Fornelli Ministry Update

El Faro in Guatemala

2011-11-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

At El Faro Camp in Punta de Palma, our main emphasis is on influencing national leaders through various "seed" projects. Some of those seed projects are:

*using Bible narratives for evangelism
*teaching disease prevention
*building kitchen gardens, solar ovens, simple water filters

This is how a typical home visit goes. (photos courtesy of Gavin, soccer coach extraordinaire - check out his blog at www.growingchampions.blogspot.com)

"Buenos Dias!", we shout... for some reason or another, we're always welcomed, and invited to come in and meet the people.

After a brief introduction and asking everyone's name - questions about the health of the family and community...

"How is the health of this community?" "Fine."
"Are there any sicknesses?" "Yes."
"What sicknesses?" "Lots of diarrhea and fever."
"How is your water supply here?" "It's good."
"How are sicknesses spread?" "Through the water."
"How is your water supply here?" "It's not good."

After we do a bit of teaching on how to purify water, we tell a Bible story and ask simple questions about it.

Community Healthcare Evangelism training in Nicaragua

2011-10-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

In Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, we began training 15 national leaders in CHE. It will take some time before they are official "Trainers of Trainers" in Community Healthcare Evangelism.

Armed with a simple Health Prevention Manuals published by Medical Ambassadors International and the list of Chronological Bible stories they'd worked on in the past, we made several home visits.

They were excited! People LOVED inviting us into their homes and listened intently.

Some conclusions about Italy and Greece

2011-10-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

John thanks the Lord for a very good trip to Italy and Greece with "D". He feels he has more clarity re future ministry and what it means and looks like.

D is an Apostle on the Refugee Highway with lighthouses (His word) all along the highway. Greece is a very unique opportunity for the Gospel to M___s from the 10/40 window. Perhaps one of the most wide open doors because entire families are there and receive little help or attention. They are a captive audience. Children cannot go to school.

Rent is cheap for places to do set up Christian schools, refugee centers, etc. We visited 3 Christian refugee centers in Athens. No refugee centers exist in Patras except one Greek church who provide one meal a month.

D wants us to teach storying to hundreds of Iranian and other youth in August. Some will even sneak here from Iran. He wants us to train some of his key leaders as well as his wife, daughter and others in Greece and unleash them to do the stories right there in Greece while we are there.

The final thoughts John received from Greece is it is a place where whole families are captive audiences for the Gospel. One of the centers run by Koreans wants to have a school for kids. They have a 3 story building but one full time staff. They pleading for help. They have funding from Korea but no workers. All that, and then there is Patras, where there is nothing!

Pray with us about going to Greece in March or April, 2012 then also to Italy in August, 2012.

Italy and Greece

2011-09-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

D, an Iranian evangelist's van was stolen in July. However, the Lord has moved in the hearts of His people. On Sept 26, John will be delivering a generous offering to him in Italy and then will accompany the evangelist to Greece, the first stop on "the refugee highway".

Many middle eastern refugees are stuck in Greece, where they are badly abused. John will go to deliver the gospel to them as they wait for an opportunity to seek work in northern Europe.

Watch This! Afghan refugees trapped in Greece

We pray for safety and many opportunities to share the Good news about Jesus Christ!

Community Healthcare Evangelism

2011-09-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Cheryl leaves for a week of training in CHE - Community Healthcare Evangelism. We were introduced to CHE in Papua New Guinea, where we saw community leaders rally around various projects and improve their communities.

We plan to present this holistic approach to empower our national partners in Guatemala in October and then, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

From the streets of Rome

2011-07-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Here is John's update on the van that was stolen last week from the Iranian evangelist, "D". The van was one of his only possessions. They had been using it for ministry and shelter while working on the streets of Rome. A few days ago. Someone posted a threat on the Iranian Christians in Italy web site: a message to D.

Mookh Gear Gojteh boodeye ke joloio mecrem. "To the brainwasher. we told you we would stop you."

Because of the van, we have been sleeping on the streets on cardboard. Hotel Cardboard is a great place to really connect with the young refugees from the middle east.

It continues to be too amazing for words. Most of these boys are from Afghanistan, but had been living in Iran. One young man is filled with grief and anger over what he experienced in the military in Afghanistan. His stories of inhumane treatment of people are beyond comprehension. D, is very wise in the way he speaks and treats these guys.

The men have been listening to LOTS of Bible stories - asking lots of questions, talking about different religions and talking about how they doubt God's existence. They cannot fathom how God could exist after seeing what they've seen. But the Lord gave me some words that really seemed to make sense to a young man named "M".

A few times M would say,

"Wow, we have to talk."

One of those times was when I said,

"The only way YOU are ever going to know if God exists as when he slaps you on the head like this (I playfully slapped him.), given all you've been through."

This young man is always smiling and friendly and he told me he just wants to see his dad again. I said something like,

"How is it that you are such a nice young man? Why haven't you killed me but instead you've treated me with such kindness and respect? Why do you smile all the time? Where does that come from given what has happened to you? Why do you love your mom and dad so much? Follow those feelings you have inside. That is love!!! Follow that love because that's the light that will lead you to Christ who said, 'I am the light of the world!' God HAS slapped you on the head and said, 'Here I am!' Jesus said, 'I am the way the truth and the light, nobody comes to the Father but by me.'"

At some point, while we were gathered in a circle sitting on rug, M gestured to me,

"Can we talk?"

I said,

"Of course, I'd love to talk with you."

We had a great time talking until he finally left around 2 am. He wants to talk more.

Another night, a group of kids surrounded me and began setting up a place we could sit and talk. One young man who had arrived in Rome from Afghanistan only 2 days before, began to talk to me.

I said,

"How are you? Are you OK? Did anybody hurt you? Welcome to Italy."

He said,

"Why are you here?"

I said,

"Because you boys don't have your parents so I come here to see how you are doing and talk with you."

He was genuinely grateful and we enjoyed our time of visiting each other.

...more from Rome

2011-07-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

John writes:

Last night was amazing! A group of about 6 or 7 boys were waiting for me to tell stories when I arrived. First, I asked about their lives, though. One boy of 16 was put in prison in Greece. Another put in prison and they somehow hurt his leg really bad. They asked why I am sleeping out in the street with them.

I said, "When I go to different cities I like to stay in nice hotels. Rome has some really good hotels but this one is my favorite. That's why I'm here." I was expecting laughter. Instead they very sweetly and sincerely said, "Thank you". The whole night they sat and listened and asked sincere questions. I said I would tell 2 stories. First I told the Tower of Babel. We talked about it briefly. Then I told The Calling of Abraham in Gen. 12. At one point I said, "Jesus brings all the promises of Abraham to fulfillment by blessing all the nations with forgiveness of sins and making us members of God's family."

I told the story of when people told Jesus his family arrived to visit him. D spoke too. At the end a young man took D aside and said he wanted to give his life to Jesus. We took him to a bench and prayed with him and he prayed humbly. We praised the Lord afterward. He wants to be baptized. He has to be careful about others finding out he is hanging out with D and is a believer. He says he suddenly feels confused and disoriented.

Our good friend, J, who is always with us is a great servant. He calls our sleeping arrangements "Hotel Cartonia". (cardboard) Never thought I would, but, I sleep like a baby on the warm concrete with a cool breeze. It is right in the path leading to stairs down to the metro. So at about 6 am people start walking by us. Tomorrow the 3 of us will return to the camp. Tonight is an open air meeting. On Friday D wants me to go w him to another city to visit a believer.

We'll return to "Hotel Cartonia" next Wednesday.

Update from the Storyteller

2011-07-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

More positive news from John after the theft of D's van and their "things":

Last night was truly amazing. Imagine sitting with about 15-20 Afghans who lived in and fled Iran. Young men some 16 years old to 20 something. I told Bible stories and D spoke answering questions. Unbelievable! All I could think of is now I know why I've learned all these stories. If it was just for this it would be worth it. What an opportunity!

We stayed up to about 130 am and woke up about 6. Now I'm at RG missionary, Zach's house again. I'll be taking a shower here. I bought a t-shirt, soap, razors etc for the 3 of us. D and J slept one on both sides of me. We slept on cardboard and the Afghans gave blankets to us. The Catholic church provided blankets and many have tents.

One young boy about 18 yrs old became good friends. Asked if I wanted to sleep in his tent and him outside. He was so gracious. These are just nice boys really. No need for fear them at all. Like my sons.

I can't wait to be with them again tonight and then tomorrow we'll have some sort of open air event somewhere. Also helped with the English class today 9-3 and yesterday too. Last night I introduced myself by talking about my nice life at home and how I've never experienced anything close to what they have experienced. One 16 year old said he took 3 years to get here.

I told them I really respected them and wanted to get to know them. I told them my name (John) means God is gracious and then I told about the 400 years of silence followed by birth of John the B. Told story of Jesus casting out 2000 demons and they had many questions about Satan. They have some weird version of Satan. I said, "Do you want to know what Moses said about it?" Then told story of the fall. They listened attentively as you can imagine.

Finally, D told his testimony to the ESL team visiting from Ohio. It is more amazing than I knew.

Pray for "D"

2011-07-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a recent update from John, in Italy. Please pray for D, the Iranian evangelist he is working with. His life has been threatened before, because he is a former Muslim. Now, he has lost something very important. Please read what John writes:

D, his friend, J, and I drove down yesterday to Rome in D's obtuse, bright red newly painted, old Ford from England with the driving wheel on the wrong side. There is a large sign saying Chiesa Evangellica Persiana and then also "Io Sono il pane della vita" in bright yellow letters. It was strange sitting as a passenger in the front on the driver's side. We parked along an ancient wall across from the Piramide train station where D hangs out to witness to other middle-eastern refugees. His little church group also meets up the street. The night we arrived we parked across from where the Afghans and others lined up for their daily dinner meal. J laid out a nice little mat on the floor for me and gave me a pillow. They have a small stove for tea and some benches. The van is filled with Bibles. D takes it here for special occasions. He pulls out a table and sets up tea during colder months. He wanted me to tell stories while we have tea. He now calls me the Naggal (story teller). These Naggal people used a large scroll with drawing to tell stories in Iran. They would begin with a story and you had to pay them to continue.

Today I took D to get some food at a super market for the three of us. While we were gone, our mobile hotel van vanished in broad daylight! Thank the Lord I was carrying all the money and passport. But, D's loss is huge! His sons and others worked on that van for months to spruce it up. Someone was going to provide funds for him to travel to Greece with it.

The enemy is definitely against this ministry.

I didn't lose much: Clothes, my Italian and English Bibles, back pack, sleeping bag, I pod, toiletry bag. I still have other clothes and my suit-case back at the camp outside Pisa. Now, as I write, I remember how D insisted I not bring my suitcase. Thank the Lord. Also, thank the Lord I didn't bring a guitar on this trip.

Today, D took me to a Catholic mission place downtown where immigrants line up for food and a shower. The mission provides a prayer rug and place for them to pray to Allah but will not allow anyone to talk about Jesus! I stood in line with them and D translated as I told the story of Abraham taking Sarai to Egypt. They loved it. What an amazing and easy opportunity. Made really good connections with a few young men. Wed night we will be doing some open air and D wants me to do more Old Testament stories. He keeps saying how he can't believe he never thought of doing this. Later, I taught his Rome church group story of Mark 1 - casting out the demon in synagogue. They loved it and want us to return and help them.

Italia

2011-07-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

John writes from Italy:

It is very nice weather here in Tuscany. What beautiful countryside! I’m staying with "D" and his family. The local Italian churches love this place and use it regularly. Each week someone comes to preach. This is one place in Italy where churches have joined a 24 hr prayer movement. So, that’s a great sign of God's blessing.

The testimony of "D" (the middle eastern evangelist John is working with) and his disciples here is absolutely incredible. He has small groups of disciples in multiple locations. I think I’ll be traveling to see some or all of them. They’ve asked me to speak here in their big tent on Wed. I plan to tell Ex 2: Moses Flees to Midian. I think D, his family and disciples are going to become good friends. His wife is a gem. You wouldn’t believe what they’ve been through. D was tortured for his faith and so fled his country. I have an article about him in Italian that I hope to translate. They’ve taken their daughter almost every day to the hospital for severe headaches. They think it’s a virus but can’t figure it out. Last night everyone prayed over her and she felt better but at midnight went to the hospital again.

I’m doing great here really. I was asked to speak multiple times in the piazzas and streets. Yesterday I spoke in a piazza of a town near Pisa called Santa Croce. I felt God’s Spirit and told the parable of the hidden treasure and pearl of great price. Then I spoke about the holy cross. Today they invited me to preach in a church. People from Nigeria and Sri Lanka were there. I was invited to lunch in an Italian home for the first time. I loved it! I’ve been having a blast speaking “la lingua con tutti”. A nice man in church gave me an offering toward the work.

I guess I’ve been in denial re: my arm and hand since the bike accident. I can’t play guitar much at all. Overall, I feel very weak and incapable of much. I don’t have constant pain though! Thank the Lord. I keep the sling on most of the time.

The people I'm living in community with are very mature with sound, healthy doctrine and in every way as far as I what I can see. I think emphasizing the simple gospel every day has helped keep them from going off kilter. They really live by faith and love one another, work hard and are faithful.

There’s much to say about the place I’m staying. It is really very impressive. This community moves from place to place. They have arranged phenomenal logistics. Some families have been living like this for over 30 yrs. They re-use and rebuild everything: vans, cars, mobile homes… and make a lot of things themselves. They constructed a little wooden place with cabinets, shelves - even a shelf for a VCR or DVD player, closet, and tiny bathroom – that has a bucket with a lid. Interesting toilets! To go to the bathroom, you pull out the bucket and walk down the path to where they have a poop container. You dump it in and wash your bucket in water filled with disinfectant. Drinking water in tanks is plentiful. The daily schedule tells when sisters and brothers use the showers. They get unwanted food as donations. Yesterday they received a huge amount of fruits and veggies from the market for free. I have a huge bowl of humongous grapes, cantaloupe, plums and lettuce in my 'container' house. I’m sure glad I have the camera.

John writes...

2011-06-29T05:35:00.000-07:00

Ciao Bello!
I'm heading for Rome. When I arrive I'm to call "D", a middle eastern evangelist, who has an effective ministry with immigrants. I'll be taking a train from Rome to Pisa to meet with him for a few days. Thank the Lord for strength to go.

My wrists are pretty weak and I'll be in a sling for a few more weeks.

Casa a Casa

2011-06-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

Casa a Casa ... House to House

That's what we started to call it in Papua New Guinea a few years ago:

Learn a Bible story,
Tell it,
Teach it,
Show others how to do the same thing,
Spread it around ...
House to House.

While in Punta de Palma, Guatemala, we spent a significant time with local believers, going house to house in the villages. We'd take turns sharing a simple Bible story and praying with people. Most of the time, people welcomed us and listened ...

... and some of the time, it led to meaningful relationships and conversations. With encouragement, one of the House to House team members, Candida, continued to add to her repertoire of Bible stories and recruited others from her church to join her.

She pays particular attention to getting all the details of the story right. She sees the importance of learning, telling, teaching and teaching others to do the same!

We are also thrilled to see that Candida sees the value in going outside of her church building, since she and many members of her church go every night and think that, if you don't, you are not persevering in your faith.

Sometimes, when we are in Guatemala, we have been approached by a pastor who says,

"We are looking for help to build our church. We need to put up walls... we need a new roof etc."

We seriously consider these requests, but we think,

"We are looking for help to build the Church too! Only this Church has no walls or ceiling."

Witchcraft

2011-05-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Another update from John in Guatemala:

Today I took a ride with Nelson, one of the employees at El Faro Camp, to a village where El Faro is constructing a building for a school. I had a very meaningful meeting with 3 ladies who have a tiny church. Their husbands were working on the building with Nelson.

First I told a Bible story in a class at the school to kids 11-14 years old. I was surprised how they unresponsive they were. I told the story of Peter walking on water and asked them to break into 2's or 3's to retell it. Finally one kid told the story. But when I asked them "What's Jesus like in this story?" they wouldn't respond at all. Finally one girl said Jesus is "good." I tried to get them to open up a little more but then just brought everything to a close.

It was so unlike the other places around here where everyone goes to church. In one town there are 5 churches for example. But the ladies then revealed that they are the 4th evangelical church that has tried to become established there. The others were all kicked out by another well-established church.

While this church was beginning to construct their building they would find places on the property where animal sacrifices were offered. They said there is a lot of witchcraft in that area.

So then I realized why those students acted as they did. I plan to go there tomorrow (Thurs) at about 4 pm and stay until the little church has their service. I'll try to meet some of the people.

By the way, there is a carpenter who lives next to the church and helps them. A very humble guy named Jose Angel! He gave me a few flower-holders he made by hand.

Notes from Guatemala

2011-05-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

John writes from El Faro Camp in Guatemala:

Praise the Lord for the many opportunities to preach the Gospel and train leaders here. Every day I am visiting homes, schools and meeting new people. Today I taught an entire elementary school the Ten Commandments. Using Bible stories opens the door for the Gospel, sometimes on the street, on the beach or in a house. Every day I lead a group of workers in a devotional here where I'm staying.

They actually listen! One of my favorite experience happened with a teen age boy who was guiding me around the neighborhood. We were on the beach when I told him the story of when Jesus told Peter to open a fish's mouth, take out a coin to pay the temple tax. It's such a funny story but it opens up a discussion about being a "son" of a great King. Pray for God to pour out His Spirit upon this region through His Word as it spreads through new story tellers. Pray for Cheryl as she joins me this Friday [May 27].

Back to the Kekchi people

2011-05-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

This week, John is going to Punta de Palma for about a month.

Cheryl will join him there for part of that time, thanks to our dear friend and supporter, Phil Ephraim, who also owns Camp El Faro . This is where we will be staying during our time there.

Previously, our focus has been on developing local pastors. This time, we will focus more on an "incarnational" style of teaching and evangelism: side-by-side with a local believer or two - visiting villages and homes - sharing Christ through the beautiful narratives of the Bible.

Please pray that the right leaders would allow us to encourage and work alongside them in this endeavor.

Microenterprise in Nicaragua

2011-04-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

The Miskito pastors and leaders in northeast Nicaragua continue to work hard and often sacrifice to travel and spread the Good News of Christ through Bible narratives. But, because of their poverty, they are so limited in what they can provide for their families. Their congregations are not able to support them. They have very limited access to simple things like school for their children, medical care for their families etc.

We have been burdened for a long time about this! We can teach them about the Bible, but what can we do to help them to support themselves. We can send money from time to time, but is that the best thing for them?

Recently, the pieces have begun to fit together. We are working on a partnership that may be able to help them with micro-business loans that will sustain their families and ministries over the long term.

We appreciate your prayers as we finalize plans to return to Nicaragua in May to begin development of microenterprises.

Kek Chi Indians of Guatemala

2011-03-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

John joined the Maranatha Chapel on a medical mission trip to El Faro, a Christian camp in Guatemala. Read more about El Faro As in the past, a large group from the USA joined a large group from Guatemala and provided basic health screening and dental care to the villages around the camp. Many of them are Kek Chi Indians who live in the Punta de Palma area of northeast Guatemala.

John's role was to work in the "Spiritual Clinic" - praying with and ministering to the dear people who live nearby. The Lord is doing a wonderful work among the staff of El Faro. What a thrill to have the opportunity to work with them!

Middle Eastern Refugees in Rome

2011-02-18T17:24:00.000-08:00

John has returned from 4 weeks in Rome and Malta - safe and sound.

He was so impressed with "D", a middle-eastern evangelist, who reaches out to middle-eastern refugees. Having spent time with him and working alongside him, John is praying about returning and making this a ministry focus for 2011.

Rome and beyond...

2011-01-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow John will be taking a trip to Italy - spending about a month with a ReachGlobal church planting team in Rome.

Click here to read about the project.

He will be helping to support and encourage the team in the areas of evangelism and outreach and is excited to finally be able to speak Italian!

During that time, he will take a short trip to Malta to attend a ministry conference. While there, he meet many mission leaders who are focusing on the Middle East and Northern Africa.

During Jan and Feb, Cheryl will stay in the US to put the finishing touches on writing an Easter drama, teach Sunday School and, best of all, help take care of her parents and our darling grandchildren!

We are praying about some potential opportunities for teaching Narrative Evangelism and Discipleship while we continue to strive to support ongoing projects in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Flying East....

2010-10-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

On October 31st, we will be going via Italy to Beirut, Lebanon. We are exploring ministry possibilities in Europe and the Middle East. We have been praying about this for some time and see that God may be opening doors for us in areas where there is either resistance to the gospel or little gospel witness.

Either in post-modern Europe or in the 10-40 window, people may be persecuted for carrying a Bible, so we feel that the Oral Bible will have a powerful effect.

Will you pray with us?

What's up at "home"

2010-10-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

We postponed a trip we had planned for Venezuela in September.

This has enabled us to do an 8 week course on Bible Narratives at Calvary Baptist Church in Neenah, WI, focus on US ministry among Hispanics as well as to spend some time and energy raising support for our mission budget in 2011.

God continues to amaze us with His faithfulness through His servants.

We pray that we will be wise concerning HOW to plan and if there is a more strategic AND "frugal" way to do what we are doing. A survey trip to Beirut, Lebanon is being planned for the 1st week in November, where there may be a great opportunity to serve.

The "Look"

2010-08-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

The "Look" is what we continue to see on the faces of lost people when they hear a Bible story.

We just returned from a very short trip to Costa Rica. We were thrilled to bring Nick and Kris Doneff (ReachGlobal missionaries) and Santiago Curbelo (Miskitu pastor traveling from Nicaragua) with us, who helped us teach the stories of Noah, Call of Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah, Sacrifice of Isaac, Exodus 1, Bronze Serpent and Nicodemus.

We were happy to see how the young leaders of Iglesia Nueva Vida in the community of Los Guido are using the Oral Bible in Sunday School, outreach events and VBS programs. Missionaries Mark and Meg Kuzdas have fostered an atmosphere of "develop, empower and release" with their young leadership team in the barrios surrounding San Jose. Learning Noah and the Flood can be challenging - but pictures can really help.

A high point for us was demonstrating the use of Bible narratives as we went door-to-door in the community close to the church. There is nothing like a story to connect with people!

... and they come out of the woodwork to see John's interactive gospel presentations.

Pray for us as we plan upcoming trips to creative access countries.

Oral Bible Team to Costa Rica

2010-08-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

We are excited to continue "Round Two" of the Oral Bible Project in Costa Rica - begun in February, 2010. We will leave on August 3, bringing ReachGlobal missionaries, Nick and Kris Doneff.

We met Nick in Papua New Guinea, last Fall, where we all agreed that his wife, Kris was the perfect person to recruit to the US Orality Team. We are thankful to God that she said, "yes".

On arrival to Costa Rica, we will meet the Oral Bible Project leader from Nicaragua, Pastor Santiago Curbelo.

(Pastor Santiago preaching in an open-air outreach)

We frequently post updates about Santiago and his work among the Miskitu people of northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. He will assist us with teaching and will also learn from missionaries Mark and Meg Kuzdas, who have planted churches among Nicaraguan refugees in Costa Rica.

(Mark Kuzdas teaching young leadership team members)

We anticipate a rich time of "iron sharpening iron" this week!

Please pray for the following:

-That nothing would get in the way of what God has in mind for this trip!

-4 Oral Bible workshops and Evangelistic outreaches with Kuzdas' leadership team at Iglesia Nueva Vida in Los Guido

-2 Oral Bible presentations in Higuito, at a church planted by LAM missionaries, Bob and Ann Jeffery

-Introduction of the Oral Bible concept to missionaries and pastors of the Evangelical Free Church in Costa Rica

-Health and safety for us and for Pastor Santiago Curbelo as we travel

Christian Leaders

2010-06-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in PNG!

97 college students at Christian Leader's Training College in Banz, PNG, participated in a week-long Oral Bible project. It was their curriculum for Practical Christian Ministries week.

Accompanying us was Diane Zimmerman from Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove, IL. We are grateful to the Lord for bringing her along with us!

Because of this, we were able to divide the students and their wives (many non-literate) into 3 groups. We taught them 6 stories from the book of Mark as well as the Creation and Crucifixion stories.

On 2 evenings that week, each group did an open-air evangelistic outreach using the stories.

(students dramatize Bible story in a schoolyard)

As a result of the training, these future leaders from PNG and Solomon Islands, have seen the difference between teaching in a literate world and a non-literate world.

(using art to teach Bible stories)

(using music to teach Bible stories)

(using hand-signals to teach Bible stories)

They have committed to regular open-air outreaches and were thrilled to see that no matter a person's age or educational level, they can still learn, tell and teach the Word of God.

Oral Bible in Cook County Jail

2010-06-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

We just got this letter from Rob Brown with Chaplains for Christ International - a few weeks after training him and 4 others in Oral Bible.

Dear John and Cheryl,
We have been having very good experiences at the Cook County Jail with the story telling protocol you taught us. We were in one cellblock in Div. XI which looks like this.

We started by walking into the unit with the usual card players, chess players, dominoes, etc. (busy wasting time) and said, "Who wants to hear a story?" They were like little kids. They all stopped what they were doing and asked, "Should we turn the TV off?" They never want to turn it off.

The jail system switches the inmates who are out in the dayroom. The first floor out and the second floor locked in and then they switch back and forth so that only half are out at one time. About 20 of 48 were out and listened very carefully.

The one person who repeated the story to everyone told it in inmate lingo. They all laughed and you would have needed an interpreter to understand. When we got to the part where they were asked what the main message of the story was, an inmate who was 100 ft away locked up on the second floor shouted out a very clear summation of it. One man said, "This story us all about us".

With this method, you never have to leave them wondering if they understood what you were talking about. They all love a story.

I want to have a prison training seminar soon here in Chicago and we WILL include your protocol.
Thanks again for the training,

Chaplain Rob Brown
Chaplains for Christ, International

Go, Team!

2010-06-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Diane Zimmerman, John and Cheryl are preparing to teach at Christian Leaders Training College in Banz, Papua New Guinea.

We will be teaching the Oral Bible methodology to 100 Melanesian students who are training to be pastors, teachers and church leaders all around Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Pray for our safety and that the Word of God will dwell richly in the hearts of those students.

Blessing in Venezuela

2010-05-29T11:35:00.001-07:00

What an amazing time we had in Venezuela. The government may have one thing in mind - but, the Lord has something else!

Our friend and son-in-the-faith, Felix (shown with wife Ninoska and Pastor Jorge) organized 2 Oral Bible seminars at his mother church in Maracay and in Merida, where he lives and is planting churches.

In both locations, the people were able to see the value of the Oral Bible and have organized Proyecto Biblia Oral de Venezuela (Oral Bible Project of Venezuela). They have committed to learn the 22 stories on the Black and White scarf.

Pastor Jorge, Elias and Meri, (a couple from his church who have devoted to heading the project) and Pastors Augustin and Milaidi (leaders of another daughter church in La Gran Sabana) also attended the training in Merida because they wanted "more".

In Merida, Eduardo, who is being groomed to lead one of the church plants, but who is functionally non-literate, was so excited that he now had a tool. A young man, Oscar, came to Christ on Sunday morning - and this man is completely illiterate. Felix is convinced that he understood the message because it was presented in an Oral style that morning. (Acts 1 and Acts 8)

In addition, we visited missionaries Jonathon and Erimar in Las Tunas and presented Oral Bible during their mission's conference.

We also had the opportunity to speak on TransWorld Radio in Maracay for the program "Despertar" (Waking Up), with DJ daughter-in-the-faith, Anabel and for a live-radio show in Merida.

We have made plans to return September 6-13 this year, to continue training in Merida.

Off to Venezuela

2010-05-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

We just returned from meetings in Minneapolis with the Global Church Development Team for ReachGlobal.

What an honor to be on this great team. As it turns out, they will be in Venzuela at the same time we are. We will try to connect with them, if we can adjust our seminar schedule.

We will be in Las Tunas (near Barquisimeto), Maracay and Merida.

Please pray for safety and that the Lord will add to His Kingdom through Oral Bible seminars in those locations.

Training in the US

2010-05-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

As we prepare to go to Venezuela on May 13th, we thank God for the variety of recent ministry opportunities we've had in the US:

*recruiting and training a US Orality team for an Oral Bible ministry
*regularly teaching at Hispanic men's soccer outreach
*presenting as keynote speakers during a mission conference
*sharing Bible stories for internationals at an ESL
*sharing Bible stories for the homeless at an outreach ministry
*training a short-term mission team that will be going to Kenya in July
*regularly teaching in the children's department at our local church
*potential training for prison chaplain volunteers
*potential leading bilingual small group using Oral Bible strategies

Prayer Request

2010-04-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

We pray for you and wish God’s richest blessings on you. Please let us know if there are any specific prayer requests that you might have.

And, once again, we are asking for your prayers.

·Please pray that the Lord would raise the funding to allow us to teach at Christian Leadership Training College in Papua New Guinea in June.

·Please pray and ask the Lord if He might be sending you to come and teach with us!

·Please pray that the Lord will open the hearts and minds of these future pastors and church leaders to know Him and His Word more fully.

Here’s some background:

Last October we were invited to present an Oral Bible seminar to English-speaking students at the Christian Leadership Training College in Banz, Papua New Guinea. The students and professors were very enthused and felt that this approach was “just what was needed” to reach the minds and hearts of the Melanesian people for Christ.

They invited us to come back very soon. In fact, they want us to come back and teach in the mornings for a special ministry week from June 14-18, 2010 – including special outreach events in the evening and on the weekend. They also want us to bring a team of teachers with us, who will teach the Oral Bible seminar. Each teacher will be responsible for a certain number of students, will learn 3-5 predetermined Bible narratives, and, in their own words, tell those Bible narratives and teach them to the students. The teachers will encourage the students to internalize the stories by creating drama, music, drawing etc. (Of course, we can give more details to you, if you’d like)

We expect to train 100 students who are being equipped for ministry all throughout Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The leadership of the Bible College wants to maximize the training – allowing the students to interact and apply the teaching immediately. That’s why we are recruiting a team.

Will you pray about this with us? Thank you and may God bless you!

"Soccer Church" - Resurrection Day 2010

2010-04-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday we have "Soccer Church" at PlayUSA in Aurora, IL. Today was an amazing day!

John writes:

Eleven unchurched, young hispanic soccer players decided they want to be like Thomas who was willing to die with Jesus. After hearing the story of Lazarus' resurrection they agreed to meet with me next week over tacos at lunch to talk about how they can be completely committed to Christ. Please pray for them.

Here's how it happened:

The text was John 11:1-44

I showed a power point of well-known logos and signs such as McDonald’s, Toyota, including some typical road signs from Mexico. The last sign was a “One Way” sign. Contrasted Proverbs 14:12, "the way of man seems right but leads to death," with John 14:6, "Jesus is the way to God that leads to eternal life." Man’s way - a lie - leads to death. Jesus’ way > truth > brings eternal life.

John the Apostle wrote down seven signs or miracles to show us Jesus is the way to God. We quickly reviewed six of the signs and then I told the story of Lazarus in John 11:1-44.

I took a pause after verse 17 where Thomas says, “Let’s go to Judea and die with Jesus.”

I asked, “What is your commitment to Jesus like? Are you willing to die with Jesus as was Thomas? If someone held a pistol to your head and told you to deny your faith, what would you do? (Ironically, I made my hand like a pistol and pointed it at the head of a young man named Thomas.) Are you willing to die for Jesus? Let’s continue the story.

Then, I continued with the rest of the story. I asked,

What is your commitment to Jesus like? Are you willing to die for Him? Are you following your own way or are you following Jesus? How can one determine if he is really committed to Christ unto death? By dying to sin and self.

Jesus spoke of walking during the day and not falling because of this world’s light versus walking at night with the danger of falling. He was using physical things to help us understand spiritual realities. In our physical world our light comes from the sun that shines twelve hours during the day. But Jesus said, "I am the light of the world, he who follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life."

So there is both physical and spiritual light and darkness. There is also physical death and spiritual death. Spiritual death means you die to sin and self. If you die to your sin and self today . . . if you decide to stop living your way and start living Jesus’ way . . . if you die spiritually right now, Jesus will raise you from the dead and give you a new life just as he did for Lazarus.

So how do you prove you are really committed and will even physically give up your life for Christ? You will die spiritually. This means you will die to sin and self. Who is directing your life right now? Who is making your decisions? (Salvador eagerly blurted, “God.” I stopped and affirmed him saying, “That’s good!” This was a special moment and everyone was very quiet and attentive.) I continued, “Who is on the throne of your life? If you are on the throne making all the decisions then you are on the road that leads to death. “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Follow Him and you will have eternal life.”

You have to die today to sin and self and then Jesus will raise you from the dead just as he did to Lazarus. Jesus will command the great stone be taken away from your life so you can live like He wants you to live. He’ll call out your name, “Osvaldo! Oscar! Manuel! Come out!” Then he’ll command that your grave clothes be removed and finally that you be set free to live a new life with Him.

Spiritual things are more powerful than physical things because spiritual things last forever. If you die spiritually and Jesus gives you a new spiritual life you will pass right through your physical death because you will be walking with Jesus, the Light of the world. You won’t fall into the darkness of condemnation because of your sin.

How many want to be totally committed to Christ? Who wants to give their lives completely and once and for all to Jesus. Today I want to give you the opportunity to do that. If you are interested in learning what it really means to be like Thomas and follow Jesus then sign your name to a list we will pass around. Next week I want us to go out to a Taqueria and have tacos. I will buy. Just come and have tacos and we’ll talk about what we can do to prove we are really giving our lives to Christ. They immediately, without me knowing it, began passing around the notebook. Before I knew it someone handed me the list. Eleven guys signed their names.

Please pray for the PlayUSA Soccer Church ministry and specifically for these eleven young men.

Small Groups in Botswana

2010-03-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

Cheryl is back from Botswana. A week of "spring break" time was spent with 25 students from Wabash College who partnered with OneWayMinistries US leadership and a team of leaders from Botswana.

(Botswana team members received Bibles donated by youth from Compass Church, Naperville, IL)

The team used games and sports to attract people from public and private schools, villages and a prison. Then, they were divided into small groups to hear a prepared Bible story - a story from the list of Heroes of the Faith from Hebrews 11. These stories were told by the US college students and translated into Setswana by the Botswana team members, who also led the listeners to repeat the events of the story, retell the story and answer simple questions about the story.

The outreach events usually culminated in a large group gospel presentation, tying the Old Testament narrative to Christ - sometimes with a response prayer, other times with singing and dancing.

Praise God for the way He is moving in Africa, despite much spiritual opposition.

Central American "Tour"

2010-03-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

We've been on lots of planes lately!

We were in Central Ajmreica for 22 days. Beginning in Costa Rica and Nicaragua with short-term missionary, Josh Swickard, who wanted to observe and support our ministries in Central America.

We had a productive time, presenting Oral Bible seminars in several different places. Followup is being planned for August in Costa Rica through missionaries Mark and Meg Kuzdas and Iglesia Nueva Vida, their church plant in Los Guido, as well as 2 churches that missionaries Bob and Ann Jefferies have planted outside San Jose. In August, we will also have a chance to present Oral Bible training to a group of national Evangelical Free Church pastors in San Jose.

In Nicaragua, the pastors and leaders have finished the 22 Bible narratives of the Black and White scarf (focus on Christ in Creation through Ascencion) and have now moved on to the 42 story Color scarf (focus on People of God - Creation through Ascension). They are working on recordings of the stories to be put on the Megavoice solar powered MP3 players and are planning a trip to Honduras to teach others to do the same.

Cheryl came home from Central America while John and Josh stayed an extra week to go to Guatemala. John had a chance to preach at a church in Nicaragua and return present another "chapter" of Oral Bible seminar to a church plant in Los Dolores, Guatemala and a youth group in Guatemala City. Finally, the two joined members of US Maranatha Chapel and national doctors and dentists in Punta de Palma for medical clinics and a visit to an orphanage. This is our 3rd time to participate with them using beautiful El Faro Camp as their base. Invited by camp owner Phil and Nikki Ephraim, the clinics have grown to involve around 100 US and Guatemalan participants to administer care to under-served communities. John's role was leading music and working in the Spiritual Clinic.

Now Cheryl is packing to leave for Botswana, Africa on 3/5. She will join OneWay Ministries and a team of college students from Wabash College in IN to partner with Ray Mensah and national leaders doing Sports Camps in villages outside Maun.

Cheryl has provided training in Chronological Bible Storying for the US and Botswana team members to prepare them to present the theme of "Heroes of the Faith" with narratives based on the characters found in Hebrews 11.

Medical Missions in Guatemala

2010-02-21T14:14:00.001-08:00

John is in Punta de Palma, Guatemala for a week of medical missions. Half of the team is from Maranatha Chapel, Evergreen Park, IL and the other half is from Guatemala.

This team will use beautiful El Faro camp as their base, traveling each day to an underserved village to provide dental, medical and spiritual care.

Los Dolores, Guatemala

2010-02-19T19:31:00.000-08:00

John was invited to do 2 evenings of Oral Bible teaching at a new church plant in a village called Los Dolores. The congregation meets in a temporary building on the property of one of the women who attends.

Then, on Sunday, he'll move on to Camp El Faro, where members from a US church, Maranatha Chapel, will team with Guatemalan dentists and doctors for a week of medical clinics.

Progress in Nicaragua

2010-02-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

We have completed a smaller, more "elite" training session of the pastors/leaders in Puerto Cabezas. The idea is to advance the ones who are truly using narratives in their ministries. They have finished the Black and White storycloth (22 chronological Bible stories) and are moving on to the Color storycloth (42 chronological Bible stories). During only 2 days of training, we were able to teach them 5 stories, not including the 2 stories taught to the entire congregation of Vina del Senor in Puerto Cabezas.

Pastora Soraya has been hired by a PUBLIC school in Bismona - to TELL BIBLE stories!!
She's been doing it for a year now and the school has recognized the benefit is has for their students.

We anticipated the Miskito pastors would have finished recording the 22 stories to be put on the Megavoice players, but this project will have to be postponed until next month, when John returns to lead a local mission trip to the Miskito pastors in Honduras.

Oral Bible in Costa Rica

2010-02-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

We have just left the San Jose area of Costa Rica, having had the privilege of presenting Oral Bible study methods for missionaries Bob and Ann Jeffery at their church service in Los Guido as well as a women's Bible study at another church they planted in Higuito.

(children received school supplies from other visiting missionaries and a church in the USA)

The women who are Sunday school teachers were grateful for the opportunity to learn a simple, reproducible method of sharing God's Word.

(youth at Los Guido learn to tell and teach complete, accurate Bible stories)

We did multi-day Oral Bible workshops for the leadership team of Nueva Vida Church in Los Guido, planted by missionaries Mark, Meg and Melinda Kuzdas. Mark Kuzdas already has a very unique and successful evangelism and discipleship strategy and feels that using narratives will compliment that program.

We were able to meet with ReachGlobal Latin America director, Brian Duggan, who introduced us to some national pastor leaders. Initial plans are being made to return in August to revisit each of these groups.

... now, on to Nicaragua!

story4all Podcast

2010-01-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

Hear our 1/19/2010 interview with Bryan Thompson with story4all.

The link to the show notes is: story4all

Bryan explains, "You will be able to see the notes I put up with the show and the links included with it.

On the second last line of the Show Notes (at the above link) you will see a Direct Download link called "s4a194.mp3". If you click that you can hear the show right off the page, so to speak. If you 'right click' it you can download the show to your computer.

Another way to hear the show is by subscribing (free) to the show in iTunes. The link to follow to subscribe to the show is: subscribe to podcast"

Central America

2010-01-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

We love this picture of a bonfire in Guatemala. The imagery of a fire is one that John has been using a lot lately to talk about our ministry.

If the Lord is doing something there, (Nicaragua, Peru, Papua New Guinea etc.) we want to fan the flame!

In February, we will be in Central America, starting in San Jose, Costa Rica. We will meet with the Latin America director for reachglobal. We will give 2 workshops and reconnect with missionary friends Bob & Ann Jeffery and Mark & Meg Kuzdas. We will see if anything is "combustible" in the area of Chronological Bible Storying in their ministries and discover what other avenues might be open for reachglobal Latin America.

Then we'll move on to Nicaragua. We hear that the "fire is burning" there! It will be good to get back, since our last visit was in June, 2009. The pastors have been recording Bible narratives in Miskitu. We will place the recordings on 25 Megavoice solar-powered MP3 players and distribute them among the most needy.

Next, we'll go to Honduras, where Miskitu pastors have invited us before - and we've never been able to go. We hope to give an introductory workshop on Bible storying and see if God "lights a fire" there.

Finally, we'll be in Guatemala where we will participate with partners from Maranatha Chapel and El Faro Camp in a half Guatemalan-half American Medical trip to the poor communities of Punta de Palma.

Storying in the USA

2009-12-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

When we're not on foreign soil, we still "story"!

John teaches Hispanic men every Sunday at Play USA in Aurora, IL.

He has been doing a series on the life of Joseph. He tells the Bible story in a complete way, but not memorized. When he's done, he asks the whole group to retell the story and then one listener to retell the story.

Finally, through a series of questions, the group is able to make observations and applications on their own.

John says,

I asked the men what Joseph and Jesus have in common. It took a bit, but they 'got it'. Then, I asked them to rate Joseph's success on a scale of 1 to 10: poor versus rich, high versus low position in society and shameful versus honorable character. Then, I asked them to rate themselves. Finally, I asked what is true success? How would life be different if Jesus was in charge and God at your side every moment?

Cheryl has the privilege of teaching the Bible story to the 1st - 5th graders at Compass Church in Naperville, IL. She uses the same system John uses in the Hispanic ministry in Aurora. Which is the same that they use in Nicaragua, Peru and Papua New Guinea.

Cheryl says,

I am amazed at how much the kids can figure out on their own. They make their own observations and applications, which are so much more meaningful to them because they discovered them for themselves. Today, after we told and retold the story on the Wise Men, I asked the kids a bunch of questions about the story. When I asked them what the wise men were like, a 3rd grade girl answered, 'The wise men honored King Herod, because that's what they knew they should do. But, God did a miracle and put the star in the sky, they followed it and then, they chose to honor another King - Jesus. Even though they were from a different country that worshiped a different god and a different king. I think that's the way God planned for it to be.'

Exceeding Expectations

2009-11-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a 5 week trip to Papua New Guinea. It is nice to be home, BUT...

...we are truly amazed at how God is working among the people of Sugu Valley! Two years ago, we were amazed at how little the pastors knew about the Word of God. Most of them had no Bible training - and many are illitereate. Now, the average pastor knows 25 or more complete, accurate biblical narratives and has taught them to the children, adults and elderly people in their churches. A few of them even know around 50 biblical narratives.

PNG Ministries president, Gabriel Mumuga, says, "It is like a bush fire! People from all around the valley are hearing about this and our churches are growing. We have the vision to continue planting churches and winning converts throughout Sugu Valley and into other provinces and even into Indonesia."

If God is behind it, nothing will be able to stop it!

Here's an overview of how our 3rd pastor training conference went:

48 pastors and leaders of the nationally led PNG Ministries were in attendance.

We started with 2 weeks of Chronological Bible Storying training in Kateloma - then visited some of the PNG Ministry churches the 3rd week.

(sidenote: One day, John took a rather long, uphill trip to visit Pastor Matthew and Otma's church in the village of Rombolo.)

John was the first white man to ever go there!

We ended with a final week of training in Kateloma, joined by ReachGlobal Advocate, Nick Doneff and former PNG Missionary and current mission's pastor, Bruce Renich.

We recorded 22 Bible stories (from Creation to the Ascension of Christ) in the Kewabe language and placed them on Megavoice solar-powered MP3 players. Now, pastors who are functionally illiterate or completely illiterate will be able to check their stories for accuracy.

We left them a small digital recorder so they can begin recording the next 42 stories.

We are glad that the pastors are now seeing the value of going OUTSIDE their church buildings to evangelize through Bible stories.

We modeled a "house to house" strategy, held a few classes in a public meeting place called a HausMan as well as the Saturday Marketplace, where many people responded to the message of salvation.

In photo: Pastor Peawi's 6 year old son drew a large crowd, since he knows several Bible stories very, very well!

So, we are jazzed about Sugu Valley!

But, that's not all! Our final week, we were invited by Bruce Renich to present a seminar on Orality at the Christian Leaders Training College in Banz.

We were overwhelmed with the response from faculty and students alike - each realizing the value of learning and teaching biblical narratives. They are putting plans together to have us come back every 2 years, starting in June 2010 for their "practical ministry" course and also for a 6 month period - to teach a regular course.

We are praying about these things. Will you pray with us too?

Packing for Papua New Guinea

2009-09-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

We are getting ready to leave (on 9/23) for Sugu Valley, Papua New Guinea for 5 weeks and anxious to see our friends!

We will be doing more teaching of Bible stories to the Kewa people and Kotu people of the Southern Highlands.

We also hope to bring a new technology with us to help us take recordings of those Bible Stories and load them onto solar-powered MP3 players. The MegaVoice has been around for awhile, but now, the Scribe is being released.

...here's what the MegaVoice website says about the Scribe...

The MegaVoice Scribe Programmer

The Scribe field programmer has been described by a respected world missions leader as "the missing link in world evangelization." This unique, lightweight, handheld, self- powered unit is like a mobile audio library. Holding any number of messages, it allows any Christian organization to program or reprogram their Ambassadors on the spot. It programs a New Testament in just 40 seconds or a Bible in 3 minutes. Can you imagine what this can do in the hands of virtually every mission organization, Bible Society, Bible college or Christian aid agency around the world? The Scribe gives their staff and translators the flexibility to progressively build Bibles as the audio becomes available.

This unprecedented technological provision has the potential to accelerate the distribution of the "audio rendered" Word of God beyond anything yet seen. It will do this at a fraction of the cost of other audio devices in the world today.

The MegaVoice Scribe is a programming device that is available only to MegaVoice partners. The Scribe enables production and distribution of our partners' “orally rendered” Scriptures, making this available years before a formally translated and printed text may be available. Missionaries can progressively build the Bible in the language of the people they serve and load each new section on the Ambassador player as they complete it.

The Scribe is designed to put programming control into the hands of ministry partners wherever they are in the world.

Would you pray that the equipment arrives in time for our trip and that we will know how to make the best use of it?

from Cusco, Peru

2009-09-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

The worship seminar in Cusco, Peru went well. It was fun to see the various indigenous groups perform!

John had a chance to go to a wedding up in the mountains...

Following that, a Chronological Bible Storying Seminar was held for pastors and leaders. John writes,

Today the Quechua pastors split into groups and did drama, music, drawing and one group told the story of the paralytic in Mk 2. It was fantastic. The group that told the story did so in both languages with each person taking turns going through it. The drama was very creative, fun and well done. They carried one man on a blanket and made everybody stand around as if we were crowding the house. They used the movie screen as the roof and had to move it out of the way.

The drawings were very well done, clear, large and to the point. The music surprised everybody. First a young girl sang a song in English. Then an older lady did a different song in Quechua that was really quite good. This I think was a huge highlight of the seminar.

Tomorrow, it's time to leave the mountains for the jungle of Pucallpa, Peru.

Peru Prep

2009-08-21T17:50:00.001-07:00

Pretty soon, it's off to Peru.

(In Feb., from the fridge of Cusco ...)

(...to the oven of Pucallpa)

Besides responding to a request for a Worship Workshop in Cusco, the second Orality Workshop will take place. Pastor Gabino reports that the Quechua Indian pastors and leaders have been faithfully learning the Biblical narratives we began teaching last February. 25 of them committed to learn all 22 stories in our first chronological Bible story set, which provides a basic overview of the Bible with an evangelistic emphasis.

This trip they will begin recording those stories in Quechua. We will eventually be downloaded on solar powered players and (hopefully) distributed next year. There are currently NO recordings of the Old Testament in Quechua. They are excited to participate in this project, since so many are funcionally illiterate!

From the mountains the next stop is the jungle of Pucallpa, where the 3rd Orality Workshop will take place with people from the Shipibo Indians. Once again, they are preparing to record their stories in Shipibo, a lesser known language where no recording of Old or New Testament exists.

Local Summer Ministry

2009-07-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

While in the US this July, we have learned a lot by organizing Power Picnics and Around the Fire events.

John teaches Genesis 2 at "Around the Fire" with Bensenville Bible Church's Hispanic congregation.

This Power Picnic in Naperville was was our most diverse Power Picnic, with members of Western Springs Baptist Church, Evangelical Free Church of Naperville, Maranatha Chapel, Grace Church of DuPage, Arlington Heights Free Church and Village Bible Church of Sugar Grove. When we evaluated it, it seemed to have a VERY small effect, but we will never know how the seed of God's Word might have taken root! Cheryl teaches little Abby the 10 Plagues of the Exodus.

Another Power Picnic in Naperville. Members of Evangelical Free Church of Naperville and Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove participated.

Our first Power Picnic in Aurora. Village Bible Church member Rainy tells the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Good Trip!

2009-06-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

We are back from Nicaragua and Guatemala.

We are very excited about the Miskito pastors in Puerto Cabezas

- and the way they are using Chronological Bible Storying in their ministries. Pastor Soraya (from Bismona) has a very large and effective ministry teaching young people Bible stories in a public school. The Lord has given her a special gift to learn quickly and to teach others.

We began a recording project of the stories from the 21 story scarf this time and left the key pastors with a small digital recorder so they can finish the project by the end of the year.

While we were there, they recorded 12 stories!

The following week, we did a one-day introduction to Storying with some youth at a Guatemala City church. They were very receptive and seemed to enjoy the interactive style.

Following this, we accompanied members of Family Bible Church

as they put a new roof on Pastor Iliana's church in Puntarena, Rio Dulce. They also had many activities for children (photos courtesy of FBC photographer, Lee)

and assisted with a dental clinic.

Following this, we visited the new church plant - Palabra Viva in St. Elena Los Dolores - near Guatemala City. Team members were good sports, learning to sing 2 songs in Spanish for the congregation.

It was wonderful to serve with our brothers and sisters from Portage, Indiana!

Off to Nicaragua & Guatemala

2009-06-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

We are on the way to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.

While there, we will continue our training on Chronological Bible Storying and will begin a recording project. Pastors will tape Bible stories in Miskitu to eventually be placed on the Saber - a hand-crank MP3 player. Our goal is to finish recording all 22 stories by the end of the year.

After one week in Nicaragua, we will fly to Guatemala.

We will train a Guatemala City church in their first Chronological Bible Storying training, then, will accompany friends from Family Bible Church in Portage, IN on a construction/VBS trip in Punta Arena near Rio Dulce.

It's official!

2009-06-07T06:29:00.000-07:00

We are praising the Lord that our transition to ReachGlobal (click here for ReachGlobal website) is complete!

ReachGlobal (formerly Evanglical Free Church of America Mission) has invited us to join a newly formed team called the Global Church Development Team. This will further enable us to train leaders in different parts of the world. Our present projects in Papua New Guinea, Latin America, Africa and the USA will stay the same. We’ve also been asked to train ReachGlobal Missionaries around the world who are ministering to oral cultures. This will be a great honor for us.

Donations toward this work can be done via the internet: click here
or sent by mail to our account:

Fornelli - 1669

at:

EFCA
Attn: Donor Services
901 East 78th ST
Minneapolis, MN 55420-1300

If you need help or have questions regarding this or other Donor Services, please
contact the EFCA Donor Services Department toll free at 800-745-2202, or dial direct
952-853-8434.

While in the US

2009-05-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people ask, "What do you do when you are in the United States?"

Well, besides enjoying our dear family...

Here are some of the things:

*On Sundays, John continues with the Hispanic Soccer outreach at PlayUSA in Aurora with his ministry partner, Obed Mendoza.

*Power Picnics - We do "open-air" evangelism around a picnic at various public places. Check the posting on May 12th, or click on our profile picture to the right if you'd like more information.

*US Training in Chronological Bible Storying - We train mission teams and churches. This summer, we are training members of a team going to Botswana from OneWay Ministries, a mission team to Guatemala (we get to go with!) from Family Bible Church,

a mission team to Detroit from Village Bible Church,

members of Bensenville Bible Church Hispanic Fellowship

and members of Growing in Grace Sunday School class from Evangelical Free Church in Naperville.

*We have the privilege of preaching, teaching or leading worship in various partnering churches.

*Cheryl is writing and directing a children's drama/ John is writing and directing the music for Evangelical Free Church of Naperville, IL Summer Camp.

*We try to Skype, email or call (keep in touch with) our main pastors all over the world. We are always planning the next training session and making sure they and their disciples are doing their "homework".

Our key disciples are:

Pastor Gabino in Cusco, Peru
Ruth Hidalgo in Pucallpa, Peru
Pastor Gabriel in Kareloma, Papua New Guinea
Pastor Santiago and Pastor Joseph in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua

Come to a Power Picnic!

2009-05-12T11:24:00.001-07:00

“Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.” (Psalm 105:1 NLT)

You are invited to what we are calling “Power Picnics” this spring and summer.

What is a power picnic?
Bring your own food, lawn chair or blanket. Join us at select locations around the Chicago area where people gather naturally. We’ll sing a song, tell a Bible story or two and preach the Gospel.

We’ll use no microphones or amplifiers so we will not need any special permits. You can come early and leave late. You can come only to pray, eat and enjoy the fellowship. Or you can sing, tell a Bible story, preach or pass out tracts - just let us know how you want to participate. Everyone is welcome: singles, married couples, families with children, young people and seniors. Just come!

Why are we doing this?
Read Psalm 105. Our motive is simple. We want to proclaim God’s mighty acts of redemption in Christ to a lost world.

Will people pay attention?
After telling the Parable of the Sower, Jesus said simply, “He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9). We will pray for God to bring people whose hearts will be willing to listen. Many will shut us out. Either way, we will not be intrusive or obnoxious. At the same time we will be bold and unashamed (Romans 1:16).

What are the locations and dates?
(let us know if you want to schedule a Power Picnic near you)
Saturday May 23
Naperville, IL - Riverwalk - 12-2 pm
Aurora, IL - Philip's Park (Spanish/English bilingual) - 4-6 pm

Wednesday, June 3
Chicago, IL - Fullerton Ave Beach - 1-6 pm

Wednesday, June 10
Naperville, IL - Riverwalk 5-7 pm

Saturday, June 13
Aurora, IL - Redmond Park (Spanish/English bilingual - in conjunction with Hispanic soccer tournament) - 12-6 pm

Saturday, July 11
Bensenville, IL - Redmond Park - 12-2 pm
Bensenville, IL - Redmond Park - 4-6 pm

How do I sign up?
Call us at 630-445-1122

News from Peru

2009-04-07T09:15:00.001-07:00

We've just heard from Ruth Hidalgo, who has been championing "Oralidad" (Chronological Bible Storying) in Peru (among Mestizo, Shipibo and Quechua Indians).

(top left in photo)

She just returned from a very successful teaching seminar among Shipibo people in remote villages up the Ucayali River. They have divided into 2 groups now - people who studied 50 stories last year and new people. While the new people are learning the first 22 stories on the Story Scarf, the "veterans" are doing a study on the narratives in Acts and focusing on how to ask good questions of understanding and application.

Ruth has taken every little bit that we have taught her and has developed a model that works very well with her people in Peru.

This is what Chronological Bible Storying is all about! We thank God for her and pray that He continues to bless her efforts.

Out of Africa

2009-03-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

John returned from a two-fold trip to Africa. Starting in Botswana, he participated with OneWay Ministries, Wheaton and Wabash colleges teaching how to use Bible narratives to share the gospel during their sports camp outreach activities.

Following this, he traveled to South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique with missionary Ray Mensah to participate in evangelistic and prayer events.

John takes his "million dollar" question with him wherever he goes!

Sports Camps around Maun, Botswana

2009-03-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

John is in Maun, Botswana with OneWay Ministries and students from Wabash College (IN) and Wheaton College (IL). He didn't bring the camera - so, we are borrowing from the OWM website.

John's role is to support OWM missionary, Ray Mensah and his church planting team from Maun. Of course, he is speaking at evangelical presentations at schools, in communities and prisons.

Next week, he and Ray Mensah will travel to Lesotho and Swaziland.

Triple Trip in Guatemala

2009-03-07T15:48:00.000-08:00

We just returned from Guatemala - 3 trips in one!

Starting in Los Dolores, we gave a storying seminar for 30+ leaders from Iglesia Biblica Centroamericana, the mother church (in Guatemala City) and Palabra Viva, their new church plant. 24 people committed to learn the 22 stories from the chronological Bible story scarf.

The people really enjoyed John's "unique" style of leading music on the following Sunday morning!

Next, we took a 5 hour bus ride to El Faro (see their website) in Punta de Palma, where we "graduated" a group of Spanish/Kekchi pastors we have worked with for the last 2 1/2 years.

We started and ended with open-air outreaches, telling Bible stories at the dock and the bus stop in Puerto Barrios.

Finally, we joined a 60 member medical team from Maranatha Chapel (see their website) with Guatemalan doctors and dentists. Four days of medical clinics were given in remote villages near Punta de Palma.

Cheryl explained the antiparasite medicines that were given to around 2000 people and made it in the local newspaper. (upper left image)

John was able to share the gospel with many, many people while they waited in lines. Lots of people responded to the message of Jesus!
(the following photos were taken - OK, well, STOLEN from Scott Ruckoldt's Facebook page and Jose Fares' photo albums - thanks, guys!)

(John leads worship time for medical team)

(Alicia Morado lovingly washes lice from young girl's hair)

(crowds waiting to be seen by doctors and dentists)

Peruvian Pastors, Leaders and Kids!

2009-02-17T06:28:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a productive time in Peru.

Starting in the jungle of Pucallpa, we returned (last trip 2/08) to train 20 pastors and leaders in Chronological Bible Storying. 10 of these were Shipibo Indians. This trip was requested as a follow up in the Orality Program that Ruth Hidalgo established after our introduction last year.

Ruth has done a fantastic job of establishing this training and has brought her disciples through 50 key Bible stories!

We started the 22 story scarf and introduced them to the concept of taping stories to be place on the Saber.

We taught the first 5 Genesis stories, encouraged them to tell the stories and taught them methods they can use to teach others the stories.

19 made a commitment to learn, tell and teach 10 stories by September, when we plan to return.

Then we went to the mountains of Cuzco.

Guess what? Altitude sickness is real!

This introductory workshop on Chronological Bible Storying was very successful! We were grateful to have Ruth Hidalgo with us this time, since there were more than 50 pastors, leaders and kids in attendance. The majority of these attendees are Quechua Indians.

They ALL made comittments to learn, tell and teach the first 5 stories of the 22 story scarf by August, when we plan to return. Our primary contact, Pastor Gavino, asked ut to include a Worship workshop in August as well.

We will pray about these upcoming opportunites and ask the Lord to greatly multiply His Kingdom through these pastors, leaders and kids.

TNT Nicaragua Grads - Plus... New Work!

2009-01-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, we were joined by Leadership Resources president, Bill Mills, members of Peace Church and other faithful supporters in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. We celebrated the graduation of 1st and 2nd generation TNT (Trainers of National Trainers). There was a feeling of gratefulness and joy as Leadership Resources completed its work in Nicaragua.

The few days prior to the graduation, we began a new Chronological Bible Storying work in Puerto Cabezas. After the 3rd day of our interactive seminars, 21 pastors and church leaders gathered in the city park ...

... to tell the stories they learned. The people that were "hanging out" that afternoon were receptive and attentive. Local pastors chatted with observers - answering questions and inviting others to meet with them.

As it turned out, Santiago Curbelo was wearing this T shirt, this given to him by Peace Church members who helped re-build his church after 2007 Hurricane Felix. It is a great statement of the benefit of Chronological Bible Storying.

Peru Report

2009-01-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

It is always a blessing to hear from Ruth Hidalgo, Leadership Resources missionary in Peru.

After only one training workshop in Storying last February, the Lord has multiplied and spread the teaching in a marvelous way!

Pastors and leaders in Pucallpa, Peru have taken "Projecto Oralidad" (Orality Project)and are methodically following the circular steps of church planting in various indigenous Shipibo and Aztec villages throughout Peru.

Each of these steps include key stories from the Bible, intended to lay the framework for an understanding of the Word of God.

They are hungry for more training and one of our faithful partners has just donated EXACTLY the amount of money needed for us to conduct 2 more training events in Peru... this time including Cuzco.

We will travel there at the beginning of February.

Into Honduras

2008-12-16T13:27:00.001-08:00

We got a phone call last night from Nicaraguan pastors Carlos and Santiago.

The phone call was disconnected - never to connect again - but, we did hear that they are in Honduras. They are taking the training over the border again.

Meanwhile, we are planning our next visit to Nicaragua in January. We will "graduate" our four pastors from the TNT program. At the same time, we will begin a new program in Puerto Cabezas, focusing on Chronological Bible Storying.

Leadership Resources will no longer be working in Nicaragua as the APOYO program has come to an end there. Pray with us as we help move these pastors through the transition and continue the multiplication that God has allowed to take place in NE Nicaragua and into Honduras.

Update from Papua New Guinea

2008-11-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

Our dear friend and partner in ministry, Gabriel Mumuga writes:

"I am begining to see alot of changes from this last Bible Story Telling training. Often, when a pastor is about to take the pulpit for preaching there are people there from the congregation who want to tell the story from the bible first as a testimony before the preacher can begin to preach!!

Amazing! Praise the Almighty Name Of Jesus Christ..I see the great influence and spiritual blessing and anointing upon this. By the time you return I see that all participants should know well over twenty Bible stories."

We will likely be returning to Papua New Guinea in April 2009.

With Friends in Central America

2008-11-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a 2 country trip, starting in Waspam, Nicaragua.

Pastors and leaders attended our first workshop dedicated exclusively to Chronological Bible Storying. Hungry for more, there was an enthusiastic response. Gaspar, a young church-planter with very little education said, "Now I have something I can teach the people!"

We have been asked to continue to work with our four main pastor contacts from Puerto Cabezas, who see the value in Storying as a means to evangelize and disciple. Although highly educated, especially by Nicaraguan standards, Carlos Coffin realizes that highly literate people need to learn ways to teach others who are different from them. He is excited about Storying.

From Nicaragua, we traveled to Guatemala, to speak at the Central American Bible Church in Guatemala City. Our young buddy, Alex Fine, formerly with Christian Light Foundation in Costa Rica, met us there before returning to the US. We put him to work leading music.

Christian Education volunteers and church-planters are interested in receiving more training from us, possibly in February or March of 2009. We accompanied them to their church plant in the poor community of Los Dolores and led a service there too.

Later, we were joined by pastors and leaders from Family Bible Church in Portage, IN. We traveled to El Faro Camp in Punta de Palma. Dave, Tony and Keith fell in love with the Guatemalan people - and the Guatemalans fell in love with them! They taught and led music during our pastor workshop.

We are about 3/4 of the way done with the 21 Story Scarf with pastors and leaders in Punta de Palma, Guatemala. We gave Peruvian pastor Meison Missly and his wife Gladys more of an active role in this training time. Using various incentives, we feel we are going to be able to complete the first phase of this project by mid-2009.

From Punta de Palma, we went to the tiny village of Punta Arena to evaluate a future construction mission trip and to speak at at church.

DoubleTime in Nicaragua and Guatemala

2008-10-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

We are leaving tomorrow morning for Nicaragua. We'll be in Waspam, (Northeast corner, close to Honduras) doing our first Storying session with 20 or so "second generation" pastors and leaders.

Cheryl hasn't been in Nicaragua for over a year, so she's looking forward to seeing the people. The first generation pastors, Hector, Santiago, Joseph and Carlos will be graduating in January, so we will both be back to help them celebrate.

Immediately after the training in Waspam, we will fly back to Managua and then Guatemala City. We will be returning to a national church in Guatemala City to do more Storying training and then taking church members on an outreach, using the stories.

The following week, we will be met by a team from Family Bible Church in Portage, IN. We will be going to Punta de Palma, Camp El Faro, to do some training, an outreach and surveying potential construction projects for their church to consider in 2009. Their church has been doing storying for their Sunday School curriculum, so they will fit right in and be able to teach alongside us.

Testimonies from PNG

2008-10-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

These are testimonies from pastors and leaders in Papua New Guinea who are learning, telling and teaching Bible stories.

Pastor Joseph Yama
“I started a church in Koya. It is a very remote place. It takes 19 hours to get here. People in my village knew nothing of Jesus Christ before. I heard about John and Cheryl and so I came to the training. Afterward, I took the stories to my family and people. I’m not an educated person. My wife went to school up to the fifth grade so she helps me. She reads and tells the stories to me. I learned six stories so my people know six stories. Now at this training I’ve learned four more. My father had been a Catholic for 52 years and when he heard the Bible stories he started to come. He said to me, ‘My son, you have brought a light. Now, after hearing these Bible stories I realize the truth.’ Both my father and my wife are learning the stories and helping me.

Recently 69 young people who were gambling and drinking started coming to my church because they were interested in the stories. God is working. They are learning very fast. The pastors explain more simply and the people are able to grasp the stories through the pictures and what [the pastor] is saying.”

The families of the 69 people who are now coming to Joseph’s church experienced tragedy soon after coming to Christ. Their houses (six of them) were burned to the ground along with their belongings. PNG Ministries took up a love offering of clothes and money for them.

Pastor Nande
“Through telling the stories I learn more. I learned six stories and I’ve taught six. Now I know eight and will teach eight.”

Pastor Elijah
“I taught Bible before but nobody understood. I have now taught six stories. In the past I opened the Bible and the people didn’t understand. Now I show the pictures and they understand. People are happy and they are learning easier.”

Pastor Joel
“When I read the Bible I can’t understand it. When I go with the stories I understand. I know seventeen stories and have four more to go. I went to a village market two times using the laplap (story scarf). I taught my church members up to Cain and Abel. I want all 21 stories to be kept in my mind. I will go to the bush 2 or 3 days to work on them. I get my 2 boys to help me get food in the morning.* Then I practice my stories. I thank God. I could not learn the stories well using my Bible but with the laplap (story scarf) I will learn all twenty-one.”
*Pastor Joel is one of many widowers whose wife died while giving birth out in the bush.

Pastor Jeffery
“I went home with the laplap (story scarf) and hung it on our pulpit. The people were very happy with the stories. We have all older people in our church. I’m teaching them the creation stories bit by bit. I have the laplap in our house and ask my family about the stories saying, ‘I am getting confused by this one. What is this story?’ And they learn the stories.”

Pastor Rimba
“I’ve been a pastor for many years and didn’t know the stories. I just preached. When I read the Bible only I just forgot what I taught. When John and Cheryl came, everything started falling in line. Now I know ten stories. They are really inside of me and not just outside. Now even when I don’t have the Bible with me I can just tell stories.”

Pastor Baisa
“When I took the story scarf to my people they were very happy. Even in the night nobody wants to sleep because they just want the stories. I even do stories now for my devotions. I know eight stories.”

Pastor Sampson
“God is making this very easy. People are catching this faster. God is doing His job. Thank you John and Cheryl.”

Pastor Gibson
“My previous teaching was too hard. Now the people are not even sleeping. I know 5 stories and my people also know 5 stories.”

Pastor Yamai
“I’m happy how the people are telling Bible stories. Previously they just stared at us. Now everyone wants to learn and tell the stories.”

Pastor Patrick
“I’ve been a Pastor for 13 years but I never learned anything about the Bible. All of us are learning at the same time, pastors and people, old and young. I know this will bear much fruit. Thanks very much.”

Pastor Paewi
“I’m learning all 21 stories. I am like a radio to my village. I tell the stories from my house very loudly so all can hear me. When they hear me the people come closer to listen.”

Pastor Poreali
“At first I read one verse to people. Now I tell the whole story.”

Koipame
“When pastors preach to me I forget what they say. When you tell the stories I don’t fall asleep. I can memorize and learn! Now I want to keep every story in my mind! I tell stories to my friends and family.”

Deborah (Registered Nurse)
“When patients come I tell them Bible stories. In the past I forgot what I was learning and couldn’t understand. This helps me remember and I can easily tell the stories.”

Gabriel Mumuga, President of PNG Ministries
“These men are the only ones trained to do this in our area and in the surrounding areas. I think this is the most powerful way to plant, pastor and witness the Gospel. The listener and teacher are both helped. The Pastor is improving in his knowledge of the Word. Without it how would they improve? By reading they couldn’t do it. All I’ve seen before is pastors yelling and talking doing their best.”

PNG Report

2008-10-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

These are John's note from his time in Papua New Guinea:

The training sessions (for pastors of PNG Ministries) focused on learning, telling and teaching 22 stories from the OT to the NT. This is the second session on Bible story telling. Those students who learned more than 4 stories received a “story scarf” with 21 pictures representing the stories. (The scarf has 21 pictures but we have assigned a total of 22 stories by requiring 2 stories for the first picture.) Those students who learned 10 stories or more were given a larger scarf with 42 stories. Other prizes rewards were given to those who learned all the stories.

The Gospel of Mark
Since most of the NT stories in the 22 story set are from Mark, John led the class through a study of that book. The question was asked, “What characterizes the ministry of Jesus’ disciples? What should be our most important ministry?” The answer is preaching and teaching the Word of God. Why? Because through the preaching of the Word of God sins are forgiven and the work of the evil one is destroyed. What should characterize the disciples who serve in ministry? Humility and faith in Jesus is the answer. Those who want to be great should be servants of all with the attitude of Jesus the Suffering Servant.

Results of the training:
11 participants demonstrated they can tell and teach 6-9 stories.
18 demonstrated they can tell and teach 10-19 stories.
6 demonstrated they can tell and teach all 22 stories.

The results of the outreach event:
Two separate groups of people requested churches to be started in their communities. They expressed their need to repent of their sins and turn to God.

Note from Papua New Guinea

2008-09-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

John is done in Sugu Valley, Papua New Guinea. He is in the city now, starting his long trek home. He sent an email about the pastor training today:

"It was a great time. 4 people can do all 21 stories. More than half can do over 10. We worked hard on teaching by having people repeat the story, the step through and then the three questions. It worked very well. I gave prizes for those that learned the most stories. The outreach went very well."

Unfortunately, John has been suffering with a terrible rash that keeps him awake at night. He had this the last time we were there too. Please keep him in your prayers.

Update from Peru

2008-09-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Ruth Hidalgo, from Peru just sent us her newsletter. We introduced her and her team to "The Ancient Path", a Spanish video series on Chronological Bible Storying last February. This is what she says about Orality in Peru:

"I am very happy with how the "Ancient Path" is helping us! We've seen great results with the people here. Personally, I'm using it for everything I do - all my workshops and studies. The people are excited and understand the gospel better now.

Some native people believed that the Old Testament stories weren't true, but more like fables. Now they realize that they are true and that the Jews really existed! Can you imagine?

Also, they were confused about the verse that says, 'from dust you came and to dust you will return'. They thought that they weren't going to go to heaven, but stay buried in the earth. Incredible but I'm not exaggerating!

These might be small things that they've been confused about; but they make a big difference in their doctrine. Our classes have much more participation than before.

Regarding the pastors and leaders in Cusco: This is exactly what they need. I realize that there are some well educated pastors that need more specific training, but, in comparison, they are few!"

Been better, but much BETTER!

2008-09-15T08:51:00.001-07:00

Cheryl's trip to Papua New Guinea was cut short by illness. She's home. John will be home on September 30th.

(not new curtain fabric - but, Malaria)

Cheryl's doing better each day but will need some additional treatment so it doesn't recur.

Off to Papua New Guinea

2008-09-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to our second pastor training this year in Sugu Valley, Papua New Guinea.

This time, our itinerary allows us to pass through Guadalcanal, where John's dad gained quite a reputation as a sharpshooter in WWII. We will make a point to see the hill where the battle took place.

In PNG, we will be anxious to see how the pastors are doing - since Gabriel Mumuga reports that they continue to learn in study groups that he has formed. We will reinforce what learning has gone on and introduce more stories and more theology during the 10 full days of training in Karoloma as well as plan an evangelistic activity outside the church.

Another main goal of the trip will be to tape the 21 stories in Kewabe, the local indigenous language. We taped them in Tok Pisin, the trade language, the last time.

Yahoo!! We have been given the privilege of bringing a Saber MP3 player prototype to field-test in PNG! This nifty machine is a hand-crank powered machine with up to 2 gigabites of memory. We will leave the machine with the pastors there and report to Global Recording Network, the manufacturer, as to it's effectiveness.

The Saber should be released to the public within 4-6 months and will cost approximately $40 when used for mission work.

Forming a Future in Guatemala

2008-09-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

We were invited to participate in Iglesia Biblica Centroamericana's annual mission conference (a mission-minded NATIONAL church) in Guatemala City last weekend.

What a privilege to present to them the ministry to pastors and leaders in less resourced areas of Guatemala. It was so exciting to have the support and encouragement of this healthy congregation! After our introductory workshop on Chronological Bible Storying, they have invited us to offer more training for their pastors and leaders as well as accompany them on an evangelistic outreach in November.

We are pleased to partner with them!

Tonight, we returned from the NE coast where we did our 3rd pastor training at Camp El Faro this year. Pastor Gregorio Elias told us he was grateful for the style of teaching that we present. He has had other training that involved lots of reading and study - but, he can't remember what he has learned. He tells us that with learning stories, he can remember! God's Word sticks! It is practical and useful!

Pastors signed a commitment to learn the 21 stories on the Bible Storying Scarf by next year and have been assigned 4 stories to learn by our next training in November.

One of our small group activities involved 3 Kekchi speaking pastors - the 2 on the left, Luis and Iliana, are from Guatemala and speak Spanish as their second language. The one on the right, Augustine, is from Belize and speaks English as his second language. They presented 3 scenes of the story of Cain and Abel in Spanish, English and Kekchi. (soon on the video column to the right)

Santiago teaches conference on Bible stories

2008-08-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

Teacher trainer Santiago Curbelo just learned how to tell Bible stories at a conference he attended with us in Guatemala. Now he's training his own church and doing conferences in his own country of Nicaragua. On August 16 and 17 he taught three stories from Genesis to over 100 pastors and leaders. The response was enthusiastic. Santiago called us and said people were amazed at how practical and powerful it is to learn and teach Bible stories. One church was about to die because they lost their pastor six months ago. Now the people feel empowered by this method of learning the Bible and the church is committed to keeping themselves going.

This video of Santiago was taken in 2007. He explains why pastors and leaders so desperately need to learn the Word of God.

Indiana Church Learns God's Word

2008-08-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

We are excited about what God is doing through the leadership and congregation of Family Bible Church in Portage, IN.

They want to hide God's Word in their hearts!

We were privileged to begin training leaders and demonstrate an 8 week course on the book of Genesis (Beginnings) from John Walsh's BibleTelling series. The church members seemed to enjoy themselves as they learned the basic outline of the story of the Birth of Isaac. Be watching their website for updates at: Family Bible Church
Watch them!

Bible Panorama in Sugar Grove

2008-08-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

On August 24th, we will be participating in a performance of 16 chronological Bible stories created by the OneStory project. This system of crafting and telling Bible stories is a bit different from our approach, but we are happy to participate with one of our partnering churches, Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove, IL.

We are thankful that they recognize the value of God's Word!

Storying in the Yard

2008-08-11T16:49:00.001-07:00

Last week, Cheryl presented a 4 day Story Set from the book of Mark to 2 Backyard Bible Clubs for Three Rivers Church in Plainfield, IL. All the stories pointed to the power of Christ.

The goal was to simply teach the children four Bible stories - no games, no crafts etc. Some stories were reinforced with pictures, hand-signals or other movement. It was successful. Children from age 3 to 13 were able to learn the stories and re-tell them at the closing programs for their parents.

See the pictures below and click on any of the USA links to the right - Watch Bible Stories from Around the World.

More Around the Fire

2008-07-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

We had a great time demonstrating our Chronological Bible Storying techniques in July ... now, we will be giving people a chance to participate again - and see what God is doing around the fire .... around the world.

Join us for this casual, family-friendly evening at the home of:

Dave and Cheryl Marshall
Friday, August 15th - 7 - 9pm
Naperville, IL

Email us at c5nelli@yahoo.com or call 630-820-3818 for more details!

Update from PNG

2008-07-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Our dear brother, Gabriel Mumuga, from Papua New Guinea just wrote the following:

"I just logged on to your blog, and I happened to see our video clips (hear Bible stories from around the world) which are truly a blessing to the church. This is wonderfully great.

I know you are coming soon in September/October and will start on the training. Thank God we are so blessed to have you again and getting ready for it and looking towards another great training.

You will run the training for twenty one (21) days. We are to have all our participants at the district head quators at Sugu (Keraloma). We have finished delivering the bible story telling scalfs and the apostle's creed. Roena was awarded the colored scarf - though Deborah made it as well by telling well over ten stories.

We are doing very well and looking ahead to other great moments with you."

Story Success in Nicaragua

2008-07-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

Once again, Santiago Cubelo, a TNT pastor in Nicaragua is taking what we give him and multiplying it! (see him tell a Bible story in the videos in the right column)

We just received a call: He says that he has taught his church 2 Chronological Bible stories each week since we taught them to him in June.

The people are all learning the stories very well. When they learn 10 of them they will have a big outreach where they tell the stories in order.

We praise God for Santiago and the passion he has to do whatever he can to reach the lost.

Join us for these events!

2008-06-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

3 Languages in Guatemala

2008-06-23T14:07:00.001-07:00

The Guatemalan pastors want to learn Bible stories so, we gave them some needed encouragement. Rather than individual work, as done in the past, we taught them the three first stories in large groups: Creation of the World, Creation of Adam and Eve and the Fall - as well as Abraham's call.

.... and it worked! They were able to see the value and impact that the stories can have and realized that they CAN do it. We gave them the 21 story scarves and told them about the Saber hand crank MP3 player.

The pastors were joined by 2 of the Nicaraguan TNT pastors, Carlos Coffin and Santiago Cubelo, (see their stories in the right column!)

who encouraged them to teach others what they have learned. ...just like they have repeatedly done in Nicaragua. It was a great encouragement to the Guatemalans, who appreciated and accepted them as brothers.

We started an Old Testament story recording project in Kekchi and will continue with Spanish and Misquito recordings in the future.

Team Effort in Nicaragua

2008-06-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

Once destroyed by a hurricane, Santiago Cubelo's church has been restored! A 3 day Pastor's seminar on Titus was held here.

The seminar participants ...

John "hanging out" in the city center.

Off to Guatemala!

2008-06-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we leave for Punta de Palma, Guatemala for a 4 day pastor workshop.

We will be focusing on the narratives of Genesis. From our experience in Papua New Guinea, we have learned that we need to teach them Bible stories one-by-one and that people from Oral Cultures do not prefer to work independently - but, as a group.

Then we can tape them telling the stories in the Kekchi language. (check out our blog for the videotapes in a week or 2).

We will award them the 21 story scarf as an incentive.

We hope that they will continue to learn so we can tape these stories to put on hand-crank audio devices later this year.

Santiago

Carlos

Joseph

We are also VERY excited that these 3 "champion" TNT pastors from Nicaragua will come to Guatemala to encourage the Guatemalan TNTers to train others the way they have done.

2 US Church-partners embrace Orality

2008-06-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

This week Cheryl has been privileged to lead a 1 day workshop on Chronological Bible Storying at Morraine Valley Church in Palos Heights, IL -

as well as attend the majority of a 4 day Storying workshop led by CCC missionary Marcia Meyers at Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove, IL.

Thanks to Gloria Twietmeyer and Rainy Abbott for planning each event and championing the cause.

We are excited to see what God will do as we seek to internalize His Word!

Storying in the US

2008-06-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

We will be sharing a little about how we are using Bible Stories in foreign missions at the International Christian Storytelling Conference, June 21st in Normal, IL.

Nicaraguan TNT Update

2008-06-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

John left this morning for Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. (NE at 14 degrees) He will be facilitating a TNT pastor training event with other pastor-teachers from the US.

Cheryl will join him next week in Guatemala for another TNT event.

More Storying in the US

2008-06-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

Cheryl will be leading the first of (hopefully) an ongoing series on Chronological Bible Storying sponsored by Leadership Resources International. Please feel free to come!

Returning to Sugu Valley, Papua New Guinea

2008-05-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

We returned from a very rewarding 10 day pastor training event at the PNG Ministries church in Karoloma! 45 pastors and church leaders were in attendance.

We challenged them to learn at least 4 stories from a 21 story set. 17 of them met that challenge. They received a StoryScarf with images of all 21 stories.

Under the capable leadership of Gabriel and Deborah Mumuga, they will be continuing to meet together on a monthly basis, to continue to learn the set of 21 Bible stories we assigned them.

They wanted us to stay - we promised to come back as soon as we can!

Indoor Soccer Ministry 2008

2008-04-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Hispanic ministry at PlayUSA in Aurora, IL continues, even when John is away, under the leadership of Obed Mendoza.

John met Obed, who was a translator on a short-term trip to the Dominican Republic, 9 years ago. Obed grew up in Mexico City and came to the Chicago area with his wife to help plant an Hispanic church. Obed is very effective at meeting and recruiting people to come and hear the Word of God. This year he has been leading a Bible study with the guys over the life of David.

Evangelism in Czech Republic

2008-03-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Our friends Frank and Andrea Zauflik, GEM missionaries in Eastern Europe,

...invited John to teach an evangelism seminar to pastors and leaders in Plsen, Czech Republic.

John felt he was more of a student than teacher in this context which is so vastly different than Latin America, Africa or Papua New Guinea.

Stories & Sports in Botswana

2008-03-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Cheryl joined a sports ministry team!

4 from OneWay Ministries, 21 from Wabash College, IN and 12 from Botswana, Africa. In January she trained and challenged the students from Wabash College to learn 6 stories from the book of Mark. Every student, with varied skills and spritual maturity, enthusiastically presented at least one of the stories. The team ministered in over 12 villages, schools and prisons. This short-term project supplemented church planting efforts by missionary Ray Mensah and a the group of young church-planters we trained in Storying in July of 2007.

Despite very little formal Biblical education, the team continues to use Bible stories as they plant churches in unreached villages of northern Botswana.

Pastors Training in Punta de Palma

2008-03-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

Praise the Lord that He has provided funding for TNT (Training National Trainers) in Punta de Palma!

In February and March we shared training time with Leadership Resources conference speaker, Eliezer Gonzalez, who presented teaching on the family.

We presented a 6-Story course on Discipleship called "Walking With Christ".

Nicolas, a Kekchi pastor said, ""My congregation is not reading the Bible ... not hiding God's Word in their hearts. They say that they get tired when they read. They cannot understand what they read. They even say they get headaches when they read! The fact is that many of them don't know HOW to read! Bible stories are a great way to give my congregation the truth that is in the Bible - in a way that they can understand and repeat to others."

Then we joined Camp El Faro owners, Phil and Nikki Ephraim...

...and a medical team from their church, Maranatha Chapel in Evergreen Park, IL. Three of the Kekchi pastors continued with us so we could oversee their presentation of Bible stories and evangelistic messages while people waited for medical treatment.

Introduction to Orality in Peru

2008-02-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

In early February we responded to a request by Leadership Resources missionary...

...Ruth Hidalgo, in Pucallpa, Peru. The TNT pastors and leaders are well educated, but work with indigenous people from oral cultures.

We presented a 3 day Chronolgical Bible Storying seminar with 25 in attendance. In the afternoons, we took the participants "to the streets" to practice telling (and dramatizing) their stories in a public park.

Angela, a pastor's wife who works with Quechua Indians, said,

"When I go to the villages holding my Bible the people say, 'Oh, there's that church lady! Let's send her away!' They say this because many missionaries made mistakes in the past.
Now I know that I can go there with God's Word in my heart and, in an attractive way, tell them and teach them the beautiful stories of the Bible. I don't even have to bring my Bible with me because I am going to begin learning the stories by heart."

US Churches Partner with Nicaragua

2008-01-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

This month, John coordinated two US groups that help support the work in Puerto Cabezas.

First, Pastor Chip Gatto and others of Christ Church of Dubuque, Iowa led a 3 day seminar on Philippians.

We are gratified to see the growth in the four key pastors, Hector, Santiago, Joseph and Carlos. In the past 3 years these faithful four have taught seminars in over 30 villages to more than 800 pastors and leaders in Nicaragua and Honduras. Now they have selected 20 key pastors through whom they hope to further expand the ministry.

The second church, Peace Community of Frankfort, IL sent a team of 5 to assess how they might respond to the construction needs following Huricane Felix. We praise the Lord for the long-term commitments of both these churches.

Pastor Santiago is so grateful that he will be able to rebuild his church building with their help.

Punta de Palma, Guatemala

2007-12-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

Punta de Palma, Guatemala - John and Cheryl returned to El Faro for a TNT training and Chronological Bible Storying. Thanks to supporters, we will bring 26 hand-crank cassette players and Scriptures to non-literates.

International Orality Network

2007-12-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Cheryl attended the International Orality Network Conference in Orlando, FL. It was confirmation that our new direction is what is needed to BEST reach the people we are working with. It was clear that the US is also becoming post-literate.

It was great to network with leaders from IMB (Southern Baptists), Wycliffe, Campus Crusade, Trans World Radio, SIM and others who are finding that we need to change the way we are preaching and teaching in missions and in US ministry.

Maun, Botswana

2007-11-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

With One Way Ministries, John visited church planters that we helped train in July. They have begun their church planting efforts using Chronological Bible Storying in remote northern villages and are seeking financial support.

Sugu Valley, Papua New Guinea

2007-11-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

Sugu Valley, Papua New Guinea - With Evangelical Free Church in Naperville we evaluated ongoing partnership and pastor training needs for PNG Ministries. Most pastors did not have a Bible, several did not read and some may not be saved. We hope to return in March or April.

Storying in the US

2007-09-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Joliet, IL - John and Cheryl have fun teaching Chronologica Bible Storying to a Junior High Youth Group.

Hemet, CA - John and Cheryl further hone their Chronological Bible Storying skils at Simply the Story - Timothy Church Planter training.

Hurricane Felix Hits Nicaragua

2007-09-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Northern Nicaragua - Hurricane Felix injures Pastor Hector and kills several of his relatives. Pastor Santiago's church is destroyed. John delivers financial aid from our faithful supporters.

Nicaraguan News

2007-08-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

John took some pastors from Christ Church in DuBuque, Iowa, to Saclin, Nicaragua. This village doesn't make it on any maps I can find - but, it is near the Honduran border, west of Waspam.

Joined there by 1st generation TNTers from Puerto Cabezas, they led seminars on the books of Acts and Mark. Among the pastors attending were some of the pastors that recently had been led to Christ!! In May, they confessed they had been trusting in their own good works for salvation and were saved.

From there, Cheryl joined them in Puerto Cabezas for more pastoral workshops led by Leadership Resources missionaries, Americo Saavedra and Ray Morris.

Meanwhile, Cheryl taught the youth an evangelistic mime ...

...and John and Cheryl led some workshops on Chronological Bible Storying.

We were pleased to learn that Pastor Santiago immediately used stories from Genesis 1 and 2 for an outreach event the following weekend.

He said, "The people told me they had never heard those stories before! Tell us more!"

We will continue this training on later trips and are researching the possibility of taping the stories in Misquitu on solar powered devices to assure that the stories remain accurate.

Simply the Story

2007-07-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

From June 29-July 14, we took one of the best, perhaps the most meaningful missions trip we have ever experienced. We taught Bible students how to plant churches among semi-literate, oral learners using Bible stories at Livingstone School of Missions in Botswana, Africa.

On our closing night the students traveled with us to a remote village where we had previously planted the only church in town. We set up a bonfire and the town gathered to hear stories.

Traditionally the town would do this to tell stories about their village and history. Students from Livingstone School shared Bible 21 stories from the creation story to Jesus’ ascension while the people; children, youth and elders sat around listened with rapt attention for over three hours. In between stories people from the village broke out in songs that prompted others to dance around the fire. John had the privilege of closing our time in prayer.

He said,
“God has spoken to us through these stories tonight. We have learned much about who He is and what He wants for us to do. Now it is time for us to talk to Him.

Repent and believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Talk to Him now and be reconciled to Him. You know what to say. Just talk to Him in your own words about your sin and ask Him to forgive you and give you eternal life through Jesus the Savior of the world.”

Everyone prayed - calling out to God.

Welcome, Selah Grace!

2007-06-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

On June 14th, Eric and Julie added a healthy and beautiful member to our family. Big brother and sister, Josiah and Hannah, think she's "pwitty".

We love her and her name, from the Psalms, which means "Pause and reflect on His grace." She has caused us to do just that.

TNT in Guatemala

2007-06-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

The second TNT (Training National Trainers) seminar on 2 Timothy was successful in Punta de Palma. More than 30 pastors attended. We will continue to recruit through the end of this year.

Two Q'eqchi' (pronounced Kekchi) speaking pastors walked four hours through the hills and then took a bus to get to the conference. They have limited education and expressed interest in learning ways to minister and teach their largely illiiterate communities. We plan to return in December to begin training for them.