S. Asia Pastor employing  BOFF

Margaret and I had a great time in S.Asia during the month of July.  The four church planting seminars we taught went well.  John received help in the area of teaching from a couple of fellow NTM’ers as well as our host missionary.  Margaret coordinated drama presentations for select lessons that augmented the teaching. The Lord allowed us to share the Building on Firm Foundations teaching method with over 250 pastors, lay people and Bible School students. The organization partnering with NTM in these seminars provided, free of charge, copies of the Phase 1 BOFF lessons recently translated into the Hindi language.  We’ve already received testimony of some participants employing the BOFF method in their ministries.  Thanks for your prayers.  We are back home in Arizona and would love to hear from you.

There are many Christians in Southern Asia.  Though they represent a small percentage of the poplulation, they number in the millions.  God is working in and through their lives.  He wants to use the Body there to reach out to the hundreds of millions of unsaved with the Gospel . Faithful pastors and lay leaders are laboring to build up believers in their faith and equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to be effective witnesses in a hostile environment.

Margaret and I have the wonderful opportunity to work with these pastors and lay leaders, exposing them to the Chronological method of teaching God’s Word. We are heading to Southern Asia to conduct training seminars in 4 different areas in the northern reaches of this vast part of the world.

Those of you who partner with us in prayer and support will be effectively reaching out to a part of the world that desperately needs to hear the Good News and to see people won to Christ and churches established.  Your prayers for us during the month of July will be greatly appreciated.  Please pray for health, safety in travel and fruit in our ministry. 

"East or west….." has been a favorite saying in our family for many years. Now we are moving our home from the east (well, Missouri) to the great Sonoran desert near Phoenix, AZ. The Lord enabled us to purchase a small home in Fountain Hills quite near to  Scottsdale where our daughter Kriya and family live.

We’ll be continuing our ministry of Partnership Development ,for the Missionary Training Center, in the Phoenix area. The Lord has already given us some great contacts and we’ve joined a terrific church. We also hope to enhance the awareness of what NTM is and does in the minds of believers there.

Being close to our daughter’s family will allow us to invest our lives in theirs, especially those of our grand children, Ryan (10) and Holly (8.) We look forward to spending quality time with them.

God is so good to provide us, not only with a new area in which to minister, but a home which we never expected to be able to have. Please pray for us as we adjust to life and service in the desert.

LEARN MORE
The Ghanaian Evangelical Mission Association (GEMA)coordinates 30 mission organizations involved in reaching tribal groups with the Gospel. GEMA needs tools to help missionaries with partnership development so they can aid in reaching tribal groups in Ghana. Many of the missionaries are poorly supported. The local churches have traditionally been weak in their support of missions and GEMA desires to enhance mobilization of more missionaries and partnership development for existing missionaries.
GEMA has asked the assistance of New Tribes Mission in developing and producing a mission documentary to enable them to better communicate with potential donors and stir interest in missions among local churches in Ghana. GEMA targets unreached tribal groups in Ghana and beyond their national borders.

HOW YOU’LL BE HELPING

Your investment in this project will help missionaries in Ghana to reach more tribal groups and will challenge local churches to a greater involvement in missions.

NEEDS
Funds needed: $5,600
Yet to be raised: $5,600
Progress: 0%

Your investment in this project will help missionaries in Ghana to reach more tribal groups and will challenge local churches to a greater involvement in missions.

NEEDS
Funds needed: $5,600
Yet to be raised: $5,600
Progress: 0%

This week  Dick Bott, founder of BRN invited me to bring a student couple to his radio studio for an interview.

Rob and Amy Ellis were able to share how the Lord had worked in their lives to bring them into New Tribes Mission.

I was able to share concerning the Missionary Training Center and our latest project, the Fleming Center,  a 50,000 sq. ft. educational/administrative facility. This building is critical if the MTC is going to be able to accommodate an increase in enrollment of 5% per year for the next several years. We hope to break ground on this project this coming summer and have the building ready for use by the fall of 2010.

During the interview, Dick gave a ringing endorsement of New Tribes Mission and of the young people that God is raising up to serve among tribal people.

You can learn more about the Fleming Center project and how you can be personally involved by going to www.ntm.org/expand

If you would like to listen to the interview you can go to www.bottradionetwork.com/about/the-complete-story/; then download "an interview with John Birkemo."

Recently, the Development Team of the Missionary Training Center, hosted an event at the Camdenton, MO airport featuring the brand new Kodiak airplane. This plane was specifically developed with missions aviation in mind. The plane features incredible performance in difficult aviation situations calling for short take-off and landings. The turbine engine packs plenty of power allowing for up to 10 passengers and or loads of heavy cargo. In addition the airplane burns jet fuel rather than aviation gas which is becoming increasingly scarce in most 3rd world countries. NTM plans on incorporating 14 of these planes to support missionaries in several countries.

People came from all over Missouri and from several surrounding states to view and ride in the Kodiak. All told, between 1000-2000 people attended. The Lord provided glorious weather and music, food and fun events resulted in a family friendly atmosphere. Around 135 people (including the Birkemos) were able to fly on the new plane. In addition a local aviation group, Young Eagles, gave rides to youngsters, interested in flying, in small private planes.  For more information about the Kodiak go to www.ntm.org 

We just kicked off the new semester here at the Missionary Training Center with 160 students, 58 of them first timers. What a privilege it is to live and work with these great young people that the Lord has raised up! Margaret and I will be doing discipleship with two couples. Margaret is working with a single girl also.

We enjoyed spending the month of July in Arizona.  NTM is looking at the Phoenix area as a possible focus for Partnership Development and we were able to build on some existing contacts and make new friends while there. 

We continue to seek direction from the Lord in the areas of opportunities in Arizona, future ministry in Ghana and Nigeria and of course what He has for us "way out there" as far as retirement is concerned. Please continue to pray with us about all of these.

Want to know more about the Missionary Training Center? Go to www.ntm.org and click on Training.

Looking back at our daughter’s wedding on June 14th we can rejoice how the Lord undertook for all of us! The entire event was a well organized, beautiful and fun experience for the bride and groom and everyone who attended. We had a lot of help in getting ready and are so thankful to all that gave advice or lent a hand. The happy couple spent their honeymoon in Mexico and had a wonderful time. Mom and Dad spent the following couple of weeks recovering! The newlyweds returned to Springfield, MO to find their apartment flooded from the serial deluges the state had been experiencing.  Welcome back to the real world kids! They were finally able to find a nicer (and drier) apartment in a great part of town.

As you might recall, Margaret and I were supposed to leave for Africa on the 27th of June. The Lord intervened on our behalf (He knew we weren’t going to be ready for that) and instead we’re in Scottsdale AZ with our daughter Kriya and family. It’s our joy to be able to free our two grandkids, Ryan & Holly, up from daycare and to offer them the chance to sleep in, plus a pretty organized program of spiritual, physical and recreational activities. Our plan is to be here for the month of July and we hope to develop some contacts with churches and individuals interested in the Missionary Training Center. Lord willing we’ll be back at the Training Center by Aug.2nd at start getting ready for the fall semester.