It has been a long time, 2011 to be exact since I last posted anything on my blog.  I retired from the mission field and thought I didn't need to do anymore postings but it seem the Lord had other things in mind.  Since retiring I have traveled to five countries overseas and will soon travel on to the sixth and seventh one.  Because of this I am going to revive the blog and use it on the trip coming up in February, 2017.  I hope that you will continue to follow me as I will try and do updates on it while traveling and when I return. Blessing to everyone.

JOYOUS CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

I want to say JOYOUS Christmas because as I have been reflecting on who it was that came on that first Christmas night my heart is filled with JOY. I hope that yours also will be one that overflows with it as you ponder that great event long long ago.

Also I have been reflecting a lot about the joy we have had in the almost thirty years now of serving the Lord in Africa. The joy of sharing Jesus with others and helping those who believe to grow in HIM has been a joyous adventure for us. Next to knowing Christ, helping others to find HIM and grow to maturity is next in line.

But also joy comes from seeing an individual find God's purpose in using him to disciple others. Through this one begins to multiply his ministry and share the joy of seeing others join in serving the Lord.

This past Sunday I attended a meeting in New Karu District Church Council. They were having their end of the year Fellowship Dinner. Count me in when there is food - right? The purpose of my going was to challenge and encourage people. Over one hundred people came.

In 2007 we had a discipleship conference in the Abuja Zone. Pastor Mannaseh Gimba (see below) attended and since catching the vision of disciple making then he has been busy discipling and equipping others.

As I have been encouraging him over the past 3 years it has brought joy to my heart to see someone so committed to fulfilling the Lord's mandate to "go and make disciples of all Nations". In his own area of influence he is doing just that. These people (see below) gave testimony of how their lives had been transformed as they began to grow and realize that God had a purpose for them in His Kingdom. Many of you have a part in this as you pray and give to enable us to be here in Abuja, Nigeria. We will leave for home assignment shortly but the joy of what God has done will go with us for years ahead.

One again Judy & I wish you a

JOYOUS CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Ministry News From Abuja

Christian Teaching Centre Discipleship Conference

What an excellent week it was as David Olatunde and I (see picture below) spent 4 days with the group above. The teaching was received very enthusiastically as we spent 13 hours covering discipleship principles and challenging them to take what they were learning and help others grow to maturity in Christ (Be Christ's Disciple). I spent several months going over these principles with one of the church's elders and the Pastor who is centered in the front row next to his wife in white. These two men will carry on with those who attended.

This is what we are continuing to do here as the Lord gives us opportunity. If we expect to see the Great Commission fulfilled in our lifetime we need to see many disciples makers raised up. Thanks to the many of you who continue to pray along with us in this.

Beware

I am posting this on my blog to warn people about someone that is using my name and info that they probably got from my blog. They are saying that I have apartments in the NYC area or other places for rent. Please if you get one of these take note that it is not from me. Yes, I am in Nigeria but I do not have property for rent in NYC. It is a scam. Put it in file 13 (the trash) as quickly as possible. The real Chuck Brod

Liberia Trip 2011

I began the trip on March 6th to Lagos. I met Sam Akeju there and then on Monday, the 7th we caught a flight to Liberia. We arrived Liberia at 10:15am. It was an uneventful flight. On Tuesday we met with the Evangelical Church Union of Liberia (ECUL) leaders and the Liberia SIM Director. We started our conference on Wednesday at Harbel, about 1 hour out of Monrovia. The 30 who attended were eager to learn.

This man, Albert Lloyd is the one who is working in the Harbel area and will do the follow-up now that we are gone. He also will have the help of two other pastors that got discipleship training when they were studying at the seminary in Jos, Plateau State in Nigeria. With this team of people we are trusting that the vision of discipleship will grow stronger in the ECUL Churches. Liberia is still struggling to get back on its feet but I did see good progress since I was there in 2008. They are having elections in October this year also and they would appreciate all our prayers.

One other highlight for me was spending some time with other men that I had worked with in the 1980s before the war. They are each involved in ministries. The man on my left was one that I spent many hours with in the 80s. He is making disciples and seeing churches established in the interior of Liberia. The man next to him is working in leadership with a large demonination. Several other men I saw, not pictured, are involved in church leadership and doing well.

We returned on Monday, March 14th. We are thankful for your prayers, the ministry in Liberia and for safety in travel. Another note of thanks is seeing how the Lord watched over Judy and the staff while I was away for over a week.

Reproduction taking place - But what kind?

We are experiencing several different kinds.

Meet Paul, Angelina Didi and their new born son. Paul works as a security guard for the mission house. This is their second child, which came 10 years after their first. Mom and the baby are doing fine. The boy want have a name until October. So until then the father said they will call him chairman, as he dictates what happens around their home right now. The naming ceremony and dedication is a big event here. It is a special time for the parents to remember back upon as they raise their children.

When it comes to reproducing our workers are doing a good job of it. Besides Paul & Angelina's new son we also have two other babies due in the next two months. The other Security guard's wife is expecting within the next few weeks. It will be their first. Dem, who has worked here longer than anyone else, is expecting their third child after September. They would all appreciate your prayers for them.

We also seem to be reproducing something else besides babies as the workers recently killed this creature (commonly called a "bush rat"). He was hiding in a storage shed when we scared him out. The men caught him and as you can see below they enjoyed it. They say the meat is quite tasty. We hope that is the last one we will see for a while. Our dog Frisky usually catches them if she see them around. Of course she enjoys them also.
As we also continue to reproduce disciples we appreciate your interest in our ministry. The young man holding the bush rat is our driver and he has a real heart for the Lord and hunger for the Word of God. Be sure to contact us if you have any questions, and especially if you have any interest in coming to Nigeria some day.

The Blessings of Ministry

I want to start by thanking you for your prayers over the past few weeks. I took off for the Republic of Cameroun Feb. 4th and returned safely Feb. 12th. Cameroun is east of Nigeria and runs almost the whole length of Nigeria from Lake Chad in the north to the Ocean in the south. It took me three days to tarvel there. Do you see why?

The reason for the trip was to visit Florence & Emmanuel Nkwain and to train pastors and church leaders in "How To Follow-up New Converts and Growing Christians. Florence and Emmanuel are good friends that the Lord allowed me to disciple when they were in Nigeria years ago.

I discipled Emmanuel while he was working at the ECWA Pharmacy in Jos in the mid 90s. At that time I was also discipling a group of pastors. One was the pastor of their church and he discipled Florence. About eight years ago they felt called to go back to their homeland, Cameroun, as independent missionaries. God provided for them and they have been there for six years.

As I saw what the Lord is doing in them and through them I was filled with joy. Third John verse 4 says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." John was writing about his spiritual children. This great joy was mine as I saw how the Lord is using Florence and Emmanuel to bring people to Christ and to grow in Him. They have made great sacrifices in order to see this.

This is Blessing. Let me tell you her story. She was named that because she is a blessing to Florence and Emmanuel. One day as Florence was walking home she came upon a group of people and discovered that they were discussing what to do with a baby that was found with a note written by its mother saying that she born the baby the day before and that she couldn't take care of her. No one wanted to take the baby. Florence was prompted by the Lord to take her. After agreeing someone said that she would have to take the baby first to the police station. A man gave her about thirty dollars as she headed to the police station. There they told her that she could take the baby if she could go and purchase certain items that would show that she could take care of her. The money given to her enabled her to purchase them. She had less than a dollar before and would not have been allowed to take the baby. Who knows what would have happened to her from there. So they named her Blessing. She is now about eight months old and doing fine as you can see.

I was full of joy as I saw the men and women that attended the conference. Many of them have been influenced by Florence and Emmanuel. We taught in English and someone translated in French, as most of Cameroun speak French. They will follow-up these people with a monthly time of encouragement and prayer for them. It will be exciting to see what will become of a discipleship vision from this little beginning.

Sam and I were thankful for being able to have a part in the lives of these people in Cameroun. Please pray for them and for the needs of Florence and Emmanuel. They are learning to trust the Lord for their personal needs and for the needs of the ministry.

I want to personally thank you who help make it possible for me to be blessed as I was and to be a blessing to others.

PRAISING THE LORD FOR TWO THINGS

If you look below at the posting in May, 2008 you will be reminded of Albert & Priscilla's wedding and of their plans to return to Liberia. Albert has finished his thesis and they are looking to leave in a few weeks. Their taking the vision of discipleship to Liberia and seeking to help churches and individuals there to catch the vision is exciting. We praise God for how he has helped Albert with his studies and brought he and Priscilla together. I believe God is going to really use this couple in an amazing way in Liberia. They are depending on Him for their needs both physical and spiritual. Albert is pictured here teaching in Liberia in January.

The other thing we are praising the Lord for is the Discipleship Seminar that was held this past Saturday, August 23rd. Over 600 pastors and church leaders attended. The topic of the seminar was INTENTIONAL DISCIPLESHIP. Like in many places, church pastors are not focused on the mandate the Lord delivered to us just before he departed- "Go and make disciples". The seminar was trying to help them bring into focus how they can intentionally start discipling a few believers in their churches. Both Rev. M. Pada and I spoke for 5 hours. He spoke in Hausa and I in English. Needless to say it was a draining time but both of us felt the Lord really used the time to do what He wanted and for His glory.

Health Update & Our New Granddaughter's Arrival

Just before we left for the month of June we posted the news about Albert and Priscilla's Wedding. They are doing well as Albert tries to finish up his Master's Thesis at Seminary. They are still hoping to return to Liberia when that is finished if the Lord provides some support for them.

HEALTH REPORT

We were busy the first few weeks home wih doctor's appointments and tests in trying to find out what was causing Judy's numbness. After all was said and done, the only thing that was discovered for now is that the numbness in her wrists is probably caused by carpel tunnel syndrome in both hands. But the tests did not show any cause for the numbness in her feet. We were thankful that nothing serious was causing it and will look further into it when we are home next year.

EXTRA BLESSING- A HEALTHY BABY GIRL

Just after we had decided that we needed to go home and look into Judy's health concerns our daughter, Darlene, called and said that they were going to be able to adopt a baby in mid-June. So Caitlin Mia Weith was born on June 14th. Because we had a few days before returning to Nigeria we flew out to Phoenix, AZ, by the blessing of some free tickets. We got to spoil Caitlin for a week. We are so very grateful to the Lord for this working out the way it did. They had thought that they would probably be waiting at least a year after their adoption approval by the state.

Darlene and Mike are very thankful for how the Lord worked out things in such a short time. Now they have the challenge of parenthood before them. Darlene is able to have some weeks off work and Mike continues to work on his degree online which he hopes to finish this year.

We had a few days with David while we all got to meet the new member of the family, Caitlin. These were all extra blessings added by the Lord to our time in the USA. On July 2nd we traveled back to Abuja and are now settled back into our home and the ministry here. As soon as we arrived back the Baptist House began to get busy with visitors. We were also busy four days with three missionaries on a vision trip to Nigeria. They got to visit SIM's ministries in Jos and Abuja. If the Lord directs them back to Nigeria we may see them again in a few years.

This past month has reminded us again of the Lord's goodness to us. In a world where good things are not always experienced by many people we want to give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ for it all.

Presenting Albert & Priscilla Lloyd

ALBERT & PRISCILLA LLOYD

Pictures of the wedding of Albert & Priscilla which was this past Saturday, May 24th. It was a very special time being that Albert always introduces us as his parents in the Lord. We have known him since our time in Liberia and have helped him through the years to reach where he is today. Married and soon to finish up the work on his masters at the Jos Evangelical Theological Seminary.

It was an international weddding. Not just because we were there but because Albert is a Liberian and Priscilla is Nigerian. Her father has been a pastor for many years. Albert and Priscilla are planning on finishing his masters program soon and then go to Liberia. They have a heart for discipleship and want to see the Lord use them in Liberia to do their part in the Great Commisssion.

They are doing what is called a bridal dance. At the reception the bride and the groom are asked to dance while people come up and congratulate them and give them gifts. There is always a lot of dancing at weddings and occassionally they try to get Us up to join them. I won't say whether we do or not. You who know us can answer that.

Please be in prayer for Albert and Priscilla as they start their life together. It will not be easy for them now with Albert still schooling. They are trusting the Lord to provide for them now and when they go to Liberia so that they can give themselves to the ministry of discipling the men and women of Liberia.

LIBERIA TRIP

The year is still new but we have a lot to write about already. In January, just before I took off for Liberia, I had a Discipleship Conference at ECWA Good News Church - Nyanya. Around one hundred people attended from two English churches in that area. A group of people from one church had already been introduced to Equipping The Saints but many others came to learn how to be involved. Since the conference the pastors have organized their members and have discipleship groups meeting regularly.

Then on January 21st David, my son, Albert Lloyd and I set out on a 13 day journey to Liberia. This was the first time for David and I to be back to Liberia since we left in June, 1989. Needless to say we were excited to be returning but were prepared for the worst after the many years of civil war there. We arrived in the evening and got settled into a house that was to be our home for the next week. The first thing we noticed upon arriving at the airport in Liberia was the huge presence of the United Nation Forces. They are helping to stabilize things as the President works on getting an effective government in place.

SIM only has two couples and two single ladies in Liberia at the present. A campus that used to have a hundred or more living on it, seemed really different being occupied by other expats and Liberians. Most of the houses on the campus were still there but some are occupied by swatters who don't belong there and they are not maintaining the houses. The house on the left is one we lived in on the ELWA Campus when we first went to Liberia in 1982. The one in the center is the first one we stayed in in Monrovia. The thing we noticed in Monrovia was how almost all the homes now had high walls around them with razor wire on the top of them. Before hardly any place had a high wall, much less razor wire, as the house on the right shows.

Many people from the interior are in Monrovia because life is easier there than in the rural areas. Travel to the interior is more difficult due to the bad conditions of the roads. A company is now working on the roads in Monrovia and else where. Most people manage in the city by having a generator for lights. The government is working on getting electricity supplied to the city but progress is slow. People talked about the traffic being bad in Monrovia but compared to Nigeria it was much less and cars were moving a little slower and not as much in a rush as here.

On the right is the remains of the Old ELWA Radio Studio. Below you see the new Studio. They are broadcasting but with very limited power. The ELWA compound is blessed with good generators that supplies the compound with electricity from 5:30am to midnight each day. That makes life bearerable for the residents there. Along with ELWA Radio, ELWA Academy and ELWA Hospital are functioning. ELWA Academy use to be mostly missionary children, now is completely Liberian children and ran by Liberians. They are making good use of the facility.

The first conference was in Monrovia. We had around thirty pastors and leaders from churches in the city. It was held at a Methodist Church on the main street going into Monrovia. The other conference was in Buchanan a city about 3 hours East of Monrovia, also on the coast. We had about 45 pastors and church leaders attending. Albert helped me teach at both conferences while David helped us with material distribution and he took many pictures.

Probably one of the most mixed emotional times I had was when I saw this building in ruins. This was the One Way House, (pictured here) This is where the Monrovia Evangelical Church was meeting. I worked with this church most of the time I was in Liberia. I had many good memories of the ministry there but was saddened to see it destoyed from the war. The trip was full of unexpected blessings and memories for which we are thankful.

Besides the blessings of being used to help pastors and church leaders grow in their vision for the world, David and I had many wonderful memories of our seven years in Liberia. As we departed a part of us was wanting to stay there.

After the two conferences and visiting with friends the two weeks were over and we came back to Nigeria February 1st. It was a very fruitful trip in many ways. Albert Lloyd is a Liberian who is finishing a master's program at Jos Evangelical Theological Seminary by May. He is planning to go back to Liberia after his wedding in May to a Nigerian lady. I have been training him and he will be going back to take Equipping The Saints and establish Liberia as another contact for the discipleship ministry. Please pray for him. We are trusting the Lord to provide him with the needed funds to get established in Liberian upon his return, probably in June of this year. It will be a step of faith for him and he will need your prayers.

DEM & GLORY

DEM & GLORY

They are both doing well but Dem had to have a C-section so her recovery will take a while, probably 3 months. We are thankful that they are both okay. We do miss Dem at the Baptist House/Abuja, especially her smiling face. The Baptist House continues to be a busy place.

MORE PICTURES OF THE KADUNA AND ABUJA CONFERENCES

Akila worked harder than all the rest of us during the conferences. On the left is a picture of him translating into the Hausa language as Dave Dawson spoke. That is not easy and he was drained at the end of the day. The middle picture is a picture of Dwain Camp speaking at the Abuja conference. He is a missionary from the USA serving in Saudi Arabia. He came down to help us with the conference. The picture on the right is a picture of the participants of the Abuja Conference. I am meeting with a group as a result of the conference and will be starting several other groups with pastors and church elders. We praise the Lord for all that he is doing.

Two Discipleship Zonal Conferences

ECWA LEADERSHIP DISCIPLESHIP CONFERENCES IN KADUNA AND ABUJA, 2007

Dave Dawson & I, along with the ECWA Discipleship Ministry Team saw the Lord use all of us as we taught in large meetings and smaller workshop times. Dave taught with passion as the Holy Spirit used him at both places. In Kaduna over 750 pastors and Church leaders attended and in Abuja around 350 attended. We could all sence that the Lord was opening the hearts of many as they were chellenged to consider what their role is in their churches. Many purchased a tool for establishing people in their relationship to the Lord and which also lays a foundation for some of the basics of discipleship.

In the Abuja Zone I will be following up over 30 pastors who indicated they wanted someone to disciple them. I am in the process of contacting them and starting groups in this zone. This will give us a way to reach into the churches and encourage them to launch a ministry of disicpleship in their church.

We once again are blessed to be here and to see the Lord create more of a vision for discipleship in the hearts and mind of His people that he has called to make a difference. Of course they will face challenges of doing this, so we all covet your prayers.

NO, WE HAVE NOT GONE BANANAS YET

Are we going bananas yet? No, but in a few weeks we should be enjoying these bananas and many more like them. Our backyard has about 15 bunches growing right now and when they rippen we will be feasting on them for awhile.


We are also enjoying feasting on the Word of God. The past two months have been very good for that as well as opportunities to share the gospel. We have gotten use to doing a lot more traveling just to get around the Abuja Zone. Jos city was easy to live in in many ways but Abuja is proving to be a big challenge in terms of travel.

We also have been making some good contacts. Judy has met some other expat ladies and they are even starting a study together. They are doing a study by John Piper called, 'Don't Waste Your Life'. I, Chuck, have also had the opportunity to share the gospel with some of the new contacts I have made. I have 3 men that I am meeting with now and several others I am following up. This past Thursday I was talking to one person and when asked, "What would you tell another person if they asked you how they can become a real Christian?", they said, "start doing what God says". A typical answer here. In continuing to probe they never mentioned anything about Jesus and being forgiven through Him. This is the problem we face here. Many claim to be Christians but are only religious, never fully understanding the gospel.

Of course not all claim to be Christian. Many follow aother religion and we are praying for open doors to share the love and forgiveness of Christ with them, especially during this time of the year when they are seeking and looking for forgiveness by another way and not "THE WAY".

The ECWA Leadership/Discipleship Conferences for Kaduna and Abuja Zones are just a few weeks away. Registration is going on in both places. We are expecting about 500 pastors, elders and other leaders in each location. Dave Dawson will be arriving at the end of this month and will be with us until mid October. I am anticipating that there will be lots of follow up to do after the Abuja conference. The theme of the conferences is "THE ROLE OF CHURCH LEADERSHIP IN THE BIBLICAL MODEL OF DISCIPLESHIP".

WELCOME TO ABUJA

The group of people you see are the elders and their wives of our home church in Jos. They gave us a send-forth to Abuja. They were very encouraging as we told them we were going to the land of the giants and needed their prayers. The youth fellowship of the church remembered that statement and gave us a painting that said “Farewell to the Land of the Giants”. It had a ship sailing away in the horizon. The Nigerian culture is very good at making sure they say goodbyes properly. They made us feel appreciated for the years we were members of the church and the different ways we served there.

In the other pictures you get a glimpse of our new home in Abuja, Nigeria. The first house is the house we are living in, and it has two bedrooms in which people stay if needed. There is another house that is on the compound. It has four rooms that people stay in while in Abuja.

The past three weeks were busy ones. The work getting ready to move on July 14th was a lot but the Lord provided strength and besides what we sent earlier we managed to get everything in the vehicles on the 14th and made it to Abuja without any difficulty. The two weeks since arriving here have been very busy. I think Judy did about five loads of washing everyday to get everything clean, after sitting for 6 months through our dusty season. We first thought it would take us until August 1st to get set up but we actually ready this past Thursday, July 26th. We are thankful to the Lord for strength to get the many things done by then.

I have also been busy contacting people in Abuja. The ECWA Abuja Zone has a committee that is planning the Pastors/leaders Discipleship Conference, October 8-12, 2007. I got to meet with the chairman and some other members of the committee to let them know that I am now in Abuja and would be willing to help them with whatever I can. The committee is planning to meet August 2nd and they invited me to join them. They are expecting over a thousand people to be in attendance. A lot of plans still need to be made.
I also got to meet a pastor that has a real passion for making disciples. I actually knew him from before. He attended the first Equipping The Saints Conference I held in Jos in 1993. He has been applying the principles he learned since then. God has enabled him to see several generations of disciples raised up at the churches he has been at over the years. I was really encouraged by my meeting with him. We will be getting together regularly in the future.

The Tree Trimmers

The Thursday before Easter Weekend a crew of tree-trimmers arrived on our compound to take down two trees and to trim eight others. Most of the trees were not difficult but there was one tree that presented a challenge for them. The tree had been left for a long time without being trimmed. It had grown very tall and big at the top.


Tree-trimmers here don't have all the modern equipment we find used back home. Here all they have is a chain saw, machetes and ropes. Most of the limbs are chopped off by the machetes. When I was home I could hardly stand to watch as they would climb high up the tree and start cutting the limbs off (sometimes very big ones). See the challenging tree? Needless to say our yard looked like a jungle for a while. But because people use wood here for cooking, our workers on the compound will make good use of it and it will quickly disappear from our compound.


Trimming of these trees reminded me of how we grow as Christians. God sometimes has to come along and do some trimming on us. It is easy to have some things grow as part of our lives that aren't pleasing to God. John 15:1&2 says "I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." Even though pruning is hard we should want God to prune us because of our desire to bear more fruit for his glory. Here are some of the piles of wood that were trimmed off of the trees. These reminded me of how many things the Lord has trimmed from my life and that there is still more trimming needed.


As the trimming was finished we were thankful that no one was injured and that the work was accomplished. We are looking forward to the trees growing back to be even more beautiful than they were before.

PRODUCING DISCIPLERS

The men in the pictures are pastors that I have been helping to become producers of reproducers (disciplers).

This is the goal of The ECWA Discipleship Ministry Team for the people we meet with each week. The reason we focus on this is that we believe that a true disciple isn't one that just learns to love God but he also learns to love his neighbor, just as Jesus spoke about in Matt. 22:37-40. Loving your neighbor involves sharing the gospel with unbelievers and helping believers to become disciplers also. If we only emphasize the verticle relationship with God without the horizontal relationship with our neighbor, I think Jesus would say we are leaving something out. This is the essence of what Jesus said to the lawyer, when He was asked, "what is the greatest commandment"?

This is why in churches around the world Christians are not bearing the fruit that God desires for them to bear. How are things in your church? We certainly see this in the church in Nigeria. Because of this churches spiritually are many miles wide but only an inch deep. They are filled each Sunday with babes in Christ but not true disciples.

It is the desire of the ECWA Discipleship Ministry Unit to see this change. The key is to teach people what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. Jesus said in John 15:8 "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." A true disciple will be fruitful in his own spiritual life and in the lives of others as he helps them learn how to follow Jesus.

How long does it take to produce disciples who reproduce disciplers? It is not something that will be accomplised in a few months or by a one week long conference, as is often thought. But rather it takes one or more years of discipling and equipping someone so they can reach that point of being an effective discipler. It involves establishing a close interpersonal relationship with them.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. In the mid 90s I spent four years discipling a young man. During that time he began to disciple others. Today he is pastoring a church of about 800 people and he is producing disciplers who in turn are busy discipling others in their church.

Maybe you've been reading this and wondering if you are a true disciple. If not, maybe you can find a discipler (your pastor or a mature believer) and ask them to disciple you. Make sure it is someone you see making disciples.

Any comment or interaction will be most welcomed.

ECWA Church District Discipleship Conference

March 1-3, 2007 three of the discipleship ministry staff went to a city about one and a half hours from Jos for a discipleship conference with the district's pastors and elders. About 60 people attended. We had to divide up into three groups. One was for a Hausa language group, one was for an English group and the other one were people who had already done Equipping The Saints (ETS) Book One-A. This group did ETS One-B. Each of us had to teach about seven hours a day. The Lord gave us some rather cooler weather than normal, which was a blessing, and a nice place to sleep.

The exciting thing resulting from the conference, besides seeing their eyes begin to open up to how the Lord can use them to make disciples in their local churches better, was seeing their desire for us to come back monthly to meet with them and carry them on for further training. So every first Monday of the month, we are going to travel there and back. We will have about 3 hours with them. This hopefully will encourage them to follow through with what we taught them and we can keep doing more training and mentoring with them. Please pray for this to bear the fruit that the Lord desires.

Here today and gone tomorrow – electricity that is.

A good supply of electricity is often not available here. Like week before last we had three days when it was off ninety percent of the time. When this happens we have to phone (if the phone is working) or send someone to the local power supply office to report the outage. Many times when you phone they will tell you that it has been reported and they are working on it. Then you wait to see what happens. If it doesn’t come back soon, you phone them again. Finally in desperation you drive over to their office and see them face to face but still that is no guarantee that you will get your lights on any time soon.

After those few days it finally got fixed and now for several days we have had power almost constantly. So we thank God for that. We are thankful that we have a compound generator to use when this happens and are able to keep fridges and freezers cold. Many of our friends do not have an alternative and have to buy food stuff on a daily basis.

Another big problem with not having electricity, besides trying to keep your freezer from defrosting, is thaat we have a phone intercom security system that runs on a battery that has to be charged. So when the electricity is off for a long time, we end up with no alarm. Why is this important? Two week ago armed robbers went to one missionary’s compound. They roughed them up to the extent that the woman had a slight concussion. They stole their car and took a number of things from their house. The security is a siren that is set off by the phones. If set off it will alert everyone around that something is happening and supposedly scare off the burglars. The police will be called and hopefully come to our rescue. We share these things not to complain but to give you a glimpse of what life is like here at times. We often do have to remind ourselves that we are not here because of the comforts of life but to share with people that in Jesus we have a wonderful Savior.

Be careful what you ask for.
I thought of this after what happened two weeks ago. Judy and I had been praying for the Lord to open a door for her to disciple women. Then we talked and prayed with Deborah Dadang about it and she shared her heart for Pastors’wives. The Lord led us to talk to the Jos District Church Council (DCC) Chairman and Secretary. From that talk we were invited to a meeting for about seventy pastors and their wives. Judy and Deborah challenged the wives to take the opportunity to be discipled by getting into a group with them. We all hoped for at least enough ladies that would enable Judy and Deborah to start meeting with a small group. Instead what they got were forty-six wives indicating their interest. So instead of one small group, each of them have three groups with six to nine ladies in each group. I also had another twelve pastors who expressed interest in being discipled. This reminded us of Ephesians 3:20 that says, ´Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.’ New Living Translation.


DOES PRAYER MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Someone wrote recently something they read from Philip Yancey’s book, “Prayer, Does It Make Any Difference? It was a story of an SIM graveyard here in Nigeria. It has about 70 gravesites in it. Each grave is a testimony of the sacrifices that missionaries have made in coming to Nigeria for over a century. Out of the over 60 graves around half are children. Through prayer each one comes filling the Call of God upon their lives. Did their prayers, commitments and sacrifices make a difference? Over a century later the SIM related church, The Evangelical Church of West Africa, has over five million people worshipping in its churches every Sunday. Do you think they have made a difference?