People sometimes balk at the idea of spending thousands of dollars on a mission trip. Their thinking? $25,000 could feed a lot of hungry people. In our case, we could print a ton of books with the $25,000 it costs for our trip to Tanzania.

It’s true that we could print a lot of books for $25,000, but we travel with bigger goals in mind. We believe printing books and taking mission trips both prove beneficial and productive.

We can, and do, send thousands of books to African countries. Pastor James, our African director in Tanzania, believes that pastors who meet the authors or the people who send them will more likely read and learn from the books they receive. James desires to change the culture from a non-reading society to a reading and learning one. Our visits and conferences help him accomplish that goal.

Rural African pastors typically receive a junior high level of education. They learn to read in school, though they often lack access to books, especially those with biblical content. Limited access to higher education, including Bible college or seminary, leads to less reading overall. We often enjoy the privilege of gifting pastors with their very first book.

Our visits let pastors and their wives know they’re not alone in their struggles. By sharing our own challenges, we show them that even “rich Americans” face problems too. Our stories and experiences encourage them to feel heard and understood.

This May, Howard and I—along with our pastor and another friend—will travel to Tanzania to teach two four-day conferences on the topic of marriage. Tanzania exists as a patriarchal society. Men often treat their wives as property. We will study biblical passages on God’s plan for marriage. We hope to inspire pastors to break cultural barriers by loving their wives like Christ loves the church. We want to convey a balanced perspective of biblical submission and motivate couples to work as a team. James longs to see pastors working together with their wives in ministry.

We plan to model how to closely observe God’s Word in the way we teach. By asking good questions from the passages we study, we challenge couples to find answers in the Scripture. This method of teaching proves effective in teaching the biblical content and how to study the Bible for themselves.   

ABH regularly receives requests for books and teachers. We are building a team of teachers to help us train untrained pastors. We can help these pastors continue growing and learning by sending our teachers once or twice a year. We also gift them with books to encourage them to continue reading and learning on their own throughout the year.

The cost of a mission trip accomplishes much more than just sending a book can accomplish. We believe both work together as a crucial part of training, learning, and growing.

Would you consider helping us embark on this crucial journey where God changes lives?

Click here to give.

A Tanzanian pastor faces his family with a grumbling stomach and empty hands. He scrapes together spiritual sustenance for his congregation with no seminary education, commentaries, or study Bible. But his meager salary leaves his table bare at the end of the day.

“They’re going hungry,” Pastor James concluded in a conversation with ABH Board President Howard Joslin.  

This passing comment ignited a vision—not just to offer a few meals, but to purchase plows so pastors can provide a lifetime of meals for their families, churches, and the surrounding villages.

“We live in a farming community,” Howard said. “We could probably raise the money in no time.”

Howard and ABH President Fran Joslin brought the need to their small group at Redeemer Church in Winterset, Iowa. Some church members generously donated $111 each to purchase and deliver a single plow. Meanwhile, a friend longed to contribute. For years, he prayed for an insurance settlement from a car accident, but the insurance company refused to pay. When the money “happened” to come during ABH’s plow campaign, this friend recognized God’s provision and gave $3,100 to help hungry pastors.

In all, ABH raised $4,196—enough to purchase and deliver thirty-four plows—and another $400 to buy seeds. Pastor James personally delivered the plows, dropping off twenty-three plows in a region called Katavi.

“Does the ‘A’ in ‘ABH’ stand for angels?” the presiding bishop in the region joked.

A one-hour meeting with the bishop stretched to four, and then an overnight stay. Later, the bishop called the pastors he oversees, telling them to welcome James who works as ABH’s Africa director, along with ABH’s books.

“Most Americans train but leave pastors hungry,” the bishop explained. “You have saved us by meeting our physical needs first.”  

Next James headed to Singida to deliver the remaining eleven plows. Local pastors hailed James as the “Lifesaver to Pastors” and lavished him with gifts – two chickens and an acre of land. One elderly pastor asked James to be his son because of James’s walk with the Lord.

“The door is open to ABH,” the regional chairman of the Pentecostal Church declared. “You are welcome to come and train as many pastors as you like.”

Before receiving plows, the pastors could cultivate only an acre or two of land. Now they can plant around seven to ten acres, more than enough to feed their families. In three years, the pastors will have grown enough food to last ten years. But these pastors have a greater vision than simply providing for their own needs.

By selling surplus harvest, they plan to buy plows for the church planters they send out to surrounding villages. Then the church planters can raise crops, buy plows, and send out more church planters. As churches multiply, ABH’s scope grows to include more pastors and congregations starving for God’s Word.

“You’re not just training pastors but helping them take care of their families,” James summarized. “The whole region is open now.”

James headed home after delivering plows and experiencing God’s blessing in Katavi and Singida. Around midnight, his car sputtered to a stop by the side of the road. James messaged Fran to pray he could get his car fixed and make it home safely. A local mechanic “happened” to drive the streets in the middle of the night to see if anyone needed help. In less than an hour, God blessed again by sending a mechanic to tow the car, fix it, and send Pastor James on his way.