The Complete Happenings for Songhai People & Team 2012

•Jody and Sarah Fox finished their language study & were able to begin fulltime ministry on Road to Karma.  Jody has been able to disciple believers in Boubon, Tagabati, Karma & YK. Sarah has begun to disciple the first female believer in Boubon.

•The believers in YK continue to meet & study the Word & are in the early stages of forming the first church in that village.

•In a village where the chief told us we were welcome to share but also promised us that no one would ever believe, there is now one man who has chosen to believe & trust in Christ as His Savior.

•Again, in a village where, for centuries, no one has ever believed on the name of the Jesus for salvation, one man has now believed; he was lost but is now found.

•Nine national partners were trained in the E2E strategy, the tool created & used by the Songhai team to lead a group from evangelism to discipleship (if any in the group choose to believe) to church formation & then to leadership training.

•Six national partners were sent out to Songhai villages to preach the Word to those that have never heard & disciple those that believe.

•We love our volunteers! This year 11 teams from churches in the States were able to join us in sharing the name of Christ with the Songhai. We were also able to host one summer volunteer.

•THIRTY EIGHT men & women chose to believe & were baptized as they publicly professed Christ as their Savior.

•The “HUB” became a reality!! After 3 years of dreaming & months of planning, the HUB is now underway! This central point of ministry, located in Niamey, will be used as a launch pad for our national partners & mature believers as well as starting new ministries in the city.

•The Niamey Leadership Training School (NLTS) hosted its first class of 19 students who studied, in an oral learning method, Old Testament survey for a week. This is the first oral theological training center of its kind, that we know of, in our region.

•In June, FBC Hurst was able to distribute 500 life-saving food kits to malnourished children along the Mehanna Road. In September, FBC Hurst was also able to conduct a first ever garden project along the Mehanna Road distributing 8 garden kits & 10 water purification kits.

•Three new churches/teams partnered with us on the field for the first time in 2012: FBC in Franklin, Ky, Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Ky & FBC in Marlin, Tx. FBC Franklin led VBS & music related outreach ministries. Students from the BCM at CU shared evangelism stories in Boubon & also painted their elementary school. And FBC Marlin discipled believers in YK while also sharing Christ in unreached areas along Namarou Road.

•Two new churches partnered with us to commit to pray for the Songhai: Midway Baptist Church in Wichita, KS and FBC in Scott City, MO.

•The Songhai team created its first ever Ramadan focused “30 Day Prayer Guide.” Hundreds of you agreed to fast &/ pray for the Songhai for 30 days. We saw amazing things happen & the Lord continues to answer the prayers that were prayed during that month!

•A group of 8 men & women in Tera were trained in E2E as we commissioned them to reach their villages with the love & name of Christ.

•The Songhai were spotlighted & featured in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering & the Week of Prayer for International Missions. Many of you told us you saw Mark’s picture (aka: John Smythe) in bulletin inserts or on videos promoting LMCO. We were so blessed to be included on this & have thousands of SB churches praying for the Songhai!!

•Our prayer partner list was increased to 570 people who have committed to pray for the Songhai each month! We are eternally grateful to each of you who faithfully pray for the Songhai. We firmly believe in the power of prayer & know that your continual prayers for the Songhai make an eternal difference.

•And lastly, the Songhai team has created another “first ever”: a 52-week devotional prayer guide/calendar. This new resource will include 52 devotionals written by the Songhai team or one of our partners as well as a weekly calendar for the year. It should be ready by the first of the year, so don’t buy your 2013 calendars just yet!! Contact: Mark.  If you email me or Facebook  me I will give you his email address…