December 18th, 2013

December 2013 from Jim

 

Looking Back on the Ministry of 2013:

This has been a heavy year of traveling for me (Jim).  I spent 3 months in Vietnam this year! (2 weeks every 2 months) and almost 2 months in China (two weeks every 3 months).  There were also a couple of visits to the Philippines.

The trips bring a strange combination of excitement & dread, fulfillment & weariness.

There are emotional highs, growing friendships, inspiring spiritual times with leaders, new learning and new commitments.  But there are also long days and nights of hard work, speaking in foreign languages, staying in unfamiliar places, rarely having down time, and always being the only American in the group.  As I get older, I find my energy draining more easily than before.

On my last trip to Vietnam, one of my groups piled in a van for a twelve hour drive into the mountains for a three-day retreat.

We had lunch by a river, dinner by a lake, and tea in a treehouse.  We spent an afternoon in a garden, and we had hours and hours to talk about spiritual leadership.

There are plenty of struggles in leading churches and reaching communities where less than 2% of people are Christians.

Please pray with me

I have met with three mentoring groups inVietnam over the past two years, and they have recruited three new groups to start in February.  These leaders strongly urging me to start a group in North Vietnam where they feel leaders are even more poorly resourced and eager for relational investment by mature mentors. In 2014, this may mean that two-week bimonthly trips expand to three-week trips.

  1. Energy for all these mentoring relationships and trips
  2. Spiritual wisdom to speak into their lives and ministries
  3. The Lord’s confirmation for these three – possibly four – new groups
  4. Continued connection and support for the 30 members of 3 groups from the past 2 yrs
  5. Finances for my travel and lodging expenses**
  6. Co-mentors to travel and teach/coach with me (I have had 3 faithful Singaporeans over the past two years who have now completed their commitments. Kimberly joins me when she can. Pray for wisdom in deciding her role.)

A Vietnamese Translation

Last week a couple of the leaders visited us in Singapore. They brought copies of anewly published book we collaborated on.  I paid for the translation of an outstanding Christian book, Dr J. Robert Clinton’s The Making of a Leader. Churches in Vietnam paid for the publication, and it was released in November.  Besides personal teaching and encouragement for Christian leaders (where this kind of relational empowerment is scarce) I am hoping to help with some tangible resources like this book – in a country where there are very few Christian resources available.  Even more meaningful to me is that I am able to help empower my Vietnamese pastor friend. It is his passion to provide resources for Christians, and especially Christian leaders.

A Word About Finances: Would you consider a special gift this month, or consider becoming a regular financial partner in our ministry? 

All of our money for personal & ministry expenses comes from donations – about 15% from churches and 85% from personal ministry partners like you.  That pays not only salary, but benefits like medical and social security, and our ministry expenses like travel and publishing. This has been an unusually sad year as we have lost some of our longtime friends and regular donors when they graduated to heaven. Will you consider standing in this gap for us?

It is our financial partners, prayer partners, and personal encouragers that allow us to invest in Christian leaders in Asia to help the church grow and multiply. You are making an investment that is changing peoples’ lives and will last for eternity! We are honored to represent you in Asia.

Online Giving:       www.crmleaders.org/give
Giving by Phone:  1-800-777-6658
Giving by Email:   giving@crmleaders.org
Giving by Mail:     (Checks can designate: “Preferenced for Creasman – 5651″) CRM, 1240 N Lakeview Ave #120, Anaheim CA 92807

Empowering Spiritual Leaders with Church Resource Ministries USA (and Singapore)

Our Addresses

In September, we moved across the bridge from Singapore into Malaysia. With mail being a bit slower over here, our new address for mail is still in Singapore. Our US addresses for home and ministry are the same:

Singapore: (through 11/2014)
1B Cantonment Road #04-13
SINGAPORE  085201

Permanent US Home:
5380 Via Maria
Yorba Linda, CA 92886

US Ministry:
Church Resource Ministries
1240 N Lakeview Avenue #120
Anaheim, CA 92807
1-800-777-6658
www.crmleaders.org

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