A Truly Meaningful Gift
By Tom Evans
With the season of giving upon us, many ponder what it means to give meaningful gifts. In November, Adventist Southeast Asia Projects received a truly meaningful gift from the Texas Conference that will help take the gospel to the "end of the earth." During its annual Metro Impact Church Planting Rally, held in San Antonio and co-sponsored by the North American Division, the Texas Conference raised funds to donate 17 mopeds and 5 bicycles to ASAP church planters working in the countries of Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The story really began last April when Texas Conference church planting director Tom Evans read an article about Aung Aung, an ASAP church planter working in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Aung Aung had entered a hostile village among the Lahu tribe in a remote, mountainous region. Through prayer and natural remedies, the village chief's son and wife were healed. As a result, the villagers began praying to "God in heaven" instead of their "spirit ancestors." A thriving school was established in the area, and Bible studies were being given. Aung Aung shared in the article that he would like to have a moped so he could reach other remote villages with God's message of hope.
"For the past nine years, the Texas Conference has had a very intentional focus on church planting," says Evans. "God has blessed with 114 new churches being planted. As director of the program, I began to wonder if there was something more God desired from us on a global scale."
Evans was particularly motivated by Jesus' parting challenge to His disciples, recorded in Acts 1:8, that "you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem [right where you live], and in all Judea [geographically close and culturally similar] and Samaria [geographically close but culturally different], and to the end of the earth [neither geographically close nor similar]."
"We have done many things to support church planting in 'Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria,'" Evans thought, but what about the 'end of the earth'?"
During the General Conference session in Atlanta, Evans and his wife met with ASAP ministry leaders and donated funds for Aung Aung to purchase a moped.
"It was exciting to do something tangible for church planting in another part of the world," he recalls. "In our conversation, we discovered that there were many other church planters in similar situations. They long to reach remote areas with the gospel, but are limited in their scope of influence due to the lack of transportation. One church planter from Vietnam had been praying for a moped for many months. He felt so impressed by the Holy Spirit to share the gospel with the other villages that he decided to sell his water buffalo (which he depended on for his source of livelihood) in order to purchase a moped. With the benefit of transportation, he was able to plant three churches in areas never before reached by the gospel."
Evans began to wonder whether other church planters in Texas would respond to the opportunity to "speed up the gospel" in Southeast Asia. The answer was yes. A special offering was taken up at the November church planting rally. Evans hoped enough would be donated to cover 10 mopeds.
"God blessed beyond our expectations, and enough money was donated to provide for 17 mopeds and 5 bicycles," says Evans. "We would like to partner with ASAP ministries each year at our rally, as their mission of planting churches aligns with what we feel God has called us to do right here in Texas."