LET’S CELEBRATE!

We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the dedication of the Hok-Tek Baptist Church. The ministry in this area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan actually began 20 years ago. There was no

HOK-TEK BAPTIST CHURCH

church in the area, but God blessed us with a very dedicated family who desired to see a church started in their community.

Some churches are started in very prosperous neighborhoods and grow quite quickly while other churches have very different stories of their beginnings and maturity. Each church has its own personality for sure. I remember Robert sharing that one of his church ministry professors made the statement that there are no small churches in God’s Kingdom. I give a huge Amen to that. The people in our church have mostly come from Taoist/Buddhist backgrounds and followed their family in traditional ancestral worship. What kind of people are in the Hok-Tek Baptist Church? We are a church composed of many different kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds but one thing we have in common — we have been saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and definitely feel that we are a family.

This celebration is like icing on the cake for us because we have so much to be thankful for AND celebrate. We have traveled across Taiwan and into SE Asia to minister and reconnect with dear friends. God has been very gracious and we feel blessed to have been able to make this trip. So our three month journey is filled with many stories of God’s grace, the need for many for salvation and even stories of those who have passed away. Our travels have been bitter/sweet for sure, but such is LIFE.

Please continue to pray for Hokkien Harvest ministry throughout 2017. We have been invited to participate in so many things, and we need God’s wisdom in our journey through 2017. Also Hokkien Harvest ministry throughout Taiwan as well as SE Asia has many plans for 2017. We also desire to travel into new areas and start new work. How can you pray? Well, if you check out our daily Twitter and Facebook accounts, that’s a good place to begin. Also following our weekly blog updates help to fill in the story. And of course we also add a monthly newsletter to keep everyone updated. No one blog or newsletter could possibly hold all of our prayer needs, so we try and spread it out a bit to get the word around.

We pray God’s special blessings on each one of you for 2017. Below are a few photos of ministry through Hokkien Harvest during our 3 month trip. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

AT THIS SEASON

At this Christmas season we often ask for prayers for Christmas festivities and evangelism opportunities that surround this time of year. And of course we do need your prayers for those very special events. However, LIFE also challenges us with many different kinds of happenings as we travel through this festive time. I think all of us desire more than ever to have PEACE IN OUR HEARTS AND PEACE ON EARTH AS WELL.

We received word this week of three deaths.  We attended the funeral of Mrs. K, who was the mother of one of the men in our church. Many in this extended family are not yet believers.

Iu Lan Che also passed away this week peacefully after suffering with cancer. Please pray for her family and friends following her death. She accepted Christ later in life, and was a committed believer and active servant in her church.

Also the mother-in-law of one of our dear friends passed away this week. She was 103 years old. Our friend is the only believer in this family. Saying good-bye is difficult for all of us, and we appreciate your prayers so much for these families.

URGENT PRAYER: Today we just received word that the Hokkien Harvest advisory pastor, Pastor Oh Beng Khee, became
ill while preaching and had to leave. Please pray for this humble and committed man of God to received necessary help and quickly recover. May God’s hand of mercy be on him and his wife during these days.

These are all reminders of the fact that we believe in a God who loves us so much that HE CAME TO EARTH TO DIE FOR US TO LET US KNOW ABOUT HIS LOVE AND SALVATION. That’s what Christmas is all about. Thank you for your prayers, and may this season bring many opportunities for us to care for others as God has cared for us.

CHRISTMAS 2016

Christmas for me is such a happy time of year filled with joyful songs and lots of holiday cheer. However, LIFE is very precious and we never know when we will be faced with difficult challenges and decisions.

This Christmas we are in Taiwan, a country with a Christian population of about 6%, so definitely a different cultural feel than America at this time of the year. We are all busy preparing for our Christmas projects and evangelism presentations around the city, and also look forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary as a church. However, as the saying goes, LIFE is what happens while we make our plans.

This week one of families in our small group, the Khu family, had a memorial service at the Kaohsiung Crematorium for Mr. Khu’s mother. The attached photos are not pictures taken from this funeral, but are public domain photos from other funerals in Taiwan.As we walked through the hundreds of people at this very large facility, we saw Buddhist and Taoist funerals all around us. Mr. and Mrs. Khu are Christians, but others in the extended family are not, and this was not a Christian funeral.

What a reminder of the HOPE that God offers to us! Family members in each funeral group were dressed in clothing made from burlap with different styles and ornaments that reflected their position within the family. Mr. Khu is the oldest son which means that he carries a heavy responsibility. Groups of people attending the funeral were called to come forward and pay homage to the deceased mother. Those who were not Christians bowed and worshiped with incense sticks, while those of us who were believers showed our respect by bowing at the front and also before the family members. Funerals in Taiwan take many different forms according to the wishes of the family. That too is true in the West.

Christmas is a great reminder that Jesus came to this world to give us LIFE, an abundant LIFE. Many of these people at the mortuary that day have never really heard this GOOD NEWS of God’s love, grace, salvation, strength and comfort. Christmas tells of the story of God’s love and how HE came to earth to dwell among us and willingly give HIS life that we can know HIM.

Pray for peace for the Khu family, and for those who are not yet Christians to come to know Christ as their Savior and Lord. Pray too for Christians in Taiwan and throughout Hokkien communities to have the opportunity to share this precious love with these very precious people. That’s the best gift anyone could get for Christmas. We pray that this Christmas 2016 will be a time with family to reflect and love on them, but also a time to realize that we have so much to share with others who are outside of our family as well. This recent photo we took of the cross atop our church building here in Kaohsiung is a reminder at this season that our risen Christ is the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords.  He alone gives life, forgiveness and eternal hope that rises above any found in this world.

No matter what this Christmas season brings your way, we pray that God will bring to your family HOPE, JOY AND COMFORT AND STRENGTH FOR A NEW BEGINNING IN THE NEW YEAR. We do wish for each of you to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We do wish for each of you to have CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS.

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PRAY WITH US

Life is full of blessings but along with those blessings can come challenges as well. One of our churches in SE Asia has shared a special opportunity with us. Years ago a
missionary began a church in SE Asia. We do not know the history of that. However, for the last four or five years, the church has been closed and is no longer meeting. Recently, someone approached one of our partners and shared this situation. They made a gift and gave the registered church land and the building to our partners. The community surrounding the building is a Hokkien community. WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY, YES! This property is located about 6 kilometers from their church property, and is a real ministry need. We all agree about that. However, we desperately need co-workers to assume the leadership there in that community.

PLEASE PRAY WITH US! The Lord told us that the harvest is ready, but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest for more workers in this harvest field. So please join us and pray that the Lord will lead and direct as the church looks to the future in this community. Pray for the people in this community to have open hearts and the opportunity to know Christ as Savior and Lord. 

Thanks for partnering with us in prayer.

A LOT TO TELL!

Thank you so much for your prayers. The last two weeks have been amazing and far beyond anything we could imagine. We left Taiwan and flew to SE Asia where we were in involved in multiple ministry opportunities.

We arrived on Saturday night and worshiped with partners at a local church on Sunday morning. Robert preached. Most people in this new church have come from a prison background or struggled with addictions. BUT GOD . . . God has saved them and they are not the same. They have so much passion and zeal. It was indeed a privilege to share this time with them.

On Monday morning we traveled with partners to Johor Bahru, Malaysia for our 2016 Hokkien Harvest Retreat. There were 146 people in attendance. This was a real highlight for us and we enjoyed worshiping together. Click on the photo below to get a brief taste. This was an opportunity for training, sharing and networking. It was indeed thrilling to hear how God
has been working in the lives of these people. Pastor Oh Beng Khee shared several messages that were so practical and inspiring about THE MACEDONIAN CALL. We were all touched and realized even more the commission we have from God to GO! Everyone has their own church ministry, but also feels the call to partner and take the message to wherever God calls. Leaders also shared with us concerning community ministry, ways to love and share with families through death, and additional ministry to reach out to gambling addicts.

Two Hokkien Harvest trips are already being planned:  one for December and a second in April 2017. These two locations are in new territories where there are a lot of Hokkien, but little or no ministry to the people there.

At the retreat, Robert also introduced Hokkien resources that are available. We also praise God for the production of a new DVD discipleship series by Pastor Oh Beng Khee. This is so helpful in working with new believers and also may be used in ongoing discipleship for any believer..

We left the retreat and traveled to several other ministry areas:  the Good News Community Church, the young church on a fishing island and at a Hokkien/Bahasa church in Malacca. We had the privilege to partner with them in several venues. One of those special events was an evangelistic dinner banquet with about 320 in attendance. The event reflected the environment with Hokkien, Mandarin and English used to clearly share the message of God’s love and salvation.  

Click on the photo to hear a portion of our Hokkien song.

These were WONDERFUL days of blessing and ministry. Please continue to pray for these and so many other partners involved in Hokkien ministry and BEYOND. God is at work! We are so proud of our partners as we see them diligently working week after week. Pray for us as we seek to continue to mobilize people. Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to continue to call out local workers into His Harvest Field.

There are so many more stories to share, but I’ll save them for another day.

Thanks so much for your prayers. These are difficult days but wonderful opportunities to see God at work among us. Hang on — for there is so much more to come.

Below is a brief photo journey of our time in SE Asia. Click to enlarge photos.