This comes to us from Mike Procter, Director of Mission/Church Planter with the Alaska Baptist Convention in Anchorage.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
A Very White Christmas Hallelujah!!
Whether or not the ground is actually white outside your house today on Christmas Day, we thought you'd enjoy sharing this unique Christmas celebration with the western Alaskan village of Quinhagak.
Hallelujah! Christ our Saviour is born!!!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Our Christmas Wishes for You!
Our long-time friend Nell Collins shared with us this wonderful narrative written by Jean Bell Mosley and published originally in the "Southeast Missourian" on December 23, 2001. We have received special permission from that newspaper to reprint it here and share it with you!
Enjoy. . . .and have a very Merry Christmas!!
Ben and Sherilyn
"My friend, I wish you good health and peace of mind. May you look upon life with optimism and good cheer, even in a world that insists on fomenting violence, hatred and war. May you have an indestructible faith to survive today's incredible griefs, separations, confusions. And a questioning mind: What is my stake in Peace on Earth? What is my part in helping to fulfill the Promise?
I wish you to have the fragrances of cedar and oranges, nutmeg and cinnamon and bayberry candles. I would that you have lights of some kind in your house after dark -- the varicolored, winking lights of your Christmas tree, or a candle in the window -- so that others can see that you are there and that all is well with you.
May you have some family around, and especially some children with sparkles in their eyes as you tell them the story of Bethlehem's manger. I wish for you some gifts to give and joy in the giving.
May you stand in starlit silence and hear the angels sing. I hope you'll hear bells, church bells chiming their silver notes, street-corner bells, doorbells. You must also hear carols, old and new, and join in the singing.
May you have a fat goose or a turkey and all the goodies, rich memories of Christmases past. And would you mind a little snow? Just a little, falling at tender, blue-shadowed twilight time.
But most of all I wish you some solitude wherein you can let your mind drift back over the centuries to that special night that God became man and lived amongst us for a while. May you go with shepherds or the Wise Men to that little Judean town of Micah's prophecy and in your heart be near to the One who was to say, "My peace I give unto you ... I will not leave my people comfortless ... be of good cheer."
REJOICE! REJOICE! REJOICE!
Enjoy. . . .and have a very Merry Christmas!!
Ben and Sherilyn
"My friend, I wish you good health and peace of mind. May you look upon life with optimism and good cheer, even in a world that insists on fomenting violence, hatred and war. May you have an indestructible faith to survive today's incredible griefs, separations, confusions. And a questioning mind: What is my stake in Peace on Earth? What is my part in helping to fulfill the Promise?
I wish you to have the fragrances of cedar and oranges, nutmeg and cinnamon and bayberry candles. I would that you have lights of some kind in your house after dark -- the varicolored, winking lights of your Christmas tree, or a candle in the window -- so that others can see that you are there and that all is well with you.
May you have some family around, and especially some children with sparkles in their eyes as you tell them the story of Bethlehem's manger. I wish for you some gifts to give and joy in the giving.
May you stand in starlit silence and hear the angels sing. I hope you'll hear bells, church bells chiming their silver notes, street-corner bells, doorbells. You must also hear carols, old and new, and join in the singing.
May you have a fat goose or a turkey and all the goodies, rich memories of Christmases past. And would you mind a little snow? Just a little, falling at tender, blue-shadowed twilight time.
But most of all I wish you some solitude wherein you can let your mind drift back over the centuries to that special night that God became man and lived amongst us for a while. May you go with shepherds or the Wise Men to that little Judean town of Micah's prophecy and in your heart be near to the One who was to say, "My peace I give unto you ... I will not leave my people comfortless ... be of good cheer."
REJOICE! REJOICE! REJOICE!
Texas WMU Is Coming to Boston to Prayerwalk!
We are so excited to have just learned in an e-mail from Sandra Wisdom-Martin, Executive Director/ Treasurer of the Texas WMU, that members of that organization will be coming to greater Boston in the fall of 2011 to prayerwalk! This effort is in response to a request from Church Planter Paul Biswas for "teams to do prayerwalking and help build relationships with Muslims and Hindus". We were privileged to help make this connection with Texas WMU through a contact made at the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in November in McAllen.
This will provide an opportunity for many of our faithful Texas ladies to take advantage of a dynamic opportunity for real cross-cultural evangelism working among the many Banglas in the greater Boston area.
We understand the group will be led by two of our International Mission Board missionaries who are trained and experienced in working with Hindus and Muslims.
What an exciting connection! Thanks to the Lord for using us to facilitate this opportunity to be engaged in
international missions right here in New England! Please begin pray for this effort---that God will prepare the way for making it possible for many from our state to participate in this event. Ask that He will open the minds and hearts of the many Hindus and Muslims living in the Boston area to be receptive to the gospel.
Thank you for praying!
This will provide an opportunity for many of our faithful Texas ladies to take advantage of a dynamic opportunity for real cross-cultural evangelism working among the many Banglas in the greater Boston area.
We understand the group will be led by two of our International Mission Board missionaries who are trained and experienced in working with Hindus and Muslims.
What an exciting connection! Thanks to the Lord for using us to facilitate this opportunity to be engaged in
international missions right here in New England! Please begin pray for this effort---that God will prepare the way for making it possible for many from our state to participate in this event. Ask that He will open the minds and hearts of the many Hindus and Muslims living in the Boston area to be receptive to the gospel.
Thank you for praying!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Pop-Up "Hallelujah Chorus" at Macy's
Just had to share this one. . . .Brings tears of joy!!!
SBJ
SBJ
Subject: pop up hallelujah chorus at macy's
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"Your Prayers Were Certainly Effective!"
Remember that a few days ago we forwarded a request for prayer for the Boston International Ministries annual Thanksgiving banquet? Well, here's an update from our friend Barbara Beevers, the Mission Service Corps missionary who made the request! Thanks to all of you for praying. . . God is answering!!! Keep praying!!
That's Barbara and Ernie Beevers hosting young internationals at last year's event. FYI---The shawl was a gift from a Chinese friend! Dear prayer partners, Your prayers were certainly effective. You prayed that we would get hosts and guests matched up well. Even though a host couple had to call in sick, and some students did too, all of the hosts and guests seemed to enjoy one another. A research scientist brought her mother and sister who didn't know English. Michael matched them with Chinese-American hosts. Everyone at the table joined the conversation in Chinese. Those hosts are planning two Thanksgiving dinners: one for Chinese-speaking guests, one for English. The Lord opened the way for me to share some facts of the Christina faith with guests from two Middle Eastern countries. I had not met them before, so I asked about their studies and their countries. Then we got talking about the economy. I asked the man if his country had a capitalist or a socialist economy. He said, "Captialist, but a bad kind." He surprised me by asking, "What is the difference between Baptists and other Christians?" "Do you know the difference between Catholics and Protestants? I asked. "A little," he said. "One difference is the source of authority," I explained. "Protestants accept only the authority of the Bible, while Catholics add the tradition of the Church." "And the Pope," he said. The woman nodded. Then she asked, "How are Baptists different from other Protestants?" "A big difference is that we do not baptise a person or count him as a member of the church until he is old enough to decide for himself that he wants to follow Christ. So it's a person's own decision, not that of parents or society, that makes him or her a Christian." "That's how it should be," she said. "Another difference is the way we baptise. Just as Jesus was baptised in a river, we put the person under the water. The Bible compares this to the burial and resurrection of Christ." "What is the burial?" he asked. "Is it our sins?" she asked. "Yes." I said, "and then rising from the water of baptism symbolizes a new life, following Jesus." I don't remember what interrupted us then, but I was thankful we got that far. We are now matching students and hosts for Thanksgiving Day. Please keep praying "that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you." (2 Thess.3:1) Sincerely, Barbara ____________________________________________________________
Friday, November 12, 2010
Urgent Prayer Need for Boston International Ministries Banquet this Sunday!
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!"
*********************************
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
*********************************
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
Friday, November 5, 2010
Have New Missions House---Need Some Help!
One of the most rewarding things about serving in New England is getting to know Christians from all over the country who come there to serve in so many different capacities. As you might imagine, one of the biggest challenges for those who are not already New England residents is locating affordable housing for a short period of time. . .
With the help of some "seed money" provided by FBC Longview, about a year ago the Massachusetts Baptist Association purchased two "triple-deckers" in Worcester, MA, each of which houses three apartments. Currently there are tenants in five of the six apartments, leaving one available for small mission teams, Mission Service Corps missionaries, pastors in need of temporary housing, or collegiate workers. The vision is to have all six apartments available to our good Baptist folks who come there "on mission"----- for a few days to a few weeks or months.
The buildings both have a brand new roof now as well as updated electrical wiring. In August, a very energetic team of young adults from Vida Nova Church in Amherst, MA, (home of the University of Massachusetts) spent a Saturday doing clean-up, fix-up, and painting! You can almost FEEL their energy in these pictures!
At this time there are two ongoing needs:
(1) A construction team who might update the small bathroom in the available apartment. Would probably require new fixtures, walls, and flooring. Need both labor and funding to be provided.
(2) Significant financial contributions to help address the indebtedness on the building. The rentals currently pay the mortgage payments, but there is a balloon note that comes due next November.
We are praying that the Lord will impress individuals or churches to partner with MBA in this endeavor.
If you or someone you know would consider becoming an onsite or financial partner (or both!), please contact MBA Director of Missions Ray Allen at dom@massbaptist.org or (508)393-8010. Or you can always send us a note to learn more by responding to this blog at sherilynbj@gmail.com.
With the help of some "seed money" provided by FBC Longview, about a year ago the Massachusetts Baptist Association purchased two "triple-deckers" in Worcester, MA, each of which houses three apartments. Currently there are tenants in five of the six apartments, leaving one available for small mission teams, Mission Service Corps missionaries, pastors in need of temporary housing, or collegiate workers. The vision is to have all six apartments available to our good Baptist folks who come there "on mission"----- for a few days to a few weeks or months.
The buildings both have a brand new roof now as well as updated electrical wiring. In August, a very energetic team of young adults from Vida Nova Church in Amherst, MA, (home of the University of Massachusetts) spent a Saturday doing clean-up, fix-up, and painting! You can almost FEEL their energy in these pictures!
(1) A construction team who might update the small bathroom in the available apartment. Would probably require new fixtures, walls, and flooring. Need both labor and funding to be provided.
(2) Significant financial contributions to help address the indebtedness on the building. The rentals currently pay the mortgage payments, but there is a balloon note that comes due next November.
We are praying that the Lord will impress individuals or churches to partner with MBA in this endeavor.
If you or someone you know would consider becoming an onsite or financial partner (or both!), please contact MBA Director of Missions Ray Allen at dom@massbaptist.org or (508)393-8010. Or you can always send us a note to learn more by responding to this blog at sherilynbj@gmail.com.
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