Creasmans: What's New(s) for Ministry in 2012

Happy New Year from Asia! I write this email from Melaka, Malaysia where Jim and I are attending the annual Pastor's Prayer summit and I am thinking about you and hoping your 2012 has begun with refreshed hope and courage. James sits near me working on a newsletter for CRMS to pastors and Christian leaders. We enjoyed sending out Christmas cards this year. If you didn't receive one, it's because I don't have your address! (Send it to me! I still have a few left!) It has been great to hear from friends around the world who are following Christ and using their gifts and talents to bless the world. Such an array of good things are happening, and we look forward to news of so much more in the new year. Kimberly's Status I've asked my Saviour if this year he would grow back my capacity and passion, and then that I'd live it out with more godliness and grace (& leave behind old habits of drivenness and perfectionism). I want to be at peace with God's definition of influence & significance and relinquish any of my hopes for attaining recognition or status. I want to see miracles happen as a result of prayer and spiritual authority, and lead people to knowing Jesus in a deeper way every day! 2012...Bring it on!!! Jim's Status I am excited about more itinerant mentoring outside of Singapore this year. Regular trips to China, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines are being planned with Singapore mentees who are pastors & leaders in churches here.  This will help fulfill the Singapore Church's destiny to build spiritual leaders in Asia, and meet the needs of many Asian churches that are crying out for more leadership development.  It is also a fulfillment for me of my calling to "entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim 2:2) as some of the Singaporeans who've had mentoring join me in serving Asian leaders beyond Singapore. Year End Highlights "Christmas Changes Everything" on Christmas morning in a local church where Jim was a guest preacher. Lord we pray for those who gave their hearts to you this Christmas, and for those who long to know you and love you more in the new year. Celebrate Christmas in Singapore is a remarkable effort of the Christian Community coming together to share the meaning of Christmas and the hope we've found in the infant Jesus who died to become our Saviour. This year a 1000+ mass caroling session was added! We thank you God for the openness of Singapore to embracing and celebrating our multiple religions, and allowing Christians to share Jesus openly during the Christmas and Easter public holidays. After a short visit to USA for Thanksgiving and a trip with Tyler to Cal Poly campus, Kimberly helped with the Elementary Christmas Pageant & took neighbor kids on the OM Logos Hopeship berthed in Singapore over the holidays. Q: How does a creative person process the transition of her 1st born to university? A: Take all the tshirts/sweatshirts/school uniforms/old football jerseys AND socks, and make a quilt collage of almost all the stuff you can't bear to throw away! Lord, you lavished generosity on me to have frequent flier miles and the opportunity to be with family on Thanksgiving and go with Tyler up to Cal Poly for a few days after. How happy I am to see that he's settled well and loves his school and new friends! Thank you for the fun I have when I have the chance to work with children and share your truths with them using drama. Looking Ahead: Our Prayers in January 2 A small group of artists meet for "Post it Note Resolutions."  It was sweet to see how God made connections among the group to help them move forward on various goals. Lord help us to not limit ourselves due to lack of faith in your power in us. We are yours to use as you please. Give us boldness this year to invite more people into your family and give us the capacity to love the unloveable, patiently nurture new believers and build up and encourage our peers. 6 CRMS staff meet and confirm some dates for training, mentoring and trips to neighboring countries in the new year. We have only a few months left with 2 interns from China, and we look forward to new Singaporean staff joining us in 2012. Lord, we move forward with these plans only by trusting that you are the one who inspired and commissioned us. We will succeed only as we abide in you, trust in you, and submit to you. Thank you for our staff who share a desire to mentor spiritual leaders. We look to you for our needs in leading/shepherding this organization and thank you for your continued provision to let us live in Singapore and serve leaders in this city and the region. We had to say goodbye to our full-time administrator in November, but an intern has stepped into her shoes for the time being. Two ex-pat volunteers have surfaced who say "I love organizing and admin!" Lord we pray that we can pass on to these gals work which will delight them. So much of the admin is burdensome to us. Thank you for these divine contacts which arose at just the right time. 9 Cameron is back to school and gearing up to have a successful 2nd semester. We are considering a change to boarding school for next year, which is a tough decision. Lord, you have given us the privilege of being Cameron's parents. We love him so much and we thank you that he has a heart to follow you, that he loves people, and has such a happy personality. You have surrounded him with Godly support who believe in his potential and encourage him. We pray that this will be a semester of real growth and maturity for him when he dislikes the discipline of academics and work so much. Give us wisdom and patience to parent him in what feels like a crucial semester in determining his future. 9-12 Pastor's Prayer Summit, Melaka, Malaysia. We'll be together with Christian leaders in Singapore to meet and pray for our impact on the nation, region and world. Hosted by Love Singapore, our presence at this conference (since January 2000) has been an encouragement and affirmation for our role here in and the need for mentoring spiritual leaders.  "An important part of journeying together is learning to wait on the Lord together as a community—to listen to His heart and hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Sad to say, waiting is neither a passion nor a forte of the Singapore Church. Most of us are impatient and impulsive. We are insanely busy, going from event to event, multi-tasking all the time! As a result, we suffer from short attention spans, restless spirits, crowded souls, cluttered minds, anxious hearts, and tired bodies." - Pastor Lawrence Khong, Chairman of Love Singapore 12 Tyler turns 19 and is very happy and doing well at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  Currently a biology major and in Army ROTC. Father, we trust you for guidance in Tyler's life to keep him growing in godliness as well as in maturity and discovering your calling in his life. 23-24  Chinese New Year comes early this year. This is a holiday when families get together (like American Thanksgiving) and many like us are not near their families! We enjoy hosting those who are "orphans" over to share the holiday with us. 27 CRMS staff meet for a half-day enrichment time.  Father, thank you for these four Singapore staff and two Chinese interns who have chosen to serve you through mentoring ministry.  Please encourage them through your financial provision as they raise their financial support, give them clear guidance in their calling, and build them together as a team and raise up more staff to join them in building spiritual leaders in Singapore and throughout Asia. 30 CRMS staff and board members meet for a half day planning retreat to review CRMS' history over the past decade and wait on the Lord for future ministry direction. Father, please speak clearly to the staff and board members about your purpose and future for the CRM ministry in Singapore and Asia.  Give them a bigger vision of you and specific direction for their future ministry. Learn more from Jim about Church Resource Ministries Singapore @ www.crms.org.sg

BRAVE

I've just had a chance 

To have another conversation 

With a seasoned American 

Woman of faith.

A peer. A bit older. A mentor. 

A trooper.

She confides in me...

About how much she misses her kids.

About how she's afraid to get on an airplane.

About how she is often awakened from nightmares 

and has to pray until she finds peace enough to fall asleep again;

If sleep comes.

And yet.

She's obedient.

Long ago she sensed God ask her to leave her comfort zone.

She did more than raise her hand, come forward, or fill out the card.

She left

Her comfortable middle class life

As the wife of a middle manager

In the mid west

And headed out white-knuckling

On an adventure that's taken her to 4 other continents (so far).

In her small day-to-day life she shares her faith

with neighbors, with the people God puts in her path, 

with the local ladies she invites for English

[or craft, or cooking] classes once a week.

The kind of things all typical good Christian women 

Everywhere

Can do.

Or should do.

Her missionary "job" is in a support role

To her husband and team who are in a support roles

To even more in support roles to

those of who are front-line Evangelists in hard to reach places

And actually proclaiming the Gospel to multitudes.

Behind the scenes isn't exciting.

But she doesn't need [or want] exciting.

Her husband's travels include enough excitement for both of them.

Giving her more reason to stay on her knees.

But his "work" also means she must live in places where 

The Super Bowl isn't shown on TV.

She can't buy clothes that fit.

Heart friends are hard to find.

Where she'll never get really great at the local language.
And yet, she's still here.

Before meeting her, 

The missionary women I have had the chance to know

Were all the fiercely independent gutsy women for the Gospel.

But this gal;

Despite the worry, and fears, and anxiety as she has,

She's really another kind of hero. 

Perhaps because of those things that keep others from 

ever stepping out in faith to leave

father, mother, sister, brother, friends and comforts

of what is familiar and feels safe.

I want to build a statue to her

(and then maybe get her a prescription for some valium).

THIS hero, 

Despite her irrepressible fears.

Has paid, is paying, and will pay

A great price for her obedience to Jesus' last command:

"Go ye therefore into all the world..."

I want to be there when Jesus welcomes here "home" and

hear him say those words to her, 

"Well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of your Lord."