SINCLAIR-PETERS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
ONLY ASK AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE NATIONS AS YOUR INHERITANCE
Hi Friends! We hope you are having a relaxing summer! We are dedicating this edition of SP News to telling you about our latest adventures with "BAM"...Business As Mission! As many of you know, we have been praying and working hard to help our Myanmar church planters become self-sustaining. That way there will be no limit to the exponential number of churches we can plant and people we can reach for Christ!...from mega-cities to dense jungle and mountain tops, God is giving our team some zany, creative and very practical ideas for starting small businesses!
Email: dlbangsaen@gmail.com
Website: http://www.mbmission.org
Phone: 95 9783524961
Praise God! This past week Lighthouse Coffee sold its first 50 kgs of green beans to a local Yangon coffee roaster! The roaster absolutely LOVED the quality and flavour of our coffee!
How do coffee sales translate into mission you ask?
Meet Maung Lone: MB Intern Church Planter
Did you know that Maung Lone and his whole family moved to Nga Kone just to share the love of Jesus with Buddhists on that mountain? His brother, Maung Hmin, the expert coffee farmer also has two young children with Spina Bifida (they can not walk). Maung Hmin's family life is very difficult. But as he carries his girls on his back and works on the coffee farm, Maung Hmin is not praying for himself. He is praying that we will sell his coffee so that we can reach even more Buddhist villages and plant many more churches on their mountain! Please pray for Maung Lone as he continues in our Internship program. He is a gifted evangelist and has already lead many Buddhist's to Christ in the village. Father God, we ask that you would help Maung Lone to make devoted disciples for Jesus Christ AND give his family the best tasting beans in Myanmar! Amen.
Nga Kone Lighthouse Church!
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Introducing..."The Rice Dryer"
Friends, we have a way to help poor farmers feed their families, share the Good News and plant churches in unreached Buddhist communities....
But what if a Canadian company partnered with a Myanmar company to start a rice dryer and mill business in an unreached "farming-hub" to help add value to the antiquated Myanmar farming industry? And what if that rice drying team was made up of passionate evangelists and Christians who could, through their Christ-like love and witness in the market place, bring hope to a struggling democracy?
Over the last few months, a team of Canadian Businessmen have been meeting regularly to pray and work with a Business consultant in Myanmar to draw up a business plan. To date they have raised 70,000 Canadian for this new venture.
Please read our "vision letter" and ask God if this is a business He wants you to invest in. If you would like to know more about the nuts and bolts of the financials, please contact GeorgeF@mbmission.org
Myanmar Needs Local Small Business Rice Dryers!
Introducing: "Jay Beh" (Myanmar) - "The Star Bean" (English)
Pastor Isaiah has become an "agent" buying and selling Star beans to a Christian company in Thailand. From the far north in Rakhine State to the farthest southern tip of Myanmar, Isaiah is planting hundreds of acres of Star beans through local farmers. Now, ALL of our church planting locations, including our 2 Youth Hostels that help send children to High School are planting star beans! Because this little bean is fantastically good for you (research it yourself :) It is in very high demand!!
We are germinating star beans EVERYWHERE!
How do these little "stars" translate into mission?...
Buying and selling star beans allows Pastor Isaiah to go into villages other Christians are not allowed to enter.
In South Myanmar, we just bought a little parcel of land right next to the local school so that our new believers would have a place to worship God. As Pastor Isaiah and our intern Zinko were walking around the village, sharing about the love of Jesus, they learned that the local government only has enough money to hire a teacher for a 2-3 months a year. So Isaiah proposed to the community that they work with the children to plant star beans around the school grounds as a way to raise enough money to hire a teacher for the whole year. Everyone in the community was so excited about this idea, they all came to the school to help their children plant star beans! Isaiah's kindness opened a WIDE door for him to share the Good News of Christ's Salvation with the whole community! Praise God, 2 weeks ago, the first three new believers were baptized! in this village!
Welcome to our new land in Southern Myanmar. Our "New" Lighthouse MB church is a bit of "fixer-upper" but it has 10 durian trees so Isaiah thinks it must be heaven on earth!
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"Doing "Business As Mission" doesn't mean spiritual warfare disappears because you are no longer "Just a Pastor". Not At All! In many ways, it ramps up even more because now we are working in places where dark principalities and powers have gone totally unchallenged by The Word Of Truth for generations. Now it takes Apostolic and Entrepreneurial courage and faith-filled prayer to win the battle!
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After Isaiah and our team celebrated their first baptism in this unreached village in South Myanmar....Isaiah was arrested and charged with eight violations of Human Trafficking!
We can't go into too much detail but...
During that time, Joshua sent two short messages to our team: "We've been arrested; It looks like it could be 10 years. Please pray!....
Unashamedly Isaiah and the team held hands and prayed out loud, all at the same time, all through out the day. They policed stared at them and said, "what are you doing?"
Praying!
Back in our homes in Thailand and Myanmar, we were all doing the same thing: Praying!
Isaiah, Joshua, Zinko and our new believer knew there were no other options for release left for them. They had resigned themselves to going to jail when...
the Buddhist mayor from our little village in Southern Myanmar phoned a high-ranking official in the next town over and asked him to visit the Thai police. The moment this man walked into the police station, all the police were on their feet, saluting!
Isaiah wondered, "who is this man??" Then he recognized him from our Christmas outreach last year. Isaiah had given this official a Christmas present and thanked him for his support from the stage.
Now this man was speaking for Isaiah. He said only a few words, "Let him go. He's my friend. Not a trafficker." "Yes sir! "We are very sorry, sir!" the police said. Then the Myanmar official got up and walked out of the building. Everyone one on our team was completely quiet. Speechless....then in unison they yelled, "Hallelujah! Praise God!! Thank you Jesus!"
At that moment the demeanour of the police officers face completely changed. They smiled and said "sorry for the inconvenience!"
I am very thankful for the power of prayer and that we work with leaders like Isaiah who "build trust" in their communities by showing honour, generosity and integrity as a Christ follower and businessman.
The Holy Spirit Always Connects The Dots....
Do you remember when Pastor Isaiah and Pastor Moe Aung picked up a girl hitchhiking on top of a mountain in Rakhine state about 6 months ago? Well we want to share with you how this girl has single-handedly has launched a church planting movement in Rakhine State!
Discovering that she was the only Christian in her village, our team has made numerous trips back to Rakhine state since that first day. Now her grandpa and Uncle-leaders of the village, have put their faith in Christ and have invited us to plant a church in their village! Since the girl did not have a high school on the mountain, Pastor Moe Aung has started a Youth Hostel just outside of Yangon. He is currently discipling 25 Elementary and High school children who have no schools in their villages. We are praising God for generously providing for all the needs of the children! Father God, we ask for grace and strength for Pastor Moe Aung and Esther as they disciple these Buddhist children to become followers of Jesus Christ. Reveal the Love of Jesus to them all!
However our last trip to Rakhine State had a few challenges...
4 flat tires, a mud slide, flash flood and stuck in our van all night in a typhoon just to name a few. But it was worth it all because we went to help start one new church but ended up starting two!! Hallelujah!
This photo of a fast flowing river is actually a road! We waited all night but the water did not recede. In the morning we had to find another route home.
These woman are the REAL DEAL. We were rained on all night through the thatched roof. Then we went out into the jungle to go to the bathroom....that's right, they don't even have a "biffy!" When our church planting team heard that there were no teachers in the village for the local school, they signed up immediately for the job! Then, in the evening they filled their leaky bamboo hut with visitors from the village who want to hear about this man, "Jesus". The team tells us over and over, "we feel so honoured to be chosen by God to bring salvation to these precious children and people. Many times that week I was overwhelmed by their sacrifice and devotion to Christ. These very bright young people used to work in Singapore and Thailand. But now they have chosen to live among the poorest of the poor and with very few comforts. Father God, thank you for the grace of God which makes "our calling" light and gives us power for every day living! Give this team much joy as they make disciples in this remote village for your glory! Amen.
Ann Lighthouse mb church. Rakhine State
We drove down the mountain another two hours to" Ann." Our van broke down again but that was alright because one of our new church planting interns is a passionate evangelist! He had two new families ready to be baptized! We preached the Gospel, led more of their extended family to Christ and baptized four new believers. The deluge of rain lightened just in time for our baptism. When it was over, the heavens poured down more rain! Thank you God!
We can't tell you how excited we are about our new group of 12 church planting Interns! Burmese, Chin, Karen and Dawei people groups-Unified for the sake of Christ!
The Holy Spirit met us powerfully in teaching, worship and prayer as we gathered together from all over Myanmar for our first Leadership Training Retreat.
Myo Than found Christ as a migrant worker in Thailand through Isaiah's witness. When he came back to Myanmar, his family ridiculed him every time he prayed for his food. His mother insisted he go into the monastery. So we invited Myo Than to help us disciple the children at the Youth Hostel in Myo Hla. Myo Than is one of the sincerest Jesus worshippers I have met. God has a special call on this man's life.
At the end of our meeting Pastor Isaiah took the basin of water, washed each of our interns feet and said, "Jesus said, even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a random for many". Our interns were shocked. They had never seen a spiritual leader humble themselves like this before. In Buddhism, the feet are the lowest and dirtiest part of the body. Isaiah said, "This is how we promise to lead you. It is with this heart attitude that we will raise you up to be bold evangelists and shepherds."
We encourage you to get a map of Myanmar, lay your hands on it and pray with us for miracles in this unreached Buddhist nation! #bettertogether #prayermovesmountains
From here on in, we will cover the Myanmar church planting news. Adrienne and Jeremy will be reporting on the Thailand side.
So be sure to connect with A& J to read about the the great things God is doing on the Thailand side! #bettertogether