While getting into 2019, the Lord spoke to me and taught me a lot of lessons in my life, both physically and spiritually. I tried my best and kept on going, seeing souls saved in doing the Lord’s work, but I was not much concerned about my health condition. I am just okay and believed that God had been given me a good and healthy life, so I had never been checked or even met a doctor ever. But surprisingly, I was hospitalized in August of 2018. I got sick and couldn’t believe myself. However, by God’s grace and through your prayers, the Lord healed me after a just a week. Now I praise God that I can continue in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I deeply realized that our bodies are the temple of God, and a healthy life is God’s blessing on our lives. If we are not taking care of our bodies, we cannot serve God in meaningful ways, and we also cannot proceed with the steps of our divine call for the ministries. Effective ministries require a healthy life, which will produce fruitful ministries. So I made a decision to get an annual checkup on my health condition, as well as the health condition of my family members. This is a big lesson that I had learned in 2018.
I praise God that our supporting churches in the United States are are generously giving out the church money for the ministries. By understanding this fact, we also try our best to serve Him. The attendance of the church members is increasing week after week in all of our churches. I also received all the church planters’ annual work reports during the third week of January 2019. I evaluate all these reports from all of the pastors of the churches working under my administration (FBMI, our mission board). My heart greatly rejoiced for their hard work. Praise God for His leading and blessing. Among the 20 churches, 8 of them are well established, including my church (Calvary Baptist Church). Some of the statistics are as follows: Kyanthar Baptist Church – 60 people, Voilong Baptist Church – 140 people, LonePom Baptist Church – 130 people, and Faith Baptist Church – 130 people. We hope that there will be more growth. They also sent out another church planter. The rest of the churches are still need to be cared for. I am not satisfied with two of the churches due to slow progress. I told them that at the end of 2019, Dr. Bosje, the director of FBMI, will be coming, and I would like to see more than 100 people in these two churches. Otherwise, FBMI will stop supporting them and move their support to another place where the Gospel response is better. I push all of my preacher boys and check on their works as often as I can. God is working greatly in our midst, and I trust that He will lead us more.
Praises
1. God met our needs and answered our prayers in 2018. Dr. Bosje of FBMI and Dr. John Wilkerson and the people of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, bought us a TRUCK, which solved so many of the problems in our ministries. More than 50 people can ride in this truck, which caused our church attendance to increase rapidly.
2. Pastor Bob Graham of Olathe View Baptist Church in Olathe, Kansas, bought an Apple computer for my ministries—a fantastic and useful one.
3. Our supporting churches helped me out by paying all my hospital bills, which was a huge help to me.
4. We were able to build Akha Baptist Church for Brother Stephen in Shah State, China, for more than 120 people.
Targeting and Aims for 2019
1. We want to build two churches: one for Brother Philip of Faith Baptist Church in Shan and one for Brother Joseph of Hleku Baptist Church in Nakoi. Both churches will be the same size, 70 feet by 30 feet with tin roofing and a bamboo cover or with bricks and a concrete floor, depending on the amount of money we raise. Each church will cost $6,000 – $7,000. Please pray for us.
2. We want to accept 20 church-planter trainees and then send them back out after six months of training.
3. We would like to accept 20 orphan children, based upon our budget.
4. We need to come and raise an additional $600 per month for teachers and church planters.
Prayer Requests
1. Please pray for my health and for me as I travel across the country.
2. Pray for my furlough program in October and November of 2019.
3. Pray for my son Thang. He has finished his architecture/engineering college program here. Then he is planning to enroll in Hyles-Anderson College in the fall of 2019.
God, please help us to fight more for the Gospel. Amen!
Blessings on you all richly,
Dr. Paul T. Lung Family
Calvary Baptist Church, Yangon
