David Garrison, IMB Regional Leader for South Asia, has said this about the region in which he serves:
South Asia is a huge gaping hole in the Great Commission. With more lost persons per square mile and more Unengaged Unreached People Groups than all the rest of the world combined, this region of the world continues to warrant the kind of attention it has only begun to receive from the IMB and other corners of the Evangelical world…In spite of South Asia being home to one out of every four non-Christians on earth, it is also home to millions of radiant born again believers…We feel that the greatest potential for reaching the 1.4 billion lost of South Asia is to mobilize and train South Asia's indigenous Christian population.As you can well imagine, I am very excited about this trip, and the possibilities for strategic ministry it represents. All told, we are supposed to have training conferences with approximately 1,200 pastors.
I hope to be able to give some more specific information once we return, and perhaps even some pictures. But for now, for security purposes, it is probably best not to be more specific. I would appreciate very much your prayers, that the Lord would use us and keep His hand upon us during this time.
Also, I hope to have internet connection, at least from time to time, while I am gone. If so, I will do my best to continue to post, including my next letter in the Yarnell-Rogers Dialogue on the Great Commission.
David,
ReplyDeleteConnie and I will be remembering you, Steve and Cindy in this venture for the Kingdom! We will also be remembering those Pastor's..... I have several itinerant Pastor friends in that region of the world that face regular spiritual opposition, but continue undaunted in their Service to the King of Kings! I shall hope and pray that they are planning and will be able to participate! I Timothy 1:17.....
Blessings...... barrett
David,
ReplyDeleteThanks for Your Newsletter. We will lift up Your Brother Steve and His Wife Cindy and continue to Lift You and Yours up for the Work of God Kingdom. Our Prayers are always with you and all Missionaries. If you run into anyone with the last name of Johnson, ask if they know us, I enclosed this Devotional from Oswald Chambers for today.
In His Name
Oswald Chambers
The Missionary’s Predestined Purpose
“Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant …” (Isaiah 49:5).
The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances—we are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16—“For God so loved the world … .”
We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God’s creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified. Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands. He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.
Beware lest you forget God’s purpose for your life.
Godspeed, David
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