Articles

The Death (and resurrection) of a Vision

It may puzzle us as to why a God-inspired ambition would be left to die. But it happens. In fact, in speaking to youth back in the 70’s, Bill Gothard named it the death of a vision. The Lord confirms its truth to our family, again and again.

For example, from my conversion in my youth, I experienced an ever-growing curiosity to understand the unfolding revelation in Scripture as well as Christian doctrine. They marveled me as nothing else. I walked four miles to work with one eye on a book and another on traffic! At a midlife point, I accepted a call to ministry and signed up at a local Bible College. An architect with whom I was working at the time remarked that, from that day forward, I walked with a lighter step. The classes were for me a piece of heaven, delicious beyond telling. Standing in the library stacks before theological works, my insides trembled, devoured with desire to digest it all.

Ministry Behind the Scenes

There are people working directly with our Lutheran Brethren International Mission ministries who work behind the scenes. Would you join us in praying specifically for them and their ministry through LBIM?

PASTORAL CARE
John and Kathy Wile serve as our Pastoral Care Team to our missionaries in Africa and Asia. We are so grateful for the wisdom, insight and encouragement that John and Kathy bring to them as individuals, as couples and as families.

DAILY PRAYER NOTES
Gaylan and Joy Mathiesen serve as the editors of Daily Prayer Notes. This ministry puts before the CLB the prayer requests and praise items of our people groups, ministries and missionaries in Asia and Africa each month. We thank God for their faithful service.

HOME ASSIGNMENT SUPPORT
NorVal and Carey Semchenko, Our Redeemer’s LBC, Minot, ND, provide vans or cars to our missionaries for a minimal fee while on home assignment. We praise and thank God for this very unique and gracious ministry to our missionaries.

MISSIONARY PRAYER LETTERS
We mail out about 30 missionary prayer letters each year. We thank God for the ministry of Aggie Rogness, Marion Thompson and Helen and Bert Egstad who faithfully stuff each of these letters.

New Missionaries to Chad

At the fall meeting of the Council of Directors, they voted unanimously to call Nathanael and Carrie to serve as missionaries among the unreached of Chad. During the past 12-18 months, a cluster of congregations has been forming. The current cluster includes Hope LBC, Barnesville, MN, Bethel LC, Fergus Falls and Swan Lake LC, rural Fergus Falls. This cluster continues to seek congregations to join them in this mission partnership.

Nathanael and Carrie are currently in France where Carrie is studying French and Nathanael is in his last year of a Master of Arts in Theology program. Lord willing, they will return to the States early next summer where they will visit the mission cluster congregations, take pre-field training courses and prepare for their move to Chad for ministry. Nathanael and Carrie will be commissioned for missionary service at the Biennial Convention in early August of 2012.

May we as the Church of the Lutheran Brethren uphold this family in prayer during this time of preparation.

Two Mikes and a Steve

Life in Chad can be hard. It’s hot. It’s dusty. There’s a constant threat of illness. There’s also another challenge to overcome and that is the general lack of reliable electricity.

At the Welcome Center, electricity is supplied by a generator and a solar/battery system working in tandem. Originally, the two were able to supply the Center with electricity during the night and for a few hours during the daytime. But, as the Welcome Center’s use grew it became apparent that a more robust system was needed to meet the Mission’s needs.

After discussing the situation with LBIM Director, Matthew Rogness, it was decided that new batteries and solar panels would be purchased and shipped to Chad in anticipation of a future expansion of the solar/battery system. As it turned out, procuring the equipment was the easy part. Although we had the equipment, we didn’t have the expertise to install the system. So, we prayed that the Lord would provide somebody willing to come to Chad and install the new system.

The Beginnings of a New Church Plant

The woman sitting at the table next to mine looked up when she heard me speak in Japanese. I knew I had a ten second window of time max to begin a conversation with her. If I didn’t say something right away, she would bury her face in her magazine again and I would lose the opportunity. What to say? Noticing she had ordered the same thing I had, I tried “This tea & toast set is really good on a cold morning, isn’t it?” What a lame comment, but…that’s all it took!

International Relief Effort in Japan

I am the English pastor at Victory Lutheran Church in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and I led a team of eight to work alongside Dean Bengtson in relief work in Ishinomaki in August.

It was an interesting experience working in Japan with a team from Taiwan. I was in Japan in April to help with the relief work and it was amazing to see how much had been cleaned up in three months but how much more still needed to be done.

Dean has been working in the Shintate neighborhood of Ishinomaki for several months. He’s been coordinating teams that have come from all over the world. He began working in one home (the Nakagawa home) in April and God opened up doors for working in the entire neighborhood. There is one Christian in a distant corner of the neighborhood. Pray for this neighborhood that the people there would come to know God as their Lord and Savior.

33 Years in Japan

When we came to Japan 33 years ago, the first advice that we got from a veteran Japanese pastor and his wife was “listen” and “have patience.” On both counts we have often come up short, but when we have practiced those principles, as we worked with our Japanese brothers and sisters, we have observed what St. Paul wrote about in I Corinthians 3:7, “Some plant, others water, some harvest, but it is God who gives the increase.” We have had the privilege of planting the seed in the hearts of many Japanese friends, both adults and children, through Sunday School, worship services, children and adult English conversation class chapels, special events and daily life. While we were with them, some came to faith, but more often our part was to either plant or water the seed that others planted long before we came to Japan.

Why do Missionaries Have to Learn so Many Languages?

It seems like LBIM missionaries are always learning another language and are always in need of prayer in acquiring them. We feel the same way. As we started our second language, we asked why we willingly put ourselves through this. Learning a language is a tedious process that tests the mind and will. One big challenge is there are so many languages to learn. On the little island of Taiwan, there are seven Hakka dialects. We only learned one of them. Now we are learning the official language, Mandarin Chinese. There are also aboriginal languages along with the Taiwanese language.

Delicious Water

“Everything you have told us has come true. You have never lied to us”. These were the first words spoken to us by an elder of one of three villages in which we oversaw the installation of wells due to the generous giving through the Advent Conspiracy project of Bethesda LB Church inEau Claire , Wisconsin . And then the chief spoke up, saying, “Our thirst has been quenched”. Dan (LBIM missionary) took this opportunity to share the story of the woman at the well and the eternally thirst quenching water offered by Jesus. Can you imagine a better introduction to a village that you want to minster to?

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