Ministry Updates and News from the Mehns
I hope you had a wonderful meaningful Christmas. We anticipated a smooth transition into the New Year, but we were jolted into the New Year with news out of Japan of a national disaster and a major plane crash related to a relief plane. In 2024, we do expect many great things as ministries are expanding and deepening in many places. God has been profoundly good in allowing John to travel with a new 120%…
1. Thank God for Christmas celebrations and gatherings with our families. As you know Christmas is not about the season but about Christ and people. 2. Despite not meeting several times due to holidays and snowstorms, God is answering your prayers for the Tuesday night Life Group that Elaine leads at our local church with strong connections between the members. 3. Ask God to bless our new Converge Asia Director, Chaz Nicholls, who is traveling…
We love Christmas. And when we lived in Japan, we loved Christmas as a great time to share the good news of the Savior Jesus with Japanese. The majority of Japanese have no understanding of Christmas, and they were very interested in hearing. In fact, most of Asia does not know about Christ or the reason for Christmas. Asia is where a small percentage of people are followers of Jesus. Many have not heard of…
Praise God for his blessing on our Converge Asia Impact Team gathering in Arizona last month. As a team we are so spread out, so we do not meet face-to-face often and this time miraculously no one was absent. For the first time we met our new Asia Director, Chaz Nichols. He will also be our direct boss by assuming the leadership role of our team until a permanent leader is found. Please ask God…
“It’s hard to deal with all the changes lately,” a ministry partner said to me. Yes, that’s true but that is actually normal. We are in the change business. The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to change people, families, and societies, we have seen that. Lately there have been many changes in ministry and a leadership change in our mission and head of our Asia team. As you will keep reading you will see…
As we shared before, last month a top leader from India was in the US and spent some time with AIT members John and Dr. Phu Pham in Illinois. Change several people groups – We were hoping to discuss their missions program and talk about practical steps to achieve their dreams of fulfilling the Great Commission in their region. This top leader had estimated that their churches had sent out about 30 missionaries. We asked…
Last month John was really on a “Dream Team” in their trip through Asia. The seven members were 3 Vietnamese, 2 Filipinos, 1 Indonesian, and John was the only westerner in the group. But everyone recognized that even though John has an American background his heart is really Asian. FOCUS ON JAPAN Last month John was in Japan for the Seventh Japan Congress on Evangelism in Gifu near Nagoya. John was among the 1,000 leaders…
This is really strange. Sometimes I think I am not sure where I live. Last week in one morning I interacted with people from Mongolia, China, Cambodia, and Nepal. Just today it was discussions about people from Mongolia, South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Every week I have contact with my key ministry partner in India. Even though I live in the US, my heart and mind is constantly in Asia. To dream is exciting…