One of the charities is non-profit focused on helping girls get out of the sex slave trade in the Charleston area.  This is such a great opportunity to raise money to help girls who are in desperate need of help.  The other charity is Bread of Life.  The money that will be raised for Bread of Life will go directly to help pay the cost of the school in Turkana.

The concert is Sunday, March 20th.  Doors open at 6:30 and the bands start at 7pm.  Tickets are $10 online or $15 at the door.  If you come to theWell, Seacoast college/20 somethings service, this Thursday at 7:27pm in the Warehouse of Seacoast Mt. Pleasant campus, then you can get the tickets for $8.  You will not want to miss this night, an opportunity to hear great music and support the ministry.  We hope to see you there. 

To get your tickets online, visit http://seacoa.st/tickets

Sincerely,

BOL Team

With no education or means to acquire education, the community of Namariat is desperate for hope.  Although the Gospel has been shared and many have come to know Christ personally, the community is still in need of transformation for growth to continue.  One way to help establish transformation is through starting a school. This past summer we began work on constructing the school and in late December a team from Clemson University will complete the project, however, we will need to raise enough funds to pay for the teachers, food and medical supplies needed for operation.  The goal is to raise enough money to start the school, as well as get all 41 students sponsors. 

We hope you can join us on December 16^th, for a night of dancing, silent auction, great food, most importantly, impacting the world.  Tickets are $20/person or $35/couple.  You can purchase your tickets on the Bread of Life website…www.breadoflifeafrica.com

Also, if your business would like to become a sponsor of the Gala, we would love to promote your business on the blog, website and other communication means.  Let us know if you would like more information on how to be a sponsor. 

BOL Team

Bread of Life is very grateful for this team and we are praying for God to use them in a mighty way to bring about His glory.  Please be praying for this team, as they are preparing and raising funds.  The team leaves on December 28th and will return on January 12th. 

BOL Team

Bread of Life just hosted another team from Seacoast church for a period of 3 weeks.  The team, consisting of 28 college/20 somethings from Charleston, spent 16 days in Turkana and were used by God in mighty ways.  During the trip, the team helped construct a church/school, treated nearly 800 patients at a two day medical clinic, handed out food to hundreds of families, saw many people come to know Christ for the first time and helped disciple those who were already believers.  The team was one of the best teams Bread of Life has ever hosted and we are so thankful for the hard work and sacrifice of each team member and those who supported the team. 

We know that this trip was not just one that made a two week impact, but rather the work accomplished will continue to change lives for generations.  Bread of Life would like to thank Seacoast Church for entrusting the ministry with another team, the members of the team for giving so much of themselves for the furthering of the Gospel, and those who supported this trip (i.e. financially, prayerfully or any number of ways).  This trip would not have been a success without the efforts and sacrifices of so many.  Thank you. 

BOL team

Plans for the first discipleship class is the near future for the Toposa people of the area. BOL looks forward to leading the people through an exciting class that will inspire and empower the students to become missionaries in their own lives and effectively minister to their families and peers. God has worked greatly through these classes in the past, and I personally have seen the fruit of the other people groups who have taken part in the classes. I look forward to seeing the area grow spiritually as new believers are transformed through the power of a relationship with Christ and mobilized to action in their own communities.

Personal Testimony: Upon arriving in Southern Sudan, I quickly noticed many differences among the Toposa people. Almost all of the people that BOL works with are indigenous, bush-living people. That being said, they live very different lives than much of the world. Most though have had at least some influence of the modern culture so that they have a worldview that is at least partially evolved. That is not the case with the Toposa people. In a way, I felt as if I had stepped back in time. The culture is completely preserved as it is no different that it was 200 years ago. The Toposa people mostly consist of cattle farmers and pastoral families. Most men take as many as 12 wives into their families and usually have children with all or most of them.  As a result, families and households grow very large. With malaria and guinea worm taking the lives of many, families have as many as 30 children to insure a strong family line. I personally had a chance to meet and build relationships with many of the community’s families as well as the local leadership. I was very encouraged by how receptive their hearts were for the gospel of Jesus and the God of the Bible. Many of the men showed a passion to not only learn about their Christianity but also to share their new faith with their families and in other circles of influence. I believe with all my heart that God has started a great work in the hearts and minds of the Toposa people of Southern Sudan. 

I conclude that Gods presence through BOL in that area, combined with the open hearts and minds of the local people, is making great progress for the Great Commission of Jesus to make disciples in this world. As an intern, I am once again very humbled to be a part of what I know is God’s hand moving among His people. We can only thank God alone for the honor of being a part of His work.

Travis Evans

I just wanted to give a quick update on what God is doing in Turkana, Kenya.  Over the last year, we raised over $23,000 for the building of a well in Turkana, Kenya.  We have been working hard to get this well drilled and a week ago we began drilling but for days could not find water.  After much prayer and hard work by our missionaries and the drilling company, we finally found water.  It is such a blessing.  The people of Turkana have been experiencing a great drought and to have water is a huge blessing to the people and to the land.  The well has been built in a town that we planted our first church in Turkana and the believers in this town are many and very strong.  We know that this well will draw people from all over the area and as they come to get their drinking water, they will hear about the true Living Water, Jesus Christ.

We want to say thanks to everyone who gave financially to the building of the well, as well as all of you who were praying for us and that the drilling company would find water.  We are so honored to serve a great and mighty God and we are thankful to serve Him with all of you. 

In Christ’s Love,

BOL Team

The Bread of Life team and I have just returned from the bush of Pokot and an amazing outreach in the area. We had the great honor of teaming up with a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) team that joined us for the two-week outreach. BOL works with a local missionary in the area by the name of Pastor Ogree. The pastor has been serving in the Pokot tribe for 10 years now after following God’s call to move there in the year 2000. He has built valuable relationships with the local leadership and people. His work there is the foundation for the work BOL is now doing in the area. The Pokot area of Kenya is different from Turkana in the fact that it has rolling hills and valleys versus the flat desert terrain of Turkana. Because it is the middle of rainy season, all the small steams and rivers carry water throughout the land. This makes the land very green, thus plant and animal life are thriving right now. Consequently, the Pokot tribe does not suffer to the extent of the Turkanans from lack of water…at least for this time of year. The Pokot tribe in this area has a working well that was built by the ministries of Pastor T.D. Jakes, a popular American TV evangelist.

Our project goals for this particular outreach were very specific. We planned and executed the building of two homes in the targeted area. One home was for the local missionary and BOL partner Pastor Ogree. The new home will now allow him to stay close to his flock and better meet their needs as a local spiritual leader. The home will second as a guest house for passing missionaries in the future. The build was a huge success and I look forward to visiting the Pastor in his home in the near future.

The second home was very near to my heart. We meet a sweet young mother living in the area. She has three sets of twins plus two additional children. This young mother was homeless and helpless. She was sleeping with her 8 children under a 4-foot by 4-foot “hut” with no walls…really just a roof. When we saw this situation we could not let it go so BOL and the YWAM team constructed her a round home made from local materials. Now she and her children can sleep inside out of the rain and heat. Alone with sharing the Gospel of Jesus with her, we also used the time in Pokot to explain to the locals living around her the importance of being a community of unity…to help one another in time of need. I was very surprised at the number of people that came out to help us build her house. Because of her generous friends that lent a helping hand, we were able to complete the home in just one long day. As we speak, she is no longer homeless but full of new hope and joy as well as dry from the weather.

All in all, the outreach was a great experience and a huge success.  BOL looks forward to many years of ministry in the Pokot tribe.  BOL would like to thank YWAM for their partnership and encouragement. I personally want to thank all of the readers for the continued support of BOL and the vision of our Lord Jesus to reach this people for Christ.
               
Travis Evans (BOL Intern)

With multiple churches and thousands of students, ecamps will be highlighting Bread of Life as an opportunity for students to get involved with God’s great plan for the unreached in Kenya and the Sudan.  The focus will be to raise enough money to help build a school/church in Turkana.  Within the Turkana area where the school/church will be built, the closest school currently is miles away, while the local church meets under a tree.  Having this building will generate a community hotspot where education will be given and the Lord will be exalted. 

We are looking forward to this partnership with This Generation Now Ministries.  We know God is going to use both organizations to create mighty change in the lives of the people of Kenya.  Bread of Life wants to say a special thank you to Jay Oliver for leading this partnership and for trusting Bread of Life as a ministry partner.  May God use this partnership to bring the true Bread of Life to the lost and hurting of humanity. 

BOL team.

In March I had the chance to go to Turkana with the BOL leadership team.  We spent a month in the Kapua area with the discipleship students and their tribe, the Turkana.  The trip was a great time of growth as well as psychical, mental and spiritual testing not only for the students but for the BOL team.  God is moving in this place in a powerful way and it is a great blessing and honor to be a part of what the Lord is doing in Turkana.

The BOL Kenya leadership is now based in Nairobi.  This is a great central hub for the mission to expend their efforts. Being in Nairobi allows BOL to communicate to all of their mission areas in an effective and efficient way.

The trip from Nairobi to the bush is a long and tough trip in itself.  This is the second time I personally have visited the bush area called Kapua in the Turkana district.  The first time I was able to take a small plane from Nairobi to the bush where BOL does ministry.  This time around I took buses and trucks which was very different.  The distance from Nairobi to our destination was over 600 Kms and I felt every one of them.  The roads in that part of the country are very rough or completely gone due to the large amount of rain the area has received in the past several months. After transferring from 4 different vehicles and breaking down several times, we finally made it to our place of ministry.

The people in Kapua had been expecting us for several weeks and were as happy to see us as we were them. BOL has a very long and deep rooted relationship with the people of Kapua. The mission has been there for several years now and early graduates from the first discipleship classes as well as some BOL missionaries are from this area and still live there today. The Kapua area is where BOL started in bush ministry within the Turkana tribe, so their time and influence there is very much appreciated.

We spent three weeks in Kapua with the people and God moved every day during that time. For one week BOL’s own John Mwololo and Joel Maregwa were there with me, and the following two weeks I was there with only the local missionaries. For me it was the experience of a lifetime to be able to follow up and continue a relationship with the people I had met the year before. To see them again was truly like seeing long-lost loved ones. 

We had three weeks of ministry planned which included preaching at the local churches that have been planted, continuing with the discipleship class of the latest group of students, as well as some time with the local school and teachers, and time with the pastors and leaders of the community. We tried to make the most of our time there and invest everything we felt God laid on our hearts to do with our long visit to Kapua.

Along the way God chose to show up in a big way through the ministry.  Not only did we see a huge step in the growth of the people from the last time we where there, God used this time to really impact them in a big way.  There is something beautiful about seeing someone begin to really understand their Maker and the Word He has graciously given to us.  To see the passion and spark begin to increase in their hearts for God and the Bible was an amazing experience to be a part of.  I am pleased to say that the program is growing and the methods are working to further disciple the students in the program, and I see the future of this program not only continuing to reach this people group but many, many more for the Kingdom of God and empowering them to become missionaries for the world.

I am also very pleased to see the churches growing. There are three main churches that have been planted by BOL. The pastors are truly allowing their people to grow as they themselves are growing in Christ. I had the opportunity to witness people coming from many miles away to come and visit these churches each and every week. The small church buildings are busting at the seams with hundreds of people pouring in every week. One goal of BOL is to make sure the local pastors are being fed spiritually with proper training so they can effectively lead the people that God has entrusted to them. I believe this is truly happening. The leaders are being faithful to that which God has given them and the Gospel is being proclaimed in an effective and fruitful way.

The overall report for this trip is one of great praise to God. Just a few years ago the people did not have much to hope for.  The lack of rain and dying livestock put a huge load of stress on locals to even survive and take care of their families.  These days they still have their struggles and probably always will, but hope is being restored in Christ the only Giver of true hope and joy.  When the Truth and Word of God and the Good News of Jesus begin to saturate the hearts of a community, everything changes. People begin to think, act, and behave differently. Families are enjoying their time together instead of trying to just get by. Pastors are passionately doing what God has called them to do instead of just filling the time. Most of all, people are trusting God and telling others about Him and God is blessing them for this. The area is now receiving much needed rain that is restoring the land and livestock. The future of Kapua is still in God’s hands but their hope is now where it needs to be and they are leaning God’s promises to take care of them.

I am so blessed to have been a part of this trip and am forever changed from the events and relationships I have made. It is my prayer to be able to visit the people of Kapua for several years to come and continue to grow with them. I am humbled and honored to be the bearer of this report and look forward to many more. God Bless

Travis Evans (Bread of Life Intern)

Please take some time and explore the site and pray about your involvement in the ministry.  I believe that God is going to use this new site to bring honor and glory to His name.  Please spread the word so that we can share what God is doing in Kenya and the Sudan through this amazing organization.  Thank you for your support. 

Continue to check back on the blog to get the latest update on the ministry and to share in the joys of what God is doing in the lives of the unreached people groups of Kenya and the Sudan. 

BOL Team