For my fellow missionaries- long

Hi!

India night is over, and it was very moving! He basically took us through his two-week trip via the slide show. It was done on laptop, so we got to see a few little video clips as well.

Preacher said that he now wants to start shifting some of our missions emphasis towards supporting national pastors. We would not take anything away from the missionaries we already support, but as we add new ones we would include more who are national pastors. In India we could completely support four national pastors on the same amount we give as partial support to one American missionary.

He made sure he did not cast any aspersions on our American missionaries....we still offer our own full support both monetarily and spiritually. Do you see what I mean?

He met a man who has been in India for years now, starting churches. This is a national pastor who was saved while translating for an American preacher. He found an ad in SOTL and called Lee Roberson through it! He then traveled to the States, went to Bible college, and is now starting village churches everywhere he can get to by foot, bike, or rickshaw. He used to be a lawyer before he was saved, so he doesn't need foreign support. But anything he gets he distributes to the village church pastors. I think preacher said he has started something like 400 different churches...... Remember this is India, where people are packed into just about every square foot.

Alright, I could ramble on, but I wanted to mention the outcome since I had already talked about it in this thread.

Thanks for all you missionaries do out there! It might be "easier" (in some ways) for national pastors, but that sure should gain some respect from us for those who aren't only willing to go where its "easy".

 

Thanks for the update, babmom. Loved it!

 

Great report Bapmom!!!

 

Let's do one thing, that hasn't been mentioned yet, let's pray for this pastor, and I'm really really sincere about this. L

et's pray for him that God will open his eyes and heart. Maybe one of you could invite him to the field where you are at. I would invite him to China, but that might overwhelm him.

My pastor, years ago, was a somewhat bitter towards missions, but after visiting the field, he CHANGED. He went missions crazy. Later even resigned and became a missionary himself. Now he regrets many comments of which he offended many.

Let's make it a matter of prayer and for someone to get him to the field so he can experience missions.

Prayer changes even crusty hearts of Pastors and missionaries who stay from the paths of GOd.

 

Hi, His in China.

Welcome to the Baptist Board!

You have an excellent point, and I feel guilty that I have not prayed for this pastor. I will do so.

Praise the Lord for how He worked in your pastor's life. One visit to a mission field is often all it takes.

God bless.

John of Japan

 

John -- THANKS!

I wished I had known of this board earlier. Being here in CHina gets lonely sometimes (No open fellowship).

It's a good chance for me to catch up on what's going on in other places in the world.

I'm a firm believer in prayer and actions. Prayer opens doors and it takes faith and action to go through those open doors. If we will pray for this pastor and take actions to invite him, God will do the rest to change his heart.

If some, like the pastor who is critical of missionaries, hasn't had the opportunity to see what's real in missions, then lets quit talking about him, begin to pray for him and by all means get him involved in missions.

We all won't be able to get him to our respective fields, but we all can pray for him and God will do the rest.

Do I hear any AMENS!

 

Amen and amen!

I know exactly what you mean about being lonely on the field. I once read that it takes about 10 years to figure out an Asian culture, and my wife and I found that to be true. Hang in there and walk with Jesus. It gets easier and easier to live in Asia!