Scott’s Thursday-Friday seminar in Surkhet ended well, he preached to a large and receptive crowd at church on Saturday morning, and he and Mohan dropped in on a Hindu wedding before heading back down to Nepalgunj Saturday evening. On Sunday he led an abbreviated RDM seminar in Dang, and now he’s about to head home!
Sunday’s Prayer Requests:
1. God to make a way for the pastors who are eager to become disciple-makers to get the experience and training they need. 2. Safety and good connections for Scott as he travels home (four flights over the next two days); he and all his stuff to be protected and arrive intact and on time. 3. Good health for Scott; grace for both of us as we transition back into “normal” (what’s THAT?!?) life at home in Christmas prep mode. = )
Sunday’s Details:
Much has happened in the past couple of days, and Scott has sent us a lot of pictures and information.
Pastor Mohan recorded a 45-second audio update for us about the 2-day Surkhet seminar that concluded on Friday. You can listen to it here. (You may have to click “Download” and then press “Play.”) Pastors and church leaders crying out for one disciple
The Saturday morning church service – at the same church where the RDM seminar was held – was packed, with nearly 500 people present, almost all seated on the floor. Here’s a short video clip Scott captioned “Passionate Worship.”
It was after noon by the time Scott started preaching. He taught on forgiveness, what it means, the Ten Most Powerful Words, and the freedom it brings. He also acted out an example of what happens to a monkey when he won’t let go of a desired object and related that to what happens to us when we won’t let go of an offense. The people really grasped that concept, and afterward, many stood to say they would forgive the person who had hurt them. Scott hopes they will follow through on those decisions.
Preaching on forgiveness
Before leaving Surkhet on Saturday afternoon, Mohan and Scott dropped in on the wedding of a distant relative of Mohan’s father-in-law. Scott said, “It was a Hindu wedding, and the Hindu priest was officiating. They had to circle the banana shrine seven times.” He sent us a couple of pictures.
The bride and groom. Possibly the banana shrine?
Scott said, “They had to circle a thing, and then they were dropping burning things and putting stuff on their heads… all kinds of stuff, [to me] really crazy.” They didn’t stay long at the wedding.
I wondered how long Hindu weddings are, compared to Christian weddings, so I asked Google. Here’s a comment about Nepali weddings, copied from <thebigfatindianwedding.com>. “The pre-wedding part of Nepali weddings is the calm before the storm. Vedic Hindu Nepali wedding rites are extended sometimes over four days, not including the events that come before the wedding day. During the ceremony, multiple gifts are exchanged and blessings are invoked, each in their own ritual.”
That’s… well… different.
Scott’s and Mohan’s trip back down the mountain that afternoon was “uneventful,” which I assume means there were no untoward encounters with tigers. However, there was at least one traffic jam.
Traffic jam!
Saturday evening Scott was able to give some toys to the kids at the orphanage, and the super bubble wands were a big hit. Here are a few seconds of video of two attempts. It was getting dark, so the video’s not real clear, but I think the kids were having fun, as was Scott. = )Then on Sunday, Scott led a one-day DM seminar in a place called Dang. He said, “We had about 90 at today’s meeting and most of them were pastors.”
Mohan interpreting as Scott teaches Many pastors at the Dang RDM seminar
As you know, Scott will teach anybody who’s breathing about raising disciple-makers, but because pastors can often have the most significant impact, they are his primary target audience, so a group that’s mostly pastors always invigorates him. Lunch is served Taking pictures of the “Believer vs. Disciple” slide on the screen
While I was typing this, he just messaged me that, “18 signed up for a DM group yesterday.” Pretty exciting! And at the end of that Dang seminar, Scott was officially FINISHED with all his teaching sessions for this trip!
At 6:15 PM Monday in Nepal (6:30 AM Monday MO time) he will begin his long journey home, flying from Nepalgunj, Nepal to Kathmandu, Nepal to Doha, Qatar to Chicago, USA(!) to Springfield, Missouri, where he will land at 9:30 PM Tuesday. That’s a total of 39 hours, plus about an hour’s drive time on each end, so… it takes about 41 hours to travel from Mohan’s home to ours.
An hour before Scott was scheduled to leave Nepalgunj for Kathmandu, he sent me this text.
“Flight to Kathmandu appears to have been canceled. We can’t get any information about it by phone or online, so we are rushing to the airport. No worries. God is fighting for us!”
Then a few minutes later, this.
“I got to the airport at 5 pm for my 6:15 pm flight. They told me my flight was canceled and moved me to the 4:25 pm flight that has been delayed. So I will actually arrive [in Kathmandu] earlier than my scheduled flight. God is so good! 😎”
He did arrive early, so instead of a seven-hour layover, he had an eight-hour layover. Not especially recreational. One of Pastor Mohan’s brothers-in-law was traveling with Scott to Kathmandu. He’s trying to arrange to go to college in the U.S. The two of them passed the time in a coffee shop near the airport. They were there so long that they ended up eating THREE meals there.
When the time finally came to board the plane for his five-and-a-half hour flight to Doha, we had this text conversation.
S: Upgraded to business class. 🤩 I think that means I can lay down flat for a few hours!
P: How did you manage that?
S: Grace and dashing good looks.
S: Well, maybe just grace.
P: Did you ask or did they offer?
S: They offered. I didn’t ask.
He was able to sleep lying down for three-and-a-half hours on that flight! And when he initially boarded the next plane for his 16-hour flight to Chicago, the seat beside him was empty! I do hope it stayed that way. He will land in Chicago about 3:15 PM, and then it’s just one more four-and-a-half hour layover followed by just a hop, skip, and a jump to Springfield!!!
Please pray for Scott’s continued safety and good health.
I need to send you a special prayer update from Take The Challenge.
There was an earthquake in western Nepal around midnight Friday local time. There are over 150 confirmed dead and countless others buried alive under the rubble. You can read the details here.
Some of our TTC partners are in the area affected by the earthquake. They arrived in the area last night to check on the families and those who have been injured and/or whose homes have been destroyed.
Please pray:
For rescue workers to save any and all people still trapped under the rubble.
For those who have been injured to be healed.
For God to provide for those whose homes have been destroyed.
For no significant aftershocks to be experienced in the nation of Nepal.
That this tragedy would cause people to forsake their Hindu idols and embrace the one and only true God.
Come hear how Take The Challenge (TTC) is holding up the hands of pastors around the world and how your gifts and prayers are not only supplying the needs of the saints but are overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
The banquet will be held at New Beginnings Fellowship in Hollister, MO, and will include an update on God’s work around the world through TTC, a wonderful dinner, and an opportunity to join hands with what God is doing.
Details for 2023 Annual Missions Banquet
Date: Sept 7, 2023
For more information and/or tickets, contact us at the telephone number above.
As many of you know, our calling and mandate from God is to train and equip pastors to raise disciple-makers (DM) in their churches. We speak of this often and yet sometimes the results may seem intangible to people here in America. Today’s update shows the very tangible results of our efforts to raise disciple-makers among the nations.
Jesus explained that the true mark of a disciple is that he or she bears fruit. And we know that to the Father, the most important fruit is the fruit of the harvest (souls). In the past month, three of our DM groups in Kenya studied the Pressing Toward the Mark lesson on Evangelism in their weekly meeting. Following the lesson, they decided to act on what they learned. For one hour, those 25 or so pastors and leaders from these three groups went to the street to share the gospel with everyone they could find. During this time, the disciple-makers talked to 172 people, 16 of whom accepted Jesus and were born again. Hallelujah!!!
We are also seeing an expansion of the ministry in Nepal. Three new DM groups have been started by two of the pastors Scott has been training there, so now for the first time, we are raising disciple-makers in the Nepali language! Hallelujah again!!!
Scott will be traveling to three East African countries in July and August. As mentioned in prior updates, Kenyan TTC team members have been training pastors in nearby nations in preparation for Scott’s arrival. Please pray especially for the ministry in Rwanda. A Rwandan pastor and his wife who attended Scott’s 3-day pastors conference in Nairobi last year said that if these concepts had been implemented in the church of Rwanda, the 800,000 people killed in the genocide of 1994 would never have perished. I didn’t know this, but that fighting was between two Christian groups! As one African church leader profoundly put it, “The church in Africa is one mile wide and one inch deep. We desperately need the teaching on discipleship.”
And finally, our annual Take the Challenge Missions Banquet will be held the Thursday after Labor Day. Please save the date – September 7, 2023 – and make your plans now to join us for this special evening. Call or text Kathy at 417-263-0620 to reserve your spot or sign up on our Facebook event today.
Current Praise Reports:
16 born again through DM group members in Kenya.
Volunteers stepping up to lead the TTC Banquet planning team.
Multiplication of disciple-makers in India and Kenya.
Current Prayer Requests:
Financial provision for ministry in two new nations this summer – Rwanda ($3000) and Uganda ($2000).
Nepali pastors to embrace the disciple-making process in three new DM groups.
God’s guidance in the planning and preparation for Scott’s East Africa trip next month.
Thanks for continuing to hold up our arms through your prayers and support. We are constantly amazed at the incredible doors of ministry the Lord is opening before us. Together we can fulfill Jesus’ command to GO and make disciples of all nations.
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