Just Do It

Just Do It!

Praise & Prayer Report #6, October-November 2023

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God's Story Languages Impacting Many

As 2023 comes to a close, I'm reflecting on the Lord's goodness. Even as the world returned, the best way it knew how, to normalcy, the Lord allowed us to continue working in 5 continents (still working to find a way into Antarctica 😀). Opportunities to be more involved exist.

Currently we have a God's Story recording team in Nigeria working with 7 language teams. The recording teams and teams that premier new God's Story languages spend time in the Word of God with the translators and narrators. Several people on the language teams have commented to our leaders how much they learn from God's Word. Some have even repented! This year we premiered or launched new languages in Nigeria, India, and Congo Brazza. We are making plans to premiere new languages in early 2024 in Togo, Cameroon, Congo Brazza, Ghana, and more.

Betrayed, No Friends, and Alone Finds Christ 

The following testimony came as a result of an STS storyteller doing the betrayal of Jesus by Judas in Matthew 26:47-­‐56.  After hearing and discussing the story in Matthew, a person wrote the STS storyteller about having lived through an unexpected divorce and being sensitive to betrayal. This person not only lost a spouse but all their friends too and was alone and empty. This person cried to God, only knowing the Lord religiously and culturally. God brought to this person a believer who kept sharing the words, "Life is beautiful," which allowed the person to recognize the relationship this believer has with the Lord. It opened this person's heart to have a relationship with Christ and filled the emptiness.  

This person continued sharing that even abandoned and betrayed, Jesus could carry us through. We are not alone, and death could not restrain Him.  Christ's resurrection testifies of His glory, power, and love, and we are no longer alone.  

When Not Invited, What to Do?

One of our leaders in Africa called recently to share these amazing reports. For 10 years he had reached out to a specific denomination wondering when they would finally adopt Simply The Story. After a recent training, they were amazed at the results.

Our leader started the conversation with me by saying, "It's going viral!" Curious, I asked him to explain.

Toward the end of the training with this large denomination, the attendees went out to practice their new storytelling skills. In just 30 minutes 22 people accepted Christ! The attendees returned overjoyed. Now people the students meet are inviting the students from the training to share more Bible stories.

One woman trained in the workshop continues to go out every day to share the Truth of Christ with people on the streets. This amazing evangelist met some Christians on the street. They told her that if she wanted to preach to them, they were already believers and go to church. She replied, "No problem" and then shared an illustration from our training called the Path. When she reached the part about those who run down the path, these Christians realized they were the ones running down the path, not wanting to hear the Word. This opened their hearts to hear a Bible story and to discuss the treasures together with this storyteller.

This woman also encountered a street preacher and asked him a couple of questions when he was done preaching, "What have you done? Could people tell you tomorrow what you said today?" 

The preacher replied, "No." 

The woman then told him a Bible story and had a great discussion over the word of God with him. Afterward, he exclaimed, "I need this!"

Due to space limitations, the Pastor who opened his church to the STS training did not choose this woman evangelist to attend the workshop. Praise the Lord, that did not stop her from attending.

The Pastor shared, "It's working. Everyone can give the Word. Members understand the Bible and remember it." This pastor is part of a denomination of 3000 churches. Now, several churches in the denomination are asking for Simply The Story. This truly is going viral!

Wife and Mom, Tools for Growth

One attendee from the above workshop used to argue often with her husband. After hearing the Martha and Mary story on the first day of the training, she saw herself as having a "Martha" attitude when she spoke to her husband. Touched by this, her attitude changed when she went home. Her husband quickly noticed the change and said, "This is not my wife." So he asked her what the church taught her that day. Her husband, being in the military and understanding the importance of leadership structures, heard her response and now wants to attend an STS training. 

This woman, who is also a young mother, practices Bible stories with her children. Her children told her, "If this was the way Sunday school were taught, we would never sleep through the class." Now, even when this mom is tired, her children ask her for a Bible story. 

Mexico Sees Results 

Much has happened in Mexico over the past few months. We love our partnership with By Design Visuals 
(https://bydesignvisuals.org), maker of high quality and unique flannel graphs for a new generation. By Design flannels combined with Simply The Story has opened doors for training people from numerous churches in accurate and captivating Bible stories.  Along with the multiple trainings, two STS Oral Bible Schools have been launched in Mexico. 

Another of our leaders in Mexico recently completed a series of Ministry That Multiplies sessions at her home. As a result of these MTM sessions, new STS Assistant Instructors have been raised, and storytellers have been equipped.

Prayer Points

We often have opportunities to do stories in prisons, train prisoners in STS, and start Oral Bible Schools in prisons. In one African country, we have an opportunity to train prison chaplains. Pray for these unique situations.

We praise the Lord for the recently completed Comprehensive Leadership Training (CLT) in East Africa, where experienced and budding STS leaders from 10 African nations were trained. Pray for these leaders as they return and implement what they have learned. 

In early February, a small team of STS leaders head to Asia to partner with a ministry that rescues girls from human trafficking. Our leaders will conduct in depth training with the Asian leadership team who minister to the rescued young women. Our Asian partners have shared how STS meets the key spiritual need that has helped shorten the girls' recovery time and has deeply impacted their hearts. This heart change has kept more than 93% of the girls from falling back into the lies that lured them into the hands of the traffickers in the first place. Please pray for our small team going and for the leadership of this other organization as they implement the training.

Our Hemet California Advanced training is nearly at capacity. Pray for the attendees as they prepare to grow in their learning. We often dive into more challenging passages, like Epistles, using the STS skills.

Congratulations to John and his wife. God blessed them with a baby girl. John leads our language recording teams

Congratulations to John (and his wife), our leader in East Africa, ordained as a Bishop in November.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. 

May you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. 

Andrea & The whole staff of Simply The Story and The God's Story Project (TGSP)

Executive Director