Instant Inspirations: January 2011

While in Peru our Mission Field Coordinators, Ray and Nancy Wiggs had the opportunity to share Christ with students at a university in Tarapoto. They worked with the local Every Nation church in Peru to teach locals how to share their Two Minute Miracle (Ten Days’ version of a personal testimony) and how to share the gospel through One Verse Evangelism (developed by the Navigators).

One day while on campus, they were teaching students and having them practice. As they split into five person teams one of the students, Marco, said he didn’t know what the One Verse Evangelism was so, thinking that he was already a part of the church team that was working with them, they directed him to one of the Spanish-speaking pastors to learn it. Unbeknownst to both the Wiggs and the pastor, Marco accepted Christ during that conversation.

Marco later took Ray and Nancy to the Director of Languages on the university campus. After discussing how they wanted to share God with the students through English classes, the Wiggs were given a schedule and a classroom.

The first week of their new class, Ray and Nancy had students practicing their Two Minute Miracles with other students. It was then that they heard Marco give his testimony. Marco told how he joined the team just to learn some English but that after hearing the gospel explained,  he accepted Christ and was now sharing the gospel daily.

Because they were willing to go and serve, Marco was able to hear the gospel for the first time. In turn, Marco helped make it possible for hundreds of students to hear the gospel on campus. All it took was a willing heart.  

Tip's Travels: Cock Pit

“Sometimes I am God. If I say someone dies, he dies that same day."
Pablo Escobar 

Pablo Escobar was the former head of the Medellin, Colombia drug cartel and often referred to as the "World's Greatest Outlaw." Many say he was the most elusive cocaine trafficker ever to have lived. In 1987, Forbes magazine estimated Escobar to be the seventh-richest man in the world with a personal wealth of close to US$25 billion while his Medellin cartel controlled 80% of the global cocaine market. It has been said he spent $2500 per month on rubber bands to hold all his “dirty money.” 

I just returned last week from the city of Fusagasuga, Colombia where there is a chicken fighting coliseum with seating capacity for over a thousand people. Frequently, Escobar would spend up to three weeks there, fighting cocks, getting drunk, and giving out money to the poor. 

In that same “Cock Pit” which is now our Every Nation Church, we housed and trained leaders from Bogota, Igabe and Fusagasuga in evangelism with the Two Minute Miracle, One Verse Evangelism, and the God Test. Because of generous missionaries from the past, it now has sleeping capacity for up to eighty people, including sixteen triple-decker bunk beds, a full kitchen, and eleven showers. 

Our vision to have intensive trainings for future pastors, leaders, church planters, and world changers just took a giant step forward. None of the 60 leaders we spent the week training, including our pastor from Fusagasuga, had ever preached the Gospel to “a stranger,” but by the end of the first day, were confidently engaging what turned out to be hundreds on the passing streets, leading many to a new relationship to Christ. It was so exciting to see their confidence to engage their culture with the Gospel growing right before our very eyes.

Ten Days Tip

Instant Inspirations: December 2011

David Livingstone (1813–1873) is the most well known of the modern missionaries because of his exploratory work in Africa. He went to Africa as a medical missionary and fell in love with the continent, inspiring generations of missionaries to reach Africa with the gospel.

The missionary Robert Moffat inspired Livingstone with a vision of “…the vast plain to the north of Kuruman, in southern Africa, where he had seen ‘the smoke of a thousand villages, where no missionary had ever been.” 

Livingstone was initially sent to Africa by the London Missionary Society. He first spent six months cut off from all European society in order to learn the language, laws, and habits of the natives. He attached himself to the friendly Bakuena tribe whose chief, Sechele, became his only known convert. From this base, Livingstone reached out to other tribes, attending to people’s medical needs, and holding gospel meetings. Livingstone’s three journeys into Central Africa opened the way for further outreach into such areas as Uganda and Zaire. 

 

What moved him more than anything else was what he called “this open sore of the world”—the devastating slave trade of central Africa. Livingstone saw men, women, and children seized and cruelly sold as slaves. He realized that the slave trade could not continue apart from the African’s own participation in it. Slave-raiding was the way to wealth and thus many tribes were tempted to engage in raids on weaker neighboring tribes. He knew if he could promote the legitimate sale of European articles in the slave-market area, then slave trading would cease.

His aim was to open a path for commerce and Christianity and he called for volunteers to carry out the work. With an indomitable will, he drove his body, often racked with fever and dysentery, to incredible exploits.

Among the last words that Livingstone wrote were, “All I can add in my solitude is ‘May Heaven's rich blessing come down on everyone, American, English, or Turk, who will help to heal this open sore of the world.’” Livingstone’s last mission left from Zanzibar, the center of the East African slave trade. Today, the Anglican Cathedral’s altar stands on the old slave whipping post. Around the altar are figures of the twelve apostles in copper—mined from Zambia where Livingstone had spread the gospel. There is a small cross next to pulpit made from the tree under which they buried Livingstone’s heart in Malawi. There is a commemorative plaque on the wall saying “To the glory of God and in memory of Livingstone and other explorers. Men good and brave who, to advance knowledge, set free the slave, and to hasten Christ’s Kingdom in Africa, loved not their lives even unto death.”

Tip's Travels: In Tigerland

Not only being a huge sports fan, but playing college football I’ve had the privilege to see dozens of sporting events in just as many arenas or stadiums. I don’t know if it’s been every year of my 22 years being married to my wife Suzanne or if it just seems that way but every football season she says “you’ve never been to the best, Death Valley.” A few weeks ago we visited her family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving and our nephew was kind enough to give us his LSU/Arkansas tickets. Not a bad game, #1 vs #3 with the SEC championship on the line. Being an LSU grad, Suzanne was pumped that her man was to experience Tigerland and it’s Cajun hospitality at it’s best. She loves to pray specifically, and had told the Lord exactly what kind of weather she wanted, and that our seats should be on the shady side of the stadium, because, after all, it was a day game.

 

We actually left her brother’s house at 7am to insure that we'd have time with all the anticipated traffic to find a parking place. The weather was perfect, as requested. The previous week she started calling a few of her old college friends wondering if they, although also moved away, just might be in town for the Holiday and the game. One after one, the same disappointing answer came. Noooo, not this year. Since we were getting to the game four hours early, she was concerned about where and what we would eat, etc. Man, there we were, everything in place and no one to tailgate with. Imagining the worst she told me, "well, I guess we'll just be eating leftovers in our car by ourselves". What a pitiful sight that would be. Then one of her friends called back and said, in the spirit of true Cajun hospitality, "there is no way ya'll are gonna tailgate alone! Here's the name and number of my friend Leigh Ann. She and her husband have a big tailgate every year. They said they'd love to have ya'll. They're even gonna put out a big sign with your name on it so you can find them!" Another God provision. First the great tickets, now the great food, and new friends! Rolling into Tigerland at 9 am we had no idea where to park. If we could find parking it would be $30- $50.00, and then the hike. Would you believe that their tailgate was directly across the street from the stadium and they had a free parking spot for us!  This is just all too much, Lord. And God remembered! Our seats were on the shady side, and He had even added a sweet breeze! 

           

All of you college football fans out there already know that LSU also had a sweet victory over Arkansas and finished the season 12-0! We relished in the moment after the game as 93,000 people went wild. Our newfound friends had invited us back after the game for  “smoked hog” or better know as ribs. Great way to wait for the traffic to subside. Walking back to the tailgate we were marveling at what a perfect day it had been. Little did we know that God had set us all up for the most fun of all.

            

Sitting around talking to these dear people's 27 yr. old daughter, we found out that she was leaving for Belgium to work for an organization involved in the great effort to stop child trafficking. Before long we were praying over her, as she sobbed out all the fears and frustrations accompanied with such an undertaking. An hour later we looked up to find everyone had gone. Even the tent we were sitting under had been removed! Deep in prayer, we hadn't even noticed. What a divine appointment. Her parents were so grateful for all the breakthroughs God gave her, and the grace she received to cross that last hurdle, as she says yes to God.

           

Is there a word to describe when you feel you've been high five'd by God? I felt His presence there outside Tiger stadium in this young girls life, as He truly calls her to change this world. 

Ten Days Tip

Tarapoto, Peru 2011 mission trip recap video

The Lord is still touching the lives of people right now in Tarapoto, Peru.  A big thank you for the Ten Days team who made a decision to go and to touch the world.