It's New Year's Eve, 2008. The stacks around me are growing as I prepare to leave in just over 24 hours for Asia. 9:30 New Year's night, to be exact. I hope that I will be able to keep in touch with all of you regularly through this blog.
A number of people have asked me about the purpose of this trip. In brief, it's two-fold. First, I'll be in Kunming, China, from Saturday, 1/3, until Thursday 1/8. I'll be preaching this Sunday morning at Kunming International Fellowship---the church I helped plant and which I served as head elder for seven years. The rest of the time, I'll be meeting with friends and former coworkers and simply enjoying time in our old home.
On Friday, 1/9, I arrive in Delhi, India, where I will be for two weeks. There I will meet with the pastor of Delhi Bible Fellowship as well as other nationals in order to discern how our church might come alongside them in more strategic and effective ways as partners in ministry, reaching northern India with the Gospel. I will also be meeting with other workers from our former agency to see the work they have been doing in that area. During this time, I will also be preaching in Delhi Bible Fellowship (Sunday, 1/18) as well as other opportunities that spontaneously come up (as they always do!).
I appreciate your prayers as I travel. I would ask specifically for three things:
1) That I will be attentive to the leading of the Spirit at all times. That I will go to the places He has prepared for me, meet the people He has for me to talk with, and listen with the ears of my heart. Ask that I would truly see the things He wants me to see---not only with physical eyes, but with the eyes of my heart.
2) That in my meetings with people, we would gain the vision God has for us. Pray for a clear sense of His leading through our conversations and a sense of unity as we seek the Lord together.
3) That when I return, God would use all of this to expand our vision as a congregation. I have a keen sense that He is doing something significant in our body. Ask that we as a congregation would be faithful and committed---no matter what.
Of course, please pray for my wife, Sue, as she is here at home. For 27 years, we have worked as a team, so I will be missing her perspective and the daily opportunities to debrief together. Not to mention the sheer joy of another adventure together.
India has often been in the news lately. A number of people have asked if I'm nervous about my safety in such a potentially dangerous place. Again and again, the Lord has brought to our minds Acts 20:22-24: "And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."
Pray for opportunities to do just that: "testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Nothing else is important. Nothing.
I will stay in touch as I'm able. Thanks for your prayers.
Tom
