June 26, 2019

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 1st 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.’                       
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