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Waldron Mission Fund |
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Under the oversight of the elders of the Crossville church of Christ, PO Box 211, Crossville, TN 38557 |
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Vol. 40 December 2006 No. 12 |
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THE COLLEGE CONTACT
Last month’s Newsletter carried a report about the opportunity which, by God’s grace, was given for me to preach (twice) to the young people in the denominational school at Shillong called, Union Christian College (UCC). This contact came about because of the preaching of brother George Bryan out of Oklahoma City, Ok. His preaching goes out by short wave from several locations abroad including Germany and Dubai in the Persian Gulf region.
Follow-up plans included sending 650 NKJ Bibles from the south for the students and faculty and to get them enrolled in a Bible correspondence course. The Bibles arrived in Shillong on November 25th. Edward Karunakaran, who heads up the English department at UCC, came to our building and picked up the Bibles. Here is a portion of the letter he sent on December 4th.
To:jimewaldron@hotmail.com, Dec 2006 06:14:12 - “Till today I have distributed 440 Bibles both to the staff and students as well. Many students had left for home before the arrival of the Bibles. Anyway they will be claiming it on their return. I have taken signature from all who had received a copy. Next year I will enroll many students to do the correspondence Bible study. I will be leaving here on 12th and I will meet the brother in Tirunelveli and I will write to you afterwards. With warmest regards. Edward
NEW CONTACT
Last summer if you recall we released the students in Shillong for the months of June and July. This was in order for them to work among the refugees in the area of Diphu, Assam. The brothers helped villagers clean out wells, gave out nets and medicines for malaria, built a small church building and got a house built for a widow and her two young daughters. They also opened doors for the gospel to be preached among many who had been forced from their native villages by war and violence. Many other good works were accomplished by them including distributing Bibles in several villages and having numerous Bible studies. Much preaching was done among the denominational people, Hindus and animists. Two young men were converted and now a third has been added to the kingdom.
Often it takes a long time for a community to accept the unperverted gospel when they first hear, thus I selected two brothers to stay in Diphu and follow-up on this open door. One of these is a married brother, whose name is Dijamani. The other, whose name is Lynder, is single and a 2006 graduate of the Bible school in Shillong. These two have been active in continuing the efforts to win souls for Christ. Below is a letter about a very unique opportunity, which I hope to follow-up on personally when I return in January. Brother Djamani wrote, (try to understand his English, which is limited):
“Greetings to u & all brothers & sisters. We have all ready sent two letters, the evangelism report & the financial report of Nov. 06. This is our third evangelism report to you of the same Nov. We have met Diphu town Baptist church near by our place which was separated themselves from Baptist organization because of the doctrinal matters. “Pastor” Mr.Ronsing Kro & associate “Pastor” Mr. Manik Tisso mostly welcome us to study with them the sound doctrine. They said that please understand (teach) us the sound doctrine on every Sunday & any time if God’s will (that) we may abide after the sound doctrine as u were saying. They also welcome u mostly to study with them in any time. They are at present around fifty (50) members. Would u kindly come at any time for the same purpose. We are also trying in our best level Thank u so much, Brothers Dijamani and Lynder
TSUNAMI FOLLOW UP LECTURES
As you will recall during 2005, the brethren in Tamil Nadu did many wonderful things in the wake of the Tsunami. Many people were helped with basic necessities of life, more than 13,000 were baptized and many new congregations established. During October ’05, 13 lectureships were held in various areas and 1,345 preachers and preaching students attended. These lessons were given not by Americans but by sound Tamil gospel preachers. These lectureships were invaluable to strengthen the preachers and to fire them up to win souls, plant churches and edify them.
As a follow-up to redeem the lost before the Tsunami recedes further into history, on December 22 and 23 sixteen lectureships will meet across India’s two most southern states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Below you will find a list of the various locations and the number of those who are scheduled to attend. Keep in mind when our first school of preaching was begun in 1989 at Dindigul there were eighteen brothers enrolled. From the start, by the grace of God, the work grew by leaps and bounds, then when Don Iverson and the Banner Elk, NC church got involved in 1997 and it mushroomed.
Surely Paul spoke the truth when he said, God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). Three important observations concerning this growth are: 1) The results that you perceive below could not have been done had not our God and Father stirred up your hearts and minds to uphold the hands of us on the field. 2) Rocket science was not required to accomplish this work, but just going by the fundamentals such as applying 2 Timothy 2:2: “train faithful men to teach others.” 3) A welfare program was not fostered on the work. Of the 1553 preachers who are expected to attend these lectures fewer than four percent are on foreign support. More than 90 percent are self supporting “tent making” preachers.
LECTURESHIPS IN THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU AND KERALA, S. INDIA December 22, 23, 2006
PLACE PREACHERS STUDENT PREACHERS ARAKKONAM, TAMIL NADU(TN) 174 16 CHETTIPALAYAM, TN 87 49 CHENNAI, TN 141 34 DHARAPURAM, TN 205 12 DINDIGUL, TN 74 0 ERODE, TN 162 26 KANNIYAKUMARI, TN 75 20 MADURAI, TN 70 11 MUTHUR & VELLAKOIL, TN 40 0 K. PARAMATHY, TN 99 11 PANDAMANGALAM, TN 121 14 POLARAI, TN 139 15 TRICHY & PUDUKKOTTAI, TN 37 15 TIRUNELVELI, TN 23 9 MALABAR, KERALA 96 83 TIRUVENDRAM, KERALA 10 29 TOTALS 1553 344 = 1897
THE NEW YEAR IS UPON US
On a practical note if you contribute before the end of the year, even if it reaches us after the first we will send you a letter of verification in time for your income tax filing. We thank Him for your fellowship in this work of faith and labor of love in 2006. May the God of all comfort bless you and yours in the coming New Year.
With love to all,
Jim & Laura Waldron |
