After 17 years in Asia,

we are making a transition back to USA. For a time, Los Angeles will be home base and we will be reconnecting with those individuals and 4 churches who have supported us while we’ve served the Lord by serving YOU in Asia!

Now is a chance to give as a gift of gratitude and support!

I (Kimberly) am praying that combined giving of our Singapore friends will be enough to cover remaining local expenses (like income tax thru this year) and that the account will grow so that in the future, we can use this UOB account to pay for ministry travel to and around Asia.

Where your money is, your heart (and prayers) will be also, and we hope you see us worthy of both kinds of support!

Pray about making a commitment to a regular gift for support through this transition year. One friend has said, “Even if it is as much as buying them a cup of coffee a week, Together small gifts will make a big difference.”  

We have seen over the years that USA friends giving large and small amounts have been exactly what we needed regardless of the instability of exchange rates and our expenses. God has been so faithful in his provision. We don’t focus on money. We spend little energy on that. But right now, with all the costs of the move (storage for a time in KL, and then shipping a container somewhere), and the major surgery & rehab, and taking time off from the full-time work of “Building Spiritual Leaders in Asia,” and the aging of our initial support base (just this past month 3 have graduated to heaven)…well, we look forward to seeing how God does it this time! 

The Lord, by his Spirit, has made it clear to me that in saying goodbye to you, our Singaporean friends, it is a season to encourage your generosity. Perhaps he’s saying that you will become a significant part of our financial support base in the future. He knows.

But what YOU need to know is HOW to give. So, here you go!

Deposit at a UOB
Online Banking Deposit or GIRO

Mrs Creasman Kimberly Eileen &/or Mr Creasman James Craig

CRM USA using a credit card or USA Bank info. http://staff.crmleaders.org/creasman Since 1997, the our salary and ministry expenses comes from from the donations that comes into this account.

Mail to the USA: Church Resource Ministries, 1240 Lakeview Ave. Ste. 120, Anaheim, CA 92807 USA

17 September Facebook Conversation across the globe:

Cameron Creasman: HI AUTIE

Kimberly Creasman: Hi sweetie! I just had the most incredible day yesterday!

Cameron Creasman: Why? What happened?

Kimberly Creasman: All summer I was feeling the Lord impress me with the need to go back to Singapore and seek out people I had met in the neighborhood or around wherever over the years we have lived in Singapore.? I want to tell them that we’re leaving and I wanted to say goodbye and have one last chance to encourage them to put their trust in Jesus as their Savior and follow him. Ask them what they are currently believing or wondering about in regard to ultimate issues and ask them if they’d let me pray for them.

Cameron Creasman: and???

Kimberly Creasman: I went to the Chinese acupuncture place to say goodbye to Li Lian. She’s the single mom Chinese Dr there. The one who was from our city in China, Kunming. A few years ago she had been reading her Bible because her 12 year old daughter had been going to City Harvest Church and was very interested in Christianity. After awhile, Dr. Li Lian had decided that she couldn’t believe in God because she was a Scientist, and her parents had been Scientists. ?I didn’t know her very well. I had gone to see her a few times when my neck was bothering me, and she’d done some acupuncture on Tyler’s wrist when he was having some trouble when throwing the football.

Let me flesh out the story here in the journal…

…Today when I was in the neighborhood on my way to a meeting, I had stopped at Clementi Ave 2 to get some coffee and see who was around the shops. As I looked over at her shop, I felt God impress on me to stop in to say goodbye.?Her daughter who is now 15 was in the shop alone and I chatted w her before her mom came out from the back.

“Your mom and I knew each other a little bit when I used to live in this neighborhood. She was so proud of you and your studies. Because I am a Christian, she also told me that you had decided to be a Christian and went to church.

She looked at me funny and told me she’s not going to church any more.

Li Lian came out from the back and was surprised to see me.  We sat down across from each other at her large desk. “I was in the neighborhood and stopped by to say goodbye.” I started to explain. “We’ve been in Malaysia this last year, and are moving back to USA in a couple months. I want to thank you for taking such good care of me when I wasn’t feeling well.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and tumbled over the lids. I reached across the table and put my hand on top of one of hers and sat for a moment in silence as she wrestled with her emotions.

“Where are these tears coming from?” I asked. She shrugged and shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

We sat some more in silence. Her daughter feeling awkward found a box of tissues and gave them to her mom.

“I don’t like change. This change surprises me.” She tried to explain that she’d recently moved closer to this shop and had to say goodbye to someone in the old neighborhood whom she felt close to. “I don’t like when people leave. I don’t like having to say goodbye.”

But she wasn’t close to me. We were such casual acquaintances. We’ve never even shared a meal. I was mystified by her emotional response.

A passage from Philippians came to mind, so I told her.

“I’m not sure, but my guess is that the Spirit of God might be speaking to your heart about something, and I have just had a passage from the Bible come to my mind and I’m not sure what it says. Do you have a Bible we can look at together?

She looked to the shelf just to her right at the desk. Her Chinese Bible was sitting within reach. Still. She asked her daughter to get her English bible too. In Chinese she said to her,

“Auntie Kimberly follows Jesus and she wants to show us something in the Bible. Come sit with us.”

I told them to look at Philippians chapter 1.??We had a bit of a struggle trying to figure out which Chinese words on the table of contents was Philippians. As we looked at the table of contents, I said, “Many of these books were written by the same man. The first four of the New Testament are written about when Jesus was living here, and this fifth book is Acts. A history of the church. Then comes a whole bunch of letters to different groups of Christians around the region.

“The person who wrote most of them was Paul. He was-a scholar; an academic. He had all kinds of credentials as an intellectual. He was against the Christians at first. He thought he was a fraud and he was helping people look for Christians to kill them because they thought the idea that Jesus, claiming to be God was blasphemy. It dishonored God and made them angry that a man and his followers would make such claims. Then one day, he had a dramatic experience out in the middle of nowhere. He saw a blinding light, and heard a voice, and that voice claimed to be Jesus. The voice asked him to stop persecuting Christians, and to follow him too. That whole story is here in the history book; Acts.

“Anyway, I tell you this because I think you need to experience God somehow. He needs to move you. Perhaps like the way you are moved now. I don’t know. But I wanted you to know about Paul’s background, because he is similar to you.”

She was leaning forward. Her daughter was helping with the translation.

“Now, after he started following Jesus, he started traveling around the region and telling people in different cities about who Jesus is, and started groups of followers, churches, all over. This letter to the Philippians was to his friends at one of those churches. The friends that he missed when he had to move on to another place.” And we read it together. Verse by verse. I’d read in English. Then she, through her tears, would read it in Chinese.

“This is my prayer for you too Li Lian. I know that God wants you to believe in Jesus and to show you his love and care.” She nodded. I asked her if I could pray for her. She asked if I would pray for her daughter too. We all stood to pray. My Chinese stinks, but I did my best. I prayed that she would find other Christians to tell her their stories of how Jesus has made a change in their lives. I prayed that God would prosper her in her little business. I prayed that her daughter would put her trust in God for her future, and that she would continue to grow up into a woman who also helped others be healthy and recover from their sicknesses.

Before I left Li Lian pulled out a few small gifts to send me off with. She gave me some chili sauce from Yunnan, the province where Kunming is the capitol city. A souvenir purse. Chinese people don’t hug one another, but when I told her goodbye she was willing to receive a hug.

Now I leave them with that blessing of truth and pray the seeds take root somehow. I have to remember to send a text message to her again before I leave.

I don’t have my schedule of when my sets are on October 31st, but invite you to join me…not just because my performance will be hilarious and fun.

I want spiritual friends to join me on site to pray for the staff of the hospital, the organisers, the patients, and patient visitors, as we move through the grounds that day.

Can you join me? PM me.

Here’s my bio & link to “Beauty & the Breast” last year. 

Like Forward Jim Reporting on Vietnam: “You are the first foreigner to preach in our church!” one of the deacons told me after the service. “In some churches, the people would go to the police to report having a foreigner there.  But in our church, everyone supports the pastor.” The Church in Vietnam has labored under decades of persecution, and is ranked 18th in the world (China is 37th).  Though there are still many barriers to church growth, conditions have been improving since the ‘90s, both outside and inside the Church. Increasing Opportunities As the opportunities in Vietnam change, so does my ministry - moving from mentoring pastors only, to helping them with leadership and outreach development in their churches. When I started bi-monthly trips three years ago, I worked exclusively with pastors in small mentoring groups.  Most of them serve with the state church (which includes 2/3 of Vietnam’s 2% Protestant population), speak little English, and have no contact with Christian resources outside the country.  Despite the language barriers and their cautious traditionalism, the Lord has given me many open doors, and my relationships with these pastors keeps deepening and broadening.  I have worked with over 25 of these pastors now, along with another 20 house church pastors and evangelists. As we grow in affection and trust, they are asking me to help more with their leaders and ministries.  On our recent trip over the past three weeks, I led five days of workshops for church leaders – Kimberly led two days of drama training for different groups – I preached in three churches – we met with leaders individually for encouragement and counseling – all in addition to six days of mentoring groups with pastors. Response on this Trip “We should have this training again for all the deacons in the city!” “We know about our church’s history, but today is the first time we have seen how God has been moving through our history!” “A lot of pastors have no clear direction, but are just doing the work of the ministry. This mentoring is so important to give them a sense of calling and a plan.” The churches I am helping with leadership development range in size from 120 to 10,000!  On this trip: one of the churches commissioned a church planting team, another held a special evangelistic event and has four church planters and target communities identified for the next four years, another brainstormed community outreaches to reach the poor and needy. Please Join Us! PRAY: Praise the Lord for the new opportunities in Vietnam, for the beginnings of new ideas for ministry, and for emerging leaders who are looking for the opportunities and models and support for their development. -Please pray for the churches and leaders that we work with, that the Lord would protect and guide them in their outreach plans and grow the number and maturity of their church leaders. -Please pray for us, for wisdom in how we can best help them, as we transition to the US for a year or longer – do we go for visits from the States in the next year, can we get our churches and friends in the USA involved in helping them? -Please pray for increasing openness and responsiveness to the Gospel among the 90% idol / ancestor / money worshippers GIVE: If you want to help them, help us.  Thank you for your investment in our ministry, which not only supports us, it helps pastors and church leaders and churches and believers in Asia! LEARN: Read the Christianity Today article about Vietnam from April 2014. Or download the Information on Vietnam from Operation World. A group of deacons makes a wall of their church’s history. They gain inspiration for their role in this chapter. Getting around by motorcycle is thrilling! “I have been a deacon for a long time, but I never knew that my job was to listen to people and build unity in the church.” What’s Next in Ministry:  Oct 3: We returned from Saigon, Vietnam. We ended the different trainings with some wonderful times of prayer for one another. Here’s a link to the notes on Deacon training. Oct 6, 7th: Singapore Kimberly speaks at morning meetings: Monday on Giftedness and Strengths in order to understand how God has wired each of us differently. Tues on Navigating Transitions as an outreach to international women. (a topic we know well!) Oct 20-Nov 5: Guangzhou & Beijing, China. Jim meets with three mentoring groups, and others involved in China mentoring ministries. Since this is Jim’s last trip to China for awhile, Lord we pray that your work will go forward in the people you have brought together. Oct 25 Kimberly has a goodbye party with The Group. Christian artists in Singapore who call her a mentor. Anticipating a good time of encouraging and inspiring them to be mentors. Oct 30 Kimberly sings all day at a music festival on the grounds of Singapore General Hospital. Though she may not sing spiritual songs, Lord we pray that she will have opportunity to pray for the sick and others she meets that day. Nov 1-14th: More goodbyes and parties with CRMSingapore, and our church in Malaysia and Singapore. Packing up and sending belongings to storage! Again, Lord we pray that we leave our friends here with confidence to carry on! Nov 16th: San Pedro, California. Moving in to our condo after 17 years away, for a year of connection and refreshment with family and friends, and reflection and guidance on what we have learned in Asia and how the Lord will lead us in ministry ahead. God bless you! Thank you for your prayers and financial giving and encouragement that keep us going and gets us around! All of our expenses for ministry, comes from donations from you and other friends! If you have been supporting us, you have been building Christian leaders in Asia!  Jim & Kimberly Creasman Partner with us in the Gospel: staff.crmleaders.org/creasman 1240 Lakeview Ave, Ste. 120, Anaheim, CA 92807 USA. You may designate by adding: “preferenced for Creasman-acct 5651″ Expanded articles and stories: charminfullbloom.blogspot or worldcreasmans.com *Our US Address after 11/16*  1418 Brett Place #124 , San Pedro, CA  90732 The pillows in China & Vietnam aren’t this pretty: I (Kimbery) don’t usually take photos of the people we’ve shared about Jesus with, or pray with! That wouldn’t be too polite! But I can take photos of the pillows I slept on this summer! Here’s 9 favs from my “Summer Pillow Tour 2014.” It’s a crazy adventurous life. God showers us with the blessing of hospitable friends all around the world!  Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.”

This week the young pastor of a church plant that just dedicated their first building said, ”So many churches have problems because of the leaders. This type of training is what every pastor in churches of Vietnam needs!” Kimberly grabbed her phone and recorded a short bit of what he said, Have a listen to it.

He is also part of the committee for Evangelism Explosion in Vietnam (EE). Both he and his wife studied in the International School of Theology (Cru) in the Philippines. She leads a team creating VBS materials, training VBS and Sunday School teachers (Scripture Union), and the team producing original Children’s Praise Music and DVDs. Last year they made packets for 300 children. This year they made 3000!

It has been thrilling to lead a mentoring group with them, and have a few evenings teaching their deacons about the role of a deacon; and well as lead some drama training for their city-wide network of Sunday School teachers (Kimberly). 

In a Spartan hotel room of a Christian camp outside of the massive city of Guangzhou China, the pastor’s wife poured out her heart to me and wept. I sat and listened. Straining to understand. My 2 years of Chinese language study 15 years ago was hardly adequate to understand the details of her sharing.

For this particular retreat, the pastor’s wives were invited to come along to the mentoring network my husband Jim has been leading for more than a year. All of the wives, and their toddlers, came for the 3 days because I was going to be there too.

Why would she open up to me like this? She knew I couldn’t understand very well. That didn’t keep her from unloading her burden. As the woes tumbled out it was clear she hadn’t found anyone else who was safe enough to talk about her worries. Money. Safety. The Children’s education when they don’t have the right kind of identity passes for the place where they are living. These gals are married to visionary men of faith who’ve spent time in prison for preaching the Gospel. Most of these gals don’t have the same measure of faith their husbands do.

I sat, made eye contact, prayed for discernment, held their hands, offered tissues.

Occasionally I asked a clarifying question, but most of the time I silently prayed for the Holy Spirit to minister to them and fill me with discernment to understand and serve them.

Thinking back on it now, I can’t even recall any of my replies, or what I said in my faltering Chinese prayers as we finished our times together.

I do remember perfectly clearly one young woman’s reply to me:

“I didn’t want to come this week. I thought, ‘What a waste of time and money to travel to this camp with our toddler. She wouldn’t sleep well in a strange place. She wouldn’t like the food. What could I gain from of it besides more exhaustion?’ But, now I know why I needed to be here. Spending this hour is why I came. The Lord has brought so many healing insights. This session has made the whole weekend worth all the trouble!”

Nearly 30 years in ministry, and I have nothing to boast about, except that God loves to use me as his representative. It’s especially wonderful when the sweet fruit is clearly all God’s doing, and not from anything I’ve done but show up.

Jim has been coming in to Guangzhou, China every 3 months or so to lead a few groups through CRM’s Focusing Leaders curriculum. He comes for two or more weeks at a time for teaching and coaching participants. He is partnering with another coach from a Christian organisation who has vast influence serving the leaders of churches in China for more than 30 years. This partner facilitator is talking with us about joining CRM staff. He loves what we do.

You see, the current urgent need of the church in China is for building up spiritual, godly leadership. Not Bibles. Not theological training. Not even resources for specialized ministries like marriages and family or youth. What China’s spiritual leaders are still dangerously lacking is maturity and godliness, which can’t be taught in a course or with a book or a DVD. Chinese leaders need godly mentors and role models. When Jim starts these groups it’s with the intent of multiplying. He tells these men who are asking him to be their “spiritual father” that he is not merely coming to mentor them, but to build them up to also be mentors. The multiplication of his efforts in Asia has been slow. He is weary of doing these groups over and over again. Since 2001 he started in Singapore, then China, then Philippines and Vietnam, with few national leaders stepping in to also be mentors and the ministry multiplying in any of these countries. Perhaps this Asian partner will be a catalyst for figuring out how multiplication will work in Asian contexts.

Until now, I’ve not joined him on these trips to China because, frankly, I’ve felt the costs to go to China are prohibitive. The single entry visa for an American is over $250 US dollars! And then we add to that airfare, and hotels, and meals. The cost is less than most summer mission trips outside North America; we’re traveling from a nearby Singapore and not USA, and the two star hotel costs are reasonable. However, I have been loathe to spend that exorbitant amount for a visa for me to come along just to be his moral support and a sidekick.

But this trip last May might be my last chance to come. So I made arrangements to join Jim and see what help I might be. The Chinese coordinator was so happy that Jim’s wife was coming that he apparently told the women that I was a counselor and would meet with the individually.

The Chinese coordinator of the men’s mentoring group had told the couples that I was a counselor and would meet with the gals individually if they came along this time. I’m not a counselor, and don’t do a very good job counseling, even in English. I don’t have much of any mercy or discernment spiritual gifts. I often I find myself putting my proverbial foot in my mouth when I try. 

I’ve taken the CORE coaching training, and though not ICF certified, I have become a better listener. In recent years I have been more willing to put myself in daring situations that require faith to navigate. I can see signs that I am finally getting a little more mature in my 50’s. This experience “counselling” the pastors wives in Guangzhou have shown me that my spiritual ears are better now at hearing the voice of God to guide me when I’m in the dark. 

And that’s where I was as I counselled these young Chinese pastor’s wives without a translator. In the dark!

I never thought I’d be sick of eating in a restaurant. I would willingly eat a dry crust of bread for lunch if we could just eat it without having to drive somewhere and listen to hits from the ‘70’s and the racket from the kitchen crew in the background. I would even fast lunch today. Besides, I haven’t yet digested the Mexican dinner that I overate last night.

“The road is long.

With many a winding turns…”

Neil Diamond crooned over the speakers of the International House of Pancakes as my mother in law talked about the problems of another one of her neighbors or friends or acquaintances; the ones that I don’t know. The people with piles of money who have moved to Morningside, the retirement community she should have, could have, moved to, years ago.

“…That leads us to who knows where.

We’ll get there….”

The photos on the menu look like hospital food to me. The waitress can’t make eye contact. There is an enormously fat man taking up nearly an entire a booth bench in my sightlines. My waning appetite becomes nausea. Everything about America is getting on my nerves today.

It is the last day of two months on the road. Tonight we take our road worn bodies and suitcases and head to the airport that will take us back to Asia.

“…But I’m strong,

Strong enough to make it through….”

Let’s just hope I can make it through before I hurt somebody.

“He ain’t heavy,

He’s my brother…”

Seriously? I used to like this song?