Kenny & Genny Burns
Missionary Update
June 16, 2008
Dear Missionary Support Team,
The first half of June has been wonderful at Celebration Church. Since classes have begun in the various colleges, seminaries, and universities in Davao City, we have had to compress most of our outreach ministries into Saturdays and Sunday afternoons, so the weekly average attendance at Celebration city-wide ministries was only 1,529 but 87 people prayed to receive the Lord Jesus!
Five of our "pastors-in-training" preached their first sermons during the past two weeks. Three more young men have announced their call into ministry which means that Celebration Church now has 26 Filipino pastors in its membership, and 16 of them are the product of Celebration Evangelism Ministry! Please pray for them.
On Sunday morning, June 15, 19-year-old Dado Cubelo preached during the Central Church's Cebuano Worship Service and 18-year-old Bryan Aritcheta preached during the English Worship Service. I overheard a conversation between them during which they were planning to solve a problem they had encountered. Between the two of them they had only one pair of black dress shoes, a must in this culture for any kind of public speaking, including preaching,so their plan was that Dado would preach in the black shoes during the Cebuano Service, and then he and Bryan would trade shoes between the services so Bryan could preach in the black shoes during the English Service. Fortunately, one of our adult pastors had an extra pair of black dress shoes, so the problem was solved without a "shoe exchange" between worship services.
This story illustrates the fact that we need to financially support the Filipino pastors who are so vital to the growth of Celebration Church. Please prayerfully consider adopting one of our pastors as a mission project for your church, Sunday school class, youth group, or missionary society. We are asking the Lord to provide $100 per month for the support of our only full-time Filipino pastor, $50 per month for our part-time pastors, and $10 per month for our student-pastors! If the Lord Jesus should lead you to help meet this need, you may forward your support to General Baptist International, 100 Stinson Drive, Poplar Bluff, Missouri 63901, and designate your gift by writing "Burns Ministry: Pastors Support" on the memo line of your check!
Please continue to pray with us about the "financial crunch" that we are experiencing! The recession in the US economy, the 12% Philippine sales tax, the drop in the dollar/pesos exchange rate, and the Asian "rice crisis" have depleted our budget! The photo on the right is of Filipinos standing in line to purchase what they consider "very expensive" rice at a downtown open market where a governmentally subsidized outlet sells low-grade rice at a reduced price.
We have cut expenses in every way we can think of, but we have lost almost 50% of our buying power since we arrived here in April 2005,and we are now ministering to more than 1,500 people per week. As you can see we are in desperate need of additional funding. If our Lord leads you to help at this time of financial need, please forward your gift to the address above and designate it by writing either "Burns Ministry" or "Celebration Church" on the memo line of your check.
We will be in the US on furlough during July, August, and September. We will be traveling among the churches to report on the ministry and attempt to raise both additional "share support" for our personal needs and "ministry support" for the expenses of conducting the ministry. To schedule an appointment for us to report to your church, please email us at kennygennyburns@yahoo.com any time, or call us after July 1 at our stateside home in Rector, Arkansas at (870) 595-3322.
Thanks for your prayers and financial support. We are keenly aware that we could not be in Davao City in the service of our Master without you!
His for the Harvest,
Kenny & Genny Burns, Missionaries
Davao City, Republic of the Philippines
