Schaff fam 2011

The Lord was so gracious to allow our family to get together over the holidays. Christmas Eve found Shirley and me flying to Los Angeles to spend a week with Rico, Megan and Olivia. What a neat week we had with them, marveling over our 4 month old granddaughter. Within a day or two we saw her roll over for the very first time. Interaction with her was so much fun. Shirley had her laughing so hard it we were all busting our guts.

Olivia and Grandma

Later in the week Aaron and Megan and Mike and Rachel were able to join us for a New Years celebration. We had several days together, walking the beach, fishing, playing ping pong, visiting Santa Monica, Laguna Beach, San Diego…our first time to see much of that area. What beautiful scenery! No wonder people like southern California so much. And the weather…just gorgeous with highs in the lower 80′s and lows in the 40′s and sunny every day. Thank you Lord!

So now we are back at NTBI and ready for a new semester. 140+ students will soon arrive and be back studying full time. We were privileged to be able to see some alumni last weekend at church who are getting ready to leave for the field in a couple of weeks. What a blessing to catch up just before they leave. In addition, we know of two other couples and some single gals who will also be leaving for Thailand within a few weeks. Sharing this news at the staff meeting on Monday helped us kick off the semester focused again on why we do what we do at New Tribes Bible Institute. Within just a few years, a people group who today have no knowledge of Jesus, may hear about his offer of forgiveness of sins and eternal life as a result of these alumni going to live with them. Just like the people in North Wahgi are hearing now…within just a few weeks they should hear about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Lord willing a new church will be born. Please pray it is so!

Thank you for your time and interest in what God is doing in Jackson as well as around the world. Want to get involved? Check it out. www.ntm.org

Thousands of miles west of PNG in Guinea, West Africa, the Baga Fore people are about two thirds through the chronological teaching. In just a few weeks, Gene Bacon and the team will get to present the Gospel message. Already we have heard of a “new life” among the Baga Fore. Praise God that one has already entered in the realm of light! May God grant that many more will have their eyes open and they will see Jesus for who He really is; the One and only Savior of the world. Please pray that God will be greatly glorified in what happens among the Baga Fore.

Thank you so much for your time and interest in what God is doing among the unreached of the world. Two less of them real soon! Prasie the Lord!

Today found our intern Andrew, John a student and me at a Christian school sharing about NTM and NTBI. We showed Ee-taow and challenged them to consider how they will be spending their short lives. Its always hard to tell who is impacted and how much, since we don’t have much time to meet with them afterward. So we trust that we have sewn some seed and leave the results to God, praying that He will continue to raise up laborers for the mission field.

A couple of weeks ago we had a youth event where local groups came in to hear Rich Brown, an NTM missionary working in the Moi people group. He did a good job connecting with about 50 youth and leaders. Again…we are so glad they came and praise the Lord for the opportunity to let people know what He is doing around the world. The day after that, we hosted a number of local pastors and their wives for a luncheon where we were able to thank them for their ministry to our students and staff. We showed AWAYO and gave an update on which tribal groups have been reached this year and which are being taught even now. It is such a privilege to be able to report this kind of news.

Thanks for your prayers for us as we continue to serve students and staff at NTBI and communicate the good news of the Gospel and missions to those we come in contact with. We thank God at every remembrance of you!   Philippians 1.3-6

Siar carefully weighing what Lane is saying.

There are days when we wonder “What in the world is going on that really matters?” Find yourself there recently? Well today…could we be so bold as to suggest something that God is completely thrilled with? If He was only able to be in one place at a time (and we know that is not true), He would have been in a small village in Papua New Guinea. There, for the first time in their history, the Siar people heard about the resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins that God offers as a result of their faith in Christ. We spoke with Lane this morning by phone in our chapel time. Our students were eagerly awaiting his report of how the Gospel presentation went. You see we have been praying for the team all week…in fact ever since the teaching began July 4. Lane and Kari, Chris and Erin and Jonathan and Melissa have been preparing for this day for years, learning the Siar language and culture. We know their hearts have soared heavenward with praise as a result of what God has now done in their midst. The Siar church has been born. Lane reported that already, about 20 Siar have given clear testimony of their individual faith in Christ in just the few hours since the teaching. There are many more to talk with in the coming days. 

How we praise the Lord for our new Siar brothers and sisters in the Lord. We know there are multitudes of angels watching, wondering and amazed at what has gone on in the jungle of PNG this week. As well there are multitudes of saints giving God glory! Last night in prison, our “flock” was praying and thanking God already for what He would do. What an amazing God we serve! Thank you for your prayers for us as we train more believers to go to the remaining 2,500 tribes. We thank God at every remembrance of you.

“Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them.” Psalm 111.2

As you can see…they come from all over the US…every corner of the country. We also have students from Korea and Germany. The Lord moves in hearts to bring us quite the variety. Singles, newly weds, couples married for 10 years or more, families with 1-5 children or more at times. We never know just who the Lord will send us. One thing is for sure…whoever He sends, we rejoice! Quite possibly they could reach a tribe someday in the near future. The entire training program takes about 3.5 – 4 years, then a time of raising support. that can take 6 months to a year or more. Once enough support is raised (approx $3-4,000/month) a family can head off to the field of their choice…over 25 countries that NTM works with.

Thankfully the Lord has sent NTBI Jackson 68 new students this semester. They will join our 77 returning students and begin to discover the riches that the Bible contains. Studying it is the only way to get to know God personally. And getting to know God personally is the only hope of success in reaching an un-reached people group. It is not easy…living in the jungle, learning another language, developing an alphabet, preparing lessons in this new language, putting up with the antics of the people…not easy, but it is certainly worth it. Just ask the Akolet or any of the other scores of tribes that NTM has reached in its almost 70 year history. To God be the Glory!

I plan on going through some of the rich history NTM has and challenge the students with 3 verses…Hebrews 11.6; “…without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a reward-er of those who diligently seek Him.” 2Chronicles 16.9 “The eyes of the Lord look to and fro throughout the whole earth; to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” Psalm 33.4 “The word of the Lord is right and all His work is done in truth.”

There is a theme here that I will unpack…having to do with missions being God’s work, done by the Strong One, according to His Word by those who have faith in Him. Missions is not done by super humans, but by regular, normal, everyday people who believe and trust God for wisdom, enablement and provision in every area of life. “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 13.4

Oh yea…Shirley is at this moment in CA with Rico and Megan awaiting the arrival of Olivia, our first grandchild…due today!!! Even so Olivia, come quickly!

Thanks for listening and thanks for praying! Your fellowship in the Gospel is such a blessing!

We started on May 23…meeting together to pray and assign teams to work on different areas of the school; emptying apartments, staging appliances, removing flooring, baseboards, old cabinets. Facing a deadline of August 5, we jumped into one of the largest renovation projects we have ever faced at NTBI…installing new water and drain lines, kitchen cabinets, sinks and faucets and new flooring in 11 apartments.  Praise the Lord, we finished way ahead of schedule. The final inspection is this Friday and Lord willing we willl be cleared for the married students to move into their newly remodeled apartments. They are going to be so surprised…that is unless they see this photo. When they left for the summer, there were old cabinets, no water, old floors and walls that needed painting. Now…well the photo tells it all. Rejoice in the Lord with us as we thank Him for the excellent help we received and that all was done in good timing.  Thank You Lord!

  After over 25 years, the” Big Fort” that has been the home of 100′s of kids’ summer fun on the playground at NTBI Jackson is history. It took a complete morning for our group of 8 PPD guys to demolish this relic, as well as 4 trips with the dump trailer. The back yard is now muck safer. We would appreciate your  prayers as we consider replacement equipment that will serve the next several generations of future missionary children.

After the tour, our team will answer questions and encourage the participants to consider joining in the work of taking the Gospel to some of those language groups. A good first step is to attend NTBI and study the Bible for two years. Thereafter, NTM’s Missionary Training Center in Missouri will complete the preparation needed to learn a language and culture well enough to be able to teach the Bible and present the Gospel. For more information, please visit www.ntm.org.

Please join us in praying that as a result of our team serving at The Big Ticket, more students will attend New Tribes Bible Institute and be willing to go to the ends of the earth for the Lord. Thanks so much!