Indescribable

The weekend was everything we had hoped for, and then some. While the world continued to debate all those issues that seem important to it, more than 45 of us gathered together in a small retreat center, where we concentrated on the true things that matter: things like lostness, salvation, ways to get the message out. Those things occupied our minds.

Now that is not unusual. In our line of work, it is our passion. We think on these things almost daily. What made it unusual were the 45 who sat there. They ranged from age 18 to 70. These were women and men from different parts of the country. Almost all were poor; they barely had enough to pay the small registration fee for this retreat. Yet, each one sat there trying to figure out exactly how to get from here in South America to the farthermost parts of the world.

Yes, these very poor men and women are men and women who feel a strong need to be involved in foreign missions. Some feel the call to go, others just feel the need to be mobilizers. All agreed, however, that now is the time that South Americans rise up and take the baton that we are passing on to them, and heading out with the greatest message ever told to any man.

The significance of the weekend is seen in the approximately 25 who surrendered to go, no matter what. They are ready and willing. Now, if we can only find ways to send them....

It was truly, wonderfully indescribable. It was a God thing. It is a new day for this fledgling evangelical work in Peru.

How Involved Are We, Really?

Let's be generous for a moment. Let's say that there are one billion evangelical believers in the world. I think that is a little high, personally; but let's call it an even billion, as some claim.

Of those one billion, how many do think are missionaries? Go ahead, take a guess.

Would you believe about 98 thousand? I jest not. Ninety-eight thousand, give or take a few, have responded to the call of God.

Now the world is at an estimated 6.7 billion. One billion of those are evangelical believers. Ninety-eight thousand are missionaries, those men and women who carry the gospel around the world to others who have not yet believed.

I did some rough calculating, mainly because I did not want to invest all the time I have left today into the precision it would take to set this up. But let's just suppose that those 98 thousand are represented by the thickness of one sheet of paper. One sheet of standard paper is .0038 inches thick. I checked. If the internet says it, it must be true, right??? For argument's sake, we shall say it is true.

One sheet is .0038 inches thick. If that represents all the evangelical missionaries of the world, then it would take a stack of paper some 31,000 feet high to represent all the evangelicals of the world. Shades of Mount Everest, folks! I can't even get my mind around the ratio for the other 5.7 billion left in the world.

Do you think that perhaps God may be calling more than those 98 thousand who have responded? Did he call you?

What are we waiting for? How involved are we? God is calling. It's time to go.

Urban Aches

This week was a vision trip with the youth pastor of a Louisiana church. It was to be to give him a vision regarding how his youth can plug into what we do down here. It was as much a fresh vision for me, as I rode with him and two of our three missionaries that he connected with. I saw sights and listened to pleas for spiritual help that stirred me deeply.

Some sights were so gripping that I was forced to stop speaking. As I watched men, women, young people, and children wandering in and out of crowded housing in Lima's inner city, I choked back tears. As we drove by the transvestites, prostitutes, and drug addicts, I felt their pain and wanted to reach out to them. Watching the homeless moved me, as well.

The incongruity of the sights was equally compelling. One street would be orderly and clean. Two blocks away, garbage would line the road and people would be thicker than the fleas on the street dogs down the road. In one part, tourists gawked at the interesting sights that a Latin American city offers. In another, we had to hide our belongings from the sight of the probable thieves that watched us. In fact, one man began running up to my window until he realized we spotted him; then he darted off in another direction.

All over the city, I was reminded of two things: Jesus died to set these people free. And we need many more workers to reach them before it is eternally too late.

Please pray for God to send his laborers to the urban centers around the world. Please pray for these large, lost groups of city dwellers.

Pray for Persecution in Gambia

Pray for David and Fiona Fulton. These British Missionaries are being held in Gambia for sedition. Pray for each of them to be able to be a witness for the glory of God, even in the midst of suffering. But pray for them to be set free, if at all possible.

While the charges against them may be sedition, their crime is proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Muslims despise the truth as much as secular humanists in the west do. Some Muslims just happen to be more decisive in their opposition to the word of God.

The Birth and Growth of an Idea

This morning I sat on a couch in our office complex, looking across at a couple who have been called to, and trained for, missions. Together, we two couples form a team. We are a team of international missions consultants. Our job is both simple and complex. Simply stated, we find those called and help them get to their place of service, as I wrote a few weeks back. The complexities come in when you consider interviewing candidates, training, networking, and the entire proverbial ball of wax that is a part of sending out missionaries.

This couple--Peruvians by birth, up-bringing, and culture--was excited as we shared our vision for sending out Latin-Americans into all the world. For me, the most gratifying thing was hearing the wife ask (names omitted intentionally), "Who is on our team?" Did you see that small possessive pronoun in that? "Our." It's "our" team. She did not ask, "Who is on "your" team; she asked about "our team."

That is a great hurdle that we have crossed. We bridged a river. Find the cliche that works for you and run with it. We see one another as equals, partners in ministry. We bring to the table what each can bring, showing (trying to, at least) mutual respect and learning what we can from one another.

One important ramification is that when any of us shares an idea, it is not filtered quite as much as can normally happen in cross-cultural communication. So when I brought up some ideas as to how we may accomplish sending out missionaries, I saw their faces light up. When they shared their opinions regarding some of the details, they got to see my excitement.

It was an incubation room. An idea was born and began to grow. It is not a North American idea; it is not a South American idea. It is a mission team idea. I am excited about this for two reasons: one, the goal to send out missionaries from this country is a realistic one in the eye of those with whom we work; two, when the "product" is finally presented to the national church or churches, it won't be seen as imported from another world.

May the idea of sending out laborers continue to grow and bring fruit!

When We Pray for the Harvest

If the name were not a trademark, I would call myself an International Harvester. That is the calling upon my life. I am involved in soul-harvesting. It's a life-changing thing, both for me and the ones that respond to God's call.

Jesus told us the fields were white--ready to be harvested (John 4). He also said that there were few laborers to be found. I live in South America, where the harvest is big enough. But I try to think globally, not just about South America. So one thing I do is pray for the harvest. As Jesus told us to do, I pray for laborers.

Now when we pray for the harvest, we need to be ready. Two weeks ago a man approached me with a claim on his life. God answered our prayers for the harvest for a closed country. This man and his wife feel called to go. So, knowing I try to find ways for men and women to fulfill that call, the man asked me how I could help him get to his harvest field.

Not long before the man I just mentioned, I received other calls and e mails from other people who have answered God's call. They have the same question: how do they get from South America to the place where God has told them to go?

We are delighted to actually see God answering our prayers for laborers for the world. I want to encourage you to continue to pray for laborers. God is answering. God is sending his laborers. When we pray, the Lord of the Harvest answers...

Go! Tell!

I just watched the annual report of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. You can reach the link here.

What moved me most were the testimonies shared by some great men and women in South America. They were in places that you and I may never dare to go. But the call to go tell was too strong for them to stay here. The drive to obey Jesus Christ outweighs the fear for their lives, the frustration of harsh living, and even the risk of being seen as foolish by one's peers.

South America is a massive continent. Lostness is pervasive. There are 355 million men, women, and children who still need to repent and believe the gospel. Every 15 seconds someone in South America dies and goes to hell. Eighty percent of the people living in South America live in large cities, some as large as 18 million. There are at least 41 cities with a population of a million, or more. 

While we are seeing modest gains here and there, the vast majority continues in the kingdom of darkness.  If they knew what we knew, they would cry out to us. 

They would say, "Go! Tell the good news to my people!

The Call

I just returned from St. Louis, MO. It was a great week (the better part of a week) of ministry. The best part for me was being able to be with a couple who were just appointed to serve in Peru. They were refreshing to listen to. Their exhuberance was delightful to see. Their faith is strong and their vision, stronger. It was a meaningful time for me.

The most meaningful part was when the associate pastor for missions asked me to pray a blessing over them in the final service of this global missions celebration. As I thought of where they would walk--a part of the world where I have also been--I was moved with joy. I wept as I sought the face of our Father in Heaven. The other missionaries with us wept, too. The joy was too much to contain.

Somewhere, years ago, God began a work in the hearts of this couple. Before too many years passed, God began convicting them of a call to go--a call to be more than they were at that moment. So they obeyed. And now the journey begins.

Pray for this couple and 90 others who were recently appointed as missionaries who will serve around the world.

Pray for this Jungle Tribe

One of my colleagues in South America sent me the following. Please take time to read it and to pray for the Asheninka along this part of the Amazon Jungle. Unfortunately, the photos would not transfer into the article. You may see a number of them here.

Asheninka Team
Peru

The Río Negro flows beneath the misty hills of Sira.

March 2, 2008

The river at the base of the 7,000 ft. Reserva Comunal de Sira (Comunal Reserve of Sira) is a mysterious place. There's gold there. The cold waters of the river run with the glistening dust that has drawn men to is banks for eons of time. Their presence still hangs in the air and their wares in the ground. The evidence of the inhabitants of centuries is as easy to step on as it is to imagine. In the yard of our dwelling on a high bank the sandy soil was strewn with potsherds and no great effort brought up for us ancient clay pots that had been resisting the torrential rains of the ages. Stone implements, axes, lay on the ground nearby for the taking. Locals say these things appear regularly in their fields or upon clearing to raise a new house. These same locals make their way to the river early in the morning and return in the afternoon with a gram or two of gold dust, selling at about $20 per gram to local buyers.

This is the Río Negro (Black River). It's mysteries abound, but in the darkness of mystery also abounds a spiritual darkness that the glitter of gold cannot illumine. Here I spent the last two weeks with a team of Asheninka believers sharing the light of Christ with Asheninka people who have lived in the shadow of the Sira, just existing, panning gold, spending their lives with no aim but to simply get through another day; another year. In the midst of this, however, there is a tiny community of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who have now come back to Him after some years of spiritual wandering.

In the community of Pueblo Libre (Free Town) seven Asheninka adults recommitted their lives to Christ with a renewed passion to serve Him. Hyony, Alejandro, Justiniano, Luzmila, Ema, and myself called the people back to Christ and appealed to still others to turn to Him for eternal life. While others did not respond to the careful explanation of the gospel, those who reconciled with Christ came to life with a lot of excitement to know and experience more of Him. Santiago is middle-aged. He's also Ema's brother. He loves Jesus, sings to Him with passion, and wants to serve Him. He will be trained in May in the leadership of a new church as well as receive deeper teaching on the Christian life. Helping him will be Ubaldo, also middle-aged, Spanish-speaking Peruvian in charge of the school. What Ubaldo lacks of knowledge of God is more than made up for in passion. Both of these men have been invited to our May leadership training event at Yarina Isla on the Apurucayali River. Nights at Pueblo Libre brought large gatherings of the locals, filling the school building to hear biblical messages.

After a week of intensive teaching and evangelism at Pueblo Libre, our team moved back down the very shallow and difficult river to Tahuantinsuyo (Tah-Wan-tin-SU-yo) to offer the same grace of God that had impacted the Pueblo Libre believers. This community has very few believers and we encountered a resistance to the things of God. Most of those who said they would participate in our sessions failed to attend; others arrived late each time and missed much of the message. Yet three adults and two young people renewed their commitment to follow Christ. Alejandro's brother, Grimaldo, is a resident of Tahuantinsuyo and a believer. He rallied the people to attend the meetings and proved himself a faithful servant. Grimaldo is also invited to leadership training because he desires to spearhead the formation of an outreach group in view of forming a church.

At the end of two weeks our crew navigated the river back to its mouth, pushing and pulling the boat in numerous rushing shallows. The peque motor barely got us into the port at Yuyapichis (YOU-yuh-PEE-chees). The next morning at 3 AM I returned over the muddy road to Pucallpa while my team remained to fight the swelling current of the Pachitea, Pichis, and Apurucayali Rivers. Last night I received a call from Hyony at their final stop, a small village with a phone. They had waited three days on the swollen river until they had to leave. He reported that they almost lost the motor in huge swirl of current at a place called Guacamayo (a macaw parrot). Praise the Lord all were safe, among them our preciouis twelve year old Berta returning home to Yarina Isla with the team after a month-long visit to our home in Pucallpa.

What a blessing to see believers who have been unshepherded for a long time return to Christ with glowing faces. Most of the faithful at Pueblo Libre followed our team by 2-hour trail in nearly knee-deep mud to Tahuantinsuyo to soak up more of God's Word. And that they did! You are urged to pray for these precious people on the Río Negro so that they will grow in their faith. They need to begin to meet together and read the Bible and talk about it and pray. They need to express their faith unashamedly to other Asheninkas in their communities. They need to grow into a deeper commitment to serving the risen Lord no matter what kind of opposition they face, and there is a lot of it out there in the darkness. In the darkness of an Asheninka night the frequent sound of the "lechusa" (owl) holds dark meaning for those who fear and who hold the traditions of the local people. But there are devils in the night to be feared above a sleepy owl as the evil one roams seeking whom to devour; and if not devour, to mislead and to hold trapped in misunderstanding and supersticion. As the locals dig and wash their gold in the flowing river, how they need to come to understand that the Lord wants to wash the dirt from their lives until they glitter with a brilliance beyond gold. And to learn that His Truth is of infinitely greater value.

Pray for believers on the Río Negro and for Santiago, Ubaldo, and Grimaldo who have the potential to lead them in a growing faith in Christ.

It is time for the Lord to act; for they have broken your law. therefore I love your commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold. Psalm 119:126-7
The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests hearts. Proverbs 17:3

Marty McAnally
Strategy Coordinator
Asheninka People Group, Peru
International Mission Board, SBC
www.asheninka.net

If you wish to contact Marty, do so at mcanally@asheninka.net.

Whom Shall We Send?

I just returned from a relatively new community in the southern part of our city of about ten million. The community is called "The Towers in the Corner." I kid thee not. I had been warned to not go to this part of town. Gangs roam the streets, both day and night. But I serve the One who can calm any storm. So off we went.

The ride alone was an adventure. To be sure of where I was going (I had never been to this particular community), I asked a local friend to take me. We went in his compact Hyundai, bouncing along roads that were not friendly to his car, or to my backside. We dodged pot holes, some of which looked like craters. We "enjoyed" the exhaust of a hundred busses. We challenged three-wheeled moto-taxis for the right of way.

It wasn't long after turning off the paved road that we were privileged to enjoy the fresh fragrance of the local hog farms. Hogs inside the city? Yes, hogs. And to make things more interesting, the good people were out burning the garbabe that had piled up. I quickly surmised that their garbage service was lacking; it made me more grateful for the part of town where I live.

Soon we arrived at our destination. We drove till we couldn't, then got out and walked up some recently-poured steps. Lots of steps. And then we walked a little more, this time on slippery slopes. There we met with local leaders who have asked for our help with some human needs projects. We are only too happy to help them. But we have ulterior motives. Did I just say that?? Yes, our motives run deeper than the skin and the belly. We aim for the soul!

I stood and looked out over this part of the city. Across the rugged hills men and women had dug into the rocks and built primitive homes. Some were made of plywood. A very few had some brick structure to them. Others were made of straw mats. There were at least 50 communities of 80 homes each. These communities, like The Towers in the Corner, are church-less. I did not say there are no believers there; there probably are some. But the vast majority are predominantly unchurched.

And that brings me back to my motives. We want God to plant a host of churches in this part of the city. We will minister to a perceived need so that we can get to the real need: people need the Lord.

And that brings me to yet another dilemma. I have a small pool of trained workers. God wants the gospel of Jesus to penetrate these lost, unchurched communities. I can hear him asking, "Whom shall we send, and who will go for us?" Pray, please that someone in this massive city will cry out, "Here am I! Send me."

Wisdom from South America

A retired missionary to Peru sent me this. It is obviously compiled and adapted from other sources; but it makes for good, light-hearted reading.

Some more missionary Wisdom

1. Don’t squat down in a cane field on the Pan American Highway without looking around you real good.

2. If you’re leading a group of brothers take a look back every now and then to make sure that they are still there.

3. After getting a new church started, a missionary felt so good that he kept bragging about it until the devil came along and tore it all up. The moral; when you’re full of it, keep your mouth shut and give God the glory that belongs to Him.

4. Never kick an empty garbage bag on the side of the street in Lima on a hot day.

5. There’s two theories to arguin’ with Nationals. Neither one works.

6. Never slap a “serrano” who’s chewin’ coca leaves..

7.. It don’t take a very spiritual missionary to spot a goat in a flock of sheep

8. When you give a lesson in meanness to a fellow missionary, don’t be surprised if they learn their lesson.

9. When you’re throwin’ your weight around, be ready to have it thrown around by somebody else.

10.. The quickest way to double your money in Perú is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.

11. There are three kinds of missionaries: Those that learn by reading. Those that learn by observation. And the rest of us, that have to learn the hard way by being “airheads”.

Hermano Jaime Boswell
El Mismo

How true, Jaime; how true!

KDS