May/June 2016

And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: —Luke 1:31-32

We are walking through the book of Luke in our Sunday morning services at Capital City Baptist Church, and I couldn’t help pausing and magnifying our Saviour from these verses: He shall be great. I seriously doubt Mary had any idea how great our Lord was, and is, and is to come. He is Great!

Recently we have seen tremendous growth in the church, both in numerous salvations and in what I’ve come to call “growth in depth.” Many people have stepped up to volunteer to cut the grass, clean the bathrooms, drive the church buses, and be a part—all without anybody asking for that help. This has been an encouragement to my soul.

Last month, our men and boys took our first missions trip as a church. We went to visit one of my graduates from Kotidanga Baptist Bible School: Preacher Konos Manus. A five-hour drive brought us to the village he is working in; and for three days, we helped him build his new house. Our men and boys got to experience missions firsthand. Some of the younger guys had never been out to a village like this, and it was eye-opening for them to step out of their comfort zones. An added blessing was the way this trip bonded the hearts of our men.
The last few months brought unexpected maintenance to the airplane. We had both GPS’s  fail within a few weeks of each other; […]

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. -Ephesians 3:20-21

I write from Cairns, Australia, at the completion of our furlough. Yesterday, we finished the 5th of 6 flights that will return us to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It is early morning here, and the tropical birds sing in the early morning darkness that precedes the rise of the tropical sun. These are the sounds of being home…well, almost home. We will pick up a few last minute items here in Cairns (it is the closest major modern city to Port Moresby), and in three days, we finish the journey. Home. I wish you could read the smile on my face.

Many of you gave towards the Drywall Project on our house. Thank you so much! We shipped the container with the drywall and other building materials, along with household items. That container is scheduled to arrive in Port Moresby on February 21.

Over the last year, we have planned for a new school in Port Moresby. We want to train young people from kindergarten all the way through their college years to be reachers and trainers of others. God has miraculously provided—and that in a way that we could have never expected. Pray with us as we are looking for four teachers (K4-1st grade) by February 2016. We will be building the new classrooms this year—have we ever got our work cut out for us!

Most importantly, this month we will […]

God’s people have given over theirs to make this ministry possible. You folks gave sacrificially; and God gave the increase.

If you haven’t seen our video presentation, this is our most recent. It is only about 5 minutes long. Take the time to look at what God has done in PNG because of your partnership.

As we start this new work in Port Moresby, we will be looking for more partners–physically, spiritually, and financially. It’s a big job, but He’s a big God.

Jesus was talking to His disciples, and He made this statement: “…upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18)

One of the most comforting things about doing missions is the fact that Jesus Christ promised to build His church. It is the job of a missionary to further the Gospel through church-planting. However, church-planting without disciple-making leads to empty buildings and heartless people. One simply cannot divorce church-planting from disciple-making.

Our goal is to start a new church in Port Moresby that crosses several demographics. We anticipate reaching people of multiple nationalities while pouring our lives into the average folks in the villages surrounding the city.

The strategy is to meet in the living room of our house for a few weeks or months, while we build a nucleus of believers. From there, we will most likely move into a school classroom or into a conference room at a hotel. All the while, we plan to save the money to build a building. Thankfully, we already have the property to build on, so that will not be an issue.
We have seen this strategy work many times in the past, and we expect that it will work again.

In the long-term, we envision Capital City Baptist Church of Port Moresby sending its own young men and women into remote areas of Papua New Guinea, and as God allows, into the South Pacific, carrying the Gospel. The most exciting part is that we know that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”