Growth in crisis

Dearest in Christ,

It is another time to say hello to you and many people around you who are doing all in their ability to serve our God in many different ways. We bring sincere greetings to you from this part of the globe, Cameroon. We are happy you are doing great in all that you do.

Please, thanks for your prayers for us and the situation in our beautiful country. We are still in the crisis because no one among the actors are ready to surrender, neither the government nor the Amba boys. Insecurity is still high but our God is watching over His own and we are ever grateful to Him. We keep trusting Him because he is trustworthy.

Our Bible students keeps gaining knowledge and their performance in our weekly church activities is convincing us that they will do well even after they leave school. Keep them in your daily prayers.

Our early morning program and weekend evangelism with these new students are making waves as many are listening to the message and have access to our students during house to house evangelism as well as reading different topics from our mission printing tracts. He is a denominational pastor and this is the second time he is visiting our congregation during Sunday morning. He asked reasonable questions and when it is answered using the Bible he said, ”I LOVE THE CHURCH OF CHRIST PREACHING BECAUSE IT IS ALL SCRIPTURAL.” I told him we are just simple Christians who depend solely on the Bible for all our teaching and learning. That is why I gave him a copy of The Dickson Teacher’s Bible. It will help him more. Keep him in your prayers as we continue to study with him.

PLANS

The first mission work for these epsilon batch students will come in March. Keep us in your prayers as we make findings to send our students to places where they will be safe as they serve communities and congregations.

APPRECIATIONS

God bless you and keep you strong as you continue to stand with us. Many are facing big challenges here. Some lack basic necessities because of the crisis. Many are sick and many are homeless. We have accommodated some in what was the dormitory addition of our church building as the students are now in the new campus. It is not easy with me to make sure all of these challenges are under control.

Keep us in your prayers.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Evangelism in Guinea

The 2018 year-end holidays carried us up to the 13th of January so that we started our second year activities on the 14 of the month. There were some obstacles during the month in the areas of illness on the part of one student and that of the breakdown of our copier. We managed to cope up any way. On the other hand, we had 5 conversions to the Lord. Here are the details of these activities under subheadings.

Classroom: One of the 17 students on roll has been bordered by an illness which rendered him unable to meet up the regular academic and field requirements. All others went through the month’s activities while student Nicolas Millimono was undergoing medical attention. He has just returned from Conakry where his parents had taken him for treatment and is now in class though required to settle for the courses conducted in his absence.

Evangelism: Indeed classes started by the middle of the month, but some of our students had made some effort even during the holidays to evangelize. Together with the air time radio gospel broadcast and other evangelistic efforts during the month we converted 5 persons to Christ. These are some of the people who had been held in denominations and were encouraging us to be patient.

Personal Profile: Student Jeannot Makete Sandouno, one of the 17 students at Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute is 65 years of age. He came into the faith some 2 years age through the effort of bro Saa Nestor Millimono, one of the 2 initial 19 students who on account of illness dropped.

What is interesting about Jeannot is that during the period all the 63 years before his conversion he was not a member of any religious body and had never step foot in a church building for any reason even though he had “Christian” friends not only in his home country of Guinea, but both in Liberia and Sierra Leone where he had adventured in live. Some of his former friends were pastors that I knew; in fact one of them the late Pastor Tamba Kpalu of the Assemblies of God church, Bomi Hills, Liberia was my uncle. Jeannot had no interest what so ever for any religion for which reason those who knew him labeled him ‘’the chief pagan”. 

According the report, his conversion was not a few days business, but since the evangelist himself is an elderly man with a special gift of motivation, the several months of his effort resulted to Mr Sandouno’s baptism directly in the church of Christ. This man benefited that special grace of God as referenced in 2 Peter 3:9. He then agreed a year later to enroll at the Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute from where he will be graduating by the close of this year.

Today, Mr. Sandouno, the former “chief pagan” sometimes preaches in the assembly where he worship at Carriere, Gueckedou town.

May God be glorified!

Conclusion: There were only 2 weeks of class for this month, but we were involved in evangelism of the entire month for which the Lord blessed our effort with the 5 souls converted. We also faced serious challenges when our copier was broken down, but we managed to cope up till another was purchased. Details of this will be soon in our February report.

Brotherly,

Francis Sahr Musa

Director, BVbI-G

Great course offerings in New Zealand

As I write this, it is the morning of the final exam for my The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit course. The students have been great. I wonder what they would say about the instructor?

We have enjoyed the zeal of some new part-time students who have picked up some extra courses. One in particular has gained much confidence and has been placed on the preaching roster in Wellington. 

BVBINZ Courses This Quarter:

• The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit (Lance Mosher)

• Public Speaking 2 (Rod Kyle)

• Life of Christ 1 (James Cammock)

• James and 1, 2, & 3 John (Kent O’Donnell)

• Christian Evidences (Trevor Major)

In Christ,

Lance Mosher

Director, BVBI-NZ

Two special guests in Cambodia

Fellow Servants of Christ, we are delighted to be a part of God’s work in Cambodia!

After a short break from “Application Week” and Short Courses we have resumed class and begun our new courses.  This trimester involves 4 courses, two of which are Christian Evidence and the Fundamentals of Church.  Both are taught by our co-directors and much needed for our first year students.

During the week of January 21-25, we had brother Wayne Burger from the Bear Valley Bible Institute come and teach us on Hermeneutics.  Brother Wayne has so much knowledge in the bible and vast experience in many areas.  For one of our Sunday services we asked Wayne difficult questions in which he answered with God’s voice from scripture.  We appreciate him very much and his willingness to travel and share with us this wisdom.

During the week of January 28-Feb 1 brother Wes Autrey, who is our coordinator, teach us “How We Got the Bible” in the mornings and “English Pronunciation” in the afternoons.

We are very grateful to brother Wes who puts in the effort for us to grow in God’s kingdom.  Wes engages us with a Skype chapel every Friday morning to bring us a lesson.  Our staff and students learn a lot about our God’s words.

We continue to thank all of the overseas teachers that Skype or come over to teach us to be better Christians through God’s word. Without these men, without all of you who pray and support us we would not be able to God’s work as effectively.  Thank you for your kindness and love. We do know that with God all things are possible.

Please pray for two men and one woman who have recently dropped out due to family responsibilities, pressures of Buddhism or simple lack of confidence and faith.

During the month of January we attended two seminars. One took place at the Best Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, (6 hour drive from Siem Reap). During the month of February we attended another seminar  in Battambang, Cambodia (3 hour drive from Siem Reap). This seminar’s theme was “Listening Lab” which taught about the 11 skills to improve our communication as leaders of the church. We desire to learn as much as possible and contribute when we can at these seminars.

Last but not least, we would like to thank you for your support and kindness in helping out with the all of work in Cambodia. Without your help, we couldn't do all things. But we also surely know that God is the One who made it happen. Don't forget to pray for our work in Cambodia. 

Servants of Christ,

Piseth Rin - Co-Director

Pros Rok - Staff

19 more baptized in Liberia

Dear Brethren,

Greetings come to you all from your fellow laborers in Liberia, West Africa and hoping that this report meets you in good health and sound mind. We also want to wish you all a happy and prosperous new year as we anticipate to accomplish great deal of work for our maker this year.

VACATION AND BACK TO SCHOOL

During the close of the last year, on the 14th of December 2018, our students and the staff vacated for the Christmas holidays. During the break, our students were actively involved into serious evangelistic work with their local congregations and in other communities that haven't heard the gospel. When they all came back, I made them to write a comprehensive report on their vacation, addressing the following:

  1. Where did you spend your vacation?

  2. What work were you involved with?

  3. Which church did you work with?

  4. How long did you stay at one Location?

  5. Who did you work with? Please give their contacts.

  6. What did you achieve?

  7..What do you recommend?

We are thrilled with the results from their very first vacation. We called back to their congregations and communities and it was confirmed of their hard work and good examples. In all, they led nineteen (19) precious souls to the Lord.. Most of their recommendations are request to take the campaigns to most of the towns that need the gospel. Meanwhile, we are very grateful to God for bringing all of us back to school safely to continue our academic first quarter for the new batch of students.

EVANGELISM

It is very amazing how very zealous these our new batch of students are in terms of house to house evangelism. The campus ministry is doing very well right now from their efforts. Since they came, they have in all baptized 34 person. To God be the glory.. Amen!!

REQUEST FOR EVANGELISM

With the burning quest to spread the gospel speedily to the lost in so many communities that have never heard the undiluted word of God or known the Lord's church, the staffs and students have decided to carry out ten (10) campaigns in all this year including our required four (4) campaigns according to Bear Valley Curriculum. We are cutting down our vacations to make sure to accomplish this set goals of ours.

CONCLUSIONS

We appreciate highly your continued support and prayers for this work in Liberia. With all the economic challenges in this part of the world, we are still grateful that with your help we are able to do the Lord's will. We won't have don't this work without your involvements. Thank you so much for your love for God and your desires to see His will on earth be done.

Thank You,

Your Brother For Christ Sake;

Robert P. Dahn, Jr.

Director-Bear Valley Bible Institute- Liberia

Tell: +231888838918 / +231775161235

Email: robertdahn@yahoo.com

Prayers requested in Togo

May the grace and peace of our Lord be with each of us all!

The students' work:

December marked the end of the Biblical Teaching Center's program to prepare candidates to access the appropriate Biblical training at the Bear Valley Bible Institute. The first two weeks were marked by evangelization activities in AVETOUNOU. A vehicle was not available, so two motorcycles were used as a means of transport for the students.  Currently, there are a total of six (6) baptized. The church of Christ in AVETOUNOU is the work of the students. Wednesday evenings are reserved for personal studies with people to whom they have made appointments either at their homes or at other places. The end of the second week was marked by the duties of memorization, practice, and writing. They have all evolved in their work compared to the other quarters.

The students:

Many times the student TOSSOU FOFO is seriously threatened by his former denomination (Pentecost Unit International).  The leaders want him to leave Adeta where he was the pastor before coming for training at the Center of Biblical Study CBS (Church of Christ). They closed the denomination (Church) at Adeta, and they withdrew his support because he teaches the doctrine he learns at CBS. Despite all this, he has persevered.  He planted a Church of Christ one km away in KPELE-KONDA. Please Pray for him.

We send students to work on churches every weekend, especially on Sundays to preach, teach, lead songs and do the Last Supper. They are well prepared for the two (2) year program of BVBI.

They have not only studied the Bible, but they are also learning to work on the computer.  They continue to learn, and within the next two (2) years they will be able to work proficiently on the Internet.

Saturday's classes:

Ten have attended the courses in the Saturday program since January 05, 2019. Classes start in the morning at 8:00 am and end in the afternoon at 2:00 am. Fourteen courses are scheduled for this one year of training. The teachers are: evangelists OMOU KOKOU JEAN-MARC, HONKU KOFFI, and NYEMANTA CEPHAS.

May the peace and grace of our Jesus Christ fill all his blessings for the support you bring to the Institute.

Thanks

Your brother

NYEMANTA Essotena

Progress in Lagos

REPORT FROM BEAR VALLY AGEGE EXTENDED SCHOOL

Number of present students: 30

The school went for evangelism in which six (6) souls were saved and 2 brothers were restored and their pictures were attached.

Brother Ezekiel Okoro taught in all 3 schools during the last quarter. The topic of his teaching was the Life of Christ which he taught in Agege, Ikorodu, and Ibadan. 

Many congregations have requested the school to support them in their evangelism or a gospel campaigns. 

SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT 

All of the lessons of the last quarter have been taught to all the students and all the distance teachers who are from Ibadan and Ikorodu schools came to teach their subjects.  All of us from Agege who was assigned to teach in the other schools at Ibadan and Ikorodu went there to teach.   We can see that the rotation of teachers is very good and the students love it.  All of the students were given the handouts for each class.

INCOMING PROGRAMMES 

Four congregations have invited the school to help them with their evangelism.  This includes the congregation at Iyana Iyesu in Ogun State from 25 to 20th April 2019, the church of Christ in Iju Ogun State on the 20th of April 2019; the congregation at Orisumibare Lagos state on the 

9th of April and the church at Ijaye Lagos will hold their own campaign in June of this year The school has resumed for another semester, and Okohrougou is the teacher for Life of Christ 2, The school is preparing to hold a lectureship this year and all the churches in Lagos state shall be invited Some of the students were sick in the last quarter and visitation was made by the director of the school, Abiola Joseph.  The school is now growing evangelically and academically more than before.

The first year in Ibadan is complete

Beloved in Christ,

Greetings from staff and students of Bear Valley Bible Institute, Ibadan. 

1.    Overview: Glory to God for the successful completion of the first year program of the weekend school at Ibadan; 12 courses has been taught and graded. The gospel campaign that ought to be for 2nd and 9th of February as been shifted to February 23 and break on 16th of February and 2nd March because of the Nigeria National election slated for those days. Brother Oladokun will be teaching Personal Evangelism 1 on February 2,9 and March 9and 16th.

2.  Special Accomplishment: The hosting congregation where the works records a baptism during December; moreso, Bro Olalekan Olajide Joseph one of our student presently work with kute Church of Christ, Ibadan. 

3  Evangelism:   the school intructors and students continue in the work of Evangelism with our hosting congregation (Gbongudu/sooko Church of Christ, Ibadan). The students are prepared for the forthcoming Gospel campaign being equipped with the undiluted word of Christ to reach lost souls.

4.  About A Student: Sister Esther Makinde is one of our student giving all her strength for the cause of Christ, building up and teaching the children and teenager the way to God and laying down her time for personal Evangelism and follow-up work. She's inspiring many soul with her zeal for the cause of the Gospel.

Conclusion:  We  appreciate you effort thus far to promote the work of Christ here in Ibadan. The school has been a blessing enriching students and congregations here in Ibadan.

May God continue to bless our work in Christ AMEN

 YOURS IN CHRIST

OLADOKUN SAMUEL OLAWALE 

A special seminar in Ukraine

Dear brothers and sisters,

I'd like to share with you news about the events at our Bible Institute that took place in January and February.

The first few days of the year I spent with my family. We enjoy spending some time distanced from the rest of people, having recreational family activities such as playing with our girls, visiting parks, going for a walk, etc.

The new school semester started on January 8th. Our students returned from their winter break and prepared to resume their studies. Thus, the first year students had the Wisdom Literature (Instructor - Dennis Sopelnik), Judges and Ruth (Chris Moran), 1 and 2 Samuel (Viktor Semikoz) and Minor Prophets (Andrew Zhuravlev). The second year students had World's Religion (Albert Bagdasaryan), Homiletics II (Stanislav Kuropyatnikov), Galatians (Walter Raubyrn), 1 and 2 Peter and Jude (Michael Underwood). As you have noticed we had quite a few Instructions from the States.

When finished teaching their courses brothers Chris and Walter took part in the winter lectureship in the Carpathian Mountains. It was the second annual lectureship that's organized and hosted by American and Ukrainian brethren. The main goal of the event is to unite and encourage the congregations in the Western Ukraine. Few days in the mountains, wonderful lessons and Christian fellowship produce good results, and, as one of the attendees commented to me, this year the hugs were genuine and welcomed, more family like. At the same time there was another lectureship in the Eastern Ukraine. Thus Christians from both sides of Ukraine didn't miss any joy of visiting their lectureship.

The Bible Institute is working well. We currently have 10 students. And one more student (Tamara) occasionally takes the courses she has missed. This year we anticipate 5 students finishing the program. They'll graduate and receive their diplomas.

Our student and brother Sergey Omelchenko is back to the hospital, he was diagnosed with TB and he needed urgent treatments. I request your prayers for his recovery and boldness to preach while he's in the hospital.

And, finally, last Saturday Michael Underwood had a one-day seminar on leadership. He taught a lot about the eldership and how local congregations can prepare for such an important step. There were 20-25 people attending the event. We all had a great time and were able to raise and discuss questions that were important to us. As you know, only very few congregations in Ukraine have eldership, the majority of us go by the decisions of the men's meetings. So, we need to prepare and finalize this matter. We are very thankful to Michael and his wife Janine for their ministry in Ukraine. They come three years in a row and efficiently respond to our spiritual needs.

My family, our students and Instructors send their greetings to you and sincere appreciation of you support and prayers. We love you and we are looking forward to your possible visit, so you can come and see the fruit of our joined efforts, as His Kingdom is growing.

Your brother and co-worker in the Lord's vineyard,

Dennis Sopelnik

A great start to the year in Tamale

JANUARY REPORT 2019

We shall forever be committed to the course we are charged to keep in order to propagate the gospel. For we are grateful to God for His faithfulness to the promise He made to us as His adopted children. For He had warranted us a favor by given us yet another year to work in His vineyard for growth and survival of His kingdom, the Church. As matter of fact we sincerely appreciate you for the wholehearted and bold decision you have taken to support Bear valley Bible Institute in Tamale. May God richly replenish you in all your daily activities both spiritually and physically for your continual love for the Lord’s work, May He also expand and enrich your source of income to enable you meet your target this year 2019.

STUDENTS BACK TO SCHOOL

As indicated in last year report, all the students had a successful new year celebration with their families and Church members and are back to school to carry on their academic  work, and so far three courses have been treated with brothers, Ascraft Steven, Albert Malir and James Legend leaving two more courses to be treated. We wish to end this term too successfully in next two weeks.

ADMINISTRATIVE WORK

Our effort in campaign for students has yielded positive results, nineteen students successfully interviewed and more applicants yet to come for interview. It is our prayer and hope that these prospective students will stick to the decision they have made and report to school on 8th April 2019 academic year to commence classes as we keep on preparing towards that.

May the grace and peace of God rest upon you all in Jesus name Amen!!

From the staff and administration of Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies

Incredible opportunity in Sierra Leone

Hello Brethren.

We are sending you our sincere greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who has been with us since the inception of our studies unto the end of our program.

ACTIVITY IMPLIMENTED

As we draw closer to the end of our classes students are engaged more on personal evangelism work in the field such as public preaching, seminars, house to house visitation, one to one teachings, group teachings in   Christian homes to bring our classes to an end.

SUCCESSES 

We have been able to win the heart of our brethren in the region due to the performance of our students             in their congregations. By preaching the undiluted word of God to people in their villages, they are able to captivate the mind set of those who are reluctant to the gospel.

AN OFFER MADE TO BEAR VALLEY

The CHURCH OF CHRIST congregation at Lungi International Airport has been handed over to Bear Valley for restoration purpose to preach the undiluted word to the people. The decision came about at a meeting held in Freetown at the Church of Christ edifice in Tengbeh Town.

Elder Alusine Kamara was the pioneer of that congregation at Lungi during the rebel incursion when he was transferred for official duty at that time. Since his withdrawal from Lungi, the congregation has been faced with the problem of having a church of Christ trained preacher to preach for the congregation. For some time now women are allowed to run the affairs of the church because there was no train and qualify men to preach sound doctrine to the people. With few untrained men supposedly with denominational training keeps the congregation moving but with polluted doctrines. In view of the above, we are asked by the congregation to step in and salvage the situation by sending preacher weekly to teach and preach sound doctrine to the people. 

We have eye marked few students who have been doing very well in school to take up the lecturing position in our next lessons however, we want to put them on probationary period and look at their performance for some period in the teaching field. We have also given them more work load to carry out and they seem to be at the top of their colleagues.

STUDENT PROFILE

Bro Emmanuel F. Focko has been very instrumental in the things of God in preaching, seminars, evangelism, door to door teaching at home and in school. He can be seen most of the time engaging himself in personal evangelism work.

Quiet recently he hosted a seminar at Koindu with the youth of his congregation and made an impact all over that region. He is also obedient to the gospel preaching as he pursue his main and objective of becoming an evangelist' for Christ.

CONCLUSION

A journey of a thousand mile starts with the first step. We are almost coming to the end of the journey. We thank all those who in diverse ways contributed to the success of this course. We also pray for our sponsors to give us their relentless support on the program.

We pray for our graduating students to focus on the course they have chosen not to deviate from it as the devil is roaming about seeking for the weaker ones to devour

SUBMITTED BY DIRECTOR OF LOCAL EXTENSION STUDIES BEAR VALLEY SL

ISHMAEL SIMAH BANGURA

Continued political unrest in Cameroon

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from the country of Cameroon. We are doing better but we are still faced with the challenges we must face.  Most students are better in health but some are down.  We are doing our best to make sure they in good health. Many of them are struggling with malaria and eye problems. Keep them in your prayers. Our nurse sister Senge is making sure that all is well from her level.

Keep praying for Cameroon. The crisis is down a little in many areas but we keep hearing rumors of killings and shut downs in some areas. Christians are praying day and night. Even our children, when called up to pray, will always mention the situation of our country. My son Stevemarx who is less than two years will pray and talk of the many people in bushes. Many are still suffering greatly. Some in the bushes don’t have anywhere to go so they are bound to remain in bushes. How can life be in those places?

Students in the Bear Valley Bible Institute are struggling to learn more from the assignments given to them by the instructors. It is making them to know clearly that they need to study now and to suspend lots of their ideas on some issues.

PLANS

Weekend evangelism continues with two and three persons per group and we are also planning for a mass evangelism in ISOKOLO Mokindi village to evangelize and plant a new congregation.

APPRECIATIONS

Thank you for all that you are doing for the work here. If not of you, I doubt how possible this work would have been. God bless you for the good heart you have. He will reward you in due season.

PRAYER REQUEST

Please pray for the situation of our country. It is a big challenge to us and our homes are filled with displaced persons who are Christians. It is not easy to cope with life these days.

God bless you.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

EVANGELISM IS OUR MISSION AND OUR MISSION IS EVANGELISM.2TIM2:2 2TIM4:2

Vocational training in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION

We always give glory and honour to God who gives us the ability and zeal to advance the cause of His kingdom. We are always grateful when we look back in the month and see the hand of God in a number of areas. To Him, we remain grateful. This report gives a glimpse to some of the issues that transpired in the month. The greater part of this reports shall be the entrepreneurship skills program that recently took place.  

TERM BEGINS

Our new term started on the 3rd of January with a practical geared towards the development of entrepreneurship skills. This component will be covered at length hereunder. Normal classes resumed on the 22rd of January. All students returned and classes started well..

ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM

BVBIZ had her first ever entrepreneurship skills practical from the 2nd to the 21st of January. Whilst a lot of effort is put in increasing the knowledge of the Bible and ministry, BVBIZ is on a drive to also equip the students with life survival skills. These skills will help them as they preach the word. This year’s program was done at 3 centres.

STUDENT DISTRIBUTION

Students were involved in a variety of activities. These include welding and the production of cattle, fish, crops, poultry and pigs.

APPRECIATION

Our appreciation goes to the following brothers and their families for providing us with the opportunity. There are P.Kufa, W.Nyakudya, L. Zungunde, J. Mugweni and L. Sedze. They provided accommodation, food and the knowledge and skills that left BVBIZ’s students at a higher level.

LESSONS LEARNED

Several lessons were learnt by the students as they did their practicum. To many, this was an eye opener. BVBIZ also learnt several aspects that will help us to enhance our curriculum as we seek to develop students who will be relevant to the church, their families and society. Next year, there shall be another program. This program shall probably take place for not less than 6 weeks.

EVANGELISM

A preacher remains a preacher at any place and in every situation. Besides the practical that students were doing to enhance their survival skills, evangelism was not neglected. Devotions were carried out each day and where there were no devotions, students initiated them. They did these with all the workers. Students in Rusape worshipped at Rest Haven, while those at Bro. Nyakudya’s plot worshipped with Nora Valley Congregation (this congregation was started by BVBIZ students in April 2018). Those who were at Makumbiri Estates subdivided themselves into two. Two went to meet with the congregation at Mvurwi while 2 went to Mazowe. In all these instances, students were given the opportunity to serve in various capacities during church services. Those stationed at Brother Sedze’s place went to Rusape General  Hospital  for visitation every day at 5am. At Rusape and Nora Valley, there were time allocations for evangelism during certain days. 2 souls were added to the church at Nora Valley while 5 were baptized at the Rest Haven congregation in Rusape.

3.0 CURRICULUM

The following are the subjects being taught this term

Denominational Doctrines                 Mathew Muchingami         

World Religions                                Donnie Estep

1-2 Corinthians                                  David Walker

1-2 Thessalonians                              David Walker

Greek I                                               Mathew Muchinagmi

1, 2 Peter, and Jude                            Howard Suwari

Wisdom Literature                             Ishmael Mutichu

Prison Epistles                                   Ishamel Mutichu

Introduction to computers                  Hailey Mlangeni

 FIELD PRACTICUM

This class we currently have shall have its first field practicum next term. The students will attached at different congregations. Several congregations have already applied. Each congregation shall meet the cost of accommodation and food and must be willing to join the preachers in working for the Lord. These students shall not be working for the congregations but with them. This year’s program shall run for 10 weeks. If there are individuals or congregations who have plans to start new work, BVBIZ is readily available to assist. In fact, preference shall be given to those intending to establish new work.

CONCLUSION

As we start this new year, we would like to thank everyone who contributed this far, one way or another, to BVBIZ, that is, materially, financially or morally. Your support this year will also go a long way in training workers for Christ as has been noted in the report above. We also appreciate all visiting teachers whose knowledge, dedication and sacrifices have taken BVBIZ to another level. The school could not be where it is now without your support. The Board has also provided an excellent oversight and direction.  Our gratefulness will not be enough without Woodland Oaks and Bear Valley Bible Institute International. May the God of heaven remember you all as you do your part in the furtherance of this noble work.

Mathew Muchingam

Director, BVBI-Z

A New School in Nigeria

NEW SCHOOL LAUNCHES IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

We give thanks to God for the launch of a new part-time school in Abuja, Nigeria. On February 2, 2019, the first classes met at the Church of Christ Kado in Abuja. Chad Wagner, Coordinator for the new school, was on hand to give the inaugural address and to encourage the students and staff to set a good pattern for the new school. This school will be meeting every Saturday for the next four years straight. This format will allow the new students to continue working at the jobs and their businesses through the week and study the Bible on the weekends. It is essential that the students attend every class period (every Saturday) so that they do not fall behind in class. It will be challenging but the students are excited to start the process.

There are around 50 students who have chosen to join in this part-time school format. However, due to the size of the new student body, we have had to split the students into two classes. One class will meet at the Church of Christ Kado building and the other group will meet at the Church of Christ Nyanya building. We are grateful that the elders at the church at Kado purchased tables and chairs for the 25 students meeting at their building. The church at Nyanya does not currently have tables and chairs for their students but we are hopeful that it will be remedied soon. 

We are also grateful for Samson Alabi, the new director of the part-time program. He has proven himself to be a capable and willing servant in this endeavor. We are grateful for God sending him our way. Even though the school is using two different locations, he will serve as the director for both locations. 

There is such a need for trained preachers to go into the mostly-Muslim northern Nigeria. We are grateful that the Lord has enabled this school to be here to meet the challenges of evangelism in a predominantly Muslim population of northern Nigeria. Eventually, we would like to consider a school of preaching to train Christians of the Hausa tribe to go to their own people and preach the Gospel. The challenges are great -- but our God is greater!

Until all have heard,

Chad Wagner

Evangelism in Zambia

Greetings!

It is again that time of highlighting some activities that the school was involved in during the month of January, 2019.

The class resumed in the first week of January, 2019. Four long courses and a short course will be offered during this quarter. And these courses are Old Testament 3 and Old Testament 3a being taught by Brother Cephas Mwamba. In addition to these Brother Fred Kanangu is teaching “World Religions and The life and Teaching of Christ. Brother Donnie Estep will be teaching the book of 1st Corinthians this quarter. We are always grateful to Donnie for coming over and teach a class. The students are upbeat and are very committed to their studies.  

 The school took a field trip to the Town of Chingola in the Copper Belt Province of Zambia. This trip was an invitation from the brethren in Chingola. Chingola have three congregations and all three were represented. They organized a workshop and asked Brother Cephas and Fred to teach on Conflict management and conflict resolution. Evidently, all three congregations in this town had issues against each other. That is the reason why they invited the school to go and help to resolve some of these issues. We are truly thankful for the confidence that the congregations in the Copper Belt have in the school. At this meeting we had a restoration of 18 members.

BVBI-Zambia exists to train faithful men who will in turn be able to introduce other people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And in doing so, we always need to be challenging ourselves together with these men to reach people in our communities. To achieve this, we have through brother Cephas started teaching our students how to raise chickens (boschveld) to able them acquire some survival skills in self-support. Also we have maintained an outreach evangelism program each weekend for all the students.   

The school has continued receiving the updates from the alumni of BVBI-Zambia. Albert Phiri reports from Mpongwe district that the congregation there continues to fare well. He also reports that the Bible studies he helped to start in the area have started bearing results. He says that a week ago, 3 souls were added (baptized) to the Lord’s Church as the result of these Bible studies. The line of his work in this congregation is specifically working closely with the youths. He has organized quite a number of activities to cater for the youths in the area. And as the Institute plans are under way to camp there and help him with such great effort in evangelism. Another vibrant Evangelist, Joseph Musonda is very active in Baluba area where he continues to teach and preach. He briefly left Baluba and went to Mansa to pursue a short course in Bricklaying. While in Mansa he worked closely with Central Church there. The Preacher of Central Church reports to us that because of hard work and effort that Brother Joseph put in the church activities, they managed to baptize two people and four souls were restored back to the sheepfold. Joseph was in Mansa for two months and he is since gotten back to Baluba where is still active. In Baluba the Institute has already camped there and done evangelism to motivate him.

Please continue to pray for the overall work that we are involved in here in Zambia. Pray for wisdom, support and perseverance and for the Word of God to continuously have an impact on our lives and also the lives of those we are teaching and training.

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

In His Service,

Cephas and Fred

4 nations represented in Arusha

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isa.6:8) ESV. Isaiah is one of the encouraging preachers, when it comes to the readiness. We have seen the same desire expressed through our students who are coming to learn from God’s words for years. I would like to take this opportunity to thank both them, their families and the congregations which are willing to send them our way. Thank you so much.

The year 2019, is another blessing to the school and the Church also, this year we will be taking the English speakers. This intake has a mixed - nationalities such as Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia. We are expecting to have more than 24 students in this class, some are still finishing up with their applications. Our second year, class has a total number of 18 students (that is a Swahili stream).

Much is expected to be accomplished this year since we will have a big number of students. Students will grow in their faith and knowledge, surrounding congregations will be helped through our students’ weekend evangelism, and many souls will hear the Good News of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory and Honor belongs to Him.

Our brother Gary Fallis is teaching the Graduate Class for two weeks now, He will be done this coming Friday (tomorrow). And our regular classes will begin starting February the 11th. Please pray for our students as they will be travelling toward Arusha.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank first, Our Almighty Loving God, for granting us this chance to serve and minister in His Kingdom. Secondly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to both brothers and sisters who have been supporting this work tirelessly. We thank you so much for your love toward God and your fellow men. May the Lord of mercy bless you beyond measure.

 Again, THANK YOU ALL WHO ARE MAKING THESE POSSIBLE, to God be the Glory both now and forever.

Your servant in His Kingdom

Till all have heard

Charles H. Mwanga

Director

Upcoming graduation in Mbanga

Calvary greetings from this part of the globe. Blessed be the name of our Lord. By his grace, all in Mbanga, both the students and the church in Mbanga, are doing better but the crisis in English Cameroon is still a nightmare to most Christians and to a lot of people living in our country. Cameroon in general needs the concern of God. Therefore, I urge all Christians to put the nation into the hands God.

The work in the school has been going on smoothly so far since we came back in January. The school has been so busy with both the students and some staff members. Almost every week in this month has been very busy with mission work. The needs for evangelism are becoming so strong that in almost every single work in Cameroon, as the students are called upon to help. For this last two weeks, this is how things have been going.

 A lot of people are moving away from the two regions of chaos in the English side to look for a place that they can have peace. For about two months now we have received the Macedonian call in Douala in a quarter called Les Rails. This is the region just behind the hotel where brother David always eats when he has just arrived in Cameroon from the airport. This is the number we have been able to gather so far. The school sends students like Evaristus and Nicanor every week. I myself have also worshiped there.

As we approach our second graduation ceremony, the students are being motivated intrinsically. We are making plans with the congregation for graduation in March. We sat this week to make preparations for a massive turn out. We pray for another successful graduation ts 2019.

May God almighty keep on blessings us in Jesus name.

Ititi Benedict – minister Mbanga church of Christ and director BVBIC-Mbanga

Campaigns in Takoradi, Ghana

Dear Brethren,

We greet you all, fellow workers in the Lord’s vineyard. By God’s grace another month has ended and we are very thankful to the Lord for His guidance and direction and grateful to you all our brethren for your continuous prayer and support to us at West Coast School of Preaching here in Takoradi, Ghana. This month under review also is the last in the year, 2018. Very thanked again to our Maker.

We give below, the report of activities by the school during the month of December, 2018.

PART-TIME CLASSES

The part time classes continued till the third Saturday of the month. Twenty two continually reported for classes all through the period. It continued to be the tur of Joshua Aidoo who took them through the classes.

CAMPAIGN FOR CHRIST

As part of the School’s evangelism campaign, we collaborated with both Mpintsin and Kojokrom congregations to assist them in a major campaign for Christ. All the immediate past students and the current students who had been offered admission were invited to join in. In all about thirty men participated in the campaign. The church at Mpintsin paid for the cost of a live broadcast on a particular radio station here in Takoradi which made it possible for most residents in both the Western and Central Regions to be able to listen into the program. At the end of each day's presentation, time was allotted to the listeners to ask questions and also give directions as to their locations for a possible follow-up. This lasted for five (5) days.

This was continued with another five (5) day campaign at Kojokrom. For lack of funds this last one could not be aired live on the radio. It also streamed live on both Facebook and YouTube. All these were followed with house to house evangelism during the day.

LECTURESHIP

Two lectureships were held at Aiyinase and Kojokrom during the period. In all these brother Joshua Aidoo was part of the speakers.

RECRUITMENT

Recruitment for the regular classes also continued and all prospective students were contacted and interviewed.

His servant,

Ebenezer

Success in Guinea

Gueckedou BV Activity Operations Report for December 2018

Dear brethren, here is the activity operations Report for the month of December 2018. During this month all of our usual activities plus 1 week of evangelism were conducted. There were 4 souls converted plus 3 during the campaign week which were not part of our year end numbers reported before the 15th. Below are the details of these activities under subheadings.

Classroom: The month of December was the close of our classroom activities with all 17 students attending all the subject materials for the month. We had 2 weeks of class work and the other 2 weeks were scheduled for campaign and part of the year end break.

Evangelism: By the grace of God all efforts, the house to house and the air time radio gospel broadcast put together during the month under review resulted to 4 conversions. We went out in smaller groups of 2 by 2 in some of the quarters of the town and in a few nearby villages. Sometimes we met with encouraging reception especially in the villages, but the people would say “be patient and continue coming. What you are saying is right, but you people met us already tied up in other churches and that is why it’s not just that easy”. So we are going steadily and wisely.

Campaign: Just before we closed for the year 2018, the 17 students and staff were divided in smaller groups of 3’s and 4’s so that we can touch as many people as possible. Some went in a few quarters of town and some in villages making follow up of previous evangelism.

The 3 men who went to the village of Botema in the Prefecture of Macenta baptized 3 persons. This is where there exists a congregation that is irregular in meeting and for that reason we will make every effort to ensure a proper footing by the end of March this year.

As for the other groups, we had no conversions, but we have some prospects to make follow ups.

Conclusion: We are thankful to God and we also appreciate all of the men and women, supporters of Bear Valley making our program of training and conversion a success. We had reported 71 baptisms before December 15 for our year end numbers, but we later converted 7 more in December therefore these will be counted as part of our 2019 year end numbers.

Thanks to you all for the support for the year 2018

Francis 

Expecting a "guest" teacher in Malawi

Bear Valley Bible Institute – Ekwendeni, Malawi. 

Quick – update!

We hope this finds you enjoying God’s blessings in this first month of the year 2019! We are glad to announce that the holiday is over and we are about to step on the battle line again. The past year of 2018, was a successful year to us. We witnessed many souls being saved, restored and churches established. We hope this year will bring us more good news. If Paul and other Christians in the early church did it, we can also do it.

We are starting receiving students on 2nd and 3rd of February, 2019 and the classes’ resumes on 4th of February. All students are eager to come and finish their 2nd year of their classes and look for graduation to the end of this year.

We are gladly waiting to see Brother Donnie Estep coming and teach the short-course on Hebrews. We are always thankful for his love of training men become faithful and strong vessels for taking the gospel where it has never been preached before! Brother Donnie will arrive on 9th of February, and start teaching from 11th through 15th of February.

We are grateful for those faithful brothers who always stretch their hand to support and pray for this work. Without your support nothing could have been done in the past years. We still need your involvement in this work. We also continue pray for your families, that God should keep on blessing you all. We appreciate, that you always think of winning souls to Christ, (2 Timothy 2:2). The Bible says “He who wins soul is wise”, (Proverb 11:30).

Christian regards!

Ephron V Mbano. (On-half of the staff)

Email: mbanoephron@gmail.co