Bernie & Brenda Smith Your Missionaries to West Africa Advanced School of Theology, Lom, Togo, West Africa

Fall 2012
What do an American retiree and 3 pastors from Sierra Leone, 2 from Ghana, and 1 from Cameroon have in common? Well, not food preferences or first languages. Not ages or shared experiences. What they do share is a desire to build God's kingdom in Africa! This past semester, Brenda's father, Jon Smith, made his fourth trip to Togo. A retired editor, he came to help six third-year students complete their required thesis projects. It was a wonderful exchange. The students learned more about writing and organization. Dad learned about the wide variety of ministries these six are involved in and the burdens of their hearts. We'd like to introduce you to this sampling of WAAST students. Gideon Nji is a pastor and District Supervisor for the Full Gospel Mission in northwest Cameroon. As a pastor in the 1990s, he said, I thought the Holy Spirit's leading was enough. But I soon saw the need to be equipped and trained. He went to Bible school and later joined the WAAST extension center in Cameroon. His thesis addressed the role of leadership in mobilizing God's people to be involved in home and foreign missions. Amos Lellah has been a pastor for 10 years in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He has a burden for street boys and drug addicts. He invites them to church, takes some into his home, works to reintegrate them into their families, and continues to follow them up spiritually. He entered the WAAST extension center in Freetown to gain more insight into the things of God, administrative abilities, and spiritual maturity. In his thesis, he wrote about the issue of reaching drug addicts in Sierra Leone. Ahlieu Sulaiman-Jalloh is an associate pastor in Freetown. Raised in a Muslim family, he found the Lord through a prayer group and has been in full-time ministry for 7 years. He joined the WAAST extension center to upgrade his ministry abilities. One great concern he has is the attitude of many that going to church is enough, and his research project addressed the need for serious disciple-making in the local churches. Anthony Okyere has been in the ministry for 20 years, working in the Western Region of Ghana. His church has mothered 4 churches, and he has trained 4 workers to lead them. He found that, as a pastor, he needed further training to keep up with the higher level of education in his congregation and to confront postmodern thinking. The concern addressed in his thesis was that of broken homes and the effects on children. Samuel Yera grew up in the Assemblies of God in Sierra Leone and started his full-time ministry in 1998. He has served as an associate pastor and is now involved in his second church plant. The WAAST extension center was the perfect place for him to develop his interest in training, particularly in training people who can then train others to fulfill the Great Commission. This is exactly what WAAST is about! Mark Okyere-Kessie has served as the Regional Children's Director in the Ashanti Region of Ghana since 2009. He has been in ministry since the age of 18, when his pastor encouraged him to plant a church. His greatest passion, however, is to reach children for Jesus. He sought training through Child Evangelism Fellowship, went to Bible school in 2004, then entered the WAAST extension in Ghana. His thesis focused on training workers for children's ministry. Different homelands, different callings, different giftswe thank God for all these who are building His kingdom. And we THANK YOU for your prayers and partnership with us and WAAST for the glory of God in Africa.

B.P. 2313, Lom, Togo www.hereortogo.net Acc't 240646