Six Degrees of Separation

In 1993 Kevin Bacon starred in a film titled Six Degrees of Separation. It was based on a theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. Or to put it another way, any two people are six or fewer steps away from each other through a chain of friends. While the theory is unproven, I think that it will be interesting getting to know other people in heaven and seeing just how close those chains of acquaintances were between us and other brothers and sisters in Christ.

With that being said, I have a message for you from a believer in Papua New Guinea who has less than six degrees of separation from you.

I first met Wayne back in 2007 when he was a student here at the Missionary Training Center. Wayne and his wife Gail moved to Papua New Guinea so they could plant a church among the Biem people. In 2012, the message of the gospel was presented to the Biem through the Firm Foundations chronological Bible lessons and a church was born.

The testimonies of the Biem people of Papua New Guinea demonstrated their utter amazement at the goodness of God. The fact that He sent a Savior who died for them is almost more than they could imagine.

“This is God’s talk,” said one of the Biems. “I’ve heard it. See, it’s just one story, from the Old Testament to Jesus. There is no other road but Jesus. God meant it this way from the beginning.”

“I can’t stop thinking about this talk,” another Biem stated. “It’s what I think of when I first get up. Yesterday, I woke and that’s what I started talking with my wife about. We went to the garden and were there all day talking about this talk. Then all of sudden it’s night and we have to stop. But in the morning, we start all over again. It’s always on my mind.”

“A young guy sat next to me, with the biggest smile on his face,” wrote Wayne. “He didn’t say anything so I asked him, ‘What’s on your mind?’”

“He said, ‘Wayne, I had a big question yesterday. Why didn’t God the Father help Jesus on the cross? I thought about it all night and I didn’t know. But after today’s lesson, I don’t have any more questions. I got it. I understand it. I am just going to sit here and be happy.’”

One young Biem man told Wayne, “I know I should thank God for you guys but I want to thank all three of your families for bringing God’s talk here.”

Then Wayne told him that, no, it’s not just the three families. He said, “There are literally thousands of people praying for you guys to understand God’s talk all over the world.”

The Biem man said, “OK, then you go and tell them, all of them: Thank you. God’s talk has come to our island. Thank them for praying and sending you guys here.”

As I read the Biem man’s words, it reminded me of Romans 10:14–15 which says:

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

And we could probably add to that, “And how shall they preach unless they can speak the language? And how can they learn an unwritten language unless they are trained?”

That brings me back to six degrees of separation. From a Biem believer in Papua New Guinea to Wayne to Bob to you: “Thank you for your part in getting the gospel to the far reaches of the world!” Whenever you pray for a missionary or help to support their ministry, you are part of that chain taking the gospel to least-reach and unreached people groups around the world.

Bob

* * *

A Secret for Christian Growth
by John Nelson Darby

One of the great secrets of growth is looking upon the Lord Jesus as gracious. How strengthening it is, to know that He is at this moment feeling and exercising the same love and grace towards me as when He died upon the Cross for me.

 

Understanding Worldviews is Important

One of the courses taught in first semester here at the Missionary Training Center is called Worldviews. The term worldview has been defined as:

1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.

2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

It is important to understand the worldview of the people you are working with in order to present the gospel to them in a clear and understandable way. If you do not understand their worldview, much confusion can result as they misunderstand concepts that you want to communicate.

Our Culture-Language Acquisition Practicum in third semester builds upon the Worldviews course. Our third semester students are trying to understand the culture of a native from Papua New Guinea whose name is Kinosi. His worldview is quite different from our western culture and he gets easily confused about the ways of these white visitors to his island. As a result our students get to put into practice what they learned in the first semester Worldviews course before they actually get to a third world ministry context. Courses such as these pay dividends in the long run.

NTM missionary, Katie Moore, wrote from Mexico, “Our team has been focusing intently on understanding the Nahuatl worldview in order to be clear in teaching the gospel.”

Discussions on worldview often raise curious questions. One of Katie’s Nahuatl friends said, “Maybe the spirits talk to God, but they don’t talk to us.”

So Katie asked “If the spirits talk to God but not people, and God doesn’t talk to people who are alive, how do you know what God thinks or wants?”

Her friend replied that her ancestors told them what God thinks.

 “Oh, so the spirits used to talk to people?” Katie suggested.

“No,” her friend replied hesitantly.

“So if no one back then heard from God, how did they know what He wanted?” Katie asked.

Katie’s friend sat back and pondered that question. At length, she concluded, “They made it up.”

“They made it up.” It was a lightbulb moment for this Nahuatl woman when she realized that her worldview was built on a shaky foundation. What she believed made no sense.

The truth of God’s Word will challenge the faulty worldviews that animistic cultures are built upon. As missionaries understand the worldviews of the Nahuatl people in Mexico or of Kinosi in Papua New Guinea, they are better equipped to present the good news of Jesus Christ.

On a personal note, I should be moving across the cove after living in my little house for 26 years. I’ve been praying that my foot (plantar fasciitus) and my back would be up to all the lifting and carrying. My foot seems to be improving and my back has been feeling pretty good for the last few days. Unfortunately my back seems to go in and out at the drop of a hat — or at least it goes out when I bend over to pick up a dropped hat. Anyway, I would appreciate prayers for this upcoming move which is October 8^th.

Thanks.

Bob

* * *

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. -- Isaiah 65:24

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle
upon a thousand hills. -- Psalm 50:10

Shortly after the Dallas Theological Seminary was founded in 1924, it almost folded into bankruptcy. All the creditors were ready to foreclose at noon on a given day.

That morning, the founders of the seminary met in the President’s office to pray that God would somehow provide. In that meeting was a man named Dr. Harry Ironside. When it was his turn to pray, he said in his refreshingly candid way, “Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine. Please sell some of them and send the money to us.”

Just about that time, a tall Texan wearing cowboy boots an open-collar shirt strolled into the school’s business office. “Howdy,” he said to a secretary. “I’ve just sold two carloads of cattle over in Fort Worth. I’ve been trying to make another business deal go through, but it just won’t work. I feel God wants me to give this money to the seminary. I don’t know if you need it or not, but here’s the check.”

The secretary took the check and, knowing of the nature of the business that day, went to the door of the President’s office and timidly knocked. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder and President of Dallas Theological Seminary, answered the door and took the check from the secretary.

When he looked at the amount, it was for the exact amount of the debt. Then he recognized the name of the cattleman on the check, and turning to Dr. Ironside, he said, “Harry, God sold the cattle.”

 

A New Church is Born

A number of years ago the gospel message came to the Inapang people of Papua New Guinea. They received the Word of God and a church was born. In recent years, Inapang believers were taught how to reach other villages with the gospel. For the past 4 months they have been doing just that. Inapang Bible teachers have been making the long hike to Tangguat each week to preach the Gospel to those who also need to hear the wonderful message of salvation.

A few weeks ago many among the Tangguat also placed their faith in the Savior. Here are a few of their testimonies.

Tresia said “There is nothing we can do to bring ourselves back to God. It is God alone! Jesus came and died for our sins and it is only because of Him that we can come to God!”

Aranzing said to Tim (the missionary helping Inapang Bible teachers), “God sent his Son to this ground to be born from a woman and He followed God’s thinking all the way until he was grown, and it was all to pay for our sin. I believe what I have heard and I can’t do anything to save myself from my sin. I heard that the Imbungguma Kani (Deliverer) would come and I thought about him and I thought about him and wondered how he would save me. He came to become our sin-person and defeat Satan and get us back from him. I heard about him and I believed and trusted in him as I heard his story all the way until yesterday and today’s story (death, resurrection and ascension). I am giving God a big thank you that He sent His only Son to save us. I am getting a very big thank you and giving it to God because He was thinking of us and sent His Only Son whom He loved very much. All the sins that we were doing before and that we will do, we couldn’t save ourselves from those, but God sent His Son for us and for all the bad people. True, true, true, true... This is God’s story. Jesus is with us. He is the one door to God. His blood was shed for us and if we believe in Him, then by that road we will come to God. He has completely erased all our sin and because of that I am so happy. Thank you, Tim, so much for coming. We were nothing, we were just bush people who were going astray, but God by His strength sent you to Papua New Guinea to the bush people to preach His word. And Jesus is with us now. He died for us. I am completely believing in that. He is coming again and those that believe in Him, He will come back to get us. But those who do not believe in Him will go to the place of fire. I cannot save myself from this... only God.”

Taitus said, “We always thought that we could help ourselves and that we could stand on our good works and the law so that we would be good in God’s eyes. But now we’ve heard this story and these things we’ve heard, we did not know before! Some might not want to hear it or accept this story, but me, I am believing it. Before I thought that because I was one that was religious, that I was a good man. But now I have heard this story and I know that there is only one road and God knows all of our hidden thoughts. God knows us completely and we are all really messed up. Now God’s Son has shown us the road and we must believe in Him. There is no other road! He came down to this ground and His blood was shed for our sins and he made one way, one door, for us to go through and it is that we must trust in Him.”

Michael, who was a former Cult leader, said, “When the Bible teaching was ready to come here, I was in the [Cult] and because of this I was staying far away. I was against this teaching coming. I did not know what to think about it and for two weeks the teaching went on. I thought about it and thought about it and then I decided I had to come and hear this message and so I came with my family and began to listen. Long ago in the [Cult] we had heard some Bible stories, but the things we were taught were not the meanings of the stories and we didn’t understand them. It didn’t penetrate our hearts so that we would believe in it and trust it. But then I came to this Bible teaching and now I am truly believe what I am hearing! I am very much, completely believing only in God. Now I have heard this whole story and I understand it and it is shooting into the core of my thoughts and my heart.”

Note: A few weeks ago, the Cult was having a week long training session for their leaders and so they called to Michael to come join them, but Michael said, “No, I have left this [Cult] completely. I have heard this good story and it is so sweet to my thoughts. I have learned more from this teaching than I ever have in the [Cult].

Zibatai said, “We are so happy to hear this message! That the way for us to come to God is open and that now as we believe in Him we can talk to him and he hears us because our sins are paid for.”

A new church was born among the Tangguat because believers from Inapang brought them the gospel. A church was born in Inapang because church planters trained at the Missionary Training Center in Missouri brought them the gospel. Those church planters were equipped here at the MTC, because I and other teachers were able to impart our knowledge to them. I have had the privilege to train Tim and many other church planters because many faithful believers have supported my ministry and offered prayers of on my behalf. I am so thankful for all my family and friends who have been part of this amazing team taking the gospel to the remote corners of the earth.

Bob

* * *

Hang in There

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl.

One was a wise and cheery soul;

The other one took a gloomy view

And bade his friend a sad adieu.

Said the other frog with a merry grin,

"I can't get out, but I won't give in!

I'll swim around till my strength is spent,

Then I will die all the more content."

And as he swam, though ever it seemed,

His struggling began to churn the cream

Until on top of pure butter he stopped

And out of the bowl he quickly hopped.

The moral, you ask? Oh it's easily found:

If you can't get out, just keep swimming around.

Hang in there!

 

Saving Twin Babies

When we think of missionaries working overseas, we often think about the good news of eternal salvation. But meeting the physical needs of indigenous people, can often result in saving their physical lives. Such was the case of twin babies born in Guinea Africa.

Many animistic cultures have despicable superstitions about the birth of twins. Often they will kill one or both of the babies because of cultural beliefs regarding evil spirits. But Fatou insisted that she was supposed to keep both of her twins alive. She felt that God told her she needed to come and ask the missionary lady for help to save them. So Fatou brought her tiny twins to Casey’s house.

Casey wrote, “Both were skeletal. I assumed that they were newborns. When Fatou told me that they were 2 months old, I honestly couldn’t believe it.”

Casey wasn’t sure the fragile babies would survive. And to make matters worse, their mommy, Fatou, was malnourished, ill and sleep-deprived.

“It was decided that all three would move to the village where we live so that I could keep a close eye on them,” Casey shares. “We started Fatou on a high-calorie diet to get her strength back and so see if she would be able to provide any milk for the babies. I taught several village ladies how to clean bottles, prepare formula and feed the babies from a bottle and burp them.”

These were all brand-new concepts to the village ladies. But Casey’s prayers were answered and her plan worked beautifully. Amazingly, the tiny, weak babies began to grow strong and healthy.  “Every time I was there,” Casey says, “I praised God that He was restoring health to both babies and their mom. I am so blessed to have had a small part in their lives. They are almost a year old now. And so cute! And so healthy! We’re blessed that God has brought these sweet babies into our lives. I love that I get to hold them and get called ‘Mama’ by them since we saved their lives.  How precious is that?  Thank You, God, for allowing us to be used in this way.”

Classes such as Field Health are taught here at the Missionary Training Center with the ultimate goal in mind of bringing the message of salvation to those who need of the gospel. And in the process, countless lives have been touched by the compassion of those ministering also to their physical needs.

Our new semester begins August 17^th. I would sure appreciate your prayers as we begin to gear up for classes. I am currently reviewing my notes on the Dobu culture so that I can play the part of a native from Papua New Guinea. I am also in the process of moving to a different apartment on campus. I would certainly appreciate your prayers as my back and foot have been giving me problems lately.

Bob

* * *

The Quality of Faith Versus the Object of Faith

By George Cutting

How may I be sure that I have the right kind of faith?

Well, there can be but one answer to that question, namely, Have you confidence in the right Person?—that is, in the blessed Son of God?

It is not a question of the amount of your faith, but of the trustworthiness of the person you repose your confidence in. One man takes hold of Christ, as it were, with a drowning man’s grip; another but touches the hem of His garment; but the sinner who does the former is not a bit safer than the one who does the latter. They have both made the same discovery, namely: that while all of self is totally untrustworthy, they may safely confide in Christ, calmly rely on His word and confidently rest in the eternal efficacy of His finished work. That is what is meant by believing in HIM. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life" (John 6:47).

 

Reaching the Iski

The Iski are an unreached people group living in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. There are about 10,000 speakers of the Iski language. They live in the swampy lowlands where there are no roads or airstrips. The only way in or out for missionaries is by helicopter.

A neighboring language group has a healthy, growing church. NTM missionaries planted a church there using the chronological method of teaching the Bible. The teaching series follows the story of the Redeemer from God’s creation in Genesis to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ in the gospels.

Three Iske men hiked a day’s journey to the village where “God’s talk” was being taught. They were not fluent in the other language, but they understood enough of the message to place their trust in Jesus for salvation. After believing the gospel, the three men went back to their homes in Iski. They were babes in Christ, and there was much that they didn’t understand well enough to explain to the other Iski people. But they knew that they wanted their families to hear this message. The Iski people are located a day’s hike away from the village where these three men heard the gospel. To complicate matters, very few Iski people know the language of this other village.

Despite these difficulties, the three men were able to convince about 300 other Iski people to leave their homes, gardens, and livelihoods, and relocate to a little hamlet that is closer to the village where the gospel was being taught. This meant transporting all of their families, possessions, and starter vegetables by foot and canoe. Then they had to clear virgin jungle in order to build their new homes and plant their new gardens. They wanted to be as close as they could be to the teaching that was continuing in the village with the gospel. The Iski wanted to hear and understand “God’s talk.” But that meant learning another language.

Learning another language is difficult at best and trying to learn that language while building houses and providing food for your family makes it all the more difficult. Unfortunately, they were not able to learn the neighboring language well enough to help them understand the message. After realizing this, they began sending delegations to the village with the gospel to see if they could get missionaries of their own.

Three NTM couples have responded to this request and have started a new work among the Iski people. Their hope is to learn the Iski language and culture well enough to be able to present the story of the Redeemer by the summer of 2016.

The people of Iski are hungry for the Word of God! Each day men and women wait for the missionaries to arrive at the village meeting house. They are eager to help with language sessions. They regularly bring gifts of food to the missionaries, and ask for nothing in return. When the missionaries thank the Iski for their help, the people typically reply, “We’re not doing these things for you. We want to hear God’s talk, so we want to do whatever we can to help you learn our language quickly.”

Please pray for the missionary families as they are in the process of learning language and culture. Pray for the Iski people as they wait to hear the message of the gospel. Pray that God will prepare their hungry hearts to receive the message of salvation. And pray for us at the Missionary Training Center as we prepare our students to take the good news of Jesus Christ to other unreached people groups.

Our new schedule has the Phonetics 2 course designated to be taught in the spring of 2016. I used to teach that course in a lecture format. Now we are going to teach it in small groups. That means I need to get our phonetics teachers up to speed on a bunch of new sounds they are not used to producing. Some of those sounds can be quite challenging. The good news was that we had plenty of time to work on those sounds. However, due to a scheduling conflict, there is a possibility that we might teach those sounds this fall semester instead. Please pray for myself and our phonetics teachers as we may have to teach Phonetics 2 sooner than we had anticipated.

Bob

* * *

Pain Will Be Lost in Praise
by Vance Havner

When before the throne we stand in Him complete, all the riddles that puzzle us here will fall into place and we shall know in fulfillment what we now believe in faith — that all things work together for good in His eternal purpose. No longer will we cry “My God, why?” Instead, “alas” will become “Alleluia”. All question marks will be straightened into exclamation points, sorrow will change to singing and pain will be lost in praise.

Note: This was written shortly after the death of his wife.

 

Miscommunication

The dictionary defines “miscommunication” as “a failure to communicate adequately.”

It is easy to miscommunicate even between people who speak the same language. The probability of miscommunication is even greater across language and cultural barriers.

Noe was a student in our Culture/Language Acquisition Practicum. He saw a skull sitting next to his language helper’s house and wanted to know what significance or role it played in the native’s culture. But how do you ask that when your language helper has a limited understanding of English? He tried to communicate the concept of “significance” in simple terms as he framed his question.

Noe asked, “So what is behind that skull?”

One definition for “behind” is “something that is underlying but not apparent to the observer.” That’s how Noe was using the word. He wanted to know what was “behind” the skull in the sense of what is the underlying significance of the skull.

But a far more common definition of “behind” is “at the back of someone or something.” And that is how Noe’s language helper understood the word “behind.”

The language helper paused for a second and looked over at the skull sitting next to his house. Then he looked at the area behind the skull. Finally he replied, with a puzzled expression on his face, “Well, there is nothing behind that skull.”

It was obvious to the language helper that there was nothing located behind the skull. But he checked just to make sure that he wasn’t missing something. When he was sure that there was nothing in back of the skull, he told Noe there was nothing there. But he could not quite understand why Noe thought that there was something behind the skull.

Noe and his classmates got a chuckle out of the mistake that he made. But it was a good learning opportunity to demonstrate the difficulty of communicating with someone who does not know your language or culture.

Our summer break is just beginning. We have spent the last two mornings evaluating our Culture/Language Acquisition Practicum. Summer months are a good opportunity for working on curriculum that we teach during the regular semester. I appreciate your prayers as we fine tune our courses in preparation for the fall semester.

Bob

* * *

You can’t break God’s promises by leaning on them!

1.      God’s presence—“I will never leave thee” (Heb. 13:5)

2.      God’s protection—“I am thy shield” (Gen. 15:1)

3.      God’s power—“I will strengthen thee” (Isa. 41:10)

4.      God’s provision—“I will help thee” (Isa. 41:10)

5.      God’s leading—“And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them” (John 10:4)

6.      God’s purposes—“I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil” (Jer. 20:11)

7.      God’s rest—“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28)

8.      God’s cleansing—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

9.      God’s goodness—“No good thing will He withhold from them that work uprightly” (Psalm 84:11)

10.  God’s faithfulness—“The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake” (1 Sam. 12:22)

11.  God’s guidance—“The meek will He guide” (Psalm 25:9)

12.  God’s wise plan—“All things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28)

 

What about Bob?

What About Bob: In 1991 Bill Murray starred in a movie called What About Bob? This month I would like to answer the question, “What about Bob?” This might give you a better picture of what I do here at the Missionary Training Center.

The Phonetics Guru: Phonetics is a 70 hour course that covers sounds spoken in languages around the world. Students practice saying these sounds. They also practice writing words and phrases from various foreign languages using the International Phonetic Alphabet. In 1985 I was asked to take charge of the Phonetics Course. Besides overseeing the program, I have written two textbooks that we have used in our phonetics course. Somewhere along the way, I inherited the title of “The Phonetics Guru.” Don’t ask me how, because I have no idea.

The Culture-Language Acquisition Practicum: The CLA Practicum is a 95 hour course that provides instruction in the principles of Culture-Language Acquisition. Students practice applying principles and methods of Culture-Language Acquisition in a simulated tribal/animistic context. I play the role of a native from Papua New Guinea living in a remote jungle village. Students apply the principles and methods that they have learned in class with a number of villagers including myself.

The Grade Master: Years ago the Missionary Training Center needed a better way to keep grades and generate transcripts. At that time I was asked to design a temporary system for grading and transcripts. Since I know Microsoft Excel and Word fairly well, I developed a system for keeping grades and generating transcripts. By today’s standards it was pretty rudimentary, but it got the job done. The grade tracking portion became known as the Mother of All Spreadsheets. It was supposed to be a temporary solution until we found something else to replace it. That temporary solution lasted for over a decade. At the beginning of this spring we switched over to using a commercial program which is a big improvement over the Mother of All Spreadsheets. I am one of the administrators of the new program and will be involved in training our teachers to use it.

The NTM Theological Consultation Group: Lance Latham was a great Bible teacher. He not only founded the AWANA clubs, but he also helped in founding New Tribes Mission. In the early days of NTM, Lance was known as the theological watchdog of the mission to keep the fledgling organization on the straight and narrow doctrinally. NTM has a rich doctrinal heritage and is much indebted to men such as Lance Latham. Today churches and Christian organizations face many challenges as the winds of doctrine constantly shift direction. New Tribes Mission recognizes these challenges and is committed to stand firm upon the doctrinal foundations laid by men such as Lance Latham. As such, they have formed a Theological Consultation Group of which I am a member. This group has been tasked with the job of making sure that our current doctrinal statement is clearly worded and leaves no room for misunderstanding what is stated. We have had situations in which a student will enter into the NTM training program thinking that they are in agreement with the NTM doctrinal statement. But in reality they misread the NTM doctrinal statement because of their theological background. Usually those issues come up somewhere in the training program. But there have been cases in which someone will get to the mission field only to find out that because of doctrinal differences they are not able to function with their NTM co-workers. It is tragic to see people sell houses, leave jobs, leave relatives, and move overseas only to find out that they really are not in agreement on important doctrinal issues. A clearly worded doctrinal statement can help to minimize these situations.

Whether I am teaching a class on phonetics or discussing doctrinal issues, I know that the prayers of God’s saints makes a huge difference in my life and ministry. I appreciate all those who are praying for me.

Bob

* * *

Don’t Quit!

When the mountains look high,

And the valleys seem low,

It’s not time to quit,

It’s just time to go.

 

When life’s battle is rough,

And you can’t seem to win,

It’s not time to quit,

But the time to begin.

 

When your friends let you down,

And you know not where to turn,

It’s not time to quit,

But the time to stand firm.

 

When your witness is nil,

And your spirit is low,

It’s not time to quit,

Just get up and go.

 

With the world in a turmoil,

And unbelief in the land,

It’s not time to quit,

But time for a stand.

 

When looking at others,

They do nothing but sit,

You still should go,

It’s no time to quit.

 

Jesus going to Calvary,

Never flinched a bit,

He was dying for us,

WHAT IF HE HAD QUIT?