From:
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 4:48 PM
To:
Subject: Prayer Update 1/7/05 The Forward Advance
Saturday,January 8th, 2005
Dear Family
and Friends,
As we came
to the close of 2004, our team had the opportunity to do something that I have
often wanted to do. Jesus said "Seek ye first the
A collection
of 23 video messages from our ATI Regional Training Conferences provided a
scheduled focus for the week, while still allowing us to spend a good
amount of time to "Come apart and rest a while." It was such a
blessing to be able to set aside all the projects and appointments and be
refreshed in body and spirit.
Of the
messages we saw, I was particularly blessed by the theme of Kingdom Authority.
When Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of a
cross, God highly exalted Him, and has given Him a name that is above every other name of things in heaven and
earth. (Phil. 2) As Christians we have been raised up to sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6)
In the
Great Commission, Jesus said "All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations..." When we operate under His authority, we carry His
authority. This gives us great boldness in prayer, knowing that every evil
principality and power is subject to the name of Jesus. We don't have to fear
the attacks of the enemy, because we have the authority of Jesus Christ to
resist the devil, and he will flee from us.
I was also
tremendously encouraged by Dr. Karl Coke's messages on going out and
"Taking the land." Using the nation of
We are not
passively standing by and waiting for people to somehow come to Christ, but we
are actively going out and teaching all nations. We were not raised in Christian
homes and given such powerful truths from God's Word just so we could keep it
all to ourselves as we live our isolated lives! No! We are going out and
engaging the enemy in a battle, not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
In the past
few weeks it is becoming more and more evident that God is doing something
great in this nation of
In the past
few days I have been doing some errands with Ideree, one of our staff. As the
pastor of a new church here in the city, Ideree had shared with me his vision
to teach these Biblical principles to the people in his church. Taking some
further time to study and review, Ideree prepared to share with his church last
week for two hours on Sunday afternoon as the first of several weeks of
teaching.
Weaving
through the streets in a taxi together, Ideree told me that his people had
responded enthusiastically to the clear Biblical teaching on God's purposes in
how we were designed, and our need to accept and thank God for the unchangeables that He has given us. The two hours had
turned into four hours, and the people are eagerly looking forward to hearing
more next week.
One boy
told Ideree that after the session he went home and destroyed all his computer
games. -An area of particular struggle for him. Another had made a decision to
get rid of wrong music. Another who was going to dye his hair realized his
rejection of God's design, and turned away from this idea.
On
Thursday, Sodnom, Ideree, and I had a meeting in my office, and Sodnom shared
some of the things that the Lord has been doing in their family after the
seminar. The three of us were nearly in tears as we saw the great way that God
has been working in their lives. I cannot help but feel that God is going to
greatly bless this commitment to follow His ways!
I talked
with a young man at the main
Not only
was the Basic Seminar a great blessing to the ones that attended, but I believe
that it was a major forward advancement for the
The
potential is so great! We have before us a nation that has just had the freedom
to share the gospel for the past 15 years, and have only had the whole Bible
for four years. Thousands of new Christians are in need of being discipled and trained in the ways of God. I know of no
better tool than to bring the message of the Basic Seminar to the people of
In addition
to the work of the Basic Seminar, we are also continuing to teach principles of
character. This year we launched another phase of ministry with our
Character-English classes. On Thursday evening we had a great start to our
first class this year with about 15 people. One young lady talked to us
afterwards and said she wants to know more about character and Christian
things.
This
morning we started the Saturday Character-English class, but soon became
swamped with registrations. The coats piled up to four deep on our coat rack as
about 40 people crowded into our classroom for the Saturday morning class.
Again, we had many opportunities to talk with people, and one young lady is
planning to go to church with us tomorrow.
Just
yesterday we got an unexpected call from the WindFM
Radio station. We work with Khishgee on a weekly
basis, explaining some character materials for her radio program, but this time
she wanted to know if she could come over and do an interview with us. I must
say that it was only with a confidence that God will give us the grace to carry
out the opportunities He calls us to do that I cheerfully accepted the offer
and we scheduled for her to come at 2:00 that afternoon.
For nearly
two hours,
Yesterday
also marked a significant day with the Mongolian Bible Software project. The
Lord allowed me to find the needed information to solve the main problem that
we were facing, and yesterday morning I met with Ewen
for a most encouraging meeting to discuss the project. His completed version of
the text file, and my research on compiling it for the program have placed us
very close to a first beta release of the software.
I am so
excited to see how the Lord has been working in this all along. It is such a
joy to be involved with the project, and yet I would not have had the time to
do it on my own. Ewen's diligent work on heading up
the project puts us in the realistic potential of having the beta version
finished before I leave!
As I have
alluded to a few times in this e-mail, I am planning to head back to the States
to spend some time with my family. In two weeks it will be 10 months since I
left
May God
richly bless you for your part in this great work! It is not that we are doing
anything special, but that God so loved
Praise
Points:
- Praise
the Lord for a wonderful week with the Lord as we moved into the new year. God's blessing on our work over the past days has
richly rewarded our decision to seek first the
- I am so
grateful for the grace that God continues to give each day! Leading the team
with Tim and Angie away sometimes involves additional responsibilities and
decisions, but the Lord's grace is always sufficient!
Prayer Requests:
- Pray
that the Lord would give me wisdom in how I use my time in these last days
before leaving
- I am
still working out the arrangements for my return to the States. I just learned
today that the plane to
- One of
the primary projects I am trying to finish is a Mongolian brochure for the
Basic Seminar. We have a first draft, but are still working to find exactly the
right way to express the words and ideas in the Mongolian language.
- Pray that
the Lord would work out the final details for finishing the Bible Software
project. I would really like to have it finished and give it to our translators
before I leave.
- Tim and
Angie are scheduled to return next Wednesday. Pray that the Lord would give
them safe travel, and that they would have a smooth adjustment back into life
with CTI-Mongolia.
Pictures:
I don't
know if I have ever had pizza before for Christmas dinner, but it sure made
sense to all of us this year. On Christmas Eve we had a nice home cooked dinner
with Gambaa and his family, so something a little
easier but still special was in order for Christmas day.
I thought
you might enjoy seeing a picture of our pastors and their wives in traditional
Mongolian dress. Enkhee is on the right with his wife Sodnom. Enkhee is the
main pastor of the
On the left
is Dugermaa and his wife Oyunaa. Serving as the assistant pastor at
Traditional
Mongolian gers can even be found in the City, like
this one that I can see from my apartment window. Covered with layers of
heavy felt, the ger is heated by a coal or wood
fueled stove in the center.
Although
not very big, the kitchen in the main apartment has served us well. For big
occasions like Thanksgiving, we set up some tables to add to the limited
counter space.
This is the
street in front of our building. In the winter, the roads slowly build up a
layer of dirty snow and ice. The snow seems to mainly come in very small
layers, so what is not swept off with large brooms is packed onto the road
surface by the passing vehicles.
Thank you
so much for praying for us!
In Christ,
- Adam
"And
let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if
we faint not." - Galatians 6:9