February 28, 2014

 Wow February has really flown by and is almost behind us..
“Where does the time go?” Thank God we have found a way to redeem it and invest in our eternal future-give our time back to God (Ps 31:15). Often we don’t see the results of that investment, but we trust by faith that God is increasing our spiritual portfolio. This month we are in the thick of Bible college. To think about it, Bible college is the crux of our ministry: It disciples our church members, gives the team great structure, and is a service to our community of other believers as we invite them to come learn for free. Our Bible school this term is bursting at the seams; we are filled to capacity. We have about 70 students, half of which are from the church (in fact, most of the church is enrolled). Of those students not from our church, we have about 10 different churches represented from all different denominational backgrounds. Its amazing to see how much we need an anointing; the whole school senses it. This is what makes us different. We have the facts and bones of the class, but we look to God to fill the meat with something fresh like is written in 2 Thes 3:1: “Free course”. A handful of students from other churches have thanked us for the type of teaching that Greater Grace offers. Our prayer is that anyone who comes in through our doors will leave them preaching the Gospel of Christ and the Word of God wherever they minister.

We run the classes mainly around the weekends (Friday to Monday) to cater to people who are working. Our hearts are warmed as we see students filing in on a Monday or Friday evening after a long day of work to hear the Bible. Since December, we have been in “Rainy Season”, which is definitely an understatement. In the words of Sean Kemp, “When it rains it pours.” It really does pour; even an umbrella will keep your head dry but the rain is coming from all directions (sideways even). In spite of small difficulties and most people walking to transport themselves, we find people faithfully coming to class. I teach 3 classes: Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible), Survey of Doctrine, and Leadership class on the Life of David. Pr. Albert teaches Church History and shows 2 video classes: Romans by Pr. Stevens from 1990 and Acts by Pr. Scibelli. Julie teaches English after church service particularly targeting our ladies and young men from an orphanage across the street.
Our most pressing need is that we find a bigger place to meet in (what a great problem to have). We are not striving, but waiting on God to find the “right” place. We are currently in the center of the city. All buses lead to the main station 5 minutes walk from us. We would like to stay in this area so that our church members and students would only need to take one bus to come. Please pray with us. There is a Hall that is literally next to the main station that is about 5 times bigger than the room we are in now. It houses a church that is soon moving out to a new location. The place will be vacant in a few months. After looking at it, it would be a great place for us. It is a government building and one of the ladies in the church works for the same arm of the government.

Thank you for all your love, thoughts, prayers, encouragement, support. – God is so good! 



Random Malawi photos