Native missionary pastors…

I have an incredible (and true) testimony/story to share – but I want to give some background first…

If you haven’t heard of Gospel for Asia or Gospelink – you need to order the free book: Revolution in World Missions. If possible, I would recommend you consider giving a few dollar donation to cover the cost of the book and shipping – but, whether or not you are able to give anything - I encourage you to get the book!

One thing I will mention: I believe the book leans towards not sending any American's out as missionaries but, instead, using that money to sponsor local missionaries in other countries. I can definitely see the incredible logic in that thought as the average American family costs $3,000+ to keep on the field per month while the average local pastor in Africa or Asia often requires only about $100 month for full support. If you do the math that translates to 30 native pastors (who already know the language) vs. one American family. However, I know that when God calls, a person should respond! Perhaps they are called to the field as a Hudson Taylor (to live as the locals in an inexpensive way), but, when He calls, anyone should answer.

Gospel for Asia and Gospelink both allow you to support local pastors that are already on the mission field and that already know the local language. Gospel for Asia works only in India. You are only able to sponsor up to 1/3rd of a missionary (I think it is about $30 or so per month) and you get a report every six months or a year.

Gospelink allows you to sponsor in a variety of countries (Africa and now Asia) and you can partially or fully sponsor a local missionary pastor (full sponsorship is $110 per month). What I really love about Gospelink is that you can personally correspond with your pastor – in fact, they encourage you to do so! In addition, every three months, you will receive a personal letter from your pastor outlining their ministry, how many people they led to the Lord as a result of your support (often an incredible number!), and many times photos will be included.

If you are not already sponsoring a native missionary pastor in a foreign country, I strongly recommend you do so. $110 a month may sound like a lot, but think about that money: it will, in essence, put a full-time missionary onto the field!

The reason I share all this? I have a sister in the Lord that shared a report with me that she had received from the pastor that she fully sponsors. I have transcribed a portion of it below.

(this pastor personally led 19 people to the Lord during the 3-month period that he was reporting about)

“About the preaching of the word and the winning of souls for Christ. God helped me very much.

“I planned to go for door to door evangelism campaign. Before that I sat for two days of prayers, over that programme. After prayers, I started the work. The first day I visited nine houses and three persons were converted, one repented. The second day I found a man and his wife, and his sister-in-law with her two children.

“They welcomed me and gave me a chair. I introduced my subject telling them that I wanted to share with them the word of God. The woman asked me “Which God do you want to talk about?” I answered that it is God the Creator, the One Who sent Jesus Christ His Son to become the Saviour of the world. She said that, “Us, we do not worship Jesus Christ. We worship God in the name of Kimbangu a great prophet.” I told her that this Kimbangu got his power from Jesus Christ, but you have turned the story and started to worship him as God. The Bible says there is no other name on earth which is above Jesus’ name. Then I told them to believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God to be saved. They said “We will not believe because Jesus you are talking about did nothing for us.” I told them that Jesus did a big work at the cross, He came to die for us and God woke him mightily from the dead that is why He is preached everywhere in the world. He resurrected and appeared to people with the power of fire from the Lord, and now He is at the right hand of God. But Kimbangu is still in the tomb waiting for the day of judgment. I continued telling them to believe in Jesus Christ in order to have eternal life. They said “Not now can we believe, he is a man who was born like any person was born.” Finally they told me to leave and come back another day.

“After three days I fasted and pray for them, then I went to meet them again and found them all three. They welcomed me and presented me a chair. I asked them “Brothers, what do you think about the subject we discussed last week with you about Jesus?” One said that we have nothing to think about Jesus, nevertheless what we want to tell you is that you also, you believe in the name of Kibangu, you will live well and be rich. I stood and said the Word from the Bible, in the book of the prophet Jeremiah: “Cursed is a man who trust in man, who make a man become his hand and in his heart he forget God” (Jeremiah 17:5)

“Then I told them that the day Jesus was being baptized the voice came from heaven saying “This is my beloved Son, in Who I am well pleased” – God did not say about Kimbangu that He was His son, he did neither say it about Mohamed neither Kadima, nor to anybody in this world, but God’s voice spoke about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Whoever believes in Him should be have eternal life. If you believe in Jesus you become the beloved one of God. And those who have believed in Jesus have been set children of God. They now believed in Jesus Christ and accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour! This happened in Kikala Wamba area, Kamibanga quarter, Kampemba township.”

I added the emphasis throughout the report...

What a blessing to hear of this man of God: he first spent several days in prayer before going out door-to-door. Then, after a visit, he spent several more days fasting and praying for a particular family before he revisited them. Sometimes, here in America, we think that hearts are hard (and, truly, especially because of riches, they are) but that in Africa hearts are open (and, truly, especially because of poverty, they are), but look at the time spent wrestling against principalities and powers! Perhaps we would see more fruit here in America if we invested that much time in prayer and fasting for the souls of those that are around us!

You may not feel led to begin sponsoring a native missionary pastor right now, but, at least, I ask that you order the free book and read it. You will be challenged and encouraged!

Next I hopeto share some of the testimonies from the County Fair...

County Fair Evangelism

The Lord put it on my brother’s heart to have another County Fair outreach this year, and last week was the week…

A lot of planning and preparation goes into the Fair Outreach. The main concept was to give out free, ice-cold, soda and water, along with gospel tracts (Isaiah 55:1). Last year, in order to draw traffic, I had also made a lot of balloon animals and hats – which we found to be incredibly effective! This year I "trained" a number of others in making some of the basic balloon animals and hats (it’s amazingly easy to do the balloon twisting, and there isn’t a tremendous need for lots of variety in the shapes). Animals are hardest to do, but many of the children simply want bright, big, colorful hats - and those are simple!

Our booth location was in a different space this year, which was a mixed blessing. We estimate that we had about half the traffic that we had last year when we were directly across from the Carnival. But, we felt we were able to have as many, if not more, conversations with people in sharing the gospel. We ended up giving away between two and three thousand gospel tracts. I estimate that we made almost two thousand balloons throughout the week. And we definitely gave away a lot of water and soda! In fact, simply transporting the heavy coolers full of water and soda is one of the biggest challenges for the week (and one of the hottest jobs!).

The Fair started on a Tuesday, which was the first day of the summer that we were issued a Heat Advisory in our region. Of course, the Heat Advisory continued through the end of the Fair. Each night, as we drove to the Fairgrounds, the temperature was close to 100 degree’s, and the heat index was between 105 and 110. And, standing in the sunshine usually adds another 20 or so degree’s to the heat index. Since we usually started at the booth an hour or hour and a half before sunset – we didn’t have to worry about getting cold!.

I spent time before the Fair researching tracts. For those that are curious what we used, here are some of them:

Ronald Reagan Million Dollar Bills – we found these million dollar bills this year that we really like. They feature President Ronald Reagan on the front and have a more detailed gospel message on the back (more detailed than the LivingWaters.com million dollar bill). Another booth at the fair was handing out LivingWater’s million dollar bills (and we had some of those, too), so it was nice to have something different. We also had some of the LivingWaters.com Billion Dollar Bills on hand for those that “already had the million.” Sometimes, with a child, I would ask if they wanted a million or a billion, and every time I asked, they were always sharp enough to choose the billion.

What If? - We had a different tract “focus” for each night of the fair- and the “What If?” tract was one of them. We always tried to give out the main tract of the night along with one of the more detailed tracts (see the next two tracts).

Some of the tracts we ordered from LivingWaters.com:

Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven - This is a VERY detailed, text-heavy tract. But it does a good job of presenting the gospel. I tried to give out one of these to almost any adult that came by for a soda, and a lot of the youths as well. Sometimes I would give out a million dollar bill along with this tract.

Are You A Good Person? Comic - This is another one that we gave out to many people. It is good for adults, but also ideal for teenagers. If I didn’t give out the text-based one (above) to someone, I always tried to make sure I gave them this one. There were even times during the week that we would offer this tract to a teenager who had already received it earlier in the week, and we would then have the opportunity to discuss the tract with them and see what they thought of it.

Hey Kids - I gave out a lot of these to children after making them a balloon. As I handed it to the child I would make sure it was OK with the child’s parents, and none of the parents ever said "no". A number of parents were even glad when I shared it was a gospel tract which talked about the 10 commandments and heaven and hell. This is an excellent (probably the best I’ve found yet) presentation of the gospel to children. So many children grow up false beliefs about salvation and believe they are saved despite having never repented and without having been born again. This tract helps plant seeds by encouraging children to memorize the ten commandments.

Everything Man has Learned about Women - There are many teen aged “couples” at the Fair. Interestingly enough, this year I also witnessed two verbal fights between boyfriends/girlfriends. We ordered a number of these little booklet tracts to have on hand through the week. (for those that don’t know what the tract is: it is a small 24-page booklet that is blank, and has the gospel message in small print inside the back cover) I ended up giving more of these to fellow's that were in their upper teen’s or early twenty’s (whether or not they had a girlfriend with them). Everyone enjoyed them and it opened the door for a number of conversations.

IQ Triangle Cards - When making balloons for children (whether it was an animal or a hat), we would always talk with them. With teenagers, it was always the gospel. With younger children, it varied. Sometimes it was just about the Fair and school (which was starting the next week) – and then we would give them some children’s tracts afterwards. I gave a lot of these tracts out to teenagers after asking about school starting the next week, and then saying the card was a little bit of an early reading test. We had a lot of fun with these… I would always share that I had missed it until I read the back, and I shared that the gospel message was on the back.


Because we had so many tracts we again wore "work apron belts". We bought them from Home Depot last year for about $1/each. A number of people, last year, wondered if Home Depot sponsored the booth. This year, we covered the Home Depot logo up. In trying to match up the most appropriate tract to each person that we met during the week, I would usually have 10 to 15 different types of tracts in my apron at one time (usually two or three copies of each one) and would have to step to the back of the booth to grab a few more quite often.

We had a number of very interesting interactions throughout the week. I’ll try to share some of those next…

Charlie Coulson - the Drummer Boy

While researching and purchasing tracts for the County Fair outreach next week, I came across a very powerful testimony. It is the story of a Jewish Army Surgeon during the Civil War, and his incredible conversion. It takes a little while to read, but will greatly encourage your heart. It is very emotional at times.

Click to read (online): Charlie Coulson - the Drummer Boy

It is a "booklet" tract I came across that is published by Pilgrim's Press. (I might post, later on, some of the tracts that we ordered for the fair. Most came from Living Waters, but we found a new million dollar bill that we think we will like better - from OneMillionTracts.com. Anyways, we did get one tract from Pilgrim's Press, although it was a little unusual in that the Pilgrim's Press tracts were not folded- but were delivered "flat").

They were passing out tracts for me!

Twice, on a recent trip, I had people ask for additional tracts and then give them out to others for me. I try to remember times like these when I run into rejection!

I was in a very, very, small airport. The security people at that airport have always been very friendly and professional. When I was going through security I struck up a conversation with the TSA gentleman that was running the x-ray machine. I’m always careful to follow all the rules (took the laptop out of the bag, made sure liquids were in a clear plastic bag, etc. etc. etc.) – and that seems to help. After I made it through the metal detector (normally I take my belt off but this time the fellow that was running the metal detector said to keep it on as it shouldn’t be a problem – and, he was right) I kept chatting with the x-ray fellow.

It takes me a little while to get all of my gear off the x-ray machine’s conveyor belt and back into pockets and my laptop bag. In my laptop bag I have my supply of tracts. Since there was no one else coming through security right then (as I said – small airport!), the x-ray tech wasn’t busy. I asked him if he had ever been given a million dollar bill, and he said he hadn’t. I gave him one and he was very grateful and duly impressed. I pointed out that the back has the gospel message around the edge (I don’t recall if I gave him a more detailed tract to go with it). Another TSA security agent that was next to him asked if she could have one as well – I said sure. The original x-ray tech then had an idea: he asked if he could have another one so he could give it to his boss who would absolutely love it. I told him I had plenty, and thanked the Lord for the three-fold increase that He gave (one tract to one person expanded to three people).

Due to a rescheduling of flights (delayed flight as a result of a thunderstorm, which would have missed my connection, then rescheduled with a different airline for the following day) I was flying a different airline/route than I usually do. Because of the last-minute change of flights and reservations, I wasn’t able to get the aisle seat on all my flights (which, as I have shared before, makes working on the laptop a slightly more pleasant ordeal).

For one flight, the plane was configured for three seats, aisle, two seats. And it was a longer plane than usual. For that flight, my seat was a window seat on the three-across side. I was one of the last on the flight because I was charging my laptop during the layover. I boarded the plane and went about half way back to my seat (yes, the other two people were already sitting down); but the lady in one of the seats said a gentleman had put his stuff in my seat and then gone back to the restroom and would be returning soon. Fun! Someone thought my seat was their seat… Maybe, I prayed, the Lord could use this to get me an aisle seat!

I had passed two empty seats up closer to the front which would have been perfect: aisle and window on the two-seat side. With such a full flight (they were the only empty seats I had seen up to that point) – it would be great: I could sit in the aisle seat and store stuff in the window seat. However, there were two younger girls that were also in the aisle looking for their seat. Since we were the last ones on the plane I was hoping they were headed further back (they had already passed the two open seats) and I asked them where they were headed. They double-checked their ticket stubs and found out they were supposed to be back up towards the front in those two empty seats.

I figured I would keep heading towards the back looking for an open seat. The flight shouldn’t have been overbooked (the airlines usually deal with overbookings before beginning the boarding process), and I figured any open seat would do. In fact, any open seat had a really good (statistically speaking) chance of being a better seat for doing computer work than the one I was assigned.

This plane had a weird configuration in that there was a little kitchen/galley area on the 3-seat side of the plan about 75% of the way back, with more seats behind it. The only empty seat I saw was an empty AISLE seat in that area, and there was a stewardess working in the galley. I told her what was going on and asked if I could take the open seat. She said “sure.”

The setup for the seats plays a part in the story – so I’ll try to describe it quickly. I was in the aisle seat with a gentleman next to me (turns out he is a believer and we had a great time of fellowship and prayer together). Then the aisle. On the 3-seat side, there was a jump seat by the aisle, and then two seats further over. Behind them, they had a wall and then the galley.

During the takeoff, a stewardess sat in the jump seat, and then folded it up later.

Mid-flight, I had the idea of putting a million-dollar bill tract into the magazine holder in front of the jump-seat. I figured the stewardess would notice it and perhaps ask the people sitting in the seats next to her and they would start a conversation about it. So, that’s what I did. I set the tract so it was sticking out a little bit and then kept on working on my laptop and talking with the brother that was next to me.

Ten or fifteen minutes later the stewardess stopped by the jump seat to get something out of her bag. She immediately noticed the tract and picked it up and began to read it. She started talking with the people in the seats that were right next to her. She then started talking to the people in the row in front of us – showing them the tract asking if they had put the tract there. She asked another row as well. As she turned towards where I was sitting I told her I had put it there for her. She was very grateful and wondered if I had more.

The people she had shown the tract to also wanted some, and she also wanted to give some to her coworkers. I gave her some more million dollar bills along with some other tracts and she began passing them out. She called a few coworkers over and gave them some as well.

She came back and stood in the aisle and I gave her a few more tracts for herself (the others she had given away). I began explaining a little more of what was in the tracts. Turns out, she had a nominal Catholic background and (as routinely is the case) was hoping in her good works to gain her access to heaven. As we went through the ten commandments she acknowledged that she was guilty before God and was beginning to realize that her good works couldn’t earn her salvation. At one point a coworker came by and she told her coworker “Hey, sit down, you need to listen to this!” But the coworker was busy right then.

All in all, it was a blessing to be able to share the gospel with her, and to have what was easily a 10 or 15-fold increase of tracts passed out! I encouraged her to read her Bible (starting in the book of John) and pray to God for Him to reveal Jesus to her – and she promised to do so.

One thing I know: it doesn’t always work like this. In fact, I would have to say this is a rarity – but it was such a blessing and encouragement to my heart.

It is VERY easy to get lazy in passing out tracts. I wonder how many other situations that are similar to this one I have missed out on because I didn’t bother to pass out the initial tract?

Next week we are going to help out with another County Fair outreach. It’ll be hot (forecast is calling for heat indexes up around 105) – which will be good as we’ll be giving out free (ice cold) soda and water, along with tracts. Please pray for us. I will try and post updates…