Nathan and Rachel Allen “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
Well we have made it back from Wayumi and are in the full swing of things here. Since our last update we have moved back to our home in Jackson, MI from our summer ministry in Central Pennsylvania. We took a 6 day vacation to the U.P of Michigan – the only thing we do all year that is just for our family! Students have arrived back here to NTBI, registered, and finished their first week of classes. It’s been a busy month to say the least. (more…)
I wanted to write to all of you to give you an update on the ministry of Nathan and Rachel Allen here at the NTM Wayumi Program this summer. Many of you know that they have been at Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania for a little over 2 months serving in the ministry here. They have been a real blessing and in reality we could not have accomplished what we accomplished this summer without them.
Even though I am a New Tribes missionary, it is sometimes easy to forget the objective of why we serve with NTM. Even in our communication I realize how self-focused I can get. So I am going to occasionally post articles that help myself and our team to keep focus on what we are doing and why we have given our lives to this task of tribal church planting.
When we were in “church planting school,” also called Missions Institute, we had the privilege of being taught by an experienced tribal church planter. He has turned out to be one of my favorite teachers ever. His heart to disciple those who sit under his teaching is always evident. His name is George Walker.
George spoke at an annual conference NTM holds at our Missionary Training Center in Camdenton, MO this summer. We weren’t able to attend, but the sessions were recorded for us to download and listen to. I took the opportunity to listen to this particular session and was so encouraged! It is an awesome story of the results of the gospel going to a people group that in turn reaches out to another people group. I can’t recommend strongly enough taking the time to download this story and listening to it. You will be challenged and encouraged at the same time!
It is split into two parts due to file size restrictions. You can click on it to listen to in your browser or right click and choose “Save Link As” to download to your mp3 player to listen to later.
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THIS POST IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO PRAY FOR AND SUPPORT THE MINISTRY GOD HAS GIVEN US OF CHALLENGING AND EQUIPPING MORE LABORERS FOR THE HARVEST. (Or for the really curious. It’s ok, you can click through too…)
It’s amazing how fast the second half of the summer is going! We had a very busy week off during the 4th of July week with close friends and family visiting all week. Our best friends, Wes & Jodi, from Michigan stopped by overnight on their way out to Maine and then stayed with us for a few days on their return trip to Michigan. Jason and Laken Cizdziel spent the holiday weekend with us. Rachel’s brother and sister-in-law and family spent about 24 hours with us on their way home from Massachusetts. A very busy time indeed. It took us a little bit to recover, but I was well rested when it came time for camp to start for our third week.
This group was from Denver, Colorado 14 in all. They traveled 30+ hours in two days to get here. This group is from a supporting church of one of our co-workers – Greg and Hannah Lilley. So their oldest two boys, Luke and Levi, joined the group for the week and slept in the hammocks in jungle camp with them. What a committed group of teens and leaders! We had a great time with this group and we are looking forward to their future decisions about serving God.
As our time here is drawing to a close, we have booked just about everyday with friends to see. Including a trip to an Amish farm where one of our current students at the Bible School, John Beiler, grew up. A trip to Washington D.C. for the first time in our lives, with the kiddos! We are going to be staying with Jason and Laken. One of the interns, Josiah, is coming with us. We will be getting back on Sunday, the day that our next group arrives.
Pray for us as we travel and that our times of visiting with friends will be fruitful!
Thanks for reading our update!
Here we are again at Wayumi for the summer. I tell some people this is my disneyworld – the happiest place on earth. After last summer I couldn’t wait to get back here and see many lives changed once again. We started out with 6 weeks of camp planned – 3 weeks straight with a week off for the 4th of July, then another 3 weeks. We were hoping to have 4 interns, a guy and girl from both Bible Schools and I was going to be exhausted when it was all said and done.
Well, true to the Word of God, Proverbs 16:9 says, “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” (NLT) Here are some of the steps: We were only able to secure one male Bible school student to be an intern. We found out the week before we left Jackson, MI that one group had already cancelled, and then the night before we left a second group had cancelled. Major disappointment began to set in. But I slowly began to realize once again that God is still in control.
We arrived here Saturday June 4th and quickly set up house and began to get the camp in order for our first group of 28 people that arrived on Sunday June 12th. After arriving I was introduced to a girl by the name of Marie “Meezie” Sanford. Meezie is an NTM MK (missionary kid) and volunteered to help out for the summer. Jeb Wishart is our guy intern and is a Bible School graduate. Also, another Bible School student, Rachel Minium has been available to help as well as my intern from last year, Josiah Vanderdecker will be joining us next week as well! So I now had four interns! What a blessing that has been!
The first group arrived on Sunday and the week was off and running. We learned a lot last week, especially the interns, getting their feet wet and are now better prepared to run with me for the rest of the summer with 4 more weeks of camp. As it turns out, with the cancellations we will have camp every other week all summer.
As I’ve been thinking about our role in missions, I’ve been thinking about this idea of the evolution of a missionary. It would seem to me that when people think of a missionary, it is of a well-seasoned overseas missionary who has been trained, equipped and possibly already had field experience. Until recently had I thought of the behind-the-scenes process of a missionary getting to that point.
So I’ve begun to put together this idea of what it looks like for someone to become a missionary and the process they go through. Of course it would start with one’s one salvation, then discipleship, then a challenge to reach others, a positive response to that challenge, training, determine area of service, support raising, service, ongoing support raising and then retirement.
We have the fun privilege to be on the challenge and training aspect of that timeline. It’s a huge blessing to see those we’ve had a part in challenging and training reach their destination and begin to minister where God has lead them.
Recently I was asked, “What is your ministry?, What do you do?” Today I thought would be a great example to try to illustrate those questions… (more…)
The End of an Era
The feature that set NTBI Jackson apart for so many years made way for a new era just a few weeks ago. The Fitness Center was finally open! A brand new rubber floor…bright lights…two new Flat Screen TV’s were hung where there may have been a “No Life Guard on Duty” sign. The old weight room is empty. We will soon add more weights, treadmills and ellipticals. P90x and other exercise routines are a common sight. How thankful we are to the Lord and to some of you for providing what was needed in order to finish this project!
No More Waterless Apartments
Talk about a surprise…several months ago, we discovered that in order to meet the current health codes, we would need to install water in every married apartment. We know that our married alumni are saying… NOOOO! Let them experience no water! Sorry that is not an option. So…this May-July we will be installing new kitchens in 11 apartments.
What are some NTBI Jackson Alumni up to?
“Let us come boldly before the throne of grace…” on behalf of these two people groups and the NTBI alumni working with them, trusting that God will give a great harvest!
We have had the opportunity to get to know and spend time with many couples over the past 8 years of ministry. Here is a video of one of our current couples. Love them.
If you are having problems viewing this video – try downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer.
