My personal devotions were blessed and stable in October. I’ve been reading Deuteronomy and Joshua and have been greatly moved. One book is the final words of Moses, an old servant of the Lord, to God’s people before he leaves this world. The other is the raising up of a new generation’s leader and his ministry. Both leaders were eventually replaced, but both were faithful to the calling God had given them. This encouraged me to be faithful to God as a useful vessel and to train up more capable co-workers.
October was a month of thankfulness for me. In the second week of October, a small number of Reformed Baptist churches and fellowships held a conference in Hong Kong. The theme of the conference was “The Gospel of Grace and a Healthy Church.” There were 300 pastors of Chinese house churches in attendance. We invited Mark Dever from Capitol Hill Baptist Church and Jeff Smith from Trinity Baptist Church to be the main speakers. Pastor Smith was the main speaker on the Gospel and Pastor Dever spoke on a healthy church. They were a blessing and help to me and the other attendees. I was again touched by the gospel in this conference and set on fire. My understanding of the church was deepened and I gained a better understanding of how to apply these important doctrines in practical life.
This conference was very important for the furthering of the Reformed Baptist Church in China. Many of the attendees knew of Reformed Presbyterians but had not heard of Reformed Baptists. The conference familiarized them with the Reformed Baptist church. I was involved in the preparation work for this event, which helped me to grow a lot. Because I was a staff member at the conference I had opportunity to interact with the speakers. Through a translator I was able to get to know them better. I saw in these experienced pastors a thirst and passion for God’s word and a commitment and sacrifice for God’s people. Their hearts and whole lives were burning around this calling. This made me realize my own short-fallings and that of the Chinese church. The Chinese church needs these kinds of pastors-my church included. So please pray for me that God would prepare me like this.
I also went to W. in October and stayed for 5 days. I went to teach in the seminary on the 1689 London Confession of Faith. Through this teaching I again was able to reorganize my framework for theology. I reviewed my stance on doctrine based on the Confession. I don’t know how much it helped the students but it was a great help to me. I preached at my church two Lord’s days this month on Mark. I also taught two Thursday evenings in the small group meetings.
Because I was gone for two weeks this month I didn’t have much time with my wife and son so please continue to pray for my family and the raising of our son.
Timothy began working for HeartCry in 2015 and assists with the work in Asia. He is married, has eight children, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.
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