Benjamin and Missy Hatton Connecting You With Tribal Missions 
We have made a significant family decision to change our ministry focus from training future missionaries to church planting in Papua New Guinea. As we make this transition here are some of the questions we are considering and concerns we are trusting the Lord with. Here is how you can be specifically praying with us!
Raising Support
The typical NTM family will spend 12 months dedicated exclusively to raising support before heading overseas. There are exceptions, obviously, so any time line created for this endeavor will have to be tentative by nature. Our tentative time-line for reaching the field of Papua New Guinea is the summer of 2010. Much has to happen between now and then, and we have chosen not to dedicate ourselves to this process full time. We will continue on ministering at NTBI up until we leave. Our co-workers have already extended us flexibility when and where it is necessary, but the Lord is working on our behalf and our church community is rallying around us in this decision.
We are excited to be partnered with four churches here in Michigan. This summer we are beginning to focus on the individuals that make up this large church community through gatherings in our home. We hope to gather support from more individuals and families this way.
The Lord is working in another community of churches interested in partnering with us in central Illinois. Presently two churches have shown great interest in supporting our ministry and at least four other churches want to hear how the Lord is leading us. Each church represents many families. We are excited to see how the Lord will continue to add from this group to our growing network of supporters.
We are asking the Lord for another five churches to join in supporting us, and another fifty families or individuals to partner with us in monthly donation.
Church Planting Team
A church planting team is like a marriage, or so we’ve been told. You need to use great wisdom choosing who to work with, and then you need to work hard to make it last. Up until the late nineties the leading cause for missionaries leaving the field was strife with their co-workers. The result of poor parenting is among the top reasons for attrition today.
The grace of God alone will see us partnered with the right families. We really want to team up with at least one family whose kids are near the same age as our children. We believe it’s important to be able to have fun together, especially considering the pressures of living in a cross cultural environment.
Here are some questions we’re asking: When should we start talking with potential teammates? Should we have our team built before we head to the field? What if we find a great team to join, but there aren’t any kids except our own? How much of this do we try and orchestrate and how much of it is just going to be God?
Education
The education of our children is of upmost importance to us. However, raising our children overseas provides some unique challenges that we must consider. We have chosen not to send our young children away to boarding school. This leaves only a few other possibilities.
Home-schooling is one alternative to boarding school. This is a daunting task but there are plenty of amazing resources for this; including an established support structure in place on the field of Papua New Guinea where we plan to serve.
There may be other alternatives if we think outside the box. Some NTM church planting teams have had a dedicated teacher on location with them for a season; say during the critical first three years of language and culture acquisition. This makes it possible for the wives on the team to dedicate more time to language learning positioning them to be more effective disciplers. We have no such plan in place but want to depend on the Lord for wisdom and creativity as we consider the education of our kids. If you have any ideas feel free to share them with us as we brainstorm this issue.
Ministry Expense
Everything from solar panels to a four year supply of sneakers has to be either purchased ahead of time and shipped to PNG or planned for purchase once we arrive in the country. This is an incredible undertaking both financially and logistically. PNG is a developing country so resources there are limited, but there are some major items that can be purchased locally. We need to determine what supplies are absolutely necessary and from where and when to purchase them. Of course the funds will have to be raised beforehand.
Throughout the remainder of our ministry in PNG the full amount of the ministry expense will be our personal responsibility. NTM, the organization, does not provide us with any funding. There are many services that NTM can provide but each at a personal cost to us. At different phases in the work the demand for funds will vary. For example in the initial days of the ministry there will be a higher demand for funds and supplies as we build a home and possibly engineer an airstrip. Once these initial projects are completed life and ministry in the bush will be less financially demanding. This great expense will only be possible as the Lord builds a team of dedicated people for the task of reaching the unreached with the Gospel.
National Culture and Language Acquisition
For the first year of our time in PNG we will be getting familiar with the national culture and learning the national language of Papua New Guinea. During this time we may be asked to temporarily fill a supporting role in order to get more acquainted with how NTM PNG works. Our desire is to move as quickly through this stage of ministry so that we can begin a ministry in a tribal area. Pray that we would not rush this important transition time, but that the Lord would also see us move quickly and efficiently into the church planting ministry.
Citizenship
Benjamin has been in the process of gaining American citizenship since we got married. This has been a long and involved process, but it is nearing completion now. It first required getting a green card. We filled out many forms each with a processing fee attached. We are now down to the final step in this process. Benjamin has sent in all the required information and now we are waiting to hear whether his application has been accepted or not. We have been waiting since January and have heard nothing. We remain optimistic but are feeling the time crunch. The paper work process for acquiring a Papua New Guinea workers visa can only be started once we have Benjamin’s new American passport. Could you pray with us that this process will come to completion soon?
