Greetings from Bangkok,
We are glad to have this chance to share the good
things the Lord is doing in China and beyond. In about one month we will fly to
USA to visit family and our churches in California. If you are there, please contact
us so we can plan a visit. We hope to hear from you soon. We so appreciate your
support and are eager to share with you.
We
are here in Thailand for a couple days attending the Missional International
Church Network conference (www.micn.org). We are with colleagues from 25
International
churches scattered around the world. Mark led a workshop on Developing
Leaders. Sunday we will share in a church pastored by a brother who was an
Elder in our church in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Monday we will be back home in
Beijing for a busy month of ministry.
He is Risen, Indeed!
We had over 650 gather to celebrate the Resurrection
of our Lord on Easter morning worship at Beijing International Christian
Fellowship Zhonggancun. (Our normal morning attendance is about 350.) Thankfully
most of our visitors are friends, colleagues, neighbors, classmates, and even
students of our members. Pray for these ongoing Gospel relationships. Four
young ladies – from Kenya, Samoa, Panama, and China – professed their faith
through Baptism on Easter Sunday. It was a great joy to hear their stories of
coming to faith in Jesus.
Global Diaspora Forum
In April we joined with 300 Christian leaders from
around the world in Manila. Our focus was on the 300 million people who live
outside their homelands – the global diaspora. Many are forced from home by war
or calamity, others choose to leave seeking fortune or advancement. Their
conditions are vastly different, but their
common denominator is that if they
do not know Jesus Christ they will never find a home with God. So the Lausanne
Movement called this Global Diaspora Forum to consider how to reach them with
the love of God in word and deed. We spent long hours reviewing articles that
we read in advance examining this complex issue from many perspectives. The
plan is that this compendium will be published to provide a useful text for
ministry leaders and students. Pray for the several dozen authors as they
reflect on the critique they received at GDF and consider how to revise their
work.
International Students
For two days before the opening of GDF we joined
with leaders of International student ministries from Asia, Africa, and North
America. We were hosted by leaders
from the Philippines who provided a great
venue for us to learn from one another. It was humbling and encouraging to hear
some great affirmation from these key leaders about what the Lord is doing in
our church in Beijing among International students.
Tacloban Pastor’s Conference
After the GDF we flew from Manila to Tacloban, Philippines.
Here we witnessed the devastation that Super-Typhoon Yolanda brought to this
area just over a year ago. The exact number of deaths from Yolanda is
uncertain. People were buried faster than
could be properly counted, but it was
in the thousands. Some homes remained inundated with water for over a month! We
saw several churches that special offerings taken last year in the BICF helped
rebuild. We stood on the famed shoreline of Leyte where General Douglas
MacArthur departed – and returned! – during
WW2. We met
with over 200 church leaders – and young people who were off school
for Holy Week - who soldier faithfully for King Jesus there. These brothers in
sisters in Christ who had lost much are not bitter. No, they are grateful for
God’s gifts of life. It was our privilege to be encouraged by them! We had the
joy of sharing from the Scriptures, urging them to press on in the work of the
Gospel.
The Next Generation of Preachers
For two long weekends in April Mark led a class on
“Sermon Preparation” for the BICF Seminary. A dozen students from Malaysia,
USA, Liberia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Nigeria, England, and Gabon - young and
eager preachers, gathered to sharpen their skills. We had a lot of good sharing
and discussion. Each of them presented Bible messages that they had crafted and
openly received critique from their colleagues. Iron was sharpening iron,
buffered by love and encouragement.
So, we give praise to God for all He’s doing by your
prayers and faithful support. We do hope to see many of you soon.
For the Glory of King Jesus, 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
Mark preached recently at Haidian Christian Church
and his sermon is on video: http://english.hdchurch.org/html/news/2015/0301/516.html
