NATIONAL EASTERCONVENTION - GHANAAt least 2,000 attended the 2013 National Easter Con-vention with 1,400 in attendance at the main sessions. This is a bi-annual event organized by the Fellowship of Christian Churches for Christian Churches in Ghana. The Arise and Shine Christian Church and the community of Saboba hosted the event. Saboba is a farming community in the northeastern part of the nation. They raise corn, peanuts, millet and the large African Yam (see photo, bot-tom of page 2). For many attendees it was a long journey of twelve to fifteen hours over rough roads.

The convention was held on the grounds of an elemen-tary school. Canopies were set up in a square formation with a large open area in the middle. One side served as space for the speaker’s stand, the music team and

seating for leaders. The open area was used for dancing during the praise time of the services. It was also used for invitations, special prayers and ordination of new leaders. Fourteen leaders were ordained. Thirty-five people made decisions to follow Christ.

The convention lasted from Thursday evening through Sunday night. Special preaching sessions were held in the morning and night. Morning teaching sessions were held in six languages with separate groups for men and women in each language. The youth and English speakers, like me, had their own group taught by Enoch Nyador. The children had special sessions each morning. There was a Bible quiz contest between youth groups from various churches. Sunday Night was a fun time as each tribal group brought a Christian song of praise from their language which included dancing to the rhythm and style of their tribe. We Americans did the children’s song “Father

Forwarding Agents:Bob & Connie Sheffler3330 W. Festive Dr.Bloomington, IN 47403

Contact Information:tel. 812-391-6096/cell: 812-391-4229email: robertsheffler@yahoo.comwebsite: www/grassrootsld.org www.cltigh.org

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP TRAINING INSTITUTEand

GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENTsponsored by Ivory Coast Christian Mission

equipping leaders to train MORE leadersIVORY COAST CHRISTIAN MISSION - Spring 2013 newsletter

To learn more about TEE and how it fills a leadership gap, visit our website atgrassrootsld.org

Mission Services2004 E. Magnolia Ave.Knoxville, TN 37917

Return Service Requested

Non Profit Org.U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TNPermit #374

Praise andPrayer Requests

1. Thank God for the funds to purchase a new 4x4 Toyota HiLux crewcab pickup for the work of Sunday Ude Obeten in Nigeria.

2. Thank God for the successful National Easter Convention in Ghana.

3. Thank God for the development of TEE classes in Ethiopia and the Philippines.

4. Ask God to bless the efforts of Eshete Belete in Ethiopia and Paul Wilson in the Philippines so that TEE classes will enable the leadership to mature and the churches to be strong.

5. Ask God to bless the efforts of Bob Sheffler, Jaime Castro and Josh Neal to start TEE classes in Mexico and Haiti this year.

6. Ask God to bless the work of Sunday Ude Obeten as he trains leaders and starts churches in Nigeria.

7. Ask God to provide funds for the self-support tractor project in Ghana.

SELF-SUPPORT TRACTORPROJECTMost of the farming work in Ghana is done with hand tools. In recent years, entrepreneurs have purchased used tractors and hired them out for custom plowing during the planting season. They are also hired for car-rying loads and people from place to place. The farmers who hire them are able to plant early and have better crop production. Those who own the used tractors quickly pay for their equipment and buy more to expand their business. Every year there is a shortage of tractors during the plowing season.

We have raised $1,600 toward the $17,500 to pur-chase a used Massey Ferguson 180 diesel tractor with plow and wagon. The equipment will be used as a self-support project by the churches planted by Daniel Marley in Ghana. You may remember the story about the three goats that died in last fall’s issue of this news letter.

The equipment will be managed by Daniel and the church leaders. The equipment will enable the church members to have better crops and thus give more to support the church. Profits will be used to sup-port church planting work and purchase a d d i t i o n a l equipment to hire out.

Visit us at the following web sites:

Christian LeadershipTraining Institute:

cltigh.org

Grassroots LeadershipDevelopment:

grassrootsld.org

Bob dancing in the praise service.

Massey Ferguson 180 diesel tractor -- used.

Abraham” since that is the only song we knew that involves something like dancing.

I had the privilege of introducing Dr. Alan Rabe and Derrick Price from The Crossing in Quincy, Illinois to the people and culture of Ghana. Derrick Price is a young entrepreneur with his own construction company. Dr. Rabe is semi-retired from Hope International Univer-sity. He still teachers on-line classes. Alan heads up the discipleship training program at The Crossing church and is very active in the mission program of the congregation. He was chosen to be the liaison between the church and Ivory Coast Christian Mission. It is a very encouraging partnership for me since Alan and I have so much in common. Alan focuses his teaching and his life on leader-ship development, community development and servant leadership. I invited Alan to attend the convention and the convention committee invited Alan to speak to their leaders on Saturday afternoon.

Other missions represented at the convention besides Ivory Coast Christian Mission were Ghana Christian Mis-sion, Training Tomorrow’s Leaders and Team Expansion. I am on the board of directors for Ghana Christian Mission and Training Tomorrow’s Leaders. The convention gave me the opportunity to visit with Ghanaian leaders I had not

seen since 2008. I visited with missionaries in the country. I saw ways to be pro-active as a member on the board of three missions working in Ghana. It was encouraging to see how strong and mature the churches are becoming in Ghana.

It was great to see the unity and cooperation be-tween the churches and the missions as each one does its part to build the Kingdom in Ghana. Terry and Amy Ruff of Team Expansion are targeting unreached groups that cannot read nor write using an oral method of communicating the Gospel. Training Tomorrow’s Lead-ers is supervising and mentoring church planters. Ghana Christian Mission is evangelizing unreached people groups through clinics coupled with church planters. The Christian Leadership Training Institute, sponsored by Ivory Coast Christian Mission, is providing leadership development classes (TEE), leadership seminars, woman enrichment seminars and discipleship training resources for both the established churches and the newly planted churches. Ghana Christian University College is providing accred-ited degrees for those who desire higher education. It is a team effort.

The convention was planned by a committee of the Fellowship of Christian Churches. The Fellowship is an

Christian Leadership Training Institute booth at the convention.

obligation-free association made up of representa-tives from Christian Churches and Christian Church missions in Ghana. The Association promotes fellow-ship, unity, youth ministry and urban church planting. Enoch Nyador, Director of Ghana Christian Mission, is a former overseer(president) and Stephen Ofori, Director of the Christian Leadership Training Institute, is the current overseer.

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIPTRAINING INSTITUTEReport on TEE (leadership development) classes

GHANA: 25 active classes with approximately 180 students.NIGERIA: 8 active classes with 93 students.LIBERIA: 8 active classes. This year Liberian has 10 candidates for the Certificate (six courses completed) and 6 candidates for the Vocational Diploma (eighteen courses completed).IVORY COAST: 2 active classes.

NIGERIAI thank God that your donations through Ivory Coast Christian Mission and ACM International (Ed Nichols) have enabled Sunday Ude Obeten to purchase a new 4X4 Toyota HiLux crewcab pickup. The pickup will be used to take the Bible college students for church planting work in remote areas of the Cross River State of Nigeria and to oversee leadership development classes (TEE). We thank you and God for your generous donations which made this possible.

Eight new students have enrolled in the Cross River Bible College in Calabar. On weekends, Sunday takes these students to remote locations to start new churches. A new church is being planted 200 miles from Calabar in the Ikom Local Government Area on the border between the

nations of Nigeria and the Cameroon. The ground work is being laid with community activities and the Jesus film. One person involved in witchcraft burned his charms. ETHIOPIABrother Eshete Belete with the Great Commission Movement (GCM) in Ethiopia reports that their pilot project to set up TEE classes and demonstrate their effectiveness has been successful. Three TEE courses are translated into Amharic and two have been printed. Literature and Teaching Ministries is raising funds to print the TEE course books. The pilot project in Assella has expanded citywide and GCM plans to start TEE classes in other cities. Also, TEE classes will be used to train leaders for 22 churches started in the Borano area through the GCM Mission and Church Planting Movement. Seminars will be held to train group leaders (teachers) for the TEE classes. We thank God for this encouraging report. We pray that these TEE classes will strengthen the established churches and be a bless-ing to the leaders of the new churches planted in Borano.

PHILIPPINESThe need for TEE classes in the Philippines is increasing, but training group leaders(teachers) for the classes and getting the TEE classes started is becoming more difficult due to the high cost and other logistic issues. The Philip-pines is a nation of 7,000 islands. Getting from island to island is one of the problems. Translating the TEE courses, printing and distributing them is another. Paul Wilson is preparing TEE courses in four languages plus English and also trying to get group leaders (teachers) trained for the classes. HAITI / MEXICOI am traveling to Haiti in August to lay ground work for set-ting up a TEE (leadership development) program similar to the one in western Africa. Josh Neal of GSI Haiti is preparing the leaders for my first visit. I will meet with all Christian leaders in the Fond Des Blancs area to explain the TEE method of leadership develop-ment. I also will meet with a few mature leaders with higher education to discuss how they can set up and administer a TEE program. If all goes well, I will return at a later date to give training to those who will be conducting the classes.

I will be doing a similar project with Jaime Castro former Hispanic pastor at Harvester Christian Church in St Charles, MO. Jaime moved to Queretaro, Mexico the first of the year to restructure Mexico Christian College. His five year plan includes the setting up of an accessible dis-tant learning program to develop more leaders for the churches. TEE is ideal for the area since many potential leaders do not have educational qualifications for college level classes. Dates have not been set for the extension class project, but we plan to begin sometime this year.Dr. Alan Rabe with African Yam. New 4x4 Toyota HILux crewcab pickup

Dr. Alan Rabe teaching at the National Easter Convention.

Abraham” since that is the only song we knew that involves something like dancing.

I had the privilege of introducing Dr. Alan Rabe and Derrick Price from The Crossing in Quincy, Illinois to the people and culture of Ghana. Derrick Price is a young entrepreneur with his own construction company. Dr. Rabe is semi-retired from Hope International Univer-sity. He still teachers on-line classes. Alan heads up the discipleship training program at The Crossing church and is very active in the mission program of the congregation. He was chosen to be the liaison between the church and Ivory Coast Christian Mission. It is a very encouraging partnership for me since Alan and I have so much in common. Alan focuses his teaching and his life on leader-ship development, community development and servant leadership. I invited Alan to attend the convention and the convention committee invited Alan to speak to their leaders on Saturday afternoon.

Other missions represented at the convention besides Ivory Coast Christian Mission were Ghana Christian Mis-sion, Training Tomorrow’s Leaders and Team Expansion. I am on the board of directors for Ghana Christian Mission and Training Tomorrow’s Leaders. The convention gave me the opportunity to visit with Ghanaian leaders I had not

seen since 2008. I visited with missionaries in the country. I saw ways to be pro-active as a member on the board of three missions working in Ghana. It was encouraging to see how strong and mature the churches are becoming in Ghana.

It was great to see the unity and cooperation be-tween the churches and the missions as each one does its part to build the Kingdom in Ghana. Terry and Amy Ruff of Team Expansion are targeting unreached groups that cannot read nor write using an oral method of communicating the Gospel. Training Tomorrow’s Lead-ers is supervising and mentoring church planters. Ghana Christian Mission is evangelizing unreached people groups through clinics coupled with church planters. The Christian Leadership Training Institute, sponsored by Ivory Coast Christian Mission, is providing leadership development classes (TEE), leadership seminars, woman enrichment seminars and discipleship training resources for both the established churches and the newly planted churches. Ghana Christian University College is providing accred-ited degrees for those who desire higher education. It is a team effort.

The convention was planned by a committee of the Fellowship of Christian Churches. The Fellowship is an

Christian Leadership Training Institute booth at the convention.

obligation-free association made up of representa-tives from Christian Churches and Christian Church missions in Ghana. The Association promotes fellow-ship, unity, youth ministry and urban church planting. Enoch Nyador, Director of Ghana Christian Mission, is a former overseer(president) and Stephen Ofori, Director of the Christian Leadership Training Institute, is the current overseer.

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIPTRAINING INSTITUTEReport on TEE (leadership development) classes

GHANA: 25 active classes with approximately 180 students.NIGERIA: 8 active classes with 93 students.LIBERIA: 8 active classes. This year Liberian has 10 candidates for the Certificate (six courses completed) and 6 candidates for the Vocational Diploma (eighteen courses completed).IVORY COAST: 2 active classes.

NIGERIAI thank God that your donations through Ivory Coast Christian Mission and ACM International (Ed Nichols) have enabled Sunday Ude Obeten to purchase a new 4X4 Toyota HiLux crewcab pickup. The pickup will be used to take the Bible college students for church planting work in remote areas of the Cross River State of Nigeria and to oversee leadership development classes (TEE). We thank you and God for your generous donations which made this possible.

Eight new students have enrolled in the Cross River Bible College in Calabar. On weekends, Sunday takes these students to remote locations to start new churches. A new church is being planted 200 miles from Calabar in the Ikom Local Government Area on the border between the

nations of Nigeria and the Cameroon. The ground work is being laid with community activities and the Jesus film. One person involved in witchcraft burned his charms. ETHIOPIABrother Eshete Belete with the Great Commission Movement (GCM) in Ethiopia reports that their pilot project to set up TEE classes and demonstrate their effectiveness has been successful. Three TEE courses are translated into Amharic and two have been printed. Literature and Teaching Ministries is raising funds to print the TEE course books. The pilot project in Assella has expanded citywide and GCM plans to start TEE classes in other cities. Also, TEE classes will be used to train leaders for 22 churches started in the Borano area through the GCM Mission and Church Planting Movement. Seminars will be held to train group leaders (teachers) for the TEE classes. We thank God for this encouraging report. We pray that these TEE classes will strengthen the established churches and be a bless-ing to the leaders of the new churches planted in Borano.

PHILIPPINESThe need for TEE classes in the Philippines is increasing, but training group leaders(teachers) for the classes and getting the TEE classes started is becoming more difficult due to the high cost and other logistic issues. The Philip-pines is a nation of 7,000 islands. Getting from island to island is one of the problems. Translating the TEE courses, printing and distributing them is another. Paul Wilson is preparing TEE courses in four languages plus English and also trying to get group leaders (teachers) trained for the classes. HAITI / MEXICOI am traveling to Haiti in August to lay ground work for set-ting up a TEE (leadership development) program similar to the one in western Africa. Josh Neal of GSI Haiti is preparing the leaders for my first visit. I will meet with all Christian leaders in the Fond Des Blancs area to explain the TEE method of leadership develop-ment. I also will meet with a few mature leaders with higher education to discuss how they can set up and administer a TEE program. If all goes well, I will return at a later date to give training to those who will be conducting the classes.

I will be doing a similar project with Jaime Castro former Hispanic pastor at Harvester Christian Church in St Charles, MO. Jaime moved to Queretaro, Mexico the first of the year to restructure Mexico Christian College. His five year plan includes the setting up of an accessible dis-tant learning program to develop more leaders for the churches. TEE is ideal for the area since many potential leaders do not have educational qualifications for college level classes. Dates have not been set for the extension class project, but we plan to begin sometime this year.Dr. Alan Rabe with African Yam. New 4x4 Toyota HILux crewcab pickup

Dr. Alan Rabe teaching at the National Easter Convention.

NATIONAL EASTERCONVENTION - GHANAAt least 2,000 attended the 2013 National Easter Con-vention with 1,400 in attendance at the main sessions. This is a bi-annual event organized by the Fellowship of Christian Churches for Christian Churches in Ghana. The Arise and Shine Christian Church and the community of Saboba hosted the event. Saboba is a farming community in the northeastern part of the nation. They raise corn, peanuts, millet and the large African Yam (see photo, bot-tom of page 2). For many attendees it was a long journey of twelve to fifteen hours over rough roads.

The convention was held on the grounds of an elemen-tary school. Canopies were set up in a square formation with a large open area in the middle. One side served as space for the speaker’s stand, the music team and

seating for leaders. The open area was used for dancing during the praise time of the services. It was also used for invitations, special prayers and ordination of new leaders. Fourteen leaders were ordained. Thirty-five people made decisions to follow Christ.

The convention lasted from Thursday evening through Sunday night. Special preaching sessions were held in the morning and night. Morning teaching sessions were held in six languages with separate groups for men and women in each language. The youth and English speakers, like me, had their own group taught by Enoch Nyador. The children had special sessions each morning. There was a Bible quiz contest between youth groups from various churches. Sunday Night was a fun time as each tribal group brought a Christian song of praise from their language which included dancing to the rhythm and style of their tribe. We Americans did the children’s song “Father

Forwarding Agents:Bob & Connie Sheffler3330 W. Festive Dr.Bloomington, IN 47403

Contact Information:tel. 812-391-6096/cell: 812-391-4229email: robertsheffler@yahoo.comwebsite: www/grassrootsld.org www.cltigh.org

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP TRAINING INSTITUTEand

GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENTsponsored by Ivory Coast Christian Mission

equipping leaders to train MORE leadersIVORY COAST CHRISTIAN MISSION - Spring 2013 newsletter

To learn more about TEE and how it fills a leadership gap, visit our website atgrassrootsld.org

Mission Services2004 E. Magnolia Ave.Knoxville, TN 37917

Return Service Requested

Non Profit Org.U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TNPermit #374

Praise andPrayer Requests

1. Thank God for the funds to purchase a new 4x4 Toyota HiLux crewcab pickup for the work of Sunday Ude Obeten in Nigeria.

2. Thank God for the successful National Easter Convention in Ghana.

3. Thank God for the development of TEE classes in Ethiopia and the Philippines.

4. Ask God to bless the efforts of Eshete Belete in Ethiopia and Paul Wilson in the Philippines so that TEE classes will enable the leadership to mature and the churches to be strong.

5. Ask God to bless the efforts of Bob Sheffler, Jaime Castro and Josh Neal to start TEE classes in Mexico and Haiti this year.

6. Ask God to bless the work of Sunday Ude Obeten as he trains leaders and starts churches in Nigeria.

7. Ask God to provide funds for the self-support tractor project in Ghana.

SELF-SUPPORT TRACTORPROJECTMost of the farming work in Ghana is done with hand tools. In recent years, entrepreneurs have purchased used tractors and hired them out for custom plowing during the planting season. They are also hired for car-rying loads and people from place to place. The farmers who hire them are able to plant early and have better crop production. Those who own the used tractors quickly pay for their equipment and buy more to expand their business. Every year there is a shortage of tractors during the plowing season.

We have raised $1,600 toward the $17,500 to pur-chase a used Massey Ferguson 180 diesel tractor with plow and wagon. The equipment will be used as a self-support project by the churches planted by Daniel Marley in Ghana. You may remember the story about the three goats that died in last fall’s issue of this news letter.

The equipment will be managed by Daniel and the church leaders. The equipment will enable the church members to have better crops and thus give more to support the church. Profits will be used to sup-port church planting work and purchase a d d i t i o n a l equipment to hire out.

Visit us at the following web sites:

Christian LeadershipTraining Institute:

cltigh.org

Grassroots LeadershipDevelopment:

grassrootsld.org

Bob dancing in the praise service.

Massey Ferguson 180 diesel tractor -- used.