God's Fellow-workers

Were Alive in 1995! ! !

"All over the world the gospel is bearing fruit and growing . . . (Col. 1:6); "As God's fellow- workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain." (2 Cor. 6:1); "We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow-worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith." (1 Thess. 3:2) (NIV).

I am still trying to finish my book: MY GOD, MY MOTHER AND ME (and some of YOU). My Chinese students have attended Bible seminars for Chinese students at three campuses, Baton Rouge, Memphis, Beaumont, conducted by Edward Short, former missionary to Taiwan, and Edward Ho, Chinese worker for World Christian Broadcasting. They will soon be finishing their work here and I shall really miss them.

GOD'S FELLOW-WORKERS ARE BUSY SPREADING HIS GOOD NEWS: As usual, there are 4 times the stories in my files than I can share. Over and over the reports refer to God's help in their work. It is a work with Him, and it is evident. Doctors and nurses have gone to third world countries to help the sick; land improvements such as digging wells and providing equipment for electricity; medicines, food and clothing have accompanied the spreading of the Good News.

BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC: A campaign group was in the square offering free N.T.s. They were mobbed. All 500 were given away in 15 min.! SIBIU,ROMANIA: Orphanages and needy families received children's clothing from brethren in EASTERN GERMANY, taken by Joe Gibbs, VIENNA, who also took 21 boxes of medicines to doctors. VIENNA: ICU enrolled 714 students from 50 nations this past year! A part time student of English, Li Namki, from KOREA had secretly gone to the ICU library to read books about the Bible, and was so impressed over the simple N.T. Christianity that he resigned as Senior Pastor of his Presbyterian congregation. He began regular weekly Bible studies with Wil Goodheer, Pres. of ICU.

FT. WORTH, WBTC: Dr. Wang from CHINA was visiting Leland and Virginia Cumbie who called WBTC to see if he could help with their Mandarin Chinese translation. In working with Ervin Bishop, Chinese editor for the second edition of the N.T., Dr. Wang proofread the text for style and readability. In doing this he had question after question. One day he left a note on Ervin's desk, "I believe God exists. I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I want to be a Christian very much. Would you do me a favor and baptize me?" After his baptism he said, "I can't wait to go home so I can share my faith and joy in Jesus with my family and friends."

TARANGA, NEW ZEALAND: Bill and Jerry Humble (Univ. Church, Abilene TX) spent 12 weeks 'down under," 3 weeks on tour of AUSTRALIA, teaching one week at MacQuarie School of Preaching, preaching for 3 churches in Sydney. On to N.Z., South Island, preaching for various congregations, and showing his slides of the Seven Churches in Asia, (one couple said they had seen the video at the Wembley church in LONDON). The last of the trip Bill spent at the Bible college at T. daily teaching students from NZ, FIJI, MALAYSIA and KOREA.

OELSNITZ, EAST GERMANY, home town of Gottfried Reichel, gave him a favorable report by the Press with a picture of the inside of the new church building with him preaching in the pulpit. The headline: RADIO COMES TO CHURCH-HOUSE. They had become familiar with Gottfried's 30 years of preaching on Radio Luxembourg. He is being retired on Social Security and needs help to keep the radio ministry going.. Those who can help, send funds to German Radio Fund, C of C, 2020 Johnson St., San Angelo, TX 76904-5499.

HAMBURG, GERMANY: Dieter Alten preaches for a congregation that is self-supporting and also supports work in AFRICA and EAST GERMANY. Dieter conducts meetings and has edited the German 20th Century Christian for 40 years. I'll never forget his answer to Bro. Otis Gatewood's question in a class on Acts in 1948. After reading that the brethren sold their possessions, gave to the poor, having all things in common, he said that it sounded like they were practicing Communism. He asked Dieter: What is the difference in Christianity and Communism?" You could have heard a pin drop. Breaking the silence Dieter said: Well, in Communism, it is what is yours is mine, but in Christianity, it is what is mine is yours."

MOROCCO; Maurice and Marie Hall (Brentwood, TN) always have exiting stories to tell, because they too are God's fellow-workers. Juan Monroy, MADRID, wrote Maurice there is no church of the Lord in Morocco, population 30,000,000. A Madrid news report stated 4 Moroccans, one 85, had been jailed for teaching the Bible to Muslims. Bro. Mac Lynn gave him a letter his wife had received from Morocco. An Egyptian had sent her name and address to Mr. Muhammed Mahmoud of Casablanca. His letter was seeking the truth. He is 24, 2nd year Univ. student. He quoted Jo. 8:32 and Jer. 29:13, and asked for an English copy of the Bible. Maurice sent him a Bible course and asked Hugh Mingle of WBTC, to send him a copy of the Easy-to-Read Version. Mahmoud responded quickly saying he was lost in sin, separated from God and wanted to be saved. He plead with Maurice to come and talk to him and 16 members of his family in a city 100 miles from Casablanca. Roy Palmer, Abilene, sent some books through Maurice to help Mahmoud. Maurice made the trip and Mahmoud was immersed into our Lord.

MOSCOW/ABILENE, TX: Glenn Owen has made 15 trips to RUSSIA and UKRAINE in 5 years! On one trip he had too much luggage for one man, 4 containing Bibles and tracts. He prayed all would get through. When the official saw his identification, he waved him through never touching the luggage! Glenn prayed a prayer of thanks. Later he learned that Dr. Alexander Nedovniy, a highly respected Russian laser physicist, whom he had baptized in a hotel swimming pool on an earlier trip, had intervened! Nedovniy had once arranged for Glenn to be interviewed by TASS about the hope God can bring to people. 17 year old Olga had received a N.T. with tracts on Salvation and The Church from an offer 2 years earlier. Olga asked her mother to study with her. They were in the audience each evening with smiles on their faces. On the last night they were baptized into Christ. 3 years later Olga wrote in her "third year in Christ, the third year I live in peace," she had recently lost her job because of her disability and Christian beliefs. Her employer said, "Ask your God for help."

HAITI/ABILENE: Freda (Mrs. Boyd) Field, 75 yr old, has been to Haiti 2 times this year to help the people help themselves. In preparation she went to Colorado to a seminar on how to make an oven and use the sun for cooking. When the directors learned why she was there, they did not charge her! On each trip she, with others from different states, took various kinds of supplies for immediate needs and to teach them to make things they can sell to alleviate their poverty. She stayed at the Cap Haitian church orphanage. Freda made the front page of the Abilene newspaper, describing her efforts in H. Even though Freda returned each time with an illness and loss of weight, she knows she needs to return. A worthy woman who can find? I found one across the hall from me at Christian Village!

RUSSIA/SO. CHINA: 19 yr old Jing Quiayang (Jane), a multilingual student from So. China was baptized by Tony Tharp during a mission trip to Birobidzhan, R. She is one of 6 converts to return to So. China to share the Good News. Jane wrote Tony that she can't study her Bible daily as her mother will not allow it. "I have to study as a thief . . . but I won't give up. I pray God will help us. I was so disappointed, so sad, so tired."

TIRANE, ALBANIA: Once the pulpit was used by an atheist who blasted God and religion. Death silenced him. Prentice Meader, DALLAS, and Dino Rousos, ATHENS, GREECE, told the 500+ "Why We Believe God and the Bible." The devil's servants, the hard rock musicians called the Sons of Satan, heckled Prentice. They asked about discrepancies in the Bible. Prentice gave Bible answers and the audience applauded, giving a standing ovation. Dino met the same opposition but his Bible answers caused them to leave. Satan tried to hold on to his pulpit, but God's Word prevailed!

KAMPALA, UGANDA: Greg Carr was asked by the best known radio personality to do a weekly radio show with him, centered on community issues from a Christian perspective. He wants Greg to advertise his new outreach ministry during the show. The program is sponsored by a secular organization and the host is a Muslim! "Truly, God can do more than we can ask or imagine! Our God truly is a God of the impossible," said Greg.

CHINA: He is called Paul; has been in prison 3 times for over 5 years. He told Cliff Baird he didn't know how many brothers were in prison. Once when the persecution was severe, many were arrested. When Paul was arrested and taken to the same prison, he thanked his guards for arresting him saying, "You have brought so many of my brothers here for me to preach to. It would have taken me several weeks to travel around to see all the brothers in their homes. Thank you for saving me so much time!"

SUDAN: The Islamic government is persecuting and killing Christians. The "new political world order" is to be based on the Koran, so writes Richard Kruse, TORONTO, CANADA. Thanks to you who send canceled stamps which I send on to Richard who sells them and buys Bible for his students. Goodwin in GHANA picked up a booklet on the ground, and read it before taking it to the owner. He said the booklet showed him he could understand the Bible and asked Richard for a course.

COOK ISLANDS (2400 miles South of HAWAII): Tom Tune sails his Dorcus Sue to various Pacific islands, taking eyeglasses to those who cannot read the Bible or song books. This makes good contacts for him. The Cook I. (15 of them) do not give visas to missionaries so Tom got one as a businessman due to the fitting of glasses, which was done in a furnished room at the hospital at Aitulaki. When not fitting glasses he spends many hours in Bible study with them. One of his contacts, Mahuta, 50, a leader in the London Missionary Society, had a bad stroke. (Tom convinced Mahuta that the fruit of the vine represented the blood of Christ instead of the coconut milk they used. They had blessed a coconut tree and dedicated it to the Lord, using the tree's coconuts for communion.) After visiting Mahuta, he flew back to check on his family in the bush country, renting a motorcycle to get there. He spent the night in Mahuta's empty house as there was no room with the family. He couldn't find a bathroom. Larger than life cockroaches ignored the light, nor were they scared off by beating on the wall which only made them angry. He opened the window to cool the house but large cats came in knocking things over. At dawn huge mosquitoes arrived so he covered his head. Having an appointment back in town, 20 miles away, he arose early, saw gas was low in the scooter so mixed it with oil. Mahuta's red rooster attacked him and bit a plug out of his leg. He shook it off and started to kick it but it puffed up its feathers and stood its ground. He dressed his wound and made it back to Tahiti to see Mahuta. He told him about the bout with the rooster. Mahuta laughed out loud -- the first sound since his stroke!

NIGERIA/NASHVILLE: John Beckloff, after 2 years of cancer treatments and operations, was allowed to return to N. for 2 months to help the high school and Nigerian Christian Bible College. Various improvements were made concerning the use of the NCBC campus, water, electricity (they had only 3 days of service out of the 63 he was there), the old pick-up truck is being replaced, a new Sharp Copier and more improvements are in the works. Upon return and another check-up John's cancer is gone, so he and Dottie plan to return to N. in January to work several months.

ROSTOV-ON-DOM, RUSSIA: God continues to open doors of opportunity for the Whiddens. Clay is teaching "The History of Christianity in a World Culture" at the New Tech. Management & Int'l Cooperation Institute in Aksay. It is a Bible survey of the N.T. and is required for all (about 400) students. Clay was named head of their European Languages Division. Beverly is home-schooling Kathryn, and working with ladies' and children's classes. Kathryn's dog Shadow had 11 puppies. To find them homes she decided to do it the Russian way by taking them to the market. The first day she sold 2 for $1 and $1.80. She became a 'colleague' of the vendors and one of the ladies was shocked to learn she is an American. One of the Russian brothers spoke for 30 minutes at the Rostov State Univ. refuting evolution based on the Bible and scientific evidence. Afterwards he began telling the class the Good News of Jesus. The professor stopped him saying he could not preach in his class. But his classmates unanimously wanted him to continue. For an hour he spoke of Jesus and God and answered questions. He has been asked to give the same speech to more of the student body and to prepare a booklet for possible publication by the Univ. press!

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON AND BE A FELLOW-WORKER WITH GOD IN 1996!