NOTE: Below is a portion of an e-mail we just received from our fellow Mission Service Corps missionary Barbara Beevers who serves university students through the Boston International Ministries team. Please join us in praying fervently for their annual Thanksgiving banquet THIS SUNDAY (November 21) as well as for their ongoing ministry whose message to you is "Touch Boston and Touch the World!"
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Overwhelmed with all the needs I'm praying for, I found a timely
reminder in 2 Chronicles 20 this week: "Do not be afraid or discouraged. . . the
battle is the not yours, but God's." As I pray for our efforts to make
disciples of the nations, I need to remember who I'm talking to. Here's more
from 2 Chronicles: "Are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the
kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand."
Please join me in praying to our great God for the Boston International
Ministries annual Thanksgiving Banquet in Cambridge this Sunday, November 14.
Pray that those God wants to be there will come and be matched with the right
hosts, and that conversations will draw us together and open doors for faith.
There is much arranging to do in these next few days: food, program,
last-minute invitations/responses, seating charts. Ask the Lord's blessing and
guidance on these efforts and pray especially for our leader, Rev. Michael Dean,
balancing all these kingdom details.
Last year, only weeks before the banquet, Rae suddenly appeared at the
Bible class. As designed by our strategy for the banquet, her table hosts
invited her to their home for Thanksgiving Day.
The next month at the Christmas party, Rae talked a lot with Ernie. She
called out to me, "Barbara, Ernie says he wouldn't have married you if you
weren't a Christian!" I added to her shock by saying I wouldn't have married him
if he was not a Christian. So I explained. "I made a promise to obey and follow
Jesus. I couldn't marry someone who did not obey Jesus. I would be pulled
apart."
She wrote soon afterward, "I have a close feeling with you and Ernie.
It seems there is no gap between us besides the age and language. I love to talk
with you. I feel we can communicate smoothly." No gap but age and language!
Small stuff to our God!
Second semester Rae's class in grad school was the same hour as the
Bible class so I emailed her the lessons. She came to church on the day I gave
my salvation testimony to the congregation. She lived too far away to attend our
church, but began to attend another church from our coalition.
In March I invited her to lunch at our home. We talked about various
things, then she asked, "What are the requirements for becoming a Christian? Do
you have to attend church a certain number of times? Or read a certain amount of
the Bible?" We began to explain repentance for sin and how we must put our trust
in Jesus, not just for forgiveness but for everyday decisions.
She asked, "Could I do this secretly? I am a university professor. I
could lose my job."
I said I'd heard of secret Christians. "But Jesus said if we deny him
before men, he will have to deny us before God the Father. I'd be afraid to take
a chance on that. But this is your decision."
Three months later, she came to lunch again. "Coming to your class and
going to church has changed my life." Two days before flying home to East Asia,
she was baptized. An email gave us the wonderful news that she is attending
church there, "a church with people like me who went to America and became
Christians."
May there be many more like that, and may some of those journeys to
faith begin this week.
Thanks for your prayers. They make a difference!
Sincerely, Barbara
Our friend Michael Dean, Director of Boston Internation Ministries, added this comment:
*** Thanks to all for your prayers and partnership. There are hundreds here who are
beginning journeys of faith including some who will join our annual banquet on
Sunday. If you or your church want to partner to help provide toward our
banquet or language Bibles or any of our mission to the world in Boston, send a
tax-deductible gift written to "GBBA" and mail it to: Boston International
Ministries, Greater Boston Baptist Association, 754 Greendale Avenue, Needham,
MA 02492. Or perhaps you feel God leading you to come and join our efforts to
Touch Boston & Touch the World. Any questions? Email mdean@bostonbaptist.org.
THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!
Rev. Michael Dean
Director/Founder, Boston International Ministries
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