Durban Survey Trip Update!

Dear Praying Family and Friends,

It has been a few short weeks since we began to inform you of the survey trip and the need to raise the funds to go on that trip. In that time the Lord has provided us with essentially all that we need.  Since a supporting church decided to cover my flight, all the funds that have come in ($1,750 as of  6/26) will allow us to send our son Jason on the trip with me.  We're really looking forward to this trip together.  The same church covering my flight is trying to find an elder or ministry leader that has time to go on this trip with us.  In addition, an ABWE Durban team member has a second car available for any driving around Durban that we need to do.  Praise the Lord with us for His ample provision for this trip.

Our trip is now scheduled for August 23-31.  August is a big birthday month for the Clark's and so it was tough to arrange.  Since Broden's birthday is on August 22nd, we decided the last of August would be best.  We've been in contact with Darryl and Casey Meekins and at this point Jason and I will stay in their home which sits on the north side of Durban.  Pray that the Lord will open up an opportunity for an elder or ministry leader to go with us.  Also, that we'll be able to glean as much as possible during our week there to help us enhance our ministry vision for Durban.  Finally, please ask the Lord to continue to provide for our financial needs.  

Please Pray for these men from the Durban Team!

One of the joys and goals of my trip to the Theological Education in Action conference was to connect with the men attending from the Durban Team.  I really sensed that this took place.  We had serious conversations as well as moments of dry sense of humor and hilarity.  We would ask you to pray for these men as they continue in ministry in Durban and that the Lord will bless their many efforts and the folks that they work alongside in the Baptist Bible College-KZN and their churches.

Darryl Meekins is the only full time leader with the college and has been working hard to solve recent accreditation requirement changes.  He also has been working at arranging the BBC-KZN online so that first year students can take a number of their courses through distance education, which is set up to be interactive as well as academic.  I'll be learning more about this in the future and there is probably more to it, but it appears that some students have the obstacles of travel to take their courses and the online courses will help them.  Pray for Darryl and Casey's involvement in ministry efforts with The Phoenix Fellowship.  They are involved with assisting this church with ministries related to mentoring and training men for ministry, producing small group materials and HIV/AIDS abstinence training and ministry development.

Selvan Govender is lead pastor of Phoenix Fellowship.  Selvan is a third generation South African of Indian descent and told me his parents were led to saving faith and that he has been raised in a Christian home and church environment.  Selvan is a graduate of Baptist Bible College - KZN and has a great concern for discipleship/evangelism and the training of men and women for ministry.  Selvan has given some of his time to teaching courses for the college.  The Phoenix Fellowship began 10 years ago in a section of the city where people of Indian origin were forced to live as "non-whites".  Today this section of Durban has a largely Indian population with Hinduism being the predominant religion in the community.  They are presently in the middle of a building project as well and we hope to be able to arrange teams to serve alongside them to further this project.  Pray for Selvan as he leads the Phoenix Fellowship congregation to reach out to their community with the true gospel message of life in Jesus Christ.

Bobby Hile is serving with his family in Ballito, South Africa to church plant and to connect in ministry efforts in the community.  Their church plant has a strong focus on ministry to men and women in small group Bible studies.  They also have a ministry called True Love Waits (TLW), which presents abstinence till marriage to students.  Last year they spoke in 9 schools and have some members in the church involved in follow up as well as training for members of other churches who desire to begin this kind of ministry.  Bobby is also a teacher with BBC.  The Hile family is presently in the US on home assignment. Pray for their many travels and the many churches they will be speaking at.  

Dale Marshfield served with his family in Durban since 1982 where he led church planting efforts and helped to establish the Baptist Bible College and The Phoenix Fellowship.  In 2007 they returned to Harrisburg, PA in order to head up ABWE's International Theological Education network, which is a service- based ministry responsible for ensuring that all ABWE related Bible colleges, seminaries and ministry training programs provide theological education and ministry training of the highest quality.  I will be working with a team that Dale is forming to prepare for the next Theological Education in Action conference and also on a task force that Dale is preparing to investigate further the options and barriers to accreditation for Bible colleges, institutes and seminaries that ABWE is involved with around the world.  

You can find a link the Meekins' and Hile's websites and Dale Marshfield's ITE network on the sidebar. 

Update on Survey Trip Plans

During last week's conference I found the long hours to be quite taxing and each night I found it hard to find words to post with.   There was so much good coming from attending this conference though and I will hopefully summarize some highlights.  

However, now that I'm back home in California it seems best to share what is happening now with the Durban trip first.  Support for this specific trip has been coming in from supporters and so my flight + another $1,250 has been pledged for it.  Since there will be extra, Kim and I have taken the advice of a supporter.  Jason, our 16 year old,  will go on this trip with me.  It has seemed the answer to a prayer of getting father and son time with Jason and as the oldest of our children who will go to Durban when we actually go there for ministry, he'll have an opportunity to see it first hand.  He is very excited about the trip and even more so when I asked him to be our official photographer for the trip.  Believe it or not he also wants to check out the bowling alleys in Durban.  Jason has become a good bowler and just last week he bowled a game of 234, his second score of 200 or more!   The church we are at in Murrieta, Faith Bible Church, is presently working out details to send another man, possibly an elder, with us.  

We are presently planning this trip for August 23 - 31.  Since Tiffany's birthday is August 15th and Broden's is August 22nd, it's best to go after that.  Please be in prayer for the remaining funds to come in to cover the costs of all flights, a rental car for the week and meals.  We'll most likely be staying with Darryl Meekins' family or Selvan Govender's family. (or some of us at both)

Pray too for the Lord to use it to enhance our vision of the ministry possibilities and specific needs of this country.  Already, the time I spent with Darryl, Selvan, Bobby Hile and Dale Marshfield at the conference last week has helped.  We'll be able to meet students of the college, see the ministries of a number of the church plants and meet the ABWE Durban team members. In addition, we want to hear first hand the heart's desire of the people who are serving there so we can cast a vision for partnering together in ministry.  Please pray for Laura McLain, who just today, June 3rd,  should be arriving in Durban to work with youth alongside fellow team members.  If you care to catch up on her journey to ministry in South Africa, go to www.myjourneytodurban.blogspot.com where you will find information and prayer requests.  

Blessings in Christ, the Clarks

Day 1 - Theological Education in Action Conference

It was a very challenging day here in Harrisburg, PA.  Approximately 50 attendees listened to some great lectures from Dr. Jim Plueddemann about theological education and the integrating of academic teaching with practical, spirit-led and heartfelt ministry.  There was plenty of opportunity for us all to interact in small group discussion on the subject.  

I especially have enjoyed getting time to talk with Darryl Meekins, Selvan Govender and Bobby Hile, who are ABWE Durban Team members. Darryl is South African and married to Casey, a former single ABWE missionary.  Darryl was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in Cape Town.  He is a former student of Baptist Bible College-KZN and now he is the director.  Pray for Darryl and the other men and women on the Durban team.  Pray for safety for their families while they are away.  Pray for the Lord to continue to open the doors for ministry opportunities.  

Tonight there was a fantastic message by Dr. Michael Loftis about our role as theological educators and the importance of knowing that there is a greater dynamic involved in this ministry than just the academics of teaching.  He must have posed well over 50 questions that we should ask ourselves related to serving, teaching, mentoring and entrusting the Word of God to those who are being trained for the ministry.  Once I know the address for this link of the message, I'll post it.

Please continue to pray for this conference to enhance our connection to the ministry in Durban and our vision for theological education, so that "the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17)

Blessings in Christ

New Prayer Cards on Order!

Just a quick post to tell you that our new prayer cards are on order and will be available soon.  If you'd like to receive our prayer card, please let us know by writing us at this blog or at Robert.Clark@abwe.cc  We'll be sure to send you one of them when they arrive.  Also, our latest prayer letter update was recently sent out.  If you didn't receive it then let us know and we'll send it to you by email.  Another prayer letter "By His Sovereign Grace" will be going out very soon as well.  Finally, our new brochure is available which spells out our ministry vision for Durban, South Africa.  If you would like to receive it, then let us know by email.   If you would like to know more about the Baptist Bible College in Durban, you can go to www.bbckzn.org

Thank you for your prayers.  Blessings in Christ, the Clarks

Impacting and Entrusting Leaders with the Word of God for Ministry

2 Timothy 2:2 - And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.  

It is our hope to work in preparing the men and women that the Lord is calling to lead the church planting efforts in Durban, South Africa and beyond.   As we prepare for this new ministry focus  with ABWE and the Baptist Bible College we are constantly reminded of the need for trained and prepared workers in the church.  There is a striking difference between America and other parts of the world when it comes to the ratio of trained church workers to people.  It is estimated that there is 1 trained church leader for every 230 people in America.  However, that ratio jumps drastically to one in 450,000 elsewhere in the world!  When we first learned about this ratio it caused us to realize that church planting ministry efforts would move forward much better if theological training and education is taking place along side church planting ministry.  

While serving in Czech for 15 years we worked alongside wonderful people who wanted to serve well and needed to he held accountable.  They asked us to stand with them while they served.  It is our desire to stand with and help prepare men and women being called into ministry. In a country like South Africa, which has so many different people groups represented, we believe that Baptist Bible College will potentially have a wide ranging impact for the gospel.  Baptist Bible College presently has an increase in enrollment and their focus is to "prepare God's people for ministry through culturally relevant theological education. We want God to bring spiritual change to the world through the lives and ministries of our graduates".  Robert will be spending time with leaders of BBC from May 25-29th in Harrisburg, PA at the Theological Education in Action Conference.  Please pray for the Lord to provide us with prayer and financial supporters that we need to make up the last amounts of our support and to be able to reach Durban for this all important ministry.  

The Big Restart!

Well, it's been well over half a year since beginning this blog, but I suppose it's not a problem since a lot of focus and effort had to be given to other projects.  We intend to use this blog as a location to send supporters to find updated prayer requests and information.  One of our goals this year is to improve communication and so we will be sending out email announcements to highlight a blog update so that our supporters are more aware of what is happening for us both in pre-field ministry as we prepare to get to Durban as well as family news.  Feel free to check in at anytime.  

We are finally together as a family after 16 months of adoption process.  Kaitlyn and Broden are getting much more settled into the family and are beginning to speak English the majority of the time to each other.  Since we know a slavic language we've managed to hear some stories of their life in the orphanage.  Often parents have to wait for some time before hearing about these things.  It's allowed us to reassure them and build trust when we have told them that what happened to them in Ukraine won't happen in this family. 

We are presently feeling more settled and into a routine then we have felt for a long time.  It has allowed us to get more focused on support raising and preparing for certain ministry events.  Just recently we had a ministry and sharing opportunity at Calvary Baptist Church of Oceanside, CA.  This was a wonderful experience of sharing with a congregation of folks who are very overseas missions minded.  We also just finished a 4 week series of teaching an Equipping Class called "Sharing the Gospel by Cultivating Good Soil".  This was on Sunday mornings at Faith Bible Church in Murrieta.  There is another church in the area that is praying about having us come on several Wednesdays to share the same materials.  Please pray for the Lord's leading in helping us schedule ministry opportunities with churches and potential supporters.