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GENERAL SUNSHINE PROJECT UPDATE! We are elated to announce that the Sunshine Project will install solar panels on the roof of the kitchen this winter. This will complete the first half of phase one. This means Faith Home will be generating electricity for the lights, refrigerators, water and fans in the dining hall, a savings of over $400 per month! But the project is only half complete. The second half of the project will install panels on the school. If you or your church have not given, please consider a yearend donation. If you have already donated we sincerely thank you. You are truly blessing Faith Home and the Honduran children when you give to the Sunshine Project. Send donations to General Baptist International Missions: 100 Stinson Drive Poplar Bluff, MO 63901 Make checks payable to GBIM with “Sunshine Project” in the memo line. May God bless you.
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As we approach the end of 2015, Kim’s and my prayer is that God has blessed your church in many ways, but especially that He has multiplied your ministry through welcoming new believers in to our Christian family. We all know that Christmas allows us unique ways to share God’s love for man through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, with our neighbors. But you may not realize that the same is true on our mission fields. Christmas has become a worldwide celebration in an amazing way where people around the world, whether Christian or not, are embracing this season of giving. This blesses us with extremely interesting opportunities to share the true meaning of the season with all our neighbors - our Hindi neighbors, our Buddhist neighbors, and even our Muslim neighbors. From asylum seekers in southeast Asia, to Hindus and Muslims in India, to Buddhists in Japan, there is the amazing opportunity to share the beautiful gospel. Recently, while visiting with Jessey and Brittany Vemula (India), Jessey asked for an evangelist team during the holiday season. Honestly, I was somewhat surprised by the request, until they explained that it is their best opportunity to share the gospel. We were not able to fulfill their Christmas wish this year, but my prayer is that next Christmas season we can send such a team. Imagine making that part of your family tradition and being blessed to spend part of the holiday season sharing the story of the most miraculous birth in history to those who may be hearing it for the first time! —Mark Powell, Director
General Baptist International Ministries 100 Stinson Drive Poplar Bluff, MO 63901
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“Christ tasted death for every man.” Hebrews 2:9
DECEMBER 2015
CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD CHRISTMAS IN THE PHILIPPINES By Phil Warren
The Christmas season begins in September in the Philippines. For four months you hear Christmas music in the malls and the decorations brighten the atmosphere. Filipinos love Christmas! There is a part of me that is cynical when I hear “All I Want For Christmas Is You” over and over, but there is another part that says “Shouldn’t Christmas be in our hearts all year long?” Maybe the Filipinos are getting it right. Christmas here and Christmas stateside have little in common. There are no big trees with brightly wrapped gifts stuffed underneath for most families. The meal does not have a big brown turkey or smoked ham as its centerpiece. Yet, it is still loved as a time for families to gather and share love, laughter and music. Because of the strong Catholic influence, worship is still embraced as an essential part of the holiday celebration. Poverty is still a big part of life here in the Philippines. Especially during December you become so aware, as the people from the mountain villages are allowed to come and beg in this city of over 3 million. At almost every stoplight young women with a child on their hip come to your window with a paper cup and making an anguished face and signing they are hungry. DECEMBER 2015 CAPSULE
Cynical…again it would be easy, but the reality is that they are poor. As I reach into my pocket for pesos, I do so with grace and try to place myself in their situation. With the pesos we give a tract that shares the Gospel story. Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.” When they come, dirty and ragged, I get to help them. I get to show love and acceptance. I get to be Christ to them. I encourage you to love the season of Christmas. Enjoy family and friends and the blessings God has given you. Also, I want to encourage you to not be cynical and see who you can help and share God’s grace with. If you want to give a gift to the Philippines, we have pastors who survive on very little in their rural mountain churches. If you want to give a gift, I guarantee that it will be a Christmas they will remember.
NEWS FROM SAIPAN
By Glenn Jenkins, Interim Missionary in Saipan
Where is Saipan? It’s just a dot on the map; a small island 12 miles long and 5.5 miles wide with a population of 48,200. Yet, it is the largest and capital of a chain of 14 islands in the Northwest Pacific Ocean known as CNMI, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Yes, Saipan is small, but it is unique in many ways. Saipan is a U.S. territory lying west of the International Date Line, making it the first place in the U.S. to see the sun rise every day. The Guinness Book of World Records has cited Saipan as having the most equable temperature in the world, with an average of 85 degrees the year round; And the Marianas chain forms the peaks leading to the depths of the famed Marianas Trench, which stretches down to 35,500 feet, making it the deepest water on Earth. However, Saipan is most unique in the composition of its people. There are many ethnic groups from Asia, the Pacific Islands, and other parts of the world. This makes for many cultural differences for a small island, and this is also what makes Saipan Community Church unique. On any given Sunday, Saipan Community Church looks like a microcosm of heaven. There are people from many cultures, languages,races and nations worshipping in four different services. These groups form a unique PAGE 1
POPLAR BLUFF, MO PERMIT NO. 164 US POSTAGE PAID ORGANIZATION NON-PROFIT
MISSION HIGHLIGHTS
brotherhood, and on Christmas and Easter they have great celebrations in some very unique ways. As Christmas nears, the congregations get more excited, preparing for what is traditionally called “The Christmas Feast.” Many ethnic dishes of delicacies are prepared and shared during this occasion. People laugh and talk and enjoy a time of good Christian fellowship. After “The Feast” different groups dressed in their native costumes present Christmas performances from their own traditions. There are hymns and songs in different languages, and yes, even some traditional folk dances. The Christmas Feast is a time for Christians from all nations to share with each other in their own unique ways the celebration of the birth of Christ. I know that many of you are aware that this has been a tough year for Saipan. We are still in the process of recovering from the devastation of Typhoon Soudelor and the following tropical storm, Champi. We know that God has helped us, but many of you have too. We want to say a big THANK YOU to all our General Baptist family and friends in the U.S. who have helped us survive. God has sustained us. Your prayers have strengthened us. Your giving has uplifted us. We love you. You have helped us stay “Saipan Strong.” Please continue your prayers for our future. Our greatest desire for Christmas is that God would put it on someone’s heart to come and serve the Lord and this island as the missionary and senior pastor of Saipan Community Church. By the way, please know we are going to have Christmas this year. We are going to have “The Christmas Feast!” I’m looking forward to experiencing Christmas with a great group of loving people who love Jesus. Wish you could join us. Page 2
MISSION HIGHLIGHTS
PRAKASH AND JEMIMA PAMU INDIA
BECKY COOMER SOUTHEAST ASIA
Greetings in the precious name of Jesus. India is a country with different cultures, languages and religions. Hindus have many festivals throughout the year. For all those festivals they buy new clothes, clean their houses, and perform different worships to different Gods. For we Christians, a festival is sharing what we have with others. Usually we distribute new saris and blankets for the poor people. We sing Christmas carols in the streets and tell the story of the birth of Jesus to non-Christians. We will have sewing girls Christmas and Pastors Christmas separately on different days. We serve special food on every occasion and give some gifts to the pastors.
Due to Holiday schedules, some of my friends in the USA celebrate “Thanksmas” (Thanksgiving and Christmas combined). I feel like in many ways that happens in Hong Kong. Years ago I realized that for church (a church full of Internationals that often travel at Christmas), celebrating Thanksgiving is actually a better time to invite non believing friends to a church event, so my friends and I created community Thanksgiving dinner. While Thanksgiving is historically an American holiday, people from all cultures are quite eager to come see what traditions we have, taste traditional foods, and get to taste turkey. When I moved to Hong Kong I went and measured a turkey so I could cook turkey each year. That may seem strange, but if you had a small counter top oven, you too would see the wonder of a turkey sized oven. It is quite common for me to cook three turkeys each year for assorted celebrations. Then there is the Christmas part of activities. Working with Muslims putting “Christ”mas on a party invitation does not inspire great attendance, so we usually have our end of the year party. Most of the ladies are highly aware our party is in honor of Christmas, and we discuss the Christmas story freely at the party. Muslims also believe Jesus was born from Virgin Mary (it’s the details of how it happened and who Jesus is in light of eternity that they disagree on). They are more than willing to come to a year end party and discuss religious things, because that means they are free to discuss what they think too and do not feel like the party is meant to force them into believing Christianity. Stick with me. I realize the above sounds like I’m “hiding my light under a bush” or “taking Christ out of Christmas” and I would have said the same thing 15 years ago. Anyone who
We are conducting street Christmas festivals during nights throughout Christmas month In Pithapuram. Every year we are conducting four to six street Christmas celebrations in different parts of the town and sharing the gospel story of salvation in person and in meetings.
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knows me would tell you they know I am a Christian. And depending upon how long they have known me, they know assorted levels of why I believe what I believe. They know that they can ask questions and state doubts in a safe place where love will be returned. The major difference? I realized that if I can’t get them to dialogue with me, then I can’t get them to know why I celebrate Christmas. So I meet them where they are—just like Christ met me where I was and built a bridge for me to get to Him. In the process, I am putting Christ back in Christmas by introducing them to the greatest love I ever have known.
This is a picture from last year’s “end of the year party” where some of the ladies from my class came to a party hosted in a home of my friends from church. Games were played. Food was eaten. Christmas was discussed.
URGENTLY NEEDED! • Senior Pastor at Saipan Community Church • Two Missionary Families are needed in the Philippines • Two Missionary Families are needed to serve in Honduras Please contact: Mark Powell International Missions Director to discuss any of these available positions.
INDIAN CHRISTMAS By Jessey Vemula
Christmas is an important holiday for Indian Christians. However, when I was young I used to not think that. Growing up in a mostly Hindu country and going to a Hindu school did not help my views. My Hindu schoolmates had fun on most breaks from school, because there were so many festivals.
During the year a Hindu can celebrate at least 50 different festivals. When the break was over and school started again, my friends would brag and tell me what a wonderful time they had. This made me feel bad, and I wished that Christians had more festivals like Hindus. When Christmas would start to get closer though, I would get very anxious and excited, because I knew I was going to get to have fun like my schoolmates and make them jealous. As a child this is what I thought and felt, but now I look at Christmas as a great opportunity. When the Christmas season approaches we start preparing everything from children’s plays, decorations, and even painting the church. The church will be decorated with many colors, garlands, and balloons. The children will do dances and a nativity play. Everyone is so excited and happy when the month of December finally arrives.
Another part of Christmas here is caroling. Usually a group of people will go to our church members’ houses. One person in the group will be dressed as Santa Clause and he will give out cookies, candies, and gospel tracts. After caroling our church member will serve sweets and other foods that they have prepared to the group. It is a great time of fellowship, celebration, and opportunity. Christmas is the one time of the year that we are not kept from worshipping Christ openly. There is less opposition and persecution from Hindus. So Christmas is the time for us to really focus on sharing about that faithful night when God sent His son to earth so that He could die for all. This is a very precious time for every church member here because they get an opportunity to tell about Jesus Christ and what He has done for them.
Please pray for Christmas in India.
Pray that it will be a time when many souls will come to know about the baby that was born in Bethlehem that Christmas night!
Phone: 573.785.7746 Email: Mark.Powell@GeneralBaptist.com DECEMBER 2015 CAPSULE
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