M3 graduation on November 29 at Sibumba and Chwele, Kenya | | |
2025 End of Year Update #1
Kingdom Advancement
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About 15 years ago, Dr. Bennett (Founder of M3) and I were finishing up our weekly staff meeting at the kitchen table in his home. It was time to end the meeting and as was his habit, he asked me to close with prayer. So, I began to pray, and not long after I began, I prayed, “Lord, we want to change the world…please show us how.”
As I said that, Dr. Bennett stopped me in the midst of that prayer and said, “Brother Thad, do you believe that?” And I replied, “I do, Dr. Bennett, with my whole heart.” He then said, “How?” I said, “Dr. Bennett, I have no idea.” He said, “But you believe it?” I said, “Yes sir, I do. ” He said, “Then pray on, brother…,” and we did.
I had not planned to pray that. I’m not sure that I had even thought that prior to that moment, but I believe that God had put that idea in my heart.
Last month, I was walking on the treadmill and was listening to a testimony from one of our pastors in South Africa. He was explaining how God was using M3 to literally transform the people of his church and beyond. Young people, adults, males, females…it was across the board radical transformation.
Then he made the statement that M3 was spreading like a virus across the region. It was in that moment that I buckled on the treadmill and had to stop. I began to cry. The Holy Spirit made it known to me in the way that only He can, that what I had just heard was what He had put in my heart that day 15 years ago when I prayed the words, “Lord, we want to change the world. Please show us how.” All I could think and say in that moment was, “Lord, who am I, who are we that You would let us be a part of what YOU are doing in and through this ministry?”
We are seeing the fulfillment of that prayer that God put in my heart, and it’s amazing to say the least. I hope it’s as meaningful to you as it is to me to know that your prayers and your gifts are being used to transform thousands of lives for the glory of God!! We are not working to build a ministry or to make known the name M3. We are all working as fellow laborers in God’s field to build HIS Kingdom and to exalt HIS name alone. We are seeing with our own eyes the literal fulfillment of The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus. Glory to God Who alone is worthy!!
In addition to the 2025 ministry updates below, we are also beginning our EOY Fundraising Campaign. This year, the goal for EOY Fundraising is $275,000.
Meeting or surpassing this goal will propel us into 2026 being in the position to start the year strong and to begin to address the multitude of believers who have reached out to us desperate for Biblical Discipleship in Africa, but are waiting for the funding to be available so that we can add them. Not to mention the requests that we are getting from across the U.S. and the rest of the world.
The success of EOY Funding last year enabled us to add just over 10,000 people in 2025. PTL! And thank you for your gifts and prayers that led to that.
Our goal for 2026 is to repeat what happened in 2025 and add another 10,000 precious souls to be discipled and trained as disciple-makers themselves. Thank you for your continued support and your partnership in fulfilling The Great Commission of Jesus!
EOY Fundraising will run from Dec. 1st until Dec. 31st.
Thanks so very much for your faithful partnership with us and I hope you enjoy and are encouraged by the updates of what God is doing.
His servant,
Thad
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Every year, we request testimonies from M3 groups abroad to hear about the work God is doing through lives across Africa. We received over 100 testimonies in the last month! Below is just a sampling of how Jesus is using discipleship to transform lives, communities, and the world!
The two testimonies that we want to spotlight in this newsletter are from Pastor Christopher Nyanzara and Pastor Jessy David. We will elaborate on many of the things they mention in their testimonies, but for now just please pause and take a few minutes to watch these videos and be encouraged!
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Pastor Christopher Nyanzara from South Africa
Pastor Christopher Nyanzara in South Africa describes how Jesus through M3 is sweeping through like a life-giving “virus,” transforming hearts, reconciling long-time rivals, and igniting bold faith in people of all ages. What began as change within his own heart and congregation has grown into a spiritual movement that is reshaping families, fueling prayer, and drawing former skeptics back to Jesus with new passion. His testimony offers a vivid window into a global wave of disciples being trained and released to impact the world.
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Pastor Jessy David from Nigeria
(More information on Pastor Jessy and Nigeria at large below!)
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OVERVIEW
Glory to God! As of November 2025, 34,200 individuals are being actively discipled across 38 countries (in addition to the US). This includes 2 in the Middle East and the recent addition of Haiti. In the picture of Africa below, red countries indicate active M3 discipleship, while yellow shows countries available and waiting to join.
| | In addition to those already in discipleship, approximately 10,000 people and 6 new countries are waiting to begin training. | | | |
Outside of the US, the countries we're in are: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Middle-East, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Niger, Mauritius, Guinea Conakry, and Haiti.
Out of that list Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Gabon, Gambia, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Niger, and Mauritius were all added this year!
The 6 countries on the waitlist to join are: Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, Togo, Tunisia, and Somalia.
Having not advertised for the ministry, the Lord Himself continues to bring people that are hungry to know Him! Glory to Him and Him alone!!
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BIBLES AND WORKBOOKS
This year we distributed 3,370 Bibles across 11 countries to those actively being discipled. The 11 countries where Bibles were distributed were Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Zambia, Malawi, South Sudan, Liberia, Benin, and Nigeria.
There is currently still a remaining need of about 5,500 Bibles. Our goal is to distribute these 5,500 Bibles to 30 countries on the African continent. Below you will see a picture of Bibles being distributed during a staff trip to Kenya in August of this year.
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Across the world, disciples are growing in their walks with Jesus by being led through our workbooks, Equipping Men for the Battle (EMB) and Equipping Women for the Battle (EWB). Currently, we have 12 books in the EMB series, each with 12 weeks of lessons yielding 3 years of training. We are working towards having 12 books in the EWB series as well!
We printed 33,000 workbooks in 2025 and are likely to print 40,000+ in 2026. The photo below is our M3 Africa staff printing and binding books at our apartment office near Mombasa, Kenya to be shipped. The average cost to print AND ship one workbook is only approximately $1.20 (USD).
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Our 12 workbooks are laid out as follows: the four books of the first year are 1.1–1.4, then 2.1–2.4 for the four books of the second year, and finally 3.1–3.4 for the four books of the third year. These books have been translated partly or fully into 6 languages in addition to English, enabling believers to grow in their heart language.
Instead of M3 staff directing the translation, other country leaders who have been deeply impacted take it upon themselves to do this work. This both preserves meaning and saves M3 roughly 140 times the cost of professional translation. We expect this trend to continue. Below you will see a graph showing the languages into which EMB has been translated and how many books of the workbook series have been completed in that language.
| | One additional hurdle some of our brothers and sisters in Africa face is not having the means to be able to attend the discipleship meetings with their M3 group. For those who are unable to afford to do so, we fund either internet costs (which function similarly to how cellphone data does in the US) or pay for their bus fare--whichever option is more cost effective. The chart below illustrates how these costs have increased over time as the Lord has given us the opportunity to disciple more and more people! | | **NOTE: there are additional internet and travel costs that are related to M3 being able to operate on the ground in Africa. Those additional expenses are also included in these macro categories of "Internet" and "Travel". But facilitating the groups meeting is a huge part of these costs, and this graph helps to show the trends.** | | |
JESUS FILM
In 2025 we, through your generous support, made a heavier investment into Jesus Film backpacks that enable M3 leaders to show a cinematic depiction of the Gospel of Luke as an evangelism tool to win the lost to the Lord!
Year to date, the film has been shown 332 times to a total of 29,669 people, which led to 7,134 people making a profession of faith in Jesus! Praise God!
In Africa, there is much ongoing evangelism; however, there is little biblical discipleship occurring. So, a person can be saved but continue going to the local witch doctor next week not knowing any better.
The Jesus Film is being shown within the M3 footprint where discipleship is already happening! So, new believers have the ability to be trained in biblical discipleship almost immediately after being born-again.
Check out a few pictures from Jesus Film shows this year below!
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This year we organized formal Jesus Film trainings in three areas of Kenya. Each of these regions (Western, Central, and Coastal) has a dozen leaders that take 2 weeks each to show the film.
This allows leaders to recuperate from showings and have more time for planning, and leads to greater cohesion for the team to cover their region with the good news of Jesus!
Check out the image below to see specifically where the three regions are in Kenya!
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Bishop David Kiptega, an M3 leader in the Western Region, shares a glimpse into how the Jesus Film is transforming young lives across Kenya. For example, he says, "This helped many, many children to accept Christ as Lord and Savior."
Children who once avoided church are now attending faithfully, growing spiritually, and even influencing their families. School leaders are asking him to return because the film is changing students’ discipline, morals, and outlook.
Check out his testimony below to hear firsthand how God is using this simple tool to impact entire communities.
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NIGERIA - IN FOCUS
If you have been keeping up with the news, you have no doubt heard about the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria. According to OpenDoors.org, an organization that tracks persecution, Nigeria is ranked 7th in the world for persecution of Christians.
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Amid these terrible acts involving kidnappings, murder, and property destruction, M3 has become a safe place of encouragement for believers who can no longer meet publicly. Even schools, hospitals, and government offices have begun requesting the materials to grow in the Lord!
In fact, M3 is growing rapidly in Nigeria, where more than 1,500 believers across 18 out of the 36 states are actively engaged in discipleship despite persecution, instability, and limited resources, all while 500 are still waiting to join.
While the Muslims want to eradicate the Christians from Nigeria, Jessy David, our M3 Country Representative for Nigeria whose testimony you saw near the top of this newsletter, is working tirelessly to bring hope in God’s Word to the body of Christ in Nigeria.
Below you will see a picture of an M3 group in Nigeria receiving Bibles!
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From both the Scriptures and church history we see that the church grows substantially in the midst of persecution. Nigeria is no exception. Against such darkness, Light is that much greater of a contrast. Nigerians are finding their hope in Jesus.
As you heard in the testimony near the beginning of this newsletter, Pastor Jessy is mobilizing local leaders for a conference in January to host 1,000 M3 members where they will encourage those present as well as share M3 to many other leaders that represent different areas of the country. Following the conference they will hold a crusade where they pray to impact 5,000 lives.
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We believe God is doing a mighty work in Nigeria, similarly to how He has been doing in Kenya. In 2026, we plan to invest more heavily into Nigeria, possibly even establishing a print center, which we know would exponentially increase impact.
Below you will see a picture of one of the M3 groups in Nigeria.
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E-TRAINER PROGRAM
In response to the ever-increasing demand for discipleship and the pursuit to remove every possible obstacle that hinders it, the E-Training program was developed. The E-Trainer Program is a group of men and women who train and disciple others virtually either by phone or video call. They frequently utilize M3’s written disciple-making resources or simply engage in organic discipleship with the person(s) with whom they meet. All current E-Trainers live in the United States and have either physically attended M3 for training or have been trained by someone who has.
Below you will see a picture of an E-Training call with ministry leaders in Haiti taking place!
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Currently, there are 18 E-Trainers, discipling a total of 50 people across 13 US states and 5 countries.
- US states: North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Massachusetts.
- Other countries: Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, Zambia, Haiti.
People who desire to grow in their walk with Jesus regularly reach out to us online. We receive emails at least weekly. They want to grow badly enough that they find us by either Googling how to be discipled, hearing about us through someone else, or by being introduced to M3 by Christian’s podcast (I Just Want to Talk about the Bible).
We find ourselves regularly in need of people willing to be trained in order to disciple those coming to us. If you find yourself wanting to respond to this call, please reach out to us at info@mentoringmen.net! The need is great!
Below you will see a picture of each of the E-Trainers with their names, the state they live in, and how long they have been an E-Trainer.
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Dwayne Fleming
(North Carolina)
(~15 years)
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Jim Merritt
(North Carolina)
(~4 years)
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Jack Hudson
(North Carolina)
(~6 months)
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Craig Carlsen
(North Carolina)
(~2.5 years)
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Christian & Lacy Keeter
(North Carolina)
(~10 years & ~1 year)
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David Schafer
(Alabama)
(~3.5 years)
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Caleb Johnson
(Florida)
(~10 months)
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Kelly Faulk
(North Carolina)
(~7 years)
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Victoria Karman
(Texas)
(~6 months)
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Will Baker
(North Carolina)
(~4 years)
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Charles Poindexter
(North Carolina)
(~5 months)
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Elsie Johnson
(North Carolina)
(~4 years)
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Hogan Baker
(New York)
(starting the process)
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Drew Royal
(North Carolina)
(~9 months)
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Matt & Katie Watson
(North Carolina)
(~2 years & ~8 months)
(not pictured here)
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Craig Baker
(starting the process)
(not pictured here)
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FUNDRAISING STRATEGY
As the need for resources to expand discipleship grows, we recognize the need to widen our current donor base so that the Word of God can continue to spread further and deeper in places like Nigeria.
After investigating Christian fundraising agencies, we are beginning more serious talks with one that has even agreed to fly out on their own dime for an in-person strategy meeting to process a game plan for what increasing financial support in a sustainable way could look like.
Our goal in this is not to discover a tactic to raise additional funds from our current donor base, but to increase or widen our donor base. The goal is to expose more people to the amazing work that God is doing through this ministry and leaving the result to Him!
We are excited to see how the Lord will lead to continue to facilitate His work!
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PARTNERING FOR MINISTRY EXCELLENCE
On the recent trip to Africa, we were made aware of an organization called Africa Council for Accreditation and Accountability (AfCAA). This is the Africa equivalent of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) in the United States by whom we are already accredited. These organizations seek to provide financial accountability and oversight to help the ministry, but also give donors assurance that the accredited organization is operating in-line with biblical stewardship.
We seek to replicate in Africa what we have in the States with the ECFA, but beyond the additional financial oversight an AfCAA membership provides, they can also provide direction and connections on navigating the challenges of conducting such a large ministry in Africa.
We cannot begin to express how HUGE this is to provide the best practice mechanisms for Africa ministry. We are excited!
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FORWARD TOGETHER IN THE FAITH
When we reflect on all the lives God is transforming and how His Word is being proclaimed through the mouths of whole congregations, not just their ministers, we are beyond humbled that God chooses to work through us.
This is your story as well! A rescuer can climb down into a dangerous cavern only because someone above is holding the rope tight. The steady hands at the top make every step possible and without them the rescue could never happen. Your support is the lifeline that allows this mission to progress.
From all the staff, thank you for your generous support that allows disciples of Jesus to be made around the world!
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This upcoming year our goal under God is to add another 10,000 disciples as well as deep investment in supporting infrastructure needed for the ministry to keep pace with the growth.
Would you prayerfully consider an end-of-year gift so that we may together help the world know and follow Jesus?
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10
What a beautiful chorus that will be!!
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EOY Funding Goal: $275,000
Amount given or pledged in response to the Challenge so far: $120,952
Amount needed to reach the goal: $154,048
This amount will completely fund December, clear up all outstanding obligations for 2025, and give us a needed boost into the first quarter of 2026.
M3 is a 501c-3 nonprofit organization, and all of your gifts are tax deductible.
Thanks so much for praying and giving as the Lord is leading you.
HOW TO GIVE:
You can make a safe and secure donation in the following ways:
You can give safely online at: www.mentoringmen.net. Click the "Donate" tab at the top of the home page. Here is the link to that page: DONATE
Or, you can send your gift to:
M3
1213 Culbreth Dr.
Wilmington, NC 28405
If you wish to make a donation specifically towards
our leadership/disciple-making training abroad in
Africa, or:
If you wish to make a donation of common stock or
any other type of unconventional gift to M3, please
contact me directly at: thad@mentoringmen.net
For more information concerning the financial standards by which we operate, visit the ECFA website by clicking this link:
ECFA Homepage
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Thanks so much for your partnership with us as we seek to make disciples who make disciples all over the world!
Thad, Christian, Will, Kelly, & Mrs. E
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