Pastors School, Conferences & Clinics
Dear Friends,
The Lord has blessed our year as missionaries. In Africa we started 21 new churches and our evangelistic teams preached to over 50,000 villagers. We had three modular schools with about 150 pastors attending each school; most of these pastors are from our church plants. This week we finished the third round of Mobile Medical Clinics. In our 45 clinics this year, we treated over 12,000 persons for illnesses and preached the Gospel to about 14,000 persons. We started a counseling system to help those who want to be saved and saw hundreds come for counseling and receive Christ at the clinics.
In the future we would like to increase the number of clinics to 60 per year allowing us to help more people. This is a critical need during malaria season. We want to start our Bible Institute for young men in a year or so. This will give us a base of more educated men to help in the starting of new churches and to help with Biblical education of the church people here in Malawi. We are praying about starting a ministry to the public schools here. It would be exciting to start reaching these young people in the high schools.
The needs here are overwhelming. We could use two full-time missionaries for the clinics and for the school outreach. Our greatest prayer need is for full-time laborers. We will need an additional vehicle for the school project, preferably a 4-wheel drive Toyota Rav4. Also, additional funds will be needed to expand the health clinics to new locations.
In Moldova our graduated students have started two new village churches. Many of our students return to their local villages and start youth programs and support their pastors in their home churches. The camps were a great success this past summer; Stephanie and I were there for over two months. We enjoyed seeing the fruit of our many years of labor in Moldova. We have now officially turned the work over to Moldovans. I remain on the board of directors and will help them raise funds for the ministry. This move gives the men there more autonomy and prepares them for the day when I will no longer be available to help them. We couldn’t be more excited about what God is doing in Moldova. Pray for the leadership team in Moldova as they press forward with the ministry there. Pray for continued funds to share the gospel with campers and to teach students the Word.
I have been asked by one of our partners in Moldova, Grace University, to help and advise their graduates in Central Asia. Please pray I will have wisdom concerning when and how much time to spare for this important work. This ministry would be in the 10/40 window, supporting men who are working directly with Muslims.
Stephanie and I begin our furlough this month. I have still not been able to reach some pastors through mail, email, or on the phone. However, I have a very full schedule and look forward to seeing old friends and supporting churches.
God Bless,
Dr. Eric Chapman