present Needs on May 13, The Needs for Sound Preacher on May 20 and Not Being Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ on May 27,2019. Another brother will be speaking next Lord's day .Our average attendance now 36 with average collection of N5,500=

CONCLUSION: We thank you all for your moral and financial supports toward the growth of the Lord's church in Africa, most especially in Nigeria. May the Lord continue to bless all our joint efforts in Christ Jesus, amen.

I remain your fellow servant of God, MAKINDE Ebenezer  Olufemi (The Chief servant of BVBIN & SWSE-IBADAN and WBSFUW)

Good news from Fiji

Report from the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa, Fiji

We just completed the first week of the second term.  We have 10 students this term.  The classes for this term are Peter and Jude, Romans, the Crucifixion of Jesus, Old Testament Poetry 2 (Proverbs through Song of Solomon), Hermeneutics,  and OT History 1 (Joshua through 1 Samuel).  

We have been very fortunate to have congregations send us books for our students.  The Westside Church of Christ has sent books to our students on a number of occasions.  We just recently received 16 copies of Evangelism Handbook by Phil Sanders.  We really appreciate this congregation and others who are putting tools in the hands of our students to build up their own personal libraries.  

We said goodbye to our first international student.  Lency Mena came to us from the Solomon Islands and finished up his course work at the end of this past term.  While we were sad to see him leave, we are excited about the work he will be doing in the Solomon Islands.  He plans to spend two years working with the church in the capital city of Honiara and after that relocate with his family to Nendo Island to establish the church there.  Lency and his wife Nancy are both from this island.  Please pray for Brother Lency and his family!

To God be the glory,

Rocco

Campaign success in Malawi

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE EKWENDENI (Malawi)

May Report  

Introduction

Bear valley Bible Institute Ekwendeni in Malawi is continuing doing a great job of teaching and preaching the Gospel. As we reported that the students are on holiday and yet not resting still preaching and winning souls to Christ! We are very thankful to God that the name of the school is also being known to many areas in Malawi through the work our students are doing.

More to this, we are also proud of our former students, who are still proving themselves that they really graduated for a purpose of winning souls to Christ. In this report, we have good news from one of our former student Saliwa Nkosi. Saliwa is a powerful teacher and preacher. He recently (15th to 19th May), conducted a preaching campaign and invited the Director and Instructors of the Bear Valley Bible Institute Ekwendeni to attend. It was great joy as we witnessed about 21 souls being saved. This is truly walking in the path  known to Jesus Christ, for He came to save that which was lost Luke 19:10!

Preaching Campaign

Brother Saliwa Nkosi organised a preaching campaign in his home area at a distance of about 7 miles away from his home village. The area is called Emadhloveni; it has lot of people but no congregation. It is now great joy to share the news that the church is now established in this area after the campaign brother Saliwa conducted. We arrived in this village on 15th May, which was the day of getting everything set for the campaign.

It was very interesting on Saturday, as we were going out house to house to preach, those who heard us preach in the previous days were following us asking more questions about Christ and His church. And still some wanted to be added to the Lord's church, this was amazing! The Lord used us as His vessel to lead lost people to Himself.

We want to express our gratitude to Bear Valley International for their support. Without your support this could have not been achieved. We want also to thank brother Saliwa for his zeal in this work of winning souls to Christ. Eternity Is Forever, Think Souls!

 Ephron & Clergynton

Note: We are eagerly waiting to see our students back in class on 3rd June!

Souls being saved in Tanzania

"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? (Romans 1:14-15). These are powerful statements made by the Apostle Paul showing the importance of both parties being included in the process of bringing one to Christ. The Apostle is insisting on the important of hearing the message which will save them but also showing the important of the messenger too, since “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…..,” (Hebrews 1:2) and the Son has commanded His disciples to go in to all the World and preach, (Mark 16:15-16).
 
 "This world is not safe without Jesus, that’s why here at Andrew Connally School of Preaching we are striving to go out and reach as many as we can before it is too late. Our students have been sent out on the weekends to help the surrounding congregations. The following has been the school’s accomplishment since the third week of February 2019. 92 New classes were established, 63 old classes were still being followed, 38 souls have been restored and 9 new souls have been added in His Kingdom.
 
"All these and many other good things are going on in the Lord’s Kingdom, just because you have partnered us in working for His course and bringing many to HIM. Thank you so much for your support and prayers. Please keep our students in your prayers, as they will be going back home. To God be the glory both now and forever."                                         

Charles Mwanga

Counting victories in New Zealand

We are about to enter the last six months of this term, and perhaps the final six months of BVBINZ…for now. It seems that, by December, we will have trained all the Christians we can in New Zealand, so we will put the work down for now. The way that we have had BVBINZ set up will allow us to pick it back up in the future if another student body is ready to enroll. 

We have enjoyed the adventure that BVBINZ has provided. We have worked hard to train several men and women of God for ministry. We are all thankful for those who have sacrificed to make this possible. But we are not finished just yet.

In this past month, we have had another full-time student—Michelle—enroll in BVBINZ. She will continue studying with us through December. And even beyond December, we will work with her through independent studies.

We are working closely with Joziah Townsend to help him graduate in December of this year. He has proven to be a great servant in the church, and we look forward to seeing where God takes him in his ministry.

Lance Mosher, Director

Classes resume in Tamale

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE GHANA

TAMALE GHANA

APRIL REPORT 2019

We are more excited for the good and perfect work God continue to do for us in this ministry in which we are proud to be part or members of life saving or transforming. In that, we remain committed to thanking and appreciating you for your faithfulness and consistent support. We shall carefully and consciously manage whatever is kept in our custody as a faithful steward of Christ.

SCHOOL REOPENED

The school has reopened on April, 8th 2019, as indicated in the last month report. Fourteen students happily reported to start the academic work that would thoroughly equip them for every good work into saving souls. It is our prayer and hope that the remaining prospective brethren who have also picked the admission forms and submitted them will possibly make it next term as we have assurances from some of them. Nothing should hinder them to denounce their conviction in Christ. That is our plea to you to pray with us.

LECTURESHIP

The first week, Brother James Legend treated Hermeneutics 1 with the students. This course was successfully taught and students examined with performance encouraging. Second week, Brother Adjei Mensah Daniel took students through “The Scheme of redemption”, this course too was fairly treated as well and test conducted respectively and students performed wonderfully. Third week, personal evangelism 1 was also handled by Brother James Legend.

There was an intensive teaching and learning for three days in class room and three days for one on-one Personal Evangelism, Students were monitored by the instructor as to how to approach their prospects, one sister Evelyn from Volta region who when she migrated to Tamale became a member of one the denominations was restored and has since be active. Although there was no positive response as a result of Tamale being the Islamic community or dominants, but some prospects were figured out and we dedicated some students to constantly visit them so that with the support of your prayer and our prayer God will choose His people for us.

Fourth week, “How we got the Bible” was also treated by Brother Albert Malir with the students, class work and final exams was conducted and students performance improving. Fifth week, “TheOld Testament 1” was handled by Brother Francis Ayine , there was that kind of inculcating teaching  and learning between instructor and students with Students performance after exams satisfied. The last course which was “The Cost of discipleship” for the term was also dealt with by coordinator of Bear Valley Bible Institute in Ghana Kojo Beenyi Acquah. Class work and final exams was conducted respectively and students performance improved. We pray for the successful end of the term and also happy to announce to you that students are going on 17th 05, 2019 to visit their congregations and families and also do their farming work as this season is favorable for planting. The school will be reopened in July 14th, 2019. It is our prayer and hope that God will help us all to live to see these faithful days as we geared toward the activities of the year {seminar, campaign & graduation}.

ADMINISTRATION

We are working collaboratively with the students, coordinator, short course instructors, board members and all members of the Church to make the school conducive and philanthropic for all humankind who wish to know the truth about Jesus Christ and His Church. The school campus, baths and latrines are tidying every day. Part of the school land is cultivated with yam and the remaining part would be used to cultivate maize, generally school environment is decent for one to behold. Transition is made successfully, the other class room by the school office is used for Dinning hall, and Brother Albert’s wife Afia Modesta is the cook, we are making progress in all administration activities. The church blocks that are molded in the school campus are conveyed to the church plot bit by bit by the students and we are happy for that, these students are hard-working, well behaved to be leaders of the Lord’s church. We have extended water to where the food is cooked to lessen the work load on the cook.

We went to Ghana Revenue Authority to secure Tax Clearance certificate {Tin} to enable us obtain the school and church land document completion and we were told to apply which we did and waiting for their response. When this {Tin} certificate is ready we shall forward it to the lands commission for further documentation.

May the peace and joy of God rest upon us all amen!

A busy week in Mbanga

My beloved people of God,

We Greet all in Jesus name. It is great to have you on our page again this morning. The Lord granted to us a gift of life this day. We give him all the glory. We had a beautiful week with the work in the vineyard of God almighty. He gave us another opportunity to exploit the world. It is a time to reflect on many things and we thank God for every possible solution. Accept salutations from my lovely wife and from my household.

 Just like we made mention in the beginning, the week was a very busy one. That is why there is some delays in sending this report.

Visibility work done in Mombo

Working in collaboration with brother Giress and brother Alfred, I made them travel to Mombo which is a subdivision next to Mbanga, for a visibility study. The report on the ground is promising as we met some internally displaced Christians during our second missionary trip to Mombo just within one week. We are already developing strategies on how to begin work in this community and in the space of no time, the wife of one of our present students shall be living in that community. A site for worship is one of our main difficulties and next will be worship setup such as benches, a table, and some other few things. I believe God is going to do great work in that community and its surroundings.

The students also took part at the burial ceremony of our little sister who died in Mujuka and was buried in Kombe. Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. It was time to mourn with the bereaved family and her little classmates who were just from writing the entrance exams to the secondary school in Cameroon but could not see their class mate there. It was a pitiful situation. God has a reason for everything. May her soul rest in peace.

Preachers forum in Bonaberi.

Present this year in the annual preacher’s forum in Bonaberi in Douala were some graduates from both our schools. All the instructors of Mbanga were present as well as some present students in Mbanga. It was a good one as we had lot of good lessons to study about. The next forum shall be in Bamenda.

We had on our very busy schedule 20th of May celebration.

This year’s national day celebration on the 20th of May was blended with the students and some members of the church who took part in the march pass as you can see with the placard. Our goal is to let the people of Mbanga know about the work of our school and the church in our locality. We had as one of our tasks the responsibility to share tracks to many people and by his Grace we shared about 1500 tracks along with world bible school lessons with our phone numbers on them. We are now waiting for the outcome. Thanks to our donors, the tracks have gone a long way to help many areas in our country. We pray and requesting for more of these different tracks and books. Thank you Barry Baggot with French World Outreach, Mission Printing, and others. We shall continue to preach the word. Oh, how I wish we could have a radio program in Mbanga so we could send the message more to the street, quarters and all over the surrounding villages. Please send up prayers for the work in Cameroon 

 The students are also doing great in class work.

 As days goes by, we are becoming closer to the end. The students are now becoming used to their new way of life in the campus. It is not easy for them to meet up with the climate change. Some are passing through a very difficult time as they repeatedly going to the hospital. Brother Prince, Bertrand, and Romains have visited the hospital in Mbanga and Douala and Bertrand have been asked to go for scanning. Some are getting some relief through our first aid box with the aid of brother Bako who is our student doctor. We pray for their good health in order for them to concentrate on studies. 

We shall begin with exams next Monday 27th of May. Short courses shall begin on the 3rd of June. May God be their guide.

May the Lord be with our mission work in Cameroon. The congregations in Cameroon are seriously waiting for our coming missions. Brother David, we welcome you and your team in Cameroon this June.

 Our graduates  

This is brother Memvi who graduated last March in Mbanga and is now working with the congregation in Mbalmayo. Information is reaching us that brother Memvi has been attacked by a stroke so that both of his legs are been paralyzed. My beloved brother Memvi is undergoing treatment in Yaounde but in a local way due to lack of finance. Even though he is receiving only local treatments, he Is asked to pay 7500 frs ($13) on daily basis. This few days old preacher seriously needs assistance to improved his health condition. Calls are already reaching us from the congregation that we should be sending students to come and help in preaching for they are still very young. This is one of the congregations established with the help of our Bible Institute.

Our graduates are in the field doing their work. Continue sending up prayers for them. A new congregation is about to begin in Douala as brother Raul who graduated In March, is following his goal to implant an assembly in a village of Douala. Brother Nicanor, who preaches to the refugees in Douala, is passing through a very long distance to come and do his job. He is soliciting for a place of worship. It    not been easy with the new beginning. More prayers are needed for these guys.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

Ititi Benedict

A special tribute in Wotutu

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from Wotutu although I am in Douala now to send this report because the internet in Limbe is not strong enough to upload my pictures. Every Monday that I am supposed to send my report is ghost town on this side.

We are getting some relative calmness now in Wotutu for a while now and we give God the glory. We do hope this report finds you doing great. We are here and all of our activities are ongoing without any interruption. Keep us in your prayers.

 The Bear Valley Bible Institute Wotutu is fine and healthy as studies are going on without any problem. The military who are based in Wotutu now make sure peace is attained and are very appreciative to the church of Christ Wotutu through our early morning preaching and our daily prayers for peace to the entire nation. Students are gaining knowledge and are zealous for the work of God.

One of our daily wear in the preaching school is green. The green this year was changed and dedicated in memory of ELDER BRUCE of the STC congregation who oversee the work in Wotutu. The inscription is in gracious memory for the fallen hero Elder Bruce. We remember him for his love for the work here and for his personal love for me when I visited the STC congregation. He was full of fun. God bless and watch over his family.

The week was busy as students regularly ended classes and jump into the van for evangelism. We started the new work in Botaland village which is a new work. Evangelism is our mission and our mission is evangelism. In Botaland we went from house to house evangelizing to see how we could rob from the strong man’s house as we were pointing the truth to prospects and helping them to see the need to obey the gospel. After pointing out the truth, a Mission Printing tract is left behind for further reading.

This is Botaland village. It is one of their streets. This village really needs the gospel as one old man about 89 years confessed because of the rampant witchcraft in almost all the houses, and gross enmity among villagers. The truth has come to stay and the power of the gospel will help many who open up their hearts to follow Jesus. We told him and have assured him that God will do His work in the lives of many.

We met busy people who were busy to make themselves more beautiful but they gave us their time and listened to the word of God because the word transforms and make them more beautiful inside and outside.

PLAN

We have the annual preacher’s forum coming up in Douala. Keep the program in your prayers as preachers from all over the country will converge there to discuss pertinent issues affecting the church in Cameroon.

APPRECIATION

God bless you. Thank you for all you do. Keep doing it because it is good. Lives are being touched and God is being glorified.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Graduation in Ukraine

It was my honor and pleasure to attend the graduation ceremony of the Bear Valley school in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine. This school is special in many ways, one of them being that it was the first Bear Valley international school. Beginning in 1997, it is the longest running school.

Director Denis Sopelnik does an outstanding job and he is assisted by Coordinator Terry Harmon. The school in Ukraine has a pool of outstanding and experienced teachers and the church nationwide is constantly being blessed by their efforts. Supplementing their work are teachers from the U.S., such as Jim Sherman, Denton Landon, Mike Underwood, and L.T. Gurganus.

While this years class was smaller than usual, next year’s promises to be a little larger than usual and currently recruiting is ahead of pace from last year. May God bless the strongest school of preaching in all of Europe!

Keith Kasarjian

Successful campaign in Harare

According to our 2019 plan, BVBI-Harare Extension planned to start new work and we are pleased to say that we are right on track. Dzivaresekwa Extension is the place we hope to make this dream fulfilled. Dzivaresekwa Extension is six kilometers from Dzivaresekwa (were I reside).

Last weekend, 18 and 19 May 2019 saw us taking the first step in making the dream a reality. A team of eight (8) spent hours in the streets of this location distributing tracts, booklets, sharing the Word with people and meeting people who were interested in the Word. We subdivided ourselves into two two and the work was done so well. It was such a great experience to all who attended and the interest shown was just so inspirational. 
After walking in the streets of Dzivaresekwa Extension, the team withdrew for feedback - see photo Weekend Evangelism 2 and 3 - but as duty calls the feedback turned into more Word sharing moments as passersby stopped by for the tracts, booklets and to receive a share of the Word.

During the exercise we met 168 people, distributed 300 tracts and booklets, and distributed thirty-seven (37) World Bible School introductory lessons. During the exercise we also managed to meet a family who are members of the church and were members of Alaska Mine church of Christ in Chinhoyi - Mashonaland West province. They have been staying in this area for two years and according to them they have not been meeting with the church unless if they travel back to their home congregation, that is once in a long time. Again we met another lady who said she is a member of the church but she could not find the church in the area and she is ready to come to church. 

STUDENT RESPONSES:

Tonderayi Kafile: "I personally realised that its easier talking to people in the streets other than visiting their homes. Firstly maybe because at their homes they will be bound by their different beliefs. Then secondly some women are not comfortable to have people discussing anything at their homes due to homes rules and regulations put by their spouses.Also the insecurity caused by poverty ie having nothing to feed the visitors also makes them uncomfortable to have visitors at their homes but in the streets today it was marvelous they talked freely brethren thanks for the experience bro Suwari."  

Brian Matutu : "It was certainly an eye opener for me.  Although it was not my first time I can confidently say it was my most successful outreach.  
Firstly the tracts were very appropriate and effective.  The reception and interest from all prospective was humbling. Not even one prospective was antagonistic. Even those who initially appeared skeptical eventually changed as discussions proceeded. More than 90% of those we met promised to contact the contact names we gave them.  Sister Ncheche and I were also extremely edified by the experience.  We certainly look forward to a similar exercise. 
All thanks to you for guidance and to our mighty Father for his grace."

Richard Nyamanhindi : "A day well spent. Literature was appropriate with diversity and the aspirants were receptive, keen and ready to hear the word. Some were eager to know where the church is. People are hungry for the word. Street evangelism is not as difficult as we think. It was a fruitful day inherently and with those we discussed with. Follow up is indeed necessary."

Edson Julius : "I enjoyed every moment. This was an eye opener,surely we can reach out to many people by these arrangements .This method is effective and exciting."

As a way forward, brother Batsirai Zisengwe (in blue coat) is making some arrangements for a place were we will start assembling. As that is being done, we are planning to have preachers who will go for another round of evangelism, and this time house to house and followups on the addresses and promises we got last week. Westgate and Dzivaresekwa churches of Christ have agreed (in principle) to work together in this work and we also have a preacher in this area, Leonard Magaya. He has also agreed to be involved in the work. In the meantime BVBI-Harare Extension is working hard to start this work and establish this work.

May you please pray for this work.

Stay blessed and be a blessing to all,

Howard Suwari                            
4277 First Street
Dzivaresekwa 1
Harare, Zimbabwe

Youth Forum in Takoradi

Dear Brethren,

We send greetings from West Coast School of Preaching, Takoradi, Ghana, West Africa. Thank God we are also doing well and by His grace we continue to see progress in our work here at West Coast School of Preaching.  I am glad to send to you report on our operations and finances for the month of April, 2019.

CLASSROOM WORK

Regular classes were held until 18th of April, 2019 when we had a break. The part-time classes continued throughout the period.

CAMPAIGN FOR CHRIST

Two of our immediate past students organized campaigns during the period in their respective congregations. There were three (3) baptisms in the first campaign while five (5) backsliders were spotted in the second one. Efforts are continuing to restore them.

PERSONAL EVANGELISM

The congregation at Fijai where brother Francis Ayillah preaches organized house to house evangelism. Two of our part-time students also worship here. Two baptisms were recorded during the period. There were other reports from two of our part-time students in the Central Region and in the Eastern Region where evangelism campaigns were held. A total of four (4) baptisms were recorded in those two campaigns.

YOUTH FORUM

Brother Joshua Aidoo organized a one-day motivational youth forum for churches of Christ in and around the Sekondi-Takoradi area. As first of its kind, observations were that the program be adopted and held twice every year. There were about two hundred and sixty (260) youth in attendance including some preachers in the area. These members were drawn from various congregations that uphold what is taught by the Bible and for that matter, West Coast School of Preaching. Brother Joshua has a vision of raising the image of the West Coast School of Preaching so high among the churches of Christ Bible institutions in both the Central and Western Regions, and so, coming up with this youth forum is one of the means to achieve his goal. The theme of the program was : “Preparing a Purposeful Youth For The Future.” And the topics discussed were: (1) “Never Give Up On Your Hopes And Aspirations—By Joshua Aidoo; (2) “Innovation And Entrepreneurship: The Solution To Youth Unemployment”—brother Emamanuel Justice Ofori (a part-time student); (3) “Persistence: The Key To Climb The Success Ladder”—Joshua Aidoo.

POULTRY PROJECT

We have just completed sales of our birds. We will try to include a comprehensive report in our next report.

Thank you and may God bless us all.

Joshua Aidoo

Classes resume in Accra

PROLOGUE:

By the words of the school, praise be to the Almighty God who has opened a new door of glory and continually blessing the school with understanding, wisdom and increasing daily the number of students. Blessings to our fellow brethren who in diverse ways, helping to increase the teaching of truth and generously giving to the glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ. May you flourish daily.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

We are grateful for reopening. New courses are actively ongoing for this 2nd Quarter of the last academic year, 2019. All instructors are greatly partaking their responsibilities in the teaching work except Kojo who has travelled to USA and on his return, 31st April, will be taken two full courses for the two short course period.

The students, 12 in number per our records, 11 are present taking their classes regularly except one student by name, Joseph Boafo who has not been regular due to his work yet will not be graduated until he has met the academic requirements for the pass out.

In this 2nd quarter, the students are studying 1 & 2 Peter; 1 & 2 Thessalonica; Old Testament 5 (Study of the Minor Prophets); The Book of James; The Book of Romans, Christian Leadership, communication skills and IT.

STUDENT’S PERSONAL WORK

As the work of the Lord demands, our students embarked on personal evangelism work at Obeyeyie, a town within Amasaman – Accra. They have baptized four (4) souls for Obeyeyie congregation. We are grateful to the Lord for this mission.

STUDENT’S VISITATION ASSIGNMENT

As part of the school’s academic exercise, our students are on the process of visiting various churches for their practical activities in the Accra – Eastern Region vicinity. This exercise will be carried out for a quarter and then rotated. With this, our students will experience various environment and strengthen them in the work of preaching and church management.

As per our request, pray with us.

Southeast School of Evangelism

Continued progress in Takoradi, Ghana

Dear Brethren,

I send sincere greetings to you all our beloved brethren and thank the most High God for keeping us all safe throughout the month of March, 2019. Our success on this end has largely been the strength the Lord has bestowed on you for you to continue to give us the backing to be able to go through these years of operation. We are sincerely grateful to you all. May He continue to bless us all.

CLASSROOM WORK

We had an intensive and successful classroom work with both instructors and students (regular and part-time) being punctual to class enhancing teaching and learning period. All eleven (11) regular and twenty-two (22) part-time students co-operated for the success we achieved during the period.

PERSONAL EVANGELISM

After taking the regular students through a course in Personal Evangelism during the period, there has been some encouraging reports from the regular students who have demonstrated their skills around the school area and while at home with their various congregations resulting in some baptisms.

CAMPAIGN FOR CHRIST

The congregation at Mpintsin where brother Joshua preaches organized a 5-day night street preaching. Speakers were brother Joshua Aidoo and Douglas Armah, also an instructor at West Coast School of Preaching. The program was streamed live on Facebook. Also the congregation at Kwesimintsim where brother Charles King Arthur preaches organized a 6-day house to house evangelism and night street preaching. This program was also hooked to one of the radio stations in Takoradi. Some of our past students and brother Joshua’s evangelism team joined the congregation in this program. Ten (10) souls were baptized here.

POULTRY PROJECT

Our latest birds are growing well and are due to be sold next month.

 Again I want to express sincere appreciation to you all and appeal for your continuous prayer for us as we do same for you.

Thank you.

Joshua

Fundamental courses in Arusha

Dear brother,

I hope that you are doing well, and especially in the Lord’s work. Here is the ACSOP monthly report. The work is going well here at Andrew Connally School of Preaching, we are almost to the end of the second quarter of this year. We have already done with the long courses and now we are in the short courses.

Both classes have two short courses- In last week the second year class had “Hebrews” as a short course and Charles Hebeth is the one who taught, and in this week Ahimidiwe Kimaro is teaching “Life of Christ 3”. In last week the first year class Justin Maynard taught the book of Acts, and in this week Jimmy Gee is teaching “New Testament Church”.

After these short courses the school will be closed and the closing day will be Friday, May 17th, 2019 and the opening day will be August 5th, 2019. While the reporting day will be August 3rd, 2019. Now the ACSOP faculty members are on preparation of the goodwill trip, that trip will start after the evangelism campaign which is continuing here in Arusha.  The purpose of that trip is to visit ACSOP students to see what they are doing to help their local churches to grow and also to advertise the school and its mission. And after this the school will be in preparation of welcoming master’s program class in the last week of July.

We know that you are normally praying for this work. But now specifically we are asking for your prayers in these school programs as we have mentioned above so that we can achieve our goals on this work. May God bless you brother.

In His Service,

John B. Haule,

The Acting Dean of Students-ACSOP.

An amazing transformation in Ukraine

Dear brethren,
Last month was really busy and productive.
The Bible Institute had L. T. Garganus teaching the course on Jeremiah and brother Dmitry Galuik who came to teach Luke. The first year students had Ezekiel (I was the Instructor) and currently they are studying Daniel with Albert Bagdasaryan. The second year students had 1 and 2 Corinthians and Personal Evangelism (Dennis Sopelnik) and Revelation (Andrew Zhuravlev). As you see, the schedule is very tight. All Instructors send some homework as well, so students don't have much free time. I feel that busy schedule helps our students learn how to deal with stress as well as sluggishness. I've noticed that the second year students manage their time much better and have enough time to study, workout, etc.

In a few weeks we'll have summer break and our students will start evangelical practice. Usually they return to their home congregations and help with activities there. They also receive assignments from the Institute, such as to teach some lessons and deliver sermons, help local preacher to visit brothers and sisters, help with building maintenance and run errands. We want them to get skills for successful work with people. They can't get them by sitting in the classroom most of the time. The good servant of God needs to know how to interact and communicate with real people.

I'd like to share with you a life story of one of our graduate. On May 25th he will get a certificate on successful completion of all the study courses assigned by the Bible Institute Administration. His name is Sergey Khovrich, he is 50+. Half of his life he was incarcerated because he was a criminal. He was a figure of respect and authority in criminal circles. But the Gospel touched his heart while he was still in prison. First those were denominational teachers who brought them the New Testaments and taught false doctrines. By studying the Bible, Sergey noticed that a lot of doctrines differed from the ones from the Word of God. It was a few years before he met evangelists from the Church of Christ. From that moment on his life's changed. He found the Pearl he was searching. Being released from the prison he was faithful in attending church services. It was not typical for a prison convert because most of them loose their faith and return to the old life style upon their release. Later Sergey had found out about our Institute from the leadership of their congregation and they contacted me. He was interviewed, got his medical papers and came Bila Tserkva to study. I had my doubts knowing his history. But God does unbelievable. Sergey proved to be a decent student who took his studies seriously. He was a good example for other students. Now he wants to work with difficult people with the problems similar to the ones he used to have. When contemplating this I realize that our work is not in vain. Doing God's will step by step, we see changes in people's lives. 

We are thankful to all brethren who sacrificially donate to our ministry and trust us to use these funds for sharing the Gospel.

We pray for brother Keith Kasarjian's, his son and Jim Sherman's safe travels and as well as their ministry.
Our spiritual family sends their greetings and gratitude.
Your brother and co-worker,

Dennis Sopelnik.

Turmoil and triumph in Haiti

PJ Hardy and I are in Haiti at this time visiting with the students and teachers and working on a few other projects.  This is our first trip since January due to violence and unrest.  One of our directors is a policeman and met us at the airport to drive us to the school.  Due to unpredictable gang violence, the local directors have advised us not to leave the school property without Brother Beaubrun, the police officer.  Although, the area where we are located seems very quiet at this time.  

The work continues to move forward with people obeying the gospel.  So far this year we have had more than one hundred baptisms.  This brings the total to more than 1,000 since August of 2014. To God be the glory.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers.  

I plan to return in July and will spend about four weeks.  We have graduation on August 3rd, if there is no violence at that time.  

Thanks for all your help.

Larry Waymire