Officially Anouncing our NEW Maternity Project

I consider it a priveldge to serve alongside those who work at the PIM Clinic.  I want to be abundantly clear, I have had very little to do with any of the daily operations of the clinic.  I work with the current staff in coordinating our various ministries (Clinic, CHE, Church Planting).  The medical missionaries who trained and worked with our current staff did an outstanding job preparing them, but then again they all are outstanding people.  Even though there are no longer any medical missionaries serving at the PIM Clinic, the clinic continues to have a leading reputation not only in our own region, but even nationwide. 

The PIM Clinic is considered one of the tops in HIV care and has the highest retention rate of HIV patients in the country... 15% higher than the second highest rate!  Recently the CDC, PEPFAR (the US government's HIV/AIDS program) and our partner Elisabeth Glacier Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) came to our mission center to hear a presentation about how we function and specifically how we apply CHE in our HIV care and follow-up.

The true strength of the clinic is not in its programs, but its servant-minded people.  It's not just a job, but a ministry and testimony to the love of Jesus Christ.  We, CMF together with our national partners at the clinic, believe that God is leading us to make the next big step in serving the people of Ivory Coast.  One of the areas in HIV care that we have struggled with at times is maternity care.  Young women who have HIV still become pregnant and there are special needs and considerations to help the mother and to avoid mother-to-child HIV transmissions.  It has become increasingly difficult to keep our patients' confidentiality and also administer timely and essential medcations to best serve our patients.  This is why we decided to open our own maternity.  By opening the maternity, the PIM Clinic will become the first full-service pediatric AIDS care center in the country.  The CDC, PEPFAR and EGPAF were really excited to hear of our plans.

Our HIV patients now number more than 2,500... and the number continues to grow daily.  The number of expectant mothers also continues to grow.  Combined with Abengourou's lack of good maternity services, we feel now is the time to start our own maternity.  We had originally planned to build a new maternity on our existing property, though it was already crowded, but God presented us with a wonderful opportunity to purchase an adjacent property with all the necessary structures (with space for possible future growth) to start all the services we were hoping to build.  The cost of the new property is one-third (33%) of what it would have cost us to build.  God is good and His plan was so much better than our own.

The total budget for the new maternity project is $84,792.  The purchase of the property is $40,384 and we hope to have commitments for those funds in the next month or so.  The rest of the budget is for equipment and a few renovations of the property.  We are also hoping to receive donations for equipment (incubator, ultrasound machine, etc.) from other groups, so feel free to pass along the info and contact others about this incredible opportunity.  We have already been blessed to have a significant partnering church step forward (Lebanon Christian Church, IN) and pray for many others as well.  Our goal is to start using the new facility by mid-2013.

Please be in prayer for the entire process.  Even purchasing the property could be messy and problematic.  The big issue facing us now is that the property is not "owned" by one individual, but the children of a man who died many years ago. The man had three wives and even though the heads of the children from each of the three wives have agreed on the deal, we are waiting to hear from the others involved.  There are currently 17 people who must agree to our purchase price and sign paperwork.  It just takes one of them to complicate things (i.e. thinking they can get more money out of us or wanting a larger share).  Pray that God would continue to open hearts and doors for the project.

Pray also for new ministry partners to step forward and join us in this new task.  We are hoping not only to have financial partners, but prayer partners and mission project teams (short-term mission teams) participating as well.  We are also praying for someone to serve as a labor and delivery nurse and/or mid-wife during the first intial years (or even long-term)of the maternity.

I also want to pass along my sincere gratitude to the following people who previously served as missionaries in the PIM Clinic: Dr. Brenda Clark (who started the clinic with FAME Canada), Dr. Marvin Clark, Dr. Mike Mawdsley, Juli Duvall-Jones, Henri Buregea, Dr. Bernie Bledsoe (who was instrumental in starting the HIV/AIDS ministry), Carrie Walters and Judy Fish.  Each one of them served faithfully and sacrificially to help establish the PIM Clinic and make it what it is today.  Their impact and influence continues in the lives of those serving today and those receiving care in the name of Jesus Christ.  May God continue to bless you and work through you today.

Progress in the Béoumi Region

Probably our project that I am most excited about is the church planting project in the Béoumi Region.  Last year I shared a story from one of our visits there and the excitement people showed in hearing the truth of God's message proclaimed.  Every time I think about the people in the Béoumi Region and how hungry they are for real nourishment, I think of Jesus' words to his disciples, 

"You may say there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.  Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together." (John 4:35-36 CEV)

From left to right: N'Dri David, N'Goran Emile, Deahon Tro
Three of the five church leaders who joined me on our last trip.

About a month ago we made a trip back to Béoumi to teach and preach to Good News of Jesus.  Many of those who we had previously met gathered together from various different villages.  We studied God's Word together on Friday night, met together Saturday morning, baptized 11 people in the afternoon and evening, then worshipped together Sunday morning. Overall it was a very good weekend.

Pastor Emile batizes Patrice, an exceptional young man
who has an unquenchable thirst for God's Word.  Patrice has
already started evangelizing three neighboring villages.

We were disappointed to learn that our first man of peace who originally hosted us during our first couple of visits turned out not to be much of a peacemaker.  In fact, we had hoped to baptize as many as 60-70 people during our trip, but apparently during the time since our last visit, he mislead both us and the original group of people we worked with.  While he was not able to profit from us, he extorted a large amount of money from this group.  It wasn't until our latest visit that we learned of the depth of his deception.  Much of Saturday morning was spent dealing with the problems created by him.  While it was somewhat discouraging, this group of people are still hungry to hear God's Word.  What the devil meant to tear down, God protected and reinforced as the truth came to light.

The folks in Béoumi gave me a "chiefly" gift.

Our short visit to Béoumi was not our only efforts, but one of our pastors, N'Dri David, stayed behind to teach, preach and encourage the new believers.  He will be spending three months ministering in the Béoumi regions.  Since our departure, he has baptized 15 more people, started churches in two different villages and began three new cell groups in three other villages.  Though David is only 35 yrs. old, he has been a church leader for over ten years.  He himself said that he has never witnessed such a desire to hear God's Word as the people in Béoumi have.


So far, even though we have had some difficulties, God continues to bless to outreach in Béoumi.  We are so excited to see how God will lead the new believers and the exciting things He will do through these new harvest workers.  Please continue to pray for the people of Béoumi.  Pray also for David as he works tirelessly serving our Lord, spreading his Good News.  Pray also for Pastor Jean-Claude and his family.  David will be coming back home in May, and Jean-Claude will replace him out in Béoumi starting in June.  Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.  May God guide us in bringing in a harvest of many souls!

Church Planting Program Changes

One of the main tasks that has kept me busy since arriving is helping the Association of Christian Churches in Ivory Coast (AECCI in french) to get reorganized and rejuvenated.  An important element in church planting here is for fellow christians (especially fellow pastors and leaders) from different Christian churches to come together for mutual prayer and encouragement.  The sense of belonging to a community is essential in the African worldview.  The crisis stemming from the election took its toll on many of the Christian churches.  People lacked money and resources and coupled with security issues, they were not able to freely travel.  Many of our village churches felt disconnected, discouraged and some had a sense of abandonment.  


I made a point to visit at least a couple churches in each region to get reconnected with our church leaders (currently there are 20 Christian churches).  We tried to deal with a few small disagreements and nagging issues that developed during our family's time out of the country.    Following various meetings, including the appointment of the national leadership for the next three years, a spirit of unity and common vision was restored.  Our Meningitis vaccination campaign had a lot to do with healing the sense of abandonment.  We are looking forward to following God's leading among us.


A few changes came out of these meetings that will help us long-term.  We have moved from a top-heavy leadership structure to a greater focus on groups of churches collaborating in local ministry.  Decisions will be made according to the felt needs of the community instead of those at the top, who are removed from their situation.  


The old structure, during times of crisis, handicapped the local churches which considered themselves dependent upon the national leaders.  When the national leaders had difficulty visiting and communicating with one another and the various churches, the churches often waited to hear from them.  When they didn't, they quickly became discouraged.  While we have tried to establish autonomous churches with local leadership, the reality is there exists a real need for them to be networked and working together to accomplish the Lord's work.  The question before us was how to keep churches connected, have a national identity (which is also important to them) and yet have the decision-making and the ministry more focused on the local level.


We retained the basic national leadership structure and these leaders will be focused on helping discover a common vision for our churches and overseeing the larger projects (i.e. the church planting project in the Beoumi region, national convention).  We are hosting a leaders retreat, lead by the Association leaders, where we will devote our time studying God's word and praying together, seeking His will for our lives and His church in Ivory Coast.  During the retreat, church leaders living in the smaller regions (also called church clusters) will meet to discuss how the Spirit of God is leading them within their regions.  We want the work to be focused on God leading us individually and yet collectively.  We desire our plans to be Spirit-driven and Bible-based applied both locally and nationally.  We hope to grow within while reaching out into new areas.


The hope is that these church clusters will help fulfill the need for connection and shared responsibility while giving a greater sense of ownership for the decisions being made.  These decisions will come more directly from felt needs and God's leading on how to minister to those needs.  The Association will help organize the various activities whether they be CHE based (Community Health Evangelism), leadership training or evangelism.  Our goal is to simplify things and have people follow God's leading instead of someone else's plan.

Nestor Assamoi

Besides helping them work through the reorganization process, the mission has also taken back the oversight of the leadership training program.  We have hired one of our graduates from the leadership training program, Nestor Assamoi, who also serves as the Associate Pastor here in the Abengourou Christian Church.  I am excited to be working with Nestor.  He did a great job continuing to oversee the leadership training program in his local area despite the crisis during this past year.  So be praying for Nestor and I as we try to reorganize and jumpstart the program.


So I would ask you all to be praying for the following requests:


-Our Leaders Retreat taking place this month March 14-16.  Pray that God's Spirit and His word would move in us and guide us in our decisions.
-Nestor and I as he adjusts to his new position and the small modifications being made to improve the leadership training program.
-Good collaboration among the church clusters in their planning and organization.