“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” Acts 8:4
Earlier this year, we said bittersweet goodbyes to the graduating seniors in our churches. Bitter, because they have certainly become like family to many of us in CT; and sweet, because it’s awe-inspiring to see God’s plans unfurling in their lives.
A certain group of these seniors have been affectionately dubbed our “Dandelion Seeds.” Like seeds, God is scattering them to various far-flung corners of Asia as they graduate. It’s difficult, in some respects, for our churches to lose these core members. Many of them have played key leadership roles in their churches for the past several years.
Fortunately, however, it’s also fairly easy to see what God’s end-game is in the midst of this scattering: Each of these Dandelion Seeds feels a common call to be directly involved in God’s harvest in the next stage of their lives. For some, it’s a bi-vocational call: to be a light in their workplace while pursuing church-planting outside of work hours. For others, it’s a call to full-time church work.
So while our individual churches may feel momentarily weakened by the loss of these brothers and sisters, it helps to remember that Dad’s ultimate goal is to continue building his global Church (not just our local congregations).
It’s so cool whenever I stop and realize that I get see God doing such incredible things in and through my friends’ lives like this. (I have known some of these friends since they first joined the family!) This is what a few of our Dandelion Seeds have been up to in the past few months.
Climbing is doing full-time outreach to minority people groups who have historically had little knowledge of the Gospel. He recently led a man belonging to the T minority group to the L0rd, which is a huge praise! (It is nearly impossible for foreign missions workers to gain access to the area this man is from. Praise God that His plans to reach his people supersede our wisdom!)
Kristine is working part-time as a language tutor for our first-year workers, while she completes a year-long Bible and ministry training program with our long-term workers. Please pray for her as she continues to build this foundation for life and ministry, and as she listens to God for her next step.
Daniel, who completed the training program last year, has launched a language school for those wishing to learn his native language or English. He hopes to eventually be able to offer employment to believers who have been refused government jobs due to persecution. He also has a heart for the homeless, and hopes to use some of the profits from his business to help that demographic.
Thank you so much for your continued thoughts, prayers, and encouragement for me (as well as these seeds), and for your support as well! How can I be praying for you this holiday season?