NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Hello from Jerusalem!  I thought I would pull my head out of Greek for a minute to say hello and give you a quick update.  Stephanie and Dorian joined me for almost two weeks and left for the US about 5 days ago.  We sure had a fun time together seeing some of this land that most of the Bible happened in.

As far as business goes, I’ve been swimming around in the Greek language for a couple of weeks.  I have two main goals, 1) to learn the language well and 2) to learn how I can teach it the same way the teachers here are.  Achieving these goals will greatly aid me in effectively teaching Greek to Bible translators in NTM.

Thanks so much for your prayers and financial support to allow me to do all this!

I recently spent two weeks in the capital city of Senegal, West Africa. NTM regularly gives intensive training seminars for its Bible translators. Since I am moving into a ministry that deals with Bible translation it only makes sense for me to get as much translation trainingas I can. I’ve been gradually taking these training seminars one by one as I am able. 

This particular seminar was about the challenges of translating the epistles. Most early translation work is done with narrative portions of Scripture like the stories of Genesis, the life of Christ, and Acts. When a translator begins to translate a book like Romans or Galatians, many new and difficult challenges arise. 

I worked with around 10 translators and their language helpers (nationals) that work in the countries of Senegal, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It’s always a blessing to see people working hard so more people can know about the saving grace of Jesus Christ! Believe me, it’s really hard work to translate the Bible!

On Saturday, November 15th, Jason will head to Senegal, West Africa, for 2 weeks for a translation workshop. 

The NTM translators and their helpers from the West Africa region will gather for 2 weeks to practice and refine their Bible translations.  Jason is going to participate in this workshop to get a good feel for how they are translating the epistles, and to answer any exegetical questions the translators might have. 

We are so excited about the ministry that the Lord is moving us into, to assist translators with making their translations more accurate. 

Many of these African people will not have any other Bible other than what these translators give them.  What an incredible privilege it is to be a part of giving the Word of God to His children in Africa!

    In the last few months we have begun working through the details what our new ministry with Bible translators  will look like.  In some ways, this will be a new ministry for NTM, so a current ‘job description’ doesn’t exist for what we want to do.  This means that we are trying to determine certain particulars, not only of what we will do, but even of issues like where we will live!

    Here are some of the things we are currently doing to begin to assist Bible translators.  We have scheduled our first ever Greek seminar for translators!  It is set for the summer of 2010.  In the more immediate future, I’ll be traveling to both Senegal, West Africa and Israel.  I’ll post updates on those trips as they come closer.  I’m currently reviewing a tribal translation of Romans for a translator in Papua New Guinea.  I will probably start doing the same thing for many other translators as well.

    For now, I continue to carry my teaching load here at NTBI.  But as things progress, I will begin to teach less and less.  It will be kind of hard to back off of teaching but there are others who are just as capable who can pick up what I put down. 

Please pray for Jason.  He is having a skin biopsy done on Wednesday.  We are hoping that this biopsy will give us some answers to his mysterious medical condition.  We probably won’t get any answers for a while; usually these types of tests take a while to get the results.  Please pray that we will trust the Lord no matter the results.

Well, It has been a year since Jason started feeling badly, and we are no closer to a diagnosis than we were then.  We are however, still doing many tests.  Right now we are testing him for metal poisoning.  In November he will also do a skin biopsy.  We are praying that these tests might reveal something of what is wrong. 

The Lord has been so good to us throughout this whole time.  He has shown himself sufficient, although it has been a difficult year.  We are thankful that Jason is still able to perform his ministry duties, although doing much more is very taxing at best.

Jason has been teaching his full load of classes along with taking one class at Trinity. 

This semester we are graduating about 25 students.  They have grown tremendously.  It is amazing to see what the Lord can do with teachable hearts.

Thank you all for praying!

On Wednesday, May 16th, after Jason spent the morning at his own doctor, he got to spend the afternoon with Anastasia at her doctor getting her arm put in a cast.  Earlier that morning, Anastasia fell off a small wall and broke both bones in her forearm.  She was a trooper, and no one realized that something was seriously wrong until after lunch! 

So now Anastasia looks as cute as can be with a tiny purple cast on her right arm.  By the time she is out of it, she’ll be ambidextrous! 

The Lord has been teaching us so much lately about dependence on Him.  We are nothing in and of ourselves; only with Him are we anything.  This semester has been full of challenges that have driven us to the cross.  He is so faithful, and we are so unworthy.  Please continue to pray with us as we seek answers about Jason’s condition.  We are waiting for muscle biopsy results that hopefully will tell us what Jason has.  Also, our van is in need of some repairs–we are trying to decide when is the best time to buy something else.  There have been so many things lately that have come up unexpectedly that we know that the Lord is teaching us that he is faithful to his children.  Thanks so much for praying!

Over 70 students are graduating from New Tribes Bible Institute next week.  Some have studied elsewhere and finished their associates with NTBI, some have been here for 2 years, and some have been here longer, but what all 70+ students have in common is the fact that they have grown in their walk with the Lord.  They have all been faced with the truths of God’s word in a powerful and convicting way.  They will leave this school with a Christlike perspective that will guide them as they make future decisions.  Many of the students that are leaving us are planning on being involved in tribal church planting.  We are excited to be a part of what God is doing in these students’ lives.  This is what our ministry is about–the transformation of lives that will lead to those people going to remote tribal locations to teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They will in turn teach those people what they have been taught during their two years at New Tribes Bible Institute.

Please continue to pray for Jason.  He has been having serious pain in his muscles throughout his body.  The doctor isn’t sure what it is and is doing more tests to try to determine the diagnosis.  Jason has been very tired, and although he has been trying to continue life as normal, it isn’t working very well.  We know that he is in the Lord’s hands, and He will work it out in His own time.  Thanks for praying!