Three Snapshots
Pastors Alainde, Pape, and Massamba
Two years ago, the Lord laid on Pastor Alainde's heart Tivouane Peule, a town in his area with no Christian presence. He began to pray and fast for an open door to start a work there. A few Sundays ago, a new family visited at his church for the first time. As they introduced themselves, Carlos shared, "We just moved to Tivouane Peule, and this is the closest church we could find, but it's hard to get here with my whole family." And that's how, a couple weeks later, on Sunday evenings, a group of believers began meeting in Carlos' home. Praise the Lord with us for His providential guidance, and please join us in praying for this nascent church.
Last year, Pastor Pape, a Muslim background believer, began a church planting work in his community of Yoff in Dakar. His approach was simple: Go door-to-door and share the gospel with people. Pray for their requests. Invite them to trust in Christ alone for eternal life. The church now welcomes 20-30 on an average Sunday. When I asked him how many of them were transfer growth (believers from other churches), Pape replied, "Two." He led everyone else to Christ himself! Praise the Lord for what he is doing in Yoff! Please pray for Angie as she begins her first of a set of monthly seminars to the women at Pape's church on the basics of the Christian life. She'll open on Saturday with keys on how to interpret the Bible.
Shortly before her death, Pastor Massamba's mother trusted Christ as Saviour. He credits this in part to the fact that he hadn't compromised his testimony to his Muslim family by fleeing at the first sign of persecution. "I suffered a lot, but isn't that what Christ calls us to?" Since that time, five of his nieces and nephews have come to saving faith, following their uncle's example by remaining in the home despite family opposition. Their father and Massamba's brother "Abdou" is now sick and Massamba is asking for prayer for him. Would you pray that the Lord would draw this lost man to himself?
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