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October 2001 |
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WRITING
FROM HAWAII Many know that we are serving in Honolulu, Hawaii at Kapahulu Bible Church as the interim pastor. The new senior pastor will arrive here during the first week of January and so we will be continuing on here until that time. Our being here has created some technical problems with our e-mail mailing list, but I believe most everyone is getting this report. It is always posted on our web site about the first part of each month. Thanks for your earnest prayers on our behalf. As a result, God has been abundantly blessing our ministry and has brought much-needed refreshing to the church.
THE
CHINA GOAT PROJECT An amazing thing has been happening. This project has touched many lives and as of this writing, funds for 10 ½ pairs of goats have been received. Our goal was 10 pairs and God has provided beyond that. Praise His Name. Dick and Edna Williams are the people who transmit the funds from Hong Kong to the church in South China that is using this means to open some rural areas to the gospel. Farmers are given a pair of goats and that helps to increases their income. The new church in the area is blessed as offerings increase. The community is helped and the government is impressed with the results. Recently, the local TV station heard about the project and sent a TV crew to record it for the evening news. The station has a potential market of 4 million people! The governor of the prefecture (State) saw the report and was so impressed he wrote a letter commending the mother church sponsoring the project. But God did more than that. The new church has been meeting in a home while seeking to register as required by Chinese law, but difficult local officials kept throwing up obstacles in their way. When the governor heard of this he told the local authorities to find a building for them and get them registered. And just as it was for Nehemiah when the king wrote letters to help him, the local officials did what the governor commanded. The church was registered and they found a building for them seating 3-400 people. They monthly rent? US $3.00! The God we serve is mighty and He tears down all strongholds of opposition.
SEMINARIES
OPEN WITH EXCELLENT ENROLLMENTS
One of the most urgent needs in
China today is for more pastors to fill the growing
number of pulpits. China has been experiencing a Book
of Acts explosion of conversions resulting in hundreds
of new churches needing pastors. From a professor at
Nanjing Theological Seminary comes the thrilling
report of the September opening of the 20 official
seminaries in the country. At a time when the church
is faced with difficult decisions arising from
political changes occurring, the
God
of grace and God of glory,
On
Thy people pour Thy power,
Crown
Thine ancient church’s story;
Bring
her bud to glorious flower,
Grant
us wisdom, grant us courage, For the facing of this hour..
Nanjing
Theological Seminary has a total enrollment of 171
students from 26 provinces. and 7 minority groups.
Guangdong Theological Seminary serves the province and
neighboring Guangxi Province. They expect to expand as
they move into their new building in December.
Yanching Theological Seminary is a regional school
serving mostly minority groups from unreached people
groups in China. They have students from 10 different
groups in training. South Central Seminary graduated
82 students in July to fill the urgent need for more
workers. Northeast Seminary welcomed 50 freshmen.
Yunan Seminary had been closed for two years due to
administrative problems but graduated 57 last July and
welcomed 49 freshmen. In addition, there are many, many training centers for short term students including housewives, doctors, other young professionals, musicians, grandmothers, and even retired people and many farmers. Pray for these many places where the Word of God is being taught and people are preparing to carry forth the Word of God. Young students, not yet finished with their training, are being thrust into churches and groups with several hundred, and in some case, several thousand people attending them. Pray for these workers God is thrusting into the whitened harvest field. WUHAN CHURCH ELEVATOR
You will all rejoice that the
elevator in the Wuhan church has been installed, and I
believe the building has been dedicated or will be
shortly. News from there is rather scarce right now
because of some government restrictions in the city.
All we can do now is pray that the work of God will
continue without difficulty. Some workers from Taiwan
will be visiting there at the end of this month and
may be able to give us an update. Pray that the
pastors and leaders will remain strong in the Lord and
true to the Word. Seven or eight Alliance Youth Corp
students traveled to EE IN EAST MONGOLIA
In September, Evangelism
Explosion teams visited in A NEW CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE PUBLISHED Among the churches in the house-church movement, a new magazine has been published with much blessing. Twenty thousand copies have been circulated free to leaders. Because the house-church movement is illegal in the country according to Chinese law, these churches have difficulty with circulation, but the magazines are making their way everywhere and people are being helped. Pray for wisdom for the leadership and the continual risk they face. MY WEB SITE HAS GOTTEN A FACE LIFT
My son, Jonathan, who is on the church
planting team in PASS IT ON Since coming to Hawaii in July, I have experienced some big problems trying to get this newsletter out. Most individuals have been receiving the monthly issues, but many churches have not received theirs. Share this with your pastor and ask him to circulate it to his church and prayer groups. Send this to other praying friends and invite them to send me their e-mail address for the latest news and information. THE TIME IS SHORT With the tragic events at the World Trade Center in our thoughts every day, we know from the Bible that the time is getting short. The events in the Middle East are moving very rapidly and each are important as they all point unmistakably to the near return of the Lord. Let us all put on the whole armor of God and go forth to battle the enemy of our souls, and in the name of Jesus, win the victory. God bless you as you engage in spiritual warfare in the power of Jesus Christ. WRITE TO ME OR SIGN OUR GUEST BOOK I would love to hear from you and how you are using these newsletters. I thank God for every prayer group that is responding. God is at work as this letter indicates, and greater things are coming to pass through the prayers of God’s people.
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