God Moments

We just spent the past two weeks touring I-5 between Eugene and Seattle. It was great seeing friends and family that we hadn’t seen in awhile, and it was cool experiencing God’s amazing sense of humor. We had several “God Moments”, but one stands out. (Editor’s note: “God Moments” refers to those times when God shows up in surprising ways).

I had sent out a request via email for folks to talk to their pastor/mission committee/anyone who would listen and ask if there was a chance we could share a bit of the vision God has given us for the people of Thailand. Several responded, among them, my aunt. She had passed our name on to a man I knew from a Bible Study 20+ years ago (Kip), who had passed us on to another gentleman from the Mission Committee of their church (John). They wanted to meet with us on Sunday the 15^th.

On Sunday, we went to this church – Shoreline Community Church in Coos Bay – without my aunt. Now mind you, I haven’t seen Kip in more than 20 years and I’ve never met John. But we trusted that God would do what needed to be done. In this, we weren’t disappointed!

Upon arriving (unannounced), we were given a bulletin. The Scripture for the morning included this passage from Romans 15: “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’” This is one of Pioneers’ theme verses. We were also given a “Welcome Gift”. It was a DVD talking about the wonders of God’s universe, subtitled in Thai. There was fudge too.

We knew we were in the right place. However, we still didn’t know how we were going to find Kip or John.

After the final song, the pastor stood back up. He started talking about a fund-raising dinner. Then he asked the organizer to come up and talk about it… Kip. Kip spoke for a few minutes, then directed the man that everyone was supposed to pay to stand up… John.

I could almost hear God chuckling.

We received a couple more churches that are supporting us, and more family and friends as well. It was a wonderful trip. For those we were able to see, it was wonderful! For those we missed this time, you haven’t entirely dodged that bullet. But perhaps more than anything else, this two weeks was another chance for God to confirm and affirm that we’re going where we’re supposed to be going. Our hearts are more than ever with the people of Thailand, and our hopes to be there soon remain undimmed.

Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers, and for standing with us as we raise the necessary finances to soon be overseas.

Technical Difficulties

I had hoped there would be a video here. La Cabane.

I have been trying unsuccessfully to upload a video of an interview that Andrea did with Paul Young, the author of The Shack. It’s a really cool video too. Here’s how it all came about…

A couple of months ago, a friend of ours - Ted Angell - suggested to Andrea the possibility of interviewing Paul, and translating the interview into French. Ted and Paul had done similar interviews into Spanish and Portuguese. After a bit of anxiety, she agreed.

We met Paul in Portland on the 18th of July. They started out by chatting a bit about Third Culture Kid stuff and just kind of getting acquainted. She briefly mentioned some of the questions that we had kind of thrown around as ideas. While they were doing that, I was busy setting up a small handheld video cam and doing a back-up with the webcam on my laptop.

The conversation was entirely spontaneous. Paul presents first in English, then Andrea translates into French. He managed to incorporate every question and idea into pretty much a monologue, on the spot. I got two really good videos of the interview.

Unfortunately, I am only a “Level Four Geek”. Apparently there is something wrong in the code… or it’s too long… or I’m simply inept. I don’t know. But for the life of me I cannot get the video (almost half an hour long) to load to YouTube or this blog, either in MP4 or Windows Media File formats. I have tried multiple times and get error messages each time.

Needless to say I am greatly disappointed. I plan to give it a few more tries (and if anyone with a higher “Geek Clearance” than me wants to offer advice I’ll happily listen). Hopefully soon! In the meantime, I might be able to send it as an attachment if you want to see it, although I make no guarantees. It really is a cool vid.

Zero Known Believers

(by a Pioneer in East Asia)
“I just returned this morning from a ten-day trip teaching English in small, unreached villages in Central Asia. After multiple instances where we thought we wouldn't even make it across the border, the Father opened the doors for us to enter and remain for longer than initially intended! We spent the mornings teaching and the remainder of the day enjoying milk tea and traditional meals with various families.

“While this small, unreached people group (with zero known believers) is by far the friendliest culture I have ever met, the soil of their hearts is hard and rocky. This discouraged me throughout the time there. Why have I heard the gospel over and over, and they have never heard? What impact can we have in the few days we are here? He reminded me that, ‘It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy’ (Romans 9:16).

“And God is working! A couple of trips ago, a young girl had a dream three nights in a row that Jesus was on a cross in her front yard. When her mother discovered that her daughter was talking to foreigners about this she beat her and forbade her to speak of the dreams again.

“So let's pray for a long-term presence in these villages! It was a privilege to work alongside an East Asian sister who passionately taught and loved the children and families there. She would love to work there long-term. Pray that God would provide a partner to go with her.”

While the number of known believers in the area we’re hoping to go to is larger than zero, it is still a disturbingly small number. It is still one of the least evangelized areas in the world today. And it’s not going to be for just a few days. While the shortest time Pioneers will support a team in the field is two years, we anticipate being in Thailand for a longer period of time than that. Because even though the intention is to raise up leaders to pass the ministry on to, even that takes time. 

Around the world, almost one third of the people on earth have never heard the Good News that many of us take for granted. Many of these people live where we want to be. 

Will you help us get there?