Sponsor:

Strickland Church of Christ

13 CR 218

Glen, MS 38846

Jerry & Paula Bates

P.O. Box 172

Winona, Mississippi 38967

870.897.2373

jerry@worldevangelism.org

www.gospelgazette.com

www.worldevangelism.org

Coworkers with

Betty Choate,

Louis & Bonnie

Rushmore

& others

Involved in

these good works:

Voice of Truth International

Gospel Gazette Online

Global Harvest

Overseas Campaigns

International Radio & TV

Foreign Bible Schools

Literature Distribution

School of Evangelism

Dear Supporters:

Nigeria

The third week in June found Jerry in Nigeria. I had never been in Nigeria before so this

was a new experience. Most of you have probably heard something about the violence in Nigeria,

but that is primarily in the north, and I went to the south. There have been no problems in the area

in which I traveled. Nevertheless, Paula was glad when I left Nigeria.

The main reason for this trip was to check on the progress of the Voice of Truth. We have

mentioned before about the great increase in shipping rates, so we had one issue printed in Nigeria

for the first time in February of this year. So far it looks good. The first issue was of acceptable

quality, and the distribution worked better than we had thought it might. Other than India, we

have been sending more to this country than any other. The native preachers have several large

preacher meetings, thus the distribution within the country was not as much of an issue as we

thought it might be. Probably 90% of the contacts that had formerly been receiving the magazine

as well as many other preachers received this issue. Thus, we are very encouraged that we have

solved the issue of distributing the magazine in Nigeria. As a bonus, this costs nothing to ship.

Our coworker in Nigeria, Makinde Ebens, also directs a school of preaching, the South-

west School of Evangelism. In addition, he serves as a distribu-

tion point for World Bible School and preaches for a local congre-

gation in Ibadan Nigeria, so he is a very busy individual. This

congregation does a most unusual thing. Every third Sunday,

instead of having Bible class, everyone goes out evangelizing for

about 1.5 hours. After preaching to this congregation on Sunday

morning, I taught a week in the school, which made the trip much

more rewarding and effective. I taught the book of Romans to 32

preacher students, the staff and several visitors who came in for

the special class, which amounted to a total class of over forty

students. I was able to teach in

English, and everyone seemed

to enjoy our discussion.

Ghana, Africa

After teaching in Nige-

ria for a week, I traveled to Ac-

cra, Ghana. A new Bible

school, the Southern Institute

of Biblical Studies, had begun

just outside the main city, which is directed by Seth Larbi. He also directs a literature distribution

center, and he is scheduled to receive the Voice of Truth, which is being sent to him from India.

We thought that magazine would be there by the time I arrived, but it took so long for the books to

be shipped that they were still in transit. Nevertheless, it was good to meet Seth and talk about the

distribution.

Many preachers come to him to pick up material from World Bible School and Mission

Printing, so he can distribute much material without any shipping costs. Some will have to be

shipped in bulk to the northern part of the

country, probably to the Bear Valley

School, and it can distribute the books in

that area. People in these countries love

to receive these books.

On Sunday, I preached to the

congregation with which Seth works.

This seemed to be a very thriving congre-

gation with big plans. About 100 souls

gathered for worship that morning, and

the singing was beautiful. This group is

May—June 2014

Notice the wooden benches. How would you like to sit

on those for 6-7 hours every day?

Southern Institute of Biblical Studies

Southwest

School of

Evangelism

also very evangelistic having started about five other churches in the

area and actually could have been bigger because some of their mem-

bers are continually leaving to plant other congregations, which of

course is a good thing. On Wednesday night I visited one of those

church plants, which has been in existence about six years, and that

congregation now has about 100 on Sunday.

I taught a week in the school, called the Southern Institute

of Biblical Studies. It has only been operating a few months.

Twelve students are currently enrolled with one woman auditing the

classes. I taught Leadership to this group, and the students seemed to

really enjoy studying this badly needed subject. I was the first for-

eigner to teach in this new school.

Four Saturdays in Winona

It simply never happens that we are actually home four Sat-

urdays in a row. For instance, as we returned from our spring trip at

the first of May, we had four weeks when all or most of the week

was spent out of town. Even we get tired sometimes. But some of

this did help to recharge our batteries spiritually since we had several

days at the India Missions Workshop, and then there was also the

Maywood Missionary Retreat.

On Saturday, June 7th, we started to pack for Jerry’s trip to

Nigeria and Ghana. This day also found us finishing an outside paint-

ing project that had taken a “few hours” to complete. Needless to say

Paula could not let Jerry leave the country with a half painted build-

ing!

The next day Jerry began a Gospel meeting going through

Wednesday with the Oak Ridge Church about 35 miles east of Wi-

nona. The meeting was good and had several people from surround-

ing congregations to attend. We were very impressed by the dedica-

tion of the members, even though there was a funeral for a family

member on Monday. Jerry was well prepared, and on Monday night

as he began his power point lesson with the electric projector, the

lights went out and stayed out for most of his lesson, but he never

stopped preaching. In addition to the meeting, there were the usual

shipments of books, office work and pulling together all the neces-

sary lessons and paperwork that Jerry would need for his departure

on Friday.

As I was traveling back home after dropping Jerry at the

airport, I started thinking of all the “projects” that could be accom-

plished over the next three Saturdays. Since we are gone so much

even when we are in the U. S., that list was quite long. When I stay

Street scenes of Ghana and Nigeria

behind while Jerry travels, I’m always anxious until word comes that he

is on the ground – so to make the time go faster I usually clean. At 7 pm

Saturday, the message came through on my phone that he had arrived

safely. On this particular trip I was more concerned because of all the

bad stories that one hears about Nigeria, but both of us try to remember

that bad things happen everywhere and of course we try to be careful

anywhere we go, but it is hard to disguise the fact that you’re a foreigner.

Between Saturdays

I continued to work at the World Evangelism office while Jerry

was gone. Most of this time Louis and Bonnie Rushmore were making

church visits, so that left Betty Choate and me to carry on. This meant

that I got more exercise because of going from my office upstairs to the

packing area downstairs, then to the post office, then up more steps. Yes,

I missed Jerry Bates especially when taking those extra steps. As he had

limited access to the internet, I tried to handle all the correspondence by

email, but there was plenty for him to still do when he got home. In the

meantime proofing started on the Global Harvest, some of which was

done while riding in the car, but not by the driver! Volume # 80 of the

Voice of Truth International arrived while Jerry was out.

Central Mississippi Missions Week

The third Saturday, preparations were made for the Central Mis-

sissippi Missions. Many teenagers from five congregations gathered in

Winona for the week to paint houses and teach VBS. This was spon-

sored by the Winona Church of Christ. We help with lodging and food.

Some stayed at the World Evangelism building – about 8 from Johnson

Grove in Brookhaven, MS, so cleaning had to be done there before their

arrival. As I cleaned, I noticed the air conditioning was not cooling.

Thankfully, Harold

Floyd (a member at

Winona who owns a

heating and cooling

business) came that

day to our rescue. On

arriving home I began

to suspect more A/C

problems (where is

Jerry when I need

him) but Saturday

morning Harold again

performed his magic.

It is amazing how we accept no A/C at many places overseas but become

distressed when it goes out here at home! Now I was ready for my six

girls from Starkville that kept me company during the mission week.

Betty also kept a group from McMinnville, TN at her home.

The fourth Saturday finally arrived. I was very excited for this

day to come, since Jerry would arrive in Memphis at 1:30 pm. Since we

were due to visit with the Forest View and Ellendale congregations on

Sunday, we spent the night in Memphis at a hotel on Saturday night.

This meant that packing and loading was my responsibility. As you may

have expected, some of those “special projects” did not get done, but they

can wait. At the rate we are going it may be 2015 before some of them

are tackled.

Future plans

July will be especially busy since we will be visiting many

churches. We also have several shipments of books to be packed and

sent to various overseas countries. In addition we are planning to make a

trip to Mission Printing in Dallas, TX. They are sending a container to

Nigeria in August, and we have many song books, old VBS materials and

other things that we have collected which can be put to great use by this

predominately English speaking country. On July 30th we leave again on

our fall trip. This trip begins with two weeks in Arusha, Tanzania in the

southern part of Africa. This is the same place that Jerry traveled last

Starkville teenagers at our house

during work camp.

year by himself, but this time both of us are making the journey.

Jerry

Jerry & Paula Bates World Evangelism P.O. Box 72 Winona, MS 38967

Change Service Requested

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Place Label Here

“And that repentance and remission of sins

should be preached in His name to all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:47).

Yes, we want to help Jerry & Paula save souls as they labor with World Evangelism.

Enclosed is my gift of $___________ to help spread the gospel far and near.

Check if you have any specific work to which you prefer the money be applied:

Bibles: General Fund:

Please apply this in memory of _________________________________________________________

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Address ___________________________________________________________________________

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Mail to: Strickland Church of Christ

13 CR 218, Glen, MS 38846

Exciting News

May 4th was the first day for telecasting from the city of

Churachanpur in the state of Manipur in India. This will encompass

four 1-hour programs per week for a cost of only $140/month. Thang

Lien who has been translating the Voice of Truth and other basic

study books is the speaker. Interestingly, this was not his idea. Just

in conversation on our spring trip, we asked him what was the situa-

tion with Christian TV broadcasting in his area. He was not very

encouraging because it seemed that other religious groups in the area

had a monopoly on the programs. Yet, he did some checking and

was able to arrange broadcast times. These TV broadcasts are going

out to a very limited area, basically just close to his city; nevertheless,

it has the potential of reaching over 250,000 viewers! Since they

have only a few channels available to them in their area, the likeli-

hood of them tuning in is much greater than it might be even in other

areas of India. Thang Lien is already reporting that they are having

several contacts, and since they are local, it will be much easier to

follow up on these people searching for the truth. Since the first time

we met them, Thang Lien and his wife have impressed us. They have

the hearts of servants. We are so happy that through World Evangel-

ism we can help them spread the true Gospel to the good people in

their part of India, and you are helping when you help us.

Paula with Thang Lien and his wife, Joy Lie

year. This year Jerry will once again be teaching in the school,

and Paula will be kept busy working with the local missionary’s

wife, Stephanie Stafford. From there, we journey to Nepal,

where Jerry will spend a week teaching at the Bear Valley

school in Kathmandu and, Paula will again be working with the

ladies at several locations. Next, we will spend about three

weeks at various locations in India, finally arriving back in the

states on September 10th.

As always, we continue to thank you for your interest

and support of our work.

Jerry & Paula Bates