October 2009  Vol. 2 Issue 11
header for Grace eNotes a monthly newsletter from Grace Bible Church
Mandarin Church Update
by Andy and Sophia Chan

Dr. Andy Chan, a professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at TAMU, and his wife, Sophia, have been members of Grace for decades. They began a Mandarin small group Bible Study in their home in 1999 and began Sunday worship services in 2002.

God has blessed the Mandarin Ministry at Grace, which is now in the process of becoming a new church plant. Below are a few highlights of how the Lord is moving and how you can pray for the new church plant, its leaders, and growing community of believers.

Large attendance to Fall Welcome Party!
100+ attended our Welcome Party in August. Praise the Lord!

Join us in praising the Lord for five new believers in the past fifty days! Here are some details of how the Lord worked to draw each of them to Himself:
  • Hui's mom accepted Christ as her personal Savior last month after Sophia shared the gospel with her before her return to China.
  • Gang came to College Station to join his wife Xin who is a graduate student at TAMU. They began attending our Bible Study last month and we prayed for them. They both accepted Christ last week!
  • Xuhong and her family began to attend the Mandarin service regularly two months ago and she accepted Christ last week, as well.
  • Kang is a visiting scholar who came to College Station this summer. Andy invited him to lunch, shared the gospel with him and this weekend he accepted Christ!
  • Pray for Yujiao, wife of a visiting scholar and Fei, wife of a graduate student who are studying the Bible with Sophia.
After 10 years of hosting the Friday student Fellowship at our home, we are passing our "baton" to younger faculty members: Dr. Ji, Dr. Li, Dr. Wang and Dr. Zhou. It is exciting to see God raising up new leaders to serve!

We currently average 70-80 attendees at Sunday Worship Service and many new students and visiting scholars are attending. Pray that God's Word will go out with power and conviction as we study Romans this semester. We also have many children who attend and are in need of two Sunday School teachers.

The Lord has led us to plant a church, called Grace Bible Mandarin Church, which will continue to meet in the Anderson Youth Gym. Three faculty/staff are going through the Grace Elder leader/servant training with Grace Elder Emeritus Dennis Fisher. Please pray for this training and our search for a full-time pastor.

Praise the Lord for all He has done and will continue to do through Grace Bible Mandarin Church!

News and Events

Country Fair:

Country Fair is back this year on Friday, Oct 30th (not on Halloween) at 6pm at the Anderson Gym & College Auditorium. Join us for carnival food, games, moon bounce, square dancing, and more! Volunteers are needed the week of and night of the event. Email AnnaSanders@grace-bible.org or click here for more information.

Online Giving: 
You can now give financially to Grace with the ease of online giving. Our website also will give you details about specific funds that you can give towards. Click here for details.
 
In This Issue
Mandarin Church Update
News and Events
Ministry Updates
Ministry Updates
 
Sermon Series: We are continuing with our study of Galatians.  Click here to view the schedule for the semester. 

Children: Children's Ministry will be sponsoring Operation Christmas Child gift boxes this November.  Watch for more information soon!
 

Youth:
Jr High Lock In!  7th & 8th graders from both campuses. Anderson Gym. Oct 17-18th, 10pm - 7am. Cost is $5 and friends welcome!
  
College: Fall Retreat with speaker Ben Stuart is Oct 16-18th. It's not too late to sign up! Go here to sign up.
 
20/30 (Singles): Come join us at our Fall Retreat on Oct 23-25th at the Cooper's. Cost $25. Register by Oct 22nd. Email DavidCooper@grace-
bible.org for details.

Women: Spring Retreat Preview Thursday, Oct 22nd, 7pm. Come "C" spring retreat plans - Coffee, Cookes, retreat speaker Christine Hoover, and a Chance to get involved. Email LisaSledge@gmail.com for more info.

Men:  Save the date for 2010 Men's Retreat: Feb 5-7th @ Frontier Camp. Integrated with adult and college men. Speaker will be Gary DeSalvo from Temple Bible Church.
 
Global Impact: Global Impact Week is Nov 13-17th. Mark your calendars now!  The focus is Faces of Faith: 15 Years of Grace is Asia. More details coming soon!
   
South Asian Fellowship:  If you have befriended anybody from India, please tell them about SAF. It is a great place to network with other Indians. Contact Pastor Joel at joelmathai@grace-bible.org for more info.

Community Outreach:  Youth Impact's high school leadership program will be starting this week. They will be going through Essentials and Ephesians.

Mandarin Ministry: Five accepted Christ recently! Praise the Lord! Details in eNotes main article. Finished the fourth course of Bible Training for pastors/leaders, concluding a year and a half of Bible training for co-workers.
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