Nooni New Testament Bible Dedication

Hello all, as some of you know, I was in Cameroon a few weeks ago celebrating with the Noni people in northwest Cameroon as they received the New Testament in their language for the first time in history. Here is a little video I tried to put together to highlight the event. There is so much to tell, to highlight, etc. but hopefully this will give a flavor for what occurred on Dec. 22, 2011 in northwest Cameroon.

"Dad, that was an empty prayer"

O how the Lord used Ezra last night to convict me of 'empty prayers'.


Tuesday night we have growth group/community group/bible study at some friends house, so we are gone until about 9:00 (or 9:30 as was the case last night) and my mom graciously puts the kids to bed when she is there watching them.

This night Ezra was still awake, so when we got home I went downstairs (a little perturbed that he was still awake) to encourage him to stay in his bed and fall asleep. Of course I wanted to pray with him, so I did...quickly...out of routine to get it done and get him to sleep.

"Jesus, thank you for this great day, thank you for Ezra, I pray that you'd help him sleep and that he would have a great day tomorrow. Amen." (I prayed this very quickly...as it was 9:45 at night)

After I said Amen...Ezra chimed in very quickly. 'Dad, that was an empty prayer.'

Hmmm.

How was I going to respond? I sat their quietly thinking for a minute or so.

Dad: 'Ezra, why do you think that my prayer was an empty prayer?'

Ezra: 'Well, you just said it so quickly that it didn't seem like you meant it. It sounded empty, all you really wanted was for it to be over with.'

Dad: "Ezra, thank you for being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You are right, that was empty, let's really pray and talk with God."

Ezra: 'Sounds good Dad'

Prayer to follow...or something close to it.

'Father, forgive me for empty, lifeless, routine, just doing it because I should type of prayer. Thank you for your Spirit working through Ezra in my life tonight. Thank you for allowing him to articulate in a sentence what I can so often be guilty of. Forgive me for not believing, not approaching you with thankfulness, with great expectation, with a wonder and awe of how great You are and how Gracious and Good you have been and continue to be in giving us Jesus, forgiveness of my sin and new life in Him. Empower us to live each of our days for your glory and your praise.'

Ezra's prayer: "Lord, help us be more like Stephen who lived for you and told others about you." (We had been talking about Stephen in Acts 7 at dinner and how he was filled with the Holy Spirit &  martyred (killed) because of his great love for Jesus.

Cool to see how the Lord answered that prayer (being like Stephen who was filled with the Holy Spirit) before Ezra even prayed it...as seen in his convicting words to his daddy.

Lessons from 5 minutes of putting my son to bed.

-God works in & through 5 year old children to teach their daddies things they should be teaching their son.

- I am thankful that God allowed Ezra to articulate truth so well. I pray that this gift will continue to be fanned into flame in His life for God's glory.

- Don't EVER be guilty of empty prayer

- My children are watching and listening. Am I discipling them in 'empty prayers' or in pouring out my heart and soul to God?

Leaving for Cameroon in 1 week...Celebrating with the Noni People in Cameroon

A week from now, I will be flying from New York to Brussels on my way to Yaounde, Cameroon.  We are confident that this trip is the will of God for me for these 11 days of my life.

If you'd like to hear more, read more about the trip, here is the link to a little website I made up about the trip, the team traveling, the missionaries who have been serving this people group for the past 20 years.

www.NooniNewTestamentDedication.Wordpress.com  

Answered prayer, Going to Cameroon for a New Testament Dedication, and the Gospel to the Nations!!!

Last night I found out that God and God alone orchestrated a series of events that is allowing me the privilege and honor to be able to go to Cameroon in Mid-December to witness a New Testament dedication for the Nooni people of Cameroon.

Below is the majority of an email I sent to my family last night after I was notified that God was opening a wide open door for me to go...it is kind of long, but it is really exciting to share.

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Summer of 2011.

As many of you know, Phil and Denise Campbell, are now back in Southeast Asia.. Earlier in 2011, we started praying with Phil and Denise who would live in their home here in Spokane while they were back in Indonesia. They really wanted their home here to be able to serve a family (specifically involved in foreign missions). Our small group of believers starting praying and several months after the Lord answered that prayer and brought the Danforth family to live in their home this next year.

Later in the Summer of 2011 and Fall of 2011

Well, to make a long story of God’s faithfulness a little shorter, the Danforth’s chose to come to Faith Bible Church and decided to be involved in the same growth group that we were a part of.

A Little About the Danforth’s

The Danforth family (Sam, Anna, Elaina, & Sawyer) are here in Spokane working at Moody Aviation for the next year (or so) getting all the remaining technical/mechanical training necessary before they head to Cameroon to serve with JAARS (Mission Aviation part of Wycliffe Bible Translators) in support of Bible translators reaching people groups in Cameroon. They are a wonderful couple, have two kids around Ezra’s age, and we have been richly blessed by them in many ways in the months they have been in Spokane.

Anna grew up in Cameroon, and Sam in the Democratic Republicof Congo with their parents serving as missionaries in Cameroon and Congo. Anna’s parents have been working on translating the New Testament into the Nooni language.

Back around the first past of October (5 weeks ago), I asked Sam and Anna to spend some time at our growth group sharing about Cameroon, the people, their story, and the upcoming New Testament dedication that is this coming December. This December, after 20 years of translation, the New Testament dedication that Anna’s parents have given their lives to is occurring.

After they shared about the upcoming dedication in December 2011, I silently, but very specifically prayed; 

“Lord, I would LOVE to go to Cameroon to witness this celebration of Your Scriptures being translated into the Nooni language. I know we don’t have the financial resources for this right now, so you’d have to work that out among other things.”

The Lord really confirmed in my heart not to mention this to anyone but Him, even Heidi, wanting to be sure if it did work out it would be wrought of God (seeing that I had told no one and given NO hints to anyone).

I didn’t question that the Lord could answer this prayer, I just wondered if He really did want me to go on this trip to Africa in mid-December. 

After that prayer back in early October, I didn’t think too much more about it…thinking it was too late for anything to potentially happen.

Last Night– November 8^th 2011

We get home from our growth group at the Danforth’s house and I get a text message from Sam: ‘Hey, a donor said your trip would be completely covered to go to the New Testament dedication in Cameroon!!! Would you consider going?’ 


(I only spoke to the King Jesus about this, no one else.) 

My response after I recovered from the shock of reading the text:  “Yes’…but…you might need to explain a little more about this!”

So, I called them at 10 pm and we talked about the specifics and Heidi and I learned that Sam and Anna have been praying for two months about me going to the dedication and the Lord has provided! Praying a whole month before I began praying, and God provided someone to make the trip financially possible. Awesome.

I got off the phone, Heidi and I talked and saw this clearly as something the Lord wants me to do. I wept in thankfulness for the Lord’s goodness in providing so lavishly on us.

What a picture of the wonder of the gift of the Gospel. Receiving what I do not deserve. I don't deserve the privilege, the honor, the joy of being a part of this celebration in Cameroon...nor do I deserve the immeasurable greatness of the love of God in Christ Jesus, who when I was a rebel, a murderer, adulterer, thief, hater of God, He lavished His profound mercy on me and declared me righteous, forgiven, child of the King of Kings! 

So, I will be leaving on the 15^th of December and returning on the 26^th. Yes, I’ll be gone on Christmas day…but we’ll be able to have a great Christmas on the 26^th when I return home.

Heidi and I talked and though I’ll be gone on Christmas Day, this is just a wonderful occasion to see, take part in, and commemorate the Word of the Living God into a language that hasn’t had it before! What a gracious gift that the Lord is allowing me to be present at such a monumental occasion. 

Just thought I’d share a story of answered prayer!

Several months ago I saw the video below and it makes you so appreciate having the Scriptures in your language. I don't know if the celebration will be similar to the one below, but it is pretty awesome nevertheless.

This video is of the Kimyal Tribe in West Papau, Indonesia receiving the Word of God into their language.

Why we are reading 'A Meal With Jesus'

Another book...are you kidding me? Why this book? Is this just a casual read that I am going to read in a few days and then put down to never pick up again? Never apply, never change as a result of?

There are several reasons I chose to buy this book at this time in our life. I will seek to be as honest as possible and I am writing this because it will help me focus my thoughts about why I am going to spend time reading this book and what I hope to gain as a result of reading this.

A few reasons why we are going to read this:

1. The ministry of hospitality is obviously a huge priority in the life of Jesus and throughout the Bible and we are seeing that this is an area we need to grow in.

2. Eating and Meals happen every day, several times a day. Often we (and others I think) share excuses about being to busy, too much going on, but we eat every day having people into our home is a growing priority for us.



3. In all honesty, it is very easy to have people from church over for time together and fellowship. That should be a priority, but it also should be a priority to have our neighbors over for meals together, people I work with on a daily basis, and some of the guys who are on the corner of the streets holding signs about their needs. Maybe, just maybe, the Lord would have us have one of those guys over for a meal



What I hope to gain as a result of reading A Meal with Jesus.


1. In what ways was mealtime and hospitality a means of the Gospel going forth through a community, nation, and world?

2. In what ways can we use mealtime to serve and reach out to those who are in need of the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ?

3. In what ways does our mealtimes need to change for the purpose of spreading the Gospel, making disciples, etc.

4. How can our home be a centerpiece for ministry and outreach?

5. In this upcoming Holiday season, how can we serve others around us who need Jesus, not just let the season be about our immediate family?


In complete transparency, I feel like our time, schedule and commitments right now are too 'churchy' and our lives need to be lived more like missionaries. In Spokane WA. Right Now. I think it is a tool and tactic of Satan to get us drunk on ourselves by not being outward/others focused.

In this post I define 'churchy' as follows: A life, a schedule, and relationships that are only built on things that center around the local church you 'attend'. (I really kind of hate the word 'attend' because that is so ANTI-BIBLICAL.) For example, Sundays are at church, Tuesdays are with people from the church, Wednesdays a parenting class 'at church'). Each of these things are helpful and great, but AM I MISSING SOMETHING. ARE WE missing something? Where is it in our schedule that that we are 'going and making disciples of all the nations'? So much time and energy is spent is 'getting trained', 'taking classes', 'getting encouragement' that we forget that Jesus trained 'on the job', 'in the classroom of life', not in a class setting.



All that to say, mealtime, hospitality, "for the purpose of reaching the lost" is not a priority in our home and we want it to be. Repenting, thanking Him for his forgiveness, and asking Him tp do a powerful work in our home is where we are at.



I also am praying that this little book would be a source of encouragement, conviction and that the Spirit of God would do a work of faith in our lives as we seek to honor the King of Kings in our meals and in our home.

Listen to the Leading of the Holy Spirit

Let the Nations Be Glad: p.82

"There are hundreds of strange and radical things God is calling his people to do in the cause of world missions. Not everyone will hear the same call. Yours will be unique. It may be something you never dreamed of doing. It may be something you have only dreamed of doing. But I urge you to listen to the leading of the Spirit to see where "outside the camp" he may be taking you "to bear the reproach he endured."

Reading through the Gospel of John, the Book of Acts and the rest of the Bible for that matter, you see that God intimately leads people who follow Him & listen to HIM.

'Listening to the leading of the Spirit' is kind of a touchy subject in conservative non-charismatic churches, but you cannot deny it if you read the Bible.

God might be calling you to do something that no one else has ever done.

He might be calling you to something that no one on this earth will ever see or know about.

You might never get to share awesome stories that will get you attention or get you a published book or anything others might know about, but you'll be able to rest in the confidence that the Living God is leading you.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. 

Take your kids to the Zoo sometime instead of Sunday School

It would be more effective in seeking to communicate the cost of following Christ to take them to see lions eating, than sitting in a classroom.

While rereading Let the Nations Be Glad, Piper references Richard Wurmbrand in reference to how to prepare for suffering in your call to follow Christ:

"I remember my last confirmation class before I left for Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions I told them, "Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ."  They had tears in their eyes when they said yes.

Wurmbrand goes on to say...

We have to make the preparation now, before we are imprisoned. In prison you lose everything. You are undressed and given a prisoner's suit. No more nice furniture, nice carpets, or nice curtains. You do have a wife any more and you do not have your children. You do not have your library and you never see a flower. Nothing of what makes life pleasant remains. Nobody resists who has not renounced the pleasures of life beforehand.."

This is a quote from 'Let the Nations be Glad' 

Practically, Christians in Spokane could take their kids to Cat Tales (Not exactly 'Wild Beasts', but there are not a lot of other alternatives in the Spokane area) for a spiritual lesson and tell them about Daniel and his trust of God, Foxe's Book of Martyr's, and Hebrews 11, Luke 9, and a whole lot of other Scriptures.

It might be the most relevant Sunday School Lesson of their life.

"Father, I ask and pray that you would help us count the cost of following you. The cost won't be felt in the comfy church seats/pews, in church programs, or in in a 'go to' church culture, but in front of lions, in front of adversaries of the cross, in front of having to deny ourselves and what we love, for the greater treasure, Christ Himself. May I lead my children in such as way that demonstrates in the steps of my life that I treasure King Jesus over comfort, family, the niceties of this life here in the U.S., more than living to an old age, more than paying off my home mortgage, more than ANYTHING or ANYONE. You are the pearl of greatest prize, the hidden treasure worth selling all to gain, the one who had freed my soul from the domain of darkness and Satan and given me the Kingdom. O that love would compel me and others to live resolved to bring you glory by denying myself, taking up the cross, and following You."