Category: Uncategorized

 A Life-Changing Dream

With Marie’s Mom at the Disney Yacht Club Hotel

Like most people in her closed Central Asian country, Alina* followed the majority religion. She believed Jesus was a prophet but nothing more.

When our local staff team members came to her village to distribute food and clothing, Alina welcomed them gladly. She listened as they talked about Jesus. At the end of their visit, Alina told them about friends who also needed help. The team was happy to provide them with meals as well.

Alina insisted on going with them as they visited each home. She watched team members express the kindness of Jesus in a tangible way, and she listened as they talked about His eternal hope.

A few days after the team delivered aid, Alina urgently asked to talk with them again — she had seen Jesus in a dream.

Alina told the team members about meeting Abraham, Isaac and Jesus in her dream. At first she thought she was meeting three of the main prophets of her religion. But then Jesus walked up to her and said, “You’ve heard about Me. You know I’m the Way. It’s time to start following Me.”

Alina realized that Jesus was more than a prophet. She was ready and eager to follow Him. The team members prayed with Alina as she joyfully responded in faith to His message. 

Today Alina is part of a house church in her village. Over the past six months, team members have seen others experience the kindness of Jesus and come to faith in Him. Six new house churches have been established in this previously unreached area!

Encouraging our workers and church-planters to remain strong in the Lord is one of the highlights of Stefan’s work and he recently heard this and other stories of what God is doing in some very hard to reach places. 

Family News

Unexpectedly the doors opened for Marie’s Mom to visit us for a few weeks. It’s been lovely to have her here.

Kenneth is home doing an internship with a surveying company. He entertains us each night with stories of snakes and fire-ants as he is bundu bashing through swamps to locate things for various construction projects.

It is a treat to have a house full of people, and we savour the time because we know we will soon be empty nesters, with Monica also leaving for university in August.

*name changed for security

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for the people He draws to Himself in hard-to-reach places.
  2. Pray that Marie’s Mom will have a good visit with us.
  3. Pray for Marie as she is working on a big communications project.

5 Amazing Highlights

How have you felt entering 2023? Excited? Exhausted? Hopeful?

We started the year reflecting on God’s goodness in 2022 and anticipating His work in 2023. Our friends and coworkers, Josh and Holly Newell, who lead the Jesus Film Project, prepared a video of what God did in 2022 and we thought you would also find the five stories inspiring. Can you believe the film is now available in over 2,000 languages?

CLICK or on the image below to watch the video

2022 Jesus Film Project Highlights

Personal News

In May, Monica finishes Grade 12 and leaves for university. Soon we will be empty-nesters, so we are enjoying all the “lasts” with her. It is bitter-sweet and also very exciting. Pray for her as she waits to hear from the universities and scholarships where she applied.

Marie returned from Dallas last week, where she met with consultants helping her with some communications responsibilities.

In early February, Stefan will travel to meet with our church planters from North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia (NAMESTAN), as well as partnering organizations. You help to make all of this possible. Thank you!

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for the success our mission experienced in 2022.
  2. Pray for Monica to have wisdom and discernment regarding her future.
  3. Pray for Stefan’s meetings with church planters in NAMESTAN.
  4. Pray for Marie’s work to help our organization communicate better.

Thanksgiving This Year!

Thanksgiving is our favourite American holiday to celebrate. It is always on the forth Thursday in November. 

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

A pumpkin patch – typical for this time of the year

Here are a few things we give thanks for:

  1. Our marriage – this month we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary!
  2. Our good health – several of our friends have recently been diagnosed with illnesses, some terminal, so we are very aware of this gift.
  3. Our children are happy and fulfilled in their current phase of life—Kenneth at university and Monica in her matric (final year of high school) year.
  4. The completion of the her.BIBLE audio bible in women’s voices! The 34 readers represent 18 ethnicities from 10 different countries. It was a huge task, but we are so grateful to see people downloading the app or listening to it via the YouVersion Bible app.
  5. Church expansion – churches are planted in places previously without churches. Even though the communities are small, their presence is a testimony of God’s hand over the church through the ages.
  6. The godly missionary leaders we have the privilege to serve. Last week, the former president of Campus Crusade for Christ, Steve Douglass,died due to complications with cancer. He was a mentor to Marie and a prayer partner. We are grateful for the years we could work closely with him and learn from him.
  7. You! Our partners who stand with us, back us up in prayer and enable us to serve the Lord, you continue to be one of our the biggest blessings.
Celebrating our 25th anniversary

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for our 25 years of marriage.
  2. Pray for our Campus Crusade for Christ family and Steve’s family as we mourn his passing.
  3. Pray for Stefan and our global church planting leaders who will be meeting 14-18 November in Colorado

Yours in Christ,

The Dells

Update: We Survived Ian

A neighbour is helping us tie down a tree in the wind.

Here is a brief update since hurricane Ian passed through Central Florida. The storm changed course and went further to the south before going out into the Atlantic earlier today. So, Orlando was spared from the highest winds and rainfall amounts. We had over a foot (12 inches) of rain in one day, a new record for Central Florida. 

We have friends and colleagues who have had major flooding. Thankfully, we did not have any. We did not lose power, and city water was never interrupted. Besides three uprooted trees, we have no significant damage in our house or around the garden.

Overall, we feel very blessed compared to the flooding still occurring all over Central Florida.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Continue to pray for those still in the path of hurricane Ian and all the cleaning-up operations.

Dells, Are You Okay?

Hurricane Ian – Predicted Path

We are in the path of Hurricane Ian. In one prediction, shown above, we are smack in the middle of the potential course (see the blue dot). While Ian is a strong storm at the moment, the forecast seems to have it calm down a little by the time it reaches us.

Stefan and I have returned from our meetings in Turkey, and Kenneth is home from university, so we are glad we can be together as a family during this storm.

We have done what we could to prepare our home for this hurricane, and now we are praying for the storm to weaken and for God’s protection.

Please join us in prayer:

  1. Pray for the hurricane to weaken.
  2. Pray for God’s protection of our brothers and sisters who are affected by this storm.
  3. Give thanks for the Lord’s guidance and fruitful meetings in Turkey.

On a lighter note – enjoy these decorations created by the housekeeping team at our hotel in Turkey.

4 Things To Pray For

A Florida sunset viewed from our street

This week, Stefan meets with church planters from Europe as they gather in Turkey for mutual encouragement and to learn from each other. In some places, the “soil” can be very hard, so they trust the Lord for new ideas and ways to connect with people in societies where they often question the relevance of the church. 

In addition, the ongoing Ukrainian war and the refugees are creating opportunities for the church to show the love of the Lord. Believers have done a lot already, but coordinated efforts can enhance this even more. Pray that this gathering will help make those connections stronger.

In Africa, the coordinated efforts of our church planters in 36 countries during May resulted in great fruit. 

  • 256 trainings took place, equipping 22,357 people for church planting.
  • 1,672 (676 new churches and 996 groups were planted) 
  • 863,145 people heard the Gospel of Jesus 
  • 101,566 people prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.

Each of these numbers represents a person that the Lord touched. There are many stories, but let us share this one from Guinea-Bissau. In one of the villages, a young lady who suddenly went dumb and lame in both legs six months earlier started to talk after one of our church planters ministered to her. She responded to the prayer of faith to the astonishment of everyone. As a result of this miracle, 20 churches were planted in that area.

We praise the Lord for what He is doing and how He continues to draw people to Himself. Thank you for joining us in making Him known.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Praise the Lord for His provision for our passports. Stefan, Marie, and Kenneth received new passports, and each passport has a miracle story as there were many complications in getting it.
  2. For the European church planters to be refreshed and inspired as they meet in Turkey.
  3. Next week, Marie will also travel to Turkey for meetings with the Global Executive Team. She is coordinating their program and will also facilitate two sessions. Pray for wisdom, insight and stamina for our leaders.
  4. Monica is starting to submit her university applications. Pray that the Lord will show her where He wants her to attend and reveal what He wants her to study.

Your Story Can Count

Enjoying the view close to Thabazimbi

On our last Friday in South Africa, our youth pastor allowed us to share with 45 young people how effective their testimonies are to help others find Jesus.

Many Christians think they need theological or evangelism training before sharing about Jesus. But we all have a story of our lives before we became Christians, how we became Christians, and what our lives look like now (after receiving Christ).

While the young people were practicing their stories in pairs, we prayed for them to have many opportunities to tell their testimonies in the future.

One of the youth leaders reported that his sharing buddy confessed that he had not yet become a Christian but was moving closer to making that decision. We prayed for that young man to take that vital step.

Back In Orlando

We returned to Orlando with our hearts filled with African love and memories. A particular highlight was Marie’s sister from the UK, and her children, were also in South Africa. It was a sweet reunion for the Ferreira family. All the siblings were home for the first time in 6 years. We had precious times of fellowship and lots of “swallowship” – great braais and desserts!

We loved our time in South Africa and reconnecting with friends and family.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Monica started her Matric year. Pray for stamina and guidance from the Lord as she starts applying to universities. 
  2. Kenneth continues his engineering studies. Pray for diligence.
  3. Marie has two projects she is working on that are way out of her comfort zone. Pray for the Lord’s wisdom and creativity as she leads these projects.
  4. Stefan has several people on his team with family members with health challenges. Pray for him to be a good ear and support to them.

Hello From Monica

“Thank you all for praying for my mission trip to Jeppes Reef earlier this month! Leaving on the trip and only knowing one person, was terrifying. But it was an amazing experience getting to know fellow young Christians and, on returning, counting them as friends. 

The week-long trip provided an excellent chance for me to grow spiritually. We hosted a bible club for children from the community. It is unclear how well the kids received our message due to language barriers, but we saw many smiles of appreciation for the time we spent with them. 

Handing out food and soap was a chance to show the faith James talks about in James 2:14-17. Please continue to pray that the seeds we planted will grow and that no one will mislead them with false teaching. 

I hope Christ’s love does not get lost in our desire to be moral and ‘good’ people. Jesus died and loves us all, regardless of our sins.”

Making sandwiches at 5:30am

Prayer Requests:

  1. Pray for the gospel seeds planted in the hearts of the children and young people in Jeppes Reef to germinate and grow.
  2. Pray for me to continue to grow in my love for Jesus.
  3. Pray that our last month in South Africa will go well. My aunt and cousins from England are also coming soon, so it will be a wonderful reunion.

Stories You Will Enjoy

We are always encouraged to hear stories of God working in people’s lives. Marie recently compiled a report about the impact of our ministry, and she thought you would enjoy reading these short stories.

Mongolia

In October, our ministry were able to have an in-person student conference for the first time since the pandemic started. They ran ads on Facebook to invite participants, targeting college students who lived nearby. Around 150 students came to the meeting. Of these, 60 indicated decisions for Christ!

New Zealand

Dana, a young woman working in a mental health service, started a Bible study with her colleagues. They met weekly to pray, study and encourage one another.

Because the group was open to everyone in her workplace, curious non-Christian colleagues sometimes came to read the Bible with them too! Amy was one of them, coming faithfully each week.

In one meeting, only Dana and Amy showed up. Dana had been hoping for an opportunity to talk with Amy about the gospel. Using her GodTools® app, Dana shared the “Knowing God Personally” presentation with her. Amy asked Christ to forgive her sins and give her a new life!

Asia

In a country where all online content is monitored, censored and often blocked, between January and October 2021:

  • 28,189,119 people interacted with the ministry by watching a video, reading a post, chatting, or opening and clicking on content.
  • Of those people, 2,265 made a decision to follow Christ after a conversation with a ministry team member.
  • Over 1,200 of those people were connected with local churches or fellowships!

Ghana

Emmanuel, from Ghana, received church-planting training from our ministry. After the training, Emmanuel returned to his village. He began sharing the evangelistic tract called the Four Spiritual Laws, and 15 people indicated decisions for Christ. Emmanuel began to meet with them.

After Emmanuel’s group invited a “JESUS” film team to show the film in their community, another 22 people joined their group. Emmanuel identified two people in the group — now a small church — who were zealous to win souls for Christ. He trained them in how to use the Four Spiritual Laws booklet.

When one of them, Ezekiel, moved to a nearby community, he began sharing the gospel. He has since planted a church that now has 34 members.

Thank You!

Because of your generosity, Dana, Emmanuel, Ezekiel, and many others have been equipped and resourced to reach their communities with the life-changing news of the gospel. Thank you for your generosity to our family to be part of this ministry!

Nothing Can Stop the Move of God’s Spirit

I (Marie) grew up seeing my father on his knees, praying for God to reveal Himself to those behind the Iron Curtain. When Communism fell, we celebrated it and shed tears of joy, and he recalled how he had joined believers around the world to pray for that to happen for many years. 

Then his focus, and that of many believers, shifted to the Muslim world, praying for God to reveal Himself to millions of seekers. 

We just completed 30 days of prayer and fasting for Muslims during their Ramadan month of fasting. My father passed away, but I wish I could have shared with him some of the stories I heard this month. Here are a few:

Surge in Subscribers to Arabic Church Online

More than 10,000 Arab-speaking Muslims in a closed Middle Eastern nation subscribed to our Arabic Church Online YouTube channel.

A Million Face Masks

In one country, our staff members and partnering churches have started distributing one million face masks to reach people for Christ.

The face mask comes with an evangelistic booklet and a note that says, “If you would like to have true peace, please visit these websites.” The websites have videos and articles to help point them to Christ as well as the “JESUS” film in their local language.

To date, 850,000 facemasks and booklets have been distributed through 805 churches in 63 provinces or cities in this secure country. This has helped ease restrictions for the church planters because authorities see that they are helping the communities.

No Restrictions Can Stop God

In a highly restricted country, eighty people have accepted Christ online during this month.

One young man, who we will call Matt, accepted Jesus on 12 May. He completed all of the basic follow-up lessons, and the week after he believed, he saw three others accept Christ as he shared the Truth that he had just found! Matt is now discipling these new believers, going through the basic follow-up lessons with them.

When our team met Matt online, he had Covid-19 and was searching for Truth. It’s fantastic to see through his story that NOTHING can stop the move of God’s Spirit. Not a global pandemic. Not an illness. Not strict lockdowns. Not even some of the highest security situations in the world.

Thank you

We know you are reading these stories in your hard circumstances due to the pandemic. Again, we want to thank you for your continued partnership with us as we bring the Good news to a hopeless world. We trust that your hope in Jesus will be real and encouraging for others around you. Be assured that we are praying for you!