August 2020 Update

We began a teaching ministry on a local radio station. To date, Terebinth Ministries is on the radio 52 times each month as a mix of live and recorded teachings! The station reaches into DR Congo, South Sudan, and most of northern Uganda. Someone from Somalia was able to hear the teaching and respond through Facebook live! The live Facebook videos allow our teaching to go farther than the radio antenna can reach.
As churches have been banned from meeting, many people get their church teaching on the radio on Sundays. During some of the live shows, there is a time to call in with questions. We’ve received many questions and prayer requests during this time. Many callers want to simply thank whoever is teaching for clearly teaching the Word of God. We even have a time on Thursdays where Rebecca Nolley and Filder (a women’s leader from Calvary Chapel Gulu) do a special time for the women listening.

Schools have been out of session since March. This put our current class behind schedule. Since there is no indication of when schools might open, we turned to technology to help. Many of our students don’t have computers or smartphones, so online learning was out of the question. However, the concept of online learning gave us an idea.
Starting next week, the Terebinth School of Discipleship will be meeting in groups of 5 to attend modified classes. The teachers in the school have recorded their lessons in 1-hour sessions which will be shown via projector for the classes. The classes will have 2 teachers available for discussion and questions in each session. Because the classes are recorded, it is possible to complete the teachings in a shorter amount of time, and consolidate the classes to 2 days per group. There will still be testing at the end of each class, and the students still have a good amount of homework.
This is a brand new way of doing things for us, so please join us in praying that it is effective and useful for the students! We are eager to continue teaching Scripture with Scripture, even as we have to come up with new strategies to do so during this time.

As we all know, with lockdowns came financial struggles. Many people in Uganda work for a daily salary, and not being able to work meant not having money for food. Terebinth partnered with individual donors and groups to help bridge the gap during the months where people already struggle to find food. From March to July, the crops have been planted but haven’t come to harvest, which means food is much scarcer during that time.
Working in conjunction with the LC5 (think of a mayor sort of position), we were able to feed around 40,000 people in those months! 40,000!! We fed groups including motorcycle taxi drivers, widows, HIV+ patients at the hospital, prostitutes, and many more. Every person who came to receive food was given the gospel and prayed for by our pastors and volunteers from the churches. Each person was given a flier with the radio times of our teaching so they could hear the Bible brought into their own home.
There was a lot of need during the time of lockdown and waiting for the harvest, and it was incredible to see the global church work as one body to care for their neighbor.

We will continue to pursue the work God is calling us to join in and eagerly look forward to when our churches and schools can gather together again. Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouraging words during this time. We have felt them all.