Mali: (David and Linda write) We’re going through the greatest heartbreak. This whole e-mail is about us struggling to handle this new situation. One of our young Malian pastors, Esaie (Isaiah) Makono Diarra, 32 years old, has an awesome, incredible testimony. He was totally insane, wandering the streets of Bamako half-naked, when one of our pastors took him in, gave him food, shelter, clothing, and much prayer. After a period of time, Isaiah was totally healed and restored to his right mind. Pastor Adama taught him how to read, then two years later sent him off to Bible School after he’d expressed his conviction that God had called him into the ministry. He married one of the lovely young Christian women in the church (she’s not yet 22 years old), finished his 3 years at Bible School with passing and quite decent grades (mostly “C’s"), and began pastoring a church in a suburb of Bamako (Sarambougou). He turns out to be one of the finest Malian preachers we’ve got!

Niger: Pray for John and Sarah Sawadogo and for the local church they pastor in Dosso. In five minutes a tornado completely destroyed the Tabernacle church. Village people are saying the Christians are under a curse - as last year the pastor’s daughter was run over and killed by a taxi, and now the church has been destroyed. Pray that God’s power will prevail and a good testimony will be maintained.

Mali: During a relief mission, a sister organization faced difficulties in the food distribution in the famine-stricken northern region of Mali. The enemies of the gospel exploited the situation to incite a riot against the local Christian population. During the showing of the Jesus Film, a mob ransacked the equipment, stoned the believers, burnt the church, destroyed the pastor’s house, and injured several of our brothers. The government conducted an investigation and largely dismissed the seriousness of the event by announcing that this was not the work of Malians, but of Tuareg rebels. The threat remains, and we have no confidence that the local authorities will undertake any serious steps to protect the believers. We request your prayers for this situation which, since the perpetrators were not apprehended and punished, could be the catalyst for further violent persecution of the church throughout the nation.

The Gambia: Clive and Sonja Shryer need prayer as they pursue pioneer church planting. The Gambia is 95% Muslim and the Gambian government has recently closed the registration of any new Christian church or organization.

Unity: The French Assemblies of God missionaries recently stood up in one of our meetings and formally requested forgiveness for “hindering reconciliation” between the American and French factions of the Assemblies of God in Mali. Just two months later, we had our first “fusion” meeting, and now the Malian Assemblies of God are one, with three missions (French, American, Swede) presently working with them.

Brent and Shelley Teague, missionaries to Niger, report that a serious accident took place, involving a vehicle carrying 20 of their youth and a counselor to camp. Miraculously, not one was seriously injured even though the vehicle was badly damaged. Every report of miraculous intervention is very meaningful at this time because the Muslim population is claiming that the Christian church is cursed. Events such as these are a sign to unbelievers that God has His hand upon His children.

More Good News from Don Corbin: The 31st General Council of Nigeria Assemblies of God (NAG) took place May 18-22 in Lagos. I was unable to be present; however, Dr. George Wood was their special invitee and brought back copies of their General Council Report - 198 pages long! Phenomenal! The 1996 statistics affirm that the Nigeria Assemblies of God is a dynamic church with great vision, zeal, energy, and accountability to its people! An excerpt: a) 413 churches opened this year for a total of 6,642; b) 7,681 ministers (there were 5,119 in 1993); c) 1,442,189 members and adherents (there were 902,537 in 1993); d) 126,381 new converts in 1996 alone; e) 386,835 believers are baptized in the Spirit (58,310 in 1996).

From the Pen of Don Corbin: Virginia and I and others were blessed to visit “Narnia” (a fictitious name because of the sensitivity of the real name), spend time with friends, be part of the first-ever “conference” in Narnia’s capital, sign a Partnership Agreement with those who made the gathering happen, and see God’s hand on His people in the face of structured opposition. Little can be said here about the Narnian church. But we can declare that our Lord is at work in this hard, forgotten, and unlikely place. He is gathering and growing a people in spite of immense impediments. Logic calls Narnia impossible; however, logic and normal givens have never been - nor will they ever be - the coin of divine calculation! He works supernaturally through faithful people willing to pay an “overwhelming” price! It is happening in our day. And one day, we will hear their festal shout when the giants and walls of this modern “Kiriath Arba” fall! He specializes in bringing down strongholds! “He...came to destroy the works of the devil!” Oh no, we shouldn’t expect it to be easy! But victory, a people, and His glory will rise from “Narnia!” Just wait and watch the “Then/Now” principles and process take effect! Grant it Lord!

Pray for pastoral training in West Africa. Pray that students will be adequately equipped for the ministry to which God has called them.

Pray that the church of West Africa will have a vision for the unreached people groups of their respective nations.

Pray for the youth of West Africa. Pray that they will find meaning and purpose in the gospel.

Pray that the churches of West African nations will have a growing missionary vision and send Christian workers beyond their national borders.

Pray for the children of West Africa. Pray that the Lord will raise up workers to address this critical need.

, Directors of the Assemblies of God program Africa’s Children, recently wrote the following regarding the children of Africa: “At times you look around, scratch your head, wring your hands and say, ‘Where do we go from here? The road just ran out.’ As missionaries, we have lots of questions, but not so many answers. At least not many good ones. It’s not hard to see the problems. Africa is full of problems that attack the children every moment of every day. Problems like poverty, war, famine, genocide, homelessness, disease, AIDS, and abuse of all kinds abound in Africa. The question is, ‘What do we do about it?’ I have been asking this question a lot lately. What are we...the Assemblies of God...Africa’s Children going to do about it? What are we, Ed and Sonja Corbin, going to do about it?

“We can’t ignore the obvious needs. We desperately need Christian schools, feeding programs, and informal centers for kids to get off the street and receive a hot meal and a literacy class. We need homes, maybe even orphanages where we will care for AIDS orphans. No one else wants AIDS babies, not even their own families. Conditions are not getting better in Africa. They are getting worse. The road has run out for millions of hurting children in Africa. We need some road builders. And we need [substantial finances] to build new roads.”

If you are interested in giving financially to the Africa’s Children program, please click here.

Pray for the work of Bible translation in West Africa. There may be as many as 500 languages in West Africa which still need some amount of translation work.

Pray against the strongholds of Islam in West Africa. Pray that those who follow the Islamic faith would recognize the futility of attempting to gain salvation through their own efforts and morality, and that they would find true freedom in Christ.

Pray for the effectiveness of various media ministries in West Africa, including audio recordings in indigenous languages, The Jesus Film, radio, and Christian literature agencies and bookstores.

Pray for evangelism and church-planting efforts in the urban centers of West Africa.

Pray for cooperation and unity among West African churches, denominations, and missions agencies.

Pray for the strongholds of animism to be broken throughout West Africa. Pray that the fear which grips the followers of traditional religion would be replaced by the peace that is only found in Christ.

Pray for the work of Christian relief agencies working in West African countries, many of which are economically underdeveloped and/or devastated by war.

Pray that the churches of West Africa will demonstrate a compassionate and effective response to the AIDS crisis.

Pray for the work of the numerous missions agencies which are active in West Africa.

Pray that mature leadership will be raised up in the midst of the West African church.