“There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.” February 2017 Dear faithful partners in ministry:
Richard Hack Pastor GLBM President
Dr. Bob DeWitt LBC Staff Evangelist Founder/Director GLBM James Reedy LBC Secretary GLBM Representative
Matthew Mayer LBC Deacon GLBM Financial Secretary Lou DiFilippantonio Evangelist GLBM Representative
We have just returned from a five-week missions trip to our beloved Myanmar and we are happy to report to you that many hundreds of souls have been saved, churches have been planted, Scriptures have been distributed, and pastors and congregations have been strengthened. I am excited to send this newsletter to you and I know that it is long and, perhaps, even tedious to wade through. But it is because of your faithful prayers and generous, sometimes sacrificial, giving that we are able to go so far around the world and preach Christ. I am sure that you will want to read of what God has done through our partnership with you. Our 2017 Annual Missions Revival at GLBM’s home, the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Horseheads, New York, will be March 25-29. Every year this meeting is the greatest week with the biggest impact upon our church. We want you to be a part as we focus on reaching our world for Christ. My father-in-law, missionary to Bolivia for over forty years, has often said, “The foreign mission field is the heart of man where Christ is foreign.” That means that the mission field does not start in Old Burma, or Africa, but in Horseheads, New York or wherever your local congregation may be serving the Lord. We want to focus on reviving our vision to reach the world, starting at home and going as far as God will give us faith and resources to reach. Will you come and be a part of it? Our church wants to host senior pastors and their wives (or whoever they choose to bring with them), overnight in some of the finest lodging our area offers. Each year Lighthouse families give sacrificially to pay for hotel rooms so that Pastors can be involved in the services on Monday night and Tuesday morning, fellowship together, and be refreshed. A wonderful lunch will be served on Tuesday. Each year Pastors who attend say that our hospitality, music, and the spirit in our services is unsurpassed. But each year, we strive to have powerful speakers from around the country who can help give us a greater vision and the faith to see it fulfilled. We want you to be part of our great week of Missions Revival. This year’s special speakers are: Dr. Jeff Fugate Clays Mill Road Baptist Church, Commonwealth Baptist College, Lexington Kentucky
Timothy Davis GLBM Missionary Representative
Evangelist Chris Stancil,
Peter D. Judson GLBM Missionary
If you will simply call our office or send an e-mail to me, we will make a reservation for you to attend this wonderful meeting and secure your hotel accommodations.
National Pastors In Myanmar Htein Win Ei Thaung Lian Mang Sar Joel Myint Aung A Lin Myo Min Htun Lal Ram Hngak And others
Pastor Tim Young (and former missionary) Heritage Baptist Church, Palmyra New York
Here’s what some pastors have said about these meetings: “I didn’t really want to come….but the skeptic in me starved to death at your wonderful meeting!” “While your choir was singing, I looked at my wife and saw that she was weeping tears of joy. That alone made our trip worthwhile.” “My wife and I have never experienced hospitality like this before!” “Even though we serve in the pastorate far away, we consider Lighthouse Baptist Church our home. We would not miss your annual Missions Revival.” “The meeting is so refreshing, we want to stay longer than just one night!” We all hope to see you this year! Your servant for souls in the Golden Land,
Dr. Bob DeWitt A ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church, 209 Gardner Rd. Horseheads NY 14845 Email Address: glbmbob@gmail.com Office: 607—739—9062 ♦ Dr. Bob DeWitt’s Cell: 607-426-8034 ♦ On the web: www.lbchorseheads.org ♦ www.goldenlandbaptistmissions.com
“There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.” On January 9, eleven people formed the 2017 GLBM Missions Team and flew 16 hours from JFK International Airport in New York to Hong Kong, and then 3.5 hours to Yangon, Myanmar (Old Rangoon, Burma), for a total travel time of 31 hours including driving time and layovers. Team members were GLBM Founder/Director “BaGyi” Bob DeWitt, Evangelist Lou DiFilippantonio, GLBM Representative Jim Reedy, GLBM Financial Secretary Matthew Mayer, LBC Bus Captain and Sunday School Teacher Jeremy Norton, New Manna Baptist Church (Marion, NC) Missions Director Ken Y oung, Clays Mill Road Baptist Church (Lexington, KY) Bus Captain Jared Hatcher, Mountain State Baptist Church (Summersville, WV) Evangelist Boyd Collins, and Mountain State Baptist Church teenagers—Caleb Collins, Caleb Mace, and Morgan Woods. Most of the team stayed 12 days and returned to America on January 20. “BaGyi” Bob DeWitt, Lou DiFilippantonio, and Jim Reedy stayed through February 7 for a total of 30 days. EVANGELISTIC CRUSADE: Landing in Yangon, the team got a few hour s of sleep at a cheap hotel and then tr aveled again by bus (seven hours) to Malawmyine—Myanmar’s fourth largest city on the Andaman Sea. There, led by GLBM Missionary Peter Judson, the team went to the streets, distributed fliers, witnessed to everyone in sight, and hosted the firstever open-invitation Gospel Crusade in one of the strongest Buddhist areas of the country. Literally hundreds of Buddhist and Muslim people turned to biblical salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. To our knowledge, this has never been done there. MINISTRY TO LEPERS: While in Malawmyine, the team went to visit and minister to the patients at the ar ea lepr osy hospital. Going from ward to ward, the team sang, gave testimonies, and preached the Gospel of Christ. Patients, laying in beds or sitting in wheelchairs with their surgical casts and soiled bandages, listened intently to every word. Praise the Lord! 55 souls, that day alone, prayed with us to put all their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. SPECIAL CRUSADE MUSIC: It was a dr eam fulfilled to bring the Aunglan Baptist School choir, made up of over thirty young people, to sing at the Crusade. Special gifts made it possible. Led by their pastor, GLBM Missionary Htein W in Ei, the kids traveled more than 18 hours by bus to sing for the Lord and help lead people to Christ. They were a huge blessing as they sung the old hymns of the faith in English and in their own tongue. Their testimony was as powerful as their singing. GOSPEL LITERATURE: Going thr ough thousands of Gospel tr acts and flier s in record time each day, the greatest need of the Crusade was printed literature to pass out on the streets. So eager to receive information, people in cars and on motor scooters stopped in traffic to get copies of what was being distributed. When the supply was exhausted, the team pulled from their own resources thousands of dollars to print more and more everyday. We had a wonderful opportunity to give out the Gospel as Jeremy Norton made balloon sculptures at every stop (as he does at the GLBM home church) and drew huge crowds of kids and adults in the streets. NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH PLANTING: Following the cr usade, the team r eturned to the large city of Yangon and visited several GLBM missionary/church planters including Thaung Lian, A Lin, and Lal Ram Hngak, otherwise known as Pastor Steven. The team had the exciting privilege to participate in one of Pastor Steven’s initial church services. We helped him distribute gospel tracts in his community and, because he had no transportation, pooled our own financial resources to buy him a brand new motor scooter for his family and ministry. Then in Yangon, we walked through the city, carrying boxes of Scriptures, and rode a large ferry across the river to the village of Dala. There the team distributed Scriptures and witnessed to many. Souls were saved and among them a wonderful young Buddhist family who invited BaGyi Bob into their home to hear the Gospel. THE MISSION TEAM EXPERIENCE: When the time came for the “First Wave” of the 2017 Team to board their flight for home, each one testified of how God changed their hearts and their very lives because of what they had seen and experienced in the Golden Land. They saw the hopelessness of idolatry, the emptiness of worshipping false spirits, the poverty, sickness and hunger—both physical and spiritual. They experienced many things like the poor roads, Eastern “squattypotties,” the food, smells, the dust and smoke. But they also came to know the heart of the Burmese people: honest, innocent, serving, respectful, responsive, and reciprocating to love. Every team member, some who had never been outside America and never flown before, expressed with tears, their overwhelming desire to return to Old Burma. NORTH! TO THE CHIN TRIBES: When the “First Wave” Team returned to America on January 20, the “Second Wave” boarded a Myanmar National Airways flight and flew from Yangon to Kalaymyo in Old Burma’s northern Sagaing Division, near the Chin State and India borders. From there, BaGyi Bob led Lou DiFilippantonio, Jim Reedy, Thaung Lian, and a young man named “Nay Min Htun” (a student of Pastor Htein Win Ei) to the village of Kanan, near the city of Tamu and the Manipur, India border. There, Peter “Van Siang Lian” is planting a church by faith and has won many souls to Christ, including a man who was a Buddhist monk for more than thirty years. They are erecting their first church building and need our help. Their faith and love for Christ was very evident and an inspiration to the entire team. A Ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church, 209 Gardner Rd. Horseheads, NY 14845 Email Address: glbmbob@gmail.com Office: 607-739-9062 ♦ Dr. Bob DeWitt’s Cell: 607-426-8034 ♦ On the Web: www.lbchorseheads.org ♦ www.goldenlandbaptistmissions.com
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KALAYMYO: In the lar ger township of Kalaymyo, “BaGyi Bob” preached at the Mercy Baptist Church and Christian School, a large congregation of Zomi Chin people brought to Christ initially by American missionaries in the 1800s. Their pastor, Rev. Dal Khan Mang, a wonderful man of God with a real passion for his people, led them to proclaim “BaGyi Bob” as the “Second Adoniram Judson.” Also in Kalaymyo, the team visited Pastor Joseph Abraham, a Chin missionary who has an orphanage, school, and Bible institute, training young people to reach Myanmar for Christ. This church worshipped in their traditional tribal way, which was an incredible experience for the GLBM Team. It is something difficult to describe. But their joy and excitement was infectious. There we met a young evangelist who has been preaching to the Burmese Muslims. In one village, they tried to kill him, and he has a huge scar on his neck where they tried to cut his throat. The orphaned children there, rescued by Joseph Abraham, are severely lacking in nutrition and many of them are sick and weak from anemia. We have an American company that is going to donate vitamin supplements and ship them for us if we can get them through. Please pray! THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE: Fr om Kalaymyo the team tr aveled by van deep into Chin State, up “Chin Hill,” along one of the most winding and dangerous roads in Southeast Asia. Driving sometimes inches from sheer drop-offs of thousands of feet to the village of Tedim (elevation 5,610 feet), we walked the streets, talking and mingling with the Zomi Chin people, eating their food, and enjoying the breathtaking mountain views. The team found that there are many churches in Tedim, but a desperate need for revival. Still, we found some people who deeply love the Lord and our young preacher boy, Nay Min Htun, found himself wanting to live and work among them. Staying in a Chin Guest House overnight, the team struggled to sleep on what was little more than plywood beds with bamboo mats. The temperature dropped that night to near freezing, and we found ourselves huddled around a charcoal burner behind the front desk to stay warm. AYEYARWADY DIVISION IN THE IRRAWADDY RIVER DELTA: Ar r iving back in Kalaymyo, the team flew back to the city of Yangon and got ready to travel again. This time we hired a van and driver to take us to Ayeyarwady Division, a Burmese province in the southern Irrawaddy River Delta. The road is extremely rough and bumpy. Travel is slow going, and a trip there from Yangon takes most of the day. Here GLBM Missionary/Church Planter Joel Myint Aung has been laboring with his wife and family for several years and raised up a small church among the Burmese Buddhists there. The Apostle Paul told Barnabas, “Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.” In like manner, we wanted to go and encourage Brother Joel. It was during the week and many members of his congregation were working. But we held a church service with some of the folks and had a sweet time of fellowship. SOME OF THE BEST NEWS OF ALL: The day after r etur ning fr om Ayeyar wady Division we jumped on a bus to travel northward, along the Irrawaddy River, to the old Burmese capital of Prome, now called Pyay. From there we went westward to U Chit Pin, a small village named after a tree indigenous to the area with bright orange blossoms. There, GLBM Missionary-Church Planter Myo Min Htun has started a new church and is winning souls to Christ. I am very excited about this preacher for two reasons: 1) He is pure Burmese. In Myanmar, we have preachers who are from the Chin tribe, the Karen tribe, Mon, Shan, Kachin, and even Pa O, but few pure Burmese. And we will not win Myanmar for Christ without Burmese preachers. 2) Myo Min Htun is the convert of GLBM Missionary Mang Sar in the Western Myanmar province of Rakhine State. So, understand: the preachers we are sending out to reach people and plant churches are winning, training, and sending more preachers. Pastor Thaung Lian has five more preacher boys and two young ladies from Mang Sar in his Bible college right now.—AND THAT IS HOW IT’S DONE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! PRAISE THE LORD GOD! :) REFRESHMENT: After our visit with M yo M in Htun and his people, we r ode in the bed of a tr uck back to Pyay and caught a bus to the village of Aunglan, still farther north, where we wanted to spend more time with Pastor Htein Win Ei and his precious students and orphan children. We had a wonderful service of singing and preaching that night, and the next day, we took the students on boats across the river to the historic village of Thayet. We walked the streets and talked to many people in this place where very few have ever seen foreigners. We passed what is to become a hotel of sorts and, seeing that they had ice cream, we bought some for everyone and had a wonderful time of fellowship together. But soon we learned that, while we were enjoying ourselves in Aunglan, Thaung Lian’s orphans were being thrown out of their apartment back in Yangon and had no place to go. So, whereas we had planned to stay for several days, we went to the bus station and bought seats for the first available trip south. Standing at the counter, the Bus Station Manager pointed at Brother DeWitt and said, “That’s ‘BaGyi Bob!” Htein Win Ei began to laugh and said, “BaGyi, he already knows you!” But this was the third time on the trip, in different places around the country, that this had happened. Again, we want to thank God for everything He is doing in the Golden Land, even when we don’t understand it! BEDS FOR ORPHANS: When we ar r ived in Yangon, we immediately went to wor k to get the orphans situated. Brother DeWitt had already raised money for the beds through special offerings in churches. But the question became, “Should we build bunkbeds or buy them?” Sufficient lumber could not be located and that which was available was ridiculously expensive. We thought about steel, bamboo, and even PVC pipe. Finally, after shopping all day in the city, BaGyi Bob made the decision and bought seven beautiful steel bunkbeds, mattresses, and pillows for all. We wish that those who gave could have seen the smiles on the children’s faces. These children have never slept on a bed in their lives. Now, as the Bethany Baptist Church, College, and Orphanage building nears completion, the people are excited. But the untold story is that all around them is new construction as Singaporean investors are erecting 18-story apartment cities in every direction. The opportunity for Bethany Baptist Church to reach Myanmar souls for Christ is about to explode! PERSECUTION: Back in the Yangon Division we tr aveled each day, sometimes twice a day, to differ ent GLBM preachers and churches. We encouraged the brethren, assessed different needs, provided some of those needs, and fellowshipped with our people, rejoicing in the Lord our Saviour. BaGyi Bob had a particular burden on his heart for Pastor A Lin who is building a great church by faith, amidst persecution. Regardless of the circumstances, he and his people are caring for fifteen beautiful orphans and winning many souls to Christ. They desperately need their own property. Their house/church is located in a rental property, and the Buddhist landlord is pressuring them to stop church services on his land. They have occupied this property for several years but now the landlord is building a Buddhist shrine in the front yard to try to force them out. Without GLBM’s help, they will never be able to purchase their own land. We couldn’t meet that need with the money in our pockets, but having a service together with them, we realized that they needed a guitar for their worship services. Each man on the team pulled from his own pocket the money needed and A Lin was able to purchase a quality instrument, “meet for the Master’s use.” (This was the second guitar that we purchased during the trip, and we were glad to do it for the Lord’s work.) Thank you for giving and praying for us! You are truly our partners in ministry and we are grateful! Please pray for our people! - T he GL BM T eam