September Manila

From Moscow to Manila, we spent almost 24 hour in airplanes or airports getting to our second destination. Manila is a fabulous city – especially so because there seems to be a Starbucks on every other corner. There is actually one place in Manila, near the Greenhills Mall, where you can stand in one spot and see a Starbucks, no matter what way you are facing. This week was filled with formal meetings during the day, and informal meetings in the evenings. My name became know as Wayne “Meet me at Starbucks” Brown. It was the perfect atmosphere to put the meeting participants at ease while we talked about the ministry opportunities within their countries.

The meeting in Manila was a gathering of ministry leaders from throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This included people from Southeast Asia and from the islands scattered between the Asian peninsular and Australia. It was a wonderful mix of people, all focused on taking the good news to every child and young person in their country or collection of island countries. Those many meetings at the local Starbucks were informative events. Many of these ministry leaders, such as those from the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Oceania area, are reaching into areas that include thousands of individual islands. The concept of jumping into your car or truck to go to the next village for ministry simply does not apply here. In many cases, movement from one place to another requires a boat or an airplane. This makes ministry slower and more costly in these areas. It also requires more people to effectively carry the gospel message forward.

People, laborers, harvesters, all are words used to describe the worker who takes the gospel message forward. Oceania needs laborers to partner with our leadership to effectively and aggressively take the gospel message forward. The books are ready, the students are there, and the access is available. But the laborers are few. The Philippines, a nation divided across many islands, a nation that has seen a Christian presence for hundreds of years, is a nation that has grown indifferent to the need to spread the gospel. However, that indifference is being faced down by a dedicated group of local evangelist; evangelist who are taking the gospel message into the schools and communities throughout the country. However, as hard as they work, they cannot work alone. They need partners. They need dedicated believers who will stand beside them to distribute books and to do The GodMan in every school and every community. There is the potential for four million children and youth people to receive the life-changing message presented in The GodMan in the Philippines in 2007. However, without the necessary laborers, only a small fraction will likely be impacted by this presentation of the gospel. Pray for the Lord of the harvest to call up laborers from Oceania and the Philippines to reach the children and youth of these island nations.

Almost every country represented at this meeting in Manila shared needs similar to Oceania and the Philippines. In almost every case, they need laborers to bring in a harvest that is ripe. One very exciting fulfillment of this cry is coming from Singapore and Taiwan. Churches and believers within both of these countries have recently begun to send missionary teams from their own lands into other countries. While they are aggressively taking the gospel message forward to their own people, they are not totally inward focus. They are truly living out an Acts 1:8 existence by being witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Join us in prayer for God's blessings and anointing to be with these dedicated labors has they follow His call to the ends of the earth.