News from the Mackey Family

Chris and Ginger have an announcement for everyone about Baby Mackey on their blog! Click here to see what they have to say.

Support Needed for Joel Colon!

Dear Friends of Joel Colon:

It is with undisguised pleasure that I write to you on behalf of our colleague and my son Joel. First a brief note of history. In September of 2004, Joel accepted the challenge to serve the Lord in Ukraine with SCPI. At that point he made a one year commitment and you graciously accepted the challenge to support him in prayer and financial resources.

In March of 2005, Joel arrived in Kiev with support adequate to meet his living expenses and ministry goals based on a short-term commitment. A year after that (2006), believing that God had more for him to do in Ukraine, Joel made a long-term commitment to the work without a corresponding increase in his support base.

We have witnessed God’s hand of blessing on the SCPI ministry in Ukraine and God’s hand on Joel’s life in ministry. The work in Ukraine has greatly expanded and Joel has been a great asset to the Antioch (SCPI) team.

Expanded ministry, both for the team, and for Joel, has necessitated increasing expenditures; all of this within a context of a nation with a rapidly escalating cost of living. Apartments that rented for $250 a month in 2005 are now over $800 monthly. The city of Kiev now has the 10^th most expensive cost of living in the world.

Budget adjustments and creative living arrangements have held at bay the need to seek greater funding for Joel’s personal needs as well as his contribution to the team’s ministry expenses. However, the time has come to address the pressing financial needs.

Two things are needed in order for Joel to continue to minister in Ukraine with adequate resources: first, a continued commitment from you his supporters to continue to provide at your current level of giving. Secondly, a twofold effort on your part:

1) If at all possible, increase the amount of your contribution. Many of you are already giving sacrificially and I thank you for your generosity.

2) There is also a need to expand the support base. Joel needs more churches and individuals to partner with him for the work in Ukraine. Joel is scheduled to return to the US for an extended period beginning in April. If you have family, friends, neighbors and church contacts that may have an interest in Joel’s ministry please make arrangements for Joel to follow up on those contacts. You can contact Joel at joelcolon@mac.com

You can also contact me at colonjames@bbellsouth.net or 828-286-1572.

I would be delighted to assist in arranging for any home or church meetings during the next few months. Of course, all of this bathed in prayer for God’s leading and blessing.

I look forward to God’s provision through you His people.

Jim Colon

Update from the May Family

With cherry blossoms in full bloom, birds waking us up with their morning songs, and temperatures rising, spring has definitely arrived in Tokyo!

This past Sunday was a special day. Mrs. Kawaguchi, a 78-year-old grandma whom Debbie befriended some time ago, came to Hope Bible Church for the first time. She and her family are devout Buddhists, and yet she responded to Debbie’s invitation to church. We were amazed when her 50-something son saw us off as we picked his mom up. He knew she was going to church, yet didn't object. Earlier last week Mrs K. broke into tears of joy when Debbie took her some flowers for her birthday. Perhaps because of the flowers she felt an obligation to respond to Deb's invitation to church. In Japanese, this is called "giri". Japanese are masters at building up "obligation" by giving presents or doing good things in order to get back what they want. But, in reality, we know that her going to church is beyond "giri". GOD definitely is the one that draws people to Himself and we give Him the praise. Please pray that this lady and her family might come to salvation.

Earlier last month we asked prayer for Mrs. T, whom Debbie is leading in a weekly Bible study. Thank-you! Those prayers were answered! This lovely Korean lady attended Easter services after having been estranged from the church for many years. God is working healing and encouragement in her heart, and she is showing more signs of understanding of and desire for God’s Word. Praise the Lord!

Below you will find two pictures. Gerald is pictured with Junko Takenouchi (75), who was baptized last July. Gerald had the privilege of leading her through an intensive Bible study for nearly a year before we left on home assignment last spring. She continues to grow in her spiritual walk: this lady who first came into Hope Bible church with a very sour disposition now exhibits a new joy and appreciation of life in the Lord.

Debbie is pictured with some of the members of our gospel choir along with our music director, Ken Taylor. Gospel choirs have gotten to be such a rage in this country that Ken is directing almost 30 choirs. Many of these choir members are non-Christians. We have a natural opening to share God’s message of hope as we explain the words and concepts in each song. Please pray with us that God will draw them to Himself through the gospel message in the music.

We hope you are enjoying this fresh new season of life and growth. May God bring much spiritual renewal in your lives too!

An Update from the Schultz Family

After a record-setting year in 2007 our enrollment numbers are down in 2008. From what I am hearing I believe the slowed economy is making it more difficult for new missionaries to find full funding. Until they get their support they can't come to CIT. This is creating budget issues for us so your prayers are appreciated.

You may remember we have been pleading for help in recruiting someone for a Facilities Manager position. The Lord has given us two very good options now, both of which could be on board in the next 3 months with full or mostly full funding! We are now wondering if we can effectively use both of them. From famine to feast! Please pray for special wisdom for me as I work this through.

There are other staff changes in the works as well. My administrative assistant will be reducing her hours to 10 per week so we will need to replace her position. We have someone interested but we are still working through several challenges. The person in consideration works in our Childcare Dept. so that would create a hole there if that move happened.

Kathy's primary role is to lead our Kid's Intercultural Training program. She will be traveling to Kansas City next week to the "MK Care Consultation." In addition to learning and sharing she will also be looking for recruits to help in our program here. We can use one or two kids program workers. Know anyone?

We are blessed to have a church volunteer group coming next week from Indiana who will be erecting a picnic shelter and volleyball court.

Our Strategic Master Plan process is slowly proceeding with another important meeting scheduled for April 23. The Lord has been providing some very highly qualified people to help us. Pray for special wisdom.

Kathy and I had hoped to travel to CO in May to visit our friends and supporting churches but with all of our recent travel and now staffing issues we feel it best to postpone until 2009. We trust our Colorado friends will understand.

And finally let me say again how grateful we are for all your encouragement and involvement with our ministry here at CIT. Your partnership with us is essential and we say thank you for your prayers and gifts. Below are a few student comments regarding their training here at CIT.

Disappointing News from Chris and Ginger

Thank you VERY much for all your prayers regarding our visas. As you know, we went to re-apply for our visas at the Brazilian Consulate on Tuesday.

Despite our extremely fine-tuned Consulate interaction skills, the verdict is that they didn't even accept our papers!

Here's how it all went down:

*We got there at 8:30 am.

*They took our papers in the back to look over them.

*We sat and waited until 11:30 am.

*They asked us to come in the back to talk.

*They told us that they are not able to accept our re-application since we were already denied once. In order for them to accept our papers, they would need specific instructions from the bigwigs in Brazilia.

The funny thing is that weeks before our trip, the bigwigs in Brazilia told our NTM leadership that the Consulate did not need instructions from them to accept our papers.

So, as you can see, we're in a catch-22.

All we can do now is wait and see if proper communication takes place between Brazilia and the Consulate. If not, we will take a different route.

This is obviously not what we wanted, but above all else, we know the Lord is in control. We trust that if and when the Lord wants us in Brazil, He will pave the way. Until then, we just need to "trust and obey."

Thanks again. Your prayers truly upheld us during our 3+ hours of waiting.

Christopher and Ginger

Happy Easter from The Kay Family

We trust that each of you had a wonderful Easter as we reflected on the sacrificial death of our Savior and His glorious resurrection. We want to share another blessing so that all of you can rejoice with us for another miracle God has done for the new work in Spanish Town. As you may remember, one of our continuing prayers has been that God will lift the financial burden off our Jamaican brethren as they struggle to pay off the mortgage for Spanish Town Tabernacle. Many of you have given sacrificially toward this goal and we really appreciate it. We are confident that God will richly reward you in due time. However, God has also been working... click here to read on.

Update from the May Family

"HE IS RISEN. HE IS RISEN INDEED!" This morning we started our Easter service with this familiar greeting, and ended it with testimonies and baptisms of THREE new believers at our local international church, Kurume Bible Fellowship. We have been privileged to be a part of this congregation since last Fall, where Gerald is able to join Debbie when he isn't scheduled to preach elsewhere.

Next week we look forward to being at Hope Bible Church, where we had the privilege of ministering for several years. Gerald will be preaching and we hope to invite friends this week from the Mitaka area who are NOT going to church anymore. Sometimes it is helpful to be the "visiting" speaker, encouraging people to come to church just because we are only there occasionally.

Janice Lee, a 10-year-old Korean girl to whom Debbie teaches English and Bible, was so excited to find out that Jesus rose from the dead. All this time she thought that Jesus dieing on the cross was the end of the story. She beamed with joy when she realized that Jesus is alive today! Janice always listens so attentively when Deb tells her Bible stories and it is evident that the Holy Spirit is working in her to believe His Word.

At Family Forum Japan (FFJ), the sexual abstinence seminars are keeping the staff busy. Training pastors, youth leaders and church members to effectively teach young people Biblical abstinence is an urgent need both in the church and in Japanese society in general. Please pray that Family Forum can find ways to share this important material to this needy society, perhaps even in schools, opening the door to the Gospel. We're SO thankful for recent gifts that were sent to Family Forum. Paying the salaries of our Japanese staff continues to be a HUGE challenge however. If the Lord lays it upon your heart to partner with us financially in impacting Japanese families for Christ please let us know. We'll be glad to let you know how to participate.

Our gospel choir has grown in number, and hopefully in volume and quality as well. Some Christians from Hope Bible Church have joined this group of young ladies, giving us even more opportunities to share what Jesus means to us.

Our kids are on Spring Break this week in Portland. Alecia is staying with Grandma and Grandpa Reece and Aaron is at his apartment nearby. With Aaron and Amanda's wedding coming up on June 7th, they're getting out invitations, getting their rings fitted, and all those fun things that couples do before their BIG day! The wedding will take place in Singapore at the church where Amanda's dad, Henry Ng, is the senior pastor. Gerald has been asked to give the message. They are expecting about 500 people to attend the wedding, mostly church people and Amanda's relatives, who all live in Singapore. We are so happy that God has provided a wonderful help-mate for Aaron.

Have a Blessed Easter, and may His hope fill you anew.

An Update from Joel Colon

It has been a bit long in coming, but here it is in the middle of March and I am finally getting out my first update of 2008. The last couple months have been busy and filled with lots of plans for the upcoming year. It is springtime in Kyiv, but after a slightly warmer spell last week, it was snowing again this morning.

January was busy as I tried to sandwich as much as possible around and into a two-week trip back to North Carolina for meetings with my mission organization SCPI (Saturation Church Planting International) We discussed how Antioch has been progressing, and what the next stages of development should look like in terms of time frames and objectives.

Just after returning to Ukraine there was dramatic change in our team... Click here to read on.