CAMEROON MISSION FUND MONTHLY REPORT – AUGUST 2008
“Are we there yet”? If you have had or have small children you have heard these words before. You begin a vacation and will be in the car for 8 hours or so. After 30 minutes you hear from the back seat, ‘are we there yet’? You reply that it will be a loooooooooonnnnng time before you arrive. After another short period of time the question is raised again and then repeated every 2 minutes for the duration of the trip! You see the same concept when it comes to Christmas. We who are older are familiar with how quickly times seems to move but when you are 9 years old and it is December 3, Christmas is nearly a century away. Well, September 15 is ‘Christmas’ for Linda and I as that is the day we will begin our journey to Cameroon. We have already put much time and energy into preparing for this trip. We are truly excited about the ways that the Lord is going to work through us. Our request is that you will continually lift this effort in prayer.
From time to time I want to keep the number one goal of this ministry before your eyes. It is that we help the Cameroonian brethren break free from the notion that they need American assistance to prosper. You will recall the story of the 12 spies from Numbers 13. God had already promised the land but they failed to trust Him. The basic reason for their failure can be found in verse 33: “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” You realize that the Israelites had an eye problem. They were looking in the wrong place. As long as they looked at one another and then the giants, they could only see defeat. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who had ‘20/20’ as they were looking at God. A large part of the problem with our Cameroonian brethren is that they focus on their weakness and the perceived strength of the American. I say that because we know that any power we have has come from God. There is nothing inherently strong within any human.
Our focus on our trip in the fall will be to help strengthen the brethren and help them place their eyes on the Lord. We understand the value of knowing the Word of God. The Lord will speak through Hosea and say that ‘my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge’. He will speak through Malachi to say that ‘the lips of the priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction-because he is the messenger of the Lord.’ I will be spending hour upon hour with over 200 men in helping them to become more adept at proclaiming the Word of God. The primary idea is not to work with the ‘beauty’ of their speech but the correct usage of the Word of the Lord. Paul speaks of the one who ‘correctly handles the word of truth’ in II Timothy 2:15. We must have men in our pulpits who are speaking the truth but also speaking it in love (Ephesians 4:15). Please pray that this class will accomplish its goal.
We are also going to spend 16 days in sharing the Word with the lost. Our goal is not to see how many we can baptize but how many will surrender their lives to the Lord. Truly one of the single greatest weaknesses which plague the church is the number of brethren who are nothing more than ‘pew packers’. We want to share the good news of what Jesus did for them at Calvary and the enormous love that He and His Father have for all mankind. People who merely ‘get wet’ are never a blessing to the Kingdom but in reality, become some of the devil’s greatest servants. Not only will Linda and I be teaching but many who come for the seminar will be involved in this endeavor. Our prayer is that the Lord will be active in leading many to give their lives to Him.
I will also have one day of lecture in 9 of the 11 venues. The purpose of this class will be to help the local congregations in their quest to be dependent on the Lord and Him alone. One of the true problems within the church in Cameroon is a mindset that they simply are not capable of doing the Will of God by themselves. Of course, it is true that they cannot do the job alone just as we cannot. I will be building on the teaching that Richard Sutton gave this past February. He had a class on vision and becoming an intentional church. If we are convinced that we cannot succeed, we will never try. If a local congregation believes they will always be dependent on others, their vision will be realized. Please pray that God will work through me to help the brethren look beyond themselves to the great things that the Lord can accomplish through them.
I am also going to have one-on-one meetings with 70-90 congregations during the 10 week stay. These meetings will be a ‘give and take’ in which we are sharing ideas on how their local congregations can grow. The coordinators have already primed the churches so that they will be prepared for these meetings. We want to plant within the minds of the members the concept that they need to be looking at ways to grow their churches. It will prove to be interesting to see what transpires in these meetings. As I have stated in the past, I will not be overly surprised by anything. Anytime you have a ‘first, you can expect the unexpected.
In my June trip I made an appeal regarding the Cameroon Mission Fund. Sadly, the response was extremely small. I realize that you have many people with their hands out and that you cannot contribute to every need. Just a few days ago I had to decline a young man in Cameroon who wants to go to preacher training school as we simply do not have the funds. My greatest concern right now is that Roland Ekane will not be able to enter full-time ministry. He is a multi-talented young man who will graduate in the next month or so. He has no support and will not be able to devote all of his time to ministry. I realize that he will still be a vital cog in some local congregation but not as vital as he could have been. Think of your pulpit minister; if he had to leave the pulpit and spend 40 hours in a secular job, could he be the blessing to your church that he is at the present time? We have been able to do so much through the Cameroon Mission Fund and I thank each of you who contribute regularly. I am prayerful that more will give on a regular basis and others will make a one-time gift. Every dollar that is given goes directly to the work in Cameroon. There is zero percent that goes to anything other than the work. All checks should be payable to the Buckingham Road Church of Christ-CMF and mailed to:
Buckingham Road Church of Christ
Bro. Jim Corner
3630 Buckingham Road
Garland, TX 75042
By the time you receive this report, we will be within 1 ½ months of leaving for Cameroon. While we have secured much of the needed funds, we are still lacking. I am thankful to those of you who have already contributed and would like the rest of you to consider giving a one-time gift. No amount is too small or too large. Follow the information in the paragraph above regarding how to make out the check and where to mail it. Also, please put ‘Corner Travel’ under memo.
I am so grateful for the part that you play in this ministry. Whether you contribute prayer, money or emotional energy, my thanks is profound. The Lord is reaching many through our World Bible School work and the efforts that are being made in Cameroon. Your role cannot be overstated and I thank you.
In Christ,
Jim Corner
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