Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By the grace of God ACTS is doing well and we are anxious and excited in anticipation of graduating our first class on the 12th November 2005.

We were blessed with the visitation of Brothers Jerry Hogg and Doug Reeves from Sunset International Bible Institute in June this year. They managed to teach our students and evaluate the progress of the school. I am hoping that you will hear from them concerning their first hand experience. In short we can say that they were quite impressed with the progress we have made and commended us for the good work that we are doing as partners in ministry.

From the humble beginning we managed through limited support to train four men for the last three years. It will be interesting to note that other than the Director’s salary, the rest of the funds came form the local congregations. The Lord’s Church in Botswana took the responsibility to share the financial commitment of training these men.

While we are busy with the last semester of our training, preparations for the graduation are advanced. We are also planning for the next intake and the future. The local School Board entered an agreement with SIBI representatives for ACTS to be officially accepted as a Branch School of SIBI. The new relationship will definitely enhance our ministry to effectively train men and women for service in the Lord’s Church. Our understanding is that we will have mutual commitment to share all the responsibilities of our training, while allowing SIBI to direct the training program based upon their vast experience.

In consultation with the local Board SIBI will determine the curriculum, recruit and appointment of staff, set the standard and comply with the unique local conditions to register the school. Since SIBI will be underwriting our qualifications, they will lead the way in setting the academics rules and regulations for ACTS. With the effect from January, 2006 SIBI will be financially responsible for the day to day running of the ACTS and we will be accountable to them. The commitment of the local congregations will be to look for land and purchase it for the future development of the school. Hardly a month after the visit of Jerry and Doug, the Lord opened the door for the Churches in Botswana; we were offered a land, which was auctioned by the National Development Bank of Botswana with a Reserved Price of P40 000 (U$ 8000). The local School Board immediately ceased the opportunity to buy the land for ACTS and within three weeks we raised from local congregations P25 000 (U$5000). We made that offer to the Bank backed by prayers of the saints realizing how difficult it is to get land at that amount within the peri-urban areas. The good Lord blessed us by granting our request, we purchased the land and we are now busy working the logistics of planning for its development.

THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT WITH ACTS.
Plans are at an advanced stage for ACTS to host a Leadership Seminar for Church Leaders from all over Southern Africa. Brother Dennis Malepa will conduct the seminar and upon its completion participants will be awarded a certificate of attendance. As we indicated earlier, our first graduation will be on the 12th November 2005. In addition Brother Malepa is scheduled to deliver a lesson on Parenting at the Annual Marriage Seminar in Pretoria end of September.

Next year over the Easter holidays, Botswana Churches of Christ will host the International Lectureship. It will be a celebration not to miss, please plan to attend. Although Botswana is small in terms of Lord’s Church, we are not small when it comes to taking the challenge of taking a stand for God. ACTS is now enrolling for next year’s intake and we are expecting to have teachers from America coming through SIBI arrangement to teach some of the courses. Brother Malepa will continue in his capacity as the Director and possible other teachers will be recruited.

Brother Malepa is planning to visit his sponsoring congregations in the US on the 15th November 2005 to report on the progress of ACTS and solicit support for the new developments. For speaking appointment you can contact brother Jerry Hogg or Doug Reeves. While in the States he will have the opportunity to visit SIBI and discuss the details of the new relationship between SIBI and ACTS.

ATTACHMENT
The attachment of pictures gives you the panoramic view of the students, Church Building where we presently conduct our school and the residence of Brother Dennis Malepa.

Servant of Christ,

Dennis Malepa