What if There Were a True Cost of Discipleship?

Back in 2011, we drove to the village of Tabaa with our three youngest kids and our (then) new recording technicians, Diego and Luz.  Diego and Luz had dubbed the Jesus Film in this variant of Zapotec, and we accompanied them to show the movie and also to deliver some audio Bibles to the folks out there.

That trip was memorable in several ways, not the least of which was the fact that our Suburban chose that day to develop a fuel leak.  We smelled gasoline all the way out to the village, but once we arrived, the remaining fluids drained themselves from the vehicle, displaying an undeniable problem.  We spent the night on sleeping bags on the church floor, eventually returning to Mitla on a chicken bus.

The believers in Tabaa impressed me with their devotion to Jesus and their willingness to sacrifice in order to follow the Lord.  Back then the town officials were levying a fine equivalent to a year’s salary (for some of the folks) just for joining the evangelical church.  What amazed me was the fact that people were actually paying it.  Somehow I can’t imagine American Christians putting up with such a thing.  Many would forsake the Lord if it cost that much.

This past week we revisited Tabaa in order to get the current phone number of the pastor.  That is a whole other story in itself how we ended up essentially touring the entire Villa Alta region of Oaxaca taking a “short cut” from one village to the next along unpaved unmarked roads.  In all, we drove over eight hours covering very few miles, but in the end, we succeeded in getting the pastor’s phone number.  It turns out that the pastor’s father is close to heaven’s gates, and many family members were gathered to say their final farewell.  With that little situation, we departed and returned to Mitla the same day, having gleaned a bit of new information.

Sadly the church members in Tabaa are still under the town rule that requires them to pay the huge fee for joining the church.  Already fifteen families have paid the $30,000 pesos in the past seven years, bringing the church membership up to 40 families.  Soon we will return with audio Bibles for the new families, but in the meantime, we have taught the pastor to use the Bible app on his phone to read and listen to the scriptures in his own language.  Others can download the audio Bible onto their phones, too.  That is the good news.

Then again maybe all of our towns should grow "richer" when Christ's church grows stronger?  I would take comfort in this if it weren't for my skepticism that town leaders are not often known for their integrity.  

• Pray against corruption at every level of government in Mexico.  
• Pray that townspeople would notice a true heart change in the new believers.  
• Pray that many more would risk losing their financial gain in order to walk openly with Jesus.  
• Pray that new disciples would find great joy and peace in their sacrifice. 

Pray for the believers in Tabaa

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  

 John 8:31-32 ESV

-->

Premature Praise

Photo by Amanda Pitts

Having devoted our lives to daily service in hopes of someday hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servants," it seemed premature to be honored this side of heaven. 

Well acquainted with the honor of suffering for the sake of the gospel, being "awarded" things like loneliness, bed bugs, head lice, amoeba, hepatitis, and dengue fever, this was a very foreign experience to find ourselves in the spotlight being honored with the prestigious Meritorious Achievement Award, the Pro Ecclesia Medal of Service.

Walking down the Baylor equivalent of a red carpet, and having Judge Ken Starr place this medal around my neck with the flash of cameras, and then again at half-time during Baylor Homecoming, the only thing that I could think of were all the people we represented, the team of people who made our accomplishment possible:  the Bible translators, our technicians, the financial supporters, our prayer partners, and the many who came on short-term teams to distribute audio Bibles.  On behalf of all of them, we received the medal.

The most humbling part was watching the "story of our lives" flashed before us, knowing that we follow many like Billy Graham and Max Lucado whose names are known throughout the world.  We are not sure what God will do with this experience, but we are trusting Him for more ministry partners as a result of this recognition and publicity for Audio Scripture Ministries.

To read the full story and see the lovely tribute, go to the Baylor website here
and also here.

Here is our prayer for you who share in our inheritance, from Colossians 1.

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth....

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We would ask that you pray the same for us, that we might continue to be filled with the knowledge of God's will... and walk in a way fully pleasing to Him, being fruitful in good works, strengthened with all power, enduring patiently and with joy, etc. - even in Michigan when our hearts are in Mexico.  Thanks!

The Problem of Persecution

Persecution is a topic you may never have seen me mention in print - certainly never online.  Hopefully, it won't come back and bite me, but I think it is time to bring it to light.  We need to pray for our brothers and sisters right here in Mexico who are being threatened, tortured, and deprived of water, electricity, and economic gain just because they call themselves evangelical Christians.

In one Zapotec village, for instance, the town authorities levied a tax equivalent to one year of income to anyone who leaves the Catholic church to join the evangelical church in town.  Yet still, people take this risk, pay the fine, and align themselves with the less popular church in town.  (Without mentioning the name of the town, I can verify that we took our family there in 2011, and received this report directly from the local pastor.)

More recently (last month), I met this precious Zapotec saint in the photo, who told me her testimony of personal suffering and unbelievable persecution when she became a true Jesus follower in a different village many years ago.  She was thrown into a dark prison-type cell with several other believers, all women, and deprived of food, water, and bathroom facilities for two days.

Anyone caught trying to smuggle them so much as a glass of water was likewise thrown into the tiny cell.  All were threatened with hanging from a nearby tree if they did not renounce their "new" religion.  None did.  The second morning the local authorities set them free.

When I translated this story to our visiting short-term team, they could not understand how this still occurs on a regular basis throughout rural regions of Oaxaca.

Whenever we have mentioned situations like this one, people inevitably ask who are the perpetrators.  We hesitate to tell the truth, that usually they are the Catholics who initiate the persecution of the believers in any given village.  We are always quick to add that these Catholics are not like our sweet Catholic friends north of the border who fully embrace religious tolerance for those of other faiths.

No, these folks are what some refer to as "traditionalist Catholics."  Their religion is a mix of traditional animistic beliefs with the outer trappings of the Catholic church added to it, and they are not tolerant of any who do not participate in their festivals and drunken celebrations.  According to an article I just read, these traditionalist Catholics "invoke Mexico's Law of Uses and Customs - designed to protect the rights of indigenous communities to practice native rites- to force their practices on people of minority faiths."

Religious persecution is not tolerated in Mexico, at least not officially, yet we could give many accounts of believers who have been threatened, run out of town, had their water and electric supply cut off, thrown in prison, and shot or hung.  There are families who were exiled from their villages along with their whole church, whose children cannot enter public schools because their documents were destroyed, and they have no proof of prior schooling.  We know of others whose crops were destroyed, whose homes and churches were burned, and whose husbands were killed.  To our American ears, it seems beyond belief that these things can occur just south of our own border.

If you have ever traveled with us to some of these villages, you understand how remote they are.  Think of it like the Wild West, where local authorities could not always keep a rowdy bunch under control when the "big guns" were too far away to provide additional support.  Like the Wild West, many villages still have limited, if any, phone service to the larger cities, and lawmen from the cities have little desire to travel so many hard dusty miles on unpaved rutted roads to aid those who are being persecuted.

Jim and I make a policy of tip-toeing around the issues of persecution, not wanting to draw attention to the problem for fear of stirring up more trouble, and not wanting to put our host country in a bad light. However, I wonder if we aren't doing a disservice not to mention it since our fellow believers do need prayer.  Native missionaries and pastors desperately need prayer covering as they boldly (or tentatively) go into areas where the locals are very resistant to the gospel and fearful of outsiders.

Forgive me for stereotyping, but it seems most Americans prefer to phone their congressmen when they hear of human rights violations.  Calling in the big guns is our favorite mode of operation.  Please resist the urge.  The best thing you can do is to take this information and add it to your prayer list.  It is a spiritual battle for the souls of men.  Call on the REALLY big guns in the heavenlies, and let's wait to see things change in the remote villages of Oaxaca.

Big Changes Ahead

"Never say never."  How many times have we said this?  Yet here we are anticipating the unthinkable:  moving to the U.S. as our primary home base after 27 years of living in Latin America.

Yes, it’s true.  We are facing a significant move in 2014.  However, don’t get too eager to redirect your monthly missions money, because we’re not letting you off the hook just yet.  We are not retiring!  If anything, we are broadening our base and hoping to do even more in the area of Audio Scripture production and distribution world-wide.

Jim is the new Executive Director of Audio Scripture Ministries, effective April 1, 2014.   The family will transition to living in the U.S. as of June 2014.

It was a difficult decision for us, believe it or not, as we prayerfully agonized over the possibility of accepting this leadership position in Michigan.  The job description fits Jim perfectly, and honestly I (Jamie) can’t imagine anyone with more field experience, passion, and vision.  The hesitation was mostly a fleshly one, a dread of making the U.S. our new base of operations. We always presumed we would live and die in Mexico, which has been our home for all these years.

  

So, what does this mean?  From the sounds of it, you are only half finished with recording the New Testaments in Oaxaca.

True.  We are just completing the sixtieth audio New Testament, and there are at least that many more to be done, not to mention all the ones that will be revised to bring them up-to-date linguistically.  Our plan is to continue managing the recording operations long-distance, trusting our faithful group of recordists to continue in our absence.

Will you still be in Cleveland for furlough next summer and fall, as planned?

Unfortunately, no.  Instead we will be living in Holland, Michigan, and making weekend trips to Ohio to visit each of our supporting churches and friends to assure them of our continued commitment to our primary missions goals.

So you will still need monthly financial support?

Absolutely!  While ASM will cover Jim’s travel expenses to places like India, Nepal, Mozambique, Mexico, and who knows where all he will need to visit, we are still considered “missionaries” in every sense of the word.  If anything, we are hoping to expand our support base so that we can help fund other recording projects around the world. 

  

Will you buy a house in Michigan?

Lord willing, yes.  This is huge for us, but Jim needs to live near the home office in Holland.  A benefit is that we will have a home base a bit closer to the rest of the family.  The downside is that we will need to start completely from scratch.  We have absolutely nothing to furnish a house -- no furniture, no appliances… no nothing.  (And yes, that is a major hint-hint for anyone who might have surplus anything to spare.) 

Will you sell your house and belongings in Oaxaca?

No, no, no, no, no.  There are still many recording needs in Mexico, so we will be coming and going a lot in the coming years.  I have visions of our grown children thinking of this as a “time share” location where they will want to visit with our grandchildren in the future.  We have twenty years of memories wrapped up in this home.  Maybe we will even retire here someday.  No, we are not selling.

What about team trips?  Will people still be able to bring groups down to Oaxaca?

We may cut back on involvement with team trips at first, but occasionally Jim and I can bring small teams to help with audio distribution efforts or to help with practical needs among new indigenous churches.  We love to share our passion for the unreached by hosting “vision trips” for supporting churches, and we expect to continue doing short-term trips once we are settled in Michigan. 

  

Are you excited?

Yes!  At the same time we are nervous about this new cross-cultural adjustment.  We are not the same Americans who moved to Guatemala 27 years ago, and we are uncertain how our worldview may clash with the culture of Holland, Michigan.  Soon we will discover how weird we really are!

Mostly we’d appreciate prayer for all that this decision entails:

• ·      Buying and furnishing a house

• ·      Replacing one or both of our vehicles, leaving one behind for team trips

• ·      Redefining our roles in marriage and ministry together

• ·      Finding a supportive church in Michigan

• ·      Figuring out education options for Jonny and Debbie, who will be 15 and 17

• ·      Making new friends for all of us

• ·      Keeping things in Mexico running smoothly by remote

• ·      Maintaining a good support base with an increased cost of living

• ·      ETC. That etcetera is huge, and we trust God to direct your prayers as you think of us. Only He knows what we will really need in the days to come.

Bless you, as you hopefully remain partners in this ongoing ministry with us, reaching the unreached, non-literate people groups around the world.  We are forever grateful for your participation with us in the past, while we humbly submit our future plans to you.

May God be glorified in our lives as we seek to serve Him in greater ways through this new leadership opportunity.

Are We Naive? (time share musings)

This past weekend Jim and I willingly submitted ourselves to a time share presentation.  (Two, in fact.)  Being cheap missionaries, it was a simple way to get a lovely free breakfast (twice!), see some property we would never be able to afford, and lastly to win a couple of tickets to a romantic dinner cruise and spectacular show for our anniversary.

Of course it is the job of those giving the presentation to sell us property.  We were duped into believing it would only take 90 minutes of our time, which in reality stretched to occupy the entire morning.  It was still worth it to us.  After we declined to purchase with the first salesman, we were approached by a second, and then before we got our "prize" (tickets to the show we wanted to attend), we were subjected to one final sales pitch by yet a third person.

What none of the three could comprehend was the extent to which our life is not our own, and to which our finances are not ours to spend as we wish.  We have turned over all our rights and deeds to the cause of the gospel.  I'm sure we were a sore disappointment to all involved that we did not sign on the dotted line in Puerto Vallarta.

Since Saturday I have been mulling over the thought of how these high pressure sales people rope unsuspecting people into spending the family fortune on future vacations they may or may not ever take.  What they say actually makes sense in terms of "saving" money on airfare and lodging, but as my dad always used to say, "You are never 'saving' money as long as you are spending it."  I would lie if I said we weren't tempted.

My secret wish is that we had some gentle, non-pushy people who believed in our ministry enough to go to bat to find "investors" for us like that.  I know it sounds silly, but honestly I sometimes think if we could only find a way to present what we do in the right light that people would gladly invest in the future harvest here in Oaxaca.  How can we do that, though?

The world's way of offering free tickets and cash and other incentives goes contrary to our belief structure.  We can't bribe people to come to Oaxaca on a vision trip, offering them fun romantic evenings on the beach just so they will become financial partners in our ministry.  Yet the way we have been doing it - staying very low key, apologetically mentioning finances very occasionally, and hoping and praying that people will magically give when needed.... seems ineffective somehow.

I don't know.  There are ministries out there who hire marketing people to handle these decisions.  I suppose that works.  For us, the question is, are we naive to just trust and obey?  Is that old-fashioned in today's economy?  Should we make up fancy proposals and try to convince people that what we are doing is worthwhile?

A business-minded friend once suggested we treat our ministry more as a business.  Maybe we should.  If you have any suggestions, we are open to hear them.  Meanwhile, we continue to be faithful, trying not to panic over donors who stop giving and over the expenses that are rising. 

Most of all, we vow to not feel guilty over taking a honeymoon after 27 years, even though a skeptical friend questioned the wisdom of posting beach and marina photos of Puerto Vallarta on our Facebook and blog pages. 

People may get the wrong idea, it's true; but if they do, well, they are mistaken!

No, we didn't buy a yacht either