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“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.” - Genesis 1:1

Praise God for blessing the 2015 South Sudan Summer Bible conference with his Life-giving words. Although Satan tried to hinder the conference by cutting the electricity of the venue for three days, 33 adults and 17 children attended the conference, along with 10 new faces.

Dr. Oyor Moses delivered the opening message based on Matthew 7:24 – 29 and encouraged us to be like the wise man who built his house on the rock. We must build our lives on our Rock, Jesus Christ, through hearing His words and putting it into practice.

The first main message was delivered by Shp. Philip Angelo based on Genesis 1 entitled, “In the Beginning.” He taught us that God created the world for His glory and created man for His mission.

The second day began with morning devotion lead by Shps. Kimo Philip based on Matthew 2: 13-17, the passage where Jesus calls Levi. The second main message was delivered by Shp. Elia Peter based on Genesis 3, “When God’s Love is Doubted.” Through this message, we learned about the seriousness of doubting God’s love. As we are living in a difficult situation in South Sudan, many bad things are currently happening. In such a situation, Satan can plant doubt about God’s love and care in our hearts.

The third day we had morning devotion based on Luke 5:1-11 led by Shp. Saeed Moses with a message entitled, “Fishers of Men.” We learned that our purpose in life is to catch people and bring them to Jesus. The third main message was delivered by Shp. Johnson Deng based on Genesis 12, “God calls Abraham.” In a sinful world living in the darkness of idol worship, God called one man to be the ancestor of faith and the source of blessing to mankind. Through this message, God planted hope in our hearts for South Sudan. Though we are living in the midst of a civil war, God is raising UBF shepherds to be a blessing to the people of South Sudan and to the world.

The fourth main message was delivered by Shp. Polis Apar based on Genesis 45 entitled, “Joseph’s Life of Faith.” South Sudan is full of corruption, tribalism, immorality and hardship. Through Joseph’s life, we learned to stand firm and continue to live a godly life despite our difficult situation. Joseph was a slave but he did not live as a slave. Instead, he lived as good shepherd for Potiphar’s household and the prisoners. Because of his life of faith, God could raise him as a blessing for God’s people and Egypt.

During this conference we could raise four growing Bible students as shepherd candidates. One of them is named Sabino Apar, who was a sheep of late Shp. Peter Angelo in Malakal. He is very active and loves God’s word, but he has a complaining mind. There is also Berthlomaus William who joined UBF in 2012. At first he was not faithful to Bible study, but when Dr. Oyor took care of him, he could fix his eyes, mind and heart on UBF bible studies. Bol Anayan is another candidate who despite joining UBF only one year ago, already has great zeal for Bible study. He studies the Bible and attends Sunday worship services continuously and he is a good example to growing sheep. He confessed and repented of his alcoholism and sexual immorality which began from a young age. Stephen Dak is another shepherd candidate. He lived a sinful life yet claimed to be Christian. However, after he joined UBF and had deep Bible study, God helped him to repent of his sins and live a new life in Jesus. Since then, he received new hope and direction for his life.

Prayer topics:

1. For all members to have spiritual zeal for God’s mission in 2016.

2. For Peter’s PhD studies in Egypt to be successful

3. To have 30 1:1 Bible studies and SWS in 2016

4. To raise 12 disciples of Jesus within two years

5. Raise three house churches within two years

6. Finish Bible house construction