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PEP Archives
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Held meetings 33 Sundays during the year (including US and overseas)
Traveled about 13,000 miles in the US for meetings and other ministry obligations
Held meetings at 16 US churches (12 supporting churches and 4 potential supporting churches)
Lost support from 2 churches and partial support from another due to financial problems, and recovered
a portion of what we lost by increased support from 1 church
Spoke 38 times in US churches (including 3 conferences) and had lunch meetings 3 times with pastors
Attended 3 conferences or pastors' meetings to develop contacts for church meetings and overseas
ministry trips
Met with or held extended phone conversations about 25 times with mission officials, key field
missionaries, potential PEP partners, potential seminar speakers, missions committees, individual donors, etc.,
re PEP ministry
Met with the BMM General Council 2 times throughout the year
Experienced God's provision for about $21,000 in PEP ministry expenses (above our living expenses)
Made numerous contacts by phone and letter to schedule future US meetings
Updated PEP website on a regular basis - look at www.pepbmm.org for updates and pictures!
Completed 8 overseas PEP trips, for ministry in 8 countries: CAMEROON, BAHAMAS, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC,
HAITI, PHILIPPINES, INDIA, GHANA, and MYANMAR (= total of 31 PEP trips from beginning in 2007 to end-2011)
Spoke at 6 conferences, 3 seminars, 5 module courses, and 1 BMM field conference on these overseas PEP
trips in 2011
Spoke overseas 402 times (including 111 hrs of help from 4 team-teachers from the US and 1 from INDIA)
Experienced God's blessing as we saw about 862 specific decisions in PEP ministries overseas
Spent 132 days overseas (including 25 days travel)
Received repeat invitations or signs of interest about repeat trips from each of the countries where we
ministered in 2011
Experienced God's blessing in negotiating another major gift toward construction project on a BMM
mission field
OUR PEP GOALS FOR 2012
Continue scheduling for more US meetings and for future overseas trips.
Continue planning for the future of the PEP ministry, including the right missionaries to join the PEP
team full-time.
Identify additional speakers to team-teach on specific future trips.
Prepare teaching materials needed for each trip, and get certain course materials translated into French
and Spanish for future use.
Seek God's provision of additional monthly support (and special gifts in the meantime) to help cover the
expenses of these ministry trips.
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After making a special trip to Washington DC just the evening before my trip to collect my MYANMAR visa, I flew
to Detroit where I met my brother Phil who would be my team-teacher on this trip. From Detroit we traveled
together through Tokyo and Bangkok to our final destination, Yangon, the functional capital of MYANMAR.
Conference in the interior for Burmese pastors and missionaries and other church leaders.
After speaking in local churches in Yangon on Sunday we took the once-a-week flight north on Monday,
into the interior up near the INDIA border, to speak at a conference for leaders of the Falam Chin-speaking
Revival Baptist Church Association. This conference was almost canceled because of a lack of funds; we are so
grateful for God's special provision to make the conference possible for these faithful servants of the Lord.
There were about 115 present for the conference - including, to our surprise, the dozen students from
a small local Bible institute in its first year. This institute accepts even younger students who are not
attending school but who want to learn God's Word, so we had one student present who was only twelve years old!
We were pleased to see how serious he was about learning (along with all the others)!
The conference was supposed to be from Tuesday - Saturday, with Phil and me sharing thirty teaching
hours (six hours per day for five days). We were prepared for teaching the "Biblical Stewardship" course they
had requested. But they wanted also to have evening services each day, so I agreed to preach a series of four
messages from the Psalms Monday - Thursday evenings, and Phil taught a seminar on Christian leadership Friday -
Saturday evenings. Phil and I also sang a duet (in English) each of the six evenings!
The conference attendees really impressed us with their humility, their worshipful music, and their
hunger to learn. We sensed the clear blessing of God on the conference. They were so appreciative of the
teaching they received!
Phil and I each spoke Sunday in a couple of area churches. Each of us had special experiences that
day: I was to speak Sunday evening at the graduation service for 26 adults graduating from the Rogma Bible
Correspondence Course. Dr. Mang and I were both dressed in doctoral robes for the service, and I was pressed
into service to help present the diplomas.
Module course at a Bible college in the outskirts of Yangon.
On Monday we flew back to Yangon, and from Tuesday - Saturday we taught the same "Biblical
Stewardship" course in a Bible college. We taught about seventy-five 3rd and 4th year students, so it was a
large lecture class. Again we had thirty hours to teach the class, but this time directly in English without
translation. So we had more time to get through the class notes, but we had to use some of that extra time for
giving and reviewing quizzes.
Four of our students were post-graduate students taking the course for master's degree credit, so
we had to require something extra from them. We also had three teachers at the Bible college sitting in on the
course. One of them was a bright, committed young lady who has taught the subject we were teaching, but without
the advantage of extensive class notes. Informed that she will be expected to use our notes the next time she
teaches the course, she came to class prepared to learn all she could. We honor her for her humble spirit and
her eagerness to benefit to the maximum from the course.
Several observations: (1) Bible college students are looking younger and younger! (2) In a class of
seventy-five students, there will be a few who are not as serious about learning as others! (3) Grading
seventy-five quizzes each night takes some time!
One final Sunday in Yangon gave us last opportunities to speak in area churches before we left on
Monday to fly home.
Additional comments about the trip:
Foreigners are not permitted to stay in private housing while in MYANMAR, so we had to stay in
government-approved hotels the whole time we were in the country. Of course that means that a PEP trip to this
country is always more expensive than other trips!
Between Phil and me, we spoke a total of 78 hours during the 16 days we were in MYANMAR.
God was clearly at work during this trip. To the best of our ability, we counted 148 specific
decisions as God convicted people about their need to respond to specific issues discussed in the course of our
preaching and teaching. We give God all the glory.
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Sallie went with me on this trip, her first since February. Since Delta now flies directly from the U.S. to
the capital of GHANA, our flight itinerary was an easy one: Roanoke - Atlanta - Accra - NYC - Atlanta - Roanoke.
Baptist Mid-Missions has seven missionaries in GHANA right now: Roger and Norene Russ, Cathy Bristol,
Jim and Rosie Johnson, and our new Ghanaian partners, Timothy and Janet Tseidu. While BMM has established
works in various other locations in GHANA as well, these missionaries are all based in the northwest - in and
around the provincial capital of Wa, a large city of perhaps 300,000 people. The large mission property at Wa
includes several missionary homes, the Bible college and housing for students and some staff, and a small camp
and conference center. Jim and Rosie Johnson were our hosts and took wonderful care of us! We especially
enjoyed our time with them because we had served together with them for a few years in Central African Republic.
But all the missionaries went out of their way to welcome us and provide for us while we were there, and we
enjoyed our fellowship with them very much.
What is GHANA like? Our impression is that GHANA is more advanced than almost all other African
countries we have seen - in terms of economy, education, infrastructure (paved roads, electricity, and other
services), and available goods. One major reason for this is the consistent stability of their government.
But they have their problems too, as we all do! For example there is no air service between Accra and Wa, so
missionaries had to make the round-trip both to pick us up and to take us back. And that thirteen-hour trip by
road (that is thirteen hours one-way!) is not much fun! It's paved all the way - except for the lengthy
stretches where they are re-working the road and all the pavement has been stripped off. It took us an hour to
negotiate one twenty-mile stretch of holes. There are gas stations here and there all along the way, some of
them with American-style convenience shops attached. But the missionaries know which ones have acceptable
restrooms. There are still stretches where the driver stops the vehicle and announces, "Men to the right,
ladies to the left!" The missionaries still carry their own food for eating on the way, because of a lack of
"fast food" that might be considered missionary-friendly. (There is now a genuine KFC in the capital!)
Besides speaking four times in area churches on the weekends, we were scheduled for three primary
ministries:
MODULE COURSE at West Africa Baptist College, Wa. Director: Timothy Tseidu.
Oct 24-28 (Mon-Fri evenings) - Part 1: Taught 15 hrs, "Music 1: Music Theory" (focus on elementary music
knowledge and how to read music).
Oct 31 - Nov 4 (Mon-Fri evenings) - Part 2: Taught 15 hrs, "Music 2: Music in the Church" (focus on
song-leading, choir management, philosophy of Christian music, and problems).
This was first module course offered not only to small Bible college student body but also to interested
Christians from area churches (either as auditors or for credit).
Attendance: 26 students. All those taking course for credit received passing grade!
MISSIONARY FIELD CONFERENCE at Wa mission property. Hosts: Jim and Rosie Johnson.
Oct 25-27 (Tues-Thurs days) - Spoke from Ps 32 at devotions each morning.
SEMINAR FOR PASTORS AND WIVES at Wa mission property. Sponsored by BMM missionaries, but Jim and Rosie
Johnson took lead in hosting it.
Nov 4-5 (Fri evening - Sat afternoon) - Taught "Striking the Balance" (focus on balancing ministry and
family). Intended to offer instruction and encouragement to BMM-affiliated pastors and wives. Attendance: 67
pastors and wives.
We feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to serve the BMM work in GHANA for the first
time! We are grateful to our missionaries for their invitation, their welcome, their fellowship, and their
wonderful hospitality. We look forward to returning in February 2013, God willing!
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My flight itinerary: Roanoke - Detroit - Amsterdam - Delhi - Guwahati - Silchar (State of Assam, northeast
INDIA), then home the same way.
This year we scheduled ministries only in the State of Assam:
Sep 25, Sun AM - Pailapool Baptist Church, Pailapool
Sep 25, Sun PM - Installation Service for new pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Pailapool
Sep 26, Mon PM - Devotions for boys' and girls' hostels (about 60 students?), Emmanuel English School, Pailapool
Sep 27-28, Tues-Wed - Seminar for church leaders, Regular Fundamental Baptist Church Association
(RFBCA), meeting in Silchar. 12 hrs teaching on subject: "The True Disciple". Expected only about 40
attendees, but averaged 70!
Sep 29, Thurs AM - Chapel, Emmanuel English School, Pailapool. About 400 students for chapel that
day, all standing outside because chapel room was set up for special testing. Most students are Muslim or
Hindu, only a few Christians.
Sep 29-30, Thurs-Fri evenings 6-9 PM - Seminar for church leaders, Fellowship of Baptist Churches
(FBC), meeting in Pailapool. 6 hrs introductory teaching on subject: "Baptist Distinctives". About 80 attendees.
Oct 1, Sat PM - Thanksgiving Service to celebrate achievement of official registration for
Christian clinic, Emmanuel Rural Hospital, Pailapool
Oct 2, Sun AM - Lachipur Baptist Church, Lachipur
Oct 2, Sun PM - Emmanuel Baptist Church, Pailapool
Oct 4-7, Tues-Fri - Conference for isolated churches of Fellowship of Baptist Churches (FBC) in
northern Assam, meeting in Tejpur. About 20 hrs teaching was planned on subject: "Baptist Distinctives".
Health reasons forced me to cancel that last teaching assignment along with weekend preaching
assignments in Tejpur-area churches on Oct 9. BMM missionary Dr. Sana Singh, my host and team-teacher, tried
to cancel the conference entirely. But the leaders up there were so sorely disappointed about the cancellation
that Sana and another preacher agreed to go ahead and do the conference without me.
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You will find certain details in this report to be conspicuously absent, leaving you with some questions in
your mind. Please understand that for security reasons we must be intentionally vague.
FRIDAY - SATURDAY. During one long overnight flight I was able to sleep about six hours. I arrived at my
destination having crossed the International Date Line and entered a time zone twelve hours different from
home. My days and nights were now confused and I wasn't ready for another night's sleep so soon after my
six-hour sleep on the plane. So I unpacked, showered, ironed my shirts, checked my email, and finally got to
bed at about 3 am Sunday morning.
SUNDAY. On my way over to breakfast with my host missionary family, I got my first day-time look at
the campus of the Bible college which hosts the special training program in which I had come to teach. The
on-campus church, a vibrant congregation of about ninety people, had invited me to preach in their worship
service. They had no evening service, but a multi-church couples' fellowship which meets quarterly had been
re-scheduled for this weekend so I could speak to them. We were together from 3-6 pm for a casual afternoon
of singing, games, a message, and refreshments.
MONDAY. Mine was to be the very first teaching module in this secondary location for a special
training program for Christian leaders who come from a country we do not name. The students in the program are
currently experiencing visa difficulties at the primary location, thus the need for another site. Due to the
potential complications anticipated for the start-up, it was decided to invite a smaller class of only twenty
foreign students this year. In the end, only sixteen managed to come.
We were forced to cancel this first day of my class, however, because ten of my sixteen students were
not yet there. They had faced complications and were re-ticketed to arrive early Tuesday morning. But the six
students already there seemed disappointed to not have class, so I was asked if I would spend some time with
them on another subject, and of course I agreed. Starting Monday I joined my students in the school cafeteria
every day for lunch and dinner.
TUESDAY. Our last ten students finally arrived at the airport about 4 am Tuesday - on campus by 6 am.
There was nothing to do but let them get some sleep until lunch. (Would you want more than half your students
falling asleep while you're teaching?) So we waited until 1:30 pm to start class; by this time we had lost a
day and a half of our class. To catch up a bit, we planned to add an hour of class each day, plus teach into
the evening Tuesday and Friday. This way we would catch up all but four class hours.
WEDNESDAY. By 5 pm when we ended class, I was satisfied to be where I needed to be in moving through
the material under the circumstances. After class I went over to visit my host family, especially to spend
some time with the MKs (missionary kids) in the family. I told them a true story from Africa. By this time,
the children were calling me "Uncle Larry;" I would sure like them to meet "Aunt Sallie" on another trip.
THURSDAY. This was another full day of teaching, again with seven hours of class ending at 5 pm. Then
back over to the home of my missionary hosts to tell the children another true story from Africa. And, after
dinner with my students in the cafeteria, as usual in the evenings, I welcomed a group of them into my guest
apartment so that I could hear their testimonies and get to know them better.
FRIDAY. I started today by preaching in the Bible college chapel, before returning to my class. I
pushed hard to try to finish my "Discipleship" course by the end of the day. By dinner time, we only had a
couple of hours left. I was tentatively planning to finish up early on Saturday morning, but the students
agreed to meet again later Friday evening instead. Due to a late supper and another planned activity, we
were not able to meet until 8:30 pm. So we met from 8:30 - 10:30 pm, in order to take the final quiz, to have
them help me by grading each other's papers (I couldn't read the answers written in their language!), and to
close as I usually do with a time of application and decision.
By the time I calculated the students' quiz grades, recorded them and averaged them to leave their
final grades with Kirk, packed a few things and showered, it was about 1 am, so it was another short night.
SATURDAY. Instead of returning to the US on Saturday, I had arranged ministries through the weekend.
After breakfast my host took me across town to meet a friend, who drove me into the interior for an afternoon l
eadership seminar for a thriving church plant. We had planned to arrive early, but the estimated
three-and-a-half-hour trip took us five hours, so we arrived an hour late. Of course my friend called our host
pastor several times along the way to give updates about where we were and they understood and waited
patiently. When we got there an hour late, they were waiting for us with a hot lunch. We had not eaten along
the way because we had been told they had lunch for us. I tried to say, no, we could eat later - the people
were waiting for us to start the seminar - but they wouldn't hear of it. We finally started the seminar at
about 3:30 pm and the group continued to listen eagerly until 6:00 with only one good break.
SUNDAY. We continued with the last hour of the leadership seminar during the Sunday School hour from
6-7 am, then I preached in the 7:15 am worship service. In this farming community, the church meets early!
As my friend and I headed out of town on our way back to the capital, the church treated us to a simple but
delicious buffet meal at a small local restaurant - for only about $2.50 per person!
Back in the capital, I went to bed early at a mission guest house where a room had been reserved for me.
MONDAY. My friend picked me up at 3:00 am to get me to the airport early for my 6:35 am flight to
JAPAN and on to the US. After the short night I faced a long day of travel. I would travel for 23 hours
(including airport layovers) yet arrive home at about 5:30 pm the same day I left!
For those who want to read more: ONE SURPRISE AFTER ANOTHER!
There were several things that came as a surprise to me on my weekend trip into the interior:
1. I had understood that my friend would be sharing the seminar time with me, with him teaching
something else about the church leadership topic. It wasn't until Saturday while driving to the seminar, that
he told me that he wanted me to do all the teaching (the people had other opportunities to hear him).
2. My friend was prepared to translate for me, but in the end it was decided that the people would
understand my English well enough. Not having to divide my time with a translator, I now had twice as much
time to teach!
3. I thought I would have to finish the seminar on Saturday afternoon, but the pastor offered us the
Sunday School time on Sunday morning too, so we chose to cover the material in more detail and save a portion
of it to finish on Sunday.
4. I had been told ahead of time that the morning program for this church would start at 5 am! I was
surprised - but not sorry - to hear that we wouldn't start until 6 am!
5. With no preparation at all, I was asked to sing in the morning service before I preached! The
pastor was sitting beside me as we were led in the singing of the opening hymn. He heard me harmonizing, and
leaned over to ask me if I would be willing to sing a special number before my message. Instead of practicing
ahead of time, it is not unusual overseas that the keyboardist doesn't read music but plays by ear, and
typically sounds out the chords and gets a feel for the music as the singer starts a cappella! I knew that
was the situation here. Well, I said yes and while the service proceeded I scrambled to choose a song from
the hymnbook that I was confident my accompanist would know. We finally confirmed a song just as I was asked
to come up and sing. I had no idea what key he was going to settle on. Would it be too high? Or perhaps too
low? On the platform I gave a long introduction to the song while my accompanist settled on a key and felt
around for the chording. I stopped talking when I felt he had gained some confidence about what he would do.
It turned out OK, I guess - but it was the first time I had ever sung under these circumstances!
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OVERNIGHT IN THE AIRPORT. My flight to HAITI through either NYC or Miami would require an overnight,
because of the time of the morning flight on to HAITI. For various reasons I chose the connection through NYC.
But because my flight into the JFK airport would not arrive there until after midnight and I would have to
check in for my morning flight no later than 6:15 am, I decided not to leave the airport and pay for an
expensive hotel room for the sake of only several hours of sleep.
As it turned out, both my earlier flights were delayed because of weather so I arrived at JFK two hours
late. It was now about 2:30 am so I knew I had made the right decision not to get a hotel! Delta loaned me a
cot which I set up in a corner of a deserted gate area, so at least I got to stretch out for a few hours with
a folded airplane blanket as a pillow.
THE REASON I WENT. While BMM missionaries Dr. Roy and Ruth Shelpman have another ministry in another
location, their burden has been to establish a Bible college in Jacmel, in the south-east about two and a halfhours from
the capital. With the invaluable on-site help of an extremely capable Haitian leader, Pastor Dieupie Cherubin,
that Bible college has become a reality. Adding one year at a time to their program, they are now finishing
their third year with over 30 students. The present third-year students will, after one more year, constitute
the first graduating class.
The administration has recognized their need of occasional short-term missionary teachers. But they
have to be able to teach in French! I have helped them to arrange for a couple of other missionaries to go
teach module courses, and each of them has been there twice already. But this was my first occasion to help!
MY ACCOMMODATIONS. Since the Shelpmans live in another location some distance away I only saw
Dr. Shelpman once, when he made a special trip over to visit me. My hosts for the entire two weeks were
Pastor Dieupie, along with his wife and two young daughters (and a couple of live-in relatives). They were so
gracious in the way they provided for me, and I was very comfortable.
I had a pleasant guest room with its own bathroom, in a well-built two-story house. I had consistent
electricity (except for 4-10 am daily), running water (cold), a lamp to use for reading at night, and a fan.
They took care of my laundry, and did a beautiful job of ironing my shirts and trousers. My meals were all
provided for me, and I had cold water and Kool-aid and homemade lemonade every day from the fridge. They also
arranged transportation for me back and forth to class. My only disappointment: I didn't have email access as I
had anticipated, because the family had just moved into this house the previous week and didn't have everything
up and running yet.
MY MODULE CLASS. I had been asked to teach "Biblical Stewardship" to a class of 31 second- and
third-year students. The group included 23 men (4 of them already serving as pastors) and 8 women. 21 of them
are pursuing their bachelor's degree, while 4 are in the diploma program (with less expected of them) and 6
are in the more simple certificate program. So in my teaching, I had to consider the three different levels.
They all did the same homework exercises and took the same quizzes, but those in the certificate program were
only assigned portions of those assignments and quizzes. And those in the more stringent degree program were
each assigned a small research paper to do.
I taught from 4-8 pm each evening Monday-Friday for two weeks - a total of 40 hours of teaching.
I used about 6 hours each day, during the daytime hours, for personal devotions, study, preparation of quizzes,
grading papers, etc. Then after 4 hours of class in the evening, I felt the need to relax my mind by allowing
myself to read. I did have to work all day the last Saturday to complete my grading (the problem with assigning
research papers is that the teacher then has to grade those papers!) and calculate grades. I was delighted to
find that all of the students received a passing grade!
PLANNING FOR FUTURE. Thinking ahead even as I approached this class, I proposed to the administration
that perhaps a qualified Haitian pastor from the area might be chosen to attend my class, and therefore be trusted to teach the course himself the next time. It was very satisfying to me to have Pastor Salomon Cadet take the class with that goal in mind.
I have agreed to return to HAITI May 25 - June 11, 2012 to teach "Church Administration" (and to
participate in their first graduation the last weekend of that trip).
CHURCH MINISTRIES. As expected, I was invited to speak in area churches each of the three Sundays I
was in Haiti. The first Sunday, I preached in French for both AM services of Hosanna Baptist Church, the
larger church whose property is shared by the Bible college. The second Sunday I preached in a new church
planted by Hosanna, now pastored by one of Hosana's former associate pastors and attended by a good group of
about 130. My third Sunday I spoke at a church of about the same size which was started by a former BMM
missionary, and for many years has been pastored by Haitian men. I found all three churches to be thriving,
worshipful, and well-led. I was very impressed by the quality of the Haitian leaders and by what God is doing
through them.
EARTHQUAKE REPORT. It has been almost a year and a half since the earthquake that devastated HAITI and
killed so many people. I saw continuing evidence of the trauma inflicted on this nation:
Buildings still standing in ruins as if they had been bombed, both in Port-au-Prince and to a lesser
extent even far outside the capital;
Piles of rubble along the streets as evidence of their on-going efforts to clean up the damage;
The "tent cities" still to be found here and there through Port-au-Prince and across the countryside -
this seems to have become a way of life for those unable to rebuild);
The contrasting new housing (small, simple, but solid), often in groups of two to six houses, that are
being constructed by various charitable agencies; and
The brave efforts of average citizens to repair or rebuild damaged buildings, bit by bit, as finances
allow.
Nearly every family in the nation has been personally affected by this trauma. I was impressed by how they
are coping, getting on with their lives while facing the realities of what has happened.
WOW - GOD AT WORK! I want to leave you with one example of what God's people are doing in HAITI and how
God is blessing! The last week I was in HAITI, a short-term missions team from a church in GA was there. T
hey were cooperating with Pastor Dieupie and Hosanna Baptist Church, to do prep work for planting a new
daughter church in the outskirts of Jacmel. Along with certain people from the Hosanna church they went out to
do personal evangelism every afternoon that week. Then just as I was starting class at 4 pm each day, I noticed
another team of church folks gathering to go join the team for an evening "crusade' meeting with singing and
preaching. All of this was intended to draw attention to plans for starting a new church there, with the first
meeting to be held on Sunday.
On Sunday the new church met for the first time. 17 people from the Hosanna
church committed to be there, as a welcoming core group in the beginning. Would you believe that 123 locals
also attended, interested in the new church they had heard about? What a great start! From the beginning, one
senior student from the Bible college and a couple of other students with him are serving in the new church
plant - but with someone else preaching at Hosanna for the second AM service, Pastor Dieupie himself was
present to preach at the new church's first service. Yes, God is at work in HAITI!
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My team-teacher. This time the one I chose to accompany me was Pastor Charles Pausley, pastor
of Bethany Baptist Church of Avon Park FL. My mother, Martha, and sister, Maribeth - both former missionaries
in C.A.R. - are members of his church, and the church is also one of our supporting churches. With the Fogle
family's history in C.A.R., the church was more than enthusiastic about his accompanying me on this trip! I was
impressed by his pleasant disposition, his cheerful acceptance of the sometimes less-than-ideal circumstances,
his friendliness to everybody, and his clear teaching and exposition of the Scriptures. He was deeply
appreciated by all.
Our hosts. Two BMM missionary couples, Charles and Gai Jewell and John and Paula Dannenberg,
took excellent care of us - providing accommodations, food, and transportation, and generally facilitating
everything for us. They ministered to us with a genuine servant spirit, and demonstrated to us the best of
missionary zeal and perseverance.
Our accommodations. Our first week in the country we stayed in the guest apartment on
the mission property in Bangui, with all the conveniences. But for our second week of ministry, as we moved 130
miles up-country, we camped out in one of the old missionary homes at Sibut - this time without the benefit of
electricity, fans, cold water to drink, or running water. We used a bucket to flush the toilet (at least we had
a toilet, which we wouldn't have had anywhere out in the village!). And since we could not use the shower we
had to take a "splash bath." Bible school students hauled water for us as necessary to refill the water barrel
in the bathroom; they also insisted daily on refilling our kerosene lantern, topping up our bottles with
drinking water, providing hot water for hot drinks, doing our dishes for us (if we didn't get to it first!),
and even carrying our books everywhere we went.
Our food. While we were in Bangui the missionaries fed us very well, even sharing
some of their special, difficult-to-get foods with us. Of course, even that week, we ate some of our meals
with the Africans - each noon at the Tuesday-Friday conference, for example. But once we moved on up to Sibut,
the missionaries had to drop us off due to other pressing responsibilities back in Bangui and we enjoyed
African hospitality for the next week. (They knew that I was no stranger to these circumstances!) The Africans
served us very graciously, but the food lacked some of the variety that Americans are used to. I did fine
with it, but most of it was new to Pastor Pausley. He was a good sport about it, but always chose rice over
the manioc paste if there was a choice! The manioc paste was ever-present, but in addition we ate rice, some
plantain and something like a potato. For meat, we ate beef, chicken, a certain kind of small antelope, and
Pastor Pausley's favorite (not!) was a mixture of liver, lung, tripe, and intestine - cooked in with spinach
greens. We also enjoyed some fresh bread, African doughnuts, oranges and lots of mangoes. Oh, the missionaries
had also provided us with instant oatmeal to make with hot water, as well as instant coffee, tea bags and hot
chocolate mix. We really did not suffer.
Our speaking assignments:
PASTORS' CONFERENCE for the BMM-affiliated pastors across the C.A.R. Held Tuesday-Friday, April 12-15.
Pastor Pausley was to speak on "The Characteristics of a Healthy Church." In addition to translating for him, I
was originally to teach a course on "Biblical Stewardship." But it became obvious that we didn't have the time
to teach both courses. I wanted the pastors to hear Pastor Pausley above all, so I switched gears and preached
a series of messages that supplemented Pastor's subject. The response to this conference was phenomenal! First,
the attendance was about three times the number expected; 432 pastors showed up, plus 211 pastors' wives -
totaling 643! Second, they were so hungry to learn and so ready to commit to make necessary changes as God
convicted them.
MODULE COURSE for the Baptist Bible School of Sibut. I taught four hours each morning Monday-Friday,
April 18-22. The subject was "Biblical Stewardship" as expected. We had 17 mature student men, all headed for
full-time ministry. Their wives sat beside them in the class, making 34. In addition, there were 12 more - all
of these Bible school administrators, area pastors, and a few of their wives. They were a delight to teach!
CHURCH LEADERS' CONFERENCE for our BMM-affiliated churches in the Sibut area. This was Pastor Pausley's
assignment for three hours every afternoon Monday-Friday, April 18-22; he was to repeat the series of lessons
he had presented in Bangui the previous week. I did almost all the translating for him, but it was a blessing
to identify one pastor who knew enough English to translate one afternoon when I was exhausted. The attendance
on Monday was 164, but it grew through the week until our highest attendance of 214 on Friday! There was an
enthusiastic spirit and the teaching was well-received. Again their hunger to hear and apply the Word was
evident and many, many decisions were made.
In addition, we spoke at a three-hour youth seminar one Saturday and in church services on the three
Sundays we were in the country.
The decisions. Of course, numbers are not a completely accurate way of evaluating a
ministry, but they do say something. We were especially gratified this trip by the number of commitments that
were made. Praise the Lord with us for 548 specific decisions (the best we could count) in response to the
specific issues that came up in the course of our preaching and teaching! These decisions represent potential
changes in lives and ministries that could significantly advance God's work in CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC.
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How this trip developed. You may remember that my brother, Col. Phil Fogle, traveled with me
to INDIA and NEPAL in October 2010 to help me teach the subject of "Biblical Stewardship." One of Phil's
classmates from high school days received his reports leading up to that trip, and emailed Phil: "I have a
huge request - What you and Larry will be doing in India is exactly what I have been trying for three years to
do here in the BAHAMAS, without success or cooperation. . . . I have an island that is begging for that to be
done, we have the location and the facility - WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO COME AND DO THE SAME THING HERE IN THE
BAHAMAS???? There is a great need! . . ." Since we were fully booked for 2011, we had no dates to offer them
until 2012. But at the end of December we had to cancel our February trip, and this opened that time slot for
the BAHAMAS. Our hosts for the trip, Dave and Sharon Spangler, are missionaries to the BAHAMAS with Baptist
Missions to Forgotten Peoples. They had only five weeks to plan and promote our ministry, but they proved
themselves up to the challenge!
Islands of Eleuthera and Andros. Phil and his wife Betty accompanied Sallie and me on this
trip. We arrived on Friday afternoon at the Spanglers' home on the island of Eleuthera. Before moving Saturday
afternoon to the larger island of Andros to begin our ministry, we finalized our planning, did some sight-seeing,
and repacked in order to scale down our baggage. The Spanglers' twin-engine Aztec private plane was stuffed
with the three couples along with our personal baggage and all the food we would need during our week-long
ministry on Andros. Dave served as our pilot. From a height of only several thousand feet the views from the
plane windows were spectacular. One island or another (of about 700!) was almost always in sight and the white
sand beaches contrasted with the aqua and blue of the water beneath us, the color varying according to the
depth of the water and the sand, seaweed or coral under the water. We were picked up at the small airport on
Andros, and were soon settled into a decent motel for the week.
Ministry. Dave, Phil and I were scheduled to speak in different area churches Sunday
morning and evening. Then Monday morning we met at Mount Freedom Fellowship Baptist Church in Lowe Sound for
the beginning of our seminar. We met there from 9:30 - noon every morning and from 6:30 - 9:00 every evening.
Five hours each day Monday - Friday, then Saturday morning from 9:00 - noon. Dave facilitated the program and
shared a short devotional each morning and evening; Phil and I taught a total of twenty-five hours on the
subject of "Biblical Stewardship" as requested. Our wives helped with the preparation and cleanup of our meals
all week long, took responsibility for some computer assignments, and generally took care of us. They also
shared their testimonies at the seminar.
Saturday breakfast. Everybody was invited to come an hour early on Saturday in order
to enjoy a Bahamian "souse" breakfast. This is a kind of homemade soup - or several soups in this case - made
with either chicken, pig's feet or sheep's tongue and served with a dense corn bread. Of course we were all
there to enjoy the breakfast and the fellowship!
Response to the seminar. Dave had forewarned us that they had never done a seminar
like this there before, so he didn't know what kind of response there would be. Furthermore, unless people took
the week off, many would have to work in the mornings, so our morning attendance would be light. Dave suggested
that we might see only four people at the seminar - or maybe twenty. But we started the first morning with an
attendance of 26; we had 36 Tuesday morning, and maintained that morning attendance through Friday. Evening
attendance started with 35, rose to 48 the second evening, and climbed still higher to about 55 for the rest of
the week! The final session Saturday morning maintained the 55 number.
We offered a "Certificate of Completion" to all those who attended at least 75% of the seminar sessions.
Expecting that very few would be able to attend both morning and evening sessions, we were blown away when at
the end of the week we calculated the number of people who qualified for that certificate! 36 people received
the certificate; of that number 22 had been there at ALL the sessions!
Encouragement. Dave was ecstatic about the response! Frankly, while we had anticipated
the warmth of the Bahamian people, we were caught by surprise by their eagerness to learn. We were grateful to
see a number of decisions made in response to our ministry, both in the churches and in the seminar. And the
seminar attendees indicated their desire to do this kind of seminar once a quarter! Dave sees this as the
beginning of an informal Bible Institute which will provide the leaders with the in-depth teaching that they so
desperately need.
We quickly came to share Dave's concern over the condition of the churches: the preaching and teaching
in the churches is typically shallow and emotional, and the small, struggling churches are ridden with problems
such as unqualified leaders and rampant immorality. It was very satisfying to see the pastors and church
leaders encouraged, challenged, excited and ready to make some changes!
Several days of vacation. While this was a ministry trip, we took advantage of being
in the BAHAMAS to enjoy the beaches and to do some sight-seeing - the "Glass Window" Bridge (from the bridge
you can see the Caribbean Sea on one side and the deeper blue of the Atlantic Ocean on the other), Henry
Morgan's Cave (he was a pirate who made this cave his hide-out), Preacher's Cave (the temporary home for a
group of religious refugees from England who established a colony here), a US submarine base, a huge grapefruit
grove, etc. In addition, Sallie visited the affluent island of Spanish Wells by ferry one day with Sharon and
Betty, while Dave, Phil and I went fishing for about five hours with a Bahamian fisherman. And we enjoyed
several very Bahamian meals (besides the "souse" breakfast mentioned above): one time barbequed chicken and
pork chops, another time grilled pork chops, and another time deep-fried "cracked conch," lobster bits and
grouper "fingers" - always with generous portions of "peas and rice" and coleslaw.
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Team-teacher. Pastor Dale Mullinix of Grace Baptist Church, Roanoke VA, accompanied me on this
trip to share the speaking. I was impressed again by his friendly, gracious spirit and his careful words.
His preaching and his pastoral experience allowed him to really minister to people, and he was greatly
appreciated. It was a privilege to partner with him on this trip!
Ministry. We had about a day and a half to recover and relax before getting to work.
We started Saturday afternoon by visiting homes in the community with the leaders of the new church our
BMM missionaries Steve and Beth Gault are planting. Sunday I preached in that dynamic young church.
Monday we began a heavy five-day schedule. I taught a module class in the local seminary,
a post-graduate school for pastors and laymen headed for ministry who come out of neighboring French-speaking
nations. My concentrated class on "The True Disciple" met four hours a day from Monday - Friday.
During that week Pastor Dale spoke every morning in seminary chapel on the theme of preaching. Then he spoke
every evening in the young mission church with a series entitled "Profiles in Adversity." Saturday we each
participated in a casual two-hour men's meeting and responded to questions. Then Sunday Pastor Dale spoke in
the local church again in the morning and in a local missionary fellowship in the afternoon. Finally Monday was
a day of relaxing, working on our pictures from the trip, doing some writing, and packing, before leaving late
that night to return home.
Progress. The work in the mission church plant is really moving forward! Attendance
each Sunday was around ninety. Building on the steady, enthusiastic work done by Steve and Beth Gault, the
excitement in the church keeps growing. A number of faithful young men in the church are continuing to mature,
people are taking responsibility in the church seriously, there are visitors every week, and people are being
saved and discipled. Two of the young men in the church are in either Bible school or seminary now. Steve is
grooming several faithful men in the church for future leadership.
God at work. Two young men, twins about twenty years of age, came early in the week to
visit the church for their first time. They had both just trusted Christ in December and someone in the church
had challenged them to attend this church where the Bible is faithfully taught and practiced. They came to the
sessions every night, then to the men's meeting on Saturday, then to the Sunday services. It was fun to see how
they bonded with the church family during the week. By Sunday noon they were calling this their church. Steve
said there are now eight to ten people who need intentional consistent discipleship, and I personally talked to
four young men who are now eager to take the step of baptism!
Encouragement. It is clear that Steve Gault and the church are even more encouraged
and pumped-up now at the end of our ministry this time than they were after our ministry last April! They had
good, growing attendance during the evening seminar sessions Monday through Friday, wonderful interaction with
people after the evening sessions (with people pinning us down separately with questions every night), and
satisfying fellowship during and after the men's meeting on Saturday morning. Q&A times brought real conviction
and definitive conclusions all though the week. Then there were five clear-cut public decisions for salvation
at the end of the Sunday morning message by Pastor Dale! Steve usually doesn't give a public walk-forward
invitation in church, but felt led to do that Sunday morning and God was definitely at work. At the end of our
visit, Steve said, "Your ministry this week has been revolutionary for our church! And the five decisions
Sunday were the icing on the cake!"
Malaria. Early in our visit Beth Gault came down with a severe case of malaria. She
finally took a malaria treatment (a course of 24 pills over a period of three days), but she did not respond to
it quickly because the malaria was compounded by a respiratory virus. Because of her illness Beth was not able
to offer us the kind of hospitality she had intended, and she felt badly about that. While her malaria was at
its worst, we arranged with Steve to eat out with us at several local restaurants in order to save his wife
some work. But we did enjoy her wonderful cooking at the beginning, and again at the end of our stay as she was
recovering. As for me, I started this trip with what we are sure was a mild case of malaria and took a full
malaria treatment. This was a treatment that I had been carrying with me overseas for the last four years and
never needed until now; the medicine's expiration date was long-past and it proved to be ineffective. So my
low-grade fever and recurring headaches continued throughout our entire time in the country. We finally located
another current malaria treatment in a local pharmacy and I took that during our last days there. I was doing
better by the time we left Monday evening, and now only have some residual headaches.
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Held meetings 27 Sundays during the year (including US and overseas)
Traveled about 13,000 miles in the US for meetings and other ministry obligations
Held meetings at 14 US churches (7 supporting churches and 7 potential supporting churches)
Lost support from 1 church due to financial problems, and recovered the lost support by adding 3 new supporting churches
Spoke 36 times in US churches (including 3 conferences) and had lunch meetings 5 times with pastors
Spoke 5 times at a family camp in the US
Attended 2 conferences to develop contacts for church meetings and overseas ministry trips
Met with or held extended phone conversations about 24 times with mission officials, key field missionaries, potential PEP partners, potential seminar speakers, missions committees, individual donors, printer, photographer, etc., re PEP ministry
Met with the BMM General Council 2 times throughout the year
Experienced God's provision for about $22,000 in PEP ministry expenses (above our living expenses)
Made numerous contacts by phone and letter to schedule future US meetings
Updated PEP website on a regular basis - look at www.pepbmm.org for updates and pictures!
Completed 7 overseas PEP trips, for ministry in 7 countries: PHILIPPINES, CAMEROON, MYANMAR, THE ISLAND, INDIA, NEPAL, and LIBERIA (= total of 23 PEP trips from beginning in 2007 to end-2010)
Spoke at 8 conferences, 4 seminars, and 5 module courses on these overseas PEP trips in 2010
Spoke overseas 403 times (including 173 hrs of help from 5 team-teachers from the US, 1 from the PHILIPPINES, and 1 from INDIA)
Experienced God's blessing as we saw about 381 specific decisions in PEP ministries overseas
Spent 119 days overseas (including 28 days travel)
Received repeat invitations or signs of interest about repeat trips from each of the countries where we ministered in 2010
Experienced God's blessing in negotiating a major gift toward construction work on campus at a Bible college in LIBERIA
Experienced God's blessing in reconnecting former BMM missionaries to LIBERIA with the field through team-teaching opportunity with PEP
PEP GOALS FOR 2011 - please pray with us about each of the following goals:
Continue scheduling for more US meetings and for future overseas trips.
Continue planning for the future of the PEP ministry, including the right missionaries to join the PEP team full-time.
Identify additional speakers to team-teach on specific future trips.
Prepare teaching materials needed for each trip, and get certain course materials translated into French and Spanish for future use.
Seek God's provision of additional monthly support (and special gifts in the meantime) to help cover the expenses of these ministry trips.
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From email report Mon, Nov 22. Since there were a lot of empty seats in business class,
and since I am a frequent flier with Delta, I was granted a complimentary upgrade to business class from Atlanta to Accra,
Ghana, then on to Monrovia. (I have been upgraded only rarely, so this was a real treat for me.)
And with more seats emptied in Accra, I was permitted to bring Darrell and Donna Guenter (my travel companions
and team teachers on this trip) up to be with me in business class for the one and a half hour flight on to Monrovia.
On the ten and a half hour flight from Atlanta to Accra, Ghana, I had an electrical outlet up in
business class so I was able to keep working on my computer through the night. I worked a full eight hours on
my worship notes for the seminar I was to teach in the conference my third week in LIBERIA. When I finally
stopped working on my computer at 4 am Atlanta time, I fully reclined my business class seat and slept for
30 minutes before they came and woke us up for breakfast (it was 9:30 am now LIBERIA time). Anyway that 30
minutes was the only sleep I got on that long overnight flight. But I was really pleased with what I got
done on my notes.
Besides missionaries Mark and Nancy Sheppard in their vehicle, there was another small vehicle with
about four pastors, plus a taxi-load of other church people who came to the airport to meet us. It was a real
nice reception for the Guenters... [They served as BMM missionaries in LIBERIA many years ago, and were
well-loved by those who knew them; this was their first occasion to return.] Then everybody came back to the
mission property in Monrovia, and in front of Sheppards' house, outside, they had a formal reception for them
while I took pictures: a welcome song, several speeches of welcome, then prayer. Darrell and Donna
have felt genuinely welcomed...
After we arrived here late yesterday afternoon, we were able to talk with Mark and Nancy about our
schedule for the next three weeks. Then supper. Shortly after supper, I excused myself and showered and went
to bed. Having gotten only 30 minutes of sleep on the plane, I was really ready to sleep. My back was nagging
at me a bit, so I took my pills for that and I was asleep by 8 pm. I was up once about 5:30 this morning, then
went back to sleep until I finally got up about 10 am. I slept 14 hrs!
We started classes just after noon today. We have decided that my teaching will come first every day
because it's heavier material ("Biblical Interpretation"), and Darrell's lighter subject
("Thinking Biblically") is being taught more like a Bible study, with a lot of interaction - as the
small book he is using was designed to be taught. We were both received well today, and we have made a good
start, I think.
From email report Wed, Nov 24. Things are going well here. We're moving on pace
so far, I guess, through the material for our courses. Ordinarily, our class hours were supposed to be from
12 noon to 5:30 pm, with about a half-hour sandwich and kool-aid break somewhere in the middle and several
other short breaks. So I am supposed to have 3 hours each day Monday-Friday, and Darrell should have 2 hours
each day. However they keep changing the hours of our classes from day to day because of prayer meetings late
Wednesday afternoons in their churches, public transport problems at certain hours, government holiday next
Monday, etc. Today classes were only to be from 10 am - 1:30 pm. Darrell is taking all the hours today,
a shorter class day, because he will not be with us Friday to take his hours (he and his wife are leaving
that morning to make a weekend trip up to a town where they used to work). So I will have all the hours on
Friday.
Darrell and Donna have been warmly received. They are really enjoying the visits from old friends,
and the memories shared all around. Yesterday was a tearful reunion with some dear Liberian friends from the
past. Nancy Sheppard has prepared ahead of time for various projects that Donna could help with, so she is
keeping busy too, even as Darrell is working on his teaching responsibilities.
I am able today to work more on my notes for the worship seminar I will do at the conference our
third week here.
From email report Fri, Nov 26. We have finished our first week of classes in the
Bible college... The students did not take my first quiz very seriously, so didn't prepare well for it.
Only 11 of about 20 students passed the quiz. So I warned them real good, and offered one opportunity to
re-take that quiz if they wanted to improve their grade. Most were able to improve their grade dramatically.
They all seemed to do better today on the second quiz.
We enjoyed a thanksgiving dinner here ALMOST as good as what we would have had in the US. The
Sheppards had about 15 people total at their table here.
Darrell and Donna left this morning to visit a place where they used to work when they were here as
missionaries... It will be a quick trip because they will be back here tomorrow afternoon. On Sunday Darrell
will be speaking in one of the largest of our churches in Monrovia, while I preach in a different church.
But Sheppards will get me back to the church where Guenters will be because that church is planning a feast
for us all Sunday noon as a welcome back to Liberia for the Guenters and they want us all there.
Guenters are obviously really pleased with the occasion to be here. It's proving to be an emotional
"homecoming" for them.
From email report Tues, Nov 30. We had a big blow-up in class yesterday, where a
Muslim convert saved only a few years now and still struggling to firm up his beliefs said in my class,
"I know the Bible says that Jesus is the Son of God, so I believe that. But I can never accept that
'Jesus is God' unless I see a verse that says that." Up to then nobody had ever shown him a
verse that says that. So he repeated his statement to the students and one or two of the Liberian professors
outside of class during break, when they surrounded him to basically call him a heretic. All he was saying was,
"Show it to me in the Bible, and I will believe it." I had just taught the class that we are to
submit to the Bible as our authority; it is our final court of appeal. So this student was applying what he
had learned.
This same student has some real personality issues and a problem with arrogance, that has led him to
treat the other students with disrespect. Unfortunately, they have responded in kind. So their ganging up on
him to call him a "heretic," "Arab spy among us," and "terrorist" was the final
straw for him, and he decided to quit the Bible school and leave the Sheppards' mission house where he has
been living for the past two years. But when he talked to Mark Sheppard, Mark came over to the Bible school
(we were nearing the end of the day's classes) and had a hard talk with the students telling them how they
need to be patient with and encourage spiritual growth in a young convert - especially one from a different
cultural background.
Back home in the late afternoon, I approached the young man in question and asked if I could sit with
him to show him a few verses that I judge to be quite clear on the subject of Jesus' deity. He said,
"Sure." He listened carefully as I showed him John 1, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1. Then he said,
"Well, I see it now. I just never saw those verses before." He also agreed to sit with Pastor
Darrell Guenter this morning before class to let Darrell show him some more verses on the same subject.
Mark had also spent some time talking with him about the attitude of the students, which was no worse than
his own attitude toward them.
So the young man agreed to go to class with us again today, because everybody was going to talk
everything out openly and we were trusting that there would be some apologies. We spent the first hour and a
half of our class time on this, with all the students, the faculty and administration of the school, Mark,
Darrell and me. Darrell and I were primarily observers, but also testimonies of what we had seen and heard
yesterday, and gave our conclusions and recommendations toward the end (at their request). Praise the Lord,
God worked in hearts, the accusations turned into apologies by the end of the session, and there was a good
spirit for the rest of the day.
From email report Sat, Dec 11. I got back to Monrovia at 5:00 PM this afternoon
(with Mark Sheppard and Darrell Guenter) after spending the last week in a village in the interior of Liberia
for the annual church association conference, with the group most closely affiliated with BMM. I had to go on
ahead last Sunday when it became clear that the others could not go that day for the beginning of the
conference because of Donna Guenter's malaria. I went ahead with one man in a taxi as far as a river about
five and a half hours away, then crossed a river by dugout canoe, then walked three hours through the forest
carrying loads on our heads. The others carried the heavy loads and made it easy for me. But I also carried
something - a bag in one hand and a small bag of my own on my head. With a hat on, I can carry something on
my head while walking for an hour or more at a time without ever having to touch it. (You should have heard
the chatter in each village when we came through with our small party, all of us carrying loads on our heads,
and one of us being a white man!)
The Africans were amazed that I would be willing to cross the river and make that walk in to the
village the way they had to come. They appreciate my love for them and my commitment to be at the conference to
teach them. The fact is that they weren't sure a white man could do it - or would do it. But the way I look at
it is...you do what you have to do! At the same time, I have to admit that the walk was a fair challenge for me.
I estimate the walk from the river where we crossed to the conference site at about 7-8 miles. We actually
walked it in two and a half hours, plus two 15-minute stops in villages along the way to adjust our loads and
to hire another porter or two to help us carry the loads. The men with me set a blistering pace. Much of the
path was up and down forested hills, where the path led us over rocks and over huge tree roots, forcing us to
climb as if we were climbing flights of steps in some places. In the second hour, my thigh muscles started to
protest. When we came out on somewhat level ground, the men picked up the pace, and I had to really push myself
to keep up. They were pushing hard, because it was looking more and more like we would not arrive at our
destination before dark. In fact, we were still a good half-hour from our goal when the darkness closed in
around us. The forest canopy kept us from getting much help from the moon and stars. A light drizzling rain was
actually a blessing, because it cooled things off a bit.
Mark and Darrell left Tuesday morning, and traveled a terrible road with even worse log bridges. They
could not have made it without a 4-wheel-drive. They had a wheel fall through one bridge, had to repair a
couple of bridges, and finally arrived at the conference site after a trip of 11 hours - whereas my trip,
including walking 3 hours, took only eight and a half hours! (With no bridge accidents today on our return to
Monrovia, but with a longer road than the walking shortcut, we made it home in eight and a half hours by car.)
I taught new material in the conference this week, ten hours on the subject of "Worship: The
Missing Ingredient". I also preached twice in Darrell's place (the main sessions Monday and Tuesday
evenings) until he got there. It was an excellent conference in a number of ways, and there was very
encouraging response to the teaching. It was especially encouraging to me to hear the way the audience as a
group responded together vocally ("Eeeeehhh!") when they really "got" some point I was
trying to make! Praise the Lord, about one-third of the 250 or so adults raised their hands at the end of my
last session to indicate that God had convicted them about changes they were going to make in the way they
approached God in worship. The material on worship is material I will be able to re-teach again and again in
different countries. I know I have put at least 150 hours into preparing these notes, so it is satisfying to
see that God has used this seminar here and to know that He may be able to use this seminar for His glory in
other countries as well.
Tomorrow morning I will repack my stuff in my luggage, then go to church with the Sheppards (probably
preaching, but only if asked of course), eat some dinner with the Sheppards, then leave for the airport with
the Guenters at about 2 PM for our flight back to the US. By the way, Donna Guenter has slowly recovered from
her bout with malaria this week. She is still a bit weak, but we think she will manage the trip home fine.
Thanks for praying for us all!
The administration will have to meet with the student to confirm that indeed he has seen in the Bible
and is convinced that Jesus is divine. Of course that doctrine is important to us. Eventually, the student
will need to state his belief in the deity of Christ in front of the students, but he doesn't need to be
forced to make that statement under the present tense situation.
Anyway, the rest of the day went well. Now I'm tired, so I'll say goodnight.
Sunday afternoon, December 12. I went to church with the Sheppards this morning.
Nothing was said ahead of time about whether I would be preaching, but I assumed that I might be asked so I
should be ready... That reminds me of something Darrell Guenter told me. During his years in LIBERIA as a
missionary, the national pastors often told him at the last minute that he was to preach. On one occasion he
counseled the pastors, "You have to give a preacher more advance warning than this, if you want him to be
well-prepared to preach." Their answer was typically African, "A hunter always has to have a shell in
his gun ready to shoot." Darrell answered, "Yes, but I have to know if I'm hunting the small red deer
or the elephant. I will use a different gun if I'm hunting the elephant!" [I ended up speaking twice
this morning - teaching in the men's SS class, then preaching in the AM service.]
Monday evening, Dec 13. I arrived home this morning, and after unpacking spent all
day on emails and phone calls. Just so you know, I did not get upgraded to business class for my flight home.
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Both my team-teachers on this trip were greatly appreciated by the local church leaders
Col. (Ret.) Phil Fogle is my older brother. Retired after a career in the military and then retired again
after leading a couple of Christian organizations, Phil now serves on the General Council
(the governing board) of Baptist Mid-Missions. Phil was my team-teacher for the first two conferences in INDIA.
But he also helped with the teaching for the rest of the trip - he taught for the third conference until the other
team-teacher arrived then, after visiting an Indian missionary, joined us again to share the teaching in our fourth conference.
Dr. Ron Lindholm, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church of Springfield VA (one of our supporting churches)
was scheduled as my team-teacher for the third conference in INDIA and for the fourth conference which took place in NEPAL.
Dr. Lindholm is a strategic thinker and a careful communicator; both of those skills were evident in his teaching
and made his contribution especially valuable. It was a privilege to have a supporting pastor involved on this trip.
Subject for all four conferences
It has been a huge help to me that, in these multiple conferences in India each year,
they have cooperated with me to allow me to teach the same subject in each conference.
Last year, as requested, we taught the subject of "Biblical Stewardship," part 1 -
in which we dealt with the introduction to the subject, then the stewardship of our Testimonies, our "Temples,"
our Time and our Talents. This year our subject was "Biblical Stewardship," part 2. This was the part where we dealt with
the stewardship of our Treasure (money, possessions) - talking about both personal monies and church monies.
We spent considerable time focusing on contentment vs. coveteousness, and how a love of "things" drives us into debt,
and how debt leads us to a life of bondage. We finished with a study of faithfulness -
the supreme requirement of all stewards.
Conference at Churachandpur, State of Manipur, INDIA - New Testament Baptist Church Association (INDIA)
When Phil and I checked in at the Calcutta airport to fly in to Imphal (the capital of Manipur state),
I couldn't produce the "Protected Area Permit" required for entry into Manipur. Of course I couldn't!
As usual we had applied for the required document ahead of time through our local contacts in Imphal,
but in my experience nobody ever receives it until they arrive on the ground in Imphal and someone meets them with the permit.
But the airline officials are more and more insistent every year that we are supposed to have a copy in our hands
before they will let us board the plane for Imphal. They only let us board after I signed a handwritten statement
that released the airline from any legal obligation in case our permit was not available upon our arrival in Imphal
and we were put back on the plane to continue on to its next destination. No problem - when we arrived in Imphal
our permit was already on hand as expected.
The day we arrived in Imphal, our hosts drove us further interior to our conference location,
the town of Churachandpur. Our conference took place October 4-6 (Monday - Wednesday), plus Phil and I both
preached in area churches Sunday morning and evening, and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
We also spent a special hour with pastors and wives and other full-time ministry workers one day for
fellowship, question and answer, and encouragement (with refreshments), and the same another day with the
students in the local Bible college. Each group seemed to really appreciate this special time that we dedicated to them.
We were supposed to start our next conference in Imphal on October 7 (Thursday).
So our hosts drove me back to Imphal early Thursday morning. But the NTBCA leadership wanted to take advantage
of Phil's expertise in leadership, so they kept him for a special leadership seminar with their pastors and
full-time ministry workers from 7-9:30 am, then made a second trip to Imphal to bring Phil to join me around noon.
Conference at Imphal, State of Manipur, INDIA - Fellowship of Baptist Churches (Manipur)
In Phil's absence, I started the Imphal conference on Thursday morning. We got a slow start, and had to pick
up the pace to complete the conference on time. The conference went from October 7-9 (Thursday - Saturday),
plus Phil and I each preached Sunday morning in area churches. I taught another one and a half hours Sunday
afternoon in the host church as requested.
Five days of continuous rains caused the river through Imphal to overflow its banks and flood parts of
the city. Evidently, this happens with some frequency in Imphal and residents are accustomed to this somewhat
traumatic interruption in their lives. For us, it was an adventure. By Friday evening of the conference,
the flooding waters were up to the front steps of the home where we were staying. Our taxi drove through
the water covering the alley leading to the house but stopped about twenty-five feet short of the front door,
and the only way in was to wade through ankle-deep water.
By Saturday morning, the water was calf-deep down the length of the alley, with occasional bits of
garbage floating in it. The taxi refused to enter the alley and we had to wade out to the connecting road,
holding our shoes in one hand and computer bag in the other. Feeling our way across the ground under the water
with our borrowed plastic sandals, we had to be careful not to lose our balance, because we certainly did not
want to end up setting our computer bags down in the water!
After the ride to the church, we were quite a sight as we entered - pant-legs rolled up above our knees,
white legs, plastic sandals - even though we were wearing decent dress pants and shirts. Most of the
conference attendees were already there and they got quite a kick out of their speakers coming in looking like
that! We sat down immediately and washed our feet and legs with soap and water (while many watched), dried off,
then got back to normal again.
By Saturday evening, the water was up another step on the house (within about 6 inches of entering the
house), and we had to wade through water almost to our knees to reach the refuge of our accommodations.
Thankfully, the rain stopped on Saturday and by Sunday morning the waters had begun to recede.
Monday we had a planned day of rest before our Tuesday flight to the next conference location.
With the day free, Phil and I did some sight-seeing in Imphal, got our laundry done, downloaded pictures
from our cameras to our computers, caught up email, and took our host family out to dinner. It was a good
interval.
Conference at Pailapool, State of Assam, INDIA - Fellowship of Baptist Churches (Assam)
br>On October 12 (Tuesday morning), Phil and I flew from Imphal to Silchar in the state of Assam.
From there we were to be driven to Pailapool, the site of our next conference. Arriving in Silchar,
our ride took us to register at the local police station then to visit the local North East India Baptist Bible College -
independent now for many years after having been begun by BMM missionaries in the past.
The conference took place Oct 12-15 (Tuesday noon - Friday). I started the conference after lunch
Tuesday, while Phil (as a BMM Council member) was escorted to visit several BMM-related ministries in the area.
Phil taught with me all day Wednesday, as Ron wouldn't arrive until late Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday morning Ron took over as my team-teacher and finished the conference with me, while Phil flew
to northwest India to spend several days with an Indian missionary friend. It is interesting to note that Phil's flight
from Delhi to Shimla was cancelled and he had to divert to Chandigarh then face a four-hour taxi drive across
the mountains to his destination!
During time off Friday evening and Saturday, Ron and I (along with a couple of medical short-termers)
were taken by our host to visit the Burrows Memorial Christian Hospital in nearby Alipur and an area tea garden.
But the real highlight was visiting a Hindu temple with permission to take pictures of their most important
religious celebration of the year - honoring Durga, their goddess of wealth and prosperity. For days, the Hindus
had paraded their idols through the streets, and now was the time for bringing their offerings to the goddess.
Morning was a good time for us to visit the temple. Drunkenness would take over later in the day, and by evening
it would be unsafe to be out on the streets.
Speaking in area churches occupied us on Sunday, then Monday morning we headed to the Silchar airport
to fly to Nepal for our next conference.
Conference at Kathmandu, NEPAL - New Testament Baptist Church Association (NEPAL)
Our conference in Kathmandu was scheduled for October 19-23 (Tuesday - Friday). But our Monday morning
flight to Calcutta was cancelled, and the afternoon flight would cause us to arrive too late for our connecting
flight on to Kathmandu. Indian Airlines had to provide an overnight for us in Calcutta, and we arrived a day
late for our Kathmandu conference. In the meantime, my brother Phil and Pastor Siam (our host from Churachandpur,
State of Manipur) arrived on time and began the conference on our behalf.
Somewhere between India and Nepal I developed a deep cough, sore throat, and laryngitis. Tuesday evening
in our hotel, recognizing that I would need help to fulfill my teaching assignments, our team reorganized a bit.
Thankfully, both Phil and Ron were willing to pick up some extra teaching duties and Pastor Siam also accepted a
few of my hours.
I went to the conference each day, but taught only about an hour each on Wednesday and Thursday,
and finished with about three hours on Friday. For several hours each day, I laid down on a flat, hard wooden
couch in a room behind the auditorium. There I tracked the progress of the teaching in the conference sessions
and slept a bit with the help of my medications.
God's blessing on our ministries
In the four conferences above, we spoke a total of 118 hours between us. To help me, Phil spoke a total of
40 hours, Ron spoke 21 hours during the shorter time he was with us, and Pastor Siam filled in with 8 hours of
teaching. Praise the Lord for about 115 specific decisions - some in church meetings, but at least two-thirds of
them in response to our teaching in the conferences.
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This trip almost didn't happen. The Chinese house pastors who were to be my students this time faced special difficulties getting their documents to leave their country.
In the end they did not receive twelve-month work visas as others received in the past, but only forty-five-day student visas.
Two months of training modules were canceled due to the students' delayed arrival.
Would they arrive in time for my class September 6-10? I didn't want to buy my ticket until we were sure the men would be there for my class.
But when I was assured that I would have the opportunity to teach one way or the other (in the Bible college if the Chinese men did not arrive in time)
- I purchased the last economy seat available.
Because of the limited time available for their training, these Chinese men face a rigorous schedule.
I was privileged to teach what may be their only full week-long module, six hours a day Monday - Friday.
From what I understand, the remaining weeks of their training will be split to allow two teachers to cover two subjects in one week.
The students may be in class eight to ten hours each day (perhaps including Saturday)!
This batch of students is the "O" class. For security reasons, their Chinese names are not used on THE ISLAND.
They are given temporary English names. During my week there, I came to recognize Oscar, Othniel, Omar, Octavius, Owen, Olaf, Oleg, etc.
Having arrived on THE ISLAND only days before, these men were still struggling to remember and pronounce their own names!
One day while eating lunch with a group of the men, I suggested, "Maybe I should have an 'O' name like you do, so I can really be one of you."
After the translation, they sat pondering the idea thoughtfully. One finally nodded his head and responded affirmatively.
Now others were nodding their heads too. I pursued the matter: "You will have to help me choose an 'O' name, okay?"
Their spokesman answered quickly this time, "Okay." Several others recognized that he had affirmed my suggestion with a word that could become my new "O" name.
Laughing, they all pointed to me calling me Dr. "Okay"! I can only hope that they still thought I was "Okay" by the end of the week!
There were thirty students in this "O" class, the largest number ever.
Person-to-person promotion of this program continues to attract more and more students who come eager to benefit from the training.
The "O" group did not do quite as well as the "N" class that I taught last October.
I think the explanation is that this was the first full module class for "O," so they were still struggling to understand my foreign way of thinking,
teaching and testing (even though they heard it all in Chinese through my two translators).
By contrast "N" had already worked through more than a dozen modules with different teachers,
so by the time I arrived it did not seem so strange to them to be taught by a foreigner.
God blessed this trip in an unusual way! First, in the large church where I preached on Sunday, September 5 . . .
Eight people responded to the public invitation led by the pastor at the end of the morning service (three for salvation, I believe, plus five others).
The public invitation at the end of the evening service saw twenty-six more come forward to kneel at the platform steps and in the aisle.
Then in the final hour of my class for the Chinese men, I led them in a brief time of application and decision.
All thirty of the men raised their hands to indicate that they had just made specific decisions about specific issues that we had
addressed in class - about changes they were committing to make in their lives and ministries.
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My team-teacher. A Filipino pastor, James Echon, accompanied me as my team-teacher.
This servant of the Lord is a personal friend, an experienced minister and an excellent communicator.
He did a phenomenal job with his 30 hours of speaking and was greatly appreciated.
Our hosts. This PEP trip was done in cooperation with a fundamental association of churches in the country.
Along with a good number of churches, the association has a four-year Bible college and a smaller school for training missionaries.
They are serious about training and outreach. God's people are continuing God's work openly and enthusiastically,
in spite of certain difficulties. We came to deeply respect these brothers for their character, zeal and effectiveness in ministry.
Wonderful hospitality. We took responsibility for our own accommodations in a local hotel,
but the leaders of the association arranged for our ground transportation and many of our meals.
We enjoyed so much their fellowship and their gracious hospitality.
Worthwhile ministry. Each Sunday Pastor James and I separated to speak in different churches.
In addition we spoke at two week-long conferences, six hours a day Monday - Friday.
One conference was attended by 50 Burmese missionary church planters,
and the other by about 60 third and fourth year students in the Bible college (many of whom are headed for ministry).
We praise the Lord for about 65 specific decisions in response to specific issues addressed in the course of our teaching.
Repeat invitation. I have already accepted an invitation to return in December 2011 for two week-long conferences,
one for their pastors and one again for their missionaries.
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Sallie went along with me on this trip, her first since last September. This trip involved us with two missionary families,
so Sallie's presence was especially valuable. Our hosts were BMM missionaries Steve and Beth Gault and their colleagues Dan and Karis Seely,
based in Yaounde, CAMEROON. Sallie spent most of her time with Beth Gault helping in a variety of ways:
cleaning in the rental house where they were to move right after we left, sewing curtains and throw cushions to make that rental house feel like home,
typing into the computer some lessons that had been translated into French, and helping in the kitchen. And she spent some time with Karis Seely and her children.
As usual, Sallie's practical help, easygoing spirit and listening ear were a real encouragement to the ladies.
To share the teaching load in CAMEROON, Pastor Mark Cizauskas accompanied us.
Mark is an associate pastor at our former home church, West Cannon Baptist Church of Belmont MI, where he is responsible for worship and administration.
Let us summarize our primary teaching responsibilities:
An evening conference in the mission church. 2 hours each evening Mon - Fri. At Odza Baptist Church in Yaounde,
a young church being planted by the missionaries. Attendance grew through the week, starting at about 25 and ending at about 50.
Pastor Mark taught a thorough seminar on "Worship," mixing Biblical instruction and passionate preaching.
A module course in the local seminary. 4 hours each morning Mon - Fri. At Cameroon Biblical Seminary in Yaounde,
a French-speaking seminary offering advanced training to mature men, most of them already in ministry. There were 24 students,
coming from at least 4 countries. Larry taught a module course about "Effective Christian Leadership,"
intended to challenge these Christian leaders to integrity, humility, relationship and effectiveness in their service.
In addition, Pastor Mark spoke in chapel every day that week at the seminary, focusing again on the subject of worship. And we shared the six hours of speaking time in seminars each Saturday, and in Sunday services each Sunday. All in all, he spoke a total of 25 times (or teaching hours) in a period of nine ministry days!
Every time we take a pastor or missionary team-teacher with us, God uses him in special ways. Pastor Mark was no exception.
He was a real blessing to everybody who met him on this trip. We really believe that church leaders and potential church leaders alike
who heard his teaching on worship will never approach worship in the same way again - their understanding of worship will forever be different!
This will help set the course for this young mission church, and will likewise touch the numerous churches (in at least four countries)
that are represented by the twenty-four men in the seminary across town.
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My team-teacher on this trip was Pastor Steve Harduk, senior pastor at Falls Road Baptist Church, Rocky Mount NC.
He was with me for the first week, and I stayed one week longer.
I was originally expecting to speak at a series of conferences, with Pastor Harduk's help during the first week.
We would speak on the same seminar topics in each conference. Well, God had other plans for us . .
Our host church was First Baptist Church of Manila, Quezon City (Metro-Manila).
My first contacts with this church took place in the 1990's, when Bibles International was working on the New Testament translation project in Tagalog.
It was this Filipino church which assisted us in the final stages of the project to bring it to a successful completion.
The Church Leadership Conference at which we spoke ran from Monday - Wednesday of the first week. About 85 people attended.
Pastor Harduk's topic was "A Survey of Matthew," and mine was "Striking the Balance" -
balancing our family and ministry responsibilities, and balancing our understanding of success and failure.
In the background, some long-term tensions in the host church were building to a crisis point.
In His sovereign plan, God chose to bring some of those tensions to a head during that first conference.
God was at work, and the church leadership began to ask for our help.
There was a universal feeling that our being there at this time was providential, that God had brought us there "for such a time as this."
By the end of the conference it was decided that, except for Sundays, Pastor Harduk and I would remain at the church and be available for counseling.
Now we began to understand why God had not allowed us to develop any other firm plans for our time in the PHILIPPINES!
We had not anticipated the counseling ministry that was now expected of us, nor did we feel capable for it.
We had an extraordinary sense of our need for God's wisdom.
Pastor Harduk took the lead on counseling the pastoral staff regarding some organizational issues:
structure, priorities, and accountability issues which had led to some unnecessary confusion and a certain amount of tension.
On the other hand, I took the lead on the personal counseling which needed to be done. One issue was especially sensitive, but by God's grace we saw some real victories.
After Pastor Harduk's departure I followed up both with individuals and with the pastoral staff. Praise the Lord with us for a fresh spirit of harmony and joyfulness among them,
and a relief from the growing tension.
Of course, Pastor Harduk and I each had other opportunities to speak beyond that one three-day conference - in churches on the weekends,
in the Bible Institute for three days of teaching, and in the every-Tuesday Continuing Education classes for area pastors and other church leaders.
In the end, it was a pretty heavy load of teaching and counseling that we shared. But we come away with the satisfaction of knowing that God used us!
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Held meetings 31 Sundays during the year (including US and overseas)
Traveled about 12,000 miles in the US for meetings and other ministry obligations
Held meetings at 17 US churches (9 supporting churches and 8 potential supporting churches)
Spoke 35 times in US churches (including 1 conference) and had lunch meetings 4 times with pastors
Attended 3 conferences to develop contacts for church meetings and overseas ministry trips
Met about 15 times with mission officials, key field missionaries, potential seminar speakers, individual donors, etc., re PEP ministry
Experienced God's provision for about $20,000 in PEP ministry expenses (above our living expenses)
Made numerous contacts by phone and letter to schedule future US meetings
Updated PEP website on a regular basis.
Completed 6 overseas PEP trips, for ministry in 5 countries: JAMAICA, PERU, JAMAICA (again), INDIA, SAIPAN, and LIBERIA
Spoke at 6 conferences, 6 seminars, and 5 module courses on these PEP trips
Spoke overseas 305 times (including 80 hrs of help from 2 team-teachers from the US and 2 others on site)
Experienced God's blessing as we saw about 365 specific decisions in PEP ministries overseas
Spent 107 days overseas (including 24 days travel)
Received repeat invitations or signs of interest about repeat trips from each of the countries where we ministered in 2009
Negotiated a short-term mission trip for 14 skilled people to do construction work at a Bible college in JAMAICA
Experienced God's blessing in providing 2 interested BMM missionaries who can make up to 3 trips total for PEP per year
PEP GOALS FOR 2010 – please pray with us about each of the following goals:
Continue scheduling for more US meetings and for future overseas trips.
Continue planning for the future of the PEP ministry, including the right missionaries to join the PEP team full-time.
Identify additional speakers to team-teach on specific future trips.
Prepare teaching materials needed for each trip, and get certain course materials translated into French and Spanish for future use.
Seek God's provision of additional monthly support (and special gifts in the meantime) to help cover the expenses of these ministry trips.
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BMM veteran Roger McNamara accompanied me on this trip. In earlier years he and his wife worked in Venezuela and St. Vincent, but since then they have worked in the US – first in church planting,
then in training others for church planting. Roger is a writer, a teacher and a counselor, and fits very well in his present assignment as Church Planting Training Specialist for BMM.
I didn't know Roger personally before this trip, but gained a great respect for him as I heard him teach and watched him interact with the Africans.
For the first two weeks of this trip, Roger and I shared the teaching hours at Jake Memorial Baptist Bible College in Monrovia.
I taught a 24-class-hour module course on the book of "Acts," and Roger taught a 16-class-hour module on "Christology" (the life and ministry of Christ).
Then Roger and I were to split for our third week: I was to go interior to speak in the annual FIBA church association conference,
while Roger was to stay in Monrovia to do a church planting conference for the Baptist churches in and near the capital.
When we arrived in LIBERIA, however, I was informed that the conference at which I was to speak had been cancelled through some unusual circumstances.
Since I now had no scheduled ministry for that third week, and was available, I was plugged into the same Monrovia conference in which Roger was speaking.
He was the main speaker, as was originally planned; I taught just one hour per day on "Effective Christian Leadership" in what was now promoted as a Church Planting and Leadership Conference.
Teaching only one hour per day would not fully occupy me during this third week. To use my extra time as productively as possible,
I dedicated myself to a writing project on which I have been working for the past year – and got quite a bit done.
I also did two detailed edits of a book that Nancy Sheppard has written (Roger had also done one edit previously).
Nancy knew that her book would benefit from a careful editing before publishing, and was delighted with God's timing and our willingness to help.
While this was a demanding trip for Roger and me (76 hours of speaking between us during our 24 days in-country),
it was undoubtedly more demanding for the Sheppard family as they tried to facilitate all the activity of these two guests. Thank you, Mark and Nancy!
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For the last few years, through class modules taught by one of our missionaries in Asia, Baptist Mid-Missions has contributed to a training program for Chinese house pastors.
Because of the security issues related to such a program, we must not name the training location publicly or electronically. So we just refer to the location as "the island."
Since we are available to do short-term teaching ministries such as this, I was delighted to have my first opportunity to teach in this program.
My responsibility was to speak several times in the local church, and to teach a full week (six hours a day for five days) on the subject of "Discipleship" – a course focused on the essentials of the Christian life.
How humbling it was to teach such a subject to a group of God's servants who have demonstrated a commitment to God and His work far beyond my own.
My students included twenty-seven Chinese men, from 21-42 years of age.
Besides teaching them, I had the privilege of hosting the students in my rooms each evening in order to get to know them better.
Some of these men are pastors, while some are what we would call assistant pastors. Their house churches usually number less than 100 in attendance;
others number more than 500. However, the larger ones will probably never have the opportunity to meet together as church congregations.
For security reasons, they must meet in small groups in the homes of various believers. So the pastor rotates between the small groups in his congregation,
to preach, teach, disciple, exhort, and encourage. In the larger churches, some of these pastors must rotate among more than 15 small groups.
In order to give more attention to each of their small groups, these pastors enlist the most faithful of the young men in the church as "teachers" (like assistant pastors).
Their churches are not officially "organized," and often the leader is called simply the preacher or teacher rather than the "pastor."
There is little formal training of any kind. What training they receive is straightforward Bible teaching, without other textbooks or notes of any kind,
and focuses on holy living. These men are humble and godly. They are passionate about God's work. They read through their Bibles multiple times every year.
They appreciate deeply the opportunity God has given them to receive some training with solid content, and are hungry to learn all they can while they can.
I ate most of my meals with the Chinese students during the week, becoming somewhat "proficient" with chopsticks over time.
I enjoyed all the Chinese food – except for the meat served with my meal the last evening I was there.
I wondered what this meat was . . . thin strips of what looked like cartilage covered with nothing but skin. When I asked, I found out what we were eating was pig's ear!
All the teaching was done in English through a Chinese translator. Quizzes had to be written and translated from day to day and, because of the language barrier,
the only way for me to grade the quizzes was to give the answers through my translator and have the students grade each other's papers!
At the end of the week, I had to calculate final grades and leave copies of everything for the school office.
The Chinese men were so appreciative of the teaching they received. Most indicated that they had made specific decisions during the week in regard to the issues discussed in class.
One man said to me (through a translated note) that he was an orphan, that I had taught him this week as a "loving father," and concluded by writing that he loves me.
In fact, the week was a week of bonding with all these dedicated servants of God. I trust I was as much an encouragement to them spiritually as they were to me.
Please pray with us about the potential for our being involved annually in this strategic ministry.
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Purpose. While Sallie remained in Michigan to get ready for our November move, I traveled to INDIA to speak in three four-day church association conferences in the northeast, one right after the other. These are the same three conferences at which I spoke in 2007 and 2008. This was the third year in a row, and I am scheduled to go back again in 2010. They will get tired of me sooner or later!
Subject. My conference hosts had agreed last year on the topic I would teach this year and next (in two parts): "Biblical Stewardship." I am so thankful they allow me to repeat the same topic for each of the three conferences!
Team-teachers. Because of the grueling speaking schedule, I arranged with several of God's servants to help me by sharing the teaching load.
Pastor Ryan Brown, from Calvary Baptist Church in Portsmouth OH (one of our supporting churches), accompanied me to team-teach with me for the first two conferences.
But he could only be away from his church for two Sundays and the full week in between. To take advantage of Pastor's presence, we had to find a way to fit two four-day conferences into one seven-day week!
The two conferences were arranged to overlap by one day, so we could teach together except for the one day when Pastor was hustled off to begin the second conference while I finished the first one.
I know I speak for everyone at those conferences when I say, "Thank you, Pastor Brown, for your teaching." Including some teaching on the subject of the local church that he wanted to offer, he spoke 30 hours during those eight days!
My first team-teacher now returned to the US, while I moved on to the third conference in a neighboring state.
Our missionary co-workers, Dr. and Mrs. Sana Singh, live at the site of this third conference, and Dr. Singh had agreed to team-teach with me on this occasion. He taught eight hours to help me but,
as it turned out, an ongoing Bible translation consultation made him unavailable for most of the afternoon each day. Mr. Robert Kerr, a respected teacher of Bible and theology from the area,
graciously agreed to step in and teach a couple of hours for us. Thank you, men, for your willing and capable teaching that week!
Decisions. Praise the Lord, this INDIA trip was especially productive for we witnessed about 165 decisions of various kinds. A number of these decisions were made in church services in which we preached. At least two of them were professions of faith in Christ. And in the three conferences there were numerous specific decisions made by church leaders and faithful Christians, in regard to specific issues discussed in the teaching. We know that numbers do not tell the whole story, but they do tell you something of the way God is blessing this ministry. Praise the Lord with us!
ONE STORY FROM INDIA FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO READ IT
"Cancelled!" Our first two 2009 conferences in INDIA were held in the state of Manipur, then I was to fly to the state of Assam, where the third conference was to be held. I was originally scheduled to leave Manipur on Monday, but Indian airlines cancelled that direct Monday flight and automatically booked me for the same flight on the next day.
Well, my special permit for Manipur wouldn't allow me to wait until Tuesday to fly out – I HAD to leave Monday! Besides, the third conference would begin in Assam Tuesday afternoon. In the end, I had to buy another ticket which would get me out of Manipur on Monday, taking me first to another city then on to my destination.
Well, that's not the end of the story. I arrived at the first stop and went to check in for the next flight, only to be told that THIS flight to my destination had been cancelled, due to mechanical problems this time. No, there was no substitute airplane available. No, there was no alternative airline or routing.
"We can put you on the same flight tomorrow, Tuesday, if you want."
"Well, I guess I don't have a choice. Put me on that flight."
"We really can't make any promises to you. That flight is already overbooked."
"Then what do you suggest I do? They will be waiting for me at the conference, because I am the speaker!"
"Well, come very early for that flight tomorrow, and just stay close. We will try to 'do the needful.' "
To me, "doing the needful" didn't sound like a guarantee that I would get a seat on that flight. I tried to figure out the Indian phone system and called my conference hosts in Assam to ask what I should do.
We concluded that, unfortunately, there was only one sure way to get me to my destination in time for the conference . . . I was going to take a twelve-hour ride on the overnight bus.
Friends of my conference hosts came to pick me up from the airport, provided lunch for me, and delivered me to the bus station. With the help of my new friends, I bought a ticket, checked my stock of food and water, stowed my big suitcase safely underneath the bus, and took my seat in the bus to await our departure.
It did not take long to discover that this "luxury bus" was a little short on luxury. Imagine an American highway bus like a Greyhound, but one that has outlived its usefulness and is soon to be discarded. The interior was shabby, with duct tape holding some things in place.
Air conditioning was . . . well, friend, push the window open. The individual seats were all right, although some (including mine) didn't recline.
Before we even left the bus terminal, I brushed against someone's bag in the overhead bin while getting into my seat, and was showered with what I later learned were "bedbugs" – tiny insects that bite and cause an itching skin irritation. I would live with that all night long, making it all the harder to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time.
My bus took off promptly at 5:45 pm, and we took our place in a steady stream of trucks and buses that would travel through the night to our destination. It was hot in the bus, and my handkerchief was soon soaked with the perspiration mopped from my face. The dust and diesel fumes that poured in through the open windows made me feel filthy, and turned my handkerchief black as I wiped my face.
There were occasional "blockages" as a string of vehicles would try to pass the slower trucks and buses on this two-lane road, hoping to slip back into our lane further on when it became necessary – only to find themselves blocking a string of oncoming traffic who should be entitled to their own lane. Sometimes we were stalled for minutes, sometimes for a half hour. With constant honking and occasional shouting everybody jockeyed for position, until finally the offending cars were able to inch back into their own lane and the bottleneck was resolved.
The bus stopped several times in towns along the road, so people could use the bathrooms and get something to eat. I was afraid to get off because I didn't want to leave my carry-on bags on the bus, and I couldn't easily carry it all off with me! So I only let myself get off once during the long trip.
A puncture an hour from our destination further delayed our arrival in the morning. The anticipated twelve hours for this bus ride became sixteen. The guest speaker for the conference had still not arrived!
Twenty minutes from the bus station, two young men waved the bus down and climbed on board. Coming down the aisle, they spotted me and asked, "Are you Dr. Fogle?" They were Bible college students from Silchar, sent to try to find me! Believe me, I was as happy to see them as they were to see me!
By the time I was finally delivered by taxi to my hosts' home in the little town of Pailapool, it was Tuesday noon. It had been exactly nineteen hours since I entered the bus station to start this wonderful trip. Now I had two hours to move into my room, shower, dress, eat a quick lunch, and get over to the church to begin my teaching.
The local people . . . their anticipation . . . their fellowship . . . their eagerness to learn . . . the privilege of teaching them and touching their lives with the Word of God.
THAT'S WHY I CAME TO INDIA. That long miserable bus ride was not enough to discourage me. I will confess that I wouldn't really want to do it again, but I would if I had to. The ministry for which I came to INDIA is more important than that little bit of suffering I had to endure.
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The purpose for this trip to JAMAICA was to teach a two-week class module on the book of "Acts" at Fairview Baptist Bible College, and to speak in all the chapel hours during those two weeks (eight sessions). In addition, Larry spoke at five churches and a regional deacons' seminar.
Let us tell you about the trip by sharing a couple of personal emails sent out by Sallie while we were in JAMAICA...
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 8:21 PM
Subject: Jamaica News 1
We arrived here in Jamaica Saturday without any luggage problems to report and a special blessing along the way. From Memphis, because of a full flight, we were bumped up to first class for that three and a half hour flight.
I had checked on the internet and knew that it was to be hot and humid but I had not expected it to feel like Chad, Africa! A Jamaican pastor met us at the airport and took us to the home of a doctor for our first several days. There are times when you really thank the Lord for electricity and fans and Saturday and Sunday were two of those days.
Sunday we were privileged to be in Black River Baptist Church with Pastor Audley Black and his wife and dear people. Larry preached for the morning service, we celebrated the Lord's Supper with them and in the afternoon Larry spoke in a seminar for deacons from area churches. Pastor Black was thrilled to have about 30 men from nine different churches at that seminar.
Monday was a day of preparation for this week. Classes at Fairview Baptist Bible College run Tuesday through Friday and Larry is teaching a two-week class on the book of "Acts" as well as speaking in chapel each day. For convenience and for better interaction with the students, we have transferred to the campus, up in the mountainous interior of the island. We are staying in the home of BMM missionaries Cletis and Tammy Titus, and will take our noon meal with the students each day. Thursday evening is a fellowship time with the students and we are looking forward to that also.
Praise the Lord for rain yesterday which cooled things down and made for good sleeping last night. Pray that the students will absorb the material that is being presented to them in such a short amount of time.
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 4:20 PM
Subject: Jamaica News 2
Our second week in Jamaica is coming to a close already. We leave here Monday the 21st to return to Grand Rapids to get Larry ready for the next trip.
Classes at the Bible College have gone well and we have enjoyed getting to know the students. The student body is small this year but the Lord has brought quality students to be trained for the ministry. We have appreciated being a part of that process. We have also been able to minister to several churches on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Wednesday the 16th brought us a new experience as we attempted to make our way back to campus, after speaking at a large church in Montego Bay. Tammy Titus, sitting in the back of the vehicle, noticed a problem with the feel of one of the tires. So, after dark, several miles out of Montego Bay, we stopped to check it out. We happened to pull off beside a small, closed post office. Sure enough, a tire was flat. We were so thankful to have Shelden with us. Shelden Black is a freshman student, a trained auto mechanic and especially familiar with this vehicle as it is the same model his father owns.
As Shelden pulled out the spare tire, a double-cab pickup screeched to a halt beside our car, and a couple of husky men dressed in black leaped out waving machine guns at us! Almost immediately we realized that they were police, who probably thought this cluster of people gathered around the car were engaged in a robbery. Our hands came up as Cletis Titus shouted, "We're fixing a flat tire!" After making sure that we were okay, they jumped back in their truck and rushed off to another crisis ahead. The whole incident probably didn't take more than fifteen seconds, but it was enough to leave a strong impression!
Unfortunately the spare was also flat. Fortunately, Shelden knew where to go for air for the tires, so we limped back to the edge of town to that gas station. However, the air pump was minus its nozzle and totally useless, and we could not safely go any further on our flat tire. God provided help through a member of the church we had been in that evening. Dr. Brown responded to our phone call, collected our two tires and about 9:30 pm he and Shelden took off to a roadside repair stand. In the hour and a half that they were gone, at least thirty other vehicles stopped by the air pump hoping to find it working.
One man asked about our situation. When we explained that a couple of men had taken our two tires to get them fixed, he asked, "Do you know these men who took your tires?" "Oh, yes," we answered, "they are friends." We had to chuckle when they insisted, "Are you sure they are friends?" About 11 pm the two men were back, mission accomplished, and we were soon on our way. We were so thankful that the problem was discovered close to town and not further along the dark, twisting, mountain road back to Fairview.
Thursday evening on campus is President's evening with the students, usually involving games or a video and always snacks. Last night we all helped celebrate Cletis Titus' 50th birthday. Crazy Uno, stories from Africa and, of course, birthday cake made for a fun evening. So, you see, it is not all just classes, conferences and ministry. There is also some fun along the way.
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The primary purpose of our trip was to teach "Hebrews" as a module course in the local Bible school. Most of the students for this class were seniors, but there were also four graduates taking the course for master's level credit. It was a real privilege to contribute to the training of future church leaders for PERU. During the two weeks of class I was pleased to help by speaking each day in chapel.
Along with Sunday and mid-week services, opportunities to speak in area churches included a weekend conference and an anniversary service. It is clear that God is at work in Peru, raising up faithful servants and thriving churches. It was exciting to be a small part of that.
Even though missionaries had to translate for me for all my speaking (our Spanish is very minimal), I was able to save them a LOT of preparation time. This is one of the ways we can encourage the missionaries through the PEP ministry: carrying temporarily some of the burden they would otherwise have to carry.
On this trip, Sallie helped by being "mom" to two short-term girls, shopping in the open market, cooking for the meals we had to provide for ourselves, typing into the computer all the quizzes for the Hebrews course, sewing curtains for all the windows in the guest apartment, and keeping up with our email.
Two college-age young ladies accompanied us – Denise and Carolyn Kraker from L'Anse MI. Their parents had talked to us in 2007 about the possibility of taking the two with us sometime on one of our overseas trips. This PERU trip seemed to be a good fit, so we began to negotiate trip details with all involved. The short-term missions trip turned out to be a positive experience for everyone, as the girls were used by God to serve the local BMM missionaries in a variety of ways.
Before leaving PERU, we took a couple days of vacation to visit the ancient Inca ruins on top of the mountain at Machu Picchu. One of the seven wonders of the world, this tourist highlight combines beautiful scenery and fascinating history.
Overall, we found PERU to be a beautiful country and its people to be a beautiful people – we would be delighted to have the opportunity to serve there again!
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My primary reason for going to JAMAICA was to speak at the annual "Pastors' & Wives' Retreat" for the Association of Independent Baptist Churches (AIBC). The pastors and wives make this a special occasion every year – to get away to a real nice place, to enjoy a couple of days of vacation, and to be spiritually refreshed.
There were 40 people at the retreat (20 couples). Some were older, some younger. Most were Jamaican, with one retired American missionary couple present as well.
In the absence of communication about a theme for the retreat, I thought I was on my own to decide, so I had begun to prepare my messages. 13 days before the retreat, I received an email in which the association leaders informed me of the selected theme and individual topics for each session! Of course, they were apologetic about informing me so late. Six days later, after some negotiations, we agreed on the program and I scrambled to be ready for my sessions.
The selected theme for the retreat was "Striking the Balance." I had five sessions on that theme:
– Marriage & Ministry: When We Struggle with Balance
– The Cradle & the Pulpit: When the Quiver Begins to Fill
– Marriage & Ministry: When We Want to Go the Distance
– Success & Failure: When We Struggle with Discouragement
– Success & Failure: When God Seeks to Encourage Us
I was also supposed to participate in another split session. Two other guests were to join me in a panel discussion for the men, on the subject of "Avoiding the Pitfalls of the Ministry," while another guest addressed a different subject with the ladies. Unfortunately, not one of the other three guests showed up! Fortunately, I had prepared for my subject so that I would be able to contribute to the panel discussion. Well, I "contributed" all right – by myself, to the entire group!
Feedback from the retreat's attendees demonstrated to me that God had truly blessed. It was especially satisfying to hear from them how practical and challenging the teaching had been. Please pray for long-term results from this retreat, benefiting both their families and their ministries.
I enjoyed the warm fellowship of these dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who took me into the "family" and made me feel so welcome among them.
Saturday night a room was provided for me in an historic and respectable guest house in Black River. This was the first house in Jamaica to receive electricity.
I was to speak at a small area church, Spice Grove Baptist Church, on Sunday morning. But I had an unusual experience before church. Under some special circumstances, the pastor had agreed to perform a home wedding that morning during the church's Sunday School hour. A Canadian couple had lived together for years; after having five children together, they finally decided to get married. With friends in Jamaica, they decided to be married on the beach behind their friends' home. The necessary permits were acquired, and this nearby Jamaican pastor was approached about performing the ceremony to make their wedding legal. The pastor's contact with the couple gave him the opportunity to give a Gospel witness, and he certainly wanted to encourage the couple's wish to legalize their marriage! Anyway, since we would have to go directly from the wedding to the morning service at the church, the pastor arranged for me to accompany him to this Jamaican beach wedding. The wedding was unusual in more than one way. It was very impromptu and unorganized. It was very casual,
except for the very formal out-of-a-book ceremony. And it attracted an unexpected collection of foreigners and local Jamaicans.
The church's morning service finally started at about 11:45 am, and continued until 2:00 pm – including communion. Of course, we might have been finished earlier if the guest preacher hadn't preached for nearly an hour!
After church, my hosts drove me across the island to Kingston, for I was to fly out of Kingston the next morning. We arrived at the large Havenhill Baptist Church after their evening service had begun, and I slipped quietly inside (I wasn't to preach that evening). Guess what?...a second communion service in one day!
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Held meetings 33 Sundays during the year (including US and overseas)
Traveled almost 12,000 miles in the US for meetings and other ministry obligations
Held meetings at 16 US churches (9 supporting churches and 7 potential supporting churches)
Spoke 47 times in US churches (including 3 conferences) and met 3 times with missions committees
Attended 5 conferences to develop contacts for church meetings and overseas ministry trips
Met about 20 times with mission officials, key field missionaries, potential seminar speakers, individual donors, etc., regarding PEP ministry
Raised $200/month more of $2,800 support needed to cover anticipated PEP expenses (now at $1,100/month, about 40%)
Experienced God's provision for about $30,000 in PEP ministry expenses
Made numerous contacts by phone and letter to schedule future US meetings
Developed additional pages for the PEP website
Completed 5 overseas PEP trips, for ministry in 8 countries: PERU, JAMAICA, CHAD, JAMAICA (again), LIBERIA, IVORY COAST, INDIA, and CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Spoke at 15 conferences, 6 seminars, and 1 module course on these PEP trips
Spoke overseas 400 times (including help 73 hrs from 2 team-teachers and several others on site)
Experienced God's blessing as we saw about 460 specific decisions in PEP ministries overseas
Spent 148 days overseas (including 17 days travel)
Received repeat invitations from each of the countries where we have ministered so far
GOALS FOR 2009
Continue scheduling for more US meetings and for future overseas trips.
Continue planning for the future of the PEP ministry, including the right missionaries to join the PEP team full-time.
Identify additional speakers to team-teach on specific future trips.
Prepare teaching materials needed for each trip, and get certain course materials translated into French and Spanish for future use.
Seek God's provision of additional monthly support (and special gifts in the meantime) to help cover the expenses of these ministry trips.
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This trip took us back to where we served as resident missionaries for fifteen years, but it had been eighteen years since we were there.
In our eighteen years away from CAR, much has changed. The country has been devastated by unceasing civil war, uncontrolled cruelty of rival military factions, and the constant threat of roadside attacks by bandits. After a series of evacuations, God led most of our missionary families to ministries elsewhere. Except in the capital, all mission stations formerly occupied by missionaries have been turned over to regional Bible schools and other locally-run ministries. Many of today's pastors are people we don't even recognize from the past.
A skeleton crew of BMM missionaries continues to encourage a network of hundreds of churches and church-plants, and facilitate essential field ministries. Charlie and Gai Jewell have hung in there despite great difficulties, and are widely-respected for their itinerant work across the country. Polly Strong is most noted for her literature and teaching ministries in the capital city, ministries that have been continued in recent years through short-term trips. Thankfully, two other couples are planning to join them within the next few years.
The CAR trip was built around three major commitments:
Oct 27 – 31 Pastors' Conference, Community of Independent Baptist Churches (CEBI) – Bambari
Nov 3 – 7 Pastors' Conference, Community of Independent Baptist Churches (CEBI) – Kaga Bandoro
Nov 10 – 13 Advanced study course (FTD) – Bangui
Sallie remained in Bangui for the entire three weeks, in order to help Gai Jewell (and others) with various projects. Sallie's main project was typing translated children's Bible lessons into the computer, to help prepare them for eventual printing. She also helped the missionaries with sewing projects and certain household chores which demand so much time overseas.
Charlie Jewell accompanied me into the interior for the two conferences at Bambari and Kaga Bandoro. While I taught the pastors in each location, Charlie taught deacons and other church leaders. It was obvious from the beginning that his straightforward teaching was effective and greatly appreciated.
Our travel into the interior took us over some paved road, some recently-graded dirt road, and some rough dirt road not yet touched by the road-graders. There were two places along the road that were a bit traumatic for Charlie. A few years back, his truck was forced to a stop by armed bandits, and he and his passengers were beaten. When we arrived at that point along the rough dirt road, Charlie gripped the steering wheel more tightly and murmured, "My heart still beats hard every time I pass this spot." At another point, along the paved road, we rounded a curve to find a herd of cattle crossing the road. Charlie tensed as he slowed down: "The bandits like to attack at this cattle crossing; the vehicles are easy targets when they stop to allow the cattle to cross."
During each of the two conferences interior, we stayed in houses formerly occupied by missionaries – but now with no electricity, no running water, and very little furniture. For the entire two weeks, our light at night was provided by a kerosene lantern and flashlights. (There was no city electricity in either place – even in Bambari, the second largest city in the country!) We used outdoor pit latrines, and took bucket baths with water heated over an open fire and carried to the bath area.
And the beds. . . In Bambari, each of our single beds had a metal frame, a metal chain-link support without side rails, and a foam mattress – the mattresses were adequate, but the chain-link supports sagged quite badly. In Kaga Bandoro, our beds featured two-inch mattresses supported by wood slats that were fitted lengthwise into the frame. The problem was not the thin mattress but the unevenness of the wood slats underneath – for some reason, the slat down the middle of my single bed was significantly thicker than the other slats, forcing me to try to find a comfortable position on one edge or another.
I am not complaining. The reason for my trip was far more important than my accommodations. We just want you to know the kinds of circumstances we sometimes face as we travel overseas.
By the way, the rebel faction in CAR controls the northern portion of the country just north of Kaga Bandoro. The first rebel barrier is located only three miles from where we were staying and holding our conference, and along a different road toward the CHAD border their first barrier is about five miles out. The rebels have a tenuous understanding with the local authorities. However, leaving Kaga Bondoro after the conference to head back to Bangui, we passed a military truck full of soldiers; we later heard these soldiers were attacked and killed that same day by the rebels north of Kaga Bandoro.
Charlie and I spent the two weeks interior with the church association leaders. We slept in the same house, and ate all our meals together. I came to greatly appreciate these African brothers – their spiritual maturity, their strong stand, their sense of responsibility, and their vision for the future. The fellowship we enjoyed was genuine and warm.
During these two weeks, we ate typical African meals: manioc mush, white corn mush, rice; several kinds of leaf greens; beef, pork, goat, chicken, guinea fowl, fresh fish, dried fish, a couple kinds of small antelope, field rat (a large kind, about two feet long, resembling a muskrat), or monkey (in case you want proof, I have pictures of its head sitting upright on the tin plate of the pastor seated next to me). We sometimes had a banana or orange for dessert. Dinner, anyone?
Back in the capital city, Bangui, for the last week, the accommodations were much more comfortable. However, the city electricity was on and off – the cutoffs were always at unexpected times and sometimes lasting as long as ten hours. Because of the heat it was always disappointing to lose the fan! A small portable generator was run during the longer cutoffs in order to run the refrigerator in the Jewells' house.
In all three locations, I taught my "Discipleship" course – a foundational course that addresses a number of Christian life issues, allowing me to challenge Christian leaders regarding their relationship to Christ and their motivation for ministry.
In the two conferences held in the interior, we ended up with a total of about 250 African pastors in my sessions, and about the same number of deacons and other church leaders in Charlie's sessions. Everybody was brought together for the closing hours of each conference, for a time of application, decision-making, and testimony about God's working in their hearts.
In these two conferences, about 250 people indicated that they made decisions of one kind or another. A deacon and a choir director trusted Christ as their Savior, recognizing that they were not truly saved before. A number of people testified that they had become discouraged and so stopped fulfilling their ministry commitments; they were now motivated to start over again. Several deacons and other church leaders in Charlie's classes confessed that they had been serving without really understanding what they were supposed to do – bluffing their way through their duties would now give way to doing what was right. Two pastors forgave each other and restored their relationship. Numerous pastors made decisions about daily devotions, about giving to God through tithe and offerings, about leadership style, about relationships with people in their churches, about bringing Christ back to the center of their lives and ministries, etc. Praise the Lord!
During our last four days in CAR, I taught the same course (in fewer teaching hours) to a group of fourteen pastors and other church leaders who are among the most advanced academically. Because six of these fourteen had been in one of my pastors' conferences in the interior, I felt the need to engage them with the material at another level. So I assigned each of them several (5-15 minute) segments of the material to teach to their classmates, while I supervised their teaching.
Including preaching in churches and at a Bible school graduation, I had the opportunity to teach/preach a total of 78 hours during the 22 days we spent in CAR. (The total number of speaking hours, therefore, given us during the six-week trip to INDIA and CAR together was 160! The team-teaching done by Dr. Ken Rathbun in INDIA helped me conserve some of my energy for CAR.)
I have been tentatively invited to return to speak at the 2010 pastors' conference in CAR. (I'm already scheduled for another country at the time of their 2009 conference.)
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This year':s trip mirrored last year's, involving me in three annual church association conferences:
Oct 6 – 9 Fellowship of Baptist Churches (Assam)
Oct 11 – 15 New Testament Baptist Church Association (Manipur)
Oct 16 – 19 Fellowship of Baptist Churches (Manipur)
After my heavy speaking schedule in INDIA last year, I arranged that this year I would bring someone along with me to share the teaching load. Dr. Ken Rathbun, BMM missionary assigned to Jamaica, joined me. I appreciated his companionship, his cooperative spirit, and his genuine love for the local people. Ken took responsibility for almost half of our speaking hours. But that wasn':t enough for him – because of his own contacts in other parts of INDIA, he arranged to speak some more before and after our PEP obligations!
Including preaching six times in churches and one time in a Bible college chapel, we had the opportunity to teach/preach a total of 82 hours during the 21-day PEP trip. (In fact, the 82 hours of speaking all took place within a time period of 15 days!)
In the first conference, our notes and our teaching were translated into the Bengali language; in the second we were translated into Simte, and in the third into Manipuri.
In last year's conferences, I completed only part one of a course on "Discipleship." This year's conferences allowed us to complete part two.
I have been invited to return again for their next two annual conferences (in Oct 2009 and Oct 2010), in order to teach "Biblical Stewardship" in two parts.
During our conferences, we often allow opportunity for questions; in response we try to state our understanding or our counsel regarding the subject. The questions/problems presented during our INDIA trip included the following:
– Mass prayer (everybody praying out loud at same time) in some churches
– "Sign gifts" as practiced by certain churches today, even in INDIA
– How a pastor should react to inadequate support from his church
– What a church should do about a pastor in whom they have lost all confidence
– The expectations for church membership when a member's new spouse comes from a very different church
– Whether to accept flowers or money left on church "altar" during week (following local Hindu practice at shrines)
– How young Christian man sensing God's leading to ministry should deal with opposition from Muslim family
– Garden produce is accepted by church as "firstfruits" offering to God – how about first puppy from dog's litter?
It was an untaught pastor who, outside of conference sessions, asked me in front of others, "Would you please interpret for me a dream I had a few nights ago – what was God trying to tell me?" Tell me, do I look like Daniel? Well, his dream involved a jungle encounter with two Indian bandits, whom he boldly disarmed "in the name of Jesus," then a switch of scene to an Indian woman who respectfully offered him an oversized squash. My first tongue-in-cheek comment about the meaning of his dream was that he must have eaten some bad food the day before which resulted in the nightmare, and by this time hungered for a good squash. But, seriously, I now had the opportunity to teach those listening to this conversation about the finality of God's authoritative revelation in the Bible – therefore, we do not look for further revelation from God in dreams and visions.
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Let me quote from an email I sent home shortly after arriving in IVORY COAST: "Last night, for the first time in a week, I had electricity and could plug my computer in and recharge the battery. Likewise, for the first time in a week, I could read at night with the help of electric lights instead of by candlelight or even by flashlight. And for the first time in a week, I could look in a mirror and see how poorly I had managed to trim my beard with my hand razor. In the missionaries' home last night, I enjoyed a glass of water with ICE in it. And today, with the help of the missionaries' washing machine and dryer, I'm getting my laundry done – what a pleasure not to have to wash out my clothes day by day in a bucket by hand. Oh, how I am reminded to appreciate the simple luxuries of life!"
My hosts in IVORY COAST were veteran BMM missionaries Steve and Gayle King. In addition to preaching five times on Sundays, the primary ministries they scheduled for me were two five-day conferences for pastors and church leaders. The pastors, deacons, leaders of church plants, and Bible Institute students were joined by wives and some children, so each of these conferences ended up like a family camp.
For our first conference, Steve King drove me five hours into the interior to the BMM mission property at Blolequin. The Bible Institute that now occupies that property hosted the conference. Steve and I, along with several others, camped out in the old mission house and ate all our meals with our Ivorian brothers. For the second conference we were back in San Pedro on the coast. I stayed with the Kings in their home, and the Bible Institute in San Pedro hosted the conference activities.
I gained a deep respect for the Kings during my two weeks with them. Steve and Gayle genuinely love the Ivorian people among whom they work. That love is demonstrated in the way they tirelessly give of themselves. They have a wonderful relationship with the Ivorians, and a solid ministry of leadership training that bodes well for the future.
I was entrusted with 28 hours in each of the two conferences, to teach a "Discipleship" course designed for mature believers and church leaders – challenging them to examine their relationship with Christ and their motivation and priorities for ministry.
Early Wednesday morning of that last week, I woke up with pain in my right side – an atrocious pain that continued three hours but stopped before the Kings got me to a local Lebanese clinic. The conclusion is that the pain came from a gall bladder attack, possibly in reaction to too much food cooked with cholesterol-laden palm oil. (For the previous two weeks I had eaten all my meals with Africans in two countries where palm oil is the cooking oil of choice.) Using my notes, a missionary friend taught my first two hours of class that morning. The Kings suggested that I rest for the rest of the day, but since I was now feeling fine I was able to teach the rest of my hours that day. (Since returning to the US, I have had a complete physical and passed with flying colors. The doctor agrees that I experienced a gall bladder attack. There has been no recurrence of the pain.)
During that last conference in San Pedro, I chose to accept one hour of teaching help each day (in addition to the two hours of unexpected help after my gall bladder attack). It was a privilege to have an Ivorian man share the teaching with me! Pastor Emmanuel is an assistant pastor in one of our BMM-affiliated churches in San Pedro. Recognizing his giftedness and commitment to teaching, Steve King has chosen to make Pastor Emmanuel an integral part of the Bible Institute ministry. Steve has mentored this godly man to maximize his abilities in teaching and administration. I was delighted to cooperate with Steve by putting this man in front of other Ivorian church leaders in this conference, demonstrating our respect for him as a colleague and our confidence in him as a teacher. In spite of lacking his normal strength (he was just recovering from malaria), Pastor Emmanuel accepted the challenge to teach one hour a day to relieve me. I could not have been more pleased with his commitment, his comprehension of the material, and the power of his teaching!
My last Sunday in IVORY COAST, on my way back to Abidjan for my flight back to the US, I had the privilege of preaching at a small church plant in the town of Divo. This mission church is being planted by a BMM-affiliated Ivorian pastor and his family, and Steve and Gayle King visit them every six weeks or so to encourage them. They average about 25 people in their Sunday morning services – but there were about 40 there that Sunday, in spite of having to meet early so we could get to the airport in time that afternoon!
Not counting the seven hours that others taught for me during that last week, I spoke a total of 54 hours during my 16 days in IVORY COAST – all in French! That was a real challenge for me, as French is my third language. I'm fluent enough to communicate, I guess, but my French doesn't flow real well. People were patient and gracious, and God helped me. Of course, this was good practice for me, as I may have to use French for more teaching in the future. I'm certainly more confident in French now than I was before this IVORY COAST trip!
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Another baggage story... I arrived in LIBERIA on Friday, August 8, without either of my pieces of luggage – one with all my clothes and personal stuff, and the other with all the printed notes for distribution in the conference at which I was to speak. In my carry-on, I had my computer, my own teaching notes, and one set of spare clothes which weren't appropriate for preaching on Sunday. Along with a few other necessities, I bought one complete set of used clothes in an open market (about $8 total for the outfit). I could alternate that outfit with what I had worn on the plane – as long as I hand-washed some clothes each morning in a bucket and we had enough sun to dry them that day. By the time my luggage arrived on the next flight, I had moved on, travelling interior to begin my teaching at the scheduled five-day conference. My luggage finally caught up with me four days after I arrived in the country.
Our BMM missionaries to LIBERIA are presently on furlough, so I was in the care of our African brothers the entire time. I stayed two days with a pastor in Monrovia, using a guest room in his house, on the property of the church where I spoke twice that first Sunday. After dinner on Sunday, I squeezed into a taxi with the pastor and four of his church members, with all our luggage, to travel three and a half hours across country for the annual Training Conference of their church association. Here the accommodations were simpler, but more than adequate, as I shared an old apartment with few amenities with seven African pastors and church leaders. (This was the same apartment provided for me when I was with them in December 2007, but this time they had fixed up one room special for me.) Of course, I ate with the pastors, eating what they ate – rice and dried fish for many of our meals. They did all they could to make me comfortable and treat me special as the visiting speaker. The warmth of our fellowship was remarkable, and once again, I was impressed with the hunger of these dear African brothers to learn more and improve the effectiveness of their leadership in the churches.* Regional seminar (for churches in Zone 1), Friday evening and Saturday (8 hours). Held at Havenhill Bapt Ch, Kingston. About 45 people. Subject: “Biblical Stewardship,” Part 2.
In that Training Conference, I spoke 20 hours (five hours daily from Monday – Thursday). Last December, I taught part one of a course on effective leadership. At that time we focused on the leader himself – especially his character, relationships, and leadership style. This time I taught part two of that leadership course, focusing this time on what a person does to be an effective leader.
On Friday of that week, I was to leave LIBERIA via an African airline. On Thursday I double-checked the printed itinerary sent us by our travel agent. Based on my scheduled flight time, the pastors asked me to preach in the first service on Friday before leaving for the airport. But when I woke early on Friday morning to begin packing, a nagging concern made me check my ticket itself to verify my flight time. Panic!!! I had forgotten that, by the time my ticket was purchased, the airline had changed their schedule – my flight would leave five hours earlier in the day! If we leave RIGHT NOW, we might get to the airport as the plane is leaving! Throw things in the suitcase...send someone out to the road to find an available taxi...apologize to the pastors for my sudden departure...hasty goodbyes. By now we had only one and a half hours left to make the two and a half hour drive to the airport! The offer of a hefty bonus for the taxi driver had him highly motivated – and we might have made it in time except for a tire blowout (and the driver's failure to repair his spare since the last tire problem!)
By the time we arrived at the airport 30 minutes after flight time, I had resigned myself to the inevitable. But...WHAT'S THIS?...the plane is late? I moved through check-in and security, and waited with the other passengers for the call to board. I was never so happy to find that one of my flights was delayed!
Some find it interesting to know how many hours I end up speaking on each trip: a total of 22 hours during my 7 days in LIBERIA.
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Sallie accompanied me to JAMAICA. From the beginning, it has been planned that Sallie would travel with me at least half the time for these PEP ministry trips (funding permitting), so we won't have to be separated five months of each year. Since trips to the islands are much less costly than any of our other trips, it seems wise to take advantage of trips like this which allow us to be together while saving money.
We were only home nine days after our CHAD trip, before we left for FL and JAMAICA.
We drove from MI to FL, then flew Tampa – Miami – Kingston. Our reason for driving to FL this time was because of plans in FL upon our return from JAMAICA. We will speak in three churches, and take a few days of vacation.
I spoke 33 hours during our nineteen days in JAMAICA, including all teaching hours and preaching opportunities. In addition to speaking a number of times in four churches, here are the primary commitments that took us to JAMAICA:
* Regional seminar (for churches in Zone 1), Friday evening and Saturday (8 hours). Held at Havenhill Bapt Ch, Kingston. About 45 people. Subject: “Biblical Stewardship,” Part 2.
* Bible Conference, Tuesday – Friday (8 hours). Held at Fairview Bapt Bible College, Westmoreland. About 35 people. Subject: “Dealing with Doubtful Disputations.”
* Regional seminar (for churches in Zone 3), Friday evening and Saturday (8 hours). Held at Fairview Bapt Bible College, Westmoreland. About 35 people. Subject: “Biblical Stewardship,” Part 2.
* Regional seminar (for churches in Zone 2), Saturday (6 hours). Held at Calvary Bapt Ch, Mandeville. Subject: “Biblical Stewardship,” Part 2. Cancelled due to schedule conflicts.
At the Bible Conference at Fairview Bapt Bible College, I shared the speaking with another experienced missionary. Each of us was assigned a series of sensitive topics to present to the students and guests from area churches. I was to prepare a one-hour presentation (with hand-out) for each of the following eight topics:
1. “Same Sex Relationships: What if I am comfortable with it?”
2. “Saturday vs. Sunday: Which is the right day to worship?”
3. “Abortion: Is it ever right?”
4. “Unequally Yoked: What if there is a shortage of Christian mates?”
5. “Male Leadership in the Church: Is it gender discrimination or God-ordained?”
6. “The Act of Submission: Is submission relevant for today’s wives?”
7. “The Feminist Movement: What if there aren’t enough men to lead in the church?”
8. “The Art of Love: Displaying affections – Does it make the husband a man or a mouse?”
Whew! The week of Bible Conference was extremely taxing for us, for the following reasons: (1) These were subjects which I had never been forced to deal with directly before. Now I had to lay out the arguments, with Scripture, that lead to our Christian convictions. (2) These are “hot topics” in JAMAICA now, and highly debated, so Christians are trying to arrive at solid convictions about what they believe and why. (3) I wasn't fully prepared for these topics when we arrived in JAMAICA, so every spare minute was spent in research and preparation (until 15 minutes before my last session!)
Our base for one and a half weeks in JAMAICA was a comfortable Christian guest house in Montego Bay. In addition, we stayed with 3 different families in their homes at various times. 12 different drivers moved us around the island for our various speaking engagements.
We had a few days to ourselves during our last week on the island – days in which we caught up on email, walked the “Hip Strip” along with other tourists, cruised several gift shops, read, took naps when we wanted, and visited the beach. Not quite what you might imagine – instead of miles of private beach dotted with palm trees, think of exiting the gate of our guest house, crossing the narrow street lined on both sides with parked cars, stepping onto the limited sandy beach in full sight of the patrons of the restaurant across the street, and swimming to the beat of the bar music coming from the restaurant. Oh well, that didn't keep us from enjoying the warm, clear waters of the Caribbean Sea several times! |
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