Please Pray: (October 3 – November 10) 

1) Teaching Church Leaders using the Burmese God’s Plan for His Church in Yangon – October 27- November 7

2) Launch the new Karen God’s Plan for His Church in Maw Day Musekee – October 17-19

3) Teaching Bethany College students God’s Plan for His Church in Chiang ai - October 13-24

4) Synergy Meeting with Vietnamese Leaders in Bangkok - October 6-10

5) Strategic Planning for the Khmer God’s Plan for His Church in training Cambodian Leaders – November 1-3

6) Launch the new Vietnamese God’s Plan for His Church in Saigon – October 13 – 24

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, pray also for us, (Tim and Sherman):

1) That God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ Col 4:2-3

2) That words may be given to us in opening our mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel  Eph 6:19

3) That the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored  2 Thess 3:1 (ESV)

4) That we may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding  Col 1:9

5) That we be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might  Col 1:11

During this season in the USA we celebrate Thanksgiving with an amazing spread of food and special time with family and close friends.  We want to take this opportunity to especially thank you for standing with us in so many ways.  The best way we can do this is by giving you some ‘clips’ of events that have taken place recently and exciting opportunities ahead of us:

Africa

Brother Henry met in Mabonga with “more than 100 people eager for the Word of God”.  He taught from God’s Plan for His Church which brought transformation in the church.  “Church chairmen” resigned and became biblical “deacons and deaconesses”.  After preaching from Luke 15:11 “about the lost son, 57 people believed in the Lord Jesus”.  13 were set free from demonic oppression, and 3 were healed from different diseases.  “We really felt the presence of God and the Holy Spirit moved mightily.”  There was further teaching for GPHC on New Testament principles of order in the church.

Persons are asking how to plant churches like Paul did.  Henry is being used by the Lord to teach these principles from Scripture.

We have helped Henry purchase two new tires for his vehicle because of the amount of travel he is doing and since the tires he has now are very smooth.  There are 22 other repairs that need to be done, so if the Lord moves you to help, please let us know.  Remember that Henry has also launched a ministry to the Pygmies which is already bearing fruit. 

Myanmar

The Burmese translation of GPHC is complete and in the proof-reading stage.  Pray for printing to take place soon in view of Tim’s visit in January.

Thailand

GPHC training will take place at the Siloam Bible Institute, January 13 to 17, 2014.  Pray for students to have completed the lessons in preparation for a week of review and writing their projects and strategy.

The GPHC Karen translation is nearly finished.  It will need type-setting and proofing before it can be printed.  The opportunities with the Karen in Thailand and Myanmar are many.  Please pray for the completion of this translation and for God to open effective doors to train and promote a focus on the unreached of these countries.

Pakistan

The translation work in Urdu is complete and we have sent partial funds for printing.  Our Brother in Christ has a vision to train key men who will impact this country and beyond.  Pray that this amazing opportunity will result in a spiritual awakening throughout this part of the world.

USA

Tim has had amazing opportunities to attend the Campus Crusade Conference in October and present GPHS which received wide acceptance by many, including a representative from Global Alliance for Church Multiplication.  He also will attend the Finishing the Task Conference in CA the first week in December.  The purpose of this conference is to identify current unreached people groups and to connect churches, missions and missionaries to them.  Paul’s “ambition was to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named” (Ro. 15:20)  Pray for God to use these occasions as divine appointments for spreading biblical principles for accelerating God’s work among the unreached of the world.

Liberia

Through a chain of contacts from the US and England, a brother in Liberia heard about our ministry and asked for our material.  We sent two copies of GPHC along with instruction on working through the lessons.  Here is a brief quote from his last email: “Our churches and some of our sister churches in Liberia are facing serious problems that this training manual gave an answer to.  Therefore, I decided not to delay but to start studying the materials and to organize some men who are willing and also can be used to train others, as we see in 2 Timothy 2:1-2."  Pray for God to use this brother in reestablishing the church in Liberia on a biblical foundation in preparation for God’s expansion throughout Africa.

Changes: We are in the process of upgrading the Seminary Course to be used anywhere in the world.  We are convinced the time is right for this to be used in equipping students before they launch out into the Lord’s work.  Along with this, we have decided to change our ministry name to NEW FOUNDATIONS, dba Go and Reconcile

We believe this new name more accurately represents our goal; to follow Paul’s example in Romans 15:20.

Ministries: We have so many reasons to thank you for standing with us in prayer and support for God’s work through unworthy and unlikely servants.  We are humbled by His grace, yet inspired by the continual renewal of the Holy Spirit.  It is a joy to also report that Sherman’s health is much better--thank you so much for the prayers, emails, cards, phone calls and visits.  There is another three weeks of physical therapy, but he is beginning to get back into the work.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14).

We are in a terrible time right now. On Tuesday night cattle raiders known as Gishus from neighboring country Uganda came at night killed one neighbor and snatched out more than 70 cows. Tension is now high in the area. Yet in this month, black quarter severely killed cows across the land. The sheep’s wool peeled out of their bodies and cracks all over their bodies of the affected ones and seriously dying across the area. Goats have been attacked by serious foot rot.
Pastor Sirwo’s mother and my wife have been attacked by a disease I have never seen before under their feet they complain as if they are stepping on fire, they don’t sleep I suspect it may be lack of shoes yet the mountain is very cold. The people of Kapsang’ forest attacked by serious fever and pneumonia mostly children and women.
Remember we are living in the forest where there is no hospital, no security and even veterinary services. This came into being from the intertribal disputes of 2006 at Chepyuk scheme between Dorobo/Ogiek and Sabaot, the Ogiek being few and weak were driven to the forest where they were before. As they ran for the refuge to top of mount Elgon interior to the forest, they are living there to then, the malicious group called Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) grabbed the Ogiek’s land and killed hundreds of them. Thus we live in the forest to date.

One of the most fruitful meetings we have ever experienced took place in Turkey a couple of years ago with key leaders from the Middle East, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria.  I believe a couple of factors were in play here which greatly enhanced the results.  One was isolating the leaders from their busyness, cell phones and ministries.  Secondly, was their diligent pre-meeting work in the manual in preparation for the meeting, therefore we are going to try the same method in Asia and see what happens.  Also, there are several other benefits:  it costs less for the indigenous leaders to travel to a neutral location and for us to travel to a location that is easily accessible and many times less dangerous.  It sounds like a win win situation, but we will wait and see.  Actually, there is another aspect of this new training.  We are training one or two key leaders instead of holding a conference.  Many times, we train leaders but the “key” leader is never really on board with the teaching which sometimes can create problems.  By training the key leader one on one, he will then be able to go back and do a conference on his own hopefully without our presence, which is also a cost saving factor.  We would appreciate your prayers for discernment and wisdom, but most of all, that we be filled with the Spirit and focused on our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It will also be our joy to deliver approximately 2,500 Bible to believers in Laos, a country where the Word of God is only in the hands of a few.  Also, through the gifts of many, 1,000 Bibles are being given to the Karen Refugee Camp that burned down on the border between Thailand and Myanmar.  Please rejoice with us that God has provided these and pray that they will arrive safely without incident.

For a long time we have encouraged ministers of the gospel to be self-sustaining so they do not need outside support.  We have the joy of helping a brother in Christ purchase a Tuk Tuk so he can provide for himself and use the profit to help others do the same.  Following this model of Paul will accelerate the spread of the gospel and give a living proof of its life changing message.  Please pray that this brother will become a model to many in his country and beyond.

To God be the Glory!

ITINERARY May 5 – 12                  Key Karen Leader from Thailand: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy for Karen Baptist of Thailand.  Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

May 12 – 19                Key Leader from Cambodia: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy for the Khmer of Cambodia and purchase Tuk-Tuk to help key leaders become self-sustaining.  Training will be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

May 19 -21                  Distributing Bibles in Vientiane, Laos

May 19 – 26                Key leader from Pakistan: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy for Pakistan.  Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

May 19 – 26                Distributing Bibles and encouragement to the Karen refugee camp on the Burma/Thailand border which was burned to the ground.

May 26 – June 2          Key Burmese and Karen Leader from Burma: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy.  Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

June 2 – June 8            Key Chin Leader from Burma: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy.  Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

We bring you a very short newsletter with exciting news and also prayer requests regarding things that are unfolding right now.  Before I give you the details, let me thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us.  We see the Lord's hand directing us in ways we never imagined.  Here is a brief summary:

• Tim has worked on a revision of God's Plan for Church Planting and has renamed it "God's Plan for His Church - A Manual for Church Planting and Church Renewal".  We have gone through the initial editing and it is now in the hands of the graphic design team.  We are very excited about the changes in this addition which will make it easier for anyone to follow with the addition of diagrams, illustrations and more explanations.  Please pray that the Lord will guide us through the final edit and printing steps.
• The same revision is being prepared as a seminary course that will be introduced in seminaries throughout countries in the Middle East and North Africa.  We see this as a huge open door that we did not expect.  Please pray that the proposed outline of the course will be accepted by the seminary staff.
• Tim is leaving Thursday, June 28th for Thailand and will be gone for at least four weeks.  We believe this trip is the result of following a prompting of the Holy Spirit to seek a facility in that country where we can bring key church planters, leaders and those interested in restoring the church to a biblical foundation.  Please pray for the Lord to lead Tim as he seeks His guidance and makes contact with key leaders in the S. E. Asia area.
  
• We are pleased tell you that the CPM has been translated into the Chin language (Myanmar).  Please pray for printing to be on schedule for conferences in October/November.
  

As these items move forward, we will keep you posted on their developments.  As you can see, we feel very dependent on the Holy Spirit making us very sensitive to the divine will. and in humility we will follow His leading.  Thank you for praying!