Newsletter #19

Lome, Togo

Petro Aziato

   Petro Kwami Elikplim Aziato was born into a Christian family in Togo, West Africa. As a boy he  attended French and English-speaking schools and also learned several local languages.

    At the age  of 15 he received the call to preach. The government in Togo allowed only a few denominations to  preach.  Others would be put in jail. The government forbade citizens to take Christian names.

     Aziato left his work, all his goods and his money,  and began to preach in Togo. In 1983 he  attended the Assemblies of God Bible college. He married in 1984 and began to move from one  region to another, planting churches in towns and villages.

     In 1997 Aziato founded Army of Christ  in Mission (ACM).  He preaches the gospel on the radio in Lome, the capital of Togo, which reaches  over 1, 500,000 people. His evangelistic teams rent a bus and go to towns and villages.

For one  week they go from house to house each day, inviting people to the nightly crusades where Aziato  preaches the gospel and prays for the sick.  On Sunday they invite all of the people who  received Jesus as their Savoir to come and start a new church. Aziato trains the people and finds a local church who will disciple the new assembly, teaching them about Jesus through Bible reading  and prayer. Aziato began a school in Lome for more extensive training.

    Lack of money is always an  issue. Although some people can afford wood and iron sheets, Aziato’s meeting places are made of  grass. Still, as a result of Aziato’s training missionary work among many people groups, and  despite the prevalence of voodoo, 46 churches have been planted so far.

     Although Aziato’s main emphasis is on evangelism and church planting, he is also developing  medical, social development and child evangelism departments. Aziato and his team counsel  people to work in order to feed themselves, as well as, in the areas of personal hygiene, HIV/AIDS,  prenatal care, and purity and abstinence before marriage. Twenty missionaries work with Aziato.  Because the people they serve have no money, they receive their pay in crops, such as corn, or  whatever the people have.

Bujambura, Burundi

Mujanama Levis

     Levis reports that, although his country experiences wars and financial difficulties, he has great  joy knowing that God is with them as they do their work at Intercession Love Lines Crisis Center.

   Numbers of people have come to know Jesus as their Savior; marriages have been restored and  many sick people have been healed. The Holy Spirit told Levi to start a telephone counseling  center in Burundi so he could minister to people who have no other place to go for help.

     Intercession Love Lines also works with pastors who don’t have time to counsel all of their  members.  Levi prays that they will have the finances to start a Christian magazine, which would publicize  the crisis center, encourage Christian churches and organizations to gather together, and publish  testimonies of God’s mighty power and love.  He would like to use television and radio to reach out to hurting people and to strengthen other believers’ faith.

Manipur, India

Lhunkhohao Haokip

     In 1988 the Lord gave Lhunkhohoa Haokip a vision to establish Agape Christian Museum Centre  (ACMC) which would contain pictures, illustrations and paintings related to the Bible from Genesis  through Revelation.  Dr. Haokip’s related Bible verse is: Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the  people perish....” 

    The primary purpose of ACMC is to lead people to salvation through Jesus  Christ. Haokip collects and preserves photographs, paintings, writings, stones, leaves, wood and  any materials related to the Bible lands and the disciples and apostles. as well as writings and  materials related to evangelists, preachers and missionaries from around the world.

     The museum’s  contents prove the inerrancy of the Bible and encourage all believers in Christ. As of September 21, 2004, 33, 168 people have visited Agape Christian Museum Center.  Of that  number, 4,230 received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Through ACMC, Jesus’ light is  touching Hindu and Muslim people in India.

    Finances are needed; the ministry is operating by  faith.  Haokip believes Philippians 1:6,  “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Biratnagar, Nepal

Bikram Prasad Chaudhary

    Birat Love Lines Crisis Center is in a city of 1 million and a country of 2.5 million. Nepal, a  Hindu country, is famous for religious temples, industry, Mt. Everest and the range of Himalayas.

    Nepal has a multi-party political system within a monarchy. Chaudhary was praying to God, asking for his ministry,  when he accidentally visited Love Lines’ web site.  He was fully convinced  that a Love Lines ministry would be very meaningful for the people in his area and for the whole  country. He continued to pray and began to communicate with the people at Love Lines in  Minneapolis.

    Chaudhary wants to counsel people with needs and, most of all, to lead them to  salvation through Jesus. God made the way for him to have the telephone counseling ministry.

Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana

Rev. Daniel Dweteh Agyare

    Ghana’s population is 18,912,079 as of a census in 2000. Sekondi-Takoradi has castles, forts,  crocodiles and a city on stilts.  Ghana is best known for cocoa, gold and tourism. 

    Agyare’s prayer  is that every caller to his Love Lines Crisis Center would come to know Jesus personally.  He wants  to establish crisis centers in other regions and to have a rehabilitation center for drug addicts,  street children and

displaced converts from other religions. 

Ghana is a poor country, with a yearly  per capita average income of  $450, but there is a spiritual freedom and openness to the gospel.  Sixty-five per cent of the people are Christian. Agyare is grateful for the opportunity to bring Jesus’  love to his fellow countrymen and asks for prayer for the general election in December, 2004.

Entebbe, Uganda

Steven Okanya

   Steven Okanya’s vision for Agape Line Crisis Center is to reach out and effectively minister to  solitary, isolated, hurting and needy people in the rural and urban areas of Uganda. Uganda, a  country with 25 million people, is a peninsula largely bordered by Lake Victoria. 

    Okanya is aware  of a deep spiritual hunger in his country and has a special concern for the fight against HIV/AIDS.  He asks that God would bless Agape Line CC and make it a blessing to the less privileged and  everyone with special needs. Okanya first heard about a telephone counseling ministry at the  Amsterdam 2000 conference.  After a number of e-mail follow-ups with Love Lines in Minneapolis,  Okanya opened the center in Uganda and, subsequently,  down loaded both the Director’s and  Counselor’s training manuals. They have helped the telephone counseling ministry greatly. Okanya is working hard to let people know that the crisis center lines are open to everyone for counseling  and prayer.

    He and his wife use their mobile phones as they operate out of their apartment.  As he  tells people about his telephone ministry, others have shown an interest in opening  telephone  crisis centers in their local areas.

    Okanya prays to acquire an office base, necessary equipment,  personnel, and to be able to have extensive publicity.

Punjab, Pakistan

Yousaf Muzaffar

   Yousaf Muzaffar from Love Lines Crisis Center for Pakistan prays that God will bless Dan Morstad  and all of the crisis telephone prayer ministries.

    Pakistan’s population is 150,000,000 and the  country is best known for agriculture and sports. Most of the people live in poor conditions. The majority of the people are Muslim, but God is protecting his church and the stable government  does its best to protect Christians’ rights.

    Christians are allowed to evangelize and God has given  Muzaffar and the Love Lines team in Pakistan a great vision for a telephone ministry. God led  him  to meet Dan Morstad and to join the Love Lines ministry. Muzaffar’s heart is for the lost to know  Jesus as their Savior and his prayer is that, with God’s help, the workers at Love Lines Christian  Center for Pakistan will evangelize, counsel and disciple many more people through follow-up. 

    He asks for prayer that they will be blessed by the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

Wenchi, Ghana

Emmanuel Bediako

   Bediako reports that by God’s grace Freedom Crisis Center opened in 2002. His church is inside the  Muslim community.  God told him that only with prayer, fasting and the Word of God could the  telephone ministry succeed.  Through the prayer  line many Muslims received Christ as Savior and his church membership increased greatly.

    With nearly 150 mosques, Islam is the dominant religion  in Wenchi, a city of 32,000. Bediako’s first convert was evicted from his Muslim home. Bediako took him into his Mission house and treated him as his own son. The Muslims tried to kill them by  burning the house and severely beating the young man. But, through God’s grace, Bediako, his  family and the young man all survived. The man who led the attack was killed in a lorry (truck) accident  shortly afterwards along with 36 other people.

    Although attacks continue, including the time some  Muslims killed a cow and spread the blood throughout Bediako’s property, the Freedom Crisis Center prayer team continues to pray for them.

    God has given Bediako and his team a love for  Muslim people who call the center expressing their many needs. With the love of Jesus working in  the counselors’ hearts, Muslims are coming to know Jesus and are receiving many miracles.