The Year of our Lord 2021

 

January 2021 A.D. In the Year of our Lord

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!

Those lucky bugs who have enjoyed a living Christmas tree must face a sad day. Before long, the fresh scent will be gone, and you will tire of sweeping pine needles. So, the tree is taken out the door and disposed of however your town deems ecologically acceptable.

But if you know the true reason people decorate all those trees, you have an eternal evergreen. What the cherubim and a flaming sword blocked from our guilty parents in Eden has been prepared for you – supersized by Gospel grace!

Jesus came to reveal God!

Jesus died to redeem sinners!

Jesus is coming to renew all things!

 

Mercy prevented fallen Adam and Eve from accessing the tree of life. I certainly am thankful these creaky bones are not my eternal abode. Yet, wonderfully, God’s everlasting mercy now invites us to a new heaven and new earth where we’ll TikTok in new bodies. The Lord has already landscaped His city with multiple trees of life along the riverside.

Those life-giving trees from God and the Lamb will never lose their leaves. Those leaves symbolize the transformational healing God will give His saints from every nation – not just the people but also their politics, all saints, and all structures. God’s final healing will not be a band aid, a feeble punishment soon escaped by presidential pardon. No, God’s healing will make everything irreversibly right. We will see even the worst things somehow worked for our good, and His glory. Get ready for a celebration that neither COVID nor King Herod can cancel.

This is our sure and certain hope. God is truth. He cannot lie. These are His promises. Since Jesus is the coming and current King, we should embrace 2021 as “the year of our Lord.” Is your ultimate trust in vaccines and government economic recovery plans or the One who “heals all our diseases” and has “the government on His shoulders?” Even though we have no idea what

Maylee in Almaty

  Josiah, Nathan, Makana, Heather, Kekoa, and Aaron in Oregon

 the ‘news’ will be, we already know this is the real story. The coming year and every year to come belongs to Him.

January 2021 marks the 40^th anniversary of our mission career. In January 1981 Mark went to Uganda with Professors Harvie Conn and Jack Miller and 8 Westminster Theological Seminary students. That young kid would never have imagined having such a life-long mission partner,  (we look forward to our 39^th wedding anniversary January 9) the great people and interesting places we would serve, and how faithful our support team would be – love, prayers, and provision from God and His people have kept us going all these years!

Words cannot convey our appreciation as we follow Him into this New Year in Beijing!!

Trusting Him with you for all our tomorrows, Mark and Dayna Blair

Praise Him with Us

We live in a very COVID-safe city! (…yes, that fact drips with irony and paradox!)

Churches can’t meet but we all gotta eat! So, our new ‘pulpit’ is our dining room table, sharing life with old and new friends.

God has wonderfully cared for our family, stretched half-way around the world.

Please Pray with Us

COVID restrictions have limited church gatherings including some of our opportunities.

Our son Josiah has moved to Portland and needs wisdom and direction for this next chapter of his life.

Mark is trying to write the story of our life in mission.

Our Mission   Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Dr - Orlando, FL 32832 USA       

 

Checks to ‘Pioneers’ – with attached note: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair, Beijing.’                       

Electronic transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx 

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

 Email blairstan2@gmail.com  Or blairstan@psmail.net  (secure)

 

Blog  www.blairstan.blogspot.com

 Web Site  www.pastormarkblair.org

   

·  At least 1.5 billion people do not have the full Bible in their language.

·  At least 7,000 languages are spoken or signed around the world.

·  At least 2,000 languages still need a Bible translation started.

·  Gospel ministry is being done in more than 2,700 languages worldwide.

Source: Wycliffe Global Alliance, October 2020

New Horizons in the Homeland

Greetings in the Name of the Prince of Peace,

 These are days for Christians to rejoice that “the government is on His shoulders.” Our world’s impressive human statues have “feet of clay.” Praise Jesus – King of kings and Lord of lords!

Four years ago an Elder from Nigeria asked me who I was for in the upcoming US presidential vote. I was a bit surprised that he cared, because frankly I didn’t! I was glad to be an ocean away, not thrilled with either choice. He kindly chided me that it did matter as the holder of that office would impact the world, including Nigeria. Just sayin’…

Thanks so much for your prayers and support for us. We are excited for the new doors He is opening. Last month we began our weekly sessions with pastors and preachers from the nearby 3-Self church. (‘Three-Self’ is the large government sanctioned Protestant church in China. Three-Self is from the missionary axiom of Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson in the 1800’s teaching three principles - self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation - i.e. indigenous missionary work, independence from foreigners.)

 

Dayna the English teacher and Mark the theologian! Usually our first hour is practicing the pronunciation of theological words, the second is studying the meaning of Philippians (the book we will all be preaching through) and learning to pronounce the words correctly! Join us in praying that the Lord of the Harvest will raise up a generation that will ‘sound His trumpet’ clearly and faithfully for many years here in this land. 

Several churches have been gathering for the last couple weeks. They are learning ‘new ministries’ like advanced reservation booking, mask checking, people spacing, hand sanitizing, and consoling people stuck ‘outside the gate’ because there is not enough room approved for them to safely enter. Thank God He never will turn away those who call upon His Name!

Serving the Beijing International Christian Fellowship

We really enjoyed going to the outskirts of Beijing with the BICF Support Staff, speaking to them on the theme they chose, “A Better Rest,” from Hebrews 3 &  4 and Psalm 30.

Last week Mark had the privilege of joining the BICF Men’s Retreat as one of their speakers. We had a great time on a beautiful autumn weekend. Borrowing a title from one of my favorite preachers I spoke on “The Whole Christ.” (If you want to fine tune your Gospel understanding as your heart fills with fresh gratitude, read that book by Sinclair Ferguson!)

Travels in the Motherland

For a decade living in China we’ve heard tales about Kunming ‘city of eternal spring’ and its district YunNan.  YunNan is home to dozens of minority tribes with a rich mission history (look up James Frazier) with more history waiting to be made. Some regions chart 80% Christian, others remain largely untouched by His great news.  

So, with much anticipation we boarded a flight from Beijing. After long months of COVID lockdown, going to the airport was a wondrous new experience - this time with face masks, Health Check apps on phones – from Beijing and Yunnan - and gobs of hand sanitizer.

 

We traveled with dear friends who know the nation and the language and a new friend with years of experience in YunNan. She gave years climbing the region’s steep mountains reaching remote peoples with the deeds and doctrines of Jesus. She brought faith in Jesus and medical training to dozens of aspiring ‘community health evangelists.’ We unexpectedly dropped in on several of them to find them faithfully serving the people of their communities.

 One man we met was the ‘least likely to succeed’ when he showed up for the training over a decade ago. He came from a remote mountain village a day’s walk from any road. He is one of four sons of Christian parents – now in their 80’s still farming a small, steep, patch of rocky ground. Maybe somebody forgot to tell him the course was in Mandarin – which as Lisu he did not read or even speak! When our doctor friend met this young man from the remote mountains she was impressed by his earnest desire to learn how to help his people. She sponsored his private tutor of Mandarin! He squeaked through the training in his newly acquired

language and returned home as a doctor. It took some time for the village that had watched him grow up to trust him as their doctor. At that time there were more popular physicians in residence.  But eventually people wearied of their high fees for poor results. Our humble friend was the one who came in the middle of the night, no matter how much people could afford, and often knowing the right remedy. Now the last has become first. Not only is he an exceedingly busy doctor. The village trusts him so much he is their “mayor” and an elder of their church! What a privilege to meet ‘family members’ so very different but forever linked in the things that matter most. We’ll spend eternity in a place with no language barriers.

We drove several hours through majestic steep canyons hosting the Mekong River – it’s called the Lancang in China. We crossed the river several times, even strapped to a cable!

 

Then we flew from the north to south YunNan. Xishuangbanna is home of the Dai people. If it sounds like Thai, points for your ethnography! They’re form the same people group. When we got out of the plane we thought we were in Thailand. China encourages people who want to see Thailand to come spend their vacation money in the Motherland. But if it is not authentic Thai enough for you there is a highway direct to Thailand – soon there will be a high-speed train!

While Dayna and Terry enjoyed this Night Market, Mark fit in better here?! :)

 Yours in Him who loves every tribe and nation! 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.’                       

Electronic transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx 

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

 

Email blairstan2@gmail.com  Or blairstan@psmail.net  (secure)

 

Blog  www.blairstan.blogspot.com

 

Web Site  www.pastormarkblair.org

 

 

New Doors Open!

 

Aloha from Beijing,                                                                          September 2020

There is a lot happening here and sometimes it feels like nothing is happening - at the same time! Perhaps you are feeling a similar “hurry up and wait” frustration as the world prays for the COVID scourge to subside.

We are so grateful for your prayers and support in this time of transition. We have had some good conversations with friends/churches about opportunities in various parts of the world. But we have been thinking about the words of our Pastor Svendsen, “when you are in the fog, anchor!” We have a visa to stay in China until next June, many workers cannot get back in, we are in good standing with our Beijing International Christian Fellowship, we have an apartment we are sharing with our son, Josiah, and we live in a city with 23 million Gospel-needy people – the capital of the world’s populous nation. And we are glad to share He has opened a door…

A Door Opens Right Here

We have been asked to help teach and encourage pastors and preachers of the largest open and accessible Chinese churches in Beijing – the Three-Self Church. Specifically, we will be mentoring the English service preachers for 3 congregations. Hundreds of people attend these services. This will include Mark being on their regular preaching teams. These churches are  now opening and their English services will open soon. (Their English website has not been updated recently – it just so happens the last sermon posted was Mark’s! http://english.hdchurch.org/ )

For 11 years here in Beijing we have had the privilege of ‘touching the world’ through ministry with international students from 100 nations. But we have had limited opportunities to impact the church of the motherland. Now we are thrilled to have this wider opportunity to serve their young pastors, and the church in China. There are a lot of challenges navigating this opportunity with the current political and spiritual realities, your prayers are much needed.

Beijing remains a very COVID-safe city. Schools and churches are opening. International students who ‘got stuck’ on their campuses have not been able to get off for 7 months! Those who ‘got stuck’ abroad will not be invited back for this Fall term, most of their programs will be on-line.

Birthday Blessings

We both celebrated birthdays in August and are thankful to be blessed with health and strength. It has been a great encouragement to have friends over, be invited out, and just meet up with some of the people we are privileged to be on the Journey with here in Beijing.

 Our Children went “Off to Seminary”

One thing I tell young students and servants of the Word today is to build their library digitally. These are words from our experience of a lifetime of dragging books around the world. We have left significant deposits in Uganda and Kazakhstan, but somehow the pile always kept growing! We are both book lovers and have been carrying some of our favorites for decades from Moody, Covenant, and Westminster. That burden was lifted a week or so ago.

We pray that our ‘burden’ will be a great blessing to the faculty and students of Yanjing Theological Seminary (燕京神学院) here in Beijing. English language books are a bit of a specialty item, not all of their community are able to read them. But a growing number can. Pray with us that our ‘children’ and ‘teachers and mentors’ will build up many of the students and faculty in the truths of the Gospel.

“they devoted themselves to…fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”

The ‘shut down’ of traditional worship gatherings has ‘opened’ many more opportunities here for us to meet with people. We have been busy visiting, hosting, and mentoring leaders. Not meeting together for worship makes people hungry for being together.

 

One of the books I read in these last few months was “The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World” by Rosaria Butterfield. She and her family have been used by God in wonderful ways as they share and speak the Lord Jesus. It’s a great read about something simple – but demanding – that the church needs to do. 

About two years ago the young lady in the black shirt (3^rd from right) ran up to Dayna during a Sunday service crying that “something is wrong.” She was actually miscarrying! Dayna rushed her and her husband – Esther and Emmanuel from Nigeria - to the hospital right away. After  tests and examination, Dayna had to tearfully explain their baby had gone to be with the Lord. You can imagine all of our joy to hold their beautiful daughter. Her name is Success! This was our farewell lunch. Emmanuel finished his Ph.d. and they returned to Nigeria. Pray for them!

  

Now unto Him who holds the Key of David! 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.’                       

Electronic transfers: https://give.pioneers.org/p-75-give-to-a-missionary-or-project.aspx 

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

 

 

Email blairstan2@gmail.com  Or blairstan@psmail.net  (secure)

 

 

Blog  www.blairstan.blogspot.com 

 

 

Web Site  www.pastormarkblair.org