Evangelism campaigns in northern Ghana

BEAR VALLEY INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES, TAMALE

OPERATING REPORT FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2022

We continue to enjoy countless blessings and successes in Bear Valley Tamale as the Lord almighty continually releases His unmerited favors and mercies upon us. The month of August 2022, was a month of another great sign of encouragement of a great future for the preaching school in Tamale and the local congregation respectively. We indeed had a very eventful month that gave us hope for the future. May God be praised forever, Amen.

KPALSI SOUTH CONGREGATION

Donation: The church witnessed many signs of maturity in the lives of the members as we continue to grow as a congregation. A female member of the congregation donated ten (10) pieces and children chairs to the congregation to help our children have good seats to sit on. We bless the Lord for her life. She asked the church not to disclose her identity, thank you Jesus.

Building project: With support of our Brother and friend Steven Ashcraft and others as well as the efforts of the church, construction work is speedily advancing to the glory of God. Wiring pipes are laid internally for wiring work in the month of August, while plastering work is speedily done as well. We pray for long life, good health and both spiritual and physical blessings be released into the lives of all who are making efforts for the growth and development of the Lord’s Church in Tamale Kpalsi South and all other places.

SCHOOL FENCE WALL

In the month of August also, funds were released for the continued plastering work on the school building fence wall. The school building as we know is in a square land, which is fully fenced nicely. One and half portions of the fence has already been plastered. In the month of August, the other half and another full portion of it was plastered successfully. We hope in the near future, the Lord will make a way for us to finish with the last part of it to complete all the eternal plastering work of the fence wall.

CAMPAIGN FOR STUDENTS AND VISITATION

We embarked on a major campaign for students and a visitation journey in the month of August across some major areas in Northern Ghana. It was a very fruitful Journey as many congregants, leaders and preachers of the Lord’s church were strengthened. This journey was done by Brother Albert and James respectively, who are both resident staff of Bear Valley Tamale.

We began the journey from Sogon number one and two through to Chamba. From Chamba, we came to Salaga District where we touched on places like Koani, Kulpy and its environs where congregations are located.  We continued our journey through Kpandai to Bimbila and its stretch through to Yendi. We proceeded to Zabzugu, Tatale, Sanguli, Mbolado and its localities where we spent the first day of week which fell on the 21st of August with the Mbolado and Jomoani congregations. While Brother Albert worshiped with the Jomoani Congregation, Brother James was with the Mbolado congregations respectively. Nearby communities that have congregations all came together at these two congregations to receive strengthening from these two brethren. The participation at these two congregations was great, encouraging and edifying respectively.

We continued with the journey on the 22nd of August to Yendi through Gushiegu to Gbingbani in the NorthEast Region, where we had another great evening Bible studies with the congregation and lodged there till the following day. We moved through Bunkurugu through Konkyengbura congregation to Kpinkpanyoung Congregation in the Upper East Region. Indeed it was a great experience to us who were privileged by the grace of God to be part of this wonderful and inspiring journey that was done in the interest of Christ. We met with some preachers at the Bazua Christian Mission to share some little information on our mission with them, but promised to be back on another well scheduled visitation to meet with congregations and leaders of the Church to edify and strengthen them.

Our messages were all centered on; the need to have strong leaders and preachers for the Church, the need to support working preachers to be effective for the Lord’s work, our willingness as a school to assist all congregations with the human resources at all times if seminars or programmes are organized by any congregation or group of congregations and need our assistance, the need to form evangelistic Teams to work together evangelized and strengthen our congregations and most importantly, recruitment of new students for our next academic year. All these messages were largely received with joy and appreciation to the glory of God.

Out of these subjects, Christ was also preached to congregants and non-Christians present in our gatherings to persuade them to come to Christ in Baptism. Two souls were added to the Church, at Chamba and Sanguli. Hallelujah.

OBSERVATION

We observed that:

1.      Consistent visitation to congregations and our passed students are working across the breath and length of Ghana is very instrumental in the future our noble school and the congregations

2.      It is necessary to build a very strong and close relation with the congregations in Northern Ghana by encouraging them to organize seminars and programmes in their locality and have us participate in them to build a very strong bond between the school and some of the congregations, if not all

3.      The proposal of the Evangelistic Teams that has been proposed by Brother Steven and that is been implemented in some areas in Northern Ghana is great idea that needs to be pushed to most areas where brethren has interest in evangelism

4.      We also saw the need to have time to time Biblical empowerment seminars in the school with our passed students and all other church leaders that wish to participate in them.

We are very positive of the future of Bear Valley Tamale and the Church in Northern Ghana as we hope all who have the opportunity to work for the Lord will do it sacrificially to secure their salvation.

God bless us all,

Bear Valley, Tamale

Koforidua, Ghana school conducts Bible seminar

KOFORIDUA EXTENSION SCHOOL

THIRD (3RD) QUARTER REPORT, 2022

Praise be to the Almighty Father for seeing us through yet another quarter of service to our King. We are most grateful to you lovely people over there for your continuous support which keeps the school going. May God continue to be a blessing to you.

STUDENTS

We have gotten a new student which adds up to 13 students after one left for studies. His name is Nkansah Richard. We have more than average attendance every weekend. Thank the Lord with us for the life of one of the students who had a motor accident and was absent for a week. He started lectures last week.

CLASS

We had three courses this quarter. Brother Paul Larbi Young taught I & II Thessalonians as well as the book of Acts. Bro. Kwabena Gyan-Mante also taught the New Testament Church II (Worship).

ACTIVITIES

The students visited congregations around to advertise for new students as planned. We hope to continue with this program of advertisement to enable us to get students for the school.

Our next campaign will be held in the fourth week of October. It is going to be held at a small congregation where one of the students preaches. All the speakers for this public preaching are going to be students from the school.

We had a seminar from August 25 and 27 on the theme “The Big Picture of the Bible” in which the regular students from Dobro and some of the other schools participated. Resource persons for the Seminar were Bro. Ken Craig took us through “The Big Picture of the Bible” which has to do with evangelism and Bro. Charlie Nowlias. They all came from America to help us with this program. Other preachers came to be part of the program. We had 90 participants.

STUDENT PROFILE

Frank Boadu is the name of one of our students. He is single, energetic, and very nice guy. He has been in the faith for eight years and very active in the studies of the Bible and church activities. Today, Brother Frank has become one of the students who has been sent to other local congregations to teach and preach. As part of his services to the local congregation, he teaches the teenage class, pre-teen class, visitor’s class. According to Frank, his dream is to be a good servant to the Lord.

Report by Brother Gyan Mante

Kumasi, Ghana students continue their studies

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, KUMASI

THIRD QUARTER REPORT

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2022

INTRODUCTION

Praise be to God the Most High for His tender mercies and love towards us, especially the Kumasi campus for the favor and continuous blessing throughout the quarter.

ACTIVITIES

Activity for the period was mainly academic.

Courses completed this quarter: The Preacher and His work, The Book of 1 Corinthians, Church Planting, and the continuation of the Old Testament History (II). The Ongoing courses in the quarter are Homiletics, Book of Romans, and the second part of Old Testament History (II) part two.

The research writing make-up class for the three new students could not come on due to an unfortunate incidence of attack on preacher Alex Akosa Karikari who was to handle that course.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The students had the opportunity to join the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Campus Church to Yeji in the Bono East to propagate the gospel of Christ.

It was a week-long program with much enthusiasm to minister the word of God to the world as the Great Commission commands. There were 12 baptisms recorded.

STUDENT PROFILE

Brother Kwasi Tawiah is a soft-spoken gentleman who is disciplined and time conscious. He is punctual and regular, irrespective of his far location to lectures. Though Kwasi’s educational background is low, it did not discourage him to join Bear Valley. He holds a Junior Secondary School certificate as his highest form of education. He is an auto Mechanic by profession. He is married with three wonderful children. He was baptized into the Lord’s church fourteen years ago at Oyoko church of Christ near Effiduase. He is part of the leadership in his local Congregation. Kwasi’s aspiration is to acquire more knowledge in the Bible to broaden his understanding in the word of God. He joined the just ended Evangelism Campaign at Yeji.

Nsawam, Ghana school impacting their area for good

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, NSAWAM, GHANA

THIRD QUARTER REPORT, 2022

Introduction

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The following are our activities for the third quarter of 2022.

Classroom Activities

There were three courses offered this quarter. First, the gospel according to John, which was taught by brother Emmanuel Odeng Larbi; second, Old Testament 3 (Wisdom Literature), again taught by brother Larbi; and finally, Old Testament 5 (Minor Prophets), which was taught by brother Emmanuel Amoo-Gyimah. This quarter’s classes were activity-packed, especially during the class on wisdom literature when the students were tasked by the instructor to prepare and present sermons on a chapter from the book of Psalms. Due to the nature of our classes, the number of students that were present for these courses varied. However, for this quarter we had numbers ranging from 12 to 21 depending on the number who had not done a course.

Provision of Resources

Each student received Truth for Today commentaries on the book of Romans and a book of sermon outlines by Jerry & Paula Bates this quarter. All of us here at Nsawam express our sincere gratitude to Bear Valley and others for these study aids.

Evangelism Seminar

From 25th August 2022 through 27th August 2022, our students took part in an evangelism seminar, which was hosted at the Ada Road church of Christ in Koforidua by one of our instructors, brother Kwabena Gyan-Mante. Through this seminar, the students gained knowledge and resources on how to win souls for our Lord.

Door-to-Door Evangelism

Right after the workshop, our students embarked on a weeklong door-to-door and public preaching campaign at Ablekuma, NIC, in Accra as part of their academic requirements. This campaign began on Monday, 29th August 2022 through Sunday, 4th September 2022. We are firm in our belief that as we have sown the seed of the kingdom, the Lord’s word will not return to Him void but it will accomplish His pleasure (Isa. 55:11).

Impact on Congregations

Our students continue to make an impact in the various congregations where they serve as preachers and teachers of sacred writings. Some of our students worked with their congregations to organize public gospel campaigns in their communities. The good news is that some of the activities of our students ended up in baptisms. This, we believe, is due to the sound teaching our students received at the feet of our instructors and the appreciation our students have for the urgency of the Lord’s work. Long may this continue is our prayer.   

Loss of student

Amidst the joys and highs, there was one sad news this quarter. We lost one of our students to the icy hands of death. Brother Adams passed away on Friday; September 24, 2022, at 23:30. Brother Adams was a great friend and brother and he will be missed. We look forward to a reunion in the sweet by and by. 

Student Profile

Brother Yaw Boadu is the student we are focusing on for this quarter. He is one of the most diligent students we have and we are glad to have him with us. He was baptized in 2008 and is the sole proprietor of Y.B. Air Conditioners. He is also the preacher for the church at Okushibiade Golden City in Accra. He is happily married with three children. This quarter, brother Boadu was very active in evangelism and selflessly availed himself to help the small congregation at Abehenease during their weeklong public gospel campaign even when he took ill in the course of the campaign. Since beginning his studies, he has been very liberal in his praise of the school. He made the following statement regarding Bear Valley: “If God had not brought me to Bear Valley, I do not think I would have been able to do the work as well as I believe I am doing.”

Conclusion

We are grateful for Bear Valley’s assistance during this quarter. We pray for God’s blessings in this regard. And brethren, please continue to pray for us.

Tirupati, India school welcomes guest teacher

Tirupati, India Reporting letter for the month of September 2022

Respected prayer partners of BVBI –Tirpati we greet you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement for the smooth function of BVBI-Extension Center at Tirupati, A.P state, India.

BVBI-classroom work:- in the month of September we completed these books –2 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Esther, Ezra, and the book of Haggai.

This week we have received a guest teacher, Mr.Steve Snider. He taught 1 John, 2  John, and 3rd John. We are thankful to our director and our coordinator for this great opportunity as we really enjoyed the good teaching.

Baptism:-  God is so gracious to share with you this good news. There were 5 souls who obeyed the gospel this week. Please pray for these new babies in Christ so that they may grow in the image of His son Jesus Christ.

Thanking you.

You brother in Christ.

Vijay

Sunyani, Ghana campus welcomes new students

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE INTERNATIONAL – U.S.A 

SUNYANI CAMPUS - BRONG AHAFO COLLEGE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES - WEEKEND DEPARTMENT

DATE: TUESDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER 2022

REPORTS FOR 3RD QUARTER 2022

 Glory adoration and thanks be to God almighty for His providential guidance and protection for us throughout the 3rd quarter of 2022.

1)      CLASS SCHEDULE:

All instructors were punctual to class and also carried on their teaching responsibilities during the 3rd quarter. In July preparations were ongoing for the graduation of 14 students.

 2)      COURSES TAUGHT:

Courses were taught by all the 3 instructors – Daniel Kyereh Mensah, Thomas Gyabaa and Rexford Agyare-Minta. All six courses were completed with examinations

a) World Religions

b) Bible History and Geography

c) Biblical Counselling

d) Revelation

e) Prison Epistles

f) Scheme of Redemption

3) STUDENT'S PERSONAL CAMPAIGN

As our students have been doing visits to their respective churches. During the thirteen weeks of the 3rd quarter, in adition to the visiting, individual student campaigns were conducted during the evenings. House-to-house evangelism was also done with their respective members on selected Sundays.

4)      COLLEGE CAMPAIGN:

A week-long campaign was conducted in Sunyani from July 25th – July 29th. Activities of this program were house-to-house evangelism during the daytime and street preaching at Night. By the grace of God four souls were baptized after the programme.

5)      NUMBER OF BAPTISMS:

Through the efforts of instructors and students, ten souls were baptized during the third quarter of 2022.

 6)      GRADUATION CEREMONY:

By the providence of God fourteen students graduated on Sunday, July 31st 2022. The program was held at the forecourt of the Sunyani Central Church of Christ of which the report has been sent to you on 12th August 2022.

7)      STUDENT PROFILE

Once again we are glad to provide you with the profile of one of our students.

We introduce to you Isaac Sewornu, one of the students who graduated on July 31, 2022. Isaac was 64 years on March 8th, 2022, and is married to Madam Grace Abena Serwonu both are cocoa farmers. Isaac Sewornu lives at Fosukrom, a farming village in Ahafo Region in Ghana. He worked as an untrained preacher, for six years before he enrolled in this college in 2018. During his studies in this college, the other churches engaged him in their rural communities as their preacher. These churches made collective fundraising and bought a motorcycle for Isaac so that he can visit a congregation every month. Bro. Sewornu attended the Awutu Bogyease Middle School in the Central Region and had the Middle School Leaving Certificate. Isaac had no secondary education after Middle School, so he did not receive good grades as per our already-sent transcript. In their provisional results, as we wait for the Bear Valley Certificates we gave him a certificate of completion. In fact, we offered him admission as a result of diligent congregation work and his zeal to preach in the Akan Language.

8) House-to-house evangelism was conducted on the 11th and 18th of September 2022.

9)      NEW ADMISSIONS

Fresh admissions were made on Saturday 24th September 2022:

a) Amankwaa Alfred – Sunyani

b) Ibrahim Razak – Drobo

c) Obour Simon – Nkonsia (Drobo)

d) Yaw Berko – Berekum

e) Mampong Patric Tigannagnan – Seikwa

f) Ofori Joseph Nana - Nsoatre

Please be praying for them and for us. May God bless you!

Accra East Ghana student baptizes his wife after personal evangelism class

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE INTERNATIONAL, ACCRA EAST
THIRD QUARTER REPORTS

Courses taken

The third quarter started on Friday 1st July 2022 and ended on Friday 30th September, 2022. The courses taken within these periods were four: The Life of Jesus, Pre-existence, Birth, and Early Ministry; The Plan of Redemption; Christian Evidences, and Old Testament 2 (The Old Testament History).
New chairs were bought for the school
Within this period of the third quarter, the Coordinator, Mr. Kojo Acquah, and his team presented to the school, Accra East, twenty-five new chairs. The students were very happy when they saw the new chairs. The chairs were very beautiful, well-designed, and comfortable for students' studies. It has beautified our lecture hall. The leadership of Nmai Djorn Church of Christ (Accra East Campus) was also grateful and expressed their appreciation to the school since the chairs will also be used by the church for worship.

Baptism
The students started applying the evangelism methods studied in June 2022. The good news is that it has started yielding good results. Isaac Acquah one of the students, who worships at Ashalley-Botwe Old Town church, started the method in their visitors class and within this quarter he has converted four people. The joyful thing is that out of these four baptized people, one of them is his wife. Isaac was so delighted because for some years he and some brethren have made several attempts to win his wife to Christ but to no avail. For all these years Isaac was using a confrontational style, by arguing and condemning his wife because she was attending a different church. This time Isaac reversed his tactics and changed from confrontational and
condemnation to dialogue. This has yielded a good result and as a result, his wife has given herself for baptism on 25th September 2022.

John Achie Quophy is the preacher of the Boi church of Christ. He also recorded two baptisms. He did both teachings. The two baptisms occurred in August and September 2022.

Report on the students
The students’ performances were very encouraging. They were very committed to classes. They were punctual and regular. In addition to this, they also responded to class tests and discussions. There were a few who, because of their job schedules, were not able to attend classes regularly.

The average attendance for this third quarter is twelve. Currently, I have total students of eighteen. One of them, Vincent Tamatey had a motorcycle accident and has not yet recovered fully. To sustain the students and also to make Bear Valley Accra East one of the effective schools, I encourage them and advise them to take the courses seriously.
House-to-House Evangelism
Within this period, some of the students were sent to Gomoa Asebu-Pomadze for house-to-house evangelism and edified the new church planted by Nmai Djorn church of Christ which was supported by the students of Bear Valley, Accra East. The fallen brethren within those two communities were targeted so we were able to locate some and talked to them. By God’s grace some were restored back to the fold and as a result, have increased their church attendance.

On 23rd-25th September 2022, eleven Accra East students went to Gomoa AsebuPomadze for house-to-house evangelism. In the same way, they also edified the church. This is the second time we have gone there in our numbers. However, what we are lacking is follow-up. Since Nmai Djorn church of Christ, which is the main sponsor of these projects, does not have the financial strength massive and effective evangelism is still lacking. Some of the students who took part in the third evangelism at Asebu-Pomadze were, Benjamin Forson, John Achie Quophy, Daniel Nkansah, Akwasi Mamah, Moses Antobam, Isaac Larbi, Cecil Larbi, Da-costa Asare, etc. On Sunday 25th, the Bible class and the sermons were handled by Benjamin Forson and John Achie Quophy. The people of Gomoa are the largest indigenous Fante groups in the Central Region of
Ghana. Their communities are divided into three districts, Gomoa Central, Gomoa East, and Gomoa West. They have many communities with vast lands. Some of their communities are growing at a fast pace, but sadly many are growing without a church of Christ. So it is for this reason that we have focused our evangelism in Gomoa Central, particularly the communities which share borders with Winneba and Swedru. We hope God will bless this mustard seed to grow to yield more churches of Christ in those communities.
The Projections
1. I have planned to work hard so that more students will be enrolled as students of Bear Valley to acquire training to be able to conform to the image of Christ. Also to help defend, advance and uphold the true gospel of Christ.
2. I have designed a program on how the two churches I have planted (Nmai Djorn church of Christ and Santor church of Christ, in Greater Accra) will organize joint worship once a year to raise money to support the rural evangelism of the students of Bear Valley, Accra East.
3. It is my plan that if God gives me life, I will ensure that the church of Christ will be planted in all the fifteen communities across Winneba and Swedru road (in Gomoa Central).

Lima school finishes course on apologetics

Peace and love of God be with you all,

It is a pleasure to share with you some notes to keep you updated on the progress of the institute here in Peru.

After some consideration we made the decision to return to our old location, I mean the meeting place of the Church of Christ in America. Now that things are returning to normal after the pandemic, we believe that returning to this location will influence the increase in students in the face-to-face mode. We will continue to present the courses in the virtual modality for students who are outside of Lima, but the priority will always be the face-to-face modality.

We have concluded the “Apology” course with Abraham Alata in the month of September, I want to share some thoughts about the course from two students.

“About the Apologetics course, it was good to take it, I have learned a lot because we learned how to approach a person who does not even believe in God, and those who know about God but who are going in the wrong direction and present a good defense using the word of God and understanding the history about the concepts of faith and reason was very interesting to see that perspective of the events that some philosophers presented their declarations and caused conflicts in society in ancient times, thank you very much, brother Juan, God bless you” (Mariela Ramirez ).

“The apology course, personally super interesting, I have learned a lot about apologetics, I know that this will help me a lot to develop better as a Christian and I hope to be of help where I congregate. For me it was something that I did not know. We also had a good teacher like Abraham , who had a lot of patience. I say it for myself, thank you brother for presenting these much-needed lessons for every Christian” (Ethel Lapa).

On Saturday, October 8, we began the "Oratory" course with Andrés Núñez. For this course we have 7 students enrolled. In addition, we delivered two certificates of participation to two of our students who have completed their training program. José Medina is a member of the Church of Christ in Comas (north of Lima) and Alejandro Berrío is a member of the Church of Christ in Villa Alejandro (in the south of Lima). Each certificate was delivered in the congregation of which they are members.

We appreciate all the efforts that are made so that the extensions continue to give instruction to their respective students, including us here in Peru.

Ash Town Ghana works to recruit more students

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, ASH TOWN – KASOA, GHANA

THIRD QUARTER REPORT, 2022

Introduction

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we extend our greetings. These are the activities that took place at Bear Valley Bible Institute in Ash town during the third quarter of 2022.

Classroom activities

This quarter, there were three courses offered. Christian Evidences was covered by Emmanuel Larbi, Homiletics 1 by Kwabena Gyan-Mante, and Old Testament Part 2 (History) by Emmanuel Aggrey. For the aforementioned classes, there were fourteen (14) participants.

Recruiting new students

The Director and other students visited eight (8) churches in Kasoa throughout this quarter in an effort to recruit new students.

Provision of resources

The Coordinator, Mr. Kojo Acquah Beenyi, has sent us twenty desks and commentaries on the book of Romans. We are appreciative to Bear Valley for providing us with these resources, which will enable us to carry out this program.

Director’s visit to Agape Top Church of Christ

On September 18, 2022, the Director, brother Emmanuel Larbi, went to the Agape Top congregation in Ablekuma, Greater Accra, Ghana, to hear Bro. Daniel Kweku Amoh preach a sermon. Agape Top Church of Christ has an average attendance of 65 members. After the service, his strengths and faults were examined with him in order to enhance his presentation abilities. Brother Larbi also asked the leadership about Brother Daniel and how he was helping the church. In the end, the leadership provided an encouraging report.

Practical training

Students have been placed in congregations in Kasoa as part of the Bear Valley requirements so they can undertake their practical training in teaching and preaching. In October 2022, this exercise will commence and end in December 2022, after which it will be evaluated and the students will receive new assignments.

Student profile

Daniel Kweku Amoh is the student profile for this quarter. He is currently 26 years old and was baptized in the year 2012. He has a first-degree Bachelor of Science in Mineral Engineering and teaches chemistry at one of Accra’s secondary schools. He teaches and preaches on Sundays and at sessions during the week. He added the following remarks regarding Bear Valley: “Since relocating to Bear Valley, I have become more adept at comprehending difficult Bible verses. My deepest gratitude goes out to Bear Valley for giving me this opportunity.”

Door-to-door Evangelism

Students embarked on door-to-door evangelism in the neighborhood of Ash Town, Kasoa on September 24th, 2022. Ten students participated in the activity.

Conclusion

We appreciate Bear Valley’s assistance during this quarter. May God replenish them with whatever they have lost. Amen.

West Coast Ghana school conducts open-air meetings

OPERATIONAL REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER, 2022

1.     CLASSROOM WORK

For the most part of September, the students were on vacation (from 1st September – 26th September). They reported to school on 26th September (Monday). All ten full-time students are safely back on campus for the final term of the two-year academic journey.  Studies started on Tuesday (27th September) where the students were taken through a short course on the epistles of John and Jude. This course was supposed to be taught the last term but because of preparations for the annual lectureship, it was pushed to the first week of this term. 

Academic work is still running smoothly for part-time students. They are currently in the first term of their two years of study. The courses studied in September include Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians, the book of Romans, and the gospel of Luke. 

2.     PERSONAL EVANGELISM AND BAPTISM

Evangelism was very effective this month. Some of our alumni in collaboration with the church of Christ, Effia-kuma organized a week-long house-to-house and public preaching to spread the good news about the Lord. The School’s public address system was used for the night public preaching. Two of our past students also organized gospel campaigns in their respective congregations. In one of them, our Principal was invited to go and speak about New Testament worship. Not only that, but our current students were also involved in personal evangelism, and some souls were baptized. In all, God rewarded these efforts with twenty-three (23) baptisms. 

 Thank you.

Joshua.

Kasoa, Ghana school plans new church plant

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – PAPAASE (KASOA, GHANA)

REPORT FOR THE SECOND QUARTER (JULY TO SEPTEMBER) 2022 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has taken us through another quarter. As a result of this, the Bear Valley Bible Institute-Papase (Kasoa-Ghana) is presenting a review for the third quarter (July to September) of the year 2022. 

However, the report cannot be done without first of all expressing our gratitude to the Almighty God for His love and heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to brethren who over the years, continue to sponsor the institution throughout the entire world.

I.            PLANTING OF CHURCHES

Prospecting studies have already begun with the intention of planting the Lord’s church at Mankomeba , which is the next town after Papaase in the Central Region of Ghana. It was therefore welcome news when we heard that an evangelistic team had been put in place by Bear Valley USA to help in such programs. 

Our plan includes the students visiting the town on the 3rd and 4th of October 2022 for data collection, and to hit the ground running for next year’s open-air gospel meeting and house-to-house evangelism.

II.            CAMPAIGN FOR NEW STUDENTS

For the continuality of the Weekend School at Papaase, students continue visiting sister churches campaigning for new students. Such a move has yielded a new student. 

III.            OFFICE EQUIPMENT

We are glad to announce that the office in the school is taking good shape. A laptop and printer have been supplied to the office. Management and the entire body of students are grateful to those through whom such equipment is supplied.  

IV.            DISTINGUISH STUDENT

Our distinguished student for the quarter is Brother Frank Nyarko. The hard-working student, Frank, had been appointed the full-time preacher for the Lord’s church at Papaase. It is a plus to the school in general and particularly to instructors for producing preachers for the Lord’s churches in Ghana. 

 Report compiled by: 

Emmanuel Amoo-Gyimah

Uganda school conducts successful campaign

Greetings brothers.

It's a great privilege that we should all be alive. We are so happy for the good life God is still giving us.

Beyond all, the protection He gave us during our trip of evangelism with the students joined by other brothers and the host congregation in the far central part of Uganda to the town of Butunduzi. We were able to set off on October 4 with one accord and we were warmly welcomed by everyone. The gospel seminar consisted of knocking on doors in the morning and preaching open-air campaigns in the evening. The students were able to present good lessons and this gave me a lot of joy and confidence that our toil is not in vain.

In our six days in the place, we were able to knock on 50 homes apart from people we found along the way and on street. Thanks be to God that He now has four new souls in that city. One of our new sisters had heard of our coming. She was from another district. but when she heard we were coming, she spent her own money on bus fare to come to hear the gospel. The gospel did its job and she was one of the four who obeyed.

This lady has gone back home and has requested that we send a preacher to her village who will be able to work there to see that people know Christ. She doesn't want to miss worship. Ideally, one of our men who is graduating soon will be able to help preach in this area. I feel like this is a place where God should be having many people. We will keep on praying for it.

Our students are reporting back on Friday and will be in class with brother Mark Reynolds. He will be teaching the book of Hebrews from October 24-28. Continue to pray for their safe journey mercies as they prepare for the last quarter.

Thank you so much! Thank you for supporting the Bear Valley Bible Institute in Uganda.

Yours in Christ,

Raymond

Many good projects in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION

Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” BVBIZ is part of the answer to this commission. The school exists to equip and mold labourers for this daunting task. The agenda is to continue equipping faithful men and women for this cause. In the month of September, BVBIZ continued to advance this agenda in a variety ways. Of course, this could not have been possible without the partnership we share with you. This report is a capsule of some of the things the school was able to do in September.

CURRICULUM

The new term began on the 5th of September. All students came back to school. The following subjects are being taught this term; Homiletics 1, Hermeneutics 1, Acts of the Apostles, OT History (Joshua-Esther), Galatians (SC), 1 & 2 Thessalonians  (SC), Entrepreneurship Skills Development 1(SC), Introduction to computers , Sign Language and  Horticulture (SC)

PROJECTS

BVBIZ continues with its drive to have different project on site. Besides providing some income to the school, one of their purposes is to provide life survival skills to the students. The horticulture and broiler projects are ongoing but this month we report on two of the projects

FISH PROJECT

The school had always wanted to have a fish project within its portfolio of projects. The digging of fish ponds has started.

LAYERS

The layers project rolled to life in on the 15th of September. From the funds that you donated, 150 birds were bought from the target of 300. Despite the inability to meet the target, those bought will make a difference. Production is now averaging 110 eggs per day. BVBIZ wishes to thank those who made this project a reality.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Preachers Retreat

There shall be a preachers retreat scheduled to take place from the 26th -28th of October. All preachers are invited to attend this program. Several programs geared towards rejuvenating the preacher and his ministry are on the cards. More details with regard to this program shall be made in the subsequent report.

Graduation

The school shall hold its third graduation ceremony on the 29th of October beginning at 10am. All stakeholders are being invited to this momentous occasion. The graduation will be pressed by the BVBIZ’s first ever graduation lecture which will take place at 4.30pm on the 28th of the same month. This lecture is code named the Isaiah Suwari Memorial lecture. The intention is to keep on instilling the BVBIZ founding principles alive as the school remembers its pioneer. All are invited.

Sign Language Training

The school shall host sign language training for all preachers from the 22nd -26th of October. BVBIZ’s emphasis in sign language training is bearing fruit as many are graduating with this necessary skill. Everyone in the world has a right to salvation despite any physical challenge. BVBIZ is slowly becoming a panacea in this area. This training will precede the preacher’s retreat and graduation as highlighted above. Each participant will be asked to pay $20.

LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP

On the 10th of September, leaders from various congregations in Mashonaland West converged in Kadoma for a leadership training workshop. Over 40 men attended. Almost every congregation in the province was represented. The main concern was church administration and governance. The BVBIZ director was privileged to be the facilitator of the program on the day.

EVANGELISM

Both full time and part time continued with their evangelism practicum in September. Great appreciation continues to go the congregations hosting these students through their provision of food, accommodation and their general upkeep. 15 were baptized whilst 8 were restored. To God be the glory!

10 more baptisms in Guinea

September 2022 Activity Report

Introduction:

The Christian's work is one of imitation of the Lord's way of life recorded on the pages of the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 the apostle Paul said to imatate him "even as l also am of Christ". Thus, the Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute composed of staff, students and other workers is no exception. In the month of September, we have amongst other activities endeavored to imitate the Lord in teaching, in prayer and in charitable works as outlined below. Follow with us as we enlighten you in a 6 points report of what transpired here in September.

I- Teaching / Classroom:

Since we are to entrust the word of God to faithful men who will be able to teach others also, and as part of our obligation for which we are supported, our staff members engaged the students in the following 4 courses:

1- Discipleship from 01 to 07 September, taught by Tamba Emmanuel Kamano

2- Personal Evangelism from 08 to 15 September, taught by Niouma 2 Kamano

3- Hermeneutics 1 from 16 to 23 September, taught by Antoine Fassa Tolno.

4- Scheme of Redemption from 26 Sept to 03 Oct 2022 taught by Balla Kamano.

Due to the necessity of required credit hours, the last course extends until October 03.

There was an evaluation of the students following the end of every course and the results were satisfactory.

II- Evangelism:

One of the major activities which we as Christians can and should do to imitate the Lord who went about everywhere preaching the kingdom is to evangelise for the salvation of lost souls. In the month of September, the Bear Valley Bible Institute conducted various preaching activities in different areas all of which resulted to 10 baptisms. May God be glorified for this.

III- Youth Bible camp:

To express our heart felt desire for the oneness in faith and practice as examplified by Jesus with the Father, the Gueckedou Bear Valley students also attended the "Youth Bible Camp" in N'zerekore. Indeed a number of participants of several congregations in Gueckedou responded massively to the invitation of our brethren, the Bellevue church of Christ - N'zerekore to share the word of God on the theme "Salvation and the Christian's Responsibility".

A 20-seated minibus vehicle and 4 motorbikes each carrying 2 persons were made available through financial support for all the above named participants by the top administration of the Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute.

A special prayer period was observered before the trip and the gracious Lord answered it to his glory. It was such a favorable time so that the evangelists who were present ceased the opportunity to preach peace and unity in the faith.

IV- Spiritual working materials /Bibles:

In order to facilitate further research work for our next coming graduates, we have asked and received 12 copies of the "Thompson Chain References Bible". These will be a general award or gift, an encouragement to the 12 students who will be certificated on graduation day.

V- Graduation:

We will like to use this means through this report to inform and cordially invite you to the graduation ceremony of the second batch of students from the Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute. The program is scheduled to take place here at the Institute's premises at Bambo Antenne in Gueckedou on 29th October 2022.

We also solicit your spiritual, moral, material and especially financial contributions for the success of the ceremony.

VI- Thanks and Appreciations:

We thank the God that we serve for his infinite love.

We also thank the Bear Valley International for the unending moral, spiritual, material and financial support by which we are further motivated to work for the salvation of lost souls.

Our appreciations to our Coordinator, Steven Ashcraft for his love and determination to grow the church of Christ in Guinea.

We thank brother Francis Musa for his willingness to share with us his technical and spirituel experiences in the work of God.

Brothers Barry Baggott, Ken Stanley and all other brothers and sisters are to be commended for their every support in the work of the church of God in Guinea

We pray that God will bless you all abundantly and that God may use us mightily in His vineyard for the glory of His name.

Peru school completes course on God's Plan of Salvation

Thank God the month of August has been a month of very uplifting and fruitful classes on "The Plan of Redemption". We had the participation of 5 students: 4 formal students and 1 guest student.

As scheduled we covered the material that we had scheduled to cover. We also had a group research and presentation project on "Spiritual Blessings in Christ" as part of the course requirements. They all did a good job.

We started the course "Christian Evidences", which is being presented by brother Abraham Alata.

I would like to share some thoughts from Institute students about the previous course.

“I am putting together a summary of God's entire plan of redemption. I was reflecting on my experience as a child of God and the grace received from our Lord Jesus Christ and I thought about how God the Father had me in his mind before the foundation of the world, I feel very grateful within my heart I will never be able to repay so much blessing from God will only be able to follow his commandments and above all Matthew 28:18-20 to share his holy gospel” (Alejandro Manrique M.)

“There is nothing more rewarding than studying the Bible. Personally, I feel very happy for the opportunity to have received the course "Plan of Redemption" the one that was in the mind of God before the foundation of the world for humanity, spoken by the holy prophets, fulfilled in Christ and revealed through the holy apostles and today teaching through his servants what our brother Juan Abanto is like. I am very grateful for this work that is done and those who contribute to the irrigation of the doctrine of our Lord " (Humberto Gonzales)

It has been a pleasure to share this course with the brothers of the institute, we hope with the favor of God, to continue with this academic project. Thank you for the efforts made to find resources and for the spiritual support of all involved.

Students in Ibadan, Nigeria conduct regular Bible studies

Dear fellow servants of the Most High God.

Greetings to you all from the students and staff of BVBIN & SWSE – Ibadan and fellow WBSFUW in Western States of Nigeria.

Below is the report of some of our activities for this month of September 2022.

WEEKENDS EVANGELISM/OUTREACH

Our year-1 students continued in the evangelization of eight different centers throughout the weekends in the months of August and September 2022 in Oyo and Osun states while the year -2 students who are in their 3rd year of training continued in the practical part of their training by assisting some young congregations within the Western States of Nigeria.

One of our year -1 students named Bro. Adeyemo Olusegun recorded two conversions at Ilaro Congregation, Ogun State where he served in August and September while Bro. Kayode Eniafe and his group got two conversions on September 25, 2022 at Felele-rab,Ibadan and we in Butubutu group converted a soul on September 29. To God be the glory.

FIRST SEMESTER CLASSES CONCLUDED

This first semester classes for 2022/23 session ended as scheduled on Oct. 30, 2022. Bro. Isaac Olaniyan handled LOC 1 (Matthew), OT & NT survey and 1st, 2nd & 3rd John; Bro. Kayode Eniafe handled scheme of Redemption, OTH (Joshua – Esther) and OT wisdom 1 (Job&Eccl.); Bro. Makinde John handled Research & Writing 1 and NT church 1; Bro. Andrew Adeolu handled The Pentateuch, Denominational Doctrines and Godhead; Bro. Oladokun Samuel handled Acapella songs, while I, Bro. Makinde Ebens handled Evangelism 1 (Personal Evangelism), Prison Epistles(Ephesians – Philemon), Systematic Theology and Church Problems.

All our year -1 students will embark on a month vocational training from Oct. 1 through 28, 2022. Second semester classes will commence Lord’s willing on Oct.31 through Dec. 16, 2022.

VOICE OF TRUTH INTERNATIONAL VOL. 114

Over 5000 copies of VOTI Vol. 114 were freely distributed in the first week of September 2022 to churches of Christ and friends of the Lord’s Church across the country of Nigeria. About 60% of the recipients have confirmed the receipt of their packages. One of the recipients, Bro. M.B Archbong reports the conversion of four souls by the use of VOTI booklets.

The remaining VOTI volume 114 will be used during our forthcoming gospel meetings in Oyo, Osun , Ogun and Ekiti states on October Lord’s willing.

REPORT FROM WORLD BIBLE SCHOOL FOLLOW UP WORKERS

1.Bro. Olorode Samuel of Ajagba congregation report the conversion of a middle age brother in his area of work as the result of his follow-up in Ajagba community on Sept 16, 2022.

2.Bro. Akilapa Stephen report the extension of his WBSFUW to villages and towns, outside Ondo town where over 100 WBS introduction lessons was shared and collected back within the month of September 2022.

3. Bro. Godwin Johnson of Ode- Aye congregation in Ondo State report the conversions of three young girls in the month of September as the result of his regular follow up in Ode- Aye and Okitipupa towns.

4.Bro. Benson Balogun of Asejire congregation, Ondo State report the conversion of two souls at Ofosu as the result of his joint effort with Bro. Peter Ortserga on Sept. 19, 2022.

Our WBSFUW team in Ibadan also visited three high Schools in Apomu and Ikoyi towns in Osun State to share 63 WBS Correspondence Courses to students of West Olive church of Christ,AZ % Bro. Bob Milstead on September 20 and 23,2022.

CONCLUSION:

We deeply appreciate your kind gestures and support toward the growth of the Lord’s Kingdom in Africa and the world in general. May the Lord continue to bless our work together in Jesus Christ name. Amen.

I remain yours in His grace as a servant.

Makinde Ebens

Luanshya, Zambia school prepares for graduation and much more

Luanshya, Zambia School Report for September 2022

Introduction

We send greetings to you brothers and sisters! We give honor and glory to God our heavenly father who through His grace and the love fully expressed in Christ has granted us the opportunity to work for Him in His kingdom.

We are very glad to learn that Bear Valley Bible Institute International has continued to grow as more new preacher-training schools are established throughout the world. And as BVBI Zambia, we are humbly privileged to be part of this growing family.   

It is unbelievable that 2022 is almost gone. We are just three months away before we say goodbye to 2022. 

After suspending classes for almost the entire third quarter last year due to Covid-19, the students worked harder to cover the lost time in just four months. And we are very pleased to inform you that we are indeed on course to fulfill all that the school stands for. 

School Activities

The following are some activities that the school was involved in for the month of September 2022.

1. Personal evangelism- students have intensified their one-on-one preaching strategy. Because of this approach, there is a steady increase in the number of people attending church services at the churches of Christ in Luanshya district. We have five congregations in the entire district that is, in Mikomfwa, at Central Town, Roan Township, and Church of Christ in Chibwe. 

2. School evangelism program, which includes home Bible studies. There is also an increase in the number of Bible studies during the week. This is so because we are almost done with the second-year learning program at school and in readying for our graduation program. Bible studies were held mainly on Fridays but now we have included Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  This program is going on very well.

3. In our effort to strengthen women in the church as they are seen as the pillars in the ministry of our Master Jesus Christ, we had a conference in Luanshya rural area which started on 28th September 2022 and ends on 2nd October in Luanshya district.  Six out of the ten districts of the Copperbelt were represented at this conference. Some of our students served in food catering and others beefed up security. Some were cooking as to allow women to concentrate more on the learning program.

4. Baptisms recorded: we had thirteen (13) people added to the Lord’s church and we expect more in the month of October.

5. Restoration recorded: We have recorded eighty-seven (87) restorations back to the sheepfold. We have attached pictures to this report we have taken with different congregations we have visited and worked with. September has been a healthy month spiritually. 

6. Other progress news: Two of our students have been offered work in government Daniel Kapata and mike Kanyangala. They are good students and we believe they will do well preaching while working. While at our school Mike was offered to take a five days training in dump truck training at Northern Technical College in Ndola due to a good relationship with BVBI-Zambia.  Daniel Kapata is a secondary trained teacher and now he will be preaching while working. We give God praises and we wish the two brothers well.

Men’s national conference (2022) 

The Men’s national conference was held for the first time in three years in Solwezi, Northwestern Province. The lessons are still resonating in the minds of the people who attended the conference. This was indeed an uplifting moment as our own Dean of students, Cephas Mwamba put the icing on the cake. He concluded with an excellent recap of all the lessons. 

Central Province has been chosen as a venue for the next year’s conference. And calls are still reaching us, many of our brothers appreciating their first experience with the BVBI-Zambia interactions and work.  

Graduation (2022)

The school will be seeing its third graduation later in October 2022. Another significant stage of the growth of this Institute will be achieved on 22nd October 2022. God willing, 11 men will be graduating and the school has already sent invitations to local churches. We are meeting all leaders of the church here on the Copperbelt on the 8th of October in the Mufurila district to make sure that they participate on this graduation day. One of the churches of Christ in the Chingola district is ready to come and take at least two of the preachers upon their graduation to work with them for the next two years.

New Intake (2022-2024)

The school will be welcoming new students who have already committed themselves to studying and preparing themselves to preach the Gospel. We are very excited to begin this new class with these men.  We expect men from seven provinces of Zambia to begin the class this year. Zambia has ten provinces. We had other applications from our neighboring countries like Tanzania in Mbeya, D.R.C Congo, and Angola, but because of the immigration restrictions and high fees in study visa applications we cannot take them for now and we keep on praying that in the near future we will be able to do so. 

Conclusion

We are always grateful to all our partners in this noble work of training faithful men. Special appreciation goes to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for financially supporting this work. 

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred

Doing good in northern Togo

OPERATING REPORT BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE KARA – TOGO
(THIRD QUARTER 2022)

EXTENTED PROGRAM ; BVBI – KARA – TOGO

INTRODUCTION
Greetings from the Churches of Christ around Kara – Togo and from my family.
We thank God for the work you are doing on his name to enlarge his Kingdom here in the north of Togo. And we continue to align with the declaration of Hebrew 6 : 10 that « For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister ».

OPERATING REPORT
1- Actual number of students : 10
2- The Courses already taught during the second quarter : Geneses – Matthew – John
3- The Courses that will be taught during the third quarter :
a- Exodus – Levitique by KAGNON Luc
b- Church implanting by KPODENOU Rodrigue
c- The Church of the Bible by BEDJELSI Fidele

4- Instructors’ meeting : Instructors meet regularly and continue to think about putting on strategies to be adopted to better work with students to achieve the goals of the Great Commission. Among other strategies : First, it is necessary to help the existing churches through the evangelization campaigns, the Seminars, so that these churches are strongly spiritually and digitally to challenge false existing doctrines in our localities. Secondly consider the progressive implementation of new assemblies in the localities we will have to target . Instructors have renewed their commitment to continue to motivate students.

5- Congregational Activities :
a- Worship and edification
We continue to send students on Churches for biblical studies and worship and this program helps us a lot in the direction of these Churches. This program continue to help us to establish a follow- up program for churches to continue our vision to build strong and mature Congregations in the future and these mature congregations will have the ability to implant other congregations. We continue to organize each Congregation for door to door evangelization in their own locality to help each congregation to grow in number. With this organization , we have 04 women in Lama baptized ; 01 woman in Sanda–te baptized. We actually focus on doctrinal teaching to help Congregations to challenge false doctrines in our areas.

I was very happy to meet recently our Zealous Missionary Steven in Ghana(Tamale) up September 12 to 15,2022 to continue to discuss about the Bible Bear Valley School and the work : how to move the best to the Church in the north. I also assisted with great satisfaction with his teachings during his classes in Tamale.

b- Seminars :
We have organized three(03) seminars : 1 seminar for the Preachers in July 5th to 7, 2022 on the Topic : The Preacher and his work ; 01 for the Church Leaders in August on the Topic : Christian leadership taught by the actual Director of the West African bible school training in Benin , Mr ADJAYI Inoussa and 01 onother seminar concerning Men and Women in September 7th to 9,2022 on the Topic : The Christian home. We invited some specialists who have spoken to us about marital violence and how to be financially self-reliant. Participants left very happy and we hope that in the coming months they are going to put into practice different teachings in the different local churches.

c- Denominational program : We started this program in two(2) places as the experimental phase : one in Kara town with variable assistance(5 – 7) and one in Kouka with also variable assistance(8 – 11)
d- Evangelistic team : We also started this strategy in two(2) localities : one in Kouka(06 preachers) and one also in Kara Town(06 preachers). This strategy will help me to better coordinate the work and will also better be effective in door to door evangelization. With this strategy we have one Congregation established in Lassa village (about 10 miles from Kara Town) with two(2) women baptized.

6- Up coming programs :
We propose to start this denominational program in Landa village with the hope of establishing a new congregation in this locality. This program brings many advantages . It is another good strategy to help the church to grow .

According to our program, we have planned to have a campaign in Dapaong, Korbongou and Kara. Please, bring all this into your prayers.

7- Radio program :
We have started our radio program on the new Kozah Fm public radio since July 2022. Our desire is to have many persons through this Radio to discuss and study bible with them personally because this Radio is going far. Please we need your prayers for this program.

In Christ,

Fidele

More than 40 students in Warri, Nigeria

REPORT OF THE BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – WARRI CENTERS

JULY – SEPTEMBER 2021.

INTRODUCTION

It is another opportunity for us to bring greetings to you and to the entire Bear Valley family. It gladdens our heart that we have a big family working together for the greater course of Christ and His kingdom. The work is growing, however, not without other challenges but on the whole we are grateful for the loving support we get from our support group.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

DSC CENTER

The DSC Center of the school in Warri is doing just fine. Academic activities are on top gear. In this quarter, various teachers attended their classes. In July, Solomon Usim taught the course “Christian Ethics.” The lesson emphasized the need for good character especially for those leading the church. Moreover, in August, Meredith Owvromoh, started with Jude, 1 and 2 Peter. It was a great experience for them dealing with a Bible text, especially the text 1 Peter 3:18-20. The need for exegesis arose and the euphoria that trilled their inability to unravel the text was not in small measure. “How could Christ preach in hell?” Also, in September, Solomon Usim, took the course on “Leadership Extension” and it was an eye opening experience for the preachers most especially. In relation to attendance, 21 out of the 27 current students wrote exams in July. Others could not write the exams because of irregular attendance and some other unforeseen circumstances. In August 23 students attended while 22 wrote the exams. This is so because some students may have reasons not to take a particular course. For instance, two brothers buried their father and uncle that month of August, and as such, could not participate in the classes.

PTI CENTER

Studies at the PTI center are going on well. In July, Godwin Ojocheogwu taught the book of Acts. 13 out of the 21 students wrote the exams. In August, Solomon Usim taught the course “Scheme of Redemption” tracing the trajectory of the redemption plan of God, “The Eternal Purpose” which found fulfilment in Christ and the church. A total of 14 students sat for the exams. In September, Abiola Ojoade was at PTI and taught the class on Jude, 1 and 2 Peter. Out of the 21 current students, 14 were able to write the final exams.

Finally, I was thrilled with the approval of the new Center at Benin City. I met with bro Keith during his visit to Benin City Center on the 11th of August. It was a wonderful reunion. On the 3rd of October, the Benin Center had her maiden matriculation ceremony where I spoke on the topic, “The Need for Preachers’ Training and Retraining.” The students came out in their numbers and were very happy for the center in Benin City. In fact, from the look of things more centers are needed in Benin City.

CAMPAIGN PROGRAM

On the 23rd of July 2022, the two centers were gathered again at the church of Christ Ovwor Olomu in Ughelli South LGA of Delta state for a one-day evangelism outreach. There was a thorough house to house evangelism that led to the baptism of one Mrs. Meg Bethel. We are happy to state that more congregations are applying for campaigns. The congregations around have accepted the Bear Valley students as good evangelism tools. This means that the near comatose evangelism situation in the area has been revived. Congregations are waiting in turn to invite the students to help them.

CONCLUSION 

We are very grateful to Bear Valley Bible Institute Denver Colorado, US, for the support given to the Bear Bible Institute Extension Centers. The local preachers’ interest has been rekindled and many teachers in the churches are taking advantage of the opportunity.

Wotutu, Cameroon school director mourns the loss of his father

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from Cameroon. We do hope this report finds you well. God is good! We are good and facing the bitter reality of life as we have lost a loved one in the family and in the congregation.

The students are still busy in the mission field covering different areas with preaching and teaching the gospel of Christ free of charge to many on their way.

Last week here was characterized with ups and downs as I was shuffling between my office in the Bible college, some classrooms in Brightland Christian Comprehensive College, and the hospital where my father was battling with a stroke and a serious blood infection. Thanks for all the prayers you rendered to God on behalf of my father. God has finally made the decision to call my father to stay with Him.

Last week, on Sunday, I had the opportunity to preach a sermon entitled, “LAUGHTER IMPROVES OUR HEALTH” from Proverbs 17:22. We decided on our sermon series on health, as many in our congregation are going through some difficult health challenges. The Bible is helping us greatly.

Please keep the Esowe family in your prayers in this time of mourning. God has called my father to glory. He has gone back to his Master. Many thanks to God for using me to lead my father to Christ after I graduated from the Bible College in Nigeria. I am happy that my father died as a serious Christian. He died at the age of 80 years, leaving behind my mother, 7 biological children, 18 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild, along with a host of many in the Wotutu community and elsewhere to mourn him.

Tchemi Giresse is one of the nurses who was helping my father. Because of my father’s sickness, I could not go for mission work with my students but we have souls everywhere. The gospel is always very sweet to share with people who have an open heart. Brother Tchemi Giresse has a servant heart. He obeyed the gospel and I was the one who was able to baptize him. When we left the water he said, “I AM HAPPY TO KNOW THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, I WAS TOTALLY LOST BEFORE THIS TIME.” Please keep him in your prayers as he will be a great worker in the church here.

PLANS

My father's funeral will take place on the 8th of October here in Wotutu. Please continue to pray for us.

Our thoughts and plans are beginning to lean towards the graduation ceremony that will mark the end of the Zeta batch and admit the new batch which will commence in January of 2023.

APPRECIATIONS

Thank you! Thank you very much for all of your prayers and support that have been rendered toward this work. God is watching! Please faint not, because in due season your reward will come. Please share our reports with others.

God bless you as you make a great day.

Elangwe and family.

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu