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!