Church Planter Updates

Seriously, two months since my last post. We have seen some great things happening with our church planters here, so I thought I really needed to post the updates. *I'll use initials to indicate them.

PW* is leader of one large city church. There is 12 people from his church that have a hospital and prison prayer ministry. On one visit, the group met a man at a hospital who inquired of them. He was interested when they said they follow Jesus, and he invited the group with PW* to his village to share good news. 60 people showed up to hear the good news, and all were very happy hearing it. 17 people took baptism from the group, including the man that brought them to the village. PW* began sharing the things he is learning in our group and he went out and shared Jesus in 8 different places- each one is now getting discipleship and meeting for church.

RK* went to a new village and has been sharing with the people. Now, between 40-50 people are meeting for prayer and listening to bible teaching. He has been getting calls from surrounding areas for him to come and teach and pray in their village. In his home church, he has been teaching the things we are learning in our group. For years, the local church has had outside pastors come in and give baptism to new believers. Last month, because of RK's teaching, the pastor of the church gave baptism to 7 people. Now for the first time, they have taken authority to do things on their own.

CS* visited 7 new places searching for men of peace. He has found 3 places open to hearing the Gospel. A husband and wife took baptism and have been taught how to share their story to others in their village. 12 other people have accepted Christ and are ready for baptism. In his main church, there are 6 people who are coming regularly but are also doing Hindu rituals due to pressure from their families and neighbors. Pray for wisdom to handle this situation.

BG* has been doing ministry for years. He has started 6 churches locally in the last 5 months and is still going. He is also helping a friend of his with church planting. He shared the Gospel with one of his friends and his wife, and they accepted Christ. They are now meeting in their house for church. They haven't been taught about baptism yet, but BG said that is next. One of his churches came to him and asked if they should be giving money to the Lord. He said yes, but that they should appoint a treasurer from among them and then decide what to do with the money as a church.

SK* met one man of peace, he accepted Christ and took baptism. SK is meeting in his house and is discipling him regularly.

DS* is pastor of a church here in the city, as well as one of the leaders of the mission organization we're partnering with. He has had trouble with the believers showing much interest in coming regularly to church. DS has been helping with translation during our training meetings, and knows our training very well. He has started to implement things that we are teaching to make the churches healthy. He gave authority to one member to be treasurer of the offering, and when the church decided what to do with the money, they would have the treasurer do what the church decided. He encouraged the church to appoint a deacon to help organize worship. Another was appointed to organize fellowship. Now the believers are excited to be part of the fellowship, and have taken ownership of the church. They no longer depend on DS to do everything, but he has given authority to the church to function on its own if needed. Before, when he left town, the church would not meet. Now, when he is absent, the church meets on its own. This is what we want to see happen. Churches that are self sufficient and not dependent upon one person or organization to keep it going. The church is also ministering to their local community. A lady was badly injured by electric shock, and could not function for many days. The church reached out to help her during this time until she could get well. The local non-believers noticed the church reaching out in love to help this lady, and they are curious as to why they are taking such good care of her. They have been given a great opportunity to be the Light of Jesus to their community, and the members of the church are excited to do something together to help their local community.

Things have also been happening with some CPs from our last group. 3 of them are training other groups of CPs in different districts in addition to leading churches and other church planters of their own. There is much talk around the state that this method is the most practical and effective method to reach and multiply God's kingdom here. Please continue to pray for the faithful men and women who are impacting this place for Jesus.

Healthy Church

The main thing we teach our CP's is about God's purpose and goal and how we can reach them. God's purpose comes from Habakkuk 2:14- "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." God's goal is seen in two places in Revelation- 5:9-"And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. " and 7:9- "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands." So, in church planting, our purpose and goal needs to be the same as that of God. If they are different or they do not line up with God's, our plans will fail.
We teach them that the key to reaching God's ultimate goal is through healthy church. However, many church planters do not know what healthy church is, so we have to teach them and show them what healthy church is from the Bible.

1. 1 Goal and Purpose- God's Glory- The church has to have the same purpose as God- that his glory cover the earth; and same goal- that every person come to salvation. If the church's purpose and goal is not in line with God's, there is no health and the rest does not matter.
2. 2 Authorities- God's word and the Holy Spirit. This does not excuse us from other authorities as believers. In fact, we are directed by God's word to submit to authority, so we are not free from following the law. The Holy Spirit is given by God, and we know that the Holy Spirit will not do anything against God, so the church must be led by God to be healthy.
3. 3 Offices- Pastor, Deacon and Treasurer. We know from scripture- Ephesians 4:11-12- "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" The term used here is pastor, and is also seen in some translations as "shepherds." It means to give care to the believers in the church and to teach/equip them for works of service. The job of pastor is one who equips the body of believers. If 80% of the work in the church is done by 20% of the people, and much more done by the pastor, whose fault is it? It is the pastor's fault for not equipping God's people for works of service. He is to equip those to be apostles (missionaries), prophets, evangelists and even other pastors. Paul gives the qualifications for pastors in 1Timothy 3:1-7. Deacon is the second office that is needed in the healthy church. We see this modeled in Acts 6. The Apostles told the church to appoint deacons to take care of the needs of the believers. The deacons are the servants of the church, and are to take that responsibility. The qualifications for deacon are given by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:8-12. The third is a treasurer who takes care of the money taken in church as tithes and offerings. This keeps the pastor from accusation of dishonesty with the money. Also, his job is already busy enough equipping the believers; he really has no time to deal with the money. The same goes for deacons; they are busy serving the church. The church planter doesn't need to handle the money because he is probably working around other places and also might be seen as untrustworthy after handling the money. The treasurer, however, should be one who is trustworthy, but is given responsibility to hold the money. He is not the one who decides what to do with the money but only the one who holds it and gives it out at the decision of the church. We do not have any scripture references regarding the qualifications of a treasurer, but we know they are needed and we can assume that the qualifications are similar to that of deacons. Actually, we can follow Jesus' example of this. Jesus was accused of many things- being a drunkard, associating with sinners, breaking the Sabbath, being demon possessed, and even blasphemy. However, He was never accused of mishandling money. Why? He had a treasurer, though maybe not the best choice for the job in Judas! The treasurer's job is to protect church leadership from accusation. If any one of these three offices are not present, the church cannot be healthy.
4. 4 Marks of Maturity/Self Sufficiency- Self-Governing, Self-Supporting, Self-Reproducing and Self-Correcting. By Self Governing we mean that a healthy church can make decisions for itself without any outside influence, such as the church planter or missionary. Who was it that chose the first deacons in Acts 6:1-7? The church! The apostles instructed the church to appoint them, but there was no debate when the decision was made. The apostles trusted the leading of the Holy Spirit in the church to choose the right men and they left the decision to the church. They empowered them to govern themselves and it went well for them in the future when the church was scattered by persecution. A church dependent upon the apostles may have been destroyed by this troubled time. A Self Supporting church must have ownership of its function. It means that the ministry and outreach the church performs is fueled by its own resources. Acts 2:44-45, the believers had everything in common and gave to anyone as they had need. Acts 4:34-36, there was no needy person among them. People sold land and the money was distributed to any who had need. Other scripture regarding self-supporting is in Acts 11:29, 2 Cor. 9:10-15, and Philip. 4:14-19. If funds continually come from the outside, the church cannot be self-sufficient and becomes dependent upon others to provide. Also, the church never have to be taught about giving because of the support they receive. Until the church practices disciplined giving, dependence will keep the church from becoming healthy which limits the spread of the Gospel. Self-Reproducing means that the church is able to send apostles from its own body and plant other churches. The healthy church will take responsibility to evangelize its field and reproduce other churches. Paul talks about this in 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8; that they became a model to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia, and that their faith in God has become known everywhere. The church is called to be an example and multiply, and only by multiplication will the kingdom of God grow quickly. Healthy churches reproduce new believers and new churches. The last is self-correcting. A healthy church has a firm grip on scripture as its guide, and a proper use of scripture shows that health. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," Scripture must be the source of teaching and training and can be trusted for rebuking and correcting as well. Again, we can say that the two authorities of the healthy church are scripture and the Holy Spirit. Just like an infant is dependent in the early part of its life, so is the developing church. However, when the child is helped to grow correctly, it grows into a self dependent and self sufficient adult. If the early church is developed correctly and is encouraged and taught to be dependent upon itself, it can grow into a self-sufficient healthy body. On the other hand, an adult who is still dependent upon its parents to feed it and make decisions for it is silly. In the same way, an older church that is dependent upon a church planter for teaching and decision making or outside funds for support is just as silly.
5. 5 Functions of Healthy Church- Worship, Fellowship, Evangelism, Discipleship and Ministry/Service. We get these functions from two passages of scripture- In the Great Commandment, Matthew 22:37-39- "Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " From this we get three of the functions. Worship is the expression of love toward God. Anything that the church does as an expression of love toward God is worship. That could be singing, giving, praying and acts of obedience to His word. Fellowship is loving the body of Christ. Believers have two kinds of neighbors- lost people and believers. Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is fellowship, and any act of love toward our spiritual family is fellowship- praying for one another, giving to those brothers/sisters who have needs, and carrying each others burdens are all acts of fellowship. Ministry- we are also to love our lost neighbors. Showing the love of Christ through our actions and attitudes is ministry. In order for the church to be healthy, it needs to consider these acts of love as a strategic aspect of its function. In other words- serving the sick and the needy but not sharing the Gospel with them while doing this is not the function of a healthy church. God wants to draw people to Himself through our actions, but those actions need to lead to an opportunity to share Christ with the lost. Serving people's earthly needs is important, but their eternal needs must also be addressed. The last two functions are found in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20- " Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Evangelism means to go and make disciples; share the Gospel with those who have not heard. It may also be called missions. According to Acts 1:8, this can be done locally and at great distances. For a healthy church, doing evangelism/missions should be a part of everyday life. Discipleship means to teach others to obey everything Jesus has commanded. A healthy church is actively focused on moving believers forward in their relationship with Christ. The church must plan to provide tools and accountability. The five functions of a healthy church can be seen in the 1st church in Acts 2:41-47. If you look at the passage of what this church was doing, you can find the five functions happening. All 5 functions of the church should be happening for the church to be healthy. If any one of them are missing, then the church is unable to be the key to reaching God's purpose and goal.

These are the things that compose a healthy church. The basic functions are all there for church health, and all backed by scripture and examples given by God. There are some things the church should do that are not mentioned here like baptizing new believers, taking the Lord's Supper and giving. However, if the basic functions of the church are addressed, then these other functions are realized through the leading of the two authorities- God's word and the Holy Spirit. Through these, the church will see them as necessary functions as well and will do them in submission to those authorities.
I realize this has been a long post, but I felt since we have been really stressing to our church planters the need for them to plant healthy churches, that I needed to share this. Test your own church in these and see if they are happening. I'm proud to be part of a church that is doing all the above mentioned things to grow God's kingdom not only locally but globally. I am also proud to be witness to national brothers here in South Asia who are catching this vision and working within the plan of God- that they see the key to realizing God's purpose and goal fulfilled in this place is through healthy church.

Excitement

The way we do our training here, we do combined 2 day group teaching and iron-on-iron time together. This past meeting was really first with the new group. We will usually give them some action items to do before we all come together for the next training a month later. They all come back and report on how they did and how their ministry is going. In between these trainings, I have the priviledge of going to visit them in their places of work. This week I was able to visit two of our new 16 for the first time.

Yesterday, I met with A. and his family. He was eager to tell me about things since our group meeting. He is very excited about the way his ministry is going since he started learning new things. He has been doing church planting for some time, and he knows all the right terminology for church planting, but he has had no clear focus or direction for the things he has learned in the past. I was really happy to hear how he had been affected by our training, and now had a clear focus for what he is doing. We taught the group about Luke 10:1-11, in finding the man of peace in a new place. First, to pray for God to give you a new place to go, and then go to that place. The man of peace is there, God has placed him in the place he is sending you to proclaim Jesus. Well, A. has since been waking up at night feeling that God is speaking to him about new places, and he has been planning to go to these places so he can share the gospel and start new churches in them. He is really excited about having direction in his ministry. Many others have seen a difference in him; even the main leader of this group who is helping me and has put this group together has noticed the change in his attitude and how excited he is to move forward in church planting.

This is great news, and I cannot wait, as I said before to see what these brothers are going to do with more teaching. Stay tuned!

More Growth

I just received a call from D, one of the church planters in our last group. He told me that since our final meeting a month ago, the men he has been trianing have found 4 new men of peace and have started churches in those places. Also, just the other day he had a meeting with the church planters he has been training, and they have told him their goals for the next 4-5 months: between all of them they plan to see 100 churches planted! I am confident that a CPM has started with these brothers and that this place will soon be transformed for God's glory!

I'm Back!

I have to really apologize to any who check on this blog for not posting any updates or anything since May. On the other hand, thank you to those who have been checking in. Whether blog, facebook, or newsletter, I have tried to keep all of those who are praying for us and the work here informed about what God is doing. We have traveled and had much happen here during these last 2 months. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time of service here, and we have seen much fruit. Here are some updates on what has been going on:

The time with the group of 14 we have been teaching has come to an end. For the last year, we trained and equipped 14 church planters in best practices of CPM. We helped them focus their ministry on best things rather than a lot of good things. Some of the group moved slowly, while we saw several of the group catch on to the concepts, and their ministries are growing quickly. Rajesh, who was skeptical that this new teaching would actually work, was simply going to come to the meetings and hear the teaching, but continue to do what he had been doing. As time webt on, he became convicted, and felt God asking him why he was not willing to put the teachings into practice. At this point, he realized he should be doing the things we were teaching about. He decided to go find the man of peace, according to the entry strategy we had taught from Luke 10:1-11. He prayed for God to show him the place he was to start a new church, and when that place was revealed he went. As he went, he prayed to meet the person of peace that God had placed there. A man approached him and asked him why he was there. Rajesh responded that he was a follower of Christ, and he was there to share some good news. The man said to him that some time back he had received a tract talking about Jesus, and asked Rajesh if he could explain this. They went to his home, where the gospel was shared and the man accepted Christ, he and entire family! A church has started there, and people are coming to know Christ through the efforts of finding this man of peace. Rajesh has found 7 new places since February, and all are meeting for church. A couple of these new churches have already sent members out to new places and started their own churches, so we have seen growth to the 3rd generation through Rajesh's obedience! Others in the group had existing churches they have been trying to get to healthy status so that they could multiply and plant other churches. Some of those churches are responsible for sending out members of their own body and sharing Christ in a new village also. As we held our group of 14 accountable to applying the teaching to their ministry, they were also holding the leadership under them accountable to also doing the things they were taught. They were challenged to go into a new place and find a man of peace. They were also given the task of teaching all their believers how to share the gospel with others, and hold them accountable to actually share. We are proud of this group and the way they have taken the teaching and applied it to their ministry. We know that through these brothers that this place will begin to transform and that God's glory would cover this place like to waters cover the sea. So, as Paul did in Acts 20:32-38, we committed our brothers to God and the word of his grace, we prayed over them and wept together as we said goodbye, knowing fully that we had finished the task of equipping these apostles.

As we finished with this group, I have been able to take a new group of church planters, who already have existing churches, and have had multitudes of training in church planting. However, now having heard of the growth of the group we were training, one leader has brought together 16 church planters who are wanting to focus their ministry on best practices. I met with them back in June, and told them a little of what they could expect out of intense training like this. It has been modeled to me by my supervisor, and now I am equipped to do the same with a new group. I committed to teaching them the best practices of church planting, as it comes from God's word, and they committed to learn and apply these things to their ministry. We came together at the end of July in our second meeting. I asked them what is different about this training and what their expectations were of this time together. One brother said that the teaching he had heard in the initial meeting made more sense than any he had heard before. Another took what little teaching we gave and found 10 new believers, baptized them and has formed them into a church, and he has 12 more new believers ready for baptism! I am excited to see what he and the others will do with full teaching. The first 2 day meeting just ended, and they have been given tasks to do in the time between now and our next meeting and then come back and report. I will also go and visit with them in their places of ministry, to observe and encourage them in the things they are doing. Pray for this new group, that they will apply the things we are learning together so their ministry can grow and that through these brothers, like the last group, this place will be covered with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

We also said goodbye to our team members who lived in the city with us. Their 3 year term came to an end in mid-July. They will be in the U.S. for one year until their oldest is sent to college, and then return to South Asia to continue the work. We shed tears and prayed over each other as they headed back home.

Finally, as you may have read in my last post, we had originally extended our 2-year term all the way until the summer of 2010, and I had been taking seminary courses in order to apply for career IMB status. We talked with our church leadership early in the year, and they told us that they were putting together a team of families and college students and planned to send them to Bangkok, Thailand to start a missionary training school. They asked us if we would pray and consider being on the team as the ones who would focus on the church planting part of the school. The team's task is to start an international church, set up a training school that would train missionaries from anywhere in the world. We would focus them on Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim, and the training school would be a springboard for them to actually go and live in South Asia as missionaries. We would be equipping international missionaries to live overseas while training them overseas. We would also be training and equipping believers in Bangkok the principles of church planting. The students of the team would enroll in an international university and start a student ministry. We were definitely intrigued by the opportunity that our home church was offering. However, we would not be financially supported like we have been with the IMB. We would be raising our own support back home in order to live overseas. This is a huge step for us and a little out of our comfort zone! We prayed about the decision for a month. We knew we needed to make a decision fast, because the team was being assembled and will be going through their own training together starting in January 2010. We talked and we began to feel a peace about the decision. Our home church, the church God brought us to and the leadership we have been following for the last 10 years - leadership we are confident is led by God and His Word, needed our decision. We have decided to shorten our extension here in South Asia, and go home in December after I finish training the current group. We will catch up with our team in January and train together for 5 months in Atlanta. In June, the rest of the team will be sent off to Thailand, and we will go back home to TN raise support for living overseas - something our team members are doing now. We are excited about this new opportunity, and are blessed to be part of a healthy church who is setting apart and sending directly from its own body. We are confident in God's provision for our lives, and that we must simply say yes to whatever God has planned for us - because he has plans to prosper us and give us a hope and a future.

So, now I'll take a breath. We look forward to what God holds for our future. We will work hard these last 5 months before going home, so that we can say, like Paul, we have not hesitated to proclaim the whole will of God during our work here.

More updates to follow - stay tuned...

Crazy

That's what my wife thought when I felt something about going on my first mission trip half way around the world to South Asia. I had never been on a mission trip and for some reason God wanted me to go on my first one ever so far away and to a culture completely opposite of mine. I was asked to get out of my comfort zone, no matter how scared or afraid or unqualified I felt. I had a choice to make- stay in my comfort zone and ignore God's call or submit and go. Little did I know, that trip would change my life forever. I felt that God was calling me to greater things- to move my family overseas and be completely submitted, for the first time, to God's will, not mine.
It made no sense whatsoever to move my family from our comfortable home, schools, friends, jobs into the very heart of darkness and lostness of the world. It made no sense because of thinking from a worldly point of view.
God's word is full of things that make no sense from our point of view. It made no sense for Noah to build a boat for a flood when no rain had fallen on the earth yet. It made no sense for Abraham to pick up and move to a land that he had not seen yet. It was crazy for Gideon, the least of his tribe who was the least of all tribes to take just 300 men to deliver Israel from the oppression of Midian- who had over 100,000 men in their army. How could God choose David, the smallest of all his brothers to be king of Israel? God used Paul, someone who murdered Christians to be one of the models for church planting today. There are so many other examples of
The reason for all this? Did the people get glory for this? No, but for their faith in what God was going to do through them, they receive honor, and we can learn from their example. But God did it so that they could not boast in themselves, but give the glory for the outcome to Him.
So, what about us? We should be open to what God has in store for us, and trust that He will bring us through, no matter how scared or unqualified we think we are. Since 2005, when I heard the call to come to this place, I have had my hands open to God has for us- I can't possibly close them now.
So we keep our hands open to what God has for us. In the mean time, we continue on here with one more year of ministry to go.

Decisions

We have been in the middle of major elections during the last half of April and the first couple weeks of May, which has limited our travel for field time with our 14. Elections here is a very tense time. At some polling places, violence can break out. Most places, on the day of election, people of 3 or more who gather together on the street are dispersed by the authorities for fear that they may be starting a rally and planning to steal ballots or force people to vote for a particular party. In some other places, vehicles are commandeered for election purposes- and this is legal. Most times, if you get the vehicle back, it is stripped of all valuable parts. So, we have been staying safely in homes for the past 4 weeks. Now the elections are over, though the counting of the ballots is going on now.
We are in the middle of transition for us. 2 months left until we head to Thailand for our visa run/vacation/seminary class. We will be gone for almost 4 weeks, and when we come back our team members who have been here with us since we arrived will be going state-side, which will leave us here for the last year of our term by ourselves. Our team members have been such a huge help while we have been here, and have provided so much valuable experience for us here in our first term. The upcoming year will be difficult, but we know God's grace if sufficient for us. Our supervisor has mentored and modeled for me how to do things for an upcoming final year of ministry. I will take on another group of church planters from another ministry and do the same thing with them as we have done the past year. I am excited and nervous for this, but again, God will give me wisdom, as he has during this past year of ministry. I will also continue to take courses through Southern Seminary to gain enough education for career service with the IMB, and also for any other ministry that comes up that the Lord calls us for.
We are open to what God has in store for us, wherever that may be. So this upcoming year is a decision making year also. In August of 2010, we will go state-side and we will have successfully completed a 3 year ISC term with the IMB. We will have the opportunity to apply for career service, given that I have enough seminary hours to to be considered. With the economy, however, we have heard that the IMB may be cutting down on hiring for now. It has not been officially stated, but it makes sense, so we must weigh that into our decisions for the future. We know that God has called us and prepared us for this time, and He wants nothing but our best to finish what He started here. God has all things worked out, so we should not worry or be anxious. It is a great thing to be surrendered to His will, but He gave us a mind to prepare and work within His will, not be robots.
So I say this to just ask you who still read this to pray for our upcoming year of ministry. For us to stay within God's will for our lives- not our will but His be done. Pray for peace for the decisions we will be thinking of in even the next 6 months while still finishing our work strong. I promise to keep you posted.

Still Here

I am still here, but have had some major writers block, internet access block, all kinds of things keeping me from fulfilling my promise to keep posting regularly. Stay tuned, I will be back!!

Holi, Holi....HOLY!!!

We were again blessed to have a team from our home church visit us here. This is the 3rd visit since we have been here, and some have been several times before. Normally, however, we try to discourage teams from coming during major festivals, simply because it is difficult to travel, and find people who are open to hearing the Gospel in the middle of all the visiting and cooking food, etc. Our church had two college students who wanted to come, but they could only come during their spring break, which just happened to fall on the festival of Holi.

Holi, in South Asia is the festival of colors, to celebrate the coming of the warm weather. Everyone travels back to their home place celebrate with their relatives, so much is closed down during this time. The first day, people celebrate on the eve of Holi by burning giant fires around the city. Many people get drunk and sometimes it is a dangerous time to be out and about. The next day, people celebrate in the morning by putting colored dye into water and have giant water fights with each other.

All the members of the team played, and got colored nicely by the neighborhood kids- which made us all feel like kids again!

Run Away!!

They waited for us to come out, then shot. We were sitting ducks!

Defend ourselves we tried, but there were just too many of them, and they were determined!

After the color ran out, we headed for safe ground inside the house of our host.

We watched as the boys downstairs threw each other into the mud puddles, threw mud on each other as well as passers-by, then progressed to throwing dirt and ash on each other.

That evening, after washing as much of the color off as we could, we went to visit some neighbors, and low and behold, we were greated with more colors- dry this time though. We had some appointments to see some specific people and perhaps share the Gospel, but we got re-directed to a large gathering of men from the community who were meeting and they asked us to come over and visit. As we sat, the men came with hands full of colored powder which they proceeded to smear on our faces and hair.

This was a fun time, and though we weren't able to share the Gospel exactly like we expected to, we were able to pray for a household that day, and the team came away from this trip with a different perspective on life in South Asia.

We were, however, able to spend time in a house near-by that was really friendly- a perfect house of peace situation, which is what we teach our 14 (Luke 10:1-11). We sat, ate and drank what was put in front of us, which was ALOT! They were very friendly and open. The daughter of the house did mehindi on all the ladies hands.

After all the relational time we spent, we were totally comfortable sharing the Gospel. They were completely receptive, and when we asked if they wanted to accept the salvation of Jesus, they said yes. Praise the Lord! Husband, wife and son all prayed for forgiveness and accepted that Jesus died to take the punishment for their sins, and they committed to follow Jesus only. A house of peace that God can use to grow His kingdom on earth in that village. Pray for this family, as the local church planters continue to follow up with them in discipleship in order to harvest the local area and form into a healthy church. If the team just came out to share with that one family and give them the chance to accept salvation, the trip was a success.

In South Asia, we need to be careful not to knowingly participate in the worship of any other gods. A scripture that came to my mind was when Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews, I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in its blessings." The "throwing of colors" is not a type of worship for the locals so the team that came had a great opportunity to be part of the local celebration, and be one of the locals and do what they do for the sake of Christ.

It wasn't a typical trip, but we may never know how many lives were affected for the sake of the Gospel- but God knows. He was glorified, and during Holi, the team was able to put a little Holy into it!

Notes From the Field

So thank you to those who gave suggestions about the blog. I will be tweaking some things here and there, so stay tuned... Oh yeah, and no more double posts- sorry, not so used to moble-blogging yet!
In February, we had a team from one of our prayer partner churches come and visit, a second visit actually, this time with almost all who had not been out of the country even. They stepped out of their comfort zone and came half-way around the world to know how better to partner with what God is doing in this place. We visited a few of the nationals we are working with, and were able to pray for and encourage them together. We also went to some village areas to share the gospel. In this place, when there are white faces, especially from America, quite the crowd gathers around as we walk. It can be likened to Jesus having a large crowd follow Him when He was on earth. We then are able to easily share some cultural things with them, and in turn share Christ openly. We have found that relational time always opens the door to sharing spiritual things. The team was also able to share stories of Jesus with school children, and lead them in singing worship songs. One lady, who leads worship time for young children in their church, had the kids doing "air guitar" during one of the songs, and even the translator was doing it. It was really a lot of fun, and this team brought more joy to these kids over an hour than they probably have ever felt in their lives. The smiles on their faces could probably be seen from space! The team was moved emotionally and spiritually, and went back home with a changed world view. One of the couples had felt called by God to just come on this trip. They couldn't explain it, but they have been feeling that things in their life have not been right, and that God was calling them to greater things. My wife and I were thrilled to be able to encourage them during the trip, and answer many questions about our call and life on the mission field. They are in the process of surrendering to God's will and have started an application with the IMB. I would tell them to maybe slow down a little bit, but the look in both of their eyes confirmed to me that they are willing to do what God is calling them to do. The process had been ongoing for some time, and the trip here confirmed it for them.

This week, I was out in the east part of our state, a trip that takes a 10 hour overnight train, to visit some of our 14 Church Planters. These guys are doing such great work, and I am so proud to be part of what God is doing in this place. One of the guys, Nathan*, is a former Buddhist who now follows Christ in spite of being cut off completely from his family because of his faith. His mother and father have wanted no contact with their oldest son. Nathan has gone to visit them, but he has heard his own mother say "I have no son." That is heart breaking to hear. Recently, however, his mother had an accident in which she broke her leg. He went home to help and support during that time, to which his mother welcomed him, finally after about 4 years. We had been praying that God would soften his family's heart to at least let him back into contact with them. Also, recently, an uncle of his family died, and his father asked Nathan to come and participate in the worship during the 39 days of mourning. During this time, Buddhists shave their body hair, and do many other things to offer sacrifice and offerings on behalf of the deceased relative. Nathan responded to his father "I cannot do this. Jesus is my Lord, and I cannot participate in this worship." Yesterday, I read Psalm 15, and the last part of verse 4 speaks of Nathan's faith- "(He who) keeps his oath even when it hurts," This is one of God's answer to David's question of who may dwell in the Lord's sanctuary and live on God's holy hill. Many followers of Christ right here are making decisions every day that go against their parents, friends, colleagues, neighbors and even society. Can we as Americans even compare with this type of faith? We shy away from sharing our faith because we might be laughed at or mocked or cast out of the "in" crowd. I'm definitely not pointing fingers- that plank is in my eye as well. I'm so encouraged by the strength and faith of the people here- those that have counted the cost of being a disciple- and it's a huge cost, Much bigger than I could ever have imagined and they still choose to follow. It is inspiring, and it keeps me going in the committment to further God's work in this place. God is getting glory here, but that glory will be shown much bigger one day. This is only the beginning.

Suggestions

My blog needs a little help. I see by the amount of comments I've been receiving that maybe my readers may have dropped off, through no fault of my own. I started this blog 2 years ago with a bang, sometimes writing several times a week. Lately, I have only been good enough to write at least once a month (bad SAM!). I now notice that this post iis my 100th, and to celebrate this little milestone, I wanted to ask my few readers for some blog suggestions. Give me some feedback! Should I change the look? Post more?(obviously!) Any help would be welcome! For a little change, instead of waiting to get home to post, I am actually out in a village now posting from my mobile. Technology sure has come a long way! Look forward to hearing from you!

Suggestions

My blog needs a little help. I see by the amount of comments I've been receiving that maybe my readers may have dropped off, through no fault of my own. I started this blog 2 years ago with a bang, sometimes writing several times a week. Lately, I have only been good enough to write at least once a month (bad SAM!). I now notice that this post iis my 100th, and to celebrate this little milestone, I wanted to ask my few readers for some blog suggestions. Give me some feedback! Should I change the look? Post more?(obviously!) Any help would be welcome! For a little change, instead of waiting to get home to post, I am actually out in a village now posting from my mobile. Technology sure has come a long way! Look forward to hearing from you!

Change Your World View

This past week, we had our monthly meeting of the 14 we are training- a time of sharing and teaching. This meeting was probably the most meat-filled, solid life practical teaching we have had together since we have been meeting these last 6 months.

The first day, we always come together for relational time where the guys share their successes in church planting and ministry. We have seen some good growth from these guys- the kind of growth that has started from a good seed.

The second day, we taught on observing the Lord's Supper, and surprisingly many of them had some good questions- we were able to clear up their questions and confusions surrounding this sacred time that a body of believers does together. First, we asked the question of what does the Lord's Supper mean to us as believers. Then, we looked at what the Bible says about it. We all came away with a much deeper meaning of what the Lord's Supper is, and we remembered the Lord through Lord's Supper together. With this, they should be able to teach their churches the meaning of it and model it for them, so it does not lose its meaning.

We also taught on Tithing- reasons for giving, how much to give, how to give, etc. Again, many questions were raised, and we looked at scripture together to find the answers. Many times, it is easy to try to give our answers to these questions, but we forget that our authority in our lives is God and God's Word. It has been a critical time for us to instill this into these men of the importance of scripture and how it MUST guide their lives and ministry.

The last day, we brought up something we have noticed lately when spending time in the field with our guys. Our translator, who is one of the guys we are training, asked me a question about water and oil, and how many believers in this part of the world bring these things for the pastor or church leader to pray over and take them home and use them. He asked if I knew of anything in the Bible that taught on these subjects. I could only think of the passage in James 5 where it talks about the sick brother who should call the elders to pray over them, annoint them with oil in the name of the Lord for healing. I visited one of our guys soon after this, and to my surprise, while we were praying in a house, our church planter brought in a cup of water. After we prayed for the house, no one drank it and the church planter then handed the cup of water to the house owner and said something to him in the local language. It happened at another house soon after, to which I asked our translator about it. We decided to bring it up during our next meeting, because most likely there were others who were practicing this in their ministry. So, we brought it up. To our amazement, 90% said yes to the question about whether it is right to pray over water or oil for healing purposes. This led us to a discussion about worshiping or putting our faith in created things other than the creator. That when we do this, we are making the name of Jesus meaningless- we are taking the name of the Lord in vain. It is idolotry, and idolotry is a sin. The object does not have the power. God has the power to heal. The discussion opened up, and after an hour of back and forth discussion, all changed their yes's to no's- some more enthusiastically than others, but I think God's Word made its point. It is amazing what the Bible can teach us if we just open it up, read it and study it.

Like I said, this was a great time (probably one of our best) of teaching and learning together. And, even though we are teaching, we are learning right along with these guys. My team-mate and I looked at each other during many of these discussions and said-"This would never be an issue in the U.S." It is a different world we are viewing here. So much of the Bible is living itself out right in front of us here in South Asia- more so than I would ever have imagined it.

God's love and grace is enough to cover it all.

2nd Generation

One of our main goals here is to equip nationals to plant churches that plant churches, so that we can have an out of our control/in God's control CPM. We have taken 14 and have been training them to be master trainer/church planters. One of the 14 has taken this to heart. I wrote not too long ago that he was skeptical about our method at first, of finding the man of peace in the village (from Luke 10:1-11). He went out on his own and used the Luke 10 method to see if it would work. To his amazement, God showed him 7 new villages with persons of peace. Since then, he has been on fire to continue and progress with these churches and get them to a healthy state so that they too can send out leaders to new places and find men of peace. He has also taken our training and taught 10 of his own existing church planters the methods we are teaching from the Bible. He challenged all of them to go to new villages that God leads them to and find men of peace. One has found 4 new places with 4 men of peace, all of them have accepted Christ and are now beginning to meet for church in their house. So, with just over 7 months of intensive training with our CP's, one has taken the challenge and ran with it. Even though, so far, only one out of 14 is really taking off, one is all that God needs to work with to bring glory to Himself and increase His kingdom on earth. Now the task is, as I said, to get these places to be healthy, solid churches that can one day send out leaders to new villages to build the kingdom. It is exciting what God is doing in this place.

They Get It

We have privilege of being overseas and working for the Lord. Nothing is more gratifying than having your hands open to what our Lord and Savior has called us to do. On top of that, we are blessed to have not one, but two churches directly involved in our ministry here. One, our home church who has sent us, has not only committed to pray for us, but has been to visit us twice since we have been here, and will come two more times this year. Another church; a relatively young church plant, has committed to praying for us, but has also come out of their comfort zone and brought a 2nd team to engage the lost here with us. Let me just say that "They get it." They get that it takes not only prayer but hands on committment to the cause of Christ.

Thank you LifePoint Smyrna and Ridgeview Community Church. It is you, who are being the hands and feet of Jesus in an extremely dark place spiritually, that are looking outward to the lost world rather than looking inward. It is you who are making an impact for the Gospel in a place that needs it so badly. You are the witnesses for Jesus to the ends of the earth.

More Workers for the Harvest

A quick update on some things. My family and I had a great time in Thailand. We were able to eat some good western food, which is a break for us. The kids were able to spend time with their friends, and visit some cool places like the zoo, and a place called Tiger Kingdom, where you are able to sit with, and pet LIVE tigers! The family had a great time, while Dad took a seminary class offered overseas by Southern Seminary. It was my first college-type class in 15 years, but things went well. It was a good time of discussion and learning about mission strategy. We have arrived home to resume work, which a trip I had planned to visit some of our 14 was cancelled due to bad weather. All seems to be going well back home however, and we have been rested up for the next six months of work.

I received a phone call from one of our 14 who has not let the cold nasty weather stop him from doing God's work. He wanted to rejoice with me and said he and one of his CP's had found 4 new persons of peace in new villages. Praise the Lord! More workers for the harvest!

We have some friends from our home church who are going through the IMB to Africa. They are in the process of selling their house so they can go to orientation this summer. Praise the Lord, more workers for the harvest! Check out their blog Geonosis and follow their journey to the field. This makes the 3rd family, including us, that our church has sent to the mission field in the last year and a half. More are in line to go, and it makes us proud to be encouragement to those who are being called out. We are also proud to be part of a church body that is committed to reaching the lost of the world- to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Luke 10:2) Continue to pray that more workers are sent to the harvest fields, because the harvest IS plentiful.