A Belated Christmas Report

(note: This report is late making it to the website because of my tardiness in posting it, not of Pastor Ben's tardiness in making it!)

On Saturday morning, December 20, I traveled to Buchanan to spend the Christmas holiday there. In the afternoon, I put together a short Christmas drama to be performed by the puppets.

On Sunday, I met and practiced with three of my four faithful puppeteers: Pastor Malachi, Eugene, and Mongar. We also have our second practice on Monday. Our practice went very well. Kids and adults came around to watch our practice show. We also fixed few balloons to give to the kids on Christmas Day.



On Wednesday, December 24, the sun was bright and the weather was great and promising. This was the day we planned to do our Christmas Drama. We brought our equipment outside from the house and decided to carry the most needed ones.

We placed two boxes of puppets in a wheelbarrow. I asked some of my kids to go with us to carry some of the equipment on their heads. One took the puppet stage and the other took the speaker. I took one bag on my back and Pastor Malachi took one bag on his back.



After 20- 25 minutes of walking, we reached the site. It was on the street, near business centers. We set up the stage and everything. It was about 5:00PM. We were four persons on the team.

As we were setting up the stage, crowd of people started to come around. More started to come around as the puppet did their first Christmas song. Even two UN vehicles stopped to watch the show. Praise God those Muslim Peace Keepers and heard the gospel through our Christmas drama.



At the end of the drama, I gave a short message about the purpose of Christmas (Matt. 1:21-25). At the end of the message, altar call was made and lots of kids as well as adults prayed out loud asking Jesus to forgive them and be their Lord and Savior. About 200 persons attended this show. However, across the street, were lots of people at the business centers who also heard the gospel.



A little girl after the show shared with me how she was greatly blessed by the drama. It is my heart burden to see these kids and adults been follow-up and discipled.

On December 25, we were not able to have our Christmas party for kids. Therefore, we gave out those balloons we fixed to the kids who came around.

New Pastoral Program Training

We will be having a pastoral training program starting on March 7, continuing weekly in March and going through Mary, July, and September.

After the morning sessions, we will be having evangelistic puppets shows on a football field.

The courses are:
Church Ministry and Administration
Preaching Biblical Messages and Pastoral Ministry
Bible Study Methods and Interpretation
Principles and Methods of Preaching
Personal Spiritual Life

Please be in prayer for this training, that many pastors would attend and be built up in their ministries.

Youth Leadership Seminar

June 24 was a sunny day. It was the third day of JEM youth leadership training seminar which started June 7, 2008.

The topic for the day was: YOUTH IN MARRIAGE/YOUTH PREPARING FOR MARRIAGE. Our keynote speaker was Bro. Eddie Tokpa. Bro. Tokpa works with Samaritan’s Purse International Relief Liberia. He is the Assistant Program Manager for Ministry.

The seminar was attended by 78 persons from 16 local churches. These were pastors, churches leaders and youth leaders.

Bible Distribution

There are about 2 million pastors in the world’s underdeveloped countries. Out of this, 1.9 million have no theological or pastoral training.

The US Center for World Mission estimates that about 86% of pastors and church leaders in rural Africa have no formal theological or pastoral training.

JEM has the burden of helping pastors and church leaders get biblical training and have them equipped for effective ministry. One way of doing this is giving out Study Bibles. These Study Bibles will help the pastors and church leaders in their study of God’s word.

June 21, 2008, JEM again distributed about 40 Reformation Study Bibles to pastors and church leaders in the city of Buchanan, Liberia.

JEM Vocational Institute

JEM is not only concerned with meeting spiritual needs of people, we also strive to meet the physical and educational needs. It is our hope to evangelize and build the Kingdom of God through vocational training. As students come to gain skills, the JEM staff give them the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

On June 14 JEM had an orientation for our Vocational Institute. About 25 prospective students attended the orientation. Classes will start on Monday, June 23, 2008. The school is free of charge and will run for eight months. Our first course is Clerical Typing.

We are praying to add computer courses in the near future.

Youth Leadership Seminar Brings Growth

June 14, 2008 was a wet and rainy day. Despite the rain, the youth came. 32 young people came from seven local churches to our seminar at the Buchanan Open Bible Standard Church, Buchanan City, Liberia.

The Rev. Benjamin T. Munford taught on the subject “The Laws of Leadership”.

Pastor Munford used PowerPoint for his presentation, but participants still had to go back and forth from their seats to catch a better look at what were on the screen. Technology is always a hurdle in Liberia.

The young people also watched an Alpha Course DVD, "How Do I Resist Evil?"

After the message, 15 young people rededicated their lives to the Lord.

Phase II of Youth Leadership Seminar Begins

Please be in prayer for the JEM Youth Leadership Seminar. Over 30 young people from 30 churches are attending. The Rev. Matthew Malachi of the United Liberian Inland Church spoke during phase II on June 7 and the young people also received Alpha Course video training.

Please pray for the young people of Liberia that they would seek after Jesus and forsake the world. Pray that they would be built up in true knowledge, righteousness and holiness as well as godly wisdom. Pray that the church in Liberia would have a vision for reaching the lost and transforming Liberia. Pray for the leadership of JEM, that they would steward limited resources for God's glory.