February 2006 Newsletter

We have lots to report since the last newsletter. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Thank you for all your prayers for our Christmas concerts. God really blessed. Barth performed a saxophone concert for 400 children, their teachers and staff at the neighborhood elementary school. The kids sang along to one of their favorite songs “Jingle Bells”, but also to all the verses of “Silent Night” in Chinese. Barth was able to share a light evangelistic message. The response to the concert was overwhelming. The teachers loved it. Now all the families in the neighborhood know who we are. The kids come by and ask to see “Teacher Chapman”. Teachers are highly regarded in this society. This kind of exposure can only help us to spread the gospel.
Two days later, Barth performed another Christmas concert, at the tea farm owned by one of the members of the Toufen Church. Attendance was over 100 people. This time Elder Chen shared the gospel and his wife Xue Mae shared her testimony of a divine healing of her kidneys she had experienced some years ago.

Last week, Barth was again privileged to perform, this time on the piano, a gospel concert in Taichung with his Christian friends, drummer Francis Kam, singer Dumile Dlamini and bass player Dao Sheng. It was a wonderful time, blessed by the Lord’s presence. A door may be opened for this musical group to perform a concert in a restricted country. It could be tremendous opportunity. We need God’s wisdom and guidance, first as to whether or not to go and then as to what we should do once we get there.

As we explained to you several newsletters ago, the church’s present location is simply too small to accommodate the Sunday service. We praise God that the church elders recently found what appears to be a suitable building for the church. It is a large metal frame warehouse owned by the mother of one of our church members. We plan to lease the building for a very reasonable monthly rent. Once renovated, it will be able to seat 180 people. Please pray that God will supply that need and give us wisdom in what renovations we should undertake.

Youth group attendance continues strong. As we have previously reported, most of the young people who attend are not Christians. Still we pray and preach the gospel. When we talk to the kids individually we are heartened, because they tell us that they are praying to Jesus on their own. So we know their hearts are gradually being changed. We believe that the fruit will become more apparent as we continue in this work.

We feel the youth work is extremely important. As you know the Hakka Chinese are extremely resistant to Christianity. The growth we have seen in the youth group comprised of Hakka young people over a relatively short period of time is truly miraculous. Since we are planning to return to the States and Canada for three months this summer, please pray that we will find a suitable worker who will be able to continue ministering to the youth while we are away

Much more could be written about our other activities: Bible School instruction, English classes, church responsibilities for leading worship and preaching, Chinese studies. This is what we continue to do on a weekly basis.

As we have shared, we plan to return home this summer. We will be in New York State from June 19th to August 19th. We would like to visit you personally when we return, so please let us know when you are available. We would also like to visit our supporting churches to talk about the work here and continue to develop prayer support and relationships. We will contact church leadership this spring to see if something can be arranged. If you know of any other churches that would like us to come, please contact us. We really do appreciate your assistance in this. Thank you.

Prayer Requests:

1. God’s wisdom and guidance for future evangelistic concerts.
2. That God will supply the need and give us wisdom in the new church building renovations.
3. That we will find a suitable youth worker to help the church while we are in America.
4. Guidance for our time in North America.