Short Report - 10/16

Grace and Peace to you friends. So much has happened since my last note to you!  I was able to be at the Tanzania Leadership Conference hosted at the Andrew Connally School of preaching.  There were speakers from Zambia, Kenya, Congo (DRC), Tanzania, America, and Uganda that came to speak on the theme, "All Christians are Leaders."  It was an uplifting and encouraging time.   Check out some pictures from TLC at the bottom of this message. One of the highlights each year is the alumni meeting when we get to spend some time catching up with some of our former students.  This year, I challenged them to find motivation in the example of the Macedonian church.  That church was the recipient of mission work in Acts 16, then became supporters of mission work (Phil 4:15-18) giving out of their poverty (2 Cor. 8:1-6).  We considered the goal of their congregations not only becoming self-supporting, but even supporting other church-plants themselves.  Here's a picture from the meeting: Additionally, this trip gave me the chance to visit with the congregations at Moshi, Namanga, and Kisongo and learn more about the challenges and opportunities that each church is facing.      I was also able to teach a short-course on 1 and 2 Peter and Jude in the English program at ACSOP.  We've got a great group of students with bright futures in the kingdom.  Here's a picture one of the students delivering a sermon to the class:   STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:  Duot   Speaking of students, our student spotlight for this report features Duot Akoon Garang.  Duot is a 26 year old student from South Sudan.  He is married with two young sons named Garang and Mabek. Before coming to ACSOP, Duot was a primary school teacher and a farmer.  In his family, only he and his wife are members of the church but he is trying to teach the others. He chose to come to ACSOP because of our reputation for producing good servants of God.  He hopes to pursue a Masters degree after graduation to enable him to begin a preacher training school back in South Sudan. Duot wanted to say to you: "I am really very grateful for what you have been doing for me to have this good opportunity to study in ACSOP.  Your love and care is more than expected because I never went to a school where you are supported and you study free of charge. Thank God for that and may God continue bless your efforts for the next works you are going to do for the kingdom of God. So I have no words to describe your love and care but for these few words may God reward you in Heaven." Till all have heard, Daniel Gaines Director Tanzania Missions

Short Report - 10/1

Grace and Peace to you friends. 

ANSWERED NEED

Last month I shared with you a building need that the Ibambula church had following the destruction of their building by heavy rains.  Thankfully the Huntington congregation has generously stepped in to provide for this need.  I share with you a note of thanks from Silvester Bahati, the preacher of the Ibambula congregation:

"We do thanks God together with you all who been touched to this need, and to decide to give out your money to help us to get permanent building of worship, may God bless you a lot.   I believe myself together with all Christians from Ibambula, we will make sure we are standing faithfully the building process of this building  be cause God has answered our long need prayers ."


STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

I want you to know a little bit about the men that you are helping to train for the ministry through your financial and spiritual support for this work.  So, I'm going to start including a "Student Spotlight" feature in the short reports to introduce a student to you. 

We'll start with CHOL DENG.  Chol is a bright 24 year old year old young man from South Sudan in our English-speaking program.  He was raised by a widowed mother in the Episcopal church, but converted in 2015.

In explaining why he wanted to study at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching, he said,  "I had a desire to know more about the Bible in order to improve my personal relationship with God and more importantly to be able to defend and answer any one that ask me for the reason of my faith. (1Peter 3:15-16) which I believed was possible in ACSOP.  The Andrew Connally School of Preaching (ACSOP) is a school well-spoken regarding their commitment to teach the sound doctrine of the biblical church hence the reason for choosing to study here."

After graduation, Chol plans to return to South Sudan to work with the congregation that entrusted him with the opportunity to seek this training.

Chol wants us to tell you that his "sincere gratitude goes to the donors for their tireless and unconditional support for the servants of the Lord and the school at large."

ON THE ROAD

At this time of year, many churches are working on their 2020 budgets.  We humbly request that you consider Tanzania Missions as a part of your missions budget planning.  In recent weeks I've been able to present the work to congregations in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Georgia.  Would you like for me to visit your congregation?  I have some openings available in November.  We do have a couple of stops in Virginia planned in November, so if you're in Virginia or West Virginia, then this would be a great time to get on the schedule!  


Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions