January 27, 2012
By Evan and Jewel Evans, staff at Dakar Academy—a boarding and day-school program (K-12) largely for the children of international workers
During our recent Dakar Academy outreach (January 20–22), we were able to share the gospel with some 3,500 people through drama, vacation Bible school (VBS), and evening evangelism campaigns.
“Rejoice with Us!”
Evening meetings were held in six villages, two of which heard the gospel for the very first time. Rejoice with us that over the course of the weekend about 100 people indicated that they wanted to accept Christ as their Savior!
In one of the two villages that had never heard the good news, the village chief not only gave permission to hold the evangelism campaign, he sent someone around the village to announce the event.
The chief also said that he would welcome a church in his village. Maybe this is where we will hold a future outreach!
Weekend Outreach Activities:
- Evangelistic drama presented in 14 villages
- VBS conducted in 11 villages
- One church painted; another roofed
- 150 meters of wall foundation dug
- 400 bricks hand-made
- 250 patients treated for health issues
- One church mural painted
- Well digging begun
- Four tons of sand moved
- 960 meals served
YOU Prayed, HE Answered
Thank you for praying for safety—146 of us traveled in 15 vehicles more than 4,350 miles that weekend!
We had four flat tires, two buses broke down because of wheel bearing issues, and one van had to limp back to Dakar because of engine problems. However, we are happy to report that we were kept safe—thanks to your prayers. We are so very grateful!
What You Can Do
Praise God for the successful outreach! Pray for the new believers to grow strong in their faith and for Alliance workers the world over.
Donate to the Great Commission Fund—partner with workers like Evan and Jewel to share the Light of Christ with many who have never had opportunity to hear the good news!
Read the Evanses’ update about the 2011 Thanksgiving weekend outreach.
January 23, 2012
By Brian Davis, serving in Senegal
West African youth are passionate about soccer; Alliance people are just as passionate about why the “world’s sport” is a platform for outreach. “If you can imagine the following generated by U.S. professional football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf and NASCAR, with hunting thrown in for good measure, it would be summed up in one sport—soccer!” exclaims a marketplace ministries worker in West Africa.
A young man in my church, Samba, senses God’s call on his life to reach the lost with the good news of Christ. I want to encourage and challenge him to go for it!
So when Samba showed interest in starting a kid’s club for elementary-aged boys and girls in our neighborhood, I was right there alongside him, playing games, singing songs, having fun. But after a few months without much growth (only the kids from our church were coming), we re-evaluated. It became clear to Samba that we needed to do something different.
Soccer, of course! Kids love soccer here!
Success
From the first week we started the soccer outreach, we have never had a shortage of kids eager to participate. We run a skills clinic, scrimmage, and then discuss the skill we practiced—and hopefully used!—in the match and how it correlates to a life skill. (For instance, one week we focused on juggling—keeping the ball in the air, using only a prescribed part of the body, such as our head, foot, or thigh, etc.). We then talk about how this skill is important to control the ball during a match.
Recently, I asked the group “What is the muscle in our bodies that is the most difficult to control?” We had all sorts of funny answers. For the record: your brain is not a muscle!
But one boy got it. “The tongue,” he said.
Biblical Truth, Senegalese Wisdom
This is significant for Senegalese people, who recognize that there is real power in the words people speak. The tongue has the power to bless and to curse, build up or tear down.
Words are not just meaningless tools—they carry power, and we know it’s not easy to control that kind of power. Through this example, I was able to describe how, as a follower of Jesus, He has given me His Spirit, who lives in me, to help me control my tongue and use it for good.
By using basic soccer skills, we’re able to keep pointing to the love, truth, and power of Jesus so that one day they will choose to follow Him as well. By the grace of God, we are already seeing hopeful signs that these seeds will grow.
One of the boys, Bouba*, has shown much interest. He has come to several church events, hangs out with the pastor’s sons, and has even opened the door for the pastor’s wife to begin a relationship with his mother.
What You Can Do
Read more from Brian about the power of soccer ministry in the January 15 alife.
Give to the Great Commission Fund—partner with Alliance workers, like Brian, who are spreading the good news effectively through creative outreaches that include soccer ministries.
Pray for Alliance workers worldwide who need wisdom for how to effectively reach people in their spheres of influence with the good news.
January 20, 2012
“‘What shall we have to eat today?’ It’s a question that means different things to different people,” says Peggy Drake, a nurse who serves with The Alliance in Burkina Faso.
“In the West we have so many choices for food. But right now in Burkina, for many there is nothing to eat!”
Sporadic rainfall this year has caused severe drought and skyrocketing food prices in the West African nation. In response to the crisis, ACCEDES, the relief and development arm of the national Alliance church of Burkina Faso, is distributing food to 2,000 families in dire need. Assisted families will receive two bags of grain weighing 220-plus pounds each.
“According to our field survey,” says ACCEDES director Robert Sanou. “Many children are at high risk of malnutrition, and many families have begun selling their household goods to buy food.”
Three-Pronged Relief Plan
ACCEDES will carry out relief operations in the Boucle du Mouhoun region and Houet provinces, where it already has a presence. Response to the crisis is threefold:
- Ten communities will receive information about the consequences of climate change and desertification; they will also receive training in how to mitigate these changes and manage disaster.
- Grains will be provided at no cost to the poorest of the poor—without religious or ethnic discrimination; the disabled, widows and orphans, the elderly, and those affected by HIV/AIDS will receive special attention.
- Those who can afford to pay a small amount for the food will be asked to do so; funds raised will be used to set up a micro-finance system to improve the economic situation of 500 families.
“Food supplies will be transported by truck and secured in safe storage areas rented by local churches,” Sanou observes. “We expect to see great spiritual impact in the local churches because of this project.”
What You Can Do
Pray for the people of Burkina Faso who are suffering because of the food shortages.
Give directly to CAMA’s Africa Famine Relief fund. Give Now
Read about the dire situation in Burkina and across the Sahel—the climactic, geographic zone between the Sahara desert in the north and the Sudanian Savannas in the south. Note: Clicking on this link will take you off of the C&MA Web site.
January 19, 2012
By Ken Young, serving in Japan
In December 2011, I stood in front of more than 80 people, mostly young children with their mothers, feeling as if I were dreaming. My wife, Kathy, and I—along with Pastor and Mrs. Takahashi of Mihara City and a few people from the Mihara Alliance Church—had just finished presenting the gospel at a Christmas gathering in the churchless mountain town of Daiwa. For several years, Kathy and I have worked with the Mihara Church to conduct monthly gospel meetings for about 10 to 15 people, most of them non-Christian farmers. The new pastoral couple of the Mihara church, Pastor Takahashi and his wife, hope to begin a church here someday soon. On that morning, probably every family group was represented. What a step forward! After more than 80 people had heard the good news—most for the very first time—I stood there a bit tired but enjoying the moment entirely.
I have put on some weight in recent months and am looked upon as a classic, gray-bearded grandpa. Often children just stop and talk with me.
After the meeting, a little girl stood at my feet with her friends. With a huge smile, she pointed at me and squealed, “Kentucky Santa!”
What in the world did she mean?
Several years ago, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) of Japan had a brainstorm: Nearly all of their restaurants installed an almost life-sized, painted fiberglass model of “Colonel Sanders” at their entrances. This statue of the Colonel has become practically an institution. During the holiday season, all of the KFC restaurants gird their “Colonel Sanders” with a Santa Claus outfit. Everyone in the country recognizes that symbol. This brilliant move has made Kentucky Fried Chicken almost synonymous with Christmas.
Naturally, the little girl, who saw my resemblance to the Colonel and heard me talk about Christmas, declared me to be “Kentucky Santa.”
Even though I’m Ohio-born and now a Floridian, I don’t mind. She, and probably everyone else who attended the gathering, will remember that morning for a long time, maybe forever. They sang Christmas carols and enjoyed delicious snacks. They experienced the uproariously fun and gospel-laden puppet show presented by Pastor and Mrs. Takahashi. They took home gifts of food and Christmas tracts. And, oh yes, they heard “Kentucky Santa” tell them about the real meaning of Christmas.
What You Can Do
The Youngs request prayer for rural outreaches and church-planting ministries in Daiwa, Kurose, Yasuura, and Higashi Hiroshima City. “The first three have no churches at all; the fourth has only one church for every 30,000 people,” they write.
Pray for the Youngs as they continue to share the good news of Jesus with the largest unreached people group in the world—the Japanese.
Pray, too, for Alliance workers around the world.
Give to the Great Commission Fund—partner with Alliance workers like Ken and Kathy to share Christ with those who haven’t yet heard the gospel.
Be sure to check out alife’s January 15 issue that includes more stories about the powerful, Kingdom-expanding impact of children’s ministries.
By Teresa Bill, serving in the Republic of the Congo
It was a typical children’s club at our home in Ollombo—under the carport that has expanded into a youth shelter. Lekonga, 10, who never misses club, came to me at the end of a meeting in May 2010 in tears. God had been convicting him of his disobedience to his mother, he said, and he asked for prayer.
I have found that when the children ask for prayer, they are really asking for help. (It’s an opportunity to counsel them and talk about real problems; it also gives them the opportunity to confess their sins to God.) So I directed Lekonga to a young man who is our neighbor and recently became a follower of Jesus. Since he speaks the local Lingala language (and I am still learning!), I asked him to counsel and pray with the child.
Victory!
After nearly three years of doing children’s outreach here, it was the first time one of the kids had come to us for spiritual help—a breakthrough for this community that is shrouded in animistic, superstitious beliefs.
For example, we tried to learn and spell each child’s name last year, but then they refused to attend because they thought we would curse them if we knew their names. (Often the children give other names, rather than their own.) One neighborhood family even forbade their children to attend—because white people eat children!
Despite these cultural challenges, club is the highlight of the week for the children. (We began with 25 attending; today we average 90.) Each Wednesday, an announcement is made to the neighborhood on a loud speaker. Celestin and Jeanne Mayala, our Congolese colleagues, help with the meetings, in which we sing, sing, and sing Bible songs in French and Lingala. Our lessons and teachings, such as showing courtesy and respect for others, are all biblically based.
Also, the children earn awards for memorizing verses and the names of the New Testament books. We received a shipment of Gideon New Testaments, which the children can earn by memorizing verses.
Coloring Is a Highpoint
Even the young children learn Bible verses. (Some of the very young confuse my last name, “Bill”, with Bible, so they call me Madame Bible. I love that!) But the highlight of the meeting is coloring a picture of a Bible story; the children had never had the opportunity to color until they attended our meetings!
Steven loves club, but he must bring his fussy baby brother, which is common in this community where children are responsible for their younger siblings. (We are prepared with a blanket that lies on the floor for the nappers and babies.) One day recently, Steven said that he hadn’t heard the announcement the previous week, so he had missed the meeting! He was so sad.
We reminded him that we meet every Wednesday from 3–6 p.m., without fail, unless there is a big rain. We even meet in the extreme heat and humidity (100 F!).
Some local officials have visited our children’s meeting because they’d received good reports about our teaching. God has blessed our group. We account our success to the Lord, who has enabled us to be faithful each week, and to sharing good Bible teaching in a fun atmosphere with leaders who are good Christian models. Most important, we communicate God’s love to love-starved children.
Transformation
As for Lekonga, his life has changed since that spring day. He is happier than he used to be, and his parents say he is less difficult and more obedient. A bright student, he reads and understands French and is a joy to have in club where he actively listens and answers questions. “I like club,” he says. “It is fun and interesting and challenges me!”
Because of your prayerful support of the Great Commission Fund, children like Lekonga have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus Christ at the weekly children’s meeting in Ollombo, Congo.
What You Can Do
Give to the Great Commission Fund—partner with Alliance workers like Teresa Bill to share Jesus with children and families alike, who are all in need of the life-changing good news.
Pray for Alliance workers around the world.
Be sure to check out alife‘s January 15 issue that includes more stories about the powerful, Kingdom-expanding impact of children’s ministries.
January 16, 2012
By Jim Adams, who teaches at Dakar Academy—a boarding and day-school program (K-12) largely for the children of international workers.
Updated: January 19, 2012
I especially look forward to our January Dakar Academy outreach each year; this year it’s the 20th to the 22nd. A missionary friend and I take a small group of senior boys to the site to set up the camp before the rest of the team arrives. We haul and filter water and have everything ready when the main group reaches the site on Friday.
As soon as everyone arrives at the site, they stow their gear in their tents, break into teams, and get to work.
Prayer Needed!
This year we will be going back to the same area we were in for the 2011 Thanksgiving outreach. It’s a challenging place—99 percent of inhabitants are adherents of the dominant religion and have little Christian influence.
If this outreach is to be effective, however; it will be because friends like you are praying for us. Outreach would be little more than an activity if it wasn’t totally immersed in prayer!
I wish I could take you on the outreach with me—it’s incredible! But it’s not for the faint-hearted.
No Complaints
These kids are amazing. They work hard from 7 a.m. to about midnight each day. Depending on the team they’re on, they’re either building a church, painting, performing with puppets and doing drama in the village, or taking care of medical needs; the list goes on.
From about 8:00 p.m. to midnight all of the kids are involved in conducting the evangelism campaigns. (Our plan for this outreach is to share Christ in 14 villages.) No matter how tired they are, you never hear any of them complaining.
When I say that we need your prayers, I am serious. We will be taking 146 people, including students and staff as well as overseas workers, national pastors, and evangelists. We will travel in 14 vehicles, hauling trailers, generators, a cement mixer for building a well, sound equipment, and much more into the bush. Once in the bush, we will drive on rough roads (some little more than cow paths), and we will minister under difficult conditions.
But amazing things happen, and we are looking forward to God working and changing lives! Stay tuned for updates.
What You Can Do
Pray for a successful January outreach; pray also for Alliance workers the world over.
Learn more about our work in Senegal.
By Esther Schaeffer, serving in Burkina Faso
“Break a leg.” It’s not exactly what I said, but I did begin to pray that the Lord would give me another contact with Djeneba.
Our widows’ ministry involves 182 women and their families. Recently, we learned that one of our older widows, who had been sick for some time, had passed away. She was the only Christian in a very large family and had gone to live with her younger brother when she could no longer care for herself.
When we got the news about her passing, a delegation from our widows’ group traveled the hour or so to the town where this woman had been living to greet the family. Djeneba was the niece who had lovingly cared for this aunt. She shared through tears her memories of her aunt and her firm devotion to Jesus Christ.
What would normally have been a brief visit turned into several hours, as Djeneba first asked if we wanted to see the grave and then insisted that we stay and eat some of the traditional foods of the region that she wanted me to try. This gave us a lot of time to spend with her, meet many family members, and share our own impressions of her aunt, who had chosen Christ much against her family’s wishes.
Prayers Answered!
As we prayed before we left the home and on the drive home, I commended Djeneba to the Lord, asking that she would continue to have contact with Christians. Imagine my surprise to learn last week that Djeneba had a fall and broke her foot so badly that she had to come to our city to have it repaired.
We weren’t quite sure of the location of her relative’s house where she was staying, but the Lord led the way so that the very first house where we stopped to make inquiries was exactly where Djeneba was recuperating. She was so glad to see us, explain all the details of her accident, and introduce us to more of her family members—we were surrounded by children and young people.
As we were leaving, I knew that Christ would continue to bring Christians into contact with this family. Even if Djeneba could not make that step of faith, others in her family would.
What You Can Do
Praise God for the strong faith of Djeneba’s widowed aunt; pray for Djeneba’s salvation as well as for that of the other members in her extended family. Pray for Alliance workers the world over to have divine appointments through which they have opportunities to share the good news!
Give to the Great Commission Fund—partner in Living the Call together with Alliance workers like Esther Schaeffer in Burkina Faso.
Read “No Longer Alone,” Esther’s alife article (January 2009) about the widows’ ministry in Burkina.
January 11, 2012
The following was adapted from the December prayer letter of Brad and Dorothy Wood, serving in Dominican Republic.
Because you give to the Great Commission Fund—because together we walk as co-laborers with Jesus—we take others by the hand and introduce them to Him also. We witness stories from those who have been touched by His hand:
Carmen testifies to the miracle wrought by the Lord when her husband was shot by car thieves, but not killed, in front of their apartment.
At a “Baseball Chapel” one Sunday, a professional player prayed with Brad to receive Christ.
After the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan, Luci didn’t know whether her son was dead or alive. She shared with our small group that he was found alive after being missing for three months. Now he is in a Tokyo hospital, recuperating from tuberculosis.
Thadea is very pleased that she is learning to pray. In her home country of Bulgaria, she believed that praying was the work of the priests alone.
After reading the account in Acts 8 of the Ethiopian man who was baptized after understanding the good news of Jesus, Yani said that she had always desired to be baptized. Our Bible study group was able to explain that baptism is identification with Jesus Christ and with other believers. She then asked the Lord to come into her life.
Merary comes from a country where less than half of 1 percent of the population believes in Christ. However, here Merary can hear of the Savior on a daily basis!
Thank you so very much for your prayers! We could not be here without you.
What You Can Do
Praise God that because of gifts to the Great Commission Fund, Dorothy and Brad—along with their Alliance colleagues around the world—are able to devote their lives to finding lost people.
Pray that many more Dominicans will come to faith through the ministry of our Alliance team in the Dominican Republic. Join in praying for Alliance workers around the world, many of whom are ministering to those who have never heard the good news.
Give to the Great Commission Fund—partner in Living the Call together with Alliance workers like our team in Dominican Republic.
Learn more about our work in Dominican Republic.
January 3, 2012
By Jeremy Bergevin, serving in Mongolia
Jeremy and his family live in the town of Darhan, northwest of Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar; the following is an adapted excerpt from Jeremy’s blog.
Recently, I went to the Darhan prison with a team from the Alliance Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA) Project Center. Dr. Pham and his team taught about heart health, and they asked me to give an inspirational talk about the heart’s function in matters of faith.
The prisoners especially enjoyed the board game “Healthy Heart.” Dr. Pham divided the group into two teams; players took turns rolling dice, with the goal being to advance to the top of a ladder imprinted on the board. Some rungs were labeled, “You quit smoking—advance three spaces.” Others had cautionary notes such as “Heart surgery” and “Eating too much grease;” players who landed on those spaces had to retreat a rung or two down the ladder.
Believing with the Heart
My part in the outreach was to teach about, and demonstrate, praying from the heart. The Bible says “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:10).
Mongolians have a similar concept in their culture—they understand belief is a matter of the heart. So I prayed for the prisoners that the Father and Creator of Heaven would give them faith to believe in Jesus and join the family of God. After all, no one in the group had ever seen Mongolia’s founder Genghis Khan, but they all agreed that they believed in him fervently—heart and soul.
The visit ended with the prisoners promising to invite us back to prison soon—something to rejoice about!
What You Can Do
- • Praise God for the Darhan prisoners’ openness to the good news; pray for them to come to faith. Join in praying for Alliance workersaround the world, many of whom are ministering to those who have never heard the good news.
- • Donate to the Great Commission Fund—partner in Living the Call together with Alliance workers like our Alliance team in Mongolia.
- • Learn more about our work in Mongolia.
December 29, 2011
The following is an adapted excerpt by Mark Edwards, serving in Taiwan
In response to prayer requests written as far back as January 2009, many of you prayed for the proprietors of a local eatery in Four Lakes—Mr. and Mrs. Tsai—along with his mother and the couple’s three boys. A little over a year ago, Mr. Tsai was diagnosed with lung cancer. In mid-November 2011, Alliance international workers, who were visiting the couple in the hospital, asked the Alliance family to pray for Mr. Tsai, who was now in the last stages of cancer and considering putting his trust in God, along with the ramifications of that decision.
In answer to those prayers, the Lord used several Christians from different churches (including our local Alliance congregation) to lead Mr. Tsai to Christ a week or so before his death in November 2011. At the encouragement of Mr. Tsai’s former high school classmate (who had witnessed to him) and her pastor, the family chose to conduct a Christian funeral. For our community, so deeply entrenched in Taiwanese traditional folk religion, this was a very big deal!
The tent erected on the street for the funeral service was filled to capacity with family, friends, and acquaintances, the vast majority of whom were not Christians. Other mourners stood outside the tent, listening from a distance as the good news of our hope in Jesus was proclaimed.
Although our church played a minimal role in conducting the funeral, I was able to speak briefly about the Lord’s Prayer, which Mr. Tsai and his wife had asked me to teach them while he in the hospital, as well as the story of the Benevolent Father (an abbreviated version of the Prodigal Son), and Naomi’s story from the Book of Ruth. Prior to, during, and after the funeral, we have been able to spend many hours with the family and extended family. One Sunday night, two of the boys came over to our church location to join us for games.
Pray that the extended family and all those who heard the gospel at the funeral will come to know Christ. Also, pray for sustained enthusiasm for us as we visit people in their homes and businesses, even when the results are sometimes discouraging. Pray that by demonstrating Christ’s compassion, we will “love people into the Kingdom” and that many will decide to join our church home.
Learn More
Read more stories about Alliance Great Commission ministries around the world.
What You Can Do
Partner with Alliance workers to share the light of Christ with those living in spiritual darkness. Be Light—give to the Great Commission Fund.
Pray for Alliance workers in Taiwan and their colleagues around the world.
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