Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY190097A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:08 - Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today 01:11 program! I'm Jason Bradley, and I'm so 01:13 excited that you could join us as we're going 01:16 to get a ministry report on nPraxis International! 01:22 And here with me to discuss this is Marty 01:24 Philipps, and he's the president of nPraxis 01:26 International. Welcome to the program. - Thank 01:29 you. It's such a pleasure to be here with you 01:31 today. - Yes, sir. I'm excited to just 01:34 jump into your background, how everything got started, 01:38 and find out all about this amazing ministry. 01:42 But before we do, we're gonna go to a song by 01:46 Stephanie Dawn-and it's entitled, "O Glorious Love". 02:09 In my darkness Jesus found me 02:18 Touched my eyes and made me see 02:27 Broke sin's chains that long had bound me 02:35 Gave me life and liberty 02:44 O glorious love of Christ my Lord, divine 02:52 Who gave Himself to save a soul like mine 02:59 Through all my days and then in heav'n above 03:07 My song will silence never 03:12 I'll worship Him forever 03:16 And praise Him for His glorious love 03:29 Oh amazing truth to ponder 03:37 He whom angel host attend 03:46 Lord in Heav'n God's Son would wonder 03:53 He became the sinners friend 04:01 O glorious love of Christ my Lord, divine 04:09 Who gave Himself to save a soul like mine 04:16 Through all my days and then in heaven above 04:23 My song will silence never 04:28 I'll worship Him forever 04:32 And praise Him for His glorious love 04:42 And praise Him for His glorious love 05:02 - "O Glorious Love". Thank you for that 05:04 beautiful song, Stephanie Dawn. If you're just 05:06 joining us, I'm sitting here talking to Marty 05:10 Phillips, the president of nPraxis International. 05:13 Marty, I want to go a little bit into your 05:18 background, your upbringing, prior to diving into what 05:21 nPraxis International is all about. How were 05:24 you raised, and where did you grow up? - Yes, 05:27 good question. Both my parents were in ministry, 05:31 both here in the US and also abroad. They went 05:34 overseas as missionaries when we were young. 05:36 And so, I came up with that understanding that 05:40 I'd be involved in mission. I felt a deep calling to 05:45 ministry. I went through seminary but didn't feel 05:47 a calling to be a traditional church pastor, you might 05:50 say. - Okay. - So, I went through a lot 05:52 of questioning. "What did this mean? How would 05:54 that turn out to be? Why are you calling me 05:56 to ministry, if I don't feel called to be a 05:59 church pastor?" - Yes. - I also had another 06:02 burning question. I'm a sixth-generation Adventist. 06:06 - Mhm. - Family started in the very first Adventist 06:09 church that was built in New York, and every 06:13 generation of my family have said, "Jesus is 06:15 coming this generation." - Mm. - So my big question 06:18 when I was in school, in the seminary and 06:20 studying theology on undergraduate level 06:23 was, "Lord, what is it going to take to bring 06:27 the gospel commission to a close?" - Mhm. Mhm. 06:30 - And I went through a long journey over 06:31 many years even after school, "What did this 06:33 mean?" - Uh-huh. - At first, I thought it was maybe 06:36 getting better organized. But as I looked around, 06:38 Adventists are pretty organized. - [chuckles] Uh-huh. 06:41 - "Does it mean that we need to live more godly 06:43 lives, and"- well, that leads to legalism. "So, 06:46 if we're so good, then is that going to bring 06:48 Jesus?" Went through several things. We 06:50 can have better projects and programs, and God 06:54 then started leading me on a journey. "Now, look 06:56 for where I am already working. Come on board 07:00 with what I am doing." And I found a lot of 07:02 statements, like from Ellen White that she 07:04 says, "If we would work where God's already 07:05 working, we would have 20-fold, 100-fold." On 07:08 different quotes, she gives A) if we would 07:11 come alongside with God is already doing. 07:14 So, it's become my life passion to find, "Where 07:17 is God already working?" - Yes. - In our own 07:20 people group and unreached people groups. And so, 07:23 instead of coming and just starting from ground 07:25 zero, looking where is God already working in this 07:28 community. - Gotcha, and that's where you 07:30 felt your calling. - And that's where I eventually 07:32 felt my calling was searching for where 07:35 God's already working. - Now, what is nPraxis 07:38 International? - So, we're an organization- 07:41 a supporting organization- that works for the Seventh-day 07:45 Adventist Church under contract. - Mhm. - And 07:47 so, we oversee a network of house churches mainly 07:52 across the 10/40 window but also beyond. So, we 07:55 have house churches here in the US from 07:58 different networks that have joined our network 08:02 for, you can say, from Azerbaijan to Brazil. 08:11 - Oh, wow. - So, we actually operate in 08:13 about 50 countries. - Okay. - So, we work- 08:16 mainly, the majority of our ministry is 08:19 within Muslim countries. We work with Buddhists, 08:22 we work with indigenous tribal groups; we look 08:25 for isolated tribes in the middle of jungles. 08:28 "Where can we find these type of people?"-or unreached 08:30 tribes that've been resistant to the gospel. 08:34 And then more recently with my own people 08:38 group, Western people, who say, "We're not 08:41 going to intern to a church." So how do we 08:43 reach those type of people who will... - Mhm, 08:45 the traditional brick- and-mortar... - Exactly. 08:47 So, we reach people who would no longer- 08:49 our focus is reaching people who would not 08:52 go into a brick-and-mortar church. - Gotcha. Gotcha. 08:55 Now, you said "10/40 window". For those 08:58 that don't know, what is the 10/40 window? 09:00 - Well, yes; it's basically the area that takes up 09:03 most of Asia and Africa which goes through 09:05 latitude 10 to latitude 40. - Gotcha, gotcha. 09:09 - So it's the people group that lives in 09:10 there, and so the majority of the Muslim, Hindu, 09:13 Buddhist, tribal worlds live in those longitude 09:19 area. - And there's a lot of closed countries 09:22 in that window, correct? - There is. There's 09:25 probably over 50 closed countries. We work in 09:30 about 28 of those. - Wow. Wow. That's pretty 09:33 dangerous, isn't it? - Let's say... By God's 09:38 grace, we have learned to operate in those 09:40 types of places, I'd learned. I mean, I 09:44 first worked for ADRA. - Okay. - As I started 09:47 my career and I learned a lot about working 09:50 in high security areas, high tension areas, 09:53 and then after that, I worked for the General 09:57 Conference. I was the coordinator for underground 10:00 house churches in Muslim countries, so we'd 10:03 learned a lot more and eventually then we started 10:06 supporting ministry that would support 10:08 the church to oversee house churches in 10:11 closed countries, and then it expanded from there. 10:15 - Okay! Now, how did the name come about- 10:18 nPraxis? How did... What does that mean? - Yes, since I 10:21 belonged- you know. Every trade has its lingo. - Okay. 10:26 - And so, in the mission community that are 10:29 involved in, say, cutting edge of mission, there 10:32 is a term that's called "praxis" and it's used to mean 10:36 when you do mission you don't just do what 10:39 you've done all the time; you always are evaluating what 10:42 you're doing, and it's a special focus on 10:44 building God's kingdom. It's not just coming in 10:46 and making people my brand of Christianity, 10:50 but it's really saying, "How can we bring 10:53 God's kingdom, how can we focus on building kingdom 10:56 values in this community?" And then, let's keep 10:59 evaluating that process. "Is this making sense 11:02 to the people?" "Is the gospel actually touching their 11:05 core-deepest needs?" - Gotcha. - And then 11:07 to make it cute, we put nPraxis-small 11:10 n capital P, like there's iPhone and stuff like 11:14 this where they put in Praxis. - Nice. [laughter] Yeah, 11:18 I was wondering how the name came about 11:20 and what you meant and all of that stuff. - Yes. 11:22 - Now, you have multiple different facets of your 11:26 ministry. - Correct. - Why don't you just 11:28 touch on each facet and tell me a little bit 11:32 about each? - Our main goal is to plant home 11:37 fellowships. - Mhm. - So we have a network of 11:39 about 125,000 home fellowships that meet 11:44 each week. - 125,000!? Wow! - 125,000. So, 11:49 most of these are family. We found the 11:51 most effective way as we're family, grandma 11:53 and grandpa, mom and dad, kids, uncles, and 11:56 aunties. And more Western context: it 11:59 is friend groups. What we've found the most 12:02 strategic is friend groups to worship together or 12:04 family groups. - Okay, so close-knit. - Close-knit. 12:07 The closer knit you are, the better your home 12:10 fellowship functions. - Gotcha. - And the 12:13 faster they grow. - Gotcha. - 'Cause then what we 12:15 do is we invite another person who's not exactly 12:17 our friend group or another family to experience 12:19 what's happening in our family, and then they 12:22 go back and replicate it in their friend group 12:24 or in their family setting. - Okay. - So, 12:27 this is our main focus with whichever people 12:29 group we're working in, so we work specifically 12:33 as a mentioned with Muslims-so with high 12:35 caste Hindus, mainly Brahmins with remote 12:39 tribal groups and with Westerner people, 12:42 whether it's US or Finland or Brazil who would no 12:46 longer sit their foot inside a brick-and-mortar 12:48 church. That's our understanding with the 12:51 organized Adventist church. We will work 12:53 with people who would not come to a brick 12:55 and mortar church. - Gotcha. Gotcha. - So then we 12:57 provide services to these people. - Okay. 13:00 - So then many of the countries like 28 or 13:03 so of them are countries that would be difficult to 13:06 get Bibles into. - Yes. - So then we find unique 13:09 ways to get Bibles into those countries. 13:12 - Nice. Nice. - So, those are unique 13:15 in the same way many operate to get weapons 13:19 or drugs in and out of countries. Those 13:21 people who are involved with Bibles use some of 13:24 those same methods. - Wow. - I mean it's 13:27 hard, it's controlled, to get into closed 13:28 countries...but by God's grace we have gotten 13:31 tens of thousands of Bibles into closed 13:36 countries. So, that's a big component of our 13:37 ministry. We're also involved with some 13:39 Bible translation, as well. - I just want to 13:43 say that really blows my mind that, you 13:46 know, when you think about the Word of God 13:48 going into a country that sometimes it has 13:52 to go in in the same way that people get 13:56 drugs and weapons into a country that a book that 14:01 talks about the love of Christ and all of that, 14:04 you have to... I mean, that's- it just blows 14:06 my mind that people wouldn't want to 14:09 receive the gospel. - Well, you know, there's 14:11 countries where it's prohibited where people 14:13 are even caught with a Bible, it can mean 14:16 certain significant penalties-and some 14:19 is bad as death and others imprisonment, 14:21 others just disinheritance, or social problems. - Yes. 14:26 - So, there's varying levels. But what we 14:28 have found is that the power of the Bible to 14:30 transform lives in the most-what we would 14:33 call closed countries- is immense. For example, 14:36 in one country we have got-I don't know- 14:39 maybe 130,000 Bibles into it. - Wow. - And 14:44 we've probably distributed over 100,000 Bibles already, 14:49 100-110,000, and we give those Bibles to 14:55 only heads of household who have committed to 15:00 study the Bible with their families. - Nice. 15:02 Nice. - So, we've seen real impact, and it's 15:06 just amazing to see what Bibles will do? 15:09 properly. So, we don't just hand out Bibles 15:11 willy-nilly, but we have a system through our 15:14 networks of home fellowships. - Yes. - That the Bibles 15:17 are distributed. - Yes. How is God working in 15:21 the Middle East and across the Muslim world? 15:23 - It's really amazing. I would like to kind 15:26 of pull back this morning the smoke screen 15:29 of the news. We see all the horrible parts 15:32 of the news, but I believe that Satan 15:34 works to put up smoke screens so we don't really see 15:37 what's actually happening. - Mm. - And what we 15:40 see- the events that have happened since 9/11 15:43 till now have really brought the Muslim 15:47 world and the Middle East to, like, this moment 15:51 in time where they're open, maybe not to 15:53 become a Christian and accept... Well, 15:57 let me put it in this way: to be become 15:58 what they perceive to be a Christian. 16:00 - Mmkay. - To go to a brick-and-mortar 16:02 church, but they are open now to question. 16:04 - Hmm. - They're open to rethink their faith. 16:07 - Mmkay. - Or they're open to question things 16:10 that they would've never done 10 or 15 years ago. 16:13 - Mhm, mhm. - And so, we've just seen whole 16:15 countries open up to the gospel. If we had more 16:21 Bibles, we could continue to provide Bibles to 16:23 countries and more workers. At this point, 16:26 it's basically a financial thing to keep providing 16:29 more. - Mhm. - But we have just seen people's 16:31 hearts open up. God has given visions and 16:34 dreams... - Mhm. - ...across the Muslim world. All 16:37 the time, every few days, weeks, months, 16:40 there's new stories. - Wow. - And it's 16:43 interesting, God tends to give visions and 16:45 dreams to big community leaders, people who have 16:47 significant influence. - Nice. - And so when 16:50 someone has a dream or vision whose of 16:52 significant influence and he shares it with 16:54 his community and those countries that are 16:58 patriarchal countries, it means a lot. So now 17:01 we'll listen, "Oh, Dad had it," or, "The big 17:03 chief of our tribe had it," or "The leader of 17:05 our religious group has had it, and he's 17:09 had a vision of a"- what we found this 17:12 typical of thing is a Man in white, and in 17:15 their heart they know that this man dressed 17:17 in white Arab clothing, his face shining like 17:20 the sun, they immediately know somehow in their 17:22 heart that this is Jesus. - Yes. - And He will say, 17:25 "Follow Me." Or He will... That's the traditional 17:27 thing. We've seen this over and over, 17:30 and I have one friend that I work with. 30, 17:33 sometimes, he had this dream at night, "Follow 17:36 Me." - Wow. - Until he finally says, "Okay, 17:39 Lord, I follow You." - Wow. Wow! And so 17:43 when these heads or chiefs catch the vision 17:48 and they share it with everybody, people get 17:51 on board because they're so confident in the chief? 17:54 - Yes. So for example, I work with a big 17:57 tribal chief from a Muslim country, and 18:01 he rules an area about the size of Texas and New 18:05 Mexico combined. Not everyone in that area 18:08 belongs to his tribe, but the majority are. 18:11 - Mhm. - And he is pretty much the supreme leader 18:13 of that area. - Okay. - And his father had 18:19 many- about 100 dreams and visions about Jesus, 18:23 about the Second Coming, about the end time- 18:25 and he had come since there was no external 18:28 missionaries available, he had come to most, 18:31 you might say, biblical or Adventist beliefs. 18:34 - Okay, okay. - And when I came in contact 18:37 with him, I started working-just their family 18:39 was a group of believers. - Mhm. - And at that time, 18:43 they were the family of the leadership. I 18:50 mean, he was the oldest son of the oldest son for 18:51 like hundreds of years. - Okay. - And so, they 18:56 hadn't had a tribal elder. And they had 18:59 been kind of ostracized because they had become 19:01 followers of Jesus, and the tribe had kind of 19:04 pushed them out, they were in persecution, and 19:06 I met them in around 2000. - Okay. - And I 19:13 told these two brothers, "You know, God's going 19:17 to give you back the leadership of your 19:20 tribe." And they kind of laughed. "That's 19:23 not going to happen. We've been ostracized. 19:25 We haven't had a big chief in a couple of generations. 19:29 My grandfather resigned being a chief, and we've 19:32 never had a big chief." And I said, "No, for 19:34 such a time, God has brought you for this." 19:37 So by July 2005, their father died. 8,000 19:45 tribal tribesmen, you might say, and government 19:49 officials and stuff came to his funeral. 19:51 - Wow. - So, at the funeral, they said, "We 19:54 need a chief again." - Mhm. - So a very 19:57 close friend of mine, this young man about 19:59 my age (that was some time ago), but he was 20:02 elected to be the tribal chief. - Wow. - Today, 20:05 he has about 350 sub-chiefs that have pledged 20:10 allegiance like an old feudal way, you know? 20:12 You come and pledge allegiance to him, you 20:15 know, almost in knighthood way. - Uh-huh, uh-huh. 20:17 - And so, his house has like 350 of these 20:20 who have pledged allegiance to his home. He rules 20:23 this area the size of Texas and New Mexico. - Wow. 20:26 - And a big portion of his people are reading 20:30 the Bible and coming into a movement of 20:34 sharing similar faiths as we do as Seventh-day 20:37 Adventists. - That is incredible. Now, how 20:40 do you go about cultivating relationships with people 20:44 all around the world, especially in these 20:46 closed countries? - Well, that's a good question- 20:50 yes. I was mentioning to you previously: one 20:53 of my big questions was, "Lord, how are we going 20:56 to see the gospel Commission come to a close?" - Mhm. 20:59 - And so as I was searching and praying, 21:03 the first thing I understood is, as I've mentioned, is 21:06 finding where's God's already been working. 21:08 But then as I started studying the New Testament, 21:11 how did the early church grow so fast? 21:14 In 50 years, we find this unbroken chain of 21:17 believers from Scotland all the way to India. I 21:20 mean, it's from India, and then across Africa... 21:23 How did this all happen? - Mhm. - So, you see 21:26 this massive movement that emerges in 50 21:29 years. - Mhm. - And looking at the New 21:32 Testament, we found this thing that Jesus 21:34 followed. The following: knowing who to share 21:38 your faith with, 2) knowing what to share 21:42 once you find the person; then discipling them; then 21:45 teaching them how to come together to do 21:48 church to be part of a community of believers, 21:50 and then how to replicate. - Wow. - So the first 21:53 question is to respond to you of this is, "Who 21:57 do you know how to share with?" or "How 21:59 do you go about finding people?" So, the New 22:03 Testament gives a parable which starts 22:06 to explain this. It says, "A sower went 22:09 out to seed. Some seed fell on stony ground, 22:12 some fell on the path, but then some- and etc. 22:17 And then some fall on good soil, which gives 22:20 30-60-90- and 100-fold. So how do you find 22:24 that 90- and 100-fold seed first? - Mm. - And 22:27 so, this is what good missionaries do is look 22:30 for the people who are the most receptive. - Mhm. 22:34 - And Jesus tells first the twelve, and then 22:36 the 72. When He sends them out, He says, 22:39 "Look for the person of peace." - Okay. 22:42 - And so, when you go back and look for the 22:44 person of peace, what did that mean in Jesus' 22:46 time? They had different designations. Like, a 22:49 merchant was called a son of the road, 22:51 and they had different nicknames for different 22:55 types of trades and people. - Okay. - But there was 22:58 a tradition which exists among Jews, still 23:02 exists among Muslims, that they would leave 23:04 their synagogues or mosques open. And 23:07 so if you were a traveler and you go to the 23:08 synagogue to sleep (because they would 23:11 leave them open for travelers). They didn't 23:12 have a lot of hotels, and any Jew for hundreds 23:15 of years could travel from town to town, he 23:19 arrives to the synagogue and it's left always open, 23:23 and he could unroll his pack and sleep 23:25 there for a night or two, and then continue 23:26 his journey. If you move to a new town, 23:29 you go first to the synagogue and sleep. 23:31 - Mhm. - And many times, there was a person in 23:34 the town who had the gift of hospitality and 23:37 generosity. - Mhm. - And he comes to the 23:39 synagogue every night to see if there was a 23:41 weary traveler. "Don't sleep here, brother, 23:44 you come to my home," - Mhm. - "and come and 23:47 stay with me." So then they go stay with him. 23:49 And usually what was found, this person 23:51 not only had the gift of hospitality and 23:55 generosity-had the gift of peace mediation. 23:59 - Okay. - So if families in the community got 24:01 fighting before they go to the civil authorities, 24:03 they come to him, and he helps resolve these 24:06 problems. - Okay. - And we've found that these 24:08 people exist, as well today. There's people 24:11 with the group being of spiritual gifts, which 24:14 include hospitality, generosity, conflict 24:17 resolution, and they have a strong sense of justice, 24:22 and a strong sense of compassion for the weak. 24:26 And so they kind of protect- these are 24:27 people who kind of are glue within a community. 24:30 - Mm. Mhm. - And then they have a strong sense 24:33 of loving their land and loving their people. 24:37 So then as we started to understand this biblical 24:40 figure of what happened in the New Testament, 24:43 understand what it meant in Jesus' time, 24:45 then how can we apply this today? So then in 24:48 the mission circles, it's called looking 24:49 for the person of peace. - Okay. - The 24:52 man or woman of peace. - Uh-huh. - And to give 24:54 you an example, my wife works for the division 24:58 here, the North American Division, and she's in 25:01 charge of the department for Adventist-Muslim 25:03 Relations, or Muslim Evangelism. To make a 25:10 long story short, she went to do a training 25:12 for the church, officially, at one of the large 25:15 division events, and pastors went to different 25:19 ones. There was a time when there was 25:21 a lot of discussion going on about the future 25:23 of the division, and 90% of the people 25:25 went there and each department director 25:27 has to pay for their part of the building 25:29 and all this. She paid thousands of dollars, 25:32 and 5 people came. And so, she calls 25:35 me, "Hey, should I just go home and not pay 25:37 this or get out of it? I mean, it's a lot of 25:39 money," because every department has to pay 25:42 their own- carry their own weight. And so I said, 25:46 "No, God will? the five people," because 25:48 only five people. And out of this, one of them 25:50 was one of the conference presidents from here. 25:53 And as my wife was training how to find to reach 25:57 out to the Muslim people and to look for a person 26:00 of peace, he gets all excited about this, 26:02 because in his community and his conference, it 26:04 has probably close to 150,000 Muslims. Concentrated, 26:09 about 100,000 of those in one city. - Wow. - And 26:13 so he goes back to his conference, he gets 26:15 one of his local pastors who had been a missionary 26:19 himself, but he pastored an inter-what would be 26:24 a good way-I mean it was a mixed ethnicity 26:25 church. - Okay, okay. - And so he had a 26:28 very mixed- it was black, white, Asian- 26:31 he had a very, very mixed... And so he comes 26:33 and shares this vision. "Hey Pastor Tony, 26:36 this is what I heard about this person of peace, and 26:39 we really need to reach out to the Muslim population." 26:42 So then Pastor Tony gets all excited. - Uh-huh. 26:45 - And so he starts thinking, "How am 26:47 I going to reach the person of peace?" 26:49 And then right about that time in their city, 26:50 Bradshaw was going to- he was invited to come 26:54 have the Union evangelistic campaign. - Okay. 26:57 - And so, then Tony got this idea: "I'm 27:00 going to invite the Muslim community, 27:01 and I'm going to try to find the person of 27:03 peace to come and translate." - Uh-huh. 27:05 - Well, we didn't want- - That's a good idea. 27:07 [laughs] Sounds like. - Yeah, so Pastor Tony 27:10 didn't realize at that time no Muslim would 27:13 come to a crusade. - Okay. - Or to a 27:15 evangelist... We don't like to use the word 27:17 "crusade", but for Muslims this is a very bad term 27:20 and all this terminology they will never show up. 27:23 - Okay. - But Pastor Tony did think of a good thing. 27:27 He went- took him three weeks. Any Muslim, no 27:30 one would dare try and slate for a Christian 27:34 evangelistic campaign. But he finally found 27:37 one person, and the person said, "Look, 27:40 if you pay me, I'll go translate. I'll 27:42 tell you no one will come, but if you pay 27:44 me I'll translate." [laughter] So the 27:46 man translated there, no one came, but as 27:49 he was listening to the weekly meetings 27:51 he became a follower of Jesus. - Wow, 27:54 praise the Lord. - And became a baptized 27:57 Seventh-day Adventist. - Wow. - To make a 28:00 long story short, he was someone who 28:02 God had been preparing not just in his lifetime 28:05 but for many, many generations. - Mhm. 28:07 - His family were known in his country to have 28:10 stabilized the country. His great-grandfather 28:13 who was still living was basically the 28:16 strong man who pulled their whole country 28:20 together, kept it from falling into total anarchy, 28:23 and he had been expelled from the family for a long time due 28:28 to...He'd become an Adventist in our meetings, but before 28:32 that he had become a Christian and he had 28:34 been totally expelled. - Oh, wow. - But by 28:37 working with him, he went back, he re-established 28:40 his relationship with his family. His grandfather, 28:45 great-grandfather, recently died, and 28:47 because his grandfather and father died, he inherited 28:50 the family throne, you might say. - Okay. Okay, 28:54 so how he's been put in a position of influence. 28:57 - Of significant influence, and I... He's the biggest 29:01 tribal leader, but it's almost like a kingly 29:03 power. But they have a Western form of 29:06 government, but I've sat with him while he was 29:09 changing the minister of finance, the ministry 29:14 of oil, the head of the military, talking about 29:19 which is going to be the new president, 29:20 so... - Wow. - And just amazing. So, that 29:25 all of a sudden gives him national influence 29:28 to be able to- and he said... The interesting 29:31 thing- this is the most phonetic countries 29:33 in the world-and he said he wouldn't take 29:35 the position unless there was a general consensus 29:39 of all the sub-elders that would be under 29:41 him that they knew he was a follower of 29:43 Christ. And there was almost a unanimous 29:45 decision. - Wow. - So, God does these types 29:49 of divine encounters, and how he brings 29:56 little pieces of puzzle. And today, I work 29:59 with probably a half a dozen people that have 30:01 that type of influence. - Wow. - And they 30:04 have national influence. Not everyone is that 30:07 level, but it's just amazing how God- 30:11 we always prayed, "Lord, send us to that 100% 30:13 seed that you have been fertilizing for a long 30:17 time." That's like Paul's. Paul, he had 30:19 been raised to be at the very height of his 30:22 religious community, and then God leads 30:25 him, and then because of Paul we see a massive 30:27 movement emerge for Christ. So, we look 30:33 for those type of people, like Cornelius. 30:36 He's a person of peace, clearly, in the New 30:38 Testament in Acts. - That's huge, yeah. 30:40 I was wondering, what do you look for, and then 30:44 how do you go about reaching that individual? 30:48 So do you also kind of determine what their 30:51 needs are? Like when you're getting to... 30:54 Implementing Christ's method. Is that kind 30:56 of what takes place? - Yes, definitely so. 30:59 Like with this individual I've just mentioned, 31:01 in his process, he would call me any time- 31:04 day or night: "What do I do, Marty?" And 31:08 I would encourage him, "Keep going," 'cause 31:10 there were a lot of challenges before he 31:12 came to power, you might say. And even 31:15 now, I might receive a phone call at 3 in 31:17 the morning. So, his needs...or, "I need 31:19 someone I can talk to all the time." - Yes. 31:22 - And so, that's a lot of my ministry-being 31:25 an advisor to people like himself who need... 31:32 "What do I do in the next step?" For example, 31:33 I was working with another big tribal elder. 31:36 - Okay. - And I was sitting in church one 31:39 Sabbath morning here about two years ago, 31:41 and I feel my phone vibrate. - Uh-huh. - And I'd look, 31:45 and this gentleman is calling me, also from 31:48 a closed country; also has a lot of political 31:51 power in his nation. - Mhm. - And I step 31:54 out to go, and he says, "Marty, I have 50 tribal 31:57 elders all telling me I need to declare war." 32:00 - Wow. - "What do I do as a follower of Jesus?" 32:03 - Wow. - And he says... I mean, bec- in his 32:08 country, he's not the head of state but he 32:10 is big enough that a whole section of the 32:13 cou- if there might be many small tribal 32:16 wars, and he had authority from the central government 32:20 to punish the tribe that had gotten out of 32:23 line, because his area, the capital of- the seed 32:27 of his capital had been invaded. - Wow. - By 32:29 another tribe. - Mhm. - And they had burned, 32:34 they had raped, they had stolen 124 SUVs, 32:38 burned the banks, stolen the money from three 32:41 banks...and it had been a very, very hostile 32:44 thing. And so now, he has 50 tribal elders 32:47 saying, "The only honorable thing for us to do is now 32:51 to take revenge." - Mm. - "And so now, what do 32:54 I do as a follower of Christ? Do I take 32:56 revenge? Do I punish them? What do I do? 32:58 I don't want to look weak." - That, which, 33:01 you know... The awesome thing is that he is 33:04 considering, "What do I do as a follower of 33:07 Christ?" So, that shows that for his decision- 33:10 making process, he's thinking about, "What 33:13 would Jesus do?" basically in this situation. - Exactly. 33:16 - Which is incredible. - So this is what I just 33:19 see over and over: "What would Jesus"- 33:21 and just too quickly, I mean, to share 33:23 what happened, I really have gotten to know 33:26 their families very indepthly, and their 33:28 family history, I found it's important. So he 33:31 says, "Marty, what do I do?" And I said, "I 33:33 don't know." But as I was just praying, 33:35 I remembered a story from his family. His 33:38 nation had been invaded. - Okay. - 'Bout 120 years 33:43 ago by another nation. - Mhm. - Not just two 33:46 tribes, but the nation. - Mhm. - And his great- 33:49 great-great-great- something-grandfather, 33:52 he had organized the country. All the big major 33:55 leaders came to him and said, "We will 33:57 submit to you, and you lead us into battle to 34:00 protect our country." And he said, "But you 34:05 have to promise to obey me fully. You all have 34:08 to pledge full allegiance. In battle- none of you 34:13 can break off and do your own thing." So, 34:15 as the day of the battle came-massive battle- 34:19 that's recorded- it's actually in history, 34:22 and many people in that region know of this amazing 34:24 battle that happens as the Ottoman (which was 34:28 today Turkey; it's the Ottoman Empire) invaded 34:30 their place. He'd lined up thousands of his 34:33 soldiers, but he lined them up behind the 34:35 forest. - Mhm. - And then as the Ottomans 34:39 were approaching, he says, "Now we're going 34:41 to kneel and pray, and we're not going to fight, 34:44 and none of you will stand up. We will stay on our 34:47 knees before God and see how God will end 34:49 this war for us." - Wow. - And as they were praying, 34:54 the Ottoman soldiers did not want to attack, 34:58 and they said, "How can we attack praying 35:00 men?" Finally, the general said, "You will 35:02 all be court-martialed and executed if you 35:05 don't attack." So finally, half-heartedly, the 35:08 soldiers advanced against praying men... 35:10 and then God did a miracle: thousands and thousands 35:14 of hornets come out of the forest and attack the 35:21 invading army. And so now, the soldiers take, 35:23 "This is a huge sign," and they just leave, 35:25 and then general says, "Okay, I can't force the 35:27 hand of God." - Yes. - And they retreat and 35:29 leave their country. - That is incredible. - So 35:33 then my dear friend says, "I know what I 35:35 need to do now." So he goes out to the 50 elders 35:38 and he says, "Let me tell you this story of 35:39 our great grandfather, again, which we all know 35:42 well." One by one of those elders left. One, 35:44 two, three, four, five... as they all left. A few 35:48 months later, because it got out, "Who is this 35:51 man who's bigger than attacking his enemies?" 35:54 - Mhm. - He was, within a few months, elected 35:56 to be the head... He became the head of 36:00 all the heads of tribes in his nation. - Wow. 36:03 - So he got a much more powerful position. And 36:07 a few months after that, his nation, while 36:10 most senators are elected from the people, the 36:13 government can appoint like, five senior senators. 36:16 - Uh-huh. - And one day, he was called 36:18 into Congress, kind of, "Why am I called here?" 36:20 and everyone stands up and starts clapping and 36:22 says, "You have been nominated to be an 36:25 honorary, with full- all the privileges of a 36:27 senator," and then he was appointed to be 36:31 a consultant or be a part of three main, 36:35 like, the Ministry of International Affairs, 36:39 Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, 36:42 and different stuff like this. 36:43 - It just goes to show what can happen when 36:46 you are faithful to God, and even in difficult 36:49 situations when you rely upon God, he was 36:53 elevated into a position of even greater influence 36:58 than he had before because those decisions 37:01 were based on answered prayer. - Exactly. - Mhm. 37:05 Mhm. So, how have you seen- because I have 37:09 a feeling you've traveled a lot, you've met a lot 37:12 of people... How have you seen God provide for 37:15 His people? - Well, it happens in many 37:21 ways. God provides internally, He provides 37:24 externally, His will, but I'd share one 37:27 story of how I've seen God provide internally. 37:29 - Okay. - The brother of this man that I was 37:32 just sharing about who got elevated- and he 37:35 works with him as his seconder deputy director. 37:39 Their country was going through extreme drought; 37:42 it's in a Sahara region... - Mmkay. - ...here back 37:44 a few years ago. And he got this just deep 37:48 sensation because they run several tractors as 37:52 a business that run nonstop. - Mhm. - And 37:55 he got this sensation, "Bring your tractors 37:58 and dig out a great, big reservoir-a pond." "Lord, 38:02 there's a... This is stupid. People are 38:04 gonna laugh at me. Why am I... It's going to 38:07 cost a lot of money," because, you know, 38:08 to dig out a big pond like they do in the West- 38:11 you know, like out... When I was a kid in 38:13 New Mexico, farmers would dig out these 38:16 big ponds. He felt really foolish about it, 38:20 but he kept feeling, "Dig out this big pond." 38:23 - Mhm. - So he digs out this big pond, several 38:25 acres, and he's feeling super foolish. It's 38:28 drought, there's no rain...but he just said, 38:30 "I need to follow this. It was so overwhelming." 38:33 - Hm. - So he digs out this big pond, feeling 38:35 kind of foolish 'cause he did it at kind of the 38:39 original town where their tribe came from 38:42 where their grandfather moved 450 years ago. 38:45 - Mhm. - This little town...and he digs 38:48 this big thing; people thinkin', "Our big tribal 38:51 chief, or the brother of the tribal chief is 38:53 kinda nuts." - Uh-huh. - "What is he doing 38:56 in the"... They all knew he was a follower 38:58 of Jesus. And he says, "Well, this is just what 38:59 I feel God telling me to do." - Mhm. - Well, 39:02 after the whole pond's been dug out and all 39:05 prepared and fixed, someone early in the 39:09 morning comes and wakes him up. He's gone to 39:11 bed feeling kind of foolish, stupid, about 39:14 the whole thing. - Mhm. - He's woken up in the 39:16 morning, someone says, "Come and see. You 39:18 were right; you were right." And a kid pulls 39:21 him out, he looks, the pond's full of water. 39:24 - Wow. - And there's not just one person 39:26 there-the whole village, the whole town's out, 39:29 looking, because not only is there water, 39:31 but there's fish in the water, and different 39:34 varieties of fish. - Wow. - So, as God provided 39:38 fish to Peter and his net full of fish, the 39:41 people who had been in drought with no 39:43 water and no food because they couldn't 39:45 farm were provided with water AND fish 39:48 to eat. - Yes. - And today, that village, 39:51 who used to question, "How is it that our 39:54 chiefs became followers of Jesus?" - Mhm. - They 39:57 said, "Wow. We want to be a part of this Jesus, 39:59 as well." - Wow. What a witness! - So God- 40:02 we see all kinds of stuff that happen. A big part 40:05 of support of the ministry, as well, are donations 40:08 that people give. - Mhm. - To support... We have 40:11 about, as we mentioned earlier, about 400 people 40:13 on payroll. - Okay. - Some of these are paid from 40:16 local tithes and offerings where we have permission 40:18 from the local church entities to keep these 40:21 tithes and offerings as well as from generous 40:24 donations of donors who send money to help finance 40:29 work to open, work in new countries... For 40:32 example, I received a phone call here not too 40:36 long ago, a few months ago... "Where would be 40:38 a new country that we could support?" So 40:40 I think he's a doctor, and he gave a donation 40:43 to start work. And there's many people 40:46 who give just a monthly small donation that help 40:49 keep things operating. - Yeah, 'cause it's a 40:52 huge operation. This isn't a small operation. 40:54 - No. - Yes-yes. That requires a lot, for sure. 40:58 What are some stories where you've seen 41:02 people's lives transformed? - Yes. I'll tell you a story 41:09 of- I've just seen, you know, people doing 41:12 things very differently. - Mhm. - One of my friends 41:17 that I work with carefully that is also a big leader 41:21 from a different area, his family had been 41:25 religious leaders in their nation, and he actually 41:28 came from a Sabbath-keeping- a Sabbath-observant 41:32 religious group-Muslim. But interestingly, there's 41:38 many 10-15 million Sabbath-observant 41:40 people in his nation. - Wow. - And he has 41:47 started a Sabbath-keeping- I mean a Bible-believing 41:51 Jesus-following movement among the followers 41:56 of his own father. - Mhm. - Who- his own father's 42:00 become a follower of Jesus and really embraced, 42:04 "How can we take Jesus to my people?" - Mhm. 42:08 - One day, the person that I work with receives 42:12 a phone call. Someone several spiritual generations 42:14 away, down in a little village, and they'd 42:16 given him the phone number of the big chief. 42:19 He says, "I got a big problem. What do I do?" 42:22 - Uh-huh. - And my friend asked him, 42:24 "Well, what's your problem?" He says, 42:26 "I'm a papaya farmer... and once I became a 42:30 follower of Jesus, everyone in the village 42:32 has ostracized me. But the worst thing, my 42:36 business is destroyed, because every time a 42:41 papaya is ready in my orchard, someone steals 42:44 the papaya." - Wow. - "So, I no longer have 42:47 papayas to sell. What do I do as a follower of 42:49 Christ?" - Mhm. - And my friend, he thinks, 42:53 "Man, what do you do? If everyone's revenging 42:56 in the place"... And he says, "Well, let's just 42:58 pray together, brother." So he starts praying 43:00 with him. And as he's praying, he, just like 43:03 it comes to his memory like a flash, a papaya 43:06 cut in half, a beautiful, ripe papaya. - Mhm. 43:09 - And he sees these seeds in his mind's 43:12 eye of all these papaya seeds. - Uh-huh. - So 43:15 he asked the farmer, "What's inside a papaya 43:17 when a prayer closes?" And he says, "They're 43:20 full of seeds." And so then he doesn't know 43:24 why, but he asks him, "How many people 43:25 are in your village, or how many families?" 43:28 He says, "Well, we live in an outskirt of this 43:32 little village, and there's 50 families, and the 43:34 thieving is happening, I think, from a lot of 43:36 these 50 families." - Wow. - They've 43:38 all kind of... "Because it's too many papayas 43:41 for one family, and so the whole village has to 43:44 be involved in the theft of my papayas." 43:46 - Mhm. - He says, "Okay, well there's- that's 43:49 what we need to do!" He says, "How many papayas 43:52 seeds do you usually plant together to get 43:55 one sapling?" He says, "Usually 3-4, up to 5 44:00 little papaya seeds you plant together, and 44:03 then you trim under and take the strongest." 44:05 He says, "Well, why don't you do that?" And he 44:08 says, "Why don't you plant 500 saplings 44:11 together, and then take 10 saplings to each one 44:15 of the 50 families?" He says, "Well, I 44:18 know that's the Jesus way, but to take it now 44:21 to my enemies? Do I really want to do that?" 44:23 - Yeah, yeah. - And then he says, "Let's 44:25 pray together. So they pray again, and he gets 44:27 convicted. So he immediately goes and gets 2-3 papayas, 44:30 takes the papaya seeds, he gets all these 44:33 saplings together... And they kind of grow 44:36 fast in the tropics due to the weather, and 44:39 so they grow up quick. And once they're about, 44:41 I don't know, less than a foot high and grown 44:44 up, he takes ten to each one of the 50 families. 44:47 As he takes each one of those to the families, 44:50 the families are shocked. - Yes. I would be, too! 44:53 I'm shocked listening to this story! - And so, 44:57 one by one, and each one of the families- 44:59 then as he takes them, he says, "I've come to 45:01 gift to you papayas. I believe that you 45:03 like papayas." Because even he was first 45:06 thinking, "This is going to hurt my business," 45:08 you know? "They're all going to have papayas 45:09 now, too." But most of his papayas were 45:12 sold to market outside of his village. So, as 45:14 he went around, all of them, one by one, 45:17 started apologizing. "You know, well, we 45:19 weren't very nice... We're so sorry we 45:21 were snitching your papayas. You're so 45:23 kind." So he calls back to my friend, "You can't 45:26 believe what has happened! Everything has changed! 45:28 They've all apologized, we're all friends again 45:30 now"...and he says, "Well, now use this 45:33 opportunity to teach them how to grow papayas. 45:36 And every time you go back, you'd go and train 45:39 them, "This is what you do, this is how 45:41 you do it," and then they can help you grow 45:42 papayas. Well, to make a long story short, not 45:46 only have most of those 50 families over the last 45:49 18 months come to Christ; many of those are now 45:52 growing papayas, and his market for the papaya 45:55 business has even gotten bigger 'cause he buys 45:57 from them and resells in the bigger town. 46:00 - Wow. That is incredible. He was giving papayas 46:05 to the very people that were stealing his papayas 46:08 in the first place, and then those people ended 46:12 up following Christ. - Yes. - Wow. - So, this 46:14 is what we see: we see these lives really transformed 46:19 by the gospel, this saying: "How can I follow Jesus?" 46:22 Whether it's a simple papaya farmer, or a 46:24 person who has power to declare war. - Yes. 46:27 - We have seen them question, "What does it mean to be 46:30 a follower of Jesus?" - Mhm. - What would He 46:32 do if he were in my shoes here? - Yes. 46:35 Yes. - And that has been the exciting thing for me- 46:37 to see among Muslims, among Hindus... Another 46:44 story of a transformed life, one of my big national 46:46 leaders that he oversees five countries, he was 46:51 traveling in a city quite a ways from where he 46:54 lives-and this is in India. - Mhm. - And 46:59 as he was traveling to this distant city, all 47:04 of a sudden someone started calling, "Hey," 47:05 and calling his name, and he looks over, and 47:08 it was an old buddy from university. - Mhm. - A 47:11 drinking buddy, you might say. - Okay, okay. - And 47:13 even though he came from a Brahmin family and even 47:19 though they're supposed to be conservative, all 47:21 this, he lived-he lived a wild life while he was 47:24 in university. - Okay. - So his friend, he was 47:26 his good friend, he hadn't seen him in 47:28 a long time, and he says, "Come to my house." 47:31 He was just going into his hotel. "Get your 47:33 stuff from the hotel and come to my house." 47:35 So, he gets his things from his hotel, goes to 47:38 the house of his friend, and as they're talking 47:40 and eating at lunchtime, he wants to drink. 47:47 He says, "I don't drink any longer; I'm so sorry." 47:49 - Mhm. - And he says, "How are you going to 47:51 do it? I have the"... He had become very, 47:53 very wealthy since the time they were in school 47:55 and had the best, most expensive liquors-you 47:58 know, like opened up a $1,000 thing... He 48:02 says, "I really can't drink." - Mhm. - So 48:05 he leaves, he's a bit unhappy that his 48:06 old drinking partner doesn't want to drink 48:09 now, and he had just come out with this very 48:12 expensive liquor that he had opened up, 48:15 and he kind of goes off in a huff but then his 48:18 wife opens up. "You know what? How did 48:20 you overcome alcohol?" 'cause they were doing 48:23 more than just alcohol. Says, "My husband 48:26 never overcame, and it's just about destroyed 48:28 our life," because she had been a part of 48:30 their friend group." - Wow. - And, "Is there 48:32 anything that you could do to help my husband?" 48:35 He says, "Really, it's not me," and he points 48:36 to heaven. - Amen. - And he says, "It's the God 48:39 of heaven that gave me the power to overcome 48:41 the dissipated life, and now I've given my 48:44 life to help others." "Well you have to help 48:46 my husband," she lowers so he couldn't... - Yeah; yeah. And 48:50 then he shares with her quite a while. Well, 48:54 he had to go back to work. - Mhm. - And she 48:57 gets all excited. So he comes back, and 49:00 she starts to share to her husband, "You need 49:04 to hear what our old friend has to share about," 49:08 and he got really angry, and my friend had to go 49:10 back to his hotel. He was no longer welcome 49:13 to stay there. - Uh-huh. - "We don't want to hear 49:15 about"- he wasn't ready to change, and he didn't 49:18 want to hear about Jesus or anything. - Yep. 49:20 - So he says, "It's fine." He went back 49:22 to his hotel. "I'm not going to fight here." 49:24 And so, she wouldn't let go of her husband, 49:27 and all night she kept saying, "We really 49:30 need to change. I'm willing to change, you need 49:32 to change, but I think this gives us hope 49:34 if he could change." And so, that night, 49:39 they fussed most the night, and she finally 49:41 goes to bed, sleeping in the chair, he goes 49:44 to bed, but then they both had dreams or 49:47 visions that night. - Wow. - And before he had gone 49:53 to sleep, my friend had left him a little, small 49:57 Bible. - Mhm. - And he had gotten angry and 49:59 thrown the Bible across the room and it was on 50:02 the floor. He got this dream that that was 50:04 not a good thing to do- to throw God's Word 50:07 on the floor. - Mhm, mhm. - And so he 50:10 was freaked out. And she had had a dream 50:13 that he had to go back and "bring my friend back 50:15 to the home", and they had to listen to the 50:17 message of that Book he had thrown on the 50:19 floor. - Wow. - So, he went back early in 50:22 the morning, "I'm so sorry I did you bad!" 50:25 - Yep. - And he brought him back home, and then 50:29 he said, "You're going to stay here. We need 50:31 to know everything. I agree I have to change 50:32 my life." - Wow, praise the Lord that he came 50:35 to that realization that it was time for a change. 50:38 - It was - It was. Our time is just rapidly 50:41 escaping us. What are some of the needs 50:43 of nPraxis International? - So, we have... Every 50:49 month, we have request to open work in new 50:52 areas. - Mhm. - It costs us an average of about 50:55 $150 per worker. - Okay. - That's a big need, 51:00 and we're always trying to open in new areas, 51:03 expand into the existing places...and the purchase 51:06 of Bibles. - Okay, okay. Yeah. That's like we 51:10 were saying earlier: that's no small operation 51:13 to reach that many people with the gospel... 51:15 - Yes. - ...around the world. Absolutely, absolutely. 51:18 So, what about volunteers? - And so also, we have 51:22 volunteers that help us with different things: 51:25 answering phones to- we don't really have an 51:28 office. We work from our own homes. - Mmkay. 51:30 - But we have places for volunteers, for 51:33 donations, for Bibles, and stipend workers. 51:35 - Okay, okay. Well, we are going to go to a 51:39 brief address roll and news break so you 51:43 know how you can get in contact with nPraxis 51:47 International, and we will be right back. 51:51 - Unprecedented numbers of people groups from 51:53 many nations are finding the fullest expression of 51:55 their identity in following Jesus, and nPraxis International 51:59 is making that possible. For more information 52:02 on how you can sponsor workers in Muslim, Hindu, 52:05 and tribal groups their Bibles for a peace project 52:07 or their media programs, please visit their website, 52:11 nPraxisInternational.org That's the letter 52:14 nPraxisInternational.org. You may also call them 52:18 at (844) 668-2000, or write to them at 52:23 nPraxis International 9312 Janeen Lane 52:27 Ooltewah, Tennessee 37363. |
Revised 2020-01-21