African Missions News

January 2023

This is YOUR opportunity to help bring lasting change to the world!

One of our huge projects we plan to complete by the Summer of 2023. As you are aware, our dearly departed brother Billy Jones was the reason we established contact with Thomas Mpanga and have since developed the Message of the Cross network of churches (MOTC) in Malawi. 17 churches have been planted in the last two years and only since December have the pastors had their own Bibles. It is our desire to put the Word of God in the hands of every believer so that the Living Word may be active in their hearts and minds, thereby strengthening the corporate body, and thus growing the Church by adding souls through equipped evangelists.

We can accomplish this task through the financial contributions of ministry partners. Thanks to the creative commons license from Biblica, Inc (https://open.bible), we are able to reproduce as many copies of the Mau Mulungu (Word of God) in the Chichewa language. We only have to fund the printing and shipping from a professional manufacturer. With this we will be able to personalize the Bibles with our own ministry branding, which will bring the members and leaders of the MOTC churches a sense of great accomplishment and belonging; thus empowering them in their hearts to continue the exploits of faith for which they strive so eagerly.

Our goal is to raise $15,000.00 to bring a hard-printed copy and a loaded mp3 audio player to every household in the MOTC network. This will also promote literacy as many illiterate families can learn to read by following along with the audio player. River of Life Church in West Point, KY has already pledged and collected a matching fund of $5,000! This means we only need to raise another $10,000 to complete this goal.

I am asking you to consider a special sacrificial gift toward this great campaign. And we want to honor those who partner with us in this project by offering a token of gratitude:

• For gifts of $1,000 or more we will send you all the gifts listed below plus a reserved copy of these Chichewa Bibles!

• For gifts of $500 or more we will send you the gifts listed below plus a copy of my ‘Evangelism Master Class’ in the format of your choice!

• For gifts of $100 or more we will send the gift listed below plus your name, church, or business listed on the “sponsored by” page printed in these Bibles!

• Gifts of any amount will receive a free download of my teaching series, “Soul-Winning Parables”

Send your special sacrificial donation via mail to: BRN Ministries P.O. Box #1 Shepherdsville, KY 40165
(or Give through the links on this page)

Thank you in advance for your sacrificial generosity!

- Pastor Barry

NOW OPEN! - Billy Jones Tailor Shop

Thanks to your generous financial support, we now have the means to sustain our own ministry works in Malawi with our volunteers making and selling clothes in their own community. Their faith is so lifted. The legacy of Billy Jones lives on. Even his music and spoken word ministry is being cherished by the people of Malawi. What really gave me a joyful surprise is that our staff in Malawi made this video all on their own, using one of Billy’s recordings as a background track. I highly encourage you to watch the entire video. I personally believe it is perfectly made! Thank you Bishop Thomas for blessing us with this treasure!

- Pastor Barry

Mpanga Report - 22nd May, 2022

NZUNGWI CHURCH KEEPS GROWING IN NUMBERS.
THE DIRECTOR URGES THEM TO ENLARGE THEIR SHELTER.

God gave me an opportunity to visit our brethren at Nzungwi Message of the Cross Ministries' church on Sunday.

It was a very beautiful day with a clear sky and sunny day. As you know that there is a long distance from Blantyre to Nzungwi we started our journey at around 6:30 am and we arrived at around 9:00 am. The traveling it self was so good unlike my first trip on March 19 2022; this time, I found the government tractor clearing the road. So they have work almost 80% of the road hence smooth trip. This saved my time.

The most encouraging thing is to witness the growth of the church in spiritual and an increase in their numbers. From the humble beginning from March 19 the church has grown up to the membership of 50 in two months time. I saw beautiful new active faces. The shelter is now small we squeezed into it and l have directed that they should enlarge the shelter so that there should be space enough as the numbers are growing each Sunday. They asked plastic paper for roofing and l gave them. All of them were happy to see me and other servants accompanied coming back to them since the planting of this church (except Pastor Jamali who was delegated last time to see them was not on this trip).

I would say that l have noticed that the Bible this church is the one l gave them on 19th March and no one else has a Bible . I just felt that We should start praying for Bibles' by God provision.

There is a general problem that is affecting our people and a large size of Malawians. "Hunger" already this is harvesting time and a 50 kg bag of maize is between K10,000 and K15,000 [100 lbs of corn meal for $20 USD]. This Staple food price has escalated compared to last year's of haverst price of between K4000 and K 7,000 [Last year was $10 USD for same amount].

We took a collection for the widow “Grandmother Esmie”. I was told that Esmie's husband died a year ago leaving her helplessly due to her age. Keep her in Prayer.

I preached from Acts 2 and 5. Christian culture that Spurs church growth. Unity of purpose, Praying, evangelism, the reading, and studying of God's word. All these accelerated the general growth of the early church.

My eyes are toward our next Chikhwawa outreach. Thanks to you and thanks to brethren who accompanied and worked faithfully alongside me. By having the gift of this new phone, we are able to give you these updates. It is helping me so much and making my work so nuch easier. Thank you. I hope these reports encourage you to bow down at the feet of God's throne [in prayer] for us. This is vital brother, for the prayer of Faith shall heal the sick.

We are grateful to be ministry partners under the Never Forget The Blood Network. It is beyond my vision and my imagination. It is God! Thank you for accepting the Cross in order to serve us for Christ. I never take it for granted and it is my prayer to use this God-given chance to win more souls for Christ. You can see we are in 'Hurry' and My heart is eager to win more people for God. I will celebrate seeing more souls in heaven saved through this grace God has given me and Message of the Cross Malawi.

I will seed and invest all financial gifts from supporters into God's garden and people won for Christ will be the harvest and they will be the great profit. Brother, we will work hard: so hard to protect the money from being abused by any kind of leadership. It is for all members to benefit from this service. Please keep praying for us.

We have learned from pastor Barry to be honest and transparent in our leadership decisions; only doing what is in line with God's ethics. I always tell my fellow leaders about this that we need to do our church activities above reproach. So this is what l am developing in each of the leaders and founding this ministry on these pillars.

Be reminded always that your hand shall remain appreciated. Shalom.

Thomas Mpanga.
Executive Officer, NFTB Malawi.

Mpanga Report - 8th May, 2022

"NEW" MESSAGE OF THE CROSS MINISTRIES' CHURCH IS PLANTED IN ZOMBA YESTERDAY!

A new church is planted in Zomba yesterday 7th May 2022. On behalf of directors, trustees, pastors and all members; l wish to express my deepest appreciation to God for making his Great commission possible in the remote area of Gwaza in Zomba " God is not stopping amazing us: because this is the second church to be planted in three months time following the Mwanza church" and the fifth church since we joined hands with our major partner Never Forget The Blood Network and Pastor Barry Netherton.

The net is cast wider in Africa and Malawi in particular as the opportunity to spread the gospel has prevailed. More people are coming to Christ and churches are been planted. It is fulfilling seen more and more people receiving Jesus as their Lord and savior and their needs. We praise God for 31 people who made a decision to follow Jesus and many who were prayed for sickness; marriages, job opportunities ,education and hunger since Malawi has the lowest crop harvest this year due to cyclones that hit very hard the country for the first time in our history; just to mention a few.

My deepest heartfelt thanksgiving goes to all members who took part in this outreach, all brethren who prayed and played a positive role alongside us for the success of this mission.

With all fairness; l would like to express my joy to my brother Pastor Barry Netherton our President and the Chief Executive Officer of Never Forget The Blood Network "Our Major Partner" for his wonderful leadership in our Organization. Your commitment and sacrifice shall remain a strong pillar and everlasting good fragrance in the kingdom of God. Your financial support facilitated this divine mission so well. Keep praying for us, new branch growth and pray for our next outreach and church planting in the lower Shire district of Chikhwawa.

May God bless you all and never forget the Blood!

Evangelist Thomas Mpanga.
Executive Officer, NFTB Malawi.

Mpanga Report - 19th March, 2022

Good afternoon brother. 

I thank God for His grace and mercy. We traveled and had an outreach as l informed you. Although we were obstructed by rains, we had a very good time. On Saturday we set off at 8 am and we got to the site at around  1:30 pm. The area is remote with poorly maintained roads and we were all happy that we were obedient to OUR Lord's great commission. Amen. We started our journey back at exactly 6:22 pm and after we covered about 40% of our way back the front tyre was deflated. This occurred around 8:30 pm. The problem was corrected and then we got home at around 10 pm. I thanked God that we had a safe journey.  Please receive my apology for not video calling you due lack of network. In this area brother, people walk a distance to get to the mobile signal. Communication is a very big problem in this area. 
All in all, history was made. The first new branch of the Message of The Cross Church in Malawi is now opened in the district and we already have 8 dedicated families in this church plant. This is amazing and divine. We placed means and ways of monitoring the church and l am asking your further prayers for this new church. We won souls and prayed for people's needs.
Brother, previous to our partnership with Never Forget The Blood, we were not planting church regardless of calls to and outreach meetings we conducted because we knew that there is a cost to manage these branches and we thought we were not aged to when one could look at our numbers and finances. We were only managing was going into the world and preach the gospel.

But now after we joined hands with you, my direction and speed are accelerated because of our partnership (This is what l needed; Changing the lives of the lost souls and placing them under the teaching of God's Word). So with you "we are many" and behind us there is God! This is a new season and God is doing something new in Malawi and Africa at large.
Myself and the directors, as well as all members, are committed to this great commission. As l revealed our secret that before your visit, we want to have at least three more churches planted; and l am happy that from our meeting on Sunday, leaders have agreed to have another outreach on 8th May in another district and l urged them to start preparing so that we shall reduce the problems we had last time. Keep praying for this outreach as well.

My friends, Please join Rachel and I in faithful prayer that God will provide all that we need in order to travel to Malawi this Summer and complete the establishment of the Billy Jones Faith Tailor Shop, and to observe all that God is doing through our new network branch in Malawi.

In Christ,
Barry Netherton

The Story - January 2022

Many of you all know that our dearly departed brother in the Lord, Billy Jones, was a huge supporter of this ministry, but also one of my dearest and closest personal friends. We are rejoicing that he is dancing around the Throne of God in glory now, and swimming in that River he loved to sing so much about, although we still feel the sorrow of his absence even a year later.

But as I have been seeking to honor Billy by seeing that his music and ministry continue to circulate after his passing, I was contacted by a pastor in Malawi, Thomas Mpanga, who told me that he and his church were devastated to hear about Billy’s passing because he had been intricately used of God to help build their ministry through his teachings and music. Pastor Mpanga told me even though he had graduated from a small Bible College in his country, it was Billy’s teachings that really opened the Scriptures to him and helped him truly understand the Message of the Cross and to Remember Calvary.

My heart was thrilled to hear that my dear friend and brother had such an impact on these people. Throughout this year, I have been praying for God to open more doors of ministry for Never Forget The Blood, and we’ve been seeking ways to expand the borders of our missionary efforts. 

As I have researched and learned of Malawi’s desperate need for the work of the Gospel and humanitarian aid, I asked Pastor Mpanga what kind of opportunities he and his team have available to them where they can begin building their own economy and self-sustain their own ministry locally. After speaking with his team, and some church members, they decided a sustainable business they could maintain is a clothing store. And they told me they would like to call this business, Billy Jones’ Faith Tailor Shop.

I am pleased to announce as of December 2021, we have already been blessed with the finances to help start this shop, and have already begun regularly ministering in the Word virtually with Thomas and his team. We are praying for God to open the door for us to be able to travel for our initial visit in the summer of 2022 to finalize the launch of this work. We ask that you diligently join with us in fervent prayer for travel funds and schedule opportunities to see this vision manifest.

- Barry Netherton
Director of Ministry

Donate directly to NFTB:

Please check out Billy Jones’ website for more information about his ministry legacy.