By Catherine Finch
IMB writer

As French McLemore rode through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, the last thing he expected to see was a sign for a Baptist church.

Born in Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it was once known, McLemore and his family lived there until two days before the fall of Saigon in 1975. McLemore’s Vietnamese mother met his father, a full-blooded Cherokee Indian, while his father served in Vietnam as a civilian contractor.

Today McLemore is the associate pastor of First Baptist Church, Ponca City, Oklahoma. Not forgetting his heritage and initial homeland and sensing God’s direction to invest in the work taking place overseas, McLemore and his mother, along with a team from his church, visited Saigon in 2013. It was their first visit since McLemore and his mother left in 1975.

“I was taken back by the flood of memories as I stepped out of the airport and breathed in the fresh air,” said McLemore. “I can only describe it as everything I remember from my childhood.”

However, McLemore’s childhood memories of Saigon did not include Grace Baptist Church. Founded in 1962 while IMB worker Sam James served in Saigon, the church has prevailed against the test of time, war and countless trials.

McLemore was surprised to see the Baptist church. He merely assumed the church was a “remnant of a bygone era.” When he returned from his trip, he immediately searched for the church online and soon discovered Grace Baptist Church wasn’t a piece of the past preserved, but a living, thriving testimony to God’s goodness in times of trial.

ONE SINGLE SURVIVOR

Sam James also had to leave Saigon during the Vietnam War. After living in the country for 17 years, James reluctantly left because of the Communist control over the city. During the Communist reign, all of the Baptist churches in Vietnam were shut down or disbanded. 

All but one.

By God’s grace, Grace Baptist Church of Saigon remained open throughout what James calls the “dark times” and celebrated its 60-year anniversary this year. Before the fall of Saigon in 1975, Grace Baptist shared a space with a church of a different denomination. Thanks to a Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® grant of $50,000, the church members were able to secure property and a building for the church and establish their independence, financially and congregationally.

James explained in a podcast interview, “Back In 1970 when people gave to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering they had no idea that some of that offering would be used to buy the land and the building for Grace Baptist Church and then what would happen as a result of that church being in that place that has impacted the whole country for the Lord. They had no way of knowing that and yet they gave. I just praise the Lord for that.” 

A LONG-AWAITED MEETING

When McLemore searched for Grace Baptist Church online back in 2013, he inevitably discovered the role James played in the church’s history and in Baptist work in Vietnam. After reading James’s book, “Servant on the Edge of History”, McLemore knew he had to meet James.

Since his initial trip back to Vietnam in 2013, McLemore’s church has sent teams to Vietnam four times. McLemore has formed a friendship with the Vietnamese pastor of Grace Baptist Church. The same age as the pastor of Grace Baptist Church, McLemore marveled at the different paths the Lord had for each of their lives.

McLemore’s church is sending another team to Vietnam in 2020. He asked James to come speak in November to kick off the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and to cast the vision for their 2020 trip.

“Sam did an incredible job in sharing about the work of the International Mission Board and the work that is going on all over the world,” said McLemore. “I cannot say enough about Sam’s passion and humility to serve our Lord and to make Him known to all people groups. I am truly blessed to have met him and am thankful for his faithfulness.”

The work of one IMB missionary has left an impact reaching beyond the city limits of Saigon, inspiring the friendship of a Baptist church in Oklahoma and a Baptist church in Saigon. The continued work points to God’s blessings when His followers faithfully go. B&R

 

By Bryan Pittman
Family pastor and missions strategy leader, Lee Road Baptist Church, Taylors, South Carolina

In Japan, statistics show that 99 percent of the population does not have a relationship with Christ. Those statistics represent people—living, breathing image-bearers of God whom Jesus Christ died to save. While the task of reaching them with the gospel seems daunting, God is stirring the church in Japan to reach the nation. Even now, churches and missionaries in Japan are praying and planning for gospel opportunities as the country opens its doors to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

What might happen if churches around the world committed to daily prayer for the churches, missionaries and people of Japan between now and the end of the Olympics?

With its complex nature of culture, history and former geographical isolation, Japan has been hard to reach with the gospel. Steeped in ancient traditions of Buddhism and Shintoism, religion in Japan is a cultural identity more than a personal reality. The concept of a collective identity through religious history has made for slow progress in reaching the hearts of Japanese people.

Today in Japan, however, winds of awakening are beginning to blow. Prayer strategy leaders in Japan long to see the nation transformed by the hope of Jesus, and they’ve committed to pray daily for the nation. There is excitement and enthusiasm for what they see God doing. Rather than yielding to the darkness, they are invigorated by the light of the gospel.

The signs point to a growing spiritual awakening in Japan.

Across Japan, Southern Baptists are hearing reports of God doing amazing things that offer hope of what may come:

• • A church in the heart of a bustling shopping and social hub in Tokyo has been languishing. This church’s leaders wanted to know why Tokyo Baptist Church was healthy and growing. When they approached the church for answers, God opened the door for the leaders to speak of the importance of standing on the authority of Scripture and yielding to the lordship of Christ. Through ongoing discipleship efforts and prayer, this church could soon be revitalized and play a key role in reaching the city.
• • A healthy church near Yokohama has been holding festivals with remarkable results. The festivals allow local residents to meet Japanese Christians and see the joy they have found in Jesus. This has prompted people to visit the church following the festivals to learn more about what they have seen and heard. The pastor of the church is praying for God to reach ten million Japanese people by 2024.
• • Japanese people are choosing to listen to and believe the gospel as it is proclaimed during international sporting events, at ongoing festivals and through personal relationships. Additionally, Japanese business people are learning from Christian business leaders how faith and business can intersect.

Increasing prayer, churches working together, and more people hearing and responding to the gospel through the church’s desire to engage the lost have all been precursors to spiritual awakenings in past generations. The signs point to a growing spiritual awakening in Japan.

A spiritual awakening happened over a century ago in the small nation of Wales in the British Isles. Evangelist Evan Roberts was a catalyst to the Welsh Revival of 1904. When it became evident that God was moving among the prayers and the preaching of those who longed for revival, Roberts asked his best friend if he thought it was possible for God to save 100,000 people. Within six months, more than 100,000 people had put their faith in Christ. As news spread, this led to the larger global awakening that drew thousands more people around the world into relationship with God.

What about an awakening in our time?

Southern Baptist churches in the United States have already been in strategic prayer and planning with IMB personnel in Japan to learn how they can collaborate to be as effective as possible in reaching the nation. The statistics are not in our favor, but we can still believe that this supposed missionary graveyard will rattle to life like the dry bones in Ezekiel and that God will raise a vast army to proclaim His truth, not only across Japan, but around the world.

We could very well be on the brink of a spiritual awakening in Japan. Let us commit to being a church defined by prayer and obedience to the Great Commission with the blessed hope that an awakening will sweep across the world in our time, just as it has in the past.

NOTE: For resources to help you pray for Japan, order IMB’s prayer guide for Japan and visit the Prayer page of IMB’s Olympic ministry website. To find out how you can serve with IMB during the 2020 Olympics, visit the Serve page. B&R