Our Greatest Prayer Need

In just a few days my son Mark Daniel, my friend John Horn, and I are boarding a plane for Cameroon. Once there we will criss-cross the country for the next 20 days. We will visit with government officials, church leaders, Muslim village elders, a chief or two, brothers and sisters in Christ, and almost 40 orphans. We'll travel by train, private vehicle, foot, motorcycles, as well as some very crowded public transport vans. We'll eat lots of fish, chicken, and of course bowls of rice. We'll have opportunity to preach the Gospel, hand out literature, books, and 100 copies of the Jesus Dvd which is the life of Christ according to the Book of Luke. In addition, we will give solar-powered recordings of the New Testament in some of the local dialects to believers to use in their evangelistic and discipleship ministries. We will also act as couriers for missionaries and spend a few days ministering to as well as being ministered to by an almost 90 year old Chicago native who has spent her life serving the Lord in a hard place doing hard things to make much of Jesus.

So, there you have it--we will be doing alot in the next three weeks--but it won't count for a lick if it is not done in love. That's why if you are wondering how to pray for us and this trip probably the best thing to pray for is our "love". Ask God to give us hearts filled and running over with love for Him, His people, and those who aren't. This is our greatest need--far beyond our safety, success, and satisfaction.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Transitional Living

Well, here we are in Copperas Cove, Texas......living in a house God graciously provided for us through two visionary and mission minded churches.......finding that our bills are somehow being anonymously paid before we ever find out what they are.....and having people show up at our door with meals, food, furniture, supplies for the orphanage, and this morning just the right amount of money to pay for a much needed doctor's appointment and medicine to deal with a really hard to beat sinus infection that has plagued Mark for weeks.

Indeed, God is meeting all of our needs and teaching us many wonderful and really timely lessons in trusting Him as we transition from our home, paycheck, health insurance, church, family, friends, and lifestyle in Edgewood, New Mexico to packing everything up and heading for Cameroon and in many ways "the unknown" to us in September. As Mark told a very gracious group of students in a seminary mission's class last month--"If it seems like I am vague about what life in a village of animists will be like for my family--it's because I really am pretty vague as to what we are in for." In all honesty, we don't know where we will live, how God will provide for the needs of now 39 orphans, how we will fit in, how we will get our supplies from the port city of Douala to the mountain village of Bossa, where to go for medical help, how to share and live out the Gospel before our Fulani neighbors, and a million other questions that criss-cross our minds as we lie awake in bed when sleep is slow to come.

But in seeing God so graciously meeting our needs and answering our questions here in our transitional home of Copperas Cove--we as a family are growing every day in our confidence that this Great God Who is proving Himself so faithful in our little questions will not fail us when the questions get harder and the stakes a bit more risky. He not only has the answers--He is the One Who has created the questions. Praise Him Who calls inadequate people to do not what they know how to do but what they don't--all for His Glory and our joy in living the adventure of a lifetime.

2 Corinthians 9:10-12 & Feeding 37 Orphans

As we came to the end of 2010 we rejoiced that our personal support--the financial commitments we need to be able to live and minister in Cameroon--had been supplied by God. All total we are being financially supported by 4 churches and 21 individuals. What a praise to our Lord to know we are not alone in this work but actually have people and churches who are standing with us, behind us, and beside us as we move out of our house in just about 3 weeks, move to Texas, start the process of saying good by to friends and family, make one final trip to Cameroon (just me) to arrange for some kind of housing near the orphanage, start looking for cheap one-way tickets to Cameroon, arrange for the shipping of the very few household goods and personal items we are taking, and a host of other things that go into making a move to West Africa to oversee an orphanage with 37 kids.

Speaking of these 37 kids........did I mention that one of the other really big things left to do on our fairly long list of things to do is raise the financial support to feed and care for them. You see, right now they are being provided for through the generosity of the woman who started the orphanage several years ago. Her pension check is the mainstay of what is used to feed and care for all the children and small staff at the orphanage. But Grandma Grace is in a position where she can no longer continue with this ministry and thus there is a need to replace her means of supporting the orphanage.

We do not have a pension from which God will provided for the orphanage's needs and therefore must raise the needed support through other means. And while most of us have had to deal with the pressure of feeding and caring for our families can you imagine how daunting it is to think about raising between $1500 and $2000 more a month just to feed, clothe, and care for your newly acquired family of 37 kids? Believe me.....it is daunting and even downright scary at times. But God......is not perplexed, scared, or even mildly challenged by all this. And last night while reading through 2 Corinthians and wondering how all of this was going to happen God focused and then refocused my eyes on chapter 9 and verses 10-12. Here is what it says: "Now He Who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God."

I took this to mean that God will supply us with the finances necessary to liberally supply the needs for these 37 precious children and that as He does this His Name will be glorified as He receives the thanks and the praise for doing what appears to be impossible. Quite honestly, I don't know of any other way this huge task could be accomplished other than through trusting God to do something on our behalf--and in my mind--something great. And so...we actively wait upon the Lord to show Himself great on our behalf for the sake of orphans and ultimately the glory of His Name.

What a grand adventure God has given us to enjoy!

How Righteous Are You?

How righteous are you today? Now before you answer that take a good hard look at the question again. I’m not asking you how righteous you feel today. I just want to know if you know how righteous you are right now if you are in Christ Jesus.

In Christ and by that phrase I mean in a personal relationship with Christ in which you are completely identified with and in Him and His saving work on your behalf you are completely righteous, whether you feel righteous or not. In fact, the Bible teaches that if you are in Christ you possess a righteousness, not of your works derived from obedience to God’s law but rather a righteousness derived from God Himself through the person of Christ (Philippians 3:8-9). This righteousness obtained from God is very interesting in that it is the very righteousness of God. This is exactly what Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Paul writes: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Therefore, if you are in Christ you possess the very righteousness of God. In other words, in Christ and because of Christ, you are as righteous as God is right now. Now I know that this sounds radical and some of you are probably wondering if I haven’t gone a bit too far in making the claim that the true child of God, the person who is “in Christ” is as righteous as God is. But, isn’t this what Jesus said was required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated rather emphatically to his audience that unless their righteousness surpassed that of the scribes and Pharisees they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20) Then in verses 21- 47 of Matthew 5, Jesus gave several examples of the Pharisee’s righteousness and showed the huge difference between theirs’ and God’s righteousness. And then in verse 48, He made His point by saying: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If you missed His point—keep reading Jesus’ words until they sink in. Jesus, in no uncertain terms, told His audience and us by extension that the righteousness needed to enter Heaven is a much greater righteousness than man can produce as evidenced by the religious Pharisees. The righteousness required to get into Heaven is perfect righteousness—God’s righteousness. To be perfectly blunt and clear—you and I need to be as perfect (righteous) as God is if we plan on taking up residence in that celestial city some day.

The good news of the gospel is that in Christ you not only possess perfect righteousness—you possess His righteousness. Thus, you are, in Christ, as righteous as God is Himself. And that’s why you’ll be able to go to Heaven when you die.

So, again, let me ask you, just how righteous are you today?

William Carey--Father of Modern Missions

by Fred Barlow
Copied with permission from Profiles in Evangelism, ©1976*

1761-1834

"Shoemaker by trade, but scholar, linguist and missionary by God's training," William Carey was one of God's giants in the history of evangelism! One of his biographers, F. Dealville Walker, wrote of Carey: "He, with a few contemporaries, was almost singlehanded in conquering the prevailing indifference and hostility to missionary effort; Carey developed a plan for missions, and printed his amazing Enquiry; he influenced timid and hesitating men to take steps to the evangelizing of the world." Another wrote of him, "Taking his life as a whole, it is not too much to say that he was the greatest and most versatile Christian missionary sent out in modern times."

Carey was born in a small thatched cottage in Paulerspury, a typical Northamptonshire village in England, August 17, 1761, of a weaver's family. When about eighteen he left the Church of England to "follow Christ" and to "...go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." At first he joined the Congregational church at Hackleton where he was an apprentice shoemaker. It was there he married in 1781. And it was in Hackleton he began making five-mile walks to Olney in his quest for more spiritual truth. Olney was a stronghold of the Particular Baptists, the group that Carey cast his lot with after his baptism, October 5, 1783. Two years later he moved to Moulton to become a schoolmaster — and a year later he became pastor of the small Baptist congregation there.

It was in Moulton that Carey heard the missionary call. In his own words he cried, "My attention to missions was first awakened after I was at Moulton, by reading the Last Voyage of Captain Cook." To many, Cook's Journal was a thrilling story of adventure, but to Carey it was a revelation of human need! He then began to read every book that had any bearing on the subject. (This, along with his language study — for at twenty-one years of age Carey had mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Italian, and was turning to Dutch and French. One well called his shoemaker's cottage "Carey's College," for as he cobbled shoes along with his preaching he never sat at his bench without some kind of a book before him.)

The more he read and studied, the more convinced he was "the peoples of the world need Christ." He read, he made notes, he made a great leather globe of the world and, one day, in the quietness of his cobbler's shop — not in some enthusiastic missionary conference — Carey heard the call: "If it be the duty of all men to believe the Gospel ... then it be the duty of those who are entrusted with the Gospel to endeavor to make it known among all nations." And Carey sobbed out, "Here am I; send me!"

To surrender was one thing — to get to the field was quite another problem. There were no missionary societies and there was no real missionary interest. When Carey propounded this subject for discussion at a ministers' meeting, "Whether the command given to the apostles to teach all nations was not obligatory on all succeeding ministers to the end of the world, seeing that the accompanying promise was of equal extent," Dr. Ryland shouted, "Young man, sit down: when God pleases to covert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine." Andrew Fuller added his feelings as resembling the unbelieving captain of Israel, who said, "If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be!"

But Carey persisted. he later said of his ministry, "I can plod!" And he was a man who "always resolutely determined never to give up on any point or particle of anything on which his mind was set until he had arrived at a clear knowledge of his subject."

Thus Carey wrote his famed Enquiry Into the Obligations of the Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen. In this masterpiece on missions Carey answered arguments, surveyed the history of missions from apostolic times, surveyed the entire known world as to countries, size, population and religions, and dealt with the practical application of how to reach the world for Christ!

And he prayed. And he pled. And he plodded. And he persisted. And he preached — especially his epoch-producing message, "EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD. ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD." The result of that message preached at Nottingham, May 30, 1792 — and all the other missionary ministries of Carey — produced the particular Baptist Missionary Society, formed that Fall at Kettering on October 2, 1792. A subscription was started and, ironically, Carey could not contribute any money toward it except the pledge of the profit from his book, The Enquiry.

It was in 1793 that Carey went to India. At first his wife was reluctant to go — so Carey set off to go nevertheless, but after two returns from the docks to persuade her again, Dorothy and his children accompanied him. They arrived with a Dr. Thomas at the mouth of the Hooghly in India in November, 1793. There were years of discouragement (no Indian convert for seven years), debt, disease, deterioration of his wife's mind, death, but by the grace of God — and by the power of the Word — Carey continued and conquered for Christ!

When he died at 73 (1834), he had seen the Scriptures translated and printed into forty languages, he had been a college professor, and had founded a college at Serampore. He had seen India open its doors to missionaries, he had seen the edict passed prohibiting sati (burning widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands), and he had seen converts for Christ.

On his deathbed Carey called out to a missionary friend, "Dr. Duff! You have been speaking about Dr. Carey; when I am gone, say nothing about Dr. Carey — speak about Dr. Carey's God." That charge was symbolic of Carey, considered by many to be a "unique figure, towering above both contemporaries and successors" in the ministry of missions.

The Fulani (Fulbe) People of West Central Africa

Wandering the vast deserts, mountains, and savannahs of West and Central Africa, the Fulani are the largest unreached nomadic tribal people group in the world. Forced to convert to Islam in the 13th century, they have become known as the missionaries of Sunni Islam in Central and Western Africa. In fact, the Fulani have seen themselves as the propagators and preservers of the Islamic faith in West Africa for almost 700 years. They were instrumental in facilitating the spread of Islam across West Africa through evangelism and conquest. At times they would wage "holy wars" or jihad in order to extend and purify Islam. Today it is difficult to find any Fulani who admits to not being Muslim, no matter how lax his or her practice may be. To a Fulani person: to be Fulani is to be a Muslim.

Most sources list the Fulani population as 17 million. However, Fulani leaders and scholars believe the more realistic number of Fulani people to be somewhere between 30 to 70 million.

There are only a few believers among this strongly resistant tribe. Because Fulani society is very structured and closed to outsiders, mission work among them is very dangerous. Persecution and death are always imminent threats for believers.

In the first 30 years of attempted evangelization, not one Fulani is known to have become a committed Christian. This has begun to change slowly as some Fulani have, in the last few years, been brought to Christ through such resources as the Jesus film, radio broadcasts and Bible story cassettes which are available to the Fulani in their language. Continued radio broadcasting, effective scripture translations, especially in oral forms such as radio, tape, and easily learned Bible stories oriented to a shepherd/nomadic culture, may be effective strategies in winning some Fulani to Christ.

There is also a great need for missionaries to go to the Fulani as the number of Christian workers actively engaged in evangelism among the Fulani is extremely small in comparison to the vast numbers of peoples to be reached. This is, in part, due to the hardships that come to missionaries living in Africa and especially in areas where the Fulani live. As was stated above, mission work among the Fulani is also a very dangerous undertaking and combined with the other hardships involved, few Western Christians have the heart for it.

Indigenous Fulani missionaries have the best access to the tribe and well understand the risks. Therefore, one of the more effective strategies in reaching the Fulani is for non-indigenous missionaries to come alongside Fulani believers to train, encourage, and support them as they assume the primary responsibility of reaching their people with the Gospel. While some missionaries join the nomadic life of the targeted group others place themselves in strategic stopping places where Fulani trade and pick up needed supplies, taking every opportunity to present Christ. Others work among Fulani who have settled in towns and cities, despite their danger to Christians.

Many bloody tribal clashes have resulted from the Fulani understanding that they can graze their cattle wherever they desire. One tribesman, Sule, was watching his beloved cows destroy the fields of a farmer whose land he crossed. Expecting a fight, he was shocked when the man was warm, loving and forgiving to him. The farmer happened to also be an indigenous missionary and he, by the grace of God, led Sule to Christ.

Sule’s tribal elders commanded him to recant his faith, and when he refused, he was imprisoned for three years. During that time, Sule and his wife and children who also became Christians were tortured and threatened. In an attempt to force his denial of Christ, three of his children were killed. Yet despite the ordeal, Sule continued to stand true to the Lord. Sule has since been released. He evangelizes Fulani people and has a training center where converts receive shelter and training as they mature in their faith.

Opportunities abound to help support both indigenous and non-indigenous Fulani mission work throughout Africa. Here is how you can help:

• Pray for and financially support African and non-African missionaries willing to go and live among the Fulani people for the express purpose of sharing the Gospel with them.
• Pray that the Lord will send missionaries to provide biblical & theological training to the few Fulani believers to better equip them to reach their own people.
• Pray for the persecuted believers among the Fulani people like Sule and his family.
• Pray that God will raise up a church-planting movement among the Fulani people that will spread throughout all of West, Central and North Africa.
• Pray for us as we plan to leave the U.S. next September to move to Cameroon in West Africa to minister among the Fulani (Fulbe) people.
  

Missions & Local Church Evangelism--They Are Not The Same!