Dear praying friends,
It is a great joy to share with you the many things God is doing in our midst here in Blantyre, Malawi. We hope you will be encouraged in your prayers and support for us. We greatly value and are grateful for your many prayers for us.
The work of Gospel preaching is far from over; the needs are great. I want to be careful that our newsletters do not sound like we consider the work to be done or that we are satisfied with what we have accomplished. Most of the victories we experience come in the midst of tears, discouragement, betrayal from false professors, sleepless nights, or ministry needs. The rapid growth of the prosperity theology movement in our country has almost made it a national religion. Our work is easily marginalized. But up to this point the Lord has kept us, and our hope remains in the Gospel.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:31-32
Family Life
We remain grateful to the Lord for His many blessings in our family. Rachel and I are doing well both in our marriage and service to the Lord, and He has blessed us with truly joyous news. We are expecting our first child! Rachel is doing well and taking it easy. It’s an exciting time, and according to the last doctor’s visit, all is normal with both mother and baby. I was so thrilled to see the scans! It warmed my heart with love for this unborn child.
Please pray for Rachel and I as we expect our child. Pray for her health and the health of the baby and that the Lord will prepare us to honor Him in parenting.
University Evangelism
We are currently planning to visit and organize conferences at 11 or 12 university campuses here in Malawi. The agenda is simple – preach Christ and Him crucified. We are happy with the many opportunities that these conferences are opening up for our church to minister into the lives of students. Some of these students have ended up in our home for either Bible study or ongoing discipleship, and others have visited our church. We have even been able to sit down with some of them for hours explaining the Gospel to them. What an encouragement this has been to me!
Please pray for us as we preach God’s Word throughout these university campuses.
Church Life
We are grateful to God for His mercies upon the work in Blantyre. We believe the Lord is blessing us here at Antioch Baptist Church, as we see more men and women slowly demonstrate a desire to grow in the things of God and His Word (and in their appreciation of the preaching of God’s Word). It is very encouraging to watch this unfold and to be a part of it. I am currently preaching a series through particular Psalms. Please continue to pray for us. We are now in a new venue that we are renting. It will cost about $350 to furnish it and reduce the acoustics, which have been very disturbing to the preaching.
Ongoing Discipleship
We have set up a number of meetings in order to have a good balance between evangelism and discipleship. All these meetings are designed to ground our people in the Word. Most of these meetings take place in our home. Lately, in our weekly theology class, we have been going through the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. We are also watching and discussing a 16-DVD series called Family Foundations in Sound Doctrine by Scott Brown, Jason Dohm, and Dan Horn. It is a great resource and has been a true blessing to us.
Please continue to remember us in your prayers.
Mala
Update: Since the writing of this report, HeartCry has agreed to provide the $350 (mentioned above) needed to furnish Antioch Baptist’s rented facility.