May 2020 Newsletter
A Time of Challenges, A Time of Opportunities
God’s Blessings in a COVID World! Dr. Tim Robnett, President, ETG
What unusual days we are living in! Even after much of our 2020 calendar was canceled (March-August) due to international COVID travel restrictions, God opened new doors—expanding our privilege of announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In March, the Lord gave ETeamGlobal a unique opportunity to partner with two rural churches west of Portland (OR) to present the Good News of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning. These two churches’ 83-year-old tradition of a joint Bald Peak Easter Sunrise Service was not going to be stopped by the COVID-19 virus.
Great unity, willing hands, and the powerful message of the Resurrection brought ETG together with Laurel and Scholls Community churches. In just two weeks we produced the first ever (for them and us!) broadcast-ready Easter Sunrise service. With ETG evangelist Austin Hall preaching, it streamed around the world! We praise the Lord that over 7,000 viewers touched base with this program. The Lord was glorified, the churches were excited, and ETG was honored to serve.
This example of ministry, highlights the passion of our hearts to serve the church in reaching the lost with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Even with the COVID crisis, we have already served with the Church in Russia, Nigeria, and the USA to reach the lost and train local churches in evangelistic ministry.
How 2020 will unfold we do not know. But we are using the technology God has provided to continue our ministry. Since March 17, we have used ZOOM video conferences to hold twice daily prayer calls at 1:00 and 9:00 p.m. PST. Callers from around the world have gathered on ZOOM with us to pray for the salvation of the lost and a revival across our land and the world. It has been a special privilege to pray with supporters and partners from Australia, Spain, Nigeria, Kenya, and the US! Won’t you pray us?
COVID-19 is not stopping our work! We are active in the ministry of evangelism and invite you to join with us in Identifying, Affirming, Training and Mobilizing evangelists globally in 2020 and beyond. We anticipate many exciting ministry opportunities in 2020.
Tim leads Russia Forum session in January
ETG Supporters Respond Big!
Mike Parker, Strategic Dir.
In April we asked for help as COVID-19 shutdowns impacted our partners around the world. Your response was humbling, and we praise God for your generosity! We asked for $10,500. You responded with more than $16,000! As a result, ETG has distributed $15,100 in aid to partners in Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Spain, and Macedonia. You are impacting lives right now!
Uganda:
Arthur Magezi and Christ Transformation Ministries were greatly encouraged by your giving! With the aid received they distributed supplies to 32 bush village churches ETG helped CTM plant over the past several years. About 300 families received rice, corn flour, beans, sugar, and flour. Some families also received funds to buy medicines they couldn’t afford. During these relief efforts, almost 180 people responded to the Good News of Jesus Christ!
Supplies heading to villages
Nigeria:
New Life for All was able to pay a full month’s salary to their staff, many of whom had gone several days without food. New Life for All’s leadership also decided not to pay full salaries so they could provide some funds to the families of evangelists and pastors martyred by Muslim extremists. They sacrificed what they had little of to help others!
Macedonia:
Evangelist and Church Planter Jimmy Simmons and his team also used the aid for staff salaries and they too decided to take a cut in pay, using the money to buy food and medicines for the poorest members of their various church plants. Jimmy wanted to share this message with you: “Thank ETeamGlobal and their donors. We are deeply touched by your love. Thank you.”
Jimmy and team in Macedonia
Rwanda:
Working with Global Partnership Ministries and Rev. Gary Losey, ETG sent $2,500 to our Rwandan partners, Pastor Dany, Augustine, Jean, Ishmael, and Sam. They organized a food distribution that provided for 4,468 people in remote mountain villages. Supplies purchased with your gifts totaled 16,314 pounds! One woman said, “Now I know God is my provider.” Each recipient was also given an opportunity to stay for a message of hope and receive prayer. More than 120 responded to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, while 200 more recommitted their lives to Jesus or asked for more information. Praise the Lord!
Spain:
Evangelist and Church Planter, Pedro Espada, said the gift they received let them continue providing daily meals to about 300 people. All are immigrants from North Africa, Syria, and Iraq. They have seen several responses to the Gospel – especially among the Muslim Berbers from North Africa. Many are now being followed up with guidance on how to grow in Christ.
What’s Next
While the funds provided were of immense help, the needs continue, and we want to keep helping by raising another $15,000 for the partners above, as well as Manna Bible Institute in Kenya. Funds would help with payroll and providing basic necessities to families in their ministry.
Would you consider a gift to help? Please make the check out to ETeamGlobal and in the memo field write: COVID-19 Relief. On behalf of our partners, we at ETeamGlobal thank you for your gifts, prayers and support!
Evangelist Forum Sessions Beat COVID Shutdown!
Before COVID-19 changed our world and closed travel, ETG had completed two missions! Both were Forums for Evangelists; one in Russia and one in Nigeria.
In January, Tim joined recent Multnomah Doctoral graduate Roman Baranowski in Russia for two weeks of Forum sessions in Kazan (60 students) and Ungut (25 students). There is a perception by some that Russia is closed to the gospel or that Christians are oppressed to the point of inactivity. What ETG found dispelled any notion of indifference to the gospel or lack of spiritual passion for Christ. We found two groups eager to learn and grow as evangelists.
With much of the preparation done by Dr. Baranowski, both forums benefited from a diverse group of students that included a strong representation of women, youth, and young adults. What they all had in common was a heart for those without Christ! Tim and Roman enjoyed two weeks of intense and lively interactions with students eager to learn and equip themselves for evangelism. Pray that we can return this Fall to help these brothers and sisters continue to grow and expand their skills as evangelists!
Roman leads Kazan Forum session
Pray also for our new class of Forum students in Nigeria. Tim was back on the road in February to launch the first sessions of our 5th Forum for Nigeria Evangelists. He was joined by fellow ETG evangelist Robie Burleson. Forty-one students are in the 5th Nigeria Forum, the largest class ever! In one week, Tim, Robie, and several Forum graduates led 30 one-hour teaching sessions that focused on the biblical theology of evangelism.
After the sessions were over, Robie flew on to Cairo to meet with several Egyptian church leaders. These were incredibly fruitful discussions and we are excited by ministry opportunities God is presenting to us in that region!
Robie meets with Egyptian church leaders
Eatonville
Something More Family Festival Stays the Course
Eatonville’s Something More Family Festival continues to inspire local pastors and churches to work together with renewed passion to see God revive their community. Six local churches are partnering with ETG in bringing this festival to their community on September 19th.
On April 26th, members of these churches gathered once again, this time on ZOOM, to pray together for their city and county. Some 100 participants joined in via their computers and smartphones to lift up the Name of Jesus and intercede for their family and friends. Each prayer session was led by an ETeamGlobal evangelist and the evening was introduced and concluded by a local pastor who led in exhortations and prayer.
We are planning and praying with real purpose, realizing that the format of our evangelistic efforts may change along the way. But we are working together to Proclaim Christ and His Good News for ALL. Come to Eatonville on September 19th and join the Something More Family Festival!!
COVID-19 Forces Delays to Multnomah Doctoral Program Class Schedule
Like much of the world, Multnomah University has felt the impact of COVID-19. School leaders have pushed back the start of the Global Evangelism doctoral classes to August, Lord willing. They were scheduled to restart in June. Posing a special challenge are the travel bans which are making it difficult to get our international students to campus. It is our prayer that the travel restrictions will ease by August. IF not, we do have a contingency plan in place that implements an online format that enables all students to participate in classes virtually.
L-R: Tim, George Muguro, Arthur Magezi, Martha Wagner, Roman Baranowski
Please pray for Suli, Dan, Moses, and Catherine as they work on their Doctoral Degrees. This is the home stretch! The journey of disciplined study and writing demands the greatest efforts in their educational endeavors, and the high bar of excellence pushes each to new levels of thinking, praying, and articulating their God-called research.
We ask that you also prayerfully consider supporting our Multnomah University scholarship fund. To support current enrolled students, we need to raise $52,000 by the end of the year, with $10,000 urgently needed now.
Charting New Paths in a New Reality
Conrad Parsons, Dir. For Australia, So. Pacific & SE Asia
Closed borders have changed our plans in the South Pacific islands as well, with mission trips cancelled or postponed and teaching schedules disrupted. But in all this, there is good news. Indigenous evangelists we partner with are innovating and generating new plans.
In Samoa, Youth Evangelist Manasa Aloalii launched a weekly outreach program on Facebook called A2J (Addicted to Jesus) that is recorded in his home and includes testimonies from young people. It has been so successful that a radio station is making it a permanent feature of their schedule!
Aboriginal Evangelist Jack Harradine, in Broken Hill (Australia outback) mentors young evangelists and is working with ETG to launch a Forum for Evangelists by the end of the year. We hope to enable another Forum in Papua New Guinea in the near future as well! Another one of our partners, Youth Evangelist Hubert Hebore, who lives near Port Moresby will proceed in July with an evangelistic mission to the people of Ainbai (in the remote north part of the country).
While I still cannot fly due to pandemic travel restrictions, I am teaming up with the Melanesian Brotherhood to reach out to Pacific islanders and Asians who are here in Australia as seasonal workers picking fruit near Victoria. The Melanesian Brotherhood is a 95-year old religious order of indigenous evangelists devoted to sharing the Gospel across the South Pacific. My mission with them is in the planning stage but will likely continue through the year.
Please pray for us as ETG and our regional partners explore new ways to proclaim the Gospel to the unreached in the South Pacific.
