Boats in the harbor at Daru Island, Western Province, Papua New Guinea

I have just returned from my 2018 Missions Trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australia. I believe I can honestly say that in my 38 years of ministry I have never seen God’s Hand upon a ministry or bless a group of meetings like I saw Him do on this trip. When traveling to different cultures in a distant land it is often difficult to be able to connect with the people for whom you are preaching. Language barriers, culture, race, and even age can be a tremendous hindrance to effectively communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before we left on this trip we asked God’s People to pray specifically for several things;

Pray that the Word of God may have free course,
Pray that we would be delivered from opposition,
Pray that our ministry will be accepted by the Saints.

Each of these prayers were answered in a very obvious way. From the very first service God knit our hearts together with the people and the Word of God was delivered and received with great power. I would like to say a big “Thank You!” to those who prayed for me as I traveled to these locations and for God’s blessing and power upon the meetings. I also would like to express my gratitude to those who contributed financially to this project. As with any missions trip or project there are always unexpected expenses and difficulties and this trip was no different. (We were faced with an extra expense of $1,500 getting the Bibles & books from Australia to PNG due to the excessive weight.) In the following paragraphs I will attempt to relate to you the details of God’s blessing and working among the people of Papua New Guinea and Australia.

San Diego, California

Lighthouse Baptist Church, Lemon Grove, CA

Before my flight to Australia I spent a few days in San Diego, California with friends from Lighthouse Baptist Church and attended the services there. We served at this church from 2003 to 2011. During that time we experienced a very fruitful ministry and I was blessed to meet with many families that were in our ministries there. Many of the dinners at their homes turned into Bible studies as they asked Bible and ministry questions. I was then able to preach during the Singleness of Heart (Young Singles) Class at Lighthouse. I am so thankful for the wonderful years serving there and the fruit that remains from those good years.

Brisbane, Australia

My flight to PNG brought me through Brisbane, Australia. I was extremely blessed to attend the Sunday morning service at Good Shepherd Baptist Church, Brisbane, Australia. It was a joy to hear Pastor Nathan Lloyd preach and to be with the wonderful people at Good Shepherd. We had a special treat in that our friend, Missionary Wayne Sehmish and his wife were in the services that Sunday. He is the former pastor of Good Shepherd and is now a missionary to Thailand. He has been greatly used in my life and that of our family when he preached at the Leadership Conferences at Lighthouse Baptist Church. I was then privileged to preach at Good Shepherd for the evening service. God met with us! I had great liberty in preaching and the altars were full. What a joy to preach at this great church. I was hosted by Evangelist Paul Haycock and his family.

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

On Monday, June 25, I flew to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to preach for Pastor Tau Abary at the Youth Quest 2018 held at Shalom Baptist Church. Youth (aged 12-25) came from 11 different churches from all around the country. One church group walked for two days through the bush and then travelled another 8 hours by bus to get to YQ. (When was the last time you worked that hard to get to church?) The youth and their workers stayed on the church property making the meeting feel more like a youth camp than a youth conference.

This meeting had the touch of God on it from the very first service. Three preachers spoke during the week; Missionary Jason Russell, Pastor Steven Rabona, and myself. I preached three times a day, a morning combined session, men’s split session, and evening service.

We saw an unusual number of teens at the altar in every service. Often, there were considerably more people at the altar than in the seats during the invitation. During the Wednesday morning men’s split session, 33 young men surrendered to do “whatever God wants for their life.” There were several men who surrendered to a specific call of God to the ministry. Pastor Abary has also reported that 32 young people have started attending his new discipleship class. One of the amazing things about this meeting is that the adults, parents and workers, responded to the altar calls as much as the youth. Several prayer meetings and testimony meetings have been held for the young people to testify and encourage one another to keep their commitments.

Friend Day Service - 6 Mile Bible Baptist Church

Friend Day crowd at 6 Mile Bible Baptist Church in Port Moresby, PNG

On July 1 I spoke in the Sunday Morning Service at 6 Mile Bible Baptist Church, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea for Pastor Paul Lahari. This was their “Friend Day” and the people had done a wonderful job inviting people for this big day. There were 315 people in attendance, including approximately 50 visitors. I preached on “The Three Crosses of Calvary.” The altars were full during the invitation and we saw seven people come to know the Lord as Saviour! Pastor Lahari is a wonderful pastor with a tremendous influence in the area. What a blessing to be with Pastor Lahari and this great church.

6 Mile Bible Baptist Church exterior.jpg

Shalom Baptist Church

Pastor Tau Abary and Dr. Doug Brandenburg

During the Sunday Evening service I was back at the Shalom Baptist Church, Boroko, Papua New Guinea. This was a wonderful victory service where we rejoiced in all that God did during the Youth Quest. I had great liberty in preaching and once again the altars were full during the invitation. Please pray for Pastor Abary as he had a stroke in January of 2018 and is still recovering. He has limited mobility and diminished use of his right arm. He is an incredible pastor with over 20 years of experience.

Daru, Western Province, Papua New Guinea

On Tuesday, July 3 Missionary Jason Russell, his son, Titus, and I traveled to the island of Daru, Western Province, Papua New Guinea for a Tuesday - Sunday Revival Meeting at Daru Baptist Church, and an Intensive Bible Institute Course at Daru Bible Baptist School. This was a very busy week with two hours a day of Bible Institute teaching on “Heroes of the Faith” and then preaching a Revival Meeting at night. Our Institute lessons examined the lives of great Baptists and discussed what made them heroes and then made application as to how we learn from their lives. The students were amazing! They listened well and asked many questions about our Baptist Heroes of the Faith. The revival meeting was especially touched by God. We felt His presence in the services. The services were well attended and the people responded to the preaching by making many specific decisions at the altar.

Bibles and Books

One of the most important aspects of this trip was providing a large print study Bible, a Cruden's Concordance, and a copy of "Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman to the students in the Daru Baptist Bible School. These were presented during the Sunday morning service on July 8 at Daru Baptist Church. Thank you to those who donated to help provide these materials.

Missionary Jason Russell, Dr. Doug Brandenburg and the students of Daru Baptist Bible School

The Gospel Ship

Also during the week we were able to dedicate the new dinghy to be used by Brother Russell and the men from the Bible school to travel to the mainland to plant new churches in the villages. The ship was named, "The Gospel Ship" and it is sanctified for "The Furtherance of the Gospel." Praise the Lord for this great church and the work of Missionary Jason Russell. The men have already begun this "church planting" ministry.

Western Australia

Campers, staff and speakers for B.L.A.S.T. Winter Camp 2018

On Monday, July 9, Missionary Jason Russell & I travelled to Perth, Western Australia to preach the B.L.A.S.T. Winter Camp for Pastor Dala Momo and the MoongaGadu-Gu Baptist Church. The camp was held at Moorefield Point Recreational Camp. We had 30+ Aboriginal teenagers. From the very first service the young people responded to the preaching. We spoke three times a day and had many at the altar. There 8 saved during the camp along with many other decisions. On Thursday night nearly every person in attendance, both campers and workers, responded to the invitation to be a “Phurah” and make a difference by supporting Pastor Momo. It was an amazing service!

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Following the camp we travelled to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia to preach a Revival Rally at the MoongaGadu-Gu Baptist Church, on Saturday & Sunday. Pastor Momo is doing an incredible work there. He and his family left a thriving church and ministry in Papua New Guinea to begin the FIRST and ONLY Independent, Fundamental, Baptist church among the Aboriginal people of Australia. I am so thankful for men who will just answer the call of God without question or fear. His work truly is a miracle work.

Again, God gave us great liberty and people responded to the preaching. During the three services on this weekend, we had four additional salvations and many decisions at the altar. The services were very well attended and the people were receptive. I praise the Lord for being able to go to this remote place, in a different culture, and find brothers and sisters in Christ who believe like we do and practice old-time religion! The Gospel crosses all ethnic, cultural, race, gender, and nationality barriers. The ground is truly level at the Cross!!

During the Saturday night Revival Rally we had opposition from a man who came and said that "God told him to preach tonight." He had gone throughout the community and gathered a few people to come to the Community Center that Pastor Momo rents for their services. He attempted take over our service. Thank God for Brother Stephen Morrison who stepped in to handle the situation while we had church. (Would YOU mess with Brother Stephen?) God really helped us and we had amazing decesions at the altar with several salvations!

Brother Stephen Morrison and Pastor Dala Momo

I was honored to spend time with his dear family and to provide counsel to his grown children regarding dealing with ministry difficulties, pressures of being in a preacher's family, the will of God and general Christian life issues. The Lord allowed our lifetime of experience as a preacher's kid, a pastor, and the father of "preacher's kids" to provide Biblical answers to their questions and to give them a perspective that only comes from similar experience. Brother Momo has a wonderful family that are committed to the work of God and have a humble, sweet spirit. Please pray for this family as the serve the Lord.

Pastor Dala Momo, Missionary Jason Russell, Dr. Doug Brandenburg at the gold mine in Kalgoorle-Boulder, Western Australia

Thank You!

Words seem to be very inadequate to express my sincere gratitude for your prayer support for this trip and these important meetings. During the meetings and the trip there were several very dangerous situations that could have caused great problems or even put our lives in jeopardy, but the Lord protected us. During one of the morning preaching services at Youth Quest in Port Moresby I heard gun fire. Pastor Steven Rabona was preaching and I was operating the video camera at the back of the auditorium. I looked to my left, out at the street next to the church property and saw men running, turning around and shooting back up the street. I also heard someone shooting back at them. We found out later that it was the police chasing some very dangerous criminals and a gunfight broke out. We were only a few yards from the street where this was happening and had only a chainlink fence between us. God put a wall of angels around the property to protect us. God is so good! Your prayers made the difference. It was your prayers that prepared the hearts of the young people, the workers and visitors for the preaching of the Word of God. The Lord showed Himself to be mighty.

I would also like to say "Thank you" to those that contributed financially to make this trip a reality. It does "cost" something to "go into the all the world" to preach the Gospel.

Final Thoughts

As I close this report I would like to share a few observations with you. During the missions trip i was able to utilize every part of our ministry objectives:

Preach - I preached over 30 times in three countries in six different churches and in nine different settings.
Publish - We produced materials for students and provided materials to pastors and missionaries.
Prepare - I was able to teach in a Bible Institute, mentor several pastors, and provide counsel to pastors, leaders and pastor's families.

We have been asked to return to Papua New Guinea and Western Australia in 2019 to conduct these meetings again. We are planning to enlarge the meetings to include pastor and church leadership training and provide more printed materials for use in the ministries there. We would like to take others with us on our next missions trip. We invite you to begin planning to come with us! The approximate dates of the trip will be June 20 - July 20, 2019. You can come for all or part of the event. Watch our website and social media accounts for more details and dates.

Our desire is to repeat those types of events in America as well. I am available to come to your church for the following meetings:

Revival Meetings (3-day, 7-day, or longer)
Big Day/Special Day services
Intensive Bible Institute Classes (We can come to your church for a week long series of classes to cover a single topic. We have prepared the following classes:
- Heroes of the Faith
- Baptist Heri tage (What Baptists Believe)
- Soulwinning
- Christian Life 101 (basics of the Christian life)
  Additional classes are being prepared. More details to come soon!
Youth Camps / Conferences
Church Worker Conferences (Setting Sail for Church Growth Conference)
Soulwinning Workshops

Would you consider inviting us for one of these meetings in your church?
Would you allow us to come to present our ministry to your church? (Missions conferences, etc.)

Contact us today

The Embers

2018 Missions Trip Report