The Shepherd's Staff, World MAP's
The Shepherd's Staff, World MAP's
The Shepherd's Staff, World MAP's
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DigOct08:DigJul05 10/8/2008 2:10 PM Page 6<br />
In Pakistan (above) Alex Sarfraz hands out an Urdu<br />
Shepherd’s <strong>Staff</strong> during a conference in Lahore. Below, the<br />
Emmanuel Press staff in South Africa reviews ACTS<br />
mail.<br />
praise the Lord for ACTS; when I practiced the lessons<br />
I received, ‘How to Face and Overcome the Power of<br />
Darkness’, God’s power really worked and my children<br />
were healed!<br />
“Once one of my children was almost paralyzed; it<br />
happened many times; we were confused; however<br />
when my wife and I practiced the lessons from ACTS:<br />
to praise and worship God, to drive out the devils, suddenly<br />
a black creature run away and until now the sickness<br />
is gone. Praise the Lord!<br />
“Just recently we also faced a problem that tested<br />
our faith. We thank the Lord for ACTS. At that time we<br />
had no money anymore; and we practiced the lessons<br />
of faith, and God really poured His blessings. Thank<br />
you for your prayers and ministry to us.”<br />
Testimonies such as this, said Eliana, encourage<br />
them and assure them that their work for the Lord “is<br />
never in vain”.<br />
“We cannot visit every pastor individually because<br />
of distance and time, but through ACTS magazines we<br />
can reach distant and remote places and be a blessing to<br />
them,” Robert added.<br />
BRAZIL: “What All Of <strong>The</strong>m Say” To You<br />
Vander Santos, who oversees the production and<br />
distribution of ATOS, the Portuguese edition of ACTS,<br />
said, “For me, [it] is a great pleasure to participate in<br />
this ministry, because I know that many leaders here in<br />
Brazil have been receiving spiritual food of quality.<br />
I receive a lot of letters of leaders of churches, cells,<br />
biblical schools, distant and poor communities, leaders<br />
6 • WORLD MAP DIGEST<br />
in prisons and more,” he added. “All of them affirm<br />
that <strong>World</strong> MAP material is a true seminar for them,<br />
that the material has been vastly enriching their ministry,<br />
and they can offer much more with the knowledge<br />
that they have been acquiring with the material of<br />
ACTS and <strong>The</strong> Shepherd’s <strong>Staff</strong>. ‘Praise the Lord for<br />
your work and your effort’ is what all of them say.”<br />
PAKISTAN: Tower Of Light<br />
<strong>World</strong> MAP’s Pakistani office manager Alex<br />
Sarfraz recently shared this message of appreciation<br />
from church leader Younas Zia: “God bless you with<br />
spiritual blessings abundantly. Praise God for every<br />
thing which we receive in the name of Jesus Christ.<br />
Except Gospel, ACTS is the magazine which opens the<br />
eyes spiritually of mankind. I have been benefited by it<br />
greatly. Your organization has really a wonderful purpose<br />
to publishing it in Pakistan. It is like a tower of<br />
light for church leaders specially. It has changed my<br />
life as I have learned many things by reading it.” (Read<br />
more from Brother Alex on page 12.)<br />
SOUTH AFRICA: Vibrant Partnership<br />
Emmanuel Press – in White River, South Africa –<br />
has partnered with <strong>World</strong> MAP for more than 30 years,<br />
once as a major printing and distribution point but over<br />
the past decade primarily as “a depot” that receives<br />
<strong>World</strong> MAP mail from African Acts Magazine and<br />
Shepherd’s <strong>Staff</strong> readers who cannot afford a postage<br />
stamp to mail a letter to the <strong>World</strong> MAP headquarters<br />
in Burbank, California.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>se requests are often accompanied by testimonies<br />
of great blessing received through the <strong>World</strong><br />
MAP publications,” said Margaret Hooker, who pointed<br />
out that church leaders who write to <strong>World</strong> MAP’s<br />
South Africa address get an added benefit: “We here at<br />
Emmanuel Press, on our part, make contact with all<br />
those who have sent in ACTS and Shepherd’s <strong>Staff</strong><br />
requests, by sending them a small set of Gospel tracts,<br />
which often then leads to them becoming tract distributors<br />
and/or people who do our free Bible<br />
Correspondence course.”<br />
EAST AFRICA: Quality Ventures<br />
Elim missionaries Sig and Joy Feser, serving on the<br />
African continent for many years, provide <strong>World</strong><br />
MAP’s vital link to East African nations. Sig also provided<br />
the topical concordance material included in <strong>The</strong><br />
Shepherd’s <strong>Staff</strong>.<br />
Joy recalls: “We started with <strong>World</strong> MAP in 1989<br />
when Marvin Fast [the late president of <strong>World</strong> MAP<br />
Canada] picked up on the one sentence Sig wrote about<br />
the Topical Concordance he intended to write. That<br />
became part of <strong>The</strong> Shepherd’s <strong>Staff</strong> and paved the way<br />
for the Swahili translation of <strong>The</strong> Shepherd’s <strong>Staff</strong> and<br />
ACTS Magazine. According to Operation <strong>World</strong>,<br />
Christianity has grown from 33% to 54% during the<br />
time we have been distributing books and magazines to<br />
church leaders.... <strong>The</strong>y send us wonderful testimonies<br />
of church growth, and of changed lives due to the<br />
teachings. What a privilege to be part of this wonder-