May 2022 End of Month Report

May 2022 End of Month Report

4 - Countries: Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia
7 - Bases - 4 in Liberia (Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County; Sinje, Grand Capemont County, Voinjama, Lofa County and Gbarpolu County), 1 base in Ivory Coast, 1 base in Sierra Leone, 1 base in Guinea
17 - Total counties we ministered in
202 - Total communities/villages/towns/cities we ministered in
191 - Total mission trips 
167 - Persons were baptized
26 - Attended Wordsower Bible Institute, level 3, 2-week class, in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh
27 - Attended Wordsower Bible Institute, level 4, 2-week class in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh
13 - Attended Wordsower Bible Institute, level 2, 1-week class in Blolequin, Ivory Coast     
27 - Attended Wordsower Bible Institute, level 2, 1-week class in San Pedro, Ivory Coast     
14 - Churches where we did leader trainings
4,859 - Viewed the Jesus Film, 29 locations and 40 times shown
424 - Attended our 1-3 day trainings in 4 locations
4 - Broadcasting on community radio stations 
25 - Dental patients, 34 teeth pulled
38 - Adult literacy school
57,000 - Copies printed, 638 booklets made (English)
Our on-site leaders and the donations of churches and individuals from abroad are bringing in a great harvest. We need the unity of us all, His Church, to accomplish his command to reach the world. Thank you for your love, and faith and for sacrificing with us. 
I was reading an article from thetruthsource.org, What is the cost of baptisms. Below are some statements from the article:

• Christ said, ‘Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit… (Matthew 28:19).’  How effective do we carry out this process?  What does it cost to reach lost sinners, hear them ‘confess with (their) mouth the Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9; Matt. 10:32-33);’ and go ‘down into the water… baptized’ (Acts 8:38)?... More than 100,000 people die every day without knowing Christ. Do we use our resources effectively?

• Less than 1% of Christian revenue is spent on evangelism to the most unreached peoples. Usually about 95% or more of church revenue is spent on maintenance, insurances, salaries, loan repayments, and utilities in the average American church. 

• The total revenue received for all Christian ministry, in the United States, divided by the number of baptisms per year, in the United States, is about $1.5 million per baptism. (Gordon Conwell’s Center for the Study of Global Christianity). 

$1.5 million dollars per baptism in the USA. I can’t believe that is correct!!! But I would not be surprised if it was hundreds of thousands of dollars. We know our Lord’s Church has more financial and Biblical directives then just to baptize. But baptism is an indicator of church growth, an important indicator of those who have made a covenant commitment to our Lord. In May we spent $33,000. In the summary above, we see that 167 were baptized. $33,000 divided by 167 is $200, $200 per baptism. Through your donations there is much fruit! Truly, the harvest here is plentiful! Light shines brightest in the darkest places and it is shining brightly here. Most of these baptisms were within Muslim unreached tribes.

These verses that come to mind:

• Jesus said, “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” Rev 3:7-8. The door is open. Pray it will remain open for long. 
• Paul said, “A great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.” 1 Cor 16:9. At this time there is an open door without deadly persecution. I’m sure deadly persecution will come in the future. Now is the time to act, now is the time to lay a foundation, a foundation that will withstand the coming persecution. 
• Paul said, “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” Col 4:3-4. Pray for us, unite with us in spirit, that we may boldly proclaim the truth of our Lord. The truth that brings salvation by faith.
• “When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:12-14. I believe our Lord has united us, “For such a time as this”. This is our opportunity! No matter what we do, our Lord’s will is going to be accomplished! But woe to us if we refuse such a great invitation from our Lord to participate.

Often, Paul would go into new territory and evangelize, start discipling and then move on into new territory. He then had Titus, after some time, come from behind and develop the spiritual leaders who would lead the churches. Paul said, “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” Titus 1:5. We do the same, we send out an advance team evangelizing, baptizing and starting discipleship. A secondary team is assigned to follow behind them and establish fellowship groups. They are to start churches and train the spiritual leaders to pastor the churches. 

Testimonies:

Often when a Muslim hears that another Muslim has made a commitment to become a Christian, then they may shrug their shoulder. But when a former Muslim is baptized, then it is a sign of serious commitment to Christianity and the casting off of Islam. No former Muslim takes baptism lightly. Those who baptize know it will cause family disgrace, persecution, removal from their family and culture, suffering and maybe even death. So, when you see the baptism numbers in our reports, then know with each comes true faith and sacrifice. 

These reports are coming from our indigenous missionaries that go into churchless unreached Muslim communities. So many testimonies have been left out. Below is a sampling of what I receive every day.

• A massive crusade is ongoing in the rural regions… What a great joy, the Kingdom of God is on the offensive, while the kingdom of Satan is on the defensive. We are the ones attacking… We are battling against the strongholds of Satan… we are soldiers of Jesus Christ… the front liners, fellow combatants… our military tactics are drastically depopulating the Satanic kingdom… No surrender, no retreat, we keep advancing, no rest… no turning back…We bear fruit, train pastors to shepherd the new converts…We are moved by the direction of the Holy Spirit who is leading us… our strength is our unity and your prayers are our working tools.
• A report from the Tenme-Banta unreached Muslim tribe: We baptized 149 people in three different villages and printed certificates for them, a day later, we returned to distribute their certificates. While distributing the certificates, in one of the villages, two of the oldest women sent a boy to call us. We went to the women. One of them said to us, “My children, we are old but want to be baptized because we have understood that JESUS is the only way to heaven and we don't want to miss seeing Jesus in heaven, please take us to the river for baptism”. We were left with no option, we prayed with them, walked to the river, and baptized both of them at once. While we were still in the water, a young fisherman came and requested to be baptized and we did baptize him immediately. Brethren, Jesus is truly with us as we obey and implement the GREAT COMMISSION. Afterwards it was such a joy to see the faces of these old women as they sang, praising God, in their local dialect. We are asking for your prayers and support, to keep these old women in the faith. It is not just easy to get converted from Islam to Christianity, most especially in their old age.”

• The boy is 14, is in Sierra Leone, and is from a Muslim unreached tribe. He told us that he has been having dreams of Jesus. He explains the dreams to his father, the Iman of the village mosque, but that his father does nothing about it. While we were in the village teaching the Bible, the boy came to us to be baptized. So we went to his father, the Iman, to ask for permission to baptize and tell of his son's decision to follow Jesus. Surprisingly, his father agreed, and we baptized the boy. Upon our return from the river, the Iman told me that he had also been having serious dreams about seeing his son preaching to crowds and in churches. The father, the Islamic spiritual head of the village, said that he appreciates our presence in his village. We are committed to discipling the converts and the baptized.
• We baptized 24 people and will go back to show the Jesus film tonight.
• Bohemu is a town of over a hundred inhabitants. After series of discipleship meetings, and 3 nights of revival meetings, 15 persons were baptized. Since the establishment of the town, no Christian gathering has ever taken place, except for today. Praise God a church is finally being established.
• We need your intervention on the issue of the churchless. We baptized 105 people in a town. There is no church here. We need to plant a church. We have met the last 5 Sundays under a mango tree.

• We sent out 2 teams. One team baptized 105. The other team baptized 40. Pray that our Lord will protect them in the persecution that is before them.
• We baptized 23 this morning. The chief of the town also came to us to be baptized. All returned with joy, celebrating. The majority of the villagers are not happy that their chief made decision to become Christian, that he was baptized, and that he has given up Islam.
• This chief is a regional chief over many chiefs. He is now going from village to village encouraging all the chiefs within his region to give up Islam, become Christian, and be baptized!

Participate with us in praise and prayer:

• Pray: For our indigenous missionary teams, that they will continue to fearlessly, boldly and sacrificially advance the gospel into the unreached tribes.
• Pray: For our new indigenous missionary team to Guinea. They are going to 2 unreached, Christian-less tribes. Pray that our Lord will reveal where they shall establish their base.
• Pray: For us we march into and live within the strongholds of Satan to, “snatch others from the fire and save them.” Jude 1:23.
• Pray: “Finally, our friends, pray for us that the Lord's message may continue to spread rapidly and be received with honor, just as it was among you. Pray also that God will rescue us from wicked and evil people; for not everyone believes the message.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2.

Donations:

100% of all donations go to the mission. None is used for administration. Tax-deductible receipts will be sent each January.

Click here to donate online and select "PARTNERSHIP - WORDSOWER AFRICA"

Check Donations:

Please make checks payable to the “Woodside Vision Foundation” designating “Wordsower Africa” on the memo line of the check. Please include your name and address for the receipt, if the information is not already on the check. Mail to:          

Woodside Vision Foundation

6600 Rochester Road

Troy Michigan 48085

If you have questions or problems with donations or want to contact me, Kim Smith, then

email me at kimlogansmith1957@gmail.com. I’m also available on the app called Whatsapp, the contact number is +231881344417

Summary of financial report for May:

$1,240 – Employee pay for 8 employees, Zwedru base

$905 – Assistance to the poor; medical, rent, school fees, funeral expenses - Zwedru base

$691 – Base expenses; food, maintenance, local transport – Zwedru base

$2,762 – Missions; sending teams into the remote villages – Zwedru base

$974 – Bike repairs – Zwedru base

$1,217 - Gas for bikes and generators – Zwedru base 

$665 – Radio broadcasting from 4 stations

$24 – Printing department – Zwedru base

$180 - Adult Literacy

$35 – Video department

$12 – Optical department

$5,018 – Construction project – building a new kitchen

$1,718 - Wordsower Bible Institute, 2-week class, Level 3, Zwedru, Liberia

$1,583 - Wordsower Bible Institute, 2-week class, Level 4, Zwedru, Liberia

$1,600 – Grand Capemont County missionary team is reaching 2 unreached Muslim tribes 

$1,500 - Lofa County missionary team is reaching 2 unreached Muslim tribes

$1,800 – Lofa County Missionary base rent

$1,600 - Gbarpolu County missionary team is reaching 2 unreached Muslim tribes

$1,635 – Sierra Leone missionary team is teaching 1 unreached Muslim tribe

$795 – Sierra Leone base rent

$2,500 – Ivory Coast mission team going to several unreached tribes

$1,000 – 1 new motorbike for Guinea team

$1,000 – Guinea Missionary team

$2,000 – Missionary Aviation Fellowship – they fly our supplies to us. Road impassible

$195 – ITEC – Missionary training organization that came and trained base leaders in mechanics

$328 – Bank fees, the cost of receiving and sending money from USA and our international bases

Total – $32,957