Seven years ago, we started training our young people to conduct neighborhood Bible Clubs. The training program we use is called S.M.I.T.E., which stands for Student Missions Institute for Training in Evangelism. Mark Holmes, FBMI missionary to Nigeria, introduced us to this program.

S.M.I.T.E. is a five-day camp where youth come and receive three hours of teaching in the mornings about how to win children to Christ and how to conduct Bible Clubs. Then each afternoon, these youth go out and conduct Bible Clubs for children in the community. Each evening, we have preaching services to encourage our youth to surrender their lives to God and to serve Him.

Thus far, we have conducted 5 S.M.I.T.E. camps, and the results have been tremendous! Last year, we had 155 campers from 9 churches. These campers conducted 23 Bible Clubs, with over 1,600 children in attendance. Over 750 children made a profession of faith in Christ. Also last year, 16 of our young men surrendered their lives to be preachers! Over the last several years, 20 students have completed the 4 levels of the training program.

Please watch this video about our S.M.I.T.E. camp: tinyurl.com/SMITEGh25

At the end of April, we are planning to hold our 6th S.M.I.T.E. camp. Each year, the number of campers has grown, and I believe this year we will see more churches represented and more campers in attendance. This year, we estimate it will cost us about $3,600 to print lessons, soul-winning materials, and visuals and to help offset the cost of housing and feeding the campers. (Campers pay a small fee to participate in the program each year.) If you would like to help us financially with this year’s camp, you can make a donation at fbmi.org/give. Under Fund, start typing Ghana and select Ghana Special Projects 6180. For the note, type SMITE. Please pray that God would bless this year’s camp as we seek to train young people to reach children for Christ!

Yours for souls,

Ted Speer
Pastor/Team Leader