News > Asia

April 2, 2013

 

 

Dear precious co-workers in Christ: 
 
It gives me great joy, to discuss the joy and new strength Indonesia UBF members in DePok dan Karawaci Center experienced through the 2013 Easter Conference.  The 2013 Easter Conference was held In Depok Center during 29-31 March.

 

First of all, the music team (singspiration & special song) always prepared a joyful environment, by enthusiastically and prayerfully singing Easter songs before each message.  There was the clear aroma of Christ, in all the singspiration songs. 

 

By God's one-sided grace, I was given the opening message on Romans 13:8-16.  With the prayerful assistance of my wonderful wife, Teddy  Bear (Frida), I gave my heart to message preparation.  I will say, that my heart was  very much moved by the word of God in Romans 13:12;  "the night is nearly over, the day is almost here.  So let us put off the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light."  Included in my message, was my life testimony.  Giving this message, in view of God's grace, was a most precious blessing for me.  I heard kind words from many about my message, including Msn Peter. 

After Group Bible study, we then heard the story of Noah from Msn. Peter Lee.  Since I am not yet speaking much Bahasa Indonesian, it was and is a bit hard to clearly evaluate all the messengers.  But at the same time, I could sense that Msn. Peter had captured the difficulty Noah faced, in so many ways.  At the end of his message, he encouraged all of us to build our own Arks of faith, and learn obedience to God from Noah. 

There was a very funny and original drama given by 3, called the Trio Drama.  It demonstrated the meaning of obedience to God, and how peer pressure might have gotten the best of Noah....but he overcame.  The next day, I was given the amazing  on the spot opportunity to lead a  Group Bible study on 1 Cor. 15:35-58 in English.  God's grace made that possible, and also made it a very good Bible study.

 

We then had the 3rd message, given by Msn. Joshua Kim.  For the first time since coming to Indonesia 2 months ago, I was able to grasp the core meaning of his message.  Having recently experienced a death in the family, Msn. Joshua discussed his joy in the thought that he may someday see his father in law again.  He clearly illustrated that passage, so much so that many were moved to tears. 

 

Before lunch that day, I was asked again to lead another EBS.  Apparently, there had been some rumors abounding, that the first one had been good, and others wanted to come.  There were 17 attendants in all.  We studied Mark 16, the resurrection.  Even with a big group, there was a stillness and peace about the study that made it a blessing for everyone.  We were all then encouraged to write a testimony, and then participate in sports if you wanted to. 

 

The closing  message was given by Msn. John Lee.  It was a very joyful message, that reminded all of us that through Jesus' resurrection, we all became champions.  We all embraced the sense of victory that Msn. John's message  contained. 

 

In general, the 2013 Easter Conference was a great success, and a time of refreshing and joy for all attendants.  Through it, I could see God's hope to use Indonesia as a blessing to not only also all the neighboring asian countries, but all muslim countries in the world as a missionary sending nation. 

 

The Depok Center’s prayer topic is:

And then my prayer topic is:

A heart felt hello and best wishes to all!

 

in Jesus,

 

Jonathan Reese