Kickoff of new semester!

Over the past few weeks all of the new students have arrived and classes have begun for a group of church planting world-changers! Pray for all the great families God has brought our way…many who have overcome much to follow Christ and His leading in their lives.

There is so much happening on campus that it is hard to keep up with all of the expansion changes.  Our construction team has worked hard this past summer to prepare the foundation for the new multi-purpose building coming this fall.  We are thankful for your prayers and support that has made it possible to keep this project moving forward so more students can be trained to serve others around the world.

Two families to be united as one on Oct. 9th!

Carolyn and I just returned from a quick weekend away as we worked with our son Kevin and his fiancee, Haily and her family to finalize all the wedding plans for the upcoming Oct. 9th wedding in Phoenix.  To say the least, we can’t wait and look forward to Haily joining our family in 4 short weeks.  God has blessed us so abundantly and Kevin and Haily are a fruit of His love and grace in our lives.

Brian working at his internship at Shepherds College!

Brian continues to prosper at Shepherds College in Union Grove, WI.  He is loving his 3rd year internship and we were just interviewed last month by Christianity Today who is doing a feature story on Brian and his college in the future issue.  He is loving his dorm life as he works with the college resident life staff mentoring the first year students.  It is amazing to see how God has continued to mature Brian and see Him become the very special Godly young man that he has become. Praise be to God.

Megan and her marching band perform this Friday night at the first football game of the season!  She can’t wait and of course mom is almost beside herself with excitement and she is totally engaged with the band!

Thanks for your love, prayers and financial support that allows us to serve the Lord in training students to reach out to some of the least reached people groups around the world!

The third semester class is 100% 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, about 10 in all, have been dressing 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.

Pray for us as we continue to train the next generation of church planters.  Pray for these wonderful students as they prepare for one of the most difficult ministries in the world!