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A Baptism in Japan!!!!

Written by admin on . Posted in baptism, evangelism, Japan, missions. No Comments on A Baptism in Japan!!!!



A friend named Mike Ackerman and his wife our doing missionary work in Japan and he recently sent out an update explaining that they had their FIRST BAPTISM. My heart rejoices with Mike and his desire to serve in Japan. He is such a talented young man and could easily work any where in the world, but God has burdened his heart for the people of Japan. Please read his post and pray for him and his work and consider sending him prayer and financial support if God so leads you.

Keep up the Great work Mike. Praying for you today.

His letter….

Dear Friends,It has been an exciting and busy start to 2010. We have begun holding our weekly church services. There is more I wish I could tell you than I have room here to do, but it has been a great start! We have had a number of people consistently coming, and I think there have been new people every week.

The most exciting part of this past month came just this past Sunday. A woman named Kyoko made a decision to follow Christ and was baptized. She has come to every service except our first event in December. Part of what is neat about her story is that none of us knew her a month ago. She was invited to church by an acquaintance I invited a couple months ago.

It is clear that she had been searching for something, and the neutral ground of our sports bar church provided the context for her to learn about the love and grace of God.

There are literally millions of people in our city who haven’t been to a church and heard the Gospel. We thank God that Kyoko was able to make her way to our church and hear!My friend Reo who plays drums in our worship band sounds like he is really considering taking the step to put his faith in Jesus. He has been at every service, and him and I continue to meet up every once and a while one-on-one.

A couple weeks ago he told me that coming to church, along with having relationships with our team, has really impacted him. He said he is trying to find his way in life and wants to learn more about God. Him and I will begin going through a short book together that introduces Christianity.

Please be praying that those times serve to help him find a relationship with Jesus Christ.I wish I could share more of what is happening, but I hope you are encouraged that the prayers and financial support are helping the Kingdom advance here in Japan.

This coming year looks to be a challenging year for us financially, so please pray for God’s provision. Lord willing, there will be many more people like Kyoko who are able to hear the Gospel at Mustard Seed Christian Church and respond in faith!

Mike, Erin, Brayden, and Cooper

Haiti Earthquake 2010

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Many are wondering who caused this earthquake. You might be surprised to know how many people have asked me, “Was this the devil? Or was this God?” My answer may or may NOT surprise you. I’m not sure it was either. Geologists have known for a LONG time that Haiti was ON TOP of a fault line, just like geologists have told us that Los Angeles is on top of a fault line. Earthquakes happen all over the world when faults beneath the surface of the earth shift. One day, as almost every expert has predicted, we are going to see the earthquake of all earthquakes here in our home town.

My heart and time are filled with other issues, such as trying to figure out how we can rescue people physically and spiritually in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, and it’s only a short 2 hour flight from Florida’s coast, I might add. They are OUR neighbors, and three days ago, as many as 50,000 to 100,000 Haitians lost their lives when the 7.0 Earthquake hit at about 5:00 p.m.

Those numbers will climb if we are not able to get rescue teams and equipment into the heart of Port-au-Prince as soon as possible. We have volunteers working around the clock to bridge the communication gaps—including a systems engineer who typically writes backend code for ethereum casinos but has spent the last forty-eight hours helping us route satellite data to the staging areas. Even with that kind of tireless dedication, I am told that three days afterward, we are still struggling to get rescue equipment and the basic necessities of food and water to the people who need it.

My heart breaks when I see the news and hear the reports of complete devastation. My prayers are with the people of Haiti, and I pray that we will all do whatever is possible to help send relief. We will be sending a lot of the monies that we collect to the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission(www.nwhcm.org). We have sent several teams in recent years to this missions outpost, which is 90 miles north of the epicenter. They have their own medical team, and we know for sure that any monies we send will be used for those who were hit the hardest.

Having grown up in the Midwest, I am familiar with tornadoes and floods, and since moving to L.A., I have experienced several earthquakes. They are natural disasters, and we are seeing them happen more and more around the world. But whenever we see natural disasters, we also see supernatural responses when Christians around the world dig deep into their pocketbooks to help send resources to those who are hurting. Every dollar counts, and every prayer counts. They have both a physical need as well as a spiritual need. I would like to see God move in our hearts to help in both regards — that our people and our missions can help rebuild broken homes and cities and then be used to help introduce the Christ that saved us all.

Please pray for God’s blessing upon those who need to be rescued. Pray for those who are trying to coordinate the search and rescue teams. Pray for peace and calm in the streets. Pray for God’s mercy to flow upon all those who need Him. Pray for the many mission departments around the world who have ministries in and through out all of Haiti. God’s people are already there, equipped and prepared to rise to this occasion. Ask what God would have YOU TO DO to help make a difference in that part of the world.

May we, too, prepare our hearts for the time where we will ALL CRY OUT to the King of all Kings.

In love ,
Dudley

Haus Edelweiss

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The HAUS EDELWEISS One of the classes I attendedRobert (just got out of surgery) and his wife, Sunny. I do not like the Texas hat… hahahaTell me this is NOT beautiful

I am getting ready to preach at Haus Edelweiss outside Vienna, Austria.

TCM International Institute originally began as a church planting organization that evolved into a ministry that smuggled Bibles into the former Soviet Union. After the cold war ended, this ministry began training leaders and preachers, equipping them to lead, pastor and develop Christians and churches throughout Europe.

Today, TCM International Institute is the largest Bible college of its kind in Central Europe.

They currently have 751 students from Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Czech, Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

They have 13 satellite campuses and are fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.

MOST, if not all, of the students make and live on about 100 dollars a MONTH, so TCMI raises full scholarships for all of its students. I sat in on one of the classes today and listened to one of the best Bible courses I have ever heard. They bring in teachers and preachers from all over the U.S.A and the students who graduate are getting the absolute BEST INSTRUCTION possible. I heard things today that I wish I had learned while I was going to college.

A friend of mine, Tony Twist, who is a great man of prayer, leads this unique and WORLD CHANGING organization. It is operated by over 300 volunteers who come to Haus Edelweiss to cook, serve, and clean for the students and faculty. It is truly a labor of love.

We currently have two church members, Robert and Sunny Torres, working here on a FULL TIME basis. YOU should HEAR THEIR STORY.

If you EVER wanted to take two weeks and go on a short term missions trip, THIS IS THE PLACE TO GO. Firstly, it’s one of the most beautiful settings in the world. About 6 miles up the road is Beethoven’s summer home, where he wrote Ode to Joy. Secondly, all you need to buy is an AIRLINE ticket. Your room and board are FREE. Thirdly, your work will enable students to be FULLY trained to take the gospel ALL over EUROPE and ASIA.

The question is……………. Can you raise the money for an airline ticket? Can you come for two weeks????? Are you willing to simply GO????? If so….. These two weeks will be LIFE CHANGING for you, for the people you serve, and for the people who will hear the gospel from the students you serve. WOW!!!! How can you NOT COME???????

Missionary to Japan

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This is Mike Ackerman who spent several months working at our church and is currently working and serving in Japan. Japan is less than 1% Christian and he has already learned the language and is back trying to raise some support. I want you to know, that if you are looking for a way to help make a difference in the world, you could do it by simply supporting his ministry.

His website is www.msgf.com and stands for Mustard Seed Global Fellowship. I have been to the city that he working in (it’s the size of Chicago) and there are in need of YOUR HELP. Please do some research and pray about what you could do to help him and his team. You can be on the front lines by giving and praying for his work.

I am always IMPRESSED when I meet people like Mike and his wife Erin who are willing to leave the comforts of America and travel to a part of the world that is NIGHT and DAY different all for the sake of the Gospel. I wish I had such faith.

Rick Martin in the Philippines

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Standing in front of the Iloilo Church with Rick Martin

Looking into the INSIDE of his 2000 seat church building on a Saturday afternoon

I taught these boys this Hawaiian greeting. They are the children of parents who are enrolled in the Bible college that Rick Martin started.

I want to write a little post about Rick Martin. Rick is the son of RUSS MARTIN, who was a dynamic preacher and evangelist that worked with my grandfather. About 30 years ago, Rick decided he wanted to be on the mission field, and he chose the Philippines. He visited about four cities and knew in is heart that God had called him to a place called Iloilo (pronounced ee-low-ee-low).

Since I was on my way to the Olympics, I decided to stop and visit with Rick. I had not stayed in touch with Rick over the years but wanted to catch up and see his work. WAS I EVER SURPRISED AND RICHLY BLESSED FOR VISITING HIM!

Rick started with NO ONE, and he and his wife just moved there in faith and started a Bible study in his home. Let me add that the average wage in the Philippines is $5.00 per DAY. It is a third world country. Rick begins to pray for and evangelize to the people of Iloilo, which happens to be the fifth largest city in the Philippines.

Today, the church, Iloilo Baptist Church, runs over 4,000 in attendance, and with the blessing of God, he started a Bible College. Today, his graduates have started over 600 churches throughout the Philippines.

I believe it was this past Saturday when I visited his campus, and there were close to 1,000 young people who had gathered at the church, and they were getting ready to do some evangelistic work throughout the city.

Rick TOTALLY blessed me with his story and his faith. I was so grateful for the chance to visit with him, to pray with him, and to speak to about 1,000 people for just a few minutes that day.

Please check back in a few days, and I hope to have a post from another island in the Philippines where I preached.

Rick… God bless you and the people of Iloilo… You are a GREAT MAN of God… and your father is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo blessed by your life and ministry.

I am humbled by your life.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST FROM MISSIONARIES IN KENYA

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I am sorry if you are feeling overwhelmed by the number of e-mail prayer requests from us. These are troubled times here in Kenya. Here are some urgent items to bring before the Lord today, if you will:

Daniel Okello, our tall Luo Harvest Compassion coordinator, was rescued yesterday by God’s hand just at the entrance to Kibera. He was coming to work and alighted from his matatu at his normal stop at the entrance to Kibera, but yesterday, there were armed Mungiki thugs right there with pangas and knives, killing all the Luos they could find. Daniel is very obviously Luo. The gang saw him, but he just kept on walking toward our house, and none of them followed him!–around the corner there was a vanload of policemen parked and waiting–as soon as he was in sight of the police van Daniel knew he was probably safe–but the incident really shook him….and us! Lawrence, our shamba man, also had to take another route to work yesterday. At least 3 Luos were hacked to death just a minute’s walk or less from our house yesterday–and more inside Kibera. We saw the smoke from Soweto where houses of Luos and Luhyas are being torched–and heard more gun fire from Kibera yesterday afternoon. It is such a evil time here in Kenya–revenge killings sweeping the nation. Praise God with us for Daniel’s safety yesterday–ask Him for wisdom about how to handle security issues for our Harvest staff.

It is getting harder and harder to carry on with “life as normal”. We went out to Kiambu yesterday to welcome some church friends’ new baby. Kiambu has been a low-security zone and trouble spot–but it was peaceful yesterday, and especially in the little oasis where our friends live side-by-side with people of all ethnic backgrounds in peace. But, just a few miles away in the same Kiambu area, Nebert Mtange (Harvest Impact Ministries director) and his wife Jane have been threatened with eviction letters–they have until today to leave their house (they are Luhya/Kalenjin by tribe, living in a prodominately Kikuyu area). We hope that they move into the Harvest office, but Nebert, though he is afraid for his family, is reluctant to leave because he knows once he does all of his belongings will be torched. Please pray for wisdom for Nebert as he makes decisions about whether or not to flee.

Thank you for standing by us in these troubled times. Your prayers are accomplishing more than you (or we) know! From Larry and Judy Niemeyer…