Each year, our proven partners in Asia and Africa tell us about opportunities to reach into areas that many people or organizations don’t have access to. These are places where cultural and linguistic barriers have isolated people from the transforming message of Jesus Christ, places where the message of Jesus has never been heard in the local heart language and cultural styles. Because of our Partners’ locations and close proximity to these hard-to-reach places of the world, they have access while others do not. Will you join us in reaching the least reached?

The Lord loves to grab our attention and has an interesting way of bringing things to us when we least expect them. We seek the Lord and ask for His clear wisdom, discernment and direction and He gives us opportunities that sometimes seem out of the blue. Recently one of those out of the blue opportunities came my way. A key leader from one of our supporting churches introduced me to Art Brooks from the “Rescuers” Radio Show. Art has a passion for sharing what he calls “the untold stories of society’s unsung heroes.” Art’s radio show tells those untold stories and shares what God is doing through some amazing people.

Our Bridges for Women training events are transforming and it is so exciting to be a part of them! Last year, in 2022, we had over 108 Bridges for Women training events with 1,475 women in attendance. Overall, in the 15 years since this training curriculum was launched, we have had 2,237 Bridges for Women training events and over 50,982 women attendees! Amazing transformations and changed lives come from these three-day trainings that are highly interactive, with engagement in the Word of God in the content of every lesson plan and in every small group exercise. The women share and dialogue God’s stories using the Oral Arts (Storytelling, Drama, Dance, Music, Song & Poetry) in their mother-tongue, heart language. These women of God are some of the best storytellers and disciple-makers. Many of them become Master Trainers, equipped to pass the training on to other faithful women. The training and equipping curriculum includes over 120 Stories from the Word of God. A few of the Stories quickly become favorites. Let me share with you more about this training.

Recently a foundation that has granted training funds to SIU in the past requested a conference call with the SIU leadership and field leads. With our team back to full travel and training schedules, it can be difficult to get this group together. After one cancellation and rescheduling, we were able to get the SIU team and the foundation board together on a Zoom call. God used this interaction to set a wonderful challenge and opportunity before us. Read on for the wonderful news and challenge which could significantly impact our network’s ability to reach the unreached.