SEXTON I N T E R N A T I O N A L
M I N I S T R Y
FA M I LY
Reaching theWorld In a City
MUNICH
What Would Jesus Say To A Muslim? page 16
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DEAR FRIEND,
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e are the Sexton family, commissioned into the Gospel ministry in 1996. Our burden has been to go through the doors opened by God to preach the gospel, make disciples, organize disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ into local churches, and mobilize laborers for the harvest. God has given us the opportunity to minister in many unusual places where we have seen the mighty hand of God open doors and lead the way. Throughout North Africa and the Middle East we have seen souls saved, churches started, and pastors and Christian workers trained. Bibles have been given out, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached to presidents, government officials, religious leaders, women, students, and friends. We have joined with many in prayer and have seen God send forth laborers into these fields. We have worked to train, equip, and when possible support those who have answered the call to go.
I would like to invite you to learn more about our ministry and consider our family as one of your missionaries. In this magazine I have included some information about our work and ministry. If there is anything else that we can provide to you, please let us know. We hope and pray that God may lead you to allow us to share our ministry with your church. Most importantly, we covet your prayers on our behalf. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Romans 15:30 For the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ,
Matt and Rhonda Sexton Galatians 4:19 269times@gmail.com
We presently are seeking to raise the support necessary to go to Germany. Munich is a city made up of individuals from 180 different nations providing an amazing opportunity for world-wide outreach. Our desire is to continue the missionary work of winning souls and planting churches in the great cities, towns, and villages of our world.
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MEET THE SEXTONS
Comissioned & sent by the
Temple Baptist Church in Powell, Tennessee
As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we share a common mission. Every Christian has been commissioned through the all-encompassing authority and power of The Lord Jesus Christ to make disciples from every nation. Our goal is to encourage all believers to increase their involvement in obeying our Savior’s great command in every possible way.
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Thank you for taking the time to familiarize yourself with what the Lord has given us to do. We pray that you will consider laboring together for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Matt Sexton
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att was born in Tennessee in 1971, but his formative years of growing up were spent in Paterson, New Jersey, eleven miles from New York City. His father, Clarence Sexton, pastored the Madison Avenue Baptist Church where they had thirty seven language groups from around the world in the church. It was here that the Lord put a burden for all nations into his heart. Matt was saved in 1979 and answered the call to ministry at age eighteen. He graduated from Crown College in Powell, Tennessee in 1993 and later earned his Master of Divinity in 2008. After graduation, he served on the staff of the Temple Baptist Church in Powell where he was privileged to serve in every facet of ministry.
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The Lord began to open doors to international ministry in 2002. Since then God has allowed him to assist in planting churches on four continents, serve in fifteen different countries, and engage eight unique unreached people groups. His burden is to preach the gospel in order to see souls saved and disciples made; to plant churches as God saves the lost and calls the saved; and to mobilize workers through edifying and equipping the saints.
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Rhonda Sexton
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honda was born in Texas into a pastor’s home. She grew up in Michigan and Tennessee. She came to know Christ at the age of four and surrendered to His service as a teenager. She graduated from Crown College in 1993. It was at Crown that Matt and Rhonda met and later were married. God has blessed them with four children. Rhonda considers her greatest ministry to be her home and family but that has not kept her from serving the Lord abroad. She has had the opportunity to reach those overlooked and abused in society as well as children and the elderly. Her ministry to ladies has been fruitful in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Syria, Jordan, and Morocco.
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Jesus said the field is the world. He commissioned His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We have endeavored, by God’s grace, to go where He has led and provided. Here you will find a summary of a few of the opportunities that the Lord has given us in recent years. strategy, church planting, discipleship, and resourcing. We have worked to create ways for people to engage in the work of the ministry, as well as make others aware of great open doors in our world today. We are praying to be able to build on the foundation that God has allowed us to lay.
THE DOORS ARE OPEN. WILL YOU HELP US WALK THROUGH THEM?
OUR
Journey God has also given us the joy of planting churches and doing evangelistic work in South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and parts of Asia. In each case we have tried to implement missional efforts based on prayer, the Word of God, research based
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Discover What God is Doing
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orth Africa
• Participated in the International Conference on Religious Freedom sponsored by the Ministry of Religious Affairs
Due to the sensitivity of the areas where much of our work is done, we must be careful about sharing too much detail. If you would like specific information please feel free to contact us directly.
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• Established experiential educational training programs for workers going into Islamic environments • Facilitated educational exchange programs for national and American students • Distributed copies of the Scriptures to those who have never had one • Shared the gospel with over thirty religious leaders from Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, and Israel • Hosted a nation’s Ambassador to the U.S. in the United States
• Provided 20,000 copies of the Scriptures to this region • Placed several families into service in this area • Assisted in starting three churches • Distributed 10,000 Bible story books to children and youth • Began a gospel radio station • Traveled extensively throughout particular regions researching methods for engaging the unreached people groups with the Gospel of Jesus Christ • Continuing efforts to help in the placement of workers and facilitate short term trips into this region
• Located three indigenous people groups that were currently unengaged with the gospel and developed a strategic plan for sharing Jesus Christ with them • Participated in the Dialogue for Peace and Symposium on Religious Freedom at the request of a government official
• Trained and assisted personnel serving in the Middle East.
Middle East
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entral Asia
• Provided Scripture and Bible study materials to workers serving throughout Central Asia
• Trained and assisted personnel serving in the Middle East • Established a Bible institute where forty eight national pastors and workers were trained for ministry • Coordinated outreach and ministry to vulnerable women resulting in over 300 souls coming to Christ
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Europe has arguably become
THE MOST SECULAR CONTINENT
• Dating back to the Renaissance, Europe has been considered the intellectual center of the world. • Europe serves as the global center of education with twice as many international students studying in Europe than in America. • Europe continues to spread atheism, the fastest growing religion in the world. • Only the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ can bring hope in the face of European atheism, secularism, and unbelief. 10
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owhere in the world is there more beautiful and abundant Christian architecture and symbolism than in Europe. Majestic cathedrals and landmarks are clear but mute testimonies to a Christian past, yet most of Europe is spiritually destitute. Even though Europe has traces of Christianity everywhere, it has arguably become the most secular and least religious continent on the planet. Christianity is declining in Europe to the extent that some, when looking at estimates that 99% of Europeans have no personal relationship with Jesus Christ, have
described it as one of the least evangelized spots on earth. Just the number of people in Germany that claim to have no religious affiliation is the size of the entire population of the state of Texas. More than 200,000 villages, towns and cities in Europe do not have a gospel witness. Europe is a tragic paradox —an empty appearance of Christian symbolism that masks a reality of spiritual darkness. The home of the Protestant Reformation, Germany has a proud Christian heritage. With a history like this, one might expect Germany to be a country filled with Bible-
believing citizens who follow Jesus wholeheartedly, but nothing could be further from the truth. A nationwide religious survey recently concluded: “Germany has become a pagan land with Christian residue� (Der Spiegel). Once the geographical center of the Christian faith; now, the Church lives on the margins of a secular society, having lost its place at the table of cultureshaping conversation. You can visit cathedrals that exist like just another museum with no vision for the future. Presently Christianity is considered by most to be as archaic as the castles.
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Reaching the World In a City
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ithin a few years, five billion of the world’s inhabitants will live in one of the over two million cities in our world. If our generation is going to reach the lost we must renew our efforts in the cities. Cities today are filled with people from many different nations. We have an unprecedented opportunity to reach the world that has moved into the city. In some cases, churches that are struggling must be strengthened, and as the Scriptures admonish in Revelation 3:2, “We should strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die ...” In other situations we must plant new churches that will reach this international community.
Will you prayerfully consider joining with us to reach the world in a city? The Lord has directed our family to work to reach the world in the cities beginning in Munich, Germany. Centrally located in the heart of Europe, Munich provides an ideal launching point for ministry. The greater Munich area has a population of three million people from 180 nations with 43% of the city’s residents unaffiliated with any religion. The evangelical Christian population of the city is less than 0.6%.
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Please pray for
Germany’s Largest Cities
1. Berlin 2. Hamburg 3. München 4. Köln 5. Frankfurt 6. Essen 7. Dortmund 8. Stuttgart 9. Düsseldorf 10. Bremen
11. Hannover 12. Duisburg 13. Nürnberg 14. Leipzig 15. Dresden 16. Bochum 17. Wuppertal 18. Bielefeld 19. Bonn 20. Mannheim
21. Karlsruhe 22. Gelsenkirchen 23. Wiesbaden 24. Münster 25. Mönchengladbach 26. Chemnitz 27. Augsburg 28. Braunschweig 29. Aachen 30. Krefeld
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OUR PRIORITIES
Our first priority is to make disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ. He and He alone is the Lord of the Harvest. He has entrusted His worldwide agenda to those that follow Him and it is our part to faithfully serve Him so that by all means possible we may win some.
PRAY
Prayer is the most powerful resource given to us for changing lives and circumstances. Jesus said that the greatest need for the fields white already to harvest was laborers. He then instructed us to do our part by praying that the Lord would send forth laborers. In many respects the work of prayer is the work of missions. The Apostle Paul encouraged believers to work together with him through prayer. Would you pray with us and for us?
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GO
Jesus commands us to go. In recent years 1 out of 20,000 Christians go to live on the mission field. The Scriptures state, “How shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Romans 10:14-15). We are prepared to go. If you have not done so already, will you consider partnering with us by being a part of our sending team?
PROVIDE
“He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions” (Psalm 107:20). Of the challenges facing the task of reaching the lost, the need for Bibles and Christian literature is the one most easily met. The equation is simple; God uses His Word to accomplish His work. Throughout the year we will be working to provide copies of God’s Word to those in need.
“The prospects are as brig
Germany, at the heart of Europe, is without a heart for God. Ninety-eight percent is unreached and unsaved. The land of the reformation is in need of regeneration.
WITNESS
The bridge between initial faith in Jesus Christ through evangelism and a life of obedience and fulfilment in His kingdom is decisive apprenticeship to Jesus. Our desire is to see those that come to Christ meeting regularly as God’s Holy people, empowered by His Holy Spirit, living in obedience to His Holy Word.
ESTABLISH RESOURCE
Unless our efforts result in local churches, we fail to accomplish God’s primary purpose of making disciples and raising up living bodies of believers to continue the work of His ministry in the world. Our aim is to have a part in completing the great commission by initially working toward providing a witnessing assembly of disciples along with training faithful men that will be able to teach others also.
Resourcing includes mobilizing people, prayer, funds, and tools; facilitating leadership,strategic relationships and business development; and building a network of individuals and organizations that will carry out ministry opportunities throughout the nations as God opens the doors.
ght as the promises of God”
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C.H. Spurgeon on Gospel Missions Employing the Method of Itinerancy
that is the way to succeed. No, no! Ravage a continent; attempt great things and great things shall be done…
I fear that we have not enough of the divine method of itinerancy. Paul was a great itinerant: he preached in one place, and there were twelve converted there; he made a church at once; he did not stop till he had five hundred; If I could not itinerate this country of England, I could but when he had twelve, he went off to another place. not bear to preach. If I preached here always, many of A holy woman takes him you would become gospel in; she has a son and hardened. I love to go ranging daughter; they are saved here, there, and everywhere. “Ravage a continent; and baptized—there is My highest ambition is another church. Then he attempt great things and great this, that I may be found goes on; wherever he goes going through the entire things shall be done” the people believe and land, as well as holding my are baptized, wherever headquarters in one position. he meets a family who I do hold that itinerancy believes, he or his companion baptizes all the house, is God’s great plan. There should be fixed ministers and and goes about his way still forming churches and pastors, but those who are like apostles should itinerate far appointing elders over them. more than they do. We, now-a-days, go and settle in a place, make a station Taken from Gospel Missions by C.H. Spurgeon of it, and work around it by little and little, and think
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Volume Fifteen | Issue Two
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“... the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” II Timothy 2:2
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Our name, “The Crown College of the Bible” is a constant reminder of our purpose. God’s Word says in Romans 14:12, “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” We have no cause of our own–when we truly follow the Lord Jesus Christ, His purpose becomes our purpose. We are seeking to provide a Christ-centered breadth and depth to education. Please pray for the work of The Crown College of the Bible. May God bless you as you seek to “take the high road” in life.
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Clarence Sexton,
Founder & President
For more information or to schedule a meeting contact: Matt Sexton at 269times@gmail.com 18
Did You Know?
• The name for Germany in the German language is Deutschland. • Countries that border Germany include Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Luxembourg, Poland and Switzerland. • Germany has 16 states • Germany has 82 million people making it the most populous nation in the European Union. • Germany has the third-highest number of international migrants worldwide. • German is the third most commonly taught language worldwide. • German is spoken by more than 100 million people worldwide. • German is the official language of 5 countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. It is also spoken in Northern Italy and the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. • At present, about a quarter of Americans claim at least partial German ancestry • 31% of the country has been kept with forests and woodlands, with Hesse having the most. • Classical music has been widely dominated by German-speaking composers. A few famous ones born on the present territory of Germany include Bach, Händel, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner and R. Strauss. • Munich is further north than any major U.S. city (excluding Alaska). • Gummy bears were invented by a German. • Frankfurt International Airport presently claims the world record in the most international destinations served. • The first printed book was in German. (Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468) printed the Bible in Mainz in 1456.)
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ACTS 13:47
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