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2016 Ministry Summary

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I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. (Phil. 1:3-5 – NASB95)

Words cannot express the gratitude I have in my heart for you and your participation in the gospel with all of us at STN. Your faithfulness and generosity made it possible for hundreds of current and future church planters to be better equipped in 2016 to fulfill the Great Commission. And the Lord is opening new doors to us as we head into 2017! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!

What happened in 2016? There is too much to tell so let me summarize:

India & Nepal – Ryder Kumar

  • Established a base of operations for STN India in Hyderabad.
  • Proclaimed God’s truth to and shared the vision of STN with thousands of people in numerous churches in different parts of India.
  • Worked with the church planting pastors we have already trained through the BTCP materials and provided further training to help them in their ministries.
  • Identified 13 men that will now be a part of the STN Faculty to train new church planters with the BTCP materials in different regions of India and Nepal. Some of these men have gone to seminary but most of them were trained by STN through the BTCP materials.
  • Identified new students that will be going through the BTCP training. Currently there are about 200 students who are being trained or will begin shortly. That number could grow to well over 300 in 2017.
  • Expanded the training to a new group of students in Nepal.
  • Helped two of the men we trained previously to complete the BTCP training of 35 new leaders in Vijayawada, India. They just had a graduation ceremony in November after completing all 10 books!
  • Published a commentary on the Book of Philippians.
  • Finalized all the documents and financial reports to apply for the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) that will make it easier for money to be transferred from the U.S. to the work in India. We are hoping it will be granted sometime in 2017.
  • Hired an administrative assistant (Prashant) who will work in the STN office as well as teach some of the BTCP courses.
  • And the list goes on and on. Ryder & Flory are working hard to advance the cause of Christ all over SE Asia!

Latin America – Eddie Bueno

Eddie has been getting requests from all over Latin America to provide the training for their people to go out and plant new churches. There are millions who are being misled by false religions and by the growing number of churches that preach the false “Prosperity Gospel.” Leaders in Latin America want to have answers and want to multiply the number of men who can go out and start new churches. STN is overwhelmed by the requests and unfortunately cannot say “yes” to all who are asking. But at this time we are focusing on 6 different cities in 4 countries:

Bolivia:

  • Facilitated the training of 3 men to teach the BTCP materials and then hired them to launch BTCP training classes in three different cities: La Paz (Pastor Tito Montero); Cochabamba (Pastor Daniel Ortiz); and Santa Cruz (Pastor Richard Buitrago).
  • There are 70 students now being trained.
  • These groups will meet 10 months each year (taking December & January off).
  • All four groups have finished the first 3 BTCP books and will begin Book 4 in February 2017.

Central America:

  • Eddie identified 3 men who will be trained to teach the BTCP materials and work for STN in three new locations: Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (Pastor Karel Golcher); Tegusigalpa, Honduras (Pastor Jose Antonio Pino); and Tapachula, Mexico (Pastor Marco Muñoz).
  • These men will be trained in January 2017 and then will begin new groups with BTCP Book #1 in February.
  • There will be at least 20 students in each of the three groups.

Praise God for what He is doing through STN! What a privilege to participate in what the Holy Spirit is doing in these countries. It brings tears to my eyes to think of the men STN has equipped to plant healthy churches. There are now over 110 STN graduates and in 2017 there will be about 350 or more in the process of being trained. It is our hope that those numbers will grow exponentially in the coming years and that in a short amount of time we will have 10,000+ church planters going to unreached areas of the world.

How can you help us go forward?

  1. Pray. We need the Lord’s wisdom, protection, and provisions as we go forward.
  2. Tell others. Spread the word to other people about what STN is doing and challenge them to participate.
  3. Financial gifts. Would you prayerfully consider on-going monthly donations or a special year-end donation to STN? Many of our donors have continued to give monthly since the beginning of STN but others do it for a certain period and then stop. There are several specific needs right now as we have expanded the ministry of STN:
  • Provide training materials for one student. It costs approximately $100 to provide the curriculum for each student.
  • Ryder Kumar. We are still about $1500 per month short on Ryder’s support needs as the Director for SE Asia.
  • STN Pastors in India. We currently have 5 pastors at $60 per month and 6 pastors at $100 per month that do not have sponsors.
  • Latin America Regional Trainers. We now have 6 regional trainers at $450 per month (for 10 months each year) that need sponsors.

If you (or your friends) have any questions about these financial opportunities, please contact us and we will be glad to answer them for you.

Thank you again for your faithful financial participation and on-going prayers for this ministry. God has blessed STN super abundantly with opportunities to train workers to go into the harvest fields. What a privilege! Take a moment and give Him praise.