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I’ve Been Praying for You to Come

You can barely call it a road. This is the final journey into the village area where our newest church will be built.
You can barely call it a road. This is the final journey into the village area where our newest church will be built.

— There was not much of a road to get to the place for a new church. The people live by subsistence farming in an agricultural setting. A pastor under the direction of our Field Director, Pastor Onesimus, had begun to minister in this area and about ten have received Jesus Christ. But, it is nearly a two hour walk from here to the nearest church in Rukungiri. Our Field Director and his team were showing us the site for the proposed church.

We were exploring the property to see how it might work out for a site to build a shelter that would allow the believers here to have their own church. The man in the dark blue shirt was described to me as being a “Muslim” man who was [Read more…] about I’ve Been Praying for You to Come

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With My Own Eyes

— I had heard about how difficult life was in the rural villages of Uganda from our Field Director, Pastor Onesimus. But often it is when we encounter an environment with our own eyes that it sinks in. I have just returned from my visit to Rukungiri, Uganda. I saw first hand not only how deficient the physical living resources are in this town—such as the difficult travel to get to the place—but also how desperately they need true biblical teaching.

Josh, James, Me & Onesimus; beginning our travels on day one.
Josh, James, Me, & Onesimus; beginning our travels on day one.

The road to get there is dirt for much of the last two hours of our drive. The trip takes over 7 hours from Kampala, the capital city, and is an additional two hours from the next nearest “big city,” Mbarar. My travel partners—James, Dean at Southern California Seminary, and Joshua, my son and photographer, heard over and over that “Very few ministers come here because [Read more…] about With My Own Eyes

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Visiting our Brothers

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Acts 15:36 (ESV) — 

It brings great joy when I visit the churches that have been started and supported by White Fields and I find them healthy and strong. That is what I found in Japan when I went to visit in April.

I want to tell you about two pastors whom White Fields has supported in the past—Pastors Hirooki Sekine and Tomio Ohashi. Both of their churches are healthy and doing well. Both pastors have also moved into new ministry opportunities. God has expanded their ministries so that they are now blessing other churches. [Read more…] about Visiting our Brothers

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Safe in the Hands of God

The Story of a Woman’s Journey to Redemption — 

The Rough Neighborhood
Images of the Rough Neighborhood

Ngunt lived in a rough neighborhood, surrounded by dangerous people. And she was a fortune-teller.

Many people paid Ngunt to tell their fortunes, and to do this, she submitted herself to the controlling power of evil spirits. She confesses that she had willingly given herself to the spirits and even prayed to them. These evil spirits then gave her knowledge about people’s lives that had occurred in private, which gave her credibility because she could tell them secrets about themselves. Ngunt could even tell them what they had eaten and where they had been during the day, even though nobody had been with them.

But God had other plans for this woman and a journey to redemption began. [Read more…] about Safe in the Hands of God

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A Good Strategy

Many barriers are broken down when the gospel is preached by a pastor who is recognized by the people. The Holy Spirit can use anyone to be a witness, but consider the strength of using an indigenous (national) pastor starting a church among his own people. White Fields has been supporting, financially and through prayer, the ministry of national pastors since 1953.  We use our network of churches to identify pastors who are ready to work full-time starting a new church in an unreached community of their own country.  Through this partnership with national pastors the laborers evangelizing their communities are multiplied.

[Read more…] about A Good Strategy

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A Mighty Vision

A New Work in Africa —

We are excited to tell you that after much prayer and deliberations with our board and potential partners, White Fields will be supporting the ministry of planting churches in Uganda, Africa.  One of the crucial issues before starting support for a new country is to identify the right people who will lead the ministry in the field.  We believe we have found the right partners in Africa.

Onesimus b&w wifeOnesimus Ngoboka grew up in Uganda. He knows the culture, the customs, and belief systems of the people. He has family, friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord, and he has a mighty vision: a thriving church for every village in Uganda.

To pursue this vision, Onesimus came to the United States to study at Southern California Seminary (located at Shadow Mountain Church, home to the ministry of Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah). He will graduate in May with his Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies then return to Uganda to establish a training center for potential pastors supported by Uganda Ministries, led by James Fazio, Academic Dean of the undergraduate division of SCS. Other graduates from the seminary plan to join him upon their graduation as well. We have met numerous times with Onesimus and James to discuss theological and doctrinal foundations as well as philosophy of church ministry and determined we are kindred spirits. [Read more…] about A Mighty Vision

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They Threw Rocks

 

“They threw rocks.”

That was his response to my question when I asked, “How did the people respond when you started a church here?”—“They threw rocks.” The small, bamboo structure with a tin roof made a perfect target for rocks. It is located in a poor, rough-looking neighborhood. There were no Christians here when Pastor Shwe began his ministry to reach the lost.

Despite this, the pastor was undaunted and was encouraged by evangelist Aih Kham Goh (also supported by White Fields) and our Field Director Pastor Thawng to continue on. So the pastor came, and when he would gather the people together into the church house to hear about Jesus, the neighbors would throw rocks. But those who had come to listen continued to attend, drawn by Pastor Shwe and his family’s zeal for Christ. After a year and a half, people began coming to Christ. [Read more…] about They Threw Rocks

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On Air Media Presentation

We are grateful for the opportunity our Director Steve Wheeler had to be interviewed by David Spoon host of the afternoon talk show on KPRZ Christian Radio station in San Diego.  You can listen to our interview here. God’s kingdom is too big for any one mission agency to adequately fulfill all the ministry needed to reach our world. David explores the specific and unique ministry of White Fields with our director. Hear about the unique opportunity one of our pastors in the Middle East had to be a witness for Jesus Christ. You can listen to KPRZ at 1210 AM in San Diego.

LISTEN TO PART ONE OF THE INTERVIEW

You can listen along as David and Steve explore how the ministry of White Fields provides a conduit between North American Support Partners and National Pastors and their families. You can also join them in prayer as they uplift the baby daughter of one of our partners as she is approaching an upcoming surgery.

LISTEN TO PART TWO OF THE INTERVIEW

 

HERE ARE THE LINKS TO THE VIDEOS DAVID MENTIONED IN THE INTERVIEW

White Fields Mission Video

TYPHOONS. . . CYCLONES . . . white fields response

white fields ONLY GOD KNOWS

YOU CAN FIND ALL OUR VIDEOS AT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Host of the David Spoon Experience
Host of the David Spoon Experience

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Thinking Ahead

What can we do to help people affected by disasters like Typhoons, Cyclones and Tsunamis. The partners that provide the support to start new churches in these poor communities are helping put first responders, with the love of Jesus, right in the places where they will be needed most. By starting a new church and sharing the gospel, teaching and making disciples of the new members–a team of responders are available the next time a disaster happens.

WATCH A SHORT VIDEO ABOUT DISASTER RELIEF BY LOCAL CHURCHES

The remains of a house in the neighborhood of one of the White Fields churches following a typhoon.
The remains of a house in the neighborhood of one of the White Fields churches following a typhoon.

Many of the people that live in these communities, live in very simple structures made from the local building materials available. The Pastors and their families help the members of the church reach out in love to assist their neighbors. Often the congregation will share their own limited resources with non-members who have lost everything. This example of self-sacrifice becomes a tremendous testimony of how the love of Jesus is displayed in real life situations.

Our support for the salary to sustain the pastor and his family is designed to provide the means to get the church started. After they get established then the congregation begins to support the ministry and sustain the local church. The ministry keeps helping the community over and over. In addition to the initial response after the disaster – local pastors provide ongoing leadership to help manage resources and get the whole community back on their feet.

We need more partners to share their resources to help start new churches.  Then we have a network of local survivors who love the Lord and will minister to their neighbors when a disaster strikes.

JOIN the support team here:

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First Priority: The Gospel

In North America we live in an environment that has traditionally been among a majority of “Christians.”  Even though we may now be recognizing certain coming limitations on our freedoms to live and speak as Christians, we still have major freedoms — for instance the right and privilege to gather openly in public to worship.  Not everyone in the world enjoys that freedom.

White Fields is supporting pastors in places where the restrictions on religious freedom are severe.  Some face rules and restrictions from their government. In other places the pastors and their families face the danger of persecution by individuals or groups who vehemently oppose Jesus Christ.

In Myanmar (formerly called Burma) some of our pastors are facing heated persecution and resistance from the local village and Buddhist leadership — like this testimony:

“In the beginning of May, I appointed an evangelist to work in a certain village where there is no existing church. All the people in this village are Buddhist. Sadly, the chief of the village and the people were very angry and they did not want any Christian teacher or evangelist to evangelize their village. So they chased him out. I sent him to another village and the chief allowed him to stay for six months! Praise God for answering our prayers for this!” (Pastor Ngun)

These evangelists are not afraid to bring the gospel to their people — even into dangerous places.  They also attribute the success in the other village, even after failing to gain access in one place — to your prayers!  God can open the door of the heart of people to hear the gospel. These pastors continue to preach the gospel — just like during the book of Acts.  Even when the disciples were persecuted in one place they moved to another place: “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4 ESV)

In Myanmar there is also a new development in the government. They are considering a new law: The Religious Conversion Bill. This bill was introduced in May by some zealous Buddhist Monks that want the government to make it illegal for a Buddhist to convert to another religion without the permission of a Buddhist Board delegated by the government. Although they say this bill is to protect people from being forced to convert to Islam (A frequent occurrence when Muslim men marry Buddhist women), the bill also makes it a crime to “proselytize.”  The bill would provide a one or two year prison sentence to anyone leading a person to convert from Buddhism (The Majority religion in Myanmar) to any other religion including the voluntary conversion to Christianity.

You can read a news article about the bill here: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/10811-interfaith-marriage-push-met-with-opposition.html

Our pastors will not quit because of the opposition. They will even be strengthened in their commitment and motivation to reach their countrymen with the gospel. Your prayers can help! Please pray for God to provide wisdom and strength.

During the days of Acts, Peter and John were detained by the high Priests and commanded not to speak any longer in the name of Jesus.  The response of the apostles was that they must obey God.  “So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.” (Acts 4:18-21 ESV)

We are praying that our brothers and sisters in Myanmar will retain the current freedom to bring people to their house and share the gospel. But, if the law denies that privilege, then we are praying for their strength and wisdom to serve God first and not man. The gospel is the priority. You have the ability to stand with our pastors in prayer.

LISTEN TO PASTOR NGUN’S STORY:

KPRZ — Salem Communication Radio Spot

God is Able

I never cease to be amazed at what God can do. In the days during the Acts of the Apostles, God used persecution to scatter and spread the influence of the church. What the authorities thought would be a persecution to stop the spread, God reversed the intended actions and caused the persecution to spread the gospel even further:  “The Church in Antioch Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” (Acts 11:19-21 ESV)

God is so able to bring good out of what man means to be harm that one of the main persecutors of the church became one of the greatest evangelist — Saul converted to become Paul the Apostle.

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. (Acts 9:1-5 ESV)   But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:13-16 ESV)

God is still moving among men like this today:   “From May 29 to 31, an evangelist came from the city. He is a very gifted preacher, especially among Buddhist people because he was converted to Christ from Buddhism. The people were interested in hearing about salvation. I also met several people through my outreach ministry. U Oo is interested in knowing more about Jesus. Pray he will continue to study about Jesus and the way of salvation.” (Pastor Tam)

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