Team Building!

What does it take to lead a ministry? As In Deed and Truth Ministries (IDAT) has grown ten-fold in the last few years, it has become evident we need spiritually grounded indigenous Christian leaders to carry this ministry into the future. It is our responsibility as missionaries, to prepare others for ministry, to lead through service, and to mold and shape our experiences to develop responsible and dedicated disciples. Developing leaders is so rewarding and training them to do what we do, better than we do it, is our goal for the survival and health of the ongoing mission. Working hard now to make ourselves dispensable in the future is our highest priority. Developing faith in promising young adults who can, in time, lead this mission.

2 Timothy 2:2 says, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

Our core leadership team, pastors and senior medical team took a few days to reflect on the mission and vision of IDAT and to build each other up in the Lord.

The Vision!

The mission of In Deed and Truth Ministries came from John’s exhortation in 1 John 3:16-18 to lay down our lives and love others – following Christ’s example by helping the poorest of the poor in South Sudan and bringing the hope of the Gospel through good Deeds and God’s Truth.

The vision of In Deed and Truth Ministries is to empower nationals to relieve poverty and bring hope, one household at a time.

In practice, our medical team are now leading two medical outreaches a week to CHE villages that can not easily access our hospital. They see over 150 patients at every outreach. If missionaries are available they will also attend but these outreaches happen regardless and pastors will set up a counseling and prayer station at every outreach.

Our prayer and vision is to one day have a small PHCU (Primary Health Care Unit) in every CHE village (we are currently in 59 villages) medically staffed to treat the 10 most common ailments, referring more complicated cases to our hospital. We estimate the cost to build one of these units about $10,000 and the cost to equip it with staff and medicine another $10,000 per year. Imagine a Church plant and PHCU in every village lead by our national pastors and medical teams! That is the vision of In Deed and Truth. Our Christ-centered, community development program called CHE, is already paving the way to make this a reality. If you feel the Lord is stirring you to be a part of this vision, maybe to leave a legacy in one of these villages and build a PHCU in your family’s name or in memory of a loved one, then contact me about partnering with IDAT.

Investment in Training!

IDAT has prioritized investing in educating our future leaders and equipping them for the ministry. We currently have 1 medical doctor, 2 clinical officers, 2 midwives, 1 nurse, 1 HR manager, 1 ultrasound technician, 1 x-ray technician and 1 lab technician in school. In addition to this we have 20 of our 45 IDAT pastors taking a diploma class in Pastoral Ministry! This month they completed their third of five sessions towards that diploma.

In addition to our 20 pastors being trained by Intensive Care Ministries, our own Senior Pastor Mabior Bona Bol invests his time for 3 days every month training all 45 pastors.

If you are looking for a way to get involved and to partner with IDAT and make a difference, then prayerfully consider sponsoring one of these pastors.

https://pastors.indeedandtruth.org/

Church Planting Ministry!

In Deed and Truth Ministries is a church planting ministry that planted our first ‘mother’ church over 20 years ago. The most effective way to reach people with the Gospel is through church planting. Today, Calvary Chapel Tonj is a vibrant church of 1,200 people with 34 ‘baby’ churches planted in our CHE villages around Tonj South and Tonj East. These churches have brought reconciliation and peace and transformed entire communities. As our CHE program has expanded rapidly (it’s now in 59 villages), and CHE’s are sharing health and spiritual lessons door to door, we found there were new believers putting their trust in Jesus but with no church in their villages, they were wandering like sheep without a shepherd. Through CHE we formed bible listening groups for these new believers and then sent our pastors to help them establish a church. This method worked until we started to have so many church plants we didn’t have enough trained pastors to cover them. We have been praying the Lord would bring more laborers for His harvest and He has answered that prayer and raised up men from within these communities. These men are called by God, they love Jesus and want to represent Him with the message of hope and salvation. Today we have 35 church plants and 45 pastors!

As we appointed these men of faith to oversee our new churches, we knew their greatest need was for pastoral ministry training. We are blessed to have our Senior Pastor Mabior Bona Bol, a gifted and powerful preacher at CC Tonj, gather these men every month for accountability, fellowship and pastoral training.

The real need is for deeper bible study and understanding. This need is what compelled us to pray and ask God to give us a bible school. Since May 2022 we have partnered with Intensive Care Ministries in training 20 of these pastors at a deeper level, working towards a diploma in Pastoral Ministry. This is a program we want for all our pastors to go through. They also have a certificate class for any person feeling called to serve in ministry. As you can see from the photo, space to teach and train has been a challenge. Our desire is to be equipped to run these classes in the future for years to come. At the end of last year, we launched the plan to build Tonj Bible Institute and through your generous donations we have started to construct our school.

This building project will take approximately three months. Every brick has to be made, so we started making bricks by faith in April!

We already had land to build on where our church is, so in June we broke ground and started digging the foundations.

God has given us this amazing opportunity to work with Him and partner with Him in this ministry. He has given us the foundation of Jesus Christ to build this ministry on and He is the master builder, creating beauty out of dust.

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:9-11

We’ll keep you updated on the progress over the next few months. The official opening ceremony will be in early December. If anyone would like to attend, please contact us for details.

• Prayer point – As God’s fellow workers would you prayerfully consider helping us support these 45 pastors? We have set up a website and each pastor is available for sponsorship. For as little as $25 a month you can partner with these men of God and their calling.  https://pastors.indeedandtruth.org/

Container Blessings!

Every other year we have filled a container with supplies for our mission hospital, CHE program, churches, compound and missionaries in South Sudan. I say ‘we’ because it really has been a team effort from passionate ministry partners, wanting to invest eternally in something worthwhile. Some of us get to be ‘hands on’ in the field but for many of you that is not possible and helping us fill and send this container to Africa was a way for you to participate in the work the Lord is doing in Tonj.

We asked for help and you guys gave joyfully and generously to this Kingdom need. From bibles to baby blankets, funds to buy medical equipment, new solar for the compound, chairs and benches for the growing church, it is an amazing gift of love, poured out from obedient hearts towards our loving Savior. We are blessed beyond measure and I am confident He will reward each one of you in abundance for the help you have given us.

Every chair will be diligently prayed over for the people who might sit on it each Sunday in church. Every baby blanket will be prayed over that it reaches the right family in need. Every bible will be prayed over that it will fall into the hands of someone that will open it and read the life changing words. It’s exciting to receive these gifts but more so to see how the Lord will use them to launch new projects, and new hearts, and new ministry opportunities for growth and change.

And thank you for covering this container in prayer. It left USA a little later than we planned in early March, risking being caught up in the rainy season if there were any delay. It arrived on time in Mombasa port in Kenya. It cleared the customs and moved through Uganda to the South Sudan border. We had exemption papers filed which saved us $$$’s on import duty. In fact, the container sailed seamlessly to South Sudan and I mentioned to a friend how unusual that was!! There’s ALWAYS warfare when shipping a container for the Lord. After all, it’s full of blessings that will be used to further HIS Kingdom. This container was no exception, the very next day the battle began. The driver stopped moving and the transporter wanted more money, refusing to take the container another step!! We convinced him to go to Juba but after that, regardless of the negotiations, they flatly refused to drive to Tonj. It’s important in these moments of ‘crisis’ to remember the battle belongs to the Lord and we need to ask Him for help when the situation is overwhelming. Truthfully, we didn’t know what to do as we had paid the USA Broker in full. So we cried out to the Lord and He heard our cry.

“O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to You for help.”
2 Chronicles 20:12

After being stuck one week in Juba, the broker agreed to cover the cost of moving the container to another truck and paying for it to go to Tonj. Our field director, Albino Dut stayed with the container for the entire ordeal and arranged for a crane to lift it and for a second transporter and security to take it to Tonj. Praising Him for His faithfulness to answer our cry for help and safely delivering our container from USA to South Sudan!

Sudan Conflict!

The conflict between two generals in Sudan has escalated to critical levels, creating a lot of fear in the East African region and  causing more than 150,000 South Sudanese to flee the capital of Khartoum in the North. North and South Sudan were one and the same country until 2011, but many South Sudanese continue to live in the North due to South Sudan’s instability, which has seen two civil wars breakout in the past 12 years.  Evacuations out of Khartoum have been chaotic, with no food or water for days.

The concern now is how will South Sudan cope with this influx of people crossing the border when 75% of the country is also dependent on humanitarian aid. The rainy season will only make this situation more difficult for those evacuating to keep moving and for organizations to reach them with adequate aid.  South Sudan’s own peace agreement is fragile and with an election planned for 2024, we are praying this conflict in the North will be resolved quickly. If it continues it will have a serious impact on civilian lives from both North and South Sudan and a devastating economic impact on the South.

Please pray for peace in the North to be restored and all neighboring countries to Sudan to assist the best way they can. Pray that God will give IDAT wisdom and resources to support those returning from the conflict areas to Tonj. Pray for South Sudan as we head into another season of food shortage and flooding.

Good Friday Celebration!

It is hard to believe that this time last year at Easter, we opened the doors to our new church and celebrated Easter with a dedication of the new building.

The church is thriving with a regular attendance of more than 1,000 people a week. This Easter we started the celebrations on Good Friday. The entire church started at the IDAT compound and walked through the town to the church, about two miles.

Senior Pastor Mabior led the parade and stopped at six locations to preach the gospel. He shared that Jesus, at His lowest point in his life, crucified and forsaken, trusted in God to deliver him. If you are suffering (that’s almost everyone listening), remember this is not the end of the story, there is victory through that death on the cross and Jesus’ resurrection. Suffering does not win, trusting in Jesus wins. Many followed Jesus and followed the parade to the church and came back on Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday Celebration!

Following a fantastic Good Friday service, focus was now on Easter Sunday. This is one of our biggest church services every year and we usually have several of our church plants join us and the church was packed out.

Traditionally after the service we go down to the river and have a mass baptism.  This year’s baptism was amazing with 247 people from multiple Calvary Chapel church plants coming to be baptized in the Tonj river.

It took hours to baptize that many people but that didn’t deter the spectating crowds from bearing the 100°F heat, and hundreds of people lined the riverbanks, singing and dancing with great joy, cheering every time someone emerged from the water!

“I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:2

Celebrating Medicine Arrival!

Every year around April, before the rains start, In Deed and Truth Ministries trucks one year of medicine to our Maternal Child Hospital in Tonj.

It costs on average $6 to treat one patient. A large part of that cost is IDAT purchasing our own medicine rather than relying on government support. This allows us to buy better quality and a variety of medicine that would not otherwise be supplied. It avoids us closing the hospital due to lack of supplies and allows us to focus on which medicines are most needed for pregnant mothers, children, and newborns. It also allows us to provide for the community where no other hospital is helping, including rabies vaccine, snake antivenom and insulin for Type 1 diabetes.

We are so grateful to the many friends around the world that help us purchase our medicine supply for one whole year. It’s a huge cost paid in one lump sum. This year that burden was shared by a grant from Africa Mission Healthcare in Kenya, Spirit Run fundraiser by Horizon Prep School in San Diego, USA and a Fun Run organized by Bright Futures Child Aid and Development in Adelaide, Australia. It truly is a global effort that benefits 60,000+ patients every year.

Suzy in San Diego!

It was a whirlwind trip but a fruitful one as I networked and connected with partners to share the vision and goals of In Deed and Truth Ministries (IDAT) for 2023. Thank you to everyone that took the time to see me, share a meal with me and listen to how the Lord is working through IDAT in South Sudan. I would ask you to join me in praying for the areas of need that I shared and if we didn’t connect, please check out the YouTube channel @indeedandtruthsudan and watch the of IDAT 2023 1^st quarter update.

This video highlights so many areas of ministry, the Medical Mission Hospital, the medical outreaches, CHE, church plants, and bible training for our pastors.  Specifically, we asked for prayer and investment in this kingdom work. Here’s the needs:

• to raise enough funds to build our bible school in 2023.
• to have enough sponsors to pay our bush pastors a small stipend.
• for individual partners to prayerfully consider raising the amount of their monthly gift to help cover the monthly budget as the ministry has grown tenfold in four years.

It was wonderful to share at Horizon’s mission night and share about the seeds from faithful partners that have been sown for many years and are now producing great fruit.

I was also able to join in the Horizon Prep School Spirit Run that raised $15,000 to buy medicine for our hospital!

IDAT Church Plants

Please continue to pray for our church plants. We have so many people asking to get a church in their village. At the moment we are using the solar bibles in small listening groups within those villages that don’t have churches. Some of our pastors are going to 2-3 churches on Sunday to preach. This is our greatest need, to train more pastors.

The Holy Spirit is moving in our CHE villages and as people learn about Jesus they are turning away from witchcraft and turning to Him. We are experiencing a lot of healing of sickness without medication for many believers. Recently we had two families ask the pastors to come to their home and burn all their idols. As they were burning them and praying over the homes, the surrounding neighbors started taking off their charms and throwing them into the fire!!

This was a public declaration against evil and showed great courage as villagers are told by the witchdoctors they will be cursed and die if they remove the charms. I love these breakthroughs against satan as the power of the Holy Spirit is poured out and lives are transformed. Another village shared that since the witchcraft ended in their place, and the witchdoctor gave his life to Christ, the village is now prospering, and many are coming to the Lord. Gardens are producing more crop, cattle are healthy, they received  a bore hole, and neighbors are living peaceably together.

Last month Pastor Jim and Pastor Edmund from Intensive Care Ministries in Tanzania came in for an 11-day intensive inductive bible study. Pastor Jim also got to meet all the bush pastors that are not currently in school but will hopefully join a class once the Tonj Bible Institute is built.

As you can see from the photo we are overflowing and in need of a classroom and dorm.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” Revelation 7:9

Revelation 7:9 tells us Christ is sitting on the throne in heaven and believers from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people are worshipping Him for all eternity. This is the finale, showing what we exchanged our lives for. My goal is not only to be there worshipping the Lamb myself, but to spend my life bringing as many people with me as I can! I invite you to be part of that story in South Sudan!