From the Field: Pignon, Haiti
Pastor Francois Romelus and his wife, Madou, have humbly and faithfully led a church in Pignon, Haiti, since 1982. They have a church of over 200 people, run the local elementary school, and care for a large number of widows and about 50 orphans. They were in northern Virginia the weekend of February 22nd, when services were cancelled due to inclement weather. He recorded the following message to Reston Bible Church:
A team of 21 parents and Jr. High students are going to work with their ministry over Spring Break (March 26-April 3). The team will be running a VBS style camp for several hundred neighborhood children, trying to show God’s love for the orphans, and caring for the local church. God is doing much through the ministry there, and we want to be an encouragement to them.
Please pray for:
- The church in Pignon, that their faith in and dependence on the Lord would continue to deepen in the midst of many challenging circumstances.
- Pastor Francois and his wife Madou, that they would be encouraged in the Lord.
- The RBC team, that we would be a blessing and encouragement to the church in Pignon. Specifically, that we would be able to communicate to the children how much God treasures and values them.
Many people have asked about ways to help care for the orphans in Haiti. You can check out an Amazon.com wish list for them by clicking here. There you will find items that will be a blessing to them. You can purchase them off Amazon.com or elsewhere, and drop them off at Aaron Osborne’s office at RBC by Wednesday, March 18th, and we will deliver them. If you have any questions, please contact aaronosborne@restonbible.org.
Fun, Fun, Fun at Family Fun Night
Over the upcoming Spring Break, a missions team (led by Mike Meyers and Jason Goetz) will jet down to Brazil to help host a Vacation Bible School program for up to 200 children of the Terena Indian Tribe. On Friday February 20, the RBC Family-Quest Brazil team hosted a Family Fun Night at Reston Bible Church as a team-building exercise.
About 230 people (55 families!) came out despite record cold temperatures to play games, make crafts, watch movies, and devour pizza, popcorn, and ice cream. The mission team had its first chance to work together on a project, and it was wonderful to hear our younger volunteers ask (after having served for 5 hours), “Is there anything else I can do?” We were also happy to hear people say, “When are you doing this again?”
Special thanks to:
– The Don’s Pizza for giving us a great deal on our dinner
– Our volunteers who served alongside of us even though they are not going on the trip
– Our church family for coming out to support us. We hope you had FUN!
If you would like to support the team’s mission financially you can do so by clicking HERE (this link will take you to the Open Arms Worldwide website) and then following the instructions at the top of the page.
You can also support the team by eating out at The Jukebox Diner (46900 Community Plaza, Sterling VA, 20164) on Sunday, March 8th. For the whole day, (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) you can leave your receipt in the jar at the register and 10% of your bill goes to support our mission team!
From the Field: Where’s the Ban-yay-ro?
Twenty-two members of Reston Bible Church, led by Mike Meyers and Jason Goetz, are preparing to jet down to Brazil over spring break to help host a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for up to 200 children of the Terena Indian Tribe. The mixture of parents and kids from 5th grade and up met for the second time last week to get to know each other, learn important words like ban-yay-ro (bathroom), and figure out how to make this VBS absolutely amazing.
A few numbers from the meeting:
7 pizzas consumed
2 cups (of water) spilled
5 sentences learned in Portuguese
2 worship songs sung
5 craft projects picked
And a zillion other details discussed
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR FAMILY MISSION TO BRAZIL? Join us for Family Fun Night on February 20 from 6pm to 10pm as we play games, eat, and have a bonfire on Mount Minter. Where else can you go for dinner, friends, and hours of fun for just $10 and get to hear about our mission to Brazil? Hope to see you there!
From the Field: Bolivia
The update below is from Paul & Faith, RBC-supported missionaries serving with New Tribes Missions. Paul serves at NTM’s Training Center and helps oversee their U.S.-based ministries. One of his primary responsibilities is developing a leadership team to cast a vision for mobilizing believers for the task of tribal evangelism and church planting.
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A “new” happening in Bolivia brings an urgent prayer request! On Tuesday, January 27th through Thursday the 29th a group of around 30 Ayoré church leaders and their wives will be meeting together in Bolivia. They come from 10 Ayoré communities where Ayoré Churches exist. Paul’s brother and his wife will be meeting at the Missionary Training Center of Etnos, where they live and minister, for an Ayoré Leaders Conference of Spiritual Refreshment and Teaching. The facilities are available because the students are gone for “summer break” these days. Please pray for them as they will be doing the teaching for the 15 hours of meetings and deeply feel the need for Spirit-breathed inspiration, sensitivity and discernment for both the meeting time together and the hours fellowshipping together those three days. Please pray as well for good weather as it is rainy season and for open receptive hearts for all God has for all of us.
About 72 years ago, five young missionary men gave their lives in the effort of contacting this very primitive, nomadic indigenous people group — NOW, here they are — all these years later gathering together in the name of Christ! Was it worth it all? We LOVED the ten years God allowed us to invest in this work together with YOU who prayed for and supported this work. Our prayer is that YOUR hearts will be as encouraged as our hearts are as we pray for the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in these precious lives. God is at work! Check out this really neat video (below) – It’s an interview with some of our current students here at the Missionary Training Center. You are now investing in the training of these young people who will be scattering around the world to spread the gospel!
Thank you so VERY much for your financial support and for your faithful, faithful prayers for us! We are so very humbled by God’s amazing grace and faithfulness in our lives! We pray God’s ABUNDANT grace and blessings for you in this “new” year and that you will enjoy sweet fellowship with Him!
– Paul & Faith, New Tribes Mission
From the Field: Papua New Guinea
RBC-supported missionary Brian Shortmeier, who works with New Tribes Mission, shared the video below with our church at our 2014 Missions Conference. Dimapatai is one of many primitive Moi tribal people in Papua, who came to know Christ as his savior through NTM missionaries. In this video, Dimapatai shares his unscripted thoughts on Jesus.
Here is a brief update on Dimapatai from the Lambs, New Tribes Mission staffers in Ontario:
Sadly just a few weeks ago we heard that he had passed away. In a culture that typically mourns without hope for days when someone dies, the family couldn’t help but rejoice in their new-found hope because of Jesus. These were Dimapatai’s final words before he went to be with his Saviour. He said, “I am not about to go anywhere but Heaven. To go anywhere else is not possible. I’m going to Heaven.Don’t think that I’m going somewhere else. Don’t be nervous or afraid for me. There are not two paths for me. I am going to be with Jesus.” Praise the Lord that we will one day rejoice together in glory with Dimapatai and some from every tongue and tribe and nation! “O death, where is your victory, Oh grave, where is your sting!”
Please take a moment now to pray for the ongoing work of tribal evangelism and church planting in Papua New Guinea and across the unreached people groups of the world.
From the Field: Ireland
RBC-supported missionaries Steve & Julia left for full-time work in Ireland only a few weeks ago. Here is an update from them:
We have been in Ireland now for 5 weeks and God has been very gracious to us as we get settled in. We arrived during a difficult rental housing marked with little property available and it disappearing fast. In spite of that, within the first week God provided us with a beautiful modern 2 bedroom furnished apartment with lots of windows and light in an excellent neighborhood. God has also helped us get our utilities and broadband set up, find a reliable used car, obtain car insurance, open a bank account, get our Irish version of social security numbers, and begin the process of getting permission to remain in the country. We are living in the suburbs of Cork in southeastern Ireland.
We are currently working with Douglas Baptist Church outside of Cork. Douglas Baptist is one of 14 churches in Cork and Kerry counties that have joined together in coordinating activities and in working together to plant new churches in areas with no evangelic church. There are two new church plants in the works. These churches have one joint service each year; we attended that service at the end of September. It is exciting to see how God has grown His church in southern Ireland as the 500+ people came together for worship and teaching.
We have been able to get heavily involved in ministry here also. There are several Bible studies each week that we participate in along with special ladies’ and men’s meetings we have attended. These activities have been very important in helping us meet people, build relationships, and gain trust for future ministry. Steve was asked to teach a lot sooner than expected and just finished teaching 3 Bible studies and preaching the Sunday sermon in the last week.
We would appreciate your prayers for:
- Gaining permission from immigration to remain in the country.
- Julia, a North American, serving as a coordinator for a wedding on Oct 19 between a Filipino man and a Brazilian woman in an Irish
- church – lots of cultural issues come up.
- Learning the culture – new vocabulary, word pronunciation, and behaviors.
- Steve’s short-term mission trip (Oct 15-22) to Croatia with some men from Reston Bible Church to work on a church building
- Our trip back to the States (Oct 30-Nov 11) to visit family and have our belongings shipped to Ireland
Please be in prayer for Steve & Julia as they begin their new life & ministry in Ireland. Pray for grace and opportunity as they seek to know Christ and make Him known in Ireland.
HOPE Ministry Haiti Trip
Early in October 2014, a small group of RBC ministry leaders took a short trip to Pignon, Haiti. Aaron and Abi Osborne (our Jr High youth pastor and his wife), Pat and Courtney Cassada (who coordinate RBC’S HOPE Ministry) and Pete Ferrara (one of our church elders) took a trip to see one of our supported missionaries, Pastor Francois, in Pignon, Haiti. Pastor Francois, a native of Pignon, runs both a church that he started about 30 years ago as well as an orphanage that houses over 40 orphaned (and functionally orphaned) children ranging from infancy to almost 20 years old. He’s hired mothers, teachers and more for these kids and clearly prioritizes their spiritual health as well as their physical health. They’d give our kids in Awana a run for their money in scripture memorization (or soccer, for that matter.) They were amazing kids with bright smiles and lots of love. The pictures we took don’t even do them justice. I believe so much of that is due to Pastor Francois. He is a man with a full trust in God’s provision and grace, and was an amazing blessing to be around. He repeatedly called Reston Bible Church his “sister church,” and fully believes we are united in the work of the Lord, who adopted us out of our sin and calls us His children by His grace.
We brought new sound equipment for his church, a lot of much-needed clothes, shoes, and less-needed (but still enjoyed!) candy and toys that were just treasured – all generously donated by RBC. Our agenda, however, was not the typical short-term missions agenda. In Pastor Francois’ terms, “We are in Haiti,” which roughly translates to “Who needs an agenda?!” We simply played with and loved on and prayed for his children and talked a great deal with Pastor Francois about how to best serve and enable his ministry. When it comes to these children and his community going forward, he wants our hearts in Pignon more than our checkbooks. There are a lot of needs there. But well beyond the great need is a greater trust that the God who calls Himself “the Father of the Fatherless” will provide in abundance.
– Courtney Cassada, HOPE Ministry
Please take some time to pray for the children in Pignon and for the work Pastor Francois is doing there for the sake of the gospel. Be on the lookout for upcoming opportunities at RBC to support the children of Pastor Francois’ orphanage.
From the Field: Mae Phae, Thailand
Last weekend, the RBC congregation was blessed to receive a missions report from Scott McManigle, a former RBC missionary who now serves as the associate missions pastor at Faith Bible Church. Scott, along with his wife Annette and their children, spent eighteen years in northern Thailand. Through their service, the Lord used them to plant a church among the Pwo Karen tribe in a village called Mae Phae. Three Pwo Karen church leaders joined Scott last Sunday in praising the Lord for RBC’s support and involvement in sending the gospel of Christ to their tribe.
“Thank you for sending us a missionary. Thank you for sending the gospel. God has saved us from worshiping the spirits; He has saved us from the deceit of Satan through His son, Jesus.”
We praise God for the fruit He is bearing through the faithful proclamation of the gospel in Northern Thailand. Since the McManigles left Thailand in 2006, the church in Mae Phae has continued to grow and the Pwo Karen believers are teaching the gospel in other tribes around their area.
Please continue to pray for gospel to go forth in the Mae Phae village and to other villages throughout the region. Pray that many Pwo Karen tribesmen would come to saving faith in Jesus and that the church there would be a great light for the glory of God. To learn more about the church in Mae Phae and the Pwo Karen people, check out the video below.
(Video credit: Fellowship Bible Church)
From the Field: Mozambique
After an extended furlough to take care of their daughter’s educational needs, the H. family has returned to the bush in Mozambique where they seek to make Christ known to the Mwinika tribe. When they left, many people in the village were convinced that the H.’s would never come back, so the Mwinika villagers were pleasantly surprised when they actually DID return! As is part of the culture, the villagers came with a little something to welcome them back home, and as soon as they arrived, there were LOTS of children to greet them. The Mwinikan boys were anxious to play soccer, but the soccer field had been overgrown with weeds and thorns in the H.’s absence. The morning after they returned, they woke up to find a whole crew of boys out in the field working away to clear up the field so that they could play. While in the U.S., the H.’s had received a bag full of clothes for the children in their area, and they were able to give each boy who helped a new shirt!
It was a great encouragement to their hearts to be back and to see the different groups of Mwinikan believers meeting together. Some are stronger than others in their faith, but the interest in spiritual things is still there. One young couple was recently sent out from the main village to teach literacy and Bible lessons in a village far away from where they live. This was an incredible step of faith for them. As well, many Mwinika ladies tell the H.’s they are ready to start learning to read and write and to study God’s word together! It is amazing to see God’s provision in these ways.
The H. family spent a profitable two-week time in the village, settling back into life there – unpacking, reconnecting with friends, getting reacquainted with the language, and retaking their home back from the bugs. But now they find themselves back on the road again. The H.’s schedule for the next few weeks is very busy. This next week will be spent in Kenya where they will be dropping their daughter off at Rift Valley Academy for the upcoming school year, followed by a number of ministry meetings in South Africa.
Here are a few praises and prayer request from the H. family. Please take a moment now to pray for them and give thanks to God for all He is doing there.
- Praise the Lord for His strength over the past few weeks and for the many things they were able to accomplish in such a short time.
- Praise Him also for the work He is doing in hearts and lives of the Mwinika people. Pray that their interest in the Lord will continue to grow and that the believers there will become more grounded in their faith.
- Pray for the H.’s as they say goodbye to their daughter and for her as she settles into school in Kenya.
- Upon return from Kenya, they will be traveling on to South Africa for several days of ministry meetings. Pray for safety as they travel and for good and profitable results from the meetings.
Gospel Service & Raking Leaves
Since several of you made requests for it, here is the article I referenced in last Sunday’s sermon, Do Something, Part 1. It was originally published in November 2010 on my friend Matthew Wireman’s blog. Raking leaves with my kids seems, on one hand, like such a simple example. Yet I remember it being a moment of profound & helpful clarity in my walk as I considered the topic of laboring with a God who is not served by human hands, as though He needed anything (Acts 17:25). Yet serving matters, not because God needs us to do it, but the God who came to serve (Matthew 20:25-28) is pleased to include us in what He is already doing.
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My church just finished a week-long missions conference. As one might expect from such a conference, there was a repeated appeal for the serious consideration of Jesus’ command regarding sending laborers out into the field (Matthew 9).
With this in mind, on Sunday afternoon I sent my two kids out into the field the yard to labor for their father – and by “labor” I mean “rake leaves.” I was struck by several similarities to missions & service throughout the process. It was like watching a living parable of Gospel-centric labor unfolding before my eyes. Clearly, the analogy is limited, but here are some quick reflections from raking leaves with a 3- and 5-year old.
They went out joyfully. All good laborers should. They were happy to work with their daddy. It is a joy to labor for our Heavenly Father and to be with Him. (Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Peter 1:8)
The work was messy. There were times when it seemed my little laborers were making more mess than was there to begin with. Neatly-raked piles of leaves often became “un-raked.” Arguments broke out from time to time about who was going to do what. Filling bags with leaves one handful at a time was, shall we say …inefficient. Progress was not always evident. Regress often was. (Ecclesiastes 1, Romans 8:28)
They got tired. And distracted. And discouraged. And impatient. Even the best laborers will. For them, raking leaves was new and exciting …at first. About halfway through the process of cleaning up the lawn, those kiddos started to poop out, get whiny and wanted to go do something easier and more fun. But their father loved them still and encouraged them to keep at it. Likewise, our Heavenly Father lovingly encourages us toward perseverance while assuring us of His unfailing love. (Psalm 136, James 1:12, Romans 2:6, Philippians 1:6, Galatians 6:9)
The work was completed. Their partnership with me in raking the lawn was real and legitimate, but the completion of the task did not ultimately rest with them. Even if it was all up to them, they could not have finished. There was simply too much to do for a 3- and 5-year old, and they didn’t have the strength, patience or endurance to do it all. After a couple hours, all they managed to do was rake two piles of leaves and fill one bag about two-thirds of the way full. I do not say that to diminish the legitimacy of their work, but to put it in proper perspective. In the end, it was their father who made sure the job got done. Likewise, our Heavenly Father assures us that He will accomplish the work He has set out to do. (Matthew 16:18, 2 Timothy 1:9, Psalm 23:22-24, Ephesians 2:8-9)
Their father was pleased. As their daddy, it warmed my heart to see my two little ones out there raking their hearts out, even after they got crabby about it, argued, and wasted time, energy, and effort. Let me be honest – the quality of their work was not great. But the fact that they wanted to be out there with me more than made up for that. It was a relational labor where the value – at least, in my eyes as dad – was less in their performance, more in their posture. (Psalm 86:5, Zephaniah 3:17, James 4:8)
Their reward was great. Cheeseburgers and Slurpees. Well done, little laborers.
Do you labor for the joy of simply being near your Heavenly Father? Your reward, too, will be great. (Luke 6:23, 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, Hebrews 6:10-12, James 1:25)
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