Author: josh Page 4 of 9

Meditation on Jeremiah 19:4

On July 9, 2018

Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known…

In contrast to their idols, the God of Israel is known. He is a person. He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. He called Abraham and sent him to an unknown land, later promising to give the land to his descendants. He heard the cries of Abraham’s descendants in Egypt. He dwelt with Israel in the desert, through the cloud and fire. He battled the inhabitants of the Promised Land on behalf of Israel. And Judah (as well as Israel) turned away from this God to serve the Baals. What foolishness! Yet how foolish are we, even more so than the people of Judah, when we forsake Jesus, the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15), the one in whom all the fullness of God dwells bodily (Col2:9) to serve empty idols! We have the New Covenant fulfilled in Jesus, righteousness in exchange for our wickedness, salvation in exchange for condemnation, life in exchange for death. That God can be known, in Jesus, seems to many an unthinkable proposition. Muslims are not allowed to even entertain this possibility. God is the greatest? For sure. They say this 5 times per day every day. God is powerful? Of course, he wouldn’t be God if he wasn’t. God is sovereign? “God willed it” they agree in fatalistic acquiescence to sorrow and pain. But God is knowable? How can this be? God as loving Father? Impossible to believe. But some have. And many more are hearing.

Would you pray that God would grant belief and repentance to those who are hearing about his great love for them in Christ Jesus our Lord?

josh

The Blessing of MAF

By josh

On May 15, 2018

In Chad, Family

Last Tuesday afternoon, as we were packing and preparing for the long car trip from Abeche to N’Djamena that were were anticipating making on Friday or Saturday, I happened to glance at my email and noticed an email from Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), who operate a couple of small planes in Chad to assist missionaries and other non-profit workers with transportation. The email said they had a flight coming to Abeche on Wednesday, and then returning to N’Djamena on Thursday, and that they had seats available. Very interesting. The last time we made this car trip across the country it involved 14 hours of driving, several of those in the dark. And driving in the dark in Chad is not fun at all. Donkeys have died. Anyway, we were dreading the trip but there aren’t a lot of options. Normally to get a MAF flight, if there’s not one already scheduled, you have to charter it. That means paying for the entire plane, which usually means a couple thousand dollars. It didn’t even cross our minds to fly because we don’t have the money. But when someone else charters the plane, and shares the costs, it starts getting tempting. So we found ourselves on Tuesday afternoon scrambling to tie up loose ends so that we could fly to the capital on Thursday, and from there we’ll fly to Europe for a few weeks of meetings/vacation before returning to Abeche mid-June. And a very generous supporter paid for our flight, which was inexpensive for adults, half-price for the kids, and Norah was free.

Picnic with friends

By josh

On May 6, 2018

In Chad, Family

We had a great time in the hills just outside of town this afternoon with some friends who will soon be leaving for furlough for a year. It’s pretty much paradise for our boys, with so many places to run and climb and hide.

When we head for the hills, we never know who we’ll run across. We seem to attract a little attention. This guy rode up on his horse and was very friendly.

The setting sun finally gave us a break from the extreme heat, which has had the added pleasure of humidity lately.

Piper on “Risking Your Kids for the Kingdom”

By josh

On October 23, 2017

In Bible, Family, Ministry, Suffering

Oh how strange this sounds to our American ears…

Or when you think about “providing for your household,” what about providing practice in self-denial and risk? After all, doesn’t Proverbs say, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6)? Perhaps we lose too many of our children because they weren’t trained as soldiers. Maybe we trained them in comfort and security, and now they won’t leave it.

Or what about providing for the young ones the way Deuteronomy 11:19 says? Teach them the wartime manual of life when you are walking among the hostile hearers, and when you lie down under the mosquito nets, and when you rise in the 95-degree heat. Come, my precious children, learn from mommy and daddy what it means to live with joy in the service of the King.
No matter how many Western, comfort-assuming, security-demanding, risk-avoiding Christians think otherwise, the truth is that there are worse risks for our children than death. This is simple Bible-reality. Not easy. Just simple. It is not complex or hard to grasp. There are things vastly worse than death. Wasting your life is worse than losing it.

Read the full blog post here…

Desiring God – Risking Your Kids for the Kingdom?

Wittenberg, Germany

By josh

On October 4, 2017

In Church History, Reformation

So I’m finally getting around to posting some pics of our visit to Wittenberg after our mission conference in August. Martin Luther arrived in Wittenberg as an Augustinian monk, living at the monastery there. He studied theology at the newly created university starting in 1508, and upon graduation in 1512 he became a professor of Bible there. Two years later he became a preacher at the City Church.

The City Church

The alter piece, created by Lucas Cranach the Elder, for the City Church, depicting scenes from Protestant parish life.

View from the altar. Notice the pulpit on the left, with stairs leading up to it.

In the Vineyard of the Lord by Lucas Cranach the Younger sums up the Reformation in a picture. On the left, Catholic clergy destroy the vineyard, setting fires and wreaking havoc. Then they line up to receive their reward from Jesus. On the right, Protestant clergy carefully tend the vineyard, watering it and caring for it. Then they are seen kneeling humbling to receive their reward from Jesus. The Reformation was not a time for subtlety…

Some kid thought a drawing of Homer Simpson would be a good way to celebrate 500 years…

On October 31, 1517 Luther nailed his famous “95 Theses” to the wooden door of the Castle Church. This faithful Roman Catholic monk, at the time seeking only reform within the church, certainly had no idea at the time that this would turn out to be the opening blast of a revolution. The nailing of theses on the door of the church was the custom of the time – a call for open debate on a matter at the university. But his theses, though handwritten, were copied and printed as pamphlets thanks to a relatively recent invention – the printing press. They spread all over Germany and as they say “the rest is history…”

Praise be to God who is sovereignly directing history to his desired end – the preservation of his church as a gift to his Son for his glory.

Here’s some pics of the Castle Church, where the old wooden door, after a fire burned it down, was replace by a metal door with the 95 Theses engraved

Inside the Castle Church

The door of the Castle Church, with the 95 Theses engraved in Latin

One disappointing but not altogether surprising fact about the huge 500th anniversary celebration in Germany is that the gospel seems to be conspicuously absent. The signs advertising the anniversary were mostly about peace, tolerance, love, diversity, and an occasional inoffensive Bible verse.

It’s all rainbows and unicorns in Europe’s “500 years of Reformation” campaign…

It is Well (Jimmy Needham feat. John Piper)

By josh

On August 10, 2017

In Suffering

another goodie…

What have we been up to?

By josh

On August 4, 2017

In Family, Ministry

Josh sharing with FBC Glencoe

It’s been a busy and exciting summer for our family. At the end of May we visited FBC Glencoe, near Gadsden, AL to share about our ministry during their Sunday morning service. The pastor is Josh’s college roommate, so it was a lot of fun to see his family and catch up a bit.

VBS @ The Grove – The pastor led the whole VBS to kneel and pray for us

In June we participated in VBS at The Grove Baptist Church here in Huntsville before heading out on the road again, this time going west. We stopped for a few nights in Shreveport to visit friends before moving on to East Texas. We spent a week at First Baptist Liberty City, the church where Kimberly grew up, to teach the missions class at their VBS. We had a blast teaching 250 kids all about Chad!
From there we headed north of Dallas to Sherman, where we shared with Forest Avenue Baptist Church. The pastor and his wife are old friends of Kimberly, and after church we spent the afternoon catching up as a swarm of kids wreaked havoc in their house. The following morning we were up early headed southeast to Sulphur Springs, where Kimberly was born, to take her grandmother to lunch. Nana Lil is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, so it was a bittersweet visit for Kimberly.

Memphis BBQ picnic with friends from Chad

After lunch it was off to Little Rock, AR, to spend the night before meeting some friends from Chad in Memphis the next day. We enjoyed lunch at a beautiful park, and we spent some time catching up while the kids played. After lunch it was on the road again, arriving back in Huntsville around dinner time, excited to sleep in our own beds for the first time in 2 weeks.

Praying for Chad (at HSBC)

We’ve been happy to have some time at our church in July. One thing we miss dearly in Chad is fellowship with our church family. We did visit one other church in July, about 2 hours south of us in Birmingham. Hunter Street Baptist Church is where Josh was a member when he met Kimberly, and they were members together for several years before moving to Huntsville. We went back to HSBC to visit with a number of Sunday school classes to share about our work, and Sunday evening they hosted a prayer time for us. Once again we were thankful for the chance to catch up with old friends and share an update on our ministry with people who’ve been tracking with us over this 9 year journey!

Though You Slay Me (Shane and Shane feat. John Piper)

By josh

On August 3, 2017

In Suffering

love this video…

Meditation on Titus 2:13-14

By josh

On May 25, 2017

In Bible

How glorious is our Lord Jesus! He absorbed, even exhausted, the wrath of God, drinking the cup to the last drop. He was crushed by it, though not finally. His sacrifice was accepted, and God’s justice vindicated. He was raised from the dead, to intercede, to advocate, on behalf of the elect.It is finished! God’s plan is immutable. The accuser of the brethren is himself condemned, our victory assured by the character of God himself. My heart hesitates to believe such unbelievable news, but the Spirit reassures me it is so. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let my mouth not be silent in giving Him praise all my days. Is this not worth my whole heart, my whole life? Yes, and in fact demands them.

Home, Sweet Home

By josh

On May 20, 2017

In Ministry

We arrived back in the States in March. We spent several days in DC on the way back to Alabama, visiting the Smithsonian Museums and getting over major jet lag. We’ve realized that the trip from our town in Eastern Chad, all the way to North Alabama, is best done in stages. So we left our town in mid-February to head to the capital for some training and a retreat. We had about a week of down time after that before flying out. We flew out of N’Djamena on March 3, and after a relatively short layover in Casablanca we arrived in Washington D.C. on March 4.

We made the final leg of our trip on March 9, arriving in Huntsville in the early evening. Whew!

Some of you are probably wondering what we’ll do with all this free time. Well, since you asked, we do have some goals for our time home…

Reconnecting

Two and a half years is a long time. We did make a brief visit to the States in the Spring of 2016, but not nearly long enough to visit anyone other than immediate family and our church. So one of our primary goals for our time in the States is to reconnect with people – friends, family, churches, supporters, etc.

Sharing Our Vision

We have a very specific vision for our work – to see churches planted. We have been spent the past 2.5 years laying a foundation for the work of realizing (by the power of the Holy Spirit) this vision. We have some reflections and lessons learned from this season. We have some ideas about the next season (when we return in December of this year). We want to share these with like-minded brothers and sisters. We want to mobilize prayer for our ministry and the wider ministry of the gospel in Chad. We want to account for the use of our time to those who’ve supported us financially. We want to recruit others to join our support team as we revise our budget to better represent realities in Chad. We want to share our struggles so that people can pray. We want to share some encouraging stories so that people can praise the Lord with us.

Further Equipping

Our time in Chad has helped us to identify some personal strengths and weaknesses. We want to grow in the areas we are weak. Josh will be doing further studies in biblical counseling, systematic theology, and biblical hermeneutics among other things. Kimberly will be studying biblical counseling as well. We are excited about having some time to study and grow in these areas!

Refining Vision/Future Planning

Josh is meeting regularly with church leadership as well as a guy whose family is considering joining us in Chad. They are discussing and refining the vision for the ministry, guidelines for inviting people to join us, doctrinal distinctives of the team, and many other things. This has been a very helpful time of discussion that is helping to clarify, and express in our team documents, issues ranging from the definition of “church” to the definition of the “gospel” to what it means to “make disciples”, as well as which issues (doctrinal, philosophical, etc.) must be agreed upon by all team members and what issues have room for disagreement. Kimberly will also be involved in these discussions from time to time as she’s able.

In addition, we are beginning to discuss some concrete ideas for ministry when we return. We have realized that there are seemingly endless good activities that we could be involved in, but not all are effective for church planting. How might we get access to people, in our town as well as the hundreds of surrounding villages, so that relationships can be built and the Gospel shared? How can we help meet the overwhelming physical needs of the people while not neglecting the much more critical spiritual needs? These are the questions we are asking ourselves, and now having a few years as cultural “learners”, among the people, under our belts, we can begin to discuss answers.

Catch Up With Us

We hope to see many of you as we make visits to East TX and within Alabama. We’ll be near Gadsden, AL at the end of this month. We’ll be in TX mid-June, participating in VBS at First Baptist Church Liberty City and visiting a couple of other churches. We’ll be in Birmingham, AL in mid-July. Josh will be in Germany in August for our organization’s International Conference, and then in Jupiter, FL for another conference in September.

If you’d like to have us share with your church or small group about our ministry and the needs of eastern Chad, we’d love to consider it. You can contact us here.