2015-11-04
Dear friends and supporters,
It has been over a month since our prayer email has been published. Since that time, I (Bill) have been in Cleveland, Ohio and Des Moines, Iowa (twice).
The purpose of the Cleveland trip was to participate in the Church Planters and Development (CP&D) leadership team meeting. Normally, we gather by means of GoToMeeting, but this was a meeting which was best managed in person. Later in October, Deb and I traveled to Des Moines to participate in the Fatih Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary missionary conference. Then, last week, I unexpectedly traveled back to Des Moines to spend time with a friend who is dying.
Deb and I do not travel without purpose. Our ultimate calling is to initiate and participate in an urban-global church planting movement. Doing so involves networking on the local, regional, continental, and international levels. Working with BMM and Faith involves networking on the continental level.
We are also networking on the international level. Our Tuesday morning international on-line Bible study has recently lost two members, but we added several participants as well. Ronnie, Will, and Carol have all joined the study. You may recall, all three of these individuals became Christians and were baptized in Boston. Now, they are living their Christian lives in China. It is our responsibility to encourage them in their Christian walk. They will remain the responsibility of the International Baptist Church (IBC) until they find a church (not easy in China) or start a new church. There are many more former disciples back in China. Please pray that we can reconnect with them. Deb and I have received permission to travel to China a second time. The purpose of our visit will be pastoral and strategic in nature. Pastoral in that I (Bill) need to visit members of the IBC who no-longer live in Boston but still need pastoral care. Strategic in that we will learn more about the church in China in order to network with them.
Locally, we are gearing up for our annual International Thanksgiving Dinner. We are planning for three dinners with 20-25 people attending each dinner. Deb is already busy cooking and inviting. We hope to have mostly non-Christians in attendance. Please pray that each evening every chair will be full.
We have quite a few on going evangelistic Bible studies, please pray that some of these will become baptismal studies.
God continues to bless us with meaningful days of ministry, but the work has only begun. Ultimately, in order to accomplish our Divine calling, a unique self-supporting church must be established.
This is why we pray in this way,
Dear Father, please help the International Baptist Church (IBC) join You in building a just, equitable, and righteous church in Boston. Please give the IBC wisdom to build, “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth,” a place where every kind of person is effectively cared for, a discipling center that will equip individuals to start discipleship centers wherever they go. Please give the IBC wisdom to build a multi-ethnic church that ministers to the whole world in Boston (every ethnicity, university/college, rich and poor, sophisticated or simple minded). Help the International Baptist Church be a truly orthodox church in every good sense of the word. Without Your supernatural empowering, this will not be done. Make us into a church that is able to do Your will in Boston.
It is in the name of our Savior we pray.
When God answers this prayer, we will have the model, foundation, and launching pad for the urban-global church planting movement. As a mentoring professor once said to me, “You have made a good start, now accelerate.” By God’s grace and power, we will.
Thank you for supporting us,
Bill and Deb