South Sudan
Our first trip to South Sudan was in June 2012. During this trip the Lord confirmed our families' call to this country that had been ravaged by war for the last 20 years.
When we returned from our 10 day trip we began deputation to reach the people that God called us to. During our time on deputation the Lord allowed us to take 2 more survey trips to South Sudan, one of those 2 trips we were able to take our 2 girls and introduce them to the people and the country.
In July 2014, the Lord gave us the green light to move our family to the city of Yei, South Sudan. We were able to live in Yei for 6 months before we were pushed out due to insecurity and economic distress in the country.
During our time there we were able to help establish a church plant there in Yei that we had already had the privilege of working with during our time on deputation. Also the Lord allowed us to plant Gateway Independent Baptist Church in a new area in Yei called Lutya. This church has been indigenous from the beginning and is still in the early stages of the growth of the church.
The Lord has also allowed us to begin 2 Bible colleges in the country of South Sudan. One is located in the city of Yei and the other in the city of Maridi. In these 2 locations there are more than 40 men and some women that are learning the true word of God.
Please pray for the country of South Sudan and the people there as they have suffered many years of a depressed state in their country. There are many wounds that the people have and its going to take many years for those wounds to heal.
Our desire is to continue to minister to the South Sudanese people through the church plants and the Bible college. Our goal, as in all our Bible college locations, is that the men trained will go into their areas and villages and plant local indigenous Baptist churches.
South Sudan has hopefully seen a turn for the better in the last week (March 3, 2016) as they have become a member of the East African Community and we pray that this will help stabilize this country in security and economics so that we will be able to minister better there.
