“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (John 15:16)
The month of June began with college orientation and the beginning of another academic year with four new students. We are off to a good start, and I enjoyed teaching classes on building a Christian family, an advanced course on studying the Bible, as well as a foundational doctrinal class for our freshmen.
We enjoyed having an encouraging visit from John and Martha Cole in early June. Bro. Cole is the Field Services Coordinator of Asia and Oceania for FBMI, and I believe he was heartened by seeing the growth of our college students at International Baptist Church (IBC).
On July 1, our church family came together on a Saturday morning to see how many tracts we could distribute. Our tracts, which are an invitation to IBC and contain the plan of salvation, were personally handed out to over 10,000 people! Of course, we continue our weekly soul-winning outreaches on Thursday evenings and Saturdays and usually see scores saved in a week. Up to the end of July, IBC has records of 4,223 trusting Christ and 190 baptized.
In addition, it was a joy to see us reach another milestone in our ministry, as we sent from our own members to help plant another independent, soul-winning, Baptist church. On July 22, Mike and Ruth Morrissey and their three children arrived at our airport in Dumaguete. Ruth is my daughter, and the Morrisseys had been a part of the start of IBC in January of 2011. They have spent the last two years on deputation to raise the funds to begin Truth Baptist Church in Dapitan, Mindanao (the island just south of Dumaguete).
On Sunday evening, July 23, we said “goodbye” to three of our members as they joined as staff with the Morrisseys to help them plant their new church. It was hard to let them go, but we are so very proud of Jennifer, Mico, and Bemon as they take what we taught them in their years at IBC and go on to multiply our fruit in another needy place. In the photo, you can see Mico (with the handkerchief) wiping away his tears as he hugs Jason, the one who won him to Christ and a fellow Bible college student and graduate. Please pray for all those who are serving together in this new venture.
Please also pray that this would be just the beginning of many going out from our ministry to spread the Word of God in the Philippines and to other countries of Asia and Africa.
Thank you for your faithful support,
Scott Christiansen
Our IBC church family saying goodbye to those leaving to start a new church with FBMI missionaries, Mike and Ruth Morrissey, in Mindanao