March 19, 2009
By Andrew Schaeffer, serving in Burkina Faso
Editor’s note: Andrew Schaeffer’s March Madness update introduces strategic Kingdom play action carried out by his “ultimate dream team” in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
March Madness has already begun in Burkina Faso.
My son Mark and I enjoy shooting hoops together. But I am not talking about basketball tournaments in the United States. I am referring to the flurry of team ministry activity that the month always seems to bring.
We enjoyed a wonderful visit with teams from Ohio, New York, and Koutiala, Mali, this past weekend! Now we’re looking forward to the arrival of a team from Salem, Oregon, on March 22.
But in this report I would like to introduce you to our missionary team in Bobo Dioulasso.
TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More
It has been a great joy to lead the Bobo team this past term. As far as I am concerned, they have been the ultimate dream team, made up of 11 adults and 17 “missionary kids:”
- Mary Crowgey, our next-door neighbor, is from New Orleans. For many years, she has worked on the Jula Bible translation, dedicated in November 2008. Currently, she is serving at Maranatha Christian School where enrollment hovers around 1,000 students.
- Peggy Drake and Jetty Stouten are nurses who work at Life Clinic, a medical ministry of ACCEDES, the relief and development arm of the Burkina Alliance Church. From different countries (Peggy is American and Jetty is Dutch), they have lived and worked together for more than 20 years.
- Kevin and Bonnie Oberg and their four children are from out West (Oregon and Washington); they naturally felt drawn to minister in the Kenedougou region, Burkina’s westernmost province! This unreached region has very few churches, so the Obergs are involved in evangelism and church planting. Bonnie has also served as our field bookkeeper.
- Toby and Kiersten Hull arrived in Burkina on the same plane as the Obergs-in August 2000. Though they hail from Florida, it is no wonder that they have served with Obergs in the Kenedougou Province; they have also ministered to unreached peoples in the Banfora District. Kiersten has taught in the women’s program at Maranatha Bible Institute and helped Esther, my wife, with women’s ministries. The Hulls have four children.
- Eric and Sue Eshbaugh, from Virginia, work in radio. I am convinced that radio is the best way to sow the Gospel seed widely here in West Africa. Over the past year, Eric has helped to birth three new FM radio stations. The Eshbaughs additionally teach at Maranatha Bible Institute; they also have four children. (Perhaps it has something to do with Bobo water!)
As you follow March Madness in the United States, please remember to pray for our teams serving in Burkina Faso!
Learn More
Check out our C&MA Bobo team Web site.
What You Can Do
Please pray:
- Earlier this month, the Hulls left for home assignment (a couple of months early) because of Toby’s heart trouble. Please pray that the Lord will give the doctors wisdom and Toby perfect healing.
- Pray for the new district superintendents and their committees, elected in each Burkina Alliance church district over the past couple of months.
- Pray for elections that will take place at the Burkina Alliance Church’s Annual Council, March 25-29. Pray for Field Director Larry Burg and Andrew Schaeffer who will speak to the delegates.
March 18, 2009
Alliance churches in Japan are gearing up to celebrate 150 years of Christian ministry in that country. “Churches from all over Japan are joining together to praise the Lord for bringing the good news to Japan and to carry out evangelistic ministries,” says field director Harry Landaw.
A Rich History
The Alliance has a rich history in Japan, dating back to 1893, and has played a key role in advancing the gospel there. “Through early Alliance missionary efforts, many souls were won and many churches were planted in western Japan,” says Harry, writing in Alliance Life.
Miss Mabel Francis, an Alliance pioneer missionary to Japan, received the country’s highest civilian award, the medal of the Fifth Order of the Sacred Treasure. The governor of Ehime Prefecture had requested that the government and the emperor honor Miss Francis for her contribution “to the welfare of the Japanese people in their distress and confusion at the time of their defeat [in World War II] and for the long years spent in leading hundreds of Japanese to the knowledge of God.”
“She was the first person in Japan’s history to receive [the medal] while still alive,” says Harry.
Full-Circle Missions
Today, the Alliance national church in Japan is sending cross-cultural workers to other parts of the world. A recent graduate of the Japan Alliance School of Theology will serve as a missionary to Brazil. “Please pray for this young woman who has committed her life to serving the Lord cross culturally,” says Harry.
What You Can Do
Pray for Alliance churches and believers as they participate in reaching out to share the gospel in their communities during the anniversary celebration. Pray that this will be a year of revival in Japan.
March 13, 2009
Gateway (Alliance) Community Church in Draper, Utah, will celebrate its tenth anniversary in a special service on March 15. Hundreds of lives have been impacted for Christ at the Salt Lake City suburb church.
“Gateway Community Church has a great heritage,” says Ray Van Gilst, who serves as church multiplication director for the Central Pacific District and participated in Gateway’s humble beginnings in 1999.
“It started through the prayer walking and giving of students at LIFE ‘98 in Salt Lake City.” Gateway was planted with the assistance of 300 youth through Operation Good News and received a boost of $40,000 through a special offering taken at LIFE ‘98. The LIFE conference is a gathering of approximately 10,000 Alliance youth that meets in a U.S. urban center every three years.
“Utah has some of the highest percentages in the nation for antidepressant use, teen suicides, pornography use, and bankruptcies,” says current pastor Shawn Bagley. “We want to be a light of hope to people who look great on the outside but are broken inside.”
Those who leave the Mormon religion for a personal relationship with Jesus face challenging obstacles and often lose the support of their families when they come to Christ.
”About one third of the members of each of our churches formerly were Mormons who have become believers in the true Jesus Christ,” says Van Gilst. “We keep praying that blind eyes would be opened by the Holy Spirit, and we rejoice to see it happen as often as we do.”
Living out a core Alliance distinctive of becoming a self-sustaining, self-governing, and self-propagating church, Gateway continues to expand, with three daughter churches.
“Europe is one of the biggest mission fields in the world,” says CAMA Zending director Ab Goldberg, who spoke to U.S. National Office workers recently of his vision for the C&MA in Holland. CAMA Zending functions separately from Holland’s C&MA national church but partners with The Alliance as a missionary-sending agency.
Ab has served with the Dutch C&MA for more than 20 years (15 years in Cote d’Ivoire) and credits his ministry accomplishments to the U.S. C&MA. “CAMA Zending owes all to American C&MA missionaries who came to Holland to study Dutch before going on to to what was then our largest colony, Indonesia,” he says. “While they were in Holland, they recruited Dutch to be missionaries, and that is how CAMA Zending was started.
“I tell people that I am who I am because of the C&MA,” Ab says. When asked by former CAMA Zending director Arie Verdujn to consider the position of the agency’s director, Ab says, “I thought they were making a mistake.” Moved by the honor of the offer and wanting to give back to the organization that had served him so well, Ab accepted. “We don’t always see the effect of it right away, but God’s work through the C&MA goes deep in the hearts of people,” he said.
With 30 missionaries in 11 countries, Ab’s vision for CAMA Zending is a daunting challenge. “European missionaries are ready to go to other parts of the world,” he says. “But it is hard to recruit for Europe.
“When [missionary candidates] come to my office,” says Ab, “I say, ‘Why not Europe?’” Ab believes if European believers don’t see their own continent as a critical mission field, then “we should not go farther on.”
One thing is certain. With Ab’s passion for missions and deep appreciation for The Alliance, his leadership at CAMA Zending will enable many to go and make disciples of all nations, including his own.
March 10, 2009
By Ken and Kathy Young, serving in Japan
Editor’s note: Hope House was launched by Ken and Kathy Young as a holistic ministry to reach blue collar workers and their families in the Hiroshima region of western Japan. Its focus is on ministering very practically to families of patients in the regional medical center and to Higashi Hiroshima Medical Center personnel. The Youngs envision Hope House as a place of rest for families who have loved ones in the hospital as well as a venue for providing help and education, including the teaching of medical English, to hospital personnel.
Today, when Kathy came back from Hope House, she quipped, “Just another day at work.” This morning she had met with four women for the first time, none of whom have ever had any contact with Christ or the Bible.
When Kathy mentioned “the one and only true living God,” one woman commented that Japanese people have many gods they can turn to for help. Kathy replied, “We Christians believe in one God who is everywhere all the time and can do anything. It is much easier to believe in one God like that than all those others.” Some of the women perked up, saying they had never heard that before and that one, all-powerful God sounded like a good idea. They seem to want to hear more.
Making History
When Kathy told me about her conversation with those women, an amazing thought occurred to me: they are the first people in the history of their families-maybe in 50 generations-to ever hear the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I shared that thought with Kathy, she simply said, “Just another day at work.”
That is one of the amazing thrills of being a cross-cultural, international worker. Every week we make history. Someone hears some aspect of the gospel for the very first time through us. Every missionary who works in a foreign culture experiences this all the time. These history-changing days are “just another day at work” for workers such as us.
Friends, this is what you are a part of as you pray, give, send others, and go yourself to preach the good news to all the nations.
Thank you for praying for us and for Japan. Thank you for giving sacrificially from your heart so that people can hear the good news of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ-people who would otherwise never have a chance to meet Him.
What You Can Do
Please keep praying for the ministries in which Ken and Kathy are involved:
- Training the next generation of church leaders at the seminary in Hiroshima. The Lord’s church in Japan desperately needs many new leaders immediately.
- Encouraging those who are already leading the churches in western Japan. These men and women sacrificially give of everything they are and have for the salvation of the Japanese people.
- Concretely and practically helping those in the Higashi Hiroshima region, especially at Hope House. The Lord is constantly leading the Youngs to people who need to have the good news explained to them and desperately need to experience the Lord’s love in the midst of their troubles.
March 4, 2009
By JB Hecock, serving in Russia
Editor’s note: Following are excerpts from a Special Edition newsletter JB and Iris Hecock published on February 24. During the current economic downturn, may this message serve as a reminder to all of us: our Heavenly Father is our source of stability-all of the time.
This is a praise update . . . but let me give you some info to chew on first.
About a week ago we received a letter from Gary Benedict, the president of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Since the same time last year, funding for our Alliance Great Commission Ministries is down nearly 20 percent. Because of this reality, some changes are going to have to be made.
Because of this, we want to write this letter of PRAISE.
Thank You!
We know it is no small sacrifice that some of you make when you give to the Great Commission Fund or any of our other funds. We know it is no small sacrifice when you give to your local body of believers [in] obedience to Christ. And for this we thank you.
So, you might still be wondering, why a praise letter?
“He Alone”
We are praising Jesus that though we have taken a hit financially, He, and He alone, has enabled us to continue to work here in Russia and draw people into relationship with Him-like Katya and Naira, two girls baptized last month.
Folks, if Christ isn’t the One we look to for stability, for peace, and as the owner of the “cattle on a thousand hills,” then it doesn’t matter what kind of financial support we have or don’t have-we have bigger problems.
We want to ask you to join with us, not just in praying for those [facing financial difficulties] in the States and for the C&MA, but in FIRST PRAISING HIM. Why?
Looking Without Seeing
A friend of mine, whom I respect and admire greatly, reminded me that though we often look for God to do something big, especially in a major crisis like this, we often don’t see Him working in our individual lives.
Are we looking but not seeing Him because we’re so focused on Him doing something “big?” I don’t know, but it has caused me to pray for awareness.
Continue to Praise God
Again, I ask that you join us in praising Him for what He has given us and what He continues to give us. Join us also in praying for awareness to see what He is doing in our lives through dependency on Him.
I don’t know where we’re going, and that’s okay, but will you join us on a journey of utter dependency on Him? Think of what He could do through us!
Learn More
Check out the Hecock’s C&MA Web site.
What You Can Do
Join the Hecocks in praising God for what He has given us and what He continues to supply during these turbulent economic times. Ask God also to provide awareness about what He is doing in your life through your dependency on Him.
Pablo and Wilma were signing annulment documents when a friend invited them to an Alliance Marriage Encounter (ALMA) sponsored by the Cordillera Alliance Church in Santiago, Chile. Wealthy by Chilean standards, the couple led extremely busy lives, leaving no time for their children or for each other.
After 15 years of marriage, they had drifted apart. Pablo had multiple affairs. Wilma fell in love with Pablo’s best friend. They finally separated but agreed to attend the retreat.
“When the weekend began, I didn’t have any expectations,” says Wilma. “In fact, back in our room, we had a fight.”
Pablo stormed out and planned to return home. “I couldn’t find my car, so I tried to walk home,” he says. “But it was too dark, and I couldn’t find the exit. Eventually I had to go back to the room.”
Hope for a Future
Saturday morning, things started to change. Wilma heard the testimony of a woman to whom she was able to relate. “She was in love with another man, had left her husband, and later returned to her husband. I saw her with her husband, and it looked so good. As I listened to her heartfelt story, it birthed in me the possibility that [Pablo and I] could have a future together,” says Wilma.
Both Pablo and Wilma accepted Jesus. “I considered myself an atheist,” says Pablo. “But by the end of the weekend, the Lord had met me. I left the Encounter very changed.”
After ALMA, Pablo and Wilma grew in their faith in Christ and their love for one another. They attended Sunday worship at the Cordillera Alliance Church, where they were baptized and where Pablo has served as a board member and church secretary. In addition, they began sharing their testimony at ALMA weekends.
A Test of Faith
Seven years later, Pablo and Wilma suffered a tragedy that would test their marriage like never before. During a routine medical test, Pablo’s spinal cord was damaged, paralyzing him from the waist down. “He began rehabilitation with six other men and was the only believer in the group,” says Alliance missionary David Woerner, who had helped to prepare the couple for baptism. “Two of his fellow rehab patients committed suicide, and two others divorced their spouses.”
Pablo copes with his paralysis by trusting that the Lord is sovereign. “I haven’t lost hope that someday I will be able to get up and walk,” he says. “Either way, I’m prepared to accept His will, and the paralysis doesn’t keep me from participating in ALMA. We’ve continued traveling and giving testimony to what the Lord has done despite this spinal cord injury. And so we are joyful, living this life we have. The most beautiful thing is to be able to serve Him and share with our brothers in the faith.”
“God has radically changed our lives, not only by turning our unbelief into belief but also by giving us a testimony borne out of suffering,” says Wilma. “This power that God has is so great, and His love that He gives us is so big. We want to continue serving Him, learning about Him, and working for Him. I’ve learned that for those who love God, all things work together for good.”
What You Can Do
Praise God for bringing Pablo and Wilma to a saving knowledge of Jesus and for restoring their marriage. Pray that the Lord will meet all of their needs and continue to use them for His glory.
March 3, 2009
At least 1.7 million Cambodians were killed through political executions, starvation, and forced labor during the reign of the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979. Today, former soldiers of the regime responsible for the killing fields are being radically changed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
“These former communists, who were bent on establishing a Cambodia that denied God’s existence, are now giving themselves passionately to the spread of the gospel in Cambodia,” says Bob Fetherlin, vice president for International Ministries of the U.S. C&MA. “They are leading God’s people there now.”
Several of the believers attended the recent Annual Conference of the Khmer Evangelical Church of the C&MA. One woman had driven a tank for the Khmer Rouge. “The man leading worship was a Khmer Rouge lieutenant who lost an eye and suffered a serious leg injury in the assault to gain control of the airport in Phnom Penh, the capital city,” says Fetherlin.
The newly elected president of Khmer Evangelical Church is Rev. Sok Sophon, a former Khmer Rouge soldier. “Rev. Sophon is a very gifted leader, highly respected and full of wisdom, and really knows the Scriptures,” Fetherlin adds.
From Killing Fields to Harvest Field
Alliance missionaries were the first Protestant workers in Cambodia, and Alliance efforts grew into the nation’s largest evangelical community. C&MA missionaries were evacuated from Cambodia in 1975 when Pol Pot came to power. CAMA, the Alliance relief arm, provided medical care to Khmer refugees along the Thai border for 17 years and encouraged the refugee church, which consisted of hundreds of new believers.
The Alliance’s work in Cambodia continues to bear fruit. Last Christmas, more than 10,000 people attended a joint Christmas service in Sisophon, Banteay Meanchey province, which was coordinated by various Christian groups in the area. A Cambodian newspaper featured the celebration in a news story on December 27, 2008.
“This is the largest ever Christmas celebration I have ever heard of in Cambodia,” says field director David Manfred. Rev. Sok Sophon, who was vice president of the C&MA’s Khmer Evangelical Church at the time, spoke powerfully about the meaning of Christmas.
“The meeting ended with an invitation for those who wanted to have their sins forgiven by Christ to raise their hands, and Pastor Sok Sophon reported that many in the crowd raised their hands.”
“Our hearts are overflowing with praise to God for his transforming power and incredible grace!” says Fetherlin.
What You Can Do
Praise God for the work He is doing in Cambodia. Pray that He will continue to call committed believers to lead the Khmer Evangelical Church.
March 2, 2009
By Alice Brokopp, serving in Burkina Faso
I had made it a point to relax last weekend. I had played games with the kids, spent time with Pete, and put my lengthy “to do” list on the back burner determined to block out any feelings of guilt. So when Monday morning came, I was ready to hit it. After a few false starts from phone calls, we finally began working in earnest, wading through the mound of e-mails that had piled up.
We really could have gotten somewhere, and then, “Madame, Pastor Y is at the door.” Oh my! What a feeling of irritation and desperation. His visits were becoming a regular occurrence, often lasting over an hour. “We certainly can’t handle him today,” I thought. “There is so much to do!” Nevertheless, I obediently went out and found him sitting with a mother holding her toddler wrapped in a pagne (African cloth).
While the pastor spoke, I noticed that the child’s arms ended above her elbows. The woman had heard of the handicapped trike giveaways that we had spearheaded, thanks to support from a group in the States, and had travelled around looking for the pastor, hoping that we could do something for her and her child. She had no work and no way to support her daughter. As he spoke, the woman pulled the girl out of the cloth to show me that the handicap didn’t end with her arms-she had no legs either.
I should have been moved by compassion, but I was still selfishly irritated at the interruption. And I suddenly felt powerless and incompetent—I had no way to fix this problem, not an inkling of an idea as to how I personally could help. The strange mixture of emotions overwhelmed me.
Finally, I explained in a kind voice that there really wasn’t much we could do. We had no resources to care for the handicapped long-term and take care of their needs; we just supplied and fixed trikes. In addition, not much of that money was currently available. But I did know that our neighbor worked with Handicapped International, so perhaps I could go next door and link them up.
I was still frustrated at having to take the time away from my heavy “to do list” to pay a visit to the neighbor. But I did the “polite thing” and offered my guests water. As I brought it out, one of the cups fell, and I slipped. Now I was angry. I stormed (controllably) back into the house, stomped off to see Pete, and yelled quietly under my breath, so they couldn’t hear me, “I can’t handle being in this country any more! I can’t deal with these needs!” Pete empathized with me.
Then I went back out with a new cup of water. The neighbor wasn’t home, but I got directions to his office. I realized that the “right” thing to do would be to take them myself. But the pastor wanted to see Pete first. So, I called Pete out and went peaceably back into work. Suddenly, Pete rushed in, broken and emotional, and said, “Alice, bring your camera, you’ve got to see this!” “This” was my compassionate daughter, on her day off from school, sweetly holding the baby. She was beaming. My heart finally broke.
Pete suggested getting a stuffed animal, so our son pulled himself away from his movie, came out to see what was going on, and then turned right back around to rummage through the stuffed animal bin. When he found the Teddy bear he was looking for, he took it out to the two-and-a-half-year-old child who clung on to it with her two stubs. She looked happily up at her mother. The lump that was now forming in my throat was getting dangerously larger. I managed to hold it at bay until I arrived with the three of them to the Handicapped International offices.
When I walked into the neat, air-conditioned “Westernized” room, I couldn’t speak for a while. When I finally did, my voice was shaky. They gave us a phone number, and the pastor got a rendezvous the next day in another part of town. He took them and made sure they had a place to stay for the night. When I apologized for not being able to do it ourselves, he said, “Its all part of ministry isn’t it?”
That same day, I was asked to choose a group of friends that would be honoring me at a birthday dinner. I was so touched that someone had thought of me, and encouraged that people wanted to spend time with me. Suddenly it dawned on me, not for the first time, but in a more personal way; people matter more than my “to do” list. Someone had taken time out of her busy schedule to organize a party for me, because she cared for me. And yet I was too busy and irritated to feel compassion for and spend time with a handicapped child who mattered to God. And this is part of why I’m here!
Someday, I will be 80 years old and look over my life. By then, the fact that I tried to keep our in-box to under 50 messages, that I found the perfect wording for our prayer letter, that my office was organized, and that my piles were kept at a minimum will be basically unimportant and perhaps forgotten. I believe that what will become important will be the relationships in my life.
Will I think back with satisfaction upon my interactions with the people who God wove in and out of each period of my life, or will I only feel regret? Will I be confident that I was the light of Christ that I should have been? Will I know that I was that voice of encouragement when it was needed? Will I be assured that those around me saw God’s love and compassion shining through me, even if I couldn’t help them physically?
I’m not so sure. I can’t be bothered to send out Christmas cards. I forget my friends’ birthdays, and embarrassed, I’ll explain that “that’s just the way I am. I try!!” When I’m focused on a project, I don’t have a lot of time for my kids and my husband. And after 15 years in Burkina, I’m so weary of people with needs, looking to me for answers. Instead of visiting with my friends, Burkinabe and expatriate, I ferret myself away and focus on my list.
Work is important, but there has to be a balance. So I will pray for strength and show love to people with needs. I will be more intentional about visiting my friends and keeping in touch with them. I will stay my impatience to see a project finished, and focus on my family. I will write down my friends’ birthdays and work hard to memorize them, and then be aware of them as they come up! And just maybe this year, remembering the warm fuzzies I get from opening an envelope, maybe I’ll send my friends a Christmas card!
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