Jeff's Journal

January 2008

 

 

 

Proactively Pursuing Souls - Luke 19:10

 

Honesly, how many of us would get off of our duffs and pursue the lost as avidly as Christ, who came to seek and to save them, if not pushed, prodded or pulled in some fashion?  Don't we usually need a crisis or emergency before finally acting, or at least an enforceable, actual deadline for completion of some specific evangelistic task?  Did we even take the initiative in saving our own souls? (Rom.5:5-7)  No, we didn't.  God did.  And did the early church at Antioch come up with the missionary trip thing on its own, or did the Holy Spirit? (You know the answer to that one also. Acts 13:1-2) Even the great Paul needed a Macedonian call to push on into Europe in pioneering effort.  This meant leaving the more familar and comforatable Eastern culture and coming into Western culture.  Having travelled a bit, I can tell you there is a big difference.  (Remember, my daughter married an Indian and lives in Kerala, India.  I go there every year.)  And didn't Peter need quite a hard push and pull to get up to Cornelius and preach to the Gentiles? 

 

My point?  We must be ready and flexible and adaptable and obedient to the doors that the Lord will open for us.  We must be ready as the Revolutionary Minutemen and as prepared as the Coast Guard guardians of the sea: equipped, prepped and locked and loaded for action in evangelism.  Opportunities will arise... from men's extremities.  Typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, political upheavals, and so forth - all possible keys opening doors for the gospel. 

 

Right now, Ghana is open to all forms of religion.  It has just hosted the African Cup, where 16 nations came to compete for top spot as Africa's best football team.  President Bush, with a retinue of 600, will be visiting Ghana this month.  The time is ripe for evangelizing this nation through providing Christian education and personal discipleship.  Radio stations are blatantly playing Christian music and allowing those who will pay fairly modest fees time for preaching their messages.  Ghana sees herself as a Christian nation, with a significant Moslem minority, and shows respect for the old tradional African religions.   It is wide open, and we are well-positioned here to teach and preach the pure, unadulterated religion of Jesus Christ.  Remember that this includes taking care of orphans and widows in their distress.  It includes a lifestyle that is holy and blameless.  It includes good deeds that match our good doctrine.  Thank you for helping us to do this every day here in the heart of Ghana - here in Kumasi, the ancient pagan capital of the Asante Kingdom.  Our great and glorioius God has opened this door and we have obediently gone through it, and you have helped us with your prayers, visits and sweet smelling financial gifts of love.  If we have pushed or pulled or simply just persuaded you to be so involved, that is our privilege, to serve Him who died for us.  Thanks so much, as we starte another awesome year together in this Christ-honoring ministry.

 

NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!NEWS!

 

- On January, 4th, Zion Jameson Osebreh was successfully delivered by our firstborn daughter, Jessica, after 22 intense hours, here in Kumasi.  He was 8lbs.8ozs. and 22 inches long.  Praise God!  Jessica is doing great, and so is her very blond, curly-haired and very pale-skinned bruni baby!  (He has his dad Attah's features, otherwise.)

- BCA re-opened for business January 17th.  Minus our cook! She decided to quit during the break and didn't inform us.  Whew, 27 kids to feed at least two meals daily, and nobody to do it.  We have now hired one of our vacational grads, Esther Adolbella, who quit her job at a nearby hotel to do this arduous task - quite well.  We have lost some students and gained new ones.  One exciting development is the addition of three new boarding students who have come from Atia Christian Academy:  Collins and Appiah, who are princes, so to speak as they are the chief's sons, and Fiona.  This is our master plan, to start many schools in the rurual areas and then take them in here for finishing when they have qualified to do so and then becoming top-notch servants and leaders for the Lord's church.

- New prelimary school startup in Bolgatanga, the regional capital of the Upper West Region.  Adam Akola, offered two jobs by his father, decided to rather devote his life to training up children for the Lord in a new school startup.  Adam graduated from BCA.  This is exciting stuff, our own students giving back and ministering Christ's truth to their own people.  He has 12 students who live with our evangelist there,  Abraham, and is teaching English and Phoenics from 3:00 p.m to 6:00 p.m.  By the next school year, we plan to turn this into a full-time ACE school.

- Abraham's wife, Maggie, one of the sweetest Christian women I know, needs urgent heart care that is only available in the major hospital in Accra.  She's need quite a bit of financial help.  Please pray about this.  She called in tears today and begged my wife Sherrie for assistence. 

- Stephen and Kukua Jantuah (and baby Zoe) have moved to Accra.  They will assist growing the church there and helping start another ACE school soon.  Stephen supports himself by a good job as a computer programmer.  This is the first time this couple has lived together since I wed them over 2 years ago.  He is our first African BCA graduate, and we are very proud of him.  Long term, they are seriously contemplating going to very volatile and dangerous Kenya to be missionaries there and start Christian education ministry.

- Ghana is in the semi-finals of the African Cup.  There is an amazing amount of national unity behind soccer and their national team, the Black Stars.  Today they play Cameroon to advance into the quarterf-finals.  Every Ghanaian is praying for victory - literally, openly in the streets and their homes.  It is amazing how religious people are here.  When they beat Nigeria in the quarter-finals, the newspaper read:  "GLORY TO GOD FOR THE GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!"

-  We are helping a Konkomba youth, Raymond, from the church there suffering with three fingers on his right hand that were seriously damaged from a burn, from picking up a hot charcoal coal as a child.  He's slated for getting surgery Feb. 18th.  This will cost over $500. Help!

- We are helping vocational grad., Richard Sarpong, get a computer science degree right here in Kumasi. It will cost $9000 over three and a half years.  It is a London based course and very highly recommended.  He'll make that much money the first year of work, and will be given an attachment job while still a student if he perfoms well.  Any assistance is much appreciated in the meantime.  We can pay monthy, which comes to about$170 per month.  We are so excited to see our BCA grads going forward in their educational odyssey.

- My health has been a challenge, with a persistent cough and nasal drainage after severe sinus infection originating from the flu. A hassle! Request prayers for total recovery.

- February is the hottest month of the year.  (January is the coolest! And dustiest.)

Please pray for us to have stamina to cope with high humidity and temps, averaging in the mid-ninties - as you shovel the snow off your driveway.

- The state-set price of petrol was just raised again for the forth time in the past six months.  This reflects on the cost of nearly all other things.

-  The electricity corporation is also charging more than100% for utilities.  Also, the dollar has lost 11% of its value this year. Thanks so much in for helping us by increasing incrementally each year our support so that we can meet our monthy operating expenses.

 

Heart Ache: Is There a  Balm in Gilead?

Brothers, my soul is so stressed and grieved in this ministry sometimes.  We just lost some students that I had worked with for over 8 years!  They just walked away at 15-17 years of age, due to family pressures and immaturity.  The glittering hip-hop culture insidiously calls, and being a very strict academy of excellence that takes much work and discipline, some decide to walk.  Without Christian parents to support and enforce their attendance, our hands our tied.  Pray for God to (continue) healing my heart - all of our hearts here - because I cannot impassionately minister without total heart involvement.  May the Lord bring them back some day! 

 

Only One Hope:  The Real Jesus!

Just any message or method will not work!  We must do things God's way, His Holy Spirit's leading  according to the bluerpint of His word.  Paul berated the Corinthians for being ready to receive another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel.  (II Cor.11:4)  He is especially severe in Galatians 1:6, calling anathemas down on the heads of those false missionary evangelists who would do so.  We must preach Christ in all of His fullness, in all of His GLORY, and us lifted up and seated with Him.  The GLORY of God in the face of Christ is the only hope for fallen mankind.  Please keep on sending us the ammunition to offer this only hope to the hopeless, deceived and oppressed people of Ghana and Africa, and SHINE His light on this dark continent.  Love and peace to you.