Kep & Debbie March 2024 Prayer Requests

The biggest prayer request for March is for me March 1-15 in Mali, West Africa, teaching Romans to church planting students with an Egyptian-based ministry. There are 40 students gathered for 7 months who came out of a Muslim background, later came to faith in Christ, and now are committed to make Christ known in those same communities they came out of, and to and plant churches among their own people.

I value your prayers as I teach Romans there, that each one will understand clearly the gospel and experience gospel transformation, to become effective as they go out to plant churches, and that they will make a commitment to become serious students of the Bible the rest of their lives!

-Kep

Kep & Debbie February 2024 Update

Download Kep & Debbie's February 2024 Update.

Greetings from Cleveland.

We leave in 2 days for 6 weeks in South America and West Africa. This update gives that itinerary, as well as a special prayer request for my 93 year old mother, who fell last night breaking a vertebra and now awaits surgery.

We do value your prayers,

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie December 2023 Trip Report

Thank you for praying for our time in Liberia. I got back to Cleveland on Saturday night -- encouraged seeing the way God impacted so many pastors and church leaders during the time we were there.

Attached are pdf photos.

We thank God for your partnership in the gospel with us,

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie December 2023 Update

Attached is our December 2023 Update.

I'll be leaving on Monday for two weeks in Liberia with our ESI Africa team. We'll be taking 210 Liberian pastors through our ESI Facilitator Training. We would appreciate your prayers for that time together. Our December Update gives details about what you can be praying for, and what our ESI team has been doing in Brazil, Sierra Leone, and Bolivia over the past month.

Thank you for praying!

Kep and Debbie James

Kep & Debbie November 2023 Update

Thank you for praying for us -- this afternoon we finish up our four days of Latin America ESI Leadership Meetings in Santa Cruz Bolivia, and then head up to La Paz. The meetings here have been really important. It has been tremendously encouraging hearing how God is working across this region, and to pray together. We have heard story after story of pastors and churches getting back on track with Jesus and the gospel as God's people make the commitment to study God's Word.

One important thing that came out of the meetings is our need always to keep our quality strong as we grow outward into new countries. This is especially true as we expand through Africa. You can pray with us as we continue to concentrate on strengthening ESI leadership in African countries we currently have groups in. This also means that we will plan to hold our expansion into new new countries to just one or two more for part of 2024.

Thank you for praying for the growth of the gospel in the lives of pastors and church leaders in the 29 countries where ESI currently works.

Thank you,

Kep

Kep & Debbie November 2023 Prayer Requests

* Pray for the ILC Church that Kep and Debbie planted in Bolivia, that its leadership will continue honoring Christ by staying true to His Scriptures.

* Pray for the 2,500 ESI participants in 220 groups meeting in 29 countries, with 2900 total graduates since beginning in 2002. Pray that these men and women will grow in their love for God as they study His Scriptures, that they will experience gospel transformation in their lives, relationships and local churches.

* Please pray for Kep and Debbie in La Paz November 1-8 working with the ESI ministry in Bolivia.

* Pray for Kep and Paulo leading 2 ESI Facilitator Training Retreats in Monrovia and Harper, Liberia the last week of November and the first week of December.

* Pray for the ESI groups starting in Africa, that the Lord will use the study of Romans to move each of these men and women toward Jesus and to experience real gospel transformation in their lives.

Kep & Debbie October 2023 Prayer Requests

We have spent the past eight weeks helping African pastors in five countries in their study of the Bible. Many told us that this is the first time they have ever dug into Scripture to do a study for themselves. Many expressed how helpful and encouraging this has been for their personal lives, their marriages and their ministries.

Please pray with us in the month of October as they organize Bible study groups in their cities for the propose of studying the Bible together, that they will experience real gospel transformation in their lives. 

Kep & Debbie Africa Trip Report Aug-Sept 2023

Download a printable copy of Kep & Debbie James' Africa Trip Report Aug-Sept 2023.

We're back in Cleveland after two wonderful months of ministry in five African countries. Attached is a brief report of what we did. Your prayers are so important to us.

Thankful to God for you,

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie Africa Mid-trip Update

A quick mid-trip update.

Thank you for your prayers. We spent last week with 150 Rwandan pastors taking them through Romans 1-3. There was a genuine sense of wanting to get back to the gospel, and a commitment among many to begin studying the Bible -- which many admitted they had never done.

This week we are working with 22 church planting students in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. This is a serious group of young people finishing up seven months of training, who are about to go out in small teams to share Christ and plant churches in Muslim communities. We value your prayer for the next two weeks as we work with them. Pray that they will each make a commitment to become life-long students of the Bible, to understand it (to see Jesus and the gospel as the central message), to live it (to experience gospel transformation daily in their lives), so they can teach and preach it (planting churches that look like what Jesus instructed!).

You are here with us through your prayers!

Kep and Debbie

Kep & Debbie Africa Ministry Update

Last week Debbie and I were with 80 students at a church planting ministry in Cairo, taking them through 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 -- a wonderful time looking at our need to rely on God's resource (the Scripture) to stay true to His plan for the church (2 Timothy 1:13-14). Many said how much the time together helped and encouraged them.

The week before that in Accra, Ghana with 80 pastors leading a 4-day ESI training retreat. Many of them finished, deciding to start ESI in their areas in the next few weeks.

This week we were in Zambia visiting the 15 groups that started 2 months ago. Paulo and Vania went with Ruth to visit the groups in Kasempa. Debbie and I went with Payne Mano to visit the groups in Ndola and Chingola. We are very encouraged at the depth of insight in their study of Romans, overall -- and their enthusiasm to continue. Many spoke of how God is transforming important areas of their life as they study the Bible and remain focused on Jesus and His gospel.

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