Dear Friends,

Janice and I send you greetings from Jakarta. Most of the news coming out of Indonesia tells of disaster after disaster befalling this country. Although this news is all true, there is much news that you don’t hear: the economy of Indonesia is growing, the Indonesian stock market has been one of the best performing markets in the world, the resurgent middle class of Indonesia is awash in cash, yet the gap between the rich and the poor has grown with high unemployment among younger individuals, and this country is still one of the most corrupt nations on this planet. Indonesia is a land of contrasts and this holds true in most aspects of life here in Indonesia. This is especially true concerning religion. A small minority of fanatic Islamists hold the silent majority of moderate Indonesian Islamic believers firmly in their grasp, yet at the same time the Christian gospel continues to get spread and new churches planted. Truthfully, folks, if I only looked at the externals here in Indonesia, I would give up today. But, this is where God has called us to minister, and we still see many opportunities for ministry here in Indonesia. So here is the good and bad from Tom.

The bad news is headlined by three churches here in Jakarta: Sunter Jaya, Pelumpang and Cibubur. These three churches are all basically stagnated. The worst is Sunter Jaya where pastor Hadir and his wife Vera are left with a handful of Sunday School children and one young wife. The rest of the folks are gone! At Pelumpang Pastor Munjait’s health is terrible and the church rocks along with one faithful family and a young husband. The Cibubur work is the biggest question mark, but only a handful of folks remain faithful in the work. The sad part about these works is that they all have nice buildings and locations but no folks. Please continue to pray for these works.

The good news is headlined by three other churches here in Jakarta: Cipulir, Cijantung and Cileduk. The Cipulir church is renovating their building while getting ready to send a young Bible school graduate to start a new work in West Kalimantan. This will be the fifth work started out of the Cipulir church. The Cijantung church continues to grow as it has for the last few years and has a wealth of young families and children. The Cileduk church continues to grow while they are expanding their missions program by taking on two new mission programs. This church has already started two other works as well. The interesting thing about these three works is that they are all located in difficult locations but have lots of folks! Pray that the Lord will continue to protect these folks as they serve Him.

On the so-so news side, we are well into a new semester at the Bible school here in Jakarta. We have several good students, but the total number of students has diminished significantly. Right now, by my count, we have about 30 students attending the Bible school full time. I really enjoy my classes and it is much easier to do a better job with the smaller class size, yet the need for more workers in the ministries we already have has reached a critical point. We desperately need to produce some quality ministers over the next few years. Pray for our Bible school, the students and especially those of us who teach at the Bible school. We aren’t getting younger!

My recent trip to Nias with Pastor Markus was a mixed bag of good and bad. On the bad side, Pastor Markus and I had to deal with a problem involving the young pastor at the Gamo church in Gunung Sitoli. Pastor Julianus had developed a huge mess of his own making. While we were in Nias, Pastor Julianus promised to deal with the problems by accepting to carry out a plan developed by Pastor Markus and me. However, as soon as we left Pastor Julianus jumped ship and left the church hanging. Pastor Markus’ church has sent Eben, one of Bible school graduates, to take over the ministry for the time being.

Yours truly, Pastor Arohati and his first convert at the seminar

On the good side, the trip to Nias was great. We had many folks saved, participated in the founding of a new church in Lahusa, held a successful seminar for the pastors, and just enjoyed the good fellowship with our churches there in Nias. The churches in North Nias (Gamo and Botolakha) are doing well despite the problem they experienced with Pastor Julianus. The churches in South Nias (too many to name) are growing. The great need is good men to pastor these churches. Pray for these works. If you would like to read more about my trip to Nias and view lots of pictures you can check my web site www.bbfi-asia.org/Crawford_T/reports/012907letter.htm .

I want to tell you about a few of the projects that I am involve with so you can pray and give.

Land for a kindergarten (that will also be used by the church) in Batam. I have committed to give $1,100 toward this project. So far I have sent them $550.

Song books for Nias. One of the good men in the Gamo work has put a lot of time into developing this songbook. It will cost $2,000 to get the book ready for printing and to print the first 500 copies. I have promised $1,400 toward this project. So far I have sent them $220.

Water filters in Nias. Each time I do one of these, I swear it will be the last. Kelview Heights Baptist Church helped me finish the project in Hilinawalo Fan (check my web page to see pictures of this project). Now I have committed to do another village where Pastor Saro lives. My fellow missionary Jim Daley paid to have the units shipped to Nias. I estimate that I will need another $1,000 to finish the project – or just pray that Brother Daley will provide this need!

On the home front, Janice and I are fine. We appreciate your prayers for our daughter Jennifer. Jennifer’s situation is still unresolved as the doctors are baffled. Pray that the doctors will not only be able to find why she is having the seizures, but also be able to prescribe a proper treatment. I continue to faithfully take my vitamins but Janice worries that I’m much too skinny.

For your faithful prayers, we are truly thankful.

In Christ,