$40.00@ Puts the Word of God in the hands of those who cannot read or write!

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

100 Audio Bibles Needed for Tribes that cannot read the Bible

As we prepare for our trip to Kenya next month, we know by experience that we will be  witnessing to tribes who have a high rate of illiteracy.    We also know that one of the most powerful tools we have used to reach the lost and grow disciples are Solar Powered Audio Bibles.   These audio Bibles are in their tribal language which they can hear and understand.   Can you imagine hearing the Word of God in your own language for the first time??  We have seen the reaction first hand and the power of the spoken word as faces light up when God speaks to them through this amazing tool.  
What must it be like to desire God's Word but not be able to read? 
Partners Needed Who See the Need, Can You Help?

Remember, we are working in remote interior regions where the indigenous population has no electricity, so the fact that these audio Bibles do not need batteries is a huge blessing.  All they have to do is place the solar panel towards the sun and then the Word of God points them to the SON, (Of God). These Bibles are rugged, they are water resistant and made of extremely durable plastic.   They are designed by Missionaries for Missionaries who will take them to the uttermost parts of the earth.

2 Tim. 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Over the years, Terry and I have done our best to teach the five tribes we have worked with in Kenya and Uganda the Word of God.  Much of the numerical and spiritual growth we have seen has taken place because we helped them become students of the Word.  We carry a burden because many of our disciples still need the Word of God and because they cannot read or write we know these audio Bibles are key to their continued growth.    $40.00 seems to be a small price to pay for someone who is hungry for the Word of God.




  2Ti 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

One Audio Bible does not necessarily mean one person.  We have gone into villages and given this spoken Word of God to an individual who then gathers his or her family, friends and neighbors together and listens intently as a group.  We have seen entire villages transformed as these group Bible Studies take place each week and sometimes daily.  Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments.  How will they keep His commandments if they do not have the word of God?





This Picture is of an old man named Loboduk who gave me my Pokot Tribal Name.  They call me,"Missionary Carlos Loboduk".  We led him, his brother and wife to Christ in 2010 and he is listening to His personal Audio Bible for the first time.   Please pray for those like Loboduk who have yet to receive the Word of God.

Psalms 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Question?  Would you consider a special one time offering or a monthly offering to help us get these folks the Word of God?  While our goal is 100, one, two or ten will be a great blessing to these new and young converts.   Please continue to pray for us and if God so leads you to give to this worthy cause, designate: Solar Bibles. 

Thank you for traveling this journey of faith with us. 

Special Thanks: To Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church,

         Daingerfield, Texas

For years this small but powerful church family has faithful given monthly offerings designated  for solar powered audio Bibles.  They have been a faithful partner who has put the Word of God into the hands of hundreds because they have had a burden to see to see people come to the saving knowledge and grow in their faith through Bible study.

Little is much when God is in it!

Any and all Financial Support needs to be Sent to:

Sending Church Information:

First Baptist Church of East Bay

10102 Old Big Bend Rd.

Riverview, Florida 33578

Or DONATE THRU SECURE PAYPAL

ON RIGHT SIDE OF BLOGDOONATE THRU SECURE PAYPAL      

                                               

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=DVMPV47K5HGUA

 



 Special Thanks:  To Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Daingerfield, Texas For years this small but powerful church family has faithful given monthly offerings designated for solar powered audio Bibles.  They have been a faithful partner who has put the Word of God into the hands of hundreds because they have had a burden to see people come to the saving knowledge and grow in their faith through Bible study.   Little is much Special Thanks:  To Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Daingerfield, Texas For years this small but powerful church family has faithful given monthly offerings designated for solar powered audio Bibles.  They have been a faithful partner who has put the Word of God into the hands of hundreds because they have had a burden to see people come to the saving knowledge and grow in their faith through Bible study.   Little is much

 

Life in the Fast Lane, Baptisms & Buildings

Life in the fast lane is a great description of American culture.   Don’t get me wrong, Terry and I don’t mind staying very busy serving the Lord and we try to be good stewards with our time, but the busyness of American life continues to be a great challenge in so many ways.  Contrasted to life in Africa, which is viewed as a journey traveling on a river, which is best enjoyed when the river is moving slowly to allow those on the journey to more fully appreciate and experience the scenery along the way.  We much prefer the slow moving river pace of life but we are learning to adjust to life in the fast lane.   Besides the normal activities of living and family, ministry tasks that keep us busy are visitation which includes our van route, hospital/nursing home visits as well as new contacts and visitors.  Additionally, we continue our weekly in-home Bible studies and I am also preaching each week at the maximum security prison located in Cross City.  And then there is the regular tasks that every Missionary or Pastor can relate to regarding lesson and sermon preparation.  And of course, throw in meetings and deputation appointments as well and you’ve got a recipe for a busy life or as my Pastor, Dr. Myers likes to call it, “the rat race”.   Part of the meetings for this local Church sent and local Church supported Missionary includes the American Baptist Association Annual Messenger Meeting held in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

 

While out in that neck of the woods we were able to spend Father’s Day with our Co-Sponsoring Church, Dean Spring MBC.   They are indeed family to us in so many ways.   We were also thankful to Pastor Scott Pevehouse and S. Lakewood Baptist Church for allowing us to present our work during this trip.    We gave reports on the work we are doing in Florida/Kenya and we left greatly encouraged by brethren from all over the country.    The East African side of our work included a baptism service at the Landmark Baptist Church at Mayanja which is located at the base of Mt. Elgon where they baptize a dozen new converts.

 

LBC Mayanja was one of the hardest villages for us to break into with the gospel but we can now see God’s hand in all of it and can see the investment of prayers, sweat and tears was worth it.   It does our hearts good to see our converts pressing towards the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus.

This week we also received pictures of our historic first Uganda Sanctuary nearing completion as the members of the LBC Butiru.   Our Florida building progress is slightly different but in many ways the same.   We needed room at the Florida Plant for our youth and decided that converting a ready-made shed was the most feasible and practical way of adding to our current sanctuary without creating a huge building project on a building we do not own.

I guess we continue to be African in many ways and look for unique and flexible solutions which we learned on the mission field.   Thank you to each and every one of the Churches and individuals who have given special offerings to help us meet this special need.  

In His Service, 

Chuck & Terry Fernandez

Kenya/Uganda/Florida Plant 

Betwixt Two Worlds & The Struggle of the Heart

Pastor Jackson's Baptism

                                                                     Pastor Jackson's Calling

Pastor Jackson Working for the Lord

 The Apostle Paul wrote in the His letter to the Philippians that he was betwixt two worlds, having a desire to depart and be with Christ which was far better or to continue the mission work he was doing with regard to preaching the gospel, discipling converts and planting Churches.   The truth be known, this is or should be the same desire that every born again believer has in their heart.    Along that line of reasoning, it has also been said, “You will never be completely at home again.  Because part of your heart will always be elsewhere.  That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”   While the two statements are not identical, the similarities are noteworthy.  Most Christians have never experienced the life of a foreign Missionary and therefore they may not be able to fully relate to the struggles of our heart but they can surely relate to what Paul wrote about being betwixt two worlds.   Our souls have been forever knitted together with our converts and Churches in Kenya and Uganda.   Part of that knitting together involves praying for one another as well as encouraging and exhorting one another in faith.   And in some unique cases we must go from sympathy to compassion by offering assistance to the best of our ability.   Such is the case of Pastor Jackson, Sis. Carolynn and their now orphaned children. 

                                                    The Children

Many have asked what can we do to help and we thank God for those who have given unsolicited offerings for Pastors Jackson medical and burial expenses.    For a month now I have prayed over and struggled with asking God’s people to help these children because for years we were very careful to create dependence on the Lord rather than us.    In every situation Terry and I asked ourselves, “What did they do before we came to Kenya?” And, “What will they do if we leave?”  We have done our level best to bring them to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus and follow His teachings and commands thereby focusing on their spiritual well being and trusting God to provide their physical needs.   The foreign Missionary walks a tight rope with regard to humanitarian aid verses Spiritual teaching and growth.  Now I am not saying we have it all figured out, but we have placed our resources on education/training, bibles and buildings.  That is not to say that we have not helped financially with regard to medical and other humanitarian needs but it is to say that we have done so on a limited basis as not to create financial dependence that we could not sustain.    Hopefully you understand the struggle of our hearts and that you do not find us guilty of being overly cautious with regard to asking for help.  I say all that to say this, if God puts these children on your heart, we will receive a onetime love offering to help them transition to life without their parents and the offering will be distributed judiciously thru the counsel of two of our National Pastors who are in the process of traveling to Lake Victoria on a monthly basis to help the Church transition and training their new Pastor.   Pastor Jackson and His wife Carolyn were wonderful, beautiful, faithful servants who served the Lord Jesus till their dying breathe and a love offering will be a blessing to His Children.

                                          Pastor Jackson and Carolyn

Please designate it “Watoto wa Jackson” which translates to Jackson’s Children.   Thank you for allowing us to share our hearts and ministry with you through this journal blog.  Please continue to pray for Pastor Jacksons family and us as we labor for the Lord.

                                              Missionary Chuck and Pastor Jackson  

                                             Terry & Carolyn and baby Carlitos

The Bolivian Blog, Faithful Servants & Pastor Jackson Goes Home

The older we get, the longer it seems to take to recover from International travel, however a week later, by the grace of God we reconnect with the land of our fathers, our culture and continue to put our hand to plow and not look back.    I believe we accomplished all of our objectives during my recent trip to Bolivia with our Pastor, Dr. Tim Myers.   First and foremost, we want to bring God glory in all that we do and to that end we went to encourage the Church and Pastor Miguel Sanchez at Cochabamba (El Camino Missionary Baptist Church) to consider and pray about a strategy to reach the lost and to plant more Churches.   The Church was planted in 2006, in a city of 1.9 million people but has made no appreciable effort to reach the lost and or send out Preachers to plant more Churches.   It’s often been said that the greatness of a Church is not in its seating capacity but rather it sending capacity.   The Church is as doctrinally sound as you will find anywhere in the world but is lacking burden and vision.        

                                                                       Statue

Market

Len & I

Mission Team

 



We can teach and develop a vision with them but the burden for the lost is something that God is going to have to do in their hearts.   In addition to encouraging the Church to move forward from where they were a year ago as the Apostle Paul taught the Church at Corinth, we also went to encourage Bro. Darrell Roberton who is a new Missionary to Bolivia.   Bro. Darrell and I spent hours together talking about where he is in His ministry as well as lessons Terry and I have learned from our years in Africa.   He is going to do a great work in Bolivia but he is in those crucial and difficult foundation laying years as he learns the language and culture.    The Church hosted a three day Bible conference where I was able to teach the Pauline methodology for Church planting as well as using examples and illustrations from the work we did in Kenya and Uganda.    We challenged them to reach the sea of humanity in Cochabamba as well as some thirty other ethnic groups within their own country (many of them unreached).   Each day we would go out into the city and give out John & Romans which the people gladly received.  It is one thing when people receive the word of God but it is a blessing when you return to see them sitting down reading it.

Tracts







Even though the people of Bolivia are heavily indoctrinated in Catholicism they are still open and hungry for God’s word which means the Church and Missionary has endless opportunities to preach and teach the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Please pray for the people of Bolivia and specifically that the work there will reach its potential for the glory of God.   Our hearts are still very much on the foreign field in so many ways and while I do not feel God calling us to Bolivia at this time I believe it is place that  we will able to travel to encourage our brethren there on a regular basis.   

Our priority remains the Church plant in Florida as well as Kenya/Uganda Church development and as Terry’s health is vastly improving to the point where I believe she will be able to return to Kenya one day to say goodbye to the people she dearly loves.  Remember, she was not afforded that opportunity when we medivac her out of East Africa.   One of the biggest blessings of my trip was that while I was thousands of miles away on the foreign field getting the word of God out on the streets of Cochabamba, our folks at the Florida Plant were faithfully serving the Lord doing the same thing at the annual Blueberry festival in Brooksville, Florida.

Terry

                                              Grandson Kason



Terry and team of faithful servants gave out hundreds of gospel tracts during the festival which lets me know that our folks are developing into Disciples of Christ and a Church family that carries out the Great Commission with or without the presence of their Missionary Pastor.   The Kenya/Uganda front brought news that Pastor Jackson from Lake Victoria has gone home to be with the Lord.   The news of the death of a Saint is always met with mixed emotions, part of me praises the Lord for His grace and mercy through Pastor Jacksons radical salvation transformation from a drunken fisherman to a preacher of the gospel and then there is the reality that his children: Electra, Lokey, Hillary and my namesake Carlitos are orphaned. 

                                                                   Jackson

My namesake....Carlitos

If you recall Pastor’s wife died some months back.  We know God’s grace is sufficient and believe that Sis. Rose, Pastor’s Mother who is a faithful member of the Church will raise the children in faith.   A team of Pastors from Mt. Elgon will be traveling tomorrow to help make the burial arrangements for Pastor Jackson.  Please continue to pray for His children as they stand by the graveside where they will have buried both parents in less than six months.   Thank you for allowing us to share this continued journey of faith. 

---

Bolivia Bound, Constitution Service & Lake Victoria Challenges

Greetings Family, Friends & Brethren,

Please note; below are the attached April Newsletters for both The Florida Plant and East African Church Development for your printing and distribution.   We are still trying to bridge the gap from mailing out hard copies to emailing newsletters with our blog.  Please let me know if you still need a hard copy to post at your Church.   Today I will travel with my sending Church Pastor, Dr. Tim Myers to spend nine days working with two Missionaries currently on the field in Bolivia who are sent out of 1^st Baptist Church of Eastbay.

Our hope and prayer is that God will use us to encourage those men of God and to share the work we have done in East African Ministry in an effort to replicate the New Testament Church planting methodology we have used.   Please pray for God’s power, provision and protection as we continue to try to follow the His leadership in all we do.    Since our last posting, we have constituted the work we are doing at The Florida Plant.   We as a group of believers have followed the leadership of the Holy Spirit and not gotten involved in Mission politics in order to gain favor or fame and we have not allowed finances to dictate God will for our lives.    The Church is seeing people saved on regular basis, we are scripturally baptizing those converts and now we are organized to function as a New Testament Church and carry out the commands of our Savior.   After a year of worship we realize that we have faced and will face many more challenges but we also realize that our Lord and Savior will see us through.      

                                                                   Mary Baptized

                                                                   Jake Baptized

                  Signing ...Pastor Tim Johnson & Pastor Tim Myers & Missionary Chuck

                                                             Charter Members 2016

Please be mindful that while the new Church plant is constituted a work, I will remain on MISSIONARY status depending on designated funds to supply the basic needs Terry and I have.   We have trusted God thus far and believe he will continue to provide for us as we strive to serve Him with all our hearts.   The work in East Africa continues to produce fruit and challenges as well.   Last month we lost one of Lake Victoria Pastors with personal issues but thank God that another Man of God has been called from within the Church.   Continuity of the ministry can only take place when each Church and Pastor has prepared another “Timothy” to step in should the need arise.   This has been a priority lesson I have taught year after year in East Africa. 

                                                              New Pastor

Leadership Training

“Who will take your place”? 

 I am also thankful for two of our Landmark Baptist Pastors who traveled from Mt. Elgon to train the new Pastor and Church leaders and assist them through this transition.   Please continue to pray for all of us and thank you to each person and Church who supports us for the glory of God. 

In His Service,

Bro.Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez

                                     Click below for April Florida Plant Newsletter

                                      Click Below for April Kenya/Uganda Newsletter