Warm Advent Greetings from Snowy Beijing! December 2015
We had the joy of Giving Thanks with our church
family and their friends - 175 young adults from 45 nations – Thursday night.
We enjoyed pilgrim fare of spaghetti and chicken nuggets at the restaurant
owned by members of our Korean congregation here in Beijing. Dayna made over
100 “pumpkin tarts” so we could enjoy all food groups!
Our Thanksgiving!
We are very
thankful for His mercies in our lives and ministries here. There are many great
things happening. Personally we received good reports from health checks we had
in National University Hospital in Singapore in October. We are also very
grateful for your generous prayer and financial support which keeps us going
here!
Lausanne Asia Pacific Conference on International Students
We joined with about 70 people from 18 nations in
Singapore in late September to focus on reaching the hundreds of thousands of International
students in and from Asia. We learned and shared together for 4 full days. We
had 7 people from our BICF ZGC there so we’re now working to apply the many
things we learned. Mark shared from 1 Timothy 4 in the first session, “Students
and the Local Church.”
Growing Family
In November 5 new believers were baptized in our
English service, they were from Ethiopia, Columbia, Kenya, China, and the USA.
Four more were baptized in our now one year old Mandarin service!
Preacher’s Preparation
It has been very encouraging to see the Lord raise
up a number of young men in BICF ZGC for the preaching of His Word. They’re the
main messengers in our growing Sunday Night services. The sermons are followed
by a Q & A session which becomes quite lively with our many students. Here
a few of us gathered after the Sunday Night service to share about the
ministry:
One weekend
in November Mark taught a dozen people in a BICF Seminary class on “Sermon
Delivery.” We grew together - “iron sharpened iron” - as these young leaders
helped each other improve their ministry skills in communicating His Word.
Two New Elders, One New Deacon
A couple Sundays ago we prayed for the Lord to bless
2 new Elders and 1 new Deacon for our church. Notice there is only one Elder
with white hair! But the Lord has given us a team that is “wise beyond their
years” and are doing a great job shepherding our young flock.
Christmas Opportunities
Like churches anywhere, we are busy with Advent
Readings, singing carols in the shopping centers, and passing out Christmas
tracts and books. One difference here is that many of our neighbors are hearing
this Good News for the first time. We will have our 5th annual
“Christmas Around the World” concert in the large, open, venue of our neighbor
3-Self church on December 11 and 12. We anticipate over 3000 attendees. Pray
with us about this great opportunity!
Visit to Kazakhstan
In November we had the special treat of seeing our
son Josiah and granddaughter Maylee (turns 12 in January!). Dayna had 2 weeks
of Grandma time – the whole of Maylee’s 2 week school break. Mark was there for
a week. We also had ministry opportunities in our former congregation there and
another vibrant local church. It is definitely harder to be a follower of Jesus
in that part of Central Asia than in our part of China right now. Yet, the
church is maturing and stabilizing through the struggles.
Again, we are very thankful for your support and
prayers for our family in China, Kazakhstan, and Oregon. We pray that your
family’s Christmas will be a very special one this year! Emmanuel! God is with
Us!
With our Love in our Lord who became man for us,
Mark and Dayna Blair
Our Mission
Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Drive -
Orlando, FL 32832 – USA www.pioneers.org
(Checks should be made out to ‘Pioneers’
– with a separate note attached saying: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’
Electronic transfers can be sent to: http://www.pioneers.org/Give/AutomatedGiving.aspx )
Skype blairstan
Our Ministry
Hear Mark’s current sermons: http://bicf.org/sermons/messages/series/a-growing-church-for-a-growing-city-ephesians
