Follow up to China

1 Jun 2010

Dear Phyllis,

I’m on my way. Today I am in Vientiane, Laos on my way to China. This will be a new experience for me. Actually this would be a very unusual trip for anyone. This is a rare privilege. Three months ago it was a great privilege to be able to get 3,000 Bibles to a house church group in China. This is a follow up survey tour to see where these Bibles went and how they are being used. The key to all this is a dear Chinese sister, Rosy.

I am sure I told you the story of Rosy before but it is so unusual that it bears repeating. Last summer I was on a long journey to travel overland from Chiang Mai to Pakistan. The first leg of that trip was to go to Vientiane where I knew there was a direct bus going from Laos to Kunming, China. I bought my bus ticket at the guest house where I always stay. The next day I went to the bus terminal and got on the bus for Kunming. Ten minutes before the bus was to leave the man taking the tickets looked at my ticket and said, “This is not a ticket.” I asked, “Where do I buy a ticket?” But he didn’t speak English. We were going around in circles with him saying, “This is not a ticket.”, and my question, “Where do I buy a ticket?” A girl was on that bus that spoke English and came to my rescue. I don’t know what she did but somehow it was no problem.

Twenty two hours later we had just entered China and were having a two hour lunch break at the border town of Mengla. I was walking up and down the street when I saw the girl that helped me the day before. I told her, “I will buy you lunch if you know a good place to eat.” She took me to a restaurant and ordered the meal. When we were served she turned to me and asked, “Are you a Christian?” I replied, “Why do you ask?” She said, “I am a Christian and we always pray before we eat.” That started it. When she found out who I was she said, “You must meet my brother in Kunming who is a pastor.” I bought her a ticket to Kunming so she could took me there. Through that contact the Lord has sent 3,000 Bibles to a needy area. Now Rosy is taking me up to China to meet her family and to tour the area where these Bibles went.

In the Bible logistic ministry we seldom meet the people where the Bibles go. It causes a big problem for the local believes if foreigners talk to them. A year ago Rosy had written her mother telling her that I wanted to visit. Her mother replied that they would be glad to have me come but it would be unwise if I attended a meeting. One time a foreigner attended the church and in 15 minutes the police were there. They got the foreigner out the back door in time, but that does cause problems for the Chinese believers. I will be meeting most of these leaders in hotel rooms or public places. I may get a chance to stay in a few homes and attend a few meetings but that will depend on the area and the level of persecution in that area.

Actually this trip is very open ended. I hope I am back in Chiang Mai in two weeks but there is no guarantee that I will be back by then. I have committed this to the Lord and it is up to Him where He wants to take me and how long I will be up north.

The job at John’s house is at a very good plateau. He is running short of funds and is not in a position to finish the house at this time. But if he can get the roof on and get it dry, then his Burmese man can work slowly putting up block walls. We got the concrete slabs put on the roof two weeks ago and it is almost done, But the last thing is to get 7 cm (2 ½ inches) of concrete poured on top of that. That should water proof it.

 After I get back, Scott wants a house built and would like to get started right away. I don’t know what to think about that.  I have promised Scott that I will build his house but I really don’t want to get involved working full time as a house builder in Thailand. The main thing is that we build the house of God; and that one is made of living stones – Jesus being the chief corner stone.

 Recently I have been reading KP Yohanan’s book, Revolution in Missions. It is really good. KP Yohanan was born in India and was 23 when he first went to America. Being raised in India and working is poor rural areas of India, he was stunned when he first went to America to see the astonishing wealth and prosperity of the American church. But he was also bewildered by the little emphasis on missions. He told how many American pastors, Christian leaders, and the average believer lives on a scale of affluence that was unimaginable for the typical native pastor/evangelist in India. If just a small portion of that wealth was redirected into missions, a huge army for Christ could be placed on the field and reach a harvest of souls that is impossible with our present mentality of foreign missions.

I personally know a missionary in Japan that was so unpopular that his church and neighbors petitioned his mission never to send him back there again. That is not a good testimony when the believers in a church request that the mission not send them back to that town again. But 20 years ago, I know his support level was $72,000. That would probably be over $100,000 today. His effectiveness for Christ was next to zero. If that $100,000 was directed to native pastors in India that would more than meet the needs of over 100 pastors.

But it wasn’t just the imbalance of wealth that was such a pain to KP Yohanan; it was also the lack of concern for reaching the lost that bothered him. He showed how the vast bulk of mission funds are not directed to reaching souls for Christ and establishing His church; the lions share of mission funding is spent on humanitarian project – which are not wrong in themselves – but they do not produce souls won to Christ. He is right. Living here in Thailand I see what he is talking about. The biggest portion of mission money does not go toward spreading the Gospel.

This has caused me to reexamine my own heart and activities. I originally came down here to carry Bibles into difficult areas where native believers had no access to the Word of God unless someone carried it to them. This was a great privilege, and this present trip is part of that ministry. But when I spend most of my energy building houses for foreigners living in Thailand, is this why the Lord has sent me here? There is another missionary organization that has indicated they might ask me to build a major project for them in the near future. Their top man is in the states right now raising funds to build this large project, but I wonder if this isn’t another example of that bloated mission giant that is calling for hundreds of thousands of dollars but will produce zero in bringing lost men to Christ. If they ask me to do that job I really don’t think I will do it.

I believe the Chinese church has the right emphasis with their Back to Jerusalem Movement.  I passionately believe the agenda of the Holy Spirit is for the tsunami of the Spirit to continue its western movement and seeing millions in Moslem country turn to Christ.

My own burden is for the Uyhgers in western China. There are over 20,000,000 of these Moslem people that need to hear the Gospel. As a westerner I know it is impossible for me to be an evangelist to these people but I do want to do anything that would be in the scope of my ability to assist the Gospel going to them. I don’t know if I will be able to get that far west to Xinjiang this time but if the Lord would give me contacts there I certainly would like to visit there again. The Chinese are the ones who must carry the Gospel to these people, but if I could help anyone get that job done, then I would rather spend what little is left of my life in that cause than building fancy houses for westerners to live in in Thailand.

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 I started this letter yesterday. This is as far as I got.  At the moment I am at about 20,000 feet somewhere just north of the Loa-China border. Looking down, it is quite mountainous but not real high mountains. I have been over that terrain by bus three times, but this is the first time I have flown from Laos. In about an hour we will be in Kunming. I am very anxious to speak with the brother who received the shipment of Bibles three months ago and set up the schedule where we will be going from there. Tomorrow we will fly to Rosy’s home church in Taiyuan. I wouldn’t have chosen to fly but the Chinese brethren are buying the tickets. Her mother sounds like a very fine believer. After that we will probably tour the providences associated with their house church group. These people are really the cutting edge of Christianity in Asia today.

 I don’t know when I will be able to send this letter out. Gomen nasai for being late. I wish everyone in America could be with me right now to see what the rest of the world lives like. Life here is much different. Personally I prefer living in the Orient as I find it much easier to serve the Lord, but Jesus is the same wherever we are. The main thing is that we follow Him and are living wide out daily engaged doing the things that are paramount to the Father.

Lord willing I will write you again from somewhere in China.

 Let’s hang tough for Jesus,

                                                 bill