I have been working with Jim and Viola Palmer for about 20 years. But for most of you who know me when I am referring to the Palmers it is with a Spanish accent and talk of Nicaragua. But that has dramatically multiplied with new work now on the other side of the world in Ethiopia Africa.
Jim and Viola took early retirement from the IMB four years ago due to several personal things in their life. They came back to the USA for a while, but have always continued to support and lead the work in Nicaragua. But that is not all they have been doing. They have begun a new work in Africa to foster a Church planting movement among the Bantu people of Ethiopia. They have entered into an area or pocket of people where there was hardly any evangelical presence of the Gospel about two hours south of Addis the capital city. There was a small group of believers there, but they were struggling among the animistic culture and the dominance of the Orthodox church. The story is amazing of the working of the Lord and how he has brought Jim and Viola into a new work with people who were so hungry to hear the Gospel. In four years the effort has now expanded to 4 churches in Bantu with a total of 11 churches now linking up to form a strong new work. About 150 have been baptized into the Kingdom as a result. This has started slow but is now taking off.
A new church, a guest house, well drilling for communities, Bible Institute, and now the advanced training of The BTCP program are touching lives. I am once again both amazed and blessed to have come to labor with this wonderful Spirit filled couple. This is a new start of a church planting movement. The key to church growth is leadership and the training of the group of pastors in the above photo speaks for itself.
The bottom picture is Jim and Viola as I followed them back to the new church they planted. The construction you see on the right side of the photo is the Guest House where teams will be coming in the near future for the work of the Lord in Ethiopia.
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