Gateway Teams

Hello again from Yaounde, Cameroon!

Today we had the opportunity to share the Sonlife Africa Strategy material with some youth workers here in Yaounde that came from as far as 3 hours away to be a part of this seminar. And I’m glad to tell you that we had a great time and that the seminar was a great success!

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 Cameroon before anything happened to Kodi but that is looking less and less likely. Please pray for Shelly and Kameron and the difficult times and decisions they are trying to make in my absence.

- Also, Shelly’s grandmother in Tulsa, OK, Lorna Toll, is not doing well as you have heard in previous updates after suffering through 3 hip replacement surgeries in the past month. Please keep Lorna, and Shelly and her family in prayer again as I am gone until January 29 and it only adds to the difficulty.

Finally, a praise would be that all 19 of our delayed bags have made it to Cameroon. We’ll be re-united with our clothing again on Monday when we get to Bamenda and will no longer have to share clothing from 2 suitcases among 6 people.

Thank you again for your prayers. Please know that we could not minister with this Gateway Team here in Cameroon or make it through difficult times of separation without your prayers.

Blessings!

Randy Schmor and the Youth Workers’ Cameroon Gateway Team