RTIM Review: Issue 3

A LOOK INTO THE LORD’S WORK AT REACHING & TEACHING

A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT

I don’t know about you, but this past summer flew by. As we approach the Fall, we’re eagerly anticipating the Pillar Network’s Unite Conference, an annual event for Pillar Network churches host ed at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. This year, Reaching & Teach ing is thrilled to be the primary sponsor of the conference and will be hosting an international missions pre-conference.

We love the Pillar Network and we love the churches that make up its member ship. My own local church, Third Avenue Baptist Church, is a Pillar Network church and I love connecting with elders from other Pillar Network churches whenev er I can. We unite around shared doc trinal convictions and we’ve seen Pillar Network churches send some of their best across the world through Reach

ing & Teaching over the last few years. Our shared convictions allow us to offer opportunities to Pillar Network churches that assure like-mindedness around the world - whether it’s a short-term training opportunity, long-term sending, or a stra tegic partnership with a church-planting team on the ground. Over the last few years, I’ve also enjoyed getting to know Pillar Network missionaries sent through the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I look for ward to connecting with some of these friends when we gather in Raleigh for Unite.

This past summer, I was able to take a few of our recently appointed workers to the Middle East to set up the first segment of their language-learning. We visited with local pastors on the ground and other

Reaching & Teaching personnel who are serving long-term in the city. The trip re minded me of several important truths. First, language learning is extremely im portant. I loved the various conversations about language schools and the different pros and cons associated with each. Sec ond, as Reaching & Teaching continues to grow by God’s grace, our experienced personnel in the field are an invaluable resource to new teams coming into the region. With Reaching & Teaching per sonnel involved in 38 different countries globally, we’ll be able to leverage this as set significantly in the years ahead. Third, there is no substitute for spending time with our personnel overseas. Zoom calls are great, don’t get me wrong, but the shared meals and neighborhood walks are precious and it’s a privilege to see our global team at work, in person. Fourth,

the Lord is doing incredible things through local churches around the world and it’s a privilege for us to serve these churches in any way that we can.

In addition to visiting the Middle East, I was able to visit our RTIM team members in Central Asia, while surveying a unique opportunity in the region. I’m particular ly thankful for the time we had with local churches in the region and with workers from several different organizations.

We could fill many more pages with re ports of God’s faithfulness around the world, and in time, I’m looking forward to sharing the stories of some of these local churches. The Great Commission was given to local churches, and not just North American ones. I’m deeply aware of the privilege that I have to see

God’s glory on display through these lo cal congregations around the globe and I’m thankful for the efforts of our global team to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders alongside them.

Finally, I’m excited about the recent launch of Missions Talk, a new podcast published in partnership with our friends at 9Marks. I’ll be hosting Missions Talk with Mack Stiles and I can’t wait for all of the conversations about church-centered missions that we’ll have with our dear friends around the world. We would love it if you added Missions Talk to your reg ular slate of podcasts. Our desire is to en courage local churches and missionaries around the world as we discuss a variety of different missions related subjects.

It is our privilege at Reaching & Teaching to serve local churches around the world. We wouldn’t be able to do so if it wasn’t for the continued investment of the local churches who send our global workers and the friends and family who support them. We’re also thankful for the church es and individuals who donate directly to Reaching & Teaching’s General Fund. Those donations allow us to better serve the local churches and global workers that we partner with.

May the Lord be glorified,

RYAN ROBERTSON

BLOG HIGHLIGHTS

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE PRACTICUM

August 31, 2022 | Cameron Mullins

“Double joy!” This has often been my response when people ask about my experience with RTIM’s Practicum. For six weeks, I had the privilege of serving alongside a local church in the Middle East. An RTIM global worker hosted me and taught me so much about cross-cultural ministry.

Why “double joy?” Because if I encouraged my host, the team, and the church members, then they encouraged me more. If I served my host, the team, and the church members, then they served me greater.

All-in-all, my experience was full of highlights and challenges. But most of all, I enjoyed the privilege of seeing up close the beauty of the local church.

EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCES VS. ORDINARY OBEDIENCE

Dangerous missiology practices prioritize rapidly multiplying churches via the most efficient means possible (If you want to learn more about this, I encourage you to read No Shortcut to

Success by Matt Rhodes | Read RTIM’s review of it here). They’re fueled by the pressure to replicate the extraordinary. But during the Practicum, I witnessed God do extraordinary things through the ordinary obedience of the church leaders and members.

One highlight stands out: I saw five men from five different nations or language groups get baptized. Let me be clear, this was an extraordinary occurrence of God! How did it happen? It happened because ordinary church members consistently pursued these men and taught them the commands of Christ. Now these men are immersed in a healthy local church and continuing to mature in the knowledge of Christ.

MINISTERING CROSS-CULTURALLY

During the Practicum, I had the privilege to do life with an RTIM global worker. I got a front-row seat to cross-culture ministry. Three lessons stand out.

First, personal holiness must be a priority. There’s a great need

for discernment when befriending, teaching, and discipling overseas, especially in the 10/40 window. The question “Is it different or is it sinful?” crossed my mind often during my time overseas.

Second, it’s hard to have a deep relationship apart from knowing the native language of the people you’re ministering to. I saw the grit and dedication it takes to learn the language. In my context, it was Arabic. I could’ve fallen over when I learned most letters in this language change depending on where they fall in a word!

Finally, the gospel must always be presented clearly, consistently, and boldly to those you are ministering to. Of course, I knew this already. But I never realized just how hard it is to do overseas, particularly when it’s being introduced to a language group. As I learned from our RTIM team members, one must clearly share the gospel according to Scripture to avoid false teaching or create false converts.

Ultimately, you will develop skills that will serve you well in ministry—whether God has you stay or go.

WHY PARTICIPATE IN RTIM’S PRACTICUM?

I would encourage you to apply for RTIM’s Practicum because there is a great need for missionaries who love both sharing the gospel and serving in the local church. Along with being a member at my local church, the Practicum has immensely shaped my missiology. I appreciated the thoroughness of the application and RTIM’s preparation.

As you think and pray through the summer of 2023, I would encourage you to involve leaders within your local church. I remember how I used to think about missions when I was in college. If I’m being honest, I thought about missions almost completely apart from my local church. This led to great anxiety about determining if I was a goer or sender, if I would pick the right agency, or where in the world I should go. Take it from me, there comes great peace from submitting to your local church while pursuing mission opportunities.

Finally, I would encourage you to apply for RTIM’s Practicum because the local church will be at the center of your experience. God has chosen the church to display the mystery of the gospel to a watching world. So why spend any time, money, and energy apart from it?

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And I saw how this healthy body was largely maintained through the long, faithful, and ordinary obedience of its elders and members.

Apply for the 2023 Practicum. You won’t regret it. In fact, I bet that you, too, will have the experience of “double joy”!

THE BEAUTY OF THE LOCAL CHURCH

When I retell my experience, I can’t help but gush while describing the local church I got to serve. The Practicum allowed me to befriend brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world! I witnessed a church made up of several nations serving and worshipping Christ in unity. And I saw how this healthy body was largely maintained through the long, faithful, and ordinary obedience of its elders and members.

God kindly allow me to be immersed in this local church for six weeks. He’s also graced me with a healthy local church here in Richmond, KY. As I meditate on both of these local churches, I’m reminded of the gospel’s power to cross cultures. What beauty! I saw how a healthy, local church functions in an unreached part of the world. And guess what? It wasn’t all that different from my local church. They both are marked by faithful preaching, godly fellowship among members, and a bold commitment to proclaim the gospel to those around them.

CAMERON MULLINS

Cameron lives in Richmond, KY, and works as an Occupational Therapist. She is a member of Ashland Church and serves as the Assimilation & Discipleship Intern. She has a great passion for connecting people to the church and mobilizing others to biblical missions. She’d also tell you she drinks too much coffee and is working on becoming a better reader.

WHY REACHING & TEACHING?

July 5, 2022

Anonymous

If you believe the Lord is leading you to the mission field, then you’re likely trying to answer what I call “the big three” life questions: Where? With whom? and Which organization?

The #1 reason most missionaries leave the field early is interpersonal conflict. For this reason, my wife and I looked for teammates who agreed with us theologically and enjoyed us personally. During our first few months training at Radius International, we spent weekends speed “dating”—as weird as it sounds, it really felt like that—everyone on our campus, until we eventually hit it off with our future teammates.

Once we found them, our discussion turned to location–where should we go? As a team, we initially decided to pursue the Middle East (this has since changed), and so we began interviewing every organization we knew of who had resources in the Middle East. One organization stood out above the rest, and you can probably guess which one. In this brief post, I want to share why we chose—and why you should consider choosing— Reaching & Teaching as your sending organization.

LOCAL CHURCH ORIENTED

Many mission organizations work separately from the local church. I’ve heard some missionaries say “churches just don’t understand missions.” Generally, these missionaries work for organizations that mean to support the church but functionally work outside or even around it.

But Reaching & Teaching is committed to and consciously submits itself to local church partnerships. In other words, they function as a true parachurch ministry–they come alongside local churches to partner with them for the purpose of obeying the Great Commission.

I remember something Ryan Robertson, the president of RTIM, said during a Q&A. Someone asked him a good question: “Why haven’t you guys sent anyone to unreached and unengaged people groups?” He responded, “We would love to, but we haven’t been commissioned by any local churches to do that yet. We are looking for churches who will, and we’re hoping your churches will be the first.” This answer spoke volumes to our team. Missions organizations exist to serve the local church, and Reaching & Teaching clearly gets that.

THEOLOGICALLY UNIFIED

In order to join Reaching & Teaching, you must be committed to a baptistic understanding of the church; you must also sign either

The Gospel Coalition’s statement of faith or the Baptist Faith & Message. Beyond this, there are other theological distinctives that come out strongly during the interviewing process that make for a robust, organization-wide theological unity.

First, there’s a common understanding of what a healthy local church looks like. Sadly, this clarity isn’t common in the missions world, and the results are regrettable. But when a sending organization clearly defines a healthy church and requires its missionaries to adhere to that definition, at least two things happen. First, there’s a clear sense of trust. Second, there’s a clear sense that we’re all aiming at the same goal: bodies of baptized believers who actively carry out the Great Commission, who meet regularly for the right preaching of God’s Word and the right administration of the ordinances, and who are led by qualified leaders.

Second, there’s a common understanding of the sovereignty of God. Some may balk at this point, assuming it’s not relevant

for missions, but I respectfully disagree. Our convictions about God’s sovereignty shape our methodology, our counseling, and of course our preaching and teaching. When a missions organization partners with a church, they’re taking on a responsibility to coach and counsel their missionaries on the field. Knowing that our regional leader and member care personnel have the same understanding of how God works in the world gives both us and our sending churches a peace of mind.

Third, there’s a common understanding of gender roles in the church. Reaching & Teaching is unashamedly complementarian. This conviction is especially relevant when it comes to church planting and raising up qualified elders for new churches. For example, what happens when a missionary team gets into a situation where there’s a body of new believers but no qualified men to lead them? Or what if all the men on a team get called off the field and only single women are left? While unthinkable where we live, these situations are common on the field. And we need to know what to do when they happen.

COMMITMENT TO SUPPORT THE WORK

Our team was the first commissioned by Reaching & Teaching to do frontier church planting. I admit, we wondered if the organization could adequately support work they’d never done before. Would they be able to access the resources to help us with language acquisition, church planting strategy, security issues, and counseling should we need it? Although we are on the very front-end of our work, we have every reason to believe the answer is “yes.”

Shortly after signing on with Reaching & Teaching, Ryan Robertson and the staff met with experienced frontier church planters to put together a game plan for our next 20 years. They’ve added member care support staff, a regional leader with church planting experience, and Jeremy Pierre, the chair of Biblical Counseling at SBTS, to consult with member care personnel. The organization has even switched to more secure channels of communication to accommodate workers in sensitive locations. All these moves—and probably more I don’t know about—demonstrate their commitment to support their workers and local church partnerships as best as they can.

WHY ICELAND?

September 7, 2022/Dale and Linnea Kellar

INTRODUCTION

Iceland may not be the end of the world, but you can certainly see the end of the world from there! This sparsely populated nation sits alone in the middle of the north Atlantic Ocean. The rugged landscape features active volcanos, immense glaciers, black sand beaches, and barren highlands. At the height of summer, Iceland receives 24 hours of sunlight; at the height of winter, we get close to 21 hours of darkness. Such is life on the Arctic Circle.

It’s no wonder that, in a land of such extremes, the Icelanders have developed a hardy and determined way of life. They prize themselves for their ability to survive and thrive in any circumstance. In fact, the unofficial slogan of the Icelanders is, “Þetta Reddast,” which loosely translates to, “Everything will work out in the end!”

GOSPEL BARRIERS

Though Iceland was originally settled by pagan Vikings, Catholicism arrived around 1000 AD. The country officially converted to Lutheranism during the Reformation; somewhat surprisingly, to this day 63% of the population are registered members of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland. Sadly, the progressive Icelandic culture regularly rejects and clashes with the historic Christian faith and practice. As with many

national European churches, the Icelandic church has greatly departed from sound biblical teaching. For example, the children’s Easter program distributed by the state church in 2020 prominently featured a “transgender Jesus.” Earlier this year, a coalition of Icelandic bishops released a statement arguing that those who promote pro-life causes are clearly under the influence of a cultic mindset. Several Icelandic clergy are selfprofessed atheists.

Historic church buildings can be found all throughout the nation, but most of them stand as empty shells of a bygone era. Though most Icelanders are baptized as infants, many will never step foot inside church. Even those who remain registered members of the state church rarely claim any sort of religious identity. For example, a recent national survey found that, of those polled aged 30 and under, exactly 0.0% claimed to believe in a Creator God. A vast majority said they were either atheistic or simply uninterested in anything religious or spiritual. When asked about their views on life’s biggest questions, many Icelanders will reply with a hearty, “Þetta Reddast!” and then move onto a different subject.

In reality, about 0.03% of Icelanders consider themselves to be Bible-believing Christians, which adds up to around 200 people. As best I can tell, only three or four churches in the entire country

preach any semblance of the true gospel. To state the obvious, Iceland is the least evangelized nation in Europe—physically dark, yes, but even more so spiritually dark.

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...only three or four churches in the entire country preach any semblance of the true gospel. To state the obvious, Iceland is the least evangelized nation in Europe—physically dark, yes, but even more so spiritually dark.

DALE AND LINNEA KELLAR

GOSPEL HOPE

As followers of Christ, we know that Jesus is the only solution to our enslavement to sin and our separation from God. Being united to Christ through his death, burial, and resurrection is our only source of true, deep, and lasting purpose. Everyone else must find their identity in other things: relationships, success, pleasure, etc. When someone builds their life on these fragile foundations, they’re always at risk of seeing their world collapse. Iceland is full of people on the verge of collapse.

We have confidence that God has not abandoned Iceland! He is at work. Through a few faithful local churches, God is using his people to spread the gospel throughout the nation with the goal of seeing new churches planted and new souls won to Christ. Within the past decade, a church planting network called The Iceland Project has been working to see Iceland reached with the gospel. The Iceland Project’s first priority is to plant healthy, gospel-centered, Christ-exalting churches. Secondly, they seek to provide theological education, financial support, and other resources to future church planters and gospel ministers. It is our great joy to be able to join our Icelandic brothers and sisters in evangelism and discipleship.

Gospel ministry in Iceland is often like a long slog up a glacial mountain peak. The work is slow and arduous, but seeing men and women saved by God’s grace is worth every challenge. In the long winter months, the night sky of Iceland is often lit up by the majestic beauty of the Northern Lights. This display of the Creator’s power illuminates the stark landscape against the night sky. Just as these lights provide a radiance that punctuates the long nights, can the spiritual darkness of Iceland also be permeated by the light of Christ?

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Dale and Linnea Kellar were both raised in the Detroit area. They are currently raising support for long-term missions work in Reykjavík, Iceland. When they arrive in Iceland, they will be joining the ministry of Loftstofan Baptistakirkja while they continue to pursue ministerial training, language acquisition and cultural acclamation.

Dale and Linnea have been married since 2017 and they have three wonderful children: Cedar, Zion and Avonlea. The Kellars are joyfully sent out by Five Points Community Church in Auburn Hills, MI.

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SHORT-TERM UPDATE

WOMEN’S MINISTRY

RTIM’s Women’s Institute is about dis cipleship. It’s life transforming, gospel centered, Christ focused, church-based discipleship of women, which, in many places, in the world is an area of grave neglect. For years, RTIM trained pastors in remote locations in South America and

teachers returned full of concern for the women who sat in the back of the room, eagerly gleaning from the instruction giv en to the men. What should done about them? Should they be asked to leave? Surely their husbands and pastors would teach them.

But as time went on, women in the churches where the pastoral training was taking place would ask the trainers when they would return with theological in struction specifically for them. Their ea gerness to go deeper struck a chord with RTIM leadership.

With a great desire to respond to this need, RTIM hired the first female training facilitators in 2017 tasking them with de veloping a curriculum tailored for women who might hold leadership roles among women within the church. This began in 2018, but very quickly the focus shifted from leadership to discipleship.

A lack of basic Bible knowledge among the women emerged as the foundational need among the churches. So, curricu lum developers began again, and devel oped their first course as an Overview of the Bible that highlighted the Cristo-cen tric narrative of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. This was first taught in loca tions in India, Ecuador and Honduras.

The women’s response verified what was missing. Woman after woman said they had never understood that the Bible con tained a unified redemptive message. The message of “Promises Made” in the Old Testament and “Promise Kept” in the New was something they had never heard. They were believers but hadn’t had the privilege of sitting under expos itory preaching most of their lives, and there were significant holes in their the ology. Their current pastors were faithful men who preached the Word, but with out foundational knowledge, much of what they heard from the pulpit was mis understood, and their growth was slow,

Lisa Brock

affecting a stalled or non-existent culture of discipleship within their churches.

Feedback like this ignited a desire in the hearts of the training facilitators to try to offer help and support for these pastors and their churches. Ideas began to take shape and soon courses developed that would encourage a trajectory of growth and maturity for young believers. RTIM’s Women’s Institute was born.

The courses are taught by visiting a site two times a year for three years. Course 01 is the Overview of the Bible which presents a Biblical Theology based on Vaughan Roberts book, God’s Big Pic ture. Course 02, Expository Bible Study, utilizes the concepts developed by Simeon Trust to provide students with strong personal Bible study skills. Chris tian Doctrines, Course 03, is a systematic study of the doctrines of Scripture with a session on the well-developed prayer life. Course 04 teaches a Biblical view of womanhood, Biblical Counseling, and mentorship within the church. Course 05, Healthy Church Membership, uses Scrip tural principles to present a Biblical view of the local church.

RTIM Women’s Institute is not only about discipleship, but it is also about leader ship development. The final course of the institute is Teacher Training. In this course, students learn the fundamental elements of the teaching and the learning process. It provides practical techniques and strategies from a Biblical perspective for improving as a teacher in the context of the local church, a skill vital to the task of transferring to others that which they have learned: one mark of a true disciple. God has opened many doors for RTIM’s short term ministry to women through the Institute. Just this year, four more countries around the globe will be start ing with Course 01 in locations in India, Italy, Ireland, and Peru.

Pray for those who facilitate these trips that God will be gracious to work through them as they work to strengthen women in local churches; that these women may abound in love with all knowledge and discernment so that they may approve what is excellent and be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

LISA BROCK Training Facilitator | Curriculum Developer

Lisa Brock is joining the stateside staff to serve as Training Facilitator and Curriculum Developer. She brings 14 years of teaching experience in both Christian and Classical Schools. The Brocks served 10 years as missionaries in Italy, during which Lisa had many opportunities to teach both women and children. Since 2003, she has also served in various church ministries including working with students, women and children.

Discover more about our Women’s ministry at rtim.org

MEET SOME OF OUR LONG-TERM WORKERS

THE PATE FAMILY

Brazil

We are sent out of Liberty Baptist Church (Dalhart, TX) where I had the privilege of serving as one of the pastors before moving to Brazil in 2018. My wife, Christa, grew up in São Paulo where her family served as missionaries, and now our boys, Caleb and Josiah, get to experience the same joys and challenges of being an MK.

Our main focus in Brazil is strengthening local churches by equipping pastors. We do this (1) through the short-term RTIM training sites throughout Brazil and (2) through our local church. I have the joy of investing in our church through preaching, teaching, the pastoral internship, and personal discipleship.

I love it when these two approaches converge. For example, our pastoral interns often help me teach at the training sites. It’s a win-win: It gives me more time to invest in our interns, provides them with teaching experience, gives them opportunities to learn from other pastors, and shows them the needs of the Brazilian church.

We are also excited about opportunities for pastors from our training sites to visit our local church. For example, Pastor Edson recently visited us for a 2-week intensive internship. It gave us the opportunity to invest in him more deeply and practically. And he’s already started his own pastoral internship at his church on the other side of Brazil!

Brazil has a ton of churches, to be sure. But the task is not yet complete in Brazil, and the needs are great. We have dreams of planting and revitalizing churches, sending missionaries, and starting a

seminary. In the meantime, we’re going to keep focusing on equipping pastors through our church and the training sites for the strengthening of the church in Brazil.

RTIM FAMILY

Undisclosed Location

We landed in our target city just under a year ago. The culture is rightly considered a warm one – time is relative to relationships, not tasks, and the people love to welcome you with intrusive questions about every facet of life, including things like personal body weight and finances. And the only thing hotter than the weather is the food!

Ours is a family of 4, soon to be 5. Having small children during full-time language studies is tough, though I can’t imagine a time or season of life when it’s not tough to learn another language. Our two little girls, one with blue eyes like her mom and the other with brown like her dad, are doted over by everyone around us. Meanwhile momma and I constantly get honked at and are both called “mister” by a dozen people on our daily 10-minute walk to school. With that level of attention, leaving our children at home with someone you just met made both of us uneasy, especially since we don’t trust that everything we say is getting through. Nevertheless, this is one of the challenges of being first-termers in a new location, if you believe in learning the local language.

We’ve been sent from a healthy church in the US, which loves and supports us well. They make time to call and visit, making sure to ask the basic questions every Christian needs to be asked. Simple ones like “how are you?” and then genuinely giving time for us to speak. We’ve not had that experience with our local church here yet, but, Lord willing, that will come in time . . . and with more language studies. Each mark of health in the church here is an opportunity to praise the Lord, and each evidence of the opposite reminds us of why we’ve been sent. And so, we live in the tension of aching for the nations to be brought into Christ’s flock while we also long to share in the

fellowship from which we came. This good tension reminds us that we’re not yet home. And while we long for heaven, we work. Until now, it’s been the work of learning language and culture which seems to be in unending supply here.

After a few more months, we will transition again into other roles: from full-time language students to a seminary teacher and a full-time at-home mom. Lord willing, this will provide an opportunity to invest in dozens of students’ lives, teach sound doctrine, and provide resourcing to the seminary which struggles to find enough teachers. The seminary way of life is very different than the school we went to back in the US. But the fact that this opportunity exists in this kind of place and they can get us a long-term visa is an evidence of the Lord’s kindness and an open-door for the ministry he’s called us to.

We couldn’t be here on our own. The Lord has gone before us in many ways

and given us favor with many supporters, nationals, and other long-term workers. The grace of working alongside likeminded and generous long-term workers has made this season remarkably better than if we tried to go it alone. Just last week, 3 workers from another company had a meeting on my behalf with the seminary (while I was busy in class, I might add) to move along the process of getting us in the door and set up with a visa pathway. In good faith, these brothers and sisters have sacrificially given – time, energy, concern, relational capital, and even visa slots – to see us established here. We knew before we came that the work doesn’t start with us and the relationships we have now, whether new or old, are a gift and a stewardship from the Lord to our family. Pray that we keep in step with the Spirit and steward his grace well.

Love and prayers, An RTIM Family

PILLAR

PARTNERSHIP FOR THAILAND

THE BLESSING OF PILLAR

Matt Tyler

My wife and I moved to East Asia in August 2015 to join a thriving ministry in a global city. The next several years were filled with joy, love and hope. We had a wonderful, united, and evangelis tic church. Our family grew. Our church grew. New churches were planted. We were thrilled. Then, in January 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic terrorized the country we called home, eventually engulfing the whole world. We learned to trust God’s providence in a deeper way as we were unexpectedly and devastatingly shut out of our adopted country and home.

Initially, we had no intention of returning overseas. People often associate over seas workers with sacrifice. Faithful mis sionaries sacrifice. Faithfulness embrac es language learning, family separation, and unique difficulties. However, there is another side to the faithfulness of mis sionaries that doesn’t get talked about as much, and that is responsibility. Since we left for East Asia, my family had grown. My responsibilities as a husband, father, provider, and protector had increased. I saw no real path to meet those responsi bilities if we moved overseas again.

This is where the Pillar Network comes in. Pillar Churches in the Charlotte re gion had been praying that the Lord would send a team to Bangkok, Thai land. Through mutual friends, I was put in

contact with these churches. They were eager to see the work through, and their passion encouraged me. Further, these congregations rose to ensure that I would be able to fulfill my responsibilities as a missionary, and more importantly as a husband and father. What I mean to say is this: my relationship with these Pillar Churches spurs on my own faithfulness.

Today, my family and I gladly serve as Reaching & Teaching international work ers in Bangkok, where we have recently planted a church. We are honored and thrilled to have the love, prayers, and support of Pillar Network Churches. Quite simply: we would not be here with out them.

SURE, WHY NOT?

Dave Kiehn

“Do you want to help plant a church in Bangkok, Thailand?” It seemed like an absolutely ridiculous, wild-eyed question. As I sat staring at my two dear friends with their great heart for the nations, it seemed only natural to reply, “Sure, why not?”

RTIM President, Ryan Robertson, and for mer IMB missionary to Thailand and cur rent NC Baptist Mission Strategist, Eric Mullis, proposed the Charlotte Region

of the Pillar Network to take the lead in planting a church in Thailand. The Pillar Network loves to partner with like-mind ed ministries to impact the nations for Christ. I knew that Ryan and Eric would continue to pray and hunt for a church planting team to serve in Bangkok.

It was a short few months later when I re ceived an anti-climatic introduction from lead planters, Matt Tyler and Danny Span dler-Davison, saying they were going to be in town and would love to meet. We had one zoom call and instantly believed it was God’s desire to use these dear brothers for a new work in Bangkok. Our Pillar region decided to have two lunches to invite like-minded churches to join us in this work. Those lunches led to an al

most fully funded church plant and sped up the plants for Matt and Danny to get boots on the ground.

As I look back, I am so grateful for those three little Holy Spirit prompted words, “Sure, why not?” I have been able to hear story after story of God’s grace in bringing people together as Bangkok City Baptist Church for the glory of Christ.

God sovereignly moved through rela tionships to birth this new work and all we had to do was be open to join in. My hope is anytime like-minded, Spirit-filled, Christ-adorning brothers say, “Do you want to help plant a church?” you would respond by saying, “Sure, why not?” You will not regret it!

A FAITHFUL THING

Nate Akin

As I think about the work of Pillar in gen eral and this particular work in Thailand, I am reminded of 3 John 5-8. The elder writes, “Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a man ner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.”

Pillar’s work in general often involves co operation among our churches to sup port brothers who are strangers. It is no different with this specific work in Thai land among churches connected to Pillar and Reaching and Teaching. This cooper ative work certainly includes friends, but it also includes relative strangers who are doing “a faithful thing” in their efforts for these brothers who have gone out for the sake of the name in the East. That is why this effort, and Pillar’s involvement, is so exciting to me. It is a New Testament, 3rd John, type work. What a privilege to see churches send on brothers in a manner worthy of God and then be able to rally

other churches who will help in that work so that a healthy church is established which will in turn one day send out others for the sake of the Name.

So, brothers and sisters who support min istries like Reaching and Teaching, just know that your support according to our brother John is “worthy of God.” It is our prayer that because of this cooperative effort, we will be able to look back and say with the Psalmist, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” We do not fully know what will happen with this work, but we do know according to 3 John, it will make us fellow workers for the truth. And the truth has a name, Jesus of Nazareth!

A REGIONAL ASSOCIATION GOING GLOBAL

Ryan Robertson

What would it look like for a regional as sociation of churches in the US to part ner together to see healthy churches es tablished and strengthened around the globe? What if that regional association of churches could strategically focus on a specific region in another country? The like-mindedness that we share with the Pillar Network allows us to align purpose fully and provide a number of opportu

nities for partnership. When Dave Kiehn and I discussed the potential for a num ber of partnerships around the world, he quickly built on the vision. Eric Mullis & I had been chatting about Bangkok, Thai land for some time and when it was clear that there was a team that heading to Bangkok, Dave seized the opportunity to cast the vision for the Pillar regional net work of which is church is a part.

A local church has now covenanted to gether in Bangkok. A few of Dave’s church members participated in Reach ing & Teaching’s summer practicum. They were able to encourage the team that has been prayerfully and financially supported. They were able to engage in meaningful conversations as they consid er moving to Bangkok to join the team. They were able to bring back reports of the work on the ground. A church has been established and relationships have been strengthened. We continue to con verse about partnering on translation projects, pastoral training, and church planting in the region. I truly believe this is only the beginning and I’m prayerfully anticipating further Pillar regional net works partnering to see mature disciples made, healthy churches established, and local leaders trained around the world.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Why You Should Come

Reaching & Teaching

Whether you are considering long-term missions or want to mobilize your church, our Preview Day is a great place to start! What you can expect from the day:

Learn how

can partner

Date: Friday, November 4th

Location: Washington, DC

Capitol Hill Baptist Church Time: 8am - 5pm

Price per Individual: $50

The Church on Mission

A Biblical Vision for Transformation among All People

By Craig Ott

Read our recent blog post by Cody Cunningham looking into Ott’s argument that the mission of the church is “to glorify God by multiplying transformational churches among all people.”

Full Review on the RTIM Blog

With Ryan Robertson & Mack Stiles

Reaching & Teaching is excited to partner with 9Marks on the production of Missions Talk. Missions Talk is a regular conversation about biblical and practical elements of missiology.

Listen Today!

Subscribe to Missions Talk wherever you listen to podcasts.