Here are some things to pray for:
1. We need a couple of new teachers for adults, and a couple of teachers for children. This would completely fill the gap that we are experiencing right now. With those filled, we will more adequately fill the current need.
If you know of anyone interested, have them email me at jamesb@shbc-okc.org
We will provide training at some point in the near future :)
2. There are new laws that affect immigrants - these laws go into effect November 1st. The thrust of these new laws has more to do with businesses that hire illegals, and government monies that provide benefits to illegals. It does not have a direct effect on our ministry.
However that being said, this will force a down-sizing of other services in our area that could bring us a flood of new people. At current staffing, this is going to be a stress to the system. We need to pray for new workers, as well as wisdom in dividing classes etc...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Mission to the far side of OKC
Missions to the Far Side of OKC
Well, coming off of a mission trip like we experienced in Cambodia, it is a hard transition back to the reality of the day to day grind. All I can think about is the faces of those that we left behind; seeing the images of their courageous faith; feeling their penetrating questions in the pit of my stomach.
“What will happen to us,” one asked? “If I accept Jesus, and go out to that lake and get baptized, what will happen to me?” She explained that in Buddhism, when someone dies, when someone is sick, or when there is some terrible thing that happens, the whole village will come to fill in the gap, and help. But as soon as they publicly declare their faith in Jesus, the village will turn their backs. Even before we left, this actually happened. Many of the villagers came and told them “they were on their own.”
What sobering thoughts I have had since then! More than anything, this trip has brought me through a time of self examination. I am asking myself, why is God not doing here what He is doing there? Why are we not seeing such colossal faith! Only one answer: God came down that day in response to the active faith of our church at work through our obedience to our evangelistic responsibility.
Do you remember when Jesus went back to his hometown, and taught in the synagogue there? The response of the people was: “isn’t this the carpenter’s son,” and “Isn’t that Mary’s boy?” There was a freakish level of disregard for the Son of God - an arrogance of assumption that God refuses to work around. The Word sums it up in Matthew 13:58, “he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”
We have to ask ourselves:
Do we sense the urgency of the message we are proclaiming?
Are we proclaiming it with the same enthusiasm that we do overseas?
Do we try to share the gospel as intentionally here as we do there?
And most importantly, do we have the same expectation that God is ready to do more right here in our midst?
After reading this queote from the founder of the Salvation Army, I sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity:
"'Not called!' did you say? ...Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. – (William Booth)
May we all renew our passion for Jesus, and claim this city in His name!
James Biesiadecki
Mission Pastor, SHBC
Well, coming off of a mission trip like we experienced in Cambodia, it is a hard transition back to the reality of the day to day grind. All I can think about is the faces of those that we left behind; seeing the images of their courageous faith; feeling their penetrating questions in the pit of my stomach.
“What will happen to us,” one asked? “If I accept Jesus, and go out to that lake and get baptized, what will happen to me?” She explained that in Buddhism, when someone dies, when someone is sick, or when there is some terrible thing that happens, the whole village will come to fill in the gap, and help. But as soon as they publicly declare their faith in Jesus, the village will turn their backs. Even before we left, this actually happened. Many of the villagers came and told them “they were on their own.”
What sobering thoughts I have had since then! More than anything, this trip has brought me through a time of self examination. I am asking myself, why is God not doing here what He is doing there? Why are we not seeing such colossal faith! Only one answer: God came down that day in response to the active faith of our church at work through our obedience to our evangelistic responsibility.
Do you remember when Jesus went back to his hometown, and taught in the synagogue there? The response of the people was: “isn’t this the carpenter’s son,” and “Isn’t that Mary’s boy?” There was a freakish level of disregard for the Son of God - an arrogance of assumption that God refuses to work around. The Word sums it up in Matthew 13:58, “he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”
We have to ask ourselves:
Do we sense the urgency of the message we are proclaiming?
Are we proclaiming it with the same enthusiasm that we do overseas?
Do we try to share the gospel as intentionally here as we do there?
And most importantly, do we have the same expectation that God is ready to do more right here in our midst?
After reading this queote from the founder of the Salvation Army, I sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity:
"'Not called!' did you say? ...Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. – (William Booth)
May we all renew our passion for Jesus, and claim this city in His name!
James Biesiadecki
Mission Pastor, SHBC
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Cold winds!!!
Those that participated in EC in the past semester may remember last year when the temperature dropped. We almost lost one student for every degree the temeperatre went down!!! It was certainly a discouraging time. At that time our attendance was almst exclusivly Vietnamese. As we prayed through the situation, it seemed apparent that we were victims of the hge dropout rate of ELL coupled with the fact that our primary student base was made up of people who find cold weather intolerable. After all, in Vietnam, cold weather was 80 degrees.
So we started broadening our base to include more hispanics, it started with one couple, and has multiplied. Not only that, but our Korean base has expanded without any effort of our own. These changes, have brought some great stability. If it were not for these changes, we would be experiencing the same drop in attendance. Thank the Lord!
Remember, that many of the factors that lead to high attendance, are out of our control, but our most unused tool in affecting the lives of our students is prayer! Do not forget to lift these people up, and do not forget to lift up each other.
Have a great week, and remember next week is WESTERN WEEK. So get out your boots and hat! Yip-ee-kay-aye!
James
So we started broadening our base to include more hispanics, it started with one couple, and has multiplied. Not only that, but our Korean base has expanded without any effort of our own. These changes, have brought some great stability. If it were not for these changes, we would be experiencing the same drop in attendance. Thank the Lord!
Remember, that many of the factors that lead to high attendance, are out of our control, but our most unused tool in affecting the lives of our students is prayer! Do not forget to lift these people up, and do not forget to lift up each other.
Have a great week, and remember next week is WESTERN WEEK. So get out your boots and hat! Yip-ee-kay-aye!
James
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Monday the 8th
We continue to have a good streak of new students, and the attendance seems to be healthy. I would like to encourage you to continue inviting people. Typically, ELL programs suffer a 50-75% dropout rate. Our numbers in the past support this. So, in order to maintain a healthy attendance, we have to continue bringing people in. Pray that the Lord will bring the people that need it most.
Monday the 15th will have no classes. Half of the teaching and support staff of EC will be out. We will try to recover from the missed week with a mail-out to remind students for the 22nd.
Also, we do want to pray for Elvon Pearsons family with the loss of her mother.
Monday the 15th will have no classes. Half of the teaching and support staff of EC will be out. We will try to recover from the missed week with a mail-out to remind students for the 22nd.
Also, we do want to pray for Elvon Pearsons family with the loss of her mother.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Fuel for Prayer
PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for two of our level 4 students. As i have plainly and clearly shared the gospel with them, I am convinced that they do not know the Lord. I am continuing to pray for them, and would like to see them come to Christ. Pray for understanding, and open opportunities.
PRAISE REPORT: One of our student's husband was arrested and had been in jail for several months on immigration violations. She was having a very difficult time maintaining their two restaurants, and caring for their 2 children. Well, her husband was released this past week, and it looks like he may be able to work toward citizenship or a more permanent status. Continue to pray for Sophia and Chen.
PRAISE REPORT: One of our student's husband was arrested and had been in jail for several months on immigration violations. She was having a very difficult time maintaining their two restaurants, and caring for their 2 children. Well, her husband was released this past week, and it looks like he may be able to work toward citizenship or a more permanent status. Continue to pray for Sophia and Chen.
A new week ahead
As wee look at this week in English Corner, be sure to pray for our students. The drop out rate for ELL is on average 50-75%. That is a steep curve to work around, and can be discouraging for all of us. Try to remember a couple of things as we look at this week:
1. Our ultimate goal - One of our ultimate goals is to demonstrate the love of Christ to peoples who do not know him. So long as we are faithful to that ultimate goal, it doesn't matter if there are 100 students or if there are 10.
2. The difficulty of learning language - These people are entering into one of the most difficult studies that you can do. You can study other things and once you have a relative handle on it you can get by, and blow a lot of smoke - leaving people with the assumption that you really are smart. But with language this is not so. You can't fake it for long before you run out of things to say.
3. Remember not to live and die on the numbers - It can be really easy to get excited about the numbers when things look good. But beware: When the numbers go down so will your enthusiasm. We don't do this to grow a big group, we do this so that we can be available for those whom the Lord draws. If we are faithful with the "little" things, he will bless us with much.
4. Why do we do this - We do this because the Lord has called us to this ministry. We are missionaries right here at home tilling a hard and dry ground. It is an act of worship to the Lord for us to minister to these people, and one day the Lord will reward those who have been faithful. Thanks for being faithful!
5. Prayer will make or break our effectiveness - we cannot simply rely on the prayers of others, but we should be in active communion with the Lord so that we are empowered to do what we have been called to do.
Let's look forward to a great week.
James
1. Our ultimate goal - One of our ultimate goals is to demonstrate the love of Christ to peoples who do not know him. So long as we are faithful to that ultimate goal, it doesn't matter if there are 100 students or if there are 10.
2. The difficulty of learning language - These people are entering into one of the most difficult studies that you can do. You can study other things and once you have a relative handle on it you can get by, and blow a lot of smoke - leaving people with the assumption that you really are smart. But with language this is not so. You can't fake it for long before you run out of things to say.
3. Remember not to live and die on the numbers - It can be really easy to get excited about the numbers when things look good. But beware: When the numbers go down so will your enthusiasm. We don't do this to grow a big group, we do this so that we can be available for those whom the Lord draws. If we are faithful with the "little" things, he will bless us with much.
4. Why do we do this - We do this because the Lord has called us to this ministry. We are missionaries right here at home tilling a hard and dry ground. It is an act of worship to the Lord for us to minister to these people, and one day the Lord will reward those who have been faithful. Thanks for being faithful!
5. Prayer will make or break our effectiveness - we cannot simply rely on the prayers of others, but we should be in active communion with the Lord so that we are empowered to do what we have been called to do.
Let's look forward to a great week.
James
Thanks
I just wanted to thank all of you for you kind words and prayers this past week. Brandi's Father is doing better, although it he is certainly not over this yet. We spent a few days with her family, I am sure we will go through this a few more times before it is over. Continue to pray for Brandi, as I know it will be a difficult thing to deal with when the time comes.
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