The Shumaker Family's Blog

I wanted you to see a few pictures of the construction.  We have advanced a lot and the building is beginning to look like one.  I praise God for how good he has been to us.  We still have a long ways to go on it and many other projects that we are wanting to do but God has been wonderful.

Below is a picture from last Sunday.  We were down a bit but we still had about 60 adults.  God has done a tremendous job.

I wrote in the last post that I wanted to share an amazing story.  While in Niger, I met a pastor named Komi.  Pastor Komi is very unique, as he is blind.  Almost all blind people here in Africa are lead around by a little kid as they beg together.  At the age of 9, he became blind because of the measles.  He grew up in the home of an Imam, the leader of a mosque.  His father wanted to send him off as a young boy to an Islamic school, but he didn’t want to go.  He knew that he would be sent in town each day to beg.  That is what the kids at these schools do for most of the day.  They learn some of the Koran and then walk the streets begging for money.  If they don’t get a certain amount they are beaten.

Pastor Komi had a Baptist mission that was close to his house.  He began going to the church.  His father became infuriated when he found out that he was going, but he never stopped.  One day the missionary gave him a piece of candy.  He asked Komi if he liked it.  Komi said that it was very sweet and pleasant.   Then the missionary told him that there is somebody who is sweeter than candy and that is Jesus.  This day he accepted Christ.

He traveled to Nigeria to learn how to read and write in Braille.  A young blind teenager leaves for another country, where they speak English, and he doesn’t even know English.  He learned English and Braille before returning home to Niger.  He had a huge desire to train to be a pastor, but there was no pastor’s school in Niger.  He got on the bus and traveled to Ghana.  I asked him, “How did a blind man make it from Niger to Ghana without help?”  He said that he wasn’t alone; it was him and the Lord.  Amen!

When he arrived in Ghana, all of the missionaries but one said that there is no way we can teach a blind man.  We have never done it.  He can’t keep up.  One of the missionaries said, “What does it hurt to let him try?  If he can’t keep up, then that will be his fault but we have to try.”  Komi told me that he has the advantage anyway. When the lights went out at 10:30 P.M.  he could continue to study.  He didn’t need the lights to read in Braille!

After he finished his training he went back to Niger to start a church in the tribal language Zarma.  It is one of the few churches in this language.  He currently runs about 50 adults.  These people are very hard towards the Gospel.  Niger is very Muslim.  He is also the director of the Baptist mission there.  They currently have about 16 churches.

We went to a restaurant on the way back from Niger.  Pastor Komi had to pass through a particular room in order to get to the restroom.  When he came out, he told me that the room was beautiful.  I said, “Pastor Komi, how do you know that the room is beautiful?”  He told me that the bed was nice, the paint was nice,  the light fixtures were nice, etc.  I told him that he sees better than us.  He might be blind physically, but he sure isn’t blind spiritually.  Physically he lives in darkness but I know that he sees very clearly. He preached for us Sunday and did a wonderful job.  Below is a picture of him preaching.

I know that this is  a little late, but as they say, better late than never.  My wife had a birthday last Friday, the 12th.  I haven’t hardly been on the computer for two weeks now.  We were in a conference last week in Niger.  I got back late on Thursday night, and we were in meetings almost all day Friday.  I did manage to bake her a cake, but she had to pull it out of the oven. She even made icing for it.  I came back in for about 20 min. in the afternoon.  It was just enough time to sing Happy Birthday and eat some cake and ice cream.  I am so glad that I have a wife that is understanding.  I will take her out for her Birthday very soon.  She was a good sport through it all.

Thanks REBECCA for all that you do to make this ministry work.  Without you, I know it couldn’t be possible.  You are the greatest wife that a man could ever have.  She has been through a lot since we got married 8 years ago, but she has always been by my side.  Thanks, I Love you with all my heart.  You are a true champion for God.  Here is my wonderful wife teaching the children last Sunday.  She does a great job.

We took a trip to Niger to visit some of the Independant Baptists there.  We went to teach missions and faith promise.  It is unbelievable to me, that the early missionaries never taught missions to the churches that they started.  Maybe I am wrong but if the Bible says to “go” and to “give”, then that wasn’t just written for American churches but for all churches. I have always felt that if it is good to do in America, it is good to do it here.

We made it back late on Thursday night.  Friday and Saturday we had pastors fellowship in the morning and a crusade to help another church at night.  I think we had about 25 professions of faith.  I got a report that the church had a good number of visitors and lots of new kids on Sunday.  God truly blessed.  I will write more about a new friend that I met.  He is an amazing man.

I am not sure how many of have ever seen Bob the Builder. It is a kids show, in which, Bob is a construction man. In the show, the most famous phrase is, Bob the bulilder, can he fix it? Yes, he can! If you have seen the show, you probably sang that phrase.

We went to Bado’s village on an invitation. They wanted us to show a film about Jesus and preach. When we showed up there were probably 200 people ready. I got everything ready as the crowd got bigger. We were set and I pushed play. That is when I noticed we had a major problem. The cassette was on the European system and my machine is American. Can’t play. We have 350-400 people ready to watch. I throughly apologized and told them we would come again. I preached for about 35-40 min. I asked those who would like to receive Jesus to come over to where some of our members where. There wasn’t any movement for a few min.

Then, I realized that I had Bob the builder so I decided, lets show them that. I started the film and it was a big hit. These are people that live in mud huts and many have never seen t.v. They laughed and laughed. After about 10 min. I saw that there was a few people coming to talk about salvation. We ended up talking to 32 people, who prayed and trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Well, at the end, they were happy about Bob. Bob the Builder, can he fix it? Yes he can. Here is a photo of Bob (well actually another character called spud) on the wall.

I wrote about Ada the other day. The Fulani young lady which trusted Christ. Much to our surprise, she showed up for visitation. I was a little shocked based on her recent conversion and mostly because of her deep Muslim background. My wife went with her and Salie. Salie told my wife that Ada was nervous and wouldn’t say much but wanted to come. My wife said that she actually opened up and talked a good bit. They even saw a good number of her friends, and she was not ashamed but talked about what God did in her life. I am praying that God would raise up an army here that wouldn’t be ashamed but would be bold witnesses like the first Christians in the book of Acts.

A very exciting time in the ministry is about to begin. We are gearing up to start our Bible College this September. I have done some classes off and on with a few men, but we are going to start officially. Pastor Austin Gardner really helped when when he came in January, and we feel that this is the right time. We have some good young men that are ready and willing to give their all. One young man named, Konate, came and told me that he was offered a bunch more money to stay a school teacher and then his mother told him he was crazy to leave a good job to train for the ministry.

We have come a long way on the construction of the building since we started. The rising costs and the drop of the dollar have made it hard. I told my wife the other day, that a few years ago we always had money left over at the end of the month to build or put into the ministry in one form or another. It doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I’m certainly not complaining because the Lord has always taken much better care of us than what we ever deserved. Our greatest need at the Bible college right now is to complete my office and a classroom. We would also like to furnish beds and other necessities for the young men. This will cost about $2,000 to complete. Please pray that the Lord will help us with this need.

We will have six students. We have three that will be on scholarships. We have had two sponsors already for these students. That has been a great blessing. The cost is $60 a month. That takes care of their lodging, food and books. It is a work scholarship. They have to earn it by working about 20 hours a week.

We have had a good number of people put their faith in Jesus recently. Burkina is a country that is over 50% Muslim. I think that it is possbily much higher than that. We had a women come to church a few weeks back. She trusted Christ and then explained her situation. She told us that if her family knew where she was, that they would beat her and kick her out of the house. She has been faithful to come that last few weeks.

Another young lady, named Ada, trusted Christ. She is Fulani. The Fulani are all over West Africa. From what I have read they are 99.9% Muslim. She was invited to come to church a few months back. She said she didn’t want to come because she knew that churches forced people to convert. Her friend, Salie, told her, “that at our church we didn’t force anybody to become a Christian because we can’t. It’s a decision that the individual has to make.” She came for about three weeks straight. On Wednesday night, she raised her hand for her need of salvation. My wife took her aside and she received Christ. Today, Rebecca was witnessing with Salie. Salie told my wife to go and witness to a certain man. This man turned out to be the uncle of Aida. He had told Salie a few days before, “What are you doing? Don’t you know that Fulani are Muslim and not Christian.” I am grateful that Christ is not just the Lord of the Jews or Greeks or the Americans or of any other group but of whomever comes to Him in Faith.

Romans 10:12 says, “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”

On our trip to Mali, we passed by Bobo-Dioulasso. It is the 2nd biggest city in the country of Burkina Faso. We wanted to go and see the old Mosque(Muslim Temple). We were actually granted a tour of it, for a price of course. It was started in the 1870’s and finished in 1880. It was made of wood and clay. Over 800 people can pray in it at one time. While we were there they were having a call to prayer. As a few men came to pray, I was extremely touched. Bobo is a city with over 500,000 in the center of town and easily over a million with the outskirts. There isn’t one independent Baptist Church in the area. It is a city ready for the Gospel. I believe that Bobo would be considered over 80% Muslim.  We have such a great need for laborers in Burkina Faso and in West Africa.  It is wide open to the Gospel but things are changing and will change.

Below is a picture of the old Mosque.

We had our English class graduation at church this past Sunday morning. English class was a great success. We had English classes for two months, each Monday and Tuesday. I think that we had 5 professions of faith from the classes. We have had people from the classes visit the church from time to time. What has been wonderful is that we have had about 8 that have become real faithful. Sunday morning we had about 35 present that were from the English classes. Last night, Wed. night, we had 6 from these classes. A big thanks to Stephen, Jason and Paul for their help with these classes.

Sunday we have over 80 adults present. We are slowly climbing. It is great to see growth. We had over 40 kids also. Thanks for your help and prayers.

Below is some of the English class singing for us in English.

Below is the certificates that we gave to those who where faithful to attend class.