Category: Ministry

Tidings Of Good News!

This is the season to celebrate the good news as announced by the angel in Luke 2:10: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” 

This year, the need for good news is probably stronger than ever, and so we want to end 2020 by telling a few good news stories. May this remind you that the good news of Jesus still causes great joy for people and that together with you, we have the privilege to spread that good news!

Praise the Lord for the following stories:

When Covid-19 hit, our church planting leader in Ethiopia, Miktile, contemplated the poor internet service in many parts of his country and the fact that most church planters did not have smartphones. It occurred to him to send out the church planting  teaching on spiritual multiplication via WhatsApp messages.  

He sent out the training in short messages to 9,409 staff members and volunteers, asking each person to forward it to others. Within a few days, 63,105 people were receiving his daily texts and putting them into action, resulting in some 200 churches being planted! 

Further north, our European team leader, Martin, reported that in Switzerland, far more people are attending online church services than had been attending in person. The same happened in the Middle East and Asia. “In a country in Southeast Asia,” reported Ricky, our leader for the region, “Of the 35 churches that we directly planted, 30 experienced a growth of at least ten times. One church went from more than 100 attendees before lockdown to 2,262 online!”  

Perhaps most dramatic, in one Southeast Asian country, 10,000 churches existed before the quarantine. During Covid-19, believers lived out “Prayer-Care-Share” by passing out 1.3 million facemasks. Within a few months, the 10,000 churches had become 300,000 home groups and missional communities, and many believers saw their neighbors turn to Christ.

Give thanks for the many people who for the first time this year, are celebrating Christmas understanding why Jesus came to this earth and the significance of it to their lives. Our partnership made it possible, so we thank you and wish you a Merry Christmas! Celebrate the impact of the Good news proclaimed by the angels over 2,000 years ago!

P.S. Enjoy a few photos from our neighborhood this season.

Snippets of Good News

It is hard not to drown in the daily negativity and political divisiveness around us. We are so grateful for having hope in Jesus and for your support. We are also thankful that the work of the Lord continues. We celebrate this good news:

  • Ten Years and 1 million downloads:

Our evangelistic app – GodTools that helps you learn how to confidently share and explain to someone how they can begin a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, celebrated ten years of existence and 1 million downloads!

Whatch a short video about GodTools
  • Church-planting Potential:

The number of registrations to the annual Global Alliance for Church Multiplication conference for those involved with church-planting was ten times the face-to-face registrations due to it being virtual this year. So just under 4,000 people were able to be equipped to expand the church-planting work around the world.

  • New President For Our Ministry:

Steve Sellers was appointed by our Board of Directors as our new global president. Steve is a humble, godly man, and we are excited about his leadership.

However, since Marie has worked closely with Steve Douglass, the current president for the last several years, it is bittersweet. He has taught her much about leadership and being a spokesperson.

Steve and Christy Sellers
  • Please pray for:
  1. Steve Sellers, as he becomes the third president in the nearly 70-year history of our ministry.
  2. Our missionaries around the world to experience the Lord’s guidance despite the continued adjustments due to COVID-19.
  3. Kenneth, our son, as he applies to universities and scholarships.

The App Is Ready!

Good news! The women’s audio Bible Marie’s team is working on – now has an app. You can have the new her.BIBLE app for your phone in just three easy steps!

Step 1
Go to the app store on your mobile phone: Apple Store or Google Play.
Step 2
Type in her.BIBLE women’s audio Bible in the search feature.
Step 3
Add the her.BIBLE app to your phone and enjoy listening to the Word of God in women’s voices.

Here’s what some others are saying about her.BIBLE
“My kids beg me not to turn it off at night. I think it’s such a gift and there’s something that’s different than the other ways we have read the Bible to them.” Evangeline

“I decided to listen before sharing with my wife, which left me listening to the whole Book of Matthew in the middle of the night. I listen to hundreds of hours of audio Bible every year (male readers), and I noticed right away that the female narrator brought a different facet of God’s heart, which I had never before experienced. Hearing a daughter read her Father’s love letter really gives a new perspective.” Colin

“I just want to say thank you, a thousand times to the people who put together her.BIBLE. It is such a powerful way to soak up scripture.” Sarah, a human trafficking survivor


Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for the app and pray that the her.Bible team can complete the recording of the remaining Old Testament books.
  2. Pray for Stefan’s team as they plan the third global Zoom meeting for church planters for 1 September 2020. Both the previous meetings were well attended and inspiring.
  3. Pray for Kenneth, who started Grade 12 and Monica Grade 10.

Thank you for your partnership with us.

How A Disaster Turned into Success

Conference Control Room

The dress-rehearsal was a disaster! And we were three days from the actual event! Emotions were running high in Stefan’s team as they were trying to find solutions for all the technical difficulties. 

The dream was to have a Zoom conference for all our church planters and partners around the world. The content would be short 10 minutes slots delivered by different speakers, break-out groups of 6 people to discuss the content, and apply it to their context. For this, we had to ensure that people end up in discussion groups with people who spoke their language. We had to stream the conference in 8 languages.

This meant lots of things could go wrong. And with the dress-rehearsal, it did!

One team joining from Mongolia

However, God heard our cries for help. On Tuesday, 14 July 2020, the Bold Moves 3 conference kicked off with a bang!

People from 116 countries joined the conference using 1,309 devices. Many of the devices had more than one person watching. We are so grateful for the good participation. The technical issues were minimal, and some things worked that we have no explanation of why it worked. We can only say that God did it!

One of many Zoom screens – this one has Spanish speakers

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Since this worked so well, we will do it again on the first Tuesday of every month till the end of the year. The topic for August is to explore partnerships in urban church planting efforts.

Kenneth managing the Spanish stream and Monica the 3rd English stream

Watch one of the short stories from Moldova told at the conference to inspire others to think creatively in reaching people with the gospel.

New Opportunities To Equip More People

Amid lockdowns, restrictions on travel, and uncertainties, Stefan’s team had a great idea. Why not have an online conference for our nearly 3,000 church planters and partners?

We have never attempted to do something like this. Usually, we will have smaller, localized conferences because of the cost involved. But COVID-19 is allowing us the opportunity to experiment and try something new.

On 14 and 15 July, for three hours each day, they will virtually bring together our church planters from over 150 countries and will offer translations into 7 languages. Each language will have a specific link to follow the short presentations and then go into virtual groups to discuss what they have learned and how they can implement it in their own ministry.

Stefan, the conference director, shares, “We desire for every church planter to have the mindset of multiplication in everything that they do. We will be looking to whet their appetite by sharing examples from around the world of others living that out.”

Please pray for the following:

  1. For the conference:
    • That the church planters will be encouraged and motivated towards the task of fulfilling the Great Commission.
    • All the technical stuff – Internet connectivity, conference platform, speaker and system transitions
    • The translation of the conference – for people to understand.
    • Follow through by teams, cities, and nations after the meeting. That partnership opportunities may be discovered and explored.
  2. We are taking some required theological training until 24 July. These courses are our last ones to fulfill all the requirements of our organization. We are excited to be completing this but need stamina and diligence for it amid all our other responsibilities.
  3. For Kenneth and Monica to enjoy the last few weeks of their summer vacation. They are due to go back to school on 10 August.

Be assured of our prayers as we all make adjustments to living with the reality of COVID-19. May the Lord flood you with peace and a strong sense of His presence.

I thank God for you and for Indian Church planters

Photo Fun in Jaipur

Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack. As the overnight train shook from side to side, I was laying in my narrow bunk thanking the Lord for His growing church in India. 

That day, my travel buddies and I visited several new churches in the Northern part of India. We had taken the overnight train to get there – and believe me, the trip was a cultural experience. However, all the discomfort was worth it when we saw how God’s church is growing despite the increased hostilities toward Christians. 

We went there to encourage our church planters in their work, instead, I was humbled and encouraged. As I listened to the stories of how the new believers came to Jesus through miraculous healings or the breaking of demonic bondage, I was again in awe of our Powerful God.

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving here in America. You are on the list as someone we are thankful for. Thank you for your investment in our lives and in turn, into the lives of church planters around the world. Thank you!

Train accommodation – don’t let the smiles fool you.

Since 2011 – growth from 5 to 89

Particpants at the Global Alliance for Chruch Multiplcation Meeting in Dallas, Texas.
(Spot Stefan in the second row toward the middel)

The Power of Unity

When God created us, He said, “Let us make mankind in our image.” King Solomon concluded, “Two are better than one.” And before going to the Cross, Jesus prayed, “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you and I are one.”  
Unity, togetherness, and intentional collaboration are values that drive our practices in the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX). In September, 311 leaders from 156 organizations came together in Dallas, Texas for the annual GACX Forum where we could support, learn from, and partner with one another. 
 
Since we started GACX in 2011, we have been growing in so many ways.

  • First, we have grown from 5 organizations to 89 that are working together to see a vital church or faith community established for every 1,000 people among every tribe, tongue, people and nation.
  • Second, by working together, we have helped to start about 1,75 million churches and faith communities worldwide, 35% of our global goal.
  • Third, our language is becoming “Let us,” instead of “Let me.”
  • Fourth, and more important, our most common attitude is, “How can I bless the kingdom of God?” “How can I help inspire and support others so that they could do more and better for the Lord?”  

Since the GACX meeting, Stefan had the privilege to visit and work with church planters in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Barcelona. It is amazing what the Lord is doing!

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for the GACX and all the churches planted through the alliance.
  2. Praise the Lord for a new platform identified to help with internal communication among all our missionaries around the world. Pray for Marie as she leads the communication strategy for this platform.
  3. Pray for Stefan’s Mom. Life has been rough on her and we need solutions to help her.
  4. Pray for Kenneth and Monica to walk closely with the Lord.
  5. Pray for our co-worker, Mike Haupt, who fell off a ladder and has several fractures. 

How 27 Years Makes a Big Difference

Marie and Alex from Bulgaria

Twenty seven years ago, as a brave and naïve second year nursing student, I took my first flight on my first missions trip. At the age of four I declared that I wanted to be a missionary when I grew up – this was my chance to taste the missionary life.

My destination – Sofia, Bulgaria.

The country recently opened up to the gospel after the fall of communism and we were ready to tell students the Good news of Jesus. There I learnt many things about God, myself and the sinfulness of people. I also learnt that I wanted to be a missionary the rest of my life!

Fast forward 27 years and I just returned from Sofia. This time, I trained 42 of our missionaries from Central and Eastern Europe how to use digital tools to spread the gospel. We met in our beautiful national office, run by our Bulgarian missionaries.

My highlight – Alex.

Alex, a Bulgarian student who was wondering about the purpose of life and the existence of God. While searching the internet he found our evangelistic website everystudent.com. After reading many of the articles, Alex became convinced that God was real and Jesus offered a way for him to connect with God. He accepted Jesus in his life, and through resources on the site and an email follow-up series he grew in his relationship with the Lord.

Alex became convinced that the site needed to be translated into Bulgarian for his countrymen to also discover the Good news about Jesus. He contacted our ministry, and with their help, he translated the site. He advertised on FaceBook to make the site known.

It was my privilege to help Alex develop his strategy to reach Bulgarians. The past three months he had 40 000 site visitors and 400 people invited Jesus into their lives. We planned together what next steps he could take with these new believers and how he could see more people visit the site.

I was thrilled to see how the Lord has been working in Bulgaria. From the humble efforts of a few South African and American students who went to share the gospel there in the early ‘90’s to a fully-fledged Bulgarian ministry.

Thank the Lord for what He is doing in Bulgaria and pray for Alex and our missionaries from the other Eastern European countries to serve the Lord with all their hearts and skills.

See photo from Marie’s trip here.

Also thank the Lord for Stefan’s healing – he was given the green light last week to start walking again. Pray for him as he will be meeting with our church planters in India from 19 February -2  March.
Oh happy day! Returning the wheelchair.

2019 Is Here! But Let’s Look Back And Celebrate 2018

We want to wish you a very special 2019 in which you will see the Lord’s goodness every day. We look back at 2018 with gratefulness to the Lord.

Highlights:

  1. The Lord’s provision through our partners, their continued prayer support and encouragement. After 24 years in ministry, this is one of the most extraordinary confirmations of the Lord’s calling.
  2. Kenneth and Monica had a fun and full year at school. They loved the sport and club activities that included: tennis, swimming, waterpolo, robotics, green team, science olympiad, chess, math club and tech sazzy girls club.
  3. Marie’s added responsibilities have help her connect with our missionaries who use digital tools and platforms to reach people for Jesus. She loves connecting them with resources and best practices.
  4. Stefan enjoys working with our church planters in South Asia, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. A trip to the country of Georgia counted among his highlights for the year as he personally had the opportunity to help lead a professor to the Lord. (See the story below)

Lowlights:

  1. Toward the end of the year we had three car accidents within 45 days.
  2. Stefan broke his left leg in one of the accidents and is in a wheelchair for three months.
  3. Monica was diagnosed with an impacted tooth and will require braces to have it corrected.
  4. The unfavorable exchange rate made our finances very tight this year and we know many of our ministry partners also felt the strain of the harsh economic climate.

Thank you for your part in our lives!

The story below from Stefan is a reminder why celebrating the birth of Jesus is so special – He came to make a way for all of us to be reunited with God. Thank you Jesus!

It was Wednesday afternoon, and my colleague Virgil and I felt a bit off from jet-lag since arriving in Tbilisi, Georgia. All the Georgians were going out to practice the first sessions of the church planting training we were there to present. Even though we needed some rest, the thought that moved us out the door was “Our training is so simple. Just walk up to students and show them the 2-minute clip on your phone. Yes, The Amazing Question clip would make it easy.”

Our group took the metro and then walked to the University.  After sharing with some students, we moved to the next group who were open to speak to us and give their feedback to the video clip. Except it turned  out that the 4 “students” were either professors or PHD candidates. We invited them to meet again on Saturday evening at one of the restaurants. Two came. Besides an amazing conversation around the 2-minute clip, we finished the evening going through an evangelistic Gospel track. The one professor accepted Jesus into his life. It was such a special time of celebration and he continues to keep contact with us and the local ministry.

Dinner with the Professors in the Republic of Georgia

Have a wonderful 2019!

Crashes and Crutches – How Quickly Life Can Be Changed

Crashes

Doef!

“Not again!” came the sigh from Kenneth and Monica.

In the past 45 days, our family was involved in three car accidents. Twice we were rear-ended at red lights (blame cell phones for driver’s lack of attention).

Crutches

And on Wednesday, Stefan was involved in a crash that left his tibia bone fractured. He needed surgery and some screws to correct it and will be on crutches for the next three months.

We would appreciate your prayers for our protection and for the Lord’s provision for all the medical bills. Despite the drama, we can see the Lord’s hand over us and friends and co-workers have helped us in many practical ways.

Digital Ministry in Africa

“In my country the day is coming when it will not be safe to meet in churches for fear of attack by people from other religions. So we are preparing the believers to meet digitally instead of in churches,” said Moses, one of our missionaries from a prominent African country. He was one of 40 missionaries from 17 countries who attended a workshop I (Marie) helped lead in Nairobi, Kenya at the beginning of November.

Despite the challenges of internet connectivity in Africa, we are already seeing thousands of African visitors to our websites and social media channels. We know this growth is because of the growing number of smartphones now available. So we were training our missionaries how to use these channels for the spread of the gospel, using locally produced content. Pray for our missionaries as they implement this training.

Personally it was a big treat for me to be back in Africa – to hear the call of the “Piet-my-vrou” and to watch monkeys in our hotel garden.

Thank God for all He is doing around the world and for your part in it. I am grateful for the opportunity to help train my African brothers and sisters in the use of digital tools for ministry.