Dear Friends of Bishop Trevor Manhanga,

Whether he is preaching in the 'African Bush'…in Harare before President Mugabe…on in America with businessmen, Bishop Trevor is one of the most powerful and anointed preachers I know of!  I am thankful to let you know that he arrived back home safely on Wednesday night for a wonderful reunion with his wife, Charmaine and his children.  As many of you know, his oldest son, Earnest, fell and broke his arm while Bishop Trevor was in the States.  He is doing better physically now that his arm has been sent.  Moreover, he is doing better spiritually and emotionally now that his father is back home!

I want to thank all of you who attended one of his meetings while he was with Patt and me this past week.  As many of you know, Bishop Trevor was with us for a full week of travel and ministry in Raleigh, Burlington, Greensboro, Charlotte, Boone and Winston Salem.  He had two other dear friends and partners, Sam and Mike Grottis, who are both businessmen in Zimbabwe.   They spoke to pastors, businessmen and entrepreneurs who have a heart for spiritual and financial investment in Zimbabwe.  Since the dollarization of the economy two years ago, things have really turned around economically.  Bishop Trevor has been one of the positive voices of hope and reason during the long decade of political turmoil and economic meltdown Zimbabwe has been through.  But through it all, the church has stood firm on the Word through the Spirit and emerged much stronger.

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"I was invited to Singapore in January to teach at the annual 'Levite Camp' hosted by my long time friend and partner, Pastor Joseph Jabemany.  I trust you read the account on my web site.  Totally unexpected to me, I was given a 'love offering' from Pastor Joseph for $2,500 at the end of the Conference.  He said that he and his people wanted to 'bless me' with that gift since I had blessed them through my teaching and preaching.  He joyfully sealed the gift to me with the words of the Lord Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). 

In over 4 decades of travel around the world, this was a first.  While I have often been given small token cultural gifts from national partners and churches, this was the first time I had received a monetary gift -- and such a large one at that!  While that amount would have covered my travel expenses for that trip, I knew in my spirit I could not keep it.  That's because during the Conference I had listened as Pastor Joseph passionately challenged the 500 attendees to become missionaries to the unreached multitudes of India.  He also exhorted them with tears to give one final offering to help him built another rural church in India.  His Yeshun Evangelical Church in Singapore had already built some 60 village churches!  They were marching toward their faith goal of 100 churches.  And the cost for each rural church was $2,500. It wasn't too hard for me to hear the voice of the Lord and discern His will on that one!  So upon my return home, I returned the money to him with a note to "build another church in India."

In only a couple of months, the church has now completed.  Here are the pictures he just sent me from the recent dedication, along with these words:

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EPIPHANY!

"After Jesus was born…Magi from the east came to Jerusalem…to worship Him."
(Matt. 2:1-2)

Dear Friends & Partners,

Happy & Holy New Year's Blessings to each of you!  Now that Christmas has passed and the New Year has come, we tend to 'pack up Jesus' along with the Christmas tree and decorations.  We are eager to get back to 'business as usual.'  But Christmas was a series of events, not just a solitary one on the night of His birth in Bethlehem that we celebrate on December 25th. 

Historically, the church has also celebrated the 'coming of the Wise Men' on January 6th.  It is called 'Epiphany' from the Greek word, Epiphaneia, meaning 'manifestation' or 'appearance.'  This day commemorates the time sometime after Jesus' birth when He was revealed to the Gentile Magi -- showing that He was not just 'King of the Jews,' but God's Messiah for the whole world.

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Clink on the banner below to see a report of my "top priority" partners and projects for this year and how you can help.  I will be presenting to the Board and working on these this next year.

 

Dr. J.L. Williams
JL, Patt, & Friends

Founder: New Directions International
Board Member: Impact of Hope International
Professor-at-Large: Carolina Evangelical Divinity School

P.O. Box 4066
Glen Raven, NC 27216
Mobile: 336.684.3131
Home: 336.226.2178

http://www.jlwilliams.org

NOTE:  Please use this email address (jl@jlwilliams.org) in all correspondence with me because I have closed my jlwndi@newdirections.org account.

 

I am attaching the November newsletter from Pastor Fernando of UCF of Sri Lanka.  I hope you enjoy reading about their great work for the kingdom!

UCF Newsletter - November 2010