Spiritual Freedom

Spiritual Freedom

Praise & Prayer Report #3, April-May 2024

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Wanted: God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity

Our God’s Story workshop leader recently returned from recording 7 languages in West Africa. Even though the team goes to record God’s Story, our leader shared the impact these workshops are having on the translators, narrators, and those around the team.

The guest house where the teams stayed is owned by a lady. The team prayed for this woman as well as others and invited several people to join them for worship on last the Sunday our God’s Story team was there. The Word of God was shared, our team prayed for people and the entire guest house of 8 people accepted Christ. A couple of the people were freed from being demon possessed and all were encouraged.

Later, people told the team of a specific spirit that controlled the place prior to the people being freed to worship Christ. Reports have come in that some are going to church by guest house where our team stayed.

We have known for years that any team working on translating or recording God’s Story requires extra focused prayer. Many have shared with us over the years that they have been astonished by the spiritual attacks with God’s Story above what they normally face. These challenges still occur.

Our recording specialists continually run into issues during the scenes where Satan, in the form of a serpent talks to the woman in the garden of Eden. All of their equipment works well before they get to these scenes. Only at this section does the equipment begin to crackle giving unusable recordings. When our leader swapped his equipment with another recordist to try the same section, he had issues at that spot as well. The teams endure and eventually record the parts that expose Satan as the liar that he really is. After that spot in the script, their equipment again records with little to no issues. Please pray for all the teams around the world working on God’s Story languages.

Sometimes, translators are encouraged to do God’s Story without totally understanding the program or its value. One such team recently came to translate in West Africa just to see what God’s Story really was. During translation and recording times, the project still was not clear to one of the translators. Only during the review, the translator told our leader to stop. The translator shared that he had done other translations, and yet in this short time with God’s Story, he finally realized what God had used him to accomplish. The time with God’s Story had greatly impacted him. Listening to God’s Story during the review time allowed several parts in the Bible that he had read several times in the past to finally become clear to him. He plans to use God’s Story to reach many in the community. The translator also knows there are many in the community who do not understand the Bible, and God’s Story will help these people.

Spiritual Rehab

We have realized that for life changes to take place, the Word of God has to penetrate past the mind and into the heart. We see that engagement with the Lord through His Word helps people apply what He says. The power of God has opened doors for us to conduct Simply The Story training in prisons, rehab centers and more. One workshop took place at a rehabilitation center recently in Kenya. Participants are recovering from substance and drug abuse. One person shared this impact story.

“The one leper story [Mark 1:40-45] has impacted my life a lot. I am from xxx and I have been just like that leper. I could not be with other people because of my condition. I have been in the same problem of rejection from friends and even family members to an extent of bringing me to this rehabilitation center. I was not willing come here. “I see Jesus showed love and mercy to that leper, I am now ready to work on myself so as never to do drug’s again because i want to believe in Jesus. I know he loves me and has good plans for me.

“Again, the story of bent woman, how she was healed after so many years. I’ve wasted more that 20 years because of drugs. I believe that this is the time of my transformation.”

A 2033 Goal!

In Congo Brazza, one STS leader has been helping to fulfill a church’s plan to reach the whole country by 2033. That will be 2000 years of evangelism across the world. The church sent out 30 trained STS evangelists to proclaim the Gospel recently. They chose Simply The Story as one of their main tools to go from house to house. These storytellers went to the mission field, and 300 people accepted Christ. The church met recently to discuss discipling these new believers. The plan was to teach the people to learn and quote verses and to learn the Ten Commandments.

This STS leader, familiar also with the power of God’s Story, encouraged the church to use God’s Story to help disciple these young believers by going through each story. This would give the people a clear understanding of the overview or meta-narrative of the Scriptures. People find this method very powerful because many do not read, write, or have the same understanding as the church. Pray for this church to raise the evangelists to reach the lost across their country.

Spiritual Freedom

In Guinea during Ramadan, one Bible storyteller from a large ministry shared the blind Bartimaeus story from Mark 10. A strong Muslim man stood and said, “You know what Jesus has done? It’s the same thing your ministry has done with us. You could have come and given money and left, but instead your ministry and Jesus are giving us sight.”

Mozambique Excitement

A growing instructor in STS shared a great report from training in Mozambique. “We didn't know how many people we would have, but we averaged 50 people per day….People from 4 different churches were represented.

“It was exciting to see people get excited about using their new tool right away and asking for help for how to use it in their ministries. Several people used it with children's ministry on Saturday and Sunday... A few of the pastors used it this past week also….

“One boy in my tribe barely looked up or said anything during our preparation. His whole demeanor was kind of cured with a sense of insecurity. When I asked who wanted to tell the story he said he wanted to. He wasn't presenting until the next day so he had time to prepare. We reviewed the next day and he presented. He did a great job! When I was coaching him he had a big smile on his face and it looked like he had just got a boost of confidence…

“The hot topic at church yesterday was telling stories:) How easy, practical, and fun it is!”

STS + Flannel graph = Discipleship

As 3 STS workshops combined with flannel graph training took place, another man who has more than 100 older people that come regularly to learn stories in the STS way wrote, “YES. I NEED. MOST USEFUL TO [location left out for security reasons] OLDAGE CHURCH FAMILY, THEY UNDERSTAND WELL WORD OF GOD BY SHOWING PUCTURES. YOU PLEASE COME TO […] AND SPEND TIME WITH MY OLDAGE PEOPLE AND PREACH WORD OF GOD BY SHOWING PICTURES. SEND ME ONE KIT FOR […]”

Languages Upgraded or Mastered Recently

Chothe, Fur, and Mongolian have been completed and upgraded. Please contact us if you want to help sponsor languages or request a language to be upgraded.

Heart Pocket Podcasts Recently and Coming Up at www.HeartPocket.org

In a recent podcast, Zev describes life in Israel for the past several months. Wilma shares the impact of STS in her life. Kelly gives insights for doing Bible stories with children and the impact of STS on outreach. Teresa has fun with A Little Mango in a Big World. Doranne and John make retirement fun with ministry!

If you are interested in joining a Bible storytelling time with Simply The Story, please let us know. We have one Ministry That Multiplies session started online in English and plan to have more. Our first online English Oral Bible School has started.

Thank you all for your prayers and love for the nations.

Andrea & The whole staff of The God's Story Project (TGSP)
Executive Director