Friday, December 28, 2007

2008 Philippine Mission Trips and Crusade

Only four more days until we depart Tri State Airport for the first installment of our two mission trips to the Philippines, planned for January and May, 2008.

On this January trip, I will be joined by Darrell Clark (pastor of our Mission Church at Wayne), Thamer Calhoun (a deacon at Westmoreland Baptist) and Randall Robertson (pastor of Locust Grove Baptist Church in Huntington). Each of these men have been part of our team in past mission endeavors there, and all are excited about going back in January. As in the past, we will be working with Filipino Pastors and Church Planters Doming Valdez and Joseph Zerna on Negros Island.

Pastor Valdez has sent us our planned itinerary for January 4-14 and it is an ambitious one! We will be celebrating with the New Life Church on it's 8th Anniversary Service and also preaching in the Mayaposi Baptist Church in the remote mountains of Mabinay. Our base of operations will be from the Bethel Guest House in Dumaguete City. As well as the regular church activities and work in Dumaguete, they have plans for us to visit several towns and villages where we have never had opportunity to go before. Planned activities include house to house evangelism, outdoor evangelistic meetings in the evenings, Distribution of 400 Cebuano dialect Bibles, and hundreds of Gospel Tracts and other Christian literature. Other scheduled activities include ministry in the Oriental Negros Provincial Jail, and opportunities to share the Gospel and distribute Bibles at the Asian College of Science and Technology and the Philippine National Police station in Dumaguete City.

Our May trip will have a different flavor than any we have done up to this time. We should have a team of more than 10 people going on that one. Six of us have already purchased our plane tickets for the May trip. Joining me on that trip are my son Jay, and several members of his church in New Orleans, LA, which include Robby Pearson, Bobby Wood, Janna Johnston, and Billy Cox. Several others from New Orleans and Huntington are also hoping to go on that trip, and are attempting to raise the necessary funds to go. While having one group working with the usual activities, another part of the team will be engaged in a free "Pastor and Church Leader Seminar" in Dumaguete during the day. (each of the instructors for the Seminar are graduates and/or Doctoral candidates of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) Both teams will come together for a large area wide Evangelistic Crusade in the evenings.

Many of you have helped us financially to make these trips possible. Some have given sacrificially, and you know who you are - and most importantly, God knows - and I believe He will bless you abundantly for helping in this work. More than two thousand souls have come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through these efforts over the past 8 years. It could not happen without the help of those who have partnered with us financially. The May trip is planned and the basics are covered, but there are still some resources we would like to offer the Seminar attendees. Anyone who would like to have more information may contact me via email at pastoradkins@roadrunner.com . If you wish to help with any of the May mission activities, your tax deductible gifts may still be sent to:

Beacon Ministries, Inc.
317 - 49th Street
Ashland, KY 41101

A receipt for your tax deductible gift will be supplied to you, and you will receive written updates with photos upon our return.

We ask everyone to pray for us ,and our Filipino partners, as we prepare to leave on January 2nd. We will arrive in Dumaguete on the afternoon of January 4th. As I hope to have opportunity to have Internet capabilities during the trip, I will attempt to update our friends by means of this blog site. Please check in regularly to "For What It's Worth" between the 4th and 14th of January for our updates.

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