Building Project

We have been working on the second stage of our church building over the last few weeks. We will put up the steel structure. A group of men from our church have been tirelessly working in the extreme heat - 95-105*F every day - with almost no shade!
Please keep our safety in your prayers as all is done by physical labor - no heavy machinery!

Before



Man-power to lift trusses into place...



...with a little help from block and chain pulley

Half a truss up

a little welding

One truss done, six more to go...

October 2013 Prayer Letter

The past month of July has been a whirlwind of activity. While seemingly running in several different directions at the same time, we believe that we have recently seen some important foundations laid for the cause of Christ, both in existing ministries as well as in envisioned future ministries.

Village Meeting

Typical Village Life

 Recently we’ve had two very productive and blessed meetings which bode well for some new church- planting opportunities. First, a group of men from our church took a journey to an area we had never been before. We were able to have a meeting with Chief Siachitema about preaching the Gospel in his villages. We presented him with a Bible and were graciously welcomed to begin a Gospel work among his people. Please keep this open door in prayer, as we plan to survey some of the villages of that chieftainship in August or September.

Pastor Donga greeting our Bible study

The second meeting was with Eliot Donga, a pastor from Zimbabwe. As we mentioned in our most recent prayer letter, we have been trusting the LORD to open obvious doors concerning our involvement in preaching and training believers in our neighboring nation of Zimbabwe. With that aim in mind, we received Pastor Donga and his adult son Andrew as visitors in our church and Bible Institute for a few days. As we got to know these men and see their heart for serving the LORD, we noticed a kinship of spirit and agreement of purpose with these servants of God. We look forward to seeing the LORD continue to guide us as we plan to make the six-hour trip to their area of Zimbabwe in the coming months in preparation for a Biblical Training Conference during June 2014.

 In addition to the new opportunities, we are pleased with a few developments in our existing ministry. In July Preetika started a Ladies’ Bible Study, which meets on Thursday afternoons. The meeting has been an encouragement not only to the ladies themselves but also to my wife, as she sees their hunger for learning the Word of God. One lady named Christabel, who cannot read, was able to say her memory verse. Her husband, a student in our Bible institute, had read the verses over and over again to teach them to her. Stories like this remind us of the great need to personally bring God's Word to those who would not or could not read and understand it for themselves. We ask your prayers for this needful ministry to the women.

Ladies' Bible study

                Also in the coming weeks, we look forward to continuing work on our church building. The LORD has provided us with materials and equipment to move into the next stage of our building project. We are now able to put up the steel structure and framing work. Once completed, we will be about halfway to having a fully enclosed church building, leaving us with the need to install the roofing sheets and build the walls. We are confident that this building will prove to be an important tool used by the LORD to bring many Africans unto Jesus, as well as train them to serve Him!

 Finally, would you make one other area of our ministry a matter of your prayers? The last six weeks or so, our ministry has really been hampered by the lack of reliability with our vehicles. We use three vehicles in the ministry, including my personal vehicle. For a couple of weeks, all three were broken-down at the same time. This made many activities in our church a struggle just to get people to the right places. Our "fleet" is aging, and rare is the week when at least one of our vehicles is not out of commission. (As I write this, two of them are not moving as they await needed repairs.) Our newest (but worst-conditioned) vehicle is a 1994 minivan. Our best vehicle (usually, but not lately) is my '92 pickup truck, while our most useful is a 1989 open-bed truck. The constant drain on our funds to keep them maintained and repaired to a reliable and safe level has been a burden sometimes. Thank the LORD that He has always provided what has been necessary to keep them running! Pray that He will continue to do so and also that He would provide the means to upgrade a couple of our vehicles.

 Thank you always for your continued and faithful prayers for our family and ministry in Zambia!

Bible Institute

End of Term 1 Tests

The students are taking their end-of-term tests. A couple of these students had not taken a test in 10 years since they left school. They worked hard and ultimately did very well. We praise God for them!

 

June 2013 Update

The last couple of months have been exciting times in the life of our ministry. In May, we opened our Bible Institute with 5 men enrolled. We look forward to this ministry being used of the LORD to train Africans believers to serve the LORD and plant churches. Already we have seen several of the students win their first souls to Christ as well as each make preparation to begin a home Bible Study in some of the areas of Livingstone where our church reaches. Please pray for these students as they learn and grow in Christ that they will be faithful and willing to sacrifice in the necessary areas to serve Him.

                We also recently celebrated our 5 Year Church Anniversary at Fallsview Bible Baptist Church! We were able to reach our second-highest attendance including 61 first-time adult and teen-age visitors with 13 making a profession of faith in Christ. Pray for many more of those who visited our service to be saved during the follow-up visits.

                One final aspect of our ministry that I would ask you to keep in prayer is a new opportunity that the LORD seems to be presenting to us. Over the last several weeks, I have been in contact with Pastor Darrell Hurst of Williamsburg, KY, one of our supporting pastors, about an opportunity to train some willing men in Zimbabwe. Though the border for Zimbabwe is not very far from our town, I had never been across the border until recently. As many of you may have heard through the international news, over recent years it has been both politically and economically unstable in Zimbabwe. During that time, we have met numerous Zimbabweans who have crossed the border to look for work in Zambia. Some of those have come to trust Christ and are serving the LORD together with us in the Fallsview Bible Baptist Church. In fact one of those Zimbabwean believers is enrolled in our newly started Institute. Please pray that the LORD will open obvious doors in Zimbabwe and that He will give us wisdom concerning this venture.
 
                Thank you as always for your faithful prayers for our family and ministry. I hope you realize how vital those prayers are to our continued mission here. It truly would be impossible without you bringing us before the LORD constantly! Keep it up!

Men Enrolled in the Bible Institute

Our Adoption Story

Here is our recently produced Adoption Tract. We have given many of these out around the world including to George W. Bush on his recent trip to Zambia.

Warners' Ministry Video

Warners' Zambia Video 2012/13

Click on the link to see a ten-minute video about our life and ministry in Zambia.

February 2013 Prayer Letter

           What a blessing these past few months have been for us while on furlough! We have greatly enjoyed seeing our family and watching them meet and get to know Elijah a little bit. Our family has also been blessed to see many friends and partners in the ministry during our times in America. Each church has been blessed by being able to meet Elijah. In fact, one of our supporting churches that I visited when Elijah was sick kindly requested—okay, demanded—that we come again when Elijah was better. We gladly did so and have been encouraged by the many praying friends in churches all around the country who have told us how much they asked the LORD to help us during Elijah's adoption process. Elijah has also enjoyed America. Though often intimidated as we enter a new and, in his view, big church, he soon settles in and loves meeting people, especially the children! Many kids across the country have been on the receiving end of an "Elijah hug." Thanks to all who have made Elijah and us feel so welcomed during our time in the States.

            While we have been in the U.S., the work of the LORD has continued in Zambia. Recently during a couple of special soul-winning days, our church people saw a total of 65 people trust Christ in the neighborhood around our church! Also, we have finally gotten our big church vehicle repaired after months of being off the road. It can once again be used to bring people to church where they can hear the Gospel. Please keep praying for our vehicles, as the Zambian roads really take their toll on them.

  We will be returning to Zambia on April 1. Upon our return, we are prayerfully planning to open a Bible institute in May. Several of the faithful believers are excited about enrolling. In addition, we want to continue the building program at our Livingstone church. We would be grateful if you could make this project a matter of prayer, as we look forward to seeing these future structures being used as tools to preach and teach the Word of God.

          Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for us. We are honored to be your ambassadors for Christ in Zambia.