The holiday season is coming. I believe all of you are busy to prepare for the celebration of Christmas at church as well as home. You would expect the crowds to attend your church events. Many of them may be CEO Christians (CEO stands for Christmas & Easter Only). Thinking positively, the few occasions that bring such people to church may convert their hearts when they hear the Gospel messages. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, take the opportunity to witness those prospects. Show your TLC to them regardless where they are in their journey of searching for the truth. Do not forget to witness to your unbelieving family members and relatives. The best Christmas gifts you can offer to them is the gentle reminder about the everlasting lives given by our Lord's salvation.
While preparing the Christmas messages to share at some churches, I read and learned valuable lessons from Joseph and Mary. Both of them are quiet and obscure people. Mary probably is the ideal image of a good wife. She was always obedient to the godliness, and even showed respect to her son Jesus. She is the great example of the super sufferer, from the unprepared birth until the painful death of Jesus, her firstborn son. Regarding Joseph, he did not say a recorded word. However, he was mentioned about how he was confused, what he saw in his dreams, what he thought, and how he resolved the challenging issues - such as marrying a pregnant girl, protecting the baby Jesus from being murdered, and of course providing care and living to his family as an unrecognized carpenter. They appear to be the extra of the nativity scene, but they were chosen to be instrumental to the cradle of Jesus that leads to his sacrificial death that saves the whole world. The lives of Joseph and Mary remind me of a quote, "Obscurity is not the opposite of greatness."
Our 42nd Anniversary celebration was another blessed event. Almost all our guests were joyful while sharing our happiness in our marriage. (Just a few of them complained that I mixed the entertainment with many religious songs, because I started the gathering with the sound of Christmas music). I took the opportunity to share about our blessed union as husband and wife. I emphasized the key of our blessed marriage is that we learn and practice together the teachings from the secret book, the Bible. At least four unbelieving guests accept the invitation of our Christian friends to attend the Thanksgiving service at church. I prayed that several other prospects will have their heart be touched by the Holy Spirit in the near future.
Regarding the future direction of our Association, I have challenged our churches to reach out and share the Good News to at least 200,000 people living in our area of ministries. I talked with my prayer partners and all of them encouraged me to move on with the big dream, like Paul who desired to evangelize the whole world. One of them reminded me that God is specialized in impossible things. I would spend most of my time in December to focus on jotting down the ideas to develop the first draft of the plan. Then I will contact some think-tankers to touch up the framework before I will invite several enthusiastic harvest workers to form the 200K Team that will realize the dreaming plan. If you could squeeze your busy time to answer my following question, I would appreciate it very much: "What is your impression about my proposed big goal of reaching 200k people in our area of ministry in the next several years?"
In His Service,
T. A. Nguyen, your servant leader
