The Shepherd's Conference...

Each year our church, Bethel Bible Baptist Church, hosts the Shepherd's Conference. This is a time for Ethiopian pastors, leaders and missionaries to come and receive training and challenges from God's Word. The conference is held the last three months of the year.

In October, one of the men that normally comes to the conference brought a family member. During our lunch break, I saw several men talking to him very intensely. At the beginning of our second session, they announced that this young man had received Christ as his Savior!

For November, our speaker was Pastor Tesfay, a local Ethiopian pastor that I met not long after arriving in the country. Pastor Tesfay was blind from an early age and lost much of his right arm because a bomb exploded in his backyard. Presenting his material on I Timothy, he stood at the pulpit with his one usable arm rubbing his thumb over his Braille notes so that he could read them.  Blind, having the use of only one hand, he was a powerful example speaking from God's Word.

Family Festival Outreach...
Kids always show up early for this event. We tell them each year the doors open at 6:00 p.m. and they just can't seem to wait! We saw over 120 people pass through our doors to attend this special night. We praise God for the relationships that we made and the Gospel tracts that were handed out. Pray that God would continue to develop these relationships for the sharing of the Gospel.  

Church Rent Offering...
In December, our church receives a special offering from our people that goes to the rent of our current facility. One of the prayers that we have is that our church will continue to grow in its responsibility of paying for the rent. Currently, our church has around $14,000 that will go toward this expense. Next March, we anticipate the rent to be over $19,000 for the two year lease.

Would you please pray for our special offering on December 14th, that God might  be glorified as we give? If you have any questions on this offering or would like to participate, please feel free to contact us.