We are seated in the waiting area in Beijing, China ready to board a plane that will take us back to Newark, New Jersey and then on to Atlanta. It will take about 24 hours to get home. That counts the time since we left the hotel, spend 13 hours and 45 minutes on the Beijing to Newark flight, lay overs, flight to Atlanta and then ride to the house.
The body gets a real work out because it was noon when we left the hotel to come to the airport and will be midnight when we get home but then you add in the 12 hour time change going back and you get a 24 hour day from leaving to arriving. I hope that several of you will make the trip over the next few years. If members of our church are serving here I hope that many of you will make the trip to see them, love them, and bless them.
God is doing great things here. Jake and Steph are being greatly used as you have seen from following me on twitter or facebook and this blog. God has blessed and souls are getting saved. Two churches are started and each have 2 week end services.
Mark and Natasha are working very hard on deputation. God is greatly using them too. They will be here Lord willing within a year. They need our prayers. They need our help financially. I want to get them to $500 a month from our church before they leave. I want to get money together to help them greatly with their set up fund. I want to be a real blessing to them.
They will have great hurdles to cross. They must learn the language and the culture. They must learn to adapt to a foreign country. I know that they can and will. I ask you to really love them and pray for them.
Spend time with them now before they leave. Take them out to eat. Have them over to your house. Get close to them so that you will have a major investment in them when they are gone. God will use you in their lives.
They take off their shoes as they enter the church building and put on slippers. If you want to know how many are there count the shoes and divide by 2. They ran out of slippers and had to use plastic slip ons for the extras. That is after they bought 30 new slippers yesterday.
There were over 130 in attendance all under the age of 30 except me! God is doing a work here.
God bless each one of you very much today. I am here in China with Mark and Natasha Tolson. God is doing wonderful things here through Jake and Stephanie. It is so exciting to see Chinese people being saved and discipled. Those of you that give to missions through our Faith Promise program are making a major difference in the lives of literally hundreds. If you do not know about Faith Promise you can talk to someone in your Sunday School Class and get involved today.
Today is Mother’s Day. I thank God for my mother, my mother in law, my daughters and daughter in laws that are mothers, and especially for Betty. She has been the most precious mom in the world. So from Harbin, China I wish all of you a very Happy Mother’s day.
I am on the largest mission field in the world today and my heart hurts for all those around the world that do not have a gospel preacher. I hope that you will begin praying for the Lord to send forth laborers to His harvest. I hope you will consider how God might want to use you to spread His name and glory around the world.
Here is Mark T preaching in the English service. Not the best picture in the world because I took the picture with my Black Berry camera. The lighting was terrible. Mark did a great job. He and Natasha will do a great job as missionaries and I am very proud of them.
It will be a tough job learning the language and adapting the culture but they were born for it and will do great.
Jake is doing a great job. He speaks the language well. He deals well with the people and the culture and he has not allowed fear to keep him from reaching out to many people. I am excited about what I am seeing here.
I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest young people in the world. I thank God for them and I am asking God for more young men to teach and train to get to the field. All over the world there are countries and millions of people that need the gospel. You could be the next one. Come get some training at the Our Generation Training Center.
I want to wish a very special Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who read this blog and especially to the moms at Vision. I am in China right now. That is a long ways from all of you and it is already Sunday morning while it is Saturday night there.
Please know that I love all of you and I have left you in very capable hands with our church staff and Tony Howeth preaching today.
I have to express my love to the most important woman in the world to me and that is my wife and the mother of our children Betty. This picture was taken nearly 36 years ago on August 18, 1973.
This next picture is from way back when we were just getting started and had just taken our first baby, Chris, home from the hospital.
First there was one then there were two.
Then we jump straight to four
Then came the grandkids. The mother to a bunch of little mothers that have done a great job with their kids.
Here is the whole gang
Betty I just want to say that I love you and thank God for you. You are the greatest woman in the world and without you I have no idea what life could be like. I miss you and wish that I could be there with you for this day but can’t. Just know that no one loves and respects you more than I do.
Betty has been a mother and grandmother to all of our family plus she has sons and daughters in the ministry all around the globe serving as missionaries. The young guys sometimes just put up with me but they love Betty because who can’t love such a sweet lady and substitute mom.
I also want to thank God for my mom and the way God used her in my life. I thank her for teaching me to study the Bible. I thank God for the discipline she instilled in my life to dig deep into God’s Word.
I thank God for my mother in law who raised the greatest lady in the world. Today I have lots of moms to be thankful for.
I am so excited about what our friends are being used of God to do here in Harbin. The plans are exciting. People are being excited. Young men looked me in the eye and told me that they want to serve God full time as preachers and pastors. They know the dangers and have made up there mind.
J is working hard to get their training prepared. He is going to do whatever it takes to get them ready to be used of God. There are wonderful young women with a tremendous hunger to do something for God.
You can be so excited and praise God for what is being done here.
The people are not afraid to let others know that they are saved. They speak openly of their faith.
We have sat for hours considering what can be done to get more people excited about doing something for God. Things that will raise up more workers, get more soulwinning done. Whatever they can do they want to do and are going to do to get the gospel out.
Please pray for them. Now another family from our church is coming here. They will be greatly used of God. The doors are wide open.
There is a place for you where you could come and get to work. Will you surrender to God to take the Word of God somewhere and preach and reach the lost?
McDonald’s with a little sign that I doubt most of you can read. We went late at night. It is open 24 hours a day.
If you are my friend on facebook you can see more pictures and some of the people from the church in a leader’s meeting we did today. They are wonderful people and I am excited about being here. I pray for this great country that God will raise up hundreds of workers to take the gospel across the country.
Will you pray about going? Will you pray that God will send forth laborers? Will you give an extra offering to help us send missionaries?
We have arrived in Harbin, China. It is beautiful weather here. Got a good night’s sleep after traveling for over 24 hours. We are 12 hours a head of you in time. So I am writing this at 11:38 AM and it is the same pm for you.
Excited about seeing what God is doing here. I will keep you updated on the blog here so stay tuned
