ie:missional teaching. glocalizing. living. serving. repenting. incarnating. loving. repeating.

Around 7:00, we went to the house of our new friends and host M’s, Jim and Kari. Two of the most gracious and vivacious people I have ever been around, they are passionate and sold out to reaching this people. Affiliated with an agency in the northwest US which exists to reach the northern tribal peoples of Siberia, Alaska and Canada, Jim and Kari are raising their three children in the harsh T—n climate which swings from -50 to 110 F annually. They are immediately likable, immensely lovable and preeminently committed to seeing an authentic, biblically sound T—n church planting movement.

The purpose of our evening meeting besides the joy of fellowship was strategy. What could be done and how could we partner together to get it done? We talked first about “storying project” and whether our original ideas were on target. This one is still in the planning phase, but we are excited about bringing the gospel into their culture using historically appropriate information involving T—n translators and storytellers. As I previously stated, though the culture is literate, the preferred learning style is oral transmission, thus the effort to “oralize” the gospel through stories.

Then, we talked about the possibility of doing English classes. Existing partnerships in a former eastern bloc country could easily be accessed to use a type of English class that presents the gospel and has been very effective at leading to church starts. It was decided that this would likely work both in K—l and in the “suburbs.”

Next, we discussed how that we might be a blessing to the community. One thing held in common by some of the former Soviet republics is failing infrastructure. When the Union collapsed and autonomy was declared, away went Russian money (at least in part). In many places factories, pipelines and the like are decaying from lack of use. One abandoned factory on the outskirts of K—l still bore a sign that read, “Glory to the Worker.” We believe that blessing these towns through repairing infrastructure, parks, schools, etc, will open doors for gospel witness.

Jim immediately referred to a broken down city park just down the street from their home. His thoughts were that if we could partner together to refurbish the park making it usable again, that great favor would be gained with the city administration. We agreed and agreed to help.

About 3/4 of the way through this four hour strategy session, I brought up Glocalization and one of the ideas espoused by Bob Roberts. He wrote of the wisdom of creating a jobs base by investing money to create businesses that would improve the economy. This effort becomes another means of establishing good will and opening doors of witness. “Why are you doing this?” “We are servants of Jesus Christ and believe that He wants to use us to bless and encourage you.” Since hearing that T–a has no exports at all and was mired in economic depression, my mind had been spinning. There are no FedEx, DHL or UPS deliveries being made. “Brown” isn’t doing much in T–a because T—ns aren’t doing anything that requires it. This was the next subject of discussion.

Jim (also affectionately known as “Samwise” due to his hobbit feet) is the very picture of entrepreneurial. With a heart bursting for church planting and discipleship, he has the magnificent ability to evaluate the entire cultural picture and envision solutions to multiple issues on various fronts. So, when I asked about a type of business opportunity that might result in economic expansion, I wasn’t really surprised to find out that he already had a business plan.

The T—ns have a legacy of being good leather-workers, though they don’t have a tanning or fur processing industry. Jim and a couple of shoe-cobblers have developed and produced a few sample leather satchels. The quality and design is about as good as anything I’ve ever seen in a leather shop or done by leather-workers. The goal is to create a distribution channel that will place these on the US market, since that’s where the closest contacts currently reside. If successful, and the business plan looks strong, then profits would be used to fund church planting and local ministry inside T–a.

As it had been apparent the previous afternoon, all our ideas and desires were fitting together like a hand in a glove. God hadn’t merely opened a door; He’d kicked it completely off its hinges. Even us slow Baptists could figure it out and it was not stopping yet.