FRM Newsletter
March 2020: Three Thousand Women
View March 2020 full Newsletter
It started last summer with a pastors’ conference in Masindi, Uganda. We invited 450 pastors and 125 women to come, but 900 pastors showed up and close to 400 women. Then, Vicky began having women’s conferences. At first, we thought 300 would show up, but 1,300 came. There would be several others like this, but with the last one, we anticipated 1,000 women and 3,000 came. We are seeing a move of the Holy Spirit, touching the lives of women in Uganda and South Sudan. It has been a great blessing for me to watch the women’s ministry grow, and for my wife, it has been her joy to share Christ. For 20 years, she has sought to train women in God’s Word, and through the power of the Holy Spirit has had great fruit. Vicky, like many, feels that she is not worthy to be used in this capacity, which is true for all of us. In my opinion, she is one of the most diligent people that I have ever seen study and prepare for a message. She studies up to 100 hours before each conference. She teaches seven studies a week in our village, each with a different message, for which she studies extensively to prepare for. Vicky really enjoys being in God’s Word, and it is evident by her teaching. I watch as women sit in the hot sun, taking notes without complaining. As a husband, I am blessed to be married to Vicky— she is a true helpmate. I was recently in Russia, and one of the Russian women told me that when Vicky met with the ladies, she said, “I want to be available to all of you, but I am here for my husband first.” In her life, she has had two great desires: one is to please the Lord, and the other is to be my wife. I do not just love Vicky, I adore her, and she is a wonderful wife. She has worked hard to understand the way that I think. She knows that I do not think like a normal person, but like a soldier. She once said to me, “I have observed something about you. Once you put your mind to something, you will not stop until you complete the task.” I told Vicky that the reason why I am like this is because when the Lord gives me tasks, I do not consider them to be suggestions, but orders. I see the Lord as my commanding officer, and I am His lieutenant and when He gives me orders, I am to obey them unconditionally. I understand that we are waging war against darkness and if we are not vigilant, we lose battles to the enemy and souls to eternity. I truly want to see the women’s ministry expand in Africa; I see this as just as important as the Chaplains’ Corp.
It has been a great blessing for me to watch the women’s ministry grow, and for my wife, it has been her joy to share Christ. For 20 years, she has sought to train women in God’s Word, and through the power of the Holy Spirit has had great fruit. Vicky, like many, feels that she is not worthy to be used in this capacity, which is true for all of us. In my opinion, she is one of the most diligent people that I have ever seen study and prepare for a message. She studies up to 100 hours before each conference. She teaches seven studies a week in our village, each with a different message, for which she studies extensively to prepare for. Vicky really enjoys being in God’s Word, and it is evident by her teaching. I watch as women sit in the hot sun, taking notes without complaining. As a husband, I am blessed to be married to Vicky— she is a true helpmate. I was recently in Russia, and one of the Russian women told me that when Vicky met with the ladies, she said, “I want to be available to all of you, but I am here for my husband first.” In her life, she has had two great desires: one is to please the Lord, and the other is to be my wife. I do not just love Vicky, I adore her, and she is a wonderful wife. She has worked hard to understand the way that I think. She knows that I do not think like a normal person, but like a soldier. She once said to me, “I have observed something about you. Once you put your mind to something, you will not stop until you complete the task.” I told Vicky that the reason why I am like this is because when the Lord gives me tasks, I do not consider them to be suggestions, but orders. I see the Lord as my commanding officer, and I am His lieutenant and when He gives me orders, I am to obey them unconditionally. I understand that we are waging war against darkness and if we are not vigilant, we lose battles to the enemy and souls to eternity. I truly want to see the women’s ministry expand in Africa; I see this as just as important as the Chaplains’ Corp.
The difference is that I am called to train men to be soldiers of the Cross and Vicky to train women of the Cross. I have had one dream, and that is to raise up a generation of men who are not just committed to the Kingdom, but fanatical for Christ. It is my hope that one day it will be said that they were not like men of this world, but truly rare, like Paul the Apostle. On the 6th of February the new school, Christ’s Crucible, opened in Uganda, taking about three years to build. This week, the school will welcome children, who will start to be trained up with a deep call to serve Christ. In Africa, many are searching for truth, hope and purpose. Like the children, people of all ages need solid Bible training. We are praying about starting a Bible school in Uganda, to train men to be pastors. When the next class of chaplains are commissioned, we will have over 500 deployed to all areas of service in the South Sudan Army. And, for at least the next couple years, I believe that we will be okay with the freedom to do field operations with the men in South Sudan. This means that we will have senior men, plus myself, ensuring ministry work in the field is done properly. Then we can take time to divert our efforts, for a season, and Lord willing, leave a deeper imprint for spiritually committed men in Uganda. 
Every conference we host has hundreds of pastors in attendance, who come from the villages hungry for the Word but have limited biblical training. This seems to be the next great door of opportunity. God has continued to give us great favor with the government of South Sudan. Even this week, the vice president of South Sudan stayed at our base. 
Paul said in I Corinthians 16:8: “I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me and there are many who oppose me.” It is important to recognize when the Lord opens a great door of opportunity and presents itself. Many believers miss out on what God has for their lives. When people ask me if they were to go to the mission field, what should they pray for? I always tell them that I would only pray one prayer, “Lord, show me the place where I can bear the most fruit and no matter how difficult it is, I will go.” The reason we have chosen to provide you with such an extensive update, is because we have been working on this school for the past three years and are blessed to show you the completed work.
JACOB’S HOUSE
One of the many works we support is a home for homeless men in a closed country. The pastor who leads this ministry is Jacob, and he has a real heart for people whose lives have been ravaged by drugs. Jacob has been beaten up for his preaching of the Gospel. Those who are looking to stop his ministry are looking for excuses to persecute him. Jacob pastors two churches, runs a home for orphans, plus works a part-time job for about five hours a night to supplement his income. Even with all the responsibilities he has, he still cannot make ends meet without the extra income from his part-time work. His home is barely livable. When I tried to help him find a better one, he refused saying that his race would soon be over, and he wanted to finish well. Jacob has given his whole life to serve with little comfort, other than what he gets from reading his Bible. In addition to Jacob being constantly under persecution, a fire recently struck the men’s home. The ability to rebuild will be financially impossible for Jacob. The fire started in an old heating system. They had ordered a new one, but it was two weeks from being delivered. In the freezing winters, where temperatures can drop to 40 below zero, the heat must stay on. They tried to do make-shift repairs to keep the men from freezing, but unfortunately it did not work. With the home completely unlivable, the men will be temporarily housed in the children’s center.
This is a recent update from a volunteer who works with Jacob: I had a long talk with Jacob today. He is mourning, it is very hard for him to even talk, often there are tears in his eyes. He tries to do his normal work; he preaches. Sometimes during his sermon, he just stops talking and tries to hold back the tears. Sometimes he forgets about the situation for a little while when he is working, then it all comes back to him like a terrible dream. Actually, he is such a good man, he does so many good things for people, he suffers so much. He never thinks about himself; he even gives his own clothes to others. He has so many questions now, but no answers. All we can do for now is pray for the right solution. Tomorrow is a heavy day for him, the authorities summoned him again and demand explanations. Please pray for him. The volunteer sent a more recent update, to show the brevity of Jacob’s situation: Today, Jacob went again to the place of the fire. He wanted to save some beds, but it was impossible; they are standing in the ice, swollen and sooty. Moreover, Jacob discovered that the ceiling in the dining room, on the second floor, had fallen and the sky can be seen. On the first floor, the ceiling is still wet and bent. It’ll probably fall down too, making it dangerous to walk there. All the water used to extinguish the fire is now frozen. Jacob wanted to get some chairs out of the hall also, but they are frozen to the floor. Jacob is increasingly inclined not to rebuild the house, it will be very expensive and too much work with such a small team. The government demands that the destroyed house must be cleaned up and removed, but so far, it’s to frozen to do this. Jacob will have to pay about $800 (USD) for garbage removal.
Now new homeless people are coming, but unfortunately, we have no place to shelter them. It hurts, but we have to refuse. In the children’s center, where the men are temporarily housed, the heating is a boiler on firewood, sometimes we use coal. We have to keep stoking it because of the cold. One of the church volunteers is helping Jacob, but he is an old grandfather, he is very tired, so Jacob has to do a lot of the work himself. It is a good temporary solution, but there are some minor inconveniences—often the water freezes, and the men’s toilet is outside. Volunteers have to wash dishes in basins. Tomorrow we will go to the funeral of a grandmother who passed away, and then leave for the homeless shelter. As for a new building for the men’s home, of course, it is difficult, prices are very expensive. We are praying and thinking about what the best plan is. Today, the first meeting was already held in a rented small hall. This is the place where Jacob’s daughter works. We are temporarily allowed to hold the meetings there on Saturday and Wednesday, but we have to pay for it, and it’s temporary. On Saturday, together with the homeless, we use our good new bus to go to the church and have the service there in the afternoon. There’s also a delicious dinner that my mother cooks. We also continue to feed the homeless women (Tuesday and Saturday, sometimes Thursday). Whenever we ride in this bus, we pray for our sponsors, may God bless them and give them health. Thank God for all of you, for your compassion and determination in these difficult situations for us. We pray and thank you. I suspect it will cost about $150,000 (USD) to rebuild the home that has been destroyed. Far Reaching Ministries will commit, along with a Dutch mission office, to try to help rebuild. If you would like to be part of this project, please make a gift to Jacob’s house.
Wes Bentley Far Reaching Ministries