Update from Ghana

Ghana Ministry

John Burwell for the team

Dear Saints,
This is just a little report telling what the Lord is doing here in Ghana. We have been really encouraged to see the Lord working each of our lives personally and as a team. The Ball family has arrived and have been here for over two weeks now a settling in quite well. It is really a blessing having an older man to join the work here and to have Mike’s experience as a missionary. We have really enjoyed the whole family. It is nice to have younger children around here again and to have Feilynn playing guitar with us and Mike on his mandolin. MaMa Faith has been cooking lunch for us guys which has been awesome! We used to eat just rice and stew; but since MaMA Faith arrived, we have had spaghetti, Oriental chicken, pigs in a blanket, chili dogs, and much, much more. She and her girls are wonderful cooks, and it has really been fun having them here!

Everyone is healthy by God’s grace! I was in bed with malaria for a few days but have recovered and am feeling strong once again. Please keep the Balls in your prayers that they would remain healthy and that they would stay clear of the malaria especially the younger once.

Our ministry is seeing a few changes now. On Mondays we were going to Bankyim, but now we have moved down the road to a village called Akyempim. We found a good place to open air preach there so maybe in the future we will begin to have open air meetings in that village. On Tuesdays we still go visiting the saints from our fellowship here in Tarkwa that we haven’t seen in awhile. On Wednesdays we are still having a service over in Camponasi which seems to be growing slowly but surely. On Thursdays we have been going to Tebrebe and having a good time out there but not having very many people for the meetings, so you can be in prayer that the Lord would do a work in the hearts of those people. Friday is just a witnessing day. We’ve been praying about once a week preaching on the local FM radio station, so please pray the Lord would lead us in this decision.

Kumar is one of the men we discipled here in Tarkwa. If you remember from Austin’s former reports, he was the one whom we met on our first visit to the north and he was going to commit suicide because his mother had died. Tim and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with him, and then he decided to come for our five-week discipleship course. After finishing the course he decided to go to the Volta region and join another former student from the course with preaching the Gospel in the Volta. Well, I just recently visited him and was saddened to find that he has joined the Jehovah Witnesses because they are providing him with a home and money for food. Apparently he was out of money and on the verge of death with malaria when the Jehovah Witnesses stepped in and helped him. So he feels like since they helped him, he should join them. We do believe he is saved and don’t think the Lord is finished working with Kumar but I do ask that you please keep him in your prayers. We trust that Kumar belongs to the Lord, and so we leave him in the Lords hands.

We are currently looking into buying a small van so that we go to our witnessing spots a little more efficiently. Please in prayer that the Lord would provide us with an inexpensive yet quality vehicle.

Well that’s all for now. Pray you are all doing well.

In Jesus Name,
John Kwame

Croc by the tail!

Austin Ball and John Burwell are two brave young men that are willing to step out of the comforts of home to come and serve the Lord Jesus in Ghana. They have been doing a fine job up to now but they will be taking on
more responsability for the next month. Then Tim Spurling will join them in July, Lord willing Mike and Faith Ball will be coming in August. Like the picture reveals they are quite willing but just a little nervous. Francille and I will be flying to Oregon the 22ed of June, a week from today. Please pray for John and Austin. Francille and I also would like you to pray for us to be able to step quickly into what our Father has for us in the future.
We know that Jesus is coming soon and we want to be faithful until he comes.
James and Francille

Timothy Spurling, John Burwell, and John Kwamy heading north to make discilpes. They are now up there and things seem to be going quite well. They have about ten students and everyone seems to be enjoying the teaching. Many of them don’t know how to read or write. That makes it a real challenge to teach them. There are many unreached tribes in this area, so lets pray that our Father will prepare labors for the harvest.

You sat on his idol!

Jesus is Lord!

You just sat on their idol!
This is what my interpreter said to me. While we were in the northern district where we traveled to check out un- reached tribes. Francille and Janelle made up several loaves of banana bread and sent up with us; this and some medical supplies were given to different chiefs that we visited in four different villages. In the one village we found the chief sitting under a shade tree, we presented the gift to him and he was very pleased so I began to share the gospel with him. He was interested, so after about ten minutes of sharing, I asked him if he would like his people to hear this message? He said, yes, so I suggested that he send a messenger to invite the people and he did. While we were waiting I decided I would like a picture with him, so I sat down beside him at the foot of the tree, there was a flat rock there so I sat on it. It broke and it turned out this was one of their idols. When the people gathered we preached about God our creator and how we are the work of his hands and how wrong it is for us to worship the creation or things that we make. There was another larger idol standing just behind the chief. I wasn’t going to say anything about it but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me not address it. I told the Chief if he wanted the blessing of God on him and his village he must destroy that idol. One young man spoke up and said that he would destroy it; the Chief said in a very convicting voice that if he did that he would go crazy. These men could destroy it. (I had destroyed one already and nothing happened to me.) I told him I would be glad to destroy it, at first he seemed almost willing but later said no it was his fathers and he couldn’t destroy it. Some day soon, Lord willing, it will be destroyed and the people will come to Jesus. Our trip was a very informative time. We were gone for about six days. We found the Gonjar tribe, which is a large tribe, to be un reached. Most of them are Muslims but some are idol worshipers. The Birifor also is a very large tribe with just a few Christians among them. Through a brother we had discipled in Tarkwa (John Kwame) we met Peter Tungjie who is a Birifor, a very fine Christian man and who invited us up to teach disciples.

So much has happened in the past months, the Voetburgs have returned home and that has been a big change. Skip was a lot of help in so many ways, helping teach in the disciple classes and in the evangelism. The absence of the Voetburg’s has been felt, by many in the community; I have missed Tate or Brooks coming up from time to time just to give us a hug. I miss the times we spent in prayer in the mornings. However we also have received others coming over to help in the ministry. John Burwell and Austin Ball have joined our team and they have been a great blessing. Their enthusiasm and zeal is encouraging; they are developing their ministry of the word and the preaching of the gospel. They have been a good addition to the team. Tim Spurling and Clement have been enjoying having more young men to work with.

We have seen Tarkwa saturated with gospel literature. We have about 14 gospel tracts that Skip and I have written. These tracts, carry messages that deal with a variety of doctrinal errors and at the same time bring in the gospel. People readily receive them and read them and we hear many good comments about them. They are often asking for new ones. We have several good fishing holes where we go and evangelize. The people are accustomed to our coming and come out to hear the word of God, we have five such places scattered throughout the community. There have been several conversions and most of the ones we are discipling are coming from these fishing holes. The disciples are multiplying; we are now working with the sixth group here in Tarkwa. Several of the men we discipled are now helping with the teaching; Matthias, Clement, and Austin are helping me here. Our Heavenly Father has sent three up to the northern region, Tim Spurling (from Washington), John Burwell (from Montana), and John Kuamy (African.) to make disciples for five weeks. The needs up there are great. After the five weeks we will access the situation. Then try to determine what the will of our Lord Jesus is, as far as future ministry in the area. It seems the work is going on well with the disciples in Togo, also in the Volta region of Ghana.

Francille, Janelle, and I will be returning to the States in June. We have been praying for someone to come and help in the work here and we are glad to report that Mike Ball and family announced that they are coming in August. Please be praying for them, they still have six children at home and that will be a big endeavor to transfer them from Wyoming to Ghana. Having families on the mission field is a good thing; they will be a good testimony of a godly family unit.

We want to thank all of you who pray for us and support us in the work our Lord Jesus will reward you for your labor of love.

In Jesus,
James and Francille Lucas

“I want to repent before I leave here tonight.”

“I want to repent before I leave here tonight.”

This is what Alex said after hearing the gospel preached and having asked many questions concerning salvation. I told him go and sin no more. He is now a different man he has the joy of the Lord Jesus and is hungry for the word of God.

Charles with tears in his eyes said;

“I want to thank you from the Lord Jesus for all that you have done because now I know the Lord Jesus before this discipleship course I was religious but now I am righteous.”
That was Friday the last day of the five- week course. Then Sunday during our service he went up front and brought an excellent teaching on following the Spirit and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Charles is the one on your left. Hyacinth is on the right.

Tarkwa——-November 1st

dscoo579We have been doing a lot of evangelism, our Father has been showing me to teach the people like Jesus did he didn’t wait until they were converted to teach them, look at the sermon on the mt. Like it says in 2 Tim.2:24-26 “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;” Some times we just open the bible and begin to teach. Yesterday we went back to one place for the third time; the same people are still coming and they are full of questions, we were there for two hours. We have about three places like this now where we are teaching and preaching and the people always want us to come back. I believe we will have healthier conversions when people are fully prepared. We have always been told that the sinners cannot understand spiritual things. This may be true if we are limited to our ability to teach them, however the Holy Spirit is quite capable of bringing understanding even to those who are in gross darkness.

Greetings from Tarka!

The Lord He is God.

We are now teaching our forth disciple group.
The evangelism has been going well especially in a village about five miles ouy of town called
Tebrebree. One brother in our third disciple group is from there (we call him II Samuel because we had I Samuel in our second group : ) and we have been going out there for some time now. Two men from there are now in this fourth group.

Our Father is training us how to reach the people. We have been writing gospel tracts that address some of the erroneous doctrines that are taught. One is titled THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, another is titled
JESUS, we ask the question is Jesus God or just a man? One is titled ONE STEP it speaks of repentance, then one is titled DOES GOD HAVE A MOTHER? And one is titled THE MAN FROM GALLIEE.

Several of the disciples have been joining in on the evangelism. This an important part of their training.

I will share more later.
James

Update for July!

This past weekend we finished up our second five week training program.
Five made it all the through, Mattias, Samuel, Mathew, Janelle and Dora. We also had several visitors along the way who we encouraged to come back for the next one. We are very encouraged and can see the Lord’s marvelous work in each one! One brother, Samuel, we preached to in bar just 2 months ago has now been delivered from his drinking and smoking. Another one who attended the classes, Ma Dora, who used to be a Pentecostal pastor but was recently born-again thanked us profusely for all the teachings, and said “because if I would not have heard this word I would still be a false prophetess today!”

We also held our first baptism this last Sunday! Three were going to be baptized, Clement, Samuel and Mattias, and after we were about to finish Ma Dora stepped forward and said the Lord had touched her heart and she too wanted to obey the Lord in baptism! We were very thankful for all of the wonderful testimonies each one shared.

We have set the date for our next Discipleship training program, August 4th. Please be in prayer that the Lord would raise up those who he would have attend.

Thank you all for your prayers! They are much needed and appreciated!

God bless!

Discipleship class!