The Little Tent

A few weeks ago Our Daily Bread had a devotional that caught my attention. It was titled “The Little Tent.” David McCasland wrote:

During evangelist Billy Graham’s historic 1949 Los Angeles campaign, the big tent that held over 6,000 people was filled to overflowing every night for 8 weeks. Close by was a smaller tent set aside for counseling and prayer. Cliff Barrows, longtime music director and close friend and associate of Graham, has often said that the real work of the gospel took place in “the little tent,” where people gathered on their knees to pray before and during every evangelistic service. A local Los Angeles woman, Pearl Goode, was the heart of those prayer meetings and many that followed.

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the followers of Christ in Colosse, he assured them that he and his colleagues were praying always for them (Col. 1:3,9). In closing he mentioned Epaphras, a founder of the Colossian church, who is “always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (4:12).

Some people are given the high visibility task of preaching the gospel in “the big tent.” But God has extended to us all, just as He did to Epaphras and Pearl Goode, the great privilege of kneeling in “the little tent” and bringing others before the throne of God.

This analogy can also be applied to the work of missions. Some missionaries are on the front lines and have the high visibility task of preaching the gospel to unreached people groups. Others are in “the little tent” supporting those on the field. Those of us in “the little tent” might have the God-given task of praying, giving or training. No matter what the job, we are part of team taking the message of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

Bob

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God’s Universe

By J. Vernon McGee

This is God’s universe and he does things His way.
Now, you may have a better way of doing things,
but you don’t have a universe.

 

Happy Rectum!!!

For our 3rd semester Culture-Language Acquisition Practicum, I play the part of a native, named Kinosi, from Papua New Guinea. Kinosi speaks broken English and is able communicate with the students taking this class. But at times it is not easy to understand what he is trying to say. One day Kinosi was describing how to make powdered lime from "cram sell."

The student asked, "What is cram sell?"

Kinosi replied, "Dat is Engris (English). Dat is your talk. It is not my talk."

The student said, "Oh, you mean clam shell?"

Kinosi replied, "Yes! Dat is what I said! Cram sell!"

It is easy to misunderstand someone such as Kinosi who has learned English as a second language. They have a tendency to bring the sounds of their first language over into their pronunciation of English.

Missionaries learning another language also have a tendency to use the sounds of English in their pronunciation of a second language. For instance, the Spanish [ñ] can be confusing for English speakers. At times English speakers will substitute an English [n] for the Spanish [ñ] which can bring great delight to the Spanish speaker. To wish someone a "happy birthday" in Spanish you could say "feliz cumpleaños." But when a missionary greeted his Spanish speaking friend with, "feliz cumpleanos" (which means happy rectum) he was met with raucous laughter. While there is a toilet paper commercial which says, "enjoy the go," I don't think that "happy rectum" would mean quite the same thing.

We begin teaching our 1st semester students phonetics in a few weeks. Please pray for us as we try to explain how to pronounce the Spanish [ñ] and other fun sounds.

Bob

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He Brought Me Here

-Andrew Murray

First He brought me here; it is by His will I am in this strait place; in that fact I will rest. Next, He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace to behave as His child. Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the grace He means to bestow. Last, in His good time He can bring me out again—how and when He knows. Let me say I am here: (1) by God's appointment. (2) In His keeping. (3) Under His training. (4) For His time.

Can Trilled R’s Advance the Gospel Message?

I enjoy reading prayer letters from our missionaries on the field. Not only does it keep me abreast of what is happening around the world, but it is also a blessing to hear how God continues to build His church in even the remotest parts of the earth. Recently one of our missionaries shared the testimony of some new believers in the Philippines.

After hearing the message of the gospel, Pilno exclaimed, "I believe it! Jesus is the Savior! Our ancestors said this thing or that thing is the way to God. But they were wrong! Jesus paid the price for my sin. It is finished!"

Mulok joyfully added, "If I die now, I will go straight to God. I'm not afraid anymore! Before I was drowning in my sin, just drowning. Now I know that Jesus paid for my sin, and I will go to be with Him in God's Heaven!"

Sometimes it is easy to get lost in my little world of teaching phonetics. I deliberate over little things like better ways of getting students to make a "trilled r." It is good to hear testimonies from folks like Pilno and Mulok which reminds me why I am here fussing over something like a "trilled r." I am reminded that I am part of a larger team. I am in a role of supporting folks on the field so that they can do a better job. I am also reminded that I have a team of folks supporting me through their prayers and financial gifts so that I can function here at the Missionary Training Center.

We are two weeks into the new semester here. We have 46 new students and 71 returning students in our course. Two of our new students are from the Northern Canada Evangelical Mission. They work with "first nations" people groups in Canada. Please pray that we will effectively train all our students for the ministries that God has for them in the future.

I am part of a team that is currently beta testing a new software package that will help us with scheduling, grading, transcripts and a number of other critical tasks. This software package will be used here at the Missionary Training Center and the two New Tribes Bible Institutes. Please pray for us as we beta test this software package and begin to implement it at our schools.

Bob

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Never Give Up!!!

As Commencement speaker at a large university, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II, gave this message: "Never, never, Never, NEVER QUIT!" Five words .. end of message … then sat down.

V. Raymond Edman, Past President of Wheaton College, put it this way: "It is ALWAYS too soon to quit … ALWAYS!!"

Translating God’s Word into Unwritten Languages

Many people think that translating God's Word into another language is a fairly straight forward process. You simply find a corresponding word in English for each Greek or Hebrew word in the Bible. I wish it were that simple, but it isn't.

In John 10:24 the Jewish leaders came to Jesus and asked Him:

Greek: Ἕως πότε τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν αἴρεις;

English: Until when the soul of us you raise up?

A literal, word for word translation from Greek into English just does not work for this idiomatic question. They were actually asking, "How long will you keep us in suspense?" Imagine how confusing it would be to literally translate the phrase "he's really in a pickle" into another language. The problems are only magnified when translating into a tribal language.

Once our missionaries have done an initial rough draft translation then they need to have it checked to see if they are conveying the meaning of the Biblical text into the tribal language. These translation checks can be daunting.

Albert and Lynne Castelijn are translating the book of Romans into the Banwaon language. They write, "In order to faithfully convey truth, the process must be much more than simply a matter of switching words from English to Banwaon."

Albert spends very long days reading a passage to two tribal co-workers, who think the passage through and speak back to him what they understand it to mean. Then, in English, Albert tells the translation consultant what they have said. He carefully scrutinizes the passage to determine whether they have understood it entirely.

Then there is re-reading and more discussion. Did they get this point? Maybe this word needs to be clearer—or changed. And finally: That's great—they got it exactly!

The translation group sits long hours in heat and humidity, focusing intently. The tribal co-workers are not accustomed to this. Their days are usually full of farm work. Sitting on a chair for such long hours in deep concentration is very hard work for them.

Translating the Bible into unwritten languages is a complicated task. Our students at the Missionary Training Center take classes such as Bible Translation so that they are prepared to face such challenges in their future ministries.

Your prayers are very much appreciated as we begin a new semester. Classes begin August 19th. Please pray for the safe arrival of our new and returning students. Also pray for our preparations as we kick off the new semester.

Thanks.

Bob

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KEEP THE GOSPEL CLEAR!

By Charles Ryrie

Keep the issue clear: The issue is sin, and Who is going to forgive it.

Keep the direction clear: It is from the Giver to the recipient. The gift of righteousness is given when you believe.

Keep the requirements clear: It is salvation through FAITH. There is nothing more!

Grammar: Boring or Fascinating?

One of the courses that we teach at the Missionary Training Center is grammar. In school, English grammar was never my favorite subject. In fact, I thought that it was rather boring. But now I find grammar fascinating as it relates to learning languages.

Recently, I read a letter from a missionary in Africa that demonstrates the importance of grammar.

Missionaries discovered that the verbs for a particular African language consistently end in one of three vowels, i, a, and u. But the word for 'love' was only found with i and a. Why no u?" they wondered.

In an effort to truly understand the concept of "love" in this African language, one of the missionaries began to question the translation team which included influential leaders in the community.

"Could you dvi your wife?"

"Yes," they answered, "that would mean that the wife had been loved, but the love was gone."

"Could you dva your wife?"

"Yes," they responded, "that kind of love depends on the wife's actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well."

"Could you dvu your wife?"

Everyone in the room laughed.

"Of course not!" they replied. "If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water and never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would have to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say dvu. It just doesn't exist."

The missionary sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, "Could God dvu people? There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started trickling down the weathered faces of the elderly men of the tribe.

Finally they responded, "Do you know what this would mean? This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, while all that time we rejected His great love. He would be compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people."

The missionary noted that changing one simple vowel changed the meaning from "I love you based on what you do and who you are," to "I love you, based on who I am. I love you because of me and not because of you."

God encoded the story of His unconditional love right into this African language. For centuries, the little word was there—unused but available, grammatically correct and quite understandable.

(Adapted from a letter titled One Little Vowel, published to staff of Wycliffe USA on 30 July 2012.)

It is amazing how languages work. When God confused the languages, He did a fantastic job. While some concepts are difficult to translate from one language to another, nevertheless it seems that God designed every unique language so that the message of the gospel could be communicated with all mankind. It is the job of the missionary to discover how that message can be communicated to the speakers of any given target language. And it is our job at the Missionary Training Center to prepare the next generation of missionaries to effectively communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to those who have never heard.

Bob

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"There is no reserve in God's love; he has given the best in heaven for the worst on earth, and in this way has rebuked distrust and established confidence. If we only want what God gives us we shall be perfectly happy. Nothing is of real value to us that we cannot take from our Father's hand and thank him for." — Selected

Does Anyone Notice?

Have you ever wondered if anyone ever notices the little things you do for others? I can guarantee you that someone does!

Matthew 25:37-40 says:

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

Recently one of our missionary ladies had an interesting discussion with a tribal believer about this passage of scripture. After talking about these verses, her tribal friend said, "I think when God wrote that, He was thinking about me."

When asked why, the tribal lady said, "God really does know all things. He knew when He was on the ground that this time of judgment would come up and the Holy Spirit wrote it all down through Matthew to tell us about it. But, He also knew what we would think and say when we heard His thank you talk like that. As soon as you read those passages, I thought to myself, 'When did I ever see Jesus on this ground and do anything for him? He was here so long ago. Why does he talk like we did something for Him?' I thought like that and then you read the next verse that says that the righteous ones, they asked the same exact question and then the King explained it to them. And now, He has explained it to me, too, because we read it just now."

God continues to build and strengthen His church in Papua New Guinea. This tribal lady is just one example of what He is doing around the world.

Our King most definitely takes notice of the things you are doing for others. One day He will say, "Well, done good and faithful servant."

In the meantime, I too want to express my thanks for all those who pray for me, send me messages of encouragement and contribute financially to my ministry. I am truly blessed with a wonderful team partnering with me in this ministry. Many thanks to all those who are helping me in this ministry of preparing the next generation of missionaries to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

Bob

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"He Delights In Me"

Song of Solomon 7:10 "I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me." This, we may truly say , is the highest note in the Song of Songs; and yet, we may as truly say it is the lowest. Now the soul is done with itself, and entirely occupied with Christ. It expresses, we believe, the highest apprehension of Christ. "His desire is toward me" –He delights in me. Consequently, self is lost sight of. Grace has done its perfect work -the soul is established in grace. This is the perfection of beauty in the people of the Lord; and always that in which He delights…The bride is all beauty and perfection in His sight; she is clothed in the comeliness of grace. She knows this, and this is the perfect rest of her heart.

"His desire is toward me." Higher than this the soul never can rise… It is finding all in the love, the changeless love, of Christ. This must ever, and only, be the heart's deepest joy and sweetest peace. Oh! Happy state for a poor sinner saved by grace to be in, and to be in now! To find all its fresh springs in the love of Jesus!

To be able to say, "He knows me thoroughly; He knows what I am in myself, what I am in Him, yet nevertheless, He not only loves me, but delights in me." There is nothing beyond this…This ought to be the key-note of all our praise.

And should the song of His love ever become feeble on our lips? Surely it should become stronger and stronger as we near the bright realms of Glory, where the same Jesus, and the same love, shall be our happy song forever.

-A. Miller

The Principle of Discipleship in 2 Timothy 2:2

The Apostle Paul told Timothy, "the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Tim. 2:2)."

A number of years ago a church was planted among the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea. Following the principle that Paul taught Timothy, Dinangat Bible teachers have learned how to reach their own people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Today they are laying the foundation to share the gospel with a neighboring village.

It took only one quick slash from a large machete. Suddenly the branch that moments before had been fastened to the tree for life and nourishment, was effectively dead because of its abrupt separation. Using that as an illustration, the Dinangat Bible teachers demonstrated the separation from God that took place when Adam and Eve sinned. When their neighbors saw that branch suddenly and permanently cut off, they were reminded that they were cut off from a holy and righteous God because of their sin. Even though the branch was still green and pliable, no one doubted that once it was separated from the tree, it was dead. The wilting branch was hung in the Dinangat teaching area as a reminder of the lesson on man's separation from God.

The power of that illustration has caused various members of the village to come to the Dinangat Bible teachers, troubled and burdened about their sin.

"I am just like that branch," one of them told the Bible teachers. "Because of my sin, I have been cut off from God. You say there is a promised Deliverer. Can you ask Him to somehow join me back to God?"

The Dinangat believers are excited to share the Good News about Jesus. They explain joyfully to these people that, as they come to hear teaching from God's Word, they will learn how to be joined back to God.

Please pray for this outreach among the Dinangat people. Pray that they will be drawn to the Lord and place their trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ! Pray also for the Dinangat Bible teachers as they teach the gospel to their neighbors.

Pray for us at the Missionary Training Center as we teach faithful men and women to take the gospel to unreached people groups.

Bob

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STORMS OF LIFE
John A. Owston

The problems of life have the potential of being either bane or blessing to us. Even though we may sometimes be like Habakkuk – not completely understanding God's purposes – difficulties can be the means of developing and maturing our faith. An untested faith may be genuine, but it can never be equal to a faith that has gone through the storms of life.

And we know that all things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28