September Update

September 29, 2007

The other day as I was going to the office it dawned on me that this month, 30 years ago, I first met Mary Ann and started full-time ministry at Midwest Challenge in south Minneapolis. Mary Ann met me one afternoon when I was mixing and pouring cement making a new sidewalk and we became friends pretty much right away. Before we met when she saw my name on the staff roster, she asked another staff guy "is this guy married or single?" Well, we all know the rest of the story. We'll be celebrating our 28 years of marriage in December, 22 of which have been in Manila. It's by God's grace and our perseverance that we have served Him for 30 consecutive full-time years and continue to enjoy life and ministry.

1. Revised edition of Restoring Children of the Streets Manual:
The 92-page revised edition of our Restoring Children of the Streets manual is now at the printer and will be delivered next week. We're printing 1000 copies at 70¢ a piece. They'll be distributed throughout the world by ACTION offices and the manual continues to be fruitful here. We'll bring several to Bangkok with us in November when we attend the Cutting Edge Asia Conference and the 180° Consultation. Much credit goes to Mary Ann for her many hours of tedious labor in revising, editing and laying out this edition.

2. Camp
September 4-7 we had a camp for 65 street kids with 62 indicating trusting Christ as Savior. They are now being followed up by the 5 participating churches and ministries. The following are a few testimonies of campers:

Mark (18): Before I came to camp my life was a mess. I was a drunk, heavy smoker and disobedient to my parents and hung out with friends who had the same bad habits. But Pastor Marlo approached me and asked me to join the camp. The first day of camp when I heard the Bible teaching I realized I needed a Savior and I understood the message about the Cross so when Pastor Maruel gave an altar call after the message, I gave myself to the Lord Jesus.

Angelica (17): I am deaf and mute and when I get beat by my father, I feel he doesn't love me. I also think no one can give me the help I need because of my physical condition. I have always believed that there is a God but I had no relationship with Him. So through the camp I understand that God is the only one who can give me the love I need. I accepted Christ as my Lord and personal Savior. I'm also thankful for the other campers and all the staff who have been so nice to me throughout the camp. I felt accepted as I am, loved and valued.

* Both Mark and Angelica are being followed up by Pastor Marlo's church, Agape Christian and we are looking into getting hearing aids for Angelica and getting her into a school for deaf and mute.

Bhong (17): I am a former street kid who used to sniff glue and I am from a broken family. I have a lot of questions inside of me but I'm glad for Children's Garden and their staff for helping me finish my studies. I'm glad to be part of this camp because I have come to know God in a deeper way. I am amazed after watching the film and hearing all the teaching what God has done for me on the Cross. I have committed myself to Jesus and I believe that my hopes and dreams for the future are in His hands. Even though my family abandoned me, I believe God will look after me and He will never leave or forsake me.

* Bhong is residing at the Children's Garden Ministry led by Pastor Buddy Gallo whom we wrote about last month.

3. Sportsfest
October 6 we are planning to have a Sportsfest for 125 street kids and 25 workers. Sportsfests are always a lot of fun with basketball, volley ball, badminton, chess and track and field competitions. We'll also have tug-o-war, sack races and other fun games. The churches and organizations that participated in September's camp are coordinating this activity so it is also serving as a camp follow up.

4. Child, Church and Mission Workshops
We have now used Dr. Dan Brewster's excellent manual by this name in 2 workshops for pastors and workers. Both activities were well attended with around 30 participants. Topics covered were child protection policies; international rights of children; why the church *must* minister to the world's children; and I taught what the Bible says about children and why minister to them. Each participating organization received a free manual and several are asking for further consultation.

5. New Street Kid's feeding launched today
This afternoon we're starting a 6 month outreach to 28 very rough street children in partnership with Restorer's Ministry and the Manila Bible Seminary. After we taught at the seminary in August, the entire graduating class and their leaders decided to take on my challenge to handle this outreach since it is close to the school. Thirty seminary students will rotate three times a week and conduct feeding, Bible studies, arts and crafts and sports.

If you recall our 2nd Quarter '07 hard copy newsletter we talked about Easter outreaches, one of which was to street children in Fairview with an accompanying photo. This outreach is the fruit of that Easter activity. Pray that many kids will trust Christ and get off the streets and that many of these seminary students will come to have a passion to minister to the poor in their future churches.

6. Evangelistic Christmas Parties '07
Sometime in October we will start gearing up for this ministry. You may recall we wrote about Christmas parties in our 3rd quarter hard copy newsletter and we've been contacted by a few people as to how they can participate. The budget for the Philippines is $13,000 or $3.50 per person to receive a delicious meal, compassionate Christian care and an opportunity to respond to the Gospel. Pray for us and ask how the Lord may want you to participate.

7. Council Retreat
Mary Ann and I returned yesterday from a 2 day retreat for our field Council. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and badly needed extended unhurried time to tackle some pressing agenda items. We discussed how to spread out my work load, how to approach a few future ministries, we gave good counsel to Mary Ann for developing the Human Resource Department and we were facilitated by Dave Huang, one of our Board Members. I was blessed by the commitment of each one to God and His work through ACTION and their love for each other and our team.

8. Missionary Orientation
November 1-3 Mary Ann will be leading this field's first ever group orientation for newcomers to ACTION. She is planning on having 11 participants along with a few of us leading some of the sessions. These people are not new to the Philippines, but new to ACTION. Some will be serving in the Philippines and some will be sent to other ACTION fields. Pray for Mary Ann and Jim Craig, who is handling our short term ministry, as they prepare for this strategic gathering. Mary Ann's passion is to help career missionaries get started well and be fruitful in ministry while Jim's is facilitating short term ministry and helping them find their place in global missions. We're so glad Jim has joined the mission and we're pleased with the development of the HR department.

9. Furlough
With our daughter Micah's deployment to Iraq scheduled for May '08, we have been approved to take a short furlough mid-March to June so we can be there to help her prepare. We'll be residing in Roseville, MN so contact us if you would be interested in having us minister at your church or some other event. We are tentatively planning to be in the Seattle area sometime around March 31 to April 18 as well.

We received an invitation the other day to the International Cutting Edge Conference which will be July 12 to 17 at Wheaton College in IL. I have participated in several of these over the years and they are *very* fruitful. Pray that the Lord will give us wisdom as to whether we should extend our furlough or return to the States for this conference.

By the way, the Cutting Edge Conferences (Regional and International) are sponsored by Viva Network which ACTION helped get started and has been a long-time member.

Closing:
The other day while Mary Ann and I were eating supper and we were reminiscing about our 30 years of ministry, I said "You know, with all the ups and downs of ministry, we still have smiles on our faces and enjoy our work." This my friends is a gift of God and we serve Him by His grace. One of my favorite verses is 1 Corinthians 15:10 "By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but by the grace of God with me." (NASB)

As we grow in the Lord and the longer we serve Him, the more we realize it is all about Him and He is our sufficiency. At one time we thought we knew a lot but now we realize we don't know much at all, but one thing we do know, Jesus Christ is alive and He is God and the Savior of the world.