For Etienne-Tournesol Bama, a retired agronomist engineer, sharing the Gospel can be difficult in the Central African Republic. On foot is treacherous and tiring, and on wheels, it’s expensive. But for Tournesol, a veteran innovative thinker and detailed planner, neither hurdle has stopped him from constantly seeking new ways to spread God’s message.

Etienne-Tournesol attended the Haggai Leader Experience in 2004. There he was equipped to speak about Jesus in a new way, and couldn’t wait to get back to his home country and put those tools to work. Upon his return, he founded a non-profit to help the poor people in his home country. He also launched a program to teach others how to share the Good News, and in less than two decades has grown God’s Kingdom by 2,600 Christians.

The hurdles Etienne-Tournesol faces aren’t always the ones he battles while sharing the Gospel. In 2020, he lost his spouse, just as he was about to start graduate school, and as a retiree, the financial burdens are heavy.

“I was going to study in a FATEB Faculty (Evangelic Theological Faculty of Bangui). Now I am in year two, and I work in a ministry involved in the creating of churches and sharing the Gospel in the rural areas of my country.”

Through his schooling, and with the support of the administration there, Etienne-Tournesol will remarry in 2023, claim his diploma in 2024, and continue to work in Central Africa to lead people to Jesus through the church, his non-profit, and other ministries.

“I am so thankful for prayer, and will continue sharing what I am able to accomplish here because of it.”

Written by Jennifer Colosimo