Category: Solar Mission

Solar Mission Philippines The Solar Mission to distribute 2,000 Solar Players throughout the islands of the Philippines is well underway.  Almost one third of the money has been raised and distributions will take up most of the rest of the year to complete the task. At the same time, we are still getting requests from South America and Africa for additional solar players to help fill the needs there. Planning and Dreaming In March, Brian Garnett took 150 players to distribute at a church conference with over 1,500 in attendance. The players were given to church leaders. Brian reported that there were 150 very happy people and 1,350 that were very disappointed. While Brian was on an earlier trip, a congregation contacted Sunset about getting a player to a preacher they knew in Cebu. Brian was able to reach Manuel Daliwa and another preacher at a McDonald’s. Since that time, Manuel has planted two churches in the mountains and baptized many using the solar player to help teach. In April, Sunset held a meeting for ministry partners who are all working in different ministries throughout the Philippine nation. Among the group were long-term missionaries, Filipino’s, and representatives from ministries that have been laboring for years through short-term trips and long-term relationships. Many of the participants were encouraged to see an effort being made to unite the church in a way that will empower them to strength themselves against the forces of evil that they all face. In the discussions it was mentioned that by uniting under...

Two years of fund-raising are complete, and 3,000 solar players have been delivered. Thank you to every one of you who made this the largest phase yet in the Solar Mission to Send the Light. Dozens of trips have been made throughout Central & South America and to Spanish-speaking islands in the Caribbean to help the Spanish-speaking churches to grow through their evangelism and their depth of Bible study. Thousands of your brothers and sisters in Christ have been encouraged and emboldened to spread the Kingdom of God with the assistance they now have from the Solar Players. We do not have room to list all of the thanks that we’ve heard and continue to receive from grateful churches. See What God Has Done Because of the generosity of over 200 churches and more than 1,000 individual donors, the Solar Mission has sent out over 8,500 solar-powered audio players over the past four years in four different languages, to over 50 countries on six different continents. Each phase received more money above the goal allowing Sunset to deliver additional solar players to more places beyond the original plans. Our office has just completed processing our 10,000th solar player in anticipation of completing the next phase. God has truly blessed us with a great ministry, but more than that, He has used churches and individuals like you to send the light of the Gospel all over the world in ways that would not have been possible 15 years ago. Sending the Light into the Destruction “For three...

The distribution of Solar Players is nearing the end of its third year. Since 2014 over 7,500 players have been distributed in 46 countries and in 4 languages. By God’s grace 3,000 players will have been delivered in the Spanish language by the end of February; Phase III of this mission effort. Our supporters have enabled us to prepare Solar Players in English, Spanish, Amharic (Ethiopian) and most recently in Arabic. Translations are ongoing in Telegu and French. We continue to receive encouraging messages, and emails regarding the rich blessings these players are for the ministers who receive one and of the people responding to the messages contained on the players. These players are multiplying our efforts to spread the gospel in unforeseen ways. The lessons on how to become a Christian and the World Bible School materials are bringing people to Christ. The Bible study materials strengthen ministers and churches. Frequently we hear, “It is like having a pocket sized bible library!” Recently we have found that these players are going places we cannot go as missionaries. During the Ebola outbreak in Liberia water bottles were tossed over the quarantine barrier which lead some innovative brothers to realize that the same thing could be done with the Solar Players. So, people surrounded by death were able to listen to the Word of Life. In Germany Solar Players with the Arabic language were distributed by the church in Bremen to refugees from the Syrian conflicts. These refugees are given temporary housing in camps called “Container Villages”...

Each solar report tries to convey the excitement, thanksgiving, and praise that resulted from each delivery trip. This report concentrates on just one of those trips: the journey to El Salvador and Costa Rica made by Luis Melendez and Brandi Kendall. Luis recently returned to the United States from serving as a missionary in Costa Rica. Brandi currently serves as SIBI’s Dean of International Studies for Asia. Covering El Salvador from East to West, by Luis Melendez Brandi Kendall and I traveled with 240 solar players to El Salvador, from the 20th to the 25th of September. Thanks to God, we had no problem at customs. In El Salvador the customs process is random. They ask arriving travelers to push a button. If a red light turns on they check your luggage, but if a green light turns on they let you go without checking your luggage. When I was passing through customs, they asked me to push the button, and for some reason after I pushed the button it took two or three seconds for the light to turn on. Fortunately, a green light eventually turned on so they let me go without questioning or incident! God be praised! We then distributed solar players at four events. First, on Friday we gathered with about 60 preachers from the central part of the country. We met in a church building at La Miramonte, San Salvador. Second, we went to the eastern part of the country to San Miguel. On Saturday we met with over 100 church...

“Never in our wildest dreams could we have ever imagined having a tool like this.”- Leonardo Rojos of Venezuela, after receiving his Solar Player. After almost four years of placing solar players in the hands of people around the world, it is no wonder that God has used these devices like seeds cast across the face of the earth to bring people into His Kingdom. There are truly more stories from what God has done than we are able to tell in any report, and that is just from news we receive back. Though we know where we placed all of the Solar Players, where God has taken them is greater than any ministry could imagine. Planting Churches and Baptizing Souls Brother Erkalo Abamo received his solar player in Ethiopia and used it to plant a congregation in his home area. Through the courses in evangelism and study with individuals, 85 souls have been baptized into Christ. This congregation that is fed with teaching from God’s Word through the Solar Player has grown to over 300. Bolivian Connection in Costa Rica Juan Garcia is a 1974 graduate of Sunset. After leaving Sunset, he went to Bolivia to plant the first congregation there. Christian Thompson was an AIMer in Bolivia in 2011. During his time on the field Christian met the first convert in the church that Juan planted 40 years ago. Juan returned to his home in Costa Rica, and on a recent delivery of Solar Players there, Christian placed a solar player in the hand...

Over the past 12 months funds have been collected, lessons have been translated, SD cards have been loaded. Now it is time for thanksgiving to God. Last year a few deliveries were made, but most of the 3,000 Solar Players for Phase III will be delivered in the next few months. While we are still receiving the remainder of the $1,500,000 needed for completion of the project, enough has been received that many of the trips are already scheduled. At this point, plans  have been made to deliver the remaining Spanish Solar Players to 13 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Through these trips, God will be praised and thanksgiving will be made for the Word of God.

Since the last update, deliveries of solar players to the Spanish speaking world have continued. Chris Swinford led a group to Nicaragua and distributed players with the help of our partner schools in that country. Tim Burow and Arthur Puente took players to Ecuador and worked with Josh Marcum and the Quito School of Biblical Studies to distribute the players among the preachers there.

So far in Phase III there have been over 300 players distributed in Cuba, Honduras, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador.

After a year of intensive work, forty-four Biblical courses in Spanish have been formatted and organized along with an audio menu. The Spanish version Solar Player now contains over 500 hours of Bible study material along with the complete Bible. The players are now ready to be delivered. Our many brotherhood partners are eager to put the Sunset solar players in the hands of leaders that will use the material and training to multiply their efforts across the Spanish-speaking world. With the help of God and a brotherhood of Christians committed to spreading the Kingdom, Phase III will make an impact on Latin America that will be see results for generations.

As we announced in the last update, Phase III is taking the solar-powered audio players into Spanish-speaking Latin America. Many lessons have been learned from Phase II where the material was translated into Amharic for Ethiopia. Sunset has been working over the past several months to finish the courses in Spanish so that there will be a complete set of classes ready to go. New Partners We have begun to talk with and partner with many organizations and ministries already involved in the Spanish-speaking world. One of those ministries is the Biblical Institute of Central America. George Hall and Roberto Alvarez (pictured right) representing BICI came to Lubbock to record a series of lessons on evangelism to be used on the solar player. They are excited to see what impact the solar players will have in Central America, with their network of preachers. Continued Relationships We are thankful that World Bible School continues to be involved with Sunset in spreading God’s Word with the solar players. In the first two phases, we received many reports of World Bible School lessons being used as an evangelistic tool to help get hundreds of people involved in studying God’s Word and eventually being baptized. World Bible School has recently delivered to us the same lessons in Spanish to be included with Phase III. God continues to amaze us as He takes this vision and carries it farther than we first believed possible. Through the multiplied efforts of other brotherhood ministries, Phase III will continue the success of the first...

With a final trip in December 2015 to Ethiopia to deliver and distribute the solar-powered audio players in Amharic, Phase II of the Solar Event was completed. This special occasion concludes the year-long efforts by Sunset and our ministry partners around the world that have given and prayed to make this possible. Our prayers now continue that God will take our efforts and multiply their effect for the glory of His kingdom.