We are moving to Gbarnga, Liberia

Our prayer is that there would be a healthy church in every town and village of Liberia within our lifetime.  Most of the towns and villages do not have churches in them.  Our strategy is to start 5 church planting hubs throughout Liberia.  Each hub will oversee disciple making and church planting in 3 counties.  Currently, the Maryland hub oversees ministry in Maryland, Grand Kru, and River Gee Counties while the Grand Gedeh hub oversees ministry in Grand Gedeh, Sino, and Nimba Counties (Look at the map).  This August, our family along with 2 other Liberian families will move to Bong County and start a new church planting hub in Gbarnga, Bong County.  This new hub will oversee disciple making and church planting in Bong, Lofa, and Margigi Counties.  

We praise God for all He is doing in Liberia.  To understand our ministry better, look at the map above.  Notice that several counties have numbers in them.  These numbers represent the number of towns and villages we work in in each county.  The stars represent church planting hubs.  The red and green counties are counties that are being served by our hubs.  The yellow counties are locations of future ministry.  The doted lines represent the roads that go through Liberia.  As you can see, Gbarnga is a strategic location for getting the Gospel into Bong, Lofa, Grand Bassa, Margigi, and Montsenado Counties.  

Last month I went on a mission trip to Gbarnga to seek the Lord's direction and to look for a house for our family to rent.  While there, the Lord confirmed His calling to Bong County.  Last weekend, the Board of Wordsower approved this new work.  

Here is a house that we are looking at renting.  It is located on the top of a large hill that overlooks Gbarnga.  We believe the house would work well for our family and for the mission.  We are in the process of negotiating with the home owner.

Here is a photo of Gbarnga.  Gbarnga is the capital city of Bong county.  It's population is around 20,000 people.  Soon, I will return to Gbarnga to make preparations for our future ministry.  

Many of you have been following Baby Emanuel's story.  Baby Emanuel has greatly impacted our lives.  It is hard for us to understand why special needs children are demonized in Liberia.  Our hearts break.  Recently, Emanuel moved to a different home because the house he was living in was no longer safe for him.  In addition to starting the church planting hub in Bong County, we will assist a friend of ours in starting a ministry to rescue other children like Baby Emanuel.  We pray that many special needs orphaned children can be saved and loved on through this ministry.

Last year, I dedicated much of my time to teaching at the Bible Institute, writing curriculum, and church planting on Sino Road.  Leaders have been trained to take over the ministries I oversaw last year.