Ministry Opportunities Abound!

We are living in unprecedented times. Borders are closed, flights canceled, "stay at home" orders increased, and we face many unknowns. One thing remains constant: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and sits on the throne. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Our team has been working tirelessly to move much of our training online. As well, several people have shared their online STS Bible stories with me.

Since we have thousands of trained STS practitioners and many instructors worldwide, I want to take this Prayer & Praise report to pass along some of the online opportunities.

Our prayer is that you would be encouraged by the Bible stories, and that this would help you if you want to share the truth of Jesus in your sphere of influence online. Would you like to be part of our transformation online, doing research, organizing articles, technical help or in some other way? Please email the office and let us know how much time you have available.

Would you like to be part of Bible stories online? Want to learn how to do Bible stories online? Wish to be trained in STS? Click the link below for STS Online Opportunities and let us know your preferences. Someone will contact you shortly after.

http://www.SimplyTheStory.org/sts or click here: Simply The Story Online Opportunities

What’s a Phone Book?

Paul Miller wrote this report on their outreach the end of March. A very creative idea for outreach!

"Our Bible study group goes out once per month as a group to evangelize. Normally we go to malls, parks, convalescent homes or other locations where people gather. The current restrictions placed upon mankind during the great virus scare have greatly inhibited our ability to reach out and ‘touch’ someone with the good news of the gospel. We began to pray and the idea came to mind taking a traditional phonebook and call the numbers listed to look for anyone that may like prayer or a Bible story to be told them. … About half of our group consists of young people under 18 years of age. It was quite comical to watch them ask questions in all sincerity like, “What’s a phone book?” Or “Who gave the book permission to reprint all of the names and numbers?” or “Is the last name first or the first name?”

Results of the calls!

"Once we got settled the warriors began to call and God opened the door. I heard little 10 year old Anna talking to many different people saying things like, “Hello, this is Anna from Bethel Fellowship in Hemet, can I pray for you about anything or would you like to hear a Bible story?” Rebecca said, “Hi, I’m Rebecca from Bethel Fellowship in Hemet, these are very troubling time we are in, can I pray for you?”

"Paul got into a conversation with a lady named Carmen and her 22 year old son David. He asked them “What does God require of a person in order to get into Heaven?” Carmen replied saying, “Just being loving towards one another”, David replied by saying, “Be virtuous”. Paul was able to explain to them that although these are kind and noble things there is still a dark cloud of sin that hangs over us which a righteous, holy judge could not overlook. He also explained that God said in Matthew 5:48, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father in Heaven is perfect’. The groundwork was laid as the conversation turned to telling the story of Adam and Eve in the garden.

"David and Carmen clearly heard the gospel that evening and Paul asked if he could pray for them. They eagerly agreed and the friendship was made. Their whole family seemed so grateful and may even attend our fellowship.

"Paul was also able to share Christ with a Rabbi from the local Jewish synagogue in Hemet and talk about the blessing of God to the Jews. Paul prayed for the Rabbi and then the Rabbi prayed for Paul and his whole group in Hebrew.

"Our study group also took the time to call distant friends or family, saved and unsaved alike to offer prayer or do a Bible story. One young lady broke down in tears and admitted that she had been stubborn and didn’t want God in her life. But now with the virus scare and her own pregnancy, she and her husband are reaching up to God for answers. The two hours that we dedicated to the phone calls wasn’t always rosy as some people said, “I’m good” and promptly hung up. Some of the elderly people we called were especially grateful and even prayed for us!

"So, whatever the latest fad, whatever the latest quarantine, God is there to get His word out and He often uses weak little us to spread the truth. (II Timothy 2:9 “Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.”)"

Prepared with Simply The Story!

At a time when churches work feverishly to move their content to the web, including Sunday sermons, weekly Bible studies and daily devotions, those trained in Simply The Story have expressed their joy to know their church is equipped for family Bible studies.

In a recent conversation with one of our West Africa leaders, he said he is nearly finished with an STS radio station on the web in French, with other languages closely behind. We also talked about what God's plan for the church might be right now. Being isolated currently gives the leader of the family a choice to take back responsibility as the spiritual leader and to take back the education of the children from the state.

In East Africa, Pastor Patrick shared that for several years he did Bible stories from the pulpit. The church body grew in spiritual strength and soon after, Patrick was able to hand over Wednesday night services and small groups to those in his church equipped with the Truth of God's Word, and trained to teach using Simply The Story.

Excitedly I asked how those years of training has impacted his church now since they are not able to meet. Wonderfully, Patrick said that the families are thriving in the Lord, following Jesus while being quarantined. He shared how grateful their church is for having the STS training during this time.

Shortly afterward, another leader in Asia texted the following to me. (Acronym changed to FBS or family Bible studies for security reasons. These FBS’s are based on STS, .

"Thanks for your prayers. Remember all our FBS groups, Many families and FBS is reporting that ...

we are having a great time on each day as we spend time in God’s Word in STS way during this lock down (critical) time.

Thank you TGSP and its team who took time to teach and showed your life with God’s WORD. It is more beneficial to spend more time in God’s Word rather than spending time with worldly things."

To hear a story by one instructor, go here: http://www.youtube.com/c/simplythestory

How might we use this time with family and those around us? 

For immediate prayer. Two leaders are still stranded in Asia and Peru. Both are separated from family and from familiar surroundings. Thankfully, they have been "adopted" by local families. However, Peru is moving towards more stringent lockdown and the flight out of the country was canceled. If our instructor cannot find another flight home, she may be in Peru for several months. We thank the Lord that two other STS instructors were able to leave the country in time.

Our leaders for the new Global Ambassador's program, Bryan and Ami, started in Mexico with an amazing church body. While there, Bryan was diagnosed with melanoma. Through amazing timing and God leading them every step of the way, Bryan and Ami went to a special clinic at the same time their leadership group (called "super heroes") had to shut down and quarantine. God fast tracked Bryan through the system in miraculous ways, too many to mention. Please continue to pray for Bryan and Ami as God shows them the next step in their health situation.

STS Oral Bible Schools in Refugee Camps

Most Oral Bible Schools have closed due to the virus. However, one school was able to graduate prior to the onset of the lockdown.  Our leader wrote, "This mark of the end of 296 stories is been longtime so many testimonies that are been shared both youths and women. From Rose A. 'Now I was not knowing how to preached by now I can preached the Gospel.’”

Another testimony from Susan, "I was having Short temper but since I join STS school that short anger is no longer there."

We are thrilled to share that our illustrated Book is now on Amazon. Search for “God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity.”  The Kindle version will be available soon.

Finally, we uploaded a brief video on our youtube station to encourage you from our STS family to yours.

Trusting the Lord in all things,

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

Fun in Ministry?

Ministry can be planting lots of seeds before we see fruit. When this fruit comes, we love to watch it grow.  Last week, a newer leader in Simply The Story from Latin America called to share his enthusiasm.  He said that he has had the most enjoyment doing ministry with STS in his 31 years of being a missionary.

I asked him why. He shared that he loves how people are responding to the Lord through the Bible discussions and how the people are being discipled. He finds the STS method highly impacting when sharing Bible stories with people everywhere.

Global Ambassador Team Leaders have Landed!

Latin America has been a focus for us over the past few years, and by the grace of God, several instructors have been raised in this region. Our Global Ambassador Team Leaders just arrived in Mexico with the goal of establishing strong leaders who will take life giving Bible tools to those throughout the region. This is the first step to our medium term missions program (greater than a couple of weeks and less than 1 year).

Latin American Missionary, Reaching a Muzlm Region?

One missionary from Latin America to a predominantly Muzlm country recently gave feedback regarding the power of God's Story: From Creation to Eternity on the solar audio players by Megavoice.

“These Megavoices have been a great blessing to many young people who I work with, in the university and the provinces that I visit.  It explains Scriptures in a clear way that they can understand.  Many young people have a lot of questions and they are seeking answers.  These Megavoices have helped answer their questions and caused them to ask more questions.  I also see that these Megavoices have helped new believers understand Scriptures in a clear way. I know many young people with so many questions and God used these Megavoices to help answer their questions.  I have given away all the Megavoices you [the donor] gave me a few years ago.  I have only one left which I carry all the time wherever I go.  Thank you for giving me a few of these Megavoices.  If it does not work out for me to have more, then it is OK.  I will leave this in the hands of God."

Pray for this missionary and the funds to provide more solar players.

Challenges in Mexico

Working in Mexico does have some challenges. As the team was returning from a village, one member texted for prayer because they were in the middle of a confrontation between cartels. "Cars are being burned and there was a gun shooting in the main plaza." Thankfully they made it home safe. As these teams venture out to disciple and train people in Scripture, they travel into and through dangerous areas. Please remember to pray for the team in Mexico.

Just Because they are in Bible College…

We are often invited to teach STS to students of Bible schools and seminaries around the globe. This story came to us from one of our instructors about two students who attended a Bible College when they learned STS. There seemed to be no impact in their lives while at the training. These same students helped as assistant instructors at another training months later in the same region. One student said, “I was not a Christian during the first workshop. However, when I did the story of Jonah, I realized I was guilty, like Jonah of running from God. I repented from that, and turned to the Lord and got saved during the workshop. It was life transforming. I got baptized a short time later.”

Another student shared, “I was not a Christian during the first year of Bible College. Neither during the second year. However, shortly after the STS workshop, I realized my need for Christ. I cannot say which story in particular prompted me to have faith in Christ, but shortly after, I turned to the Lord. Now I am going to … work with a church there!! I also ended a relationship with a young lady that was dysfunctional, since both she was not helping me with my walk with the Lord.”

Oceania

One university student told an instructor how she had read all the way through the Bible a couple of times and thought that she had learned everything. She also thought the Bible was boring.  However, in the workshop she learned how to walk slowly down the path of Scripture and learned that God’s Word was alive.  From that same training, our instructor received a picture of a high school student telling a story to a bunch of other students on the beach. 

Please pray for God’s Story to be translated into the language of the people on this island as the people are ritualistic with ancestor worship 

Serving the Lord together,

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

Follow us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/pg/SimplyTheStory and feel free to “like” us. Visit our “official Simply The Story”

Our podcast are at www.HeartPocket.org.

Thank you for using our Amazon charity link: http://tinyurl.com/TGSP-Amazon.  Select Life Giving Resources when purchasing on Amazon. This benefits our ministry.  Feel free to bookmark this link.

Youtube Videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCpHq8qs0HIRE9P5JnpE1Kw/videos

As I reflect upon 2019, we have much to be thankful for. We see the hand of God around the world, not just with our ministry but also with so many ministries.

Discipleship Growth among Refugees

Simply The Story oral Bible schools continue to grow in refugee camps throughout Uganda and Kenya. Amazingly, the expansion is owned by refugees themselves, and their testimonies continue to amaze me. A recent video testimony came to me from the Tikka Camp in Northeastern Uganda, known for having many witch doctors.

In the video, James shared that he used to insult people, wouldn't help them, and even hated them. However, his life changed after engaging with the Word of God from the blind Bartimaeus story in Mark 10:46-52.

James faced many challenges in his village and was about to give up, but he recognized that this blind man Bartimaeus continued to cry out to

Jesus, even with so many challenges. James said, "I want to be like him" referring to Bartimaeus.

We encourage you to watch this short video on our YouTube channel, "Simply The Story Official Channel" or here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCpHq8qs0HIRE9P5JnpE1Kw/videos

This year we started a partnership with a highly successful children’s ministry throughout Africa. After advising the ministry in their new children's manual, we began testing the combination of our STS Oral Bible Schools with their children's training, giving people of all ages an opportunity to engage with the Lord through his Word.

During the initial steps, we learned that many churches have approximately 18-­‐19 hours of programs geared towards adults and only 1 or 2 hours for children. Along with so few hours, many teachers are untrained. We believe this children's program will be instrumental in changing the tide of children growing up and walking away from the Lord God. Our first two week test has already birthed eight children's clubs.

We look forward to seeing how the Lord leads this partnership and hope to reveal this program and other children’s materials in 2020. Please pray with us for this partnership to deepen and grow for the glory of the Lord.

Conversational Bible Stories – Video Series

Earlier this year we completed a mini STS marketplace video training series. In the series we teach a conversational approach to Simply The Story. Viewers are shown how to engage those they meet in a shortened, 5-­‐minute, Bible story and discussion. Even though we teach this as a 5-­‐minute conversational model, most of the time when I have shared a Bible story with someone I just met, they have wanted to continue talking about the story, often times for

40-­‐50 minutes! Check out the series at www.Vimeo.com/BibleForAll/albums and select the “Moment For Eternity” collection. We will continue to release the rest of the series every Tuesday over the month of December.

While traveling home from Boston recently I met two ladies in my row of seats on the plane. The conversation ranged from shopping to work, and many other topics. Eventually they asked what I did, which changed the direction of the conversation altogether. By the time the hour flight landed in Newark, both the ladies, who were

practicing Catholics, agreed to do a Bible story with me over

the phone. They also said it was OK to record the discussion for an upcoming Heart Pocket Podcast.

An amazing Staff!

I don’t often share about our office staff, who continue to work tirelessly behind the scenes. Each one is special and has given much of their time without pay. They are clearly devoted to the vision the Lord has given us. This past year, each member of our office staff has faced some kind of medical issue in their own life or that of their family members. Our office staff provides critical support to the functioning of this ministry. Their efforts allow me, and our leaders in the field, to focus on the vision and direction of the ministry as a whole. Please remember them in your prayers.

In November, several of our top global leaders met for a two day prayer and planning retreat. We sought the Lord for His will in the direction of this ministry and how to face the challenges of our day and age. Truly the Lord gave us guidance. Please pray for us as we implement the next steps.

Staying the Course

The following story came to us from a woman who walks the streets just to help people find Christ. She shares Bible stories and cookies with the homeless.

"Sarah", a new homeless contact and a believer for many years, stays on the streets to share Jesus with others. She was very close to her unbelieving grandmother, witnessing to her for years. However, her grandma would not listen. One day, "Sarah's" mother called to share that "Sarah's" grandma was in the nursing home and near death.

"Sarah" drove the long distance to see her grandma. "Sarah" shared the story of Nicodemus and all of John 1-­‐3, begging her unresponsive grandma to receive Jesus as Savior.  Suddenly, her grandma sat up straight, looked ahead, and then immediately passed away.

Later "Sarah" described the incident to her mom, thinking that her grandmother died never accepting Jesus. Her mother shared that following her grandmother's stroke a while ago; she went to visit the grandmother. "Sarah’s" mom noticed that the grandmother desperately wanted to communicate, but found it difficult. So she gave her a paper and pen and then watched.

The grandmother wrote with great difficulty a capital "J." At first "Sarah’s" mom thought it was for their grandpa John. The grandmother wrote another letter, "e". Then she wrote an “s". The mother asked, "Jesus, Mom? You want me to tell you about Jesus?" The grandmother communicated in the positive. "Sarah's" mom gave the Gospel message of S salvation, asked the right questions, and prayed aloud with her grandma who was listening attentively before going to sleep.

May this encourage all of us stay the course and never give up on our loved ones.

We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a glorious New Year in the Lord. Andrea and all the TGSP Staff

Mission Ready?

While visiting our office recently, Pastor Dave said to us, “STS training makes people ‘mission ready.'”

Pastor Dave graciously introduces our new 12 episode video series implementing parts of Simply The Story (STS) designed to help equip people to share the Lord with people anywhere. This series, “Moment for Eternity,” is set to release in October on our Vimeo station https://vimeo.com/user99495912. We pray this helps make people “mission ready.”

This pastor also shared about the impact of their Vacation Bible School (VBS) over the summer. For the past 2 VBSs, they have implemented STS and they are finding tremendous results. Parents are asking to know the dates far in advance to plan their vacations around the VBS. The children also love VBS, and the church has seen an uptick in VBS attendance as well.

Pastor Dave shared this story about his family while packing and preparing to catch a boat. He explained to his 7-year-old daughter that they would be left behind if they did not make the boat in time. His daughter was concerned. Dave asked his daughter what she thought they should do. She responded by saying, "Trust the Lord." She then started sharing back the Bible stories from their VBS they learned a month earlier! These were not the children's version, but complete Bible stories!

Africa Moves from Heresy to Accuracy!

Sometimes people confess their sins during or shortly after learning how to do Simply The Story because they are deeply impacted by the truth they find in God's Word. We see this as a result of spending time in the Bible.

A recent training in Sierra Leone produced results like these. People involved in teaching the Bible confessed they had been teaching wrongly, and even teaching heresy, and were excited to return to accuracy!

One lady in the same training, who could not read, learned the Simply The Story process better than the others. In this same training, the president of a large denomination loved STS so much, that he plans to use the process in the whole church. Can you imagine literates and non-literates learning the Bible together?

The people are ready and asking for STS Oral Bible Schools and our leader plans to return in January.

Theologian Meets Oral Method!

Our European Directors shared about the exciting progress for Simply The Story (STS) in Europe and the impact it has had on attendees. At the July training in the Netherlands, one group spent time in the "Joshua Meets Captain" story (Joshua 5:12-6:5). One theologian in the group, who specifically assigns this passage to her students, discovered for the first time the faith of Joshua and the Israelites when the manna stopped! The theologian observed that the Israelites had to trust God in the land because once the manna stopped; the Israelites could not go back.

This theologian also realized that many of her students are not highly literate and that STS could help them grow and find depth in the Bible.

After one illustration about the statistics of literacy and communication, a pastor was shocked to learn that the assumption he made, of the people in his church as being lazy regarding Bible reading, was false! He never thought about the fact that many in his church are oral learners.

We are looking forward to more training later this year in Serbia, Netherlands, and Bulgaria.

God's Story: From Creation to Eternity Debuts

We recently completed 5 languages of God's Story for Sierra Leone (Limba, Krio, Loko, Themne, and Kono), and already amazing reports are coming in to our office. The translator for the Loko language, also a hospital chaplain, uses God's Story on solar players in the hospital and the patients love it.

We also started the God's Story language launchings (an official gathering in villages where we gift God's Story in different formats to the leaders of the village) in Sierra Leone, but the rains caused some of these launchings to be postponed until January. However, at least one God's Story language, Kono, had been aired on radio.

After being stopped, our leader mentioned to police that they were just returning from the launch of Kono. The police said, "We just heard this on the radio this morning." Our leader and the team were released with joy.

At these language launchings, we encourage the community leaders to use these gifts for the body of Christ and the people of the language.

In August, the Lord allowed a team to train some Maasai believers in Simply The Story. One Maasai woman gave a testimony of what this training meant to her and we posted it on our Vimeo and Youtube station (see link at end of report).

We thank the Lord for allowing God’s Story in Spanish to be aired on radio in Central California.

Myanmar Team Impacts Burmese in the USA!

Our top leaders from Myanmar blessed us at our annual training in Hemet, CA, this past July.  These leaders left our headquarters in California and traveled to Omaha, Michigan, Florida and Chicago teaching the STS process to Burmese speakers.

They said the Burmese believers are very interested in STS, but some of them could not take time from work. They taught mostly in Burmese, noting that the next generation born in the USA needed English. Our leaders reportd that some people do not attend church services, so the team went house to house, encouraging and praying for the people. As a result the people started to attend the church as well as the STS training! We all thank God for what He is doing in people's lives.

India Team Reaches the Northeast.

Praise God, our team has finished the recordings of the Hmar and Dimasa languages of God's Story. The Dimasa people don’t have Old Testament scripture, so God's Story will be a great resource to help them know about the Creator God. Please continue to pray for our India team as they work on more God's Story languages.

The STS team recently trained 83 Bengali believers in Northeast India. Many of  the attendees were young! Our leader wrote, "God touched their heart." Many received Jesus as their personal Savior and learned the STS process. Our leader asked us to please remember them as they go back to respective places to be witnesses with the Bible.

From the Village to the Heart.

A missionary to Southeast Africa wrote to us recently. He was asked by his organization to write an article. It starts like this, "About a year ago, I was off to Orlando, Florida to a Bible Story workshop called ‘Simply the Story.’ I wanted to know how I could share God’s Word effectively in a culture that prefers oral modes of communicating. I was growing discouraged at a lack of connection between my style of teaching (Western, literate) and my community’s style of learning (African, oral). In other words, I wanted to know how to teach people to understand the Bible even when they aren’t comfortable reading the Bible.

When I began the training, I expected that the greatest impact would be on my neighbors whom I serve in our village. I should have known better…."

Read More Here: https://www.worldventure.com/how-oral-storytelling-brought-me-deeper-into-scripture/

International Students Learning More than Just Information.

A leader working among international students emailed us an update. "Since our STS workshop …we have enjoyed using the STS method in a number of forums.  Firstly, we are using it weekly with our International Student ministry among seekers.  After telling the story with 30-40 people, we break into groups of 5-6 to discuss, using STS questions.  This is leading to some great discussion, and discovery." This leader continued to share that one Indonesian believer was amazed that within her group, which included Mu-lims, B-ddhists and non-religious people, all were able to discover the right answers from the Bible story. This believer wisely recognized that if someone had told these answers to these non-believers, these listeners would probably not have taken the truth into their own hearts.

More Blessings from the Lord.

Our new shopping cart is progressing well. Please pray for our designer as he continues the work.

We have a team conducting STS training in Timor for October. Pray for them and the attendees.

Grateful to the Lord,

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

Leadership training expanding and with increasing impact!

At our God's Story Project headquarters in Hemet, CA, the population always grows during the months of January, June, and July as a result of our STS Comprehensive Leadership Training (CLT). In July we implemented our first Hemet STS Oral Bible School training with seven nations represented in person or via video conferencing (Mexico, Ecuador, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, USA, Thailand). These leaders also impact Kenya, Latin America, West Africa, and South East Asia.

The team from Myanmar left Hemet to introduce STS in several Burmese churches throughout the USA. They left Hemet excited about using STS with children, starting STS Oral Bible Schools, and upgrading their strategy for their country.

Our guest speakers taught several trainees how to use Bible stories with children during the last week of our training. When asked what the people learned, one leader reported, "I learned that if we are not excited about the word of God and don't show it to the children, they won't be excited!" The leader also said of the guest speaker, "We watched you as you taught the kids and we were looking at their faces and they were listening! They were excited about the story that you were telling them! We watched how you were excited about the story you're telling."

We also offered the second flannel graph training with Jon Melin of By Design Visuals. The attendees loved the combination training of STS with the flannel graphs. We continue to refine the training, discovering key pieces necessary for the future. Jon Melin shared the impact of the Sowers Set flannels in India, Nepal, Bhutan and more. Go to www.heartpocket.org and listen to HPP #41 and 42.

Heart Pocket Podcast is now on iTunes! Go to iTunes and search for "Heart Pocket Podcast" and click on the logo and subscribe. Or go to the link below.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heart-pocket-podcast/id1468943501

From the Mountain Tops to the Jungles: Kichwa lead!

For the past month, two of our leaders have been conducting an advanced training in Ecuador along with helping national Kichwas lead their own STS trainings in the mountains and in the jungle. The temperature ranges from 54°F (summer in the mountains) to 92°F (winter in the jungles). Mudslides, roadwork, and required town work created many unknowns for the training.

On one occasion, 2 people said repeatedly that they had to leave early throughout the week. However, these people stayed until the end of the training without leaving early. The leader wisely explained, "In an event culture, if you have a desirable event happening, the people will not let time dictate their day." As a result, these two men chose to avoid anything that interfered with their presence in the training sessions.

Santiago, 14-years old, changed from the beginning of the workshop, when he was reluctant, showed no interest, did not look anyone in the eye, and forced to come by his mom. After presenting his story, he ran excitedly to the host. He had been impacted by the Bible and workshop in such a way that he found the Lord and felt a calling on his life to be a pastor! Our leader wrote, "Such a radically different place from Tuesday, when he first came!"

Nine-year old, Sarita, presents a Bible story asking, “What might Moses think when he saw the bush burning?

One young teen presenting the transfiguration story, asked if Jesus could have done something else, like showing Himself to all the world instead of just to three of the disciples. Another 9-year old responded, “then Jesus would not have died for us, and we would not have been forgiven for our sins, and He would not have risen from the dead”. Out of the mouth of babes!  

Europe, Europe and more from Europe!

Over the past couple of months, there has been STS training in Finland, Czech Republic, and Ireland. While writing this Prayer & Praise Report, an advanced training is happening in the Netherlands.

A few of the attendees to one STS training, work with gypsies in their community. One man attended the training after his wife prayed he would come. The man has been using predominantly literate methods with the gypsies. However, after attending STS, this man started doing Bible stories!

Please pray for the narrator of God's Story from this gypsy group. He and his family recently lost their home.

The Joy Expands in the Refugee Camps

The STS Oral Bible Schools, God's Story showings and STS workshops continue in earnest through out Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, much of which are among thousands of refugees. During one recent training, we received a short report.

Our leader shared, "We also have a drunk man who is trying to cause problems." So we prayed. A short time after that, the next text arrived, "The drunkard prayed to receive the saviour!!!"

Eventually we received two more text messages about this same man, "By the way the drunk man is in the workshop" and "Do you remember the drunk man I told you about? He presented a story in the first story round and he enrolled in OBS."

The Word of God is a spiritual message that penetrates any physical impedance, including alcohol.

How well do Children Ask Questions?

One of our leaders from West Africa recently shared that his 9-year old son decided to "give the message" at his younger sister's birthday. The boy went into his father's room and returned wearing his father's pastoral garment. After sharing Psalm 127 (STS style too!), this 9-year old asked two questions, "If God has decided to give us children, He simply decided to use us to bring out life, what do we think about this gift of the children from God to us?"

This led to some amazing discussion among the parents and people at the gathering. The boy continued, "How are we handling the lives that God has given us?" There were Muzlms attending with their children and some ladies started crying. A little later our leader approached some of the people about what they heard. The people shared that no Muzlm leader has ever asked such good questions.

Pray for our children, they have amazing insights. There is no junior Holy Spirit for children.

See one child share a Bible story that he learned in a VBS that uses Simply The Story!

Please pray also for new work in Chad that we hope to start soon.

Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand –Planting Deep

Simply The Story workshops continue through out Southeast Asia and the local people love it! One leader reported that many of the attendees are pastors and Sunday school teachers and excited to keep using STS until the next planned training.

The same attendees will be returning and become tribe leaders and part of the instructor team.

In some places, people often share with the government about Christian training, which are considered illegal teachings. However, with STS, a local government official has been allowing the training to continue because it has helped a family member.

God's Story Progress

We appreciate all your prayers for the many people involved in God's Story translations globally. The studio mastered 6 languages the past couple of months.

Grateful to the Lord,

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

First-hand Report: Simply The Story Oral Bible Schools Impacting Refugees

In our previous Prayer & Praise Report we shared about a small team of us traveling to the refugee camps in Northern Uganda. We have been receiving astounding reports for the past couple of years and saw the results firsthand. Dave (a mission's pastor), Dave’s friend, Abigail Miller, and I joined our leaders in the region.

We had an opportunity to talk with several Simply The Story Oral Bible School students. They know Scripture!! And, as James requests, they are doers of the Word, not just hearers only. Many of the Sudanese women identified with the story of Ruth, as they have lost their own husband and have found themselves in a strange land.  

Several women learned from Sarah, in Genesis 18, when she welcomed and cared for the visitors who came to reconfirm the birth of Isaac. The Sudanese women, as believers, saw themselves as needing to be welcoming and caring for visitors just like Sarah.

One lady reported that her sister-in-law killed her brother. The lady originally sought revenge, but as a result of studying the Bible at a Simply The Story Oral Bible School, she has come to forgive her sister-in-law.

A majority of the graduates from the Simply The Story Oral Bible Schools mentioned wanting to continue meeting together over the Word, even though they had graduated! (See this short video on youtube of one graduation at “STS Oral Bible School Graduates in Northern Uganda Refugee Camps” or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JAa-nMRLBI)

We commissioned a new group to travel to the Arua Refugee camps in the Northwest of Uganda and conduct Simply The Story training, as well as begin Simply The Story Oral Bible Schools. Amazingly, that work has already begun in Arua. We are praying with our leader about establishing a training center in Adjumani, which serves as a hub between multiple camps.

A pastor in the Morobi camp recently sent the following after showing God's Story.

"We had projected God's and Jesus story in many locations up ten sites. The response in every locations was very positive. A good number of people adding seriously to the churches …. Friday up to yesterday we projected up to mid- night and there were sixty five people who were saved….Need for workshops to create oral Bible schools within the areas where we have projected the stories."

Countries Come to Kenya for Comprehensive Leadership Training?

Abigail and I stopped in Kenya to meet several rising leaders in our ministry from 12 countries. Many of these leaders traveled at their own expense!! No words can express the joy we had in hearing their personal stories and watching them lead discussions in Bible stories.  Thank you to the Kenya and Ethiopia Simply The Story team for leading this training!

Children Growing!

India

Our leaders continue conducting Children Summer Simply The Story programs (CS-STS). In this 5-day program, the children, their families, and the leaders are blessed because they spend more time in God’s Word rather than in sports and other activities. Many children go to school learning to write and read. Along with those wonderful skills, our leaders teach the children how they can trust God’s Word. The children learn the Simply The Story process and often share their Bible stories with their family, friends, and neighbors.

On the last day, family members are invited to the dramas and activities to see what their child learned in 4 days. The results? More souls are coming to Christ using the Simply The Story method than before.

USA

Another church, that develops their own Vacation Bible School, has also integrated the Simply The Story methodology in 2018. Over the past year, the children's leader and another pastor from the church shared that several children were impacted and remembered the Scripture stories months later. In the Winter and Spring parents called about the 2019 dates so they can plan their summer around the VBS!

Another church recently shared how they integrated Simply The Story into their weekly children's program. One of the leaders said that in the past, kids very rarely shared any kind of application of the Bible in their own lives. Now, a number of hands reach for the sky when asked how they applied the previous week's Bible story in their lives.

The children also know the stories that were done 5 and 6 weeks earlier!  Many often tell the Bible stories in the car on the way home! Parents express their amazement at how much their children are learning.

Europe Expands!

Praise the Lord! Our first Czech-only Simply The Story workshop was completed in May. This means an all Czech instructor team led and taught other Czechs the Simply The Story process. Our instructor wrote, "I was “flying” home on a cloud…. They were all very excited about the training and the method."

Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos!

We were blessed to hear that our leaders in S.E. Asia conducted Simply The Story training along the border of Myanmar and Thailand. Shortly afterward they went to a monastery and shared the Truth of God's Word and prayed with one of the monks. We can't show those pictures for security, but it is wonderful to see this monk holding a solar audio player.

Another team of Thai trainers have been working along the Thai borders with Laos and Cambodia as well. The leader recently called asking for prayer. He said that there were 30 planned attendees, but 40 showed!  What a problem!! The team is already preparing to return and several people trained are learning to help lead.

Simply The Story for the Family and in the Board Room?

USA

Recently, a pastor friend shared about teaching a young leader in his church the Simply The Story process of preparing a story. This young man took his family to lunch and shared the Bible story he had recently learned. An hour and a half passed by and none of the family realized it. They were so engaged in the discussion of God's Word!

The next week, twice as many people came to see this young leader, so he shared another Bible story, the garden wedding of Adam and his wife in Genesis 2:18-25. One of the participants in the discussion observed that Adam talked about his wife's identity first (…bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh…). The participant applied this to focusing on who a woman is in Christ first!

Recently, an incredible instructor shared his joy. He was honored to do a Bible story with the board of a large ministry in Africa. He reported, "It was so wonderful sharing the Bible story with the board members …. All the glory be to the Lord, they really love the story and were so engaged. They did not stop talking about it, They were moved about the story. Some of them were repeating the story with actions…. The couple I was talking with, the wife was not in the meeting when I shared the story and he made me share again with his wife. [Another man's] wife said it is so good by asking them question to discover things in the story themselves instead of preaching it to them. Another one said why Simply The Story is not taught [to all]?"

Prayer for God’s Story

Several countries have God's Story languages in progress and the teams need prayer. We discovered early in this ministry that the spiritual attacks come hard and fast for anyone working on languages. In one case several years ago, six languages were scheduled to record in different places around the world. Sadly, all six were canceled due to narrator issues!

We are training new recordists because our current recording specialists are overwhelmed! Praise the Lord.

God's Story languages in process.

Countries with 2 languages or more: Nigeria, Congo Brazza, Bhutan, Sudan, India

Countries with 1 language: Netherlands, Lesotho, Central Asia, Uganda

Some locations are unnamed due to security reasons.

Grateful to the Lord,

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