Trinity Bible Church
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JULY NEWS FROM THE BRAINS:
RUNDU RUMBLINGS
In April we wrote to you about witchcraft in Rundu, northern Namibia. One Pastor had died and another was very sick. People thought this was physical in nature until one day two different deacons of a local church confessed to having caused the death and sicknesses through spells. The truth of all that transpired is not verified, but these things create paralyzing fear in people's minds.
We mentioned that we had helped to organize a conference and that we hoped to go. We are happy to report that the conference is just about to begin, but we will not be there. The conference will have two parts. The first part (Aug 18-19) will be for church leaders and the second portion of the conference will be for the general laity (Aug. 21-24). We invite you to pray that the reality of the verse "Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world" would take root in people's lives. Please pray that greater understanding of the position of the believer in Christ would begin to eradicate fear.
Roy Comrie will be the featured speaker, but my parents, Bob and Joan Brain will also be there and my father may be called to translate for Roy who has a very heavy speaking schedule. Please pray for his stamina. The last few months we have been working feverishly on translating a book into Luchazi on spiritual warfare that was written by an SIM missionary in Zambia. My dad completed a second volume which we then produced as one book to reduce the cost of printing. These combined books will be sold to the church leaders as material for them to teach from later.
Please pray for spiritual protection for all participants. The Evil One can maliciously design things that distract and detour people's focus. There has been a recent plot where the leader of the denomination has been accused of benefiting personally from the sale of the Bible Institute buildings in Rundu where we taught when we ministered in Rundu in the early '90's. There is little truth to the accusation, but we believe that this is a diversionary tactic by the Evil One so that the leadership will not be unified and in tune with the truths being presented. If the Evil One cannot destroy he may at least try to bring division and disunity as a means of crippling the church. Please pray that only the plan of God would prevail.
NEW NEWS
Together we have been praying for two years that God would open a way for us to minister in Namibia. Much water has passed under the bridge and our prayers have not been answered as we expected. Together with SIM leadership we as a family have concluded that perhaps living and ministering in Namibia is not what God would have for us at this time. Instead we are exploring the possibility of continuing on with SIM, living here in the US and then traveling back and forth to Namibia to jump start a program called the Pastor's Book Set (PBS). The PBS is a project to supply Christian books to pastors of all willing denominations in a country and then to teach them how to use these books. There is a clear division in Namibia between churches that are financially self sufficient and churches that are not. It is our desire to challenge these "have" churches with the needs of the "have not" churches and then funnel efforts, resources and energy into the PBS. Eventually a book list would be created that would probably include a Study Bible, commentaries, reference books and books on issues relevant to ministry in Africa (marriage, spiritual warfare, HIV-AIDS etc.) Pastors would cover perhaps a 1/3 of the cost of the books and the rest of the cost would be raised either in Namibia or internationally. Conferences would then be organized to gather church leaders for a few days and then the books would be distributed. If we did have a work permit and were on the ground in Namibia it would be expected that we would do this organizing, however, if we are not on the ground in Namibia it may be a natural way to challenge Namibians to carry the ball. Two or three visits a year should keep the wheels turning.
Knowing the population of Namibia, we could expect about 1000 book sets. Sometimes the PBS are handed out in one bunch, but it might be good to foster additional contact with these pastors over time by only giving a portion of the books at any given conference. Prolonging the project over 5-6 years for the purpose of maximizing impact, contact and relationship would increase the potential for positive influence among church leaders. Due to lack of books many of these Pastors are more oral in nature and find it difficult to assimilate content by simply reading it. However, if they are able to hear oral explanation they can gain a working frame work of the material making it easier to consult the book later. Multiple conferences would help to deepening relationships and would naturally build bridges to possible future ministry.
GIRL GOSSIP
In July the girls had a wonderful opportunity to attend a week of a Christian camp organized by our home church here in Hanover. It was a special highlight of the summer and the week was filled with many happy memories. During the week of camp the girls memorized many Bible Verses as there was a competition between the girls and boys. Several of the girls managed to memorize 45 verses during the week and said them in sets of nine verses at a time. Oh, to have a young fertile mind again that can easily commit to memory the Word of God. The girls managed to win, but it was certainly a heated competition.
Charity has been ushered into the high school marching band and for two weeks in August will be busy from 9 AM to 9 PM. Charissa is working hard to be part of the junior high cheering leading squad for the up coming Junior high football season. She is the only one never to have been a cheer leader before, but seems to be doing well.
Until His nets are full,
Calvin for the girls
PS: We still have not heard anything promising from Namibia.
MISSION ADDRESS:
SIM, 14803 Choate Circle
P.O. Box 7900
Charlotte NC 28241-7900
Tel: (704) 588-4300632-4705
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This page was last updated on 07/09/10