God sightings in Nepal, the top of the world.

 After teaching and training alone in Kolkata for four days, I took the 3 hours flight to Kathmandu, Nepal. What a joy to meet the WorldLead team from our home church in the airport. Kathmandu is in the shadows of the Himalayas, but you would never know it. The traffic and smog were terrible; motorcycle zipped around our van as we headed for a hillside hotel. It was so refreshing to be with friends from our church and to share the teaching with my pastor, Bill Mitchell and Missions director, John Lucas. We taught the same leadership development themes we had covered together in Haiti but had more time for interaction with the Awana Leaders from India, Nepal and Pakistan. The idea is to equip them so that they, in turn, will equip their teams. We had a wonderful time with this sharp group of men and women.

The people worship on Saturday in Nepal. So John and I hopped in a small taxi and were taken by a Christian woman, Meera, and her daughter to a simple church fellowship in another part of town. Along the way we saw rice fields (85% of the people are involved in agriculture) and the second industry is carpet weaving. That is what Meera and her husband did. As in India, cows roamed freely, without fear, in this predominantly Hindu country.

About 60-70 believers gathered. The women sat on the right and the men on the left with a passage way up the middle. The youth played instruments and led the singing. Even though I was told there were no women pastors, a very articulated woman led almost every that happened during the service. She was the Nepalese wife of an American missionary who had left the Mission and started a coffee business.  

On Friday, after doing a little shopping downtown, Gajendra, our Nepalese facilitator went with me to a gathering of people interested in talking about Church Planting. This wasn’t part of the “official” program, but an Indian leader from our Mission had encouraged me to build relationships and explore future training while I was there. His friend, Pastor Sonam Kabo, hosted the meeting and prepared a supper for the guests. On the way over Gajendra explained that this is God’s hour in Nepal. The first Protestant church was formed in the 1950s even though Christianity was illegal. In the 1970s, there were several hundred churches. In the 90s freedom of worship was allowed but not freedom to convert others. The country was largely closed to Christian influence from 1995-2005 because of political turmoil and a civil war between Maoists and Monarchists. Froim 1995 to 2006, during the fighting, the church grew to 10,000 churches.

I was amazed at the response to the invitation to talk about church planting. Eighteen key leaders and church planters came, not only from Kathmandu, but from all over the country. One had traveled 12 hours to be there for the 2-hour meeting. As I listened to their stories I was humbled and grateful that my friend’s suggestion was used by God to bring so many choice servants together. They shared training as their greatest need, but also mentioned the need for resources to help new initiatives. Then I shared a video on church planting movements and told about the training I had just done in Kolkata. All of a sudden the electricity went out and we were in total darkness. The pastor’s wife, Rita, came in with candles. Later I found out what an amazing lady she is. She directs a Christian school and when the Maoists came to the gate in 2004 she stood them down, arguing that their fighting was making orphans that the Christians were feeding and caring for. Rita put out a nice spread and while I ate they discussed the idea of church planter training.

Within twenty minutes they formed a steering committee and named Sonam as the coordinator. I didn’t see any vote or debate but Sonam shared that about ten groups decided to participate and that they would be developing a plan to host church planter training and deploy it to the outer regions. His suggestion was to start by training the trainers. Please pray for Sonam and the team in Kathmandu. The last thing we want is to start another group of churches. But if they can work together and come up with a feasible plan, we would love to work with them to strengthen and extend Christ’s church in Nepal by training church planters to multiply healthy churches. I don’t know where this will lead, but I believe God is in it and want to do all I can to help them move ahead together. Please pray Ephesians 3:20 for these leaders who want help training a new wave of church planters.

Monday through Wednesday we worked with the Awana leaders from Nepal, India and Bangladesh. I learned a lot about their ministries and the challenges they faced. When they found out that I was a trainer of church planters several talked to me about future training in their country. Two Bangladeshis said that they weren't aware of any Church Planting Conference in their country, although one sat on a church planting committee.  The Indian leaders from the Mombai region were also interested in learning more about church planting. They say in the USA Awana works with established churches only, but in their countries  they start Awana clubs where there are no churches. It becomes a way of making and gathering new followers of Jesus. But they need help then to organized and grow the churches.

What a joy to see them discuss the principles from the Word of God and apply them to their ministries. Would you consider helping me to return to Nepal and continue the work begun there. We are in need of regular monthly supporters. But even a one time gift would help. Please go the the "give now" button on the top left portion of this website to contribute. Or you can email us to get more information about being a ministry partner. Thank you. 

A lighthouse in a dark city

The name Kolkata means "abode of Kali." Kali is one of the three top gods in Hinduism. He is the destroyer. Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves and Kali destroys. That is the cycle of life. There are tens of thousands of gods added. The elephant god adorned the wall of the guest house and there were tons of little figurine gods on the door. Kalid, the guest house owner went to a Catholic school but says he doesn't believe in God. His only son is a drug addict. He gets drunk every night. I shared the hope in Jesus with him. He asked me to pray and then said: :I do beleive in God but He has abandonned me." Please pray for him and his son.

Kali being taken in the Ganges as an act of worship.

gods on gest house door

 Parts of Kolkata are flooded during the rainy season. The church reaches out to the needy. 

I was here in 2009. Purnendu Sinha invited me back to give level 1 churh multiplication training to his evangelists and church planters. They have planted 35 churches in the Eastern district which includes Kolkata, Salt Lake, West Bengal and Orissa.

What a blessing to work with these brave evangelists. They are so grateful and appreciative of the training received. They gave me a wood carving.

These two young men (in their mid-twenties) work full-time as evangelists and live on very little. They long to see unreached people know Christ, become disciples and form new lighthouses in the darkness.

Here is a lighthouse. They meet for prayer and fellowhip. I was asked to teach unexpectedly. God blessed and we had a great time in the Word. The trip took 2 days and it's been non stop since I got off the plane.

Some of the trainees came from the Brahmin class. They are powerful evangelists. They go to the slums in the name of Jesus, taking medical teams and bringing a word of hope.

Prayer and praise are the strength of these churches.

 Rev. Purnendu and his little family.

 They worked hard at their studies and made plans to multipliy disciples, leaders and churches.

 Kolkata is weher Mother Theresa had here minsitry. This is the home of the Carmelite sisters. Willima Carey also ministered in Kolkata 200 years ago.

God is at work in India! Workers are rising up.

Please pray for Purnendu and the 15 that were trained.
Now I am off to Kathmandu, Nepal. I will be there with a team from my home church. Please pray for a meeting to explore doing church planting training with Nepalese leaders. I will also be training leaders from AWANA from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. More later

Lessons from Port-au-Prince Haiti one year after the earthquake

I spent the week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The tent cities were all over the city. I was told not much progress has been made. Some wood structures were put up in new developments on the city outskirts but people preferred to live in tents with people they know in familiar neighborhoods than in better housing with strangers. Also, many who had fled to rural areas to get out of the city for fear of the aftershocks have returned, finding life no better in e country and even less opportunities. So most of the people came back home. I don't want to minimize their plight. We walked through a tent city. The tents are side by side so there is no privacy; the squalor and nakedness were disheartening. We saw one lady standing in a basing pouring water over herself. We looked away because she had no other place to go.

The tents are better than nothing of course. I was told Habitat for Humanity is putting up wood structures that should last up to 10 years. Then what? The STEP seminary decided it was better to "build to last." So they bought a cement-block moulding machine and found some unemployed laborers to start a  micro-enterprise. So make the blocks; others sell them; and still others help people rebuild. The hardest thing is hauling the blocks and other building materials through the narrow alleys and tent cities to where the homes were to be built. So far, with the help of the seminary staff and students, they have put up two homes at a cost of $6,000 US each. They weren't impressive, but they were built to last.

In contrast, my friend Pastor Moise and family moved out of their nice cement block home and slept outdoors in a tent for a full year even though their home was standing. They are afraid to sleep under a cement structure because their boys’ school collapsed killing one son and burying the other for days. Now they all sleep together every night in an addition with a tin roof. Moise says, "What can I do? They could sleep at night. During the day we enjoy our home and at night we feel secure together here." But they are a happy family. We laughed and played together. And God is using them in amazing ways. Nine years ago they started with a handful of Christians and now the church assembles several hundred in a beautiful new building that is going up in the middle of the devastation. They started a school that goes from Grade one to high school and have the foundation and walls up for an orphanage. They too are building to last. But they are putting first things first: healing, security, and God's kingdom.

Lessons about the Harvest from a gathering of Europeans

We met in Willigen, Germany in the mountains of Sauerland. Linda and I went to encourage, strengthen, coach, advise and just be a blessing in any way we could. We also wanted to learn if church planters are making inroads in their post-modern, post-Christian, secular contexts.

Our director asked at one point "How many of you are experiencing great results at this time?" From what I saw only one couple among the 100 or so workers raised their hands. It was Paul and Kathy who are seeing a harvest among Bulgarian Turks in West Germany. The rest of the workers were seeing either moderate or very little fruit. Tim went on to share several theological truths about Europe. Here are some of them in my own words. I believe they apply to all of us who work in Western individualistic cultures:

1. God has a harvest time for every people group in Europe. We must believe in the harvest.

2. The harvest ripens rapidly in some places. In Europe it can take several generations. We must take the long view.

3. Society is fragmented and diversified with many layers of immigrants. We must look for the harvest in pockets - not massive church planting movements but local and regional breakthroughs.

4. It will take a spiritual battle. There will be a cost to see harvesting take place. We need great devotion, great faith, great sacrifice, and great perseverance.

5. Each one has a role to play (1 Cor. 3:1-5). Some till the soil, others sow, others water and still others reap. We must work hard, content and patient where God has called us. In time, we all share in the harvest and will all rejoice together.

6. We must not yield to pressure to glamorize the work or exaggerate the fruit. We live to please God, not man. Besides churches in the USA can't boast of great conversion rates and their soil is getting more and more like that of Europe.

7. We should discern "people of peace" (Luke 10) and other prepared people rather than invest indiscriminately, remembering God's words to Paul in Acts 18:10 "Do not be silent... I have many people in this city."

Here are some creative things workers in Europe are doing:

• In Toulouse, France, a couple is leading a multicultural team from Hong Kong, Germany, USA and Latin America. All those languages are represented by segments of the city. Some groups are meeting in coffee houses and in community centers. They use discussion forums. Now there are enough disciples and seekers to begin a new multicultural congregation and some French families are interested in getting involved. They will keep the easy access groups going.
• A team is coming together in Berlin. Rather than starting a traditional church they are looking to start a coffee house as a "third space" where believers and skeptics can meet. They will also find other safe venues for talking about spiritual things.
• A church planter in Lyons, France is encouraged by the willingess of people to voice their beliefs or lack of belief. Jonah says: "Expect them to share their frustration with organized religion. If you listen to them without arguing, you will have an opportunity to speak soon enough."
• The team in Rome partnered with a couple from another Mission organization to start a church. They decided to release the group to the care of the other couple and start over with evangelism and discipleship. "That is what we are called to do."
• By discipling and training Bulgarian Turks In Duisburg, Germany Paul and Kathy are seeing changed lives and families not only in their local community but also in Bulgaria. The newly converted Turks are going back and sharing their new faith with family and friends.
• There is an Iranian church growing in Belgium. Many reports tell of conversion and new churches among the Iranian diaspora.

 Pray for Europe. It has seen the gospel breakthrough several times in its history. The harvest many not look like the great fields of the America midwest; it will probably resemble the patchwork of fields that cover the European countryside... The key will be preparing workers from the harvest to go to new harvests.    

Americans and Czechs launch training together

(1) Four Czechs and three Americans whom God brought together to serve last week. Tomas is the one in the center.

(2) Linda Wilson and Linda Gunderson enjoyed a day of fellowship with the women who serve in Prague fulltime.

(3) Enjoying a laugh during our talk on setting healthy boundaries in ministry.

(4) Our ministry team in front of the statue of Jan Huss and the protestant martyrs.

On June 8-12 we offered a training called Mobilization for Multiplication (M-4-M) to Eastern Europeans church planters and leaders. We had a rich and wonderful time. Besides the trainers, 24 people came for all or part of the training. Most came from the Czech Republic but two came from Romania and one from Hungary. This was the first time the training was offered in Europe but it was very well received and we are invited back to do a second installment together. This type of partnering is so encouraging and will make the training better adapted to European realities. We learned that because of repeated invasions (Hapsburg, Nazi, Stalin), there is a fundamental distrust of leaders with a vision, a reticence to stand out, and an aversion to 5-year plans.

The two days before and two days following M-4M were devoted to team meetings. It was a special treat to have our wives along for the first time. Unfortunately two team members and their wives (from Asia and Africa) could not make it this time. A couple from Josiah Venture came from Poland to lead us in a discussion of how to find and develop emerging leaders. Twelve of us, Czechs and Americans, worked together to identify principles and best practices. We also did some peer coaching and discussed church planting internships that bring together local church planters with Americans for a year of ministry and learning.

(Gene with guys from Romania)

The women got together for a day of fellowship and mutual edification. They are super at asking questions, encouraging and coaching. It was such a blessing having them with us. One man said: “If you come back you have to bring your wives again. There are often conferences for the men but this is good for the couples.” God blessed the talk Linda and I gave on setting boundaries for a healthier marriage, family and life and my teaching sessions. We had some great interaction.

We usually train church planters. This time we had leaders from four European youth discipleship ministries involved, as well as pastors and church planters! Tomas Grulich (center of above picture), a church planting leader from the Czech Brethren and director of Tyrannus Hall ministry spoke for the group when he said: “These principles apply to Europe and to the Czech context in particular,” and invited us to return to help them teach the 3-day workshop to others next year. He added: “I want to know how to continue in church planting for all of the Czech Republic… Is there a place for me as a worker in this new program?”

Mark from Hungary shared: “I appreciated the fact that all the practices are from Scripture. They are God’s plan and this brings a sense of assurance.” Our team bonded as we worked together. We are praying about continuing this pattern of helping each other launch the training all over the world! We also spoke into each other’s lives through peer coaching.

(we had some laughs too!)

We enjoyed the city. We learned about Jan Huss, the Nazi occupation and the persecution under communism. Ritch (with 17 years in Prague) was a great guide, bridge and facilitator. That was an added blessing and now we understand our Czech brothers and sisters so much better. Linda and I had some good time together as a couple in this spectacular and romantic city.

1. Please pray for God’s word to bear fruit in discipleship reproduction for each person who was there.

2. Please pray for Ritch, Tomas and Gene as they plan follow-up. Ptray especially for Tomas to understand God’s leading for broader ministry in the Czech Rep.

3. Please pray for Gene as he prepares for Multiplying Church Globally, our annual Cross-Cultural Church Planting School June 28 to July 1.

This verse describes our experience: “And God is able to make ALL grace Abound to you, so that in ALL things, at ALL times, having ALL that you need, you will ABOUND in every good work.”.2 Corinthians 9:8