Long Haul, Worth the Trip

Praise & Prayer Report #4, June-July 2023

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Prayer & Praise Report # 4, June & July 2023

Long Haul, Worth the Trip

Many of us experience various projects throughout our life. Some projects are quick and others feel like an everlasting gobstopper. Several years back we set out to redo our websites and to combine God’s Story and Simply The Story under one banner. These tools work so well together, we felt they needed to be easy to find on one website.

The initial prototype presented to us by the web developers looked and felt very much like a western church with worshiper on the banner. This did not fit who God called us to be and it started a very long path to get a site that worked for our needs.  We spent time praying and testing the rebranding of our ministry, went through Covid shortly after we started the new website, experienced other serious delays, and had several tests and bug fixes.  At the same time that our website was being developed, our shopping cart also received some much needed upgrades.

All this to say, our long haul project is done and our website is now live for everyone to enjoy. We encourage you to watch Gods Story, learn about our oral Bible schools, experience the ease of ordering MegaVoice solar players, and so much more on the site. We plan to make all of our God’s Story languages available on our website, but this is a much longer process as about half our languages need to be upgraded before they are put on the site. Please be praying for this next step as we slowly roll out more and more languages.

Thank you everyone for your patience and your prayers during this time and for this project. Thank you to the kind donor who saw the value and vision and need for our new website. Thank you to everyone who helped test the site, work on the content and to our developers!

Why all the expense and sacrifice?

Our language workshops and launchings continue this month in Congo Brazzaville. Six languages are being recorded and several other completed languages are being premiered. Below are a couple of testimonies from this workshop.

Our leader wrote recently, "One of the narrators was prayed for this morning. He has been a drunkard for long time, but after a week in the Camp (working on God's Story), he said 'I must confess that I have been inflated so much, not with the food, but with the word of God. I know I am not the same anymore. My family will be surprised about the sudden change.' He was welcomed like the prodigal son back into the house."

Another post on Whatsapp shared the following, "We are very grateful to the God's Story project, we are full of testimonies from more than 50 churches planted through the God's story film.

"I asked myself a lot of questions, namely: why all this expense and sacrifice? But I now understand it was worth it. We won the whole bun village, because the village chief himself agreed to follow Jesus."

This man sums up the reason why our volunteers put their hands to the plow and don't look back. We know God is bringing thousands to Himself and we get to be part of this harvest.

Around the World in Brief

Our oral Bible schools throughout the refugee camps continue to multiply in ways and numbers we could never have imagined. The leaders are continuing to raise more leaders, and people are changed when they spend time in God‘s word together. They continue almost every evening showing God’s Story in different languages. The radio teams share Bible stories weekly in 6 different programs and languages.

India continues with many workshops and Oral Bible Schools. Our STS family in Manipur struggles to survive with all the fighting and destruction of homes. Pray for the people who have fled to the forest to avoid death.A team of STS storytellers returned from Turkey helping the earthquake victims. STS storytellers were specifically asked to come help and God worked in amazing ways.

The STS instructor teams in Europe recently finished training people in Ireland, Finland and a joint Czech-Slovak workshop.

Pray for the instructors, God’s Story teams, and Oral Bible School students as they carry God’s Word to their regions.

Thank you all for your prayers,

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

Executive Director

Lives Changed

Praise & Prayer Report #3, April-May 2023

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Giving Hope at the Hope Center!

An instructor and pastor with Mercy Ships, trained in Simply The Story sent us a video from their Hope Center. The video showed one of the day crew telling the Bent Woman story with translation in to the languages Pular, Wolof and Madinka. Praise God for the many who are being impacted by the Truth and receiving the Hope.

STS Radio Impact and Praises

One of our leaders in the Arab world recently shared the following testimonies as a result of people listening to STS Bible stories on the radio in East Africa. (Names and locations changed for security reasons.)

"A woman called "Nes" testified she had been using herbs for her protection, but one day after the story presentation she has given her life to Jesus and thrown away the herbs.

"A brother called "Nick" also got healing from paralyzed legs and he has been down no movement. After hearing our story presentation he called for prayer and I prayed for him. The following week he gave testimony he can move and up to now he is following our radio program very closely."

"'Zooran' ran away from her husband after a misunderstanding, but she has been reconciled to her husband after forgiving the husband. The husband called me after radio program and he told me all the story of how his wife go to their home. I called the wife and counseled them, now they’re together in marriage."

A man had problems with one of the church leaders and decided to leave the church and backslid. After hearing stories from Luke 15:11-32 about the prodigal son, our leader shared, "He and his all family are transformed, forgave the leaders in church and now he is in church."

South Sudan and East Africa Grows in the Lord

One STS instructor, who was sent to remote area in Southeast of South Sudan said, "40 people accepted Christ and we baptized. 26 who joined church." He told story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel and even a witch doctor gave his life to Christ!

Another instructor from a recent training sent us amazing pictures and gave us an update.They had a total 31 people in the training. The lead instructor along with 3 other provisional Instructors being raised conducted a successful workshop. All the attendees were able to participate.

The people expressed their gratitude and desire to learn more. Many even asked for a longer workshop than 6 days!

The lead instructor commented, "Those who cannot read testified that they can now do effective ministry through this training." He also thanked us for the prayers.

Pray for the Oral Bible Schools to be setup in this region.

PRAY for Cameroon

Over 40 communities have been trained in Simply The Story and can't wait for the next opportunity with STS. The Cameroon team is actively preparing the next session. Pray for the team members to have clear vision and be able to work together for the glory of the Lord.

Oral Bible School, Encouragement and Prayers In Kenya, the leaders do Bible study together weekly on Whatsapp. It has been wonderful to see them grow in their understanding of our Lord. Many actively participate in reaching communities showing videos, like God's Story, conducting STS training, doing in-depth STS Bible discussion on radio in several languages, and overseeing Oral Bible Schools.

Some South Sudanese beat one outreach team, a Turkana woman and two Turkana men. Please pray for these teams as they reach into some very dark areas bringing the light of Jesus Christ. Many are committed to continue the Oral Bible Schools in spite of the dangers. We have seen this in several parts of North and South Sudan.

The teams are praying for projectors and memory cards for the Turkana as well. They go to many villages. As one leader mentions, "They are in need of such nourishment since most people are eager and love seeing God’s Story film."

The pictures show several people among the Turkana in one of many Oral Bible Schools committed to learning Scripture. The people are encouraged! The leaders ask us to continue praying for the growth of this class. On this specific day there were 33 participants.

In another STS Oral Bible School, they thanked God for his protection and for finishing the Old Testament passages. They are now in the third story in Matthew. Again, they ask for prayers!

Mali Open to the Jesus

The STS team left Bamako at 6 am to drive 450 km on bad roads and arrived safely because of God's mercy. They raised assistant instructors in country who will soon lead their

own trainings and oversee Oral Bible Schools. The lead instructor wrote, "It went well people were blessed."

One of the STS workshop attendees said he is glad to share Bible stories with people and see them listen and even volunteer to retell the stories.

New Trials For New Believers

Recently one of our leaders in Mexico shared that one of the people who became a believer in their STS Bible study was admitted to the hospital with intense bleeding and blood in the lungs. Oxygen levels dropped to 70% and his situation looked dire. As well, the hospital would not allow visitors.

Miraculously, the Lord brought strength and healing to this young believer. He and his wife said, "Everything that happened to us was for us to mature in our faith." Our leader wrote, "A year and a

half of stories and they're growing in their faith. How exciting!"

As a result of the love of those in the Bible study group, now their son wants to know more of Jesus.

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

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

Ann Lives!

Prayer & Praise Report # 2 February and March 2023

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What to do with Flight Delays?

Travel disruptions can be annoying. Imagine being denied a visa upon landing in a foreign country and being stuck in the airport for several days. It happened to one of our team members traveling to record God's Story languages in East Africa. He was denied entry because he is Nigerian. He spent several days in the airport while our leader worked in vain to get him entry. Our leader wrote, "And for the days he stayed on the airport, he was witnessing and 7 souls gave their lives to the Lord." Praise the Lord for such fruit!

How Does Simply The Story Impact Israel Tours?

Many years ago, 10 of our STS leaders were blessed with a tour of Israel. During that tour, we did a couple of stories where we believe they happened and discovered the impact on the listeners. We have experimented a bit more over the years while various instructors have been in Israel. This last time, STS coordinated and led a tour, but with greater involvement by the people on the tour, and 100% of the people said they loved STS as part of the tour and would definitely be interested in attending another tour with STS discussion opportunities as the main focus.

Pray for us as we begin to prepare for a unique advanced training in Israel.

Amazingly, God also provided funds that were specifically marked for the Israel tour so that 8 of our national leaders were able to go. Having multiple countries represented on the tour enhanced the discussions of the Bible greatly!

Ann Kavuo’s Testimony Lives On

“Ann Kavuo was not permitted to get an education, but soon discovered how she can learn, keep and share the Bible in story form building a repository in her "heart pocket".  In her video she shares a well-known Bible story (which she can tell but not read!),” wrote Bryan Thompson on his Youtube station.

He continued, “When this plucky five-foot, 65 year-old widow could not get a ride to her Oral Bible School, she walked 10 kilometers daily to get there. Oddly, in her filmed testimony, she says that now, when she goes preaching, she does not have to carry her Bible because, "I have the stories in my heart pocket!"

“If Ann cannot read, why did she bother to carry her Bible before? (You who have been to STS workshops heard our instructors explain this oddity. We show and tell how non-literate people often carry Bibles and put pens in their pockets so they look "educated" and can gain credibility). Ann's comment may reveal even more. Could it be that her perceived "need" to carry a Bible to give her credibility has now been replaced by her new found ability to easily speak multiple stories from her heart pocket?

“Ann's boldness to speak in front of any one, should inspire many. In fact, consider the boldness it took for this non-literate villager to give her spontaneous testimony in front of 130 people, Westerners included, and mostly strangers to her—while being filmed!”

Bryan Thompson uploaded the video of Ann Kavuo’s testimony from a 2011 training in Kajiato, Kenya. The video link shows Ann's amazing testimony.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFLhbQPTljk or you can see the story on our vimeo station, https://vimeo.com/bibleforall.

We often don't know how our actions affect people years later, but recently we received this email from Ann’s daughter. “Praise God. My name is Everlyn Kanini from Eldoret, Kenya. On 22 April 2011 you took a video of an elderly woman, Ann Kavuo from Kinango, Mombasa and you put the video on you tube. She was giving a testimony on how the Oral Bible school had helped her, and she even gave a short story of Zacheuas the tax collector from the Bible. That lady Ann Kavuo is my Mother. I just want to say how grateful I am for putting my mothers testimony on you tube, I watch her video on you tube quite often. I just wanted to say thank you. My mother is late now. She passed on June 2015. But because of you, her testimony lives. Thanks and God bless you.”

Simply The Story Globally

We had several STS trainings over the past couple of months and look forward to sharing more in our next Prayer & Praise report.  Enjoy this picture of a recent training in Brazil, which has opened some bigger doors. Pray for our leadership team as they discuss future possibilities with several groups in South America.

Also, please pray for the upcoming STS trainings in the DRC, California, Western Michigan, Thailand, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Illinois, Zambia, India, Philippines, and Mali.

God’s Story, YouTube, and Festivals!

Praise the Lord. The God's Story language of Lun Bawang (Lundayeh) that we recorded last October and uploaded in early March, has had more than 330 hits on our YouTube station already. The language is spoken on the island of Borneo in the countries of Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. Considered a language of the Murut people group, according to the Joshua Project, “Brunei statistics reveal that the Murut community is 58% Muslim, 30% "tribal religionists" (animists) and the rest Christian (mostly nominal).”

The language orchestrator wrote recently, “The Malaysian committee members have asked to show the movie at a special Lun Bawang festival in June. The president of the state‘s Lun Bawang Association agreed to show 40 minutes at festival.” Praise God, the committee asked for 30 minutes and they were offered 40.”   

Pray for all the Lun Bawang speakers attending this major event to be impacted in their hearts by God’s Story. 

Karakalpak Language

Nearly a million people speak the Karakalpak language through out Central Asia. We praise God that this language has been completed now in God’s Story. 

Youtube.com/DoesGodSpeak

We have been uploading more than 200 languages of God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity on both our Youtube and Vimeo station. Some videos have needed upgrading, which requires more steps. If you have specific languages you would like to see released, please let us know and we will move those to the top of the list. Please pray for those who are updating descriptions and managing the release of the languages. Let us know how you would like to help.

Thank you for praying for our leaders, the trainings, languages, and the ministry,

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

Good Seeds Spring Forth Good Fruit

Prayer & Praise Report # 1, December 2022 and January 2023

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Planting Seeds, Bearing Fruit
Five years ago, a young American woman traveled to Zambia and Mozambique to do STS style Bible stories at an orphanage. As this young woman left, the leaders of the orphanage said she did more to impact the orphans in one month than anyone had in the previous 25 years. Some of the older boys had even left the gangs they were in!

Fast forward five years. The kids are still doing Bible stories, along with skits, every Friday night. They also continue their memory verses. One leader said it is a sign of true discipleship that the children continue even after that young American woman has left. The children bear fruit, and God’s Word disciples their hearts.

Children Rise Up to Lead?

While leading a training in Spain years ago, I had the blessing of teaching Simply The Story to a 14-year-old boy. For practice, he presented the Bible passage and asked probing questions to a group of ministry leaders. When it was done I asked everyone, “If your pastor said a 14-year-old boy was coming to give the sermon, what would you think?“ Then I asked a second question, “How many of you learned something new from this Bible story?“ Everyone raised their hand. This solidified that God's Word and His Spirit is the ultimate teacher, not experience nor age.

Jesus Taught in the Synagogue at 12 Years Old, Can Others?

An African man, who has planted many Bible stories into the lives of his children, recently shared what God has been doing in his children’s lives. In December, this man’s eldest son was invited by five different churches to give the Christmas message. I asked him, “How old is your son?” He said that his son is 12 years old.

I wondered, “How could 5 churches ask a 12 year old boy to preach the Christmas sermon?” It is not for lack of pastors or churches! The father continued to tell me that his son told his own pastor about the invitations he received, but his pastor replied, “You’re not going anywhere! You’re going to preach in this church.”

Younger than 12?

This boy’s younger brother (the man’s second oldest son) attends a different church. They call him the associate pastor in the children’s Sunday school class. I asked this dad why they call him the associate pastor. The dad explained to me, “The pastor of the Sunday school said because he knows so many of the Bible stories (from STS) and he is excellent at engaging the other children.” This boy is only nine years old.

That same 9-year old boy attends a Catholic school. The Muzlm students are excused midday on Friday to attend prayer. This young boy asked the principal if he could tell a Bible story to the other children who stayed. He prepared for 2 weeks and told the story of Jesus turning the water into wine (John 2:1-11). The boy went on to also lead a discussion about the story as well! The principal sent a WhatsApp message to the father and said that the boy asked a certain question and wondered if the father had told him to ask that question or not. The father asked, “What question?”

The principal responded, “If Mary said to everyone in the facility, especially the disciples and those who brought water, whatever Jesus said you should do it, why are you doing what Mary wants and not what Jesus wants?” Does Jesus say they should bow down to Mary or does Mary say they should do whatever Jesus says? All the teachers of the school were there! The teachers and principal discovered this 9-year old’s father is a Bible storyteller and pastor. When back in the hometown he contacted that principal, who wanted to learn more, and asked for 30 minutes to discuss the story more. The principal said, “No. I will give you an hour. I want to learn more.” Stayed tuned for the next part of this story to come. 

Even Younger than 9 Years Old?

Our storyteller’s second youngest daughter was picked by the teacher of her primary class to talk to the governor of their town because the teacher was impressed with her. This young girl used her mom’s phone and called her dad and asked, “Daddy, tell me a story … about the obedience of children. I know that Jesus obeyed his parents.” Her daddy told her Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Her mom helped this young 5-year old deliver the story for 10 minutes with the governor. The governor was so impressed that he gave this young girl an envelope with nearly equivalent of $100. In Africa this is a lot of money.

Life Results from Death

One of our leaders recently lost some family members. Funerals in Africa are not like those in America. This leader’s family and friends normally celebrate the deceased person’s life with an evening of drinking. However, this leader chose to celebrate with family by sharing life. That evening, he showed his people a recently completed version of God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity. He told us that now people are convinced that Jesus is the God who created the world.

Children with Autism Engage

During the Chinese New Year celebrations, one storyteller shared that they had 30 Chinese people, and lots of children, including some on the autistic spectrum, at their home. This storyteller used to be a nursery school teacher for children with autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Attention Deficit Disorder. She shared with the parents how faith in God can help people. She also offered other practical advice. 

The storyteller was asked to do a very interactive storytelling of Genesis as most of the Chinese Christians have no idea about Genesis. There were over 70 people attending the Chinese New Year celebration at the church. This story had to be autism friendly as well. The storyteller used puppets and props to help. She shared, “As with STS I am always accurate and took it slowly, involving as many children and adults as I could. God blessed it abundantly.” For most of these Christians, it was the first time they had heard "In the beginning…". She also shared that many of the children with autism also participated in the Bible story discussion.

Heart Pocket Podcasts

If these amazing stories touch your heart, be sure to listen to the Heart Pocket Podcast (www.HeartPocket.org) Every Tuesday a new episode airs. On February 14 and 21, hear what a church in Southern California did for a neighborhood Christmas outreach to the neighborhood and the impact. Hint: it does snow in Southern California in the right places.

Items for Prayer

1. STS Children’s curriculum is in the testing phase in the USA and enters testing in Egypt and Ecuador. Pray for those testing the curriculum.

2. New Website has been tested and we are working on a problem with the AI translation tool. Please pray that we can easily and quickly resolve the translation tool and the other minor issues discovered during testing.

3. STS leaves for Israel for training and a tour. Our tour has STS woven throughout along with some unique outreach opportunities. Thirty people from USA, Africa, Europe and Asia are registered. Thank you for praying for the training and the tour.

We are thankful to the Lord for the way he uses these podcasts to encourage people. Our team spends time recording and editing each podcast and the feedback encourages us to keep going. 

Thank you for reading and for praying for this ministry

“Prime Minister or King of Kings?”

Prayer & Praise Report # 6, October-November 2018

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Prime Minister or King of Kings?

An instructor recently wrote an email to me from an island nation in the Oceania region titled "You're gonna love this!"

The leader of one large denomination in the region had a meeting with the prime minister scheduled, but he did not want to miss the STS training. Our instructor wrote that, "Very politely he informed the pm [prime minister] that he would need to reschedule so he could come to the training."

Along with this amazing news, we learned that the many denominations in this region did not generally work together. However, the denominations who attended the STS training were now learning to work together, bonding because of the Word of God!

Drugs, Alcohol and Jesus?

A wonderful team of instructors was invited to do an STS training in a drug and alcohol rehab center in Mexico. The testimonies were super!  One ex-addict said local pastors and missionaries come to share with them, and the man really does not understand what they are talking about.  He thought maybe some of his brain cells had been damaged by drugs and alcohol. 

The instructor wrote in her newsletter, "He was so surprised the Scriptures came alive to him during our dialogue looking for spiritual observations and that he remembered the whole story of the Transfiguration [Matt 17:1-9] when he learned it one night to share it with another small group.  He could not believe that he could actually learn the Bible story and teach the story to others by asking questions."

The director of the rehab center said that this was the first time he saw the Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) men excited and involved in learning Scriptures.  When he used to teach them before STS, he felt like he was talking to a wall.

One instructor will continue using STS with the A.A. group every week and looks to have the men take turns in presenting the story.

What can one do with God's Story?

A team traveled in Ghana for most of November presenting 13 languages of God's Story to various leaders and villages in what we call a "God's Story launching."

The leader of the team wrote recently, "We put a copy on a frontline evangelist smart phone and gave him a Bluetooth speaker. He got up at 4:30 am just to wave to us as we left the town. His excitement was joyful!

"With the JBL speaker he can play it 4 - 5 times, can recharge with phone charger, and move easily. If he had a Bluetooth projector can you imagine?"

This leader of the team, who is focused on finishing all the God's Story languages of Ghana (with only a handful of languages remaining), shared his excitement,  "We have found 3 more of the languages we have been looking for.  One is totally closed, non-written, unreached, completely M-zlim." He continued sharing that they also found the language of a large group that they did not even see listed in Ghana!

Dan Blowo launching in Cote D' Ivoire

Our leader recently returned to Cote D'Ivoire to launch the Dan Blowo language of God's Story. She wrote, "The meeting with the pastors went well. Most of those who received the DVDs are showing it to their churches and using them in the villages to reach more people. They are happy with the results they see, their church members, even themselves as church leaders, are impacted by the GS message, it has changed their way of preaching. They have the whole view of God's plan for people. That makes the Word easier to understand.

"They are asking for more, as they are passing it to the other churches who ask for it. All the churches represented asked for an STS workshop in February for all their churches and STS OBSs (Oral Bible Schools) in their region.

"They were 9 Church denominations represented at the meeting. At the end each leader received a Megavoice (solar audio player) for his community."

So much has been shared from this one leader, it could easily be a full Prayer & Praise report.

How to transform written curriculums for all non-literate learners?

For the past several months two STS instructors have tag-teamed to help an organization transform their written curriculum into a version that transcends all styles of learning. This means those who can't read or write can still learn from this life changing healing curriculum "Go In Peace", and even learn to teach it to others.  Both ministries, STS and Go In Peace, benefitted from the years of experience our leaders gained while teaching STS on a global level. 

The testing of this "oralized" curriculum occurred in Uganda recently with stellar results!  Praise the Lord with us as you read these short testimonies.

One man said his dad was a pastor, but he could not be one because he did not qualify to get into school. The man said, "Now that I've learned this, I'm going to be a pastor and come to my father in heaven and tell him I am a pastor like he wanted."

Another young man, who had polio when young and could barely move around, said he never could understand the Bible. Now after a couple days in the STS workshop, he can understand the Bible and share with others. He wants to give his life to counseling others.

Another pastor, who has been a pastor for 20 years, plans to do stories and discussion every week because he sees the power of how this connects with people and helps the people fall in love with Jesus.

Amazingly, this training had STS instructors from Rwanda, Sudan, America, and the lead instructor from Kenya.

For more information or help making your specific curriculum into a version that transcends learning styles and allows for even non-literates to learn, please contact our office.

What are the Chances?

Eight God’s Story languages in production have made it to the recording step in October and November, which means they are nearing completion by God's grace!  The countries that will be impacted are Burkina Faso, Cote D'Ivoire, a Middle East country, Uzbekistan and the Luyli people group in 4 Central Asian countries that has 0.00% professing Christians and profess Isl-m (we worked with two believers from this people group).

Right now this "special" language has been recorded and currently out to be checked. Please pray for good quality checking in this highly unreached people group. This has been one of the toughest languages to record in my experience!

The Uzbek language has also started to impact people "hot-off-the-press."  Dan, who orchestrated the translation, and helped record this language, shared the video with an Uzbek man sitting next to him on the plane from Moscow to JFK (coincidence?).  The man gave 2 thumbs up to Dan and showed his appreciation by giving Dan some naan (Uzbek bread). What an encouragement from the Lord!

Finally, we have need for part-time and full-time volunteers.  Opportunities include the following: Web design and support, publishing, editing, accounting and record keeping, general office help, artwork and design, research and development, audio and video assistance. Wonderfully, some of the above help can be done remotely from the comfort of your home! If you would like to help, please contact our office for the next step.

We pray you and your family are encouraged by what the Lord is doing around the world. From our God’s Story / Simply The Story family to yours, Merry Christmas and an amazingly God led New Year.

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

“Answering Questions Before Being Asked?”

Prayer & Praise Report # 5, August-September 2018

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How to answer Sixty-nine Questions, before they are asked!

We receive so many testimonies to The God's Story Project. This particular story came from a group trained in Simply The Story (STS) and now working in Greece with the Refugees.

L-ke, from Iran, was raised in a strict Musl-m home to be an Islamic teacher. However, he had so many questions for the Mullahs that they did not answer. So L-ke's dad sent him to Saudi Arabia to study Islam and become a Mullah.

Later, L-ke rejected Islam in his early 20's because no one could answer his questions. As a result, he fled Iran. One day, an evangelist gave him a Bible and told him to read it. He took the Bible and smashed it into his face, and said “Don’t you ever give me Bible again.”  The evangelist’s wife began to pray for him daily. 

Several years later, L-ke came to Greece and met one of our Bible teachers outside camp. Upon invitation, he went to this teacher's house and was given a Bible. This time L-ke kept the Word, put it in a plastic bag and planned to throw it away. By God's grace, the Bible found its way to a table in L-ke's apartment.

After hearing an STS style Bible story, L-ke read the Bible over the course of one week and became intrigued. He wrote 69 questions in the back of the Bible. At another Bible study, L-ke raised his hand and asked some of his questions. The Bible story teller told him that they would first have a story, and then answer his questions. After the Bible story, L-ke was asked to share his questions.

L-ke responded, “All my questions were answered in the story. I have no more questions.” About a week later L-ke gave his life to Christ and is walking with the Lord today. This is only one small part of this man's amazing story.

God's Story on National TV? In a Difficult Country? Even Better!

In August God's Story: From Creation to Eternity aired on MRTV (a Southeast Asian television channel)! Our leader wrote us, "We praise God that many people can see and hear the God's Story (God's Word) in the T.V. in Burmese Language. Because in [this country], to show the GS or any other Christian Film is not easy at all. But God is great. His message for all people tells about to know Him. Continue to remember in Prayer."

Two more God’s Story languages, Makuri Naga and the Garwhali, have been completed. The masters are now in the hands of our leaders to spread the Truth to all people.

The TGSP leadership in India met with STS leaders in the North and reported their gratefulness.  One South India senior Pastor (bishop) shared, "The STS method of learning God's Word and going deep spiritually is a great gift from God in 21st century." Pray for our India Director and his many leaders as India becomes increasingly hostile to the Truth of Jesus Christ.

God’s Story is now in 376 languages! The picture shows one recording team of God's Story.

More Refugee Reports from Greece

An STS trained storyteller recently wrote to our office with the following.

"We have been so blessed to be able to utilize the STS training in this amazing work among the refugees in Greece ... I have used this extensively in sharing the gospel and in bible studies. The results have been tremendous. We know that to start a church in Iran or Afghanistan would be very difficult if not almost impossible, yet we get to lead dozens of them to Christ, and they are being discipled to walk with Jesus. We have been regularly baptizing new believers sometimes monthly, sometimes weekly."

The hunger for God’s Word was so great that this man was doing 3 Bible studies a day (using stories) at one point.

This Bible storyteller continued, "One of the converts, who had moved to Germany, came back to help at the camp and the Community Center. He is Arabic and we were lacking Arabic translators. He got 8 Arabs mostly Muslims to come to a Bible study. I told the One Leper story, and we discussed it for about an hour. They loved it and even made the application to their now lives. About 2 days later we met again. Before doing the next story, I asked them what they learned from the last story. They said; 'We learned that every one that Jesus touches is made clean.'"

After discussing the Zaccheus story, the storyteller asked what they learned. They said, “We learned that every house that Jesus goes to, the person’s life is changed.” One refugee also said, “Now I believe that God and Jesus are the same soul!”

About 20 African women from the “vulnerable women's section” of the camp heard a Bible story and discussed it. One woman wanted to repent and get her life cleaned up. This woman and another women were at odds with to each other for one week in the camp. At the next bible study, the Bible storyteller shared from Matt 18 about forgiveness. After discussing it for an hour, he asked the women, "What would God have them to do with what they learned?" He wrote, "The one woman jumps up and crosses the room and asks forgiveness from the other one. Other women jumped up and did the same. God’s word is so powerful." 

Instructors from Several Countries?

We recently conducted STS training in Guinea, Africa, led by 5 trained instructors from 3 African countries. Increasingly, instructors from multiple countries are teaming together to lead workshops. This leadership dynamic encourages attendees. The team trained 30-40 participants in Guinea.

Sudanese Refugees in Uganda, Growing Stronger in the Lord!

As of August 2018, the refugee crisis in Uganda grew to more than 1.5 million refugees!  Seventy-one percent come from South Sudan and another 21% from the DRC. In this crisis, the Word of God has brought hope and healing to these displaced people.  One of our leaders just returned to Uganda checking on the STS Oral Bible Schools in several camps, over seeing the instructors for STS training and showing God's Story to several thousand nearly every night in the camps!

God's Story to thousands!

A woman who intended to only attend an STS Oral Bible School training in Thailand for half a day, stayed for 10 days! Another woman who attended this same training shared that her husband has distributed around 30,000 to 40,000 God’s Story in various Thai languages.

Two Thai groups and one English group continue to meet and study the Word in-depth, the way STS teaches.

Another Thai team traveled to China recently to reach the more than 700,000 Lahu speakers! Another Thai leader shared STS with a Lao school in Thailand. The school loved it so much, they now they want to have it as part of the school.

Who Joins a Secular Group to do Bible Stories?

A pastor and STS instructor shared recently this praise. "We have a young lady who has intentionally joined a sorority so she might make a spiritual impact there. As a sophomore she has been chosen as Chaplain and is going to be doing a Bible study every week with the girls using Bible stories. Although she has not yet been to trained, she has seen the STS model enough that she knows the process. She did a story for us at Church a month or so ago and did a really good job."  Pray for this young lady to have strength to weather the storms she may encounter.

Food and Bible stories - What a meal!!

Recently, our instructor team in Orlando had dinner together at the EL Patron restaurant. One Spanish speaking instructor engaged our server in a Bible story about Martha and Mary. We were thrilled to see the waiter showing interest and sharing his heart as the Word spoke to him.

The God's Story Project recently launched the Heart Pocket Podcast as another avenue to help align our hearts with the heart of God.  We have multiple podcasts lined up over the next several months that go live every Tuesday at 3:30 pm Eastern Time. Topics include prayer, orality, impact reports and so much more.

Grateful to the Lord,

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