REVved - 5 DAYS WITH "NEW TRIBES"

Last Sunday, Jan and I left directly from church to head to DIA in order to fly to Missouri.  Although we flew into KCI (Kansas City International), our destination was Roach, Missouri.  Roach is in the south west corner of Missouri, but more importantly, is the home of the New Tribes Mission Training Center.  I was invited to be the Bible teacher for a five-day Enrichment Conference for New Tribes staff - both home-based and international missionaries.

The trip started off with a bang.  We watched funnel clouds form over DIA, while our flight was delayed nearly two hours.  We arrived in KC at around 8:00 pm and drove for three hours in pitch black darkness through some of the most remote territory I've ever "not seen."  (We drove back in the daytime, so I got to see where we were!)  We fell into bed exhausted around midnight.

We woke up to threatening weather conditions, and in fact, as I began my first session at 8:30 am on Monday, we were told that there was a tornado warning in our area, but to go ahead and preach and if anybody saw one, they would let us know!

I'll probably write another blog later (since I need to get to work finishing my Father's Day sermon), but I wanted to give a quick update.  Despite the threatening weather, the remote location, and the high-speed pace (I spoke 10 times in 5 days), Jan and I have just returned from one of the most amazing spiritual "mountain-tops" in our lives. 

Rubbing shoulders with New Tribes Missionaries was one of the high honors of my life.  These people are committed to reaching the remaining 2,500 unreached people groups with a passion and resolve that I still can't get over.  One statistic (among several that I heard last week) is still ringing in my heart - NTM missionaries reach a new people group somewhere around the world every 45 days!  And their strategy, after establishing contact, is to translate the Bible, win people to Jesus, and plant a church!  They are currently working in 281 people groups who have not previously been reached.  I'll blog more about that in the coming week, I'm sure.

Jan and I were hosted by Dave and Carolyn Meyers, friends on staff with New Tribes that we met a few years ago as we spoke at another conference together.  They could not have been more gracious to us.  We also had the privilege of meeting Larry Brown, who is the head of New Tribes, and Gracia Burnham, the NTM missionary whose husband was killed after they were held captive by the Abu Sayaf for a year in the Philippines.  Truthfully, every NTM missionary we met touched our hearts deeply.  Not to overstate it, but Jan and I felt like were were on "holy ground."

Thanks to many of you who were praying for us.  I don't recall a more intense week in ministry life.  I also don't recall ever feeling more "prayed for" by God's people.  This was definitely a Divine appointment that we were only able to keep through the power of prayer.  

Comments

[Bob Nyberg]

Thanks for a GREAT week, pastor Bill!!! The book of Colossians is fantastic and I really appreciated your exposition & insights. Thanks too for the recommendation of D. A. Carson's book "Exegetical Fallacies." It's on order and I look forward to reading it.

Blessings,

Bob

[Bill & Sandy]

Mr. & Mrs. Rev,
My heart was leaping for joy as I read ALL that our GREAT GOD did this week through the two of you. You impacted these precious missionaries, and in return they impacted your lives.
We prayed for strength, preseverance, and that the Lord would be glorified through your preaching, MHR. We are thankful you are home...praying for you, Pastor Bill on this day, as we know it is difficult in many ways. We love you both!!

[David Abbott]

The pleasure was ours. Thank you so much for blessing NTM from the Word of God.

[Macon]

Thanks Pastor for helping me decide what to wear this morning.

[Anna Thorne]

Were you at all surprised at how small KCI is? I flew out of and back into there last Labor Day, and considering that Kansas City is a fairly sizeable city, I expected it to be a large airport....boy was I wrong! And now after your lovely driving experience, you will be able to sympathize with Mitch and me when we go back to school--Missouri is better looking in the summer than it is during most of the school year, and it's definitely prettier than most of Kansas lol! I'm glad you guys had such a great week even though it got off to a rocky start.

[Jason]

Pastor Bill, Your exposition on Colossians was personally enriching ;) to my wife and I. We appreciated the emphasis you made on personally applying the Truth in Colossians to our lives. Keep up the service to the King! Thanks.