I have shared that, by March of this year, a clearer picture of our ministry should emerge. This reflected the changes which both the geo-political realities and our personal move to Iowa necessitated. Over the next week or so, I hope to describe what those changes appear to mean for our future ministry together (the Edmondsons and their supporters). The description will take the form of nine communications. Although few will read all these, they will provide a public record on our Supporters Website. Following is a synopsis of what you can expect:
The Death of an Old Friend: I was asked recently to preside over the funeral of a close friend. Rather than being a somber time of intense sorrow, it was an occasion of fond reflection concerning God’s goodness and sovereign care.
Our Introduction to Toluwalase (Authority belongs to God): Deb and I are asking God to help us engage truth seekers from various religious and secular persuasions with the gospel. Toluwalase is one such precious individual.
The Surprising Demographics of Iowa: As Deb and I have asked God to help us understand how to minister to the global community in Iowa, we have been astounded at what we have found.
Our Ministry to Aakesh (Lord of the sky): The foundation of the global ministry to which God has called us is the ministry of personal evangelism with folks from other places. Aakesh is the father of a family from India.
A Strategically Positioned but Needy Church: Des Moines, Iowa is the home of a thriving global community. The Lord gave us the opportunity to speak to a church about how to develop an effective global ministry.
Continued Education and Networking: Deb and I frequently travel to Ankeny, Iowa, where I am auditing a course in Hebrew Poetry. This allows for networking with Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary.
A New Sending Church: What seemed like a bit of a problem turned into a great blessing, propelling our ministry forward.
The Ministry Plan: Based upon our prayerful investigations and activities, God has helped us develop a new ministry plan. The location is new, but the ministry remains the same—reaching people here to minister the gospel there.
Financial Support Report: With the move to a new location comes a new support estimate and an adjustment of estimated support needs.
Hopefully these communications will provide clarity of vision, and accountability of mission. We love you, appreciate you and need you,
Rather than recounting what we are doing or accomplishing, this is the time of year to be particularly thankful for our Savior, who saved us and continues to save us.
I still remember the first Christmas after I became a Christian in my third year of college. Our Savior saved me from a self-centered life, which was going nowhere. In its place was the wonder of a new life, a new direction, with many new lessons to be learned and a Savior to begin to know.
That first year, having been born again, I thought salvation meant I would be wrestling for God for many years to come. You see, I was a wrestler at the University of Northern Iowa, and had lofty goals for my wrestling carrier. My Savior had other ideas. One year after having received the Savior, I was married to Deb, going to Bible college, and Deb and we were expecting our first child, William Henery. Instead of living life for my glory, our Savior was training me to live a life for others—pleasing to God.
Deb and I are still on that wondrous journey of trusting our Savior as He leads us along and cares for our souls. Through this last year Deb and I have experienced a rerun of those first days of experiencing our Savior’s care. There have been mammoth change in our lives, which we did not foresee. And yet our Savior is reminding us to trust in Him, and we do. We know He is our portion, and the only One who is trustworthy. He leads us. He saves us. We are not able to save ourselves.
We are thankful today for the journey on which our Savior is leading us. We are thankful for our five children, their spouses and our grandchildren with whom we journey together. We are thankful that our Savior has allowed us to join Him in the building of His church and the rescuing of souls. We are thankful, that while we aren’t always sure where our journey is taking us, we are sure our Savior will lead us, and will continue to care for our souls. We love our Savior and our God. We love Him, and are so thankful,
In our last prayer letter, I wrote about the encouraging and prophetic words of Dr. Vernon Rosenau. Our God has also reminded me of an encounter I had with Dr. Jason Ormiston, a professor at Bob Jones University, pastor of a church in the Greenville area and board member of Baptist Mid-Missions. It was around a year ago, when I was visiting with Dr. Ormiston, seeking advice on how best to network with BJU for strategic globalized city ministry. He explained that because of my new responsibilities with Boston and Beyond, I should move to the Greenville area or an area like Greenville. His thinking was that it would be much easier to recruit vocational workers for Boston and Beyond if I lived closer to more potential workers. To say the least, I did not think much of his idea, being bound heart and soul to my beloved Boston. But now, a year later, the Lord has providentially led us to a place like Dr Ormiston described. Indeed, I am beginning to see the wisdom of his words. Actually, I prefer the word, networking, to recruiting,- because areas like Iowa or South Carolina, where there is a larger number of like-minded churches, makes it easier to work together in many ways to accomplish a common purpose, like ministering the gospel globally.
Last week, Deb and I visited with Elva Craig, who is looking forward to joining her Lord in heaven soon. Elva is perhaps the most effective international student worker I have ever know. In fact, she has now visited China four times, following up on disciples made in Iowa, mostly at the University of Iowa. It is comforting to know that we will be able to partially fill her shoes as we begin developing relationships with the global community of Iowa City. In fact, there is a team of workers diligently laboring in Iowa City, ministering to the international academic community. We hope we can help these servants in their efforts to disciple the world from Iowa City.
Last Sunday we spoke at Calvary Baptist Church of Dysert, Iowa, which gave us an opportunity to explain our move of ministry to Iowa. The folks of Calvary were exceedingly supportive. On Monday of this week, Deb and I met with a missions team from Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary. They will join us in Boston for a week in August. Monday afternoon we attended a fellowship of churches meeting in Des Moines where we were able to meet up with many pastors from our supporting churches in Iowa. We hope to be in all of our supporting churches in order to report on our new ministry location. Wednesday night we began to get acquainted with some of the ministry team in Iowa City. Saturday, we leave for Minneapolis where we will meet up with friends who labor in the inner city of Milwaukee. Together we will attend Family Church, where we will visit with Jason’s father, Lee Ormiston. We do this to help our friends in Milwaukee get to know the Ormistons, who have labored faithfully and effectively in the inner city of Minneapolis. On Sunday evening, we will attend the commissioning service of Jean Tsen, who is a Boston and Beyond worker. Then on Monday and Tuesday of next week, we will be attending classes at Central Seminary and be involved in a discussion concerning city ministry with seminarians. On Tuesday afternoon of next week, we return briefly to Boston. In addition to this, we continue several online meetings across the Untied States and around the world (Russia, Japan, China). As you can see, we remain fully engaged in ministry. Our stewardship remains: 10 discipleship centers in 10 cities representing 10 civilizations.
Life giving Words
After our announcement of our change of ministry location, many friends and supporters gave words of encouragement. They were greatly needed and much appreciated.
“Dear Bill and Deb: I appreciated your prayer letter outlining the changes ahead. It was transparent about your fears yet revealed such hope in Christ. It was very encouraging to me. I deeply respect what you said about ministering to your parents. It is an example I will not forget. We will continue to pray for you as you make this transition. We send our love to you.”
Another,
“In my study of Isaiah, I read this morning,
‘For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?’
It will be exciting to see what God does in this next chapter.”
And another,
Bill & Deb:
“You are doing the right thing. Thanks for your example!
Praying the Lord will bless every aspect of this move.”
Prayer Requests
Continue to pray as we form new relationships with not-yet-believers from the global community of Iowa City and Iowa University.
Pray as we get acquainted with team members in Iowa City who are already ministering on the campus of Univ. of Iowa.
Pray for a ministry team coming to Boston from Faith this summer. Pray that we are able to give them a good introduction to city ministry.
Pray for our time with the seminarians at Central Seminary of Minneapolis. We hope to explain principles of effective city ministry.
Pray for us as we seek to schedule meetings in all of our supporting churches to report and explain our move to Iowa. (I will be calling pastors in the Northeast next week and in the Midwest in two weeks)
Please pray that our churches will understand the move to be of the Lord and profitable, not only for family, but also for ministry—the fulfillment of the Boston and Beyond ministry plan.
Pray as we invite new supporters to our financial team.
“When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus”
It was early Tuesday morning November 21, 2017 that Vernon Rosenau , ( at that time, the president of Baptist Mid-Missions), stood in our doorway preparing to leave for his return trip to Cleveland. Deb and I had spent several days talking with him about the vision for ministering in globalized cities. Those were exciting, exhilarating days which laid the foundation to what was to become Boston and Beyond. As Dr Rosenau was saying goodbye, it struck me what a momentous meeting this had been. I said to Dr. Rosenau, “Now everything is going to change. He replied, “ Yes, it is, and the Rosenaus are here to tell you, it will be ok.”
You see, Dr. Rosenau’s family history is tied very closely with the history of Baptist Mid-Missions—Vernon Rosenau was a third generation missionary to the Central African Republic. During his visit he explained to me the personal pain it caused him when God made it clear that he was to leave Africa. He said tears were pouring down his face. When he told Deb and me things would be ok, he was speaking from experience. After leaving Africa, Dr. Rosenau served the Lord in broader ways and became a blessing to the whole world.
Dr. Rosenau’s words, “It will be ok”, comfort Deb and me as God continues to bring significant change to our lives and ministry. We trust that His moving in us will bring more fruitfulness, as well.
I explained to you last summer about our need to spend time, monthly, in Iowa, to care for family needs. Well, now we have come to realize that we need to spend most of our time in Iowa, which means Boston will no longer be our ministry headquarters—Iowa will be. This has been a very difficult decision, but actually, there really was no choice—God’s firm hand led us firmly 🙂 We cannot minister to the world while not caring for our parents. It is with tears we leave Boston, with hearts full of wonderful gospel centered memories. We love Boston, the ministry in Boston, and our fellow warriors of the International Baptist Church, who will be greatly missed. There is no choice, however. As you can tell, the pain is real, and we could use your prayers.
At the same time, we are excited as God is beginning to show us the rest of the story. Laying aside the ministry responsibilities of Boston allows more focus on other areas of City Ministry. (Boston will remain an intricate part of the ministry, but at some point a name change from Boston and Beyond may be in order). Let me give you a glimpse of what we see God doing. I can do so by using the main points regularly presented as the Boston and Beyond (City Ministry) Plan.
We will have a new location, but are bringing with us 40 years of experience in missions, local church ministry, teaching, evangelism, and city ministry. Our desire is to use this experience to help prepare and launch qualified missionaries into strategic cities, globally. We hope to prepare these individuals to do what God led us to do—inhabit a global city in order to minister the gospel to the whole world.
The Plan:
Build the Church—The International Baptist Church (IBC) is far from self-supporting, but it has a gifted core of people who are equipped to do the work of ministry. They know what I know, and with prayer and arduous labor, they are able to complete the task. Deb and I will continue to recruit interns, vocational workers, and tentmakers for the IBC of Boston.
Evangelize the Nations—Evangelism has historically been our strength and passion. Our house is 20 minutes from Iowa City, a global community and home to the Univ. of Iowa, where we will have ample opportunity to develop relationships, which will hopefully become Bible studies, and then believers in Christ. Iowa City is much smaller than Boston, with a fraction of the global community of Boston. However, with the limited time Deb and I have to give to the evangelistic stewardship of the globalized city initiative, Iowa City will be fine.
Recruit the Workers—This is where I become excited. The Midwest is an awesome place to recruit workers, with a strong number of like-minded churches, a solid Bible college, as well as two sound theological seminaries within driving distance. This will make it much easier to build the foundation we need for Boston and Beyond—City Ministry. Iowa is a plus for those reasons.
Selecting the Cities—This involves studying cities, looking at statistics (demographics), and visiting them personally. This is as easily done from Iowa, as it is from Boston. O’hare Airport works as well as Logan 🙂
Launch the Teams—Deb and I entered Boston more than 20 years ago with a vision for the city, but with little knowledge of how to minister in the city. We still have much to learn, but what we have learned, we hope to deliver to others who have a God-driven passion to enter the globalized cities of our world. We believe we can provide some guidance for succeeding in the city. By God’s grace and omnipotent power, we will find the cities, advertise the cities, recruit the workers and help them flourish in their God-appointed city.
So, God is still on His throne and our Savior is still building His church, and Dr Rosenau was correct: It will be ok.
Missiologist Roland Allen
“Paul thought in terms of regions rather than cities or villages. Paul established discipleship centers from which the gospel could travel to the surrounding regions, and he considered his work finished when he had finished establishing these discipleship centers. So when the discipleship centers, which were to carry the gospel out to the world of Paul, were finished, Paul had finished the race.”
From my thesis GLOBAL-CHURCH PLANTING WITHIN THE MOBILE ACADEMIC AND IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES OF THE BOSTON METROPOLITAN AREA [found on www.interglo.org , link: The Plan—bottom of page. (pg. 117)]
It is a new year with new challenges, along side old and reliable promises. “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” In addition: “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations…. And lo, I am with you always…”
I am reminded of Joseph who victoriously served in a less than democratic administration:-). It was through Joseph that God preserved the people who became Israel, from whom the Savior came. I also think of the Apostle Paul who ministered under the tyranny of Rome. It was this, the Apostle to the Gentiles, who by the sovereign hand of God, was taken as a prisoner to Rome. From the geo-political center of Rome the Gospel was able to travel globally. Finally, it was the faithful Baptist missionary, Adoniram Judson, born not long after the Revolutionary War, who served the Lord during the time of the War of 1812, dying not too many years before the Civil War, who served under a Nebuchadnezzar-like ruler in Burma. He lost two wives, several children, and many missionary colleagues while serving there. Burma also claimed Judson’s life, as well. Yet, he was instrumental in opening Burma to the Gospel, a place missionary William Carey advised him to forget, believing it was beyond hope.
Joseph, Paul, and Adoniram Judson, did not allow the politics, plagues or hardships of their day to stop them from faithful and victorious service. Instead, they joined God in His sovereign dealings in order to accomplish His will.
By God’s grace and almighty power, Deb and I are endeavoring to follow the example of Joseph, Paul and Adoniram. Below you will find some to the ways in which we believe God is leading us:
We will continue to ask God for wisdom to discern how He is working to build the body of Christ in the city. One thing we are sure of, God is working His plan. Therefore, exciting days are ahead. It is our responsibility to discern His plan and join Him.
We will be aggressive, but wise, as we minister in a pandemic-laced world. Health hazards will be taken under consideration, but trusting the Lord with discipleship opportunities will take first priority.
We will add to our online meetings/ministry additional online written material to evangelize not-yet-believers, to disciple young, not fully formed believers, and to mobilize individuals to serve in cities. (The Lord willing, Deb and I will write more about this in a future prayer letter.)
Praises and Prayer
The Boston and Beyond team is on the move: Our colleague, Jean Tsen, is finishing up her deputation ministry and is now working towards moving to Boston. Please pray for the many details as she does so. Megan Mullins is raising support to come serve with Boston and Beyond as an intern. Andrew Eddy is getting married in February and will hopefully start deputation soon. The International Baptist Church is small but with an abundance of leadership potential. We are in regular communication with those international individuals who were once in Boston. The church continues to minister to them as well. I (Bill) will be speaking to students interested in missions at Faith Baptist Bible College on February 8.
There are other important strategic ministry plan adjustments that will be shared in future communications. But for now, our most important prayer request is for wisdom and discernment to serve effectively in a Covid-filled and geopolitically-challenged city environment.
As we seek to join our Savior, we are hopeful our most fruitful ministry years are yet ahead. Thankful for you, to be serving with us,
Bill and Deb
The goal of Boston and Beyond a globalized city initiative (B&B) is to obey the Savior by joining Him in the fulfilling of His command to disciple all nations. We believe this is possible for two basic reasons: 1) Jesus has all authority, and He has promised to help those who surrender to do His will. 2) The Savior has providentially prepared globalized cities, places where the nations can be discipled, both locally and globally.
Thank you for your nudge, reminding me that it is time for a Boston and Beyond update. It would be helpful to do so, (nudge us), in the future as well. Many a time prayer letters are built upon personal correspondence–seems more natural that way, and easier to write. As you will see, I am using your nudge to write my prayer letter.
I can characterize what is happening in Boston and Beyond, a globalized cities initiative, with the phrase, slowdown,in order to speed up. In some ways, it seems like things in our life and ministry have slowed down. Each step forward seems to take more time. It’s kind of like walking a mountain trail rather than a city street. (It’s a good thing; we love mountain trails.) Recruitment, internships and deputation takes lots of time, so while very good progress is being made, it seems to be one slow, methodical step at a time. Forming teams and making plans to travel as teams is also not done quickly. Because efforts are spread in several areas, evangelistic relationships and Bible studies also take longer to develop, which means results take longer.
Yet, we are sure of the Lord’s leading, and confident that in the end, much more will be accomplished in the pursuit of the Great Commission, the building of the body of Christ globally:
1) We have many great gospel-centered relationships. Some of these are related to our work with Urban Peaks, which is a non-profit secular organization which raises funds to help kids take a step up. (Rock climbing is leveraged to help underserved kids have an opportunity to learn living skills by climbing.) We view this as an authenticating ministry, demonstrating our desire to help people, in general. This work forms the environment for gospel ministry. It helps the climbing community (and others) know that we don’t just proselyte, but that we are concerned for the whole person–for people in general. We do this because we understand that the Bible teaches us that all are made in the image of God, and therefore, valuable. That God views every person as of inestimable worth is made clear by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Working with Urban Peaks and the climbing community takes time–seems slow, but it is producing opportunities.
New friends are coming to our home, even to church. And, by the way, the rock-climbing community is a tight- knit global community. Working for Urban Peaks may be an excellent way to travel to other major cities, even in countries that do not allow ministers to travel. In a culture that is post-Christian, Urban Peaks is a gift from God.
We also are developing gospel relationships in our centrally located Boston neighborhood called the South End. We live in an owner-occupied apartment building, where I have become a trustee, which means I am partially responsible for overseeing the operations of the building. As in all things, Deb works closely with me in this, and by doing so, the Lord has helped us form many friendships, some of which have developed into more “sharing of life” relationships. These kinds of relationships produce gospel sharing opportunities. Again, none of this happens quickly, but the relationships, which are being formed will eventually accelerate the building of the body of Christ, globally. After all, Boston is a global community, and we live right in the middle of that community.
As you pray for us, also remember that we have a Friday night evangelistic Bible study. This study happens in our studio, and our desire is that it will include folks from all parts of the world. We also have a Bible study on the campus of Northeastern University on Wednesday nights. This study is inhabited by young Christians who desire to invite friends who are not yet Christians. Our desire, again, is that it will develop into a time when the nations gather to hear from God’s Word.
2) We also are continually trudging up the mountain, slowly gaining new heights as we work at recruiting workers for Boston and Beyond. Next week, Deb and I will attend the Refresh Conference at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary. While there, we have at least two meetings with prospective workers. It seems so cold calling made-in-the-image-of-God people “prospective workers”. Actually, we consider each person who shows interest in working with Boston and Beyond, as an interesting human being who may join us, and be used of God to minister the gospel to a global community.
Currently there are two individuals raising funds to work with us in Boston. Part of our stewardships is to encourage them as they move through the arduous journey of support raising. One way we do this is by staying in contact with each one and by hosting a regular online video conference where those interested in Boston and Beyond are able to share their burdens and praises. Our time of prayer and fellowships has become a great blessing to all of those involved. Not everyone who attends are planning on becoming a missionary with Boston and Beyond, or even living in Boston. But all these folks believe in the concept of ministering in the city as a conduit to ministering the gospel to the world. So, we meet together, encourage each other along life’s journey, and we pray for our world.
3) As I write this, Deb is across the studio in the kitchen preparing food for our Chinese New Year celebration to be held in our church facility in East Cambridge. Later this afternoon, we will pack up Deb’s lamb dumpling filling, head across the street to the Back Bay, subway station and take the Orange Line across the Charles River from Boston into East Cambridge. The work of building our local manifestation of Boston and Beyond, the International Baptist Church, a Christian orthodox association, continues. Our ministry responsibilities in this regard are varied and complex. We seek to nurture, encourage, counsel, work, whatever it takes to help our fellowship become what it needs to become, as the foundation for globalized cities church planting. The work is slow, and we need to make progress more quickly. It is important that Deb and I do a good job of evangelizing and discipling through baptism. We also must be successful at recruiting laypeople and tentmakers to become part of our church family–this is essential. Most of our disciples end up leaving Boston, as we planned, but these do not make a good foundation for a self-supporting church. We need mature, flexible, qualified workers to come and live/work with us in Boston–again absolutely essential.
4) Deb and I have the potential opportunity of traveling to at least three international urban centers/cities over the next year. Two of these are in places that are not open to Christianity. All three have great potential for Great Commission ministry. As the Lord leads and enables, we will be helping young believers be faithful in cities to which they have returned. In other places, we will be learning about new areas of opportunity and hopefully developing ministry relationships with the body of Christ in those cities. One step at a time, up the mountain path, slowly ascending, but in the end, the ministry will peak:-)
5) There are other very important things going on that are both difficult to describe and unwise to share. All I can say is that God seems to be moving in fascinating ways, which may result in accelerated ministry. Confidentiality is mandatory here, but after having been co-laborers with some of you for over thirty years, or longer, I think you can trust us when we say, pray for these undefined, unfocused requests. We need wisdom, patience, and, above all, increased Godliness. Climbing the mountain includes looking into mysterious fog-shrouded canyons.
6) We do have needs. Firstly, after we leave for Iowa next week, a construction crew will be installing a loft in our studio. Since we live in 310 sq. ft., every inch gained is helpful. The construction and related cost will be around $6,000.00. Secondly, our traveling for Boston and Beyond is expensive and gifts towards our traveling/passage fund would help us. Thirdly, we always need to maintain our monthly support needs and are, therefore, on the lookout for new financial partners. We are not actively pursuing deputation meetings, but if a church shows interest, we would be excited to present Boston and Beyond to that church family.
7) Finally, many of you gave special gifts to us at Christmas time. Thank you so much. The gift is helpful, the charitable heart is life-giving.
Things seem to have slowed down so that we can speed up. We are ascending a rough upward mountain trail, but the view from the top will be…. In the case of Boston and Beyond, it will be ten thriving discipleship centers/churches in ten cities ministering to ten civilizations the gospel of Jesus Christ. These will be places where all sorts of people find shelter, the rich and the poor, the educated person and the simple man, the sophisticated and the addicted, folks from all places and of all ethnicities—a little bit of the kingdom in the church.
