‘Rabba slippas’ are packed up and sweaters are on. Our mountains are full of snow and city trees grow bare. Windows are half-closed and the heat is on?! (Soviet efficiency!) Winter is near!
We returned Saturday from our best trip ever to the large nation ‘next door.’ Medical news was quite good. No cancer seen in Mark, good numbers on thyroid levels, cholesterol, etc. More importantly we had two five-day sessions with some of God’s finest. Week one we met with thirty-one leaders in a ‘small city’ (JUST 8 million!). Some of them have endured prison and hardship for the One Crucified for them. We traced the pathways of His first followers as we studied the book of Acts. With great zeal they sought to learn timeless principles for the work of mission - so that they could get themselves in trouble again! Group one (picture below) is on those stools every long day for 2 months of intensive study, we heard no complaints!
Take a good look at the book they’re poring over. You might have one of your own, hopefully as well used. It was six hours a day with them, eight hours a day with thirty-eight students the second week in the Olympic city, considering the message of the Bible.
The writings of more than forty authors from over a thousand year span are compiled therein. The last of its sixty-six books was written almost two thousand years ago. It is a book from the Middle East written in ancient Hebrew and Greek languages. How does an English-speaking Californian teach THAT book through translators to a group of peasants (week one) and University graduates (week two – pictured below) in the Far East? How does it grab our attention and enliven our souls through long hours and less than ideal circumstances? How do you end those long sessions feeling enriched and excited that there is so much to that Book you never noticed before - and yet still so much more to be seen? If you’re not quite sure that God is real and His Word is true, I wish you could have come along and seen for yourself.
We are in the midst of a busy fall season here in Almaty. We have a growing number of people coming to worship at International Christian Fellowship. Together with my co-pastor we are preaching through the Gospel of Mark, seeing our Lord Jesus as a man of action and authority. Five small groups meet during the week. Dayna has been sharing His love through teaching English, discipleship coffees, substitute teaching at a secular International school, joining the Almaty International Women’s Club and it looks like they’ve convinced her to coach volleyball again at Tien Shan School!
$ 100
As we rode through the city of Almaty in his stylish Toyota, Pastor Andre told me that two years ago he had less than $100 to his name. He was taking me home after a Sunday night seminar at his church. Most of his congregation is young people who are quite interested in dating and romance. Quite naturally, ha ha ha, I was invited to address this topic! After teaching “The Biblical Foundation of Marriage” from Genesis and Ephesians, I answered their written questions. For example, “How old do I have to be before wearing make-up?” I told them I was 53 and still had not started. That kind of stuff….
Then I toured the ‘church yard’ – which is a work in progress. He took me into a large garage, which Andre and a team of men erected in two weeks! Several cars stood in various stages of repair. Andre teaches the young men of the church how to repair cars. The back yard held six nice looking cars they have repaired and are now rentals. In addition to the normal church activities, Andre takes these kids skydiving, jet skiing, wake boarding, and snowboarding. He hopes the large open area in the churchyard will one day be an ‘extreme sports’ center! It was no surprise the place was full of young people, who are as enthusiastic about praising the Lord as parachuting. As Andre and I conversed in a fusion of Russian and English, he lamented that he did not have better English skills, saying that he had wasted most of his school years on drugs. He was addicted to heroin for twenty years! He came clean two years ago, and has had not had time to look back. It is a thrill to see what the Lord is doing through this humble servant.
As we reached my corner I opened the car door and turned to go. He said, “Wait! I must give you this from my ministry.” Despite my protest, he firmly insisted. He stuck $100 in my hand and wished me God’s blessings.
Qualified Elder
Every Thursday Mark teaches “Ethics” to the students of Central Asia United Seminary. Pastor Andre is one of them. We are studying the Ten Commandments and seeing their wide application to our life with God in the modern world. As we looked at the Sixth Command, against murder, I shared about the many Sunday nights in the 1990’s when I had the privilege of preaching at Kulani Christian Church. KCC gathers behind prison walls on the Big Island of Hawaii. As I got to know the Elders they gradually shared (never ask an inmate what he did!) that they had broken the Sixth Commandment. In all the places I have visited to preach, never did I pay more careful attention to the concerns of the Elders! Seriously, they, like the famous murderers Moses, David, and Paul, had a profound gratitude for the mercy of God. The joyful roar of their congregational singing still rings in my heart. I wondered aloud with my students here whether being a murderer was a qualification to Eldership in KCC. After the Ethics lecture one student who is bigger than me stuck out his hand and quietly spoke, “Thanks for the good word. I am qualified to be an Elder in that church in Hawaii.” Now I know why he spent years in prison in Uzbekistan! The God of mercy and grace is building His Church here in Central Asia.
We Need You!
Carefully studying the book of Acts these past weeks has reminded us again how much we need you! The great mission exploits of Paul and Barnabas were achieved because the entire church at Antioch sent them and sustained them. And not one of the many churches planted by those faithful workers was left with just one man in leadership – teams of elders were ordained. Battles are not won by individual soldiers but disciplined armies. Mr. Obama did not gain the Presidency alone!
When the world laments its global economic crisis, we who live by donations begin to shudder! Yet it is also a time to examine our call and affirm our convictions. Do we believe that His arm has grown short amidst this global shortage? I trust not. We have been sustained in mission work by your prayers, gifts, and encouragement for many years. We are truly grateful for you and give praise to God. Someday the people whose faces it may not be safe to send now over cyberspace will be your great Kingdom-friends, for eternity! This is your work.
A couple months ago we asked you to pray for B’s father who struggled with alcohol for many years. His struggle ended tragically as he fell from a third floor window to his death. It has been a horribly sad event for the family and our ICF family. We have been there for support, but words seem feeble in those moments. Remember them all, especially B who stands courageously as the lone believer in his family. You would be proud to see his gentle, noble, witness.
As Thanksgiving season passes in many of our countries, thank God you live in a nation that remembers the Giver!
Believing all nations will stream to His throne with their gifts, Mark and Dayna Blair
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