This is the new Hino 500 4x4 truck which has been purchased and is now at the body builders in South Africa being transformed into a Gospel Chariot. Exciting news - there are 161 million souls in Nigeria and we have a great team ready to work and oversee this new addition. Thank you to all for helping make this happen. All we need now are the work funds to keep these wheels rolling once the chariot has been built. We will ship it to Nigeria from South Africa. We were hoping on building it in Nigeria, but our Nigerian brethren encouraged us not to due to quality of work in the country.
These are the leaders in Nigeria who will network with other leaders in Nigeria. They are Peter Ugure, Godwin Isaac and Biodun Owalabi. Please pray for the manufacture of this Big Nigerian Gospel Chariot.
KENYA
Amen! Remember, this time last year we were praying and building this Kenyan Gospel Chariot, and today it is a reality. Thank you all and thank you LORD. Read below and you will see that many souls were baptized in the second part of 2016 as it started working in Kenya and it will now start crossing over into Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia. AMEN AND AMEN. Here is the fourth quarter update. Tom Opondo reports that the Kenya Chariot held a campaign with Stephen Spanjer, Bill Spanjer and Micheal Otieno. He was happy to report that 24 souls were baptized as a result.
The team also hosted a leadership conference that focused on the Study of Scriptural Truth and Expository Preaching. Tom Opondo said the attendance was amazing as 120 Christian leaders, evangelists and preachers attended the 3 day training event.
We are also always so grateful to the ladies who are willing to bring water to help us fill the baptisteries on the chariots - it's a tough job and they gladly do it.
In November the chariot moved on to Mombasa (on the East Coast) were it worked in a town called Mushomoroni (pictures below). The team was well supported by the local church of Christ and the visit resulted in 5 people being baptized.
By mid November the chariot had traveled to Chisimba and Lucas Oguta says that during their time there 9 souls were baptized into Christ. God is good.
The chariot then moved to Kinazi and Ganze where they worked together with the churches and helped evangelized the communities there. The visit in Kinazi resulted in 33 baptisms.
The church at Ganze also helped with the evangelism efforts of the chariot there and the hard work resulted in 44 people being added to the Lord's church.
On December 5 Lucas Oguta baptized 14 at the Rongo Winyo Church of Christ - he reports that he was helped with sport clothes after having many who wanted to be baptized and not enough clothes for them to be baptized in.
GHANA
BONGO TRIP
The Chariot traveled 17 hours from Accra to Bongo in October and in the first week they recorded 791 WBS enrollments, and daily night street preaching which attracted 500 attendants, and the first Sunday worship had 58 in attendance.
Bongo has an orphanage sponsored by the church of Christ. There are surrounding towns and villages that need to be evangelized and some existing churches that need strengthening and encouragement. It was wonderful to have the chariot working there.
The visit to Bongo yielded 10 baptisms and 200 WBS enrollments. The team continued with their daily teaching and preaching.
Evans reported that the work in Bongo ended with a total of 43 baptisms and an additional 233 WBS enrollments. He says that though the natives were harvesting their farm produce at the time the Chariot went to Bongo, most people heard the gospel message preached to them.
BAWKU TRIP (in the Upper West region)
During the public preaching in a town named Azumsapelega, the Lord added 13 souls to His Church. The team then moved to another town, called Agatuse, and 14 souls were added to the Lord's Church. The Lord is working and the harvest is great. In a town called Guyoko the team recorded 13 baptisms. The team had two days of open air preaching of the gospel at Atuba which the Lord blessed with 5 baptisms. This was also followed by 5 baptisms at Kaadi and 7 baptisms at Poyanmiri, with 1 baptism at Bawku. In total, there were 53 souls saved within two weeks in the Bawku area. Hallelujah!
After many nights of traveling and working in thick darkness in towns and villages, the month-long mission work eventually ended - the result was that a total of 12 communities were reached with the gospel namely; Bawku, Atuba, Kaadi, Poyanmiri, Guyonko, Azumsapelega, Agatuse, Kpinpkayon, Pialogo, Garu, Koka and Kona. THE LORD IS GOOD, AND HE ADDED A TOTAL OF 65 SOULS TO HIS CHURCH.
MALAWI
October saw Chariot 2 with a breakdown in the Southern part of Malawi which resulted in the chariot needing some repairs to the turbo.
As a direct result of the turbo packing up and us needing to order in a new one from South Africa the chariot had to cancel its last meeting in Malawi. It then moved on to Mozambique and thereafter proceeded back to South Africa. 425 souls were baptized into Christ in total in Malawi and that is all the Lord's doing and the amazing Malawian brethren who work so well together as well as the chariot team of Robert, Tumelo, Lyman and our GCM leader in Malawi, Moster Kanyinji.
In November the mini chariot continued helping the poor with food relief by distributing maze in the Rumphi and Karonga area.
ZIMBABWE
In October the Pretoria and Venda teams worked together to organize a new tent, some chairs and a PA system for the Triangle area in Zimbabwe. May the Word be preached.
Auswich and the Zimbabwean mini chariot reports 28 souls baptized and 6 families restored during the month of October.
At the end of November Auswich crossed into Mozambique (photos below) to spread the wonderful name of Jesus. This gospel chariot might be small, or as I call it, a mini chariot, but huge in message and deeds. Please pray for Auswich and Christopher who work this chariot.
VENDA
Hundreds of youth turned up for the December yearly youth get together. Amazing as young Christians gather and learn from more mature leaders in areas of Christian living and worship and we, as a ministry, are blessed to be part of this effort. Thank You Lord and thank you all who play a part in this effort.
Our Venda team has been working with young people from many areas and the feedback is so encouraging and the brethren need to be commended. This is the future of the church and the goodness that so needs to be taught and caught to help make the world a better place.
Below you can also see our mini chariot being loaded up with the brand new tent, PA system, chairs and other equipment that were donated to our Zimbabwean brethren across the border. We are busy planing a campaign for June 2017 where many of us, along with some Americans, will be returning to campaign again in the Triangle area in Zimbabwe.
BOTSWANA
November saw Bongani and Zonge and big "Chariot One" rolling into Botswana to join the church in Palapye. The church was planted last year by the chariot. Bongani reported that we were there to help them celebrate their first anniversary. The churches around were invited to celebrate with them. We are so amazed the way God is working. The Botswana brothers and sisters are so excited to take Botswana by storm for Christ. We will return every year and help keep the fire burning.
From Palapye the chariot moved on to Molepolole - 40km away from Gabarone. Bongani reported that they had a great week there. They traveled there to help plant a church in the area, 12 people were added to the church.
You can see some of the brethren and elder Dennis Malepa (below centre) from Francistown who travelled to Molepolole to assist with the outreach.
Bongani and Zonge, along with the Botswana team, had a great time working together and the visit yielded a total of 38 baptisms. What a blessing!
TOGO
Willie Gley reports that an earlier seminar resulted in the campaign below which took place in Agou Agbetiko near Kpalime in September. The campaign produced 29 baptisms bringing the total of baptized members at the church to 54. Wow, and so you see, the Lord adds them to the Church!
The students used the chariot on this three day campaign during which they spent time open air preaching at night, door knocking, handing out tracts and preaching one on one in the streets and at the markets.
In October the chariot team took the students from the school to Agoviepe, about an hour away from Kpalime. The campaign resulted in four baptisms and the students spent some invaluable time learning how to teach the gospel and spending time teaching and preaching in the streets.
Willie also reports that they have learnt that tract distribution is an integral part of their work because people go away and read them and then come back with questions generated as a result of reading the tracts and thus setting the stage for one on one bible studies and some great biblical discussions.
BENIN
In late October Honore and Michee travelled with the chariot to the village of Wlédji. Honore reports that it was a teeth clenching trip as the roads were very dangerous. They are not tarred and many sections had been washed away by the heavy rains. Honore reports that the people were very receptive and that many of them were able to read but did not own bibles - the chariot team therefore gave as many bibles as they were able to give away. He says that 9 people were baptized and that they would be encouraged and cared for by the brethren at the Zanduten church.
From Wledji the chariot then travelled on to Glazoue. Seventeen people showed an interest in learning more about the gospel and possibly getting baptized. Pascal, one of the brethren who lives 58 kilometers away from Glazoue, has promised to return to study with them.
Honore sent the following pictures of the chariot working in Benin in early November.
LIBERIA
Isaac reported 39 baptisms in Liberia in late October and early November. They were as a direct result of the chariot working two campaigns at Point Four (late October) and at Gbangata (early November). Below shows some of the work done there....
NAMIBIA
We have been working in Namibia for 16 years now and it has not been easy. We have been blessed to campaign every year and rotate South African evangelists and have planted a number of congregations thanks to our US campaigners and local brethren. The good news is, we have just managed to purchase the Tsumeb Bible School building. Half was donated by the Hillsboro Church in Nashville and the other half of the land purchased by us and now in the name of Gospel Chariot Missions Namibia. This allows us to have a base for our Namibian chariot, but also a place where we can equip Namibians for service in the Kingdom.
We taught our first intake of students in 2016 and Dimpo and the team then went on a country wide practical mission trip visiting congregations and finishing the year off with a bang. Mike Knappier, our USA representative and co worker, will be doing his time in Namibia from February and will help Dimpo with the planning of our 2017 lectureship and campaign, but also visioneering. Namibia is on a roll. God is up to something. GCM has a dream and Namibia has the team.
Dimpo reported the following: "We had a great trip, started off at Grootfontein, Otavi made a stop at Otjiwarongo and then Windhoek. We proceeded to Keetmanshoop and stayed the rest of the weekend. We recruited names along the way, we stopped and slept over in Windhoek, met with Nathan and his other Angolan team members who were visiting and we showed them the truck and we discussed the next year plan. Nathan wants to use the chariot in January at Opuwa region. The Angolan team, after viewing the baptistery, said they wanted to have something like that for the dry season in Angola."
"Keetmanshoop received us well on Friday with the members at the church building waiting for us. We did an outreach with church members being part of it. It was quite encouraging. The church booked the truck next year February. We had a baptism on Sunday in Keetmanshoop. Next was Tsumeb and we had two baptisms, one on Tuesday, and one yesterday. God is working."
SOUTH AFRICA
WESTERN CAPE
Below shows Lazarus Munetsi and Gladman Mani, both from Plettenberg Bay, and the mini chariot who were working their way over the mountains through the small towns of the Karoo and on to the Free State and the country of Lesotho. They then traveled back to the Western Cape via a different route. They were following up on World Bible School students and encouraging brethren and congregations. Below shows the beautiful Dutch Reformed church building in the center of a town called Graaff Reinet built in 1886. Please pray for Lazarus and Gladman as they GO into towns and regions so often forgotten by missionaries.
Lazarus reported that it was great to work with brother Pule Panyane and the Church in Phahameng, Bultfontein and the Church in Soutpan which was started by brother Pule two years ago. From the pictures you can see us with the team, including Dikgang, who is helping the church with brother Pule Panyane. They visited homes, studying and praying and open air preaching in the evenings. The Sunday service was under the tree, wow it was good!
Through this trip some of the students of WBS, who were loosing hope, have now gained the confidence to continue. Below you can see brother Gladman studying with a WBS student in the van. The lady, below with Lazarus, has been studying with WBS and works at Toyota Welkom and was so encouraged to continue with her studies and she also registered with Nations University.
The brother with red trousers, above with Lazarus, will be going to the Short Term Bible school next year. If there are no changes we will have 2 from Bultfontein and 1 from Soutpan. To God be the glory for the good work the church in Bultfontein and Soutpan is doing.
Below shows one of the night time meetings on this trip.
DURBAN
In October the Natal brethren got together to host the chariot and held a seminar and combined gospel meeting with 5 souls being added to the Church. You can see those who were baptized as well as Paulus (from our Durban office) doing some of the preaching.
The chariot then moved on to Empangeni where Bongani reported that although the weather was unpredictable they had a good turn out to the tent meetings.
Bongani spent a whole month working with the Durban and Empangeni brethren. Below shows the meetings taking place in Empangeni. They visited hospitals, prisons and helped the hurting in the community and also worked with the brethren in the region.
The Durban team also hosted two graduations in December. Below shows France Molefi teaching as well as some of the graduation photos.
LESOTHO
When Lazarus and Gladman were travelling through the Western Cape they also crossed over into Lesotho.
Lazarus reported that the team worked with the churches in the Maseru area. They started in Ha Au Village and through the hard work of the brethren there 4 souls were baptized. During the day they also did open air preaching in Qoaling and 2 souls were added to the Lord's body. On the Sunday they then worshiped at Tsenola Church of Christ. The brethren there are working hard to let the community know about God. Again we joined the brethren in their week to week work in high schools. The brethren are indeed working hard, lets keep them in our prayers so that the gospel may reach the unreached.
