February-March 2016 Prayer Letter

GRACE TO THE REGIONS BEYOND

One of the most satisfying part of the ministry in Kenya has been seeing the maturing of the Grace Bible Baptist Church in the area of missions.  This maturing has not only been in the area of giving financially but also an ever increasing burden to reach the neighboring countries that can be some of the most difficult physically to reach.  The church has also been able to encourage other churches to become involved in missions and has been instrumental in getting missions programs established in several Kenyan churches.  We now have a number of Kenyan churches that have begun financially supporting our mission program, Grace to the Regions Beyond.  God continues to open new doors of opportunity for us.  Not long ago a former Kenyan missionary who was pastoring in West Virginia, Pastor Scott Hall, surrendered to come back to Kenya to specifically help the Grace Bible Baptist Church in its outreach into these countries.  We are excited that with his help we will be able to reach into more areas in these countries.

GRACE TO SOUTH SUDAN

We continue to train Brother Peter Kosgei and his wife for their eventual move to South Sudan as missionaries.  South Sudan is in a difficult condition at the moment with a terrible civil war being fought. We have nearly 50 South Sudanese students in our Christian School that allows Peter to interact with them personally. We hope to take a second survey trip with Peter to South Sudan later in the year.

GRACE TO CONGO

We continue to have men from the Grace Bible Baptist Church in Congo at all times.  The churches are continuing to grow spiritually and the Bible College continues to train men.  We had some problems with our original registration with the Congo government that required us to start the process anew.  Thankfully God intervened and allowed us to get registered properly both on the local level and district level.  We are now beginning the process of extending the registration to a national level.  This part of the registration seems to be much more costly and time consuming.

GRACE TO BURUNDI

Please pray for the country of Burundi!  Last spring the president decided to defy the constitution and the peace agreement that brought an end to the civil war by running for a third term.  Because of tribalism he won easily, but since that time the country as been teetering on a civil war.  Some are saying that if something is not done soon the world will have another genocide on its hand.  Nearly 300,000 people have fled the country and are now in displacement camps, most living in horrid conditions.  Nightly both government and rebel forces are slaughtering innocent people.  I have been to Burundi four times since the trouble started and have seen this for myself.  Every night we could hear the battles being fought and in the morning bodies of innocent people would be found on the streets.  Assassinations and targeted killings have become the norm.  In spite of this, the Independent Baptist Church of Bujumbura and Pastor Kambi continue to do well.  Although half the church has fled because of the trouble, those that remain continue to grow spiritually and the spirit of the church remains strong.  I have preached for them several times over the last few months and am always amazed and encouraged when I am with them.  I am scheduled to be with them twice over the next six weeks. Please remember these trips to Burundi in prayer.