HK.Update.Sep04.08

Hey Family from Hong Kong!

The summer is done and we have started a new season in the long-term m-stry. As you will soon read, there has been some major redirection in His leading that I want to share with you. This will be a more "reflective" update as I process with you some changes in my m-stry this upcoming year. But first I thank you again for your rap support – it has availed so much in this previous season.

Pra!ses:

• 408 decisions for the Lrd this summer through our seven VSET teams in E Asia, Taiwan/HK, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia
• A number of our Taiwan new b's are continuing to grow with the Navs at NTU
• 17 new b's in HK
• Fruitful training in Seoul, Korea, with long-term team and director Joseph (2 new b's, too!)

"To the angel of the chrch in Philadelphia write: These are the words of Him who is ho|y and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open." - Rev 3:7

Costs of Disc!pleship

You can see above that Gd has been exceedingly abundantly gr8cious this summer – there are many reasons (too many to list here) to pra!se Gd for the past two and a half months. We reaped an awesome harvest all over Asia, and had many unexpected bless!ngs along the way. But this VSET also came at a certain cost. Due to serious visa complications that have come up, I will not return to E Asia this fall.

The enemy threw this among a slew of other monkey wrenches our way this summer, including also the loss of our m-stry apartment in LZ. Sat@n sure would love to have his way – his tactic is to discourage, but I know that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world and that "the reason the Son of Gd appeared was to destroy the dev!l's work" (1 Jn 4:4, 3:8). The Lrd of Hosts is mighty to save, and is able to leverage what was intended for evil into good, and what was meant for harm into the "saving of many lives." It's a story as old as Genes!s – see Gen 50:20 – and I know it's still true today.

His Good Purpose

It came as a shock to find out I would not be back in B this fall. The initial reaction was of course disappointment, but the Lrd is gr8cious and has allowed me to reap much from this unexpected turn of events. He brought me to Acts 16:6-8, another story of unexpected redirection. Paul did not plan on heading to Troas; actually, he had every desire to enter Asia, but see that it was the HS in His sovereignty who closed the door. And if Gd will close a door on Paul, how much more should I be ready for Him to close a few on me! But consider the outcome: being diverted from Asia, the apost!es now enter Philippi; after that, Thessalonica and Corinth. And we have the NT epistles as evidence of Gd's work there. When Gd redirects, it is because He has a better plan. And I know He has something similar in store for us.

Rev 3:7 tells me that the doors God closes can never be forced open. But consider also that the doors He opens can never be shut – until He Himself closes them. This truth has given me much peace. There's rest in surrender, strength in a quiet and not plaintive spirit (Isa 30:15) – so why would I dare complain? After trying what we could to find a way back for me into E Asia, our team knows now that this field is not where the Father would have me in this new season of m-stry. Yet He knows the plans He has for us, to prosper and not to harm, to give hope and a future. I will not question the Potter on His design. There's a reason I'm not going back to E Asia right now. There's a reason our team feels led to plant a m-stry in Central Asia sooner than we had expected. There's a reason many of our B brothers and sisters went on this summer's VSET. There's a reason we have been blessed with one new long-term brother (Eric). He has His purpose!

Through this situation I'm enjoying Rom 8:28 in a deeper, richer way. Things are being worked together for our good in ways I could have never foreseen. Since arriving in Hong Kong last week I have been moved to rejoice as He has reminded me through His timely Word, answered raps, encouragement from family around the world, and through the daily life of obedience that He is still ho|y, still f8thful, still sovereign. I slip along the way at times, in ungod|y attitudes and lack of f8th, but He is reminding me these days of His love. He has given me the joy of Zephaniah 3:17 through the words of many old, truth-laden hymns, bringing deep comfort:

Be still, my soul; thy J3sus can repay

From His own fullness all He takes away.

My conviction now, as I follow His lead, is Ps 57:2: "I cry out to Gd Most High, to Gd, who fulfills His purpose for me." And Ps 16 says our lot is secure because Gd makes it so; moreover, it tells me that the inheritance the Father bestows is a pleasant one. A delightful one! What bles$ed assurance is this, that even as the circumstances would testify against this mighty truth, still we can rejoice that our portion is a good one – it is Gd Himself! I think of these great promises Gd made to us in the Word – to me wherever I may be, to the B m-stry – and I'm filled with awe. Awe, that is, in the sense of fear. The kind that is making me see that wherever He places me is exactly where He wants me to be – and that there are people here He would have me love and serve if I only make myself available for His use.

Yes, you bet I miss the fellowship of the long-term bros and yes, I miss all the guys and gals I disc!pled last year and the ones whom I had just begun to sit with – but in His time He makes all things beautiful – so my heart rejoices and is full of hope and expectation about what is to come for the family in B. Just got off the phone with one of our key guys, and he shares this conviction. It is not what any of us would have asked for (for we don't even know what to ask! Rom 8:26) but we expect even greater things to be done this year in B – and in every city to which Gd would lead us.

What's Next?

As for me? He has been so f8thful to me through the years, and I know it will be all good. Actually, the confirmation just came in – I'm heading back to Taiwan on Thursday for the next six weeks, PTL! I will be training under the Nav m-stry whom we partnered with this summer. I'm absolutely stoked at the opportunity to come under the tutelage of some seasoned m-workers – I know there's a lot I must learn. It will be a challenge, but the payoff will be well worth it. After that, I will be off to K-country in Central Asia…but that we'll save for the next update.

What's Left: A Deeper Heart for E Asia

What's more is the strange twist that through this situation Gd is giving me a larger heart for the locals. When I first found out I couldn't go back into the E Asia, I confess my attitude was not exactly…positive. But the Lrd spoke clearly to me that following Sunday when the p@stor spoke of the Father's heart for the E Asians. And then I thought about the Son's own response: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them" (Mt 9:36).

Oh, to think about E Asia – this waking giant, able to stun the world with a display of beauty, strength and unity as the whole world watched. But also to see the other side: One point three billion – most of whom still have never heard the Good News – live in a spiritual vacuum so staggering it has made me weep on several occasions. But the Father loves these people. "He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." It's so easy to see the E Asians as simply a mass, an immense crowd of people – but when Chr!st saw the crowd, He had compassion on them. Who will share His love with them?

The number of workers went down significantly across E Asia this past year due to visa issues, so I'm going to do what He commanded after having seen the crowd: Ask for more laborers to fill in and to exceed the number that cannot at this time go back.

In the end, it's a decision to "Rom 12:2" this situation, to receive it all as from His sovereign and gr8cious and infinitely loving hand. As that old hymn goes, I would prove Him o'er and o'er in this one, too. Please ask for a Joshua and Caleb spir!t, for we – like they – "have not received the spir!t of the world but the Spir!t who is from Gd, that we may understand what Gd has freely given us" (1 Cor 2:12). To everyone except Joshua and Caleb, it looked like madness to go up into Canaan. But they had a "different spir!t" and saw Gd's gift to them of the Promised Land (Num 14:24). We may be tempted to wallow (at least for a while) in self-pity at the circumstances that have come to pass, but resolve not to give in. See with the eyes of f8th – the assurance of things hoped for, the substance of things unseen – that E Asia will be blessed, the nations will be glad, and you also will rejoice as you continue to believe on Him!

"Trust in the Lrd forever, for in the Lrd Gd you have an everlasting rock." – Isa. 26:4

Rap Requests:

• Our B M-stry:
• ask especially for my colaborer Conrad who will be leading the m-stry as the lone North American: for increased f8th and a double portion of gr8ce during this transition
• for Jacky and Beckham, who live in the apartment with Conrad, to grow as f8thful men, qualified to teach others
• for the B family: that our key people (like the Team National Trainees, TNT) would grow much in their devotion as they will be called upon to step up and serve in new ways.
• For LZ m-stry to be established in the next two months: that Ed, Lorin and now Eric would serve together as a three-strand rope that cannot easily be broken
• Begin to rap for Central Asia: especially the Kyrgyz and the Kazakh that VSET has reached out to in past summers – that Dad would prepare a harvest there in the near future
• Taiwan Training: I will live in the training apartment with the K Navs and learn from them while partnering in their work at National Taiwan University (aka NTU or Tai Da). Ask that I might hit the ground running; school has just started and I'm excited to join their work in reaching out to all the new freshmen that are coming in. Ask, as always, for Timothys.
• For me, a deeper love relationship with JC - devotional maturity
• More workers.

Thanks for making it this far! Your fellowsh!p through correspondence and rap has refreshed my heart. Though I cannot reply immediately all the time, I appreciate and thank Gd for your love.

Press on! Much love,

Alex