Simon Says

It is my honor to introduce you to some new friends of ours of whom we are quite fond. It was a privilege to work closely with Simon and Anima of Create India. They are the international directors of the base in Jaipur with whom I recently partnered in order to direct the Marwri evangelistic film. Here is Simon's report on that work that we did together.

Simon says: " The climate has been very hot, 45 degrees Celsius (113 F) and dry, with lots of sand storms along with strong hot winds blowing making it difficult to do our work effectively, but by the grace of God we have been able to do our work and accomplish things...There were times we had difficulties in getting actors for the film but God helped us and we were able to complete the filming successfully. Even with the climate being very hot and other problems coming up everyday for us to carry out the filming, the crew and actors were patient and did very well. We thank God for His help so that we could successfully complete the filming. Now the editing is being done in the USA by Steve, the film director, and should be completed by Sept'10." Thanks, Simon!

Simon and Anima have invited me back to India in August to work on the rough cut of the film that I'm editing now. While there I will also teach video production for missions to young Indians and other international students. I will also stop in Thailand to teach in the School of Frontier Media for one week. My goal to teach young people in the areas of media and missions has very quickly become a reality!

To make this trip a reality we need $2900 in funds primarily for flights to India and Thailand. If you would like to contribute to this special project, contact us at sevenlampstands at gmail dot com to find out how to best support this work. You may also wish to make an additional donation to help support the work of Create India.

Please pray for:
* stamina and focus to complete the rough-cut of the Marwri film on time
* wisdom in booking the jumble of flights from Boston to Delhi, India to Bangkok, Thailand to Chiang Mai and back
* $2200 in funds to come in right away to purchase the round-trip tickets and an additional $700 prior to departure for the other expenses
* focused time to prepare for teaching two different classes in Asia this August
* safety in travel, including equipment
* an openness and readiness for the students to both learn and to ignite a passion for using media effectively in frontier missions work!
* Create India to receive the funds they need to continue their work
* that workers will go to engage the M*rwari people who desperately need to hear the life-giving Good News!

Simon's closing statement to his prayer partners is true for us as well. "We hope and pray that you are doing well by the grace of our Father in Heaven. We as a family remember you every night in our family prayers and thank God for you for partnering with us in the work that He has called us to do here. There are many of you that pray for us, write encouraging letters to us and support us in different ways. All this and your friendship helps us to keep moving forward here in Jaipur, India" . . . and even, by God's grace, in Massachusetts!

Coming attractions: Allyson shares about her upcoming trip to Vietnam and Rachel's report on her missions trip to Mississippi!

"I would like to thank Steve, who had taken time from his busy schedule to come to Jaipur, India to help us with the production, filming and editing of the evangelistic video drama film for the Rjasthani, Mrwari people group. The Rjasthani Mrwari are a mega unreached people group with no known church happening in their own language for their own people. Steve came here in the month of April, an extremely hot time of the year here in Rjasthan. I and the team were very blessed by Steve's attitude and his hard work, committing himself everyday to finish the work even when he felt a bit sick some days due to the heat and food. Steve's positive attitude and fun loving nature was a great encouragement to many of us on the team, the crew and actors, in the midst of difficult situations arising due to power cuts, the heat, actors not showing up on time or even pulling out, equipment problems, etc. He always had a positive attitude. Steve also took time during the Mrwari filming to train and help our local staff get some experience in filming and directing. Now even while he is back in the USA, he is working on the editing of the Mrwari film. I personally as the ministry leader here in Jaipur was very blessed by Steve and hope and pray that he continues to come back to India to help us make many more films for the numerous unreached people groups that live here. I thank his family for releasing him to come to India to help us." - Simon, Director, Create India

"In addition to being a deeply cherished and trusted friend and co-worker, Steve was our positive and persevering film director on the set. Early on, he committed himself and never once wavered. His contributions go above and beyond; yet humility goes before himself. He blessed us tremendously with his humility in receiving feedback on cross-cultural interaction, and the way he attempted to apply it immediately for the sake of team unity." - JoAnne, Create International Global Communications & Resource Centre, Thailand.

"I just thought it'd be cool for you to know that there is a Brazilian audience excited about what we did! ;) And I am sure they will be amazed when they see the end product. I love the passion you and your family have for the Kingdom! And the fact that you guys are bold enough to step out in faith and do what you do, wherever it takes you. I will stand in prayer for you." - Teammate Mila, School of Frontier Media graduate, Brazil

"Working with a talented, hard-working group to accomplish the goal of creating a relevant evangelistic film and overcoming trials and tribulations together to get there is just what I signed up for!" - Steve

Rachel Strikes Out On Her Own

Hi, this is Rachel! 

It's been my heart's desire for a long time to be a m!ssionary. In the past year I've had amazing opportunities to step out in m!ssions with my family. Now I have a chance to take a trip without my family to Mississippi with the Lanesville Congregational Church in Gloucester. We're going at the middle of July, and driving down to Canton, Mississippi. There we will be running a VBS and doing some minor construction work for the poor and needy. The trip is for two weeks and I'll be there with my best friend and thirty other kids my age.

The entire cost for this trip is $450 for food, accommodation, and transportation. I've been able to pay the registration fees of $75 and I'm hoping to raise the rest in support. Would you please pray about contributing to this trip? 

If you feel at this time that you can support me, please contact my parents about making a donation for this work. 

Thank you for considering my need, and please keep me in your prayers as I take this trip.

Sincerely, Rachel  

Vol 16 - Report on Incredible I-N-D-I-A

Indi* was indeed “incredible” as advertised. Our conference week was a tremendous blessing and time of prayer, worship and discussion about the future of the ministry. We gathered to remember what God has done in the past and to seek Him about the future direction of the ministry. It was great to see our teammates from around the globe and to see some of Indi*. We really enjoyed a trip to the Taj Mahal and a tour of famous sites in J*ipur, the Pink City.

Allyson and the girls returned home after the conference. Steve remained in Indi* to direct the ev*ngelistic film project for the M*rwari people of R*jasthan—an unreached people group of over 10 million. It was hot, hard work sweating from new found pours in over 110 degrees for 12 to 18 hour days. There was a lot of spiritual resistance to this project including conflicts with rebelling actors having trouble committing to the project. We also learned firsthand about something called I.S.T. or “Indi*n Stretchable Time.” That means things won't happen when you think they will and you hold very loosely to your best laid production plans and hope for the best. Nevertheless, the team persevered, got the needed footage, witnessed to the actors, and had a great time making a movie in Indi*. Steve will be diligently working on editing this project over the summer. Thanks again for praying for us during our expedition, we were very encouraged by your prayers.

In other news, Samuel has been officially accepted to UMASS Amherst in the College of Engineering. We got this news just a few days before we headed off to Indi*. We are also pleased to report that he got a great financial aid package as well so our expected family contribution should be manageable. All of our prayers are being answered regarding his future education. Thank you for your faithfulness. We continue to pray for Samuel that he will have a great transition from high school to university later this year.

Our newest challenge is summer housing. Allyson's parents have graciously offered to rearrange their home to accommodate us all, but we are hesitant to displace her parents for 8 weeks. In addition, we would love to be on the North Shore for July and August (although we're not limited to being there). We need something affordable that accommodates the five of us within our reduced furlough budget. Here's the kicker: we don't own any furniture. House-sitting or a furnished apartment would work best for us. If you have any leads, suggestions or ideas please contact us. We have been in this position before and know how God likes to provide at the last minute! We are trusting in his goodness and wait in expectation.

Rachel is excited to have a missions experience of her very own. She has committed to going to Canton, Mississippi this July on a “mercy ministry trip” with a friend's church team from Gloucester. Let's pray that all $400 in finances for her trip are raised as well.

Lastly, our support levels are slowly but surely rising. Our plan is to leave fully-funded this time after reaching 100% of our goal. Presently, we are at 70%. If you intend to start, increase, or change your giving for our ministry in the next year—please let us know at this time.

We still also hope to see all of you sometime over the next few months. Feel free to contact us at anytime using our new ministry email address.

Prayers and Praises:
* Thank God for the amazing break-throughs for the production teams in Indi*
* Pray for Steve and others who will be diligently editing the film footage in the months ahead
* Pray for housing for us for July and August
* Ask God about contributing to this work financially (starting for the first time or increasing funding) to help us reach 100%
* Pray that Lord will raise up others to participate in this ministry effort
* Pray for Rachel's upcoming ministry trip to Mississippi with a church group in July.

Steve sets up the next shot while the team checks on the translations of lines from English to M*rwari.

Recent R*jasthan Tour Video

A quick peak of our recent R*jasthan tour of duty. I now have 17 hours of video footage from Indi* to log and edit into an hour long movie. That's months of awesome work that I love! Please pray that this editing work can start soon and go well until a timely completion--and mostly that the finished film would be a great blessing to the people of Indi* for whom it is being made.

The URL for that video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtEpt0mdiro&

There is also a short outtake that can be found at www.youtube.com/sevenlampstands called "Keep Indi* Beautiful."

Myanmar Montage

Remember that trip Steve took back in November? Here is a visual meditation on that journey into Myanmar: Yangon, Shwe Dagon, Sule Pagoda, Mandalay, Shan State and back. Here are the beautiful people of Burma in a beautiful land. Pray for them and for peace.

If the blog clips the widescreen video, go tohttp://www.youtube.com/sevenlampstands to see it in all of its widescreen wonder.

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

Back to Asia in March

4 out of 5 us agree that 2009 was the most amazing year of our lives—not to mention the most challenging. We survived malaria and diarrhea, conquered tropical climates, preached the gospel on street corners, shot footage of Asian peoples behind closed borders, and experienced amazing new cultures in seven different countries. Together we rose to the occasion and survived an exhilarating year that has paved the way to our future in full-time missions work. Our commitment to this work has never been stronger and we are even more ready and willing to go than when we originally departed in 2008.

Best of all, we are ahead of schedule! When we set out in 2008 we had anticipated being in Australia for up two years. Yet God always seems to put us on different paths that inevitably work out better than what we initially anticipate. Originally, our plan had us completing our CI training this coming June 2010. Instead, the unusual circumstances of last year lead us to go to Thailand for the School of Frontier Media last July. Steve completed this crucial training in December and Allyson is half-way through this program. Consequently, we are able to begin serving now with CI as official associate staff members. First on the list, we expect to contribute to an upcoming production for a people group in Asia in April. More on that exciting project in a moment.

It's no secret that Samuel's experience this past year was not the same as the other four of us. Instead, Samuel has exciting plans that put him on a different path for his future. One of our biggest priorities this year is to see Samuel graduate from high school and help him through the transition into college this fall. He has applied to UMASS Amherst in the hopes of entering their Computer Engineering program. Please join us in praying that Sam will be accepted with a generous scholarship to make it possible for him to attend college this fall. Appropriately, we do not anticipate making our home overseas again until Sam is firmly entrenched in his college experience.

We are now officially on our first furlough and need to spend a lot of time raising additional funds so we can go back to full-time media missions work. Our support is currently insufficient for our budget here or overseas, so we have a lot of hard work to do this year to increase funding for our ministry. We learned in 2008 that support raising is very nearly a full-time job of its own, so plenty of our time this year will be devoted to the networking needed to increase our funding levels. Consequently, we also don't have a set time-table for our future yet, preferring to depart again when we have received all the funds we need to sustain us long-term. Please pray for us that our time of support raising will be abundantly blessed. If you are not already supporting us financially and would like to start, contact us and we'll show you how to get started.

We our also contributing to a few other video projects this year, including a lot of editing of material shot in Papua New Guinea (PNG) last year. One of those video projects is an HIV/AIDS video intended to help educate the people of PNG about appropriate HIV prevention. We will be posting this video along with others online later this year as they are finished. We also eagerly anticipate screening the Sh*n videos we helped to produce last fall upon their completion later this year.

We will be living in Falmouth, MA until the end of June, and looking for some freelance video production work to subsidize our income to make ends meet this year. We will also be participating in a number of media missions projects providing video production support like the one with CI to Asia this March. Please pray for us to be able to set aside the crucial time to contribute our expertise and resources to these missions projects while also working part-time.

In the meantime, we have two opportunities for you to come see our report back presentation on the work we have been doing recently. The first is Friday, February 26^th at the Middleton Congregational Church, 66 Maple Street, Middleton, MA at 7:30 pm at an ice cream social event. The second is at our home church, First Congregational Church of Hamilton, 624 Bay Road, Hamilton, MA at 12:15 pm in Heritage Hall on Sunday, February 28^th. At both events we'll be sharing some specifics about our journey reporting back on the past and looking ahead to the future. We'd love to see you there. Feel free to contact us directly if you require additional information.

Can you contribute to our upcoming expedition to Asia?

Just like last year's expedition to Papua New Guinea, this year's spring project requires a considerable amount of support to get us to a location at the end of March and back.

We require $6800 by March 1^st to pay for our roundtrip travel tickets and ground fees to Asia. At present we have only $2200 toward this goal and still need $4600.

Please prayerfully consider whether you could make a special contribution at this time. Contribution information is on the top of our blog in the right hand column. Thanks, mates!