Liên Hữu Tin Lành Baptist Việt Nam, cậy ơn Chúa, từng hồi từng lúc xây dựng những nền tảng vững chắc.  Với tinh thần tìm kiếm Chúa, cở mở và cầu tiến, LHTLBTVN đã tự nguyện kết chặt tay nhau để xây dựng Hội Thánh Vững Mạnh và phát triển Vương Quốc Đức Chúa Trời.  

Là những thành viên năng nổ trong hơn 150 Hội Thánh ở Hoa Kỳ, Người Baptist Việt Nam đang nắm bắt cơ hội Chúa ban cho để đồng công cứu người cho Đức Chúa Trời.  Cánh tay của Liên Hữu đang giang ra và kết hiệp những con người cho Đại Điều Răn và Đại Mạng Lệnh. 

Chúng ta đang vươn cánh tay về Việt Nam và muốn Phúc Âm Hóa đất nước này.  Đồng bào thân yêu đang trông chờ sự cứu rỗi từ nơi Đức Chúa Trời.  Phối hợp nhịp nhàng giữa các Giáo Sĩ, các Mục Sư và các Chuyên Gia Mỹ Việt, chúng ta, bước đầu, đã xây dựng được những thành quả tốt đẹp tại Việt Nam.

Thế hệ trẻ cũng được quan tâm một cách đặc biệt tại Đại Hội này.  Mục sư Lê Thành Toàn và các bạn: Hạnh, Lộc, Tiểu Bình, Minh & Emy đã được bầu vào ban lãnh đạo của Liên Đoàn Thanh Niên.  Tin chắc rằng các bạn sẽ đầy ơn của Chúa để hầu việc Ngài một cách có kết quả trong thời gian tới này.

Vài con số về Đại Hội

- Số người ghi danh tham dự: 1,220
- Số người tham dự thờ phượng Chúa Nhật: 1,662
- Số các em nhi đồng tin Chúa: 16; một nhân viên khách sạn người Việt cũng tin Chúa trong ĐH này
- Số người ngủ tại khách sạn: 732
- Số người báp-têm tại khách sạn: 1
- Số tiền thâu vào tại Đại Hội: $122,766.00
- Số tiền chi cho Đại Hội: $108,642.00
- Số tiền còn lại cho Liên Hữu: $14,124.00

Contrast Self-Righteous Service with True Service

I see on the chapel speaker calendar that Richard Foster is scheduled. He is one of my favorite writers and in his volume entitled Celebration of Discipline, he has a chapter entitled “The Discipline of Service.” Let me share his thoughts as he contrasts self-righteous service with true service.

Self-righteous service comes through human effort.
True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside.

Self-righteous service is impressed with the “big deal.”
True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service.

Self-righteous service requires external rewards.
True service rests contented in hiddenness.

Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results.
True service is free of the need to calculate results.

Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve.
True service is indiscriminate in its ministry.

Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims.
True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need.

Self-righteous service is temporary.
True service is a life-style.

Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive.
True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it.

Self-righteous service fractures community.
True service, on the other hand, builds community.

Source unknown

When God opens the door: A New Opportunity in Vietnam

Timothy Tran

 SEATTLE.  When it comes to God’s salvation, there are no doors can be kept closed if God wants to open them and God is opening doors in unexpected places.

In the past ten years, Pastor Bob Roberts of Northwood Baptist Church in Texas has frequently visited Vietnam as a social worker. During those visits, Pastor Roberts has built up trust and confidence with the Vietnamese government. He has helped many children of Vietnamese officials to study abroad; this will expose them to the message of Christ.

In last May, God linked the World Baptist Alliance (WBA), Vietnamese National Baptist Fellowship (VNBF) in the U.S. and the Vietnamese government. The fruit of this long labor was a meeting in Saigon last May between WBA, VNBF and Vietnamese government’s Ministry of Religious Affair. A delegation of 500 pastors and church leaders from Baptist churches in various communities and as well as Vietnamese community had attended this meeting. As a result, the Vietnamese government agreed to recognize Baptist churches as a legal religious denomination.

With a new attitude of the Vietnamese government toward openness, it is a rare opportunity for us to make a major impact in Vietnam in spreading the Good News. This coming August, for the first time, Vietnamese authority allows Pastor Bob Roberts to organize an evangelical event at National Theater in Hanoi. In 2004, Pastor Rick Warren’s best selling book “Purpose Driven Life” was allowed to translate into Vietnamese and to circulate in Vietnam; since then it has been reprinted a second time.

Vietnam is a country with population of 85 millions people. However, there is only eight percent of them are Christians, including Catholics. This means the vast majority of Vietnamese haven’t heard the Gospel. Vietnam is ready to receive the Good News, and missions to Vietnam are in need of many God’s workers to harvest souls for Christ.

The Vietnamese Mission Board (VMB) was established in July of 2005 with the purpose of bringing Gospel to Vietnamese in Vietnam as well as to Vietnamese communities abroad.  VMB has planned to plant new churches in Vietnam and to help organizing the underground churches into a unified body. Also, the Puget Sound Baptist Association is working in conjunction with Pastor Christian Phan, General Secretary of VNBF and VMB, to establish, in the future, a Baptist University and theological seminary in Vietnam. 

Vietnam is opening up to the world. This is a tremendous opportunity for every Christian to obey Christ’s command and to bring the message of salvation into this God starving country.  Come and join with God to harvest this plentiful field.