Bible institute class

I've been teaching a Life of Christ Bible institute class and have had five faithful students. Baysaa and Ganchimeg recently mentioned to me that they are learning a lot in the Bible institute class. "We didn't know that there was so much to learn about Jesus' life," they told me. Really, I've not been able to get as detailed as I would like to do. But I'm glad that the students are learning from it.

Deans' weekly update

This Sunday is Resurrection Sunday, commonly called Easter. Unless, of course, you are Greek Orthodox in which case you will be celebrating Easter on April 15. You didn’t know that there was a difference between Western Christians and Eastern Christians about the proper date for Easter? Well, it has to do with the Julian calendar … oh, you say, you don’t want to know the details. All right, then …

I was talking just this week with a man whose job involves organizing elaborate meals at hotels and restaurants. He says that most of those who attend his meals are expatriates, foreigners who make Mongolia their home. I thought that was curious because Mongolians enjoy eating as much as anyone. But he pointed out that Mongolians do not like to plan ahead. His meals are so elaborate and often involve special foods that he brings to Mongolia. (By the way, I have never attended one of these meals because they cost more than $50 per person). So he must have a count of how many people will attend ahead of time. Mongolians, he said, like to decide the night of the meal that they will attend which is too late for him. So his meals are mostly enjoyed by expatriates.

I tell that story to explain the reason that we have waited until this week to start inviting Mongolians to the Resurrection Sunday services at Faith Baptist Church. This Saturday Mongolians will have a day to clean the church building and invite the neighbors to our services. Last year, we had 16 visitors come to join us on Resurrection Sunday.

The English service has already begun inviting folks to our special Resurrection Sunday service which will be held at Millie’s Restaurant as the Christmas service was. We have a choir of six members, a choir director, and our pianist Kristie who have prepared special music specifically for the occasion.

Please pray for these events and our witness to others. This Sunday should be a time of joy as we remember the resurrection of our Savior.

a couple of prayer requests

I would like to mention several prayer requests for those of you will read this blog regularly. First of all, we are planning another special service like the one we conducted at Christmas for Resurrection Sunday (Easter). We are planning to have it at Millie's as we did at Christmas but seem to have run into some miscommunication. I am still awaiting final approval (which I thought I had) to have the service at Millie's Restaurant. Pray specifically that Densma the co-owner would grant her permission for us to meet at Millie's next Sunday.

Also, Kristie has not been sleeping well. Please pray for her to sleep at night.

Missions thought

"One of the snares in the path of a young missionary is the temptation to put other than first things first—in other words, to 'potter' or 'fritter' precious time away on non-essentials, instead of bravely facing the inevitable hard task of regular language study. Many a missionary has gone through his or her missionary career with the great handicap of insufficient knowledge of either the written or spoken language because of having fallen into this trap."

—from Goforth of China

Quote of the week

"I have personally never ceased to rejoice that God has entrusted me with His service. People talk of the sacrifice I made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of the great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay?  Is that a sacrifice which brings its own reward of healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? …away with such a word, such a view, and such a thought!  It is emphatically no sacrifice.  Say rather it is a privilege.  Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause and cause the spirit to wave and sink; but let this only be for a moment.  All these things are nothing compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in us and for us." —David Livingstone

Springtime in Mongolia

It's springtime in Mongolia; and it's impossible not to notice. The weather can switch suddenly from one extreme to another. Today for example, the weather started out chilly. By mid-morning, snow flurries covered the ground with a thin, white layer. But not long after lunch, the clouds parted, the sun came out, and the snow melted away to damp pavement. I headed out to go to the bank. By the time I left the bank, the weather has changed backed to snow, this time large, heavy flakes. Mongolians say that spring is temperamental like a woman. I don't know if that true or not: my wife certainly isn't temperamental like a Mongolian spring.

Dashka's mother came through surgery without any trouble today and seems to be recovering well. Dashka is relieved. Please pray for Tegshboyan's salvation.

In our English church services, we have a Bible lesson for the children until age ten after which they join our adults for the preaching. That meant that my son, Caleb, recently began sitting under my preaching. I was flattered this last Sunday on the drive home from the church meeting. Kristie asked Caleb what he thought of my sermon. "It was great!" he responded enthusiastically.

My daughter groaned, "Oh, I want to listen to daddy's sermons …" But she's only eight and has to wait.

Still, it's flattering to think that my children want to listen to my preaching and enjoy it. Just don't ask them what I preached about. They usually can't tell you.

Deans' weekly update

I have two requests to bring to your attention this week. I would ask you to pray for Dashka’s mother who has surgery this week. You remember that Dashka’s wife and two brothers passed away in January 2011. Last month an uncle passed away. Now his mother is facing serious abdominal surgery. The first doctor to examine his mother refused to offer surgery because he considered her to be too frail. They found a second doctor willing to perform surgery; however, he has been explicit about the dangers. Dashka is very worried about this surgery that his mother is facing. Please pray for him to have peace.

Dashka and I shared the Gospel with his mother Tegshboyan several months ago. We both would love to see her become a child of God through this. None of Dashka’s family are Christians which makes the family decision making process rather difficult for Dashka.

Also, pray for Togsoo who was saved and baptized some years ago. Recently, he has allowed work to keep him from his personal walk with God. This past Sunday he attended an optional basketball tournament rather than attending the church service and sprained his ankle.

He has an older relative who is a shaman. This relative has been telling Togsoo that they must meet because the spirits of his deceased grandfather and grandmother wish to tell him something. I understand that so far Togsoo has resisted this temptation to participate in demonic activity. But his wife is very concerned that he will choose to participate at some point. I hope to meet with Togsoo soon. Please pray for me to have the right balance of grace and truth.

Suffer the little children to come unto me …

Quote of the week

"Did we evolve our capacity to use language, or were we made with that capacity because we were created in the image of someone who uses words? Language does not merely enable us to be creative. Language is itself creative." —Vishal Mangalwadi

Deans' March Prayer Letter: Ganpurev's Ordination

 Most missionaries with whom I speak have a desire to see indigenous churches planted. An indigenous church means a self-teaching, self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating church. A self-propagating church spreads the Good News that Jesus saves, and supports Christians in church-planting efforts; self-governing means that nationals, not missionaries, make the decisions for the church. A self-supporting church does not rely on subsidies to pay its bills, including its pastor. A self-teaching church does not rely on foreigners to preach, teach, or disciple believers.

For me, finding a Mongolian man to lead Faith Baptist Church in Mongolia has been the longest part of the journey. God is very specific in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 about what he expects of the men who oversee His churches. In Mongolia, I have seen firsthand the tragedy of churches led by men who clearly do not meet the qualifications of the pastor that God has laid down. Covetousness, adultery, novices — these all have occurred here. In too many instances, the main qualification that a man had for leadership was English- speaking skills. That gave him direct access to the missionary and his money.

But enough of the dangers and pitfalls of turning over Christ’s churches to the nationals; even in America, we see the calamity of churches led by unqualified men. My goal was to find a man led by the Holy Spirit who was capable of leading Faith Baptist Church and who was willing to do so. Without such a man, Faith Baptist Church can never be truly indigenous.

There are two extremes that a missionary must take care to avoid in turning over a church to nationals. The first extreme is turning the church over too early before proper leadership has had time to develop. The other extreme is thinking that, because the nationals are not Americans, they are not as capable of leading Christ’s church as the missionary is. Both extremes are dangerous; and both extremes are common. In looking for a Mongolian man to be the pastor of Faith Baptist Church, I was looking for a man who evidenced his spiritual maturity through a public stand for Jesus Christ, victory over sin, biblical counsel for fellow believers, and a sincere concern for the welfare of God’s children.

This month, the church ordained Ganpurev to ultimately be the pastor of Faith Baptist Church, fulfilling a major goal in the planting of a truly Mongolian church in Mongolia. Pastor Ben Jaquith of my sending church, Westgate Baptist Church, came to Mongolia to visit. During his visit, Pastor Jaquith joined fellow missionary Jason Ritchie and me in an ordination council. The ordination council lasted almost four hours, partly because most everything had to be translated from English to Mongolian and Mongolian to English. Pastor Jaquith and Brother Ritchie, in particular, had many good questions for Ganpurev. Having trained Ganpurev, I did not ask many questions because I knew what his answers would be. At the end of the ordination council, we all agreed that we could heartily recommend Ganpurev to the church as prepared for ordination and clearly evidencing God’s call on his life to ministry.

Later and unsolicited, Jason Ritchie wrote to his supporting churches about Ganpurev, “I have grown to appreciate his fine Christian character and love for the Lord.”

Then, in an email that Pastor Jaquith sent to a Westgate Baptist Church member and then shared with me, he wrote, “Another positive aspect [of our trip to Mongolia] was the ordination examination and then formal church service following that, for Ganpurev.  He and his family are so solidly prepared.” What better recommendations can one ask for than these?

Based on their recommendation to Faith Baptist Church, the church voted to ordain Ganpurev, recognizing God’s call on his life to the ministry. I have been training Ganpurev for the past several years to prepare him for this momentous task. But it has only been in the past year that Ganpurev has recognized God’s call on his life to be the pastor of Faith Baptist Church.

I am looking forward, in the coming months, to gradually transferring the leadership of Faith Baptist Church into Ganpurev’s capable hands. This spring, I am teaching a Bible institute class on the life of Christ and further equipping the believers to preach Christ to their family and friends. Ganpurev and I are also working on revising the current church constitution, which is based on a Baptist church model from American to fit a Baptist church model for Mongolia. I am also launching a renewed effort to start evangelistic Bible studies in Mongolian’s homes.

Your prayers have been an important part of our ministry in Mongolia. Because you pray, you too share in the joy of seeing a Mongolian man ordained to the ministry. Someday, you will meet these precious believers in heaven.