As you probably already know, AJ will be back in Sydney within a couple of weeks, After a short break, he’ll be joining a Student Life team as a staff worker, and will be back ministering on an Australian campus this year. Country change, language change, cultural change, but same job. To follow in the way that Christ is leading , AJ will continue to need your encouragement, financial and prayer support.
Thank you for supporting AJ’s ministry work over
1998. Over to AJ...
Jason J
INTRO
I'll be back in the land of Oz very soon, but before I leave, here is the final edition of "The Asia Minor Times". The long awaited exciting conclusion to the fourteen month odyssey tracing the footsteps of Paul, fulfilling the greatest adventure appointed to us from God. But remember, while the need in the Middle East is desperate, so too is the need of every human being, be they in Australia or even America. Let us all remember the privilege we have to be ambassadors for the gospel wherever we are, a ministry even angels envy us for.PROMISING GROWTH
In the last month we have seen eight new brothers and sisters in Christ! One of them is a policeman, previously unheard of as the police are usually the people who make trouble for us. It is so encouraging to see people accepting Christ, and sometimes with such ease. New believers seem to add so much momentum and result in so many more accepting Jesus. I wonder sometimes how easy it would be for the avalanching to continue and grow until it envelopes the entire country!However, the big killer of such growth is the potential for new believers to fall away. Perhaps one in three new believers will not be continuing in a years time. Discipleship is so important - grounding people in their faith and teaching them how to meet the daily challenges of life through their new-found faith with God's help. Pray for the new Stint team as they take on the challenge of discipling the new believers.
ANZACS
Crazy as it sounds, winter would not be complete without another ANZAC Summer project group. The ANZACs are finishing up this week along with me. I have been largely involved in the organizing and co-ordinating the 10 Aussies and Kiwis from this end and co-ordinating with Stuart (who is campus staff at Sydney University). They have been refining my accent, removing the Americanisms I began to pick up during the year. A project's two main aims are to give the participants a view of overseas mission work and to expose lots of students to the gospel. You can be praying for the success of these two aims.STEVE MANNYX
The mushroom is back! And this time he's here to stay... The mushroom is of course Steve Mannyx, the sole Aussie taking my place on the STINT team. So called because of his peculiarly mushroom shaped afro. Steve is a good friend of mine from Sydney Engineering with a great heart for God.For those of you who don't know Steve, please excuse me this indulgence as I in traditional Aussie style "pay out" on one who may one day be remembered as a Christian legend of our times. Pray for him as he too must undergo the extreme pressures to conform to American culture among a predominantly American team. Struggle and agonize for him in prayer as his Afro becomes the butt of one joke after another. And then of course, laugh at him if I ever get to show a particular picture of him in one of his less dignified poses. Let's raise a toast to the "fun-guy" himself - Steve!
MORE DREAMS?
Remember Gurhan? Yes, that's right, the guy who had a dream of Jesus. He's gone off to Military service and I haven't been able to spend much time with him following up on his dream. However there has been another recent episode involving a different friend of mine possibly in answer to your prayers for God to use this medium more.
cont...
"Ulke" is an landscape architecture student who plays soccer with us weekly. A few weeks ago while playing soccer, he fell and hit his head. The blow sent him into convulsions and we called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Fortunately no complications were reported and he was released the following day. That night his father asked us on the telephone if we had spoken to Ulke about Jesus during the ambulance ride because he was telling his father he had met Jesus while unconscious. We had not and I availed myself of the next opportunity to speak to Ulke about this.
Ulke has no memory of how he hit his head, but remembers a vision in which he saw a Christ like figure with a person who was living in darkness, without direction, lost. "Jesus" had a decision to make about the fate of this person and said that he would not die but live. Ulke had no idea about whether this vision was merely his imagination and no clue as to its meaning.
After a concussion I too would be inclined to say it was nothing, but these incidents are too common to be dismissed so easily. The interpretation I suggested to him was that the lost person was himself, as we live in darkness without the knowledge of Christ (Eph 4:17-18). When he fell I thought perhaps it was nothing more serious than a broken wrist, but with the concussion perhaps it may have been even a life threatening situation. Jesus however, in his Grace, knowing Ulke did yet not know him, exercised his power over life and death giving the decision he would live. Perhaps that is correct, perhaps not. In any case you may be praying for Ulke too that he questions whether it is safe to die without knowing Jesus.
MY LAST DAYS, NOT!
And how have I been spending my last days in Turkey? The question half of Australia wants answered is now at last to be announced. Of course it is not an end of Campus work for me, but merely a "transfer" to Australia where I will be continuing in the Sydney region this year.These days I have been focusing on catching up with many of my friends sharing parting words of encouragement. With just one week left, I had the opportunity to meet with "Mural", a graduate from University that I met last Sunday at church. I met him this week with a German worker in order that he could continue to meet with Mural after my leaving. Mural had received a bible a year previously and after clarifying a few points was more than eager to accept Jesus on the spot. Not used to such fast commitments, we made sure he was aware of what he was entering into and the persecution he may face from family, spiritually and perhaps even at work. This did not deter Mural and so together we prayed, Jesus giving him the right to become a child of God (Jn 1:12). A nice way to finish my time here.
PRAISE / PRAYER POINTS
[Cut out along the dotted lines to insert this summary in the back of your day planner or bible]Praise:
* The local believers who have joined our STINT team, Ayse and Zafer.* The great harvests God has provided this year.
* The raising up of workers for the Middle East, especially for the current ANZAC team.
Prayer:
* The use of dreams to impact muslim lives. Pray for Gurhan and Ulke.* Raising the finances require for local Stint. All support needs to be raised from overseas.
* All the believers in Turkey that they walk strong in their faiths, devoting themselves to each other in love and present themselves as a light to the world.
* Pray for all the new believers being discipled by the new Stint team.
* Myself as I prepare for the certainly hard experience of re-adjusting to Australia.