Carol and I are fast approaching our return trip to Reaching Africa’s Unreached! We have spent time in six different states. Our time with children (and their spouses), grandchildren and immediate family members encompassed the first part of our visit back to the States. Our time in our home town of Seguin, Texas was complicated by the priority of getting medical, dental and vision check-ups. Our plan for reunions with friends was narrowed by my need for dental surgery after which I was laid up for awhile. Carol will soon write about USA visit in her beautiful themed story telling way for you. I am sure she will also have many beautiful pictures for you too.
I have another purpose for this newsletter.
Many of you may recall the news I shared via newsletters, videos, and Facebook posts in the latter part of 2019 about God’s gracious hand opening hearts and changing lives in the Republic of (North) Sudan. The Lord has set RAU in a geographically strategic place and “for a time such as this” to be able to be a part of Christ building his church in the Republic of Sudan ,South Sudan, and RAU’s own beautiful West Nile of Uganda.
Please take a few minutes to watch this video interview I did with some of our (North) Sudanese brothers for first hand accounts of how God is moving in the Republic of Sudan. These men currently reside in nearby refugee settlements.
As we all know, a vital part of any healthy and growing church is the opportunity for God’s people to have his word, the Bible. Since 2013, RAU has, by God’s grace and the love of his people, given out over 15,000 Bibles/New Testaments: Aringa,Madi, & Arabic NT’s, English, Arabic, and Swahili full bibles. Over 8,000 of these have been ESV Global Study Bibles which have been primarily placed into the hands of church leaders. These Bibles currently are now in Uganda, South Sudan, Republic of (North) Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and a small number in Chad.
It is most especially vital for the under Shepherd’s which God raises up to care for and nurture the local church to have a good Bible. RAU’s vision and mission from the beginning is to walk out 2 Timothy 2:2 with biblical training and provision of study tools to help equip the leaders that God is raising up. The ESV Global Study Bibles have been the best tool RAU has been able to place in Shepherd’s “tool boxes“. English is widely spoken and read in our area.The ESV Global Study Bibles in our container are now running critically low.
For some months now it has been in my heart to bring an additional 20,000 ESV Global Study Bibles in a third 40-foot container to RAU. This is the number we can carry without going over the weight limit. Remember the roads in our area are not hard surfaced. Before Christmas, I was contacted by a representative of Christianbook. Providentially, he had read our October newsletter which lays out in seed form the vision of getting more ESV Global Study Bibles to RAU. Long story short, Carol and I were able to meet with him in Baltimore this last January. Our hearts and vision were knit together immediately! Since then, he has been able to help us get this vision fleshed out with Crossway, the publisher of the ESV Global Study Bible, and to arrange for Christianbook to help us send the container to Uganda.
My desire has been to get the True Tone ESV Global Study Bible in a box. The reason for this is that they greatly outlast hardbacks, especially when they come in their own individual boxes. We want to place in the hands of church leaders a quality study Bible which best survives the rugged environmental conditions of our geographical area.
I am happy to report that a great deal has been worked out with Crossway. We can purchase a True Tone ESV Global Study Bible at cost in a box for the remarkable price of $7.80! Wow, wow, wow! When we include the purchase of the 40-foot, seaworthy container and shipping costs (from the East coast of America to dropping it on RAU’s soil) the cost of one bible is $9.25! The total cost, then, for 20,000 True Tone ESV Global Study Bibles is $185,000. This is a big number, but it is not too much for our sovereign God and his people to place these study bibles into church leaders’ hands from Uganda, South Sudan and the Republic of (North) Sudan.
“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God….I am not afraid of failure. I am afraid of succeeding at things which do not matter”
William Carey
In order to receive the shipment of Bibles when we need them, we need to raise the money in the next two months. Crossway will then do a special printing with a special note from RAU inside each Bible. It would then take about 4 months to get them published and set in the container. Then they would make their long journey to RAU. We now have, because of God’s favor and our length of time on the ground, faithful contacts in all three countries (Uganda,South Sudan, and the Republic of Sudan), including Khartoum itself! RAU commits to being a good steward by placing these Bibles into hands of leaders. Our vision and heart is to walk out our 2 Timothy 2:2 mandate.
May I boldly request you to be a part of getting these ESV Global Study Bibles into hands of leaders in the West Nile of Uganda, South Sudan, and the Republic of (North) Sudan?!! Please help us in whatever way you can to connect the remaining dots. Also, would you please contact your friends/church and pass along this God-given opportunity to them to help. Please leverage every tool at your disposal to help us get these bibles into the hands of church leaders. I greet this from afar by faith: a container with 20,000 True Tone ESV Global Study Bibles on RAU soil!
Please pray, pray, and pray! Give, give and give!
Here is how you can do this. You may write checks out to RAU and on the memo line: “Bibles”. You also may go to our PayPal link and give via credit card. Please keep in mind that PayPal deducts a small % for their services. I will set up a special page on our website in the next couple days with updates.
Tax deductible charitable donations may be made via PayPal or check. PayPal also has a way to make reoccurring monthly gifts. Reoccurring monthly gifts are very helpful to the ministry. To do so, please click on the PayPal link below. PayPal deducts a small amount from each gift as a processing fee. All gifts given through PayPal and by check are tax deductible as Reaching Africa’s Unreached has 501c3 tax exempt status as a charitable organization. If you wish to write a check you may write it out to R.A.U. and mail it to Lifegate/RAU Bibles, 395 Lifegate Ln., Seguin Texas 78155.
The greatest evil is having the gospel and not doing everything within our power to get it to those who do not have it! ———– When at least 35% of the world, “the unoccupied fields”, have no access to the gospel, we (believers) must all do all we can to reach them. We who are saved owe the gospel to every lost person, most especially the 2.4 billion who will not hear unless someone breaks into their “unoccupied field” with no thought of their own life! —————- Sowing seeds of love and kindness should not be separated from preaching the gospel of sovereign grace but completely intertwined with it! —————- I am sure that none of us will say when in heaven that we prayed too much, we sacrificed too much, proclaimed the gospel too much, and were too passionate to get the gospel to those who have little to no access to this gospel of grace. Let us together press on to make it our ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named! ————— Our goal in our gospel witness is to take our eyes off the “risk” and place them on the cause for the risk. When God compels us like this he often will not tell us the risks…after all there are no risks for the all-knowing, all-powerful God. So let us be AMBITIOUS (Romans 15:20) to see that ALL are reached with the gospel of grace (Romans 1:16) in ALL places…there are no closed doors to the gospel, just some which are more difficult to go through!
Jacob Lee
Joshua Abraham from Darfur on the left and Absalah Kori who is working in Nuba Mountains on the right
Reaching Africa's Unreached 