Deans' weekly update

It's been a while since I posted anything. I hope I haven't lost my audience.

Here's the update: several weeks ago, I mentioned to you that the church would be involved in a project to give gifts to the neighborhood children and present the Gospel to them through music and a Bible story. Afterward, there would be follow-up with the families of the children who came. At that time and just days before they were scheduled to give out the gifts, they delayed the project for two weeks.

That moved the project to this past weekend. Because I was not needed and because my parents-in-law were visiting, I was unable to attend. When I asked how the project went one of the first things that Ganpurev said was, “We were not very experienced so there were things that we would have done differently.” I pointed out that they only way to gain experience is to attempt things. Experience is never gained by not trying. In my opinion this was a good start to future ministry for many of the Mongolians.

This past weekend the church held Ganpurev’s ordination ceremony. In many ways it felt like the culmination of seventeen years of ministry for me. It was almost seventeen years ago that I was ordained. Although I have worked with many men during that time, Ganpurev is the first man that has been ordained mostly through the influence of my ministry.

Ganpurev’s ordination is a key milestone in planting a Mongolian church in Mongolia. Building a place for the Mongolian church to meet was essential. Evangelizing the lost is also crucial. Discipling believers makes for a strong church. Ordaining a Mongolian as pastor means it will be a Mongolian church. Please pray for Ganpurev as he grows into his new role as pastor.

I will be at Faith Baptist Church for a while assisting Ganpurev in his transition. Also, I will be teaching a Bible institute class on the life of Christ. We started just this week. Teaching a Bible class in Mongolian is always interesting as I usually create most of my material myself or translate it from English materials that I have.

So there are some prayer requests: reaching out to families whose children attended the gift-giving project, Ganpurev in his new role as pastor, and for me as I teach this Bible institute class.