Quote of the week

"Consumerism was the triumphant winner of the ideological wars of the 20th century, beating out both religion and politics as the path millions of Americans follow to find purpose, meaning, order, and transcendent exaltation in their lives. Liberty in this market democracy has, for many, come to mean freedom to buy as much as you can of whatever you wish, endlessly re-inventing and telegraphing your sense of self with each new purchase." — April Witt

Three minute overview of our ministry in Mongolia

I recently wrote this update at the request of a church and thought that I would share it with the readers of this blog.

Mongolia: the name evokes the unknown, the

exotic, the hostile. But for us, Mongolia is not unknown, exotic, and certainly not hostile. For the last nine years Mongolia has been our home.

When we arrived in Mongolia in 2001, we only knew a handful of Mongolians and almost none of their language. We feel now as if we have lived in Mongolia long enough to just begin to know the people and culture.

Kristie and I primarily minister in people’s homes. Kristie has a Bible study for ladies, and I have several Bible studies for couples that I conduct. We have found that people are most responsive and eager to learn in the familiarity of a home.

On Sundays I preach to Mongolians. We have had as many as forty plus Mongolians come on special Sundays. Often we have 20-25 Mongolians in attendance.

Last spring, the church established a Bible institute for the training of Mongolians. The Bible institute has grown from three students last year to ten students this year. In the coming years I see more and more of my ministry being devoted to the Bible institute and the training of Mongolian men.

Speaking of training Mongolian men, I have been working with Ganpurev (pronounced gone-per-of) for several years. Last year, he began to preach once a week to the church. It has been my dream to see more Mongolian men like Ganpurev. Mongolian men will be the ones to evangelize the nation, establish Baptist churches, and see Mongolia transformed for God’s glory.

I also have been assisting with a Bible translation project. FirstBibles International arranged for Bill Patterson to come to Mongolia to establish a Bible translation team and oversee the training of Mongolians as translators. Although I have done some translation, my primary contribution has been to serve on a consulting group that discusses terminology and grammatical issues that face the translation. Today, the Gospel of John is nearly ready for printing, and the books of Mark, Romans, I Corinthians, I Timothy, and James are in the draft stage.

In addition to these projects, I have also begun the construction of a building that allows me to maintain a visa and residency permission. The building will also provide a larger facility than the space we currently rent where the church can meet. The exterior of the building is completely finished. The plan is for the interior of the building to be completed by fall of 2011.

We would ask you to pray for Mongolian men to be leaders in their homes, in the church, and in our community. My desire is to see Mongolian men saved, baptized, and discipled, then to go out and reproduce themselves spiritually.

Also pray for the unsaved spouses of church members to become children of God. Our hope is to see entire families, not just the wife or the husband or the teenager, but whole families saved, baptized, and serving God together.

We thank you for your faithful prayers and support over the years. Your prayers and support have made our ministry in Mongolia possible. May God bless you for your generosity to His servants.

Description of our city

Here is a description of our city by an Englishman who does not think so much of our city.

"... a sight so extraordinary in this landscape of [emptiness and] freedom that you could not help but doubt the veracity of your vision for a moment. It was a city. A great, huge, ugly scar of a place belching smoke from power-station stacks, overhung with a yellow-brown haze of smog through which a few small skyscrapers were visible. It snaked its way along a wide valley between high ranges like some sluggish, diseased serpent—repellent, yet somehow intriguing. What was a city like that—industrial, polluted, vast—doing here?"

Not I need to be clear that this is not how I would describe the city. But for someone who is coming over the empty, fenceless plains of Mongolia the city certainly seems to rise out of the nowhere, an incongruous urban conglomeration in a the midst of an ocean of grassy, rolling hills.

Quote of the week

"The heart is not simply suspended in a body but in a culture, a place, a time. We are all aware of the traditional risk factors for coronary disease that are physically related—obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, a sedentary lifestyle. But these factors may fail to identify 50 percent of patients with coronary disease. We now know that diseases of the heart can also be caused by other, more subtle factors such as isolation, depression, and hostility that have to do with not only how we live but how we experience our lives." — Mimi Guarneri, M.D., FACC

Keep thy heart will all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. — Proverbs 4:23

Article on Mongolia

Another interesting article on the Mongolian winter can be found at this link. Thanks to Missionary Dave Janke for the link.

I will not take this forum to discuss my opinion on this issue, but notice about the middle of the article, "Mongolians are fiercely proud of their millenniums-old nomadic ways." There needs to be change but ...

The Emblem of America

I found the following in a small pamphlet printed in the mid-70's and thought it was even more appropriate today.

"When God made the oyster, He guaranteed him absolute economic and social security. He built the oyster a house, a shell to protect him from his enemies. When hungry, the oyster simply opens his shell and food rushes in.

"When God made the eagle, He said, 'The blue sky is the limit. Go build your own house.' And the eagle built it on the highest mountain crag where storms threaten him constantly. For food, the eagle must fly through miles of rain and snow and wind.

"The eagle, and not the oyster, is the emblem of America"

Weekly update

The company's certificate renewal paperwork has all been completed, apparently without any trouble. Thank you for praying. I attribute the ease of this year's registration process to our great God's intervention on our behalf.

I have desired and prayed for a long time for more co-laborers in Mongolia, people who feel called to the same kind of church-planting ministry that we do. Recently, a fellow expressed interest in perhaps one day ministering in Mongolia. That would be an answer to prayer. While his arrival in Mongolia may be many years off others may come sooner. Please pray this week that God would call laborers to His harvest field.

Five meetings in the next twelve days from Hayward, California to Vancouver, British Columbia will keep me busy. Perhaps I will see you.

Deans' May prayer letter

The diversity within any given church is amazing to me. God has given His gifts and set the members within the church as it pleased Him. While I am away, Faith Baptist Church in Mongolia is discovering some of those gifts among the members.

This spring Bill has been teaching a beginning Greek class. There are ten people who are regularly attending. The church member who has been most eager to study Greek is our oldest member: Tsendee. (To pronounce a semblance of his name say “to send day” really fast with the emphasis on “day.”) He has taken to studying Greek as a duck takes to water, I have been told. The best student is Ganpurev’s son, Bilgoon, who is only 13 years old. I am glad that he is attending the Bible institute classes with his father and excited to hear about these Christians developing their talents for the Lord.

Bill and I would like to see the Greek classes continue in next year’s Bible institute in addition to other classes that I would like to teach. It will benefit the Bible translation effort to have Mongolians who know Greek and later, Hebrew.

I have observed that you never know what God will use to bring glory to Himself and conform His children to the image of His Son. Several years ago when my pastor visited us in Mongolia, he purchased a ping-pong table to give to the church. That gift has become a focus of church fellowships. Most Mongolians thoroughly enjoy table tennis with a passion that I have never seen in the United States. It is not unusual for people to stay late fellowshipping in order to have an opportunity to play a few games of table tennis.

Tonga, Dashka’s wife, is a lady for whom we have all been praying. She had her stomach removed because of cancer last summer. When I recently asked her husband how she was doing emotionally, he remarked that she talks as if death would be better than life. That is a terrifying thought for a woman who is not yet reconciled to her Creator. Continue to pray for Tonga’s salvation and for Dashka to have the love and wisdom to break through his wife’s depression to bring her to the Source of our hope and joy: Jesus Christ.

Quote of the week

"Ideally, a Christian Fundamentalist is one who desires to reach a out in love and compassion to people, believes and defends the whole Bible as the absolute, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God, and stands committed to the doctrine and practice of holiness." — David O. Beale

Weekly update

Time goes by so quickly anymore. It seems that I hardly finish one project when two others come due.

Kristie and I thank the Lord for the chance we had to be with our mothers on Mother's Day this year. It is only the third time this century that I have had the opportunity to be with my mother on that special day. Both our mothers and fathers as well as Kristie's brothers gathered together after church at Kristie's parents' home.

I talked to Ganpurev today. He reported that so far the renewal of my company's business certificate which I called a re-registration of my company in last week's update is progressing smoothly. Thank you for your prayers.

I know that many of you have been praying for Tonga's salvation. She is the lady who underwent stomach cancer surgery this past summer. Her husband Dashka is a member of the church and a part of the Bible translation team that Bill is assembling. She continues to experience some health issues though I do not know whether they are related to her cancer or not. Please continue to pray for the salvation of spouses of church members.

Also, Kristie will be speaking at our church's Ladies' Missionary Fellowship meeting this Friday evening. Many of you are probably aware that Kristie does not enjoy public speaking. I know that she will do well and communicate effectively, but am sure that she would appreciate your prayers.

Quote of the week

"Worldliness is departing from God. It is a man-centered way of thinking; it proposes objectives which demand no radical breach with man's fallen nature; it judges the importance of things by the present and material results; it weighs success by numbers; it covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity; it knows no truth for which it is worth suffering; it declines to be 'a fool for Christ's sake.'" — Iain Murray

Weekly update

A prayer request and an answer to prayer—the verse that is on my mind today as I write this is: "And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." One reason that we pray is that when our prayers are answered God receives the glory.

So I ask you this week to please pray for the re-registration of the company in Mongolia. This is a yearly requirement, and every year the bureaucrats who are responsible to re-register the company claim that it will be difficult to re-register my company. It is not that the company has any problems; I follow all the laws and pay my taxes. Each year for the last three years it has been re-registered. Let's pray that the company will be re-registered this year, and then praise the Lord when it is accomplished.

I am confident that God wants the company to be re-registered because He is providing the money that is needed to complete the building. Money has been coming in steadily. At a recent church, after expressing some interest in the building program, a man gave a significant amount of money toward the completion of the project. Then a church mentioned that they would like to be a help. Because the completion of the building is dependent upon the re-registration of the company, it seems to me that the Lord must have a plan. Let's align our prayers with His will and then praise Him for His working.

Urgent prayer request

I know that many of you read this blog to know how to pray for us. Our good friends, Roland & Joann Gay, have worked with us since 2006. Some of that time they were in the United States dealing with difficult health issues.

Even while they were away, Roland would return to Mongolia to assist in church work and Bible translation. To the right is a picture of Roland preaching during a series of special meetings that we held in November of 2008.

The family returned to Mongolia in February having made some progress on the health issues. However, since their return Joann, in particular, has experienced one health problem after another.

Last week, Joann passed out, fell on her face, and broke her nose among other injuries. The Gays have decided that it is necessary for Joann to temporarily return to the States for medical attention. I can imagine how difficult this decision was for them. Please pray for Joann as she travels and Roland as he manages the family in her absence.

Our family continues to do well. We have a full schedule of meetings in May except for Mother's Day which we will spend with our parents. It seems like our time in the States is quickly drawing to a close. Continue to pray for us as we travel.

Kristie's health seems to be improving. Thank you for your prayers for her.

Quote of the week

"Our young men are going into professional fields because they don't 'feel called' to the mission field. We don't need a call; we need a kick in the pants!" — Jim Elliott