During this Christmas season,
as we are contemplating and rejoicing in the birth of our Savior,
I can’t help but think of the many people on this earth
that still have no access to the knowledge of what He has done for them.
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2.
This is why He calls us to go.
The Greatest Gift is not only for us, but for all who would believe.
“For God so loved the world…”
It is hard to believe that another entire year has passed! Naturally, as this year comes to a close, we look back on what it has held for us. As a family this has been an extraordinary time of change. It was this January that our family was first introduced to Houghton and Gretchen Richards and consequently became involved with Team Vanuatu. We had prayerfully been seeking the Lord’s direction for our lives and He had answered us! With gratitude, humility and an immense amount of prayer, we responded to the Lord’s call to take His Gospel to the unreached.
We are thankful that in March of this year the Lord provided the opportunity for me (Jim) to participate in a survey trip to Vanuatu (a country that before January I didn’t even know existed). I was able to meet the peoples that will become the focus of the work God has prepared for us. What an awesome adventure! The Ni-Vanuatu were so kind and generous, especially with what little they had. What really blew me away was their thirst for the Word, and their unbelievable lack of access to it. This survey trip turned out to be the tool God used to place an unrelenting burden on my heart. A burden unlike any other I have ever experienced. After a long period of waiting and wondering what the Lord had in store for us, we now had a clear purpose.
Upon returning, our family focused on preparing for the work ahead. There was (and still is) so much that needed to be done. Tania and I began intensive training for the type of ministry God is leading us to. In addition, we began researching the language, culture, and jungle/tropical living. Joshua and Grace also began learning about our future home. Through their studies they began basic language lessons in Bislama and French. They also began learning about jungle/tropical living in general, and what it might be like living in a different culture. We have met so many wonderful people, as well as strengthened existing relationships, that have been a huge help and encouragement to us (thank you!) We thank the Lord for the equipping that has taken place. And with His blessing we will prayerfully continue to prepare in the coming year.
Our family has been very understanding and supportive. Nonetheless, being in the process of letting go of things that will not be useful in our new home has made answering the Grandparents’ questions of ‘What do the kids want for Christmas this year?’ interesting! This has been a huge time of change and upheaval for us, but the kids are little troopers. We are truly blessed with adventurous children with a zeal for God’s work.
We have begun the process of support raising – referred to as deputation. We thank God for all of those who have joined with us in this mission through your financial support and prayers. In anticipation of the travel necessary during deputation, I have taken a new job that will allow us to do just that. We look forward to visiting with many of you. Please prayerfully consider allowing us to share the mission with your family, friends, or small group. For those of you who are on our prayer team, please continue to pray for us as the coming year will, I am sure, be a challenge to us all.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a truly blessed New Year.
Your Fellow Servants of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Kenners ~ Jim, Tania, Grace, and Joshua
Always pray and do not give up!
We praise God for...
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The Lord has blessed our efforts to get our affairs in order as we prepare for the day we move to Vanuatu. We have begun to ‘clean house’, selling anything that we won’t be using during the months until we leave or else taking with us when we go. Our packing/needs list is slowly coming together. In order to spread the expense out over time we are beginning to acquire those things now.
One of the items on our needs list was a vehicle for getting around the island. After a great deal of prayer and research we decided that a Jeep would be the best way to go. Any of you that have seen the video from the March ’07 survey trip will surely understand. They are rugged and easy to work on. Another deciding factor is that parts are readily available through mail order. We felt it was the practical and economical choice. And since we decided on a used Jeep, buying it now gives us plenty of time to make repairs and modifications to prepare it for jungle travel.
Soon we will be purchasing a 20’ shipping container in which to ship the Jeep along with our household goods and tools.
As literature is a huge part of our family’s home education, a friend has offered to keep track of a literature/media needs list once we are overseas. Considering the absence of Barnes & Noble (or any bookstore for that matter) where we are headed this will be an immense blessing.
We are grateful for those of you who have partnered with us by sacrificing your time and finances to help in these preparations. We have also been very blessed and encouraged by those of you that have taken the time to let us know that you are praying with us and for us. It strengthens us to know that the Lord has laid this ministry on your hearts as well.
Some of you have made a point of letting us know, either verbally or in writing, of your intentions to provide regular financial or prayer support. We truly thank God for this step of faith and sacrifice on your part.
Since the foundation of the earth God determined that we, you and I, would be a part of His plan to reach every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Mat 28:18-20; Rev 5:9). Many have commented to us about the sacrifice. However, this is how we see it; we have a blink of time here on this earth, but we have forever in eternity. Christ died for us; the least we can do is live for Him.
“He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”
2 Corinthians 5:15
We praise God for...
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We would like to thank all of you that joined with us in praying for our trip to Colorado. Our prayers were answered.
As a team we were amazed at the wealth of wisdom and knowledge that was shared by the facilitators and also the other missionaries that were attending. We learned from George Walker, a successful church planting missionary to the Bisorio people of Papua New Guinea. Also facilitating was Greg Melendez a successful church planting missionary to the Wache people of Papua New Guinea. As they taught and shared their experience with us it was so exciting to hear their testimonies of how God worked to build His church among those tribes. Today, long after the foreign missionaries have gone, these tribal churches are continuing the work that George, Greg and their coworkers began. The native people are faithfully working to establish churches on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ as they preach the kingdom of God to their neighboring tribes.
Brian and Sherri Wardlaw, second generation missionaries to the Yanoamo people of Brazil, were attending as advisors. They shared helpful stories of the failures and triumphs experienced during the ministry among that particular people group.
The team was very grateful for the time together. There were, of course, late nights of discussion and planning. We were blessed to come away with unity, deepened relationships, and more focused strategy.
We also came a way with a greater awareness and affirmation of the importance of understanding the language, culture, and worldview of a host society. With that understanding, and by God’s grace, we will be equipped to present God’s story clearly to the Ni-Vanuatu and ultimately avoid the syncretism that plagues most animistic societies.
Once again, thank you for your prayers. We are eternally grateful.
Gena saw the bundle of grass tied to his doorpost and his mind slammed into high gear. His thoughts were coming so fast that his feet were sure they had to start running just to keep up. He wanted to flee, but he also wanted to tear it off and go inside.
Slowly Gena reached for the bundle, but then stopped. Terror goaded him to do something… anything, but he could do nothing. Gripped by fear, Gena began to consider what this omen meant.
The bika on Gena’s doorpost meant that an enemy had summoned the spirits to harm him. Maybe he would get sick, or his garden would wither. These were bad enough, but if he tore the bika off the spirits might take it personally; that would be really bad. Death could overtake him. Gena knew the threat was real because he had seen it happen with his own eyes.
The spirits are not just superstition to Gena and the rest of the people in Papua New Guinea’s Dom tribe. To Gena and his people, and tribal people around the world, the spirits are real and must be dealt with.
Gena needed a solution, and he needed it now. Tribal ritual demanded that he kill a small animal and have the proper incantation said to break the curse. As he considered his options, Gena realized he couldn’t follow tribal rituals. One thought that was loudest in his mind silenced all the others, “I belong to God.”
Gena knew he couldn’t worship the spirits, but there was more to it than that. He didn’t need to worship the spirits! God was in control. God had made the spirits and He had made Gena.
Earlier, Gena made the decision to trust Jesus as his Savior. Now he decided to trust God as his protector. To demonstrate his trust, he reached up and pulled the grass from his doorpost.
Dropping the bika on the ground, Gena went into his house. Once inside, he stopped to collect himself. He was out of breath and all he could hear was his pounding heart; there were no other sounds in the house. But he was breathing and his heart was working fine as far as he could tell.
With newfound faith, Gena smiled and went on with his life.
God’s truth had set Gena free.
from New Tribes Mission’s “Tribal Beat” www.ntm.org
Tribal people in animistic cultures all over the world live in constant fear of the spirit world. We are reminded that we do not battle against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil (Eph 6:12).
We praise God for...
Please join us in praying...
This is how you can help...
Prayer Support ~
Financial Support ~ In order to depart for Vanuatu with the team, 100% of our regular monthly support must be either pledged or coming in.
We have the need for regular monthly support beginning…
Encouragement ~ A small word of encouragement goes a long way. (Galatians 6:9,10)
We praise God for...
Please join us in praying...
...was the first question asked of me by Bill Lake, BMW’s Pacific Area Director, as we were sitting around a table on the island of Santo in Vanuatu.
It is amazing for Tania and I to look back and see how the Lord has uniquely equipped our family with skills and know-how vital to the work of Team Vanuatu (Eph 2:10). Technology, communications, construction, alternative energy development, water development, “off-grid”/primitive living, survival skills, logistics, and education are just some of the practical ways in which we will contribute to the team. However, all team members share the same main focus of planting indigenous churches.
Allow me to illustrate. In the Marine Corps every Marine is a Rifleman. In addition to the title and responsibility of ‘Rifleman’ each Marine has a specific occupational specialty that is essential to the overall effectiveness of the Marine Corps as a unit. In the same way, every Missionary is an Ambassador for Christ, while at the same time each has specific responsibilities that are essential to effective ministry (1Corinthians 12:12-28).
Our family will be actively involved in building relationships, evangelism, and discipleship. However, our unique role will be to support the team in such a way that our fellow missionaries will be free to do their jobs. This will allow everyone to be more effective servants of Almighty God as we proclaim Christ among the unreached.
In the remote areas of Vanuatu there is no corner supermarket, drugstore, or lumberyard. You can’t just plug your appliances into an outlet or turn on the tap for hot water (or any water for that matter). Communications may be a matter of life, or death. The skills we bring to the field will be crucial to the long-term sustainability of the ministry.
The Ni-Vanuatu that will come to know Christ as He sends workers into that field have been purchased with His precious blood. We overflow with thankfulness to God that, by His grace, we are able to be a part of the work He is doing as He gathers worshipers from every tribe and language and people and nation. And so we pray that as you learn more about what God is doing, you also will become impassioned with the vision to claim Vanuatu for Christ and will join with us as fellow laborers among the fields of harvest.
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Luke 10:2 KJV
We thank God for all of you that prayed for us during our time in Georgia with Biblical Ministries Worldwide (BMW). It was a grueling two weeks ‘under the microscope’. We were tested and analyzed on everything from theology (both a written test and three hours of oral audits), our marriage (a twenty, yes twenty, page survey), plus our autobiographies, personality and temperament analysis, and many, many meetings over meals with the General Director, Area Directors, and other BMW staff. All of this was in addition to much training in many areas of ministry, deputation, and preparation for uprooting and moving to a completely foreign culture. At the end of it all we sat before the Board, and praise God, were approved. And now the work begins!
In March of 2005, after almost 7 years of prayer and planning, my wife and I partnered with Biblical Ministries Worldwide to establish a pioneering mission team to take the Gospel into the tribal areas of Vanuatu. In Vanuatu, 80% of the indigenous people live in bush villages spread out over 85 islands. To effectively reach the Ni-Vanuatu people for Christ we must go out to where they are…to live among them…to understand their culture and to speak their language. In order to do this, we knew that we would need strong, gifted teammates who love God and are committed to the work ahead.
By the fall of 2006 God was bringing a strong team together, but we still lacked a like-minded couple who was not only gifted in the areas of evangelism, discipleship, and leadership training, but who would also be able to concentrate on the sustainability of our team in a harsh, unfamiliar tribal environment. Then, God “arranged” for us to meet Jim and Tania Kenner and this July they official joined Team Vanuatu! They are a mature, godly couple with knowledge and life experience in the areas we are lacking. Some of the essential areas where they will be contributing to our team include: technology, communications, alternative power, “off-grid living”, education, logistics, supplies and so much more…
God has answered the prayers of our team by uniting us with Jim and Tania. It is our team’s goal to be 100% prepared to leave for Vanuatu by March of 2008. That is an ambitious goal and especially ambitious for the Kenners as they are getting a later start than the rest of the team. We need them with us, and as they embark on this new path for their lives, they will need your prayer. I am asking that you would prayerfully consider being a part of their support team.
If I can be of any assistance as team facilitator, please contact me at bjones@biblicalministries.org
Amazed by His Grace,
Brad Jones
"...all things are possible to him that believeth." Mark 9:23
Until we depart for the field, and thereafter, we pray that God would be glorified as we serve.
There is much work that lies ahead. It is our aim, Lord willing, to depart for the field at the same time as the rest of our team. Therefore we will be diligently doing all we can to prepare.
Worldview Resource Group in Colorado is holding a one week seminar in September. Many classes will be held on planting New Testament-patterned churches among indigenous people. The entire team is hoping to attend.
We have lofty ambitions as we prepare for deputation. But with God all things are possible. We recognize His Sovereignty and are fully submitted to His will.
Prayer is vital. The Apostle Paul prayed for his fellow workers. He also encouraged them by letting them know he was praying for them. Right now we need people, like you, that will be committed to faithfully support us through prayer and encouragement. Please let us know if you would like to partner with us in this way. And, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.
This is only the tip of the iceberg.
Birthday and Anniversary Info -
Jim - May 30
Tania - May 18
Grace - May 4
Josh - February 13
Wedding Anniversary - August 18, 1994
> > >
Biblical Ministries Worldwide Vision and Core Values from Stephen McCullough on Vimeo.
Thanks for checking in here. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide what is needed for us to be able to carry out the work He has for us.