By Neal Pollard
DENVER, Colo. (Special to BNc)- On January 23, Ralph Williams, Bear Valley Bible Institute Coordinator Of Works In Asia And Africa, and I left to investigate the possibility of establishing an extension at some point in Bandarban, Bangladesh.
We also went to have the opportunity to study with men from three different denominations about the New Testament church.
Our contacts there are four young men who trained at the National Bible College in Chennai, India (some of them during the time in which BVBI was associated with it). Our main contact among these four men is a 32-year-old named Vannuam Bawm.
Unusually heavy rains delayed the start of these studies for over a day, but we studied on the Lord’s Day with them for over seven hours.
Ralph and I covered the matters of Bible authority (it’s common among the Bawm tribal people to use a drum to accompany their singing), the essentiality of baptism in God’s plan for redemption (they hold the faith-only view), and the unique, singular nature of the church (their being part of denominationalism).
We feel good progress was made as they saw the truth on these matters and have pledged to obey what the Bible instructs. Please pray for them to have the courage and sustained conviction to do this, since they had not taken the needed steps by the time we had to leave on Monday, Jan. 28.
We had a responsibility to look in on the missionaries with whom we work in Siem Reab, Cambodia, and to learn of the progress made toward opening our extension in that city and country.
Exciting things are happening, and six were baptized in that fledging work in January. Others are very close.
Greg and Sheila Hamlin, who previously did mission work in Nigeria, moved in 2007 to help with this work.
Two native Cambodians, Chann Lork and Phnat Ooch, are doing an amazing job in developing the work and reaching a people with a tragic past but now a bright future.
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