The Fruit of our Labour

Enjoying an African sunset

Greetings from South Africa!

Since 2000, we have been serving in various operational and administrative roles to accelerate the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Sometimes, the work required is to improve the communication system or the finance system to get money to our missionaries or to help train our missionaries to incorporate digital tools in their day-to-day ministry.

Last week in Johannesburg, we had the wonderful opportunity to join 60 of our missionaries from around the world who are involved in operational and digital strategies for a leadership conference.

There were several “wow” moments for us:

  • Reunion with leaders we have relationships with dating back to 2005.
  • In 2019, Marie was part of a leadership development cohort of 12 women working in digital ministry. Six of the ladies were at this meeting, and several of us met face-to-face for the first time. 
  • Meeting new leaders in person who we have only seen in Zoom meetings
  • Over the years, we have been involved in several digital initiatives to help the gospel spread. It was a blessing to hear reports of the impact and how our work’s training and examples have helped several countries start their own initiatives.
  • This is the first time Marie is back in South Africa in summer – seeing the Jacaranda trees in full bloom and the agapanthus flowers starting to come out is a treat!
  • We visited our South African office and recognized that Stefan was instrumental in recruiting and training several staff members still serving in operational roles.

Six of the Digital Dames

Explaining our work group’s findings

Praying together

Taking our friends from Panama, Philippines, Trinidad and Tebago, East Asia and USA to Nando’s

Most days, we are in the trenches, solving problems and helping support our missionaries worldwide. Last week provided a rare opportunity to look back on many years of service and experience the impact of our work. You have made it possible for us! Thank you for your part in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Your missionaries

Safe After Hurricane Milton

Praise God for His protection! Hurricane Milton has passed, and there was no visible damage to our home. The winds were strong early in the morning, but we were spared from significant rainfall. And we didn’t lose power at any point. The eye of Hurricane Milton passed south of us as shown in the picture below.

However, the storm caused widespread destruction across Florida. Over 126 tornadoes were reported, and over 3 million Floridians are without power.

Thank you for your prayers, texts, and for checking in on us. Please pray for all affected by Hurricane Milton as they face the long road to recovery.

Our Hurricane Milton Update

From our back porch – the calm before the storm.

Hurricane Milton is Coming

We await Hurricane Milton and would appreciate you joining us in praying that the storm will weaken before it makes landfall later tonight. It has been an intense few weeks here in Florida. 

Last week, Stefan and his team were due to attend the annual Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX) conference in Asheville, North Carolina. Sadly, Hurricane Helene destroyed that beautiful city, and the conference was canceled. 

Despite that tragedy, Stefan’s team, composed of people from 10 different countries, was able to meet here in the Orlando area. The team members had a fruitful time praying, planning and speaking about ways to continue bringing the gospel to people and planting churches. The team never gets together without having fun, too—this time, they had a mini Olympics that caused sore ribs from all the laughter.

Top photo: Praying together. Botttom photo: Our mini-olympics – elastic band shooting

Prayer Requests

  1. Pray for Hurricane Milton to weaken.
  2. Pray for everyone rebuilding their lives after the destruction of Hurricane Helene.
  3. Give thanks to the Lord for a good team meeting for Stefan’s team despite the many changes in their plans.
  4. Pray for new believers T. and M. as Marie continues to disciple them in the basics of their new faith. Their passion and excitement for everything in the Bible give her great pleasure.

In Florida and Around the World

Most American schools and universities have started the new academic year. Kenneth entered his last semester at university and will graduate in December. Monica started her second year, and she is an assistant in her residence looking after 22 first-year students. It was fun to watch her prepare to be their guide. She stocked up with evangelistic resources to guide them spiritually too.

A highlight of the past few months has been Friday evenings, where youth from our church and a bunch of Monica’s high school friends would meet at our home for some good food and Bible study. A number of the students were not believers in Jesus yet. We loved answering their questions and studying how the gospel is relevant in 2024. 

Much of modern culture assumes there is no God, so we have to solve our problems on our own. But the gospel announces a comforting rescue! The gospel declares that God has provided the help we need when we can’t help ourselves. We simply need to receive it.  The gospel is truly good news.

Two of the young people, we will call them M and T, have recently accepted the gospel and Jesus’ payment for their sins. We meet with them separately to make sure they understand the basics of our faith. We love helping new believers because it helps us to review what God has done for us through fresh eyes.

Thank you for enabling us to help church planters reach their full potential in other countries and also to help students grow in their faith in our local community. 

Prayer Requests:

  1. Pray for M and T as they grow in their understanding of what Jesus did for them and learn to trust Him in every area of their lives. Pray also for their families to become believers.
  2. Kenneth was in a car accident during Tropical Storm Debby, which went over Florida recently. Thankfully, the Lord’s hand was over him, and he did not even get a scratch. However, the car was written off. Please pray for a suitable, reliable replacement for that vehicle.
  3. Stefan is in Europe to meet with the our European church planting leaders. Pray that he will encourage them as they try new strategies that we see have succeeded in other European countries.
  4. Pray for Kenneth and Monica as they trust the Lord to do well in their studies and to impact the lives of other students for Jesus.

You Hold Our Arms Up

Marie’s team –  – from left to right – Luke, Tara, Steve and Marie

We have all served on some wonderful teams, and working with people you enjoy and love daily is a privilege. For the last four years, Marie has had the joy of working closely with the president, Steve Sellers, and a small team that feels like we are the Aarons and Hurs (from Exodus 17: 12-13) – who hold up his arms as he leads our movement. Marie had such a close working relationship with this little team that she sometimes spoke to them in Afrikaans before remembering they were not family.

On 18 July, Steve handed over the leadership to our newly elected president, David Robbins. Marie coordinated his commissioning service, which was a beautiful celebration of God’s faithfulness over the last 73 years of our organization.

You can watch the recording of the service.

Please pray for David as he steps into his new role and as we learn to support him. 

Thank you that you are our Aarons and Hurs, holding our arms up as we serve the Lord on the frontlines.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for Stefan’s successful visit to North Africa. The interviews their team did with believers and church planters to understand the movements in that country went well. The only challenge was that his suitcase had its own itinerary and arrived 13 days late – but it did arrive!
  2. Praise the Lord that Kenneth is safely back from Alaska after a great adventure.
  3. Thank the Lord for our wonderful co-workers.
  4. Pray for our student ministries as they prepare for the start of the new academic year in many parts of the world. We have many outreach strategies, especially for first-year students.

 A Few Easter 2024 Highlights

This year, the impact of our Easter Week campaign on the Jesus Film Project YouTube channel exceeded all expectations!

On Good Friday alone, we saw 3.5 million views of Jesus Film Content, marking a 50% increase compared to last year. From the days leading up to Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday and a few days after, our total views soared to 23.2 million, a 52% jump from the previous year. These numbers illustrate how ripe the harvest is and how God is using YouTube as a 24/7 evangelist across the globe.

This growth in the spread of the gospel on YouTube compelled our Jesus Film Project team to create new tools so that these millions of viewers can take the best next steps to grow in their spiritual walk and be connected to local churches and faith communities. They offered NextSteps journeys for some of the gospel content during Easter, and more than 50,990 people clicked to take the journey.

In a country where the gospel is scarcely known, and 96% of the community follows another major religion, we discovered Rose! Rose is a devoted volunteer whose life was transformed through her search for meaning. Rose’s journey began in solitude, exploring online for deeper life insights. On YouTube, she discovered the Jesus Film, a moment that not only filled her with new hope but led her to embrace a life following Christ. This digital encounter prompted a meaningful conversation via WhatsApp, paving the way for Rose to connect locally and eventually become an integral part of our ministry team. 

We praise the Lord for every person who watched the film and pray that He would use it in their life to draw them to Himself. 

Prayer Requests

  1. Praise the Lord for many who joined the 21-day prayer and fasting for spiritual awakening. 
  2. Praise the Lord for Stefan and his team’s safe return from Asia where they interviewed believers and church planters. Their stories humbled him. Stefan is now preparing to visit a country in North Africa. They will conduct similar interviews to understand the movements in that country and learn some best practices to pass on to other countries. Pray for safety and stamina as they visit churches around the country.
  3. Kenneth’s work in Alaska, is so remote that they fly in with helicopters to do the surveying. Pray for his safety and for him to savor this incredible adventure.

 21-Days of Fasting and Praying

The greatest revivals in history always started with prayer. This month, thousands of Christians worldwide will intercede for spiritual awakening and revival. We invite you to join us.  

May is the “GO” Month, culminating with the Church Planting Day on 26 May. We invite you to join our Global Prayer Initiative from 6 – 27 May.   

During the 21 days of this prayer initiative, we invite you to read the book of Revelation, one chapter a day. A guide with short daily devotionals and concrete prayer needs for intercession was compiled by a dear friend and coworker from Moldova. You can download it from this site.

May God use our offering of prayer and fasting to perform His miracles in our generation.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Stefan is in an Asian country where most of the population follows another religion. He is part of a team interviewing believers and church planters, where we have seen rapid multiplication. In this country, they have witnessed churches planting new churches, up to the 26th generation. The team hope to confirm the extent of these multiplication movements and learn some best practices to pass on to other countries. Pray for safety and stamina as they move around the country visiting churches.
  2. Kenneth and Monica successfully completed their academic year and are back home. Thank the Lord for looking after them.
  3. Marie is preparing the communication plan to welcome the next president of Campus Crusade for Christ, whom our Board of Directors will announce in the next few months. Pray for wisdom and stamina to communicate clearly to all our staff members and partners.

No Disabilities Or Obstacles Too Big

Stefan in Medellin, Colombia

Your prayers and blessings make a difference in the lives of people around the world. Here are three short stories of God at work through our partnership.

From Fear to Faith: Calling Out to God (America)

Through an unexpected series of events, Sara (a Jewish student) from Florida is now being mentored by one of our missionaries. After a scary car accident, Sara started calling out the names of God in Hebrew. Then, by accident or choice, she called out the name Yeshua (Jesus) and stopped. She sensed something. That “something” sparked an active interest in Jesus. Today, she is a follower learning how to help others find Yeshua, too!

The Gospel Not Stopped By A Disability 

In Chad, our missionaries trained storytellers and evangelists to use stories to proclaim the gospel in the Toumak language, spoken by a minority group. Recorded stories are an excellent resource for proclaiming the gospel in this part of the world where most people are oral learners. In four weeks, 18 storytellers and 22 evangelists were trained, with 42 stories.

Caleb was one of the trainees. He is blind and unable to read or write, but during the public oral practice, many people were touched by how he told stories. This training has transformed Caleb’s life. He realizes that his disability can no longer prevent him from proclaiming the gospel to those around him. He has a voice and stories to tell anyone he meets.

A Newly Trained Evangelist

Mrs. Camara is from Côte D’Ivoire. Her husband was a devout follower of another religion and refused to learn about Jesus. After participating in our evangelism training, she presented the gospel to her husband. By the grace of God, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord and is now active in the local church with her.

Prayer Requests

  1. Pray for Sara, Caleb, and Mrs. Camara to be strengthened in their faith and used mightily by the Lord.
  2. Thank the Lord for the good meetings Stefan’s team had in Colombia.
  3. Pray for Stefan in Türkiye, who is leading a leadership development program with some of our global church planting leaders. Pray for protection and good health.
  4. Pray for Kenneth and Monica as they complete their academic year this month.
  5. Pray for Marie, as she is leading a large communication project requiring much change. Pray for stamina and wisdom.

Journey from Anxiety to Peace

We are excited that her.Bible, the audio Bible in women’s voices that Monica and I worked on, is now also available on the YouVersion App. With over 210,518 active users who’ve played more than 3 million chapters in 2023, your prayers for this project are encouraging.

We celebrate the launch of their first YouVersion reading plan, “Journey from Anxiety to Peace,” in honor of International Women’s Day!

We love testimonies like this one from Caryn.

“I don’t think I knew I needed this audio version until I started listening…finding myself in a different place emotionally as I heard God’s Word in these beautiful, nurturing voices…as if a mother, sister, or aunt were reading the words over me. I know I’m not the only one.”

The Training Workbook for New Language Production

Coaching Women for More Languages

The her.Bible team is having great conversations with individuals from several countries to record the Bible in women’s voices in their local languages! 

  • Katy, the first woman to enter their coaching program launched heraudiobible.org.uk (NIV) for International Women’s Day in voices from the U.K.
  • The Biblica team in Egypt will have an Arabic New Testament available later this year.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for the impact of her.Bible.
  2. Pray that more people will be coached to record their languages.
  3. Pray for Stefan and his church planting team as they meet in Columbia this week for their bi-annual in-person meeting. They have a full agenda and trust the Lord for wisdom and direction in many situations.
  4. Monica and Kenneth start their exams soon. Pray for wisdom and a calm spirit.

Marie’s Projections and Ponderings

One highlight of a sabbatical is the opportunity to linger in God’s presence through time in His Word and prayer. I want to share a quick truth that I was mulling over during my sabbatical.

A few months before the start of my sabbatical, I was working on a big project and found myself paralyzed to move forward with what I knew I needed to do. I discussed this with a good friend, and she asked me some questions that led me to a sad discovery.

As a planner, I was projecting the different possible outcomes of my project and imagined the worst possible scenario. That in itself is not wrong – but when it paralyzes you because every solution you have thought about does not factor God in, you have a problem!

I realized that none of my outcomes included that the Lord would always be with me (as He promised in Heb. 13:5), and even if the worst happened, He would never leave me. The discovery pained me that despite my years of following Jesus, my lack of trust still crept up on me.

Sabbatical allowed me the time and opportunity to refocus my belief and trust in the Lord and the truth of what He represents. I studied the book of John and discovered that Jesus often used the phrase “I tell you the truth.” I’ve been soaking up the truths He told His disciples. 

In John 18:38, Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?”

It has also become one of my mottos – when I plan and project the possible outcomes, I ask, “What is truth?” This helps me focus on the Lord and remember that He is with me and will be with me, even if the worst happens.

I am grateful for your prayers for us. Thank the Lord for His continued journey with us, and pray that we will trust Him more and more every day.

Your missionary,

Marie

P.S.

While on sabbatical, I had an opportunity to create a book of quotes about love for our Hindu neighbours as a wedding gift. It was fun and they were stunned by the thoughtfulness. Here are three of the pages.