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)