Clearing the land for the new church plant in Yenagoa.

Digging the foundation for the fence.

 The Maskeys in Nigeria

April 2017

Dear Praying Friends,

A “Royal” Blessing

As a missionary and pastor for many years here in Nigeria, it has been interesting to see how God uses different people in the church. Sometimes the person you think will go far doesn’t go very far, and the one you think won’t do much ends up being the one God really uses.  Such was the case with a young man in our church named Royal Idakari.  We remember him as a tall, skinny teenage boy who used to live across the street, often peering over his gate and watching us, but never attending our church. Eventually, he became friends with our oldest son, Jonathon, as they would play soccer together in the street with the other neighborhood boys.  Royal finally came to our church for the first time in 2006 after Jonathon invited him for “Friend Day”, but he didn’t get saved until about three years later in a Sunday morning service and was also baptized.  After that, he was very faithful to church and later that year when Jonathon left to go to Bible college, he thought, “Somebody has to take his place and stand in the gap”. So he did, and became more involved, working in a boys Sunday School class, the bus ministry, and soul winning.  In 2011, Royal joined our Bible institute, then later transferred to Providence Baptist Seminary in Abuja where he graduated in 2016. Soon after that, he was married in our church to one of our fine young ladies, Adekemi. In September, 2016 he started a church in Ogoja with the help of Independent Baptist Church of Calabar, and they are now averaging about 35 in attendance. We recently had the blessing and privilege of ordaining Royal into the Gospel Ministry.  Little did we know back then that someday God would use this tall skinny boy who lived across the street and refused to come to our church, to be an ordained pastor in one of our churches!  Please continue to pray for Royal & Kemi and the Ogoja Independent Baptist Church.

Other News & Prayer Requests...

1.      We are now getting ready for our furlough: May through December, 2017, and if you’d like us come and give an update or a presentation during that time, you can contact us at drmaskey@yahoo.com. We are praying that God will use us to be a blessing in your church and also hoping to gain some extra needed support. 

2.      We finally purchased some land in Yenagoa for the new church plant, and recently had a work day there with two van loads of our members working to clear the land and start building a fence (to see pictures visit our website, www.maskeysnigeria.blogspot.com). Please pray for God’s provision for this new church to start soon.

3.      Our Soul Winning & Leadership Conference in March was a great success with 13 other independent Baptist churches represented.  There were many decisions for Christ during the four day meeting, and we believed God used it to give a spiritual boost to all attending.  On Sunday morning of the conference we had 744 in attendance with 47 saved.

THANK YOU again for your prayers and for having a part in our ministry.  God bless you for your faithfulness!

 

 

                                                                 Yours for His Service,

 

                                                                                 David, Rose, Cayla & Justin