The following is a testimonial received from Tommy Smith, Church of God Regional Superintendent of the Southern Pacific to General Overseer Mark Williams:
Shalom Dr. Williams!
With this email I am delighted to share with you and World Missions that yesterday in Hong Kong, I baptized 16 new converts to Christ, as part of the ministry of our Cornerstone International Church of God congregation there under Pastor Danny Villa.
Stepping into the very cold South China Sea to assist me in this ocean baptism were Brother Eugene and Brother Raymond, both of whom, who had just the night prior passed the exhorter exam. It was a great day for everyone.
Prior to the actual water baptism, each of the 16 candidates shared their personal testimonies. Two of these persons confessed to being part of “spiritism” (which I understand is the worship of evil spirits) in the Philippines.
One of these two ladies explained that she never knew much about Christianity or the Bible. But in early January she started visiting our church. One of the first things she noticed was this church was promoting a program about the importance of reading the Bible everyday. Since she had never read the Bible, so she thought why not? Not long afterwards she received Christ as Lord and Savior as she read the Bible!
I am thankful that in Hong Kong, and across the entire “Southern Pacific” regional superintendency (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore) and also here in Indonesia, that many of our people are fully engaged with daily reading of the Word of God. Although many church folks were already Bible readers, it is clear from the testimony above that the READ INITIATIVE is bearing new precious fruit in Hong Kong.