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 STS-OBS 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 an STS Oral Bible School, she has come to forgive her sister-in-law.

A majority of the graduates from the STS 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 STS training, as well as begin STS 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 STS team for leading this training!

Children Growing!

India

Our leaders continue conducting Children Summer STS 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 STS 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 STS method than before.

USA

Another church, that develops their own Vacation Bible School, has also integrated the STS 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 STS 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 STS workshop was completed in May. This means an all Czech instructor team led and taught other Czechs the STS 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 STS 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 STS 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 STS 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)

Follow the Backpack?

Recently, a long time STS instructor, Pastor David Mateli, went home to the Lord. We called him the wood carver for all the African animals he carved to and from STS trainings. All proceeds from his carvings that sold at TGSP helped David in his ministry, as well, future sales will continue to help his family. He loved the Lord and served our Saviour diligently. David became one of our best instructors in East Africa. This article comes from the heart of Bramuel Musya, former leader in The God’s Story Project, and has been slightly edited.

“Pastor David Mateli, the man in white stripes in the photo, my friend and confidant. A partner with me every step of the way for 12 straight years. A distinguished record of service and an unmatched passion and commitment to our vision to equip pastors with tools and skills for effective ministry. A man at equal ease with the urban and the rural folk without pride or prejudice. 12 years ago while still new in the ministry of equipping pastors, I went and trained 36 Baptist pastors in Nairobi Kenya. The training was on Bible storytelling (Simply The Story). The pastors were amazed. But the trainer (myself) was young but passionate.

“In the end the pastors asked me, ‘where is your office In case we need more material?’ The ministry was still being birthed. I had no team and I had no office. I lived in a little apartment, which doubled as my office, my home and my training center. Lifting up my backpack, I got up and said to the pastors, “I don’t have an office. But I have this backpack. It has my Bible, my phones and a laptop. And where it goes, that’s where the office is. If you want this dream to grow, you have to choose today to join me and follow the backpack and let’s make a team and reach African pastors.

“The next morning Pastor David showed up at my house. He said, ‘I’ve followed the backpack. I want us to work.’ That was a rainy Friday morning in 2007. The man traveled far and wide and trained countless pastors and leaders with me. Always ready to go. For his income he made wood carvings. All the while never losing sight of his ambassadorial role to the Galilean woodcutter of old (Jesus Christ). The man was a hard worker, never shy of getting his hands dirty. Rest in your rewards pastor! I sure will miss you.”

Please continue to pray for David’s family as they adjust to life on earth without David. Although we sorrow and miss him, we sorrow not like those who have no hope.

God’s Story More Than Anything?

Since May 2017, a small team of committed believers has been showing God's Story, conducting Simply The Story workshops, and planting STS Oral Bible Schools (OBS) through out the Uganda refugee camps, the Sudan and recently, the Kenya refugee camps.

In the Uganda camps we estimate about 90 showings of God's Story occur every month with 2000-5000 people watching a night (about 216,000 to 500,000 total in 2018). In Northern Sudan about 200-500 people a night, or about 10,000 people total, watched (for safety reasons).

The power of God's Story gives people the meta-narrative from creation to eternity in just 80-minutes. This impacts people greatly as they hear that even with Adam and Eve, God comes to man to rescue him. Continuing through the video, the people see that man repeats his mistakes. Even though people have multiple chances to trust in God, they choose to trust their own ways, as seen in the Cain and Abel story. This pattern continues in Noah, the Tower of Babel, and so on. God's Story clearly shows man's ways to sin and God's mercy and provision for man to be reconciled back to God.

Many people learn the truth about God for the first time and thousands trust in the Lord Jesus as their personal savior. One Turkana man in Northern Kenya said he likes God's Story more than anything in his life because it starts in creation and is very fundamental.

The God's Story program in languages like Madhi, Arabic, Juba Arabic, English, Swahili, Turkana, Amharic and more, helps give people a desire for more of Scripture, which leads them to Simply The Story (STS) workshops. Each workshop has from 40 to 140 attendees. The pastors and leaders can do the STS process after just a little bit of training, and learn an average of 15 to 20 stories.

The leadership team also visits the public schools. Amazingly, the children answer Bible questions well because of watching the film in the evenings. The pastors teach STS style and the people are learning, making discoveries of truth and applying God's Word to their lives.

After STS, Oral Bible Schools (OBS) are planted where students learn 296 Bible stories and lead discussions, developing a greater Biblical worldview. Since the students discover these deep truths with the help of the Holy Spirit, they own the information, as well as leading students to tell others what they are learning each day. This impacts the community! We have more than 800 students in our OBSs in Northern Uganda, another 151 students in the camps in Kenya, and 10 OBSs in Northern Sudan.

In the Kenya refugee camps, almost 90% of those who heard STS style Bible stories made life changing decisions. Our leader described the situation like Joseph who chose the harder way to be faithful to God, even though it meant going to prison (Genesis 39:11-20).

One woman committed adultery in S. Sudan and denied the accusations. She went to Uganda pregnant and continued to defend herself and deny the adultery claims. When one of our leaders taught the one leper story from Mark 1:40-45 at an STS workshop, the woman said that the man (the healed leper) disobeyed Jesus even after Jesus healed him. She then publicly confessed, "I did the same. I disobeyed Jesus."  She was ready to change her ways.

When another leader taught about the man with the withered right hand (Luke 6:5-11) many saw that the man had a problem with his hand, but the scribes and Pharisees had problems in their heart. When the leader asked if anyone had hidden problems in their heart, many people came forward to confess and pray.

Items for Prayer

Please pray for the graduates from our STS Oral Bible Schools. This year we are expecting at least 800 people to graduate from the Uganda refugee camps. Abigail Miller, Tom and Dorothy’s granddaughter, and I will spend most of April in Uganda, Europe, and Kenya with OBS students, as well as with leaders from all over East Africa.

Please pray that every graduate will receive a solar audio player ($42 each) with their language of God’s Story, Bible stories, and the Bible in audio. Most our students are instant evangelists almost from the time they start learning the 296 Bible stories. We call this program “Gift for Grads.”

God’s Story recordings and translations continue throughout the world. Some languages have funding ($3500 each), but not all. Please pray for the Lord’s provision on the unfunded languages, especially for the team that has started 10 languages in West Africa, in a place that needs the Truth. As well, if you would like to “adopt a people group” for prayer, let us know.

We also need prayer for the many projects and people in this ministry. If you desire to help with a project (short term) or for on-going needs or specific prayer needs, please contact us in the office.

Giving thanks to the Lord in all things!

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

What are the chances of finding a stranger 11 years later?

In 2007 we shared the following story as written by our founder, Dorothy Miller.

The Boy Who “Was” Unruly

Mark, our TGSP Director in India, spoke to me on the phone at length as he spilled out dozens of stories from his recent trip. Mark had been on the road 16 days. He led Simply the Story workshops in 5 locations plus recorded two new languages of God’s Story.  

One leg of the journey was a 2-day train ride. Mark traveled in a compartment with three Hindu leaders and two teenagers, one very unruly. After Mark listened to their conversation and put up with the bad behavior of the one boy, Mark took out a solar-powered audio-player and started listening to God’s Story in Hindi. The unruly boy asked, "Is that a radio?"

Mark handed it over and soon all the people in that train compartment were listening to the Hindi version of God’s Story, starting at Creation. They all became enchanted by the story.  Finally one man asked, "Are you a Christian?" 

Mark told me, “I gave them my testimony and told about Creation and that first day, all 5 prayed and came to Jesus.  The rest of the trip we prayed and sang new praises to God, together!”

We shared this story again, because Mark gave us an update to this story while visiting our headquarters in January. Mark said he did a training in 2018 at a church in Eastern India. During a break, the pastor came to Mark and said, "Sir, did I meet you on the train?"

Mark replied, "Which train, there are many?"

Then the pastor identified himself as the unruly boy Mark met 11 years earlier! This man had become a pastor, married and had a young son. In a country that exceeds 1 billion people, can you imagine meeting the same person who came to the Lord because of hearing God’s Story on a MegaVoice player 11 years earlier?  What a blessing to see the fruit of Godly seeds sown after so many years.

Reaching children using STS and other tools

We have been meeting with a successful children's ministry over the past year. They are transitioning to an oral based training that we believe will dove-tail nicely with Simply The Story and our Oral Bible Schools (OBS).  We ask for prayers for this children's ministry as they develop their training and for our two ministries as we field test moving forward together.

Our first ever STS and flannel graph training with By Design Visuals proved highly successful. Six people registered to learn how to lead Bible story discussions combined with the Sower's Set flannel graphs (3 Old Testament and 4 New Testament Bible stories). The training will continue to be refined in India over the next two months and offered again this summer in Hemet, Californi

Reaching Native Americans

With the temperature reaching a balmy 5 degrees on the first morning of an STS training, our team braved the weather to teach STS to 13 students and 3 YWAMers in Northern Arizona. We are excited to see that people who work among Native Americans are asking for more training. Please continue to pray for this. We know that Jesus came to heal the broken hearted and STS is a key to people hearing the truth of God's Word.

What is God doing in South East Asia?

Recently our India director and 2 others conducted two sessions at a South East Asia Network conference. We're thrilled that this led to interest in producing 10 new God's Story languages and multiple STS trainings.

In another Asian country, our TGSP leader wrote to us that they were reaching government and religious leaders with the gospel during the Christmas season. Surprisingly, the government in this closed Asian country allowed this leader to do a Christmas program on the main road and in local areas openly. They are also continuing to bring the good news to the prisons. We are grateful to the Lord for His mercy and grace to allow all these groups to hear the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus.

God's Story Languages

Last December, we received word from our leaders in Nigeria. They plan to work on 29 new God's Story languages spoken in Nigeria.  Pray for these leaders, the translators and all involved during this major and ambitious project.  We believe there will be a great impact among these people groups through God's Story. Major languages included are Agatu, Basa, Eggon, Gade, Goemai, Gwandara, Ham, Kofyar, and Lijili.

Our leader in Burkina Faso recently finished recording and checking 6 languages of God’s Story for Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire. She braved long hours and hard work to coordinate and guide several people to translate and record these languages.  Three of these languages are unwritten!

How to Reach the Older and the Younger People!

In Southern California, we received this report from someone who works in our office and leads Sunday school class using STS.  She shared that a friend talked to an elderly Italian neighbor and told her about an STS class where people could ask questions, talk, and discuss Bible (because the Italian lady can not read or write English). The Italian woman was so excited. She said that this is something she has been praying for all her life.  Now she is telling everyone and even shared that she loves STS. Before this, she could never understand the Bible because she doesn't read well.

Are We Reaching the Heart or the Mind?

A woman who recently attended two STS trainings wrote to us what happened when her husband first taught a Bible history class and how STS meets the need her husband discovered. She said he was "WELL prepared to expound on the Reformation & Martin Luther. After a full-to-the-brim 2 hour class, he looked forward hopefully to a barrage of questions...but nary a one.

"Finally, after several promptings, the questions began to flow but not ONE was about the subject....they were ALL HEART questions! Dear provincial pastors struggling with their failures, broken people and broken lives, desperate to find if there really were answers in the Word... and so he threw his notes out, sat down on the ground, literally, and hurt with them.

"I believe in STS because it's not the 'mind' that hurts...it's the HEART. I love the Heart Pocket reference."

How Could Working Together Impact Uganda?

This story exemplifies 2 churches working together from different continents to impact 1 nation. We also see 2 different ministry tools brought together to help fan to flames the emerging movement.  In 2018 one instructor was enlisted to help train people going to Uganda on a missions trip from Southern California. The instructor took a literate based, heart-healing curriculum and trained the team how to make the curriculum more oral using the principles of STS.

God is now using this STS / healing curriculum hybrid in Uganda to heal the broken hearted Ugandans by Ugandans!  

Pastor Isaac from Uganda recently attended our Comprehensive Leadership Training. He wrote to the pastor here in Southern California the following note.

"Am here in Kenya enjoying the STS. I did a story today and it was a beautiful experience. Can't wait to do another one.

"Also longing to do small tribe and big tribe training (tribes are the same as groups, named after the tribes of Israel).”

Follow us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/pg/SimplyTheStory and feel free to “like” us. Visit our “official Simply The Story” Youtube page videos: https://goo.gl/UzZQoZ  We are excited to share our podcast at HeartPocket.org. Pray we can get this on iTunes, we have run into a small  snag.

Serving the Lord together,

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