Dear Friends,

Janice and I send you our warmest greetings from Jakarta. The greetings are naturally warm as the weather is always hot and humid here in Jakarta. However, not only is the climate hot, the whole social situation here in Jakarta is quite heated also. With the approach of the fasting month, the more extreme elements have stepped up their covert and overt attacks on churches located all over Indonesia. The newly seated Indonesian parliament duly voted in an advocate for the enactment of Islamic law as their new parliamentary speaker. Our newly elected president, who will take the reins of government on the 20 th of October, has never indicated where he stands on the enactment of Islamic law in Indonesia; however, during the recent elections he did not hesitate to align his party with an extreme Islamic party. You think all of this looks bad for our churches? Sure, it looks bad, but then you never can tell about these things here in Indonesia. We do appreciate your continued prayers and support for us as we continue to serve the Lord here in Jakarta. Now here is the good news!

Pastor Raso and the folks at the Cileduk Baptist church are on the march. Veiled threats and open warnings about the continued growth of the church has caused them to wisely curtail plans to expand their building and also decide to run low key services for a while. However, at the same time they have opened a new work in a housing area close to a large industrial area that is located a few miles from their church. This housing area is filled with young families that work in the nearby factories. Over the past couple of months Pastor Raso and his folks have faithfully visited in the area which has resulted in three young families professing Christ. On the first Sunday of this month, I went with them to hold their first service. First things first, they gathered 5 children for a Sunday school, then we had 12 adults for our service. Over the past couple of weeks the Sunday school has grown and they now have six families and several single adults attending the service. The Sunday school has also grown and the church has decided to purchase a corner building to use for their services. As the fanatics pat themselves on the back for reining in the services in Cileduk, the church reaches out to a new area. What a joy to be involved in all of this! Please pray for our churches here in Jakarta that they will continue to preach the gospel while being as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves.

I would also like to ask you to pray for Pastor Yusuf and the work in Cibubur. The work on the building is stalled due to problems with the local community. Pray that the Lord will give them wisdom in dealing with this issue. In my experience, problems with the building often result in major ministry problems as the focus changes from building the church to building a building.

The Bible school continues to roll along as usual. We have had a few casualties this semester, but most of our students are doing a good job. The older students continue to have many opportunities to ministry through the churches here in Jakarta. Right now, it looks like we will have a large graduation class come December. Pray for these young people as they prepare their lives to serve the Lord.

I would like you to continue to pray for my computer classes that I am running on Saturday morning at the Bible school. So far it has not been a good semester, but I really believe the goals that I have will ultimately be a blessing not only to the Bible school but also to many students. Pray the Lord will give me a couple of students that would really learn to setup, maintain and then train others in using the linux operating system.

Janice and I are doing fine. I have been struggling with a neck problem over the past couple of years, and it has become quite painful over the past few of weeks. Janice continues to treat me with vitamins, aroma therapy, mushroom tea and a host of other cures. She also roundly accuses me of being not only stiff necked, but hard headed!

For your faithful prayers and financial support we are truly thankful.

In Christ,