Towards Reconciliation

Wittenberg, Germany

On October 4, 2017

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…

Month of Fasting

By kimberly

On May 30, 2017

In Chad, Culture, Food, Islam, Prayer

Our friends in Chad, as well as all Muslims around the world, are now in their most religious month of the Islamic calendar – Ramadan. This is a time for followers of Jesus – you and me – to pray fervently for God to work in the hearts and lives of many who are following a false religion and have a false sense of hope that their sins may be forgiven. This year, Ramadan will last from May 27 – June 25.

What is Ramadan?

Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islamic faith. Ramadan is the holy month where all Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and feast in the evening and early morning hours. In addition to the other pillars, fasting is practiced in hopes that Allah will have pity on the Muslim and forgive him of his sins. Of course, as those who follow Jesus and the teaching of Scripture, we know that this is false hope. The only hope any of us has for forgiveness of sins is by faith alone in Jesus – apart from any works.

What does Ramadan look like in Chad?

I recently messaged a friend online to ask her if she was fasting. Her response to me was, “Yes, WE are fasting.” It is very much a communal practice. We have observed men and women who will not even swallow their own saliva (at least in public) in an effort to prove to others around them that they are following the rules perfectly. We hear stories of people who secretly “cheat,” but we haven’t seen this firsthand. We know pregnant women and nursing mothers who choose to fast during Ramadan, because otherwise they must make up the 30 days of fasting during the rest of the year on their own. Despite the difficulties this creates for the unborn or young child, it is easier for the mother to fast while everyone around them is doing it.

How can we pray during Ramadan?

Pray for the very few believers in our town who will not be fasting, but will experience much scrutiny, shame, and even persecution (name-calling, etc.) Ask God to strengthen their faith and unity among one another.
Pray for those who are genuinely seeking for Truth to feel the emptiness of this fast. Pray that they would long for a Savior that can take away their sins once and for all.
Pray for the health of those who are fasting – temperatures are soaring above 100 degrees F these days and many will suffer from not drinking or eating during the day.

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.

Crazy Few Months…

By josh

On December 18, 2016

In Family, language

We knew we hadn’t blogged in awhile, but has it really been three months? So much has happened, so many things we’ve wanted to share, but life has been a bit crazy. We’ve traveled as a team to a town several hours south to explore ministry opportunities, we’ve celebrated Calla Grace’s one year birthday, we’ve seen off one teammate (Danielle) and welcomed back others (Keith, Tricia and kids). We’ve had some ups, some downs, and lots of just plugging along seeking to learn language and better understand how to share the gospel with these precious people.

Hopefully now we can make some time to share some of what God is doing out here in the East.

may Christ be exalted,

Josh & Kimberly

Medical Clinics

By kimberly

On September 7, 2016

In Chad, Ministry

This past month, I have had the opportunity to help a missionary doctor with health clinics she is holding at the local MBB church each Thursday. It is an opportunity for her and the church to share the love of Christ in a very practical way. For me, I am able to sit with the women for an hour or more after my triage “work” is finished while they wait for their consultation. I am meeting new women in our community and searching for opportunities to share stories or verses from Scripture. One or two men from the church are also visiting with the men.

Pray for physical and spiritual healing for the people who come to these clinics. Pray for the church to be a light in this community and that many would hear and believe because of this weekly health clinic.

“I Believe Jesus is Truth”

By kimberly

On September 7, 2016

In Bible, Chad, Islam, language, Ministry

Thank you for praying for M., my language helper. In recent weeks, we have had some wonderful conversations and I see God answering our prayers for her!

We are still going through the Jesus Storybook Bible, and we are nearing the end. Last week, M was confronted with the deity of Jesus as we translated and discussed the story of Him calming the storm. It provided an opportunity for her to open up to me and share that she loves what she is learning about Jesus. She said she wants to believe in who the Bible says He is and “join” us but recognizes it means leaving her family’s teaching behind. I shared some more Scripture with her over the days following that conversation, prayed with her, and encouraged her.

Again today, I had another opportunity to talk to her, and she says that she believes what she is learning about Jesus is true and that His claim that He can forgive sins is true. Again, she expressed that she is scared to tell her family and I reassured her that her work for now is to search the Scriptures and believe what is true. We talked about how this belief will change her heart and her life and what that might look like.

Pray for God to give M faith to believe beyond a doubt. Pray for her to feel convicted of her sinfulness and to fall more in love with this Savior! Pray also that she will desire to read/hear/study the Word of God more fully and desire to meet with others who follow Jesus. Pray that her heart will be like the good soil of Matthew 13, producing much fruit.