• For God to bring the right team members for the trips this year.
• For the location, planning, and preparation of the conferences with the purpose to expand God's Kingdom and strengthen the churches.
• For specific topics and the leading of the Holy Spirit in all we do.
• Pray for the start of our print shop and bookstore to provide resources for our conferences.
• Pray for the start up of a self-sustaining café to be run by former child soldiers in DR Congo.
• For our friends and partners in Africa: Alfred, Amos L.,  Dieudonne, Martin, Mbusa, Charles, Kennedy. For God to provide for them, and guide them also as they plan and invite church leaders from their country.
• Pray for our partners in Costa Rica: Timothy, Philip, and David Jones, as they are translating the Bible into the Cabecar language, as they finish up the New Testament, as we work with them in producing discipleship materials for the Cabecar Indian pastors, and in the planning of training conferences.
• For peace in Congo.
• For the believers to keep the faith and expand God's Kingdom.
• For continued fruit from the conferences last year.
• For God to provide for us.
• For God's wisdom and direction.
• For God's protection.

Consider serving with Equip Disciples this year!

Visit our Website
EquipDisciples.org

New resources under Resources:

• HIV/AIDS booklet has been posted in English and Swahili
• Theological Discipleship manual in English has been updated

Informational Meeting

*** Change of Date! ***

Monday February 15, 7:00 pm

Location: Friberg's house 1010 Loch Lomond Dr., Arlington, TX 76012.

Come find out about how God may use you in discipleship missions!

• DR Congo  Former Child Soldier Bible Conference/Business Seminar - March or June
• Kenya East Africa Conference I - June or July
• Rwanda East Africa Conference II - June
• Kenya Costal Conference I - June
• Kenya Costal Conference II - July
• Costa Rica and Ghana conferences - TBA

Volunteer Personnel needed: HIV/AIDS awareness teachers; computer PowerPoint & Bible Software teachers; other special church topic teachers; General workers-greeters, registration, logistics; trip Accountant/Administrative Assistant. Seasoned Bible teachers who have a love for study and communicating; photographer; Youth Bible study leaders.

Contact tammie@equipdisciples.org for more information. You may download a volunteer application form at:
http://equipdisciples.org/missions/prep/EquipVolunteerApp.doc

Note: all dates and locations are tentative and subject to change in the near future.

2009 at a Glance

• 3 Discipleship Conferences (Kenya, Rwanda, Costa Rica)
• Over 100 decisions to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior
• 325 pastors and church leaders trained
• 127 Youth Discipled
• 40 Youth decisions to follow Jesus
• 100 Bible commentaries distributed
• 250 Bibles distributed
• 350 Discipleship training materials distributed
• 13 child soldiers who have made decisions for Christ housed, fed, and schooled
• New translations of theological discipleship manual in Kinyarwanda, Spanish, and 2nd edition in Swahili
• Training in HIV/AIDS counseling; discipleship for all ages; children's Sunday School workshop; computer skills; preaching; missions; Bible Translation; evangelism training
• Provided food, clothing, and pans for cooking for refugees in eastern war-torn DR Congo

2010 Ministry Needs

Consider giving a one-time gift, or sign up to give automatically each month. See prayer requests listed to the left.

*We have a special gift of appreciation for donations of $100 or more--see details below!

Theological Discipleship Manual

1 per month = $5/month or $60/year

Order-one-give-one = $10

http://equipdisciples.org/donations#Theological

Thank You for your Support!

While Supplies Last, we will send everyone who donates $100 or more to Equip Disciples, a bar of homemade organic hand soap made from goats milk and essential oils, along with a copy of our Discipleship Manual. This soap was donated by a friend who makes it, and is very good for your skin. 

Equip Disciples is a 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry.
All donations are tax-deductable.

Discipleship Corner...

Lasting Fruit: Teaching Theology in the Church

Jack Clifford leading a college
Bible study, 1984

by Tammie Friberg

Having a couple of teenagers in our home has made me think of the things that greatly influenced my spiritual life as a youth. There were two.

One was having a pastor who taught theology from the pulpit on Sunday evenings. I don't mean he mentioned theological concepts from time to time.  I mean he taught us some of the major doctrines of the Bible by going through them and studying the supporting Scriptures. This was not a negative or boring thing to me. I was 15 years old and I went every Sunday because I wanted to--I loved Sunday evenings!

Understand that this kind of teaching had lasting value to me. I wanted to know what the Bible taught on these subjects, and I wanted to know what I believed and why. I wanted to be able to defend my faith, and to share my faith with others; and I wanted to grow strong in my faith. Looking back at my spiritual growth at the time, I believe there is a connection between growing in the knowledge of God and spiritual growth. Paul knew this because he prayed that believers would grow in the knowledge of God.

These teachings reach down to me today, and have formed much of what I desire to see in churches across the world. In psychologically-influenced America though, the focus is often on what is entertaining and what meets people's immediate needs. It's all about, "Me." And there is an apathy about learning. Some people have even replaced God's ways with the teachings found in psychology books. The problem is: people want to have knowledge about themselves--and they believe this will help them with whatever problems they face.  But what about the knowledge of God and following His ways? If we leave out the teaching of theology and only focus on immediate needs, how are we going to have a strong church foundation from which to serve God in ministry and missions? How are we going to have people in our church who are not blown about by every wind and wave of false teaching? How are we going to have people in church who are living in God's ways morally and spiritually? How can we truly plant mission churches with a solid foundation, if we don't have a solid foundation ourselves?

The other great influence in my growing spiritual life was an in-depth Youth Bible study held in someone's home every Tuesday night.  The youth formed this study themselves, and sought out a very grounded teacher named Jack Clifford.  Jack taught us through different books of the Bible, verse by verse. He taught us some of the Greek words, the historical backgrounds, he taught us theology, and he made application to our everyday lives. Every week we would sing, recite Scripture, and study together. That study impacted everyone who came. Close to ninety-five percent of those who attended are in ministry today!  Jack believed in teaching to the strong, and holding up a high standard of Bible study along with application. And he prayed for us every day.  My husband, Joe, also came to this study. I didn't realize until later how very rare it was to have these great influences in my life.

One of the greatest challenges any of us face is to build a solid foundation in the lives of those God has put under our care, whether these people are our own children, our Sunday School members, people in our congregation, or Bible study participants. Include theology and depth in your teaching. I like to put it like this...Provide something for everyone to eat--no matter their spiritual level of understanding.

Equip Disciples!