On the second and last day of the OMF conference, April 30, they offered workshops for those who wanted a piece of extensive training on how they could serve God through Chinese-related vocational work.

The workshops included:

A - Hong Kong & Macau by James Taylor IV

B - Medical Services International by Dr. Matthew Koh

C - Taiwan Tensions: Spiritual Needs Among the Working Class by Paul and Dr. Mary Jeanne Buttrey

D - Praying Powerfully for Chinese by Luke Lee

E - Befriending Your Mainland Chinese Neighbors by Dr. Doug Vavrosky

F - Grasping God’s Call by Dr. David and Vivian Leung

G - Training for Chinese Service: Morrison Center by Dr. Tim Frazier

H - Lessons From the Church in China by Dr. Brent Fulton

I - Reaching China’s National Minorities by Peter Kim

J - Serving Chinese in Diaspora by Eugene Choi

In one of the workshops led by Dr. Brent Fuller, entitled “Lessons from the Church in China,” his emphasis was placed on educating the attendants with knowledge of the right and wrongs of how to serve God through the experiences of the developing churches in China.

Throughout history, the trend was always that the church kept growing. At many intervals, the believers saw the healing of the Chinese people through the promises of God.

Toward the end of the lesson, a heart rendering video of testimonies of Chinese Church Leaders was shown. Moses, who was persecuted for 23 years, cried out to the Lord in pain and shouted with confusion, how is he glorifying God in such a tortured image.

He heard a voice softly say, “My grace is sufficient for you,” it was repeated a second time, “My grace is sufficient for you,” and then thirdly and more gently, he heard a voice lastly say, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

When Dr. Fuller ended the lesson, one of the solutions that he suggested was to join in one body of Christ.

At about noon, a highlight in the OMF program was testimonial videos, where attendants were able to watch the faith of the people in Asia, and the changes that occurred in their lives when they accepted Christ. There were two tapes available.

In another, very important workshop, “Hong Kong & Macau”, James Taylor IV spoke about Macau, which means City of God. He stated that there were, presently, about 50 missionaries in Macau, and that their goal is to dispatch even more.

The challenges facing the Chinese churches in Macau are gambling issues. Mr. Taylor gave the statistic that in 2008-2010, Macau’s economy will be related to gambling, directly or indirectly, in some way. Currently, there are 19 casinos that run a 24 hour shift.

Furthermore, James Taylor stated that there is a shortage of full-time pastors and workers who can support the church financially, most likely due to the fact that less than 1% of Macau residents are Christian.

Taylor posed the question, “How do we take the gospel to these places?” He suggested many ideas, but overall the solution was sending more missionaries in the form of tutors or of educators.

After his lecture, he spoke with GP, and stated proudly in fluent mandarin, that it is important, especially in missions, to speak in the mother tongue of the people being saved.

OMF is offering short-term to long-term missions to Asia, with proper training. In addition, the vision of OMF is, “Through God’s grace we aim to see an indigenous biblical church movement in each people group of East Asia, evangelizing their own people and reaching out in mission to other peoples.”

Don Wong, an attendant of the OMF conference from San Francisco, stated that he was serious about supporting the missions in China, and that he would either support the mission here or go overseas to reach the un-reached.

OMF Bay Area Conference: Serving Christ in the Chinese Century" (Day 1)

Serving Christ in the Chinese Century - Photos