Togo Bible Institute

We’ve written some prayer letters since the last time we posted on here, but I’d like to fill you in on a few details that didn’t make it into the 1-page letters.

Gerhart Family with the BI students

In July, we said goodbye to our friends and coworkers, the Gerharts. Jim was both our team leader and the workhorse for a lot of the administrative details that are necessary for a team of missionaries to minister effectively. No one person was in a position to take over all of Jim’s responsibilities, so they were broken up and shared among several of us. As a result, I was put in charge of our Leadership Training Team and Bible Institute for at least the time being.

It was always my intention to become more involved at the Bible Institute over time, but I needed to devote our first year in Togo to the Christian school ministry. Now that our first year is complete, I was planning to spend more time teaching and working at the BI under Jim’s leadership. But as we all know, our plans are often not the Lord’s plans.

Jim Gerhart's graduation address

The month of July was quite busy as we started out by holding a team meeting to decide how to share the new leadership responsibilities. Then I spent the rest of the month by revising and submitting my doctoral dissertation proposal, recovering from a nasty illness (I’ll spare you those details), holding a 2-week teacher conference, and learning how to run the Bible Institute. It has been an exhausting, but very exciting time for us.

BI graduation 2014

The Bible Institute is a fantastic ministry that is sorely needed in Togo. Right now, the greatest obstacle to planting churches in Togo is a lack of trained leaders. We currently have 6 students entering the 2^nd year of our 3-year training program, and we are recruiting more students for our campuses in Kpalimé and Kara. Meanwhile, we are adding a new BI training facility on our large piece of property in Lomé. The Bible faculty is composed of several Togolese pastors and a few missionaries.

Please pray for our students and professors, as well as for our needed facilities and French training materials.

 Visit the Togo Bible Institute web page