Urgent prayer request in Taiwan's society

Please pray for Taiwan's people and legislators. There is a major push by politicians to legally call partners in sexual perversion, "married," and force everyone else to acknowledge their relationships as marriage and to treat them that way. Taiwanese Christians are trying to stand against this and for Biblical marriage.

Here is a great lecture on the Biblical principles by Dr. Robert Gagnon.

Summer 2016 pictures

The girls meeting friends at the end-of-the-year gathering of their online Christian classical school.

Worshipping with the Chinese Christian Church of Virginia where I gave a missions presentation.

Giving the charge at the installation service of Greg O'Brien, one of the pastors at First Presbyterian Church in Tuscumbia, Alabama

Faith at her summer biotech program.

Faith playing piano after lunch at an assisted living community in Florence, Alabama 

                                 

Speaking at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America in June.

Giving a missions update at the August meeting of Providence Presbytery

Graduation!

Dr. Joel Linton received his doctorate in applied theology (D.Min.) from Birmingham Theological Seminary after five years of study in the doctoral program. His dissertation research topic was starting and sustaining healthy rural churches. The above picture shows Dr. Linton with his dissertation committee in full academic regalia. Dr. Jim Maples on the left was his advisor. The study of the health of rural churches is important because Christians in recent years have focused much more energy and resources on urban church planting, yet approximately half of the world's population still live in rural areas. In the dissertation rural church planting was examined in three mission fields in Asia: Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, together with general works on church health. Further, field research was done on rural churches in five counties of northwest Alabama as well as one county in Taiwan. Hopefully, other researchers can build on this academic work. The Lord willing, this work will also be applied to new church plants in rural areas of Taiwan beginning in the fall of 2016.

The Linton family on graduation day.

Church planter teaching Sunday school teachers how to teach, "Who is God?"

The past few years, the Children's Ministries International Bible curriculum has been translated and introduced into Taiwan by the Reformed Press. One of the Taiwanese church planters I work with in Taiwan is teaching church Sunday school teachers how to teach the material in a series of videos.

Enjoy the beauty of Taiwan without the humidity or mosquito bites. :)

Taiwan, Asia's Best Country For Bicycle Travel

【單車體驗寶島之美】台灣雖然小，卻是充滿著熱情友善的人民、美味可口的食物、物美價廉的旅居環境，且擁有世界級的單車公設。如果你是個單車旅行的熱愛者，那麼絕對沒有理由錯過台灣。【Cycling in Taiwan】The island nation of Taiwan is a small, but crowded place filled with friendly people, good food, affordable accommodations, and some of the best cycling infrastructure in the entire world. Taiwan is truly a land built for bicycle travel!#MyTaiwanTour #Taiwan #Cycling #biking #bike #travel #nature #mountains #adventures #outdoors #bicycle #adventure #outdoor #TaipeiCycleShow

Posted by MyTaiwanTour on Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Visiting Churches, Giving Reports on the Work in Taiwan; Researching rural churches

In their time back in the U.S. missionaries report back to supporting churches as well as seek new churches to make up any support in the budget that fell off over the years the missionaries were laboring on the field. That takes a lot of traveling.

I am blessed that my family cheerfully travels with me. My daughters do their best with home school while traveling grabbing wifi spots to login to their online classes. Judy keeps everyone organized.

Please pray for our support raising. We do need more churches to partner with us.

This time back in the US, there is another full-time labor: finishing my doctoral dissertation. I am researching the state and needs of rural and small town churches. For part of the study, I developed a survey questionnaire covering many different issues churches deal with. In five counties in northwest Alabama, a random sample of 200 churches out of over rural 700 were selected to receive questionnaires. Three friends in Taiwan sent out surveys to 50 rural churches in I-lan County, Taiwan. I've gotten some responses but not enough. I have begun phase 2 of follow-up calling and attempting to meet in person to get a higher response rate. But I will not have time to track down all 200 churches. So do please pray that pastors will take the 15 minutes to fill out the surveys.

Then there is the actual writing of the thesis.

It is hard to attend to all of the details.

Here are some pictures:

Speaking at the International Dinner of Eastern Shore Presbyterian Church's Missions Festival





At Bayshore Christian Schools Monday morning chapel service.




















Speaking at the Community Bible Study in Florence

Preaching at the Huntsville Chinese Christian Church






Interviewing a rural church pastor as part of my thesis research






















Preaching at Dillingham Presbyterian Church


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Spring 2015 pictures

Teaching at a Wednesday lunch fellowship of China Evangelical Seminary students.

Faith, Charis and Ashlyn preparing to accompany the hymn singing Sunday morning. I teach the men who are training to be elders and pastors how to lead the worship service.

Many businesses in Taipei worship gods, ghosts and ancestors every full moon and new moon in hopes of getting good luck and preventing spiritual powers from harming their business. 

An evangelistic ministry based out of Taipei called "From Doubting to Believing" has their main office in a district of Taipei similar to Manhattan's SoHo district.  They do not do crusades like Billy Graham did. Rather they work one-on-one and in small classes of people introduced by their friends or family members. These classes are very professionally done and give a more in depth presentation of the Gospel, the Bible and basic Christianity. Lesson Seven uses Judy's testimony. This material was first developed by the wife of a business executive of the food company: Quaker Taiwan.

Presenting Lesson 7, Judy's testimony.

Lesson 7.

Formosa Reformed Presbyterian Fellowship meeting. I serve on the steering committee. FRPF is composed of Taiwanese pastors and Korean and American missionaries. Speaking here is Dr. Toon Yeo who is a professor of the Reformed Theological Seminary in Taipei. He oversees the practical theological training of the seminary students. 

New Hope pastoral intern Calvin Chung preaching his first sermon. Calvin is a first-year student at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Taipei

March Reformed Presbyterian Church in Taiwan presbytery meeting held at Chong-Hsiao Reformed Presbyterian Church.

David Lin being examined for ordination.

David Li reporting on his church planting work in Taichung City, central Taiwan. Please pray as they seek a larger meeting facility. Also pray for the second church plant that meets Sunday afternoon in Nantou County, Taiwan.

Daniel Peng reporting on his church plant in Xinzhuang. They have about 20 people worshipping on Sunday mornings. Please pray particularly as he seeks to reach out to the non-Christian Taiwanese men, whose wives and children attend events at the church.

Wesley Chuang reporting on his church plant Ren Ai Reformed Fellowship in central Taipei city. They are also seeking for a larger facility. I serve on the oversight committee for this church planting work.

Pastor Lin's first visit to the presbytery. Pastor Lin is a missionary from the Hapdong Presbyterian Church denomination in South Korea. He is starting a church in the southern city of Kaohsiung in south Taiwan. Kaohsiung is also where our colleague Eric Pilson is doing language study and preparing for future church planting work. We are trying to recruit more missionaries to move to south Taiwan and work with the Pilsons. Please also pray for some Taiwanese coworkers.