Posted by deangonzales on July 7, 2010
Matt and April Troupe have a passion to see a God-glorifying, Christ-loving, and Spirit-filled church planted in Fresno, California. While they heartily welcome any believers who may be looking for a solid biblical church to join them in their efforts, they’re especially burdened to reach lost people. To achieve that goal, they’re working hard at developing relationships with unbelievers in the hopes of gaining a hearing for the gospel. I’d like to encourage our students and readers to take the time to become acquainted with the Troupe’s church planting effort by reading the Troupe’s most recent prayer letter below and by visit their website: Freegracefresno.com . You can also email Matt for more information at freegracefresno@gmail.com.
Our New Building
Things have been coming along bit by bit in our new facility. We have had volunteers working to remodel the former real estate office into a place we can use for worship. Our people have pitched in to serve and donate so that it is looking more and more “legit.” The transformation has been amazing and there are a few before and after photos attached. The location is great for connecting to the community with lots of foot traffic that has lead to spontaneous contacts.
Two weeks ago we were looking at purchasing chairs, and facing the overwhelming price of $3,700. Out of the blue we received an unexpected answer to prayer. Pastor Robert Cole from Hickman called us and asked us if we needed chairs. One of the people in his church works for a major lab that was getting rid of all of their waiting room chairs. A few days later we were driving a rented Uhaul from Stockton back to Fresno with 57 chairs. Other amazing things like this have been happening to us in the last 6 weeks and we praise God for it…This is certainly an answer to your prayers!
As we have spent time remodeling our building, we have been spending even more time trying to remodel our people. We are in the middle of a 12-week series that is equipping our people to live as missionaries in our community. Several wonderful things have come out of this. First, our people have been taking opportunities to shine the light of truth to people around them. They are sharing stories about making friendships with neighbors, family and coworkers for the sake of the gospel. This has been so refreshing, and we are all thrilled at the opportunity to be reconciled to God and share in the ministry of reconciliation.
Another great encouragement is that we have had several people from outside of our group take advantage of this training. We have had a few people from Youth For Christ (YFC) that have been coming. Also Aaron Telloian, one of our young men (who has been very helpful during this time) is providing the leadership training for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) at Fresno State University over the summer. We are excited that we are able to serve and minister to these people.
Homeless ministry
Please pray for our new friend “Wade,” a homeless man who lives near our new facility; we met him several times and he eventually joined us on Sunday morning. I was preaching on hospitality and spent a considerable amount of time describing what it is like to be a stranger, and how we are all strangers from God. I explained from Ephesians chapter 2 that the gospel is God taking strangers in. He and his friend came in their filthy, stinking clothes and our people warmly welcomed them. He was overwhelmed that people spoke with him and even had lunch with him! We have met with him 3 more times in the last 2 weeks to provide for his practical needs, explain the gospel of grace, and call him to faith and repentance. He is now professing faith in God and is asking for help in changing his life. He has a long history of criminal activity and alcohol abuse. I am planning on bringing him to one of our home groups this week. Please pray for a deep work of transformation.
Several of our people have also continued to attend the “Least of These” ministry where we get to help feed the homeless, eat with them, and share the gospel. During this time, many of these people are hearing the message of a crucified and risen savior. But along with this (maybe even more importantly!) we are experiencing God at work transforming us. We are regularly learning that our aversion to the “unwashed” poor comes from our own pride, selfishness, and love of comfort and security.
We are looking for people to commit to pray for us 1 hour a week for fruitfulness for the ministry here. The prayer covenant can be found on our website here.
Bob Gonzales, Dean
Reformed Baptist Seminary
Posted by deangonzales on May 17, 2010
Church historian Stephen Neill once remarked, “When everything is mission, nothing is mission.” Alan R. Johnson heartily agrees. Johnson, a missionary in Thailand, advocates a renewed focus on the “where” question of missions, and a renewed prioritization of frontier missions among the least-reached.
Don’t let the term “apostolic” fool you. Johnson is not advocating the return to the office of Apostle, using the term, instead, in a functional sense. Being “apostolic” means to “function in the manner of the Apostles” in our ever-outward, pioneering compulsion. As God’s “sent out ones,” we drive forward, intent on crossing every ethno-linguistic boundary with the Gospel. While pastoring existing churches might be needed until indigenous leadership can be raised up, the great need in missions consists of going to where the church has not yet been established and planting – for the first time – local manifestations of Christ’s universal Church within unreached “nations” -ethne – mentioned in our Lord’s Commission.
The apostolic role of the missionary is reflected in the very term itself, the Latin missio being derived from the Greek apostello, denoting a “sent-out one.” Missionaries, thus, are not merely those who go. They are those who are sent, emissaries of the Gospel, sent out for a special cause, the outward and propulsive impulse towards the uttermost parts of the earth.
While canned food drives and local crisis pregnancy centers deserve our help, too, these serve as poor replacements for our primary drive towards the ends of the earth and to all the nations. Our task is to find the darkest holes and to stick ourselves in them. All barriers to the Gospel must be crossed and every dark region lit with a Gospel witness.
While many US churches are advocating becoming more “missional” those churches most closely aligning themselves with this newly coined adjective are often the last to send workers overseas to the least-reached, instead, preferring local missions and – in consequence – failing to have anything but a local mindset, enslaved to the winds of culture.
While many opportunities exist for Western pastors to play roles in established Third World Churches, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of viewing missions through the lens of the pastoral ministry, white Anglo pastors pastoring brown Third World Churches. We must strive always to be passing the baton, in the manner of II Timothy 2:2, to faithful local men in a replicational, multiplicational way – making disciples that can make disciples, reaching the lost to reach the lost..
For this reason, we must prioritize frontier missions and we must also value the principle of indigeneity, attempting, in all that we do, to equip local believers, pass the baton, and see the Gospel blossom on native soil. What we need in missions is not exported pastorates among already “churched” areas, but apostolic pioneers to the very edges of Gospel accessibility.
I love this book, The Apostolic Function, and I give it away to many pastor friends. If you don’t read this book, but merely study the articles mentioned in Johnson’s footnotes, this by itself would be a mini-course in missiology.
From a Papuan tribal ministry context, I highly suggest studying Johnson’s interaction with the people-group concept and the phrase panta ta ethne (all the nations) contained in the Great Commission (pages 121-126). Are we to prioritize reaching merely the maximum number of individuals with the Gospel, or is there also a warrant for reaching the maximum number of peoples (note the plural) with the Gospel, such that we desire to plant a beachhead of Truth across every geographical and ethno-linguistic boundary where Christ is not known? Read the book and decide for yourself.
This is a book well worth its price ($ 14.39 at the William Carey Library, www.missionbooks.org), and well worth the cost of gifting this volume to your key supporting pastors.
Trevor Johnson, Missionary
World Team Papua
Posted by deangonzales on May 12, 2010
Bill Hale is currently enrolled in RBS’s Marrow of Theology program and is pursuing the Master of Theological Studies (M.T.S.) degree. After visiting Cambodia several times to help in the work of the ministry and to encourage the churches, the Lord led Bill and his wife, Jennifer, to relocate there to help share the gospel and to devote their lives to this ministry. The Hales are sent out by the First Baptist Church of Parker, where they have been members since 2002. Bill serves as a teacher at the Prek Ambel Training Center (PATC) teaching Systematic Theology, Computer Technology, & Guitar. He also assists in the day-to-day and long-term ministry strategy and planning for the work in Cambodia. Jennifer is an English teacher at the PATC. They have been ministering in Cambodia since January of 2007.
In addition to teaching in the PATC Center , part of his work in Cambodia is working to translate good Christian books into Khmer. The Khmer church is in great need of these books and currently have very little access to them. The process is difficult and costly. Each book takes about 6 months to translate and edit (two people – Bill and his fellow worker Akpirin). The cost for the translation is about $1,000 per book plus about $1,600 to print 1,000 copies. By God’s grace they have just revised and reprinted the 1689 Baptist Confession. You can access the translation in PDF format by clicking here. Several Christian classics are already in Khmer in abridged form including:
- Abraham Booth – Reign of Grace
- Jeremiah Burroughs – The Mystery of Divine Contentment
- John Flavel – Mystery of Providence
- John Calvin – Institutes of the Christian Religion (first three books)
They are currently about 50% finished with The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen. After this we want to start on Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will. They are currently raising funds for these two works. Please consider partnering with Bill, his co-laborers, and his sending church to help complete these exciting projects. For information on how you can help the work financially, click here. Pray the Lord will bless the work of their hands and use these books for his glory.
Matt and April Troupe have a passion to see a God-glorifying, Christ-loving, and Spirit-filled church planted in Fresno, California. While they heartily welcome any believers who may be looking for a solid biblical church to join them in their efforts, they’re especially burdened to reach lost people. To achieve that goal, they’re working hard at developing relationships with unbelievers in the hopes of gaining a hearing for the gospel. I’d like to encourage our students and readers to take the time to become acquainted with the Troupe’s church planting effort by reading the Troupe’s most recent prayer letter below and by visit their website: Freegracefresno.com . You can also email Matt for more information at freegracefresno@gmail.com.
