NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Julie and I are on a great adventure with God that allows us to help expand the reach of the Gospel to every tribe — and to offer you opportunities to take part too!

But that’s not how it all started …

I was saved at 17. God’s plans were the furthest thing from my mind as I went to college in Illinois to study for a newspaper career. I wanted to write, and I especially wanted to be a globe-trotting journalist.

In college I met Julie. Julie grew up in Chicago, had been saved at age 7, and from early in her life wanted to be a missionary doctor. Setbacks in school got in the way of that, but I’d like to think something good came of the time for her: After a whirlwind romance, we married in 1980.

Six months later I completed my studies and we headed back to my home state, California. It seemed like my plans were coming to pass and Julie’s were falling by the wayside. However, it didn’t take long in gritty, noisy little newsrooms to realize that I was also a long way from my dream of traveling the world and writing.

Not long after I got a job at the newspaper in Ontario, California, we began attending a relatively small church there, Westpark Baptist Church (now Sunrise Church Ontario).

There, God did something that changed our lives.

Our family in 1990: Julie and Ian, with Jackie, Meghan and Brynna. Evan was born in 1994.

We had both been learning and growing, taking in sound Bible teaching. And one Sunday morning in 1983, after Pastor Bill Rice preached a sermon (sorry, I can’t tell you what the message was about, except that it wasn’t about missions), and gave an invitation (sorry, I can’t tell you what the invitation was, except that it wasn’t about missions), God spoke to me.

It wasn’t like the heavens opened (at least, not that I know of; I was indoors at the time) or like a heavenly choir sang while the audible voice of God boomed. But I knew very clearly that God was saying to me, I want you in missions.

I went forward.

At the same time, Julie felt a renewal of her desire to serve God in missions, and she went forward as well. It was not until we were kneeling side-by-side and praying that we saw each other. Knowing that God was working in both our hearts became a great encouragement in the days ahead, as it once again seemed that things were not going to work out.

We sought out several mission boards but were turned away for a variety of reasons: debt, lack of a seminary degree, children, age …

God continued to work in our hearts, and Psalm 37:4 became real to us: Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. As I learned and grew, missions became the desire of my heart.

But it wasn’t until 1992 that the very next verse sank in: Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. We had been trying very hard to get to the mission field. We thought it was something we had to accomplish for Him. Then we realized …

His calling was not a burden – it was a promise!

Awayo helps me edit a blog post in Indonesia in 2008.

And that was when a couple who served with New Tribes Mission talked with us. To come into NTM, we’d need to be out of debt. But our ages and the number of children we had were not a problem, and NTM would train us. That direction was confirmed when God erased our debt and provided funds for us to get through training.

We are so grateful that God led us to NTM. We are convinced that there are few other missions with as clear and biblical and effective an approach.

After we completed our training 1995, we were heading to Papua New Guinea, to plant a church among a people group who had no access to the Gospel.

Because of my journalism background, the folks at the home office asked if I would come and talk with them about serving in Florida instead. I agreed – but in my heart I was firm about going to Papua New Guinea.

But during that trip to Florida, God brought to mind Matthew 28:19: make disciples of all nations. And it seemed as if He was saying, You’ve been focused on going to one people group, one nation. I want you to help raise up laborers for all nations.

So on January 1, 1998, Julie and I began our ministry at NTM’s USA home office in Sanford, Florida. My ministry is primarily in the areas of strategy, editing and writing. Julie is our lead proofreader for New Testaments in tribal languages, and helps a lot with our communication with our team.

And now God is bringing everything full circle.

Interviewing Tim Erieau in a Mengen village in Papua New Guinea in 2005

I had a dream of traveling and writing, and my ministry is shifting in that direction more and more. I’ve made five trips overseas, and on the latest one in October 2010 Julie accompanied me as we gathered stories and photos and brief video interviews.

We anticipate more such trips in the future.