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3 October 2011
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| Thanks for praying, Friend! Here is a quick report on recent events: |
- England. The Muslim adaptation meeting went well in Birmingham, England. We have set some tasks for each participant and a goal to have a beta (testing) version by January. Ministering in the church there in Birmingham was fun: I was able to speak with and encourage several Portuguese believers there.
- ION. Training with the small group at the International Orality Network went exceptionally well and we made good contacts for possible training of people in the future.
- Binghamton, NY. The training of 35 people from Grace Baptist Church and a local crisis pregnancy center was encouraging. Many of them are eager to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills in making disciples.
- NAMC. Dale Marshfield and Gil conducted plenary training events of Good Soil and Essential Mission Components for the 170 registrants of the North American Missions Congress, September 27 to 29. We made several contacts with people interested in getting the Good Soil training out to their constituency in new venues.
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Prayer Requests and Upcoming Events…
- Moody. Denise and I will travel to Moody Bible Institute to participate in their Missions Conference October 11-14. Pray that the seminar we teach will motivate students in their evangelism and discipleship and that God will use us to challenge them for missions.
- Writing. I still need to write 23 Bible lessons in narrative form before Thanksgiving. With the busy schedule we have, it has been difficult to find blocks of time to work on these. Pray I will establish priorities and for God’s leading in the writing.
- Seminar in Harrisburg. The normally scheduled Good Soil training (October 26-28) is approaching. Pray for God’s working during this training missionaries and pastors.
- Haiti. On November 1st, Denise and I are scheduled to depart for Haiti to teach 210 Haitian pastors and leaders in Good Soil evangelism and discipleship and teaching principles. Our Children’s Curriculum team has Children’s Curriculum for The Story of Hope just about finished. Pray for safety and that the Haitian leaders will be well-trained for God’s glory in making disciples of youth and adults.
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Missionaries, pastors and leaders are using Good Soil principles and resources in Ukraine. Here is one encouraging story from one of the missionaries:
A car showed up at the clinic in New Kubanka from a village I had never heard of--Shamanovka. In Ukraine it is a big deal for villagers to travel between villages, having to hire a car. These people expressed such urgency in their request for me to go see some patients in their village who have no access to health care. They had heard about the free clinics from relatives. Pastor Lonya and I set out over the tractor tracks through the fields, searching for this village with no road signs. I was amazed that Lonya found it! This was one of the poorest neediest villages I had seen. Lonya agreed instantly to their request to start a monthly clinic, which is very unusual for this analytical man. I have had many requests from other villages for medical help. Developing relationships with Ukrainians takes a long time, and their decision to abandon their traditional Orthodox religion of works for a biblical view of salvation takes much longer.
One of my first patients there was a young man asking for help to quit drinking. Alcoholism is rampant in these villages who are expert in producing their own wine and vodka, the medium of exchange for people with little cash. Sasha was very friendly and eagerly agreed to talk to Lonya about spiritual answers to his problem, a rare occurrence. His mother Maria was suspicious of this American venture and asserted her commitment to Orthodoxy the first time I saw her as a patient. His wife Natasha was very pleased with my medical treatment of her young children. His brother Roma suffered from psychiatric problems after seeing their alcoholic father commit suicide 5 years earlier. Surprisingly, in just a few months they all agreed to participate in a Bible Study!
Our ABWE team had just completed the first draft of the Russian translation of "The Story of Hope", and Pastor Lonya and I were slated to do the field test of this translation. Even though this family had grown up in the Russian Orthodox Church, they had no idea of what the Bible really taught, having never read it for themselves. They were soon caught up in the story of Creation, the Fall, and further events in the OT that they had never heard of before! They were fascinated by God's love for individuals and the fact that He revealed Himself to us in His Word.
Various villagers came and went during the months of weekly Bible studies, but the core group of four were faithful. When we came to the last lesson and asked for their response, all four wanted to pray to trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior! This is unheard of in this culture! Maria prayed, "Thank You, Lord, for sending Lonya and Miriam to open our eyes to The Truth". Amen! They wanted more so we studied "The Way to Joy" and "Won by One". the next winter, when we could not get through on the awful roads often, Sasha taught TSOH to his sister and brother-in-law, and they both repented!
Gaining ground with Good Soil,
600 Yale St #306 Harrisburg, PA 17111 Telephone: 727 277-6891 |
