AAAaaand we're off...

PTI 3 started in full force today.
We spent the morning reviewing the premise of the entire program, hoping to engrain or re-engrain the emphasis of God's glory in the Church, while at the same time making clear the need to be slow and careful in our preparation and study.
We looked at Philippians 4:8ff as well, noting how Paul had learned to be content in all circumstances.  This was needed to curb presuppositions of how these seminars/conferences should be conducted. God helped us wonderfully to see that He alone is our Provision and He gives us all we need for life and godliness, while He withholds no good thing from His children.
From there we dove into Sin. Answering the question why we are covering sin at this point in the sessions and why the Doctrine of Sin is so crucial for us to deal with carefully and appropriately. We covered the importance on a personal level, and also the importance of it as ministers of the gospel. Because to miss sin in the gospel we preach is to do what Paul warned against in Galatians 1:6-9. The gospel without a biblical understanding of sin is 'another' gospel. We considered the ramifications of being wrong just a bit on the gospel today and what that would look like in 20, 50, or 100 years. Paul was helpful again in 1 Timothy 4:16 when he charges ministers to take great care in what the believe and what the teach, because salvation is on the line both for the minister and those being ministered to.

We looked at God's displeasure with sin as seen in 2 Chronicles 6-7. And then we considered the ways in which sin is in direct opposition to God, with help from R. Venning’s The Sinfulness of Sin. I will list here for your consideration:
Sin is in opposition with God.  

1. with His Nature
2. with His Names & Attributes
3. with His works
4. with His law & will
5. with His image
6. with His people
7. with His glory
8. with His being
   

I do covet your continued prayers. Today was a long day. I will not, I hope, ever expect any of the guest teachers to do so much in one day.  Nonetheless, God is helping and I trust that He will continue to do so.

A-A Arrival

I am in Ethiopia, at our home, and needing desperately to sleep. I did not get much on the way and now the clock is thrown off. It is 3:30 a.m. and I feel up for the day, though I am hoping for a wave of tiredness to come over me. I will welcome it for sure.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I will get last minute preparations made, find out where we are logistically for the Institute that begins on Monday and attempt to get some rest.

It is so different being here without the whole family. I am hoping and praying that the 'pit' in my stomach will be absent when the sun rises in a few hours. Exhaustion is playing more of a role than I realize, I suspect. But nonetheless, I do miss being here with them. If I had to guess, I would assume that living anywhere in the world in any condition is not as tremendous of a change as being in a 'familiar' place without them. Though, I do feel less 'familiar' with everything here right now...and yet that too may disappear with the night.

I write all of this to say...please do pray for me/us during this time.

I am not sure how blogging will work from here, because it is blocked right now. I will attempt to use email for these updates.

Prayer Update - October 11

This prayer update is different in that it will not merely be a short list for you to view. There is much going on in our lives right now and we are in need of copious amounts of prayer. Most of you know already that I am departing tomorrow for a couple of weeks in Ethiopia, and my plate there will be like a one trip buffet with a dessert saucer. Due to time and financial restraints the teaching sessions may look different this time around.

*Please pray for the ministers; their travel, their absorption of the Word, their attentiveness, and their long term application in life and ministry.
*Please do pray for me as well! We will be meeting for 8-10 hours per day in order to lessen the overall costs of the Institute this round. Also, I will be moving us from our present house to our new home, and really without having been there, you cannot imagine the nightmare of doing something like this. I covet your constant intercession!

Switching gears...
Upon my return in two weeks, we are planning for the newest addition to our family. In the past 3 weeks we have completed the necessary requirements for the placement of our second child. So, Lord willing, Ellie will have a 3-month old little brother within the month. Do pray for us! A month is not exactly an extensive time frame for preparing to be parents again. The needs, as you can imagine, span from emotional to spiritual to financial to physical.

We do appreciate your immense interest in our lives and work.
We are completely dependent upon God to be our sustenance. He has so faithfully blessed us thus far and we bank our hope on the fact that He does not change!

Prayer Update - September 30

I have included my schedule for the next 6 weeks as a prayer request.
A glance at it will let you know why.

September 30 - CCC - 11am
October 3 - FBC Henderson TN - 6:45pm
October 12-26 PTI 3 - Ethiopia
November 4 - FBC Henderson TN
November 11 - CCC - 11am
November 18 - CCC - 11am

Also, the time is quickly approaching for PTI 3 in Ethiopia.
I am departing on October 12, one week from Friday.
We are close to half-way on the funding, and need your prayers for
this provision.

Thanks for praying with/for us.

Beach Week

PTI Round 3 is ON! & It Is a Prayer Request!

In just over five weeks, the third round of PTI will begin. Plans are coming along rather well and all is set for 70+ men to continue their preparation for planting churches among the un-evangelized peoples of Ethiopia.

I will be heading up the training this time around and I am exited about it. I will spend about thirty hours on the Doctrine of Humanity and then thirty more on the Doctrine of Sin. So, there will be sixty hours of teaching/preaching in these two areas combined! It goes without mentioning that I covet your prayers in the coming days. We are headed out of town (whatever 'town' is for us) on vacation this week and I plan to do a major portion of the work while away.
Please pray for the time, both the work and the vacating!

One reality of training these men for gospel ministry is the expense involved. These are extremely poor men who are traveling into the city away from their homes and families in order to participate in the Institute. Their churches as well as some of the men as individuals are paying some of the cost, but it is impossible for them to cover it in it's entirety. (over a month's salary) Please do petition the Lord to show Himself Strong as the great Provider yet again.

Thank you for praying with us concerning this!

Our week to the North

In Pictures.



Ellie & T-Rex
Brandy & Violet
The Strassners
Shish Kebobs
R & R
Ellie, Julia, & a Triceratops
Tobey & Amber
Ellie & Violet

Hymns for the Wedding Feast

Click the text for the tune.

Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
’Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in Thy great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

The holy, meek, unspotted Lamb,
Who from the Father’s bosom came,
Who died for me, e’en me to atone,
Now for my Lord and God I own.

Lord, I believe Thy precious blood,
Which, at the mercy seat of God,
Forever doth for sinners plead,
For me, e’en for my soul, was shed.

Lord, I believe were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
Thou hast for all a ransom paid,
For all a full atonement made.

When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
Ev’n then this shall be all my plea,
Jesus hath lived, hath died, for me.

This spotless robe the same appears,
When ruined nature sinks in years;
No age can change its glorious hue,
The robe of Christ is ever new.

Jesus, the endless praise to Thee,
Whose boundless mercy hath for me—
For me a full atonement made,
An everlasting ransom paid.

O let the dead now hear Thy voice;
Now bid Thy banished ones rejoice;
Their beauty this, their glorious dress,
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness.
-Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

O, The Bitter Shame and Sorrow
O the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be,
When I let the Savior’s pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered,
“All of self, and none of Thee!”

Yet He found me; I beheld Him
Bleeding on th’accursèd tree,
Heard Him pray, “Forgive them, Father!”
And my wistful heart said faintly,
“Some of self, and some of Thee!”

Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and ah! so patient,
Brought me lower, while I whispered,
“Less of self, and more of Thee!”

Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered:
Grant me now my supplication,
“None of self, and all of Thee!”
-Theodore Monod

The Wedding Feast - Matthew 22:1-14

If you are reading this, the chances are good that you have heard this sermon already.

But, just in case you haven't. Here is your chance!

Are you a Tacit Gnostic?

Consider it for yourself here.

My friend Matt Crawford is guest blogging and has offered us this for our contemplation.

PTI 3

In the opening session of PTI (1), the classes were comprised of a focus on God, what He says about Himself in His Word, and the teachings of His Son, Jesus, in Matthew 5-7, commonly called ‘The Sermon on the Mount’.

In the succeeding PTI (2), we looked intensely at Christ’s life in the Gospel of John and considered the centrality of Jesus as it is portrayed from Genesis to Revelation.

In each of these sessions, several specific areas of concern were revealed with regard to the common understanding of God and His gospel. As these areas arose we were able to deal with them scripturally and with the Lord’s help pastorally.

With that said, PTI 3 may be the most crucial round so far. (it is actually the most important only b/c it is the ‘next’ one on the agenda)

The prominent understanding of Man and Sin among evangelical Christians in Ethiopia is skewed from the biblical idea of the state of man in sin and separated of God. So, this is an incredibly important round of teaching that is coming up in October.

I will attempt to spell out these particular issues more fully in the near future so that you may understand and be able to pray more specifically.

We do covet your constant and continued prayers.

Duncan on Discipleship

There are many ways and places that the Bible teaches us the importance of church membership. But one important way is in how it identifies the local church as the Jesus-appointed place for Christian discipleship. Where do we see that spelled out in Scripture?

Well, for instance, in the Great Commission! In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing . . . and teaching them." So where does Jesus say that the discipleship he commands us to foster is supposed to take place? What is the context of discipleship, according to Jesus? Where does he want you to be discipled? The answer is clear and simple. We are to be discipled in the place, in the context, in which baptism is administered. And where is that? The para-ministry? The campus Christian fellowship? Our favorite Christian voluntary organization? The small group of Christian friends who gather regularly to pray in one anothers homes. No, not primarily. These may all be good things. But Jesus answer here is different and fundamental.

His answer? In the local church. Jesus wants us to be discipled in the context of the believing community where the vows of baptism are taken and where a whole fellowship of Christians is committed to mutual encouragement and accountability - "make disciples, baptizing and teaching them," he says. In other words, real Christian discipleship is inescapably corporate and ecclesial. The discipleship and teaching that Jesus enjoins is to take place in the context where baptism is administered, right smack dab in the middle of the baptized community. Jesus says that’s the place where discipleship happens – the local church. And that’s just one reason why church membership is so important.

Ligon Duncan

Pastor's Training Institute

The Pastor’s Training Institute is a newly implemented program designed for the training and instruction of gospel ministers in Ethiopia. Beginning in April 2007 and continuing for about two years, our hope is that God will raise up His men for the planting of new churches among the un-evangelized of Ethiopia.

The curriculum consists of biblical and systematic theology taught in two-week module style classes every other month. The teaching pastors are invited from the United States to come and teach in their desired topic/subject area. Also included in the training will be relevant cultural issues and practical guidance.

There are currently 75 new ministers enrolled from the local churches throughout the country. Upon their completion of PTI, and upon giving credible evidence of meeting biblical qualifications to pastor, the men will be sent out to ‘un-reached’ villages/areas to begin a new gospel work with hopes that God will establish a church there.

Prayer Update - August 8

* My health does seem better and improving...thanks for praying.

* The work with the Addis Kidan and PTI 3, which begins in October. Doctrine of Sin & Man

* That God would raise up whomever He pleases to lead the teaching/preaching in PTI 3.

Prayer Update - July 31

* Please pray for my health, that it will continue to improve. (Malaria)

* Terry Waller (WFA-I) is in Ethiopia for a couple of more weeks Agua Para Todos

* The work with the Addis Kidan and PTI 3, which begins in October. Doctrine of Sin & Man

Prayer Update - July 18

We are home...

A vehicle has been provided as well. Thanks for praying.

For those of you who have not heard...

WE ARE HERE. THAT IS, IN THE U.S.A. FOR ABOUT THREE MONTHS.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL SOON.

Prayer Update - July 10

We will be home in August...A vehicle for traveling is a wonderful blessing while we are there. Please pray with us in this.