Oasis International

Author Spotlight: Shaunti Feldhahn

We recently caught up with Oasis' author, Shaunti Feldhahn. Her book titles include For Men Only, For Women Only, and her most recent, For Parents Only. The former two are guides on how men and women are unique and how they should relate and communicate. We wanted to learn more about her ministry and how these books apply to African culture. Here is the interview. Enjoy!

Shaunti, we hear from our partnering bookstores that your books For Women Only, For Men Only, and now, For Parents Only are having an extraordinary impact. Tell us more about these books and the heart that you have for Africa.

I’m so pleased to hear that these books are having such a great impact. You know, the topics of gender and parenting have universal reach. This is not simply cultural specific material that applies only in the U.S., but it relates to the whole world. I hear from my close Nigerian and South African friends, constantly, that the research I’m conducting and the findings are benefitting them as well. There are some things that are just true about how men and women are wired and it persists no matter where in the world we live. It brings me such joy to hear that men and women’s relationships around the globe are being strengthened because clearer lines of communication are being cultivated.

My books are based on the large amount of social research that I’ve conducted. For instance, I’ve done interviews with hundreds of men about their communication styles, their marriages, and their frustrations to get a better idea of how men process information. At times, at the end of these interviews, I’ve had the chance to share with these individual men some of my findings. I’ve witnessed strong, dare I say, macho-types tear up, feeling understood for perhaps for the first time. I’m able to articulate for men (in this case, but women too) what they’ve struggled so long to express. See, God has wired our brains distinctly as male and female. We’re truly wired differently. Women, for example, do tend to be able to conduct mental multi-tasking far better than men.

Because I have small children I am not able to travel oversees easily. For the time being, Jeff and I focus our time on marriage seminars in the US and developing our website with greater resources and online tools for couples and for parents.

But, I’m excited to hear about the transformation in Africa – just as excited as I would be to hear that men and women who live outside suburban Atlanta are being changed. All of our marriages can have hurts and pains resolved through some of this greater understanding. In the same way, the truths of the Bible are the same across all peoples, all times, and all cultures. And the mandate that God gives men and women – husbands love your wives and wives respect your husbands – is the same no matter the time or the continent. The message of love and respect is the same whether you are a suburban mother, or an African farmer, or a woman living in downtown Jos, Nigeria.

Shaunti, the latest book that we are distributing in Africa is For Parent’s Only. Can you tell us more about the making of this book and its audience?

Yes, this book is really about getting inside the minds of your kids and understanding where they are coming from. It’s geared toward the parents of youth and teenagers . These would be youth between the ages of 11 and 18 – those children who are still at home with their parents, but who are becoming increasingly independent.

So often, I see that parents of these youth have forgotten what it means to be 13…15…17 years old. They don’t get what matters to their children. They don’t understand the increasing ache for freedom. Because of this, they so frequently misunderstand their children, misinterpreting their desire to separate their identity from mom and dad. This book is designed to help parents wake up to the desires, interests, and ability of their children to be independent.  For example, this book speaks to the misnomer of why teens are “allowed” to be emotional, in their mind, but why parents are not. My hope is that, through this book, parents are able to really understand the realities about growing up that, albeit surprising, are true about all children.   If some of these struggles are kept hidden, it will cause them to be disconnected from their child.

To write this book, I surveyed thousands of teens. And I wrote this book in collaboration with Lisa Rice, who at the time had teenage children. The scenarios laid out in the book were the very realities that Lisa was living out each day and which I’m now living out with my daughter as she gets older and as she asks herself questions about what she believes.

Through the writing of this book and as I speak with groups of parents about my social research, I, time and again, claim  the promise of Proverbs 24:3 which says, “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;  through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” To me, this proverb is a picture of an empty house and the question it begs is: “What fills the house? What’s going to fill your house? Is it going to be joy, peace, and delight as you work toward open communication? Or, is it going to be discord?”

My hope is that this book will equip people with the knowledge of what’s going on inside their teen’s mind but they are unable to communicate.

 

Sharing the Gospel with Muslims

Dear Friend,

 

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.  (Habakkuk 2:14)  

It is only a matter of time until these wonderful words come to pass.  In some small way the work of Oasis is to see this prophecy fulfilled in part until God brings it to pass in all its fullness. We are working every day to increase the knowledge of the glory of the Lord around the continent of Africa through the distribution of books and Bibles that teach and grow the church.

Just last week we learned we had run out of the book Sharing the Gospel with Muslims in Nigeria and need to reprint as soon as possible.  That means hundreds and hundreds of people are doing a better job in their evangelism after reading this important book.  This is a book that teaches people how to love their Muslim neighbors to Christ, in a land where almost 50% of the people follow the teaching of Islam.  Now that is increasing “the knowledge of the glory of the LORD.”  And that is what the mission of Oasis is all about.

Maranatha,

 

Matthew Elliott, PhD

Prayer Request from Bruce and Carol Britten

Please keep Oasis authors’ Bruce and Carol Britten in your prayers. 

Last November we met with a group that expressed interest in having a branch of the Bible College in their area. It’s a sparsely populated rural area. They had a church building where we could meet, but it had few benches and a roof with holes. Still, when they asked if their building was good enough, we said it was fine. (We’ve used worse.) And theirs is a poor community. We agreed to begin classes in two months.
When we arrived two months later, what a shock! They had gone to so much work and expense to fix up the place…they fixed the roof, made eight benches, and even made a podium for us to use while teaching! And at lunch-time they cooked a meal for us and wouldn’t let us pay.
The next shock was the number of students who enrolled. We thought we’d probably have 20 students. If God did a miracle we could have 30. But just in case something really miraculous happened, we prepared photocopied notes for 40. What a shock it was when 57 showed up!
In 2010 no doubt Satan is at work as usual, but God is certainly out-working him!
Last year we taught in five towns. We’re beginning this year in seven towns with the hope of eventually beginning classes in even more than seven. How will we have enough staff to do that? We’ve divided our staff of six into two teams of three teachers each. So now we can be teaching in two different branches on the same day.
We don’t want to take on too much work…or too little. Please pray.
Bruce & Carol
 
Please pray:
1.      Pray for classes as they have resumed this month.

2.      Pray for all the teachers as they prepare and teach...that they will present Biblical truths in ways that are understood by the students.

3.      Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare the students to receive the Truth of God’s Word, that they will respond and do what It says.

4.      Pray for some of our graduates to have the desire to get further Bible training, to be better equipped to teach others.

Author Update: Bruce and Carol Britten

We received the below letter from Bruce and Carol Britten--authors of Oasis titles like Answers for Your Marriage, Love & Marriage and Arise Boldly.  They currently work at Zion Bible College in Swaziland. 

 

On Sundays Carol and I usually go to one of the many churches where people don’t want much of the Bible (they just want a thin veneer of Bible on top of their ancestor-worship religion). Most of their ‘pastors’ are really witch-doctors who claim to get power from dead ancestors. Such ‘pastors’ earn their living by fortune-telling on weekdays, and then they are in church on Sundays. Many of them are against Zion Bible College and against us.

Recently ten such congregations and their ‘pastors’ came together for a service. Carol and I got to read verses on heaven, hell, salvation…. And I led those who wanted to accept Christ in a sinners’ prayer. Then one of their ‘pastors’ stood and said, “Listen to me. Don’t let the white man (Britten) deceive you. We must stick to our African religion. Remember: Our ancestors curse people who don’t sacrifice to them. Our religion tells us: When we die, we all go to one place. The dead are not in two places called heaven and hell (like the white man says). All the dead are together. We know…we talk to them. They give us power.”

 Probably 90% of the people believed him, and only 10% believed the verses we’d just read. Is that discouraging? No! In fact Carol and I are thrilled by the progress. There are 550,000 people in this group we are targeting. A few years ago nearly all of them were sacrificing to ancestors. We assumed we’d never get more than 8 students in Zion Bible College.

But now over 300 are students in ZBC.  They are getting saved, leaving ancestor worship, taking the gospel to their churches, and starting home-Bible-classes for their neighbors. Carol and I realize: Our best efforts can never turn these dear people from darkness to light. But Jesus is doing it!

We thank God for the work that Bruce and Carol are doing in Africa.  Please join us in praying for them and their ministry.

Pictures from the Pre-Marriage Counseling Seminars

Please enjoy the pictures from the Pre-Marriage Counseling Seminars that took place in Jos, Nigeria last week.

Summary of the Pre-Marriage Counseling Training Seminar in Nigeria

Below is a brief summary by Craig Ewoldt, on the Pre-Marriage Counseling Seminar that was given in Jos last week. 

 

We have just finished 8 days of training for Pre-Marriage Counseling with Alan and Donna Goerz as presenters. The Goerzes, SIM Missionaries from Ghana, have spent 33 years in West Africa. They say, “Our vision is to see Christ-centered marriages and families transforming churches, communities and nations throughout Africa.”
 
It has been an encouraging and profitable time, with more than 400 pastors and counselors in attendance in three cities in Nigeira—Abuja, the capital, Kaduna, and Jos where Oasis is headquartered. We encouraged those attending to bring their husband or wife—about 80% attended as couples.  
 
Alan began the seminar with a parable about a well equipped hospital with well trained staff located at the base of a beautiful mountain. Every day the staff was busy treating people brought off the mountain with injuries. Some even died despite the excellent care they received.
 
One of the doctors went up on the mountain himself one day, remembering the training in climbing his father gave him, and using the equipment he had stored since he was a young man. What if he was to teach others what his father had taught him? What if he was to provide equipment to help others climb safely?
 
Upon his return, he mobilized the hospital staff to do exactly that. Soon, the number of patients needing treatment dropped significantly, and most injuries were much less severe. Now the staff was spending most of their time in training and prevention rather than on treatment of injuries. The lesson is, of course, that it is far better to equip young couples for marriage than to try to repair broken marriages. And training counselors to do this is the focus of these seminars.
 
Each seminar was two days—the first day was training to use the excellent Pre-Marriage Counseling Manual and workbook which Alan and Donna have written. The second day was marriage enrichment. The response for both days was very positive. As a matter of fact, the participants lined up to ask when we could hold them again. Several volunteered to help us next time in promoting the training to their fellowship or denomination. They see the need for training, and the potential there is in helping young couples prepare for strong, Christ centered marriages.

Pre-Marriage Counseling Seminars Trained Hundreds in Nigeria

Dear Friends,

I got an exciting first hand report yesterday detailing a project Oasis is supporting.  A Pre-Marriage Counseling Handbook was developed in Ghana and is now distributed throughout our network in Africa. It speaks specifically to African needs and provides an essential training manual for pastors and leaders in local churches.  Along with the manual, pastors are equipped with handouts they can use in counseling engaged couples. We know of no other resource of its kind in Africa.

Last week Oasis sponsored a series of training seminars in Nigeria given by authors Alan and Donna Goerz.  Hundreds of pastors were trained and equipped to counsel engaged couples in their churches. Each of these, in years of ministry, will counsel hundreds of couples. We expect that the number of marriages built up through this training may reach as high as 50,000 in the next few years.  A strong understanding of Christian marriage is essential to building a mature church in Africa.

Blessings,

Matthew Elliott, PhD

President

Interview with Sons of Walter Trobisch--author of I Loved a Girl and I Married You

Together these two titles have sold over 1,500,000 copies! The books are honest and personal conversations about love and marriage straight from the African context.

We asked the author's sons, Stephen and David Trobisch, to respond to three points regarding these books and how they have touched lives in Africa. Read their insightful response: 

1)      History of the two titles
I Loved a Girl: An African love story witnessed by our parents as they were missionaries in French Cameroon in the 1950s and early 1960s. The young couple was seeking advice facing the ‘bride-price’ dilemma, which offered a young woman to an older, more affluent man. While corresponding with Walter and Ingrid Trobisch, Francois and Cecile are counseled and challenged in matters of understanding the sexuality of young men and women. The meaning of the expression “I loved a girl,” for instance, far exceeds the more common usage of having had a fleeting sexual encounter.
I Married You: A marriage seminar held by Walter and Ingrid Trobisch in Addis Ababa in the late sixties has turned into a demanding as well as enlightening episode, as the two couples trying to offer advice as marriage counselors, find their own marriages in continuous need of nurturing. The events narrated have all actually happened.

2)      Impact on the African Public
The Trobisch titles are widely known throughout the African continent. As a “Westerner,” Walter Trobisch appears to enjoy a rare recognition by Africans of having understood their culture. On recent trips to Africa, my brother and I have frequently been asked at border crossings, airport arrivals, and customs procedures, whether we might be related to Walter. Some of the people who talked to us could not believe that Walter Trobisch was not a black African. Often have we heard while traveling in East Africa: “If I had not read your parents book, I would not be alive anymore. The books encouraged me to be faithful. This has protected me and my family from AIDS.”

3)      Re-introduction into the African marketplace
We believe that the unbroken demand for I LOVED A GIRL and I MARRIED YOU rests on the universal and timeless themes of marital challenges and conflicts. Faithfulness before and in marriage, for instance, has again found a new meaningful context within the AIDS epidemic. The appeal of the books reaches also far beyond African readers. Both books have been translated and published in dozens of languages. Moreover, both narratives feature strong, young women protagonists who have emerged from relative obscurity to become healers and esteemed decision-makers. Our mother used to say, “The future of Africa is in the hands of the African women.” We think that both books reflect this conviction.

by Stephen Trobisch & David Trobisch

Interview with Author Rev. Derek Prime

Greeting from Randy Alcorn for Grand Opening

Randy Alcorn was gracious enough to send a letter of greeting in support of the Grand Opening of our new African Headquarters in Jos, Nigeria. Randy along with George Verwer are donating copies of The Purity Principle to the attendees.  It is wonderful to be in partnership with people who care about Africa.

To Mr. Craig Ewoldt, Staff and Honored Special Guests of Oasis Distributions Ltd. in Jos, Nigeria:

I send warm greetings to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are serving the Lord through the ministry of Oasis. It brings me great joy to know that some of my books are being used to minister to the people of Africa. I hope you will benefit greatly from my book, The Purity Principle.  I rejoice with you in the celebration of the new African Headquarters. May this ministry be used by our God to reach many who don’t yet know the Lord Jesus Christ. And may it encourage believers in Jesus to draw on his strength to walk in purity.

Investing in Eternity.

Randy Alcorn

Author of Heaven, The Treasure Principle and The Purity Principle