NTM

Recently, we, the Development Team of the NTM Missionary Training Center, sponsored a golf benefit to raise money for our student scholarship fund. We set some initial goals; 60 golfers, including men and women from the area communities plus NTM staff & students; $5000 for our student scholarship fund. We picked a date in early May, sent out our invitiations and prayed for no rain! The Lord blessed in an amazing way. Not only was the weather spectacular and the golf course in great condition, but we wound up fielding 55 golfers and raising nearly $6500 for the scholarship fund! The competition among the 14 teams of golfers was sharp and yet carried on in a spirit that can only come when people who love the Lord are gathered together. Everyone that participated had a fun and fulfilling experience and were blessed in being able to partner together with us to see dedicated young people trained and sent out to reach the world with the Gospel.

Our plans were made and our tickets purchased. We were heading back to Africa at the end of June, just two weeks after our daughter’s wedding. Not only were we going to have another chance at training church planters in Ghana but we were also going to participate in the 20th anniversary celebration of the field of Guinea which we helped to establish in 1988. God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. This became very clear to us in early April when we learned that the door to Ghana had closed, at least for this year. Of course, as Guinea was an adjunct trip to the Ghana venture our visit there was no longer possible. Initially, we were pretty disappointed. However, we recognize the sovereignty of God and rest in the direction He leads us. Even now we are starting the process of communication with NTM leadership in Africa as well as Ghanaian and Nigerian national missionaries to establish the feasibility of a trip from April to August of next year. Please be praying for God’s direction and provision for that as well as like-mindedness for all who will be involved in the decison making process.

Several times, on this site and in prayer letters, I’ve spoken of partnering with various ones. Paul, in his letter to the Philippian church mentioned that their partnership in the Gospel was a source of joy to him (Phil. 1:5 NIV)

The dictionary defines a partnership as a relationship of interest where the partners share in the profits and risks of the undertaking. You share with us the interest of seeing the lost world reached with the Gospel. We see you as integral parts of every aspect of our ministry; sharing in the joys and sorrow, the good days and bad, the victories and the defeats. Hopefully, that’s how you view yourself, not as a "silent partner" perhaps putting up the cash but as being vitally involved in every way. We look to you for and welcome that degree of involvment.

If we invited you into a business partnership you would expect some return on your investment. In our next article we’ll explore what return a believer can expect when he partners with a missionary.

September 3, 2007

It is good to be home at the Missionary Training Center on the Lake of the Ozarks. We returned in time for the start of the new semester and have begun getting to know some of the 105 new students and building relationships with returning students. This week we start a couple-to-couple discipleship program with three student couples. Also, I  will be co-teaching Foundational Bible Teaching to the 1st semester class. These responsibilities are in addition to our ministry as development representatives for the Missionary Training Center. It is exciting to think about how God is going to work in and through us in these various opportunities. We appreciate your prayers for all the Lord is giving us to do here.

Our last month in Nigeria was fantastic. The Lord brought together a great group of people for the Training of Trainers Seminar. I taught on the strategy for planting a contextualized mature church and Margaret covered field-based language learning. The students, all trainers and leaders, received everything with enthusiasm and vowed to apply it in their works or share it with those they are training.

Immediately following Training of Trainers, I taught a biblical conflict resolution module to pastors and mission leaders from various parts of Nigeria. I’ve already heard back from one participant who immediately applied the principles in counseling a couple on the verge of divorce. He rejoicingly shared how he was able to facilitate reconciliation and restoration of their marriage!

As Margaret and I look back on our time in Nigeria we are so grateful for the people that God allowed us to minister to. It was a time of planting seeds which we trust will bear much fruit as these dear brothers and sisters in Christ reach out with enhanced effectiveness or prepare others to expand the reach of the Gospel. Your prayers and gifts allowed us to go and kept us there. We hope that you feel a real part of what the Lord is doing in Nigeria.

Sometimes the number of participants in the various modules we taught failed to meet expectations. However, we were never disappointed in the quality and commitment of the people God sent our way. Also, the level of relationships that we were able to establish was much deeper than might have been realized had the numbers been greater. One student at the Nigeria Evangelical Missionary Institute (NEMI) said, “We have had many lecturers, but you discipled us.” I can’t think of a higher commendation! God is sovereign, He will build His church.

You are not alone if the words, danger, hostage-taking and scams come to mind. However, we recently spent 3 months in this great African country and we have a different perspective.

The Nigerians, recently voted the "happiest people in the world" are a delight to be with. Not once did we feel threatened, mistreated or slighted in any way. Rather we had many opportunities to build relationships and enjoy fellowship in this "behemoth" of West Africa where over half of the 150 million people claim Christ as saviour.

To top it all off, God allowed Margaret and I to be involved in training Nigerian believers ranging from missionary candidates to trainers, pastors, children and mission leaders in areas as diverse as principals of church planting & field based language learning and Biblical conflict resolution. How refreshing it was to see how readily they received what we had to offer and the determination to apply the things learned in their own lives and ministries!

Furthermore the Lord allowed us to challenge for missions in local churches and to see several people respond by dedicating their lives to Christ in seeing His Word go to the uttermost parts of the earth.

The African Church will play an increasingly important role in the spread of the Gospel. New Tribes Mission wants to partner with these believers as they serve with passion and dedication. Please continue to pray for direction for NTM, for the Missionary Training Center and for us personally as we seek the Lord’s direction for how we can most effectively team up with this "tsunami of missions" that is building in Nigeria and throughout Africa.

As the Lord has given us time to reflect on our time in Ghana, we praise the Him for what he accomplished through us there. It’s interesting to think that we saw more of Ghana in one month than we did of our previous field of Guinea in 7 years! However, the real blessing came from the opportunity to train church planters and pastors working in the most difficult and isolated regions of this country. Many of these servants of the Lord are working under extremely difficult circumstances often lacking adequate financial support to even feed and clothe themselves and their families. Yet God is using them in amazing ways to reach the unreached with the good news of the Gospel. We trust the Lord that the teaching we provided on the "mature church" and on Foundational Bible Teaching will help to make them more effective as they work among predominantly animistic  and Islamic people groups. It was awesome for us just to be able to fellowship with over 100 of God’s servants let alone have the opportunity to teach them!

Now that we are in Nigeria, we are looking forward to training young missionary candidates whom the Lord has raised up to take His Word where it has not been previously. Pray for us that we’ll be able to relate to and effectively train these special young volunteers for Christ.

We appreciate so much your ongoing prayers on our behalf as we serve God here in West Africa.

Just to let you know that we are in Jos, Nigeria and getting used to food, cool weather:>) and driving in a very challenging environment. We are comfortably settled in at the home of a friend and studying and adjusting our curriculum in preparation for teaching at the Nigerian Evangelical Missions Institute. Pray for us as we build relationships with staff and students there. Pray also as we begin discipling a Nigerian couple we just met at church yesterday!

God gave a safe bus trip up here from Accra. Our accommodations are comfortable with AC that hasn’t gone off yet! The conference room has also had power so we’ve been able to use power point to facilitate our teaching.

The first training session is complete. We had between 15-20 Ghanaian church planters and pastors attending. They seemed to really appreciate the church planting material. Many of them asked for copies of my notes. One young man followed me back to our bungalow and told me he really wants to be an effective teacher for the Lord and wants any materials I can share with him.

Monday morning we leave for further up north for the 2nd teaching session. It will also be 4 days. We aren’t sure how many students we will have but are hoping for the Lord to bring out a good number.

Margaret and I have been enjoying a good sampling of Ghanaian food! We have a lot of stories to relate to you!

Please pray for continued good health and strength and that God will use our lives in an effective manner while we are here.

We arrived in Accra, safe & sound but worn precisely on schedule Monday evening. Our Ghanaian friend, Albert, was at the airport to meet us and took us to the Pioneer Africa guest facility where we are comfortably being housed. Albert’s fiancee, Lydia, brings us tasty dishes from her kitchen for each meal!

The country of Ghana is experiencing a water shortage and since they rely on hydro-electric the power is very sporadic here. Everyone is praying for early rain!

Today we discussed our upcoming trip to the northern part of the country where we will be teaching a church planting seminar in 3 different locations. We leave this coming Monday and ride a bus for 12-14 hours to our initial destination. There is a rumor that the bus might have AC!

Prior to leaving for the north we will meet with several people to discuss various aspects of the work in Ghana and the ways in which NTM might fit in. Also we have opportunity to share in a fairly large church on Sunday with an emphasis on reaching the unreached!

Because we received our passports back two days prior to leaving the States we had to cancel plans to visit Nate, Terra & baby Grace in the Democratic Rep. of Congo. In addition we had to change our return flight plans from Kinshasa, DRC to Abuja, Nigeria. This involved an extra, immediate cost of $1800 which will severely deplete our account. Eventually we will receive a $1000 refund but that could take up to a year! Please pray for the Lord’s provision of this immediate shortfall.