The Year of the Dragon!

This month millions of Chinese travel back to their family homes to celebrate their lunar New Year holiday. the time is traditionally celebrated as a time of happy homecomings. It is estimated that over 3 billion trips will be made during this month. Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year. Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in dragon years are said to be innovative, brave, and passionate.
    Because of classes starting up for the semester, most of the Chinese students here can not travel back home for this festival. They still however take trips and during our first Bible study of the semester they shared where they went from anywhere to New York to Disney World exploring the United States.
    Our English Bible studies have started back up and we hope that more returning students will join as well as those we picked up from the airport over break. Please pray that hearts will be receptive and that the seeds planted will quickly grow. The Chinese bring their superstitions with them and we desire to help them see that every year is the year of our Lord and Savior and now is the time for salvation.
    We are so thankful that you who support our work are doing much more than simply financial support. You are committed to us and what God is doing through us. Your prayers for us are so very important and we always thank God for your encouragement and dedication towards our efforts.

A New Year And New Lives In Christ

We hope that you are enjoying the holidays with your family and friends! We are so thankful for your friendship with our family and your partnership in our ministry. As many of you are, we find ourselves running from one school event to another with our children during this time of year from band concerts to field trips. We get so busy that so many of us forget to breathe and take time to listen to the meaning of Christ coming into the world. It wasn’t to be born in a manger but to put his life up on a cross to die for the sins of the world and be raised in power to give us hope and peace with God. As we look forward to a new year, we can be confident in the new life that Jesus brings.
     Ian with his friend Dequan, immersed three of their friends into Christ this month during their weekly Bible study. We have quite the crowd invade our living room each Tuesday evening and we are so proud of him and his brothers who also participate. They each have  servant hearts who have courage to stand for their faith in their schools. The Lord is definitely blessing their efforts. Please pray for Chioke, Christian and Mario, three of your  new brothers in Christ!
    Our Chinese Bible studies are going well and are now on break until after the new year. Many of the students travel abroad during their winter break touring America or returning for quick visits home. Please continue to pray for them as we see their hearts not only being inquisitive but also softening to the fact that there is a God who loves them enough to send his Son to bring them peace.

Missionary Homecoming at Forum Christian Church

It is great to be a part of FCC’s Homecoming and be a part of such a wonderful church family. I grew up at Forum (what was then called Westside Christian Church) and consider myself a ‘Timothy’ of the congregation. Forum has been a supporting church now for over 20 years as we have gone from being missionaries in Taiwan for 14 years, to teaching missions at Central Christian College for 7 years, and now reaching out to the Chinese and Taiwanese students in Phoenix, AZ. Forum is also our sponsoring church being overseen and held accountable by the mission committee and elders.
This past January we joined Outreach International to help us facilitate our work among the Chinese on university campuses. Outreach International specializes in reaching college age students and have a number of missionaries doing this all over the world. It is based out of Bethel, Missouri. Al Hamilton is the founder and directed by his son-in-law Dale Hawkins along with his wife Sonja.   We just returned from a weekend retreat where we took 11 MBA students high up in the mountains to introduce the God who created the beautiful nature that surrounds us. Roger and Amy are expecting their first child and have many questions concerning Christians and why we believe. Getting them away helped us have intensive bible study where we were able to answer their questions and get them closer to believing. Please pray for the lost that live among us. And please reach out to the ones you meet every day. Foreign students usually never get invited into an American home.

English Bible Study Begins

There is nothing like teaching the very first Bible study to someone who has never heard of, read about, or knows anything about Jesus Christ. To see their inquisitiveness and their realization there is the remote possibility there is something out there bigger than ourselves. The Holy Spirit starts to work on their minds and hearts and you can see that their interest is genuine. Since most Chinese coming from the mainland profess no faith, are usually atheists and are only taught evolution, the task seems pretty daunting. The first obstacle is to invite them to a Bible study. I mean, after all, they are in intensive courses pursuing their degrees and have very little free time. The second hurdle is to help them see the potentiality that God exists. This is not hard to do as one might think once we begin talking with them about design in the world, in the variety of things that have been created, how there is design to the complexity of plants and animals and our very selves. Since there is design to everything, there must in fact be a designer. And their eyes start to open.
Such was the case during our first Friday night English Bible study with Hai Bing and his wife. Their first questions: “What was the difference between the Old and New Testament? How do you know that God exists today? Is Jesus a god?”.
 來 is the Chinese character for ‘come’. We read  John 12:32 which in the Chinese Bible it says “when Christ is lifted up, all men will ‘come’ to him”. Hai Bing put the two together by himself noticing that the character shows one man on a cross with two men on either side of him. His wife responded that it was deeply interesting that even their language points to God and Jesus.
Thank you for supporting our work. Without you we would not be having these great opportunities to bring Christ to the lost. Please pray for Hai Bing and his family as they begin their long journey in their spiritual life.

Three Trips, Three Faiths

Picking up students from the airport coming to study for their MBA's at Thunderbird University has turned out to be very interesting. This week on Monday I picked up Andy, a mainland Chinese atheist. On Tuesday I picked up a young man who was Muslim. On Wednesday a Hindu. All I had was a name on a card to pick them up with but the drive to their dorms you could tell what each one was really interested in, what they were open to, and how open their hearts were.

"The God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:24-27)