Posts Tagged ‘ABI Ministry Reports’

As the ministry of The Alliance for Biblical Integrity continues to develop in the United States, we are also receiving an increasing number of invitations to teach internationally. These represent tremendous opportunities to provide solid biblical instruction to the next generation of leaders as they are trained by other ministries around the world.

Unlike those in the U.S., overseas ministries need for guest teachers to come as fully-supported short-term missionaries. Therefore, we are seeking additional strategic partners to join our support team specifically for the international ministries of the ABI.

I encourage you to look over the international ministry opportunities listed below and prayerfully consider being involved with a specific ministry trip or even supporting the ministry of ABI on a monthly basis. Most of the noted ministry opportunities are already scheduled for sometime in the next 10 months, some are tentatively scheduled for every year and for some we are just waiting for the time when we have the funds to confirm them.

With over over 1000 personal Facebook friends, over 670 ABI Facebook group members, over 470 ABI Update subscribers and over 100 ABI blog subscribers (some are in all four groups), we hope to be able to easily cover the needed support for the international ministry opportunities each year. No gift is too small.

Our goal is to make sure all support is applied according to each supporter’s wishes. In the event that funds given for a specific trip exceed those needed, we will apply them to a similar trip or direct them to the ABI general operating fund.

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WOL Korea New BI

S. Korea / Philippines:  October 25 – November 12, 2010

I will be teaching for two weeks at the new WOL Bible Institute in South Korea, followed by a week of teaching at the WOL Philippines Bible Institute. In addition to teaching with Word of Life in the Philippines, ABI cofounder Paul Barreca and I will be ministering together in a 2-day pastors conference on the topic of “Biblical Hermeneutics,” which will also be hosted by Word of Life.

Length of trip: 3+ weeks
Total support needed: $3000
Support given or pledged (as of June 21, 2010): $1800 has been pledged for airfare by our sending church

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Canada:  November 22 – December 3, 2010

I will be returning to the Word of Life Bible Institute at Owen Sound, Ontario to teach the Pastoral Epistles for two weeks, for the second year in a row. This BI is an extension of the WOL BI in Schroon Lake, NY.

Length of trip: 2 weeks
Total support needed: None – WOL Canada pays an honorarium and travel expenses

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Manila, Philippines

Philippines: January, 2011

I will be returning to the Philippines again in January, 2011. I have been invited by Dr. Wayne Vanderwier, Founder and Executive Director of Overseas Instruction in Counseling (OIC) to teach Biblical Hermeneutics in the inaugural module of classes in the first graduate-level degree program in biblical counseling to exist in the Philippines – a program established by Dr. Vanderwier.

Length of trip: 2 weeks
Total support needed: $2400
Support given or pledged (as of June 21, 2010):  0

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WOL Hungary BI Opening '09

Hungary / Ukraine / Romania: May, 2011

This past May, I was in Europe for 3 weeks of teaching at the Word ofLife Bible Institutes in Ukraine and Hungary. I have been invited to return to both schools again next spring. I have also been asked to consider teaching at the Word of Life Discipleship TrainingCenter in Romania, if possible. (This is scheduled to be an annual trip.)

Length of trip: 3 or 4 weeks (to be determined)
Total support needed: $2500 – $3200
Support given or pledged (as of June 21, 2010):  0

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates: 2011?

A couple of months ago, I received an email from one of the students I taught at the Asian Christian Academy seminary outside Bangalore, India in 2002.He is now a missionary in United Arab Emirates and has invited me to conduct a series of seminars in an area of apologetics. A specific date for this ministry has not yet been set.

Length of trip: 1-2 weeks (to be determined)
Total support needed: $1800 – $2200
Support given or pledged (as of June 21, 2010):  0

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Buddhist Procession, Myanmar

Myanmar (former Burma): 2011-2012?

Another Asian Christian Academy (India) seminary graduate, whom I also taught, has continued to stay in touch with me after returning to his home country of Myanmar. He has invited me to teach in his country, as the Lord allows in my schedule and provides the finances. Myanmar is a limited access country, with the ministry by foreigners limited to urban areas.

Length of trip: 1-2 weeks (to be determined)
Total support needed: $2600 – $3200
Support given or pledged (as of June 21, 2010):  0

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Nepali Children

Nepal:  2011-2012?

Another Asian Christian Academy (India) seminary graduate, whom I also taught, has continued to stay in touch with me after returning to his home country of Nepal. He has invited me to teach in his country, as the Lord allows in my schedule and provides the finances.

Length of trip: 1-2 weeks (to be determined)
Total support needed: $2000 – $2400
Support given or pledged (as of June 21, 2010):  0

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Asian Christian Academy

India: 2011-2012?

I have taught twice at the seminary which is part of the Asian Christian Academy ministry outside of Bangalore, India. I have a standing invitation to teach there as the Lord allows in my schedule and provides the finances.

Length of trip: 2 weeks
Total support needed: $2000 – $2400
Support given or pledged (as of June 21, 2010):  0

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Again, if you are interested in becoming a strategic partner with ABI in its international ministry in any way, please send me an email at djames@biblicalintegrity.org or visit the support section of our website.

In His Care,

I recently became an adjunct professor for Grace College, teaching part-time in their Associates Degree program in the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle, Indiana. There are currently 17 men studying Old Testament Survey and 22 in Systematic Theology. This is an amazing ministry opportunity for me personally and fits well with the goals of ABI in making the Word of God accessible to this generation of believers and preparing the next for leadership. From time to time I will be blogging about some of my experiences and observations related to my prison ministry.
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Between classes on Monday evening, a young man (Cole), an offender,  came into the room to ask about the possibility of me mentoring him in preparation for the ministry. He said that in 16 years he would like to be doing what I am doing – teaching the Bible at the college level.

I would have guessed him to be in his late twenties and seemed like the nicest guy you would ever meet. He looked sharp (as much as you can in prison garb), was obviously intelligent and could have been a student at any Bible college or seminary. He already has his associates degree through the Grace College program at the prison and is ministering there as much as he can. One of his ministries is teaching Bible Study Methods, using Howard Hendricks’ book in Sunday School.

So, we talked about how it might work out for me to mentor him and in the course of the conversation, he mentioned that he had been in for 14 years – which sort of floored me, given how young he looked. Then I asked him how much longer he has left before he gets out – and then he said that his sentence is for – are you ready for this?  – life + 150 years. I was stunned – and still am.

It hit me hard that given the direction of my life 25 years ago, how easily it would have been for me to have made just a couple of worse choices than I was already making that could have put me in the same situation. I don’t yet know what he did – but I do know that all it takes is being in the wrong place, with the wrong crowd, doing something stupid because you’re drunk – and in a moment you have destroyed your life.

It is only by God’s unfathomable grace that he reached down and caught me before I fell harder and deeper than I had already. There’s no real reason why Cole and I shouldn’t be in a reverse situation.

I don’t know what will happen to Cole, as he did mention “16 years” – so maybe there is still a chance for parole. By then he will probably be 50.

And I don’t know the story of any of the 39 men I have in my two classes. Some of them have already been in so long that they have never seen or heard of some of the technology I’m using in class like the laptop and projector or the PowerPoint and Bible study software. Since this is a both a medium and maximum security facility, it could be that some of them will never leave.

Please pray for Cole, the men in my classes and for me in my ministry to them. Also pray that our ministry in our church and through ABI will make a difference in this generation – to reach people with the gospel and disciple them in the truth of the Word of God – and that somewhere along the way, we will make a difference in a young person’s life to keep them from the kinds of decisions that will ruin their lives.