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)