FredWes  Global Focus

 Reports

"Ministry has been very good. It has come with fight, and with victories one step at a time. We are blessed to be here in Zambia doing this work." - Read the entire update from the Berners in the Light of Africa's February 2012 newsletter.

"Hoping your Christmas celebration was nothing short of wonderful. We spent our ours here in Livingstone.  Different from past years in South Africa. Our tree went to a family who has 2 small children and were praying (we didn’t know) for a tree. Amazing is our Father! It just made our Christmas so very blessed." - Read the newsletter from the Berners by clicking here.

"English classes are preparing to start up again here. Our adult class through the church will begin next week and then our children’s classes in Trogir will begin at the beginning of February. Please pray for new opportunities for sharing the light and truth of Christ with our students." - Read more of the Englands' email by clicking on this link.

"We sincerely pray you will have a very merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year. We have had a good year of ministry in 2011 and look forward to 2012. Village Sunday schools and kids clubs, Girls and Women Bible Studies, Bible Classes, Men-torship for Christian leaders, working with village pre-schools and orphans have all been a part of Light of Africa’s work in Zambia." - Click here to read this end-of-year newsletter from Light of Africa missionaries Butch and Janet Berner in its entirety.

"Wendy and I would like to wish you a belated "Happy Thanksgiving" and say thank you for your recent financial gift to our ministry. Your love and generosity are sincerely appreciated and we are so grateful that you have partnered with us in serving the Lord and the people of Split, Croatia." - Read the entire email from the Englands by clicking this link.

"Butch taught The Elijah Challenge at the Pilgrim Wesleyan Church during the first week of November. It was well attended with over 50 trainees each evening. It was so encouraging to see members of the church go out to the highways and by-ways and do evangelism. It is one thing to understand and another to use this method for the Kingdom of God. The reports came back that many who were prayed for had pain and soreness leave (PTL)." - Click here to read the entire report from the Berners in Africa.

"Thank you again for your support for our ministry in Croatia. It means so much to us to have you on
our support team. We have jumped right back in and feel like we’ve come home!" - Read more in this email message from Chris and Wendy England.

"Greetings from Croatia! We made it back safely to Split on Tuesday afternoon, with no flight problems and with all of our luggage. When our plane landed our son Kyler said, “Ahh, Home Sweet Home!” and Abby and Caden could hardly contain their excitement.  What fun it was to drive up to our home and within seconds be surrounded by the children in our neighborhood, who were so excited to see our kids." - Read the entire message from the Englands by clicking this link. 

"Many have been asking for updates on our financial clearance so we are sending out this quick update.  Once again we stand amazed at God’s provision for our funding!  In the past two weeks we’ve gone from needing $10,000 in yearly faith promise to now only needing $800!  We have met with churches, pastors and individuals over and over this summer and have sat in wonder as they’ve shared their stories of how God has provided in amazing ways." - Click here to read the rest of the email from missionaries Chris and Wendy England.

"Our church is continuing its focus on outreach with a new ministry being offered in the fall.  With an increase in unemployment (18%), the church, realizing a “felt need” of the community to improve their English speaking skills to become more employable, will be offering an English Workshop in the fall." - Read the entire report from Chris and Wendy England by clicking this link.

"Thank you all for the prayers for the land issue. The preliminary meeting went well. This week the Town Planner and the Town Clerk are meeting to discuss the matter and Butch will know more before the end of next week (prayerfully said)." - Read the rest of this update from Butch and Janet Berner in Africa by clicking here.

"Thank you so much for your recent gift for our ministry! You are a great blessing to us. Please enjoy a few pics from the recent barbecue we hosted for our church family just before leaving for the States. Bless you" - Chris and Wendy England

"Hello from Croatia!! We wanted to write and thank you from our hearts for you recent support sent in for ministry in Croatia. You are such a blessing for us and we are grateful for your partnership!" - Read the entire email (with pictures) from the Englands by clicking this link.

"Pray for Butch as he speaks at the church in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. He will be teaching The Elijah Challenge next week, holding a crusade and then preaching at the church again next week. This is a great opportunity to see God move in miraculous ways and opens doors for the Gospel to be shared. Pray for miracles of healing and for open hearts to receive the gift of Christ’s salvation." - Click here to read the entire May 7th, 2011 message from the Berners in Africa.

"My blood pressure went up a little as my friend told me that all foreigners must now be extra careful. The authorities are nervous about people using Fcebook and other net-working sites to try to stir up this country just like others in the middle east." - Read this newsletter from the K family, and learn more about the challenges missionaries face in other lands.

"Praying you and your loved ones are well this week. We are fine and moving along with things. The rains have stopped for a few days making it a muddy endeavor to go to the village but oh, it was so worth it!! Butch taught Vincent and Jehoshaphat, Allan with his Bible study group and me with the children and Barbara in Katubiya and with the ladies in Sekute. What a wonderful day. Later in the week, I was able to go to the village and do evaluations with 3 of the preschools (there are 18). What a delight to see the children and teachers again after our home visit and transition to Zambia." - Read more in the Berners' prayer letter by clicking this link.  The Berners are also raising money for Bio-Sands filters to provide safe drinking water to people in Zambia.  For more information on that project, click here.  To read about a university student Light of Africa is trying to help, click here.

"We had the most amazing and unique experience this New Year’s Eve. We were invited to celebrate with a group of Croatian believers and their children from all over Split for New Year’s Eve. It had the typical food and festive atmosphere normally found at such an event, but the focus of this party was on worship, praise and prayer. The majority of the evening was spent in worship of our Creator and giving testimony to His faithfulness this past year! It was an incredible honor for us to share this “bringing in of the New Year” in this manner." - Read Chris and Wendy England's winter update in its entirety by clicking this link.

"We have so much to be thankful for this trip. New friends, more prayer warriors and especially, traveling mercies.  We have traveled thousands of miles without incident or accident and we are so thankful!  We praise God for this and for the contacts we have been able to make during this trip.  As we being to wind down we look forward with great anticipation to going home to Zambia.  Many things sit on the horizon and await our attention when we return.  Ahhh, but first the preparation." - Click here to read the January prayer letter from the Berners.

"We pray you have started this year off with good health and great memories of Christmas and visits with friends and family. We were blessed to be in Houston and able to attend our home church, Encourager, for the Christmas Eve service with Nell Kruger (Janet’s mother). This Christmas was different on many levels. It was the first without my dad; LD, the first time to celebrate at my brother Clay’s with his wife, Glenda, and her family; the first that my mom went to church with us for Christmas Eve service; and the first time to have Christmas supper with Butch’s sister and family in Houston." - Read the entire report from the Berners, missionaries to Africa.

"It never ceases to amaze us how God works things out in His perfect time. Many of you have been praying for the positive resolution to Wendy and the kids’ visa applications. We are so thankful to report that we just heard from the government office recently and our living permits have been approved! Praise God for answered prayer." - You can read the entire report from the Englands by clicking this link.

“'Happy Christmas, and a Prosperous New Year', as we say in Zambia.  We pray that you are surrounded by your loved ones, whether in memory or in person, as you celebrate the birth of our beloved Savior, Jesus the Christ, Messiah, Almighty God, Wonderful, Counselor, Creator, God who became man." - Read the Berner's December newsletter in its entirety by clicking this link.

"At our LIGHT board meeting last week we were thrilled to report that about 500 people have come to believe through LIGHT’s work in the past 12 months. That may seem like a large number, but relative to the 7 million just in our city and 45 million in our province, it is not enough. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send more workers, local and international. In the past three months our LIGHT team has seen 23 people in the nursing homes come to faith. But one of our greatest challenges is not having enough workers to disciple them." - Find out what has been happening with the K family on the mission field by reading their November newsletter.

"Over the last three years, Overland Missions’ LiFE Education Department has been strategically implementing a vision for literacy in order to read the Bible.    It seems like yesterday that I was asked to join the grass roots level of this dream.  Prayer, writing curriculum, systematically training teachers, planning, evaluating, editing, prayer, more re-writes, prayer, and consistency, continue to be a part of the LiFE Education Team’s dailies." - Read more in the Life of Africa's October newsletter.

"The story begins with a phone call from one of my colleagues. A middle school friend of her language tutor has been in the hospital for a month. What started a while ago with kidney cancer has since spread into her lungs and brain. This lady I’ll call “Bird” is 38 years old and has a son, 13. Her husband and extended family were looking after her round-the-clock as hospitals here typically aren’t staffed with nurses to care for needs beyond monitoring and administering medicine. My colleague and her tutor had just finished praying for Bird. Bird joined the faith about a month ago. Now she is unable to talk because of the brain tumors, and mostly communicates by blinking her eyes." - Read the entire story from the K family serving in Asia by clicking here.

"We went to the village to teach this week. It was the second day of school for the final term of the year. 35 children were waiting for Kids Club with stragglers continuing to come as the lesson progressed. It is such a joy to see these boys and girls grow up…and grow up in the Lord." - Read more of this update from the Light of Africa mission by clicking this link.

"You will recall that Chris has been living alone in Split while we have been waiting on approval for his living permit. He hasn’t just been sitting home watching TV or socializing on Facebook during these days but he’s been actively involved in the lives and relationships that God has given him to invest in. One of the things he’s enjoyed doing is having BBQ’s and pizza parties with the guys with whom he plays football.  Recently they stayed until 1:00 a.m.!" - Read the England's September newsletter in its entirety.

"Spring has sprung in Zambia! It is typical that as the weather changes from winter to spring that we start with many gusts of wind strong enough that it does pull off roof sheets from houses and churches and pelt sand into your home at a rate you can hardly manage to keep it swept out.  I am not talking of silt…I am speaking of grains of sand! It is amazing as I have closed the windows and pulled the curtain over the window (in hopes of catching the sand) but still it comes…grit in the sink and now the hand soap acts an exfoliator for our dry hands!" - To read the entire email from the Berners, please click here.

"Praise the Lord for His mercies are new every morning! He has certainly been busy in our lives this past month. I have been busy writing lessons for the preschool program for rural villages in Mukuni kingdom, teaching Bible for kids and the ladies, getting more done with the bio-sand program and for the first time, I was invited to speak at a ladies retreat. It was a fabulous time of sharing. God moved on the hearts of so many of the attenders and the other volunteers there too." - Click here for the entire email from the Berners.

"Seven of Butch’s students were able to “walk” this year in Light of Africa’s second Bible School graduation ceremony. A course which lasted three years finally coming to an end. It was a glorious celebration of what God has done in and through these seven pastors." - Read the Light of Africa's August newsletter.

"Hello! I am writing from Colorado to express our gratitude for your church and your faithful giving to our ministry!! We are so blessed by your giving and your prayers, especially when we know that so many are giving sacrificially to the Lord's work! What an honor it is to partner with you in Croatia!" - Continue reading the email message from Wendy England.

"In the evenings when we ask each other what was your high and low for the day it is almost always a guarantee that Butch will say his high was his classes. He loves God and teaching His Word to others. He is proud of his students as they learn and grow and apply truth to their lives and to their work and ministry. Soon Butch will have another group graduating from his program...Life of Christ. This alone is a high but coupled with our home church's missions pastor, Pastor Billy Burton, is coming to teach, do the commencement exercises and to speak words of encouragement into our lives is enough to create an air of expectancy. Having family visit is always such a wonderful time of fellowship! Other classes for Butch include a series on The Father's Love. It is a paradigm shift to realize that we are created to receive our Father's love. So much is involved in this small nugget of wisdom." - Read the entire message from the Berners in Africa.

The England family has sent out an urgent prayer request.  Click here to read it.

"Hello! We are sending our greetings to you from Split. You are a blessing to us!  We thank God for you regularly. Thank you for your support through prayer and finances. We specifically want to say thank you for the support you sent in this past week." - Click here to read more of the correspondence from the Englands in Croatia.

"The past month seems like multiple months all in one. Team Zambia from ORU arrived and we began the bio-sand project (highlighted in the attached newsletter), worked with children in schools, did VBS in Katubiya and worked with youth groups from churches whose pastors have been in the Bible school or still studying under his discipleship. What a glorious time!" - Read all of the message from the Berners in Africa.

"Some of you may be aware that Light of Africa was awarded a grant from Oral Roberts University to build Bio-Sand filters in the rural areas where we minister. We are so very blessed and honored to have the funds to purchase the moulds, materials and tools necessary for making biological filters for water purification. The Team of 4 has gone into 2 schools and taught on sanitation, hygiene and proper hand washing techniques to students in grades 1-9. Each day the team did an incredible job of teaching Bible devotions and hygiene. 24+ students gave their lives to the Lord, many were healed from stomach problems and flu symptoms during this time! We praise God for the success of this training and for the relationships which were made with teaching staff and the team. We will do follow-up next week to be sure that what was taught was "caught" by both staff and teachers." - Click here to read the entire message from the Berners.

"Hello!  We are sending our greetings from Croatia!  Our missions team here just finished up a “church projects workday” this morning /afternoon at the church.   For us living in a culture that is so different than our own, and which doesn’t lend itself to a normal flow and ebb of life, it was sort of fun to participate in such a normal activity like cleaning and fixing up the church." - Read more of this email message from Wendy England.

"I just returned from a visit to Haiti to check up on our progress there. As always, it was equal parts inspiring, difficult and utterly exhausting. This was a particularly special trip for me, as my son Aaron was with me. Having my own son there gave me a unique perspective and renewed compassion as we met with heartbroken mothers, fathers and children who had lost loved ones. One incident in particular will be forever etched into my memory." - Read more in World Hope International's April news update. 

"Hello from Croatia!!  I think the last time I wrote you I mentioned that we had had a ton of rain, and as I am looking out my window it is pouring again!!  I hope you are experiencing sunny skies there.  We really appreciate you and the support you sent in for us this month.  We really appreciate your prayers for us as well." - Read more of this update from the Englands.

"Butch leaves this week for Burkina Faso ministering the Gospel via the Elijah Challenge to a tribe he has not seen before. For the first time, these folks will have their notes in their home language.  Pray for bonding, connections and for many, to respond to Christ’s gift of salvation. Two conferences will be in Muslim areas. Pray for safety and for many souls to receive salvation." - Read more from Butch and Janet in their April newsletter.

"Bulawayo was a good trip and much teaching was done. We were with Pastor K. Dube and his lovely wife and church leaders to make a total of 45 folks whom Butch trained.  Butch taught 2 sessions each day for about four hours each with a translator. The pastors were very receptive to the teaching and we could see their enthusiasm grow. We were at the newest of Pastor Dube’s church plants where eight visitors made a profession of faith and witnessed miracles of healing (headaches, knee injuries, etc.).  Although there were setbacks with power outages and chasing an 8 inch rat out of our bedroom, it was a productive time and we are so thrilled and humbled to be a part of this great work." - Butch and Janet Berner.  Find out more about their ministry in Africa by reading their newsletter.

"We are starting our Life Groups the first week of March. Because Broadcast believes strongly in discipleship we have the goal of having 80% of our congregation involved in a Life Group. I know 80% is a huge number but Broadcast believes in living it and in order to LIVE IT we have to LEARN IT through discipleship. I was not called to plant this church just to “play church” but rather to share Christ, train disciples and send them out to BROADCAST the message of Christ through their life and change the world!" - Jess and Charity Holmes.  To read more of the Broadcast Church February newsletter, click here.

In the latest edition of the Wesleyan Church Ezine:  SpringLife 2010 is approaching - The Wesleyan Church's efforts to rebuild the lives of Haiti's citizens - Dr. Jim Garlow defends biblical values - The Wesleyan Church now has over 4000 Facebook "fans" - An Olympic medalist with a Godly message.  Read these stories and more by following this link. 

"Hello from a very soggy & rainy Croatia!!  We can’t tell you how grateful we are for the encouragement you have been to us in so many ways.  Thank you!!  Be sure and read our attached newsletter.  Since this is our quarterly newsletter there is a lot of information to share.  You have been a part of each and every thing mentioned here whether you gave or prayed.  Let’s continue to press forward!  There is much ground to cover here." - Serving Him together, Chris & Wendy England

"Hey guys I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers and financial gifts!  We are getting better each week with our presentation of the gospel!  We had 100 people there in attendance.  We are looking forward to life changes in the people that attend Broadcast.  You might also click on the link for our announcement videos.  We LOVE what we do at Broadcast Church!" - Jess Holmes  

"Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.  We are so blessed to know that such great warriors are praying for us and for the work in Zambia.  The Preschool training went very well.  Our greatest desire is to keep God first in all we do.  After praise and worship there was such a great out pouring of God's presence.  8 teachers responded to the call for salvation.  Following this there was prayer in the small groups where much repentance and transparency before our Father God for unity in the schools and villages. " - Click here to read the entire report from Butch and Janet.