March Monthly Missions Focus - The Nelsons

By Amber Bruce

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. … [Missions] is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

-John Piper, Let The Nations Be Glad!

Revelation 7:9-10 gives us a vision of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation standing blameless before God and praising Him. This is the ultimate goal of the church. We want to make disciples who will one day be among that throng, rejoicing in God’s presence for eternity. As the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27-30), we each have a part to play in reaching that goal. Some will minister here while praying for and giving to those who are serving around the world. Others will be sent out to go and make disciples of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

Jeff and Jacqulyn Nelson, Missionaries to Uruguay

Worship, therefore, is the fuel and the goal in missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory.

But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship preceded the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish.

-John Piper, Let The Nations Be Glad!

Last month we highlighted the work of Amy Brock-Devine, who went out from Bethel to Thailand. This month, we want you to meet another couple who has been sent out from Bethel in the last two years. Jeff and Jacqulyn are not afraid to “dream big after 40” – they are making the second half of their lives count for Christ! They are able to commend God to those they serve because they truly cherish Him. Here is their story in their own words:

Our work in Uruguay

After raising our financial and prayer support, going through mission and Bible training, and spending this last year learning Spanish, we are thrilled to finally be in Uruguay!

Uruguay

During our first year here, we’re focusing on developing solid relationships, learning the culture and sharpening our language skills in the castellano dialect of Spanish. We’re presently working in a Baptist Church of about 40 people (including children). Our long-term goal is to assist the Uruguayan church to plant new churches. We also desire to develop an inter-denominational discipleship ministry. We want to nurture and equip the body of Christ in Uruguay, so that they may really know the One True and Living God.

The churches here are young, and are attended mostly by first-generation believers, many of whom have believed a gospel that is completely focused on outward works. Discipleship is almost non-existent. Because of this, most believers do not have a solid foundation in the Scriptures, nor an understanding of how God wants to personally transform each of them into the image of His Son. Few are obedient to the Word of God and few are living transformed lives.

As part of our first year’s work, we’ll complete an “On Target” project for our mission agency (United World Mission). The objective of this is to observe behavior, learn what Uruguayans value (what is good or best), and at the deepest level, what they believe to be true (their worldview). In November, we rented a car and traveled to the capital cities of each of the 19 departments (states) in Uruguay, to meet the people and learn from them. As many of them shared their beliefs about God and life in general, we could really see the effects of 90+ years of atheism. Most of them tend to have very fatalistic views, and trust absolutely no one.

One of the key pieces of advice that we were given during cross-cultural training, was to “enter our new culture as a learner” — and stay that way. The significance of this approach really hit home when we began to understand how the values of Uruguayans differ from our own values in almost all areas including honesty (truth), respect for the law, authority, life and possessions, what the future holds, quality, discipline, privacy, efficiency, comfort, courtesy etc. We think that their primary and highest values include relationships, family and sports.

Our transition

As we think back about our transition to the mission field, many things come to our minds…moving, moving and moving again…learning everything new…cultural differences and language difficulties… but our biggest challenges have been on a personal level.

From the very beginning, this has been a faith-building process. That is especially true because for much of the time, we have not known how God was working, only that He was. Our “need” to understand everything and to know all the details in advance was challenged continually. One of our friends told us, “it’s much easier to sing “’I surrender all’ than it is to do it.” It’s also easier to say that we “live by faith and not by sight” than to actually walk that way. Honestly, for us, the most difficult thing continues to be “the stripping away” of all that we have come to depend upon other than God in our lives. We had no idea how self-reliant we were, or how dependent we were on other things and other people. The Lord has been patiently teaching us to yield to Him, His ways, His timing and His will and rely upon Who we know – He who is Faithful and True – rather than what we know. We’ve learned so much.

Our first cross-cultural transition was from the U.S. to Costa Rica, for a year of Spanish language school. Within days of arriving, our feelings of adequacy and self-confidence in who we were and what we knew (and were able to do), were shaken (badly), as we were unable to communicate even the most basic of things. We were reduced to grunts, groans, hand signals and pointing! We couldn’t even carry on a conversation on the phone! For us, language school was one “one gigantic humbling experience” (which truly was a very good thing). The Lord taught us much there.

Our transition to Uruguay was much more difficult, as we arrived in the middle of winter. Our first moment of culture shock occurred when we realized that we could understand almost nothing that was being said to us. Our Mission Directors were here to help us for the first week, but then they left, and we were here by ourselves. Right away, the believers in our church (who knew the right people and businesses to contact) helped us get established. They were patient and kind to us, and it was during this time that our relationships with them began to develop. We’ve learned that everything here takes longer, is harder, has to be done by hand, from scratch, and the results are usually different than we expect. But they are not bad, just different. In this process, God has helped us set aside our agendas, schedules, and priorities and adapt so we can function well here.

One of our greatest challenges has been our residency process, which has been very complicated. We think we’re nearing the end now, and hope to have our cedulas (National Identity Documents) in hand by the end of March.

In August this past year, we left a world in which…

• Young children were securely strapped into car seats, and those who couldn’t swim, wore life jackets.
• Our really sharp kitchen knives had protective covers (sheaths) on them.
• Electricity and water were never mixed together.
• Every day, we reviewed our day planners to see what we’d scheduled days and weeks in advance.

To come to a world in which…

• Young children (& babies) are carried in the arms of their mothers on the backs of motorcycles… without helmets. Or they stand up in the front seats of cars.
• Cheese samples from the local vendors are served to us on the pointy end of a 20” long machete.
• A shower head (that heats water passing through it) is hooked up to electricity and water….hmm…they call these “widow makers” for a good reason. We’ve been advised to avoid the urge to put the hose back on if it should come loose.
• We commonly receive text messages inviting us to a birthday party and other important events - 3 hours before it begins.

As the only American couple living here, and working in the churches in Florida, Uruguay, we have many challenges. Misunderstandings with Uruguayans are common (on both sides). But we work them out. God has given us love and compassion for them, and we are so grateful that He sent us here.

Life is a challenge…walk by faith in the God who created us and who gives us the grace to follow Him every day.

Prayer Requests

For the month of March, please pray:

1. That the hearts of Uruguayan believers would be filled with passion for the Word of God and that they would long for Him, as the Psalmist said in Psalm 42… As a deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you, O God.
2. That the Gospel of Jesus Christ would become central in their lives; that their hearts would be filled with compassion for those who are lost, and would reach out to them with the Truth of God.
3. That God will grant us the grace and wisdom to come alongside the leaders of these churches, to encourage & strengthen them.
4. That the government of Uruguay would grant us permanent residency.

February Monthly Missions Focus: Amy Brock-Devine

By Amber Bruce

Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Based on this command, Bethel is committed to making disciples both here and around the world. As Christians, we are each commanded to participate in this global mission. Our individual roles are usually some combination of praying, giving, mobilizing, and going. This month and next month we will look at some missionaries that were sent out from our own body at Bethel. Following the example of the Antiochan church in Acts 13:1-3, we pray for and send out men and women to preach the gospel among those who have not heard.

Amy Brock-Devine grew up in the Tri-Cities. She was attending Bethel and was part of a small group when she heard God’s call to full-time ministry over-seas.

Amy says putting her dreams in the hands of God was one of the hardest things she has ever done. She was “successful” in her career for 13 years, but felt like she was missing something important. She says, “The Lord kept saying, ‘Come, I will show you how to fish…’ It took me 3 years to obey. And in 1994 I quit my 6 -figure job to go to follow that command. As we are called to go ‘… in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”

During a 6-month training course with a youth ministry in Northern Argentina, she was surprised to find God reminding her of Thailand - a nation she had visited 5 years before. After the training course and a short time back in the States to pray and determine where to go, she went back to Argentina for 3 years. There she tutored, taught, and discipled foster children, children at an elementary school, and adults while supporting herself by teaching English and selling fruit smoothies.

A new phase of God’s plan started in 2008, when her time in Argentina came to an end. She finished her Master’s in Education while doing ministry and living in three different hemispheres. She spent some time travelling to visit missionary friends in Brazil and El Salvador, and then spent the Olympics in Beijing. She came back to the States to raise support and finish her classes.

In March of 2009, Amy went to Australia to train at the School of Frontier Missions in Perth. After that, she joined her team already on the field in Bangkok, Thailand.

Amy now works with Ark International in Bangkok to love, educate, restore and advocate for children at risk. These children are at risk of: poverty, poor health care, sexual abuse, lack of education, labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and a life without Christ. Amy and her team employ three strategies to reduce the risk to these children:

1. Personal one-on-one relationships
2. Opportunities like job and life-skills training and sports ministries
3. Education in the truth of God’s Word and academic kills

Amy and her team love underprivileged children in the Name of Christ. Their work is difficult and demanding. They see children in dangerous and difficult situations. They work with children with emotional damage from abuse and neglect. They are often under attack from the enemy as they bring the love of Christ into areas of darkness. This month, please lift up Amy and her team in your small group.

You can follow Amy on Facebook or her blog, Making A Big Difference.

Please pray:

1. For the team to have unity, harmony, and perseverance in doing day-to-day tasks.
2. For the protection of the children they are mentoring. Some children have been left by their parents in the slums for an indefinite amount of time with little to no money while they go seek work or medical treatment.
3. For Amy to have understanding in all she does: study of the Thai language, study of God’s Word, and knowing when and how to speak into people’s lives.
4. For Amy to keep her eyes focused on God’s grace. That she will be filled with the knowledge of God’s love and grace, then let that flow from her to her team members and the families and children she works with.

January Monthly Missions Focus - Sex Trafficking

By Amber Bruce

[Author’s note: For many of us, sex trafficking is “too horrible to think about.” I know. I used to be there. But I’ve come to realize that this is a crime that is too horrible not to think about – and tell others about and do something about. It has often been said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Evil is triumphing in sex trafficking. It is time to rise up against it.]

Though awareness is on the rise, sex trafficking is crime that is little known and widely misunderstood. Its lack of public outrage is all the more drastic when contrasted with its prevalence. More of an epidemic than a crime, sex trafficking accounts for a large percentage of all human trafficking, which is the fastest-growing organized crime in the world, second only to drug trafficking. Human trafficking is estimated to net $32 billion dollars each year – but that doesn’t take into account the $97 billion that the world pornography industry rakes in each year by selling images of the victims of sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking is the sale of persons for commercial sexual exploitation wherein the person is forced, coerced, or deceived into performing sexual acts for the profit of the trafficker. It occurs in every country in the world and in nearly every city. An estimated 100,000 new girls and boys are kidnapped, lured, tricked, or sold by their own parents into commercial sexual exploitation each year in the United States alone. Their average age is 13.

Once in “the Life,” these women and children are controlled by their pimps with violence, threats, and psychological manipulation. They are held captive as slaves, servicing an average of 20 customers a night, with little hope of escape or rescue. Many die at the hands of their pimps or johns, or from drug overdose or STDs. The few who are rescued rarely have a safe place to recover, as there are fewer than 100 dedicated beds in the United States for these victims. Many return to their captivity.

It is a common misconception that prostitutes are simply bad people. They are drug addicts driven to selling their bodies, we think, or they enjoy it and make a lot of money doing it. The reality is that these are broken people, who oftentimes can’t even recognize their slavery because of the psychological control of their pimps.

But Jesus shows us an even more radical response to that misconception. He makes it clear that we are all bad people (Mark 10:18). Jesus is the only good guy. And far from shunning prostitutes, Jesus had dinner with them (Matt 9:10-12)! He sought out the places they frequented and showed them the love and forgiveness of God that changes trodden-down women into saints. Who doesn’t love the story in Luke 7:37-50 of the sinful woman anointing Jesus and washing his feet with her hair? May we follow His example and not that of Simon, the host of the dinner party who knew very well “what sort of woman” that was – and who loved little.

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. We are honored to have Don and Bridget Brewster, the founders of Agape International Mission, coming to visit Bethel. They will share about their work in Cambodia rescuing and restoring girls from sexual slavery and transforming the culture to prevent it. They will also talk about the global sex trafficking problem and the hope we have as Christians with which to combat it. Join us Sunday, January 15 at 4pm in the Desert View Room.

Please pray:
1. Agape has done much work in the village of Svay Pak, Cambodia, and it is making a difference! Two men in the village of Poipet, on the Thai border, were recently overheard saying,”It’s very difficult in Svay Pak now. We stay away from there, now we have to come here to Poipet where it is still easy.” Pray for a Rahab’s House (community center) to be built in Poipet.
2. For provision and protection on all AIM ministries, staff, girls and families. For all of our staff and leadership, for strength and perseverance to keep fighting the good fight in faith.
3. For complete restoration for Agape’s rescued girls. Some are so bombarded by guilt from their family to return to the life to make more money! Their families’ insistence to do what is wrong wears them down. May Christ reign in their hearts and minds instead of the earthly parents.
4. For many Christians to rise up and build restoration homes in the United States where rescued victims of sex trafficking can find a safe place to receive love, healing, and the gospel.