Dear Friends in Christ:
Greetings in the name of our Lord. We trust you had a great Easter season and hope you are more determined to own Christ as your life choice ~ Savior, Master and Lord! Speaking of saved people…. have you perhaps ever wondered what happens to some of the people that make decisions for Christ in our projects? Several years ago there was a young Hindu man named Bennet, who was attending Madras Christian College with Sam, James oldest son. Sam had been witnessing to him but to no avail. But he still wanted to be friends with all the Christian boys there, in fact he would come to their prayer meetings but he never would commit himself to Christ. Then Sam invited him to be a part of one of our USA Projects that July during summer break and Bennet agreed to come along. After the project and while back at college, he told Sam that he had received Christ as his Savior and Lord and literally became a new young man. He had heard the Gospel unto salvation and believed!
Through the next few years, he worked all the projects that he could with us and became quite an evangelist in his own right. After doing his undergrad work, he went to the Philippines to get a Masters of Theology at Asian Christian Seminary in Manila. He finished that in 2006 and is now working on his doctorate and teaching Old Testament History there as well. GHI continues to send him monies to help him.
Last year he wrote me about sponsoring a four day project into Mindinao to reach some tribals (an unreached peoples group). The project was more of an exploratory one but God nevertheless broke his heart for missions and these particular people. This past April 1-4, they returned for a follow up campaign. Please take a moment to read the following letter he wrote me:
Dear Uncle Mack,
Greetings in His Name!
By the grace of God we finished our mission trip with success. Sorry uncle for not replying immediately. We were back on the 5th and 8th was our wedding anniversary. As we didn’t have our internet in our house I could only check my mails in the seminary.
God helped us wonderfully in this mission trip. I will send the pictures in my next email. As I don’t have a camera I asked other members of the team to take it and I am waiting for the pictures from them.
On April 1, we set out on our4-day mission project. There were 28 of us and 19 of them are my students in OT Survey class. We took the ferry and from the ferry we had to take a Jeepney, a mini van and a unique vehicle in the Philippines. The girls had to sit inside and the guys were on the top of the Jeep. It was exciting but scary. At 3 am in the morning we reached the place. And in the morning we prepared the things we bought for the Mangyans. We brought 100 kilos of rice, 300 sardines, 260 noodles and 100 bars of soap, 100 tooth brushes and tooth pastes, 100 pairs of slippers and a lot of used clothing. It was amazing how God provided all these things. Most of the students brought the things from their houses and churches and neighbors. And on the Monday evening we held a crusade. In the crusade the young students of mine began to sing few popular Filipino songs which attracted most of the people in the barangay (village).
The crusade was held in between two basketball matches so many were able top attend the crusade. All the activities were done by the students. One older student of mine preached the Gospel of salvation. It was timely because it was the Holy week and in the Philippines people tend to do religious activities at this time, so they were eager for the message. By the end of the message 32 people gave their life to Christ by coming in front of the village. This is a big thing in the Hiya culture (shame) where hardly someone would step out for the Gospel in front of the whole village. But when the students approached them at the altar call they simply obeyed and repented of their sins and received Christ through prayer. We strongly encouraged them to attend the local church in which we were assisting. Praise the Lord for 32 changed lives.
The next day early in the morning we left for the Mangyan tribal ministries. We had to walk for about 1 1/2 hours. When we went there it was hot sun already. We had to cross a river in between while the strong current was a dramatic thing to witness. Praise God for the challenges. And since the community is near the river we asked them to come down to the river so that we can bathe them. We divided the team into five and we taught them: teeth brushing, hair cutting, bathing, cleaning the ears, and clothing. It was challenging because we were teaching hygiene to the tribal people who don’t take bath for years. We had to apply the soap and brush their body and clean them. One of my students Dale was so fearful to clean the ears, especially when a 3 year old boy had puss in his right ear. However, she with the help of the kid’s father did it. Each person gave what they could without looking down on them. Our primary purpose was to show Christ through us.
After this we took all the people back to the community. We shared the Gospel there to the people. And all the people in the community (170 including kids) accepted Christ. It was amazing. And we took some nursing students there who demonstrated how to make simple medicine from the herbs. And they also examined the sick, prayed for them and gave them medicine.
Uncle, last time when I went there I saw tribal people who were different from the normal Filipinos but after we did the ministry while we were leaving the whole community was like normal Filipinos, clean, clothed (99%), with Christ. This I consider as a great blessing. A small group of people of God can change a community for Christ.
I gave $80 for the church building uncle as the church was not built from the Typhoon disaster before we went last time. The money we gave last was not enough it seems they only could buy the supporting posts with it. Their life is so poor. We distributed food for them that afternoon ($50) but we asked them to bring their own bowls to get the food. But only 10% of them brought any vessel. All the rest brought banana leaf as there were no vessels in their houses. One woman brought a biggggg white sheet of plastic which had been on her muddy floor of her house. It was a terrible sight uncle to see the poverty. We entered their houses there was nothing, absolutely nothing in their houses. The next time I am thinking of providing them some vessels.
Uncle, I have been praying how we can be of some help to these people. I think rather than giving what they need, we should create opportunities for them to support themselves. I am praying that we could find some means of livelihood projects for the Mangyans. Their community is called Mangyan because they live in a place where there are six big mango trees. We are going to focus on this community only for 3 more years and create opportunities for them to earn. For example, they are poor because they cannot farm all around the year. They live in the mountains and farm in the mountains so they cannot use the river water. They wait for the rainy season to farm and all the summer they can’t do anything. The leader of the community asked if we could provide them the water supply to bring the water from a spring so that they could farm and also use for their community. The mango trees do not yield much since there are no proper chemicals applied for that. So we want to help them with the chemicals and fertilizers. These are my long terms plans uncle. Please pray that these would prosper.
Through these mission trips I realized the major need of a person is not food, clothing or shelter, it is OPPORTUNITY; an opportunity to get education, an opportunity to get work, an opportunity to hear the Gospel. Thus, I pray we could create more opportunities for these poor, neglected communities. God is great, so we just have to work with Him. Please pray with me uncle.
I thank you so much uncle for enabling the work. I spent $100 for my travel and I shared for two other students, $70 for their travel and food. Uncle, thank you for your support. I am grateful that we could do so much through your gifts.
These students are now getting the burden. In the debriefing time later on, they were sharing how they have the burden to go back and bring the Gospel to many other Mangyans and also help them to develop their lives socially. We only sowed a small seed I am sure God is going to reap much bigger. Next time we will help this community socially as we will start sharing the Gospel to other nearby Mangyan communities.
Thank you again uncle. I will send pictures to you as soon as I get them. We love you and may the Lord bless you and keep you a blessing to many.
With love and gratitude….Bennet.
So there we are…202 get saved and a church is planted because someone witnesses to a young Hindu man and he gets saved and begins to grow, follow Christ and just be faithful. If we will do this, we will find ourselves reproducing ourselves over and over again. What a story!
March Projects in Ghana
In West Africa, the Good News was again going forward in measure! Both our teams were aggressively out in the highways and hedges scattering seed and calling people to repent of their sins and follow Christ.
Eugene Narh and his team were back in the Ashanti Region faithfully working the Kwadaso area around the Nyinahin District. For 13 days they were in the schools during the day and showing the Jesus Film at night in 32 separate meetings. At the end of the project, they had trained 206 to do follow up work on the people who would believe (John 17:20) in the meetings. Then one by one, they went into the different settings preaching the Gospel to 7,375 men, women and children. At the end of the project, 4,134 made first time decisions for Christ.
Godfried Tei and his team were all over the Greater Accra Region showing the Jesus Film in 21 separate meetings, bringing the Gospel to 18,700 people with 4,818 making first time decisions for Christ. Here is one of the many testimonies that came from those meetings:
During our film show at Teshie Old Town, a woman in the procession that was following a new initiated fetish priestess suddenly stopped to watch the film show. She listened and later prayed to receive Jesus as her Lord. She said, “I thank God for this opportunity to know Him and serve Him. I have served at the shrine since childhood and known only that. All members of my family also worship at the shrine. No member of my family has had any formal education; the only explanation we are given is that the goddess needs our services all the time. What attracted me and made me abandon my people is when I saw the picture of Jesus and saw the agony on his face, I felt that a burden had been lifted off my shoulders and somebody told me to answer the altar call and repent of my sins, which I did. Thank you, Lord, for saving me.” With a mixture of sorrow and joy and amidst tears, Sister Grace A____ was ushered into the Kingdom.
This is our 14th year to be working with Eugene and Godfried. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to give away the gifts that the Lord has given them. The salvation that you and I take for granted is to be given away, again and again…AMEN?
Greetings in the name of our Lord. We trust you had a great Easter season and hope you are more determined to own Christ as your life choice ~ Savior, Master and Lord! Speaking of saved people…. have you perhaps ever wondered what happens to some of the people that make decisions for Christ in our projects? Several years ago there was a young Hindu man named Bennet, who was attending Madras Christian College with Sam, James oldest son. Sam had been witnessing to him but to no avail. But he still wanted to be friends with all the Christian boys there, in fact he would come to their prayer meetings but he never would commit himself to Christ. Then Sam invited him to be a part of one of our USA Projects that July during summer break and Bennet agreed to come along. After the project and while back at college, he told Sam that he had received Christ as his Savior and Lord and literally became a new young man. He had heard the Gospel unto salvation and believed!
Through the next few years, he worked all the projects that he could with us and became quite an evangelist in his own right. After doing his undergrad work, he went to the Philippines to get a Masters of Theology at Asian Christian Seminary in Manila. He finished that in 2006 and is now working on his doctorate and teaching Old Testament History there as well. GHI continues to send him monies to help him.
Last year he wrote me about sponsoring a four day project into Mindinao to reach some tribals (an unreached peoples group). The project was more of an exploratory one but God nevertheless broke his heart for missions and these particular people. This past April 1-4, they returned for a follow up campaign. Please take a moment to read the following letter he wrote me:
Dear Uncle Mack,
Greetings in His Name!
By the grace of God we finished our mission trip with success. Sorry uncle for not replying immediately. We were back on the 5th and 8th was our wedding anniversary. As we didn’t have our internet in our house I could only check my mails in the seminary.
God helped us wonderfully in this mission trip. I will send the pictures in my next email. As I don’t have a camera I asked other members of the team to take it and I am waiting for the pictures from them.
On April 1, we set out on our4-day mission project. There were 28 of us and 19 of them are my students in OT Survey class. We took the ferry and from the ferry we had to take a Jeepney, a mini van and a unique vehicle in the Philippines. The girls had to sit inside and the guys were on the top of the Jeep. It was exciting but scary. At 3 am in the morning we reached the place. And in the morning we prepared the things we bought for the Mangyans. We brought 100 kilos of rice, 300 sardines, 260 noodles and 100 bars of soap, 100 tooth brushes and tooth pastes, 100 pairs of slippers and a lot of used clothing. It was amazing how God provided all these things. Most of the students brought the things from their houses and churches and neighbors. And on the Monday evening we held a crusade. In the crusade the young students of mine began to sing few popular Filipino songs which attracted most of the people in the barangay (village).
The crusade was held in between two basketball matches so many were able top attend the crusade. All the activities were done by the students. One older student of mine preached the Gospel of salvation. It was timely because it was the Holy week and in the Philippines people tend to do religious activities at this time, so they were eager for the message. By the end of the message 32 people gave their life to Christ by coming in front of the village. This is a big thing in the Hiya culture (shame) where hardly someone would step out for the Gospel in front of the whole village. But when the students approached them at the altar call they simply obeyed and repented of their sins and received Christ through prayer. We strongly encouraged them to attend the local church in which we were assisting. Praise the Lord for 32 changed lives.
The next day early in the morning we left for the Mangyan tribal ministries. We had to walk for about 1 1/2 hours. When we went there it was hot sun already. We had to cross a river in between while the strong current was a dramatic thing to witness. Praise God for the challenges. And since the community is near the river we asked them to come down to the river so that we can bathe them. We divided the team into five and we taught them: teeth brushing, hair cutting, bathing, cleaning the ears, and clothing. It was challenging because we were teaching hygiene to the tribal people who don’t take bath for years. We had to apply the soap and brush their body and clean them. One of my students Dale was so fearful to clean the ears, especially when a 3 year old boy had puss in his right ear. However, she with the help of the kid’s father did it. Each person gave what they could without looking down on them. Our primary purpose was to show Christ through us.
After this we took all the people back to the community. We shared the Gospel there to the people. And all the people in the community (170 including kids) accepted Christ. It was amazing. And we took some nursing students there who demonstrated how to make simple medicine from the herbs. And they also examined the sick, prayed for them and gave them medicine.
Uncle, last time when I went there I saw tribal people who were different from the normal Filipinos but after we did the ministry while we were leaving the whole community was like normal Filipinos, clean, clothed (99%), with Christ. This I consider as a great blessing. A small group of people of God can change a community for Christ.
I gave $80 for the church building uncle as the church was not built from the Typhoon disaster before we went last time. The money we gave last was not enough it seems they only could buy the supporting posts with it. Their life is so poor. We distributed food for them that afternoon ($50) but we asked them to bring their own bowls to get the food. But only 10% of them brought any vessel. All the rest brought banana leaf as there were no vessels in their houses. One woman brought a biggggg white sheet of plastic which had been on her muddy floor of her house. It was a terrible sight uncle to see the poverty. We entered their houses there was nothing, absolutely nothing in their houses. The next time I am thinking of providing them some vessels.
Uncle, I have been praying how we can be of some help to these people. I think rather than giving what they need, we should create opportunities for them to support themselves. I am praying that we could find some means of livelihood projects for the Mangyans. Their community is called Mangyan because they live in a place where there are six big mango trees. We are going to focus on this community only for 3 more years and create opportunities for them to earn. For example, they are poor because they cannot farm all around the year. They live in the mountains and farm in the mountains so they cannot use the river water. They wait for the rainy season to farm and all the summer they can’t do anything. The leader of the community asked if we could provide them the water supply to bring the water from a spring so that they could farm and also use for their community. The mango trees do not yield much since there are no proper chemicals applied for that. So we want to help them with the chemicals and fertilizers. These are my long terms plans uncle. Please pray that these would prosper.
Through these mission trips I realized the major need of a person is not food, clothing or shelter, it is OPPORTUNITY; an opportunity to get education, an opportunity to get work, an opportunity to hear the Gospel. Thus, I pray we could create more opportunities for these poor, neglected communities. God is great, so we just have to work with Him. Please pray with me uncle.
I thank you so much uncle for enabling the work. I spent $100 for my travel and I shared for two other students, $70 for their travel and food. Uncle, thank you for your support. I am grateful that we could do so much through your gifts.
These students are now getting the burden. In the debriefing time later on, they were sharing how they have the burden to go back and bring the Gospel to many other Mangyans and also help them to develop their lives socially. We only sowed a small seed I am sure God is going to reap much bigger. Next time we will help this community socially as we will start sharing the Gospel to other nearby Mangyan communities.
Thank you again uncle. I will send pictures to you as soon as I get them. We love you and may the Lord bless you and keep you a blessing to many.
With love and gratitude….Bennet.
So there we are…202 get saved and a church is planted because someone witnesses to a young Hindu man and he gets saved and begins to grow, follow Christ and just be faithful. If we will do this, we will find ourselves reproducing ourselves over and over again. What a story!
March Projects in Ghana
In West Africa, the Good News was again going forward in measure! Both our teams were aggressively out in the highways and hedges scattering seed and calling people to repent of their sins and follow Christ.
Eugene Narh and his team were back in the Ashanti Region faithfully working the Kwadaso area around the Nyinahin District. For 13 days they were in the schools during the day and showing the Jesus Film at night in 32 separate meetings. At the end of the project, they had trained 206 to do follow up work on the people who would believe (John 17:20) in the meetings. Then one by one, they went into the different settings preaching the Gospel to 7,375 men, women and children. At the end of the project, 4,134 made first time decisions for Christ.
Godfried Tei and his team were all over the Greater Accra Region showing the Jesus Film in 21 separate meetings, bringing the Gospel to 18,700 people with 4,818 making first time decisions for Christ. Here is one of the many testimonies that came from those meetings:
During our film show at Teshie Old Town, a woman in the procession that was following a new initiated fetish priestess suddenly stopped to watch the film show. She listened and later prayed to receive Jesus as her Lord. She said, “I thank God for this opportunity to know Him and serve Him. I have served at the shrine since childhood and known only that. All members of my family also worship at the shrine. No member of my family has had any formal education; the only explanation we are given is that the goddess needs our services all the time. What attracted me and made me abandon my people is when I saw the picture of Jesus and saw the agony on his face, I felt that a burden had been lifted off my shoulders and somebody told me to answer the altar call and repent of my sins, which I did. Thank you, Lord, for saving me.” With a mixture of sorrow and joy and amidst tears, Sister Grace A____ was ushered into the Kingdom.
This is our 14th year to be working with Eugene and Godfried. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to give away the gifts that the Lord has given them. The salvation that you and I take for granted is to be given away, again and again…AMEN?
GHI and GHI National Teams 1st Quarter Report
With one outstanding report due from our India Team, through March 31, we have…
Preached in 204 venues,
89,262 people have heard a clear presentation of the Gospel,
44,232 have come forward to receive Christ as their Savior, and
three (3) new churches have been planted.
With one outstanding report due from our India Team, through March 31, we have…
Preached in 204 venues,
89,262 people have heard a clear presentation of the Gospel,
44,232 have come forward to receive Christ as their Savior, and
three (3) new churches have been planted.
Thanks for continuing to be faithful and taking ownership of this ministry called Gospel Harvesters International with us. It’s by His stripes we are healed and forgiven of our sinful condition but it’s by your gifts that we continue to take the message throughout the world. So may God’s richest blessing be yours.
2007 Indian Children Sponsors Needed
We are in our ninth year of educating poor and needy children in India. These are children that would not be in school at all apart from the generosity of people like you and I. But every year we find ourselves in a position of having to secure new sponsors because of prior sponsors dropping out of this ministry.
What is the cost? It is only $325 a year, which includes their tuition, supplies, uniforms and transportation to and from school. Should you want to send an optional $20 for birthday and Christmas presents, that would be appreciated.
We will send you a bio and a picture of the child and throughout the year, you will receive letters from them to keep you abreast of your investment!
- - - - - - - - - - - -
2007 Indian Children Enrollment Form
Name______________________Address_________________________
City______________ State__ Zip_______
2007 Indian Children Sponsors Needed
We are in our ninth year of educating poor and needy children in India. These are children that would not be in school at all apart from the generosity of people like you and I. But every year we find ourselves in a position of having to secure new sponsors because of prior sponsors dropping out of this ministry.
What is the cost? It is only $325 a year, which includes their tuition, supplies, uniforms and transportation to and from school. Should you want to send an optional $20 for birthday and Christmas presents, that would be appreciated.
We will send you a bio and a picture of the child and throughout the year, you will receive letters from them to keep you abreast of your investment!
- - - - - - - - - - - -
2007 Indian Children Enrollment Form
Name______________________Address_________________________
City______________ State__ Zip_______
Tel __________________
___ Yes, I want to sponsor a child and I have enclosed my check for $ ______ . Please send me the bio and picture of my child, thanks!
- - - - - - - - - -
As always, please keep us in prayer as we continue to trust God for all that He has put in our care. We are blessed to have you as friends and partners. Dottie joins me in sending our love to you all.
Every blessing in HIM….Mack
___ Yes, I want to sponsor a child and I have enclosed my check for $ ______ . Please send me the bio and picture of my child, thanks!
- - - - - - - - - -
As always, please keep us in prayer as we continue to trust God for all that He has put in our care. We are blessed to have you as friends and partners. Dottie joins me in sending our love to you all.
Every blessing in HIM….Mack
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