Earlier in the month of August, my wife and I were able to be with Cornerstone Christian School for the Deaf in Angeles City, Philippines. We were there in my capacity as Director of Deaf Ministries for BIO. The school hosted a training seminar for teachers of the Deaf which was offered to teachers of other schools in the area. We had three different Christian schools and one public school represented in the seminar. Also interpreters from other church ministries joined us.
This was a training seminar to help teachers know how to better communicate with the Deaf. Of course, it was also an evangelistic opportunity. There was one teacher who was unsaved. She did not get saved during the seminar, but we are praying that she will remain in contact with the Christians who invited her to participate and that she will eventually see her need of salvation.
Along with the school training, we ministered in the deaf church. Through interpreting, special music and preaching, both my wife and I enjoyed serving with the Cornerstone Baptist Church. It is an actively growing ministry. We had 67 who came to church that Sunday. Soon the church will have to knock out some walls or find a new place to meet. A great problem to have.
Because of specialized ministries like this, missionaries are able to get into some countries that would otherwise be closed to traditional ministry. Certainly the Philippines is not a closed country. Missionaries are being trained and sent from there in exciting numbers. It is encouraging to think that some of the people we trained this summer could be ministering in restricted nations among the Deaf in the future.
Maybe God has blessed you with specialized training that you could use to help reach the nations for Him. Would you pray about using your talents to train missionaries and national workers to better carry out the great commission in their area? It could be through a training seminar like we conducted or it may be as full time missionaries in a foreign land. If you have questions about how you can serve the Lord in missions, please contact us and we will do what we can to help.