If you have a kid or an animal you might understand this statement; wow, how they have grown! Why is it that people say that? It is because they have not seen that person or animal in some time, and in that period of time, to the outside person all they see is the growth, whereas you, the parent or owner do not notice the growth as much. Sure, you can tell and take note from time to time, but because you are with them day in and day out you do not reflect on the growth as much as you should. Over the past month or so, several local pastors here in our area have said, “wow, those young men are maturing”, referring to the four men Seth has been discipling. Seth is with them 4-7 days a week, teaching, working, eating, doing ministry, talking with and living with them. When we left them for a little over 10 days they said it “felt like a year or two since they saw us, they missed the fellowship”. If you were to see the four men Seth is training two years ago, you would be surprised; one had always succumbed to peer pressure, one was basically a mute and had no interest towards full time ministry, and the other two had so many rough edges it was hard to distinguish them from the other youth in the village.

Independence Celebration Preaching: Isaiah

Independence Celebration Preaching: Patterson

Independence Celebration Preaching: Kevin

Independence Celebration Preaching: Frankie

Through God’s grace alone, God’s Word, countless prayers (yours and ours), their willingness, and God’s timing, these young men are shaping into godly men. The one who fell under peer pressure is now standing up against witch doctors. The one who was almost a mute just preached in front of hundreds and wants to do no other work than ministry. The other two young men are now examples to the community in the village. Piece my piece, precept upon precept, and truth after truth, God is conforming them more into His image. He has promised to do the work; all we have to do is help them along in their journey. It is a privilege to see these young men discover truths and apply them to their lives; it makes us proud to see them go against the norm and serve God with their lives.

Class is in session!

Continue to pray for Kevin, Frankie, Isaiah and Patterson. Our Lord said we must go and make disciples, not of ourselves, but of Him. Pray they continue to conform to His image, for they are the ones who will make great change here in Vanuatu.

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

There is something to say about the Christian life that those in the secular world cannot comprehend, when truth is being revealed for the first time it brings a joy to ones heart and they feel immediately different. Being here and experiencing it first hand, is rather amazing if we can be honest. There is never a day off, where Satan is not trying new ways to win people over and shoot a fiery dart long distance to try and cripple someone. But we have noticed that as we teach, encourage, and love on people they see that God’s Word is true freedom. They relate it to carrying a heavy backpack over many mountains, and once they confess and repent, they feel like they can skip as they cross the mountains because the backpack has been removed.

Seth has been training the men that sin has consequences, and that we as leaders need to be like doctors to help remove sin from peoples lives and make them whole again (restore them). As Seth and one of the local pastors were counseling a man and his wife, Seth was training the pastor that sin has layers, and touches more than one area of a person’s life. As the conversation progressed, after many questions, the man they were counseling said, “The chiefs dealt with my sin and I paid the price for my sin. I felt okay, but I felt like it was pitch-black and they were looking into my life like looking into a house, but they were just outside looking in through a window. But now you guys came, I feel refreshed, I feel fellowship, you used God’s Word, you pursued my heart, you came into my house and brought the strongest flashlight you had and checked every part of my life for sin. You did that not to judge me, but to show me where all the dirt was so I can clean it up and get right with God, thank you uncle”… (He calls Seth uncle). Please pray for this couple, Cho and Martha that they continue to grow in their relationship with God and with each other.

Bible School Student: Pattison

Bible School Student: Kevin

Bible School Student: Isaiah

Bible School Student: Francky

Time and time again we have seen the truths of God’s Word penetrate the hearts of the people, we even had a chief come to us and say, “How Christians talk and how those who are not Christians talk is totally different, it would just be better and easier if everyone was a Christian”. Here is another amazing story of how God’s Word penetrates hearts, Seth and the four Bible school students were going through Ephesians 5 and learning that there are no clauses or exceptions to how husbands ought to treat their wives. Whether she makes you happy or not you ought to love her just the same. Immediately after hearing these truths, the eldest of the four students stood up and said, “You two who are not married have a chance to go on the right path before you start, us two who are married started wrong, we have been on this road for years, going the wrong way, we now have to fix our path, we never heard these truths before, now we know them, now we have to follow them. You two… don’t be like us and start wrong, we didn’t know, now I have to go and fix my road”. God’s Word in itself is amazing and powerful, it is a light in the darkness, it leads us on the right path, and it will make us look different in a good way, if we let it. Praise God that He is all we need, He is enough, we are so thankful it does not depend on us.

Studying & Hard at Work

Your feet to the unreached, Seth & Nicole Stokes

We successfully made it back from our big outreach! It was a 5-day trip where we visited two main villages and 4 out of the 5 days we hiked 6-9 hours. We travelled over 50 miles crossing rivers so many times that we lost count, the one day was a total of over 17 miles. Praise God saints were encouraged and we had no injuries or ailments. Nicole was the first female ex-pat to ever make it to the farthest village, and it was the first time women were the emphasis of an outreach.

The Farthest Village: Pastor Jonas

Seth and Pastor Gabbie led the way, carrying the bulk of the supplies in their backpacks, and the girls: Nicole, Pastor Gabbie’s wife-Smiley, their oldest daughter Amber, their sister-in-law, along with 2 other young ladies Nicole is discipling, all followed in a line.

Nicole’s “4-wheel drive”-Sylvian

The Many River Crossings

So Refreshing!

Enjoying the River After a Steep Climb

Both Seth and Pastor Gabbie preached at each village, emphasizing the supremacy of God’s Word and also giving practical applications for the believers to live out their Christian lives. The ladies led the praise music, introducing the Tiale songbook to everyone. The people were so elated to hear songs in their own language for the first time for the entirety of a main service. Currently we are having the first books printed out at Light House Baptist Church in Australia, thank you Pastor Bakss and church family! Whenever that project is finished we will then delve them out to each of the churches.

Leading Worship in Tiale

Arriving in the Farthest Village

The men went around the villages trying to make connections with people, fellowship, and even win people to the Lord. While the ladies brought nail polish (the ladies love their nails painted), and a beaded bracelet project. Ladies are never too tired to not do crafts! All the ladies were so thrilled! It made it such a memorable moment for them all (and yes, Seth carried beads that far). He also agreed to letting the girls carry a bunch of flowers to take back home that they found along the trail!

Traveling with girls is so much different than just with men

Us two couples made it a point to train the women that went with us in some principles for not just womanhood, but also ministry and being godly women for Christ.

Making Bracelets and Making Memories

Hard at Work-Bracelets!

Getting the Nails Painted!

Side point: It was really cold at night in both of these villages! So this is how the girls dressed for church…

We went to the evening church service like this! So cold!

We were able to encourage one of the pastors to come to the Bible school next year and get some; refreshment, encouragement, along with theological and practical training, as he was struggling in his Christian life. He along with his family will be coming next year to be “built up” in the faith. We will be sending two of the young men that we are training as pastors to fill the pulpit, ministry, and even work in his literal garden J in his absence. Our goal is to fully-equip as many as we can, along with equip them the most we can, with the most materials in the time the Lord gives us with each individual. Please pray for this pastor and his family, he is isolated on a mountain battling against witch-doctors day in and day out; his name is Pastor Jean-Marc.

Pastor Jean Marc & Family

And now we are back home and have gotten some good rest after that long trip. Thank you for your prayers for us as we hiked and ministered to the Tiale people far and wide. Stay tuned for a video from our trip.

What a Trip! Thankful to be back home.

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

Hi everyone! Just a quick prayer request: we (Seth and myself) are leaving for a 5 day hiking-outreach, visiting two villages. These are both some of the furthest villages of our language group, the one has never had an ex-pat woman come to it before. Pray for our safety as we travel. We will be traveling with a local pastor and his wife, along with some of the girls I have been discipling. Other than Seth and the Pastor, no one else in the group has ever been to these villages. Seth and the Pastor will both be preaching at each village, and Seth will be teaching a workshop as well. We will come back Monday night our time! Thank you for your prayers in advance!

Your feet in Vanuatu,

Seth & Nicole Stokes

Group from Conference

Students and Pastors

We have some exciting news and several opportunities for you to partner with us in the future of the Big Bay Bible School and its campus! Click the link below to read more…

Newsletter-May-October-Project

Your Feet to the Unreached in Vanuatu,

~Seth & Nicole Stokes

When you live in the jungle, things never go “as you plan”, but you always have to be ready to expect the unexpected and enjoy what God gives you. Even though two of the villages did not show up, we have heard from them that they were so excited about how the conference went and what transpired there that they are now even more desiring of the Gospel. So that is exciting!

Having Fun & Enjoying Doughnuts

Seth was able to train four men to use the Foundational Bible Teaching material effectively and two other men are at a competent level. The results were amazing as Seth, along with the six other men team-taught every day. Each day they went through seven lessons and you saw those who have heard the teaching before and those who have never heard it attentive and wanting more.

Teaching the Group

Teaching the Group

The event was Monday morning through Friday Night. We had lessons from 7am until noon (with small breaks in between), we ate together, and then played soccer and volleyball together, we would then head to the church for a nightly service whether it was a skit night, or sermon, singing worship songs in Tiale or even testimony night. Seth and the men organized a Godly focused week. Nicole and two of the Pastor wives cooked pretty much every part of every meal (breakfast, snack-time, lunch, and dinner) daily, and made sure the people were full and couldn’t eat any more.

Baking Bread

We all stayed together on the Bible School property. Thanks to the facilities we were able to host about 40 people and we all slept comfortably (we want to make more facilities, so we can host more next time! Look at our Newsletter for more information). People did not want to leave, it was like a retreat, all of us here at the school property, fellowshipping early morning until late at night, talking about God’s Word, eating well, and having fun. It was truly a time of rejuvenation for everyone. All the pastors in training, current pastors, attendees, and all their families were so grateful for the event… they cannot wait until the next one! Here are some of the things they said about the conference:

The Attendees

Afternoon Sports

One pastor who has heard the teaching before, “every time I hear this teaching, I get something new, it is so refreshing; I feel refreshed”.

Another pastor said, “I cannot wait till the next phase of this teaching, I need this”.

Another pastor said, “It is good for me to hear this, I need to be reminded of the simple Truths of the Bible and how it leads us to God Himself”.

One attendee said, “I never heard the story of Adam and Eve, I never understood where sin came from”.

Another attendee said, “I have never heard anything like this, next year I want to come back and get trained to know God’s Word better”.

Another attendee said, “This is good for me, I need this”.

Another attendee told me that this helped their marriage, “The Gospel helped us and our marriage”.

Upon Completion of the Course

Thank you for all of your prayers! It was a lot of work, but God heard your prayers and blessed the event. Even though the event may not have “looked” how we wanted; we know that a full-Gospel was spread, teachers were trained, the curriculum in Bislama was checked, believers were strengthened and encouraged, a couple of people understood the Gospel more completely and are now taking steps to follow God more wholeheartedly, and many fires were stoked because of this event.

            Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

As we are gearing up for an exciting week here in Big Bay bush, getting ready for a week long Foundational Bible Teaching conference. Please keep us in prayer this week! Stay tuned for pictures and more about the conference…  Before the conference begins, we wanted to take a moment to update you all on some projects that we will hope to start on this September. We are working to build up the campus here at the Bible School so we put together some needs we will have in order to accomplish this goal. See the link below to read more…

Newsletter-May-June-2018

As always, we are honoured to represent you all here in Vanuatu,

Your feet to the unreached,

Seth and Nicole Stokes

Please pray for us, on June 18^th we will be hosting a conference that will be a conglomerate of eight plus villages, three of them have no Gospel preaching church in our near their area for hours. We are hosting four villages altogether, the other four villages are those who we are team-teaching with to work through the Foundational Bible Teaching; Creation to Christ. We will be teaching seven lessons a day, four lessons will be taken by four of the pastors in training, two by two local pastors who Seth is also training, along with Seth who will be taking one lesson a day.

The course will run Monday through Friday; at least ten of the individuals who are expected to come have never heard the full story of their Creator Who loves them and died for their sins. We have several dorms, buildings, and guest housing so we will be jam-packed with over 30 people on this property.

Coffee Break

Seth has taken the past 6-7 weeks to train these young pastors how to not only articulate themselves as they preach; but to also have the character and heart of a pastor, along with a working knowledge of the teaching and helping them apply the messages to their audience. (Pictures from the past few weeks during class).This is a really exciting time for us, one of the boys has only preached in public less than 6 times ever in his life!

Kevin Teaching

Isaiah Teaching

As you can imagine, planning any event is difficult, let alone trying to connect 8 villages, get verification on those coming, along with getting all the supplies for the conference such as; benches (special thanks to Frazer Graham and RV), sleeping arrangements, this Friday is “clean up day” for the Bible School property, water, and of course about $1,000 worth of food. All of which we had to spear-head and supply, but we are confident God will bless this conference.

Pattison Teaching

Francky Teaching

Please pray for us: as Nicole gets all the logistical things ready such as food, etc., and Seth as he continues training the men, and not making this a perfunctory act, but something that is done out of worship to our Lord. Our goal is to model a love for Christ and God’s Word in all we do, please pray for the multiple villages (1-5 people per village) coming, along with the young men as they grow in their walk with the Lord (Kevin, Frankie, Isaiah and Patterson).

May His name be made Great among us, your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes

I (Seth) like to call giving the Gospel “step 1”, but I like to call discipleship “step 2”. One of the pastors here said to me, “I knew the Gospel was important, but I have missed discipleship altogether, thanks to you I understand that I too need to do this myself as well”. If we are honest, in some ways, giving the Gospel can take 5 minutes, 1 hour, 2 days, or a precise moment that God allows. As long as you use God’s Word effectively and in a culturally comprehensive way, the job can be quick and almost immediately gratifying (the McDonald’s-western-worldview loves that aspect). But that is just step one… and if we are understanding the Great Commission correctly, we can see that the Gospel is not main point… that’s right, its referred to, but the focus is to “make disciples… teaching them to observe ALL things…” That’s right, the problem with step 2, is that it is nothing like step 1.

Signing a special with the Bible School Students

It takes time, lots of it. Not just hours of teaching Scripture, but also relating it in socio-structural (cultural) ways. This is where we are beginning to see fruit, discipling people to make their own disciples. To make things clear, the Gospel is the essence of what we all should be doing, but you can give the Gospel and not disciple someone, whereas when you are discipling someone it implies you are giving or have given the Gospel.

The principle of discipleship is quintessential to our faith, we have been spreading this teaching to several villages and churches and they have been in awe saying things like “we have never heard of this… I didn’t know all Christians were suppose to do this”. It has been very concrete-relational because when we share about this principle we use the young men (and Nicole with the women) we are training as our examples. We explain that yes, we teach them God’s Word, but we also have them in our house to eat multiple times a week, we eat with them in their setting multiple times a week, we participate in cultural events together, we work in the garden together, we play soccer and volleyball with them, we sit down by the fire and talk to them about their life and hear their struggles, we pray together often, and if needed we cry together… this is what it has taken, over months to begin to see true growth and understanding in their lives.

Recording the New Tiale Songs

To see them discussing scripture outside of class or church, to see them applying God’s Word in their daily lives, to see them trying to correct people who have sinned in a loving way, to see them open the scriptures and show people that witchcraft is of the devil, to see them teaching their young friends or even their four-year old about God… to see them want more of God and begin to look different than their peers, it is just an exciting time. To witness growth is just a blessing God allows, because we can plant or water, but He is the one who makes everything grow… and to be a spectator in the process is precious.

Ladies Bible Study

One of the pastors from a nearby village, his has asked us to be a part of a small ceremony for one of the young men (Kevin) I am discipling, it is not an ordination but is more a blessing and marking him for the ministry. If he continues to grow and be faithful, he could be ordained as early as 2020. The church will be hosting this event on the 24^th of this month, and I was asked to be the key speaker, to give both a challenge and encouragement about the ministry. Please pray for him, Kevin, his wife Josephine, his daughter Tiro, and his two sons John and Jeremiah.

The Gospel is glorious, and is step 1, but to see people conform into the image of Christ is a beautiful thing and takes work, but step 2 is the command our Lord gave us. Continue to pray for us as we seek out men and women to move them onto step 2, discipleship.

Your feet to the unreached, Seth and Nicole Stokes.