The week's surprises. What were they? The first was a real answer to prayer. Judy, Deborah Dadang (wife of the ECWA General Secretary) and myself have been praying about how they could start a ministry to pastors’ wives. On Tuesday we went and talked to the Chairman and Secretary of the Jos ECWA District Church Council. They shared with them what they had on their heart and to our surprise there was a meeting on Friday, Jan. 26th with the district pastors and their wives. The district has about 70 pastors. The Chairman invited us to attend the meeting and share with the wives. So on Friday morning we went. We don’t know what the response was yet. We will get a list from the chairman tomorrow.

Yesterday, Sunday, Jan 28th I spoke at a service of the ECWA Student Ministry Chapter at the University of Jos. We were really blessed as there were over 200 students in attendance. Why were we blessed? In 1993 the ECWA Student Ministry was just getting started at the University of Jos. This was the first chapter for the ministry. Judy and I were going over there meeting with students and leading discipleship groups. Then there were only about 15 students involved. Through discipling those students the vision of disciple-making was caught by them and now over the past 13 years they have continued to reach out to students on campus. That is why we were blessed today. Over the years our ministry has traveled to many campuses and discipled students and now there are over 50 chapters throughout Nigeria.
Another surprise was that today was declared a public holiday by the Federal and State Government authorities. The reason was that they wanted to give workers an opportunity to get registered for the elections that are going to be taking place in the next few months. So Judy and I used the time to work at home.

The ECWA Discipleship Ministry Team

Please be in Prayer for each of us and our families

1 Thessalonians 1:11-12

Chuck Sam Akila Randy

ECWA/SIM Founders Week

December 4, 1893 was the day that three young men, Walter Gowans, Thomas Kent and Rowland Bingham landed on the coast of Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa. They came not to stay on the coast but to reach into the interior of Nigeria in an area that was then called the Sudan. Their reason was, there were seventy million people in that area but no church because the gospel had not reached them. They knew that God's heart was that through the offspring of Abraham, Jesus Christ, God wanted to bless all people, including the people of the Sudan. Before one year was up two of the young men had died. The third, Rowland Bingham, even though discouraged, did not give up and was able to see others come and join him. At last the Sudan Interior Mission was established in Nigeria and 113 years later the mission called today, SIM (Serving In Mission), is in over 45 countries of the world. Over 1500 missionaries are involved in reaching the unreached and establishing and equipping the Church to fulfill its mandate to "go and make disciples of all nations".

The reason I mention this is here in Nigeria the Evangelical Church of West Africa focuses on this day and reminds its members of the sacrifices that were made by foreigners who have served in Nigeria. They also remember the Nigerians that have served the Lord faithfully and are now retired. At the end of the week churches are encouraged to take an offering which will go to help those retired Nigerian pastors. What a blessing for those who in many cases really need the help. Pray with me that the Lord will bless the giving this year and that retired pastors will be encouraged in the Lord.

I had the privilege of sharing with our local church last night about SIM and how it came into being. It was a good reminder to me that there have been tremendous sacrifices made to reach where we are today. The challenges are still there because there are still many unreached in this part of the world. Like Rowland Bingham I am even more committed to the Lord's mandate in Matthew 28:18-20 than ever before. I challenged all those at the service to be committed and willing to sacrifice in what ever way the Lord leads them to as they follow the Lord and do His will.