Category: Ministry

This young man turned 13 on January 6th.

At the start of 2016, it is good to look back at what God is doing. He is stirring people to seek Him out, and then speaking to their hearts in life-changing ways. The numbers below show the big picture of His work through one of our evangelistic websites, EveryStudent.com.

                      VISITS                     DECISIONS FOR CHRIST

2015              22,302,684               333,910

2014              18,901,179               251,269

2013              11,012,987               169,178

2012              5,060,560                76,359

One young woman’s story gives a glimpse behind these numbers.  People find EveryStudent.com in various ways–someone’s recommendation, an article or video on Twitter or Facebook, etc.  Rachel was among the majority, who find EveryStudent.com through their own Google search.

She wrote, “I struggled with loneliness, anxiety, and moodiness. I finally got to a point of wanting out of the negativity. I dove into Buddhism/Zen, meditation, crystal/energy healing, and finally, Chakra healing.

“I knew God existed; I think I was just purposely denying Him. Replacing the name of God with “universe” felt so much easier. The last straw was when I paid nearly $200 for an online Chakra healing program that PROMISED happiness forever. I was desperate.

“I was alone in my room, putting all my hope into this program, and about to watch a live introductory seminar. In my heart I heard, ‘You don’t need this; turn it off.’ And I did.

“I got to your website with a question I typed into Google. Once I found it, I was stuck on it. You write in such a friendly, approachable, and comprehensible way. Finally I could understand who Jesus is.

“I felt so invited by Him through your site to be in a relationship with Him. I prayed a prayer of salvation on my knees in my room after reading one of your articles and have been changing ever since. I am so thankful for getting to know Jesus and for the way I am changing and growing. I am loving my journey.”

When we hear stories like Rachel’s, we not only give praise to the Lord for His grace, but we also thank Him for your partnership with us, enabling us to serve Him.

We would appreciate your prayers for Stefan as he travels to the Middle East today to attend a conference for our staff members that work in countries that are closed to the gospel. Pray that he would be able to encourage them, especially the technology leaders.

Your Missionaries

 

Today Americans commemorate Thanksgiving, a celebration that dates back to the Pilgrims in 1621 as they thanked God for the harvest. In 1777, Congress proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November a National Day of Thanksgiving.

Despite any circumstance, we all have so much to give thanks for, so let us be people of gratitude.

For example, last week we participated in a “Thanksgiving Feast” outreach for interns at Disney World. The interns come from all over the world. Nearly 200 young people attended, and after two powerful salvation testimonies, a gospel presentation was made. Several of the interns indicated an interest in spiritual matters. Marie is doing follow-up with a girl from Uganda and a Zulu girl from Port Shepstone.

Two days later, Marie spoke to 40 students at Monica’s school about film translations, using the JESUS film as an example. She was able to hand out “JESUS for Children” DVD’s to all the children. Because you can’t speak about religion in public schools, she was very careful, then amazed, when the two teachers asked her to also show a short film used to start spiritual conversations. Here are 2 links to examples:  Jesus Film Media and Global Short Films

Please pray that the students and their families will watch the DVD’s.

As we eat our turkey, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie this afternoon with co-workers – be sure that your name will be on our list of people we are grateful for!

We are safely back in Orlando after a wonderful visit in South Africa and have nearly acclimatised.

This year we celebrate 21 years as full-time missionaries. It has been 21 amazing years and we are so grateful that you have journeyed with us. As we look back to serving in Cape Town, Durban, the South African National Office, the Southern and Eastern Africa Area Office and now the Global Head Office, here are a few lessons we keep learning:

1. Our partners – those who pray, give, encourage, work alongside, provide tools or resources have become dear friends. We are rich in relationships.
2. We plant gospel seeds, but only God can draw people to Himself and cause growth.
3. In our pain and disappointments God teaches us about Himself and ourselves.
4. Leadership is hard, but a privilege.
5. People disappoint people, but forgiveness is a gift we received from God and each other that we can also pass on to others.
6. Different cultures add a richness to life, and doing things differently is not wrong, just different. South Africans with their many cross-cultural experiences, make wonderful missionaries.
7. God is at work all around the world, even in the darkest, unreached areas. And He allows us to take part in some of it.

Thank you for your partnership with us as we look forward to the next 21 years!

P.S. Stefan is traveling to New Zealand on Thursday to join our Global Operations leaders from the different areas for their annual collaboration time. Your prayers would be appreciated!

Pic’s From The Past

 

Thirty sleeps left. Excitement is building as we count down to our South Africa visit. Yes, we are coming for June and July to see our ministry partners (that’s you, our family and friends)!

Please pray for us as we put things in place for progress to be made on various projects while we are away. Operationally and on the Communications side of our ministry, there are many exciting developments to make the gospel known to unbelievers, but also to empower millions of believers with tools and training to help them become disciples of Christ who make disciples. We call people like this multiplying disciples. Our goal is to see 10 million multiplying disciples by 2020, empowered so that everyone on this earth will know someone who truly follows Jesus. Won’t you pray with us for this?

Here is one such tool:

“If you can use your phone, you can share your faith.”

GodTools (godtoolsapp.com) now includes 32 language versions of the Four Spiritual Laws evangelistic tract, as well as other tools, to help any follower of Jesus communicate the gospel clearly and simply. Since the tool was updated six months ago, it has been opened in 179 nations, daily usage has increased 500%, and each witnessing opportunity lasts a little over three minutes.

In one particular Middle Eastern nation, where it is illegal to follow Jesus, the app is being used about 100 times per month for twice as long — 6 minutes — per session. Only God knows the names of the faithful disciples who are sharing their faith there.  We currently have no known missionaries in this nation.

You can check it out and use it as well!

We are thanking the Lord for you, and we hope to see you when we are in South Africa!

Building capacity and sharing the gospel in Kyrgyzstan

“I encourage my team to share about Jesus Christ with anyone they meet. If you spend more than 5 minutes with someone, you have an opportunity to share the gospel.”

This was the testimony of Vladimir, from Kyrgyzstan. He has the heart of an evangelist, a passion to share Jesus Christ with others. The exceptional thing is that Vladimir leads the national operations team, not a field ministry team. This is a team of accountants, tech experts, office managers and administrators. Their primary calling is to provide support systems for our field teams in Kyrgyzstan. At the same time they are also living out a ministry of evangelism and discipleship as a way of life.

Even more amazing is that Vladimir’s team serve in a country that is nearly 90% Muslim. They take the initiative to boldly share the love of Christ daily.  Vladimir shared with excitement about his teams evangelistic outreach. That week his operations team shared the gospel with more people than the students ministry team!

We love being a part of developing leaders like Vladimir, who are skilled at building operations capacity for the ministry, filled with the Holy Spirit and passionate about sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

Our time in Greece with Vladimir and other operations leaders was an encouragement and also a time to collaborate and trust God for greater impact. Thank you for your prayers for us and our children that stayed at home.

Please join us in praying for:

1. Greater impact & wisdom for our operations teams around the world as they work “behind-the-scenes”.
2. Stefan’s travel to Korea (18-25 October) to attend our East Asia staff conference.
3. Wisdom as our ministry trusts God for greater digital maturity and simplification of our global communication.
4. Marie’s Mom, who will be visiting us in November, for safe travels and a wonderful time together.
5. Irene, a Norwegian neighbour that prayed to receive Christ with Marie. Pray for her spiritual growth and her sons to know Jesus.

Click here to see some photo’s from Greece