Newsletter Articles

“¹The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

“²To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

“³To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Isaiah 61:1-3 (KJV)

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We pray all of you had a blessed Easter Celebration in the resurrection of our Lord.

The Gospel of Luke (Luke 4:16-21) tells us that at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus came to Nazareth and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read, and from a scroll He read from Isaiah 61:1-3. Then, when all eyes were upon Him, He said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:21 KJV) Read more

As a young boy, I grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. On Easter, most of the Christians would go to the Atlantic Ocean for the Easter Sunrise (Sonrise) Service. There would be thousands of early morning worshipers waiting to Praise God for another Easter and the symbolic rising of His Son Jesus Christ (Note: we were not worshiping the sun, but we were worshiping the Son). We would arrive while it was still dark and we would sing Easter Hymns while watching the orange glow in the sky until finally the orange got brighter and brighter, and finally we would see the break of the top arch of the sun on the watery horizon. We witnessed yet another Easter and the miracle of God in raising His Son from the dead. With that, the choir from several churches would sing, “Up from the Grave He Arose…” and “The Hallelujah Chorus.” Now, fast forward to a couple years ago… Read more

In keeping with our founder and our present President, as we said in February, we have a heart for the people in Southeast Asia. Before Dr. Rao died, he indicated there are over 3500 churches with pastors who live on practically nothing and walk most everywhere they go. We have had limited funds to help them previously, but the Lord wants us to help them more.

Dr. Rao, on occasion was able to put together an offering for them and that was just about what they needed for bus fare to get to a pastors’ meeting. In one meeting with 350 pastors in “ragged” clothes, most were without shoes and the ones who had Bibles had torn and tattered Bibles. They sat on the ground listening to “the foreigner” teach them about spiritual warfare and the mighty power of GOD to overcome such adversities. Read more

Passing of Joseph Britto

On the morning of April 9th (the day after Easter), we received urgent news from Pastor Arthur of the death of his Assistant Pastor, Joseph Britto, in a freak accident while working on repairs of the church van that morning. Joseph was electrocuted while doing some welding and died instantly. Pastor Joseph is survived by his wife and two young children. He was 41 years of age.

This is a subtle attack by the enemy on Pastor Arthur’s ministry and a clear example of the spiritual warfare at hand. Pastor Joseph was in charge of filming Pastor Arthur’s ministries and managed all of Pastor Arthur’s video and media for television broadcast in India. Pastor Arthur now has 25 programs, 13 minutes each, that air each week on Indian television! His church has also now reached 30,000 members! Praise GOD!

At this time, we ask for sincere prayer for Joseph’s grieving family, and for Pastor Arthur and his ministry. Only GOD’s love will heal and mend the broken hearts of the families involved, and bring to rest the enemy’s attack. Read more

This month we’d like to honor one of our devoted pastors who has been with us for 30 years as of this month. Pastor Epafras T. Acar lives in Bais City, Philippines. He went to Hawaii for an evangelistic training conference in October 1981 and was privileged to meet our founder Dr. L. Thomas Rayner, and our current President, Dr. Madison W. Patrick who was Vice president at the time. In March of the following year, Pastor Acar was invited to join SEAM, Inc. as a church planting pastor.

Pastor Acar is married to Lolita and they have four children: the oldest works in Manila and is soon to be married. The second born has left his teaching job to join his father in ministry; God has called him to plant a church in Dumaguete City, Philippines. Their daughter, who works at a call center, and youngest son, who is still in college, are helping their big brother plant the church. Read more

In my elementary school days, my father brought me during the summer to a sugarcane plantation that he managed. I plowed and furrowed the sugarcane farm and sometimes I joined the laborers in weeding and cleaning the plantation. That was my parents’ system of training me to do simple work and their way of preparing me to support myself. With the salary I received during those two months, I bought my clothes and pants, including the books and notebooks which I used at school.

My father was the administrator of the three parcels of sugarcane farmland owned by a hardworking couple. The husband was an engineer and his wife managed their two drug stores. They really trusted my father and they gave him all the workload in operating the farm. He listed all the names of the workers during the working days and also summed up and wrote their respective salaries. I know he never had dummy laborers! He showed honesty and integrity to his subordinates and to the farm owners. Read more

Shortly after the typhoon hit and caused massive damage from flooding in the Philippines, they were then struck by a devastating 6.9 earthquake. Pastor Acar has written the following:

“The recent earthquake that badly hit the northern part of Negros Oriental has created great disaster and havoc in the lives of residents in the area. One of the affected towns is the municipality of Tayasan, 90 kilometres away from Dumaguete City with a population of more than 32,000 people. According to Phivolcs this municipality was the epicentre of the recent 6.9 earthquake. Read more

“And Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 (KJV)

These verses are the greatest commandments according to Jesus. These are the heart of what we are doing in the years since the Lord started Southeast Asian Missions. Our love for GOD is shown in our obedience to the great commission: Matthew 28:18-20 says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Read more