Journey to the Gathering

Dear friends and family,

This is the first official correspondence from us with our new brand as Seven Lampstands intended to help us keep a lower profile online.

In just a few weeks, we are planning to go to Incredible Indi*. Incredibly crowded, noisy, pungent and needy. Tourist ads will paint a picture of riding camels in the sunset, eating lots of spicy curry and chapattis, dressing in shimmering Indi* silks and dancing to Bollywood films amidst a vivid kaleidoscope of colorful people, festivities and culture. YES, Indi* is all this and more. But that is not our main reason for going.

Instead, we have a calling from God to join our fellow Create International staff coming from four locations converging in Indi* at an important gathering. After this week, we will be commissioned to reach out to millions of peoples who do not yet know the Lord.

During the last gathering in 2007, God gave Create important keys for multiplication and growth. Now in 2010, YWAM’s Jubilee 50th anniversary year, we believe there is even more God wants to reveal to us individually and corporately as full-time staff. Mizpah was the place where the people of Israel came together to hear from God (1 Samuel 6:21-7:17). This is a Mizpah time for Create International.

Jesus gave us the task of making disciples of all nations, and we know that eventually there will be people from every tribe, tongue, people and nation around his throne. (Rev. 5:9) Yet right now there are still over 6,000 unreached people groups in the world. Even more astonishing, there are 3,400 people groups who are not only unreached, but no one is even trying to reach them. Mission strategists call them “unengaged.” On the list of the largest 639 Unengaged unreached people, over 300 groups alone are located in Indi*. But we are going to help change that statistic.

In April, our teams are producing resources for some of the least reached peoples of Northern Indi*: the 80 million Punj*bis, the 25 million Jat Skhs and the 10 million M*rw*ri peoples. Our media teams will produce a contextual gathering/home church model for those from a Skh religious background, an evangelistic film in the Punj*bi language, a short documentary to inspire prayer for the Jat Skhs, an evangelistic film for the M*rw*ri and a few other short music videos and resources. This represents a full palette of tools to serve national and international workers currently working among these people-- and to recruit more workers to reach these needy peoples.

Steve has been asked to rewrite the script for the M*r*wis project as well as to direct and edit the film. This is likely to result in several months of work after he returns from Indi* in late April.

“Among all the varieties of evangelism, film makes one of the deepest impressions on recipients. Even more then those who hear a proclaimed message, or read words of Scripture or listen to a friend’s witness.“ (Atlas of Global Christianity p. 306.) We will produce contextual films in the language and relevant to the culture of the Punj*bi and M*rw*ri peoples. Contextualization means introducing all peoples to Jesus in a personal way, as a God who is intimately acquainted with who they are as a people, who speaks their language, and loves their music and art.


Will you join us in this strategic time? We believe the Lord has “summoned” us to India to meet with us and give us important instructions for the way forward---To seek and save the lost, to finish the task and to be faithful and fruitful disciples.

We still need $3000 toward this upcoming ministry gathering and outreach.

Please join us in prayer for full provision. If you would like to give, please send donations to: Ripe for Harvest, P.O. Box 487, Monument, CO 80132.

As always, please leave our name off the check and add Account #247 in the memo line. If you would like to partner with us, please send us an email to let us know so we can plan accordingly. You can reach us at sevenlampstands at gmail dot com

Please join us in prayer for:
1. God to anoint and guide us as we all gather as a Create International staff family—to worship Him for His faithfulness to us and to hear His instructions for the way forward.
2. All the script preparations, cultural advisers, actors, and participants for all the projects Create International is producing for these major unreached peoples.
3. Safety, wisdom and creativity for the Create International staff participating in these field projects.
4. Special protection and wisdom for Steve as he works on the M*r*wi script and prepares to direct the film.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers,
Yours, till ALL have heard,

Steve, Allyson, Samuel, Rachel and Abigail