Posted in Ministry on Jan 20th, 2010 | Discuss This Post
Terry Reed and Santos translate.
Did you ever study Romans? I mean, really study it?
If you have, you’re just starting to understand the difficulty of the task before missionary Terry Reed and his co-worker Santos as they translate Romans into the language of the Guarijio people of Mexico.
Romans is a complex book, presenting some heady ideas. But at least it’s put together as a classical argument, with one fact building upon another. That’s why you see the word “therefore” a lot. Paul establishes one fact, then moves on to the next one.
But I still find that I need to stop at every “therefore” and think through, “What exactly did Paul just establish?” before I can move with him to the next point.
Now imagine you’re a tribal person, Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bible
Posted in Ministry on Jan 19th, 2010 | Discuss This Post
A Mibu man teaches others to read.
In our first painting, you saw a picture of a man who had to resolve to wait for the Gospel to come to his people.
But why?
Missionaries had shared the Gospel with the Mibu people, and now the Mibus were reaching out to share the Good News with another group. Why couldn’t the missionaries leave the Mibus and share the Gospel with the man’s people, or send out another groups of Mibus to his people?
Because the number is two.
That’s how many Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: painting
Posted in Ministry on Jan 12th, 2010 | Discuss This Post
NTM's first Kodiak taxis away from the Idaho factory where it was built.
It’s really just a big hunk of metal.
As cool as the Quest Kodiak airplane is – and it really is a cool plane – it’s little more than a bunch of aluminum with an engine stuck on the end.
What’s really great about the Kodiak is the lives it will help save. And I’m not just talking about physical lives.
And that’s what made my trip to Idaho worthwhile.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Kodiak
Posted in Ministry on Dec 30th, 2009 | Discuss This Post
Thank you!
January 1, 2010 will mark the beginning of our 12th year in ministry at the NTM USA home office. Your prayers and giving have brought us this far, and we appreciate being able to count on you in the future.
I don’t need to ask where the last 11 years went. I know. The last 11 years have been invested in the lives of men and women who are helping plant churches among the world’s unreached people. You have helped greatly expand the reach of the Gospel. Tribal men, women and children are not only on their way to Heaven because of what you’ve done – they’re also leading others to Jesus. Thank you!
Probably the biggest accomplishment Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Moi, overseas, pray, thankfulness
Posted in Ministry on Dec 18th, 2009 | Discuss This Post
Steve and Rich, and Indonesian missionary Andy Panambunan, with Moi friends.
Have you ever wondered what’s going on with Awayo and his people these days?
Well, we just heard from missionary Rich Brown, who works among the Mois, that Moi believers are excited about learning to teach God’s Word.
“The eight students in the discipleship class have been very keen on growing and excited to teach the Mois themselves,” Rich wrote. “We need to get these young men up to speed on how to handle the chronological Bible teaching lessons. It’s actually been quite an undertaking to get them from being able to barely read to handling God’s Word with authority.”
Rich and his wife Karen along with missionaries Steve and Carolyn Crockett are translating, teaching the Bible and Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: God's Word, Moi
Posted in Ministry on Dec 17th, 2009 | Discuss This Post
NTM's first Kodiak taxis out on the way to be painted last week.
What words do you think just do not belong together?
George Carlin famously cited “jumbo shrimp,” among others, in a monologue about oxymorons. (Did you know oxymoron is an oxymoron? It’s Greek for “sharply dull.”)
This week I’ve run headlong into two words that really should not be together. They’re not an oxymoron, but they are scary: Idaho January.
Yes, this week I received my itinerary for a trip to Idaho in January. Sandpoint, Idaho, to be precise, where the average low in January is 18 degrees. It’s 19 and snowing there as I write this.
I probably deserve this for Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Kodiak, photography, pray
Posted in Ministry on Dec 16th, 2009 | Discuss This Post
The problem we have with encouragement gets deeper when we see the depth of what the Bible means. But solutions also start to come into focus.
Now I’m going to do something that I generally try to avoid. I’m going to go back to the original New Testament Greek. I usually try to avoid this for two reasons: One, I know about as much about Greek as you know about Martian, and Two, it tends to be really dry and boring and abstract.
But thanks to some good Bible study helps, I can walk you through some of this, and I think you’ll find it interesting and practical.
There are three to five Greek words that are translated as encourage or encouragement or other variations of the concept, depending on your translation. Two words account for virtually all of those. Their verb forms – to encourage – are paramutheomai and parakaleo. Now, the second one may sound familiar to some of you, and you may even be making the connection – “Oh, that’s where I heard that word before!” Hang on – Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bible, encouragement
Posted in Ministry on Dec 15th, 2009 | Discuss This Post
Ryan Jensen and his friend Abu playing together.
People are watching everything you do this Christmas season.
Missionaries spend their entire careers carefully observing the people they work among. They listen to the words people use, and how they use them. They hear and record the people’s stories and tales. They watch them plant and harvest, hunt and cook, build and clean. All so they can be sure that they are able to clearly communicate God’s Word to them.
That’s why Hans and Marion Jensen recently went to a baby-naming ceremony in the Nalu village in Guinea where they live and serve. Early in the morning they observed who was seated where, and Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Christian, Nalu
Posted in Ministry on Dec 14th, 2009 | Discuss This Post
I hope you get an ECHO by the end of the year. Perhaps you’ve already had one. I had one Saturday.
ECHO is a term I invented this morning. Yes, I’m breaking new ground in vanity by making up my own terms, and I’d be quite proud of that if not for the fact that pride is a sin. OK, yes, vanity is too, but you’re getting us off topic.
ECHO stands for Extravagant Christmas Opportunity. This weekend I took part in one of those at our church here in Sanford. We held a Christmas store for the families of 101 teens who could not afford to give them Christmas themselves.
And let me tell you, it was extravagant. And that’s a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: choices, opportunities
Posted in Ministry on Dec 11th, 2009 | Discuss This Post
Chris Walker teaches God's Word to some of the Mibu people.
One elderly man came to the missionaries with an important question.
Years ago, he had watched with interest as they came to the Mibu people in Papua New Guinea and said they had an important message from God. Later he saw the difference in the lives of the Mibus who listened to and believed this message. And recently he was happy to hear the Mibus were sharing the message, so he went to listen.
He walked away disappointed. He could understand only a few words here and there. He knew he would have to keep waiting, and some day, perhaps, someone would share this message from God with his people, the Ngaings.
But he had one question:
“What happens if I die?” What would happen, he wanted to know, if he died before the message reached his people?
One man, one people group … not a pretty picture yet, and it’s probably not really clear yet either. Stay two-ned. (Sorry, I had to.)
Tags: Mibu, painting
Ian and Julie Fallis Your connection with tribal missions 
