Bible Training Center Update

I wanted to post an update for those of you following the Bible Training Center in Mekelle, Ethiopia.

In September, we honored 22 students that graduated with Diplomas and another 40 students that earned Certificates. As of today we have 60 students enrolled at the campus in Mekelle. The students are at different levels – pursuing Certificates, Diplomas and Bachelor Degrees through the International School of Ministry. Additionally, our first satellite program is up and running with 50 students enrolled at the prison. How awesome is that?

The Bible Training Center

We rented the three of the available retail spaces on the first floor of the building to an IT school. The rent that they pay will help pay for utilities and other ongoing expenses.

However, there is always a need for additional funding.

When we purchased the facility, the Tigrinya Evangelical Churches Fellowship, the governing body for the school, committed to raising around $17,000 to pay realtor fees and government taxes which come due at the end of this year. I’ve always felt like this was a stretch goal considering that most Ethiopians live on the equivalent of a couple of hundred dollars per month. I didn’t want to doubt God’s ability to clear the path and help them make this happen; however, we’re getting down to crunch time with some of this money coming due fairly soon and I would prefer we not put them in a position of taking out a loan.

Besides paying off the realtor and the government taxes, we also would like to raise funds for a library books and furniture at the school.

We need funds to jumpstart some of the satellite/extension locations in neighboring cities. We’ve had several requests to start new locations but the lack of money and teachers has prohibited this from happening. One of the opportunities involves setting up schools at one of four Eritrean and Sudanese refugee camps in Northern Ethiopia. These camps are home to over 100,000 refugees.

I would like to help them by knocking out the remaining balance for the realtor and taxes and allowing them to focus on running the school, building the extension program and making disciples for Christ. I would like to call upon many of you that have or considered financially contributing to do so to help take away this burden. We have so much more by way of financial resources.

On another note, I’m also working on referring American Pastors/Instructors to Dr. John to line up opportunities to travel and teach at the school. If you have anyone that you would like to refer, please let me know.

I appreciate all of the support, prayer and contributions that have made this school come to life. It has been incredible to be part of God’s plan for building the kingdom in Northern Ethiopia.

Checks can be made to:

New Life Christian Fellowship
MEMO: Ethiopia Bible School

Mailing Address:
New Life Christian Fellowship
2237 E Reid Rd
Grand Blanc, MI 49439

www.harvestinethiopia.com/donate

Heartbreak and Hope

We had an incredible time in Ethiopia. We spent the week hanging out with street kids, walking alongside prostitutes and meeting people that rely on trash at the city dump as a means of sustenance in Addis.

On Thursday we walked into an open prison courtyard in Mekelle with 2,500 inmates accompanied only by a pastor - no guards - and had a worship service in the brand new building that is the first extension of the Bible Training Center. It was mind blowing.

There are so many hurting people living in despair. But with every meeting it was impossible for us not to think, "What if this was our son, our wife or our daughter?"

Whether it was circumstances beyond their control or poor decisions they made that played a role in their current situation, everyone we encountered wanted the same things - to be noticed, to be loved, to have hope and to be redeemed.

That's why the end of our week is so awesome. No, not the fact that we're hopping on a 787 Dreamliner to return to a life we take for granted in America, but because the first group of students just graduated from the Bible Training Center in Mekelle, Ethiopia (The first of its kind in the history of Northern Ethiopia). I was humbled to give the keynote speech and challenged the students to put their education to use by serving, leading, discipling and multiplying.

What do students graduating from a Bible Training Center have to do with street kids, prostitutes, prisoners and all of the other hopeless sinners out there? Everything. They represent relationships, love, hope and redemption.

These students will start small groups, then churches and, if they do it right, they will have their followers pointed outward into the margins of society meeting people right where they are. They will teach their followers to love and care for people just like Jesus intended.

This, my friends, makes getting on the plane a lot easier. I know these new leaders have been trained to do this very thing. They may not fix the entire situation but they're going to do something.

Thank God for all of the hearts that were changed and checks that were written to fund the school in such an awesome facility and location. It's been said all along, God had a plan for this school. We were so fortunate to be apart of today's celebration.

Please join me in keeping these students and the other ministries we partnered with this week in your prayers and if you feel led by some of the stories and images that were shared, jump in and support them financially. 

Special thanks to our wives, families and friends for holding us up this week in prayer and letting us soak up this experience. We love you.  We're heading home!

www.aheartforkorah.com
www.mymministries.com
www.harvestinethiopia.com

Making a Mark in Ethiopia

One of the best things of the work I’ve done on the Bible Training Center over the past 2 years is meeting other people that have ministries and a love for the people of Ethiopia.  When I began lining up a trip to visit the school in Mekelle, I knew I had to stop for a couple of days and connect with some of my new contacts in Addis.

Our first few days have been spent with Trent and Carmen Post with their street children ministry in Addis.  They are some of the most radical, counter-cultural, Jesus loving people you’ll ever meet.  They moved to Ethiopia full-time 4 years ago after several mission trips beginning in 2006.  Trent and Carmen have an incredible family – if you count their biological, adopted and other kids that they provide for - 11 children all them “mom and dad.”  They seem totally fine with that. 

I became acquainted with Trent and Carmen through Facebook and began following their stories with amazement.  I knew that the next time I visited Ethiopia I had to meet them face to face and spend some time with them in their ministry.  It’s been an incredible experience.

Their ministry is centered on three core principles – “love, serve, build.”  They also carry the motto “I defend.”   They defend the Gospel, justice, poor and the orphans.  They care for those in the margins and show them the love of Jesus. 

The program begins with them finding kids living on the streets and forming relationships with them.  They build trust and eventually invite them to visit their day program.  At the center they don’t have to worry about predators and survival – they can just be kids.  They play checkers, soccer and do arts and crafts.  They eat good meals and learn what it’s like to have someone care about them and love them.  The children do this for 6 months.  The goal at the end of the 6 months is to get them back with their families.  If that’s not possible, they utilize a “PLF” (Placing Lonely in Families) home which is a transitional home until they can be placed in a safe home.

In just a few days we’ve been able to see kids at various stages in their program first hand and I’m in awe of what God is doing through their work. 

This morning we were on the streets of Addis in one of the seedier parts of town long before the sun came up.  The music from the clubs was thumping, prostitutes were out in full force, and people lined the streets sleeping under anything that would provide basic shelter.  We spoke with a young girl sleeping on a cardboard box with her 1 and 3 year old on the corner of a busy intersection. 

A group of boys between 9 and 15 were hanging out getting high from huffing glue (the newest, cheapest drug in Addis).  Carmen and two of her girls were out with us knew the group well.  They were kids that they had tried to introduce to their program in the past but couldn’t stop getting high.  They told us this morning that they were addicted.  They walked around dazed, ruining their young minds with every huff in an effort to escape their reality.  Carmen let them know that she still cared for them, that she wanted to see them back at the day center, and bought them breakfast.

We met another group of 8 young boys piled on top of one another along with 3 dogs sleeping in a median on a very busy intersection with cars and buses whipping by all night long.  It’s an image burned in my mind forever.  They were covered in dust in tattered clothing.  They were gathered together for warmth.  You couldn’t tell where one boy started and another one stopped.  Dogs were wedged in between them.  The dogs were part of the group.  They meant no harm to the boys.  They were as dependent on the boys as the boys were to the dogs.  They had a lot in common.  They are the downcast and nuisances of society.

I wondered why they would pick such a busy place to sleep but Carmen let me know that it was safer for the boys to be in a highly visible, busy place to escape the predators that take advantage of these vulnerable, desperate young boys.

We took them to a restaurant down the street and they each made short work of a plate of tibs and injera.  They laughed and joked with one another while they coughed up all of the dust they took in the night before.  We learned their stories.  They were all orphans or not wanted at home.  They all lack hope.

Last night the Posts took us to a transitional home for 4 boys that have graduated from the 6 month day program and are now living with a house mother while Trent and Carmen work to reunite these kids with their families. 

We were honored to be a part of a surprise 14^th birthday party for one of the boys who was on the streets just one year ago.  The boy’s name was Asu and I promise that this was the first time he had ever celebrated his birthday.  As we sang “Happy Birthday” to him in English and Amharic he stood in front of us with a smile beaming from one ear to another.  He wanted to speak to all of us that were there for this occasion.  He told us that he was so happy to be a part of the Make Your Mark program and how Jesus had transformed his life.  He was full of confidence and hope.  He knows he is loved by the Posts and all of the staff.  More importantly, he knows God loves him.

Trent, Carmen, all of their children and the staff of 14 at Make Your Mark are doing incredible work.  They are working with the poorest of the poor, the most broken of the broken and loving them right where they are.  Learn more about their ministry and how you can support them at www.mymministries.org.

Paid in Full

I’m thrilled to report that the building is PAID in FULL.  It has been an incredible 18 month journey.  We have over 90 students enrolled, a permanent location with no debt, and tenants on the first floor to cover ongoing operational costs for the school.  We raised a quarter of a million dollars during that time.  If you were one of the people that contributed financially, administratively or prayerfully I would like to thank you again.  God has a plan for this school.

As I reflect on the past year or so, it’s worth pointing out how improbable this project has been and how God connects people for the purposes of building His kingdom.  There are tons of examples but I think it’s worth sharing a few of them again…

• Dr. John and I met in Mekelle in December of 2011.  We spent one day together and hadn’t corresponded for 2 years when God put the burden on both of our hearts that “the time is now” for a Bible School in Northern Ethiopia.
• All of our fundraising has been processed New Life Christian Fellowship in Michigan.  Dr. John served as a missionary with Pastor Bob from New Life in the Philippines for many years prior to going to Ethiopia.  I have yet to meet Pastor Bob or anyone from the church that I’ve worked with on this project face to face.
• Along this journey I met Pastor Gabe Benesai.  He grew up in Tigray.  He had been faithfully praying for a Bible School in Mekelle for the past 20 years. 
• As I type this, there is a group of 12 women from all over Ethiopia at the Bible School for a 12 day visit (this is their second trip) to pray for the school.  That’s all they’re doing for 12 days.

Improbable?  Yes.  Impossible? Not a chance.  All things are possible through God.  This project illustrates that very clearly.

So, what’s next?

We’re planning a celebration in September at the school. I will have the privilege of being present as we honor the first group of students that started at our temporary location last year.  They will be getting certificates for completing their first 3 trimesters.  We will also be hosting a conference for the 50 evangelical pastors in the state of Tigray that same week (FYI - Tigray has over 5 Million people and only 50 evangelical churches).

If you look at our website www.harvestinethiopia.com you will notice that there is still some money to be raised before we have fully reached our goal.  This amount (~$17K) is not due until early next year.  It is due to the government for taxes on the purchase as well as realtor fees.  The Tigrinya Evangelical Churches Fellowship, our governing body in Mekelle, has committed to raising funds to cover this.  If you have an interest in helping them cover this amount, please feel free to make a contribution.  They would appreciate any help you can give them.  Check out the website for more details.

A Divine Appointment

A few months ago I received a phone call from a man that heard about the Bible School we opened last year in Ethiopia. His name is Pastor Gabe Bainesai and it was one of those phone calls I'll never forget. He learned about the project from a friend in Seattle and made it his mission to track me down ASAP. Needless to say, he had Staci on the phone within 24 hours. My call was hours later. I don't know that I've ever talked (well, mostly listened!) to someone as excited as Pastor Gabe.

My friend Pastor Gabe Bainesai

Why was he so pumped? He grew up in the very state that the school is now located - Tigray. Years ago he moved to the U.S. and is now a Pastor in Spokane, Washington. He told me that he had been praying that an evangelical Bible School would be opened in Northern Ethiopia for the past 20 years. He knows first hand how unlikely it was for this type of school to open in a city with a protestant population less than 1%. He also knows what an opportunity this is for the people of Northern Ethiopia to come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. In the Pastor's words "this is a miracle from God."

Since that first phone call Pastor Gabe has stayed in touch with me. He reaches out about once a month. His phone calls are always well timed and filled with prayer, encouragement and blessings. He has enlisted a network of people that are praying for the school. When I hear from him it's like I'm hearing straight from God. That's the only way I can describe it.

Our company recently acquired another group of stores out west and today I am flying out to make some store visits and meet some of our new employees. Guess where I'm flying? You guessed it - Spokane. As soon as my trip was booked I contacted my new friend and arranged a meeting with him.

I am traveling with my pal Torin who does video/motion graphics work for our company. He agreed to grab a camera and shoot an interview with the Pastor this evening when we arrive. The Pastor is so fired up about the school and the possibilities for the future outreach into Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, the Middle East and beyond - it's a powerful testimony.

I suppose the reason that I'm sharing this is because it's a great example of the power of prayer. Imagine being so faithful and passionate about something that you were willing to pray for it for two decades - it's incredible. Now, the Pastor has enlisted all of his friends to pray for the school now that it's up and running.

The permanent location of the school was purchased with money but the people that got involved and wrote the checks had their hearts changed. I firmly believe it was the prayers of people like my new friend in Spokane that has contributed greatly to changing hearts and moving people so the school could open. Today I get to thank him in person. 

Here's the video from our meeting.

Important Work

After church this afternoon I flipped through Twitter to catch up on the news of the day and ran across something that made my heart ache.  The subject line was “ISIS behead and shoot Ethiopian Christians in sickening new video.”  A few years ago, as much as it pains me to admit it, I may have kept scrolling through my newsfeed.  Today was different, though.  It’s personal now.

You see sitting next to me in the passenger’s seat next to me was this handsome young man named Sofani.  He is my son.  He calls me dad.  He’s an Ethiopian.  The awesome thing about adopting an older child is that they have vivid memories of their childhood.  We are always fascinated and surprised when Sofani opens up and tells us stories of the first decade of his life in Mekelle, Ethiopia.  Most of his stories are between us as a family but we do talk very openly about religion in his birth city. 

A map of Islam in Africa with Mekelle, Ethiopia highlighted

Mekelle is a stronghold of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia.  Most of the statistics you will see claim that Mekelle is 96% Orthodox, 4% Muslim and less than 0.1% Protestant/Evangelical.  Sofani tells us of how the Orthodox treated the Muslims better than the Evangelicals.  According to him, the Muslims in Mekelle didn’t mean any harm. If the number of mosques in Mekelle is any indication as to the way Muslims are viewed, this makes even more sense.  There was one mosque in Mekelle six years ago.  Now there are 10 in this rapidly growing city.  Evangelicals, while slowly gaining ground, have been forced to worship in private places behind the protection of armed guards - out of the view and away from the harassment of the Orthodox.

An ISIS map showing Ethiopia as part of the Caliphate

Earlier this week I heard from Dr. John, my missionary friend in Mekelle.  Over the past 15 months through our fundraising efforts we have raised nearly $210,000 and started the first Evangelical Bible Training Center in Northern Ethiopia with more than 80 students in our first two classes.  We moved from the temporary school into our permanent home last month.  We only have to raise another $65,000 between now and the end of the year to be paid in full with the property which will be self-sustaining at that time.

We’re getting ready to start our third group of students next week in the new facility.  In September ‘15, the first group of students will reach their first milestone and receive their certificates for completing the first three trimesters.   This is so cool.

It is exciting to know that this school is going to continue to develop church leaders that will plant churches across Northern Ethiopia.  It is important to know that there are evangelicals from neighboring cities that want to begin satellite campuses of our Bible Training Center. 

So many times you read the news and feel helpless.  “What can I do?”  “That’s terrible but there’s nothing I can do about it.”  While my heart aches for the families of the 28 Ethiopians that were savagely murdered by ISIS in Libya, I do feel some peace in knowing that we are doing something about spreading the truth about Jesus Christ in a part of the world right on the front lines of this Holy War.  I say “we” are doing something about it because the vast majority of the funds donated over the past year have come from people that I know – church family, Facebook friends, doctors, local business people, family members, etc.  We have done something.   We still need to do more but we have done something.

To learn more about what you can do to help the cause of Christ by contributing to the Bible Training Center, log onto www.harvestinethiopia.com to learn more.

Pray for Saul

Staci and I are hosting two students for the next couple of weeks through the Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program of Ball State University.  This year we have high school students from Kenya and Nigeria.  We did this last year and still keep in touch with the students that stayed with us.  It was a great experience for all of us.  It definitely helped make us aware of issues going on in their home countries and personalized stories when we heard or read them on the news.

Last year our friend Ruth stayed with us.  She lives in Nigeria and prior to her arrival we began studying more about this country.  Nigeria boasts Africa’s largest, fastest growing population and economy.  In the next 40 years, the population of Nigeria is projected to surpass that of the United States.  While Ruth was with us, 276 school girls were kidnapped in the Nigerian town of Chibok by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.  Boko Haram has killed more than 5000 civilians over the past 6 years in their quest to create an Islamic state in Northeast Nigeria.  Our hearts were broken and our eyes were opened.

This week we picked up our host students Wednesday evening.  On Thursday morning we woke up and flipped on the news and found that the Somali Islamic terrorist group Al Shabab had killed 147 Christian students at Garissa University in Kenya.  Al Shabab operates in a country with no order and had vowed a “long, gruesome war” with Kenya.  Our student from Kenya quickly picked up his phone and called home.

This is the world we’re living in, friends, if we choose to look past the topic du jour that we’re served up via the local news or our friends on Facebook.

Each time I hear of a story on the news involving radical Islamic groups in Syria, Kenya, Somalia, etc.  I receive more and more confirmation that the Bible Training Center we’ve developed in Northern Ethiopia is more important than ever.  We have to develop leaders and plant churches in a part of the world that is clearly searching for a cause, a purpose and an identity.  We have an obligation to make sure they are at least exposed to the truth.

This is Holy Week and I’m going to ask that you pray that the news of Jesus Christ be spread to all parts of the world.  Better yet, get involved in a mission project and help spread the word yourself.  Jesus Christ died for the sins of man that we may know His love and have eternal life with Him in heaven.  While we’re here, we have been commissioned to spread the news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.    And while you’re praying, consider praying that one of these terrorist groups – ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, Al Qaeda – has a young man among them that is the next Saul.

Acts 9

For more information on the Bible Training Center in Northern Ethiopia visit www.harvestinethiopia.com  

Crunch Time

I always enjoy talking with people about the development of Bible Training Center that God put on my heart one year ago.  It's been a crazy year.  We started the school in May and have over 80 students enrolled and taking courses at the temporary location.  God has moved people to give to this effort and over $100,000 has been raised in the US to cover costs of the temporary site and put towards the purchase of the permanent location.

Students in the Temporary Bible Training Center in Mekelle

Along the way I have met so many incredible people that have a passion for the people of Ethiopia as well as a heart for spreading the news of Jesus Christ.  Just when I get discouraged and think, "How in the world are we going to come up with another $150,000 this year," God moves and puts someone in contact with me and reminds me that this is important work in building His kingdom.  Just over the past couple of weeks, I have talked with new contacts from Washington, Colorado, Illinois and Texas.  I have been introduced to new friends on Facebook that share God's heart for the plight of the evangelicals in Northern Ethiopia.  My marketing team at work made personal donations to the project as a Christmas gift to me.  We received a donation this week from a church in New York.  God continues to move.

So many people have provided encouragement and reminded me that an evangelical Bible Training Center in Northern Ethiopia is not just another school - it is a miracle.  Mekelle has been an Orthodox stronghold for thousands of years.  There has never been an evangelical Bible Training Center until this past year.  Mekelle had one mosque in 2009 and now there are 10.  Muslim influence from Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia continue to push into Ethiopia from all sides.  We have a unique opportunity to develop church leaders and a fire for Christ in a part of the world that desperately needs it.

I talked with Dr. John on the phone this week.  Dr. John has lived in Mekelle for the past 5 years and there is no one is more passionate about finishing what God started to see the permanent location through to completion this year.  We talked about the current financial picture - that we need $27,500 in the next month to meet the terms of the purchase agreement and move into our new home by the end of February.  This is an immediate need and we're very much on the clock to make this happen.

I am writing today to ask you to consider giving to this project.  If you don't have the means to give I'm asking that you help share our efforts with someone that might.  At a minimum, I'm asking for you to pray that God will move people to help this effort.  We need to find new circles of people and churches that can financially support this project in '15.  Pray that this message finds them.  I pray that it's you.

For more information on the project and how to donate find out more at www.harvestinethiopia.com