The BBR Model

The BBR Model

We praise the Lord for the successful trip for two of our coworkers who were in Tanzania to install four Solar Media Centers. This tool is so valuable for these small rural pastors (and their churches). 

​Assisting Unreached Peoples Mission (UPM), Mike Tapia and Bryan Jackson traveled to four churches in the Tanzanian bush. The ministry of Unreached Peoples Mission trains pastors that usually come from a bigger town, and then sends them out to plant churches among hard-to-reach tribes.

UPM sends them out with their BBR model, which stands for a “Bible”, a “Bicycle”, and a “Roof”. Each trained pastor gets a Bible, a bicycle in order to reach the hard-to-reach places, and then once they start planting a church, they get a roof so that the congregation has somewhere to meet.

​Pastor John is one of the pastors whose church received a Solar Media Center. His church in Mang’ola has no power and neither do any of the people in his village. The lights, the speakers, the cell phone charger, and the LightStream Pocket make a very big difference at his church. ​

Please pray with us as these rural pastors used these tools to expand their reach for the gospel.

Missions Conferences

​​We have been blessed to join in our churches' missions conferences, missions emphasis months, and other events that focus on worldwide missions. 

​We have enjoyed demonstrating the Solar Media Center this year in several places. 

We are grateful for these opportunities and appreciate the blessing of meeting so many. Please pray that God will use these events to bring others to serve in missions.

 

 

Some Family News

​JR is hoping to be able to come home for Christmas this year.

He's a zookeeper in remote Kansas, and we really miss him.

​David and Dominique are expecting their first baby in March of 2023. "Children are a heritage from the Lord..." (Ps. 127:3)

Praises

Jean has a back up for her role in Donation Services! Ryan Smethers who recently began his service at SonSet Solutions is doing a terrific job. This made being away much easier. 

We praise the Lord for his constant provision and leading. He provides without us even asking sometimes!

We also praise Him for a wonderful getaway to New England and Prince Edward Island. We are grateful for the extra gifts some of you provided to make this happen.​

Requests

Please continue to pray for John's mother, Susan. Praise that she is back in their apartment, but she is recovering from a blood clot in her leg. 

Please pray that JR can come for Christmas.

Please pray that things would continue to go smoothly for David and Dominique with their first baby.

Please pray with us for the support we need to meet the required cost of living increase that will begin in January.

 

 

Solving Power Problems Worldwide

About 70% of radio transmitters fail because of bad power, which constitutes the majority of the transmitter repairs SonSet Solutions faces. The damaged transmitters can result in a station being off the air for weeks or months, crippling their outreach.

One such station is Radio Lumiere in Haiti.

​For over 40 years, they have frequently been taken off the air because of this kind of equipment failure. This is a challenge facing numerous ministries throughout the developing world.

Leon Amstutz (pictured above) spent years in Haiti developing a solution to this problem and, since joining SonSet Solutions in 2017, has worked with other engineers on the Power Solutions Team to refine the technology and make it work for the various types of power issues faced by different ministries. The result is what is now called the Power Protection Unit (PPU).

You can read more about this at sonsetsolutions.org/solving-power-problems​.

 More VBS Praise

​​We've had several churches in 2022 collect funds for SonSet Solutions through their Vacation Bible School programs. Funds raised go directly to distribute SonSet^® radios and Solar Media Centers around the world. Praise God!

Next week, two staff members, Mike Tapia and Bryan Jackson, will travel to Tanzania to install four Solar Media Centers, funded from a VBS at a nearby church. We thank the Lord not only for His provision, but also that young people in churches can participate in world missions in a very direct way!

Ministry: God sees all!

​"For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love you have shown for His name in serving the saints..."   (Heb 6:10a ESV)

Ministry service is an amazing privilege. Every believer is called to a variety of roles in church, home, work, volunteer service, and of course in world missions. Ministry at times can have seasons of stress and drain - but it's also deeply satisfying, faith-building, and sanctifying.

No work is insignificant! The Lord can use the faithful person where they are right now. Formal education is not always required. Scripture simply indicates we need to have humility and a servant's heart. It doesn't need to be visible - the omnipresent, omniscient God sees all. And the reward is eternal!

Praises

The Smethers family has now raised full support and will very shortly be joining our staff in a very much needed role. Praise God!

Requests

Please continue to pray for John's mother Susan as she continues on a long road to recovery. God has been gracious!​

 

 

Two Special Guests

We had the pleasure of getting to know two special guests at SonSet Solutions. The first, Dr. Tim Gilmour (right), is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science. He spent his sabbatical with us and worked primarily on developing the next generation of our Power Quality Monitor. You can read more about him on our webpage: https://sonsetsolutions.org/a-sabbatical-with-purpose/. 

Our second visitor also came with a specific purpose: to get training that would enable him to pursue his long-term goal to serve in Asia-Pacific as a radio planter. Trevor Schwarze (below) completed his pre-field training at Mission Training International in Colorado earlier this month, and he has relocated to the Asia-Pacific region already. Trevor appreciates all he has learned during training here at SonSet Solutions. Trevor's story is also featured on our webpage:  https://sonsetsolutions.org/empowering-our-partners/.

VBS praise

We have had several churches collect funds for SonSet Solutions through their Vacation Bible School programs. Please praise the Lord with us that the gospel was shared to many children as well as for His provision for SonSet Solutions. The churches all surpassed their initial funding goals to provide generously for SonSet® radios or Solar Media Centers.​

Jean was also blessed to be able to serve at McCoy's Vacation Bible School. She taught first and second grades, and five children raised their hands to speak to a teacher/helper. Please pray for these five that God would continue to pour his word into their lives.

Family Updates

We hit some milestones this summer!

· We celebrated out 36th wedding anniversary. That just flew by.

· We celebrated John's 60th birthday!

· Congratulations to Johnny who just got promoted to Lead Animal Keeper and will be in charge of three animal areas of the zoo: two in Asia, and one comprised of North America and South America! In addition, but separately, he is was also named as the Institution Representative for black-footed ferrets.

· Congrats to David recently got a raise and is doing well at MarkNet Alliance.

Praises

We are thankful that John's mother, who was very sick and in the hospital this past week, is showing small signs of improvement. 

Jean is currently serving at Checkpoint Bible Camp this week as camp nurse.

Requests

Please continue to pray for John's mother, Susan and for her recovery.

Please pray for the ministry of Checkpoint Bible and for continued ministry this week.