Uplift at the First Colony Church of Christ

Today's episode is from Carol Manley, M.Ed., LPC-S, LMFT. Carol works at the Houston Center for Christian Counseling, and her clinical areas of focus include anxiety / depression, blended families, boundaries, communication, coping skills, marital issues, parenting, relationship issues, trauma / abuse / PTSD​​.

We are delighted to have her on Anchor Point today, talking about relational maintenance in the light of current circumstances.

Podcast about Gratitude from Missy Edgmon.

Hear from one of First Colony’s Nepali mission partners, Treasurer, who leads church leaders in building & multiplying Christ Kingdom in Nepal. Treasurer grew up in Nepal and speaks Nepali, but we are fortunate to have him speaking in English for us today. Hear what the current satiation is, how the church & gospel are progressing and how our church can be praying for them.

Transcript:

Hello. Welcome to Anchor Point, the daily podcast of the First Colony Church of Christ in Sugar Land, Texas. I am Treasurer from Nepal. This name is given by my grandfather. And thanks for joining us today. 

Present world is facing panic situation due to corona virus. Our country also has 54 case till today, and nobody died by the grace of God. We are following strict lockdown and staying in home. 

Being a Christian minister, it is very hard to spend time in home without sharing gospel and training people for ministry. Church also following lockdown and praying in their home. Actually, we focus on house church planting movement. I think many of you don’t understand what is a house church. I explain like this; a group of local people who come together and sing song and praise God, learn lesson from Word of God and practice in their daily life. They gather in a house or place where they feel safety instead of big hall and big congregation. It is good to have hall and other facilities if available. But our concern is spread good news like Corona and make possible one village one church.  

Sometimes I was thinking that I might be wrong but Covid 19 confirm me, open our eyes that house church is will of God (for our people in Nepal). I am so encouraged now to develop a leader in each house to run church healthy

I would love to tell how God is using our people in present situation. You know that it’s illegal to share faith with people through word or any kind of symbol in our nation. (They can get put in jail for 5 years and fined.) We will be in trouble if any person saw and informed to authority. And our people think good news is Western philosophy and society is not ready to accept at once.  We need to go again and again. That makes us one kind of presser in our heart

Many good Christians know where we go after death, but our brothers and sister don’t. Unknowingly they are opposing gospel. I remember one Bible verse from the book of Jonah chapter 4 verse 11. Let me read it. “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” Other way to explain this verse, we can say God loves them so much and He send people in their life to share good news as an opportunity. But one thing makes pain in my heart, when they reject opportunity go away from life.

And Church cannot stay quit without sharing good news because of situation. Now we are usually go to follow our kin and neighbor to share good news to reduce risk of informed.  

God is using all kind of people these days. Many of our believers are illiterate and cannot read bible, some are very poor, many leaders are not high qualified. But God is using them to multiply his kingdom. God appointed us to bring movement. My number one vision is train those who are save and send to the field. Number two is share good news to unsaved and teach what our master has commanded us. 

Opposition and rejection was discouragement to share good news and Covid 19 came as additional stumbling block to slow our goal. I am praying to burn gospel fire in every believers heart, and encourage leaders to send people in the harvest. 

I want to remind you all that two kind of people received blessing and reward, that is those who go and share gospel to the people and next is those who encourage people and send to share the gospel with peopl

Hear from one of First Colony’s Nepali mission partners, Ramesh Sapkota, who leads Our Daughters International. Ramesh grew up in Nepal and speaks Nepali, but we are fortunate to have him speaking in English for us today. Hear what the current situation is, how they are progressing in the fight against human trafficking and how our church can be praying for them.

*Note the phrase, “our daughters” refers to; girls that are being or have been trafficked. 

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to Anchor Point, the daily podcast of the First Colony Church of Christ in Sugarland, Texas.  I'm Ramesh Sapkota from Nepal. Thanks for joining us today. So friends as I mentioned earlier, I'm currently in Nepal and would like to take this opportunity to talk about the current situation here during this COVID-19 pandemic. Nepal as most countries is currently facing a total lockdown, while the numbers of cases are significantly low. I think it is because of the lack of rapid testing. The nation itself is experiencing a very difficult time during this government-imposed lockdown. Movement of any kind has been banned, leaving several people out of jobs and out of a way to return home. I live in the capital city (Kathmandu) where many migrant workers from rural parts of the nation temporarily live in search of a job and employment. This government-imposed lockdown has made it impossible for these migrant workers and their families to return home. The lack of any kind of aid has led them to risk their lives in quest to return home on foot. I have seen some of the people, some of the family have set on a journey of 400 to 500 miles on foot. 
 
So as you begin to understand the situation, it would come as no surprise that the church and the ministry has also been quite impacted by this situation. A huge part of our ministry is fighting against human trafficking and Gender Based Violence in the country (Nepal). We focus on rescuing our daughters and guiding them alongside a restorative pathway. With the borders closed the fight against this evil has been difficult but it has definitely not stopped us. Can you imagine this is how fallen mankind has become? Traffickers are using this lockdown as a greater opportunity to internally traffic vulnerable daughters both in Nepal and India. Just this week our team rescued two daughters in India who are now awaiting to be brought back home, and two others internally (in Nepal) that were being exploited during this lockdown. 
 
While these acts of evil deeply sadden us, our hearts; it has definitely not stopped our team from working and making ourselves better. Our staffs are currently working on capacity building, they are taking this opportunity to analyze and reflect on everything to ensure how they can better serve our daughters in the days to come. Our daughters in the safe house and the training centers are more optimistic than ever before. They have taken the opportunity to really dive into God’s Word and learn to be calm, resilient and trusting in this difficult time. It comes as no surprise that they too are concerned about their families back home, but this has opened up a new opportunity for our pastors and leaders to reach out to their families. To check on them, help them, and share the message of hope, love and faith with them.  Our pastors are making incredible strides towards the use of technology. There is no limit to how they are sharing God's Word; Facebook, Whatsapp, Podcast, YouTube videos -- they are taking this opportunity to reach out and are becoming pillars of hope in this difficult time. 
 
My biggest prayer request during this time would be for peace, faith and strength in our staff as well as our daughters during this time. This season is painful, this season is challenging, it is something we have never seen before. These are deep waters that we are navigating. When

Hear from First Colony’s Haitian mission partner, Roolite Religieux, who is the Thomazeau Hope Center Spiritual Development Trainer for Hope for Haiti’s Children. Roolite oversees the Spiritual care for the Church, orphanage and school. He grew up in Haiti and speaks Haitian Creole, but we are fortunate to have him speaking in English for us today. Hear what the current situation is, how the church is doing and how we can be praying for them.

Podcast Transcript 

Hello and welcome. This is Anchor Point the daily podcast of the First Colony Church of Christ in Sugar Land Texas. My name is Roolite. I am a church leader here in Haiti.  

First, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to update you about the current situation in Haiti. I just want you to know that First Colony Church of Christ is such a great source of encouragement for our ministries here in Haiti. There are moments and season in life that we are not waiting for or prepared for. After 72 people tested positive for Covid 19 and 5 have already passed away. Panic is everywhere! People are very scared!  

This pandemic really affected our church activities and our ministry. We had to put off all of our activities that we already plan to do. This is a very very bad situation and it is really sad to see that people are struggling. One of the best ways to help fight this virus is to stay in our homes but many families are struggling on a daily basis to make a living out of the marketplaces, the street, by selling things to feed their family. So, it’s now become very difficult for them to say at home. Like if they are not going out on a day, they won’t be able to eat, they won’t be able to feed their family, and this is a very scary situation going on.  

But the situation hasn’t stopped us from reaching out to others. Mainly our widows (of the church) who are very very exposed to this virus. We were able get together to prayer and share blessings because so many of them have the Body, the Church. The one and only family they can lean on. If any things are really scary, things are going upside down for now, but there is one thing we are sure about and that is God is our one constant. No matter what happens. No matter what is going on, God will not change. That is a promise.  

So today, there is one verse that I want to share with you, that I really enjoyed reading this week, from Philippians 4:6, that many of you have already read. It says, “Don’t worry about anything but in everything through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.” So today our main request, our one and main request to God is saving and protecting our brothers and sisters all over the world. It is a scary situation when you look out there. It’s really very scary. It says, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding.’ Which helps us to face this situation and not to be afraid because ‘there is one force that the darkness cannot conquer, the power of loving by serving others.’ This powerful phrase comes into my mind every time I have to go out to serve the widows. Every time I have to see families that really need help. Even if being out is scary, anything can happen. But have it in mind that you are doing it for others. Because Jesus has done it for you so you can do it in return for your bothers, for your sisters. It doesn’t mean anything to be out there. No matter what the situation. No matter what is going on, so I encourage you to stay strong.  

I know that you have been praying for Haiti. I know that we are always in your thoughts and prayers. I am so thankful and the whole church is so thankful for our fellowship. And we pray that you continue to pray for us, to pray for our leaders for guidance so God can guide their steps. And we would love for you to prayer for our nurses and doctors out there taking care of patients.  

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