Recently we asked you to pray for our Vacation Bible School (VBS): Boot Camp. It was a fantastic week! The gospel was shared in a powerful way, and numerous children put their faith in Jesus. One girl said to her leader, “I knew about Jesus before, but not like this.”
There’s so much we could talk about, but I’m excited to share more about one specific way we saw the Lord at work.
As a congregation, we have been praying several Breakthrough Prayers this year. One of them is this: Father, use us to build a reproducing church among and unreached people – the Nyamwezi – by 2030.
Our kids have been praying this prayer along with us, and are excited to be part of it. In fact, their VBS offering was dedicated to the Tabora Bible College in Tanzania. (This college trains pastors who go out into surrounding communities, many of them Nyamwezi, and preach the gospel. COD missionaries Andy and Margaret Andersen are part of this work.)
How did the Lord move among our kids to meet this goal? And how were you a part of it, too? Jessica Lee, our Children’s Pastor, shared a few glimpses of this below.
Be encouraged, friends! As Jessica likes to say, “God is on the move!”
With love,
Pastor David Anderson
P.S. To find out more about this Breakthrough Prayer and missions at COD, as well as ways you can get involved, visit the MISSIONS PAGE on our website.
The Lord’s faithfulness was on full display during Vacation Bible School! He answered prayer and made our hearts rejoice . . . in so many ways!
One tangible way we saw the Lord’s hand on the week was through our goal of raising $1,500 for the Tabora Bible School with our VBS offering. The first $500 was to go to Bibles, and the remaining $1,000 was to go to support construction at the school.
Not only was the goal met, but the kids more than doubled the goal! They raised $3,364.46!
While the dollar figure raised blew us away, the most significant part of it all was how God stirred the hearts of the children . . .
A COD mom took her son to breakfast on his birthday during the week of VBS.
Being a small-town place, the people at Kara’s Korner wished him a happy birthday.
One of the regulars came by and gave the boy $3.00. He told his mom he was going to give it to the boys’ VBS offering to help them win.
(Over the course of the week, our boys and girls compete to see who can bring in the most offering.) So his mom was thinking that her son loved the competition and just wanted the boys to win.
But then another regular who sits by them came in and started chatting with them as usual. They asked him where the $3.00 came from, and the boy gave them a whole spiel about the Tabora Bible School and the Andersens.
He shared how they wanted to complete the building of the school so they could teach more people about the Bible and send out more missionaries to know Jesus.
The older gal then gave the boy money to give to the Bible school and some to keep for himself.
Mom was blown away that her son had been paying that much attention and that it really wasn’t just about the competition between the boys and girls . . . he was taking it to heart.
In the midst of the noise and commotion of the VBS offering challenge, the kids really got it!
(One COD child even insisted that his mom transfer $100 from his savings account so he could give it to the Tabora Bible School!)
Thank you, COD family, for praying for us from start to finish! I am encouraged that this next generation is being prepared to shine bright for the Lord!
Jessica Lee
Children’s Pastor
