Pastors School
Thank you for praying for the Ratanakiri Pastors School. The Lord did all that we asked of him and more. Our time together happened to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Luther’s posting his Theses, so JD took the opportunity to teach a series of brief Church History lessons on the Reformation and the history of Bible translation. Other than a very basic skeleton of Cambodian history, most of our students have never studied the past (theirs or anyone else’s), so this was both new ground and a highlight for us all. I’m already looking forward to several years from now when Church History comes up in the curriculum—these men will eat it up. Since many of our students are assisting with the various Bible translation projects in Ratanakiri, the history of Bible translation seemed to be particularly enlightening and motivating. To see pics of our week together, click here and here.
Visas
Immediately after the Bible school, I made a “quick” trip to Phnom Penh for a meeting where I received some very encouraging news about our visa situation. As I understand it, we will be able to continue receiving our visas as before. While you and we have been praying, actually long before that, the Lord was at work via the faithfulness of a fellow missionary in Phnom Penh, who for 20+ years has been building a relationship with a key official in the Ministry of Cults and Religions. Though not a Christian, this official understands the nature and purpose of our work and is committed to helping us secure the visas that we need for continued ministry here. Praise God for both of these his servants, and thank you for your prayers for this matter.
Writing project
Now that I’m home from the Pastors School and the Phnom Penh meeting, my attention turns full-time to preparing the curriculum for the Spring session of the Pastors School. Please pray for us—we’ve begun the project already, enough for me to feel somewhat overwhelmed—so please pray for …
- Insight: both into the text of Scripture and the audience that we’re writing for
- Focus: freedom from the multitude of distractions that surrounds us
- Stamina: both physical and mental
- Joy: that the glorious truths we’re working with would indeed ignite our hearts with love for God and his people