22 more baptized in Cameroon!

Dearest in Christ,

Calvary greetings to you all over there on the other part of the globe. With joy I bring to you this report after a successful mission work with students in the field. It was nice to move from one house to another in different villages preaching with students. I do hope this report finds you well in all that you do. We keep you in our prayers. Please keep us in your prayers as well.

Please continue to pray for us and the situation of our country. We do hope the dialogue that started today will go a long way to restore peace in Cameroon. We prayed yesterday during worship and we continue to pray for peace because this crisis has caused a lot of untold suffering to many, both Christians and non-Christians. Many are suffering. In my house I am accommodating 30 persons now. It is not easy to feed ourselves and buy medication when people are sick. We have a case in our congregation. A young lady came two days ago. Her husband was killed and she is left with a 4 months old child. She does not have anything as she barely escaped alive with her baby. People told her, “Go to the church of Christ in Wotutu, they will help you.”

Students returned with great news of souls that were rescued from the captivity of the evil one. A total of 14 precious souls were harvested in the Wotutu community, a total of 22 souls were baptized in all places put together, 5 fall away Christians return to the Lord, and 2 new congregations were established. Please keep these souls in your prayers as they walk with Christ.

Our students have grown far from the first day they came to Wotutu till date. They are making great progress in their ability to handle the word. The Wotutu congregation is always impressed with a hand-full of them, even though some are still struggling to grow. Keep our students in your prayers as they keep learning.

The following is our rich agenda.  NEW TESTAMENT WORSHIP, WISDOM LITERATURE, PROVERBS, ECCLESSIASTES, PSALMS AND SONGS OF SOLOMON, 1ST AND 2ND THESSSALONIANS, PERSONAL EVANGELISM 2 - DEALING WITH CHURCH PLANTING, CHURCH MUSIC, ENGLISH . Please pray for us as we help transplant all of this great knowledge to our students preparing them for full time ministry.

PLANS

We are back and weekend evangelism commences. This weekend I will be preaching in a funeral in a village. I will be there with 8 students. We shall evangelize the area as usual. We are still thinking of virgin lands to explore with the gospel and also to visit the Yato congregation for a revival.

APPRECIATIONS

May God bless you for all that you are doing to keep this work going. Thanks very much for all you do. May God bless you and replenish your efforts and finances.

Please do your best to share our reports with others.

Elangwe and family,

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Prayers requested in Cambodia

Hello Brothers and Sisters from Cambodia,
We are ever grateful for everyone who is a part of our Bible school, whether in prayer, support or both.

School Update We have been going through some difficult times at IBISR with our students. Many who enrolled last year have had to return home or leave to help support their families income. Our staff is determined to lead and work through these times of recruiting and teaching. We understand that the Lord is watching over us and keep us in His protection and that He expects us to remain faithful and optimistic. All of our staff and current students have been on a continual effort to recruit new students at the universities, villages and in Siem Reap. Many are interested as we handed out information and talked with village leaders. These interested said that after the Pchum Ben festival Holiday (over Oct. 1) would respond.
We have been on Holiday Break and will return to classes next week.Please pray for us as we continue on with our Bible school and the church at Siem Reap.
Darat (director) has visited eight churches, many villages and some as far as the Thailand border to recruit new students interested in Bible and our Lord Jesus.

SEMINAR/WORKSHOPOn the 13th and 14th of September, we attended the seminar at Battambang Church of Christ. Our Bible institute leaders had been spending time for a whole week in a workshop, on the topic of (How to start a business or career as a Christian), which also took place at Battambang Church of Christ.
NATIONAL HOLIDAY Our institution has been closed for a week and it will resume on the 2nd of October. In the meantime, we allowed all students and teachers to visit families and relatives during this special festival called the Pchum Ben Festival.

Classes continue on through the Old Testament and New Testament in teaching our students about the Bible. We are maturing in Christ and standing firm in the faith.Please pray for our students and leaders Darat, Piseth, Pros and Vannak and their families as we never give up on God or our brothers and sisters.

Darat, Piseth, Pros, VannakIBISR Staff

To see a short video about the work in Cambodia, simply click THIS LINK.

Prayers answered in Arusha

Grace and Peace to you friends.

ANSWERED NEED

Last month I shared with you a building need that the Ibambula church had following the destruction of their building by heavy rains. Thankfully the Huntington congregation has generously stepped in to provide for this need. I share with you a note of thanks from Silvester Bahati, the preacher of the Ibambula congregation:

"We do thanks God together with you all who been touched to this need, and to decide to give out your money to help us to get permanent building of worship, may God bless you a lot.   I believe myself together with all Christians from Ibambula, we will make sure we are standing faithfully the building process of this building  be cause God has answered our long need prayers ."

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

I want you to know a little bit about the men that you are helping to train for the ministry through your financial and spiritual support for this work.  So, I'm going to start including a "Student Spotlight" feature in the short reports to introduce a student to you. 

We'll start with CHOL DENG.  Chol is a bright 24 year old year old young man from South Sudan in our English-speaking program.  He was raised by a widowed mother in the Episcopal church, but converted in 2015.

In explaining why he wanted to study at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching, he said,  "I had a desire to know more about the Bible in order to improve my personal relationship with God and more importantly to be able to defend and answer any one that ask me for the reason of my faith. (1Peter 3:15-16) which I believed was possible in ACSOP.  The Andrew Connally School of Preaching (ACSOP) is a school well-spoken regarding their commitment to teach the sound doctrine of the biblical church hence the reason for choosing to study here."

After graduation, Chol plans to return to South Sudan to work with the congregation that entrusted him with the opportunity to seek this training.

Chol wants us to tell you that his "sincere gratitude goes to the donors for their tireless and unconditional support for the servants of the Lord and the school at large."

ON THE ROAD

At this time of year, many churches are working on their 2020 budgets. We humbly request that you consider Tanzania Missions as a part of your missions budget planning. In recent weeks I've been able to present the work to congregations in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Georgia. Would you like for me to visit your congregation? I have some openings available in November. We do have a couple of stops in Virginia planned in November, so if you're in Virginia or West Virginia, then this would be a great time to get on the schedule!

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

Guest instructor 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 and report about the events during the month of September.

Indeed the month of September has been packed with events as far as the school is concerned. First, we were very privileged to have Brother Donnie Estep come and teach. In his marathon trip of Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Malawi he came to Zambia and He taught the book of 2nd Corinthians. He left Zambia on the 14th September, 2019 to go to Malawi on yet another call of duty mission. The students have continued talking about the lessons gleaned from his course. This is an indication that he really did as always an outstanding job! We are blessed to have men like him and we are looking forward to see more come and teach our students. We applaud the work that he is doing here in Africa for God!

Before the conclusion of this quarter, as the saying goes “let’s roll” the school will again be blessed with yet another short course which will be taught by Brother Kennedy Mukuka later in the quarter. He will be teaching “Marriage and Christian life”. We are looking forward to having him.

The students have continued to impress us as they work in the kingdom to do their duty, Joseph Musonda has continued to perform his expected work in Mansa as he is working together with the brothers in Luapula province at a newly planted church. Clive kabika is doing a great work for the Lord as he is helping the church in central province of Zambia to resolve leadership problems that the Church is facing as at now.

Students as always have been evangelizing in Luanshya district which has resulted in the spiritual births of three souls on 20th September 2019. We really glorify the Lord for this! They have also restored nine (9) souls back to the sheepfold. The institute was also invited to help teach gathered World Bible School students in Kitwe district, brother Cephas Mwamba and Kennedy Mukuka delivered their preaching on salvation and we have continued to study with these students and hopefully it will result into more souls being saved we had a gathering of 41 students from different denominations.

We believe that God’s Word is powerful! And we know that our training in the Bible will undoubtedly yield results. How much results will depend upon God and the receptivity of the people who will hear God’s Word through our students and their lifelong ministry in the Kingdom.

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

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred

Continued progress in Tirupati

Report for the month of September-2019

Praising God  for this great opportunity to write a  brief report for the month of September, Bear Valley Bible Institute at Tirupati, India has completed first semester and began the second semester in August 26th,Monday, we count the days and concentrate to complete the syllabus prescribed by the BVBI, we have completed book of Judges, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes , song of songs, the book of Acts, life of Christ and Biblical interpretation are going on, one of the church member who is doctor weekly once  he visits , he takes additional class and  teaches on health education (weekly one hour he teaches ).

One of the brother Mr. Rayhart from US has visited on September 19th he was able to teach in the morning session as well as afternoon session. He presented an excellent lecture concerning the evangelist and his goals, all the Bear Valley Bible Institute ‘s students and faculty have been encouraged by his sound teaching and fellowship. He met some of the visually challenged people and encouraged them.

We have conducted a test on memorizing the  scriptures on September 20th , students were  happy to participate, one of the student Mr.John Wesly has memorized 725 scriptures .

Happy to report that Healing Hands International in US has trained and involved in the establishment of Agriculture Vegetable Garden, lord willing with in few days the grading work will be completed .

The students of the Bear valley are able to participate in the weekly programs of Tirupati church of Christ and enjoying the all the church activities , they inspire to go back soon and build the local church at their own place.

As second quarter began all the students are able learn to adjust one another and live together and study to gather, praise God for the power in the word of God which changes inner personality of people and enabled them to live as one in Christ.

We are thankful to Mr.Keith Kasarjian (the director of the international biblical studies ) and Mr. Mark Reynolds (our coordinator) for their love and guidance on time to time for smooth function of this spiritual educational program BVBI. God willing we expect the most humble and effective servants of God may graduate on due time who can go and proclaim the gospel of Christ to the dying souls, already one of the student  got  invitation to work in one of the gulf country called Dubai soon after his graduation , we don’t find words to appreciate your prayers, support and encouragement , , we expect your continual prayers and encouragement, we pray that God may blesses   and rewards  each partner of this project .

Thanking you.

Yours brother in Christ.

B.Vijaya Kumar, Director, Bear Valley Bible Institute, Tirupati, India

Outstanding work in Abuja!

REPORT OF THE BEAR VALLEY BIBILE INSTITUTE – ABUJA, JUNE – SEPTEMBER 2019.

Greetings from the faculty and students of the Bear Valley Bible Institute – Abuja (BVBI-A).

INTRODUCTION:

The period witnessed less extra activities but more with school works; class works, memory verses, term papers etc, dominating the activities.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES:

Academic activities continue with students participating in classes at the two centers (Kado and Nyanya).

God’s Plan for Salvation.

Old Testament I

Public Speaking-Homiletics.

The New Testament Church

The enrollment was a total of 40.

EVANGELISM CAMPAIGN:

The students of the Nyanya center were engaged in a house-to-house evangelism on 23rd August 2019 at Mararaba Central, Nasarawa state, and open air campaign on 24th September 2019 at Aku village, Nasarawa state (where a newly established congregation is located). Note, the preachers of the two congregations are students of BVBI-A.

ACCOMPLISHMENT(S):

Printing of Exam Paper: The school exam paper was printed for the school use during examination period. This was done through the contribution of the faculty.

OTHER COMMENTS:

The students of the Kado center participated in a 1-day Leadership Seminar organized by the World Bible school Abuja team, with the theme “Pulpit Management”. Topics such as ‘The Pulpit and who manages it’ and ‘Content development for effective Pulpit management’ were treated to the understanding of the participants by seasoned teachers and preachers; Osita Onuora and Mike Udam.

UPCOMING PROGRAM:

The school 2nd evangelism campaign comes up in November 2019. The date and location will be communicated in due course. Also, our students will be participating in other evangelism activities within the period, such as ‘The Mobile Evangelism’ and ‘The Gospel Chariot Evangelism’.

CONCLUSION:

Our students are more excited about the opportunity Bear Valley Abuja offers them and the church, because of the exposition of the courses offered so far, and the quality of the teachers handling the courses. They are more committed to the study and activities of the school.

We have received enquiries from more students who are interested in enrolment into the school program.

We appreciate the partnership and support of the Bear Valley School in building capacities of preachers and members towards the growth and development of the church in Africa, especially Nigeria.

Thanks and God bless you.

ALABI SAMSON

Director, BVBI-A

Restorations in Nigeria

Fellow ministers of God.
Greetings from students and staff of BVBIN  &  SWSE, Ibadan situated at Butubutu village, Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Here is the report of some of our activities in the Lord the month of September 2019.

OVERVIEW:
1. First Semester classes continue
2. Weekend Evangelism resulted into five conversions.
3. VOTI led to conversions of many souls in Nigeria.
4. Ajagba congregation restored again.

FIRST SEMESTER CLASSES CONTINUE: As God will have it,the first semester classes are in is 5th weeks. I (Bro.Makinde)is teaching :New Testament Church-1,Evangelism-1,Church Problems, and The book of James. Bro. Kayode S.Eniafe is teaching: Scheme of Redemption, OT & NT Survey and OT History-1. Bro. Isaac Olaniyan is teaching: 1,2&3 John, & Life of Christ-1( Matthew). Bro.Gbenga Ojo is teaching : The Pentateuch and Godhead. Bro.Abiola Joseph Olusoji is teaching: Denominational Doctrines & OT Wisdom-1 while Bro.Silas Guda Mazi is teaching :Prison Epistles.

WEEKEND EVANGELISM:
The Evangelism / Gospel campaign of Saturdays in the month of September at Butubutu and nearby villages, Kupalo & Jago villages, Ikire & Ikoyi in Osun State resulted into conversion of 5 souls and restoration of another 2 erring brethren.

VOTI PUBLICATIONS:
Reports reaching us from some of the recipients of the VOTI publications ,most especially Volume 100 & 101 shows the conversions of over 100 souls and edification of thousands as the result of this free distribution among the churches in Nigeria.

AJAGBA CONGREGATION RESTORED AGAIN:
The Lord's Church in Ode-Ajagba town,Ondo State now restored for the second time within 15 years. The Church was restored in year 2005 by we ministers of God in Western States of Nigeria under the leadership of Bro.Paul Akinwale but went to apostasy after the relocation of their third preacher to Asejire-Ondo State. Now,with the help of some Ondo state indegenes and the BVBIN & SWSE IBADAN ,we have now restored the Lord's church in Ode-Ajagba town. One of our graduates, Bro.Samuel Olorode is now serving there with the little financial support from our Evangelism allocation from early September 2019 .

ABOUT A STUDENT:
Bro.Imbia Maxfied Elangwe is from one of the English speaking cities of Cameroon, Weme Nbonge ,SW Region. He is one of our year-1 students. His mission is to become an evangelist in the South Western Region of Cameroon after his two years training.

SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT:
With the loan of N800,000, we were able to purchase an Evangelism bus(pictures attached) worth N1,500,000 from Owode-Titun congregation, Ogun State to foster our Evangelism / Gospel campaign in both rural and urban areas of the South Western States of Nigeria on September 16,2019.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Now that the Lord has blessed us with a fairly used Bus for evangelism and gospel campaign. The school will be working with Egbeda town congregation, Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State on October 4 & 5 in evangelizing Egbeda town and follow up on some of the erring brethren in and around Egbeda.
Also, in the evening of October 8,we shall be surveying Ajia town,the Head Quarter of Ona-Ara Local Government Area with the hope of planting the Lord's Church in that town in late November 2019 Lord's willing.

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 keep on blessings all we do for His name in Jesus Christ name Amen.
I remain yours in His Grace as a servant,
MAKINDE Ebenezer Olufemi

Student led campaign in Fiji

STUDENT LED CAMPAIGN

Nadi Fiji, 10 to 15 of September, 2019

Students and Staff met at the school at 10:00 Tuesday morning to pray together and make final arrangements for a motorcade to Nadi, a 4 hour drive along the Coral Coast. After a leisurely drive, five vehicles arrived at the church building in Nadi around 5:00 PM. The upper floor of the church building is a three bedroom apartment, complete with bathroom and kitchen facilities. The men occupied one bedroom and the living room. The ladies took the two bedrooms in the back for privacy.

We had eight students, five staff, and a member from Raiwaqa in our team. Our purpose was three fold: 1st, to encourage the local congregation, 2nd, to establish new contacts in the community, and 3rd, to restore wayward members. To accomplish these goals:

• JOINT DEVOTIONALS IN THE EVENINGS: These were conducted by our students with our team and the members of the Nadi church of Christ Tuesday through Thursday. Emosi spoke Tuesday night. On Wednesday and Thursday we divided into two groups. The women had a devotional upstairs led by two of our lady students, Moira and Nancy (1st year students). Those leading the men’s devotionals were Asher and Alphonsus (2nd year students). We had 30 in attendance on Wednesday and 35 on Thursday.

• DOOR KNOCKING CAMPAIGN IN THE DAYTIME: In the day time we divided into three teams. Two teams were sent out into surrounding communities to pass out tracts and invite the community to a workshop on the family that would be conducted Friday evening and during the day on Saturday. The third team, led by Jone Qoro, the local preacher, visited wayward members to seek to encourage them to come back to the church. We were able to make contact in over 500 homes and pass out over 2,000 tracts.

• WORKSHOP ON THE FAMILY:

  • Friday evening, our workshop was kicked off with a lesson by Etika, one of our second year students, entitled "The Home in the the Mind of God". We had 41 in attendance with several visitors from the community. The theme of the workshop was, "Building Stronger Families through Faith."

  • Saturdays’ schedule was: (we had 47 in attendance)

    • 10:00 AM – "The Christian Home" (Colossians 3:18-21) – Kitione (2nd year student)

    • 11:00 AM – Split Session (Ephesians 5:22-31)

    • Men: "The Christian Husband / Father"

      • Samuela (2nd year student)

      • Women: "The Christian Wife / Mother" – Jacinta (1st year student)

    • 2:00 PM – "How to Raise Godly Children" (Psalms 127:3-4; Ephesias 6:1-4) – Jason (instructor)

    • 3:00 PM – "The Household of God" (Ephesians 2:13-22) – Emosi (instructor)

    • Sundays’ schedule was: (we had 45 in attendance)

      • 10:00 AM – Bible Class: "Man's Problem With Sin" (Isaiah 59:1-2; 1 John 3:4-8) – Rocco (instructor)

      • 11:00 AM – God's Answer: "How To Contact the Blood of Christ" (John 3:16-21; Romans 6:3-11) – Jason (instructor)

The campaign went very well. The church in Nadi has been struggling. The last time I visited this congregation before the campaign, there were only 9 in attendance. To see the level of interest in this effort was very encouraging for both the students and the congregation. Members who had not been to church in a while were present at the services. We also had visitors from the community there as well. The workers were able to make several contacts that need to be followed up on. We have plans to assist with follow up on the weekend of 5 and 6 of October.

Please remember the Nadi Church of Christ in your prayers!

A productive break in Tamale

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE GHANA

AUGUST REPORT

We are grateful to God for His grace and love bestowed unto us; for He has given us the opportunity to witness yet another successful month. With your support and prayer we shall use this opportunity judiciously to establish and expand the mission He avails through the Church.  As matter of fact we acknowledge the bold decision you have made to support Bear valley Bible Institute in Tamale.

STUDENTS ON VACATION

Students are on three weeks’ vacation to visit their families and the churches they left behind to keep the members active in the Church activities. They also use this opportunity to attend to their farm work to enable them get foodstuff that can sustain their wives and children while they are in school. They would be back to school God’s willing on 7th September 2019, to continue their studies.

LECTURESHIP

The following courses were treated accordingly by Brothers: Thomas Donzie Godhead, Albert Malir Life of Christ 1 and James Legend Homiletics 1, class work and exams conducted respectively.

ADMINISTRATIVE WORK

The Lord’s work in Tamale in flourishing or making progress as we continue to work fervently and selflessly putting things that will cultivate the habit of stimulation and admonishing to exhibit the philanthropic work Bear Valley is rendering to humanity in Africa.

The school and church plots had been tired and corn, yam, beans and peanuts as well as some vegetables are cultivated on school land. Our communication continues corresponding to all the three regions on the Sunday school teachers, preacher’s empowerment and graduation seminars as planned. We are working hard to secure a favorable place for the join campaign for Tamale and Accra schools as the feasibility studies has being done in the area of the campaign.

Your steward in Christ

ALBERT MALIR

Upcoming guests in New Zealand

We look forward to our time with Bill and Pam Stewart from Bear Valley Bible Institute. If the Lord wills, they will arrive on 12 October. They will be teaching a Marriage Enrichment Seminar in Wellington, Bill will be teaching a short course on Revelation in BVBINZ, and Pam will be teaching an Evangelistic Women Seminar in Porirua. All that in seven days!

I just finished putting together my notes and syllabus for my course next month—Life of Christ 2: Sermon on the Mount, Judgment, and Parables.

If the Lord wills, we will be graduating our second class on 1 December. This class consists of one student: Joziah Townsend. We will also be honouring our two new full-time students during the ceremony: Michelle Stretch and Monique Knopert. We hope to graduate them before the end of 2020.

Graduation in Malawi

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – EKWENDENI (MALAWI)

 GRADUATION REPORT – September 2029

 The 2nd graduation exercise of Bear Valley Bible Institute – Malawi was held on the 21st of September, 2019. As we announced last time we have done this exercise while we still have one week to go. We did this to honour our country Director brother Donnie Estep who was with us teaching short-course in Prison epistles. Brother Donnie Estep was our guest of honour and he encouraged the students with the words from 2 Timothy 2:2 and 2 Timothy 4:1-4. This week the students are finishing up their class in Pastoral Epistles then will be freed to go home, after successfully completing their 2 years of study at Bear Valley Bible Institute – Malawi.

Graduation Ceremony

We thank God the Almighty for graciously helping us successfully complete the academic year of 2018-2019. We have trained these men at a period of 2 years and in not less than 1,600hours of teaching them in classes. The ceremony was graced by the presence of three teachers from Mzuzu Bible school, the director from Mzimba school of preaching, the director from Relief and Development Project who offered us their build to use as our office and class room (we rented), the evangelist from the two congregations around Ekwendeni and some from Mzuzu Katoto congregation. The students and we all were also encouraged by the letter which the Director of Mzuzu Bible College Brother Marc Veary and Sister Christine Veary wrote as farewell remarks to the graduating students. Brother Marc and Sister Christine would have attended the ceremony; however some circumstances which happened prior to the day of graduation hindered them. We also had some of our former graduates who witnessed their fellows taking their turn. It was such a colourful event to be remembered by the students.

Please pray for these graduates that they may be obedient to the call of God on their lives and that the Lord God may provide for their families in their daily needs. Also, pray for Bear Valley Bible Institute – Malawi as we continue training Christian men to be faithful ministers in Malawi, possibly even beyond Malawi in the near future – the Lord willing!

Teaching

Brother Clergynton is in class finalizing his class on Pastoral Epistles before the students goes home after successfully completed their 2 years of study. We have really enjoyed teaching these men for a period of two years. We also would like to thank all those who have helped us teach these men in short-courses classes. God bless you all!

2020-2021 Intake

We are in the process of receiving applications from all over Malawi for our next class of 2020-2021 sessions. We are aiming at accepting 20 students this time. The interviews will be conducted in the third week of October. So far we have more than 42 applications submitted already. The zeal of people to study with Bear Valley Bible Institute – Malawi is very high. Let us join hands to train men to be faithful preachers as we have the opportunity.

Once again, the Lord has been so gracious to us and we pray that He will bless the Bear Valley Bible Institute – International for their great support to the Bear Valley Bible Institute – Malawi both physically and spiritually for better operations of the school. Eternity Is Forever, Think Souls!

Yours fellow workers in the Lord,

Ephron and Clergynton

Preachers seminar in Takoradi

OPERATIONAL REPORT FOR AUGUST 2019

Dear Brethren,

Our operations continued after the month of July with preparations for the seminar being intensified. Classroom work, however, was not disrupted. Both the regular and part-time classes were held throughout the month.

PERSONAL EVANGELISM

Studies with prospects around the school continued. Again, one soul was baptized.

SEMINAR, 2019

We thank God we had another successful seminar for preachers and church leaders. Our instructors from the U.S. had joined two local instructors. The seminar began on the 19th of August and ended on the 22nd of August, 2019. In attendance were two hundred and fifty-six (256) preachers and church leaders, coming from all regions of Ghana. Robert Dahn, a past student from Liberia who had returned to oversee the school in his home country was in attendance. The preaching school in Accra, SIBS were also in attendance. Attached are some photographs taken for your attention.

NEXT CAMPAIGN FOR CHRIST

The date for the school’s next campaign for Christ will be between November 11 and 17 (seven days program). And as part of the school’s program, we are going to plant a new congregation of the Lord’s church. The details of how this work is going to be carried out will follow soon.

Again we thank you all our sponsors and pray the good Lord replenish you with all you panted which enabled us have another successful period of operation.

May He bless us all.

Joshua Aidoo

More conversions in Guinea

Gueckedou, Guinea Bear Valley Activity Operations Report for Aug 2019

Greetings to all of you outside there who are interested in the work we do here at the Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute. Another month has ended and we are glad to give you an update of the activities that transpired during that rainy month of August. Besides the normal classroom work which was good, we had to engage renovation of the students’ dinning and the installation of electricity. We also converted 6 persons to Christ during our preaching work. Below are some of the details of these things.

Classroom: Although all 17 students are still on roll, only 16 of them fully participated and completed the courses scheduled for the month under review. The one student with a reference in 1 major course is a government employee, a public school teacher who had asked permission for this biblical training, but was compelled to report back for a period of more than a week needed for correction of public exam papers. The other 16 students who participated were commended for good work.

Evangelism: We did not really get the time to go out on evangelism as before because of the rains. We however had brief moments on a few Sunday afternoons to speak to those who were already visiting with us and some around our meeting areas. In this way we converted 3 persons in Gueckedou town and 1 in each of 3 villages where our students are assigned for the Lord’s Day activities. The woman converted in the village of Bandali-leh is the wife of the chief.  In all, 6 persons were baptized in Christ!

Students’ Dinning Renovation: Not only was the roof damaged by the rains, but termites also destroyed most of the wooden structure prepared especially for students’ dinning. The hall has been extended and renovated. We also purchased one some type of desk-bench and a small table for a full accommodation and convenience of all students.

Electricity Installation: The cost was high, but publicity electricity is preferred to that of frequent gasoline purchase and generator maintenance. Though it is only 5 hours a day, but light is available at the time when it is most needed for photo copies and studies – 19hrs – 24hrs / 0 hrs.  Hopefully, our application for the facility or its activities to be considered for “government charge” as it is for all religious centers – churches and mosques will be granted. That means, if the request is granted no light bills will be required of the school.

Conclusion: We wish to thank and appreciate you all. Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute is moving forward because of your spiritual and material support. Please keep us in your prayers so that these laborer achieve their training to serve the Master.

Until then, be blessed.

A new school in Dar es Salaam

Church of Christ Dar es Salaaam with Bear Valley Bible Institute to the moment four courses has been taught since school started. And students enjoyed enough on bible knowledge they got through their experienced Teacher  in Bear Valley Bible institute Iddy Nyabusani,Zuberi Mwakyami and Essau Ruheta.

Through practical work in evangelism undertaken in every 5th week of their studies,3 three were put in Christ through baptism since 4 may 2019 in when the school started. It is small number compared with efforts made,but the number made comforts and belief in big dream in work of God in Dar es Salaam through Bear Valley Institute. We expect great in Evangelism at Dar es Salaam and by this big partnership from Bear Valley,the trust provide possibility.

As we said above, 4 courses are yet taught, these are 1. Old testament I, 2. How we got Bible. 3. Christian evidences, 4. Personal evangelism. The courses makes students confident in their congregations services. Some changes are yet witnessed the good work of Bear Valley in Dar es Salaam compared to prior experience. " After minimum of 2 yrs to come, the church will advance to an unbelievable start, we will call it revolution " said Innocent Mosha the Elder from Mbagala and students of BVBID with his wife Hilda.

Dar es Salaam Thanksgiving to Bear Valley Bible institute for their decision to start the work of God here,that makes them strong in  ministry wise. Some preparation his been made( 3 BVBID servants meetings), the meeting arranged to conquer southern part of Tanzania (Coast region, Dar es Salaam,Lindi and Mtwara regions) from 2021 where Islamic dominated the area mostly. This is our dream that prove to happen through Bear Valley. Students accepted the the thought, believing that it would advance not only their Christianity servanthood,but widening their practice platform got from Bear Valley school.

In the God service

Ombeni Mwambata

Full swing in Fiji

Greetings from Bible Institute at Fiji!

Bula from Fiji! I hope that this newsletter finds you all doing well. The last three months have been a time of tremendous joy and excitement with the work of the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa. But they have also brought a personal challenge to our family, since we have had to say “goodbye” to our oldest son, Austin. Austin graduated from High School in June of this year and has now enrolled as a freshman at Freed-Hardeman University. While it is hard to see him leave and be so far away, we are so excited for him to begin this new chapter in his life. We are also grateful to so many of you for your prayers, support, and encouragement during this time of transition for Austin and our family.

2nd Term

The second term of the year has now come and gone, and the third (and final) term is just getting underway. The second term was one of our best terms yet. During the second term, we had nine students take part in our classes. One other student had to step away from the program for the term due to family reasons, but she has returned for the third term – bringing our total number of students to ten. Once again, we find that we have an outstanding group of students in our program.

During the second term, I was able to teach Death of Christ and Old Testament History I.  In Death of Christ, we focus upon the last week of Jesus’ life. We also look at the crucifixion and its impact on Christianity. In Old Testament History I, we focus on the period of the conquest, judges, and the reign of King Saul. We study the books of Joshua through 1 Samuel. We many of our students are very familiar with New Testament doctrines and some of the better-known stories of the Old Testament, much of the material we cover in this class was new to them. One of the things that they had to do was study an assigned character from the course material and prepare a narrative lesson with suitable application from it. I was amazed at how well the students did with the project.

They are all growing in their ability to put together organized lessons to teach. In addition to these two courses, Dad and I co-taught the course Old Testament Poetry II. During the course, I covered the material on Proverbs and Song of Solomon, and Dad covered the material on Ecclesiastes. In addition to helping with this course, Dad also taught Romans and Hermeneutics. Emosi Sailo taught the course on 1-2 Peter and Jude. We are very pleased with how well Emosi is doing teaching in the program. He is truly rising to the challenge of teaching in the program, and we look forward to seeing him continue to do great things in the future.

The third term in now underway. Even as I write this newsletter, I am about to give the final exam for the course on Old Testament History II. In this course, we have focused on the books of 2 Samuel through 2 Chronicles, detailing the reigns of David, Solomon, and the kings of the Divided Kingdom. We have also briefly introduced the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Emosi has been teaching Denominational Doctrines.  Up next, I will be teaching Hebrews and Biblical Foundation of Ethics. Dad will be teaching Scheme of Redemption and Prison Epistles.

Short Courses

In July, we were blessed to have our second round of short courses for the year. This term, we had Paul Merideth and Joshua Pierce. Paul and I have been good friends for a number of years. This was actually Paul’s second time teaching in the program. This time, he taught a course on Church History. This material was almost entirely new for our students. While most of them have a good understanding of the history of the church in the first century, few of them have studied anything after that period of time. Paul did an outstanding job of presenting the material in a clear way. In addition to our full-time students, Devan and Caleb (my third son) took the class. Not only did Paul teach in the program, but he was given the opportunity to preach and teach the auditorium class for the Raiwaqa congregation while he was here.

Josh is my brother (we are less than a year apart in age). It was his first time coming to Fiji. Josh has a great deal of experience working as a full-time youth minister. He has worked with congregations in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Josh taught a course on Youth and Family Ministry. One of the things that congregations in Fiji are starting to recognize is that they have not successfully been reaching their young people – with the result being that many of them are falling away from the church when they leave home. Our students expressed a great interest in this course, and they wore Josh out with questions nearly every day for two weeks! Josh did an excellent job teaching the material. Josh also spent time teaching the youth class at the Raiwaqa congregation. I was impressed with how well he engaged the youth and held their attention. One of the side effects of having a family of ministers is that we rarely get to hear one another preach or teach. It was truly a blessing to be able to see Josh in action!

Upcoming Nadi Campaign

One of the major goals of this program is to train our students to be more evangelistic. With that goal in mind, we seek to give our students the opportunity to participate in evangelistic efforts as often as possible. Next week (September 10-15), we will be taking our students to Nadi (pronounced NAN-dee). The church has been in Nadi for several years, but in the last couple of years the congregation has really struggled.

We are going to Nadi with two goals in mind. First, we want to strengthen and encourage the brethren in Nadi. Second, we want to reach out to the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. While there, our students will spend three days out in the community visiting erring members and knocking doors. On Wednesday and Thursday nights, we will be having devotional services for our campaigners and the members of the Nadi church of Christ to strengthen and encourage them. On Friday night and all day on Saturday, we will be hosting a seminar for the community on the Biblical Home. All of the lessons will be presented by our students. Our male students will be teaching general classes and men’s classes, and our female students will be teaching ladies’ classes. On Sunday, Dad and I have been asked to present the lessons at the Nadi congregation. Please pray for the church in Nadi and our upcoming campaign.

Brotherly,

Jason Pierce

Student success in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION

Our students spent the month of August in the field doing their practical. By the 31st of August they were now on their 11th week being in the field. We thank God for guiding them through this period. This practical was one of the major activity of the school in the month of August. This report, therefore, is mainly on the activities from the field.

FIELD PROGRAM UPDATE

Students continued their practical in the month of August. The program comes to an end on the 8th of September. Progress in the application of principles taught is satisfactory. Teachers continued with their visits some of which were surprise ones. The new congregation that has been established at Redcliff continued to flourish in the month of August.  In summary the students put in a total of 602 hours in evangelism, 32 were baptized and 27 were restored. The following is a summary of what transpired during the month.

Item                             Total         

Hours out                           602

Devotions                           224

Sermons preached          74

Bible Classes                     70

Total Lessons taught       448

Counselling sessions       12

Prospects                           392

Tracts distributed               475

WBS booklets distributed 163

Restorations                        27

Baptisms                                32

Those marked * are pending

NEXT TERM CURRICULUM

Classes are set to resume on the 23rd of September for yet another term. The following is a list of  subjects that are going to be taught together with their teachers;

Major Prophets              I.Mutichu

James (SC)                       H.Karikoga

Romans (SC)                    M.Muchingami

Hermeneutics 2               E.Nyamadzawo/M.Muchingami

Biblical Counselling         I.Mutichu

HIV Care & Counselling (Seminars) I.Mutichu

Hebrews (SC)                   H.Suwari

Congregational Development/Church Growth           M.Muchingami

1, 2 Timothy, and Titus           I.Mutichu         

There shall also be seminars geared towards entrepreneurship skills development.

SITE DEVELOPMENT

Construction of BVBIZ’s first hostel started on the 25th of August. Once it is completed, the school will shift to this permanent site. Our appreciation goes to BVBII for providing the initial funds for the foundation.  The following materials were acquired 8000 concrete bricks, pit sand (30 cubic), concrete stones (15 cubic), river sand (15 cubic). Thirteen thousand farm bricks were also bought. Half of these shall be for the construction of a pit latrine, while the other half will be for the student house. More resources will be needed to take this house to completion.

CONCLUSION

We thank God for the development we keep witnessing in our students. We appreciate the sacrifices congregations have been making for the upkeep of our students. To you all for you spiritual, moral, material and financial support we remain grateful. To God be the glory!

New school in India doing well

The Bear Valley Bible Institute, Tirupati, A.P., India

This is a great joy to write a report of Bear Valley Bible Institute, by the grace of our good father in heaven  the  bible institute has been functioning smoothly. We have completed  the first quarter. We sent out our students for the practical work in the month of August (break) and they were involved in the local church ministry along with the recommended local preachers. After completing the practical work for one month they have submitted the work report to the college , their reports tell that each one of them were able to conduct personal evangelism, home bible studies, street gospel meeting, door to door tracts distribution, children classes, youth classes ,NT distribution, funeral services and weddings evens ,thanks giving meetings etc…. we noticed 4 baptisms in their work report, as per the college instructions they have well prepared five year work plan for the future ministry and submitted to the Bible Institute .

Our Bible college second quarter has been started on August-26th,2019, all the students and teaching and non teaching staff have returned back to their duties with good health and dedicated spirit , the institute functions normally, we all are trying our level best to work more effectively in training gospel preachers ( 2 Timothy 2;2) better than first quarter .

We are happy to share with you that we have students from Chittoor ,Nellore, Krishna,west Godavari, east Godavari,Srikakulam districts, few students came from north east of India, majority of the students were recommended by the local preachers .

We are highly delighted to share about my African trip, Healing Hands International has conducted two days work shop in Zimbabwe in  August 21&22,  during the work shop first sessions of two days  have given me opportunity to proclaim the word of God. In the work shop we have learned several innovative methods how to cultivate healthily kitchen garden , this helps us to establish sustainable kitchen garden near by our Bible Institute.

We very much delighted to mention that I was able to visit the Bear Valley Bible Institute at Harare which is capital city of Zimbabwe , the local director Mr. Howard Suwari and his wife are doing wonderful ministry , praising God for reaching unreached corners of globe to set  up Bear Valley Bible Institute,  grateful to the international director Mr.Keith Kasarjian for his great efforts in travelling restlessly even to Zimbabwe and other African countries.

We praise God to know that with the understanding of the Mr.Keith Kasarjian ,the director of  International Biblical studies and Coordinator Mr.Mark Reynolds next month some of the missionaries will be visiting our Bear Valley Bible Institute  (from Graymere church of Christ Mr.John R.Vaughan, Mr.Jonathan Winchester, Mr.Matt Bowling , one of the elder Mr.Larry Nokes from Foot Hill church of Christ, one of the sister Linda smith ,she is administrative Assistant of Healing Hands International and other sister Jackie Hill from Church of Christ in USA), these sisters and brother are regularly visiting India, they are a great encouragement and blessing of God.

We are ever grateful to you for your love and support for this bible educational program, We are need of your continual prayers and encouragement for the Bear Valley Bible Institute in our city,

Thanking you.

Yours brother and sister in Christ.

Vijay&swarupa from Bear Valley Bible Institute,Tirupati,A.P,India.

The school in Lesotho is making a difference

JULY-AUGUST REPORT

The teachers are pleased with the students’ performance in and outside class. Students have engaged with more prospects and some souls were added to the church. Evangelism weekend is set to be on the 28th of September 2019.

The students have dedicated their lives to study the word of God. Their performance in class shows how serious they are to know more about God’s word and to proclaim it. Not only are they excelling in class but also in their respective congregations. The school continues to receive testimonies from different congregations pertaining the impact our students have in their assemblies. Hence, the teachers are happy with the performance of the students.

Maseru church of Christ has this year established two congregations, one in Sehlabeng and the other one in Ladybrand (South Africa). The church sometimes sent some students to assist these two congregations. As a result, Sehlabeng and Ladybrand church of Christ appreciate the services provided by BVBILesotho, they would like the students to visit them every week but due to financial constraints that would not happen now. The students who sometimes visit these assemblies confessed that the opportunities they got to preach was one of the ways to practice what they learn in class. Therefore, the teachers would want all students to have chances to preach and teach mainly in these two congregation.  

About 50 prospects have been engaged with BVBIL students. Moshe Tsoene and Vincent Shata are continuing with their series of Bible study with Sekamaneng Apostolic church in Zion. The attendance has increased to 16. Likhama Leuta has organized a Bible study with two soldiers who have high ranks in Lesotho army, the studies have been going on for two weeks now.

Moliko Moliko, Motlatsi Ramphielo and Tankiso Rahlao are doing well on the radio programme, they are also marketing the school on the radio apart from their weekly lessons ‘Why we are the church of Christ’. Sibongile, Senate and Litlhari have been instrumental in organizing Bible studies with young men and young ladies. As a result of that, a young man and a young lady obeyed the gospel and were baptized.

Moholo Lesesa has organized a group of teen boys and Tawanda is helping them with counselling and Bible studies. The topic in July was ‘Who am I?’ and August was ‘Does God care about me?’. These lessons have made great impact in these teens, two put on Christ in baptism.

The school will have its first outreach on the 28th of September 2019, pray for this event to be successful.

In conclusion, the school would want to thank everyone who is behind the success of BVBIL. Our students are engaged in personal work and their influence has impacted the church. We are looking forward to have brother Donnie Estep in September who will be teaching ‘The Scheme of Redemption.

In His arms,

Tawanda Mwadiya                                                                                                                                                                BVBILesotho

A new congregation in Malawi!

Bear Valley Bible Institute – Ekwendeni (Malawi)

August 2019 Report

Introduction

We are already in September! September will be one of the Months to remember in the history of Bear Valley Bible School in Malawi as the second year students will be graduating on September the 21st. We were supposed to have our graduation on the 28th of September, but this could not match with Donnie’s flight schedule. Therefore, we will have the graduation earlier together with Donnie before the students finish their last course in Pastoral letters by Brother Clergynton Harawa. This is our second graduation since the school was established in Malawi. We had a preaching campaign with the students and a new congregation has been established! Including the children, the number of people at this new congregation is 51. We praise God for this good news!

The students have done a great work of winning souls to Christ. We hope they will continue to be good soldiers of Christ as they are going back in their home congregations in few weeks to come.

Teaching

We are glad to have brother Navie Theu again teaching wisdom literature before Donnie comes on 14th September. Donnie will be teaching Prison Epistles from the 16th to the 20th and on the 21st September will have our graduation sermon.

Kabwafu Church of Christ – established during the just ended campaign

This year has been a fruitful year! Souls have been added to the Lord’s church and many other souls restored to Christ. Only this year the school have been involved in establishing 4 congregations! 3 of the four were established during the holiday time of the month of May. And Kabwafu is the 4th one. What a great work with a great reward hereafter. Hallelujah! Kabwafu has started with 51 people. We had 9 baptisms, 23 restorations and 19 children of whom some will be candidates for baptisms in one year to come.

Campaign and next intake interviews

We are having lectureship on Church Leadership in October and Church Autonomy. This lectureship will end up with a preaching campaign. We have been asked by some congregations to help them with the two mentioned lessons. Therefore we have decided to use the same opportunity to take them out for the preaching campaign after the lectureship. After the campaign we are going to interview the next class of 2020/2021. We have received more than 40 application forms from all regions of Malawi. The interviews will be in the 3rd week of October, 2019.

We appreciate Bear Valley International for their support, prayers and kindness towards this work of training men to be faithful preachers, who will also take the same gospel to other people – 2 Timothy 2:2. We always pray that God continues blessing your families. We also want to thank Brother Charles Gunter who helped us with $500 for the preaching campaign we recently had. We pray that God keep blessing our brother as this work still need his involvement. Eternity is Forever, Think Souls!

Yours fellow servants in the Lord,

Ephron and Clergynton

Annual lectureship in Nigeria

Beloved in Christ Jesus.

Greetings from your fellow servants of God in BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan.

Below are report of some of our activities in the Lord for the month of August 2019

OVERVIEW:

1.  Students one month teaching practice

2. 17th annual Bible Lectureship and graduation.

3. First Semester classes begins with 31 students.

REPORT  OF  A  MONTH STUDENTS TEACHING PRACTICE :The one month students teaching practice that came up between July 26 and August 25 results in to the conversion of 25 souls and 40 restoration of erring brethren. Bro.Awoyale Gabriel, Bro.Ugo David,Bro.Nsini Ubot,Bro.Moses Samuel and Bro.Oviri Iruo-Oghene report the conversion of three souls each from the congregations they served.

17TH ANNUAL BIBLE LECTURESHIP & GRADUATION: The three days annual Bible Lectureship held at Doug Wheeler's events center of the BVBIN &  SWSE IBADAN was blessed with conversion of two young boys on day 2 .Over 250 brethren from 15 States of Nigeria witnessed the program that centered on Biblical Eschatology .
The graduation ceremony came up on August 30 for the 28 successful soldiers of Christ .
NKJV Bible,Bible dictionary and Thompson reference Bible from Bro. Steven Ashcraft were presented to all graduands and packages of VOTI Volume 100 & 101 and Mission Printing booklet and our local tracts was distributed to all attendees .

FIRST SEMESTER CLASSES BEGINS: First Semester classes for year 2019/2020 begins fully on September 2 ,2019 at our main campus in Butubutu village, Ibadan. 18 students for year -1 and 13 for year -2 program.

ABOUT A STUDENT: Bro.Aniefiok Effiong Udo is one of our year -2 students. Born on September 1979.A native of Ibakesi,Uyo,Akwa-Ibom State and a member of the Church of Christ, Ijoko-Ota,Ogun State.Happily married and blessed with children. His mission is to wherever is service is needed.

CONCLUSION : We deeply appreciate your partnership and supports .May the Lord of blessings continue to bless all our work together in Jesus Christ name, amen.

 I remain yours in His grace as a servant,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi

(The Chief Servant of BVBIN&SWSE, Ibadan & WBSFUW)