Making progress!

With the Lord's help, we've been able to raise more support. Here's where we currently stand:

Total needed: $79,221.00
Amount raised to date: $9,741.71

Praise God for what's come in so far and please keep this process in your prayers. We're thankful for each one of you who's taking the time to read this.

Another financial update

We're hoping to post updates on our support-raising progress from time to time. Here's where we are now:

Amount raised: $3,836.71
Total needed: $79,221.00

Again, we're thankful for those of you who are praying for us and would simply say--keep praying!

Why are we going to Cameroon?

Here are a few sentences from my (Wesley's) prayer letter on the reasons we're making this trip:

there are many significant needs at the seminary (Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary, or “CBTS”) where we served last summer for a month in the village of Ndu, in the Northwest province. Most of the incoming students are hoping to pastor churches someday in Cameroon, which means that explaining, clarifying, and emphasizing the gospel is vitally important for CBTS teachers. And many of the faculty members are overworked. Most of them are teaching more than a “full load,” and they’re doing it without teaching assistants.... CBTS needs people who can provide some help to the current faculty by teaching biblical languages, Bible book studies, general theology courses, church history, and Bible computer program tutorials.

In sum, CBTS is a crucial place for making sure future Cameroonian pastors are grounded in the gospel about Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Many of the seminary's applicants have trouble (I'm told by faculty members) articulating how a person enters a right relationship with God. So there is great need for theological education! And CBTS faculty members who are providing this education are severely overworked. Many of them are in the classroom--that's not counting any of their other responsibilities--15 hours a week. Our hope is that we will provide some relief and encouragement to the current faculty by taking some of their courseload off their shoulders.

--posted by Wes (for the team)

Prayer requests

Here are some specific ways you can be praying for the three of us as we get ready to leave in August:

• Pray that we will trust God and lean on his wisdom in all of our planning and preparing to God
• Pray that God will take away any excessive anxiety on our part and our family's part and fill us with faith in him
• Pray that we will maintain deep communion with God through his Son Jesus during these months of support raising and ask that we will serve in Cameroon out of the depths of that communion
• Pray that God will meet all our financial needs in a timeframe that will allow us to get our visas, plane tickets, etc., by the date that we need to
• Pray that God will raise up people who have a heart for his work in Third World seminaries, Africa, and specifically Cameroon who will faithfully pray for us and be our support team
• Pray for humility as we prepare to teach; pray that we will have an openness and desire to learn from our students as we teach them in the classroom
• Pray for our finalizing of which classes we will each be teaching, and then ask God to help us prepare for those classes
• Pray above all that we will love God and love our students deeply; pray that our students will feel loved, encouraged, listened to and heard, and equipped by our time at Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary

Financial update

Friends,

Here's a brief look at the financial aspect of our time in Cameroon.

In order to go and be able to spend 10-11 months there, we each need to raise $26,407, which means the total amount needed is $79,221. So far, we have raised $1,625.

Right now, we're sending out prayer letters and trying to make contacts with people who have a heart for Africa and/or theological education in general in the Third World. It is a crucial ministry, and we're asking God to send givers our way who have a vision for leadership development in the Cameroonian church.

If you are interested in contributing towards our trip, the easiest way is to send a check payable to the "Baptist General Conference" with one of our three names in the memo line to the following address:

Baptist General Conference
Attn: Debbie Castic
2002 S Arlington Heights Rd
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Or, if you would want to call in and set up an auto-withdrawal plan from a bank account, contact Daniel Boerst at 847-228-0220, ext. 3238 (or, toll-free, call 800-323-4215).

The three of us are trusting God to provide for our needs. If he wants us teaching in Cameroon next year, then he'll supply the money we need to get us there. He is the self-sufficient One who says, "Every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.... If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine" (Psalm 50:10, 12).

The team.

Angelica Fon leads the Bethlehem Baptist Wednesday night "Cameroon Connection" service in some traditional Cameroonian worship songs ("You Are Worthy, Lord," "Immortal God, Invisible God," "Amen, Amen, Blessings and Honor").

Here we are worshipping at a special Cameroon-focused connection service at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Wednesday night, March 8. Angelica Fon (not pictured here), the wife of CBTS President Wilfred Fon, led us in some Cameroonian worship songs.

Last but not least...

I'm Tommy, the final member of our team of three. Unlike Wes and Charlie, this will be my first time to Cameroon and Africa. I'm from Indiana, went to school at Taylor University, and will be graduating from The Bethlehem Institute before heading to Cameroon. I hope to teach courses on biblical Greek and exegesis at CBTS (Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary). We'll find out eventually how we can best augment the curriculum to serve the students and faculty. Many thanks for your prayer and support!

Two of the three...

This is Wesley Hill, number two of the three. I went with Charlie on the trip to Cameroon from Bethlehem Baptist last summer and am excited to go back for a longer stint next year. I'm eagerly anticipating the classroom experiences I'll have (teaching, I hope, some New Testament book studies as well as more general theology courses) and also the times of going deeper with students through discipleship and relationship-building. I love the team I'm going with, and, with them, ask you to pray for us and partner with us as God leads you.

One of the three...

Hey, this is Charlie Shepherd, one of the three going to teach at Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary this August. I'll graduate with Tommy and Wes from The Bethlehem Institute this May, and I was on the Cameroon team that went out from Bethlehem Baptist Church last summer. Next year, I'm hoping to teach anything from Old Testament theology to Church History, and am looking forward to reestablishing friendships with students at CBTS. Like Tommy and Wes, I covet your prayers and support for next year.