"Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” - Matthew 2:2
"When they saw the star they were overjoyed." - Matthew 2:10
"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." - Revelations 22:16
Peace + Love in Christ this Christmas season to you and yours!
(Christmas Star graphic & fancy Photoshop editing work by Abby)
“To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.” (Prov. 3:1) This fall was an exercise in turning over our plans to the Lord and letting him change them. Steve did not return to Thailand for an outreach with the Create team nor travel to the Lausanne Conference in Cape Town, South Africa as we expected. Last year at this time Steve was often quoted on outreach for enthusiastically saying “This is what I signed up for!”Sitting on the sidelines warming the beach is most definitely not what Steve had planned for this fall. Nevertheless, as we commit to the Lord whatever we do, he has established our plans and directed our attention to other worthy pursuits.Until all have heard the good news, there will be more many more outreach opportunities for us ahead.
Instead, Steve is concentrating his efforts on contacting churches that may be willing and able to support our ongoing ministry. This season of support raising has resulted in a few offers to present the work of Create International to Cape Cod and Connecticut churches. We truly enjoy the immense privilege of sharing about the ministry of Create International. Please pray that we will find favor with these churches and see many more open doors and invitations to speak about our work in the months ahead.On that note, we would be delighted to come and speak at your church, home group, or ministry event. Would you like us to come and deliver an engaging presentation on media ministry for missions work focused on the least reached peoples of the world? We estimate we will need another 12 churches to join our team if we are to reach our full level of support and return to Create next summer.
Gratefully, we did receive some special funding this fall to attend the YWAM conference in Florida in early November. God used this event to speak powerfully to all four of us about our calling. We were especially grateful to see the impact of this event on Rachel and Abigail. Abby says “It was eye-opening to the way God has been moving in the nations of the world.” And Rachel said “I was really energized about our family's future work with YWAM.”
In other news, Allyson has been diligently editing material for the World Christian Chronology for the Center for the Study of Global Christianity and editing video from Vietnam. Samuel has successfully aced his first few months at UMASS Amherst and seems to be settling in well. His housing crisis earlier this semester was remedied recently and he is getting ready for finals and Christmas break. Rachel and Abigail are working hard at school and both made the honor roll again. We also just enjoyed a visit from the Montoya's, a missionary family we meet in Perth, Australia.
Our focus is now on returning to Thailand as our next step with Create International. We are currently at 74% of the overall funding level we need to return.We estimate that we will need 12 more churches and as many as 48 new families or individuals to provide the support required for our ministry. The opportunity to partner with us has never been more needed or urgent.
Please Pray that we:
- fend off discouragement during our fundraising time
- would have favor with upcoming church appointments
- would find 48 new families or individuals to partner with us in the next 4 months
- meet our monthly expenses during our deputation
- will finish strong with our video editing projects for Vietnam and the Marwari people of India
- can see Samuel provided with a good living arrangement and his own support network to help him while we are out of reach overseas next year.
In April and May of 2011, our fearless leaders,Calvin and Carol, the International directors of Create International, will be traveling throughout the US in order to equip YWAM bases, churches and other ministries with Create's audio-visual resources.They are uniquely gifted to meet the needs of short and long-term frontier ministries by providing films and storybooks in the language and culture of the people and seminars on evangelistic media production for the unreached world. Our heart is to see the body equipped for the task of reaching the unreached. We will be assisting in this effort next Spring. If you know of anyone in the mid-west or west coast that would be interested in a visit by Calvin and Carol and a presentation to your church, staff or students, just let us know.
"Retaliate with Love" is an exciting evangelistic drama made for a specific group of people in Southeast Asia and used by ministries there to share the gospel with these historically oppressed people. The story centers on a young man who undergoes a hazardous journey from Northern Thailand into Brma to discover the whereabouts of his missing older brother. The film has been subtitled in English.
Create International in Thailand produces evangelistic films in the language and culture of unreached peoples worldwide. This engaging presentation will demonstrate how film and videos are being used to reach illiterate, unreached peoples with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A short documentary in English about the Southeast Asian people will also be presented.
A short Q&A about the film, process and ministry will follow the presentation.
Thursday, November 18 Cinema Salem, Salem www.cinemasalem.com 7 or 8 pm (Time to be determined)
We are trying to determine which screening room we can use on the 18th, which effects the time of our event that evening. Therefore, please R.S.V.P so we can get a proper headcount. That would be greatly appreciated.
For more information and to R.S.V.P. please contact Steve or Allyson at sevenlampstands at gmail dot com
Lord willing, in about a week and a half Steve will be on a plane to Cape Town to attend the Third Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization. Cape Town 2010. Held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, this conference brings together 4,000 leaders from more than 200 countries to confront the critical issues of our time—other world faiths, poverty, HIV/AIDS, persecution, among others—as they relate to the future of the Church and world evangelization. Steve still hopes to attend this conference, yet still requires the funds to purchase the round-trip airfare. Please join us in prayer for this financial release.
Chair Doug Birdsall says “Our theme for Cape Town 2010 will be “God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). I believe that Cape Town 2010 will help the Church of this generation to understand our times and become more effective in world evangelization.” In that spirit, Steve has been enlisted as a representative of frontier media missions to share how technology can be more effectively used to advance the gospel worldwide. With only 4000 leaders from 200 countries invited, Steve literally pinched himself when he got the last-minute invitation this summer. Expenses for this important conference event are estimated at $3500 and immediate sponsorship of this event is appreciated.
Cape Town 2010: "The Whole Church taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World"
The story of Lausanne begins with Rev. Billy Graham. A powerful preacher, Graham quickly rose to prominence in the 1940’s and 50’s to become America’s foremost evangelist. As he began preaching internationally, Graham developed a passion to “unite all evangelicals in the common task of the total evangelization of the world.”
At the urging of evangelical leaders worldwide, the Lausanne Movement will hold the Third Congress on World Evangelisation in Cape Town, South Africa, 16-25 October 2010. The goal of Cape Town 2010 is to re-stimulate the spirit of Lausanne represented in the Lausanne Covenant: to promote unity, humbleness in service, and a call to action for global evangelization.
It is anticipated that over 4,000 leaders from 200 countries will attend onsite in Cape Town...The Participant Selection Team, consisting of leaders worldwide, has established criteria to ensure that the Congress will include men and women who represent a broad diversity of nationalities, ethnicities, ages, occupations and denominational affiliations.
In the few years leading up to this event, Lausanne Working Groups and Lausanne International Deputy Directors are engaging leadership teams to determine the relevant issues of the day pertaining to the church and worldwide evangelization and holistic ministry. (Learn more about the global conversations on the issues leading up to Cape Town 2010.) These issues will be discussed before and during and after Cape Town 2010 with the hope that new strategies and new collaborative efforts will be started so that many more men, women and young people will be able to hear and respond to the message of Christ presented in a relevant and culturally appropriate manner. http://www.lausanne.org/about.html
Thailand is a beautiful place and we especially remember the people there fondly. It was not much of a hardship to be there last year and, Lord willing, we are eager to return as a family next year. In the meantime, it's important to remember the great spiritual need among the Thai people. With God's strategic placement of Create International's ministry in Northern Thailand, as a ministry we have proximity to millions of unreached peoples in Asia, and responsibility to bring the gospel to these people "right in our backyard."
A Thai Christian friend who grew up in Chiang Rai tells us, "Many foreign missionaries have gone to the hill tribes for many, many years. But not many go to the Northern Thai people. Only less than 1% of the Northern Thai people know the gospel...I wish for more workers to go to them, and now also I want to go to share with my Northern Thai people."
In October, Create teams are going to produce gospel resources for the least reached peoples of Northern Thailand: the 7 million Tai Yuan, otherwise known as Lanna Thai or Northern Thai. Create staff persons in Thailand have already been in meetings with project partners and are diligently working on treatments, scripts, and identifying the right story lines that would be specific and relevant to the people in their language and culture. They have asked me (Steve) to come to Thailand and join the team from Sept.27 to Oct.15, where we will be on the field filming in this region! In October through December we will be editing the films as well as producing animated resources for the Northern Thai.
"We were lacking good evangelism tools to reach our people group, the Northern Thai. When Create approached us to make these films to reach the Northern Thai, we were very excited because it was something we see a huge need for. The Northern Thai don't generally like to read tracts and books, but they do watch a lot of television shows and movies—so we think it would be a tool that would be very effective with our people group." - Greg, Field Worker, OMF
We will not simply translate a Western gospel story. Instead, with the help of our project partners, Create Thailand staff and students will produce "contextual films" using Northern Thai analogies, indigenous elements, and cultural bridges. "Contextual" describes a way of introducing Jesus in a personal way, as a God who is their Maker intimately acquainted with who they are as a people, who speaks their language, and loves their music and art.
A word from our Project Partner(s):
We have several organizations and denominations coming together to put this video together. We need people across the world really praying for this project; that we'll have unity and we'll be able to move forward in consensus. We need prayer for wisdom on how to really present the gospel in a way that will communicate to the Northern Thai people—right to their hearts, right into their families, so that they really understand what the true love is that Jesus Christ came to present. They need to be able to not only just understand it, but accept it as their own and see their lives changed because of it.
Please pray for:
1. God to anoint and guide us in unity as we work together as a partnership of missions agencies in the Body of Christ.
2. all the script preparations, cultural advisors, actors, and participants for the films, viral videos, and animation projects that Create International is producing for the Northern Thai peoples.
3. safety, wisdom and creativity for the Create International staff and students participating in this field production.
4. full provision of finances and resources to complete the work.
My current need towards participating on this outreach is still $1800at this time, basically a round-trip flight to Thailand. The funds I need for the outreach itself (food, accommodation, and transport over the duration of our field production) have gratefully already been provided.
If you would like to give, please contact me immediately. Donations can also be sent:
“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58. As team members in this work with you, we are so grateful to report that your contributions in prayers, encouragements and finances have not been in vain. This Labor Day weekend we thought we'd put a new twist on this old holiday and provide you with a report on our labors with you for the Kingdom. Here is a brief look at the work accomplished and anticipated with your active participation in our ministry.
A Look Back
After her Vietn*m trip Allyson stayed home in Massachusetts holding down the fort, while Steve was protected from bodily harm and spiritual attacks during his recent teaching tour of Asia. There were certainly some hurdles to overcome. Quite possibly the worst thing that happened was the sunburn Steve received by the Rajasthani sun on a trek up the mountain to the Jaighur Fort on his day off. Gratefully, that was not life threatening and he fully recovered. Strike 1. He also learned that not having your luggage arrive is a bit of a challenge but not without benefits. After several days without luggage, the airline provided delay compensation from which Steve acquired new wardrobe items that met Allyson's standards! Twelve days later his bag was delivered in India—apparently it was on its own sight-seeing tour of India. Strike 2. Lastly, Steve confesses he inadvertently insulted a good friend through a cross-cultural faux paus, which is another good reminder of the importance of proper cross-cultural communications. What others hear is not always what we mean and great patience must be exercised when communicating across cultures. Thank God He has also shown us the power of forgiveness and repentance for when our tongues fumble even if our hearts have good intentions. Strike 3. We are firmly committed with Create International to provide culturally appropriate gospel presentations to the peoples of the world without a gospel presence.
Thankfully, even with these three strikes, Steve was still able to play a good game to the end. Thank God for extra innings, right? The teaching times in both Thailand and Indi* went exceedingly well. Teaching on the School of Frontier Media in Thailand had the extra challenge of pausing after every sentence for translation into Thai. Despite the awkwardness of such disjointed speaking, the students were successfully introduced to the basic principles and a practical approach to directing. Meanwhile, Steve was grateful to be reacquainted with friends and colleagues in Chiang Mai who went out of their way to bless him and encourage us to come back soon to Thailand. Steve has another opportunity to work with this school this fall during their outreach to the Tai Yuan, the people of Northern Thailand. Please pray he will be able to return and participate in the team's outreach at the end of September into October.
Steve's next stop was J*ipur Indi* where he taught the basics of video production to many Indi*n staff and students plus one guy from Kore*. His time there was also extremely blessed. The students in the school were very attentive and appreciative, which rewards any teacher. The feedback received on his week of teaching was graciously positive—a nice confirmation of his call to help raise up other missionaries to use media to share the gospel. The Create Indi* leaders are already asking Steve to consider returning twice a year to continue teaching in their programs. The long-term plan would be to train himself out of a job. Someday soon our brothers and sisters in India won't need us to come teach anymore—because they will be teaching each other about using media effectively for missions. In the meantime, we are grateful for any excuse to come see our dear friends and Steve was thankful to reconnect with the Martins, Anselm, Thapas, Vijay, and Ashish. Please pray for these teams of YWAM students and staff as they are now doing ministry outreach in that Northeastern parts of India near B*ngladesh and Bhut*n in an effort to “Make our Lord Known” to the nations.
The evangelistic Sh*n film we worked on this time last year is completed and we are eager to share it with you at your request. The film has been well received by Sh*n congregations in Northern Thailand who will help distribute the film in My*nm*r. The response has been enthusiastic and the film definitely sets a new standard for excellence in Create's video catalogue.
A Look Forward
The ministry work continues right up through Christmas. As Allyson described in the last newsletter, she will be very busy this fall working part-time for Create International doing online research for the ministry, when she is not working part-time as a substitute teacher in the Falmouth public schools. She is also starting her new work as an associate editor for the Center for the Study of Global Christianity and is happy to tell you more about it. Allyson also has her hands full editing a number of videos about the orphanage in Vietn*m. As a family we are also planning on mobilizing and equipping other missionaries at upcoming YWAM 50th Anniversary conferences in both Canada (Sept) and Florida (Nov) representing Create International.
Meanwhile, Steve plans to contribute to the following projects this fall:
complete the editing of the M*rw*ri ev*ngelistic film based on the feedback from the Indi* and Thailand team members, project partners and test audiences
return to Thailand in late September to work with the teams on the Tai Yuan video projects—which may also lead to more editing work for this Fall and Spring
participate as an official delegate at the Cape Town 2010 Lausanne Conference in mid-October as a representative of frontier media missions
continue editing the Papua New Guinea footage from last year (which has taken a back-burner to all the other work lately).
There has never been a better time to contribute to our ministry work. Our ongoing support is currently at 72% which means we are closer to reaching our goal of being able to return to a Create center next year! Because we are still below our required goal we find that we need to pray and hope for additional funds above our regular support in order to participate in all these upcoming events. Please contact us if you need some help getting started in regular support or making a special contribution for our upcoming projects.
This verse sums up our enthusiasm to be serving the Lord so wholeheartedly these days. We are exceedingly blessed to be able to proclaim Him through the work we do advancing the Kingdom of God around the world. “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:28-29. Amen.
Just wanted to let you know I am in B*ngladesh and they just ordered another 1000 copies of Ami Doshi (Ev*ngelistic film for Beng*li Hindus) to distribute thru their radio program to their listeners. We also gave out the calendars and they were very excited to get them. We also used the calendars in an outreach that our Beng*li believers did last month and they were very well received and a very effective evangelistic tool. Thought you might like to know this. Thanks for all you do. - A YWAM Frontier Missions South Asia leader
Thanks to Sameh, Ricky, Ashish, and Vijay for these photos.
Soon after returning home from teaching in Asia, most of us were in a rented car off to PA, VA and MD on official furlough business which included a reunion with Steve's father! The trip started later and ended sooner than we hoped—which meant we hit the ground running hard every day to keep on schedule.
Nevertheless, we were grateful to see some friends, supporters and family on this five day trip all the way to the Blue Ridge mountains and back. We were reunited with the Montoyas, our CDTS classmates, fresh from their work around the world, who graciously returned one of our suitcases we had left behind in Perth. Thanks again!
While visiting them in Charlottesville, VA, we celebrated Steve's 43rd birthday. We also wedged in a few hours here and there to take in a some sights along the way, including the wonderful view from the Skyline Drive and an impromptu dinner in Times Square. And our twenty minutes in our Nation's capitol has whet our appetite to return someday when we have more time to enjoy the museums and monuments more fully. Drive-by shootings just don't quite satisfy.
It was great to see my dad, his wife, my sister and her daughter after almost two years. It was a short but sweet family reunion.
"When they saw the star they were overjoyed." - Matthew 2:10
