It’s All About Jesus

By Mike Stonecypher

Mike Stonecypher spent thirty-seven years spreading the word of God in Africa, and he shares his heartfelt testimony in this book.

In it, you will read about his inspiring encounters with Nigerian and Nigerien Christians and missionaries from around the world. He highlights times of victory and of testing—and how God revealed the redemptive power of Jesus over and over again.

He recalls serving the Lord in three schools, encouraging hundreds of students and dozens of teachers to find their faith. He taught English, the Bible, drama, and writing, working side by side with Nigerians, Nigeriens, Cameroonians, Congolese, Canadians, British, Swiss, French, Germans, Brazilians, Koreans, and Americans.

The theme throughout is that only Jesus leads us day by day, year after year, bringing into our lives the people and the events that shape us. Only Jesus keeps our hearts tender to His voice and the needs of those around us.

Some of these stories will have you laughing and rejoicing, while others will burden your heart and call you to prayer. In every story, you will be reminded of God’s profound love for humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664270732

Mike Stonecypher

Mike Stonecypher, a native of Alabama, became a believer as a young boy. He benefitted from the godly influence of many dedicated Christian teachers and leaders. He earned a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and an Education Specialist degree and was appointed by the International Mission Board to Nigeria. Later he married Becky, his wife, and they served together in Nigeria and Niger for thirty-seven years.

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CONTENTS

Introduction: It’s All About Jesus

1.     My First Class

2.     Five Hungry Hearts

3.     Torchbearers

4.     My Missionary Mentor

5.     Real Live Missionaries

6.     Hausa Language Study

7.     My First Neighbors

8.     Living In Whirley House Dormitory

9.     Discipling Staff

10.   Africans Who Discipled Me

11.   Nigerian Discipline

12.   My First Furlough

13.   Romance And Marriage

14.   Hausa Language Study, Part Two

15.   Rachel Ann

16.   John David

17.   Shopping And Cooking

18.   Burglars, Snakes, And Bats

19.   Driving In Africa: Battle Or Contact Sport?

20.   Mission Houses Are A Whole Nother Thing

21.   Neighbors Through The Years

22.   African Weather—Cold Or Hot, Wet Or Dry

23.   Violence In Africa

24.   Comprehending A Different Culture

25.   French Language Study

26.   International Third Culture Kids Schools

27.   Supporting Missionary Families

28.   Churches And Faith Families

29.   Miracles

30.   Prayer

31.   Yau Da Gobe

32.   Jesus—Our Role Model

Conclusion: All For God’s Glory

It’s all about Him, my Jesus, my loving Lord and Savior,

whether in my past or in my now or in my future, forever.

It’s all about Him, who obediently left His throne in glory

and was born a peasant who was welcomed in a manger.

It’s all about Him, who sought out those

who most desperately needed His touch,

His words, His stories of healing and of wonder

as He lovingly touched the blind, the defiled,

the sinner, and the leper and immediately set them free

because He brought God’s love to them.

It’s all about Him—I am totally and completely His,

for He bought me with His pure and perfect,

sinless, blood He spilled upon the earth

because He longs to welcome all His

children home around His throne,

where all peoples, tribes, and tongues will

worship Him in eternal glory.

INTRODUCTION

IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS

I n reviewing all these stories of mine, then ours, covering the thirty-seven years we were assigned by our International Mission Board to serve in Nigeria and then Niger, I have considered, remembered, and thanked God for so many memories of good and bad times. Through it all I have come to one unalterable conclusion—every wondrous event and every blessed relationship—it’s all about Him, Jesus, our Savior. It really is He who walked with us through every adventure—inviting, redeeming, going before and with us and remaining after us—all to bring God glory and ourselves deep, eternal joy. So whether in these stories you are drawn to our incredible Nigerian friends, our missionary colleagues and mentors, or our Nigerien brothers and sisters, or whether you enjoy laughing or crying with us or walking with us through our accounts of monumental challenges or miraculous victories or just day-to-day ups and downs, whatever it is that speaks to you—know this: it is all about Jesus.

Only Jesus leads us day by day, year after year, bringing into our lives the people and the events that shape us as He wills to accomplish His perfect will. Only Jesus keeps our hearts tender to His voice and the needs of those around us. Only Jesus strengthens us to see accomplished for God’s glory what we could never do on our own. Only Jesus gives us empathy for those who daily perish without Him. Only He gives us answers to those who would find in Him the meaning of life. Only Jesus perfectly loves even the most exasperating people who cross our paths and gives us His love to share with them. Only Jesus gives eternal value and inestimable worth to every person. Only Jesus makes us at home in the village chief’s hut and in the state governor’s office. It’s all about Him and all because of His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection triumph. It’s all because He’s coming again. It’s because He’s longing to welcome every single one of us as His own. It’s because He gives us the incredible privilege of joining and walking beside Him and even assisting Him as He calls His own.

I realize that it is Jesus who encircled both my wife, Becky, and myself with parents and families who pointed us to Him. It is Jesus who shepherded us lovingly as He brought into our lives faithful women and men whose hearts shone with His glory. They gave us a hunger for the beauty and the power they had discovered in Him. It is He who arranged experiences in our own lives that taught us His power to save, His joy in living, and His dissatisfaction with anything less than His desire for us.

When I see faces smiling across our past, encouraging, supporting, and praying for us; when I see faces weeping over the lostness of peoples and places who have never heard of or learned to love Him; when I see God’s own glory shining brightly over the lives of those redeemed wherever they live, I know it is all about Jesus.

So enjoy these stories. You may read them in any order you choose. They are arranged to tell one story among the many, but some may speak more directly to you. So you decide. Just remember this one thing. First and last, wherever they fall, every story is all about Jesus and His love for you and me and all God’s children.

Just like He does eternally,

our great God in time and space

arranges meetings for His best,

bringing together those who seek

His perfect will where and when

He fits them into His perfect plan

to discover glorious things

as they join Him hand in hand,

their gifts and personalities

creating testimonies all

filled up with happiness and joy

as they follow Him obediently.

CHAPTER 1

MY FIRST CLASS

F rom my very first day in my first class at Baptist High School in Jos, Nigeria, I knew I was in a unique place. I was a teacher facing different opportunities and challenges with a very different kind of student. During my six years of teaching in Ludowici and St. Marys, Georgia, I had developed my trust in God to guide my teaching, facing each day’s classes filled with various varieties of eager, reluctant, and defiant students. Through God’s grace, I had learned to depend on Him and seek His best for every student, no matter how readily or reluctantly they engaged in English lessons. Now in Jos, I quickly realized that every student, no matter their level of ability, desperately wanted to learn and eagerly welcomed any opportunity to do so. Though I found myself teaching in basic, overcrowded classrooms, the extras did not matter. There was almost no need to battle for anyone’s attention. It was more a matter of finding activities that took basic learning deeper, toward understanding, application, and mastery.

In my first African classroom enthusiasm flowed freely from day to day. The students raced to run and gather my books as I made my way to class; they stood together to greet me. An often overeager sea of hands were raised across the classroom, everyone anxious to give the next answer. I had never seen so many smiles spread across a classroom. These were second-year students, still young and eager to please. I, as a brand-new missionary, was also eager to please. In His wisdom and perfect timing, God brought us together. We fed each other’s delight as we learned English and explored God’s goodness together. This synergy came together perfectly as the class was assigned an upcoming chapel program. This was our chance to share our enthusiasm for Jesus as our Savior and God as our Father with the students and staff gathered for morning devotions in Patterson Chapel.

We wanted to present a clear message about joy in knowing and serving Jesus. Having worked with the Heaven Bound youth group in St. Marys, centered around Bible study, prayer, a touring youth choir, and fellowship and fun gatherings, I was eager to see what these Form Two (eighth grade) students could express through music and drama. We chose the hymn Trust and Obey as our theme. The old hymn’s words captured well the readiness of these young Nigerians to testify of their faith in God and to their willingness to follow His way for them.

When we walk with the Lord In the light of His Word

What a glory He sheds on our way!

When we do His good will, He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.

Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Imagine these forty thirteen-year-olds singing this hymn, dressed in their dark-blue shorts and light-blue shirts (the boys) and their dark-blue skirts and light-blue blouses (the girls), smiling happily, as they marched up the center aisle of the beautiful chapel. I honestly do not remember the rest of our program—that opening set the tone and captured the spirit of my first class. This experience captured for me the rightness of God’s direction as He had worked over the years to prepare me and bring me to Baptist High School, while at the same time He was working in the lives of each of these God-hearted students as He brought us together for His glory and for our joy. This was the first of the many classes I would teach in Nigeria and Niger over a span of thirty-seven years. From this first class until the very last, I can assure you, God was working to accomplish His best purpose for every student and for the classes as a whole. In the words of the hymn, What a glory He shed on our way!

In some ways teaching at Baptist High School certainly presented a challenge. We had very little equipment—basically dusty chalk and painted concrete blackboards. My students participated enthusiastically when we did drills to learn verb conjugations and parts of speech. Students were eager to get engaged in our lessons, using activities I had developed while teaching seventh graders in St. Marys. They especially enjoyed our ticketing system for classroom management. I looked carefully and constantly for students doing well, and unobtrusively gave them a paper ticket while commending the action or answer or cooperative spirit I appreciated. At the end of the week their tickets gave them the opportunity to win classroom materials. In our very large classes at Baptist High School, I found that this helped us all to keep on track as the lesson progressed. It also reinforced good behavior, and almost always had students so intent on doing good that they never had time to think about getting involved in disruptive behavior. As the school year went by, I used fewer and fewer tickets and enjoyed more and more contributive, actively involved participation.

I also discovered that getting immediate feedback by doing short quizzes on small quartered sheets of paper helped me to know how well students were learning, while letting them know how well they understood and remembered the important concepts and skills we were developing in that particular lesson. Interestingly, I had picked up this technique from my Latin teacher in university, who was continuously assessing our mastery in all of the minutiae involved in learning a complex language system like Latin. Little did that traditional, classical teacher know that his methodology would provide for me an excellent model for teaching English in Nigeria.

I had been blessed throughout my educational career by teachers who thoroughly and obviously enjoyed their subject. As a result, they not only taught me but engaged me in the subject so that I joined them in their enjoyment of the learning we did together in class. I planned my lessons so that my expectations for my students, and for myself, remained high—and I recognized my responsibility for careful planning that reflected the abilities and inclinations of my students. And most certainly, in this first of many classes I would teach over my eighteen years at Baptist High School, my students responded with energy, determination, and enjoyment. It was a joy to teach such students, who clearly loved Jesus and learning. It was wonderful to see how remarkably those two went together as we worked together. We were loved by Him in a way that encouraged all of us to do our best.

One of the very best things God did for me, as I moved to Nigeria to begin my missionary teaching career, was that first class—excited and eager, well-behaved and hard-working, loving God and wanting to please Him—the students gave me a taste of the joy He had in store for me over the many years I would spend serving Him in Jos, Nigeria, and in Niamey, Niger.

If you look into their eyes,

you will see it in their hearts—

a deep and burning desire

for wisdom in God’s Word.

You will see it in their smiles

as they understand His story

and stretch their growing minds

absorbing all the glory

God in perfect love bestows.

Like athletes at the table

devouring every morsel,

they fortify their souls.

CHAPTER 2

FIVE HUNGRY HEARTS

I will never forget our first meeting. I met Shola, Ademola, Victor, Philip, and Mike—actually, they met me out in front of the administration building, took my books, and escorted me inside the school library. They bowed as one when they greeted me. Good evening, sir. How are you, sir? Thanks for coming, sir. I’m sure my eyes were wide as I stumbled through my reply. Oh, hello, how are you? They smiled, maybe amused at my surprise. We are fine, sir. Thank you, sir.

As we sat down together at a table, I suggested that we begin with prayer. I asked if anyone would like to lead us. Five hands shot up. I called on one student and he prayed a heartfelt prayer, praising God and asking Him to bless our study, to guide us into learning, and to bless me as I led. He concluded his prayer to a hearty round of Amens! from the entire group.

I paused a moment, silent and stunned as I absorbed their obvious eagerness to get into our study. I had never in my years of leading solid, Christian youth encountered such enthusiasm. These five young men, Form Three students, (ninth graders in a system in which students finished after their eleventh year), had begun their discipleship studies with Larry Davis, another missionary, who had left ministry at Baptist High School to do pioneer church planting work in northeastern Nigeria. He had assured me that these boys would impress me with their spiritual hunger. He was right. They reacted with excitement to the study materials I introduced. They drank in every word I said and responded actively in discussion, giving thoughtful, searching answers. I came away from our first meeting excited by the prospect of engaging with such wonderful students over the two and a half years remaining before their graduation.

We were always learning surprising things about each other and our very different cultures. I enjoyed having them over to my apartment for simple dinners and occasional sleepovers, always taking time for lively Bible study and significant times of prayer revolving around their Christian lives, their studies, their families, and their future studies. I introduced to them some American foods they had never encountered before. One evening I noticed they were exchanging troubled glances when I announced we were having hot dogs. After an awkward silence, I realized they thought I was serving them dog meat sandwiches. I quickly explained that the sandwiches contained no dog meat. They cautiously tried them and, as true teenagers, happily ate every hot dog I had prepared. Another evening, as we were having a special dinner at the