Greetings,

All of our team have arrived home safely in the US now and are trying to come back down to reality after such a blessed trip. Thanks so much for your partnering with us through your
prayers and financial support, making this trip possible.

It's hard to know where to begin when so much happened, ministry opportunities that we had planned and those that God just presented to us.

My first week and a half was spent working with one of my ministry partners, Christine Norman, who co-chaired the All Liberian Life Festival, sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, where Franklin Graham preached for three nights, which included a Children's Festival.

Highlights of this: Our team was trained by the BGEA to be counselors at the Festival. Anywhere from 18,000 to 24,000 attended each night and over 40,000 children attended the Children's Festival. Around 16,000 people professed salvation and are now being followed up by local churches. Medical teams treated thousands of people throughout the country, some for the first time in 25 years. God truly brought healing, spiritually and physically, to many people.

The rest of our trip was equally as busy. Two pastors on our team from Greenville conducted two days of evangelism training and strategic planning with Youth For Christ, the Evangelical Church Union of Liberia and the United Liberian Inland Church leadership - designed to reach Liberia's youth with the Gospel.

For discipleship, we started the process with YFC and several local churches and Bible Study Fellowship. The BSF West African Director came out to implement their Bible study program. Establishing this two step approach of evangelizing and discipling Liberia's young people has been my burden and my heart's passion for several years.

Also, our two pastors conducted three days of basic Bible doctrines training, we restarted the YFC teen time Bible quiz competition program, had three nights of youth rallies, ministered to former child soldiers, visited and ministered to several orphanages, schools, Awana programs, women's retreats, repaired and installed equipment, water pumps, air conditioners, etc. Many more Liberians gave their lives to the Lord through these ministries.

We had meetings to plan future ministry, as well. We met with the Liberian Baptist Seminary leadership in regards to partnering with a Southern Baptist seminary here in the US to provide help with needed Bible training for pastors. We also have camping facilities available and met with Liberia leaders to plan on taking a team to run a camping program. We also planned to provide a trauma counseling and counseling training. Additionally, we looked into the potential of helping Christine Norman's organizations, REAP, establish an agriculture training program for over 40 orphanages. And the BGEA evangelist, RV Brown, promised to return next year to work with YFC.

Additional blessings from this trip are that both Greenville pastors, Paul Flemming and Ken Forrester, who were on our team have committed to return and to take teams from their churches back to Liberia. They said the needs are so great its hard to know where to start and what to do. I challenged them to bring another pastor friend of theirs on each trip with them to get more churches involved. I will be taking a trip back with one of these churches next year. Also, the Lord worked in the hearts of the ELWA MKs who were there, and some of them have said they will be getting more involved with helping in Liberia.

All of our efforts are clearly designed to show God's love in action, to share His word with the hurting and needy in Liberia. I am so grateful that the Lord has chosen to use me in His service there. And I am honored that He has brought you along side of me, and our teams, as a partner through your prayers and financial support.

The results of this trip will continue to impact lives in Liberia for years to come, reaching
more people with His loving and healing Gospel, not just through our efforts but through those of Liberians with whom we were able to reach and train.

Thanks again so much for making all of this possible, for without you none of this would have been accomplished.

May God continue to use and bless you!

Dan Snyder

As our team prepares to go to Liberia, there are already ELWA MK's traveling throughout the world, spreading the message of Christ, and being His hands and feet. Please hold these folks up in prayer.

Alan Shea and his team, including Cork Loken and MK Walter Bliss have arrived at Camp Bethesda, working on their electrical system. We appreciate your prayers as they begin this project of installing an entirely new electrical grid (from generators to power lines and everything in between) at Bethesda Christian Mission School's ten-acre campus.

Bethesda Christian Mission School was founded in 1973 by Vera Stevens of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). They struggled through the war but now have 460 students in grades 1-12 and nearly half of those are boarding students. Their real struggle now is with electricity -- since there is none in Liberia they have a couple of generators and have installed their own wiring as they've grown,but it has been inadequate for their needs.

When Alan's team arrived, they found that the new powerhouse has not been completed
yet. Only about half the roof is on and the inside is not finished. Alan and the team cannot begin to do anything inside until they can put a lock on a door. The team did get some work done outside including putting up some power line. It's really not possible for most members of the team to extend this trip, so we greatly appreciate your prayers.

Steve Snyder is on his yearly speaking trip to Nigeria and Kenya. Here is his latest exciting report.

Sanu:

* * *

BULLETIN: By the time you receive this letter, I will be on my way to Kenya. Please pray for me and also for my family as I am away. I will confess: I have been so busy with work and other matters since returning to Nigeria that I have not adequately prepared for this trip with prayer - prayer for the students, for my presentations, for our interaction and for God's blessing and work in this ministry. So, allow me to ask that you please cover me and all of these concerns with your prayers. That would mean more to me at this time than any other way you can possibly help, encourage and be a part of this ministry.

* * *

Sanu is a Hausa language greeting one hears all over Nigeria. The Hausa tribe is the largest among many tribes in that country. Their language goes beyond the members of their tribe and is utilized as something of a trade language across areas that extend well beyond Nigeria's borders. However, greetings in Nigeria typically involve much more than "hello." In the morning, for example, you will usually be asked how you slept, how is your husband or wife, how are the children, and those with livestock may even be asked about their cows, goats or sheep. It is a society where interaction and relationships are primary.

The people I encountered across Nigeria could not have treated me more graciously. And, throughout the trip, I couldn't help but be reminded of the value of friendships and relationships and think about the special relationships I have with friends like you who pray for my family, for me and for our ministry with Global Adapt, who support this work financially when God leads and as you are able, and who simply care about this ministry and the people whose lives we are privileged to impact. Thank you so much for that relationship and the encouragement and support you give so generously to this relationship.

This was an extremely busy trip with speaking engagements, meetings and travel (lots of it, all over the country) virtually every day of my nearly two weeks in Nigeria. And, despite some delays and several last minute rearrangements to my schedule that were challenging in the moment, I was ultimately able to make every lecture, presentation and meeting on this crammed full itinerary. It is difficult for me to describe how great a trip this turned out to be. God is good!

Nigeria Trip Highlights:

• The Hillcrest School senior class was perhaps the liveliest and most fun of any group I have met in this ministry. They were wonderfully responsive. And their skits during the retreat (I always have students come up with their own cross-cultural faux pas skits that tie in with the material we are covering) were probably the most hilarious and entertaining I've ever seen.

• The law school lectures went so well and the response was overwhelmingly positive. In these lectures, I discuss and present arguments for how a lawyer should treat and interact with clients, other attorneys and the Court, ultimately making a case for seeking truth, integrity and justice. In this country where the newspapers daily decry corruption, I was heartened by how strongly these students and their faculties responded to this message. It was truly a privilege to speak to every law student in the country (more than 4,400), bright, passionate and impressive young people who are truly the future of Nigeria. The Nigerian Law School has already invited me to return next year - except, by next year, they will have expanded from the present four campuses to six.

• During the first lecture (Abuja), I was making the point that clients often find it very difficult to go through the process of a lawsuit and we as lawyers have the opportunity and privilege of not only handling the client's legal needs but of walking with them through this difficult time. To emphasize the point and subtly analogize to what God does for us, I spontaneously referenced the Christian Bible and the familiar passage from Psalm 23 that goes - "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me...." I had no more than spoken the first few words of this passage when a huge number of students spontaneously joined me quoting this scripture aloud. I was stunned and delighted. I decided to repeat this part of my talk at each campus and, to my amazement, experienced the same unprompted response each time - hundreds of Christian law students joining me in quoting this scriptural passage in their law school auditoriums.
  
  
• Even though my lectures were not religious, the manner in which I argued for truth and justice seemed to strike a chord with students who "got" that my faith was foundational to my points. One student, obviously a believer, came up to me afterward and said that he was unable to move, take notes or clap (there had been some wonderful applause at some of the points I argued and at the conclusion of my talk) because he was overwhelmed by the sense that this was a message God wanted and was delivering for him and for his country. My conversation with this student is something I will never forget.
  
  
• I literally spent 45 minutes following the session in Abuja posing for photographs with a countless stream of students wanting their picture taken with me, some one-on-one, others in groups. I had never experienced anything like it. And their comments about the lecture were astoundingly affirming of the value of the message of these lectures.

• Visiting the ECWA church in the center of Abuja, the nation's capitol. This 10-year-old church has just moved in to a beautiful new building and sanctuary that seats 3,000. ECWA (Evangelical Church of West Africa) is the Nigerian church organization founded by SIM, the mission in which I grew up. During SIM's first 20 years in Nigeria, they buried more missionaries than they had converts. Today, there are literally thousands of ECWA churches (you see ECWA Church signs in almost every town) and ECWA is now sending missionaries of its own throughout Africa. I was privileged to spend a thoroughly enjoyable and uplifting hour with the impressive yet humble founding pastor and he has invited me to return and speak to his congregation next year.
  
  
• Traveling through Nigeria, watching out the vehicle windows and just soaking in the energy and beauty of this land and its people - whether passing by largely uninhabited fields, forests and mountain ranges or driving through cities, towns and villages where people live so much of their lives within view of the street - adults laughing with each other while standing beneath a tree during the midday heat, children in uniforms walking home from school, market women selling their vegetables, little boys herding cows and goats to a local watering hole, a young mother with her baby wrapped in cloth across her back leaning over a cooking fire while preparing the evening meal, heavily armed soldiers checking vehicles at check points, and much, much more. Growing up as I did, there is something special about seeing life in this way that seems normal and right. And beautiful.

There is so much I would love to share, like my meetings with some prominent and impressive local attorneys; speaking at one of their law firms; meeting the Hillcrest junior class - the school's largest class in decades that, Lord willing, I will work with next year when I return for their senior class retreat; spending time with Bob & Gayle Murray, my hosts at Hillcrest who so passionately love and care for these students, who host me when I am there and who have become such dear friends; traveling with Zachary Ochoga, the young Nigerian pastor and lawyer who made the first contacts that led to all these law school lectures; catching up with Phil Davidson, a teacher at Hillcrest School who was a high school senior during my first retreat at Hillcrest and who went out of his way to let me know how wonderfully our ministry during that trip impacted him and other classmates; and so much more.

RESULTS: I've been invited to do more next year than I may be able to handle, including:

· The retreat with next year's Hillcrest senior class;

· speaking for spiritual emphasis week at Hillcrest School (which includes speaking daily in upper school and also elementary school chapels, speaking in classes and leading devotions in student hostels housing boarding students);

· Returning to speak for The Nigerian Law School - this time at six campuses;

· Play golf with (attorney) Chief J.K. Gadzaga at his club in the Capitol, Abuja, where previous Nigerian Presidents and rulers are members and play golf.

· Speak and worship at ECWA Church in central Abuja;

· Participate as a speaker for a CLE (Continuing Legal Education) conference for the Abuja Bar Association for lawyers and judges practicing in the Abuja area.

I am not sure how I could manage all of this. But, I would ask that you go ahead and begin praying with me that God will guide and show us what He wants done.

COMING UP: I am on my way to Kenya where I will serve with Rosslyn Academy and help lead a transition retreat for their senior class. Please pray for these students, for God to use this time to draw some of them to Him, for God to use me as His vessel and servant, for my firm during my absence, and for Patty and our kids (as I am away) to be protected, encouraged and to know that their sacrifice is glorifying and pleasing to God. And, thank you for your vital part of this ministry.

In His Service,

Steve Snyder

Annette de la Haye Cooper is with a small group of friends traveling to Rome and Israel. They will be there from the 7th, home on the 18th.

Thank you for your prayer support.

March 3, 2011 - Just weeks before her father will travel to Liberia to share the Gospel, Cissie Graham Lynch is on the ground, visiting ministries and telling the story of the people she fell in love with four years ago.

A Love That Spans Generations

by Janet Chismar

In the spring of 2007, the Lord laid it on Cissie Graham Lynch's heart to work with one of the Samaritan's Purse projects during the upcoming summer season. The previous two years had left her in need of some uninterrupted time with God. "So, where to go?" she wondered. As the daughter of Franklin and Jane Graham, she was well acquainted with her father's work in the Sudan and decided that is where she wanted to serve.

But then someone told Cissie about how Samaritan's Purse was helping the country of Liberia. "I was quickly intrigued by the nation's history," she wrote in a recent blog. Liberia was founded as a democracy by freed American slaves, who proceeded to make slaves of the indigenous people. In 1980, a military-led coup overthrew the president, which led to two civil wars. Hundred of thousands of people were murdered, leaving the country with a devastated economy.

"When I heard about Liberia's history," she said during a phone interview, "the Lord made it very clear that I wasn't going to Sudan. I just knew that Liberia was a very clear calling."

As soon as Cissie hit the ground, she felt peace. "What touched me was where these
people have come from," she said, "the history that they have suffered through--civil war and genocide--and even further back where the freed American slaves made slaves of their own people. It's been one thing after another that these people have suffered through."

But what touched her most was the joy she saw -- "the smiles that they had. They hadn't given up hope. That's what really touched my life. And working with our national staff in the SP offices, the heart that they have for their own people and what they've endured themselves. Yet they still had smiles on their faces."

"Why Lord?"

Just as she became acquainted with the people and issues of Liberia, her time there was cut short due to her grandmother's death. Cissie says she sat in staff devotions the morning before returning home in tears: "Tears of course for the loss of my grandmother, but also tears of confusion. Why Lord? Why would you bring me all the way here, just to take me back? Why would I feel such a peace here, just to leave?"
Now, almost four years later, Cissie is back on the ground in Liberia. "I always felt that my time in Liberia was too short," she said. "But during that short time I grew a passion for this small African country and its people. And that is a passion that I will now be able to share with you during the next few weeks before my dad's Festival of Life in Monrovia, Liberia."

During this visit, Cissie plans to visit one of the Samaritan's Purse THINK (Touching Humanity In Need of Kindness) homes, which help to rehabilitate girls and young women who have experienced violence or abuse during the war. Now that the war has ended, Cissie explained, the THINK homes are focusing on women who have survived through sex trafficking. She also plans to visit women's literacy and community health programs. "My goal is for people to hear the stories through the Liberian people, not through me."

You can follow Cissie in Liberia on Twitter: @CissieGLynch and on her mobile blog. Be sure to visit cissiegrahamlynch.com to read her perspectives on marriage, her faith, and other issues that touch her heart.

Reaching Her Generation

In discussing why she felt led to create a blog, Cissie explained she wants to reach a generation that is "all about networking and relationships." God created us for love, she said. "We crave love, we crave relationships and we're looking everywhere for that. People are looking for people to talk to, to communicate with, to relate with--all through the Internet now."

Since that's the way God created us, Cissie added, she believes Christians need to use the Internet as a tool to reach people with Christ's love.

"I hope to reach a generation, people my age," she said. "I want them to know me as a person, to know what my day is like, life with my husband, but also to see our work at BGEA and SP, the work that we do around the world. But most importantly, I want them to see what we do in the name of Christ."

Cissie wants her readers to see the love and the passion of Christ, "the love He has for us. This generation is looking for love everywhere but we're not looking at the One that will last eternally."

In the next few weeks, she wants her followers to "fall in love with the people of Liberia like I did. I want them to see their heart and I want them to see not just want SP is doing now and what BGEA is getting ready to go in and do, I want them to see and love the people of Liberia." Follow Cissie in Liberia

WATCH THE FESTIVAL WEBCAST: Join us on March 29 at 7:30 p.m., EDT, to see and hear Franklin Graham's message, music and other highlights from the All Liberia Life Festival. Stay tuned for details.

From the BGEA website...

Pray for the All Liberia Life Festival

Will you join us in praying for this important move of God?

* That Liberians would come to Christ and know the truth during the Festival;
* That churches would be strengthened and Christians encouraged;
* That spiritual renewal and revival will spread through Liberia;
* That the truth of Christ will be rooted in every church and that false religion will have no place in the Body of Christ;
* That many will hear about the Festival and attend the meetings;
* That pastors in this nation would be encouraged;
* For all the technical details to come together so that people will be able to hear and see the event;
* That buses and other transportation will be available, especially for the children's meeting.

Please add your own prayers for Liberia in the Comments section below.

More from the BGEA website about the upcoming All-Liberia Life Festival with Franklin Graham.

Franklin Graham Will Share Gospel at All Liberia Life Festival in March

February 24, 2011 - Although it was established as the "Land of the Free" in the 1820s, Liberia in recent years has been held captive by civil war, poverty and social turmoil. As the nation turns a corner, the timing couldn't be better for Franklin Graham to share the hope and true freedom of the Gospel at the All Liberia Life Festival next month.

I believe this is going to be a breakthrough. ... I think more than we could ever ask or think is going to come from this Festival.
~Tom Phillips

Restoring True Freedom in Liberia

by Janet Chismar

Founded by freed American and Caribbean slaves, Liberia is mostly made up of indigenous Africans, with the slaves' descendants comprising 5 percent of the population.

The West African nation was relatively calm until 1980 when William Tolbert was overthrown by Sergeant Samuel Doe after food price riots. The coup marked the end of dominance by the minority Americo-Liberians, who had ruled since independence, but heralded a period of instability.

Civil war in the 1990s killed about an estimated 220,000 to 235,000 people and uprooted half of the survivors. One million refugees left the country, and hundreds of thousands fled to the capital city of Monrovia, where many lived in abandoned buildings or filthy and overcrowded camps.

According to the U.S. State Department, Liberia is still recovering from the ravages of war; pipe-borne water and electricity are generally unavailable to most of the population, especially outside Monrovia, and schools, hospitals, roads, and infrastructure remain "derelict."

"Unless you've been there," says Franklin Graham, "it's difficult to understand how much Africans have suffered from war, disease, famine and poverty. And only then do you appreciate how the Church stands out as a source of help and of hope."

In the dozens of trips he has made to Africa, Graham says he has "never ceased to be amazed by the faith of African Christians. They expect miracles and often see them. Their joy in worship would put most of us to shame."

A Burden for Unity

Tom Phillips, BGEA's Vice President of Crusades, would agree. During his visits to Liberia in preparation for the Festival, he has witnessed "phenomenal times of worship." Yet the pastors of many churches are stretched thin by limited resources. "They're so weary," says Phillips. "This is a very difficult place to work; prayer is paramount."

But, he adds, the growing unity sparked by the Festival is renewing hope in the hearts of the pastors. Currently, 500 to 600 churches are working together in preparation for upcoming events. "We've been impressed with the heart of the people," says Phillips. "It's been wonderful to see the kind of cooperation we've had."

He explains that the vision for the All Liberia Life Festival was the burden of several people who recognized the need for unity. "They saw they needed to bring the churches together," says Phillips. "They needed to do something to catalytically touch their country with the Gospel."

Included in that group are Bishop Harris of the Philadelphia Church Ministries International; Christine Tolbert Norman; and Kendall Kauffeldt, the national director for Samaritan's Purse in Liberia. "Christine has been the spark plug and the catalyst for the Festival," Phillips says. Her father was the Liberian president--Pastor Tolbert--who was assassinated by Samuel Doe in 1980.

And it was Kauffeldt who contacted Phillips and said, "We believe the time is ripe. We at Samaritan's Purse will do everything we can to assist if BGEA would feel that this is of the Lord."

Since the end of the war, Samaritan's Purse has established sanitation and feeding programs, built churches, trained pastors, and provided ministry to victims of violence, among other programs in Liberia.

"We are seriously praying and would evoke all to be praying for the Festival," says Kauffeldt. "It is such a huge undertaking. This Festival will be the start of a new day in Liberia, I really pray so."

Help Spread the Gospel

You gift can help BGEA spread the Gospel through every available means and to every nation. Donate online today to support Festivals or other ministries.

A Mile Wide and Inch Deep

Joni Byker, a communications director who worked along side Kauffeldt in Liberia for four years, says she has witnessed his passion for this Festival and also a growing excitement across the nation. "We've been looking forward to this for a long time," she says. "The reality is starting to hit everyone--the possibilities that could happen."

Byker has seen that pastors are "so hungry for any training they can get. They want to learn and to grow in their understanding of the Word." She also knows a little about the state of the church in Liberia. Last year Samaritan's Purse did an impact assessment of the past five years of programming. They wanted to determine the healthiness of the church in Liberia.

"One way we measured that was by their understanding of salvation," says Byker. "Through our impact assessment, 70 percent of the people they talked to said they are involved in the church in some way, but only 22 percent of those people actually understood the meaning of salvation.

"It's a very common phrase to say that the Liberian church is a mile wide but only an inch deep," Byker adds.

"The common understanding is that if you are not Muslim, you are a Christian, no matter what. On top of that, you have African traditional religions, including witchcraft and secret societies, outside of and inside the churches."

The pastors recognize that regarding the growth of secret societies, it is time to "come together and go deeper in order to win souls for Christ," Byker adds. "This Festival comes at a critical time for the church because people are looking for truth."

A Sparkling Light

Phillips estimates throughout Liberia, 82 percent of the population would say they are Christian, 12 percent would say that they are Islamic, and 4 percent would say that they follow a native religion. Of the Christian group, he adds, approximately 40 percent mix their faith with tribal religions. "So syncretism is dug in fairly deeply."

The name, All Liberia Life Festival, means that pastors want to reach their entire nation. There are four different locations for the Festival. Monrovia is the largest--it's the last one--March 25-27. Foya in the north--is March 4-5; Zwedru is on March 8-9, and Ganta in the south is March 11-12.

"These are rural villages," Phillips explains. "It's where two dirt roads cross a field. R.V. Brown, a BGEA associate evangelist who is phenomenal proclaimer of the Gospel, went over and spoke to about 3900 people in 13 locations and saw a 59 percent response. He will be the preacher in the rural locations.

"Only God knows how many people will come to Christ because R.V. is unapologetic about his faith in the Lord," says Phillips. "He has a marvelous way of giving an invitation."

No one has undertaken an evangelistic effort of any magnitude since the civil war, says Phillips. "I believe this is going to be a breakthrough. I believe the Lord will use this and will spur young evangelists to go all over the nation preaching the Gospel. I think more than we could ever ask or think is going to come from this Festival.

"It is a challenge," he points out, "but if no one stepped up to the challenge, this opportunity to make a beach head for the Gospel in Africa simply would not occur. We see this country as a base for reaching Africa with the Gospel."

WATCH THE FESTIVAL WEBCAST: Join us on March 29 to see and hear Franklin Graham's message, music and other highlights from the All Liberia Life Festival. Stay tuned for details.

Pray for the All Liberia Life Festival

It's coming! The All-Liberia Life Festival with Franklin Graham will begin holding meetings in the interior of Liberia, starting March 4. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has a long history with Liberia, and has posted a number of Liberia-related articles, that I'd like to share with you. Today, we look back at the visits by Billy Graham in 1960. ELWA was there, with Howard O. Jones. Here is a brief video from that visit.

Here is the first in a series of articles from the BGEA website.

February 16, 2011 - When Franklin Graham steps to the podium in Monrovia, Liberia, to proclaim the Gospel from March 25-27, he will continue the legacy begun by his father in 1960.

Billy Graham preached in 11 countries across Africa, including Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria in January of that year. Thousands turned out to hear him in Liberia, which was the first stop on the Crusade.

As we pray about and prepare for Franklin's upcoming Festival, we want you to learn about and fall in love with this amazing nation and its people.

Begin the journey by reading this excerpt from Billy Graham's autobiography.

Billy Graham's Memories of Liberia

An excerpt from Just As I Am

To Earth's Ends

Liberia, a democracy founded by freed American slaves in the early nineteenth century, was our first stop in Africa on January 19. As we landed, I wondered if it might be the last stop I would ever make. One of the plane's four motors was spurting dark smoke. With sirens wailing, airport fire engines raced toward us. The combustion, I was happy to see, subsided before we reached the terminal.

Vice President William R. Tolbert met us. A noted Baptist leader, he stopped at a small church on the fifty-mile drive into Monrovia. We had a brief prayer session there, sang a hymn, and recited the Twenty-third Psalm.

Liberia's president, William V. S. Tubman, was also a professing Christian, a Methodist; so it was not too surprising that our Liberian visit was the first ever that was government-sponsored rather than church-sponsored. We were housed in the government's official guest house, and we were received by the president in the gleaming-white executive mansion. He expressed his hope that his people's souls would be refreshed through the ministry of our meetings.

Dr. Tolbert accompanied me everywhere, even presiding at our meetings in Monrovia's Antoinette Tubman Stadium.

My associate Howard Jones had already started the Crusade when we arrived. He and his wife, Wanda, were establishing a home in Monrovia. That would enable him to preach regularly on the powerful new Sudan Interior Mission radio station ELWA in Monrovia and to conduct evangelistic crusades all over Africa. The radio station was located on a beautiful beach; fronting it were some lovely missionary homes and a school for children.

In the week preceding our arrival, Howard preached to large audiences. I preached the final two nights of the Crusade, with many thousands in attendance, resulting in 1,000 inquirers. It was an encouraging start to our African journey.

President Tubman invested me, while in the country, as a Grand Commander of the Humane Order of African Redemption, the nation's second-highest honor. The title commander was misapplied, I was sure, but the words humane and redemption meant a great deal to me, in view of my pursuit of God's calling for my life. I knew that Africa could move in any of several directions--Communist, Islamic, animistic, or Christian--and I was there to promote the last.

What did we learn from our first visit to the African continent?

For one thing, I came away with an overwhelming impression that God was at work in Africa and that, with the movement for independence sweeping across the continent, conditions were ripe for an unparalleled spiritual awakening.

At the same time, I also learned firsthand that the struggle for Africa's soul was not over. I knew that Africa could be plunged into spiritual warfare as well as social chaos, with animistic and tribal ways clashing with everything from Islam to Western consumerism.

At the same time, I left Africa with a prayer of deep gratitude for the faith and sacrifice of those who had gone before us, bringing the light of the Gospel to one of the world's largest continents. We were only following a trail others had blazed.

Thinking about those trailblazers reminded me again of the prophetic words of David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary to the heart of Africa, which I had read to our Team just before leaving New York: "Future missionaries will see conversions following every sermon. We prepare the way for them. May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with few rays to cheer except such as flow from faith in God's promise. We work for a glorious future which we are not destined to see."

Upcoming in Liberia

Carrying on the work of his father in Liberia, Franklin Graham will preach the Gospel in Monrovia March 25-27. We will bring you stories, photos and a broadcast from the event. Be sure to check back here for updates throughout March. You can also visit the All Liberia Festival website here.

And, carrying the legacy to the third generation, Cissie Graham Lynch, Franklin's daughter and Billy's granddaughter, also will visit Liberia next month. Watch for our interview with Cissie in March and be sure to visit her blog, cissiegrahamlynch.com.

In April, it will be 2 years since we became a non-profit organization. Our projects have been wide ranging, from orphans, to a merry-go-round well, a doctor for the hospital and much more. We want to thank those who have supported this ministry, and we want you to know that we are careful and measured in the way we use donations. We could not do what God has placed before us without our donors and volunteers who serve with us on these projects.

This video captures the vast needs of the country, as well as what our ministry has done to help. Seeing what God has done thus far with our ministry is humbling. It is a joy to be His hands and feet to Liberia!

Is God calling you to GO, or GIVE, or PRAY? Click on the "How You Can Help" tab above for options. We would love for you to partner with us. Let's see what God can do in and through us TOGETHER!

Christine Norman has sent us information about a fund-raising concert to be held 3:00 p.m. Sunday, March 20, 2011, at Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia. John Schindler will be head-lining, and the cost is L$50 (which is about 70 cents US.) An offering will be given. If you are in Liberia, I hope you can come!

Last week, Uncle Pete released his earthly bonds and entered into heaven, celebrating his new body, greeting Aunt Sadie and old friends, and most of all, worshiping at the feet of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! He was laid to rest yesterday, and Saturday will be a celebration of his life at his long-time church, Scofield Church in Dallas, Texas. His daughter Nancy Ackley Ruth and her daughter Jenny wrote his obituary, which we are honored to share with you.

Ernest Foster Ackley

June 6, 1927 - February 17, 2011

Born on June 6, 1927, Ernest Foster Ackley, affectionately known as "Pete", "Uncle Pete",Grandad, "Coach Ackley" and "Papay" by those who knew him best, passed peacefully at his home in Garland, TX on Thursday, February 17, 2011. Son of George Henry Ackley and Nancy Betts of Gainesville, TX, Pete entered into the presence of his Lord and Savior at the age of 83, after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson's disease.

Pete graduated from North Dallas High School in 1944, then left Texas to attend the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA) where he met the love of his life, Sadie Marie Kooistra whom he married on December 17, 1948. Upon graduating from BIOLA, Pete and his beloved Sadie sailed to Africa where they served with Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) for over 40 years. They passed through the Suez Canal and arrived in Port Said, Sudan in December, 1949. From there they traveled to Khartoum, where they studied Arabic for a year before heading to the southern part of Sudan.

Pete demonstrated his servant heart by running clinics, schools, building homes and churches with only local supplies, anything he could do to address both the physical and spiritual needs of the people. He worked at a leper colony, an orphanage, and in any capacity in which he was needed. In 1964 all expatriates were ordered to leave Sudan, so he took his family to Ethiopia, where his 3 oldest children attended boarding school. He served briefly in Aden before crossing the continent in 1965 to serve as Hospital Administrator at a large mission station, ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) in Monrovia, Liberia. In 1980, after 15 years in Liberia, he was asked to return to Sudan, to help with the displaced refugees (many from the areas he had served in the south almost two decades previously), who had fled to Khartoum, forced from their homes by the war, that was hidden from the outside world until 2000.

In 1989, after 40 years in Africa, with only brief visits to the USA, Pete and Sadie retired to Garland, Texas, where they made a home not only for their family from whom they had been separated often, but (their home continued to be) a refuge for hurting and displaced people, for Africans, missionaries, and missionary kids - who had a very special place in Pete's heart. Pete had the unique gift of making each person he encountered feel special. He also enjoyed and related well to all people, regardless of his age. His love of sports, particularly baseball, led him to form a baseball league in Liberia which resulted in many special relationships with Americans and Liberians alike. Even today, when people from the USA visit Liberia they are asked if they know Coach Ackley. A contingency of these "boys" will come from all across America to join the family in celebrating his life.

"Uncle" Pete also was known for his (backyard) flag football games on the beach of ELWA. He made sure everyone, regardless of talent, was allowed to play. Monday night volleyball was another event at which Pete was a central figure and is frequently cited as a favorite memory of those who shared that beautiful piece of land on the Atlantic Ocean in Monrovia. Pete was proceeded in death by his beloved wife, Sadie, an infant son, George Henry, his parents, his brothers, George Henry (Bill) Ackley and Karl Frank Ackley; sisters Helen Pearson and Katherine Louise Matthews.

Pete is survived by son Philip Foster Ackley and wife Marie of Jacksonville, Florida; daughter Nancy Jean Ackley Ruth of Garland, Texas; son Richard (Dick)Travis Ackley and wife Margaret Todd of Garland; son Steven James Ackley and wife Dolores Shuler of Garland; and daughter Karen Marie Kern and husband, Paul; as well as much loved and cherished grandchildren: Michelle, Scott, and Rachel Ackley; Michael and Rachel Ruth, Jenny and Nick Shoffner, and Christy and Chris Fountain; Jeff Ackley and Kristen Ackley, Elizabeth Ackley, Rebecca Ackley, Matthew Ackley, and Ben Ackley; Tyler and Sara Kern, Travis Kern and Traci Kern. He was so proud of these grandchildren and spent much of his retirement years enjoying them! Pete also had 6 great-grandchildren, whom he dearly loved: Nolan, Reagan, Gracie and Payton Ruth and Dalton and Macy Shoffner.

Anyone who spent more than 2 minutes with Pete heard about every one of these, his cherished children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He also has many others who claim him as their dad, due to his investment in their lives.

Pete joined Scofield Memorial Church as a pre-teen and was a faithful member until his death. There will be a celebration of his life held on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 10am at Scofield Church at 7730 Abrams Road in Dallas. The family will receive visitors from 5 to 7pm Friday, February 25 at the same location, following a private burial. For more information, please contact Scofield Church 214-349-6043.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests consideration of donations to the following ministry projects which were close to Pete's heart:

SD 82490: Sudan Relief Contingency

LR 95207: ELWA Hospital Renovation (Liberia)

You can do that at https://usanet.sim.org/SIMGift/projects.php or by writing to SIM USA; PO Box 7900; Charlotte, NC 28241

Scofield's Mission Fund - donations may be mailed to: Scofield Church - Missions Fund 7730 Abrams Road , Dallas, TX 75231

You can Sign a Guest Book, Send Private Condolences,Send Sympathy Card at Eastgate Funeral Home.