In an e-mail received this morning from Steve Strong, we have received good news.

It is 9:17 PM, Nov. 5, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Richard Herring does not require surgery but must stay in the hospital for another 5 days for bed rest. He does have a fractured hip. He will then require up to two months of physical therapy.

Pieter Theron, team leader from Mongolia, is in Bumrungrad hospital and in ICU still. His wife is there with him and Stephanie Dowell tonight. They have a guest room provided by the hospital.

He has a ruptured disc or fractured vertebrae in his neck, fractured shoulders, fractured scull, and fractured wrist. They may have to do surgery on him on Sunday.  Please pray for any remaining blood in his head to drain or dissolve without incident. He has an excellent team of nurses around him and a neuro surgeon who is watching over him. His mind is sharp and he is alert but in pain.

Thanks for your continued prayers for them both. Our RLT meetings have continued without Richard and Peter and will conclude tomorrow. It has been a heavy last couple of days for all of us.

Please continue to pray for the recovery and healing of Richard and Pieter.

ORIGINAL: (posted November 4, 2009)

I received word this morning that Richard Herring (regional director) and Pieter Theron (Mongolian field director) were injured in a bizarre accident on Wednesday afternoon (Thailand time). Participants of the Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Bangkok attended an elephant show as an outing for the team. While the team was taking pictures, an elephant grabbed Pieter and Richard and threw them about 10 feet into the air. Pieter has a fractured skull and is in critical condition; Richard sustained a broken hip and possible other injuries less serious than Pieter’s.

Please put out a call to prayer for Pieter and Richard in your circle of influence. Additionally, pray for all the participants at the Regional Conference as they respond to the needs of the families of our injured colleagues. I expect, but am not sure, that the final days of the conference will be cancelled. As we get more information, we will communicate with you.

Below is a more detailed account of the accident from Brent and Lisa Liberda, Alliance workers in Mongolia.

Praying with you for Pieter and Richard,
Gary

Members of the RLT (regional leadership team) were on their one free afternoon outing to an elephant and crocodile zoo near the Rose Gardens. We all went to the crocodile show and later attended the elephant show. Everyone was sitting in the grandstands as the elephants performed in a field in front of us.

At the end of the show, the park staff brought out bananas, and about 10 elephants lined up at the fence where people could feed the elephants and take pictures in front of them. After most of the crowd was beginning to leave, some of us from the RLT started to feed the elephants and take pictures. Richard and Pieter were getting their picture taken in front of one of the biggest elephants when suddenly the elephant with his trunk threw them both about 10 feet up into the air. Richard landed on the cement, and Pieter fell on his head. It was very serious. A number of us started administering first aid and praying. There wasn’t even a first aid box in the entire park, so we used our shirts and other cloths we could find for compresses and pillows and kept the two men immobile. Both were conscious. Some Christians from other countries who had been there stayed and prayed at a distance. It took about 30 minutes for the first of two ambulances to come, which seemed like an eternity. Two or three from the RLT group went with the ambulances to the hospital.

The two men are currently in a hospital outside the city and will be transferred at 10 p.m. tonight to Vitchayut as the traffic is too bad now. Word from the people at the hospital is that Richard is stable and has a fractured hip. Pieter is in ICU with a fractured skull and is bleeding internally near the brain. He may also have fractured shoulders. The hospital is working on getting a neurosurgeon to the hospital to assess the situation so that Vitchayut will be ready to receive him. The latest news, which is good, is that Pieter’s vital signs are stable and the internal bleeding is minimal.

Please pray for God’s healing touch in the lives of these two men. Pray especially for Pieter, that God would stop the internal bleeding and that he would be able to receive the help he needs in the shortest amount of time. Pray for his wife, Haniki, as she is at the hospital with him and several others. Dr. Benedict in Colorado has been notified of the situation.

Many thanks for your prayers,
David Strong

Thank you for praying for this situation with us!
Brent and Lisa

P.S.

This just in! As we were preparing to send this e-mail we received the following news. Peter does not need brain surgery. He has some blood on the brain but not enough to require surgery. He has a fractured skull, both shoulders seem to be fractured, and a broken wrist. He is in ICU and will be closely monitored. His internal organs appear to be good and his vital signs appear to be good. He is in the care of good doctors and in one of the nation’s best hospitals. Praise be to God. Please thank all who have prayed and are praying.

Rev. Nichols connected deeply with the Senegalese during an Alliance missions trip to the West African nation two years ago. An emotional tour of Senegal’s Goree Island-”the island with the door of no return”-the last stop for most West Africans forced into the global slave trade, solidified his and his team’s resolve to return to Senegal with fellow African-American believers from the United States.  

A Vision Fulfilled

Bridge Senegal 2009 is the fruition of that dream. Through a partnership between the C&MA’s African-American Association, Short-Term Missions Office, and 16 Alliance missionaries and Senegalese church leaders, Alliance African-American community members are taking Christ’s love to the people of Senegal, November 5-15.  

Nichols, pastor of New Hope Church Community in Vallejo, California, and an Alliance board member, is co-leading the trip with Donna Baptiste, a former Alliance missionary to Mali, evangelist for the Alliance Metropolitan District, and president of Donna Baptiste Ministries.

“For more than 10 years,” she says, “I prayed that one day, as in the days of A. B. Simpson, there would be a groundswell of African-American missionaries serving in the C&MA.”

Trip Details

During the first portion of the trip, Bridge Senegal 2009 team members will learn the history of African Americans in C&MA missions. During the second phase of the 16-day outreach, team participants will minister side-by-side with Alliance international workers and Senegalese church leaders. Community ministry will include training seminars with the local church, evangelism, and outreach to the homeless, imprisoned, and infirm. 

Pastor Nichols will share his reflections about Bridge Senegal 2009 in the February 2010 issue of alife.  

Learn More

Read Pastor Nichols’ article “No Language But Love” in the February 2008 online issue of alife.

Check out the Short-Term Missions Office Web site.

Praise God for the eight children who joined us each day for our weeklong Vacation Bible School (VBS) in October. We used the “Wordless Book,” a color-coded evangelistic device, throughout the week to present the gospel to the children. After Wednesday’s lesson on “red,” symbolizing the blood of Christ that cleanses us from sin, a sixth grader named Baan asked Fely, our missionary colleague, if Buddha could wash her sins away. Fely answered that Buddha teaches us to be good people but only Jesus can wash our sins away. Baan was definitely interested in having Jesus do that. 

On Thursday Noi Na, another colleague of ours, taught the “white” lesson on how we can pray to ask Jesus to cleanse us from our sin and become new in Christ. The four girls sitting on the front row of the mat were intently following her every word. God really anointed Noi Na for that day’s message. The four girls wanted to pray to have Jesus wash their sins away. 

A Vivid Contrast

As Noi Na began to lead the girls in prayer, a monk from China who was begging for money approached the front of the church where Ed was seated. I (Sue) began praying that Ed would be able to quickly and quietly have the monk move on without disturbing the children. It was such a vivid picture of the spiritual battle for the children between the former ways and the Jesus way. The children’s backs were to the monk, and they were so intent on what Noi Na was telling them that they did not turn around. Praise God! Ed managed to have the Chinese monk move on, and the four girls did pray to receive salvation in Jesus.

What You Can Do

Pray for the follow-up of these children. Already, Baan is eagerly doing some children’s Bible studies and reading more about Jesus. 

Thank you for your generous gifts to the Great Commission Fund of the C&MA, which supplies what we need to live and minister in Thailand.

Learn More

Check out our Alliance work in Thailand.

Pilot Steve Straw, who serves with Air Calvary, ordered the pre-owned, single-engine aircraft this summer. It will provide air service for Alliance-run Bongolo Hospital in the West African nation, thanks to a partnership between Air Calvary, Bongolo Hospital, and The Alliance Chretienne au Gabon ( the national Alliance church in Gabon).

Following months of painstaking rebuilding, the eight-seat aircraft will begin its transatlantic journey to the West African nation toward the end of November. Straw is an ordained C&MA pastor and his wife is the director of a Libreville-based guest house.

October 24 Commissioning Ceremony

“To start the airplane’s service off on the right foot,” said Straw, “we’re holding a Commissioning Ceremony and Open House at CXY Aviation, Capital City Airport, in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, October 24, from 1 to 3 p.m.”

In his open invitation to the landmark event, Straw exclaimed: “We hope that you can make plans to be at the commissioning service as the aircraft makes a stop on its way to Africa. Come climb behind the controls, take pictures, meet other supporters, buy a T-shirt, and pray the airplane on its way!”

Special thanks, he concluded, go to York Alliance Church for facilitating the commissioning ceremony and to CXY Aviation for hosting the October 24 event.

Fit for Service

Outfitting the aircraft for its new venture has been a labor of love. Work teams in Arkansas and Oklahoma stripped the plane down to its frame before installing more than $20,000 in avionics equipment, as well as a new engine and propeller that were given by an anonymous donor. A new paint job provided the finishing touch.

Plenty of luggage room, a storage compartment just behind the engine, and a cargo pod under the airplane further complement the plane’s commissioning to Gabon for its noble service.

Learn More

Read more about our current work in Gabon at Bongolo Hospital.

See a slideshow Steve Straw compiled, which chronicles the months of work required to outfit the Cessna 207 for its new mission. Note: Clicking on this link will take you off of the C&MA Web site.

What You Can Do

In your prayers, give thanks to God for this first-ever air ambulance service to the Gabonese people. Pray also that the aircraft will have a safe flight and for the brand new air ambulance program’s success.

Because of the Great Commission Fund, Alliance workers are able to provide life-giving care to many who are lost in Gabon and around the world. Please consider giving a donation today.

Our team is very organic. Sue and I are modeling a lifestyle where we live among and work with the people we expect God to reach. Nobody’s in professional ministry here. I work in a local auto parts store. We didn’t plant an organization where people with needs must go to a church. We are the Church that has a mandate to go to the people with needs. This is the essence of incarnational ministry; as John 1:14 says in The Message, “God became a man and moved into the neighborhood.” Our first priority is building intentional relationships in every sphere of our lives. It is through a relationally-based lifestyle and theology that we operate. And although we don’t have a church building, we are here because of one that once was in our target zone.

This summer we began systematically prayerwalking every street in our 1.5-mile-square target area. We started at a strategic location that is, first, an easy place to find on a busy central street. Second, and far more important, is what this property once was. This half-block was the site of the Fort Wayne Gospel Temple, a leading church in the middle half of the last century.

In the 1970s, the congregation merged with another local church, sold the property, and moved to the suburbs to begin life anew as Westview Alliance Church, the local body with whom we have a deep relationship. Commercial and local government interests bought up the large piece of property, and today it’s the site of a former Hollywood Video store that is now an empty building and a massive parking lot for the local Family Social Services.

Going Back to Go Forward

We begin prayerwalking at the Hollywood Video store because it is the geographical heart and spiritual epicenter of our target area. The leaders of Westview Alliance Church received prophetic direction from God several years before we showed up that He wanted to “re-dig the wells” in the old part of the city. We also meet there because we are convinced that God is keeping that former video store empty because He isn’t done with that property. We have claimed it as a prime location for an early childhood education center.

If you are doing something for the Kingdom, convinced that God is leading you, then what you are doing is not that new or novel. God, in our case, paved the way with generations of church members who cared deeply for that sector of the city. This is encouraging-we are all vital colors in the grand tapestry God is weaving in this community. He planned on us being here and desires our success more than we do. So we can love others with reckless abandon and live with no regrets.

A Present Need

More than 19,000 people, including many immigrants, inhabit the neighborhood that we want to reach, 48 percent of whom are in single parent households. There is a 27 percent high school drop out rate. Our demographic-driven vision includes developing what we call community bridges in two key areas: early childhood education and literacy. Three of our team members are currently teaching ESL, mostly to recent immigrants. We want to develop literacy centers that can help immigrants learn English, but also help native English speakers learn to read, use computers, and attain a GED.

Just because a church organization moved off of the property and a government agency moved in does not change the lasting imprint of those who walked that ground before we were born, calling on the God of heaven to do something to change the destiny of people in this city. The Social Services building is a memorial to our God who hears and answers our prayers: it’s where the neediest people in the community find help and relief.

The ground is still holy. There is an anointing of redemptive power that has yet to run its course. We expect to see the prayers of God’s saints come full circle and God’s plans manifested in our day. We have no plans to rebuild a church building; our plan is to move in God’s anointing as He rebuilds His living Church in the heart of our city.

Learn More

Read alife to learn more about the Havenors.

Read about other U.S. Alliance churches that are impacting their communities

What You Can Do

Pray for God’s guidance and protection for the Havenors and their team as they reach a city for Christ. Pray that God will prepare hearts to receive His Truth.

 Donate to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.

Editor’s Note: Ken and Kathy Young are reaching out to ordinary people in the Hiroshima region of Japan through Hope House, a holistic ministry geared toward helping families of patients in the medical center, as well as Bible studies. The following is an adaptation of a recent update from the Youngs.

Sometimes we feel like we are living in someone else’s missionary story. Events brought on by God’s leading stun us.

Recently, we led a Bible study in the farming village of Daiwa Cho, a 40-minute drive from home up mountain roads and through valleys tiered on both sides with rice fields and pine- and bamboo-covered peaks. The drive is breathtaking, but the evangelistic Bible study is awesome.

The study meets in the home of a Christian family. About a third of those who attend are Christians. The other two thirds are not just non-Christians; until now, these Buddhists and Shintoists had never heard the gospel. Many are influential farmers in their 80s.  

During the first two sessions, 12 people attended; 16 came yesterday. People bring other friends each time. In fact, we were told afterward that one of the non-Christian women publicly announced the Bible study and invited people to come during the area’s gathering for Buddhists.

Ready for Good News

Explaining the gospel to regular folks who had never heard anything about Jesus before is not just a privilege but also a thrill. For example, yesterday we read Mark 2:1-12, the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man who was carried by four men and then lowered through the roof in front of Jesus. We emphasized what Mark recorded: Jesus has authority to heal, but more than that, He has authority to forgive sins. 

In the Japanese Bible, the first page of the account ends with Jesus saying to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” I read that out loud and then asked, “So, what happened?” As everyone turned the page, I heard some of the people gasp. Then, a couple of them, filled with wonder, quietly said the next words: “He got up.”

Friends, this is fun! How privileged we are to be telling the good news of Jesus to people who really have not heard and are completely open. And, the fun increases. Maybe we are at the starting point of a movement of people to Christ in an area where, up until now, only the worship of spirits prevailed.

Please continue to pray for all of us missionaries in Japan. We work in the country.  Others on our team work in mammoth cities. But all of us are taking the good news of Jesus to people who are part of the largest Unreached People Group in the world. We are witnessing for Christ to people who have never heard and likely will never hear unless we tell them.

Thank you for praying. Thank you for giving. Keep up your good work. We all will continue to do ours.

Learn More

Check out our Alliance work in Japan.

What You Can Do

Help keep Alliance workers like Ken and Kathy Young on the field. Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.

Earlier this year, the Khmer Evangelical Church (KEC), the C&MA national church in Cambodia, elected Pastor Sok Sophon to serve as its new president. He had been a Khmer Rouge soldier who fought against the Vietnamese after they invaded Cambodia in 1979. His wife, Maram, was nearly killed by a napalm bomb that was dropped on her family’s home by the U.S. military in the early 1970s. She still has horrific scars on her back, arms, and hands. Eventually, she became a nurse. She met Sok Sophon in a hospital during his recovery from a shrapnel wound through the neck that nearly killed him.

Captivated by Christ

Years later, in the early 1990s, Maram became very sick during her first pregnancy, and Sok Sophon brought her to a refugee camp in Thailand for treatment. While in the camp, Sok Sophon heard the gospel and quietly began to attend the camp church. He did this secretly, sitting in the back row and slipping out of the service as soon as it ended. At first he was skeptical, but the story of creation captivated him and eventually led him to Christ. 

Soon after, he began to study TEE (Theological Education by Extension) in the refugee camp with Bounoeuy Kes, now an Alliance worker serving in Cambodia. Bounoeuy and others noted Sok Sophon’s voracious appetite for God’s Word. To this day, he has an amazing ability to memorize the Bible. There isn’t yet a proper concordance in the Khmer language, but he is a walking concordance. 

Maram also came to Christ during the time she and Sok Sophon were in the Thailand refugee camp. In 1993 they were repatriated back to Cambodia and went to live in Sophon’s home village of Kuttesot. Joe Kong (the former director for Intercultural Ministries at the U.S. C&MA and now an Alliance missionary serving in Cambodia) and Bounoeuy met Sok Sophon there and asked him to consider moving from his home town to help start a church in the much larger provincial capital of Sisophon. He and Maram did so, and they have both been tireless workers for the gospel ever since. 

Nothing Less for Jesus

Sok Sophon once said, “I used to walk days for the Khmer Rouge with no thought of food, water, or pay; how can I do anything less for Jesus?”  The Lord has worked through him to start more than 15 churches in northwest Cambodia over the past 15 years.  He has been one of the key leaders to implement TEE in northwest Cambodia and has personally taught more than 100 TEE students. 

Over the years Sok Sophon has been involved in a number of special events and speaking engagements throughout Cambodia. 

As Pastor Sok Sophon leads the KEC, pray for him and Maram to maintain a close walk with God, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to experience health and safety in their many travels. 

Learn More

Check out our Alliance work in Cambodia.

What You Can Do

Help keep Alliance workers on the field. Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.

Editor’s Note: Jo Kiel, an Alliance missionary to Brazil, has developed a dynamic ministry. In evangelistic fashion seminars, Jo demonstrates the use of colors to accentuate outer beauty and introduces women to Jesus, the Master Painter, who can make them beautiful on the inside. Over the years she has interacted with hundreds of women during presentations in tennis clubs, universities, government offices, and private homes. Several recent events were organized by Ruth Davis, who serves with The Alliance in Sao Paulo.

During a week of presenting “Inner and Outer Beauty” seminars, we were privileged to come in contact with more than 130 women in six different venues, including 65 women who indicated that they wanted to give their lives to the Creator, Jesus Christ. Also, 18 people wanted to start Bible studies.

For the second time, we went to a business club and were well- received. The club members mentioned that they desired to make this an annual event. We had 35 women present, and 23 indicated that they wanted to give their lives to Christ.

Thursday was our double header as we presented the seminar at the Federal Revenue Department of Brazil with women who were paid to listen to the message. Ruth asked for a double anointing, and God answered. We had 35 people present with 26 indicating they wanted to give their lives to Christ. We received an open invitation from the deputy to come back anytime. God willing, we will. Later that day, we presented the seminar at a hair salon where participants were packed in like sardines.    

At the end of each seminar, we gave out door prizes including accessories, beauty products, Christian books, and a pink women’s devotional Bible, which the women seem to love more than anything else. We prayed that the right person would be chosen to receive each gift.

We could not be doing this ministry without your partnership in praying and giving. So when we see results like this, we want to share them with you as you are here with us in the Spirit as we live the call together. We are thankful to God for putting you in our lives. May He richly bless you!

Learn More

Check out our Alliance work in Brazil.

 Watch a video about Jo Kiel’s ministry to women.

What You Can Do

Please pray  . . .

• for effective follow up of all who attended the seminars and for God’s direction in planning the next week of color events in March 2010
• that God will continue to open doors into women’s lives through this innovative outreach
• that all who hear the message of inner beauty through a relationship with Jesus will receive Him as Savior

Help keep Alliance workers on the field. Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.

Pariaman and Sicincin are two communities that were hit hard. Almost every house either heavily damaged or completely destroyed.  The communities are primarily family based with about 30 heads of families in a area. No power or public water source.  Well water is fine. While some wells sustained damage or were filled with falling debris, most are functioning.

Death count is still not dependable. Govt is saying 550, however two major landslides may have claimed hundreds of victims.  Also victims from the Chinese community are being buried without any report to the government.

The government is saying that over 30,000 homes have heavy damage, most cannot be repaired.  We have decided to purchase and put together tool packets so that people can salvage usable materials from their houses.  Tool packet contents are as follows: hammer, shovel, saw, file to sharpen saw, hoe, mallet, 3 kilos assorted nails, crowbar, pliers and two pair gloves.  Initial purchase is 50 packets which we’ll distribute Tuesday afternoon.  If this is received well by the community, we anticipate a purchase of 200 more tool packets.

We anticipate the arrival of a number of national workers that will help with cleaning of destruction debris and tool packet distribution. Adequate housing in the city of Padang has been secured. For the village area we’ve purchased tents and a small gen-set.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Christian and Missionary Alliance is bringing help and hope to those devastated by disasters in the Pacific Rim last week. More than 1,100 people died in the September 30 earthquake in Padang, Indonesia, and over 300 perished in the Philippines and Vietnam after Typhoon Ketsana leveled the coastal areas of both countries. The typhoon has affected about 1.4 million people and damaged or submerged more than 350,000 houses.

CAMA, the relief and development arm of The Alliance, has responded to the flooding in Manila with a $5,000 donation to the Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines (CAMACOP). This will be used to assist communities where Alliance churches are located. In Vietnam, CAMA is working with PACCOM, a government agency, and the Tinh Lanh (Alliance) Church, the latter as allowed by the government.

In Indonesia, CAMA is working with Alliance national church leadership and TALI, the relief and development arm of the C&MA of Indonesia. A survey team has been on the ground in the earthquake affected area to determine how best to respond to current needs.

“The devastation is overwhelming,” reports an Alliance relief worker. “So many homes and families have been affected not only in Padang, the central point of the quake, but also in the outlying areas where help is just now beginning. Right now, we are focusing on gathering supplies so people can begin to rebuild their homes and not have to stay in tents, or worse, without shelter. Many of the bigger relief organizations are providing food, water, and immediate shelter. Our team would like to focus on helping people rebuild their lives. This will mean supplies and also people who will be able to stay to help distribute materials and oversee the project.”

For more information on relief efforts or to donate, visit www.cmalliance.org/give/relief/ or call 719-265-2039.

The Alliance is a fellowship of evangelical believers joined together in local churches, dedicated to fulfilling Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations. The Alliance has a thoroughly evangelical doctrinal statement and encourages believers from diverse backgrounds and theological traditions to unite to complete Christ’s Great Commission.

CONTACT:
Phil Skellie, President of Compassion and Mercy Associates
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
Ph: 719-265-2039
www.cmalliance.org

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