Priorities: 

 

1. Your personal Devotional Life –
   1. This is a love affair time with God.
   2. I will talk with God what He wants to talk about.
   3. Does not include preparing for Sunday School
   4. Does not include messages.
   5. Be careful of being too busy.
   6. Be systematic.
   7. Do not quit until God speaks to your heart
   8. Have an accountability partner.
   9. Write down what God said to you and how you apply it.
   10. Fake spirituality will bring you down.  Do not be hollow.

 

1. Your Wife –
   1. You do not work and forget your wife.
   2. Your love for your wife must be greater than the ministry.
   3. If you lose your wife, you lose your ministry.
   4. You can still work hard, be at work, and your wife knows she is still #1.
   5. Plan a date with your wife. Make some effort.
   6. You will not spend the rest of your life with your ministry….but you will spend it with your wife.
   7. This also includes your children

                                               i.     They need a father

                                             ii.     They need to know they are loved

                                            iii.     They need to know you believe in them

                                            iv.     They need your time.

                                             v.     They need your training.

                                            vi.     They are your ministry.

 

1. Personal Growth Time –
   1. Why would you want to stay on the same level you are now?
   2. How are you growing as a man?
   3. How are you growing as a husband?
   4. How are you growing as a father?
   5. How are you growing as a preacher?
   6. How are you growing as a Christian?
   7. How are you growing in your Bible study?
   8. Each moment, day, week and year, grow.
   9. Stay in the Bible.
   10. Read other authors over a variety of subjects

                                               i.     Bible study

                                             ii.     Church growth

                                            iii.     Conferences

                                            iv.     Audio books, etc.

                                             v.     Sunday School structure

                                            vi.     Missiology

                                          vii.     Cultural material

                                         viii.     Biographies

                                            ix.     Geographical material

                                              x.     Political situations in America and the world

                                            xi.     Education is not wrong.  It is how it is used.  It should not destroy our belief in the Bible but confirm what the Bible has stated.

1.  
   1. We must learn how to think.

 

1. Learn the Language.
   1. It is not possible to have a real ministry without knowing the language.
   2. How can you preach to them if you can not talk to them.

 

1. You job is to train some leaders.
   1. Do not start a college for at least six years.

                                               i.     You need to learn

                                             ii.     It is not the priority.

1.  
   1. Find some guys and spend your life with them.

                                               i.     Life on life discipleship

                                             ii.     Get a crowd together

                                            iii.     You do not need to start ministries

1.     children’s church

2.     drug rehab

                                            iv.     start with a church meeting and youth meeting.

                                             v.     Train people and let them begin the ministries.

                                            vi.     Let them be birthed by your guys.

                                          vii.     Let them be with you….at all times.

                                         viii.     Let them come serve -

1.     tear the bread

2.     take care of the crowd

3.     push me in the deep

4.     get the donkey

5.     fix the upper room for me.

6.     distribute the fish

ix.  You can have some structure books and classes but the true learning will be while they are with you.  Teach them to ask questions.

You can sign up to be with us for our Pastor’s Conference on World Evangelism today.  The conference starts this Monday evening with a banquet. The price is totally free for Pastors.  We will provide you with a motel room, materials, and food.  I really hope that you will come and be with us.

Click here to register now to be with us.

God has allowed us to sell nearly 200 copies of the Deputation Manual. That kind of depresses me.  I had hoped to sell more books.  I only had 500 printed because I figured that I could use the rest for firewood after my wife bought a copy.

Recently I have seen the following information that I guess could encourage me just because 500 is a lot more than I thought it was:

 

According to Nielsen Bookscan… 

 

 

Here are some notes I have written for a study that I give on training and preparing leaders  in your church.  It is just a study outline from the live of David and his relationship with his son Abaslom.  Let me know what you think.

How to deal with strong leaders and men of God on your staff

 

II Samuel 15:1

 

Many times we are afraid to trust men on our staff to the point that we do not develop a staff!  We fear that they might steal the hearts of our people.  Our fears handicap what God could do through us.  These are not unfounded fears.  It has happened many times and so we must consider what we are to do.  Do we continue with a church that is manageable by us or do we raise up strong leaders and strong men of God?  If we do raise up strong men how do we avoid “one of our greatest fears!”

 

How not to raise or create an Absalom!

1.              Take a stand against and discipline sin when you see it 2 Samuel 13:22 Ecclesiastes 8:11

 

2.             Deal with the sin while it is small enough to be handled

 

3.             Don’t allow a wall or division even if there has been a failure II Samuel 13:37

 

4.             Express what you feel, your love II Samuel 13:39

 

5.             Don’t make the discipline too hard II Samuel 14:24, II Corinthians 2:6-11

 

6.             Praise character not physical characteristics II Samuel 14:25

 

7.             Keep open lines of communication II Samuel 14:32

 

8.             Don’t wait too late to kiss II Samuel 14:33

 

9.             Forgive and teach to forgive so that the root of bitterness doesn’t spring up and defile many  Hebrews 12:15

 

10.           Don’t wait too late to deal gently II Samuel 18:5

 

II Samuel 16:3

 

Much of what is happening to David right now could have likely been avoided had he handled a family problem right and the right moment.  Since he didn’t things have only proceeded to get worse.  A much smaller issue left unattended has caused the rebellion and now Ziba rebels against his master also.  Every leader must consider dealing with the little foxes before they get big enough to do so much harm.  Jesus said that if you were being taken to court you should fix it on the way to court if at all possible.

Further notes that I need to be working much harder at putting into effect here at Vision.

 

1.              Begin training your people in how to carry out the Great Commission.  How to visit, soul win, and disciple.

2.              Prepare materials to be given out in the organized visitation.

a.     Gospel tract

b.     Brochure, etc.

3.              Organize the work by dividing your 13,000 homes into quadrants so that you will be able to evangelize them in an organized fashion

4.              Prepare maps so that each team will know exactly where they need to be knocking on doors

Going through old notes and files is good to stir my memory for what I wanted to accomplish by coming back to the USA.  I felt very convicted as I read this and hope to do better at putting it into practice 

The pastor and the leadership of our church do hereby commit themselves to whole heartedly to endeavor with God’s help to do the following as soon as possible

 

1.              Work at evangelizing the world in their Jerusalem by committing to knock on and evangelize a minimum of 50,000 people that live close to their church at least twice a year

a.     That means knocking on a minimum of 13,000 doors at least once each year and preferably twice a year in a systematic and organized fashion leaving a piece of literature in the house or on the door.  This works out to approximately 250 doors a week if you plan to use another means to get the gospel to your area in the same year

b.     Use the postal service or other means to get the gospel to each one at least one more time a year

c.     Use radio, television and or Internet to reach their Jerusalem with the gospel.

2.              Commit to have their church divided up and organized to pray to the Lord of the Harvest that he send forth laborers to His harvest.

a.     Every part of the world will have leadership interest in prayer

b.     Every missionary will have someone who takes a personal interest in the work and the country

3.              The church will organize its ministries so that World Evangelism is taught and put before the people every week through the church, the pulpit, the Sunday School, VBS etc

4.              The Church will strive to give 50% of its income to the support of World Evangelism as soon as God so enables them.

5.              The church will commit to be a discipling church.  Where discipleship is important from the pulpit, every person is involved in discipleship and being prepared for the work

6.              The church will encourage, enable and motivate its people with a goal of having a minimum of one third of the church on the mission field and visit regularly getting involved in actual mission work.  Short term missionary endeavor

7.              Be a soul winning church where the members are accustomed to seeing people get saved and lives changed

8.              Provide material to its members that will motivate and prepare them to do more to reach the world

9.              Get everyone involved in the ministry and carrying the load of God’s work in their local church.  Preparing men to take the load of the ministry even to the point of preparing a man with the ability to take the pastors place in the future

10.           Aggressively seek to plant other local churches here in the USA sending their own members, money, prayer, and labor.

            The Spanish arrived in what is now known as Peru in 1532.  When Fransico Pizarro arrived he found the Inca Empire or Tawantinsuyu under the leadership of the Inca Emperor Atahualpa.  The capital of his empire was in Cuzco.  Before the times of the Incas the Indians had worshipped herbs and plants, high gills and great rocks, fountains and rivers, mother earth and great snow mountains.  The Incas taught them to worship the sun.  Inti is the Quechua word for Sun and was the god of the ancient Incas of Peru and South America.[1]

In 1575, in Cuzco, a Spanish priest named Cristobel de Molina collected a number of Inca hymns and certain traditions associated with them which prove that the deity of Inti was not always left unquestioned by Incas themselves.  De Molina wrote the hymns and their associated traditions in the Inca language called Quechua with orthography adapted from Spanish .  The Incas themselves had no writing system.  That entire collection of traditions and hymns trace back to the reign of Pachacuti.

Pachacuti was the king of South America’s incredible Inca civilization from A. D. 1438 to 1471.  According to Philip Ainsworth Means, late authority on Andean antiquities, it was Pachacuti who brought the Inca Empire to its finest flowering.  Pachacuti built Cuzco and Machu Pichu to worship the Inti–his sun god.  Later in his life after meditation and thought and maybe influence from the Holy Spirit he decided that Inti could not be the one true God.

Pachacuti pointed out that “He pointed out how that luminary always follows a set path, performs definite tasks, and keeps certain hours as does a laborer.”  If the sun is god why doesn’t he do anything original?  Why could the sun, if it were god and no mere created thing, be dimmed by a passing cloud.  After thinking this over he decided that the sun could not be god and that the true god must have created the sun.  This brings us again to the purpose of this book which is to show that God has shown men their need for Him and prepared their hearts for the Word of God if only we care to preach it to them.  The Bible says in Acts 14:16-17:

Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.  Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

Pachacuti took the testimony he himself had derived directly from creation and aligned it with his own culture’s almost extinct memory of Viracocha–the Lord, the omnipotent Creator of all things.  Pachacuti recalled also that his own father, Hatun Tupac, once claimed to receive counsel in a dream from Viracocha.  In this dream Viracocha reminded Hatun Tupac that he was truly the Creator of all things.  His father foolishly misinterpreted the dream and renamed himself Viracocha.  Pachacuti realized that his father had not taken the truth to the proper extent and decided that the worship of the sun had to stop.  He called a council of the leaders of the nation to tell them why he believed that Inti could not be God.

In that council Pachacuti presented his doubts about Inti in the “three sentences”:  1. Inti cannot be universal if, while giving light to some, he withholds it from others.  2. He cannot be perfect if he can never remain at ease, resting.  3. Nor can he be all powerful when the smallest cloud may cover him.

Pachacuti then described Viracocha as follows:
“He is ancient, remote, supreme, and uncreated.  Nor does he need the gross satisfaction of a consort.  He manifests himself as a trinity when he wishes…otherwise only heavenly warriors and archangels surround his loneliness.  He created all peoples by his “word” as well as all huacas (spirits).  He is man’s Fortunus, ordaining his years and nourishing him.  He is indeed the very principle of life, for he warms the folk through his created son, Punchao [the sun disk, which was somehow distinct from Inti]  He is a bringer of peace and an orderer.  He is in his own being blessed and has pity on men’s wretchedness.  He alone judges and absolves them and enables them to combat their evil tendencies.  He instructed his people to view Inti only as a respected Kinsman being a fellow created entity.  All prayer was to be directed to Viracocha with the deepest awe and humility.  

The Incas also believed a vague prophecy that one day Viracocha would bring them blessing from the west by sea.  What would have happened if real men of God had arrived in South America instead of Pizarro who came to murder, rape, and steal.  The religion that came with them from Spain was worse than what Pachacuti in his ignorance was teaching.  I believe that God was preparing hearts for the gospel and that we could have had a great revival if only the church had obeyed the word sooner.  If only God’s people had of been as concerned for souls as the Spanish were for gold.

 Peru was under Spanish control from the days of Pizarro in the early 1530s until her liberation by San Martin.  Pizarro had wickedly kidnapped the Inca (chief or king) and held him for a ransom of gold and silver.  Even though the Inca’s subjects filled rooms with the gold and silver the Inca was viciously killed and the Spanish began to rule.

The first missionaries to the New World were Franciscans and Dominicans.  They arrived in Peru in 1532.  By 1555 the Catholics had taken “Christianity” over most of Latin America.

The Indians became “Christians” not because of a heart belief or even indoctrination but by force.  The Spaniards knew that to truly conquer the Indians they would have to change their religion and so proceeded to destroy the worship of the sun and the Incas who had ruled both politically and religiously.

Though outwardly the worship of plants, animals, objects and even the sun were eliminated it still forms a part of the Peruvian culture today.  Catholicism has been a master at adapting to the religion it finds in a society when it conquers.  It allows the people to take their old religion and to include it under new names and new ways as a part of the “Christian” religion.

At the time that Peru begins to seek her independence from Spain still 50% of the clergy and the large majority of bishops were Spanish born.  The Roman Catholic Church opposed the idea of independence from Spain.  On January 30, 1816 Pope Pius VII and on September 24, 1824 Pope Leo XII issued bulls against the independence movement in Latin America.

San Martin wanted to give liberty of worship but could not win the approval of the Peruvian congress.  Bolivar the other liberator also desired to give freedom to worship but was unable to bring about this reform.  The Peruvian government continued to recognize only the Catholic Church until 1860.

In Peru non-Roman Catholic worship was prohibited by law until 1836 even n the pain of death.[2]  Foreigners were given permission to conduct Protestant worship only among themselves as early as 1845.  In 1891 the Peruvian Supreme Court established the legality of Protestant worship for Peruvians provided the meetings were of an entirely private nature.  In 1929 the Peruvian president signed a law which made it illegal to give Protestant instruction even in schools which were run and financed by Protestants.  It was 1963 before Protestants could hold open air meetings and be buried freely everywhere in Peru.[3]

 The first Baptist to arrive in Peru was James Thomson. .  He was born in Creetown, Kircudbright County, Scotland, United Kingdom.  While still living in Scotland Thomson served as the assistant pastor of a Baptist Church in Leith, Edenburg, Scotland.

                     At about this time in England a man named Joseph Lancaster started a ministry to educate poor children.  His methods were employed by Thomson in South America.

            Lancaster’s goals were that every child receive a free education.  He allowed those who desired to do so to help him financially.  Lancaster wanted all the children to be able to read the Bible.  The King of England was so impressed with Lancaster’s work that he offered to sponsor it.  Lancaster had begun is schools in 1778 and by 1810 there were 50 schools with about 50,000 poor children enrolled.

            Once Lancaster had some personal problems his project was formed into the British and Foreign Society of Schools.  Lancaster then departed to the Americas where he founded schools in Caracas, Venezuela, New York, Philadelphia and Canada.  He died in a traffic accident in 1823 in New York.

            Lancaster’s methods are important for this study because our first Baptist missionary arrived in South America and used the Lancastrian system to educate students and do evangelistic work.  The Lancastarian system was to rent one large room and to fill it with students.  He then placed tables in the middle of the room and covered them with a coat of sand where the students could practice writing and drawing. This was necessary due to the fact that the majority of the students could not afford to buy paper or other writing or drawing materials.  He also used selections from the Word of God to teach reading.

            In each table he placed a second level student to operate as a monitor. The monitors studied from 8:30 to 10:30 am and then proceeded to teach the first level students.  The form of punishment used was to make the student stay on his knees or to place him n a cage that hung from the roof.[4]

Thomson’s church in Edinburgh had paid his fare out to Buenos Aires, Argentina and had given him his first year’s support as a missionary to South America. He went to South America as a representative of the British and Foreign School Society in 1818.[5] Their purpose was to start schools on the Lancasterian system which meant that that the pupils who had learned to read were used to teach others. After his first year Thomson became fully self supporting. He used two methods of approach. First was his school in which he printed large portions of the Scriptures in large type which was used as the reading material in his schools. The other method was that of direct distribution of the Scriptures and he was also instrumental in arranging the first translations of portions of Scripture into the Indian languages.

Thompson had great success in Argentine and later in Chile. While in Chile the great liberator of South America, San Martin invited him to come to Lima and start schools to help Peru. Thompson sailed from Valparaiso on June 18. He arrived in Callao on June 28, 1822. The same source quotes a letter from Thomson where he states the following; “The day that I arrived in the city of Lima I went to see San Martin and gave him my letters of introduction that I had brought from Chile. He opened one of them and upon reading it said, ‘Mr. Thompson, I am very happy to see you.’ He got up and gave me a strong hug. He said that he wouldn’t give me a lot of compliments but assured me of his great satisfaction and that he would do his part to help me carry forth the object that had brought me to Peru. The next day I was in my room when a carriage stopped outside and my servant boy came running in and shouting, ‘San Martin, San Martin.’ In just a minute he came into the room accompanied by one of his ministers. I wanted him to come into my apartment but he said that this room was good enough and took a seat in the first chair that he saw. We spoke of our schools and other similar matters for some time.” San Martin then immediately vacated the Dominican monastery of St. Thomas so he could start his school. Thomson had a much rougher time in Lima. There was no money to print his reading materials, they couldn’t even pay his salary, and the city was re-occupied by the royalist forces two times. In spite of all this he was able to establish three schools with over 300 students. Thompson sold 500 Spanish Bibles upon his arrival in Lima. [6]

There are several things that we can see from his ministry that we need to learn. First, he saw a need and met it therefore even the government was willing to help him. Second, he knew how to treat people in such a way as not to offend them and alienate them from him even though he was a foreigner and “non Catholic.” Third, it was his policy to help the South Americans help themselves. He was not financially independent of the people but rather depended on them for what he did. He was literally at their mercy. Fourth, he even sold the Scriptures at relatively realistic prices. Fifth, he believed that the reading of the Scriptures (after having been taught to read) would stimulate an inner, spontaneous reformation of the existing church.

We can also learn from his mistakes. First, he did not start a local church. The school was a good way to get an open door but he did not make a lasting affect or influence because he did school work and not church work. Second, he did not make a clean break with the Catholic Church. He did have doctrinal differences but he felt himself one with those Catholics who truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He thought that they could be saved and not leave the Catholic Church. He stated about Navarrete, who was a Catholic priest that helped him, that he was a very worthy priest, a lover of education and of the Bible. Third, he did not involve his local church or other Bible Believing churches to get the gospel out to this very needy land. Fourth, the Bible that he distributed were identical to the Roman Catholic Scio de San Miguel version and even included the Apocrypha with the Old Testament. The only difference apart from some printing errors was that the footnotes were omitted. Fifth, even though his ministry or schools were to have a tremendous effect for the next thirty years by giving the ability to read and the Scripture to the masses he never took real advantage of that by discipling them and forming them into local Baptist Churches. [7]

The majority of the missionaries that followed Thompson, the first non-Catholic missionary in the country, for the next one hundred years were non-Baptists.  Thomson had stayed in Peru less than three years leaving in 1824.  God sent great men to Peru to work.  Men who’s contribution was too great to place a value on it.  The next nearly hundred years saw a great lack of Baptist work.  In the early 1920’s Annie Soper arrived in Peru.  She felt God’s call but due to her record of bad health no mission would accept her.  She then went to Canada since it was a step closer to Peru.  While working in Canada she got an invitation to go to Lima to work as a Sister Tutor in the hospitals of Lima.  The nuns were not all that pleased to have a “Protestant” nurse working with them.  On one occasion she became very suddenly ill with symptoms which pointed unmistakably to poisoning.   The health of her American colleague was so seriously affected that she had to return home.  Anne recovered and continued working in Lima.  While there she heard about the town of Moyobamba.  It was a very difficult trip but they rode into Moyobamba on July 27, 1922.  She was a member of the Rye Lane Baptist Church of Peckham, England.  She and several other single ladies worked with the Regions Beyond Missionary Union of London.  They did not plant Independent Baptist Churches but did help to spread the gospel.  God greatly used them and others in many parts of Peru.  They were sent out of their local churches to take the gospel message to the world really before there were many Baptist mission agencies.   Anne was still in Peru at least until 1954. 

Reverend and Mrs. Carter were the first resident Baptist missionaries to arrive in Iquitos.  They arrived in late 1925 or 1926.  They began to hold meetings in their home and gathered a small nucleus of believers.  They were forced to return to the US the following year due to Mrs. Carter’s poor health.  The work was turned over to other missionaries from their mission, Baptist Faith Mission.[8] 

On March 27, 1929 the Lauriault family arrived with the Baptist Faith Mission.[9]  Other families came and went due to sickness often brought on by the intense heat and humidity of the Peruvian jungle.  Little is known of the service of this family and the others during this time.

On June 21, 1935, the Reverend and Mrs. Richard Hallum of the same mission arrived in Iquitos.  They purchased property and founded the First Baptist church in 1936.  The men who had been saved and served with Reverend Carter joined him in this endeavor.[10] 

The William Scherer family and Mr. Ernest Olsen began working on the river below Iquitos in 1930. The first continual Baptist work done in the Iquitos area was that led by William Scherer who became affiliated with the Association of Baptist for Evangelism in the Orient which later became what we know of as the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) in 1939.[11]  The Henry Stahlman family who had formerly been with the South American Indian Mission also became associated with ABWE in 1943.  The Stahlman family arrived in Iquitos on December 19, 1929.[12] These men building on the foundation left by others took an interdenominational work and formed “Belén Templo Evangelico. This was the first Baptist church in the state of Loreto and the eastern jungles of Peru.  This church is still in existence today.[13]  Stahlman was from a Baptist church in Brookville, Pennsylvania.  The Stahlman family returned to the US to pastor a church in Pennsylvania and turned the church over to Joaquin Silva who pastored the church until the 1980s.[14]

   According to Don Bond Mr. Bob Smith of Maranatha Baptist Mission was the first Baptist missionary to work in Ica.  Mr. Smith started the Tinguiña Baptist Temple around the year 1968.  The leadership of this church was turned over to Guillermo de la Cruz who had graduated the Bible institute that the Maranatha Missionaries had started in Huancayo.  Maranatha had five families serving in the Huancayo area.[15]

 

 

Kessler, Juan B. A. Conflict in Missions, A History of Protestantism in Peru and Chile. Denver, Colorado: iAcademicBooks, 2001.

I.                     Change your way of thinking!

A.                 Think like a general in a war.  How would he go about taking the city

B.                 Think like a business man (the Coca Cola Company, McDonalds).  How will you reach all corners of the world, expanding your business and money

C.                Don’t go as a pastor or evangelist.  Go as a Church planting missionary!

D.                Do not do things that the nationals will not be able to reproduce!

E.                 Decide now to train nationals!

F.                 Do not do the work yourself!

G.                Do not have a defeatist attitude!  That will not work here.  It has to work because it is the Bible way.  Ephesians 4:11 and following.

H.                 Do not be a one church, one term missionary!

 

II.                   Spy out the Land

 

Step one on your journey to reach a country with the gospel is to learn all you can about the country.  Many missionaries fail not for a lack of ability or knowledge but for lack of a strategy.  They do not know what they are going to do.  They have a good heart.  They want to do right but since they do not what to do, how to do it, or what they are facing they go to the field and do not accomplish what they really wanted to accomplish.

 

Before you go as a missionary you must know something about the country where you are going.   The idea of spying out the land is not something that we at Macedonia World Baptist Missions, Inc.  developed but comes straight from God. 

 

In Numbers 13:1-3 we see that God told Moses to spy out the land.  “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land ofCanaan , which I give unto the children of Israel : of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.  And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel .”  In Numbers 13:18-20 we see:  “And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it begood or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.” 

 

1.                  They were to search out the land.

2.                  The spies were men, rulers, heads of the children of Israel , leaders

3.                  There were to check out the people.

4.                  They were to develop a strategy to conquer the land.

 

You will be completely unable to develop a strategy and know how to go about reaching your country without knowing all you can about the area.  We need to have the attitude that a general would have or a man of war.  You don’t go where you do not know what is there and how it is happening.  Before you leave for the field you need to investigate your country and know at least the following things about your country. 

 

• The geography of the country. 
  • Climate
  • Crops that are produced
  • Type of roads
• The politics and history of the country
  • Type of government
  • Social development
  • Conflicts
  • Constitutions
  • Attitude towards the government
  • Attitude towards North Americans
  • Communism, socialism, democracy
  • Respect for the law
  • History of unrest
  • How the country functions
  • How the country got to where it is
• The economics and development of the country
  • Salary of the people
  • Menu that the people have
  • Type of housing
  • Health, hospitals etc
  • Banking, how will you get money,
  • How stable is the economy
  • Main source of income
• The demographics
  • Where do the people live
  • How are the classes divided
  • How many have cars, telephones, TVs, cell phones, etc
• The psychology
  • What they are like
  • Are they organized
  • Open or closed
  • Warm or cold
  • Trusting or distrusting
  • Family situation
  • Attitude towards missionaries.
  • What have missionaries done that has caused hard feelings and problems
• The spiritual condition
  • How many fundamental independent Baptist Churches are there in the city
  • What missionaries are working in the city, from what boards, what type of ministry do they have
  • What national missionaries are working in the city
  • Christian bookstores?
  • Christian radio or television?
  • Other types of churches and ministries in the city or area
  • History of missions in the country
  • Church history in the country
• What you will need to know to live there as comfortably as possible

 

Frequently Asked Questions for those preparing to go to Peru as Missionaries

 

1.                  What things should I take with me to Peru ?

2.                  What do I wait to buy in Peru ?

3.                  What are the pros and cons of taking a container of my personal items to Peru ?

4.                  What about my visa and paper work?

5.                  What kind of house can I expect to live in?

6.                  What is shipping my goods to Peru going to cost?

7.                  What kind of electric current will we have?

8.                  Should I take a survey trip to Peru ?

9.                  Should I take a vehicle from the states or purchase one in Peru ?

10.             What will it cost me to set up my house in Peru ?

11.             How long will it be before I learn the language?

12.             What kind of grocery stores do they have or how do you buy your groceries?

13.             How do we prepare the food that we get at the market?

14.             What kind of food will we be eating?

15.             What is the weather like?

16.             How safe is it?

17.             Will my children be safe?

18.             Can we have a pet for our children?

19.             Can we take our dog with us?

20.             How long before I can start my own ministry?

21.             What kind of vehicle will we be able to buy in Peru ?

22.             How will we be able to communicate with home?

23.             Who will my children play with?

24.             What activities will my children be able to participate in?

25.             How will we get our mail?

26.             What preparations can we make before leaving for the field?

27.             How are the medical facilities and medical care?

28.             What if I have to take medicine on a regular basis (i.e. insulin, etc.)?

29.             How will I get my money, banking, etc.?

30.             Where will my small children be while I am in language school

31.             Will we get sick?

32.             How do we send our books (personal library) to Peru ?

33.             What are the pros and cons of having a baby in Peru ?

34.             Why do I need a will?

35.             What kind of services are available should as internet, cell phones, radios, etc.

·        Sources of information

o       Get in touch with missionaries on that field

•  
  • http://www.worldatlas.com/geoquiz/thelist.htm
  • http://bubl.ac.uk/link/countries.html
  • http://www.proteacher.com/090029.shtml
  • http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
  • http://www.missionaries.org/
  • http://www.infoplease.com
  • http://world-evangelism.com/missionaries-countries.htm
  • http://www.geographic.org/countries/countries.html
  • http://www.countryreports.org/
  • http://www.atlapedia.com/
  • http://education.yahoo.com/reference/factbook/countrylist/index.html

 

III.         Choose the right city!           

A.                 It should be a strategic City, a crossroads of the region or the country

B.                 It should be a large city, people center

C.                Paul developed his ministry around principal cities

D.                People are moving into large cities and visiting them

E.                 Yes the smaller cities need to be reached but can be reached by training and sending nationals out.

F.                 It is far more intelligent to go to a central city and train men to go out.  I can’t be everywhere, all the time.

 

III.         Choose the right part of the city

a.      Middle Class people

b.      First class church reaching all the classes

c.      Don’t go to the poorest people or garbage dumps etc.

 

IV.        Biblical basis for the strategy that we have

·        Ephesians 4:11-16

·        II Timothy 2:2

·        Matthew 28:19-20

·        Acts 19:9-10

V.                 Begin praying for a man to take the work from day one.

 

VI.               Count down the days you have left

a.      Win souls

b.      Train all you get as far and deep as you can

c.      Watch for those who want to know and go further

 

VII.              Be sure you can cast your vision

a.      You must know when you arrive what you want to have at the end of this term

b.      Attendance or number of souls saved is not the goal

c.      The goal is to find and train those who will carry on the ministry

d.      Follow the example of Jesus, he went about his ministry but looked for men to be with him and learn from him, to catch his vision, he tested those men

 

VIII.            Refrain from ministries that produce numbers but not leaders.

a.      Sunday School, children’s ministries, showing films, etc.

b.      Numbers are not the goal but the result of an effective ministry.

c.      Do not do radio, TV, Children’s ministries, children’s homes, etc. 

 

IX.               Get the right goal—training leaders

a.      Get the right attitude, they must be trained, there is no good material to start with

b.      This type of training will require that you spend a great deal of time with them.

c.      You will have to teach character, how to live and be

 

X.                 Every ministry you do should only be done as a training ground for your men

 

XI.               Learn to make others a success

 

XII.              Think of yourself as the coach and not a player

a.      Recruit the team

b.      Train and equip the team

c.      Let them play

d.      Look for young men 15 to 25 years of age primarily so that you can train them.

e.      Remember you can never do it alone

f.        Jesus trained men

g.      Paul trained men

h.      Moses divided his work

i.        God made folks with differing abilities

 

XIII.            Pyramid of ministries

a.      Priority is to be a leader trainer

b.      Public is Church planter

c.      Personal is to be a soul winner

d.      Private is Devotions, personal separation family etc

The following information comes from an article that you can access by clicking here!

Questions to ask yourself when you fail:

• What wrong assumptions, attitudes, or habits led to his downfall?
• Have I adopted some of those same assumptions, attitudes, or habits in my life?
• What can I do differently to avoid the same pitfall?

Questions to ask others:

• Why do you think I failed?
• What wrong attitudes or assumptions do you think led to my failure?
• Who could provide me wise counsel to help me recover from this failure?

Questions to ask yourself: 

• Have I really failed or just fallen short of an unrealistic goal?
• Is my failure primarily the result of other people, adverse circumstances, or my own wrong choices?
• Whom do I know who has made the same mistake and recovered from it?

Questions to ask God:

• Am I doing something in my life that displeases you?
• What changes could I make in my life that would please you the most?
• Am I more concerned with your approval or the approval of other people?