Current Update & Prayer Needs:

Prayer request added by Mandy (in case you don't know who I am: member of the TUM board, updater of this website and the TUM Facebook page, and traveller to Benin 2019 and 2024):

Pam is currently is hospital. She was admitted on August 15th for elevated liver enzyme levels. Please keep her in your prayers!!! She is at peace with whatever God has planned for her, and we believe ultimate healing will come! Pray for the doctors and healthcare teams to develop a plan - a simple plan, as Pam has asked for - and Pam will return home soon.

 

Prayer Needs for Benin August 13, 2025
Praises:

Josue was pumped on the call, saying life was good!

Prisca is working hard as summer school has ended and she is prepping for the new school year. Josue plans to meet with the Hevie staff 2 more times for trainings for the new school. They heard of new staff members through word of mouth: many applied, two already live there, the third is in process of moving, they are all Christians! Hevie has been known as a witchcraft hotspot, so there is not a strong Christian presence at this point! There are some churches there, but he plans to plant more, so there are more churches than mosques!

He is talking with Steven at Grace Chapel in Denver, to help the team in their preparations. Thirteen team members all from the church are ticketed! They are seeking funds, especially from Grace, to forward so that construction materials can be purchased before they arrive. May evangelism on Thursday through Saturday nights bring in many new believers! Josue is praying there will be a church building, as complete as possible, for the first Sunday service as the trip draws to a close! Josue hopes to discuss with the team what the relationship going forward may be with Grace Chapel: they have been such strong supporters in the past, creating the whole community development project out in the Asroli area in 2018.

On Josue’s 15 year plan, his vision is to create 10 more schools in outlying villages within the first 10 years, and some of the school funds will also help pay for more churches! They are in process of branding the schools, so newcomers will know what they are entering, with the same high standards across the board!

Pastor Esdras’s oldest son has passed all of his exams to end 12 th grade, and will proceed to university classes! His daughter Gloria, who was so seriously injured in that moto accident several years ago, is now walking well completely unsupported! Praise the Lord for this healing!

Pastor Emmanuel’s wife, son and daughter are doing well, after his death this spring.

Pray for:
*election for spring, ’26 is beginning to heat up. The current president has said that he will leave office, but Josuedoesn’t know if he can be believed. The ruling party and the opposition are struggling with each other at best, but the opposition party might not be as strong as it has been in the past. Many who have been “forced out” of Benin are in nearby countries and are using social media to try to make an impact. May God give this country the rulers He wants them to have! Pray for peace across the land!

*Part of this president’s story: The current president’s wife started a school last year: tuition for a year is $4000 USD! Obviously this is for the rich only! But the Minister of Education announced last week that the school will be supported with state funds, which means tax dollars, so the poor are paying for the rich to receive this education! They will be teaching the French curriculum path, so not even held as accountable as Benin students are. But will also be tested with the French tests, which are less rigorous: they don’t even believe in the system they have enforced across the country! Josue’s students at God’s Grace are held accountable for stronger standards than the normal public schools, and yes they are succeeding at 100%! (When Isaac first started his classes in the US, he thought it was so much easier here, he had so much more access to his teachers to receive help outside of class so he has built great relationships with his teachers!) The parents of God’s Grace’s 250 students in Cotonou are able to pay the fees needed to support the school!

* Jihadist activity continues up north, as villages are attacked. There is still no government response or even talking to the people of Benin about this. But stories are now coming out on social media! Josue’s pastors are not backing down at all: they know the only way to get these Muslim people to stop is to bring them to Jesus! They have more skills and desire now than every before and are not backing down one inch! Josue hopes to hold a pastor conference by next June in Parakou to keep these hearts on fire in their work! They want to develop more friendship evangelism and get social response stirred for the needs of the people. Please pray for the opening of God’s Grace for Kids in Parakou for next fall! Sponsorships per child will need to be implements in these outer villages to help the parents with fees. Josue and Rebecca talked about this a great deal on the trip to Spain, but no plan in place yet!

*The pastors across the Bethel network of Josue’s churches are doing well, but always remember to lift them up!

*Pray for Josue’s speaking engagements: may the Holy Spirit lead him to lead his flock! This week he will share with women across a zoom call on 8/15 as well as to his business people connection group on 8/16. Please pray that a new connection with a global leadership group called C12 (Christ plus 12 disciples) can develop quickly to help Josue receive funding, especially to start these schools! Look up C12 on the web: promoting very interesting partnership between strong, successful business leaders and their Christian principles being incorporated more fully into their business models!

*All of Josue’s schools will be restarting mid-September, including Hope Dressing and Hope Technology, and God’s Grace for Kids Hevie! The next class at the Farm school will start early October. David, a graduate of Hope Agri, is now the onsite manager and really liking it! This relieves Josue from much of the responsibility there so he will have time for “more ministry opportunities!”

*Cotonou Youth week will be from 8/24-30. Pray for each student who attends to deepen his walk with the Lord, or turn and fully embrace Him!

* Prisca has been teaching in the Glo church for several evenings through Sunday with Julienne. Julienne will continue traveling, visiting the ladies of Save and Parakou.

*Pastor Armelle is doing very well in Porto Novo. Her son is growing up, being born when his sisters were finishing high school and she was completing her training to become a pastor. Josue definitely sees God’s calling on her life to be a full pastor! Her husband Enoch is also a pastor.

*Josue is making progress on his book about financial peace: he can see now he will need a publisher and editor. He is praying for more strength and wisdom to convey his thoughts. He is writing it in French but feels he can also translate it into English!

*Glory has begun her internship at a food production company in the marketing department for one month. Then she will have some time off from school: the father/daughter trip plan will still come about!

 

Prayer needs for Benin August 2, 2025
Praises:

Josue is so grateful for all the wonderful travels for his family!

Gideon is back home as well, thinking through all he saw in his 6 weeks trip. He is realizing he needs to organize himself better, processing new ideas that have come to him, knowing it was so good to reconnect with Isaac! Gideon was impressed with what he saw—especially in Denver! Hopefully it was meaningful to him at this age to meet so many people who have been involved in his Dad’s ministry for 15 plus years, and met him as a baby! May this trip have great impact on his future and shape his desires as God directs him! He did fly by himself for the first time as well!

Glory has passed her third year of university studies, really enjoying her classes about food preparation on a large scale. Her school has contacted companies to build intern relationships for the students. She will be with a group of students in her major for the month ahead, to concentrate on the growth and preservation of tomatoes, from garden plot through transportation to factory for canning or drying. Benin produces a good quantity of tomatoes along the coastal strip, but they are a fragile product and must be processed timely to preserve the largest amount! Today she is at a rehearsal for the semifinals of her vocal competition on August 10: praises that the Lord has brought her this far; pray for her sweet voice to win out over all the competitors!

Prisca is very busy back in the saddle for school to start on Sept. 13. Also summer school started this week, for 3.5 weeks, to help any student that missed some topics from last school year, before they try to build on those skills in this upcoming school year. Mostly 5 th and 6 th graders are attending! May the parents also have been involved all summer to encourage their students to stay engaged with their academic studies!

Josue’s August will bring 3 speaking engagements: first, he will speak Fri night through Sunday evening next weekend to young people, through a church, not one of his own. (He is quite frequently asked to speak beyond his own Bethel Network of churches!) The next two weekends he will have one zoom call each, to speak to a women’s group! This started out locally, as one mom of a student at God’s Grace knew Josue was a pastor; but it will be over a zoom call, to all who want to hear, going across Africa! Topic: how a woman can balance her life, taking care of responsibilities in so many directions all at once, and remain rested! He will speak in French, but is entertaining the idea of it being translated into English: every woman across the globe needs to hear Biblical answers to this subject! Josue asks for prayer every time before he speaks: Aug 15 and 21! Josue will also reconnect with the group of business men/women on August 17 th : he wants to share more about his ministry but also request their help, how they can come alongside in finances and prayer!

The team in Benin is busy preparing for the Grace Chapel Team to come at the end of October! It is time to get down to the details! Josue will be sending his wish list of items the team can bring him to really boost his ministry and its ability to outreach through the churches and schools. The team is also involved in fund raising, on both sides of the Atlantic, to have funds to buy construction materials and supplies so the team can be as productive as possible! If you can support this endeavor financially, it would be very much appreciated, through the TUM website or to checks to the address at the bottom of this update!

Josue and Prisca were so blessed to have their time in Spain, both to share their ministry, its values and its growth, but even more importantly to have down time from their normal schedules. They realized the benefit of reflecting on their activities from afar, and seeing them from a different perspective, to make changes as needed going forward! Especially, by the time they spent the few days in Paris, they were feeling so much more refreshed and ready to step back into routines at home! Their marriage was blessed! They are committing to take a trip like this at least every two years! Thank you, Rebecca, for hosting them and planning it: you blessed both of them very much!

Missionary Ventures International, MVI, has voted to bless Josue’s pastors with 6 more motos to cover the miles in the northern part of the country more safely and efficiently! The application process will begin this week! How amazing it is, that God connected TUM to this organization 2 years ago, that they have already funded 6 motos, and are willing to go forward and fund 6 more! Please enjoy the impact stories, starting with this update, of the changes these motos have brought to this area! Lives are being saved daily for the Lord, because these pastors remain on fire to share the Gospel every day, against incredible odds!

Pray for:
*Josue’s August speaking engagements to bring each one who hears closer to the Lord!

*School year: opening of God’s Grace for Kids Cotonou and the new rural school, God’s Grace for Kids Hevie, on September 13 th ! May all preparation for both staffs bring camaraderie to work well together throughout the year. May every staff member see the vision of bringing kids into the world of education they have never had access to, as well as drawing them to Christ in daily practices!

*Benin celebrated 65 years of Independence yesterday on August 1! “Independence?” somewhat questionable. The current President has now announced that he will step down next March, when his 10 years, 2 terms as president, will draw to a close. (Josue is not believing this yet!) PLEASE PRAY: what is to come next year? May God place the next ruler of His choice into a position to truly commit to the people and help them, not the ruling class!

*Continue to pray for the current outreach in Parakou area; this church plant is on down the road from where last year’s plants ended…on past Boko!!! September outreach is being planned in the Come area to the west of Cotonou!

*Seeds are being sown for another amazing trip for summer of ’26! The Dream Team from last year has been connecting on their one-year anniversary of being there, and starting the planning/fundraising to be able to go back! Anyone want to join them? As well as another team out of a church in IL? And maybe a construction trip before? Open your heart to the Lord and follow His directions: He never steers you wrong!

*Josue has begun writing his book especially directed toward money and people’s use of it: may they learn to be the masters of it, instead of the other way around! Pray for more wisdom for Josue: that this book will be filled with God’s intentions of how to use our money and stay on top of our blessings!