Prayer Update/Lot's of News, 6/9/18

Kathy and I serve as Liebenzell Mission USA missionaries (If you ask, I'll let you know how we got that strange name). About once a quarter LMUSA publishes a min-magazine, Live Ready. This edition features Pacific Islands University, where Kathy and I serve.

In my career as a pastor I noticed some trends in churches:

• An emphasis on church-planting--I am totally convinced in the primacy of the local church as
  
  God's tool for this time, and I believe that virtually all missions should result in planting of or strengthening local churches. However, I have observed that too often mission strategies seem to not recognize that churches in the USA, and other places with well-developed church infrastructure, ignore the fact that their church flourishes in an environment rich with Christian education, publishing houses, conferences, etc. yet the mission strategies they espouse seem to assume that churches in other places don't need any of that.
• A business model of missions that sees support for missions as investment--think owning shares in a company--with a demand for guaranteed results. Apart from God's sovereignty--something we believe and depend on but don't understand completely--working with people is always a risky business. Yet, churches often want visible, measurable results, and they want them quickly.
• An opportunity for laypersons to be involved in missions--the proliferation of  short-term missions is one outgrowth of this. The reality is, though, that many (most) missionary advances take place because of lifetimes of dedicated service. There is a great place for short-term missions, both LMUSA, and PIU benefit greatly from the contributions of short-termers, but we must not allow this trend to erode the church's commitment to those who go and stay, often doing non-glamorous tasks.

In my brief second career I have continued to observe these trends from a new perspective. As my comments above indicate, I don't totally disagree with these trends. I do see that too often they lead to short-sighted, inadequate strategies. Obviously, I'm biased, but I am convinced that providing high quality Christian education can be one of the keys to consolidating the progress of pioneer missionaries, and enabling mission fields to become regions from which new missionaries are sent to yet unreached places.

When you read this edition of Live Ready, you may think that Dr. Manana and I sat down and planned together what we were going to write. We didn't. It is just that we see the same needs in Africa and Micronesia. I hope that consensus opinion/observation will encourage you in prayer and in continued faithful support. You can be of great service to the work of PIU if you let your circle of friends and co-laborers know about the opportunity to invest in the future of potential leaders like those you will meet in the April-June 2018 Live Ready. Please refer them to the ongoing fundraising, friend-reaching, campaign, Coffee with the President. If you are in a position to do so, please present the opportunities at Pacific Islands University, piu.edu. to the mission committee (or other mission leadership) at your church. The contents of this mini-magazine would serve as a good introduction. I'm glad to share further with interested persons.

On a personal note:

I am writing this from my older son's living room in Rock Hill South Carolina. Kathy and I landed in Houston Texas May 9. We spent most of a week with our younger son's family in College Station, Texas. We were able to help them move from an apartment to a house, and help them get settled. We spent a couple of days in Sterlington, Louisiana, with Daughter-in-law Tanisha. Chad was already, here in Rock Hill. We helped Tanisha get ready for a moving sale, and then traveled to Covington, VA with a brief stop in Charlotte, where we saw Kathy's sister and family. We spent almost three weeks at our Virginia home. Our time has been full of doing various maintenance tasks, catching up with friends and supporters, riding my bike. and spending some time relaxing. Thanks to the internet, I've been able to stay in touch with colleagues at PIU. I head back toward Guam on June 13. I have a brief stop in California, an overnight in Hawaii, and a two day stop in the Republic of Marshall Islands. I arrive back in Guam on June 18. Kathy travels back on July 2-3. 

Praises: 

• My  friends and colleagues, Dave and Joyce Owen were able to fly to Cincinnati, Ohio to visit with their son's family. Dave made the trip with minimal swelling. I think you can see, they are happy. 

• Computer upgrades--PIU was recently awarded a $5,000 grant for upgrading our Study-Center computers. This will enable us to purchase six new laptops with up to date programming.
  
  In addition, Gateway Bible Church, Scotts Valley CA, has collected a number of computers much newer than we are currently using. A big part of my stop in California will be spent arranging transport for these units. I'm planning to take some with me on United. Thanks GBC!
• We sold our Honda Civic to one of our grandkids. We are selling our VA truck to a friend. It will be a blessing to us to no longer have to be concerned about them. Pray that they will be a blessing to their new owners.
• We praise the Lord for the support our mission shows, not only to us, but to PIU. The linked mini-magazine is an illustration of that support.
• We have a larger than average group of summer students.
• Kathy greatly enjoyed teaching music in the Spring Semester.
• By God's grace, PIU continues to function.
• We thank you and the Lord for faithful support, and prayer.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for a good group of new students in the fall.
• We are in the reaffirmation process for maintaining our accreditation. This is a difficult process in the best of times. With our short-staff, it is more so.
• One of our faculty members, Peter Knapp's, Mother-in-law, died suddenly. Peter, Robin, and their boys are traveling to be with family in New York state.
• I will be teaching a class in the second summer session, starting July 2.
• Pray for the numbers, budget and enrollment.
• Recent graduates are finding their way to "next." 
• Pray that I'll be able to make arrangements for the computers in CA, and that I'll have good contacts in the Marshalls.
• While here in SC, I had a meeting with the Seminary Dean at Columbia International University. This could be significant for the future of Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary. Pray for wisdom and that God's will would be done.
• Page 10 of the mini-mag lists some of our personnel needs.

I know I'm forgetting some things. If you remember them, praise the Lord and pray for them as well.

By His Grace,

Howard and Kathy

PS: If you would like a print version of the Live Ready, mini-magazine. Contact Lisa Jones at LMUSA, ljones@liebenzellusa.org. She'll be glad to accommodate you.

Also, The picture at the top is our new prayer card. We are thankful to Mylene Combs, wife of Joshua, staff-member at PIU, for the nice picture. It was taken at Ypao Beach, on Guam. If you want a copy of our new card, let us know.