good news and hope

“Christianity is not a message which has to be believed, but an experience of faith that becomes a message.” Edward Schillebeeckx.

“When the brilliant ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work for three months at the house of the dying n Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best to spend the rest o his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Theresa. She asked, ‘And what can I do for you?’ Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him. ‘What do you want me to pray for?’ she asked. He voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the United Stats: ‘pray that I have clarity.’ She said firmly, ‘No, I will not do that.’ When he asked her why, she said, ‘Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must be let go of.’ When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, ‘I have never had the clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God”

Sorry for the delay, my internet at home is down and when it runs, it is so slow!

I am back from my trip in New York City. It was filled so many things. First, I want to thank you all of your for your prayers and words of encouragement. During my trip there was good news and some “yet to be good” news.

I drove early on Wednesday morning to attend the Pastoral and Laity Ministries, there was a presentation by Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE). They are having a conference in Macau in March of 2006.

The are having a Congress meeting for world evangelism; information on this Congress and their core values are here. After the presentation, we had lunch and I was able to pray with some pastors and was really encouraged by Pastor Steven Ro and Ben Ing for their words of honesty and how we are seeking to not be complacent in our passion and to see God's people with a sense of love and promise. After our lunch... There was a roundtable discussion about the current situation/challenge of the American born Chinese ministers who have difficulties working under Overseas born Chinese leadership.

It was a difficult but fruitful discussion and I was able to engage the pastors and lay leaders into a discussion regarding being missional towards the cultural complexities of being an American born in Chinese ministry. In the six years I served at Chinese Christian Herald Crusades, I have struggled in the context of sometimes difficult circumstances that seemed unjust but as I learned and learned about the importance of being missional (Urbana in 2003 was critical to my understanding of seeking to enter the lives of others) as a western minded.

I met with some of the representative of CCOWE the following day at Starbucks and they have invited me to speak in Macau to share some of my insight with outreach and church partnerships. It was a time of deep affirmation for the work I have been called...

Here is the "yet to be good news..." For the last three months of funding I raised $685. Yes, only $685...that was a huge discouragement to me. But somehow I was challenged with the above quote about faith and trust...But I have to be senstitive to what this means...

I meet with Greg Jao the new Regional Director of NY/NJ Intervarsity Campus ministries. He looked over the Asian American laity proposal (I have uploaded it on yahoogroup). They have agreed to have Intervarsity and their resources to partner with us in enriching and working with the Asian American laity. We are going to have a survey produced this month to identify the needs of the Asian American church and in Spring work with IV to develop a training and networking event.

I had a meeting with Norman to go over preliminarily on the CCHC website. He will have something ready by the end of the week.

On a personal note, I had a good meeting with some friends...Jinny, Koo, Harvey, Amy, Norman and Joanna. It was good to reconnect and to just veg, eat, pray and have some decent sushi.

Praise God for giving me opportunities to speak at the following churches and ministries:
I was invited to speak at Mid Hudson Chinese Christian Church in February. I am speaking to the adult service on December 12th at Chinese Christian Church of New Jersey

I was also invited to speak at Cornell University's Grace Christian Fellowship for their Winter Retreat as well as the Hosanna Fellowship at Overseas Chinese Mission Church.

Possible upcoming speaking engagements are at Binghamton Intervarsity and possibly at Teen Eastern Chinese Bible Conference in May of 2006.

Please pray for funding as that seems to be most pressing thing for me. I have taken a position at a technology firm in Syracuse to make ends meet. It has been a wonderful time so far and learning a new field. I am working on their final reports and some research for projects and technology. But it has been hard to focus on ministry with all the reality of financial burdens. With the current realities of funding I have to consider these possibilities:

1. It could mean that the vision and the mission of the ministry is not compelling enough
2. I have not communicated the financial needs of the ministry.
3. Churches and people do not feel a need for this ministry, therefore there is no support.
4. I have to pray more about the provision. I have been spoiled with generous friends in the past and expected that this would be taken care of.
5. It could be charity exhaustion, this year with all the natural disaster, the support has gone to mostly these relief efforts and people are financially bound.

Thank you for listening and praying. I know this was long and I appreciate you reading this.

Remaining in Him,

Peter O