Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do. (2 Corinthians 8:1–5 – NLT)

As I read that passage in 2 Corinthians 8, I am amazed by two things:

1. the sacrificial giving of the churches in Macedonia;
2. the sacrificial giving by all of you.

God has been using your generosity to enable STN to train more pastors and church planters. Existing church leaders and churches are being strengthened to impact their own villages more effectively, and church planters are going out to new villages with the good news of Jesus. Right now, we are training over 500 people with the BTCP materials (322 men in India and Nepal plus 180 people in Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala and Southern Mexico). I just received a report yesterday that there are 125+ more men in India & Nepal who are waiting to be trained. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! We are getting requests from other countries in Central & South America and now some requests from countries in Africa.

Year End Giving

As we approach the end of 2017, I know a lot of people are thinking about end-of-the-year giving. If you aren’t familiar, at the STN International office we are all volunteers; none of us are paid. We LOVE serving through STN and we are thrilled with the privilege of participating in what God is doing, but we don’t have paid people heading up fund-raising efforts. And to be quite honest, it’s not something that we currently are very good at doing. That is why we pray. Would you join me in praying for God to abundantly provide for this ministry? Here are some specific needs we are praying for God to provide:

1. Training materials. What does it cost to train one new person? At current prices, we spend about $100 for the materials that each person needs (10 BTCP books, a study Bible, and a concordance). That means each time we add a new student we need to raise an additional $100. Please pray for at least 125 people to give $100 each so we can provide training materials for the men we want to start training in 2018? Or pray for one person to give $12,500 to cover all of them.
2. International Director. Ryder Kumar has been in India now for a little over 2 years. He is the catalyst & overseer of the ministry in India and Nepal. He is currently about $1500 per month short of being fully supported. Please pray for 15 donors to give $100 per month to bring Ryder up to full support.
3. Latin America Trainers. We currently have six men who serve as STN Trainers in Latin America. They are teaching the BTCP materials to over 180 students. Most of these students will finish their training by the end of 2018 and then we hope to start training new people. STN supports each of these trainers at $375 per month and we currently have $25 per month coming in for one of them. We are able to pay them because of a large gift we received to start the ministry in Latin America. For the training to continue past 2018, please pray for new donors to sponsor these men. To cover the additional $2225 per month we would need 22 donors to give $100 per month.
4. Church Planters. At this time, we have over 100 graduates of our STN training, most of whom are actively involved in pastoring an existing church, planting new churches, and/or training more pastors and church planters. In the next 18 months that number will grow to over 600. For these men to go to unreached areas and plant churches they need financial support. Currently we are supporting 33 of these dedicated men. Please pray for the Lord to raise up an army of donors willing to give $100 per month to support more of these church planters.

Options for end-of-year giving? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Cash donations. This can be done by check through the mail (postmarked no later than 12/31/17) or online at the STN website.
2. Stock donations.
3. House or property donation.
4. Contact a Foundation on behalf of STN. Ask them to make a one-time donation to support this ministry.

Thank you for supporting STN so faithfully with your prayers and gifts. Jesus is building His church all over the world and you are a vital part of it. May God bless you richly as you give yourself to making disciples of all the nations. Until the whole world hears!

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)

At a recent STN International Board meeting, we were discussing how faithful STN’s prayer warriors and donors have been since the very beginning. As an organization, we really don’t do a lot in the area of fundraising. We often wish we could do more, but our board is comprised of all volunteers and we don’t have the time to focus on that component of the ministry. That is why we are so thankful to God for all of you and the way you support this ministry. Some of you have been supporting STN since we incorporated 10 years ago. Words cannot express how grateful we are for your generosity. The gospel is spreading into unreached areas and churches are being planted because of your faithfulness.

Because of your sacrifice in giving, the Board feels very accountable to use the funds as wisely as possible. We prayerfully seek the Lord, research what the needs are around the world, and then focus our energies on what we believe will make the maximum impact for Christ. As the Lord opens new doors for ministry we seek Him to know how to best utilize the resources He has provided for maximum impact. Right now, that means we are focusing more of our attention and financial resources on regional trainers.

The First 100

In the early years, we were training 100 church planting pastors in India and Nepal, and fully financially supporting about 40 of them (including two medical doctors). It took us about six years to train those men and they are being used mightily of God in unreached villages. Over the past few years, the training ministry has expanded into more areas of India and Nepal, and we started new ministries in Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala and Southern Mexico. Instead of training 100 men (twice each year at two training centers in India over a 6-year period), we are currently training 500 men in about 18 different locations in six countries. Because they are able to meet weekly, the training can be accomplished in about 2 ½ years instead of 5+ years.

The Current 500

Right now, STN has over 100 people who have graduated from the BTCP training. Add in 500 people currently in training and we have a total of 600 who will be finished with the training by 2019. We are asking each of those people to find at least 10 more people to be trained. What kind of exponential growth are we considering? If we multiply by 10 every three years:

• Year 2019 = 600+ trained church planters
• Year 2022 = 6,000+
• Year 2025 = 60,000+
• 2028 = 600,000+ trained church planters going to unreached parts of the world where they can reach the lost, plant healthy churches, and multiply again and again.

Why train so many pastors and church planters?

There are nearly 3 billion people currently in unreached people groups with little to no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those 600,000 church planters would have to each share the gospel with 5,000 people in unreached people groups to reach the 3 billion currently unreached. And more people are born every day!

The challenge with training that many men is not lack of vision, desire, or commitment. The challenge is the financial cost of supporting them after they are trained. Even at $100 per month per church planter (full support in the poorer areas of the world), the total cost would be staggering to the imagination. Just supporting 600 men would be $60,000 per month. Supporting 600,000 men would be $60,000,000 per month. Our current plan is to continue to support some of the church planters, but the future focus will be primarily on supporting the regional trainers. These regional trainers need our financial support so that they can each devote themselves to train, resource, and encourage hundreds of new church planters.

These men will provide on-going support and accountability to church planters as they go out by faith and plant churches for the glory of Christ.

Your Partnership

Please pray for the financial resources to support our current regional trainers as well as more of them in the future as the Lord directs. If you know of any individual donors, small groups, churches, and/or foundations that would like to get involved with STN, please send them our way. The Lord keeps opening doors into new areas of the world and we need a lot of ministry partners to join us.

Thank you again for your partnership in this growing ministry. We know that you are giving sacrificially, and we are confident that our God “will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). May you enjoy His goodness each and every day, and may His grace and peace be yours in fullest measure!

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