Preparing People for Christ's Return

Judy Heath returned to Muskegon, Michigan to be with her father Charles Fielstra, Jr. during his final days on this earth. He had become quite weak when Judy arrived from Southeast Asia; however, she had a few days with him before he passed into the arms of his Savior Jesus Christ on January 23. Judy sees it as a miracle she made it home in time, especially when the Chicago airport was closed a day later. The funeral service will be at 4pm on Friday, January 27 at Calvary Bible Church in Norton Shores. Judy will visit friends and family for one month before rejoining Tim who is continuing their church development ministry in Southeast Asia.

Gardner and Ledith Improso’s daughters, Keren and Kezia, are staying with their grandfather while they attend college in the Philippines. A few days ago, they were robbed when burglars broke into their house through a hole in the wall. Stolen items include their laptops, cameras, a video camera and other items. Praise the Lord the girls and their grandparents were not hurt but this is a big loss for the Improso family. The girls have lost their way to communicate with their parents and their ability to do research papers for college. The cost of replacing the stolen items is approximately $1800. Update: All funds have been raised! Thank you to all who prayed for or donated towards this project.

TCM’s founding missionary, Vernon Anderson, experienced a stroke on December 26 at his home in Indianapolis. His wife Darlene and son Ben took Vernon to St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove where he was given a drug for blood clots and a number of scans. Vernon has now regained full use of his legs and arms, however he remains unable to speak. A further difficulty is that his heart has developed an irregular heartbeat which will need long term treatment. Vernon may be released to go home on January 4, where he will continue with speech therapy. Thank you to the many friends who have supported Vernon through love and prayers. Update: On Jan. 4, Vernon was released from the hospital with normal use of his hands and feet. Please pray for his speech to return through the therapy he is receiving at home.

The world’s deadliest storm of 2011, Typhoon Washi, passed through the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines on December 17. Extreme rainfall together with mud flows, log jams and high tides turned rivers into killers for those living nearby. Entire communities were destroyed as people slept in the early morning hours. The death toll is over 1000 and climbing as more bodies are found in the mud and in the ocean. The man interviewed in this link: Al Jazeera clip, Pablo Tombok, is a member of the TCM Grace church in Illigan City and his wife Carlota was the treasurer. The flood took his wife and their 20-year old daughter Christine. The father and daughters of our missionaries Gardner & Ledith Improso live in Cagayan de Oro City, and we thank the Lord that they are safe. TCM board member Pastor Jun Cadeliña and the TCM Supervising Ministers are working around the clock to provide food and clean water for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people. TCM is already sending Where Needed funds to help out our brothers and sisters. To help out with this disaster, you may donate by credit card, electronic funds transfer or check. Please call TCM at 317-783-0300 if you have questions. Any funds received will reach the disaster area within 24 hours. You can read more reports from the Philippines on this web page. Dec. 20 Update

Introducing the Fall 2011 issue of TCM’s International Harvest magazine: Interdependence- I need you! You need me! The main article is by pioneer missionary, Vernon Anderson, from his Philippine 50th Anniversary message, “The Body Principle." There are articles by Missionary Luz Gaddi, Pastor Peter Kagwi, Missionary Gomer Indino and Pastor Carlos Schmidt about how interdependence works in Kenya and Brazil. The magazine includes ads for the Southeast Asia Grace Conference on May 2-5, 2012 in Bali, Indonesia and the Africa Safari to Kenya on July 19 to August 1, 2012. The back page details three projects we are working toward. Read and enjoy!

Pastor Peter Kagwi has sent pictures of the 2nd Annual Grace Conference on the Indian Ocean Coast in Kenya. Grace believers from around the Mombasa area enjoyed the fellowship for the two days of meetings. Children, youth and adults all had a chance to participate. Fourteen students completed the Sunday School Teachers Training taught by missionary Luz Gaddi, who has transferred to the coast. Pastor Peter has an extensive plan of evangelism using the Jesus film leading up to Christmas.

The 2012 Annual TCM Grace National Philippine Conference will be held April 17-20 at the Davao Christian High School in Davao City. The school is fully air-conditioned and is located within walking distance to hotels and the Gaisano Mall of Davao. Registration for the conference is P1,500.00, approx. $109.00. The annual conference draws over 500 attendees from the Grace church leadership throughout the Philippines.

For the third consecutive year, TCM-Philippines will be conducting continuing education classes for leaders of the Grace churches. These seminars help to unify the churches, stabilize doctrine and help leaders effectively oversee their congregations. Here is the schedule for the next eight sessions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao: Dec. 2-5, GGCC, Mampirao, San Jose, Camarines Sur; Jan. 11-13, 2012, GGCC, Bunawan, Agusan del Sur; Jan. 18-20, IGBI-Tagum City Campus; Jan. 25-28, GGCC, Kidapawan City; Feb. 2-4, GGCC, Lanipga, Villaba, Leyte; Feb. 15-17, GGCC, NHA, Cag. De Oro City; Feb. 23-24, GGCC, New Oroquieta, Don M. Marcos, Zamboanga del Sur; April 6-8, NSCA, Kabankalan City.

Sunday, December 4, Grace Berean Bible School held its graduation ceremony at Grace Berean Church-Kempton Park. Seven Bible students completed requirements for a 2-year Certificate of Ministry course to mark the 1st group of GBBS graduates. Director Dean Padayhag, Professor Steve Thobela and Registrar Sheba Padayhag led the recognition for Pastors Kennedy Mandaza, William Mdluli, Siphiwe Hlatswayo, Vusi Mashinini, Bible Women Doreen Ngwenya, Nosline Ngwenya and Sue Mandaza. Some graduates will be added to the GBBS teaching staff next year. Others will be licensed to lead national ministries. Seven confirmed to enroll for second year.

The annual national conference of Association of Berean Grace Ministries in South Africa, held Dec. 3-4 at Grace Berean Church-Kempton Park, included 70 delegates from four nearby churches for the momentous occasion. The project “20/20 Vision” was launched to establish 20 churches in 20 strategic places in South Africa by 2020. Conference topics centered on the strategic theme “Mission POSSIBLE.” Possible: P-Plant new local churches, O-Organize growth team, S-Small groups, S-Sunday school development, I-Indoctrination of new members, B-Bible school development, L-Leadership activities and training, E-Exposure and advertisements. All are strategic to achieve the vision. Other exciting activities were divided workshop sessions, talent night, Bible games and the 1st Grace Berean Bible School graduation ceremony.

Carlo & Elma Paña reporting from Kampala, Uganda: Our Muyenga church building project cleared the Kampala City Council and Local Council the third week of November. A Filipino engineer has worked with us to draw the architectural plan. We built a strong foundation so that more floors can be added in the future. The funds we have so far are enough for the foundation, pillars and half of the walls. Several church members have volunteered time, food and funds to help with this project. Please pray with us that soon we will be holding regular meetings inside of our new church building. (Muyenga is a suburb of Kampala, Uganda.)

Pastor Ruddy Akay has departed the earthly tent to be in the presence of the Lord. Pastor Akay was the director of TCM Indonesia (Gereja Alkitab Anugerah or GAA) from 2000-2008. Because of his love for the people of Java, 14 Grace churches were established from Surabaya to Jakarta. A goal he often spoke of was to plant a Grace church in every district of Indonesia, and indeed, when he finished his directorship, 17 districts had churches, with church planters in three more. Pastor Akay gave up a lucrative management position in Union Carbide in order to take the helm of GAA in 2000. He was the first Indonesian director to represent GAA at foreign conferences. At an annual conference in the Philippines in 2005 he said, “The day is coming in Indonesia when we will give up our lives for the gospel of Christ.” We honor a great man of God who gave the last decade of his life solely to the service of the Lord. May we all learn from him what it means to finish well. Pastor Akay is survived by his wife Ibu Hetty and by three adult children Grace, Ray and Cindy.

Grace Bible Church in Makassar, Indonesia was in much need of repairs and updating. $3000.00 was raised to accomplish this project.  Pastor Agus Marpaung reports, “By God’s grace gradually we have a comfortable place to have service, last month through the offering that we have collected in three months we were able to finish the other wall of the church. We also received three units of Air Condition and one pulpit. It’s a great blessing in our ministry. Now members may enjoy the Sunday Service, Youth Service, and etc in this church. We hope that that this church becomes the place where we win souls, enjoy fellowship, and a Grace center of our ministry in South Sulawesi.”

Pastor Gerson Bermejo, TCM Philippines Director, reports after visiting Pastor Adrales at the Philippine Heart Center, “It took five hours for the doctors to complete the operation. He was supposed to stay at the recovery room for two days after the operation but the recovery was very fast so he was transferred to the ICU after a day. He will stay at the ICU for 2 days and after that he will be moved to the pay ward for one week. If there are no complications he will be released from the hospital. After ten days from release he has to go back to the hospital for check up. At the ICU I was able to talk to him very briefly and pray for him. I was so happy because he was able to respond with a very low voice saying ‘thank you’. Even his doctor was surprised for his fast recovery.”

Gardner, Ledith and Kelly Improso arrived safely in Kenya after home assignment in the Philippines. Daughters Keren and Kezia stayed in the Philippines for college. Gardner reports, “Greetings from Kenya. We are already a week long in our stay in Thika. We spent our whole first week getting all of our things arranged in the house. Ann and Pastor Justin took this house for us and brought in all our things from Eldoret just few hours ahead of our arrival. Today we are celebrating our daughter Kelly’s 9th birthday. Her older sisters greeted over Skype from the Philippines. It truly made us miss Keren and Kezia though they said they are doing well since we left. Pastors Samuel and Titus came over to welcome us. We are grateful for their encouragement and words of welcome. Now, back to what we are called to do!”

Tim and Judy Heath report the fellowship they are working with voted to step out in faith and rent an office building for their meetings. Tim writes, “The office is on the 3rd floor but is right in the middle of many small shops, restaurants, and a large mall. Lots of people come to this complex just to hang out, get coffee or do their shopping. We needed to get out of the ‘home fellowship’ into a neutral location, where parking is abundant, no security checkpoints to go thru and gives us the opportunity to invite people to easily walk to where we will meet. Please pray that God will double our size, so that we can become registered and then be able to do a different kinds of outreach.”

Over ten thousand dollars was received in two months from loving USA donors wanting to especially help Pastor Carlos Adrales, opening the way for the 3-way by-pass needed. Pastor Carlos expressed his thanks and feels inspired to proceed with this physical surgery to enable him to live longer for spiritual ministry in Ilocos Province in the far north of Luzon. These gifts along with gifts of the Filipino members show evidence of loving and cheerful giving when a need arises. Continue to pray for Pastor Carlos as he prepares for successful surgery in Manila. Update: Pastor Carlos Adrales had surgery on Monday November 21 at the Philippine Heart Center. The surgery was a success and Pastor Carlos is doing well!

On October 31, Pastor Jun and Deb Pielago went to Alicia, Philippines to an evacuation center where many church members are staying due to the unstable political situation in that area. Pastor Pielago reports, “Nine of our churches are directly affected by the problem. About 30 percent of our evacuee-members are temporarily staying in homes of our church members in Guintolan, a safer barrio of Alicia town. The church is also used as a sleeping quarter. We conducted a church service the day before yesterday to encourage them… During the daytime, the men of the evacuee-families are visiting their homes to work in their farms and take care of other concerns for their families. The present situation in the Alicia area is still very unstable.”

The Grace Youth Light Bringers is formed in Uganda during a meeting after church on October 30. Carlo Paña writes, “They agreed to have an interchurch youth fellowship on December 17, 2011. All youth in Luzira will come to Bukasa church for the fellowship and Bukasa youth will invite the youth around Bukasa community. The theme will be Uganda Grace Youth Light Bringer’s Bring the Message of the Grace of God, Titus 2:11,13. These young people are mostly university students...Please pray for their love to proclaim the message of the grace of God. We’re happy to say that they understand the truth about mystery and prophecy after completing BTC (Bible Teachers Class). Their next meeting will be November 17th.”

Pastor Peter Kagwi is planting Grace churches and training church leaders in Mombasa, Kenya. Several foreigners have been abducted in Kenya by pirates and gunmen from Somalia. The Kenya army has invaded a part of Somalia to destroy the terrorist group called Al-Shaabab. Pastor Peter writes, “The war between Kenya and Al-Shaabab, a group in Somalia started mid-October. The Kenyan military soldiers have entered Somalia to fight this group. Yesterday, three explosions happened in three different places in Nairobi. It seems that this group is retaliating. Pray that this kind of thing will end soon for peace and stability of our country. The breaking news last night cautioned Kenyans to be vigilant, especially in Nairobi and Mombasa.”

Jim and Missy Tollar met with the Board on September 20-21, 2011 and will officially resign from Things to Come Mission at the end of October 2011. The Lord has led Jim to pastor Forest Park Bible Church in Mobile, Alabama working with Associate Pastor William Lange. The Tollar family arrived safely this week and Jim has begun searching for a part-time job to supplement their income. Please continue to pray for the Tollar Family as they begin this pastoral ministry.

Missionary Genesis Maraat requests prayer as Thailand is experiencing severe flooding. According to The Atlantic news report, "Heavy monsoon rains have been pouring over Southeast Asia since mid-July, causing mudslides and widespread flooding. Parts of Thailand are experiencing flooding in villages, historic temples, farms, and factories. At least 281 people have been killed in Thailand and 200 in Cambodia. About 8.2 million people in 60 of Thailand’s 77 provinces have been affected by the flood with economic losses estimated to top $2 billion." The Atlantic Report

Director Ben Anderson visited Brazil from Sep. 22 to Oct. 4. The highlight was the Annual Conference of the MCP Grace churches held in the town of Indaial, Santa Catarina. Attendance peaked at 200, with representation from five churches and several Bible classes. Ben spoke on the Grace Message, Church Planting and God’s Call. At the end over 100 young people and adults stood up to dedicate themselves to the Lord’s service. Ben then spent 3 days at Pontal do Parana on the coast meeting with missionaries Gomer & Nene Indino, Pastor Carlos & Carmen Schmidt and other leaders and members of the Grace churches. Then Ben flew to Recife in the north where he preached at the Dois Carneiros, Boa Viagem and Ibura churches. He also met with missionaries Doug & Vicki LeFeber and leaders of the Grace churches. Ben says, “This has been my best trip to Brazil yet. I am so encouraged to see the leaders and young people taking the initiative for evangelism and church growth.”

A recent Religions for Peace report tells of 47 events of harassment of churches in 2010. Thirty events listed thus far in 2011 involved demonstrators/rioters seriously persecuting churches nationwide. In September church burnings, Moltov bombs and stonings increased. Ten congregations were closed down due to threats and attacks. One Bible school student was abducted and left unconscious in a sugarcane field. Catholic, Pentecostal, Protestant and Baptist groups are mentioned: one church of 300 members with 24 years of ministry was closed down. In two incidents police stood by and watched the attacks. TCM-affiliated GAA is not on the list, but we do ask fervent prayer for peace and safety because our churches often gather under potentially dangerous conditions.

“It is that time of the year already, dear friends! Project ABBA is a ministry that focuses on bringing the message of Jesus Christ to Brazilian children. Every Christmas for the last 9 years, we have had a special project where we invite children from the community for a big, beautiful, and festive Christmas Celebration. In this program they hear a clear message of the Gospel, sing praises, play games, eat a delicious snack, and receive gifts. It is a great way to show them the love of God. A gift of $8 per child is what it costs to make all of this happen.” In His Love, Doug and Vicki LeFeber Project ABBA 2011 Flyer

Please remember the TCMJ-11, Touching Cultures for Mission Journey-2011, in your prayers as they make their second journey to Cambodia and Thailand fields to encourage, help and do mission work. This group of eight TCM Philippines leaders and members is led by Pastor Gerson Bermejo (TCM Philippines Executive Director) and includes a doctor, dentist, nurses, and pastors. The journey’s dates are October 18-29.

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©2011 Things to Come Mission, Inc.