After an exciting 5-year apprenticeship leading the PAOC team in Mozambique, Stephen and Heather now live in Nairobi and lead PAOC AFRICA. What an unbelievable continent! Challenges and opportunities on every side!
They lead an 85 member team of evangelists, doctors, nurses, teachers, pastors, professors, administrators. experts and apprentices. God has sent us all and together, by His grace, we are undoubtedly one of the greatest teams on earth!
With a few notable exceptions, Africa's economy has stagnated for 40 years. Poverty and disease are at crisis proportions and foster unbeleivable suffering! Thank God for ERDO and humanitarian aid!
However, all the humanitarian aid that the world sends is powerless against the unseen spiritual forces that are at work on the continent. AFRICA needs to be set free by the power of God!
Contact them directly at: schaloner@paoc.org.
Prayer Focus:
Pray that they will be able to capitalize on healthy relationships with national church leaders and provide innovtive leadership and mentorship programs within Africa.
Pray for a strong team spirit on the missionary team!
Pray that God will send them abundant resources and grace them with the wisdom to apply them strategically!
Ilya & Janet Bantseev
Novokuznetsk, Siberia
The Bantseevs are pastoring a church of approximately 1,000 people in Novokuznetsk, a city of 600,000 people. Their congregation ministers in prisons, orphanages, and to people with life controlling problems or addictions. Also, they organize various ministry and missionary teams to plant churches throughout Siberia and share the Gospel with professional groups such as doctors, athletes, government officials and police.
Feb/March newsletter:
Dear Friends and Family,
Teen challenge
We had a great week of training our TC staff as Dave Batty, the author of the TC curriculum came with Kevin Tyler, TC coordinator for Russia, to teach seminars. Directors of rehabilitation centers came from eight other cities (above, top row). It is our desire to use this curriculum to help other rehab centers throughout all of Russia. Please Pray that God would give us the ability to do this as addiction to drugs and alcohol is affecting almost every home in Russia.
PAOC Eur/Asia Coordinator
Our missions coordinator, David Boyd, conducted a seminar on Bible prophecy concerning Israel. This subject is of great interest during these days in which we are living. Also, it was a great encouragement as he ministered to our church planters and taught on how to maintain a balanced life in the ministry (pictured above, second row).
GAIN Team
What a blessing it was to our region to have GAIN come with humanitarian aid and share the Gospel with hundreds of children and adults. Many children enjoyed hearing about the love of God presented to them with the Gospel bracelet (pictures above in the bottom section). Many of them prayed for the first time to receive Jesus into their hearts.
Nehemiah
The Nehemiah Ministry from Germany conducted a three week Bible School for our city. Several hundred people from four different churches gathered together in our church building every evening to hear God's Word. For the first time believers from different churches received communion together. It is our prayer to have unity and minister together with all the churches to reach our city for Christ. (below on top, left to right: Markus Kettner, Giancarlo Elia and Hans Heidelberger)
Hockey
Peter and Amanda Skudra moved to Novokuznetsk two months ago as Peter accepted the offer to play as a goalie for the Novokuznetsk professional hockey team, Metallurg. Peter is from Latvia and as he played for the NHL in the States, he met Amanda. They are both born-again Christians and started attending our church. They have a love for children in orphanages and have already visited a few of them (photos below middle). What a joy it brought the orphans to play hockey with Peter. The older children enjoyed attending a pro hockey game as Peter provided tickets and Metallurg scarves.
Please pray for the upcoming events:
1. March 8 - 10: There will be a youth conference for our region in which we're expecting 700 youth from different churches. Pastor Eugene McBride and Marshall Minnick from Rockwall, TX, will be ministering. Please pray that each one will be strengthened in their walk with the Lord. Many will bring unsaved friends. Please pray for their salvation.
2. March 15 - 17: Ilya will be ministering at a pastor's conference with Aaron Pilon in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Please pray for God's anointing to minister to the needs of the pastors and church leaders.
3. March 16 - 21: Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames representatives from Canada will be coming to train the ministry team to perform this play in all of Siberia and the most eastern part of Russia. Please pray that God would save many through the performances of this play in our church on March 18 - 20
4. March 19 - 26: Pastor Bernie and Kathy Gillott from Global Teen Challenge will be ministering to staff and students in the Source of Life, TC Siberia. They also will be training the choir. Please pray for God to provide through them the teaching that is needed to strengthen the workers and students.
Appreciation Day
On March 3 we had a celebration in our church in which we honored all those involved in ministry. Thirteen years ago when the church started we earnestly prayed that God would send people to help. The Lord answered in an incredible way by raising up a team of over 300 volunteers (bottom photo). How we thank God for those who willingly give their time and lives to serve the Lord! How we also thank God for you and for all your prayers and giving toward this ministry. We wish we could have honored all of you at this celebration for all you've done to help us! We love you and thank God for you and your prayers!
God bless you always!
Sincerely in Christ,
Ilya and Janet
Sergio & Nancy Bersaglio, Brock & Lauren
PO Box 20901, Kitwe, Zambia, Africa
Sergio and Nancy are the directors of the Village of Hope orphanage and school in Zambia, which ministers to 585 needy children. The Village of Hope School runs classes from preschool to grade 11. The children attending have the added blessing of a daily feeding program and chapel services twice a week. Sergio oversees all of the building projects at the Village of Hope and at Trans-Africa Theological College. Nancy coordinates the ChildCare Plus program for Zambia.
Children's Birthdays: Brock ~ December 25, 1985; Lauren ~ December 6, 1988
Paul & Vicky Burke, David & Sarah
152 The Esplanade, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5A 3T2
Paul and Vicky pastor Church in the City, at two different locations in downtown Toronto. Along with Sunday ministry, they are involved in homework clubs, feeding the homeless, and working with addicts and youth.
Children's Birthdays: Sarah ~ November 29, 1988; David ~ October 12, 1991
Kirk & Shelley Kauffeldt, Devon & Kaitlyn
Box 56875, Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa
The Kauffeldts are based at Pan Africa Christian University where Kirk is the President. He also serves as the General Secretary for Theological Education and Leadership Training Advisory Council, a body that serves all the PAOC sponsored Schools in Africa. Shelley is ChildCare Plus Coordinator for Kenya. Her particular ministry is a feeding program for 500 children at Ngei Primary School in the Mathare Valley slum, and she also serves in a campus Ladies Fellowship ministry.
Children's Birthdays: Devon~April 20, 1991; Kaitlyn~October 25, 1992
Kirk & Shelley Kauffeldt, P.O. Box 56875, 00200 City Square, Nairobi Kenya. Email - skauffeldt@pacckenya.com, Ph. –254 2 8561820
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! We are in Canada for the next six months to accomplish several important things as we prepare to return to Kenya later this year. We have just celebrated eight years of mission service with the PAOC. The years have gone by too quickly. We find ourselves with a unique opportunity to reflect on what God is doing through our lives and ministry. We give thanks to God for what He has done, and the ministry partnerships He has established. Here are some of the highlights from the past eight years.
* PAC has grown from serving a total enrolment of 100 to now serving approximately 700 students. It has become an internationally accredited university with a vision to be instrumental in the transformation of Africa. It is partnering with six other PAOC sponsored institutions, in various African countries. It now offers a broad range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate level. It owns and operates a successful publishing house and a leadership institute. Several building and infrastructure projects have been completed to accommodate the growth.
* Two major feeding programs at Christian primary schools in the slums of Nairobi are providing health and academic performance is a direct result of reliable nutrition.
* The ChildCARE Plus program provides much needed support and assistance on a monthly basis for an additional 400 students above those in the Nairobi feeding programs.
* We have worked with PAC students and graduates to assist their ministries. This has specifically included working with a home for street children, an abandoned baby orphanage, a ministry to AIDS infected people, several new church plants, and various discipleship and leadership training centers.
* We have provided leadership for the establishment of a network of PAOC Bible Colleges (TELTAC) to ensure quality training and increased effectiveness in training Mniisters.
* We have partnered with individuals who are at the forefront of mission work directly supporting African missionaries to unreached people groiups in Africa.
* We have become instrumentsl sponsors of a Village of Hope, a holistic care and discipling ministry to 128 AIDS orphans and 60 widows including a feeding program and a primary school. We are now in the process of completing a new clinic at this site, and the building of the first home for a permanent on-site nurse, and a home for 6 orphans and 1 house mother.
* We have continuously been active in leadership training at all levels and in many countries. This has become a particular focus over the last two or three years.
We have been honoured to be a part of what God is doing in Africa at this time. It has not always been easy. In fact we have had many 'dark nights of the soul'; times where we have been stretched beyond what we thought were our limits. We have encountered opposition, spiritual warfare and various dangerse. God has faithfully provided and His provision has been our shield and defender.
What next? Only God knows and we are giving ourselves time during this time in Canada to seek His face and discover His will for our work in Kenya. The possibilities are endless. We are certain that He has more for us to do, and we are also preparing ourselves to be available for the next phase of our ministry. Please pray for God's leading during this time of reflection.
Our primary reason for being in Canada is to reconnect with our support base. We are so grateful to God for the partners that He has provided. The prayer support we have been blessed with is riches beyond measure. Without this we could do nothing. We are also fully dependent on the financial support of our partners. We have been truly blessed by God's provision. Our budget, like our vision and ministry, is very large. Thank you to each church and individual that has stood with us. Our challenge over the next six months is to raise the support we need to continue.
This past year we realized a modest shortfall in our support. We have also heard from some churches that they will be reducing our supoprt for the coming year. We know that all of this is in God's hands, however, we do hope to connect with new church partners for the next phase of our work in Kenya and Africa. We will also be taking on our largest capital project to date for PAC, the construction of a 44,000 square foot Academic Building. Please pray for us in this regard. We are trusting God for resources in proportion to the vision He has revealed.
A highlight over the next six months or so will be the opportunity to visit many of our supporting churches.
Thanks for your insterest in, and support of our work. Please remember us in prayer. The next six months will be a very important time for us and our family. We look forward to personally connecting with many of you while we are in Canada.
Mindset & Mission
