Remembering A Dear Friend

I am traveling, not overseas but in the Western US today, so I thought I would blog about a couple of significant blessings I have received today.  

First, I got a letter from the leader of the Lahu church that they had conducted a training in a local church in Chiang  Mai, a first for the area. He sent me some photos and in them I saw that a significant professor at the school who has not previously been involved attended the workshop. It is a real breakthrough since he has been the preaching prof at the school for some time and is well respected. The impact of this could be significant for the Lahu church.

Secondly, I had the sad news this week that a dear friend, pastor Jeff Taguchi, had died suddenly. He was a man I discipled and mentored beginning in Las Vegas 25 years ago. We continued to talk occasionally over the years, and he had called me on Tuesday night to ask some questions about the ministry he was a part of in California. He was an associate pastor in a Chinese church, although he was Japanese. A few hours after our conversation, he had a stroke and died. He was only 52 and it was a shock. I was traveling to Spokane for meetings and decided to swing down for his funeral, which was tonight.  

Jeff always affectionately called me “Boss”, stemming from the time he first started ministry with us in Las Vegas as a volunteer with the youth. I rarely talked to him when he did not remind me that “all I am today is because of you”. I was always a bit embarrassed by that feeling that really I had done little in his life other than give him some time, listen, and offer words of advice when I could, pointing him to the Word and to Jesus. I really did not know what he actually did in ministry, though I knew he was a pastor, and we had even visited him once in Taiwan when he was pastoring there.  But I had never really seen him in action.  

The funeral tonight was like nothing I have ever seen before. Hundreds of people came, Chinese, Anglos and some Japanese. They had to set up chairs in the aisles. It really was a massive celebration of this amazing man’s life and ministry. The impact of this man’s life was far greater than I had ever imagined. Testimony after testimony was given of how Jeff impacted people by believing in what God could do in them, usually before they believed it themselves. He lived a joyful, smiling, enthusiastic and positive life that captured so many and led them to be his disciples. Dozens stood up when it was asked who he had discipled. It was obvious that this whole church had been profoundly influenced by his life. It was said that Jeff said he only did what was fun, and living for Jesus was always fun. When asked why he was always smiling, he said he had the best job in the world, he got to tell people about Jesus all day.

Again on Tuesday night, when I spoke with Jeff, he had said that all he was, was because of me. It struck me deeply to realize how little investment in him I had really made, and how great the impact was, really how greatly God had used that in his life. I know of course that there were many other influences and people who impacted him. But he, in his last hours had pointed to me. As the night went on, for nearly 3 hours of celebration, it became more and more apparent to me that this man was greater than I in so many ways. I was actually inspired to be more than I am, to be more like him. I asked God to make me more like “my disciple”. It is a wonderment and a testimony of God’s grace when those you disciple become greater than you, more like Christ, more effective in many ways. My disciple has in some ways become my model. I pray that is the case for all of Jeff’s disciples.  

I am not sure I will ever be the same after tonight. Jeff did not remember me because I was a great pastor or preacher. He remembered me because I gave him time, an listening ear and a few words of wisdom and encouragement. God used that to help him start on his way to becoming great; not perfect, but godly. One person testified that Jeff said, ”the greatest gift you can give someone is time, for you cannot love them unless you give them time”. I am inspired to give myself more fully, with more time to more people. Who knows what great things God might do as a result. Perhaps a few more Jeff Taguchi’s might result to the praise of His glorious grace.   

Al

Traveling Home

Friday, July 4, 2014: We completed our workshop on Thursday evening and were very pleased with the overall results. Several of the students gave excellent sermons showing the great progress they had made. We were all pretty exhausted by the pace of the week but glad for good outcomes. Working with Mike and Cathy Maggart was a real delight.  

This morning we had a debrief with Marting, our Lahu leader and translator. He is so dedicated to what we are doing and growing so much himself in his study and preaching skills. In spite of his busy schedule he plans to visit each training location that our pastors will be using to pass the training on. He says this is one of his top priorities because he can see how it will affect the Lahu church far into the future. I have such respect for him. He gave us good input on a couple of things we need to improve so the Lahu can understand better. Those ideas will help us teach others around the globe better as well.  

Edie and I are now in Bangkok spending the night in a transit hotel getting ready to fly home tomorrow. We will arise at 3:30  am and fly out at 6 am. We dread the 24 hour flight home especially starting at such an early hour. We are hoping it helps us sleep on the plane and start getting in sync with the Midwest time again.  

For those of you who prayed for us we especially thank you. My foot did quite well with only mild discomfort even with standing barefoot on hard floors much of the day. The Lord helps us even in those small ways. Thank you for the help of your prayers as well.

Al

Serving with Joy and Contentment

We have been here in Thailand for 5 days and have been basking in the contrast of surroundings from India. It is so green and a chorus of birds sing to us each morning. I love it. Even more enjoyable is the rich fellowship we have with the Callahan's, who are missionaries here. Mike and Kathi Maggart are also with us this time, and are so like minded with us. Mike has been a real sport with all the unexpected changes in the training. It doesn't always go by the text book. Kathi very graciously helped out with my first and largest English class. I really appreciated her servant's heart especially since her heart 's desire was to be in the training. I completely understand because it is so good.

My classes went well. This time I was more relaxed and really could enjoy teaching the kids. Then we did some knitting, which was not as fun for these kids. But that might be due to the heat and high humidity. Even though they are used to it, it is harder to sleep at night and go strong all day where there isn't AC. 

At the end of the day one day, I was in the office waiting, doing some Internet stuff, and the young director of the school came in to talk for a 1/2 hr. He asked me questions, practicing his English. I really enjoyed that and praised God that he sent that young man to visit. Not long afterwards the guys were done, and then the Sprenger's arrived to take us and the Maggart's for dinner. Our fellowship with them was so uplifting and encouraging as we mutually shared the ups and downs of what we are doing. Such a beautiful end to a very fulfilling day for all of us. It is good and right to serve the Lord in the way he has called you with joy and contentment.

I am thankful to say I am continuing to feel well. The heat hasn't made us feel bad either. We have 2 more days of training and then Friday we begin our two day journey home. We understand it has rained a lot and there is flooding in Fort Dodge, but our home is fine. We will have to see if the roof received any damage from the hail storm a couple days ago. The weeds are probably having a field day. I can't imagine, I don't want to. 

Thank you my dear friends for listening to our stories and praying for us. We so appreciate it as we often and in many ways face the evil one and contend with his deceptive devises.

God' grace and peace be with you abundantly, 

Edie

The Best Laid Plans

Today was an interesting day. We were supposed to start to have our students make presentations. I did the devotional illustrating how to study Mark 1:21-39. I thought it went well and was excited to begin hearing from the students. They were supposed to prepare sermon presentations before they came to the workshop, but we found out that none of them had. I was shocked. It turns out that they did not distribute the material until they came to the workshop on Monday, and nobody had done the homework. They explained that it is not possible to get the material to the students if not handed out during the previous workshop, something they had not told me. Most live in remote areas without email or a way to receive the materials. Our whole scheduled was ruined, or so I thought. I accepted it fairly well and we gave them the morning to work on their presentations. After one hour they all said they were done. I was once again shocked. How can you do all the study necessary to preach a sermon in one hour? This was a helpful thing to see so I could address this issue with them. God does know what He is doing. If they had done their homework before they came, I never would have discovered this and would not have been able to encourage them to work harder in study.  

We had asked them yesterday to tell us the significant problems in the Lahu church and the number one issue was the fact that many Lahu Christians live no differently than the unsaved. Mike and I tried to decide how to address this issue biblically, and finally decided on a couple of passages, Ephesians 4:17 –24 and Titus 3:3-7. We had no prep time so it was designed to be a group Bible study on these passages. Mike took Ephesians and did an amazing job finishing in a way that led perfectly  into what I was going to do. After Titus I went on to Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 to show how the Spirit uses the Word to renew our minds, and how it is critical for them to preach the Word so their people can experience this since so many of them are illiterate. I just don’t know how it could have gone better even if we planned for weeks. God is so good to lead us in teaching these men in ways that really helps them. I think they really understood the importance of what we are teaching them for the first time.

Marting, the leader, told me that he had been trying to use our approach in his preaching. One thing that he noticed is that people were actually interested in hearing what he said and were paying attention. I have noticed at the chapels that almost no one pays attention when the speaker preaches. I assume that is because they have all heard the sermons before. But when one shows them what God is actually saying in His Word, they get very interested. These are the times when it is so much fun to do what we do. 

Tomorrow will be another interesting day. I do not know how we are going to adjust the schedule to fit the time we have but I am certain God does. And, His way works just fine. Thanks so much for praying for us. Today is one illustration of how your prayers help us do what God has called us to do, and to do it with joy.

Al

Thai Training

We are enjoying our stay in Thailand. We had a very restful and refreshing weekend with no responsibilities, simply enjoying the company of good friends. It is quite hot and muggy, but not unbearable. We went to church in an English church on Sunday that is attended mostly by missionaries. Unfortunately an associate was preaching and gave one of the worst expositions I have ever heard. Mike said afterward, “That is why we need Pathways, isn’t it?”  

Today, Monday, was really quite pleasant, although we do get a bit damp teaching with only fans on us. But the day went beautifully. Our teammates Mike and his wife Cathy have been a great blessing. We began our teaching late this morning because most of the students were an hour late, which we had expected, so it was no problem. It is difficult for them to get here earlier since they are pastors and can’t leave on Sunday, and Mondays often bring surprises for them.  

We began asking for a report about how they have passed on the training to others. I was especially concerned because this has been a problem in the past with some having not passed it on at all for various reasons. But this time they had all been training, and most of the groups are now only one workshop behind (this is their fourth) and they plan to all be through #3 by August. I was thrilled and they were happy to have accomplished what seemed impossible to them last year. Some of the trainings have gone three layers deep and all the pastors are training in their own villages. The director of the Lahu denomination is our translator, and he is teaching the 2nd and 3rd year students in the school here the same curriculum. He is also requiring all the Lahu pastors to attend the training at one level or another. We believe all this is going to have a great impact on the Lahu people.

We learned once again how complicated it is to translate our teaching into the Lahu language which is a simple agrarian language. We were teaching the different kinds of literature in the Bible and included stories, law and prophecy. We did an exercise on Exodus 17:8-13 about Moses lifting his arms in the battle with Amalek. Mike asked them what type of literature this was and they answered prophecy. We had noticed the translator had a difficult time translating the word prophecy. We found out that they do not have a word for prophecy in their language so they say it is “what a prophet speaks”. So because Exodus is written by Moses a prophet, the passage surely must be prophecy. It took awhile to explain that this was a story and why, but it was a good learning experience for us all. 

We did an exercise this afternoon where we asked them to list the most important problems or difficulties in the Lahu church. Some of the answers were about the loss of culture, but the first one was the most important. It is a problem that is common all over the world. They said Lahu Christians live no differently than the people around them and often rely on cultural solutions rather than going to God or the Bible in times of need. Doesn’t that sound familiar? We will study some passages of scripture tomorrow and hope to help them find answers to this need in the text. 

Tonight we had dinner with the Callahan's and their neighbors at a new little restaurant. We noticed that the owner had a Christian fish on his car and finally asked him about it. He said he is investigating becoming a Christian. It seemed a bit odd that he had the fish before he actually became a Christian. He had a dream about a white church with a white cross and asked some Christian friends about it. They are sharing the gospel with him. Mike had a chance to briefly share with him, and he was so open and thankful. Without the fish on the car we would never have asked or known about his search.   

The students seem very happy to be here and we expect to have a great week training. Edie and I are both enjoying good health so are thankful for that. I am struggling a little bit with planter fasciitis in one foot and it is a bit difficult to be on my bare feet all day on the tile floor.  But it is manageable so I am content, but would appreciate your prayers for my one foot. Thanks.

Al