Equipping Men in the Philippines

 

When we lived in Thailand, Alberta attended Equipping Women's Bible study leadership training. Some of Alberta's fellow trainees were from the Philippines. Alberta, along with her Filipina sisters, began to dream of having the EWI training in the Philippines. This would enable them to reduce expenses for travel, making the training available to more ladies.

For the last 3 years that has become a reality. But wait, some of the pastors of the churches in southern Philippines (where the ladies were coming from) started asking “what about us men?” 

In Acts 16:9 Paul had a vision of a 'man of Macedonia' beckoning him to "come over and help us". When Paul arrived - it was to a group of women led by Lydia. Where was the man? Alberta and her Filipina cohort envisioned more training for Filipina women, but obviously God had in His heart for men to get trained too! 

We just learned that a group of men from southern Luzon recently traveled to Isabela to train male elders and pastors of the Bethany churches. Alberta's co-facilitators from the south had begun training the men and now they were passing on what they received to other men! Join us in praising the Lord for this 'equipping of men' in the facilitation of relational learning and pray that each trainee will effectively use what he has learned.

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for our good friends Steve and Pam Shenk. Steve recently had colon cancer surgery and also had to have a blood clot removed from his lung right after the surgery. Pray for healing and strength and grace and peace to the family.

2. Pray for the Bible study I (Steve) am having on the book of John with 3 guys from our church. 

3. Pray for Alberta as she supervises the food preparation at the church for the last fall intergenerational meal this coming Wednesday night at church. They feed about 200 - its a big job!

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta 

 Nadim in Nepal 

We have shared in previous blogs about our partners, Nadim and Shana (not their real names), who are ministering in Bangladesh. It has been a turbulent year for their country ever since Prime Minister Sheik Hasina was deposed and granted asylum in India. 

Then, when Nadim traveled to Nepal for a conference of the SALT (South Asia Leadership Training) organization - he found himself and his fellow conferees in the middle of one of the worst riots in Asia in years. Over 70 people were killed and many buildings burned including the one in the picture - taken from Nadim's window. On his return to Bangladesh, Nadim and Shana decided they needed to get away for some rest and refreshing and, on our monthly call with them, we heartily endorsed their plans. Jesus also encouraged His disciples to come away from the stress of their travels and engagement with people. Please pray for Nadim and Shana as they take some extended time off next month. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for our good friends, the Smith family of Walnut Creek, Ca. Brad, a friend and supporter of many years, passed away mid-August. His celebration of life will be Oct. 12. He and his wife, Lynn, raised 4 adopted kids - which has been such a powerful testimony to us. 

2. Pray for me (Steve) as I've just started a Bible Study on the book of John. Three men from our church are eager to learn more from the Bible. 

3. We are beginning to plan for the Christmas holidays with the girls. Pray for us as we try to coordinate our busy schedules. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta 

 From a Kidnapping Attempt to Peace

Our contacts in Nigeria, Jamal and his wife, Alika (not their real names) recently had to flee their home after kidnappers attempted to  break into their apartment. The next day they learned that the kidnappers, unable to find Jamal and Alika, kidnapped their next door neighbor. Forced to flee, Jamal and Alika were temporarily housed by friends. 

In this environment of uncertainty, Jamal and Alika and their co-workers in Navigators Nigeria carried through on a planned leadership retreat at Miango Rest Home in northwestern Nigeria. Founded in 1897 by missionaries, this conference center has provided restful and refreshing times away from life and ministries' inevitable challenges. In Jamal and Alika's case, the timing couldn't have been better! The peace of their environment was palpable! 

Alberta and I had the privilege of sharing two 2 hr. sessions on member care for the Navigator's of Nigeria staff by Zoom back in July. Little did we know the difficult situations each of these 13 Christian workers were experiencing as they came together for their retreat. Please pray for Jamal and Alika (they have since found a new and safer living situation) and their co-workers as they bravely serve the Lord in the challenging environment of Nigeria.

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for the Lindberg family - Doug and Ruth were cross cultural workers in Nepal with TEAM when we were doing member care from Thailand. Doug passed away two days ago from a long battle with cancer. They have two teenage kids, Maddie and James that are taking it hard.

2. Pray for Alberta as she heads up the food preparation for an intergenerational meeting at church that will feed 200 people on Wednesday! 

3. Pray for me (Steve) as I disciple 3 - 4 new members of our church. We have a surge of growth in our church, 10 baptisms in the last month and several guys wanting to study the Bible. We will meet for coffee and the book of John beginning this Thursday. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta 

Visiting the New Bethany 

For 80 years Bethany resided at 6820 Auto Club Rd., Bloomington, MN. As the number of residential students plummeted and the cost of maintaining aging infrastructure skyrocketed, it was time for Bethany to move on. With the campus sold, Bethany's staff have moved to a suite of offices 15 minutes from their old location. With staff concentrated on one floor of the new building, it is now easy to gather everyone for staff meetings and updates from visiting missionaries. 

We stopped in for a visit to the new Bethany office space on our recent midwestern  road trip.  It was refreshing for us to interact with staff as we presented an update of our ministry from the past two years. We also heard from several other missionaries who were in town from Texas/Mexico and Kenya. 

By the way, one of our donors received a message when their bank tried to send a recurring gift marked "Payee no longer available" and their gift was refunded back to the bank. But, we are available! 😊This glitch may have happened when the office was moved. Please reach out to us if you have had any trouble with your donations going through. 

Prayer:

1. Pray for Bethany staff as they adjust to their new space and the new mission training and sending environment.

2. Pray for us as we travel on Wednesday to South Carolina to participate in the Celebration of Life service of one of our former teammates from the Philippines Team. We will join Greg Stynsberg's family and friends as they say goodbye to a wonderful guy.

3. Pray for the new men's group I (Steve) have helped facilitate as we find a rhythm and develop our core group of guys.

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta 

Remembering Peter Lubberts

On  June 22 many of Alberta's family gathered for her brother, Peter's, celebration of life. Between the Covid years and all of our complicated lives/schedules, there were members of the family we hadn't seen for 15 years. 

One of those families, Alberta's nephew Thomas, was now married with a 14 yr. old son! A niece, often mistaken for Heather (shown here in black) also was able to make it. 

I (Steve) was able to share a memory of Peter from 2009 when he reached out for help after a discouraging experience. Since Peter had reached out to me back then, I took the liberty of reaching out to him by  email shortly before his passing. I shared my story of how I had become a follower of Jesus. Alberta's brother, George, asked Peter, point blank, before his death "Peter, are you ready to meet Jesus?" "Yes" replied Peter. "I can't wait to be with Him." We praise God that Peter was at peace before he died. We are also grateful for the wonderful reunions we experienced on this trip to Canada. 

Prayer:

1. Pray for Sherry, Peter's wife, as she grieves the loss of her husband and best friend. 

2. Pray for us as we prepare for a 3 week trip up through the mid-west on our way to North Dakota. We will be visiting family and  friends  and will be speaking in two churches. 

3. Pray for Krista's boyfriend, Chris, as he moves forward on his chaplaincy training at Emory University Hospital. Pray that he will land a position there after his training is completed. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta

 Philippines Trip - The Dream

The last time they had a Bible School graduation at Bethany in Mindoro, Philippines was 1990. The dream come true is - graduating the first cohort of 8, who have attained their Bachelor of Theology degrees. There were also 8 students that received their Certificates of Church Planting. All of these students have been studying while they work, many of them already serving in the Bethany churches. Now, they have the credentials to go along with their ministry positions. 

Alberta and I almost didn't make the grad service after a mix-up at the airport in Manila. Our boarding passes had us flying the next day! I pulled out the hard copy of our itinerary and, after our check-in agent made a quick dash to her office, she returned and quickly printed new boarding passes for us. Whew! Tasked to give one of the keynote addresses that evening had my adrenalin pumping, but all's well that ends well! Pray for these accomplished students that God will use them mightily as they take their places as a new generation of leaders for Bethany Mindoro. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for our trip to Canada this Thursday. We will be attending Alberta's brother Peter's Celebration of Life. May we bring comfort and encouragement to all who grieve Peter's passing.

2. Pray for our preparations for our next road trip up through the mid-west that will come shortly after we arrive back from Canada.

3. Pray for our preparations for an online seminar to Nigeria at the end of July. We will be sharing principles of pastoral care to the staff of the Navigators Organization.

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta 

Philippines Trip - 'A Family Affair'

Alberta arrived in the Philippines May 2 and had a day to jet-lag in Manila, then up to Isabela starting the first session of her training that same night. All of the Filipina women in the picture above that took the training are like family to us, coming from the barrio we planted a church in 33 years ago. Two of them lived in our home as helpers, now they are public school teachers (all 5 of them!). 

What a joy for Alberta to pass on to them skills in leading Bible studies. When the joint conference we attended in Mindoro drew all the pastors from the north to be absent from their churches, a number of these ladies got to put their training to work immediately, becoming the preachers the Sundays the pastors were absent. We praise the Lord for the confidence these women developed as they moved through the intensive in person portion of their course! Pray with us for these gals to persevere as their next module opportunity is scheduled.

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for the planning for the next module for these women. With their heavy schedule during school, its hard to find dates that allow them to attend the in person parts of the training. 

2. Pray for us as we plan a trip to Canada (June 18-28) to attend Alberta's brother Peter's memorial service. Pray for us to be a testimony of God's grace and truth. 

More about our trip to the Philippines in our next update.

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta