On Expedition +

CLOSING OUT 2018…WHEN NO ONE’S LOOKING

As I write this, tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. The break between Christmas and New Year is a chance for me to catch up on correspondence, editing, and reading. I try to write a personal thank you for those who make our ministry possible through prayer and support. If I missed you, please accept a vert grateful “Thank you!”

Reading-wise, I have been immersing myself in Scripture (“Let the Word of God dwell in you richly”), as well as reading several books on apologetics (“Be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within you”). Sharon has been listening to podcasts on books of the Bible and prophecy. In the words of one of our friends, “Seems like God is up to something!”

I also spent three to four days editing a friends manuscript (way to go Kent), and another four to five days inputing (again) the edits for our Divine Expedition Phase 1 and 2 training manuals.

THE DIVINE EXPEDITION

PHASE-1 TRAINING 

ROMANS AS A LIFE AND MISSIONAL MAP

Every time we conduct a training, Phil Graf and I, with input from our fellow team members, revise our training manual. Our goal is to make them transferable for the nationals we are training, so that they can train others to train others to train others.

Here is an excerpt from the 27th version of our Phase 1 training:

PRESENT— The Mission of Romans (the Divine Expedition)       (5 min)

• Read Romans 1:1-5
• “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.”
• Paul calls himself an “Apostle” in Romans 1:1, but in Romans 1:5 he says, “we have received grace and apostleship.”
• The Greek word “apostle” means “someone who is sent out.” The Latin word used to translate this is “missionary.” We are sent out on mission.
• Note: We do not advocate emphasizing the title “apostle” but rather the behavior of the apostolic/missionary spirit to push the kingdom out by rescuing and restoring others God’s divine design through Jesus Christ.

CLOSING OUT 2018…WITH FAMILY LOOKING 

We joyfully celebrated Christmas Eve with five of our six children (talked with the 6th in Washington State), and twelve of our twenty-one grandchildren. Here is what we looked like:

Oh, wait, this is not our family…that was from the most recent training in Brazil. But they are all part of our family too…the family of God.

But here is our Christmas Eve family photo:

GOING INTO 2019…WITH NEPALESE LOOKING

Several of us fly to Nepal to continue our training in three districts of the Kathmandu. Two weeks before we depart, we send the revised training manuals to all the trainers, including nationals who are at developmental Level 3 of becoming trainers themselves.

GOING INTO 2019 WITH GOD LOOKING

Pray for us as we travel and train, and for Sharon who will stay with her sisters while I am away. Sharon has gained a lot of strength on her left side, and is now working on her balance and the coordination of her left and right sides together. One of her exercises is called “the bug walk” (I like that one).

Thanks for praying for us…and for those we are training and training with. We want to finish the race we are in to the glory of God…because we know He is looking.

Because of His great grace,

Linus and Sharon