NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

“I’m very worried.”  The aging tribesman furrowed his brow and slowly shook his head from side to side.  He was a proud member of the Ngaing people.   But right now he was envious of his neighbors, the Mibu.   He had heard that the Word of God had come to the Mibu, and he thought about visiting them so he could learn what God wanted him to know.  But he understood only a few words of their language.

“Some day, someone may bring this message to my people so we too can understand.”

“But,” he wondered, “what if I die before then?  What will happen to me?”

The answer for him is still out of reach!

What will happen to him – and millions of other unreached people like him?

More than 100 people groups have asked NTM for help.   They have a desperate desire to learn the message of God’s Word.

“Please!  Send a team to live among us…to learn our ways and our language.   To bring us the message of God and help us understand!”

Their hearts cry out for help.

I want you to know how grateful I am for the role you are playing in sharing God’s greatest Gift and transforming so many lives in some of the most difficult areas on earth.

Your encouragement in prayer and financial support is like a shot of B-12 to us as we train missionaries who will work in remote tribes where lost, hurting and needy people will soon discover Jesus!

You have an opportunity to meet the urgent demand for new missionary teams to reach millions of men, women and children who desperately need the hope of Jesus Christ.

If you are not a part of our team yet, here’s what I’m hoping you will consider:

• Join the “NTM team“.    Maybe God is leading you into missionary service for Him.   Maybe you just need to take the next step.    The time to act is now.    We must continue to train more eager missionary candidates for service.
• Join our “prayer team“.   I want to invite you to pray for us.  Send us a message and we’ll add you to our prayer update list.   Together, we’re asking God to work in miraculous ways.  I’m asking you to consider sharing this ministry of training more missionaries among your family, your friends and your church family as well during this Christmas season.   The more people who are aware, the more there will be prayer!
• Join our  “give team.”   You can make a profound difference in the lives of unreached people groups.  Maybe you would like to partner with us on a monthly basis.  Or  you may have a habit of giving year-end gifts to favorite causes.   Let me ask you to consider making this ministry one of your Christmas or year-end gifts for 2009.

You joining our team in any capacity doesn’t simply help our family’s ministry.  Rather you are making it possible to train missionary candidates who are eager to complete their preparation for field assignment.

They will be able to effectively adapt to remote and different cultures and languages.

This will allow them to befriend and work among unreached peoples…

…which will permit those peoples to learn and understand the powerful, transforming message of God’s love and forgiveness…

…and will answer their heartfelt cry, “What will happen to me when I die?”

Thank you, in advance, for joining us as Jena and I seek to help impact the lives of so many who still utter that question, not knowing that God’s Word provides the answer.

Right now at the Missionary Training Center, the third semester class is engaged in our course called “Culture and Language Acquisition Practicum.” However, we all call this class “Dobu.”   One thing that a tribal missionary must do before he can ever hope to teach the Bible is to learn the culture and the language of the people.   In order to learn a language, the students take courses such as Phonetics and Grammar so they can learn how to make different sounds that they are unfamiliar with and also arrange words in grammatical ways they may not be used to.  For culture, they have practiced techniques and also researched kinds of cultures so they can think outside of their American culture and hopefully correctly access the tribal culture.

“Dobu” is the class where they try to pull everything together that they have learned at the training center.  The “Dobu” instructors dress up in complete tribal “disguises” and act out the “Dobu” tribal culture.  They speak some English (which is the trade language), but they mostly speak their tribal language where they served. Students are engaged in sessions where they are trying to learn language and culture using the tools they have been given throughout the training.

Thank you for your part that allows these students to learn these important language and culture principles. We are truly thankful for your heart to help our missionary candidates get the training they need. Through your partnership in our ministry here, you are helping to train students so that more remote people groups can hear the Gospel.

Thank you!

We are pretty much settled into our new home in Roach, Missouri.  It has been a great adjustment.  A bit hotter here(well, actually a lot hotter) than Wisconsin. But the lake nearby has been refreshing after many hours of sweating.

Braden, Carter and McKenna are very dirty every day.  From dusty roads to many bug bites, they play hard from the moment they wake up to the time they go to bed.

I was trying to figure out what to have for supper so I built a little fire outside our place and we roasted hot dogs and mashmallows!  Gives you an idea that we are clearly out of the city! 

We are looking for a puppy to add to our family.  We’ve been praying daily for one.  So we’ll keep you posted.

We’d love to hear from any of you!