Dear Friends and Family:

It is hard to believe that Easter is over and we are already into May!  God has been faithful to us as we continue to serve the Lord on the Africa Region.  The last few months have been busy as we have been participating in the Field Leadership meetings on different sides of the continent.  In March I attended the Africa West Anglophone meetings in Accra, Ghana.  This was the first gathering of the leaders of this new English-Speaking field in West Africa under the leadership of Rev. Vidal Cole and the first time that all these leaders have been together since COVID.  What a celebration we had with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We also began a promising partnership with South Texas District as we see greater numbers of the diaspora of West Africa living in American Cities.   Over 100,000 Nigerians alone live in Houston, TX.  We hope to help the South Texas district reach the Nigerian and other West Africa population in their cities.  At the same time South Texas is looking to partner with  AW Field in order to raise up a force of Africa Initiated Missionaries in Nigeria that will help us expand the work of the church in West Africa and to push North towards the unreached people groups.

During this trip I was also able to bring some much-needed JF equipment with the help of the visiting team from Texas.  We distributed more than one hundred Lightstreams to the leaders to take back to their countries.  These Lightstreams are like a wifi modem that can share the stored files to phones through simple WIFI technology.  We have loaded them with films, audio bibles, and discipleship materials in the local languages of the countries they returned to and pray that the Lord gives us a great harvest of souls as we distribute the Jesus Film and other biblical resources directly to the phones of thousands of listeners.

In April, Michelle and I had the privilege of going to Lusaka, Zambia where we celebrated with the leaders of the Africa Southeast Field.  We listened to the testimony of so many DS’s about the victories and the challenges of ministry.  Rev. Gershom Kwerakwera shared about the South of Malawi that was devastated by the Cyclone Freddy that destroyed homes, buried communities in mud, and damaged more than 30 Nazarene Churches.  Tens of thousands of people are still displaced by the longest running cyclone recorded in history in Africa.  Please continue to pray for these leaders as they deal with the tragedy and loss and if God should give you a desire to help, or contribute, or bring a team to Malawi to help rebuild some of the church buildings that collapsed, we welcome you with open arms!

Michelle continues to adjust to her new assignment as part of the regional finance team.  Recent changes in accounting systems, has forced the entire Nazarene world to adopt new programs and systems to track giving and accountability.  She has spent many hours, even days and weeks, transferring information to these new systems, training field treasurers and missionaries on how to use the new systems, and worked tirelessly to put some accounting records back in order.  God has blessed her with the patience, diligence, and attention to details needed to resolve these issues, but it can be overwhelming at times, so please keep praying that she can keep up with the task at hand.

In early March we traveled with our local Davidsonville Church of the Nazarene team on a work and witness trip to Namibia.  Thanks to partnerships with Trevecca Community Church in TN and Nashua Community Church in NH, we were able to bring three teams together to put a roof on the district classrooms and help outfit their education center.  For so many years their library has been in storage boxes and a makeshift classroom inside their sanctuary, but with this trip we helped them complete their new center.  We painted the church, did children ministry on the edge of the settlement with over 300 kids in attendance each day, and able to train 25 leaders from all parts of Namibia in church planting, discipleship, and Jesus Film best practices for evangelism.  It was a beautiful time of ministry, fellowship, and hard work and we left the leaders and the church there very encouraged.  We left exhausted but with smiles on our faces and our team from South Africa has a new passion for missions!

In between these other major leadership meetings, I continue to travel and train church leaders in church planting principles. I recently spent time in the northern part of Mozambique. This area has a lot of challenges, as radical groups have created chaos in some areas due to opposing religious beliefs.  I was able to deliver 2 new sets of equipment to this area thanks to the TN team who delivered this equipment to me in South Africa, as a part of their W&W trip to Namibia.  I have been working with Rev. Eduardo Nhachote who is now a certified trainer and is leading the coordination of 25 JF teams  in Mozambique.  One of my primary roles is mentoring and raising up qualified leaders, with a passion for the lost equipping them to mentor other church planters across their country.  I believe God is helping us little by little to see this dream come true.

We now turn our eyes towards General Assembly and home assignment.  On May 30^th we will fly back to Nashville, TN with the goal of putting together the last of the details for the Africa Exhibit in Indianapolis.  We hope you will come see this exhibit on the convention floor and be a part of our celebration of what God is doing in Africa.  We have several of our Jesus Film coordinators, who received their US Visas for the first time and will travel to the USA for the conventions and assembly.  If you would like to host one of these leaders for a short period after the assembly or have them speak in your church, let us know and we will help coordinate that opportunity.  Many leaders are still struggling to get their flight tickets to the USA so the international church has set up the following fund in order to make contributions towards supporting leaders to this amazing event in Indianapolis. Click on the following link to make a contribution:

https://give.nazarene.org/donate/general-assembly-african-delegate-fund

Following the General Assembly, we will be traveling across the  USA during our home assignment.  We would love to see you along the trail.    If you would like to have us speak at your church, please drop us an email.  We have mid-week services available and still a few open weekends.  Our travel plans are as follows:

We are so grateful for your continued prayers for us and for your support of our ministry here in Africa.  We covet your prayers for our family and for our time in the USA to establish time with our grand kids and parents while still traveling and sharing what God is doing here in Africa.

God bless you!

Tim and Michelle