Thank you, President Obama…

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama called Tuesday for the immediate and unconditional release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial for subversion.

Aung San Suu Kyi was first detained in 1989 after mass protests against the military government.

Obama said the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s detention is “arbitrary” and “unjustified” in accordance with the findings of a United Nations group looking into the matter.

“I strongly condemn her house arrest and detention, which have also been condemned around the world,” Obama said in a statement.

“Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued detention, isolation and show trial, based on spurious charges, cast serious doubt on the Burmese regime’s willingness to be a responsible member of the international community,” he said. “This is an important opportunity for the government in Burma to demonstrate that it respects its own laws and its own people.”

Pray for “The Lady” in Burma

Please continue to pray for the ongoing situation in Burma (Myanmar).  Aung San Sui Kyi is on trial (again) and it looks like the government is set on keeping her in prison/house arrest for the rest of her life.  It is actually illegal to mention her name in public in Burma, so the people have resorted to calling her “The Lady”, so if you can’t pronounce her name simply pray for the Lady…

Here is the latest on the trial which is going on in Burma right now…  http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/26/myanmar.suu.kyi.trial/index.html

As you are praying for the trial also be sure and lift up our work in Burma.  We are working hard to raise the funds for a trip to Burma this summer….

J

Incendiary Quote of the Day

We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game.  Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience,  it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Phariasaism…to your knees man!  and to your Bible!  decide at once!  don’t hedge! time flies!  Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood.  Stop your lame, lying and cowardly excuses…Enlist!

C.T. Studd (missionary to China and Africa)

Staff Retreat Report…

I just want to thank you for praying for our recent Aquila staff retreat. We truly sensed the power of the Holy Spirit in our time together.

Bottom line:  Leaders in SE Asia are hungry for training, and we are committed to do anything and everything to bring a training solution to them – no “if, and’s or but’s”.

We began with a time of sharing what we believed the Lord was speaking into each of our lives as we individually prepared for the retreat. Amazingly, the message each of us was receiving from the Word and in prayer was almost identical.

We engaged with God during a time of personal and corporate repentance – asking God to forgive us for those times we failed to wait upon Him to direct, instead relying on our faulty human wisdom.

The rest of the meeting was incredible as well. I hope to be able to share some of those specifics in the coming weeks and months, as we continue to expectantly wait on God to open doors.

We are incredibly grateful for your partnership. Leaders in SE Asia are grateful for your investment in their lives.

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

David and our Aquila Team

Aquila Staff Retreat…

Late this week, our Aquila Staff is taking a couple of days to retreat, evaluate, plan, and pray together.

The great folks at Tulakogee Conference Center (east of Tulsa) are hosting us. Not only is it a quiet setting, but Tulakogee is a beautiful and peaceful location (on the shores of Lake Fort Gibson).

We have much to discuss, and take to our Father in prayer -

• curriculum evaluation and improvement,
• evaluation/direction of our work in both Burma and Cambodia,
• how to be better advocates for leaders in SE Asia,
• financial needs,
• invitations to work in new areas to equip/encourage leaders,
• as well as some administrative issues.

Would you pause to ask God’s blessing on this important time in the life of our ministry? Our desire is to seek God’s directions and provision, and not settle simply for human solutions.

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

David

Pray for Burma

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Awng Sawn Sue Chee) has been arrested and taken to Insein Prison.

She was nearing the end of her 6-year period of house arrest. She will be facing trial this week on phantom charges.

As the leader of the democratic movement in Burma – her freedom is key to moving the country away from this brutal regime.

For more news on Burma visit HERE

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

David

Day of Prayer

Monday, Dec. 1st is our 4th Annual Day of Prayer. It is our belief that the faithful prayer of God’s people on behalf of others is the most valuable investment we can make.

Thank You for taking a few moments today in specific prayer, and for keeping an attitude of prayer on behalf of deserving leaders in SE Asia.

We have received some specific requests from overseas partners, and may receive more that we will pass on to you promptly.

If you and your family have prayer requests that you would like to share, just reply to this email with the request and we would be honored to join with you in prayer.

Below are some specific requests:

Pray that we will have wisdom in regard to our 2009 schedule. Economic conditions are currently difficult – and we must squeeze maximum impact out of every dollar invested.

Pray for U.S. Financial Partners – that each partner will continue to see the value of this ministry for the advance of the Kingdom of God, and will covenant to continue to give sacrificially (even in trying economic times).

Pray for new opportunities to tell the story to groups of new people in 2009 – that doors will be opened to invite new partners to join with us.

Requests from Myanmar:

Please pray that we are preparing to have our last Aquila project for this year with Phu Kayin tribe.
. Please pray for next year projects that the Lord will enable us to do well.
. Please pray for IMCP that we are planing to have mission trip on December 18 to 23.
. Please continually pray for the people here in Myanmar that God will soften their heart and that more people will come to Christ.
. Pray for those pastor that Aquila is training that the Lord will guide them and strengthen them as they are serving the Lord in remote situations.
We will be praying also at IMCP on Monday.

Thank you and God bless you
Thomas - Aquila National Director, Myanmar
——

Here are our prayer request!

1. As we are focusing the unreached area it has taken years together for our missionaries to get close to the local people. But they have just started preaching the Gospel.  Please pray that the Lord may bless and anoint their sharing for those who never heard about Christ.

2. 8 of our missionaries will need a small bamboo house each where they are living – pray for their provision, and for the financial provision of all of our church planters.

3. In the Innle Lake mission field the government sent a letter to us not to hold any kind of meeting on the lake as we always have a Sunday worship service at one of our newly convert believer’s house. But after praying for weeks we have decided to continue our worship service and face the government if needed. Please pray for that matters so that we may know what is the will of God for us.

4. As people those who are living on Innle lake have tiolet on back of the house and use front of the water for cooking, drinking etc. they need to have a hand pump. In our mission field we need at least 5 hand pump.

5. Please do give thanks to God for us for adding more than 10 more people in His Kingdom list in our mission field this year (new converts).

6. Please pray that we may be able to reach many more people in coming Christmas time which is one of the best time for us to reach the people with the Gospel.

Yours in His vineyard,
John (Leader in Myanmar and teacher in Aquila National to National Ministry)

need for training in se asia

The need in Southeast Asia is acute, the Church is growing very rapidly and this places a tremendous strain on existing leadership. It is not uncommon in countries like Myanmar or Cambodia to visit a rural village with a small church and no trained leader. Our experience in Southeast Asia has been that there is a genuine hunger for the gospel and an openness to faith in Jesus Christ. The future of the church in Southeast Asia will hinge in great part on the availability and preparation of leaders in the church.

In Myanmar, a country which has been under the heavy hand of a military junta for more than a decade. The church is viable although very small and enduring a great deal of oppression and persecution. The need for trained leaders and evangelists continues to grow on a daily basis. On a recent visit to this beautiful country, we were able to visit with several leaders of the church, and to hear the cry for help. We were told that we could help train leaders on a weekly basis if it were possible.

In Cambodia, a country which most North Americans know only from the infamous “Killing Fields”, the church continues to try and recover from decades of war and terror. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge approximately 95% of the churches leaders were either killed or disappeared. This has left a void of experienced, trained leaders for the churches. The exciting news is that the church is growing very rapidly through an extensive church planting movement, which has seen the number of churches growing at a rate that is hard to quantify. In 1990 there were only about 30 Baptist churches, today there are over 260 churches!

There are several other countries in Southeast Asia who have similar situations. These would include countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. Many of these countries are closed to traditional mission efforts, however it is possible for indigineous leaders to impact their countries. If these nations are to be reached with the gospel it will not be North Americans doing the work it will be national leaders.

In most of the countries of Southeast Asia the idea of being able to attend a traditional seminary for training is restricted to a very limited number of people. So these leaders must be trained in more non-traditional ways, this is the vision of The Aquila Project.

Can you believe it’s been 5 years?

“our pastors are afraid of your projects…”

I was sitting in a hotel room in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2001 with the leader of the Cambodian Baptist Union. We were discussing upcoming evangelism projects already scheduled by the ministry I worked for at the time. That statement, “our pastors are afraid of your (evangelistic) projects” shook me to my core and opened my eyes to the great need for training indigenous church leaders in Asia.

The context of the statement was that our short-term teams of Americans would visit in a Cambodian village in order to share the gospel. As a result of this evangelistic effort we would see many people place their faith and trust in Jesus. After the teams returned to the States, the new believers would show up at the church and ask the pastor, “What do I do next?”

That question birthed fear in the hearts of pastors in SE Asia. These simple rural leaders had no answer for that question. You see, most of the pastors in Cambodia at the time had a Bible, but they had less than even a high school education. They certainly had no pastoral or ministry training. The task of teaching new believers was overwhelming to them.

This led us to a great deal of prayer and many additional conversations with church leaders across Asia and here in the States. About six months later, I was sitting in a hotel room in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma) when God birthed in my heart the vision for a ministry to provide training for local pastors and church leaders. I wrote down every thought that God brought to my mind. The task was intimidating–but the vision was clearly from God.

After returning home from Myanmar, I found David Robbins (who was working for the same organization) and shared with him the vision that I believe God had laid on my heart. In what I can only describe as a “holy moment”, I saw David’s eyes light up with the idea of pouring our lives into leaders in the darkest corners of our world. Together, we set out to follow this vision and see where the Lord would lead us.

After much preparation, David Robbins, Jim Hudson and I stood before a group of 56 pastors and leaders in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in October 2003, and saw the vision become a reality. I can’t adequately put into words what it was like to stand before these men and women who were so hungry to learn and to learn from God’s Word. I still get chills each time we stand before a group and teach.

I can’t believe it’s been five years this month! We could have never gotten this far without your partnership and faithfulness. Thank you for taking steps of faith with us in order to equip and encourage leaders in SE Asia. It’s humbling to see what God has done through a small group of people who are committed to seeing His Glory spread in dark places.

Thanks for continuing on this journey with us!

Jeff

We’re Back!

Just a quick note to let you know that we are reactivating our blog and look forward to several new posts in the next couple of days.  It’s been a very busy summer and fall, God is continuing to open doors for this work and we are excited about the coming days at The Aquila Project.

Please begin praying now for our upcoming project in Cambodia.  We will be leaving on November 10 and will return on the 22nd.  Much more info coming soon…

J