Stefan and Marie Dell

A Glimpse of Heaven

Greetings from Burundi!
Hello from Ukraine
Good afternoon from Liberia
Hi from Switzerland
Warm Greetings from Togo
Good morning from Uruguay
Hello from the Arabian Dunes
Greetings from Nepal
Hi from Jamaica
Hello from Singapore!

The chat feature on our Zoom was going crazy. Leaders from over 130 countries sent messages to express their joy of being together for our Global Leadership Celebration. During the online event, we celebrated what God has done in and through our ministry over the past decade. And it was a huge celebration!

The Production Team Hard At Work During Last Week’s Global Leadership Celebration Event

Due to the ongoing pandemic, it is easy to see the gloom around us. I (Marie) think this made last week extra special – we intentionally looked back and saw the incredible faithfulness of God. I could not help but consistently say, “wow – if God could do that, what will stop Him from doing that or more in the future!”

As my team prepared the videos and the translations into ten languages, we had a sense of awe. I had many highlights, but I thought I would share a story from Brazil. My team produced the first part of the video in 2015 when Kariny was a student involved in our ministry. We interviewed her again last month, and it is heartwarming to see how God is using her as an engineer. Cru is the name of our ministry in Brazil.

Her story is one of many. Pray for the people like Kariny who our missionaries are connecting with every day – that they will all become multiplying disciples of Jesus and take the Good news to people around them.

Thank you for your partnership that allows us to connect with people like Kariny.

800 New Churches a Day!

During 2020, the JESUS Film team projected that an estimated 30 million people indicated their decision for Christ. That’s one person almost every second!

The JESUS Film is now available in more than 1,870 different languages. Ministry partners who use JESUS played a crucial role in planting upwards of 293,000 churches. That’s 800 every day!

Even during the pandemic, virtual translation workshops aided new script creation, but remotely. Ministry partners like YWAM and Renew World Outreach took on an even greater role to translate JESUS for smaller language groups. In 2020, 105 new translation projects were completed.

A missionary in Southeast Asia who serves as the television broadcast coordinator shares: “Due to the pandemic, we have such a captive audience at home, so many people are tuning in and watching {satellite broadcasts}. What draws them more than anything is the fact that they can watch these programs, the JESUS film, in their ethnic heart language. We get confirmation all the time when we ask, ‘How did you find out about Jesus?’ And they say, ‘We saw Him on TV, and we love it because it’s in our own language.’ Someday we will see people from every nation and tribe and language gathered around the throne, worshipping our Savior and Lord, all because we partnered together and we stood in the gap for such a time as this.”

Hearing these stories always remind us of the privilege of serving the Lord and how grateful we are for your support that enables us to do this.

Reverend Dell:

Stefan was invited by one of our partner groups to be ordained as a minister. We are required to complete a certain number of theological courses throughout our staff career, which we have done, but we were not seeking ordination. In light of Stefan’s work worldwide as a church-planter, having the title “Reverend” makes it easier for him.

What made the ordination ceremony special was that our good friends, Marnus and Mariette van Niekerk were in America for business at the time, and they joined us. Due to Covid restrictions, we were only 11 people at the ceremony, but it was very intimate and meaningful.

Prayer Requests:

This month our ministry is celebrating the impact of what God has done through all of us over the past decade. It culminates in a three-day online celebration event on 24-26 February. Marie is part of the design team for the event and will appreciate your prayers.
Kenneth is waiting for responses from the universities where he has applied. Pray that it will be clear which university will be best for him. For us as parents, navigating the USA college system is intimidating.

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.

Celebrate 10 Years Of Growth

Last week was the last of the monthly, global, online conferences Stefan’s church- planting team hosted. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, some 2,000 Global Church Movements staff members worldwide were suddenly confined to their homes. It seemed that church-planting efforts would screech to a halt. But God had a different plan.

As the world pivoted to online meetings and churches began streaming their services, God began giving creative ideas.

Since July, God has helped Stefan’s team to host a monthly Zoom meeting in eight languages. They called the conference series “Bold Moves,” and every month, we based the theme on a bold move they could take to become better church planters.

When Stefan volunteered to become the conference director for these conferences, he could not have foreseen the challenges he would experience. However, he is looking back now and is in awe of how the Lord has helped them to connect with many church planters. Usually, when they would have a face-to-face conference, they would have, at most, 350 people attend it. Through these online meetings, they could have between 1,300 and 1,800 people attend.

Last week’s conference focused on celebrating what the Lord has done the past ten years through our church-planting efforts. We thought you would enjoy watching this video as you have been part of making it possible. Thank you for your partnership. Click on the image to watch the video.

History of Global Church Movements

We want to pray this blessing over you as put together by some of our church planters from around the world. Click on the image to watch the video.

Blessings Song by Church Planters

Prayer requests:

Praise the Lord for the effective Bold Move conferences and pray that the impact of it will continue to help our church planters.
Marie tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, Stefan has also started to feel sick (Monday). Pray for her healing and the rest of the family not to get the virus.

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.

Please pray for:

Steve Sellers, as he becomes the third president in the nearly 70-year history of our ministry.
Our missionaries around the world to experience the Lord’s guidance despite the continued adjustments due to COVID-19.
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:

Praise the Lord for the app and pray that the her.Bible team can complete the recording of the remaining Old Testament books.
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.
Pray for Kenneth, who started Grade 12 and Monica Grade 10.

Thank you for your partnership with us.

How A Disaster Turned into Success

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!

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:

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.
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.
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.

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!

Hear how Kenneth and Monica are surviving

Kenneth and Monica successfully survived their eighth week at home due to COVID-19. We asked them to give you an update about their lives.

Monica:

“Wow, none of us suspected that 12 March would be our last day at school for our 2019/2020 academic year. All our schoolwork is now online and even though we are not seeing our teachers, we are required to check in with each subject weekly. We will hopefully return to school when our new academic year starts in August.

I love experimenting in the kitchen and I now finally have the time to use all the exotic ingredients I make my Dad bring for me from his international travels. I especially love the spices from India.

Another new skill I’m developing is helping my Mom’s team with one of their projects called her.Bible. They are creating the first free audio Bible read by women. My job is to create pronunciations for difficult names. For example the word, Eglath-shelishiyah(E GLATH shel eesh ee uh) from Jeremiah 48:34. I had to learn a lot about the correct pronunciation of all kinds of names. Just for fun – the book of Isaiah has 178 proper names that appear 666 times! You can go and listen to the New Testament on her.Bible It will also soon be available to download as an app.”

Kenneth:

“I had the opportunity to be part of a dual-enrollment program this year. It allows select high schoolers to also attend university courses at our local university. I attended a full school day, and then from Monday to Thursday, I also attended evening classes at the university from 6-10 pm. I also continued to be part of the school swimming and tennis team.

Needless to say, when we received the stay-at-home order, I was relieved. All my classes shifted online, and it was tough, but I had a bit more free time. Two weeks ago I finished my university courses and I’m happy to say I passed all seven of my courses with good marks.

Now I’m putting all my efforts into passing my Grade 11 classes well. Although I’m missing my sport and friends – I enjoy catching up on some video games.”

Prayer Request:

Thank the Lord that Kenneth and Monica can continue with their schooling and are set to finish the academic year well.
Pray for stamina – we continue to see an increased openness to spiritual things and we are working long hours to see the gospel go out.
Pray for many who have met Jesus in the last two months due to the COVID-19 situation, that they will grow in their faith and will find Christian communities to care for them.

Thank you for your partnership with us!