We are so blessed with the way the school has begun. Our first week started 8-16-10 and we just concluded the second week on 8-28-10. We have 15 Pastors from a variety of village churches with many of them located in very remote areas. All of them have come prepared to study & learn, they are doing all of their required written exams, they are participating very well in class sessions, taking copious notes, asking great questions, & performing well above my original expectations. All but a couple of them have never attended any higher education schooling, & all of them have never attended any Bible Colleges or Schools dealing with Ministry.
So as you can probably deduce, we are all so very excited about the Lord is accomplishing to & through these men who have very wonderful, teachable hearts & minds! All we can add is, that we need all of your prayers that all of us, the men & myself, will continue to apply ourselves so we finish as well as we have started!
I am adding a few pictures above so you can get a glimpse of the men in the class setting,which is in our Living Room in our rented house, in the area where they sleep & eat, taking their breaks in the yard,Carmella Cuva giving eye exams for reading glasses, praise & worship time, one of the Pastors given a daily devotion & one photo of their food ready to be served. These men attending are all so very enjoyable individuals, who love the Lord & are committed to learning about they need to know about what it means to be a CC Pastor & how to study the Bible to teach, not preach, the whole counsel of God by teaching Book by Book, Chapter by Chapter & Verse by Verse.
We have completed six chapters of the Calvary Distinctives & God willing, we will be able to wrap up the book in the next two to three weeks weeks. But, as we go through each chapter, I am encouraging them to ask questions relative to the text we are studying, & as it pertains to the issues they are having to deal with in their villages. So, we will see what happens in the next three weeks. Then we will begin the Inductive Bible Study course written by Dan Finfrock , of Intensive Care Ministries.
The men are so thrilled about having all these materials in Chichewa language, as 94% do not read or write in English. It has been somewhat expensive to have these books translated, but oh, so worth the expense!! We will be needing to translate additional books in the near future, & each book to date we have had translated is costing between $550 to $670 USD. So, if anyone has a heart to donate to this endeavor, please send your contributions to Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay located at 3001 Monterey-Salinas Hwy., Monterey, Ca. 93940 & attach a note (Not on Check) that the gift is for the Malawi School of Ministry. At year end, CCMB will send you a tax receipt for your donation.
We still have 15 additional Pastors who will be in the next 12 week course, starting in February 2011. So, also be praying for this next group of Pastors, that they will be mentally and spiritually prepare to begin in the same attitude as the first group.
Also, please be praying with all of us about the Lord providing a vehicle to carry up to 24 passengers. This vehicle will be used by Calvary Chapel Lilongwe, the School of Ministry, & by Ruth's Shawl Ministry, with the widows & orphans. We are having to make multiple trips with the current vehicle which can carry 7 passengers, but we have regular needs of 20+ each week. The price of petrol is $8.50 a gallon when converted from liters as sold here. Ephesians 3:20 is a prayer verse. Zikomo Kambiri. (Thank you very much in English)
God bless you all & please continue to be praying for the School , the Pastors attending, as well as for me that the Holy Spirit will truly be our teacher.
Steve & Nora
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
August 3, 2010 Update
The past few weeks have been a blast with a team from Glennview Baptist out of North Carolina led by Pastor Brad Wright along with Casey & Cathy were here for a week. We had outreaches to the Ruth Shawl widows & orphans in Area 44; Nsambeta School;Church services at Pastor Joseph Kazembe's church in Area 24; Training Seminar with 15 young men & women ministering in the Public School System along with trips to ABC Medical Clinic & to Lake Malawi. Great job and a great big thank you to this wonderful team. You always have a home here in Lilongwe, so ya'll come back real soon!
We then said hello to Pastor Demitri Nikiforos & Walter Kohrs from CC Cape Town South Africa along with Jason Simpson & the team od ten from Northshore Christian Fellowship from Hawaii. A week long Pastors Conference was held at CC Lilongwe with over two hundred participants attending; ministry to the youth in Mtslizia Village, outreaches to several outlining villages; a trip to Lake Malawi with Children of The Nations School & Orphanage; and a little sight seeing was accomplished also.
The South African team left today and the Hawaii team is coming over tonight following an village outreach for dinner, so we are expecting of night of good food & great fellowship! The team has an additional outreach tomorrow and then pack up to leave for home on Friday. Just a tremendous thank you to all of these wonderful servants of God who have ministered their hearts out to the people of Malawi!
We are expecting Carmella & Micah Cuva to arrive on 8-13-10 and will be with us until 8-24-10, so we will be doing Medical Outreaches in villages as well as ministering the widows & orphans. Carmella is also bringing with her a kit where we are able to give Eye examinations & fit up to 150 sets of reading glasses for those in need. PTL!!!!!!!
Then 8-16-10, we are starting the School of Ministry with 15 Pastors attending for a 12 week semester course, so please be praying for these Pastors that they will be able to attend without worrying about their respective fellowships, that they will be able to apply themselves fully to their studies, and that there will be great comprehension of the material being offered!
Also be praying for the CC African Pastors Conference being held in Cape Town South Africa from October 11-16th, that all the scheduled speakers will be able to come and that all the pastors will be able to have the finances to be able to attend. For Pastor Demitri & his staff as they organize the entire event!
Thank you for your prayers, financial support, and all the encouragement being offered in our behalf. We truly appreciate all of you so much!
In Him,
Steve & Nora
We then said hello to Pastor Demitri Nikiforos & Walter Kohrs from CC Cape Town South Africa along with Jason Simpson & the team od ten from Northshore Christian Fellowship from Hawaii. A week long Pastors Conference was held at CC Lilongwe with over two hundred participants attending; ministry to the youth in Mtslizia Village, outreaches to several outlining villages; a trip to Lake Malawi with Children of The Nations School & Orphanage; and a little sight seeing was accomplished also.
The South African team left today and the Hawaii team is coming over tonight following an village outreach for dinner, so we are expecting of night of good food & great fellowship! The team has an additional outreach tomorrow and then pack up to leave for home on Friday. Just a tremendous thank you to all of these wonderful servants of God who have ministered their hearts out to the people of Malawi!
We are expecting Carmella & Micah Cuva to arrive on 8-13-10 and will be with us until 8-24-10, so we will be doing Medical Outreaches in villages as well as ministering the widows & orphans. Carmella is also bringing with her a kit where we are able to give Eye examinations & fit up to 150 sets of reading glasses for those in need. PTL!!!!!!!
Then 8-16-10, we are starting the School of Ministry with 15 Pastors attending for a 12 week semester course, so please be praying for these Pastors that they will be able to attend without worrying about their respective fellowships, that they will be able to apply themselves fully to their studies, and that there will be great comprehension of the material being offered!
Also be praying for the CC African Pastors Conference being held in Cape Town South Africa from October 11-16th, that all the scheduled speakers will be able to come and that all the pastors will be able to have the finances to be able to attend. For Pastor Demitri & his staff as they organize the entire event!
Thank you for your prayers, financial support, and all the encouragement being offered in our behalf. We truly appreciate all of you so much!
In Him,
Steve & Nora
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Malawi Outreach Update July 31, 2010
It has been a couple of months since we last posted here on our blog, as we have been incurring some major spiritual warfare battles! We thought we were all ready to begin the School of Ministry on May 3rd, only to find out on the evening of May 2nd that we were not going to be able to begin as planned. We have been trying to work out all the problems at hand, and we are delighted to be able to now report that these obstacles appear to have been removed.
We have had 30 very disappointed Pastors, who have been waiting anxiously for this training and we had our final briefing on April 14th, distributed all the paperwork needed for them to complete, answered all their questions, and we all left with joyful anticipation of the start of the School of Ministry on May 3rd as outlined. However, our common enemy raised his ugly head and caused some further delays in the start of this most needed training. But the Word of God says in James Chapter 4:7,"Therefore submit to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you." So, that is what we have done, we drew near to God and He drew near to us!
Due to the delays we have experienced, the start of the School of Ministry cannot now to begin until August 16th due to the facts we have had visiting teams coming throughout July and continuing through the first half of August, which we will be hosting, and coordinating the ministry outreaches & ministering with these teams. So,God willing, we will see the beginning of the Malawi School of Ministry start August 16, 2010. Please be praying for all the visiting teams, their ministry opportunities, and of course, the School of Ministry. The teams coming are from Hawaii, North Carolina, and California.
These are exciting times ahead of us and the opportunity to minister in so many different venues is very encouraging, filled with great expectation of what the Lord is going to accomplish the next few months ahead of us! Ministry to children, Jesus Video Outreaches, Leadership Conference to Pastors, Training of young adults to better prepare them as they minister in the Public Schools, and some medical outreaches, just to name a few.
We have felt at times like what Paul the Apostle wrote about in 2 Corinthians 4: 7-9, but we are experiencing the reality of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. So, please join with us in the joy of what God has accomplished and pray that we will continue to be able to minister as He gives us strength and wisdom to do so. Thank you for all your faithful prayers and support for this ministry and for Nora & myself personally. We sincerely appreciate each one of you as you stand in the gap for us . We will keep you updated as we progress ahead during these very busy next few months.
We have had 30 very disappointed Pastors, who have been waiting anxiously for this training and we had our final briefing on April 14th, distributed all the paperwork needed for them to complete, answered all their questions, and we all left with joyful anticipation of the start of the School of Ministry on May 3rd as outlined. However, our common enemy raised his ugly head and caused some further delays in the start of this most needed training. But the Word of God says in James Chapter 4:7,"Therefore submit to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you." So, that is what we have done, we drew near to God and He drew near to us!
Due to the delays we have experienced, the start of the School of Ministry cannot now to begin until August 16th due to the facts we have had visiting teams coming throughout July and continuing through the first half of August, which we will be hosting, and coordinating the ministry outreaches & ministering with these teams. So,God willing, we will see the beginning of the Malawi School of Ministry start August 16, 2010. Please be praying for all the visiting teams, their ministry opportunities, and of course, the School of Ministry. The teams coming are from Hawaii, North Carolina, and California.
These are exciting times ahead of us and the opportunity to minister in so many different venues is very encouraging, filled with great expectation of what the Lord is going to accomplish the next few months ahead of us! Ministry to children, Jesus Video Outreaches, Leadership Conference to Pastors, Training of young adults to better prepare them as they minister in the Public Schools, and some medical outreaches, just to name a few.
We have felt at times like what Paul the Apostle wrote about in 2 Corinthians 4: 7-9, but we are experiencing the reality of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. So, please join with us in the joy of what God has accomplished and pray that we will continue to be able to minister as He gives us strength and wisdom to do so. Thank you for all your faithful prayers and support for this ministry and for Nora & myself personally. We sincerely appreciate each one of you as you stand in the gap for us . We will keep you updated as we progress ahead during these very busy next few months.
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