Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.
Psalm 31:19-20
An awesome truth about our God is that He is absolutely sovereign over ALL. When trouble comes, He is not distant and powerless. God is absolutely in control and will use our troubles to bring about a good that we could not even begin to comprehend.
Over the past months, this truth has become more and more evident to us. As many of you know we have searched for over ten years for a meeting place for our church. Yet as people have come to know Jesus and have started coming to the church, the congregation has grown to a size that we cannot accommodate in our neighborhood without creating severe tension among our neighbors. Many of you have prayed and given generously towards helping us purchase a portable church. So, as we returned in May, we arrived with a 16’ Trailer (portable church – everything needed for a church to meet: sound system, nursery & Sunday school needs, welcome table materials, Bibles, signage, etc.). As a direct answer to prayer, the Lord provided a temporary meeting place in the cafeteria at Palau Community College which is located in the center of Koror.
So, in June, we took a very big step and had our first service at the new location. Now after several months, it is so evident that God truly did lead us down this road. It has amazed us over and over to see how God has worked through this transition.
It really is beyond human explanation, but God has used this “church without a home time” in our lives to really grow His church. First, there has been a spiritual growth in our “Anchor Team” (20-30 people who joyfully and willingly serve every Sunday to set up and take it down.) God is using this to deepen the body in a very real way. Second, almost every Sunday we have first time guests who come to see what is going on. It has been a great joy to see many trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and are now being discipled in one of our New Believer’s Bible Studies.
While it is exciting, it is also a very vulnerable time for our church. We would appreciate your continued prayers for a meeting place. We received word that the college cafeteria is available to us until January 1st, so we are prayerfully and diligently seeking another location to meet for worship.
|
|
|
Over the summer we had an intense leadership development/mentoring program with 10 of our college students actively involved in training/mentoring. We met with the college students for several hours each day for leadership development and then they turned around and mentored over 60 teenagers for 8 weeks! It was a terrific summer for so many of our youth - seeing many salvations and even more life-changing discipleship times. The program ended with a banquet that the college students organized, and the testimony time was full of tears and encouragement of what God did in their lives.
|
|
|
|
Another summer highlight was our annual Island Jams Basketball Outreach. This year, we added volleyball to the outreaches and were able to reach a whole new group of young people. One of our favorite parts of the sports outreaches is the time of follow up to “harvest the fruit” as groups of 4-5 youth and adults visit the athletes and share Jesus in a more personal way.
|
|
|
|
|
We had the joy of seeing several more salvations through these outreaches!
|
|
In October, we made a quick 5-day trip to Guam to visit several of our college students who will be graduating in the next couple of years from Harvest Baptist Bible College. We had some wonderful times of vision casting and prayer with them to hear where God was leading them and even to see how God might use them in ministry back here in Palau. It was exciting to hear how God is stirring them towards a variety of ministries – from church planting abroad to returning to Palau in ministry and pastoral work. Please pray for God to continue to solidify His plan for these young people and for the church in Palau as we develop a church-based leadership development plan that will enable them to get further education as they minister here.
We have much to look forward to in the days ahead. November is Family Month at Omekulel a Biblia and we will top the month off with a family conference with Pastor Matt Olson and his wife Diane as our guest speakers. It is our prayer that God will use this entire month to strengthen families and to provide hope for everyone who attends. Then on the first Sunday of December we will have a baptism service and are anticipating many of the new believers to take this step of obedience to the Lord.
We can’t tell you how thankful we are for your partnership with us as we seek to advance the Gospel throughout this region of the world!
|
|
|
|
|
