By the time you read this, I will have left from IAH on my way to Sydney, Australia, arriving there on Monday morning. It is a little more than a 20-hour flight including a two-hour layover in LA. I am going there because Pastor Isaac Min, who attended our House Church Seminar for Pastors two years ago, asked me to come and speak at a joint retreat that he is part of. In fact, he had asked me if I could come and speak in the beginning of 2014, but I couldn’t go because of the multiple eye surgeries I had in 2013 as well as the process of recovering. Pastor Isaac has been persistent in approaching me about coming to speak at this retreat. So when my eye condition began to stabilize in the spring of last year, I agreed to come. My schedule in Sydney is as follows:
1/3 (Sat) – 1/5 (Mon) Departure, arrival and rest
1/6 (Tues) – 1/9 (Fri) Joint retreat of churches that have house church connection
1/10 (Sat) Rest
1/11 (Sun) Sunday message at All Nations Church
1/12 (Mon) Q & A with pastors over brunch / Leave Sydney
Please pray for me before and during each event, asking God to use me as His good instrument in sharing His word.
On Monday night, 1/12, I will be leaving Sydney to go to Chiang Mai, arriving there on Tuesday morning. I will be spending almost two days to encourage and fellowship with our Four Year Team and also to go over some teaching materials that they will start using to equip Thai believers in their house church.
1/13 (Tues) Receiving Jesus Meeting (RJM)
1/14 (Wed) Membership Class / Leave Chiang Mai
These two teaching materials are new to all our team members especially to Jiyoung, David Kim’s wife, who has just recently joined our team. It is very important that all our missionaries are fully aware of and on the same page with New Life’s teaching, ministry philosophy and concept.
Leaving Chiang Mai at about midnight on Wednesday, 1/14, I will be returning home and I will be in the church office on Thursday morning.
On Wednesday, January 28, I am scheduled to undergo cataract surgery on my right eye, which has been the eye I have been primarily relying on to function and do my daily routine. As a side effect of the surgeries that I had in 2013, this eye has been steadily developing a cataract, which has increasingly worsened my vision. It’s been hard driving these days because I can’t see the signs clearly even with my glasses on. Since my left eye is not all that great and I can’t read or drive using that eye, this upcoming cataract surgery on my right eye is very crucial. Although the success rate for cataract surgery in general is very high, there may be some complications in my case due to the retinal detachment surgery I already had. So please pray for me.
As I look at this schedule, I am reminded once again of God’s impeccable timing. When I agreed to come and speak at this retreat in Sydney, I didn’t know that my right eye was going to get this bad. However, right before my vision gets to a point where I can’t travel on my own, I am going to Australia to speak to those who will be at the retreat. I have just enough vision to make this trip on my own.
I have been asking you to pray that New Life will become a resource church in spreading house church ministry because we believe that our house church is built upon the spirit of the New Testament. I personally don’t enjoy traveling or speaking in front of people that I don’t know. But I am realizing that this is part of my work and this is part of God’s answer to our prayers. So please pray that I will do my job well and return home.
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)
Your pastor,
Eric
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