Bibles

All of the following people each received a brand new complete Bible. Please pray for them as the Lord leads you. Pray for their salvation.

Oberine, Siana, Mozes, Klara, Anjera, Joisy, Jacline, Queeni, Gloria, Adela, Eva, Raurence, Josefina, Elisa, Gracy, Sofia, Rachel, Ndakeninyi, Ashura, Pertro, Paulo, Kanisia, Ndeshi, Rozi, Samweli, Vaileti, Faibe, Filimoni, Petueli, Exaudi, Aneti, Dismas, Sara, Glori, Mercy, Felista, Petro, Epifania, Mariamu, Sia, Nelson, Alex, Joeli, Regan, Maiko, Kelvin, Anisia, Agape, Eva.

Soul-winning, visitation and Bible distribution

The past 4 weeks have been very busy for us here in Tanzania. We began an emphasis on out reach via soul-winning and visitation in preparation for our revival services (March 13-17) in the village of Kingereka. Each Saturday we have been going house to house presenting the gospel and handing out John & Romans booklets. On Wednesdays we would spend some time handing out John & Romans booklets at the bus stand and market before beginning our mid-week discipleship services. In the past 4 weeks we have been able to hand out approximately 3,000 scriptures.

We did have a little help when we were handing out scriptures at the bus stand one day. At each bus stand there are many young men who sell various snacks and drinks to passengers on the bus. As a bus pulls into the station these young men grab their cardboard boxes full of nuts, drinks, candy and cookies and jockey to get the best position outside the bus at each passenger’s window. If a passenger wants to buy something they simply hand the money out the window and the item is handed up to the passenger. Well, I was doing the same thing with these Bibles except that I was giving them away for free. A few people were afraid to take them because they thought I was trying to sell them. When they finally understood that the Bibles were free gifts nearly everyone on the bus wanted one- including the guys who were selling the concessions to the passengers. After a few busses came and went a few of these young men asked me for a hand full of the Bibles so that they could help me pass them out. I was a little leery at first thinking that the may try to sell them instead of giving them away so I kept a good eye on them. They were true to their intentions and honestly wanted to help hand out Bibles. We spent just 1 hour at the bus stand but were able to hand out more than 1200 Bibles to those people who were traveling all across the country! We definitely plan to do that again in the very near future. Our soul-winning and Bible distribution did not lead to anyone being saved as far as we know but we are assured by Isaiah that the Word of God will not return void.

During our revival services the preacher gave a lesson on how to give the gospel to others. It was a ‘hand slap to the forehead’ moment for me. I have been making a point in many of my messages about sharing the gospel with friends and neighbors but I hadn’t taken the time to teach them how to do that. I just assumed they knew how. I will begin teaching more about soul-winning as soon as possible.

I was really encouraged to see 3 visitors attend the revival service as a result of a newly saved man in our church. In fact, one of his visitors also brought a visitor! It is great to see a new believer excited about his new life in Christ. It reminds me of Andrew who immediately went to find his brother Peter (John 1) to bring him to Christ.

Please pray for us:
Pray for our soul-winning efforts and Bible distribution.
Pray for our Wednesday discipleship lessons.
Pray for our safety as we make a quick trip to Kenya for dentist visits (Mar 27-30). It’s a 7-hour road trip each way. Caitlyn will also have her 12-month vaccinations while we are there.
Pray for our new church plant in Moshi. We have a good core group of about 40 people attending but are asking God to use us to see people saved.

BJ declares 'Jesus is God' and gets a few Muslims upset

Tuesdays and Thursdays have become my soul-winning days as of late. Today, I went to a village that was about 5 miles from the center of nowhere. I was surprised to see so many people in such a remote location. As we arrived at 9:30 a.m. there were a few people who were setting up their goods that they planned to sell today at the market. We made short work of giving everyone in sight a Romans booklet and then began going house to house.

I had an opportunity to present the plan of salvation a few times today. One of those times was back at the market center around 11:00a.m. Many more people had arrived and so I began handing out the Romans booklets. I always try to tell everyone that the book tells them what the Bible says they need to do to go to heaven.

While explaining the plan of salvation with a few people I said, “Jesus died on the cross was buried and after the 3rd day he arose from the dead! Jesus defeated death. Truly Jesus is God!” This declaration of Jesus divinity got a few Muslims upset. The thought never crossed my mind that I may be within ear-shot of some Muslims who would not like what I was saying.

One man began to ask me questions concerning how could Jesus be the Son of God and God at the same time. He was using some vocabulary words that I didn’t understand so it took a long time for us to communicate. While we were talking many people started to gather around to listen.

Apparently, the Muslim man said something that the others did not like and several chimed in with a loud retort. This drew more people to the area. Within a few minutes nearly 50 people surrounded me. All wanted to hear what this white missionary had to say in his broken Swahili.

At one point I claimed a small victory. The man had asked me how could God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit be God all at the same time. It’s impossible to adequately explain the trinity in English let alone in broken Swahili. I resorted to the old example of an egg. I said the outside of the egg is the shell and inside you have a yolk and a white. All three things make up one egg. The crowd loved my word picture even though it falls far short of truly explaining the trinity. They cheered. Some clapped some said amen. Yet others shook their heads in unbelief still clinging to their faith in Muhammad.

I was wise enough to know that I didn’t have enough vocabulary to continue the public debate so I made my exit. As I left, a few Christians started a heated debate with the man and continued on for at least 10 minutes.

It was fun and challenging even though for a minute it was a little scary. I pray that the name of Christ was glorified and that some would come to know Jesus as their saving God. And, in case you’re wondering, here are a few good verses proving that Jesus is God. John 10:30; John 1:1-4; Heb 1:1-8; Acts 2:36; Rom 14:9; Lu 5:21

Soul winning a Sunday school Swahili slip and a goat offering

As we were handing out the Romans booklets at the bus stand near our church I watched a police officer make his way towards Tyler. Jay, Tyler and I were out soul-winning on Thursday and after we got a bite to eat at the large bus stand we decided to hand out some Romans booklets to all the people in the area.

As I was boarding the buses to pass out the books Tyler was making his way along the various vending areas and small stores. I watched a police officer try to get Tyler’s attention and started to walk after him. Tyler had his back to him and didn’t understand the Swahili commands if he even heard them among the noise of the area. After a few more steps the officer took hold of Tyler’s shoulder, turned him around, looked him straight in the face and asked if he too could have a booklet. Without missing a beat or even a hint of fear Tyler gave him one and continued on down the way.

These Romans booklets are really nice. They have a very detailed gospel tract in the front including some nice illustrations. We know of several people who have been saved as a direct result of these Romans booklets. It was a very hot and dusty day and I am sure the Word of God will not return void. Prayerfully, some of those people will be saved.

Sunday was interesting. In the Sunday school hour I taught on the virgin birth of Christ. Looking back I don’t know how I missed this mistake but I did. The word for pregnant in Swahili is mimba. While I was teaching the lesson I wanted to say that when Joseph and Mary met one day, behold she was pregnant (Mimba). Instead I said when they met one day behold, she grabbed a crockadile! (Mamba) You should have heard the roars of laughter. It was a simple typo but I missed it and read it as is.

Later in the worship hour, a man brought a special offering- a goat! Now, what in the world do you do with a goat? I mean why do people raise them? And especially what do you do with it if it is part of the offering? Give it to the pastor? We have no pastor or even deacons at this point.

Apparently, this is not an odd thing in many African churches so the people knew exactly what to do. They would try to sell the goat to any church member for a fair price, and if that didn’t work they would sell it at the market and add the money to the offering. Thankfully, we did sell it to a church member so now my trip to the market with a goat in the trunk of my van is postponed.

Please pray:
For our soul-winning efforts on Tuesday and Thursday
For my Swahili skills
For our nations elections