January 2024 Update
Dear Friends,
I pray that you are forging into 2020 enjoying God’s mercy and strength! Many of you are aware of the severe health journey i have been on for the last several months. If you’re not, you can find out more at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tomsteller2.
For my January update I wanted to send you the year end report that Pastor Dieudonne has written. Dieudonne is my former student. He lived with our family for three years. He is now my Cameroonian pastor, my boss and my life-long friend. He’s the pastor of our first church plant in Yaounde, and the Director of our Cameroon extension of Bethlehem College and Seminary. He’s the husband of one of the most amazing women I have met, Dominique. And he is the father of Jaden and Gina.
Hope you enjoy the update. Thank you for lifting up the prayer requests in the Name of Jesus, our perfect Intercessor.
With affection and appreciation for you all,
—Tom
Update from Dieudonne Tamfu
New Cohort
Dear Friends,
We are so thankful for your prayers, and we are excited to share how God has already answered them!
Exciting News
We have new workers joining us on the field! Timothee and Abby just bought their flight tickets. They will be here in Cameroon at the end of January! We are so excited to labor side by side with these dear friends.
Timothee plans to teach and possibly pastor with Dieudonne. He is a gifted teacher and preacher with a true shepherd's heart. Abby will be supporting him and taking care of their 1-year old son. They are both French-speaking and ready to serve the kingdom.
Family
Our family is doing great. Dominique recently took a trip to Kenya for a Simeon's Trust Women's workshop for training in Bible exegesis. This was her first time away from the children. She missed them a lot, but it was a treat for the children to get more quality time with their Daddy.
As many of you know, Pastor Tom Steller (whom we consider part of our family) was ill and had his pancreas removed. We praise God that the surgery was successful, but we continue to pray that he would recover well. Please join us in praying earnestly for his recovery. We are eager to see him in good health and to fellowship with him here in Cameroon.
Simeon Trust Workshop in Kenya with 2 sisters from our church, Faith and Julie
Pastor Tom during one of his hospitalizations after the surgery
Church
"I love my church." That's what we keep hearing people say over the past few months. By God's grace, our members are extremely grateful for the biblical leadership, expository preaching, loving fellowship, and Christ-centered worship of our church. Many have testified that their lives have been completely transformed by the gospel. We are hoping and praying that we will plant more healthy churches in Cameroon in the near future. More news on that to come!
New members being added in October
Seminary
We have six new students this year. And we have five students preparing to graduate in May. It has been a joy getting to know the new students. We would describe this cohort as a group of "strong leaders" who are quite "radical" for the gospel. We are hoping God will use many of them to plant healthy churches in Cameroon.
New Cohort
1st Year & 4th Year Students and a future student from Central Africa
Building Update
Our congregation is growing, and we are squeezing as many chairs as we can into our rented hall. Unfortunately, we have not been able to start building because we do not have a large enough sum to get started. We are trusting God's timing and looking for ways to spread the word about our church's need. Here is our website for the project. Check it out! And please consider contributing and sharing with others.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for our our first year students that God would bless their time with us and ready them for Gospel ministry. Pray also for our fourth year students that God would lead them to places of ministry as they graduate in May 2024.
Pray for Pastor Tom's full recovery. His recovery has been slow. We miss him and Dieudonne is doing more now that Pastor Tom is sick. Pray that God would restore him quickly.
Pray for Timothee & Abby as they prepare to leave the US and move to Cameroon.
Pray for our church, Eglise Baptiste Bethleem, to stay rooted in the gospel and grow in maturity.
Pray that God would bring a new cohort for the seminary for the school year beginning August 2024.
We thank God for your love and prayers! You can give here.
For the greatest cause,
