Ministry Report from Greg and LuAnn Lyons

New Pastors Installed
We are blessed by the number of men God has brought to our ministry. Men are the backbone of leadership and we are encouraged to recognize three new pastors.

Pastor Roy Veloso graduated from Baptist Bible College Asia in 2007. Roy had been serving as an assistant to his older brother, Pastor Julius Veloso. God has gifted Roy with a passion for souls, a good command of doctrine, and a heart for people. Not wanting to be a pastor, Roy moved to Manila to seek a military career, but God moved in his heart. Roy's testimony is "You cannot run from God's calling! It is better to just submit and serve!" Pastor Roy is currently leading one of our new church plants. Roy's church will launch in the second quarter of 2010.

Pastor Jermaine Nacion is a computer professional. After trying to find purpose in the business world, Jermaine realized that God had other plans for him. Jermaine is a gifted communicator, a natural leader, and has a passion for the lost. Jermaine's father is a pastor and Jermaine determined not to be in the ministry because of the financial hardships he saw in his father's situation. Yet, Jermaine has chosen to live by faith, realizing that material gain is not what satisfies! Jermaine is currently planting a church in Antipolo City a suburb of Metro Manila. Jermaine will launch public services in May 2010.

Pastor James Macadangdang graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Engineering from a prestigous university in Metro Manila. A capable leader with a sharp mind, James surrendered to serve as one of our ministry team members 3 years ago. James has matured very rapidly. He is a great speaker, passionate leader, and a diligent student of the word. James will pursue his Masters in Biblical Studies in 2010. Additionally, Pastor James will assume the leadership of our main church, Community Baptist Church, Pasig City. CBC Pasig averages over 1,300 each weekend with a ministry team of 25 paid and volunteer committed people. Additionally, CBC has a Christian school with over 150 students enrolled, our main Youth JAM Student Center reaching over 400 students on a regular basis, and several other ministries. A big job for a young man, but Pastor James is well equipped for the challenge.

MK UPDATES....WHAT ARE THEY UP TO?

Jake Lyons - graduated from High School and is now working as a ministry team member with Megacity Ministries, Metro Manila. He plans to attend Boston Baptist College in fall of 2010.

Micah Marie - Is now a freshmen at Faith Academy Manila. She is turning into a beautiful young lady who loves volleyball and facebook!

Alexandra-"Alex" - Continues to be cute and wonderful! She is now in the 6th grade at Accellerated Christian School Manila and was recently elected to the student body government!




Married MKs
Luke & Kelly Lyons are approved BBFI missionaries. They will focus on a goal of helping us plant 100 churches by 2018. They should be functioning on the field by 2010. They are expecting their first child due in April.

Check out their website.

Cory & Jessie Lyons are approved BBFI missionaries and are currently raising their support. Cory & Jessie will be involved in the church planting effort through equipping each new church plant with a dynamic children's ministry called Kids JAM. A mobile Sunday School program that will reach 10,000 children each week throughout our church planting network! Tentatively planning to be on the field in 2010.

Check out their website.

Marc & Jessica (Lyons) Buxton - Jessica Lyons married Missionary Evangelist Marc Buxton. They are based out of Florence, South Carolina as they raise their support. Marc is a professional Magician/Illusionist. Marc has developed an incredible Gospel presentation through this unique medium. Marc will help plant churches in Metro Manila and throughout Southeast Asia. They are expecting their first child in July.

Check out their website.

Sincerely, Greg & LuAnn Lyons
Megacity Ministries
Metro Manila
617-273-5781

Letter from J & L in Turkey

Gateway/EPIC Prayer Request from E. in Turkey:
January 24, 2010

E. has been sharing the truth with many Muslims out at Beytel East, the town where he is located we have nicknamed Sodom because the morality of the area is similar to the Biblical and old historical city of Sodom (now destroyed). Turkey in general is hard ground to sow seeds of the Gospel and water, and here they have something called töre (village laws) along with a mentality that they have been raised with that does not permit them to question any custom or belief in Islam. Because of this the majority of the Muslims not only in Sodom but in the world have never critically thought through their religion and if they do, they are harshly dealt with and if they abandon any belief they become “infidels” and therefore have left the fold of Islam, which can be punished by death.

As you pray for us here and those whom we share with please remember that the real battle here is with the demonic realm. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us of this reality:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Below is just an example of how we share the truth apologetically and how this opens doors to share of the salvation that God provides through Jesus Christ: (Translated)
(Turkish readers please see below).

I have begun to share the Bible with one of our students “Y.” I explained to him the prophecies and how all of the prophets point to Jesus Christ. I also explained to “Y.” why the Qur’an is false and why Christians do not believe in the Qur’an. I asked “Y.” questions regarding the Qur’an, Islam and Muhammad’s life. “Y.” said that he cannot answer them, and I am really confused about what I have learned about Islam and the Qur’an from what you have been explaining to me. “Y.” said that he had some friends from an Islamic order called the Nurcu “Followers of the Light”, and I will learn from them and then I will give you an answer. I said ok I am waiting. A few days passed and he brought me his answers, but then I showed him that his answers did not at the least have anything to do with the Qur’an and Islam, then I showed him from the Qur’an how he was wrong and he was again shocked. “Y.” again went to his friends of the Followers of the Light and they requested to speak with me personally. “Y.” asked me if this would be okay and I said of course. They came Saturday to our home, I sat with them and we talked for hours. We argued and I opened the Qur’an and showed the verses (about what true Islam is). At first they said to me that there is nothing in Islam or in the Qur’an that you are speaking of, and then I opened up my Qur’an and showed them verse by verse. They really became confused and broke down. They were cornered and they tried to change the subject. I said, don’t try to get out of this, answer the questions or accept that the Qur’an is false. They said if you give us permission we would like to research this out and we would like to come again and speak with you another day. I told them when they visit again I will explain to them how each prophet spoke about the Messiah, and that I would go through each prophecy one by one. I told them that I will show them God’s amazing plan for salvation from the Creation to the Messiah.
They said okay, and we will be meeting very soon and I will be explaining to them the prophecies and salvation in Christ after this I will be showing them the film God’s Story.

Please pray for this upcoming time of sharing. May the Lord open their eyes and the minds to the Truth, and may the Lord touch and soften their hearts. Please pray also that the Lord would speak through my mouth and give me wisdom as His Ambassador, so that I may represent Him and reflect Him in the best way.

I want to thank you right now for your prayers, supplications and your bowing down to God for this.

Although I may not be able to see your faces and hear your voices, I know that you are there and this strengthens me. I love you all.

Stay in Peace, and may the Prince of Peace, our Glorious King bless you and your families and grant you lasting peace.

Your brother, “E.”

Thank you for your prayers and support J.,

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Öğrencilerimizden Y.la Kutsal Kitabı paylaşmıştım.peygamberlikleri ve tüm peygamberlerin Mesihi müjdelediğini anlattım ve Kuranın neden yanlış olduğunu neden inanmadığımızı anlattım ve Kuran ve Islam, Muhammedin hayatı hakkında sorular sordum. Cevap veremiyorum dedi. Anlattıkların aklımı çok karıştırdı ve nur tarikatındn tanıdıklarım var onlarla konuşacam onlardan öğrenip sana söylicem dedi. Tamam dedim. Bir kaç gün sonra cevapları getirmişti ama bende ona cevapların Kurana , Islama uymadığını Kuran ayetleriyle gösterdim ve yine şok oldu.Tekrar nurculara anlatmış ve onlar biz onun kendisiyle oturup konuşabilirmiyiz, görüşebilirmiyiz demişler. Bana sordu tamam dedim. Bir gün önce geldiler. Onlarda oturduk ve saatlerce konuştuk, tartıştık, ve Kuranı açıp ayetleri okudum gösterdim. Önce dediklerime Kuranda öyle bir şey yok dediler bende Kuranı açıp hepsini gösterdim ayet ayet ve bozuldular,köşeye sıkıştılar ve konuyu değiştirme yöntemine baş vurdular. Bende kıvırmayın dedim ya cevap verin ya da yanlış olduğunu kabul edin dedim.Onlar da biz araştıracağız eğer müsade ederseniz tekrar oturup bir gün konuşalım dediler. Bende tamam dedim. Bir dahaki gelişinize Mesih hakkında ki peygamberlikleri tek tek size gösteririm ve yaratılıştan Mesihe kadar olan muhteşem kurtuluş planını size anlatırım, öğretirim dedim. Tamam dediler. Çok yakında tekrar görüşeceğiz onlarla peygamberlikleri felan anlattıktan sonra Yaratılış Planını izlicez beraber. Lütfen bu paylaşım zamanları içi dua edelim ve Rab onların gözlerini, zihinlerini açsın, yüreklerine dokunup yumuşatsın. Ayrıca benim azımdan Rab konuşsun ve bana bilgelik versin ki Mesihin elçisi olarak onu en iyi şekilde temsil edebileyim yansıtayım. Dua ve yakarışlarınız,secdeleriniz için şimdiden teşekkürler. Yüzlerinizi görmesemde seslerinizi duymasam da var olduğunuzu biliyorum bu beni daha da güçlü kılıyor ve hepinizi seviyorum. Esen Kalın ve Esenliğin prensi yüce kralımız sizi ve ailenizi berektlesin ve esenliğini etkin kılsın. Kardeşiniz E.

News from Turkey: Special Prayer Request

Gateway/EPIC Prayer Requests from Turkey:
January 19, 2010

Peace to you all, may the Lord bless you all and give you the strength to stay firm until the end,

Beytel East begins first ESL ministry in Sodom: In December 2009 we launched a free English class as a Second language program. It has been a success! Our intern, Zurafa has been the primary teacher along with E. They have accepted poor students who could not afford to learn English from private courses. These students come faithfully to the lessons 5x per week. Many of them walk 1-2 hours just to go to the lessons as they cannot even afford public transportation!

Two testimonies from the ESL ministry:
-During a recent class the subject of Christianity came up, they began to ask E. and Zurafa questions and the English lesson got cut short. The students said, “We want to learn about Christianity this is much more interesting, we will hold off on the English lesson till tomorrow”. E. began to explain the difference between the Bible and the Qur’an and why Christians are not Muslims and why Christians believe what they believe. The first seeds of the Gospel were planted that evening.
-Each person in the class was shocked to see how quickly Kenan recovered. Kenan was able to use this opportunity to share his faith and how the Christian world is a family and they pray and help each other!

Prayer requests and needs for the ESL class:
1. Zurafa is only in the East short-term. We need others who will come and take his place. By April we need someone who is willing to come and live at Beytel East and take over teaching these lessons 5x per week. Please pray that someone will be called up to take his place and be in the East by April!
2. Pray that God would open the hearts of the students, and that many may come to know Christ through this ministry.
See pictures of the class and Zurafa in action by going to our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049039&id=1376664116&saved#/gatewayeducationalservices?ref=profile

Potential Honor Issue at Beytel East:
Kenan spoke with his mother at great length about his faith and even invited her to come to Christ. His mother and family are at a point where they must decide to accept their son and his decision, accept Christ, or attempt an honor killing of either E. Z. and or Kenan. Honor killings are very common in this country and many have been killed for much less than a change of religion. We are planning for the worst right now, but praying for the best. Please pray for the protection of our brothers out in Beytel East, pray also for a spirit of courage and joy, and not a spirit of fear. Pray that Kenan’s mother and family would have soft hearts and come to the King and the peace and salvation that He offers them.

Preparations for a Kurmanji Service:
J. from Istanbul has been working with other Kurmanji speaking brothers to prepare a worship service in their language. We have now gathered 6 Kurdish speakers that have said that would join this! Pray for this as we are looking for a good location to meet at. Pray that our first service would be Spirit filled and that this would be the seed for even a greater work. Those who are planning this with J. have told him that this will be the largest fellowship in the country. There is great excitement on their part to finally worship Christ, pray and listen to God’s word be spoken in the mother tongue.

ASET: Advancing Special Education in Turkey:
ASET is a new group whose focus is to help develop and promote special education in Turkey. You can learn more about this new Facebook group started by L. from Gateway :
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=241526049239&ref=mf

A few weeks ago L. met with the academic coordinator at her school and shared the importance of developing a special education program. She was very open and had already been thinking about the idea. The wheels are turning albeit slowly! L. prepared two Individual Education Programs (IEPs) for a child with ADHD and Emotional/Behavioral Disorder. The academic coordinator approved them and the next step is to work with the guidance counselor and the classroom teachers to implement them after our school break. Pray that this develops and God allows L. to make an impact in the lives of the children at school who are in desperate need of special education services. In the first grade alone there are children with ADHD, Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, Asperger’s Syndrome, Mild Mental Retardation, and learning disabilities.

Thank you for your prayers and support:

Follow us on Twitter: Gatewayedu
Join us on Facebook: Gateway Educational
Check out the EPIC’s Website: www.epicinternational.org

New Donation Instructions and new giving address for Gateway Supporters:

New Donations can be made online by going to:
http://www.epicinternational.org/designated_donation.html

Please make sure you designate your giving to Jacob and Lisa Pursley (Gateway)

Or send checks snail-mail to:

EPIC International
115 Woodland Way, Suite 120Canton, GA 30114

Please note or indicate on the check in the memo: PURSLEY or GATEWAY.

Proctors in Australia

January 2010 Report from the Proctors in Australia

G’day to each of you our friends and supporters!



Furlough’s end – a time to Reflect and to be Thankful

Our time in the US is quickly coming to a close, and what an encouraging time it has been!
(Dan is flying back on the 13th January and Kim just a week later on the 20th.)
When we reflect over these last 6 months, 4 ongoing and significant events stand out in our minds that best describe our wonderful time here in the States. One of those events, and one that we faced almost immediately upon our arrival, was dealing with Kim’s major medical concerns and needs. A second ongoing part of our trip was the blessing of personally reporting to the churches and individuals who have so graciously supported us with their prayers and financial gifts. Another wonderful ongoing facet was the regular opportunities we had to catch up with most family members and the many particularly special friends we’ve made over the years. Finally, another very significant part of our time here has been for us to come to a final, prayed-through decision regarding significant ministry changes for us as we return to Australia. We’ll briefly explain those changes below.




Kim’s Medical Needs

We certainly praise the Lord for how He oversaw the timing and provision for Kim’s serious and necessary surgery. Her successful recovery, though slow & gradual has been very encouraging, and she’s moved beyond the point of vulnerability for further complications!
Again we’d like to say “thank you!” to each of you who interceded on her behalf!




Appreciated Reporting to Churches and Friends

We thoroughly enjoyed catching up with each pastor, and many of the staff and congregational members of just about every church that has remained faithful in sustaining us in prayer and financial gifts. We are especially aware of the global economic downturn that has had such an impact on so many households and therefore on most churches. As is always the case, we’ve encountered a variety of changes in some of the churches, whether a change in leadership or a change towards some new direction, a different philosophy of ministry or maybe a particularly new emphasis.

Regularly, God used various individuals to greatly encourage us through their special interest in us personally and in what the Lord is doing in our lives and ministry.

We want to extend a special “thank you!” to Tri-County Baptist Church in West Chester, Ohio for the use of a very dependable and comfortable car, and to Heritage Baptist Church for providing housing and much, much more while in Lynchburg, Virginia. We were also greatly blessed by a new and very special ministry directed by Zane & Burma Abbott (veteran missionaries to both Japan and Canada). This is a ministry of Hospitality, (housing and food), that they have recently initiated for travelling missionaries and military service personal. It is located near Lynchburg, Virginia and it was such a blessing for Kim and I during our time in the States! If you know of anyone in ministry who could use their services while in the Virginia area, their phone # is (434) 525 8429 – they would love to be a blessing to anyone in need!




Time with Family was Extra Special!

As we travelled we had the joy of visiting with our many family members as they hosted us in their homes and scheduled various family activities around our itinerary. Dan’s mom, Barbara Proctor turned 80 years young in October and we celebrated this grand mile stone, had a family reunion and joined for Thanksgiving meals all on the same weekend!



New Ministry Opportunities as we return to Australia!

As stated above, we return to Australia with plans to embark on new and different ministry responsibilities. In October Dan announced to our church in Australia his intentions of resigning from the position of full-time pastor. After speaking first with the church leadership and later with the church body in a phone-hookup meeting, Dan made the final arrangements to step down, but made himself available to remain available in helping establish new leadership.

In the mean time, discussions have been going on with the leadership of the Christian Community Churches of Australia, a fellowship group of 250 independent, autonomous churches that our church has been a part of. They have asked Dan to consider developing a position where much could be done to enhance and strengthen the networking between each of the churches and with each of their supported missionaries. This would also include being involved with church planting as well as leadership development and mentoring. Once we get back to Australia a number of discussions will be held with the leadership to work through the finer details. We will write again and explain exactly what we are doing once the details have been established.

Recharging our Batteries!

Dan has really enjoyed and appreciated the time he’s had in the book of Acts during our earlier time in the States and over the last couple of months he has had an encouraging time in the books of I & II Peter – great studies! Kim has really appreciated a devotional book called “God Calling” written by two anonymous authors and edited by A.J. Russel. Including the reading of parallel passages she was given from Scripture, the daily devotionals have been a regular source of encouragement to her! Dan is also enjoying currently reading Ed Dobson’s book, “The Year of Living Like Jesus”; Steve Reynold’s book, “BOD4GOD”; John Eldredge’s book, “Walking with God” and Dwight Robertson’s book, “Plan A, and There’s No Plan B”. The common theme of each of these great reads is the emphasis to “live more like Jesus” with the added encouragement to “grow more in love with The Father” and thereby in love with each person God has placed around us!

May the true blessing of our Lord Jesus be continuous for you this year as you “...look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith...”!
We love each of you and thank you for your faithful prayers and financial gifts!

In Christ,

Dan & Kim Proctor – Sydney Australia