August 26, 2019

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



Our Ministry Beijing International Christian Fellowship www.bicf.org/zgc
                                                                                              
BICF Sermon App for Apple or Android: www.bicf.org/#app   (ZGC Sermon Tab)



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