UPDATE - Etienne & Adjatougbe Degbey, National Church Planter, Togo 7/15/10

We thank God for the marvelous work that he is doing in my life and in that of the church. Most of the time, Lord surprises me with the souls that he adds to the church. By the grace of God, these new believers grow in the knowledge of God. Now, 10 persons are the baptism class and are waiting to be baptized. Visits and door-to-door evangelism are being done to bring lost souls to Jesus Christ.

From 2008 to 2009, we were bothered with floods in the garden of our main church. This summer, it is even worse. Water got inside the shelter and the classrooms for two Sunday school classes for teenagers and children. Now the whole building seems to decline. These are the difficult situations that we are getting through; but by faith we continue worshiping God. I thank God because although this situation is beyond our control, by the grace of God, He is in control. The Bible says in Romans 8:28 that we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to this purpose. Because of this flooding situation, God has given a vision to create prayer groups in houses, which will serve also as base points for other ministries. We have five prayer groups and last Thursday, I had in my house 18 persons coming from my quarter for prayer. The same thing is happening in other groups in other quarters. This has been an encouragement for all of us, and especially for those who have difficulties attending the evening prayer meetings in the main church. My aim is that through these prayer groups, we will lead other souls to Jesus. May the name of the Lord be glorified because he is working among us. For the matter of the church building, we are inviting God's people to help us in a master project of faith that they have undertaken. We believe that the Lord will provide for this need of about $30,000 US to build a permanent sanctuary for worship.

I would like to share with you our vacation programs:

• Because of the flood, we postponed VBS to September. The number of children during the preceding VBS was about 350 and some of them gave their lives to Jesus. We are praying God to help us with $20 US per child; we appreciate any help you can give.
• From August 13-16, the youth will have an outing to the mountains (200 km from our main church). They will have a fellowship with one of our other churches there and share the Gospel during their retreat.
• From August 26-29, we will have an open-air evangelism campaign. It will take place in the second new church of Agodekè, where every evening we preach the Gospel to this community. For this, we are inviting you to join us in prayer. One of our needs is to have a generator for the film projection and other activities which need electricity. It costs about $500 US.

Prayer requests:

• Wisdom to lead the church.
• Good functioning of the house prayer groups.
• Success for the vacation activities.
• Means to find solutions for the flooding.

Needs:

• Monthly support for my family.
• $500 us for the generator.
• Master project for permanent church building: $30,000 US.
• Car for the ministry.