Africa Development Fund Committee

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, you were just telling me about a Zoom call that you got off just a minute ago with the Africa Development Fund committee. Can you tell us about that committee and what is the Africa Development Fund committee?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I'd love to tell you about it. I just concluded that Zoom meeting or actually dropped out of it. They were still meeting. The Africa Development Fund committee is a committee that is tasked to manage and disperse funds from the Africa Development Fund. We created the Africa Development Fund that's been approved by our Executive Committee for donors to give money to, to help us expand and to serve our churches in Africa. And it is a very exciting time for the fund to be established given all that's happening in Africa right now.

So let me tell you who's on the committee. First of all, Dave Taylor from Sydney, Australia is leading the committee in many ways, Michael Granger from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Josh Pannell is joining him in these meetings (although Michael is the committee member), and Dyonah Thomas in Monrovia Liberia; those three men are voting members. And then Tommy Hill, our Director of Finance and Operations is a non-voting member. He's there to keep us out of trouble and to make sure that we do things right financially.

So this is the first meeting of that committee, where I drew these men together. And we just talked about the fund itself. The fund has fund categories so that the people giving to this fund, or the churches giving to this fund, or the regions giving to this fund have an idea of how the money will be spent in general categories. So those categories are established and support pastors colleges in Africa. Another category is that of church planting. Another category is starting primary and secondary schools, which in some regions of Africa is very important to have a gospel presence in the community. And that can lead to church planting. We have one called, a fund category for resource development. There are over 1500 languages spoken in Africa. And so we're trying to find, you know, good resources that we can translate into some of the most spoken languages to serve pastors and churches on that continent. And then there's a sort of an operational category that that the fund needs to have some admin help and operational support. So those are the categories which are really very, very exciting and very timely given the fact that we have a pastors college in Ndola Zambia; we have one in Monrovia, Liberia, and Michael Granger is getting ready to launch the Ethiopia pastors college in September in Ethiopia.

Benjamin Kreps:

That is exciting and what a fine collection of men are on that committee. It's wonderful to hear about how God is equipping us and equipping us globally to have more of an impact for the sake of the gospel. So what kinds of things came out of that first Zoom call? What kind of ideas are you guys talking about when it comes to using this money?

Mark Prater:

We kicked around a number of really good ideas and financial needs, present. I left the meeting before decisions were made because I want the committee to function as we designed it to function. So I'll be hearing about their decision, hopefully maybe later today or tomorrow, from Dave Taylor.

So one of the first needs we talked about is money needed to establish the Ethiopia pastors college. Again, the first class will happen in September. They have at least 11 students and possibly a few more that are going to be full-time students for one year, obviously in Addis, right there. And it's connected to Trinity Fellowship, the church that Michael Granger has planted and led, so the same model that we're using here in the United States. And they've got some really good theologians lined up as well, and some Sovereign Grace pastors to come in and teach over that year. It's really very, very exciting. One of the developments that's happened is that they've been able to, through the work of Josh Pannell, build a relationship, and formalize a relationship with Union School of Theology, which is in Wales. And the students who graduate from the Ethiopian pastors college will be able to take some of those credits and earn a certificate of completion of a degree. It's not a full degree, but a certificate from an accredited school. And then the other option, they can also pursue a masters in theology through Union and take some of the credits from the PC and apply it. They’ll have to do more class and coursework and write a paper, but that's an exciting development that's happening in Ethiopia.

And then we talked about needs in Liberia. What Dyonah has done, is he established a pastors college years ago. Currently I think there's a little over 50 men in this current PC class, but he has needed to build a building. And I think that's going to be the same need in Addis Ababa. And before Wilbroad's passing, he did the same thing in Ndola, Zambia to build a building so that you don't have to run around and rent facilities for a full year PC class. And so that building has been built in Monrovia and Dyonah needs some financial help to make some improvements on that building. He's also starting a primary school with the intent of reaching the lost with the gospel. Just another idea that we kicked around.

And then we spent a little bit of time just dreaming-- what it would be like in maybe the near future to have an Africa pastors and wives conference. And to hold that somewhere on the continent would just be really thrilling and exciting, to see pastors and their wives travel throughout the continent of Africa to a strategic city where they could be cared for and taught some of the teaching happening from indigenous African pastors. So those are just some of the things we talked about in terms of immediate need and dreaming about that future.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. It is encouraging to hear about God's favor on the men laboring in Africa. And it's wonderful to consider how so many of us in our regions have given for instance, to the work in Liberia and elsewhere, and to see the fruit of that giving is wonderful to hear. So thank you.

Mark Prater:

lf I can mention one other thing before we go: anybody listening to this that would like to give to the Africa Development Fund, you could just make a donation to Sovereign Grace Churches and note Africa Development Fund. One of our churches could do that or if a region wants to do that. That would be a way to invest into what God is doing through Sovereign Grace in Africa.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Well, thank you Mark for the update. Thank you everyone for watching, and we'll see you here soon. Lord willing, bye for now.