November 20, 2007
About 144 people received treatment from a short-term team that ministered through a portable dental office in Sector 30, a needy area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. While an Alliance pastor evangelized, the team members drilled and pulled teeth, putting in 14-hour days. “Some patients, desperate to be seen, stayed at the clinic overnight, sleeping on the ground or porch,” said C&MA missionary Pete Brokopp. “One man peddled 45 miles by bicycle to get there.” The village chief, the government delegate for the area, and the head of the medical center visited the clinic as well.
Even when the drill broke, the team remained committed to serving the impoverished people who poured into the clinic. The engineers on the team constructed a makeshift drill using an air compressor that Brokopp rented from a tire shop. “The hardest thing of all was turning away those who had waited so long, including one woman who kept refusing to leave when the clinic had closed,” he said. “But the dentist’s arms were so tired that he could barely hold onto the instruments.” Many teeth were broken below the gum line, making them difficult to extract. “One person took four hours to have his tooth removed and kept receiving novocain between other patients,” said Brokopp. “What a celebration when the last piece of his tooth came out!”
Each day began with prayer. Maman Paré, the best-known evangelist in the area, preached to the line of people waiting to be seen. “Some heard quite a few messages!” said Brokopp. Paré prayed individually with each person, and then the team prayed with the patients.
Weeks after the short-termers left, people in the community were still talking about the team’s visit. “When they praise the work the team did, the pastor just tells them to thank the Lord who sent the dentist,” said Brokopp. “Imagine all those people finally living without pain! The love the team showed them is indeed an opening to the gospel. Pray for changed lives as a result of this testimony.”
June 27, 2007
Reaching Japanese via multifaceted ministries
Of the 127 million people in Japan, less than half of 1 percent are evangelical Christians, according to the Joshua Project, a missions research organization. “Eight million gods are worshipped by the Japanese, and most follow Buddhism and Shinto,” said C&MA missionaries David and Vangi Kindervater. “Ancestor worship is part of daily life.” Along with the Bengali people, the Japanese are the largest Unreached People Group in the world. “Most have never heard a basic presentation of the gospel,” said the Kindervaters.
Persevering against great odds, Alliance missionaries are using a multifaceted approach to minister God’s love in this spiritually needy country. Practical outreaches to the community, camping ministries, and cultural events are just a few ways our workers are reaching the Japanese people with the good news of Jesus.
C&MA missionary Pauline Black is starting a moms and tots program called “Mommy and Me” at a community center. Her husband, Joel, teaches English classes and hosts an English-speaking club at a nearby university. The Blacks praise God for all the mothers, families, and young men they have met who are interested in knowing more about Christ.
On June 30, David and Vangi Kindervater will hold a concert and afternoon tea as a means for believers to reach out to their unsaved daughters and friends. The Kindervaters also have been holding gospel music workshops. “Gospel music is very popular here, and we are praying that many community people will join with our church members in singing praises to God and through this accept Him as Savior,” said the Kindervaters.
Harry Landaw praises God that three members of his sports evangelism group came to church Easter Sunday for the fourth time. Landaw’s wife, Jane, ministers to young mothers, mostly unsaved, who want to read the Bible.
Dale and Heidi Lemke, who are involved in youth work, are thankful for connections they have made through English/international clubs on university campuses. A Christian student at one university is starting a campus club to reach her friends. “We look forward to being guests at these clubs and hosting parties in our home,” said the Lemkes. “Pray that these students will find Christ and join a Bible study on campus, in our home, or elsewhere.”
“There is a spiritual battle being waged for the millions of Japan,” David and Vangi Kindervater said. Despite centuries of resistance, inroads are being made to reach them with the good news of salvation. “It is not an easy struggle, but it is a winnable one,” the Kindervaters said. “Even the gates of hell cannot withstand the will of God.”
June 15, 2007
With more than half the population in Indonesia under the age of 18, The Alliance is gearing up to reach this huge and often neglected people group. “There are many open doors [to minister to children] in Indonesia because kids matter to God,” says C&MA missionary Judy Gaskin, who has been networking with groups such as Children at Risk, Compassion International, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Awana, and Kids’ EE to bring the love of Jesus to the youth of Indonesia.
One way The Alliance in Indonesia has been meeting the need for outreach to young people is by training and equipping Sunday school and children’s ministry leaders. In addition, the Awana program has been introduced at Alliance churches in Indonesia. “Praise God for this wonderful opportunity to evangelize and disciple thousands of C&MA children in God’s Word,” says Gaskin.
C&MA camping ministries also are impacting youngsters with the gospel. Good News Camp began 15 years ago and continues to grow and develop. In the past 29 years, thousands of children and young people attended summer camps hosted by Jakarta C&MA churches. “We rejoice in the life-changing decisions that have been made,” Gaskin says. More than 500 children and youth will attend four Alliance camps this summer. Campers will be involved in Bible lessons, quizzing, choir competition, hiking, games, and more. “We will train new counselors who will minister along with Bible teachers, camps coordinators, cooks, and other helpers,” says Gaskin. “Many young lives will be changed for eternity.”
More than 20 years ago, C&MA missionary Ann Grinnell said, “Speak, Lord,” and Team Joshua was born. The handful of youth that began meeting with Grinnell has grown to more than 400. When a team member was asked to teach classes about religion, including a lesson on salvation, at a local public school, nearly 60 students received Christ. Recently, Team Joshua has been spearheading efforts to stop the spread of AIDS in Papua. The group is handing out brochures with a hotline number at all the major youth gathering places and is providing training on AIDS counseling to its volunteers.
Last month, Team Joshua held an AIDS awareness rally and concert. C&MA missionary Barry Jordan, who ministers with the organization, says, “It is exciting to see young people catching a vision of how they can help save their generation from AIDS.” Future plans include the opening of a youth center that will provide HIV/AIDS testing, education, and youth counseling.
June 6, 2007
Previously, The Alliance has reported on “the light side” of all that God has accomplished in and through selfless volunteers who have touched the lives of the residents of Waveland, Mississippi. Mississippians have experienced firsthand the love of Jesus through the compassionate care of His followers, and an Alliance church has been planted there. But for thousands in Waveland, as well as other Gulf Coast cities ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, the nightmare continues.
“The light side is easy,” says George Williamson, pastor of the Southern District’s Christian Life Center in Waveland. “The dark side is not. The dark side started for me on February 23, 2007.”
That is when Williamson and his wife, Allie, began their ministry in Waveland, where thousands of people, many still living in trailers, are experiencing life-challenging problems. Williamson followed God’s call to the small Gulf Coast city, picking up where Alliance pastors Art Baruffi and Don Young left off, leading relief and rebuilding efforts and pastoring Christian Life Center. Nearly 60 people have come to the Lord as a result of their interaction with believers who were there during the time of need.
“But there is so much more that needs to be done,” says Williamson, who sees the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on a daily basis—and it’s not just the landscape. “The soil is polluted with sewage, oil, and mud. Open wounds quickly bring infection.
“Men can’t help their families. They question their ability to be men. ‘My job is gone,’ they say. ‘My house is gone. My kid’s school is gone.’”
Suicides are common, Williamson says. Media headlines tell the story of a prominent local man who shot his wife and then took his own life. The city is reeling. People are broken, and Williamson’s heart is broken for them.
“A local policeman told me, ‘I haven’t talked to a chaplain in 17 months.’ He asked me to pray. I ask myself, ‘Can this be America? Do we matter?’”
Williamson, choked with emotion, knows where his hope lies. “I wait undefeated,” he says, “because I know mercy triumphs. We still need help. We are trusting God for 100 volunteers a week. Jesus’ ministry is still to heal the brokenhearted, and they are everywhere on the Gulf Coast.”
For information on how you can help Alliance efforts in rebuilding the Gulf Coast, contact: Frank Smith, C&MA director for hurricane relief in the Southern District, 570-713-5930, or frankdsmith@southerncma.org.
June 1, 2007
Missionaries in foreign language study may think that their ministry has not begun because they are not yet on their assigned field. But Alliance missionary Renée Valach recently learned how God is using her time in Albertville, France.
Renée is in French language study in preparation for ministry at Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, West Africa. One day, a woman from Renée’s church approached her. “She told me it is a privilege to have missionaries here,” says Renée, who had thought that language study students didn’t contribute much to the congregation because of the difficulty in communication. Renée sometimes serves as a translator for three- to six-year-old Sunday school students who speak English only. “I didn’t think what I do is much of a contribution.”
The woman related how a missionary told her mother and her about Jesus when she was young. “It was a little seed that was planted,” Renée says. Years later, the woman asked Jesus to come into her life. “The woman was baptized last week. It reminded me that, even with my limited language skills, God can still use me to bless others. I may say something now which one day will sprout.”
May 17, 2007
“I can’t live without God!” The words were spoken by a woman from a Buddhist background who attends Harry and Jane Landaw’s cell group. Recently, she requested time off from work to attend the Bible study regularly. As C&MA missionaries to Japan, the Landaws regularly witness such testimonies of God’s power to change lives.
“I saw the cross on top of the church and want to understand what it means,” said a man in his thirties who walked into Jane’s Sunday school class one morning. He remained for the English Bible class that Harry taught in the afternoon and has come for weekly services since then.
Recently, the Landaws chatted with the family that runs the neighborhood gas station. When Harry filled up his car a few days later, the manager approached him. “Landaw san, Landaw san, thank you for greeting us the other day,” the man said. He confided that his wife has been going through a valley after the death of their son. “Won’t you help her?” he asked. The Landaws are grateful for such opportunities to share the love of Jesus.
“We continue to be amazed at the transforming power of the cross of Christ,” they said. “God [is pushing] back the darkness in Japan so His Light can shine in.”
May 8, 2007
Against all odds, The Alliance is confronting AIDS in a myriad of innovative ways, including a new approach by one C&MA church member in Florida. Not to be hindered by time constraints of a local walkathon, where pledges straggle in or never come, Paul Steinbrueck, CEO of OurChurch.com and elder at Cypress Meadows (Alliance) Community Church in Clearwater, has come up with a solution—Clickathon! “It’s like an online walkathon,” says Steinbrueck, who founded OurChurch.com in 1996 with a vision to make it possible for every Christian church to build and create an easy, affordable Christian Web site.
The AIDS Clickathon, which runs through May 10, is a fund-raising event to help support church members Joseph and Molly Bail, who will move to Kenya later this year to build Springs of Hope, an home for AIDS-orphaned children. The Bails will be working along side a Kenyan pastor to provide food, shelter, education, and love to scores of helpless children who have been left homeless after their parents succumbed to AIDS. It is estimated that nearly 12 million African children have been orphaned because of the disease.
“Anyone can help,” says Steinbrueck, “just by clicking.” When visitors click on the site, Clickathon sponsors donate to support the cause. The goal is $50,000, which will be used to build and staff the orphanage as well as to provide other AIDS-related relief. “OurChurch.Com, also will make a donation for each person who clicks,” Steinbrueck says.
To click, visit www.AIDSClickathon.com.
May 7, 2007
An Alliance woman from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, was killed Sunday, May 6, when the plane she was traveling in exploded after take-off. Mrs. Alice N'Goran, who attended a C&MA national church, was married with four children. “Her husband is an elder,” said Alliance missionary Cindy Cook. “My heart is very heavy for them.” The cause of the explosion is under investigation
April 13, 2007
Kidnapped youth pastor ****, of the Evangelical Alliance Church in Baghdad, was released Friday, April 13, at approximately 3 p.m. Iraq time. Arie Verduyn, president of Alliance World Fellowship, spoke with **** briefly. “He sounded very tired,” says Verduyn, “but is immensely grateful.” During ****’s captivity, he was not allowed to change clothes nor drink much water, but he said, ‘I sensed that God was with me and talked to me all the time.’”
Shortly before ****’s release, his kidnappers gave him a big bag with identification cards, told him the cards belonged to people they had killed, and was ordered to look for his own. “They told him, ‘We don’t know why, but we will not kill you,” reports Verduyn. “But we do know why. We have received many messages from around the world of people praying for the release of our brother!”
As Verduyn spoke with the pastor who pastors the Alliance church in Baghdad, he heard shouts of joy in the background. The pastor was at ****’s house with his family and church members, who were singing and praising God. “Yes, our Redeemer lives!”
April 3, 2007
When a group of Christian businessmen began meeting in an Italian restaurant in Säo Paulo, Brazil, Chef Miriam Dias was listening. One day she approached the group, which was led by Alliance missionary Len Warden, and asked what they were doing. Warden explained that they were discussing biblical principles of integrity in the workplace. Dias became intrigued. “The whole idea of being honest in this business is radical,” she said. As a successful restaurateur, Dias has appeared on national television and has hosted wealthy celebrities in her restaurant. Yet she felt an emptiness that no amount of achievement could fill. “I knew there had to be more,” she said.
Dias asked to participate in the integrity meetings, and Warden’s wife, Diane, offered to mentor Dias in a discipleship class. As a result, “I started to be transformed,” said Dias. She is now a baptized member of the Zona Norte (Alliance) church plant and is sharing her faith with those she encounters in the upper reaches of Brazilian society. When customers ask the reason for the joy and peace she radiates, Dias points them to Christ. “I believe God has given me these opportunities so I can tell people about the light of Jesus in my heart,” she said.
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