East Is East

Commencement

Matthew Hanna — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:26:59 +0000

We are thankful that we could be present for Luke’s graduation from BJU on May 5. We actually arrived in Greenville, SC late Monday night (April 30). We spent time with our children, Luke and Rose, and enjoyed fellowship with many friends, former classmates, and acquaintances. It was hard to even walk on campus without meeting someone we knew! Being on campus and watching Luke march brought back so many memories of our own time at BJU. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit in Greenville.

Luke will be attending the first session of summer school and working on campus. Then in June he will begin his new Graduate Assistant position in the Fundamentalism File in the BJU Mack Library. His graduate courses will begin in the fall. Rose will also be working on campus this summer. Please pray for them both.

Marla, Beth and I have already begun our travels out West. We are thankful for a comfortable minivan to travel in. We are stopping with family along the way and reporting to supporting churches in the Phoenix area and in Northern California. Please pray for safety and blessing on our travels and ministry. We plan to spend about three weeks in California before heading on to Michigan where we will make our home base for the rest of our furlough. We should arrive in Michigan about July 2.

English Worship Service Suspended

Matthew Hanna — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:23:09 +0000

This is a public service announcement for those who attend, or plan to attend, our Sunday evening English Fellowship Service at Cornerstone Baptist Church, Kaohsiung (Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m.). Because our family is temporarily returning to the U.S., the English Fellowship Service will be suspended until further notice. Our last service will be held on April 29, 2012. We regret that Cornerstone Baptist Church will not be able to keep up regular English services in our absence. If you do not have a church home, we welcome you to attend our Chinese Worship Service on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. (Adult Sunday School at 9:00 a.m.).

Spring News

Matthew Hanna — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:55:09 +0000

We’re preparing for a ten-month furlough set to begin on April 30. Our spring prayer letter with news about recent events at Cornerstone Baptist Church and our upcoming travel and ministry plans in the US may be read here.

We have also posted some new photos of our ministry on Picasa. You may view them here (or find the link down the left sidebar).

Hanna Ministry Featured

Matthew Hanna — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:13:07 +0000

Our family and ministry are featured in the spring issue of BMM’s quarterly publication, Advance!, in an article titled “Passion for God.” You can read this publication and article online here (see page 4 to find us).

Spring is here!

Matthew Hanna — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:40:42 +0000

As you can see, there has been nothing new posted here for several months. Things have been rather hectic for me with ministry, travel, and studies. In November I traveled to Cleveland for meetings with our mission agency. December was filled with ministry for the holidays. In January I spent two weeks in South Carolina to take another course in my doctoral program at BJU. (It was great to be around my two college kids for a while!) February was occupied with finishing 8 class papers (!) for that course. In early March I again traveled to the US for more meetings with my mission agency. Of course, it should go without saying that all of these events were organized around continuing church ministries here at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Kaohsiung.

Our next big event is furlough coming up at the end of April, so things will not be slowing down at all for us. We plan to fly to Greenville, South Carolina on April 30 to watch our son, Luke, graduate from BJU. That will begin a 10 month furlough in which we will travel from coast-to-coast and report to all of our supporting churches, Lord willing. Most of those meetings are already scheduled. We will also be helping our youngest daughter, Beth, begin her college career at BJU in August, and Rose will begin her second year there.

We are arranging for several different couples or individuals to replace us in the ministry here, during the time of our furlough. Please pray for the church to be stable and grow while we are gone.

To celebrate the arrival of spring (at last!), here is a revision of one of my earlier poems for your enjoyment:

Spring Morning

A symphony outside my window plays
And gently draws my drowsy eye to gaze
Upon a patch of leafy limbs and sky
And then some cheerful finches by and by.

Creation lifts its daily hymn of praise
To greet the sun’s first slanting burnished rays
Which dart and bend through branch and leaf and pane
And creep until my coverlet they gain.

The dust motes revel at the reveille
In soft beams playing on the wall for me,
Where freakish shadow figures say the time
And bid me to arise by pantomime.

by Matthew W. Hanna

© 2012 by the author

Winter Prayer Letter

Matthew Hanna — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:41:40 +0000

Our winter prayer letter is now available here. Or, go to our Prayer Letter page to view it.

School Evangelism

Matthew Hanna — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:50:28 +0000

Click on the image for more pictures

This year the Lord opened the door for us to enter two different elementary schools to present the Christmas story. In all, we sowed the gospel seed in the hearts of about 450 students in 15 different classes. It was also a training opportunity for many of our people. About 10 different individuals from our church congregation came at different times with Matt and Marla to help with song leading, question and answer time, and distributing the gift packets to the students.

This year’s opportunity came through an American teacher who attends our Sunday evening English fellowship service. She was able to introduce us to the Chinese teachers with whom she co-teaches to get us an invitation into her classrooms. We are thankful for the open door that this provided for us. Because of the religious nature of our presentation, we carefully inform the teachers beforehand about the content that will be presented and the materials distributed to the kids. There was still one complaint from an outside supervisory teacher about the materials in the gift packet, but it was not enough to stop or hinder our work.

The 12 Days of a Missionary Family’s Christmas

Matthew Hanna — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:16:46 +0000

What does Christmas look like for missionaries in Taiwan? Although Christmas is a busy time of year for churches everywhere, it is especially so for us in Taiwan. Here Christmas provides us with unique opportunities to evangelize our community and offers local Christians a chance to celebrate Christ’s birth in the midst of a culture in which Christmas is not an observed or recognized holiday. We thought you might find it interesting to consider what is spread on our Christmas platter this year. Actually, these activities began at the beginning of December, and please don’t hold me to the exact numbers in every case, but you get the idea!

On the Twelve Days of Christmas there were . . .

12 Classes in 2 different public elementary schools in which to teach the Christmas story,

11 Sermons (or Bible School classes) to prepare (for regular and special church events),

10 Days of Homeschool Classes to supervise (Marla) and complete (Beth) in the midst of all the other activities (actually its more like 20 days of classes in December!),

9 Personal Conferences for planning, organizing, counselling, discipling, etc. (in reality who could count them all),

8 Nations containing 100+ churches, friends, or family members to whom to write personal Christmas cards and greetings,

7 Choir Practices (or program practices) to attend,

6 Floors and 3 Christmas trees to decorate in our church and home,

5 Family Members, 2 of which are on the opposite side of the globe, for whom to buy, wrap, and send Christmas gifts,

4 Christmas Fellowships, Parties, or Pot-luck Meals to plan for, prepare for, and/or participate in (lots of baking, gifts to exchange, and cleaning up),

3 Days of Christmas Celebrations (Saturday- Christmas Eve church program; Sunday- Christmas worship service and activities continuing through the evening; Monday- our own home celebration with family and friends),

2 Cultures to balance, each practicing differing Christmas customs and traditions,

1 Savior who is the reason for it all and who makes all the activities worthwhile and meaningful.

In the midst of it all we wish to say, from our family to yours:

Merry Christmas!

Angels We Have Heard On High

Matthew Hanna — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:35:44 +0000

Elizabeth Hanna

Special Music: December 4, 2011
“Angels We Have Heard On High”

Time: 2 minutes and 3 seconds

[See post to watch Flash video]

The video player should appear above this text. To begin the presentation click on the arrow in the center of the video player.

Here is a version suitable for playing on your computer: Download Now!

Discipleship 101

Matthew Hanna — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:03:49 +0000

After the baptismal service in September in which several people were baptized, and because many others in our congregation have never received any basic instruction in the Christian life, we recently started up a new Sunday School class to provide discipleship training. As we meet together each Sunday morning to study, we attempt to impart both critical information and practical skills which will equip these new or untaught believers for spiritual life, stability, growth, and usefulness. Although this type of teaching is much more effective when carried out in a private setting with an individual or couple, it is not always possible to do it this way. We are still trying to train and equip more of our mature Christians to take a larger role in this area of discipleship training.

There are 11 or 12 people attending this Sunday School class which is held in our own living room. It is an exhilarating experience to participate in the process of building up new believers. Their questions about the Bible and about life are a reminder that we are not dealing with abstract principles or theories, but with practical reality. It is a challenge to simplify truth without trivializing or minimizing it. And we are constantly challenged to relate doctrinal truth to the real life issues to which they apply. Please pray for these new believers–the future workers and leaders of the church–and for us as we teach.

For those interested in using our discipleship materials in English-Chinese format, go to our Disciples Sourcebook page on the drop-down menu under RESOURCES >> BIBLE STUDY MATERIALS.