January 21, 2007
Desert greetings from Allat!
We are on our last full day here in Allat, so here is a short prayer update!
As I said yesterday, the Sonlife seminars on Friday and Saturday went extremely well and were very well received. It has been amazing to discover how much God has been using this team and the one that is now in Bamenda to accomplish this work.
Please continue to pray:
- that the seed that was planted in the training would continue to grow in these youth workers and the pastors that attended
- thank God that they all arrived safely home after up to 8 hours of travel yesterday
- thank God for how He used us in 3 different churches here in the Allat area this morning; my personal experience in Taram was such a blessing. The people were so loving in that little hut of a church. And Godwill Ncham and I were able to talk with the young people of the church after the service and challenge them on their role in the church today, not only tomorrow.
- Please pray for the other team as they have finished their seminar in Bamenda where over 50 youth workers attended. For us here, we ended up having 35 here in Allat; considering that we are in the bush, it was an excellent turn-out.
- Pray for our 8-9 hour car ride on hot, dry, dusty dirt roads all the way back to Bamenda tomorrow.
- Pray for the important meetings we will have with the Evangelism Director on Tuesday
- Thank God for a very good conversation regarding the future of what this partnership between NAB youth workers and CBC youth workers will look like.
Again, thank you for your prayers. God has been doing incredible things here. And, to top it off, we are really enjoying Allat! It’s a great desert-like climate in a great setting here at the mission station and the Hohns have been great to be with as well.
In His Grip,
Randy Schmor
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Hello again from Allat, Cameroon!
We've successfully completed our 2 days of training here in this somewhat remote part of Cameroon (close to the Nigeria border and about half-way through the country). It was a blessed and a great time as we had 35 persons in attendance that came from as far away as 9 hours. We heard some excellent response from this group to the teaching and were very encouraged.
Another highlight was the number of pastors that were in attendance as well, showing their support of youth ministry by coming.
Thanks so much for your prayers again. Please pray for our long drive of 8 hours on Monday and the 3 churches that we will be preaching in tomorrow morning.
It's also been a blessing to spend time with Cal and Susie Hohn and their 2 daughters who are here in Allat. They've been great and even now we're enjoying a game of yahtzee!
This has been a tremendous time here in a beautiful high desert type of setting; it was an unexpected surprise to be in such a nice place after the long day of travel on Thursday.....and again on Monday!
Your prayers have definitely been heard and we've seen God at work in meaningful ways. More to come.....
In His Grip,
Randy Schmor
We've successfully completed our 2 days of training here in this somewhat remote part of Cameroon (close to the Nigeria border and about half-way through the country). It was a blessed and a great time as we had 35 persons in attendance that came from as far away as 9 hours. We heard some excellent response from this group to the teaching and were very encouraged.
Another highlight was the number of pastors that were in attendance as well, showing their support of youth ministry by coming.
Thanks so much for your prayers again. Please pray for our long drive of 8 hours on Monday and the 3 churches that we will be preaching in tomorrow morning.
It's also been a blessing to spend time with Cal and Susie Hohn and their 2 daughters who are here in Allat. They've been great and even now we're enjoying a game of yahtzee!
This has been a tremendous time here in a beautiful high desert type of setting; it was an unexpected surprise to be in such a nice place after the long day of travel on Thursday.....and again on Monday!
Your prayers have definitely been heard and we've seen God at work in meaningful ways. More to come.....
In His Grip,
Randy Schmor
Thursday, January 18, 2007
January 17, 2007
Hello from Kumbo, Cameroon,
I apologize that it has been a few days since my last entry, but internet here is not quite as reliable and not quite as available either! We’ve had some incredible days since our seminar days in Yaounde and Kumba (the other half of the team) last weekend. We attended church in Yaounde and had the chance to see the Rainforest Academy Missionary School and made our way to Bamenda on Monday after a long bus ride.
The other half of the team coming to Bamenda from Kumba should have had a shorter trip but ended up coming 3 hours after us because of a truck that was over-turned in the road. But God kept us all safe and continues to.
Our team has spent some incredible days together as well as we were able to see the Mbingo Baptist Hospital on Tuesday and “New Hope Village”. We could not have ever been prepared for going there as we spent time with victims of leprosy, shared Jesus’ love with them and prayed for them. God truly broke our hearts as we prayed for these dear people. We asked if it would be ok if we laid our hands on them as we prayed and when we came over to do that, they all raised there deformed and fingerless stumps up to us for us to hold. None of us could hold back the tears as we prayed for their simple requests – for a light in their village (there’s still no electricity) and that when they died, it would not be in a lot of pain. It was an incredibly humbling experience as I felt that I was truly looking into the face of Jesus and holding His hands as I held what was left of their hands….
God has continued to make ways for us here as well in regards to our main purpose in encouraging the youth ministries of churches. I had the opportunity to be interviewed on the radio in Bamenda to an audience of about 2 million potential listeners about our purpose here as well as discussing the importance of discipleship, especially among young people.
And today, we traveled to the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary in Ndu (about 3-4 hours) to encourage a young missionary family there and have a unique opportunity to meet with the Seminary leaders to discuss how the Seminary could be involved in more strategic ways of equipping pastors in the area of youth ministry. It was an incredible meeting and our host, Godwill Ncham, was ecstatic that such an opportunity presented itself on that level.
And so, we thank you again for you continued prayers for our health and safety, but also for how God is putting together incredible opportunities for us to raise the profile of youth ministry among Cameroonian church leaders. It’s been incredible to say the least!
I’d also ask you to continue to pray for these requests…..
- Our team splits up again tomorrow. Half will go back to Bamenda to do the Sonlife Seminar there this weekend and the others will travel 5-6 hours further inland to Allat to teach a seminar there. Please pray for us as we teach.
- News came from home today for me that our dog Kodi will need to be put to sleep today…this is quite hard on all of us as I am gone from home, but I’d ask that you especially pray for our son Kameron as Kodi has always been there. Please pray…
- Shelly’s grandma, Lorna Toll. There isn’t anything new to report at this time but please continue to pray for her as she is quite frail.
- A member of our team, John Marshall (Bethlehem, PA), had a scary fall off of a ledge at the CBC compound on Monday night as the power went off and he didn’t see a ledge. He fell 5-6 feet, but amazingly, thankfully, he’s OK.
- Please pray for all the guys on our team – Paul, Mark, Chris, John and Jud as we are away from wives, children and families.
God bless you all for your faithfulness in praying for us here in Cameroon. This would not be going as it is if it weren’t for your prayers. Thank you.
In His Grip,
Randy
Hello from Kumbo, Cameroon,
I apologize that it has been a few days since my last entry, but internet here is not quite as reliable and not quite as available either! We’ve had some incredible days since our seminar days in Yaounde and Kumba (the other half of the team) last weekend. We attended church in Yaounde and had the chance to see the Rainforest Academy Missionary School and made our way to Bamenda on Monday after a long bus ride.
The other half of the team coming to Bamenda from Kumba should have had a shorter trip but ended up coming 3 hours after us because of a truck that was over-turned in the road. But God kept us all safe and continues to.
Our team has spent some incredible days together as well as we were able to see the Mbingo Baptist Hospital on Tuesday and “New Hope Village”. We could not have ever been prepared for going there as we spent time with victims of leprosy, shared Jesus’ love with them and prayed for them. God truly broke our hearts as we prayed for these dear people. We asked if it would be ok if we laid our hands on them as we prayed and when we came over to do that, they all raised there deformed and fingerless stumps up to us for us to hold. None of us could hold back the tears as we prayed for their simple requests – for a light in their village (there’s still no electricity) and that when they died, it would not be in a lot of pain. It was an incredibly humbling experience as I felt that I was truly looking into the face of Jesus and holding His hands as I held what was left of their hands….
God has continued to make ways for us here as well in regards to our main purpose in encouraging the youth ministries of churches. I had the opportunity to be interviewed on the radio in Bamenda to an audience of about 2 million potential listeners about our purpose here as well as discussing the importance of discipleship, especially among young people.
And today, we traveled to the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary in Ndu (about 3-4 hours) to encourage a young missionary family there and have a unique opportunity to meet with the Seminary leaders to discuss how the Seminary could be involved in more strategic ways of equipping pastors in the area of youth ministry. It was an incredible meeting and our host, Godwill Ncham, was ecstatic that such an opportunity presented itself on that level.
And so, we thank you again for you continued prayers for our health and safety, but also for how God is putting together incredible opportunities for us to raise the profile of youth ministry among Cameroonian church leaders. It’s been incredible to say the least!
I’d also ask you to continue to pray for these requests…..
- Our team splits up again tomorrow. Half will go back to Bamenda to do the Sonlife Seminar there this weekend and the others will travel 5-6 hours further inland to Allat to teach a seminar there. Please pray for us as we teach.
- News came from home today for me that our dog Kodi will need to be put to sleep today…this is quite hard on all of us as I am gone from home, but I’d ask that you especially pray for our son Kameron as Kodi has always been there. Please pray…
- Shelly’s grandma, Lorna Toll. There isn’t anything new to report at this time but please continue to pray for her as she is quite frail.
- A member of our team, John Marshall (Bethlehem, PA), had a scary fall off of a ledge at the CBC compound on Monday night as the power went off and he didn’t see a ledge. He fell 5-6 feet, but amazingly, thankfully, he’s OK.
- Please pray for all the guys on our team – Paul, Mark, Chris, John and Jud as we are away from wives, children and families.
God bless you all for your faithfulness in praying for us here in Cameroon. This would not be going as it is if it weren’t for your prayers. Thank you.
In His Grip,
Randy
January 18, 2007
Greetings from Allat, Cameroon (about 600 km inland on the Nigerian border),
Thank you for your prayers for us today! Here’s some of what happened –
Our team parted ways this morning as the other half headed back to Bamenda for the weekend and we headed 6 hours further inland to Allat where we all arrived safely. We traveled over quite rough and difficult roads, mostly dirt, over most of today. Our car ended up getting a flat but it happened right as we were entering a village where we were able to get it fixed. We were also able to meet a regional pastor in that town and ate lunch at his home before we got on the road again; so, it was really a blessing that the flat happened right in that village.
Shortly after we left that village, we came to another where there was a routine check that either Gendarm military police do or customs officials. But, we ran into a customs official that decided for whatever reason to hassle us about my 15 year old beat up guitar. He wanted to see a receipt for it of all things! Our host pastor, Godwill Ncham, really handled the situation well and basically called the man’s bluff (he was obviously looking for a bribe). He argued with him about this for about 10 minutes and then the customs guy said he was going to lock us up and he got into our car next to Godwill! It was obviously a ploy when he sat there for about 10 seconds and then got out and told us to go. I’m telling you, your prayers matter! J And we thank God for Godwill’s discernment in handling the situation as well.
After the long ride and these events, and going up and down mountains and across hot, dusty plateaus, we made it to Allat and are now enjoying being at the mission station here and the hospitality of Cal and Susie Hohn and their daughters Ysabelle and Elianna. Susie made a great meal for us here tonight and we’re relaxing before the beginning of our final round of Sonlife seminars tomorrow and Saturday. Allat is kind of like northern Arizona, high elevation, dry and dusty, but very comfortable and incredibly clear skies at night where the stars are more numerous than you’ve ever seen…..
Please continue to pray for us, especially tomorrow as Chris, John and I teach. Pray that our words would be clear and that we would communicate well. We’ve found that people have traveled from a number of hours away to be here in Allat and so we’re continuing to see God’s purpose for us here unfolding.
I’d also ask you to pray for the other half of the team as well in Bamenda as they begin their seminars there tomorrow as well. The Bamenda team this weekend is Paul, Mark and Jud.
Thank you Gateway Teams prayer partners for your continued faithfulness. It truly does make a difference. Blessings!
In His Grip,Randy Schmor
Greetings from Allat, Cameroon (about 600 km inland on the Nigerian border),
Thank you for your prayers for us today! Here’s some of what happened –
Our team parted ways this morning as the other half headed back to Bamenda for the weekend and we headed 6 hours further inland to Allat where we all arrived safely. We traveled over quite rough and difficult roads, mostly dirt, over most of today. Our car ended up getting a flat but it happened right as we were entering a village where we were able to get it fixed. We were also able to meet a regional pastor in that town and ate lunch at his home before we got on the road again; so, it was really a blessing that the flat happened right in that village.
Shortly after we left that village, we came to another where there was a routine check that either Gendarm military police do or customs officials. But, we ran into a customs official that decided for whatever reason to hassle us about my 15 year old beat up guitar. He wanted to see a receipt for it of all things! Our host pastor, Godwill Ncham, really handled the situation well and basically called the man’s bluff (he was obviously looking for a bribe). He argued with him about this for about 10 minutes and then the customs guy said he was going to lock us up and he got into our car next to Godwill! It was obviously a ploy when he sat there for about 10 seconds and then got out and told us to go. I’m telling you, your prayers matter! J And we thank God for Godwill’s discernment in handling the situation as well.
After the long ride and these events, and going up and down mountains and across hot, dusty plateaus, we made it to Allat and are now enjoying being at the mission station here and the hospitality of Cal and Susie Hohn and their daughters Ysabelle and Elianna. Susie made a great meal for us here tonight and we’re relaxing before the beginning of our final round of Sonlife seminars tomorrow and Saturday. Allat is kind of like northern Arizona, high elevation, dry and dusty, but very comfortable and incredibly clear skies at night where the stars are more numerous than you’ve ever seen…..
Please continue to pray for us, especially tomorrow as Chris, John and I teach. Pray that our words would be clear and that we would communicate well. We’ve found that people have traveled from a number of hours away to be here in Allat and so we’re continuing to see God’s purpose for us here unfolding.
I’d also ask you to pray for the other half of the team as well in Bamenda as they begin their seminars there tomorrow as well. The Bamenda team this weekend is Paul, Mark and Jud.
Thank you Gateway Teams prayer partners for your continued faithfulness. It truly does make a difference. Blessings!
In His Grip,Randy Schmor
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Hello again from
Today we had the opportunity to share the Sonlife Africa Strategy material with some youth workers here in
We had about 20 youth workers all together and had the opportunity to share disciple-making principles with them. Some of you are probably familiar with the concepts of win, build, equip and multiply that Sonlife has coined, but for most of these youth workers, this was a new way to look at the life of Christ and His methodology for disciple-making and how it applies to youth ministry.
We (Jud Stade, Mark Jaspers and I) were amazed at how God used us here in this way. We have to confess that even last night as we prayed and went over the material amongst the 3 of us, we felt inadequate to be the teachers of these people and wondered to some extent what God was thinking in bringing us here. (I think we all wonder that from time to time!) But, I Corinthians 2:1-5 was laid on our hearts –
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
Great words!
And so we headed into the seminar with confidence that if we spoke only what God laid on our hearts; that would be enough.
We ended up sharing our hearts and love for youth, our oneness with these youth workers who have dedicated their time to work with youth, and the Sonlife material as well. And it was all very well received.
Much thanks for this goes to your faithful prayers that God would pave the way for our ministry here in Cameroon; so please continue to pray for us as we begin to make our way on Monday on a 6-hour bus ride to Bamenda where we will encourage missionaries and have the opportunity to possibly share about the Sonlife material and our ministry here on the radio which is quite exciting.
Also, please pray for the other half of our team as we have not been in contact with them since they went to Kumba to share a seminar in that region this weekend. We’re quite confident, however, that God by your prayers has paved a way for their ministry there as well and are looking forward to seeing them on Monday and hearing all that God has done.
I’d also like to share 2 personal requests with you regarding my wife Shelly and son Kameron who are anxiously awaiting Daddy’s return at home…..
- Our 11-year old dog Kodi, is not doing well as he was just diagnosed with cancer. We were hoping that Daddy would be back from
- Also, Shelly’s grandmother in
Finally, a praise would be that all 19 of our delayed bags have made it to
Thank you again for your prayers. Please know that we could not minister with this Gateway Team here in
Blessings!
Friday, January 12, 2007
January 12, 2007
Greetings from Yaounde, Cameroon and the NAB Youth Pastors Gateway Team!
Thanks so much for your prayers as we have already been in need of them! Our training time in Chicago from January 7-10 went very well and the team really developed a bond as we shared time together. We spent time training for cross-cultural ministry, sharing different aspects of the country of Cameroon that we researched and discussing the personal spiritual growth we each hope to see in our lives. And, we had Dennis Gulley, from Edmonton, AB, with us to help us understand how to communicate the Sonlife Africa Strategy Discipleship material.
We discovered early on that the development of relationships with Cameroonian youth workers, hearing their needs and praying for them was to be more important than any thing we could offer them by way of teaching. But, we’ve also discovered upon coming to Cameroon and meeting with our hosts, Godwill Ncham, Daniel Wango and Richard A. that much is being anticipated from our time together. So, we prayed and discussed that we will, above all things, seek out God’s heart for this time and listen closely to the Holy Spirit for the right words and to share the right things.
Please pray that we would do just that!
Thank you for your prayers for our safe travel. We did arrive safely in Douala yesterday evening, but unfortunately 19 of our 22 pieces of baggage (we were carrying a number of boxes for NAB with us as well) never made it here. And only 2 of the 6 members of our team have their suitcases so we are sharing clothes and other items until we receive our own baggage, hopefully on Monday in Bamenda.
The delayed baggage also included a projector and all the copies of the Sonlife participant manuals we had copied for our seminars. So we’re trying to make due here as the team as split up between Kumba and Yaounde for this first weekend, by having some copies of the manuals made.
So please pray that we would have what we need for our future ministry as that delayed baggage comes.
Again, thank you all so much for your continued support of the Gateway Teams ministry in general and for praying specifically for this very important time with this youth worker training team here in Cameroon this month. Please continue to check this blog for more updates as we continue on this month.
Blessings!
Randy Schmor
Greetings from Yaounde, Cameroon and the NAB Youth Pastors Gateway Team!
Thanks so much for your prayers as we have already been in need of them! Our training time in Chicago from January 7-10 went very well and the team really developed a bond as we shared time together. We spent time training for cross-cultural ministry, sharing different aspects of the country of Cameroon that we researched and discussing the personal spiritual growth we each hope to see in our lives. And, we had Dennis Gulley, from Edmonton, AB, with us to help us understand how to communicate the Sonlife Africa Strategy Discipleship material.
We discovered early on that the development of relationships with Cameroonian youth workers, hearing their needs and praying for them was to be more important than any thing we could offer them by way of teaching. But, we’ve also discovered upon coming to Cameroon and meeting with our hosts, Godwill Ncham, Daniel Wango and Richard A. that much is being anticipated from our time together. So, we prayed and discussed that we will, above all things, seek out God’s heart for this time and listen closely to the Holy Spirit for the right words and to share the right things.
Please pray that we would do just that!
Thank you for your prayers for our safe travel. We did arrive safely in Douala yesterday evening, but unfortunately 19 of our 22 pieces of baggage (we were carrying a number of boxes for NAB with us as well) never made it here. And only 2 of the 6 members of our team have their suitcases so we are sharing clothes and other items until we receive our own baggage, hopefully on Monday in Bamenda.
The delayed baggage also included a projector and all the copies of the Sonlife participant manuals we had copied for our seminars. So we’re trying to make due here as the team as split up between Kumba and Yaounde for this first weekend, by having some copies of the manuals made.
So please pray that we would have what we need for our future ministry as that delayed baggage comes.
Again, thank you all so much for your continued support of the Gateway Teams ministry in general and for praying specifically for this very important time with this youth worker training team here in Cameroon this month. Please continue to check this blog for more updates as we continue on this month.
Blessings!
Randy Schmor
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy New Year everyone!
Shelly’s grandmother – Lorna Toll of Broken Arrow, OK. You may have seen a prayer request in our past newsletters for Shelly’s grandma and her health. The past few weeks have been quite rough for her as she approaches her 86th birthday. She’s had 2 broken hips, 2 hip replacements and this morning dislocated one of those hips again. Please keep Lorna, Shelly and her family in your prayers as she is 800 miles away.
As some of you know, I (Randy) will be taking a Gateway Team to Cameroon from January 10-25. If I’m able to, I plan to blog – please take a look over the course of the month if you would as I mention prayer requests and updates on our mission with Cameroonian youth leaders and discipleship.
Thanks again for your prayers and God bless in 2007!
Shelly’s grandmother – Lorna Toll of Broken Arrow, OK. You may have seen a prayer request in our past newsletters for Shelly’s grandma and her health. The past few weeks have been quite rough for her as she approaches her 86th birthday. She’s had 2 broken hips, 2 hip replacements and this morning dislocated one of those hips again. Please keep Lorna, Shelly and her family in your prayers as she is 800 miles away.
As some of you know, I (Randy) will be taking a Gateway Team to Cameroon from January 10-25. If I’m able to, I plan to blog – please take a look over the course of the month if you would as I mention prayer requests and updates on our mission with Cameroonian youth leaders and discipleship.
Thanks again for your prayers and God bless in 2007!
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