by Sandra & Russell Board
Greetings from Japan!
SHARING GOD’S LOVE IN INDIA
In late February, Russell helped lead a team of skilled and dedicated men and women from the U.S. and the Philippines to Pune, India, to serve the Lord, the local church, and the Indian people. The team spent two days with the 600 children at a Christian school run by the Abundant Life Church. While the medical team examined the students class by class, the children’s ministry team brought smiles to their faces with songs, games, skits and stories, teaching and showing them the love of Jesus.
Subsequent days brought the teams to a preschool, a slum outreach to disadvantaged children, a palliative care center with patients dying of cancer, and a low-income Muslim housing development. In addition to needed medicines, the medical team offered a gentle touch and an encouraging word, ministering the love of Christ with grace and compassion.
In several church services we encouraged the local believers from the word of the Lord. In spite of poverty and persecution, God is moving in India to gather a people to Himself and glorify the name of Christ!
THAILAND NATIONAL CONFERENCE
The 13th annual national conference of our IPHC churches in Thailand was held during the last week in April. There were nearly 130 delegates in attendance, representing the majority of our 44 churches in Thailand.
The Lord moved in a deep and powerful way during the conference teaching sessions and evening services. Special thanks to missionaries Albert & Jiep Gonzales, Regional Director Jeff Willhoite, and missionary Rose Boyd and her team (Pastor Phillip & Holly Bland, and Lou Spencer), for their anointed teaching, preaching and prayers!
A highlight of the conference was the awarding of ministerial credentials. Including ordination, licensing, and mission workers, an unprecedented number of 63 men and women received credentials! Praise the Lord for sending more laborers into the harvest!
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS IN CAMBODIA
Russell joined in the dedication of the new National Headquarters building of the Cambodia PH Church in Phnom Penh on May 1st. The building was purchased with a Project Antioch Grant provided by the annual Global Outreach offering, and renovated by local labor provided by the church members.
The celebration was a dream come true for missionaries Samuel and Merlen Lamanilao, who pioneered the work of IPHC in Cambodia 17 years ago. Though they are not Christians, the members of the District Council also participated in the ceremonies, recognizing the great blessing of having the ministries of Cambodia PHC in their community.
The headquarters building houses the flagship Phnom Penh church, facilities for discipleship and leadership training, and outreach ministries for children’s education and music, as well as offices for the National Leader and People to People Coordinator.
Thank you for your faithful support!
Give to their ministry here!
PRAYER POINTS
• Pray for the pastors and believers in India, that they would remain safe from persecution by Hindu extremists and free to preach the gospel.
• Pray for anointing and equipping for all the IPHC ministers in Thailand.
• Pray for the outreach ministries in Thailand to the refugees from Myanmar and Pakistan, and to the victims of human trafficking and the sex industry.
• Pray that the new headquarters will “enlarge the place of the tent” of IPHC Cambodia, and help the believers there to possess the inheritance God has for them in this nation.
• Pray for us as we travel across Asia to encourage and equip leaders to make disciples and take the gospel to the unreached.
Photo Credit: Russell Board
