With our Partner Spotlights, we get to highlight how God is at work in this city and all over the world through the partners we support!
For the past 16 years, Charley and Sherry Campbell’s primary ministry has been with The Evangelical Institute of Senegal (ITES) located outside of Thies, Senegal, West Africa.
Here’s what God has been doing in the lives of their students…
ITES has a program called the Timothy program, which is for rural pastors and lay people. It’s a 6-week course over two years that covers Christian doctrine, pastoral methods, church history, how to interpret the Bible, and how to preach. Charley works with two Senegalese pastors to plan and teach these courses.
ITES is also the only school in Senegal that offers a state-recognized Christian theology degree on an undergraduate level. Since all of our undergrad students are very active in their local churches, this program is offered by intensive courses during major holiday breaks. Most students can only study part time in addition to their work and church responsibilities, so the average student takes 6-7 years to finish the degree. The final assignment is to write and defend a senior thesis.
On Friday, October 1st, we had the joy of celebrating our student, Bertrand’s, accomplishment in receiving a bachelor of theology degree. These celebrations don’t happen often because Senegal is 96% Muslim with only .25% Christian.
Bertrand, a 55-year-old educator, persevered to receive his degree after 6 years. Early in his studies, his wife died in childbirth, leaving him with a baby and three other children to raise. But he continued to pursue the degree because he wanted to be better prepared to teach and preach in his church.
Charley was able to help Bertrand prepare his thesis, and he successfully defended it on October 1st by responding to questions and comments of the three men on his examination team! Around 40 people came to the ceremony, including his family, current ITES students, 2 professors, and several from the church where he serves as an elder.
It was a full day of celebrating and a good reminder of the importance of training leaders so they can train those around them! Please pray that our students will apply what they have learned and will teach others.
Visit the Sent page to learn more about how you can participate with us in Kingdom work like this!
