From the Pastor’s Desk (Written from Vietnam)
Author: Dr. Jerry Russell
Nov 9, 12:46 AM
Posted In: Foreign Missions, Vietnam
November is such a special month because we celebrate a truly American holiday called Thanksgiving. This is a time of the year when folks stop and reflect upon the blessings of God and the goodness and joy that God has blessed them with. Family and friends are those gifts that bring such great joy to each of us. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:3, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God."
As I write this article, I am in Vietnam. I am thinking of my family and that includes my Fairview Family. On Sunday, as the services began, I prayed for Gary Taylor as he preached and for Jeremy as he and the staff gave leadership while Wesley and I are away.
The deep joy of my life is in relationships. The greatest relationship is with the Lord who gives me grace and peace. His hand guides me and holds me when life brings suffering and hardship as well as moments of great joy.
As we move into this month, may it be a time of giving thanks to the Lord in all things. Reflect on the blessings that are ours just by being born in America and into homes and families, which we each claim as our own. This week has once again brought me to my thinking of how blessed I am with a wife, children and a ministry that allows me to touch and be touched by the whole family of God.
The Christians here in Vietnam are special. I say that with each place I visit, but yesterday I met a pastor who began with four small groups of believers in 1975 at the end of the war here. He has endured the wrath of the change of authorities yet remained focused on the gospel. Now thirty-two years later he has helped form and guide 77 churches. Four churches have more than 150 members, 12 chapels with 100 person and 55 house churches growing and reaching others in Christ’s name. He lives so very simply with his wife and family. He rode a motorcycle in the down pouring rain to take us to a small village to visit a lay pastor at the edge of a flooded river to whom we had taken rice, sugar and salt.
Yesterday I spoke and played with the children with leprosy. Lui is the Pastor. She is single and will never marry. She has given herself completely to the ministry of leprosy. She cares for four of these villages where this illness so affects the lives of the people. They are folks with no hands or noses or toes or even feet. People fear them and have cast them away from the community but here is this pastor whose heart is filled with the love of Christ ministering and loving in Jesus’ name. So I fell on my knees and gave thanks last night, remembering this verse, recalling the faithful workers and believers in our fellowship of Jesus at home and around the world. I am most blessed. So today I will sing to the Lord and give thanks.
See you this Sunday,
Pastor Jerry
