December '18 Update: Old Doors & New Doors
Well, I guess I already broke my New Year’s resolution to give timely monthly updates since this December update is being written in January … Oh well, Happy New Year! I am excited for 2019 because this new year brings with it more opportunities than ever before for training. On our recent trip to Cambodia, I was reminded time and time again of the existing need worldwide for the truth of Christ and His Word. And as I spent time with many faithful pastors who were preaching the gospel and planting churches, I was also reminded of their great need for training.Ever since I began this ministry almost four years ago, I committed to the Lord that I will go wherever the Lord directs and through whatever door He opens. And this year that means going through the old doors that He continues to leave open, as well as new doors that He may now be opening.
Doors That God Has Opened
This year, I will continue to do training in both Malawi and the Philippines. In Malawi. I will again teach at CAPA (Central African Preaching Academy)—the nation’s only seminary, located in the nation’s capitol of Lilongwe.In the Philippines, I will continue to teach at TEA (The Expositor’s Academy), which unlike CAPA, is able to make training accessible throughout the Philippines at different locations.Not only will the program continue in Baguio, Cebu and Manila but this year marks the beginning of training in Cagayan de Oro, which is located in the southern region of Mindinao. This will give opportunities for men to come who were unable to go to the training we did in Davao to the south or Cebu to the north.
Doors That God May Be Opening
In addition to the doors that have been opened, there are new doors that God may potentially be opening. One of those doors is in the more rural areas of the Philippines. So far, most of the training has been centralized in the urban areas, but there is an even greater need for the pastors in the rural provinces because they have even less access to formal training than those in the urban areas.One of the unique challenges of rural areas; however, is that our training in English and, for many of these pastors, preaching in English proves difficult.
To meet this challenge, we have identified several recent graduates from the program who have expressed a desire to help with the training. The class instruction would still be done in English, but the addition of these recent graduates would allow for the pastors to preach in their heart language and still be able to get helpful feedback by those who both understand the language and have gone through the training as well.There are also other doors that may be opening in other nations within Southeast Asia. As I mentioned in a previous update, we visited Cambodia in October in order to assess if TEA might be able to do training there. Another trip is planned this year with the possibility of beginning training there. In addition to Cambodia, there are other possibilities for training in Indonesia as well as Pakistan. Please pray for God’s will to be clear to us as to which of these doors He wants us to go through.
Praises and Prayer Requests
Please pray for the men at CAPA that the Lord would sustain them as they complete their second year of three.
Also pray that CAPA would receive the funds it needs to complete their facility construction project this year.
Continue to pray the Lord would give clear direction regarding where to start additional training in other areas in the Philippines as well as other nations in SE Asia.
Pray for one of our preaching program graduates, TJ Caparros, who will be coming to the US in March in order to go to the Shepherd’s Conference. While he is here, he will be also preaching at our church. Pray for the Lord’s provision for the trip and that he would be greatly enriched and blessed by it.
Also, please keep praying for God to bring in the remaining support that we need. We are still short of the goal by about $1200/month.
If You Wish to Support Us
If the Lord leads you to support this ministry, you can do so by check or online. Please make your donations directly to GMI.
Visit our webpage at Grace Community Church (https://www.gracechurch.org/carns)
Give a one-time donation or set it up for ongoing support. Note that GMI covers all online expenses so that 100% of your credit card donation goes to our support.
If you have been donating on a regular basis, please take a moment to click the link and set that up online. This way you won’t have to try to remember to do it each month or quarter.OR you can give your support the old fashioned way by check, made out to “GMI” with “Tim Carns” noted on the memo line. You can then mail it to Grace Ministries International, 13248 Roscoe Blvd, Sun Valley, CA 91352.While it is preferred that you send your donation to GMI, if you would like to continue to send it to Calvary Bible Church, the money will eventually make it to our GMI account.