Ethiopia Update

I am in Ethiopia preparing to preach this Sunday and participate in pastor training this week. Every time I go to a African country I am reminded of the unreached millions. I just returned from a walk around my hotel. I see the faces of hundred’s of people who have never heard the Gospel.

We were able to bring in 18 Kindle Fires on this trip. These Kindles have Amharic theology books and the Jesus Film in multiple languages. Please pray for the pastors we are training that they will train others and use the Kindles they receive to reach the untold millions in their country. Each pastor coming to the training has made a commitment to train 10 others in the next year.

Kindles Help Teach and Reach

When you consider the world the harvest is truly plentiful. We must pray that the Lord send workers into the field. In the process of sending them we must equipment them. Christ has called us to disciple others so they can reach others and disciple them. This involves teaching them the Word of God so they can teach others.

Our ministry has taken on another dimension of equipping those going to the unreached. The Kindle Fires provide good theological books to read and also the ‘Jesus Film’. Every time the ‘Jesus Film’ is shown the worker learns more of the Gospel. Hunter, a young man serving in the Metu Mountains of Uganda, told me how he has learned more about the Gospel when showing the ‘Jesus Film’. He has shown the film so often that he has lost count of how many times he has shown it. The film has help train him in the Gospel. Besides being an excellent evangelism tool www.studytobeapproved.com/givingthat film has been a great training tool.

Watch the video of my interview with Hunter. A well equipped worker can do mighty things for God.

We need to send more Kindles to the far reaches of the world. Any help you can give will be appreciated. A Kindle Fire with solar charger is $100. Please give to help in this ministry.

 

He Is Risen!

He is risen! We as believers have know this for years because we have heard the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But how about the many who have not heard. Below is an quote for an email I received from a pastor working with an unreached people group.

Thanks you so much for making an effort to make sure that we have machine book which makes work in the church easy may God of Abraham.Isaacs and Jacob bless you
Therefore we are requesting for your prayer for financial break through. for buying church land. we therefore ask you with your friends to stand up for prayers with as for this commitment
Thanks may God bless you
By Angurini Joseph Uganda Maracha friends of Jacob Rau Moyo

The Kindle Fires with the Jesus film and the Open Bible software are great tools to assist the pastors in reaching people in an oral culture.

The tribes in the remote areas of Uganda are hearing the Gospel for the first time. They can say “He is Risen!” and rejoice with us.

Spreading the Gospel in an Oral Culture

If you are reading this post you probably cannot imagine what is it like to live in a culture where most people are illiterate. They really on verbal and visual communication. The Aringa people in the Metu mountains are such a group, an unreached people group in Uganda. They do have a written language but most people to not read it or they do not have books. So verbal and visual communication is critical in spreading the Gospel.

Little did we realize when we provided the first Kindle Fires for use in Uganda what an impact they would have. We originally released them so we could provide pastors and teacher a video library for training along with their books. We put the Jesus film on the device because we thought it would be a nice addition. The Jesus film in the heart language of the Aringa people has had such a impact. Below is a quote and picture from Facebook the other day:

The Kindle fire Jesus film is bring more and drawing many to jesus christ ,then believing His Baptism.Ressurrection.in the Remote villages of metu mountains

Tobious Ojji

Praise the Lord for adding to His Kingdom these believers in such a remote region.

We need additional funds for Kindles Fires to help spread the Gospel. $100 will purchase an Kindle Fire with the Jesus film in the language of the people group. So please donate to the spreading of the Gospel.

 

Testimony From Metu Mountains

Because we are not directly on the mission field we rely on testimonies from those who are laboring on the mission field. I missed this post from last December. It is a example of how the Kindle Fires are being used in ministry.

Here is a testimony from Tobious Ojji’s Facebook post:

God is really at work ln the metu mountains.Last sunday Seven peopel gave their lives to Jesus.at Oyo first Christians Church.four men.s and three wome.s.kindle Fire ministry is alsa dirrecting more peopel to the lord.

Training Metu Mountain Men of Uganda

Jacob Lee, with Reaching Africa’s Unreached, goes into the the Metu Mountains of Uganda. This is a very isolated area of Uganda. This from a post last week on Facebook:

We had a great one day retreat with our Metu Mountain Men who have so faithfully served the Lord and the believers of hard to reach areas in the mountain villages.

Jacob focused on the importance of working towards (in the long term) being churches which are self propagating, self-supporting and self-governing. They spent a lot of time strategizing how to move forward and talked about some of the problems they face. Jacob also wanted to encourage them in all the ways they are doing a wonderful job.

Misengile Samuel Bakulu went over how to make the most of some of the resources on their Kindles. He was so well prepared and thorough. Our aim has been to get these Kindles to people who are least likely to have access to such resources.

I also taught a session on the Trinity….the beauty of God and the loving and humble relationships between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…and how the Trinity is such a beautiful example for marriage and the family.

It took me by surprise how much this teaching affected each one as they went around and shared what they were struggling with in their marriages and ministries. They asked for this same teaching to also be shared with their wives and women in the church so they could move ahead on equal footing.

We send Kindles around the world that are entrusted to teachers like Jacob Lee who teaches Misengile Samuel Bakulu who teaches others. Without them this ministry would not be effective. It is not enough to give a person a Kindle but we need people to help train them in the use of the devices.

 

Use the tools

A team from HIghPointe Baptist church is going Uganda May 5 – 16. The team will be teaching the second module in Hearts, Heads and Hands by David Sills. David is the founder of Reaching and Teaching. This ministry seeks to train men in the fundamentals of the faith and prepare them to be ministers of the Gospel in countries where education is not generally available.

Jacob Lee, the director of Reaching Africa’s Unreached, has a mission compound in Moyo, Uganda. One of the goals of his ministry is to train leaders. He has built facilities to house and train pastors for one week sessions. He has been instrumental in distributing Kindles in this region of Uganda. Those we teach will have Kindles which allows us to add materials to supplement our training. So we are going to make use of the Kindles for this ministry.

Thank the Lord for His blessings

Amazon has a Valentine’s special where you can purchase a Kindle Fire for $39.99. This is $10 off the regular price. We have ordered 50 of them. With these Kindles we are able to meet our commitments through June for the ministry in Zambia.

I was told that some pastors who came to the college actually travel by dug out canoe. I remember stories from missionaries when I was a child about people who travel by canoe. It amazes me that these men have access to computer technology with the Kindle Fire. This is a merger of the primitive and technology. These people are able to get into the computer age in one giant leap. They will have access to books and the Jesus film to help train them and spread the Gospel.

Overcome Energy and Spiritual Poverty

We in the US many times forget about the poverty through out the world. Here is a map of energy poverty in the world:

One of the areas we are heavily involved in the Sub-Sahara region of Africa. Besides not having books they do not have electricity. Below is Jacob Lee demonstrating the use of a solar panel unit to use with the Kindles and a quote from Jacob:

Explaining the use of solar panel and Kindle Fire which were given by “Study To Be Approved.” There are now 15 Kindles in these mountains being used to spread the gospel through the “Jesus” film and strengthen church leaders with the Bible and books on them.

We overcome energy poverty so we can overcome spiritual poverty.

The Gospel is spreading

We started a new venture last year to use Kindle Fires as a book reader and video device. The reason for this is we wanted the pastors to access to lectures from BiblicalTraining.org. We also decided to put the Jesus film on these devices in the native languages. We did not realize that the ‘Jesus Film’  is most beneficial asset of the Kindles. Here are some testimonies.

The Kindles Fires are being used by the Lord in great ways. The portable solar panels have been a key factor as well! There are a good number of them in the Metu Mountains as well as in Yumbe. Many have come to faith in the Mountains and just a little bit ago I received a called from Charles. Omar has been showing the “Jesus” film in a number of Mosques…I thinking the number is over 12. In a recent showing a man pulled him side wanting to follow Jesus. Omar brought him to Charles today and he trusted in Christ. The only complaint and it is not a bad one to have is that the people tend crowd to see it and some cannot. Omar is talking the District Khard who is over 219 Mosques to allow me to enter with the projector to show it. I recently had a good meeting with this Khard…pray…! Love and prayers sent your way as well…your sacrifice and love is making a big difference here…thank you!!!

 We have had such amazing feedback from people who are using the Kindle Fire.  Tobious, in the Metu Mountains, continues to not only go with it himself and is finding that many members of the family are turning to Christ, but he is galvanizing a growing number of faithful young men who are also willing to go and do the same.  Omar, the Imam who converted to Christ, has shown the movie a half dozen times in various mosques.  He apparently stops the film from time to time to explain how different things that come up in the movie can be found in the Qur’an.  He was asked recently, “Why do you keep talking about Issa (Jesus)?  He replied, “Well, its Christmas!”
It seems like this one on one method which has been used in the Metu mountains is particularly helpful because it identifies believers right away and, because there has been already personal interaction, the process of discipleship can more easily be set in motion.  People are also more likely to personalize and respond to the message in a more private setting such as a home.  I can imagine it will have the same effect in Yumbe among Muslims who would not dare respond in public. We have yet to hear stories like that but we expect them soon!

Please pray for the people spreading the ‘Jesus Film’ with the Kindles. Pray that many would come to know the Lord and that the Lord will keep His servants safe.