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)
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