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NWIDA MINISTRY
November 8th 2008 - President Visits Our Church
The President visits to New Water in the Desert Apostolic Pentecostal Church
President of Liberia Visits NWIDA: A Brief
Brewerville, Montserrado County - 19 November 2008
The President of Liberia, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has assured Liberians that she is "focused" in bringing change to Liberia, a country emerging from 15 years of civil war. President Sirleaf soke on sunday, November 15, 2008 at the New Water in the Desert Assembly Apostolic Pentecostal Church, when she attended the regular divine worship service to fellowship with the congration in Brewerville, about 13 miles west of Monrovia, the Capital of Liberia.
Reverend Kortu K. Brown called on the President to remain "focus" and work for "change" in war-ravaged Liberia. Using St. John9:1-5 as a text, the Apostolic preacher urged the national leadership and all Christians to look beyond the usual "blame" apportioning in the rebuilding of the country and focus on creating spiritual and physical changes in society for the general good of the country. He urged the congregation to not ONLY interest themselves with human cuases of why things happen in their lives but also focus on Divine results, adding, "let's not only focus on the "question marks" of life but also the opportunities that every situation in life presents which can result to God's name being glorified.
Pastor Brown spoke on the theme: "MY SUFFERING FOR GOD'S GLORY" President Sirleaf also last week waived duty on thousand of assorted relief items worth more than quarter of a million United States Dollars donated to the church. The items were donated to CHURCH AID INC (CAI), the relief and development arm of the New Water in the Desert Assembly by the USA-based Church World Service (CWS). The two 20' and a 40' containers items include school, baby, hygieneand kids kits. Other items include blankets, canned meat, sewing materials for the church's community sewing center with twenty (20) industrial machines donated earlier by CWS. The President has regularly waived duty on CAI relief items since her encumbency in January 2006. |
In response to the pastor's sermon, the President declared in her remarks that she was touched by the sermon. "I am touched by the sermon especially the portion on reconciliation" in Liberia. "I will begin taking action this week. You will hear it", she assured, to a thunderous applause from the congregation.
The President commended the local church for her recent fast and prayer initiatives for peace and
stability in Liberia, adding "I wanted to have been here with you but could not; however, I was here with you in spirit".
The President was referring to a special fast discussed with her when the leadership of the church met her in mid September 2008 to pray with her at her Executive Mansion's Office. The transition from war to peace is challenging and requires Divine intervention. In his sermon earlier on the 15th of November, |
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NWIDA MINISTRY
October 2008 Newsletter
Big Catch for Jesus: Two Miracles in One
TESTIMONY OF SISTER KUBONO KARNLEY
Kobono Karnley, a staunch Muslim and famous traditional singer has been converted to Christianity. This occurred on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008 at New Water In Desert Assembly (NWIDA) Apostolic Pentecostal Church in Brewerville, Montserrado County.
Kobono was born 1966 in Beajuada Bomi County in western Liberia. Her parents Kiatumu and Sigbeh Karnley were both Muslims. She has one brother and several sisters but they are all Christians. At a tender age, she was sent to live with her aunty Mrs. Glady K. Allison, a devoted pastor retired now in New York. During those years, she carried her “aunt’s bag” to go to church. The church was about 45 minutes walk from their home. Every Sunday they would go to church.
In 1969, her parents requested that she be initiated in the traditional “Sande Society”, the fraternity for women in rural Liberia. This is the traditional society where girls are initiated. She spent one year six months in the Sande Bush learning how to execute the traditions and cultures of her village of Besao, Bomi County. Unfortunately for her she did not go to formal school. With the gift of singing she started to sing traditional songs. She sang at Liberia’s eighteen President, William R. Tolbert, Jr’s Inauguration. This is how far her fame traditional singing brought her. She would be invited to traditional feasts, parties, weddings etc to sing. This was her source of livelihood. During one of her singing expeditions, she was poisoned by a male competitor. He poisoned her because when he was invited to sing he did not make more money. But when she came to sing she made more money than him. Her leg was swollen and hurting. Fortunately she crossed a man of God who prayed for her and she got healed. The man asked her religion and she responded “I am a Muslim”. He said to her you need to be a Christian. She got seriously sick after a while and was taken to the northern part of Liberia to an herbalist. There she encountered with another man of God who encouraged her to go to church. Every time she was encouraged for church she would shared such information with bosom friends. Her friends will discourage her by saying if she goes to church she will not be singing around again to make some money. On account of her friends pieces of advice she would not heed to the encouragement of going to church.
Kubono is widely known in Liberia for singing. Politicians take her to the rural areas to help launch their campaigns during elections while across southwestern Liberia she’s invited at every traditional feast to play. One of her most popular songs is “Jealous Woman” made about seven years ago in the aftermath of a terrible scuffle between two girls in the Brewerville community that led to the death of one of the girls. Her song is used as an “INTRO” for the newscast of one of Liberia’s most popular and near accurate online radio station, STAR RADIO supported by Foundation Hirondelle based in Switzerland.
Unfortunately for her, only one of the ten (10) children she gave birth to survived. This girl just graduated from high school. After writing the West African Council Exams her only daughter got sick. The girl said that she had a dream and she and another person fought in her sleep. The sickness could not be diagnosed by medical Doctor as she was carried from hospital to hospital. The mother was advised by her friends to take the girl to a traditional witch doctor in the next community. The mother yielded and took the girl to the traditional doctor. The doctor demanded the mother to pay $4000.00 Liberian dollars the equivalent of US$71.00 in such a challenging Liberia. She contacted some friends and she was given the money and she paid the witch doctor. After administering his medication the girl was still sick. The sick girl demanded her mother to take her to her church. She said if you take me to my school’s church I will get heal. Her mother reluctantly brought the girl to her church, the New Water in the Desert Apostolic Pentecostal Church. A church located in the western suburb of the capital city, Monrovia about 13 miles away where Reverend Kortu K. Brown serves as church pastor.
The girl was brought to the church. After fervent prayers by the pastor and prayer team, Maima Foboi, the sick girl who is an affiliate member of the church got healed. She started to eat and to do other normal things as before to the amazement of the mother, Kubono. She met the pastor and announced that she had made up her mind to become a Christian. “My daughter got sick and no one could help her. My friends advised me to take her to ‘medicine man’ (soothsayer) but that failed until I brought her to the church. There God healed her. Thank God Oh! From today on, I am telling all my Muslim friends. I am turning to Jesus”, Kubono lamented with joy and gladness of heart.
That testimony was short-lived. The devil decided to fight back. The girl’s uncle persuaded her to take the girl to a traditional herbalist for traditional bathing - cleansing. After that process she got seriously sick again. They brought her back to the church and again the church prayed after an instruction from the Lord and she got healed. The mother came to church for the first time to make an open apology. From that day the mother promised to become a Christian. She came to church the first time since her early childhood when she was taken away from her aunty and sat on the second bench. She testified of God’s goodness and his power. She repented of her action of taking her daughter to a witch doctor for cleansing after the church had already prayed for her. She said, “If you have no one to advise you, you will do crazy things”.
Praise God during her second visit to church service, she gave her life to the Lord. She was baptized with the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance (Acts 2:4) on Sunday, October 12, 2008. She’s excited. She shared with the pastor that God is real. She felt His power and when she went home from church, she slept the rest of the day like someone had crushed her. Now she is attending a baptismal class to be baptized on Sunday, October 19, 2008 in the name of Jesus through Water Baptism. Thank God! God is able to save the worse sinner!
Text by: Church Evangelism Department (CED)
New Water in the Desert APC
Northwest Avenue, VOA #1 Road
P. O. Box 6567
Brewerville, Montserrado County, Liberia
Phone: 231-6-517176 / 06-452763 / 06-557286 / 06-548825 / 06-871700
E-mail: nwidaliberia@yahoo.com, apostolicpentecostalchurch@hotmail.com
Website: http://newwaterinthedesertassemblynwida.yolasite.com/
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Nwida Ministry
July 2008 Newsletter
Updates and News
Rev. Mother Mrs. Mariama Z. Brown
Mother Mrs. Mariama Z. Brown left for Ghana to get visa to go to Germany with Madam President where donor conference is being held on Liberia - for country to present her poverty reduction strategy. Germany government, World Bank and Liberian government organizing event. My wife is amongst ten women picked by UNIFEM and Ministry of Gender to represent women groups in Liberia at the confab.
Children of Hope Center: There are meetings in August, September, November and February. Imagine our children hope center invited other three orphanages to a one-day olympic last week. Over 200 children attended and eat. It was fun, excitement, etc. Finals soon.
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Nwida Ministry
February 2008 Newsletter
Apostolic Pentecostal Church 4th General Annual Conference in Liberia, West Africa
Greetings in Jesus name!
The 4th general annual conference of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church International (APCI), formerly the Fellowship of Apostolic Pentecostal Assemblies(FAPA) convened with New Water in the Desert Assembly in Brewerville, Montserrado County from Monday, February 25 thru Saturday, March 1, 2008 with close to seven hundred registered delegates attending.
About twenty-six sessions including the formal opening, prayer, teaching, preaching, missions fund drive, departmental programs, business meetings and baptismal service, amongst others were conducted. The results was tremendous! During the final business meeting when delegates were asked how they would grade the conference, they shouted in unison: "GREAT". Indeed it was a great conference because God had promised so.Twenty-seven churches out of nearly forty churches and preaching points
affiliated with APCI attended the conference. More than sixty-one persons got filled with the Holy Ghost and thirty-five got baptized in Jesus name!
During the three business meetings of the conference, many resolutions were adopted, to include:
1. The Establishment of the Elder Alfred B. S. Brown Scholarship Fund to assist young people further their education at the secondary school and college levels;
2. A 25% Weekly Missions Offering to support the evangelistic and missionary thrust of the organization;
3. The exploration of possibilities of engaging in income generation ventures on the 160-acre-farm-land arranged for with the chiefs and elders of Gbayama Town by the Rivers of Joy Apostolic Pentecostal Church in Gbayama, Gbarpolu County [about 60 miles west of Monrovia, Capital of Liberia] in support of evangelism and missions and overall support of the organization;
4. The decision to evangelize unreached areas through General Missions Division and local churches including conducting crusades in Harper, Pleeboo and Kanweakan in southeast Liberia, planting a churches in Ganta, Nimba County,the second most-populated city in Liberia and Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, Liberia's second main port city;
5. Recognized the relief and development efforts of Church Aid Inc (CAI) and her partners in furtherance of the physical and spiritual ministries of the church; amongst others.
During the final closing evangelistic service, about four (4) missionaries sent to across Liberia for church planting purposes were honored through provision of certificates and gifts by the General Ladies Division. These included Pastor Zwannah Kpaka working in Islamic-dominated Sinje, Grand Cape Mount County; Pastor Alex Kerkula in Kakata City, Margibi County; Pastor Fofee Momodu working in central Liberian town of Gbarnga, Bong County; and, Pastor George F. Dowah, working about 425 miles away from Monrovia, in Harper, Maryland County. Pastor Dowah has planted three churches in two years. About ten churches including New Water in the Desert, Maranatha, Calvary, Upper Room, Abundant Life, Klay, Renewed, Good Shepherd, First Apostolic Gbarnga, and Go Ye were certificated for 100% support to organizational work through the Church Monthly Report (CMR) framework while five (5) field evangelists assigned to five newly-established churches were also recognized.
In closing remarks, elder Kortu K. Brown, general overseer of the apostolic pentecostal church international urged members of the church to take the Word (of God) with them. Quoting I Samuel 17:50, he urged Christians to use the word to crush the enemies of the cross in their opposition to the desire and will of God. The main guest speaker, elder Bryant Walters, head of Beulah International Ministry based in Brooklyn, NY urged Christians to prioritize praise of Almighty God.
Speaking on the theme: "The Paradox of Praise" with Scripture Text from Psalms 8:2, the young prolific preacher called on Christians to praise God anyhow no matter what the challenges maybe. He emphasized that sometimes praising God can get one into trouble!
The conference resolved to convene the 5th General Annual Conference (GAC) in February 2009 in the town of Gbartala, Suakoko District, Bong County, the former rebel training base of former President Charles Taylor now on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes in Sierra Leone.
Please pray for us. Thanks, God bless
Reverend Kortu K. Brown
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