Resurrection Sunday

Yesterday we had 110 in our Sunday morning services, including a good number of first time visitors. In the adult Sunday School class, I taught on the subject "Many Infallible Proofs of the Resurrection of Christ," followed by a message in the morning service on "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ-The Foundation of our Faith." Though we did not have any professions of faith, the presence of the Lord Jesus was with us.

In the evening service, our church members observed the Lord's Supper for the first time. It was a very special service as we remembered our Lord's death for us. Our mission church was started in July 2006, however, we did not establish membership until the middle of 2007. With so many false doctrines and different churches, it is necessary to build a solid foundation before admitting members to the church. Currently, we have 23 baptized members which is not including my family.

This past week we had our land re-surveyed by a government surveyor. When the land was being cleared by a bulldozer, three of the landmarks were removed. We are thankful for this providential work of God because we discovered that the first survey was off by twenty feet. Now we have the landmarks in the right place are are preparing to start the foundation work. But first we must get our building plans finished and approved. Pray for God to give us wisdom and to provide for the needs of the building program.

Muslims Coming to Christ

The deaf girl, third from the left, was raised in a Muslim family. She came to our camp in December and at the end of the week she confessed Jesus Christ as her Saviour. After camp was over she happily took her new KJV Bible home. Later when the Deaf school reopened after the holidays, a deaf boy informed me that her parents took the Bible away from her and threw it out of the house. He had gone and picked up the Bible and took it home. We also had another Muslim girl who also trusted Jesus Christ as her Saviour at camp. What a joy to know that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth!

The past few weeks I have been teaching about Muslim evangelism and challenging our church members to develop a love and burden for Muslims to be saved. In the near future we are going to have a Muslim evangelism day in our area. There are more than 6 mosques in our area. Pray that God will open the eyes and hearts of these people that are blinded by a false religion that offers no hope.

Door of No Return

Ghana has about 32 castles or slave-trading forts that were built during the colonial days. The Elmina Castle, about 5 km from the Cape Coast Castle, is the oldest which was built in 1482 by the Portuguese. It started out as a trading post for timber and gold, but later became one of the main slave-trading forts on the Atlantic slave route. This is a picture of "the door of no return," the last stop for captives before they were stripped and branded, then marched to waiting slave ships. The slaves that entered through this door never returned to their homeland as they boarded ships headed to the Americas or the Caribbean.

There are "doors of no return" in the Christian life as well. When we get saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we enter through a "door of no return." Salvation is eternal! When we surrender to serve the Lord Jesus, it should be a "door of no return," (see Luke 9:62). As the hymn goes, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back." When we die and leave this old world we will be entering a "door of no return."

Pray for us as we labor to train disciples of Jesus Christ. In our services the past few weeks our attendance has been down in the 60's. But in spite of that we are having new visitors come on a regular basis. The past few Saturday's we have done evangelism work in a village called Moree. It is a short distance from our church and is full of precious souls without a Savior. Pray that eyes would be opened to the truth and that many will enter that "door of no return," (see John 10:9). Pray for our church members and regular visitors that they will surrender their lives to serve the Savior as bondslaves entering the "door of no return."

Ground-breaking Service

Today we broke the ground for our church land and dedicated it to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of a great building project for Spring Valley Baptist Church in Cape Coast, Ghana. Though we are young and small, little is much when God is in it! Truly, with God all things are possible.

I read the Scriptures from Nehemiah 4:4-6, and challenged the church members to have "a mind to work." That God's work is "a great work," which required unity, team-effort, and God's help. I warned them that we will have difficulties and opposition, but we must press forward trusting in Jesus. It is exciting to see a new church undertake to build a building for the glory of God!

Pray for us as we labor to win souls, train disciples and build a church to the glory of God!

Training Timothy's

The major work of a missionary is that of training disciples who in turn will be able to teach and train others, (2 Tim. 2:2). However, making disciples is one of the greatest challenges facing Christians in this Laodicean age. With increased technology and developments all over the world, including Africa, we see a shift in people's ambition and drive in life. Because of the easy access of the internet, TV and movies, more and more people are being drawn after the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is becoming more and more difficult to find true disciples who will remain committed to the cause of Christ. The thorny ground of the cares and lusts of the world are choking out the Word of God.

But we thank God for His powerful Word and wonderful Grace that calls men and women to forsake all for the love of Christ. Though they be few and far between, little is much when God is in it. We are happy to be training some dedicated men in our Bible Institute for the service of our great King! Please pray for them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

False Teachers

This past Friday the Lord led me to preach on the subject of "False Teachers" at the Deaf School chapel service. When we arrived I was communicating with one of the deaf student leaders and he told me that the Jehovah Witnesses had been coming to the school on Saturday's. Some of the students were beginning to follow their false teachings. I was amazed at how the Lord had directed me to preach on this subject beforehand. It gave me more holy fire to preach in chapel, knowing that the Devil was doing his dirty work.
Please pray for these deaf students to have understanding of the true Gospel of grace and not to be moved by false gospels. We will be going to the school next Saturday to visit with the students and prepare those who are saved to help win the lost before the JW's confuse them with their false doctrine. There is a real need to train and equip deaf leaders to teach others.

February 2008 Prayer Letter

February 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters,


We would like to thank all of you who prayed for our 1st Camp Meeting at the Cape Coast School for the Deaf. In all we had about 58 campers, ages 13 to adult, for the 7-Day Camp. Many others from our church who had to work joined us for the evening preaching services. By all means, the Camp was a great success as we had 27 Deaf and 3 hearing people saved, with 1 rededication to Christ.

BIBLE STUDIES, SPORTS COMPETITIONS, & FIERY PREACHING!

After the morning devotions, dorm duties and breakfast, we divided into four groups for in-depth Bible teaching on the subjects of salvation and eternal security. During the week we covered five lessons with study questions to be completed by the campers. There were 48 who received certificates for completing all of the lessons. We are thankful that God greatly used the lessons to open the eyes of 30 souls to the truth about salvation in Christ.
Following the Bible study and break time, we had our morning preaching service. Then after lunch and the rest period we divided the campers into four teams for the sports competitions: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Hur. The competition was tough all week through the following events: tug-a-war, water balloon toss, obstacle course, lemon/spoon race, and the relay races. By Friday, Hur won the crown for the sports competition. We wrapped the evenings up with strong evangelistic preaching.
On Friday afternoon we set-up counseling sessions with all those who had received Christ or who desired to be saved. In the last service on Friday evening we had a time of sharing testimonies of salvation and praise to the Lord. What a blessed service! At the end of the service we had 5 more come to trust Christ as Savior. We thank God for His wonderful works and amazing grace!

BAPTISM & BULLDOZING!

Several weeks following our camp we had a baptismal service with 11 obeying Christ in believers baptism. We would have baptized more but the others who were saved went home for the holidays. Most of the deaf students who board at Cape Coast live in other regions of Ghana.
Our church members have cleared our land of bush by manual labor using machetes. That is the African way. This week we have a bulldozer coming to level the property and prepare the road. Soon we will have a ground-breaking service to dedicate the land to the Lord Jesus Christ!
Pray for us as the work is great: establishing a strong church, training preachers, the Bible Institute, the Building project, village evangelism ministry, the deaf school ministry, and our children’s ministry.

Grateful for His Grace,

Bro. Johnny Widener