(July 7, 2008, People’s Daily)
Athletes, officials, spectators and tourists can pick up the Bible or just the New Testament for free during the Olympic Games next month. Tens of thousands of copies of the Bible, the New Testament and booklets with just the four Gospels (according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) have been printed for the purpose, say officials of China’s Christian society. Rev Xu Xiaohong, an official of the Shanghai-based China Christian Council in charge of publishing, says 50,000 bilingual (Chinese and English) editions of the Gospel booklets had already been printed by June. They are on way to six cities hosting the Olympic events in the mainland. As has been the practice at earlier Games, the Gospel booklets will be available mainly in churches and the Olympic Village in Beijing, and in Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao, Xu says. Places of worship for people of other religions too have been set up in the Olympic Village, Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China has said. The cover of the Gospel booklet will have the Beijing Olympics logo. Nanjing-based Amity Printing Co, the country’s major printer of the Bible, has printed the Gospel booklets. Its general manager Li Chunnong says 30,000 copies of the New Testament (Chinese-English bilingual edition) are being printed for free distribution during the Games. The Beijing Christian Council has placed an order with Amity to reprint 10,000 copies of the bilingual Bible edition to be distributed in the Olympic Village, Li says.
NOTE from Bro Rick: Pray that the Bibles would be available to Chinese citizens!
There are two on-going major events that need our prayer attention.
First is the tragedy in Myanmar from the effects of the recent typhoon. Living conditions are atrocious and the death count is estimated to be around 100,000. The ruling junta there is more concerned with preserving their rule than they are getting aid to the people who need it. Pray that God would be glorified in this mess, that people who need help would get it, and that local believers and missionaries would be able to minister to the people there and share with them the hope that is in Christ Jesus.
Second, Sichuan Province in Western China had a huge earthquake on Sunday. 7.9 on the Richter Scale is just incredible. Authorities have put the “official” death toll at about 12,000. There are tens of thousands of people still trapped in rubble. Pray that God would be glorified in this mess, that people who are in need of rescue would receive it quickly, and that local believers would be able to use this to minister to people and share with them the hope that is in Jesus.
I had the opportunity to visit this area a few years ago. It is a beautiful area, but people are poor and they are lost, by the millions.
Thirdly, on a less global scale, Rev. Forrest Pollock, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fl, is missing after he and his 13 year old son, Preston, took off in their private plane to return home from North Carolina. They have search parties looking for them, including three aircraft. They have found an emergency signal from somewhere in the mountains, but are unable to locate the plane due to heavy undergrowth. You can read updates about this here. Pray that if they are still alive, that they would be found quickly and if they are not, then their wreckage would be discovered quickly. Pray that God would be glorified in this and that many people would come to His saving grace through this difficult situation.
Interestingly, in reading his bio, I found that we both graduated from the University of Oklahoma together in 1986. I don’t think I knew him, but it brought it “close to home”. Bro. Forrest was born in OKC.
Most of us only think about Eric Liddell as ‘the man who wouldn’t run on Sunday’, for whom about the movie “Chariots of Fire” was made. After his running career, he served as a missionary to Shandong Province, China. He was captured during WWII by the Japanese and died in a prison camp in Weifeng, China, in 1945, just five months before the camp’s liberation. In a prisoner exchange bargain, his freedom was arranged by Winston Churchill, but he gave it up and let a pregnant woman leave instead. He was known as the “Flying Scotsman” and by his Chinese name, Li Airui, 李愛銳.
I had the opportunity to visit Weifeng in 2004. I saw the camp and hospital where he died. There is a wonderful monument erected in his memory, but someone has defaced it by scratching out the cross at the top and the Bible emblem at the bottom. During the Cultural Revolution, the cornerstone of the hospital was defaced by the Red Guard. They committed a similar act on the monument to Lottie Moon in Penglai.
One of the most moving monuments was the wall of names. It listed everyone interred by the Japanese. Liddell’s name is, of course, listed as well.
Monument to Eric Liddel in Weifeng Prison Camp
Wall of Names at Weifeng Prison Camp Memorial (I circled Liddell’s name in red)
Hospital where Eric Liddell died in Weifeng Prison Camp in 1945.
In May 2006, I had the privilege to visit Penglai, Shandong, China and see where Lottie Moon lived and ministered. In the photo above, I am standing next to a monument erected in 1919 (I think) to the memory of Lottie Moon by the members of her church in Penglai. After the cultural revolution, the monument was found in the yard of the church and was re-erected to her memory. The Red Guard had scratched out some of the characters, but it is still readable (all in Chinese characters, of course).
The picture above is of the church Lottie Moon attended in Penglai, China. (You can see the monument in front of the left window.) The church is still in use but is no longer large enough for the congregation. They have recently built a new facility just to the right of the building, but still use this church’s baptistry because the new church doesn’t have a water source for the baptistry. The pastor reported that in 2005, they baptized over 400 people.
The picture above shows the remains of the Girls School that Lottie Moon where taught. The building was torn down because of it’s condition, but the outline on the remaining wall can still be seen. In the pile of debris stacked against the wall are roof tiles from the original school. I was fortunate enough to be able to get one for my personal collection. I was told that those tiles were purchased with funds from one of the original offerings collected for China by Southern Baptists. Those offerings later became known as the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
I hope this gives you a little bit of insight into the world of Lottie Moon. Please give generously to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering!
Charlotte “Lottie” Diggs Moon was born Dec. 12, 1840, in Albemarle County, Va. she rebelled against Christianity until she was in college. In December 1858, she dedicated her life to Christ and was baptized at First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, Va. Lottie attended Albemarle Female Institute, female counterpart to the University of Virginia. In 1861, she was one of the first women in the South to receive a master’s degree. Edmonia Moon, Lottie’s sister, was appointed to Tengchow, China, in 1872. The following year, Lottie was appointed and joined her sister there.
Lottie served 39 years as a missionary, mostly in China’s Shantung province. She taught in a girls’ school and often made trips into China’s interior to share the good news with women and girls. Lottie frequently wrote letters to the United States, detailing Chinese culture, missionary life and the great physical and spiritual needs of the Chinese people. Additionally, she challenged Southern Baptists to go to China or give so that others could go. By 1888, Southern Baptist women had organized and helped collect $3,315 to send workers needed in China.
Lottie died aboard a ship in the Japanese harbor of Köbe on Dec. 24, 1912. She was 72 years old. In 1918, Woman’s Missionary Union named the annual Christmas offering for international missions after the woman who had urged them to start it. (From IMB.org website)
This year’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering’s (LMCO) goal is $165,000,000.00. The LMCO funds 52% of the International Mission Board’s budget. The Cooperative Program funds 36%. The remaining funds come from investments and World Hunger donations. Our church’s goal is $750.00. We have raised $142.00 so far.
Pray for the generosity of Southern Baptists to give to the LMCO to meet the needs of missionaries around the world. Your support allows you to participate in the Great Commission as you support those who “go”.
You can find out more information about Lottie Moon here.
Immanuel Southern Baptist Church 