Wandering Again

Happy Thanksgiving from Beijing!                                                            November 2019

We are looking forward to seeing many of you in Hawaii soon! It has been three years since our last Home Assignment there. Our schedule of church visits is starting to come together D.V.…

December 1 Kalihi Union Church, Honolulu

December 8 Northshore Christian Church, Kauai

December 15 First Chinese Church of Christ in Honolulu

December 22 Haili Church, Hilo

December 29 Kawaiahao Church

January 5 & 12 Puna Covenant Church, Keaau, Hawaii

January 19 Kalahikiola Church, Kohala

January 26 Hilo Missionary Church

February 2 Wellspring Covenant Church, Honolulu

February 9 Hawaii Kai United Church of Christ

February 16 Mokuaikaua Church, Kona

February 23 Waipuna Chapel, Maui

February 29 Return to Beijing

Please let us know if it might be possible to visit your church on any open Sunday. We would also be glad to visit home groups and other meetings during the week. We are looking forward to talking story about all the Lord is doing here.

Good Numbers! Mark has resumed a busy schedule of ministry here. It’s been over 2 months since his prostate removal. Last week he had a PSA blood test. (They say if the cancer is gone, that number should be low.) His current number is 0.007! Thanks so much for your prayers.

Not Again…?!

Thank you for journeying in prayer with our church, Beijing International Christian Fellowship, in our search for venues. As we shared in our last letter, after more than six years of worship in a strategically located hotel, we in BICF Zhongguancun were forced to move to another hotel just over a month ago.

Now we must move again! Our new hotel claims since they are on University property, we violate China law to worship there.  Frankly, the whole process raises lots of questions, but our hope and confidence is in the King of Kings. Please join us as we trust Him to open a new door for our 5 BICF ZGC churches (English, Mandarin, Korean, Indonesian, and Japanese) to worship Him in spirit and truth. (As you are praying, please remember our ‘mother’ church’s location where 8 BICF churches and several thousand members have gathered for over 25 years – they’ve been told to vacate their place in one month!)

- If all this sounds like things are getting tighter for the Gospel here, you’re reading right!

We are very proud of our son, Josiah Keola, for Episode #1 of his "My Kazakhstan" for Air Astana. Your YouTube "Like" would be a great support and encouragement. Thanks!                                                         https://youtu.be/Jj7VGCJJxM4

Farewell Venkat!

This week we bid farewell to Venkat from a fishing village in India. What joy to join his small group to say good-bye. Who but Jesus could make so many colors and cultures love one another? Venkat and Sojie had 2 daughters during their three years with us. He did his Post-Doctoral research at one of the top Universities in China and now goes to take a position in Italy. As a young man he put his faith in Jesus and went home as the only believer in their fishing village. Today most of his family and most of their village follow Him! As he was heading out for 16 hours of travel, Dayna made him a ‘snack’ lei! We have a lot of good-byes. Here we consider them ‘commission-ings’!

October Family Holiday

150 people from our church went just outside the city – at the foot of the Great Wall – for 3 days of retreat! Our focus was the “Foundations” -teaching from Genesis chs 1-3 – Who is our Maker and how does he want us to live? It was a great blend of families and singles, students and workers, kids and adults, from over 50 nations. As China celebrated the 70^th anniversary of their People’s Republic, we took advantage of those days off to strengthen our foundations and call seeking friends to find the Lord and follow Him. Pray for those who are now seriously considering coming.

Two Becoming One…

One of the joys of serving a church full of young adults is seeing Christian families form. Last weekend a brother from America wed a sister from Uruguay. We had a bilingual wedding (for the benefit of family and friends from South America) – Spanish and English! What a privilege to preach the Gospel to seeking friends – translated into Spanish….in China! 

We are looking forward to sharing with those of you “lucky enough to live Hawaii” soon. If your fellowship wants to take a deep dive into studying books of the Bible or mission themes we’d love to do that – it’s what energizes us – even more than a sleep on the beach!

We also are looking for places to stay and cars to use. We’d be very grateful for your help.

Trusting Him who opens doors that no man can close!

Mark and Dayna Blair

Our Mission  Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Dr - Orlando, FL 32832 USA   

Checks to ‘Pioneers’ – with attached note: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’                  

Electronic transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx 

(Our Account # is 110565, Mark and Dayna Blair)

Email blairstan2@gmail.com  Or blairstan@psmail.net  (secure)

Blog  www.blairstan.blogspot.com 

Web Site  www.pastormarkblair.org

Our Ministry Beijing International Christian Fellowship www.bicf.org/zgc

http://bicf.org/sermons/latest-sermons/messages/speaker/mark-blair

                                                                                        

BICF Sermon App for Apple or Android: www.bicf.org/#app   (ZGC Sermon Tab)

God at Work in Kazakhstan

Greetings from Beijing,                                                                                            August 2019

We’ve had a great summer of ministry and family time. Our whole tribe gathered for the first time ever in Portland, Oregon. Happy days with sons Nathan (wife Heather), Josiah, and Aaron, and grandkids Maylee, Kekoa, and Makana…who all met for the first time! Then we shared some days with family and friends in California with Maylee on her first visit there. We praise the Lord for His faithful blessings on us and our family. We are so thankful for the support and prayers we have received these many years!

Our eldest son Nathan recently became a Project Manager for the Bible Project in Portland. If you have not enjoyed their cool videos, stimulating podcasts and teachings, and even magazine, we’d urge you and your church to check out them out. Free! Last Saturday we had the joy of showing an Uzbek pastor and his family the videos in Russian…now in 12 languages, 12 more in process!  www.thebibleproject.com

We just returned to Beijing from Almaty, Kazakhstan. We took Maylee back home and reunited with friends and colleagues from our years of service there, 1998-2009 – preaching in the International Fellowship where we pastored and joining a conference of graduates from the seminary where we served. We were humbled by their kind recognition of our service in helping to equipping leaders for the Church in Central Asia. They continue to faithfully serve the nations there despite opposition from the authorities.  

Now we’re beginning our tenth Fall season in Beijing International Christian Fellowship Zhongguancun. Tens of thousands of international students, some of the brightest and most gifted from more than 100 nations, will soon be our new neighbors. Some who come are Christians that wondering if there will be any church for them. Some do not carry their Bibles for fear they’ll be confiscated upon arrival! How glad they are to find and connect with our vibrant congregation. Some are ‘Christians’ by culture or family pressure and they are eager to move miles away from the gaze of pastors and parents. Some of them will come on their first Sunday in China, taking selfies of themselves in church to post home! We will likely see some of them again on ‘graduation Sunday’….or when they get pregnant or in trouble! Hundreds of students come with other faiths or no faith. Entering into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is not even on their radar. But they do want to make friends, better understand how to get connected to this huge and daunting city, and find ‘community.’ We will cross paths with many of them, in our ‘Welcome to Beijing’ seminar, small groups on about 30 campuses, sports or social outings, or even a Sunday service. Pray for us preachers to be faithful to the texts of Ecclesiastes in the morning and Revelation in the evenings. Pray that His sheep will hear His voice through us His servants here - and find and follow Him! Thank God for the faithful members/students in our church who continue to love and welcome new folks year after year. It can be hard to open your heart when you know that in just a couple short years you will be saying a painful good-bye to someone moving back to other side of the globe! But when they are ‘family’ heading off to serve our Father we know we will meet again.

I will be spending the first part of our ‘Fall push’ recuperating. TOMORROW I will have my prostrate removed at a hospital here in Beijing. They have found early stage prostate cancer. I am grateful for a skilled surgeon here and even more for the Great Physician who has taken me through two other cancers. (No signs of thyroid or testicular cancers from 2007…I just seem cancer prone!...Still trying to work this one into the alliteration…neck to nuts to…?...) I hope to be an active member of the ministry team again in September, God willing. I am so thankful for Dayna’s care and even Josiah who is here with us now.

Two other big things we need prayer for…

Our church must move by the first Sunday of October. We’ve had a great 6 years in a strategically located hotel, but they are returning to their original focus as a government training center. We have some options but still need wisdom and clarity.

Our work visa expires October 5. It has been renewed every year for the last decade, and we trust God will give us another year. We hope so! But it does get harder after 60. Long ago the Beatles wondered where they’d be “when I’m 64…?” Beijing we hope!

In life, ministry, future, all things, we are reminded and rejoicing that Jesus is Lord! We bow before Him in full trust!

Your prayers. Support, and encouragement have been a wellspring of great blessing to us and our family!

“Thanks” seem so little, but we send them with love and sincerity,

Mark and Dayna Blair

Our Mission  Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Dr - Orlando, FL 32832 USA       

Checks to ‘Pioneers’ – with attached note: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’                       

Electronic transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx 

(Our Account # is 110565, Mark and Dayna Blair)

Email blairstan2@gmail.com  Or blairstan@psmail.net  (secure)

Blog  www.blairstan.blogspot.com  Web Site  www.pastormarkblair.org

Our Ministry Beijing International Christian Fellowship www.bicf.org/zgc

http://bicf.org/sermons/latest-sermons/messages/speaker/mark-blair

                                                                                              

BICF Sermon App for Apple or Android: www.bicf.org/#app   (ZGC Sermon Tab)

Graduation Season

Warm Greetings from Beijing!                                                                            July 2019 

It is a season of rejoicing in God’s blessings. Thousands of graduates have now ‘walked’ in the 82 Universities that surround our Beijing International Christian Fellowship. Dayna has been making lots of leis! Here we are with 2 of our ‘beloved daughters’ – Keren from Ghana earned her Master’s Degree and Ruth from Uganda her Ph.D. Both have been faithful Deaconesses in our church. With our church motto of “Gathering, Growing, Going” we now face the sad “G,” saying good-bye to may who are going. We prefer ‘a hui hou!’ (See you again!). Below you can see over 50 key members of the congregation who stood for a farewell prayer last Sunday. We are truly a ‘sending’ church!

This Spring we’ve had many opportunities to reach the 80,000 International students around our church.

The night before our “mini-Olympics” we hosted “The World’s Got Talent.” Students from our church and beyond were invited to share their talent as we enjoyed a Chinese buffet dinner in a nice dining room of a large University near our church location. The owner was happy to make money but nervous about “church” so he urged us not to “preach.” That all went fine for the first few minutes until a dance troupe from Kenya who had most of the house jumping up and down singing wanted to declare Who they 

danced for. 

Soon most people were shouting and waving their hands for “Jesus…I praise you…I love you…I serve you!!” Well, no one did PREACH…technically. But the Lord did organize a winsome and natural way of letting a room full of students from many nations and faiths know that He is alive and well. Lots of talent! There was a 1^st place tie between Samoan men dancers and a Zimbabwean opera singer!

That same weekend we encouraged people to wear clothes from their homelands to church on Sunday morning. What a radiant display of colors and cultures! Just a foretaste of that Grand Day when the nations will present their offerings and praise to the Lord God Almighty and to the Lamb.

We’re especially thankful for the opportunities to equip our congregation this year. Our “Joshua Training Centre” has offered a day-long course every month. Each time more than 100 people have taken the courses on Bible Interpretation, Ethics, Missions, and Apologetics. Next week Mark will teach the last course of this academic year on “How to Teach the Book of Revelation.” Thanks for your prayers that not only will people learn more about this great book of hope in Jesus, but know how to share it with others.

More than ever we are hearing testimonies about the ‘readiness’ of our members to return home, or wherever the Lord is leading them to serve – especially in helping people grow in their knowledge and handling of Scripture. We also have had weekly training for the Bible teachers of our small groups this year – now over 30 groups meet on different campuses weekly!

The Lord continues to open doors of friendship with the Haidian Christian Church. This ‘Three-Self’ church is our nearest neighbor. Here we are visiting with Rachel who leads the English service on a recent Sunday when they invited Mark to preach. They are preaching through the Book of Acts. One Chinese lady who said she was a Communist Party member told me afterwards that my sermon had much to say about ‘current affairs’ and I simply said, “oh, really, I was just trying to faithfully interpret and apply the Scriptures.” That’s my job!

Health News – We both had physical exams recently and checked out pretty good for 2 active people in their mid-sixties! We feel good! We do ask for prayer as Mark was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is early stages, and still contained. We are exploring options, considering surgery at the end of August. God has graciously seen us through cancer before, we trust Him again for this next adventure. 

Our last letter was sent just before “Celebration Mama’s” in May– where we recognized 12 new moms in our church (10 births, 2 adoptions!). Well it was a great time. With food, fun, friends, and even crowns and leis! Since then we have met four new babies, three boys and one girl…more on the way!

It was a joy to see three men from BICF, including the pastors of our Mandarin and Korean congregations, be ordained to the ministry in June. We organized an Examining Council of pastors from BICF and other churches in the city. We unanimously recommended they be ordained. It was a great day!

This Spring we hosted two nights of the “Alpha” Pre-Marriage course in our apartment again. Ten couples came for the five-week session enjoying good teaching and Dayna’s good cooking!

Then, after Pre-Marriage class, wedding bells are ringing….!

Briefly Noted: BICF Staff Retreat! And a “Leaving China Well” seminar was much appreciated.

Hope you have enjoyed this long slice of life from the last couple months here in Beijing. We are very privileged to be able to serve the Lord in this dynamic city at this strategic time.

Your faithful prayers and support and much appreciated and needed. We praise the Lord for so many years of this Gospel partnership.

As you pray, please ask the Lord to open a new door for our church. The hotel we have rented weekly for the last six years is changing their business strategy, reverting to a state-owned training center. We are encouraged by the support and encouragement of the government officials who continue to sanction our church and have even assisted in our new search. The door of opportunity seems to be open, we just need to find out where!

We are looking forward to a couple weeks with family in Oregon and California this summer. Josiah is now visiting Kazakhstan and will bring Maylee and we plan to meet all together in Portland. The first time With all our sons, daughter in law, and three grandkids! God is so good.

Joyfully Serving the Lord of the Global Harvest with you, Mark and Dayna Blair

Our Mission  Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Dr - Orlando, FL 32832 USA          

Checks to ‘Pioneers’ – with attached note: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’                       

Electronic transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx 

(Our Account # is 110565, Mark and Dayna Blair)

Email blairstan2@gmail.com  Or blairstan@psmail.net  (secure)

Blog  www.blairstan.blogspot.com  Web Site  www.pastormarkblair.org

Our Ministry Beijing International Christian Fellowship www.bicf.org/zgc

http://bicf.org/sermons/latest-sermons/messages/speaker/mark-blair

                                                                                                    

BICF Sermon App for Apple or Android: www.bicf.org/#app   (ZGC Sermon Tab)