Volume 2 Issue 31 April to August 2016 MISSION WORK REPORT BENIN HIGHLIGHT OF ACTIVITIES Let me begin this report with the two men in the picture, ADJAYI Inoussa, on the left who is my Assistant and HIHEAGLO Koffi, our School Administrator. Both men are a blessing from God for the work we do. Both men do their job and keep going the extra mile. They are good team players, they are motivated and they make our work easy. Since we all live on the school campus, there are no working hours. Keep them in your prayers just as you pray for me. CONCRETE FENCE WALL UNDER CONSTRUCTION I celebrated the marriage of Denis and Okorie on April 17at the English-speaking congregation in Cotonou Our twice a month Bible study in the city of Comé is growing with more participating. More than three quarters of the work has been done as at the time of this report. This work was initiated by two BTC staff Joseph and Augustin. What we begun as a small group Bible study has become three large Bible study groups that meet twice a week to pray and study the Bible. To get there, we leave
2 home at 7.00 am on Saturday to be there at 9.00 am. John Kado baptizing our first new disciple in a very beautiful lake in Comé Benin Gospel Chariot team in planning session From the 1 st to 6 th June, I had the opportunity to welcome George Funk from the Republic of South Africa in Accra. The next 6 days were exciting and uplifting. First of all I met the Gospel Chariot Nigeria team lead by Elder Peter Egure who arrived in Accra on May 30 with his wife. Peter wanted to visit the Village of Hope orphanage and schools. We had a great visit to the Gomoa Feteh site near Accra. Fred and his wife Fautina gave us a tour of the schools, medical facilities and the homes for the orphans. The Egures were highly impressed. Peter, Faustina, Comfort and Fred posing in picture with the Village of Hope elementary school building in the background The visit of the team of 4 church leaders was to meet with George Funk and discuss the modalities for the Gospel Chariot Ministries based in South Africa to finance the building of a new chariot for Nigeria. Tuesday 2 June: The Nigerian Team and the Ghana GCM teams met in the motel where the visitors were lodging for a two marathon meetings. The exciting news for the Nigerian team was that a full chariot would be built for Nigeria. It was a time of excitement and great things for the evangelism of Nigeria. George Funk in the meeting with the team from Nigeria. The size of Nigeria requires more than on bus according to the brethren. Here I, far right, pose with the Ghana and Nigeria GCM teams. Fred, welcoming Peter and Comfort Egure from the Kado Church of Christ in Abuja GEORGE FUNK IN TOGO AND BENIN: On 3 July, we drove with George Funk into Kpalime,
3 Togo where the Togo Mini Chariot had been stationed under the leadership of Brother Willie Gley. On the road to Kpalime, we stopped by this very old church building. It looks so old and beautiful. I wonder how much history this old church building is hiding. George Funk posing for a picture in my office We spent the night in a motel in Kpalime, Togo and in the morning George Funk had a meeting with the Togo Gospel Chariot Team. In the morning of 4 June, we visited the Preacher training school in Kpalime where several BTC graduates teach in a leadership training program under the oversight of the Bear Valley Bible Institute. We drove from there to Cotonou, arriving late afternoon. George Funk with the Benin Gospel Chariot team in Cotonou. George Funk in a meeting with the Togo Team. From the 4 to 6 June, we had George Funk all to ourselves in Benin. We gave him a tour of our campus on Saturday. The Benin GCM team had lunch with him during which we shared our plans and dreams. During our discussions about the French-speaking work in Africa, George told me he had not imagined the huge extent of the French-speaking population of Africa. We had a good visit together and shared our great visions of taking Africa for Christ. At lunch with George on Sunday after worship. On Sunday, George Funk and I worshipped with the English-speaking congregation in Cotonou. The singing was great as is always the case with the English-speaking church. Though we came unannounced, both of us were invited to take part in the worship service with Brother Funk giving the closing prayer. After the services, we met with the Benin GCM team for lunch during which we presented our reports and plans to Brother Funk.
4 Brother Funk giving the closing prayer Brother Funk was to catch a plane on Tuesday to Liberia to visit another Gospel Chariot Team. On Monday, Marc and I drove George Funk back to Accra where he spent the night and continued to Liberia on Tuesday. We came back home on Wednesday. These are the layers in both pictures. THE FRANKIE-SMITH AGRIC PROJECT The broilers up and growing in lower picture We have not reported on our agricultural training projects for a while now. We were doing some reorganization. We began with 200 chickens. 100 were layers and 100 were broilers. The third year students were assigned the responsibility of raising the chicken. We have hired a new farm technician. As at the time of this report, I saw only one broiler in the pen. During the graduation ceremony dinners, several of these were used for the meals. Pawpaw plantation on campus farm. One of our graduates came up with the proposal to us to grow pawpaw instead of vegetables. He did a lot of demonstration and told us how it could help our graduates support themselves after graduation. He told us a 3 acre farm would only need a $1,000 investment since we have everything, especially irrigation facilities available already on site. Well, we thought there is no harm in trying so we got involved in March. We bought
5 the seeds and they made the nurseries. Probably a 1000 plants. As at the time of this report, some have produced flowers and as you can see in picture on the left some young fruits have already begun to show. The fence wall offered good protection. In the summer, we have some good rains too so we look forwards to a good harvest. HERITAGE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY INAUGURATION CEREMONY IN ACCRA We had received invitations to participate in the inauguration of the Heritage Christian University in Accra. My two assistants, Koffi and Adjayi went to Accra for the ceremony. In picture below, we participated in the Inaugural public lecture on the theme, MAKING OUR NATION GREAT AND STRONG. On Friday Koffi and Adjayi took part in the public float arounds part of the city of Accra sharing handouts about the HCU. This was followed by a good lunch. We could not attend the second lecture because of tiredness. The three of us from Benin at the HCU campus when I brought Koffi and Adjayi to join the float. Saturday June 18 was the BIG day. In picture below are the HCU staff in procession. In these two pictures we have portions of the participants at the Thanksgiving service on Sunday. Thanksgiving service The Village of Hope school choir provided excellent singing at the event.
6 13th BENIN BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL GRADUATION On 3 July 2016, we graduated a batch of men who have successfully gone through our three years of study. The eleven men came from the nations of Togo (4), Benin (5), Ivory Coast (1), and Burundi (1). This brings the number of men who came through our school since its inception to 167. The BIG tent as at Sunday morning. THE EXPECTANT MEN READY TO GO INTO THE WORLD SOME OF THE FORMER GRADUATES WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY The wives and families of our graduates sitting with their husbands for the graduation dinner. During the occasion, we had a one day seminar for the wives. We try to prepare them to get an awareness of the mission and ministry of the new men who they sent to school three years ago. Part of the brethren gathered for worship. Sitting discretely among them is Brother Doyle Kee from Geneva, Switzerland church. Doyle had been a part of the Benin work and school
7 at its very beginning. He graciously accepted to be our keynote speaker for graduation ceremony. All the 600 chairs we rented were occupied. At last year s graduation, we launched our bid to create our BTC Old Students Alumni. Several men were appointed to prepare the documentation for the Alumni Association. They did a great job. On Saturday 2 nd July, they presented their report and the Alumni Association was launched. Graduates leading the worship service Doyle Kee giving the Keynote address In pictures above we have Doyle Kee speaking to preachers prior to the launching of the Alumni Association. Koffi Kponkanou the top student Doyle Kee preaching the message in French during the thanksgiving worship service that normally precedes our graduation ceremony. Standing to translate for him is Brother Cassimir one of the new graduates. Actually the thanksgiving service is led by the new graduates.
8 OTHER EVENTS For the past three years we have been planning a leadership seminar for fellow preachers in the Ivory Coast. Timing was most of the time the problem but this time, we did it. Joyce, Prince and I accompanied by Esperance Mensah and his wife Augustine drove from Accra to Abidjan for the seminar. We arrived on the 19 th and begun the seminar from 20 through 22 July. I spoke on the subject GOAL SETTING, the power of goal setting, how to become an efficient leader, fixing goals, establishing priorities and how to accomplish the goals. Esperance spoke on the subject MANAGING HUMAN RESSOURCES, team spirit, managing human resources, good working relationships, good communication and conflict management. We had a good time. Esperance and I plan to repeat the same seminar in other parts of Togo and Benin. I worshipped with this congregation in Lome, Togo on 29/05/16 BTC graduate Edward preparing this group for baptism The brethren listening to the speakers New Christians Group picture after the seminar I spoke to this congregation in Accra on 31/07/16 Several of our ministries and ministers have been sending very positive results from their labors. We have the World Radio speaker s reports, we have the Dale and Susan Brown Radio Ministries reports and then reports from the fields. No more space for those in
9 this report. We would do those in coming reports. PRAYING The Benin Gospel Chariot preaching at night in the open air PREACHING Honore, Gospel Chariot staff posing with these new Christians. Some good old memories. The lady in this picture is Ambassador Ruth Anderson Davis chatting with me and US missionary Andrew Gordon in 1995: When we were inaugurating the Bible School, she cut down on her holidays so as to be present with us. Her physical and moral support at the initial stages of the work in Benin were a great blessing to our work. I end this report with our deepest sympathy to Bill Morgan, his family and the Benton Church of Christ for the home call of Irene Morgan. She was a believer in local and world evangelism. One of our biggest supporters. We would always remember her role in our work in Africa. PUBLISHED BY GEORGE AKPABLI Missionary and Director of the Benin Bible Training Center EGLISE DU CHRIST AU BENIN B. P. 01-3268 R. P. COTONOU, BENIN. WEST AFRICA E-mail: akpabli@yahoo.com F.A.C.E. FOUNDATION P. O. Box 454 Benton, KY 42025 270-540-1942 -Visit our Webb site www.frenchafricanmissions.com