EHOLD, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). God is always in the business of doing new things. So we often read of him in the scriptures (Isaiah 42:9), 
and so we regularly sing to him with songs, not merely old, but also new (Psalm 98:1). This fact is especially encouraging for missionaries at work where precious people abide in heathen darkness: God, who delights to do a new thing, is greatly pleased to bring his gospel, fresh and full, to unsaved souls with receptive hearts. We never cease to be amazed at the amount of people we meet on a monthly basis as a church who have never heard the true gospel here in 
Uganda. What an astonishing fact, that a predominately “Christian” country is practically “unreached” with the gospel!
There are other developments, too, which are making the path straight for the Lord’s many blessings to descend upon this spiritually-needy country. What a cause to rejoice, that even God’s very mercies to us all are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23)!
Marriage of John and Angela
It is official: John and Angela have tied the knot! It was a very beautiful marriage day, with many events and speeches to gladden all of our hearts. We thank all who helped in any way to make it such a success. We believe it is merely a firstfruits of the many marriages which are yet to come in this church. Currently, the overwhelming majority of the church are single people, in part 
because marriages are expensive and most of our church is remarkably poor, but also because people in Africa are loth to marry. Commitment is a hard thing to come by in a country devoid of true Biblical instruction. We hope this will be changed in the coming months and years.
With how much work is performed in this ministry, often things like afterthoughts of events get sidelined in favor of the new works and projects. This is why, a month after the marriage, we have neglected to post the videos of the marriage ceremony on our social media platform(s). But rest assured, they are about to be published for the benefit of all those interested soon.
Ministry Results for July
Jesus promised us that if we abide in him, we will bear “much fruit” (John 15:5). And this gives us the greatest joy, too, because the more fruit we bear in Christ, the more glory is given to the Father (John 15:8)! Though we be feeble branches, yet God has shown us time and again he is pleased to use us to bring Africa to Christ. All praise be given to him.
Across the month of July, our church, Bible Baptist Church, collectively with our own personal labors, saw 762 people pray to receive Christ after a personal presentation of the gospel to them. About 63 of those people came at least once to a discipleship lesson or church service (as we have before said, quite a few come who, sadly, no account is kept of, because it is only to a church service once or twice). We have often regrettably wondered why so many people can come to church, but not stay in church. After much prayer and looking into the matter, we believe God has revealed a profound deficiency in the way our church deals with new converts, the details of which new plan on how to change cannot be explained here at this time. Suffice it is to say now, we believe God is directing us to a new era in this ministry, where we very likely will soon begin to see book-of-Acts-style multiplication of the disciples. Only time will tell.
We were encouraged to have another lady of the church, Jemmimah, become a soul-winner this month, as she led her first person to the Lord. We also had a Baptism Day towards the end of the month, where we had 30 new believers baptized. We are almost done constructing our own baptistery at the church property, and therefore expect to see many more people baptized in the coming months, and (God-willing) to see baptisms on a weekly-basis.
The Power of Prayer
We have been experiencing multiple fascinating stories of answered prayer. You see, it was just before July and throughout the whole month that our church began holding regular prayer meetings. At one such prayer meeting before a group of us went out soul-winning, one of us prayed very specifically for things that, to our surprise, indeed occurred. Note with what exactness God answers specific prayer. And again, as we held a prayer meeting about the Baptism Day which occurred on July 23rd, I (Jesse) prayed, using the language of Abraham in Genesis 18, for God to give us “10, no, 20, no, 30 people who would be baptized on that day.” Considering I stopped there, and at that number, might not seem important, until one remembers that, without our knowledge (and having clearly forgotten about my prayer), we were able to get no more and no less than 30 people baptized on that day.
Truly we must all realize how powerful it would be if, as families and churches, there were prayer meetings held all over the world for this beautiful continent of Africa. And as Paul was so bold to ask the great Christians at Rome for prayer (Romans 15:30-32), so we ask the same from all of you. Consider even holding prayer meetings for this work going on in Uganda—we are sure the Lord will do great wonders by your prayers!
Here are three specific things you can pray for during this month:
- Wisdom in Preaching. We have experienced many life-changing and timely sermons as a church in the past couple months (e.g., marriage sermons, a sermon on prayer, etc.), and such ideas and preparations must be from the Lord (Proverbs 16:1). Please pray that God would continue to reveal to us what we ought to preach, and when, and that he would guide us in our regular expository preaching through the Bible.
- Greater Retention of New Believers. As discussed in this letter, perhaps our single-greatest problem as a church is the fact that new believers who visit once or twice do not stay. While we have clear understanding now of why that is and are working hard to correct it, we need God’s guidance and his Holy Spirit to bless us in remedying this problem. Please pray that everyone who gets saved and comes to church would “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42)—that is, pray that they would all learn, fellowship, and serve.
- More Laborers. Jesus taught us to always pray for more workers in the field of evangelism and spiritual work, even before sending out the disciples to preach (see Matthew 9:36-38). Although there are well-over 70 current soul-winners at this church, we feel overwhelmed at the far greater need for many thousands of soul-winners, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Please pray that God would continue raising up indigenous soul-winners, evangelists, and pastor-teachers from this ministry, and elsewhere, to evangelize all of Africa.
God bless you all