Helping You Fulfill the Great Commission

News From Bill & Jennifer Green

Missionaries to the Deaf in Merida, Yucatan

Two new projects are in the works for early next year. We have always used the printed Bible tracts that other churches and mission ministries have provided us, but in January we will be publishing our first tracts for the church. They will include information about the church and the plan of salvation. We will also be publishing a special tract to give to the deaf. It will include a simple plan of salvation in both words and sign language and a map to our church. In February we will begin a literacy program for those who don’t know how to read or who read at a very basic level. We ask that you pray for God’s guidance as we work out the final details for these projects.

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VICKtory School Needs Your Help!

On September 10, 2001, VICKtory School for the Deaf was chartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since that time 169 Deaf kids, who could not speak, hear, or sign, and had no chance of going to school, have been educated. There are 100 presently enrolled. The school has relocated several times, which in itself is very difficult for the Deaf.

In September of this year, VICKtory will have nowhere to meet. There are no other options for rental space for that size operation, either privately or with the government. In 2010 The Ethiopian Government gave VICKtory a choice piece of land, and in 2011 a building was started. It is two-thirds complete, but we have exhausted our finances, and we need your help. We need $100,000 to complete the project. The government requires us to build in a certain manner. Without our help, these children will never be able to speak, hear, sign, learn, or know the love of Jesus. They will live unhappy and unproductive lives, facing rejection and abuse. Together, we have the power to change all that. Would you prayerfully consider donating today?

Missionaries Departing For Hong Kong

Sam Abrams will be ordained and the Abrams sent from the Bible Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Arkansas on February 9, 2014. The Abrams will depart for Hong Kong on the following Monday. Please pray for them as they make this transition.

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Come Now

By Dr. Richard Vick, BIO President Emeritus

When Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy he pleaded for him to come quickly. Paul knew that his time was short and the work must go on. In view of the urgency of the hour in which he lived he needed assistance. He didn’t ask for finances, equipment, or even new clothing; the old would do. In view of the fact that he was soon going to be departing this life, those things meant nothing to him. The urgency required something far more important than money, or even new clothing. The work needed manpower!

Paul needed help; in 2 Timothy 4:9 he pleaded, “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me.” In 4:21 he emphatically expresses his desire for Timothy to come before winter, “Do thy diligence to come before winter.” Paul the missionary is about to be martyred and there is much to be done.

Missionary Highlight
Victor and Robin Rouse

Victor and Robin Rouse

Please pray for Victor and Robin Rouse. Brother Rouse serves with Fires of Evangelism (Fuegos de Evangelismo). Victor is involved in conference work across Latin America.Latin American national believers are challenged and mentored to reach the world from Latin America through this conference ministry. This is a strategic ministry meeting an acute need.

The Rouse’s urgent need is support. Please invite the Rouse family to your church and consider them for support.

Please also pray for safety as Brother Rouse travels extensively.

Check out their ministry video.

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Missionary Quote

“Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but how much of God’s money will I keep for myself.”
—John Wesley

There are three things that demand our attention in Paul’s plea for Timothy to come to him. These three things are just as needful today as they were on that autumn day when Paul wrote to his dearest earthly friends – the need, the opportunity and winter is coming! The development of an acronym from these three points spell out NOW (Need, Opportunity, Winter). What Paul is trying to say is come now for spring will be too late.

If we truly believe that Jesus is coming soon we must realize the urgency of the hour! Missiologists tell us that two-thirds of earth’s population is yet to be reached with the gospel. When we consider that in just two countries alone, China and India where over two billion people live, we can see clearly how this is probably true.

The majority of the vast populations of the great cities have yet to be reached. The tribal people of the jungles and forests for the most part haven’t been reached. The people of the frozen north lands, the Muslim nations, Western Europe and other many populated areas of our own country have yet to be evangelized. Indeed it is possible and probable that two-thirds of the world has been neglected. There is a need today just as there was in Paul’s day!

Paul is in prison, and is about to die. He is alone, and he needs help for the work. Demas has forsaken him because of his love for the world. Crescens is now working in Galatia. Titus has gone to Dalmatia. Because of the great need, Paul has sent Tychicus to Ephesus. Only Dr. Luke is with him and he needs help! Today, things aren’t much better. As in Paul’s day missionaries are leaving the field and returning home. Statisticians tell us there are more missionaries leaving their fields of service than there are replacements.

What is the remedy for our dilemma? The Lord Jesus gives us the answer in Mark 9:37-39. “The harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” Please pray the Lord will give us the personnel needed for the many countries and locations where we need assistance or where we have had missionaries leave. Would the Lord have you to come and assist us in reaping the harvest for Him?

Editor’s Note: We are currently praying for missionaries to Botswana and to Bali. Please pray for Dr. Vick and Florine. They are in Ethiopia accompanying a young missionary on his survey trip. They will return shortly before Christmas.

Missionary Humor

A man went to his dentist because he has a strange feeling in his mouth. The dentist examines him and says, “That new upper plate I put in for you six months ago is eroding. What have you been eating?”

The man replies, “All I can think of is that about four months ago my wife made some asparagus and put some stuff on it that was delicious…Hollandaise sauce. I loved it so much I now put it on everything – meat, toast, fish, vegetables, everything.”

“Well,” says the dentist, “That’s probably the problem. Hollandaise sauce is made with lots of lemon juice, which is highly corrosive. It has eaten away your upper plate. I’ll make you a new plate, and this time use chrome.”

“Why chrome?” asks the patient. To which the dentist replies, “It’s simple. Everyone knows that there’s no plate like chrome for the Hollandaise!”

Things In God’s Hands

By John Yingling

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

—Mark 6:41

We often associate being in God’s hands with physical protection and comfort. God does protect and comfort us; however, this point of view generally comes from an earthly perspective rather than a heavenly one. What does it mean to be in God’s hands from His perspective and for His purpose? I believe that this is illustrated simply, yet succinctly in our text.

Missionary Highlight
Shawn and Leslie Beliveau

Shawn and Leslie Beliveau

Please pray for Shawn and Leslie Beliveau. They minister in the very secular city of Vancouver, British Columbia. It is reported that Vancouver has the highest percentage of non-religious residents than any other Canadian city, including Toronto and Montreal.Ironically God is bringing people from around the world to Vancouver. On any given Sunday the Beliveau family through Urban Community Baptist Church will minister to folks from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They are a light to many peoples of the world in this very dark place.

Please pray especially for the church’s special Christmas outreach during the annual community parade.

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Missionary Quote

“I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls to Christ.”
—David Brainerd

There in the wilderness God met the need of the hour with five loaves and two fishes. Seven in all, which emphasizes the fact that anything in God’s hands is the perfect tool for Him to meet any challenge. Let’s notice what the Lord Jesus did with the loaves and fishes in His hands.

First, Jesus took them. Some minimize the call of God. I believe, however, that our sovereign God has a specific work for every believer to accomplish through Him. Ephesians 2:10 is clear, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Every follower of Christ should possess a firm conviction regarding their gifts and calling.

Secondly, though not in the exact order of our text, Jesus broke them. A.W. Tozer said this, “Whom God would use greatly He will hurt deeply.” God MUST break us. Until we are broken, until we are dead we cannot be used of God. In John 12:24 the beloved Apostle recorded these words of Christ, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” If God is hurting you or has hurt you in the past it is because He has taken you for the high and holy privilege of being used by Him to meet a definite need in a specific, supernatural way. Dr. Robert Bakss said this, “When kids break things they break them because they are careless. When God breaks things it is because He is careful.”

Thirdly, Jesus blessed them. The only way to be effective in the ministry is to have the blessing of God upon our life. The last thing that our Savior did before ascending into Heaven was bless His disciples. Dr. Luke in Luke 24:50-51 reveals this to us, “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” After God breaks us He blesses us by filling us with the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you ministering in the fullness of the Spirit? In Luke 11:13 it says this, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” James 4:2b, “…ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”

Finally, Jesus gave them. You and I in God’s hands are the answer for this world in its hour of need. This wicked world needs Christ! Since the Church is the very Body of Christ, and since you and I are part of the Church then you and I, in God’s hands, are the present gift of God for this world. ANY crisis and ANY challenge can and should be met by the Body of Christ to the glory of God.

Missionary Humor

Comic © 2013 giffmex.org