Summer Crop

MetroBeat

Volume 4, Issue 1

Summer 2012

Tales from the Harvest

We had been sensing for some time that “Betty” was close to making a decision for Christ and had been praying that she would come to know him soon. When she finally said yes to Jesus the change in her life was thrilling to see. Jane (a Mandarin speaker from Taiwan and a respected mother figure for many of the Chinese in our fellowship) and I sat Betty down one afternoon and talked with her extensively to make sure she understood her decision. Not only did she understand, she was ready to make her new commitment public by being baptized as soon as possible, and hopefully on a major holiday like Christmas or New Year’s Day. In the end the logistics didn’t work out for those days, but she was immersed in a beautiful ceremony early in January.

Meanwhile, a Korean couple in our group was feeling the tug to recommit their lives to Christ through baptism by immersion, having been baptized another way in their home country. Several of us gathered with Eunah and Park on a clear spring morning as they gave their testimonies and followed the leading of their Lord. They weren’t the first in the Fellowship to sense this need. In the late fall of last year a Korean mother and her son made a similar decision and were baptized before heading back home.

Recently, a young Chinese man in our group prayed to accept Christ as his savior, as well. Please pray for him to grow in his faith and also to be open to following his Lord in baptism.

Finally, please pray for Febby, an Indonesian girl from our Fellowship who has surrendered to missions and started to raise her support to work with Campus Crusade at a university in Texas. 

Prayer Requests

As many of you know our support is extremely low. Because of this I have had to take on a part-time job to help make ends meet. Of course, the Apostle Paul was a tentmaker as well as a missionary, and many pastors with small congregations have to work outside their ministry. Therefore, I’m in good company. However, I also know that I could be reaching out to even more internationals in the metro area if we had the support to do so. As you can see from this letter the Holy Spirit is moving among the foreign communities here. Please pray that the Lord will provide more funding for this vital work and a big thank you to all of you who give so sacrificially. The field is truly ripe for the harvest.

As always, please pray for Joyce’s heavy workload as wife, mother, and caregiver.

Yours by His Grace,

John for the rest of the Ropers