June 2023 Ministry Field Report

Almost every day I log onto my computer and am greeted with updates from our gospel partners across the globe. I wish that I could share with you every one of the pictures, videos, and testimonies from Mali, Pakistan, India, Mexico, and even here in the USA. When I say that the below is only a small glimpse of what God is doing, it feels like an understatement. The harvest truly is plentiful, and it is an amazing blessing to be working alongside His laboring few. I hope that this glimpse gives you a taste of the glorious fruits of your partnership in the gospel. May He uphold you until the day we receive the reward. ~J.D. Grimes, NGJ Chief Outreach Coordinator

The churches in Mali are hard at work distributing the 10,000 French Good and Evil books we printed for them earlier this year. They are spreading the books around to prisons, schools, and villages in Muslim areas where there is little or no Christian witness. Recently one of the evangelists on the team was aided by a local church in distributing the books in the prison of Sévaré in the Mopti region of central Mali. The prison’s population is mostly Muslim, and it houses many ex-combatant jihadists. The women of the church prepared a meal of rice and fish, and served it to the prisoners as well as the guards. Here is the testimony of Pastor Luc Sagara, who was responsible for this campaign:

“When I saw the prisoners, I cried. The prisoners were [so] happy for the donation of the books especially accompanied with some things to eat. I couldn’t hold back my tears because of the prisoners’ [gratefulness].  The prisoners asked the Church to continue to come. Some [requested] to pray for them [that] when they are [released] that they will give [the rest of] their life to Jesus.

“I thank the Lord who blessed me. Through No Greater Joy Ministries this campaign was a success for me. In this prison we have 300 prisoners, [they] all listened to the word of God by the book of Good and Evil, even the Jihadists who are locked in this prison, they listened to the word of God.

“Pray for me, the distribution [continues], next week it will be the big prison of Bamako where we have more than 5000 prisoners. Pray for this to be a success too.  THANKS.”

The team has almost completed a translation of Good and Evil into Bembara, a local language that will enable them to reach even more villages where French is not as well known. Lord willing, we hope to print the Bembara edition for them later this year.

God is moving in Pakistan. People from every background are opening up to the gospel. Muslims, Hindus, and Catholics; from poor schoolchildren to village leaders, and even upper-class politicians and influencers. The evangelistic team there continues to distribute Good and Evil books and do showings of the G&E animated video in different locations throughout the country. And the response is tremendous.

Just one example: In February the team visited many Hindu tribes in the Sindh region and preached to thousands of people. Some of the tribal leaders have remained in touch and continued to ask questions about Jesus Christ and the Bible. On May 14th, one entire clan professed faith and threw out all of their idols. Now they are actively preaching the gospel to other clans around them!

The work is moving forward so fast that the team has requested we print more books for them in July, when they had previously expected their supply to last through September. We’ll need to raise about $35,000 this month in order to print 10,000 copies for them.

Many churches, pastors, and evangelists are using Good and Evil to reach India with the gospel. Even in the face of increasing anti-conversion laws, many unreached groups are being reached and many lives are being transformed. One young man and former drug addict recently shared his testimony with us by video. Watch it here: ngj.org/india-testimony. (Please don't post this to social media, for the safety of this young man.)

Many of the churches throughout the country are currently running their summer VBS outreach, and are using Good and Evil as a part of their curriculum. Some of the churches only have enough copies for the teachers to use, but hope to get more books to give out to the students at the graduation, to expand the impact in their homes and communities. Our printer is ready to print and distribute 10,000 English copies as soon as we have the funding.

Here in the USA Good and Evil continues to impact the lives of tens of thousands of inmates every year. Through our Lightbearer program we’re able to send the books freely to any inmate or chaplain that requests one. Here’s a message we received from a chaplain last Friday:

“Hello. It’s the Chaplain at the St. Louis County Jail in Duluth, MN again. I am completely out of the last two boxes you sent and was wondering if you might send more, please? I clearly give them out to keep, and they go like hotcakes. I’m waiting for you to get tired of my requests, but they really are great Bibles! Because of the format they are great for all reading levels, and they are especially good for people with ADHD which is everyone in here to be honest. Thank you so much for what you are doing!”