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August 21, 2008 USA—Rev. Kevin M. Callahan, IPM President, will be traveling from August 28th thru September 3rd, 2008 to Bolivia to participate at the 2nd IPM South American Regional Conference in Cochabamba. Some of the participants are Rev. Thomas Wolfe (IPM Education Director), Rev. Ivan Alegria (South America Regional Director), Rev. Carlos Gallardo (IPM missionary to the Peruvian Amazon Region), Bro. Manuel Moyano from Uruguay, Rev. Daniel Araujo (IPM missionary to Arequipa, Peru), and Rev. Nelson Westerband (IPM missionary to Puerto Rico) who will be one of the translators. Please pray for a blessed time and good fellowship.
August 6, 2008 USA—Rev. Thomas Wolfe will be traveling and working in Bolivia with Ruben Quiroz August 23th through September 6th, during which time he will be working with the seminary and also speaking at the IPM South American Regional Conference in Cochabamba.
July 3, 2008 ANDAMAN ISLANDS—Brother T.K. greets all their friends, prayer partners, and supporters from the beautiful island of Andaman in the name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. He and his family have dedicated their lives to serving the Lord in any situation, and they are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. During the month of March they received the visit of Dr. Callahan, they had a sweet time of fellowship. More than 60 people attended the first meeting when Pastor Mike Mayer preached. Dr. Callahan gave the second message, the people were happy to hear their wonderful messages. A teenage girl and 6 others dedicated their lives to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Callahan shared the gospel with a mother and daughter who were visiting Brother K.’s home. They were Hindus but received Christ and are not witnessing among their own people. Please pray for them. During the month of April, Brother T.K. distributed 300 Bible tracts and 7 New Testaments. He has made contact with 3 new families and, if the Lord opens a way, he will try to have a Bible study with them. Due to the heavy rains in May and June he did not have outreach, but the Lord opened a way for him to share the gospel with his neighbor. Please pray for all these people.
July 3, 2008 MYANMAR—Brother N.L.K. shares that their experience in Yangon was nothing compared to those in the Delta region where many lives and villages disappeared. On May 15th, he and a friend Rev. J.M. went by jeep to a township in the Delta region to help and encourage the survivors. They met Christians who survived, they were encouraged and gave them some food, clothing, and financial help. They had a good time with them. Please pray for the international help, the demand of the need is beyond their ability, yet they tried their best. Thank you for your constant prayers and support.
July 3, 2008 MYANMAR—Brother N.L.K. give thanks to God for your prayers and support in spreading the gospel and teaching God’s Word through the ministry of TBSS. There are many tears, trials, temptations, failures, and hard work behind every success. It was a historic event and moment when TBSS held its 3rd graduation in April 15. There were 91 students who received their certificates. There were 2,000 people who came to grace our convocation, because of your prayers the activity went well. It is joyous and encouraging to hear the testimony of one of our former students who wrote: “…..our daycare children who were from unbelieving families began to pray in Jesus’ name as they confessed him as Savior and Lord. Some of them got saved! Praise the Lord!” Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Yet, sadly, some parents stopped sending their children to the school to hinder them from saying Jesus is Lord. Pray for them. Our family went down to town when the storm hit the region. We were getting some medical check-ups and other needful things, which we cannot do back home. The cyclone Nargis hit the Delta region (including Yangon) and destroyed it badly. Things are becoming more normal in the city. All flights, transportation, and communications were stopped for a while.
June 28, 2008 URUGUAY—Brother Anibal Fornazarich, IPM missionary to Uruguay, thanks his supporters of their evangelistic ministry and planting of his church. Please continue to pray for the children who attend the Bible class, some of them professed to be Christians. Among them they have a bond that allows them to share their testimonies in the meetings and conform to the image of our Savior. Pastor Gianni Galizzi baptized Josias Fornazarich after giving his testimony of salvation at the church. He has mentioned to Brother Fornazarich his desire to serve the Lord. He is training to play the guitar and attending his first year in a secondary school, he is on his second year of studying English. At the beginning of the year they attended the independent Baptist camp. Brother Fornazarich had the privilege to preach every day. One young man accepted Christ a long time ago under the ministry of Pastor Gianni in Tranqueras, his name is David. He is walking faithfully with the Lord, he is the only teacher in a school on the field and he faithfully studies the Scriptures. Another lady, Margaret, attends the church in Rivera with her mother. They are faithful to the Lord and are good friends with Maria Fornazarich. Margaret started coming to church when she was a little girl, now she continues to study music. Praise the Lord that she is saved and grounded in the Word. The Fornazarich appreciate very much that you take the time to pray for them.
June 25, 2008 HAITI—Brother Royden Saul praises the Lord for His faithfulness allowing him to complete his college education at Bob Jones University graduating this year. Brother Lucien and his wife Maude were able to have a nice time with their son visiting with family and friends. Brother Royden already had the opportunities to preach and share his ministry in churches, as well as having the privilege to seeing and spending time with some of those who have faithfully and lovingly prayed and provided for him during his years at Bob Jones. He is so grateful for all of you who stood behind him to make his studies possible at BJU, and he is hoping others will join the team to make his ministry possible. He returned to Haiti on June 16th and began working with the men’s Bible school that they have every summer. Pray that the men will learn much and be open to the Lord’s work in their lives.
June 25, 2008 PERU—Brother Juan Romayna from Iquitos, Peru reports that he attended the Ladies Conference held in January 21st thru 26th as professor and activities coordinator. There were 61 ladies, 90 children, 30 young ladies, and 20 young men in attendance. There were many decisions for Christ and rededications to serve Him. Between January 31st and February 5th he attended the Conference of Baptist Churches as a professor in the town of Santa Fe. There were 350 people in attendance. Many dedicated their lives to Christ and made decisions to serve Him. Between March 3rd and March 8th was the beginning of the school year at the Baptist Theological Institute in Aysana. The attendance for the first semester was 36 students—14 in the first level, 6 in the second level, and 8 in the third level. This year they decided to begin special classes for those who have already graduated. There were 8 students and 4 teachers. Brother Romayna ministers with Pastor Carlos Gallardo as an assistant pastor to prepare new leaders for the work of the Lord. It includes youth, children, and music ministries. He also teaches at the Baptist Bible Institute in Iquitos and the Baptist Theological Institute in Caballo Cocha (part time). The Lord answered his prayer to open a new Baptist Bible Institute in the town of Flor de Punga by the Ucayali river, missionaries have not been able to reach most of the region, and they have over 80 Baptist churches. Please pray that they will have a group of teachers with sound doctrine and principles based on the Bible ready to dedicate themselves to prepare the believers throughout the Peruvian Amazon region.
June 25, 2008 NEPAL—Brother S.H. thanks the Lord for His great mercies and also to those who are involved in the Lord’s work in Nepal. During the 3 months of summer vacation from the school a group of students have many opportunities to visit the remote hills and villages. In one of the villages 1 man accepted the Lord as his personal Savior. Lord willing next year they will visit another village in another region. During this year’s summer vacation ministry, the Lord blessed them with 12 souls who trusted and identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. A Hindu woman was baptized, at first she was not happy but after much prayer and persistence she came to the Lord first. Please pray for her, her unborn child, and her husband’s salvation. After 3 months of summer vacation, NBBST will open its 4th academic session for 2008-09 on July 1st, they are praying and planning to train a total of 30 students, please pray for them and 2 teachers. Many false teachers have flourished in that area, and they have attracted Christians by offering free basic computer education, music training, and job placement in cities in India. They are thankful to those of you who have sent them books for their school library. They are in need of more books since they only have around 150 to 200 books. Last year they were unable to proceed with the building construction for the NBBST. Please pray to the Lord for the needed funds that He may open the door and provide the need to complete the ground floor in 2008. In a personal note, the Lord is now pleased to give them a second child during the first week in July, please pray for a safety and normal delivery and remember them for the medical expenses.
June 23, 2008 GHANA—Brother Dapaah would like you to pray for their goals for the next 10 years: 1.– Seek to organize the churches that they have initiated but have not yet been organized as well as visit and strengthen the young churches. 2.– Focus on building the Bible college so that they can attract and accommodate more students. 3.– On the 5th year, re-launch an aggressive church planting program, which will involve active participation of the student body of SRBBC and its graduates. 4.– Seek to have more churches planted within the 40-mile radius of the college so that their students might be guided to provide leadership for such churches till they have their substantive pastors. 5.-The Solid Rock Baptist Federation, which is a fellowship consisting mainly of churches they have started and a few others that have come to affiliate, is being encouraged to pool their meager resources together so they can support their efforts in church planting and 6.-Continue to develop their SRBY program and promote it in all of their local churches as a means of consistently evangelizing the youth and providing a platform for fellowship and discipleship.
June 23, 2008 GHANA—Brother Dapaah and his family had moved from Tema Golf City to the mission’s guest house in Dobro on the campus of SRBBC. Unless the Lord overrules otherwise, they intend to live there until they have funds to build their own residence. It became necessary to move because over the years they have not been able to raise full support for the ministry, so every month they have had to part with some of their support either officially or privately to keep the ministry going. With a gallon of petrol now pegged at $5.30 and still threatening to go further up, the cost of living has gone so high that they simply could not cope with the rent advances that the landlord’s were quoting. On another note, in 1997 shortly after their affiliation with IPM, they set a goal of increasing their church planting efforts from 3 to 50 by the end of the year 2007. Their combined efforts enabled them to initiate 38 new churches. Of these 38 churches, 2 have disbanded as a result of lack of leadership or poor leadership, 1 has become inactive as a result of dissension and the death of a leader, 6 are yet to be organized. So they ended the period with 30 active churches, some are still very small but have the potential to grow.
June 23, 2008 GHANA—Brother Dapaah reports that on April 7th he was involved in a car accident. A drunken soldier lost control of his vehicle and veered straight into his. The impact was so strong that shattered the suspensions and bent the frame of the Toyota 4-Runner that he was driving. There were 2 of them in his car and 4 in the car that rammed into his. They all escaped unharmed, Brother Dapaah has been advised to get rid of the vehicle as soon as he fix it. The vehicle is 17 years old and was already becoming too expensive to maintain. Though he came through the accident unharmed, he was at the scene of the accident all night until daybreak before help arrived. He was exhausted and exposed to a swarm of mosquitoes, which just added the icing on the cake. Exactly one week later, he was hospitalized for the first time in his life. He was in the hospital for 3 days battling a severe case of malaria. The treatment took 10 days, but soon after that, it was detected that he had a very serious bacterial infection, he was put on daily injection for another week. During that time, Vera also came down with malaria, and Gideon had a swollen foot which actually needed minor surgery. By the grace of God they are all better now. Please pray for their health situation.
June 23, 2008 GHANA—Brother Dapaah reports that a Family retreat attracted about 500 people between January 3rd and 6th. In addition, a Believer’s Conference took place which had about 160 attendees, over 600 attended the last day of the conference. In February this year, there were 22 baptisms for the Pamfoktom and Adzentem churches in the Central Region. On Easter Sunday, 12 people were baptized for the Bodomase and Bourkrom churches. On April 4th, the Dromankese church in the Brong Ahafo Region inaugurated the Solid Rock Baptist Academy with 160 students studying at the primary and junior levels. An open-air meeting was held in the evening having many people accepting Christ as Savior, this event was interrupted by heavy rains but the next day over 100 people attended the worship service. The Solid Rock Baptist Church of Drobonso acquired an 8-acre tract of land on which they have started a building project. Please pray for the amount needed to seal their agreement with the area chief.
June 20, 2008 GHANA—Brother George A. Dapaah give thanks to his prayer partners and financial supporters for their faithfulness in praying for them, communicating with them, and supporting them financially in their ministry. They ended the year 2007 with a series of activities that kept them quite busy. At the Solid Rock Baptist Bible College (SRBBC) they held their 4th graduation and saw 10 men receiving their graduation diplomas. There were 3 of them returning to complete a 4th year, which will allow them to receive a Bachelor of Theology degree. The rest are gone to the field in various ministries. The next graduation will be in August 2008. On November 25th 51 first time visitors attended the Youth Day sponsored by Tema Solid Rock Baptist Church, 15 of them responded to the invitation for salvation. On December 2nd the Solid Rock youth games were held in Tema (SRBY Olympics) which brought 400 youth clubbers from 4 of their churches, it was great time; they went away looking forward to the next Olympics in December. After the games in Tema, Brother Dapaah traveled to Kumasi speaking on the campus of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship on December 3rd; the early morning service took place at 8:00 a.m. On December 30th they celebrated “Women’s Day” at the Tema church. They had 250 in the morning service, with several visitors who trusted the Lord as Savior. On December 31st many resolutions were made by church members, which is already making an impact in the church.
June 18, 2008 LEBANON—Brother F.M. praises the Lord for answering their prayers concerning peace in his country and for the agreement reached between the leaders and parties in Lebanon. He hopes things will go better in the near future now that they realize that fighting and killing will not solve the problems. He arrived back on April 30th. The Arab Outreach went great and he felt the Lord’s blessing and grace in every service. He thanks the Lord for the brothers and sisters in the main office and for the tremendous work they are doing in serving the Lord. They are a great help to all the laborers around the world. The Lord is blessing the Arab Outreach in many ways, please continue to pray for the needs, protection, wisdom and strength to continue on.
June 18, 2008 CHAD—Brother Nadjiri Tokinon wrote that he had been hospitalized for 3 weeks with bladder problems. The doctors did everything they could for him in his own country, but they were not able to resolve the problems. Brother Nadjiri have to go to France where he could see a doctor who had the ability to diagnose his problem and give him proper medical attention. Although he lacks the funds needed to make the trip, he had to go for the sake of his health. He still needs about $2,675 to cover additional food and housing expenses in France. He is trusting God to provide, and IPM is making God’s people aware of the need so they can respond as God leads and burdens them. If the Lord lays it on your heart to give a special donation to help with this need, it can be sent to IPM and marked “Tokinon-Medical”. Thank you so much for your consideration of this urgent need for Brother Nadjiri.
June 18, 2008 HONG KONG—Brother C.W. writes with a joyful and thankful heart due to the great training course. He and brother L.P. held it in one of the major cities in the mainland. Students attended from 4 different provinces and many different churches. Most of them traveled about 10 hours to be able to get there. The topics were how to set up a youth camp and establish youth programs. The classes began at 9:00 am thru 8:00 pm for 4 days. Some of the attendees were interesting in games and music. Another exciting event was that in spite of the heavy rains they had to stop one of the street activities. Brother W. did not expect to welcome 25 people including 7 visitors as a result of the street activity that got rained down. They are very encouraged by that and look forward to seeing God use them to do some mighty works there. Please pray for Brother W.’s health and the few new projects as they need wisdom and strength.
May 23, 2008 PHILIPPINES—Brother G. Namoc reports on the ministries of the North Mindanao Project, a church-planting project on the island of Mindanao. Some of the pastors ministering under Brother Namoc report the following: Pastor A. Panganuran shares that 18 people made professions of faith; Pastor Haguingan shares that 5 people trusted Christ as Savior; Pastor L. Dumay shares that 9 people trusted in the Lord and 12 followed the Lord in believer’s baptism; Pastor E. Lesigon shares that 30 people heard the gospel preached during a funeral service, his Bible study contacts are now attending the worship service; and Pastor C. Lagiulay shares that 21 people professed Christ as Savior and 20 are preparing to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism. Please continue to pray for these men and their ministries reaching people on the remote areas of the Philippines.
May 14, 2008 SIKKIM—Brother S.G. thanks his prayer partners and supporters for his family and the ministry. He has a great burden to reach the Buddhists with the gospel of Christ. For the past 3 years he was praying for an opportunity in the country of Cambodia, however, the Lord was not opening the way for ministry. He has been ministering with Brother T.S.G. in Bhutan while waiting on the Lord’s leading. He became aware of the need in the country of Sikkim, he has visited and surveyed the city of Gangtok, which is the capital, and will be considering a nearby area. It costs only 25 cents to travel from downtown of Gangtok to this other area. Please pray for the family’s safety, good health, and new ministry.
May 14, 2008 GUATEMALA—Brother Giovanni Avendano reports on the visit of new people to the church, as a result of this outreach 2 young men trusted Christ as Savior. In addition, a family of 5 joined the church recently and another young woman has been visiting faithfully. Please continue to pray for the family and the Christian testimony they are in the community. Also pray for more laborers into the Lord’s harvest.
May 14, 2008 CHAD—Brother Nadjiri Tokinon reports that the church in Bebedjia is moving forward. The members collected funds and purchased 7,000 bricks carved of laterite, which will be used to lay the foundation of the church building. Members are focusing their efforts to collect the funds for cement to start the foundation. Please pray for the political situation in Chad, people can go to church on Sundays, but there cannot gather, meet, or have activities outside the church. Brother Tokinon has not been feeling good since April, please pray for his health condition.
May 13, 2008 PHILIPPINES—Brother G. Namoc thanks the churches and individuals who have prayed and supported them with their love gifts. It is through their generosity that the school is able to keep going and the gospel of Christ is shining in the dark corners of the world. He also reports on the 23rd commencement exercise at the Mindanao Evangelistic Institute awarding 3 Bible Institute BID, 1 diploma in Bible (DLB), and 13 Christian Life Certificates (CLC) after 3 consecutive years of intensive classroom training and 1 year of internship of BIBD and DIB. The message was given by Rev. A. Suyod, and the theme was “Keep that which is committed to thy trust.” Despite the financial deficits, the institute is slowly pressing on the Lord’s work, keeping its main thrust of training the undergraduates—tribal folks in the hinterlands who can read and write and who have the calling, commitment, and concern for the Lord’s cause and for the perishing lost but have been deprived of formal education.
May 12, 2008 MYANMAR—Brother N.L.K. writes on the aftermath of the cyclone Nargis: “The cyclone hit the Delta region and Yangon city area on May 2-3, bringing with it a tsunami which struck the coastal region with 12' waves that swept many towns and villages. The winds reached 120 miles per hour in Yangon and shook even the building where we were staying like an earthquake. All the big trees fell-flat, and sheets of metal blew off the rooves like sheets of paper, taking the lives of many people. Estimated casualties have reached over 100,000, and over 1 1/2 million people are now refugees. Our family could have been among them, but the Lord kept us safe. We lacked food for just one morning. The Lord is good! In the Sunday morning service on May 11th, one of our church members in Yangon shared a testimony of how the Lord protects His children. During the storm, he got up and prayed, asking the Lord to keep his bambo-made house safe. He cried and said, "Lord, this house is your gift. Please protect it!" His house was the only house that God spared in that area. All other better houses and huge trees were destroyed. This man shared the gospel with neighboring unbelievers. What a marvelous testimony that God showed special concern for this man! I would like to send photos of the damages (I even got some video footage of the storm.), but the authorities are very strict, and the situation is controversial and sensitive. The dead bodies smell very badly, and the survivors are in great need of food, shelter, and health. Some of my relatives and fellow-believers are in need of help too. The storm took out all phone and internet communication, electricity, and public transportation, but these services are resuming little by little. Thank you very much for all of your concern during this time of fear and catastrophe. May the Lord richly bless you all.”
May 7, 2008 MYANMAR—Due to the recent tragedy and devastation caused by the tropical cyclone Nargis last weekend, we are receiving special love offerings to help Brother N.L.K. and his family. Please make your checks payable to IPM, Inc. designating “N.L.K. Emergency Relief” on the memo portion of it. Thank you for your prayers and concern for this dear brother and his family.
May 7, 2008 MYANMAR—Brother N.L.K. wrote “thank you very much for your deep concern to our well being especially during the past deadly storm. We are always safe by your prayers…... We are going back to our town very soon. We were eye witnesses of the storm. We can share our testimony of God's care during the storm which took over 60 thousand lives. Yes, they were go to Hell which really breaks my hearts. Our responsibility to preach the gospel is on great demand. Yes, we were safe because of your prayers. But some of my cousin sisters lost their home which 100% destroyed by the storm here in Yangon. We do need to help them too. I do highly appreciated for having such a heart toward us and do highly appreciated your wonderful, prayers, friendship and partnership.”
May 6, 2008 MYANMAR—Brother N.L.K. and his family are safe, he reports that they were sleeping during the storm and woke up by the sound. They barely escaped death, but the storm destroyed many lives and houses. The city of Yangon was almost destroyed entirely, Brother K. and his family were witnesses of the destruction the morning after. Praise the Lord for His protection and care for our brother and his family. Please continue to pray for the people of Myanmar and their losses.
May 5, 2008 MYANMAR—As you may have seen on TV, listened on the radio, or read the newspapers, the country of Myanmar has been devastated by a tropical cyclone Nargis during the weekend. Almost 4,000 people are dead and 3,000 are missing. Brother N.L.K. was visiting the city of Yangon with his family at the same time the cyclone hit. We have tried to contact him via e-mail without success. As soon as more news become available we will post them on this webpage. Please keep them and the people of Myanmar in your prayers.
May 2, 2008 USA—Dr. Thomas Wolfe, IPM Director of Education, and his wife Donna praise the Lord for their prayer partners and supporters. Pray for health and safety as they travel around the world, as well as, open doors as Dr. Wolfe preaches and teaches in church planting works, Bible studies, the institutes, and evangelistic meetings, for boldness to speak the Word as they ought. Pray for God’s provisions for these journeys. Thank you for helping them hoist up and tighten the MAINSTAY—teaching and trainng the Lord’s laborers who then take the gospel of Christ and reach more souls and start more good churches which will stay strong in the faith for the glory of God.
May 2, 2008 HANOVER—Dr. Kevin M, Callahan, IPM President, traveled to the Dominican Republic in the month of February to participate in the 2nd IPM Annual Caribbean Regional Conference sponsored by Rev. Enrique Mejia, IPM missionary to the Dominican Republic and Caribbean Regional Director. The conference was attended by Dr. Mike Casillas, President of Puerto Rico Baptist College in Bayamon, Puerto Rico as well as other guests from the region. The IPM staff was well represented and each person had a specific task to perform. Rev. Bill Bowen and Dr. Tom Wolfe taught some very powerful and practical workshops, while Dr. Dorothy Taylor and Mrs. Donna Wolfe conducted ladies’ sessions, with Mrs. Lori Young interpreting for them. Upon returning to the States, Dr. Callahan prepared for his March trip to India to participate in the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of South India Baptist Bible College & Seminary under the direction of Dr. P.D. Cherian. He was greatly blessed to have the opportunity to fellowship with numerous other preachers. Dr. Callahan met with several other prospective missionaries and interviewed two pastors who suffered under the great persecution which took place in Orissa. While in India, Dr. Callahan met |
