Update From the President of CCI
Dear Ministry Partner,
We would like to introduce you to a new member of our Crossing Cultures International team, Bob and Becky Loeffler.
For 25 years, Bob has been a chaplain in jails and recently in medical facilities. He has also been teaching at Trinity College of Florida, substituting in local schools, and also teaching classes with CCI around Tampa Bay. He has also trained pastors in several countries in Central and South America. Recently, Bob expressed a desire to focus his attention on training and equipping pastors and church leaders in the USA and East Africa. He has gone to Uganda with CCI. He has been developing a couple of national leaders to help equip many pastors who have had very little or no formal training in the Word of God or practical ministry. Most pastors in East African countries do not have access to Bible colleges or seminaries. Thus, they are open to teaching false doctrines and leading their congregations into heresy. This is where Bob will be God’s instrument to help them learn to rightly divide the Word of God.
Bob will serve as the Regional Director of East Africa, serving the countries of Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. He will serve as a missionary with CCI to help develop discipleship relationships by using the CCI curricula in his disciple-making ministry.
 
The people in these countries are loved by the Lord Jesus and need to hear the truth about Him as Savior. The CCI leadership believes God wants them to get the comprehensive training we can provide to equip their church leadership.
A Word from Bob:

In May 2022, I sat down with Dr. David Nelson to determine the future of the work of CCI in Uganda. I went there in 2019 to co-teach classes in Jinja and Pallisa with Aaron Issler. Aaron unfortunately went to be the Lord in October of last year. At that meeting, Dr. Nelson challenged me to consider that God might be calling me to be the Regional Director for East Africa with CCI. I wasn’t prepared to take on such a responsibility, but I felt that was what God was calling me to do.
At the end of July and early August, I went back to Uganda to go to both eastern and western Uganda to present the work of CCI to pastors in those areas. During this trip, we interviewed and added to the Uganda staff, Pastor Andrew Wakabi to be the assistant regional director and Pastor Abraham Koche, the Coordinator for Uganda. We did several presentations and trained 8 new teachers. Currently, we have 7 new classes started as a result of that time. Both Andrew and Abraham are doing a great job of establishing the ministry through the CCI classes.
In early August, Pastor Andrew and I went to 3 cities in Rwanda and Tanzania. We started in a town about 30-40 miles from Kigali the capital of Rwanda. It was in the mountains and was delightfully cool. We did a seminar on Dealing With Conflict in the Church. It was very well received. We also began training 4 pastors. The host pastor, Pastor Protei, a survivor of the mass genocide, had gone through the BTCP curriculum many years ago. He has a master’s degree in pastoral counseling and has a real vision of spreading the work throughout Rwanda and Burundi, the next country to the South.   
Then we went to Mwanza in the north on the shore of Lake Victoria in Tanzania. This is the 2nd largest city in Tanzania. We did the same seminar with about 30 pastors and leaders. We did a Teacher Training Workshop and have 3 very good leaders there. 
Finally, we went to the capital of Tanzania, Dar-es-salaam. It is a city of 8 million and is very crowded. We had our largest group of around 50. We started slow, but by the end of the day the leaders were talking about how to spread the training to other parts of the city. We had 4 leaders from some of the other districts in the city. We also trained the host pastor, Pastor Gideon and 2 other pastors. They will be starting classes in February. 
 
Since the word is out, we are getting many responses from those countries and other countries in Africa seeking our training. I never expected the rapid spread of the ministry. It is going to be a real challenge to do the job and do it well.
 
Finally, I am very thankful for the support and prayers that have been sent to the Father on my behalf. If you would like to be a part of providing biblical training for pastors and leaders in Africa, join me in prayers and support. To God be the glory.
It is so obvious that the Lord is using Bob among these African pastors. He will be making several trips each year to develop and oversee the national staff and ministry expansion in these countries.
 
PRAYER CONCERNS: 
Please become faithful prayer warriors for Bob and Becky. You can contact Bob and Becky at bloeffler@cciequip.org. If you would like to start receiving their email newsletter, click HERE.
 
·     Please keep the family in your prayers for their safety and good health during their travels.
·     Pray for divine appointments to identify the pastors who need our training in these countries.
·     Pray that God opens the doors to equip many faithful pastors and church leaders in these countries where Christians are under persecution.
·     Pray for the pastors and church leaders to be equipped with the tools to clearly teach the Word of God and make mature disciples of Jesus Christ and see the church grow to glorify Christ.
·     Pray for support for the 2 assistants. They are doing the hard work. They also need travel expenses.
·    Pray for scholarships to help to purchase their study books. It can be a serious challenge as poverty is rampant. We expect them to buy the books (at less than our cost).
·    Pray for Bob's future trips to South Sudan and Uganda in April/May. Then, to the CCI international conference in Thailand in November. Bob may also go to Uganda on that trip.
 
FINANCIAL SUPPORT CONCERNS
Bob will serve as a missionary with CCI. He will need funds to cover his travel and ministry expenses to develop the CCI equipping ministry in East African countries. 
 
Please become a monthly financial partner with them so they can be fully funded to train and equip pastors and church leaders in these countries. We praise the Lord Jesus that there are already several people and churches who have become financial partners. Will you join them? They still need $2500 monthly support. Click Here to donate.
 
If you join their prayer and financial partnership team, you can look forward to receiving their email newsletter sharing updates, praises, and prayer requests. Thank you for investing in the new RD-East Africa to help spread the Gospel to some of the most challenging people groups on earth in some of the hardest places in the world.
 
Dr. David Nelson
President & Founder of CCI
Crossing Cultures International