Global Missions

'Brothers, Never ever ever has the Lord let the cause of world missions in a local church hurt that church. It doesn’t happen. Go for broke when it comes to the unreached peoples of the world. I don’t care how bad it is in your church. Lift up your sights towards the unreached peoples of the world.'

Piper sermon on John G. Paton

Thank You!

...All for praying for me during last week's church planting conference.

After condensing, I have 15 pages of "impacting thoughts" that stood out from my notes that now need to be prayed over, processed, and as the Lord sees fit, applied. Thank you for praying for that too.

Global Church Advancement - National Church Planting Seminar

I'm in Minneapolis this week enjoying the GCA's National Church Planting Seminar. The training is Christ-centered, practical, and goo.., er, convicting. Thank you for your prayers for the Lord enable me to both process and apply the things He desires for me to take away.

Nigeria

Lord willing, just 55 hours from now the six-person Nigeria Vision Team from Grace Church will be arriving at Memphis International Airport to catch our flight to Abuja, Nigeria. May the Lamb Who was slain receive the reward if His sufferings!

Here is a copy of our daily itinerary. Please use it as a prayer guide. On behalf of our team, "Thank you!"

Friday April 13th
Depart Memphis at 7:30 PM via KLM/NWA flight 6058

Saturday April 14th
Arrive Amsterdam at 11:10 AM. Depart for Abuja at 2:05 PM on KLM flight 577. Arrive Abuja, Nigeria at 7:35 PM. John Hassan, our local pastor host, will pick us up at the airport.

On arrival, we will spend one night in Abuja at the Sheraton.

Sunday April 15th
We shall be leaving Abuja at 6:00 A.M for Zaria. Jordan will be preaching in a combined service at the church John Hassan pastors, ECWA Church Wusasa Zaria (Evangelical Christian West Africa). It is going to be a congregation of about 1200 people. John told Jordan to feel free to preach what the Lord lays to his heart. The Church has a theme this year; i.e "Preach the Word..." 2 Tim 4:2. We hope to arrive Zaria from Abuja by 9:00 A.M for the service. John says the service will have lots of “celebrations.”

Monday April 16th
On Monday, we shall be going to Katsina, far in the North. It is about four hours drive. We will come back to Zaria the same day. We shall be having supper with John’s District Executive members with their wives by 6-8 P.M local time.

Tuesday April 17th
On Tuesday, we will travel to Kano, one of the biggest cities in Northern Nigeria. It is about three and half hours drive. From there we will proceed to Bauchi, another three hours drive. We will spend one night at Bauchi. At Bauchi, we shall be visiting with one of the biggest game reserves before we continue for Jos.

Wednesday April 18th
On Wednesday, we will continue to Jos, the seat of the National Headquarters of ECWA We will have the privilege of meeting with John’s national leaders. On our way, we will stop at Jos ECWA Theological Seminary one of the biggest Seminaries in the country, where John received his Bachelor’s Degree before he came to Mid-America Seminary in Memphis. From there, we will stop again at one other seminary where he taught for a year before his relocation to Zaria. We will also stop at Kaduna the capital city of John’s birth before we finally come back to Zaria on Thursday.

Thursday April 19th
We will return to Zaria and have dinner with John’s Church Elders and their Wives.

Friday April 20th
On Friday, we will receive a welcome from John’s “Babby” School. It is a school the church and he started a few years ago. Since then they have seen many children around the community gave their little hearts to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. John said “It will be my joy to see you in the midst of this little ones, who are the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” This will happen at about 10:00 -11:00 A.M.

The remaining time during the day we will be getting ready for departure on Saturday by 2:00 P.M to Abuja.

Saturday April 21st
Leave for Abuja by 2PM and depart Abuja at 9:10 PM on KLM flight 577 for Amsterdam via stopover in Kano, Nigeria.

Sunday April 22nd
Arrive in Amsterdam at 6:10 AM. Depart at 2:20 PM on KLM/NWA flight 6057 to Memphis. Arrive in Memphis at 5:05 PM.

TEAM MEMBERS

• Chris M.
• Pat N.
• Paul N.
• Kelly R.
• Nathan S.
• Jordan T.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Pray that God will...

• Smooth our paths as we prepare and travel
• Prepare the hearts and minds of the people to whom we will witness
• Help us proclaim the gospel with power
• Bring a harvest of believers among the Hausa people
• Give us wisdom to discern future missions & church planting opportunities among the Hausa people.

Kenny Stokes & Marc Heinrich

This Sunday, March 18, Kenny & Marc will be leading the morning service at Grace Church, Lord willing. (Kenny preaching, Marc leading music)

A brief introduction to both of these brothers:

Kenny Stokes, Lead Pastor for Spreading (Picture here)

Kenny was born and raised in Minneapolis. He came to know the saving grace of God in Christ during the summer of 1973, while a camper at a Bible camp. After high school graduation, he enrolled at Bethel College. At Bethel, he met his wife Kathy and was married in December 1979. He graduated with a double major in Psychology and Biblical/Theological Studies in 1981. One year after graduating from college, he entered Bethel Seminary. Led by the Lord to grow in the area of pastoral counseling/pastoral care, he increasingly focused on that area in his studies. He continues to be thankful to the Lord for the internship experience God gave him at Bethlehem. As an Apprentice in Bethlehem's program for seminary students, his internship was focused on pastoral care, pastoral counseling, pre-marital counseling, and marriage and family ministries. During seminary, he was selected to receive the Gordon Johnson Scholarship for Expository Preaching (which he declined). He graduated from Bethel Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in 1988.

In August 1988 the Lord called Kenny to Oak Hill Baptist Church in Humboldt, IA. After ten years preaching and pastoring in the local church, the Lord then called Kenny back to Bethlehem as Pastor for Urban Ministries in September 1998. Then, in March 2003, in response to the elder's growing sense the God was calling Bethlehem to develop an intentional church planting strategy, Kenny was appointed the Pastor for Church Planting and Strategic Mobilization. He currently is the Lead Pastor for Spreading, overseeing the outreach ministry departments at Bethlehem.

Since 1979 Kenny and Kathy have been happily sustained by grace in their marriage and are the parents of four wonderful children: Michael, Elliot, Andrew, and Kathryn. Kenny plays the guitar, swims, and coaches baseball and soccer.

Marc Heinrich, Worship Ministry Apprentice

Marc is married to Becky and has two children, Holly (12) and Connor (6). He works in sales full-time and is on staff 1/2 time in the worship department of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Marc enjoys reading, playing guitar, writing songs, spending time with his children (especially walking through the woods near his house), and going out (or staying in) with Becky.