tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19895955104394032252011-11-25T04:49:06.609-06:00Informing, Challenging, and Mobilizing Independent Fundamental Baptists to Reach the Unreached in Our GenerationDebtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-84066283016111094522009-12-01T13:25:00.005-06:002009-12-02T08:59:13.110-06:00

I know, I know. It has been a LOOOOONG time since I last posted. My new position with my church has tied me up considerably. Hopefully, I will now begin to get into some type of posting routine.We had left off discussing missionary support issues in the midst of what I consider a crisis. I think it would be good to explore one solution to this crisis further. Increasing missionary support levels

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-85727397881152330142009-09-07T14:48:00.030-05:002009-09-14T16:56:46.723-05:00

In my mind (and in the minds of many others) there is a coming missionary support crisis. Is it really a crisis though?Cri-sis : an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially: one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome.I wish I had the time to do the research necessary to bring even more clarity to what is happening with

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-43077862610662428562009-08-23T02:45:00.044-05:002009-08-24T10:00:37.879-05:00

THE PROBLEMWhat is the primary problem within the current model of missionary support among Independent Fundamental Baptists (deputation with off-site church support)? I have tried to deal with various complimentary sulutions to the current missionary support crisis in previous posts, but most of them work outside of the support structure itself. The central crisis, as I see it, is the continued

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-80489603942600919552009-08-18T10:00:00.001-05:002009-08-18T10:43:54.556-05:00

From Mission resources, to the missionary spirit of Independent Baptists, to Swarming, over the last few week I have read many good Mission posts. Here are a few of my highlights from the last several weeks in the Mission Blogosphere:MissionaryHelp.com - This is a site I ran across recently. He has recently pointed out several new resources that could benefit the Mission. Two resources deal with

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-4504774482785629602009-08-12T08:00:00.001-05:002009-08-12T08:07:33.575-05:00

I think that sometimes we forget who Paul was. Oh, we always remember certain things about him. For example, he was an apostle - and not just any apostle. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, upon whom special revelation was showered, who acted with a special authority. This is the Paul we know. Is that the whole picture though?Perhaps it would be convenient for us if that was the

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-84447113568006237562009-08-09T14:00:00.003-05:002009-08-09T14:03:37.400-05:00

No. No. Deputation is not in the Bible. Why do we use this model of missionary support then? Is there any Biblical support for it? Can it be altered?There are several principles and practices in the New Testament that are applicable to modern Independent Baptist missionary support. There is the primary principle concerning support being received from those being ministered to on the field - not a

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-87093486160177060092009-08-04T09:53:00.006-05:002009-08-04T10:16:52.665-05:00

For those who have been waiting for a next post, sorry. I've been out of town for a bit, but I'm back now - crazy summer! I'll start back with this short post concerning another Mission-related resource online.Etnopedia is primarily a Wiki translation project, aiming to provide multiple language groups with unreached people group information. It remains a helpful tool for English-speakers though.

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-37202147484403835382009-07-29T07:00:00.000-05:002009-07-29T07:00:00.153-05:00

OK, before I start, let me say this. No, single male missionaries are not presented as a major issue of missionary support in the Bible. In fact, this post could just as easily have gone under another heading. However, teams of single male missionaries are evident in the NT. Their benefits to modern field effectiveness (demonstrated in Scripture) and to our current support struggles will be plain

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-62324810015039569842009-07-27T14:22:00.016-05:002009-07-27T15:22:09.219-05:00

There are few places on the web (that I've found) where you can get more Mission-related stuffthan at the Mission InfoBank. The InfoBank is coordinated by Global Mapping International, with such contributors as Operation World, Joshua Project, Peoplegroups.org, and Ethnologue. All of these collaborate here to offer Mission resources to Christian leaders. For my purposes here, it is made up of

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-28637421606305987502009-07-25T08:00:00.000-05:002009-07-25T08:00:02.721-05:00

It has been a bit since I had time to include one of these end-of-the-week posts. As a result, this one will include good Bogosphere discussions over the past several week. However, I will not comment on them as much as I normally would.Pragmatism in Missions: Missions Mandate provided a link to a very good article on this subject, worthy to be read. How much of our method is pragmatic? How much

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-1300199536600974572009-07-21T11:23:00.041-05:002009-07-25T00:58:00.687-05:00

Who is supposed to support missionaries? This is an issue that we often presume we have the right answer for. However, we may be surprised with the Bible's answer. Our Independent Baptist answer to this question would be, local churches. This is absolutely right! But which churches? Do any churches have an obligation to provide support? Again, we would say, "Sure, all of the churches that

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-8069391691359614952009-07-20T11:00:00.001-05:002009-07-20T11:20:10.209-05:00

I believe in Independent Fundamental Baptist churches. I believe that we have greater potential to significantly impact the remaining world missionary task than any other denomination or movement. I have many reasons to believe this.We believe in the local church. We believe that it alone is called and is able to fulfill the Mission of God in our generation. We believe in its ability, through its

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-17171353482495190742009-07-17T08:30:00.001-05:002009-07-17T08:36:54.840-05:00

The last post may have introduced some Biblical facts that surprised you. Mind you, working in a secular job for a missionary is not a doctrine. However, it is something that should be considered as an option for every Independent Baptist missionary. It should be considered by all and sought by many, seeing that it has such significant Biblical precedent in Paul, our primary missionary model.

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-83934796938694079422009-07-16T09:32:00.052-05:002009-07-16T11:55:54.075-05:00

A short time ago I posted a "This Week" article that included some blogosphere discussion about missionaries working secular jobs for at least part of their support as a solution to the current crisis. I promised to talk more about it at a later time. Having established that there is in fact a coming missionary support crisis among Independent Fundamental Baptists (as well as others), and having

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-55197132328570058942009-07-13T08:00:00.008-05:002009-07-13T22:45:27.600-05:00

In the last post we attempted to communicate some of the details of the coming missionary support crisis.The trends are not positive. Deputation lengths are increasing. The dollar is losing value much faster than monthly support levels are increasing. There is an urgent need for solutions to the impending missionary support crisis. The good news is that some are already suggesting solutions, and

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-70766577942158934232009-07-10T08:00:00.009-05:002009-07-13T06:27:15.006-05:00

It is 1965. An Independent Baptist missionary family has just been commissioned by a local church and they are heading out on the deputation trail. It's going to be a hard road. In fact, it is not meant to be easy. They say that this pre-field process is meant to 'weed out' bad missionaries, to encourage living by faith, etc. But . . . it's do-able.They minister in many churches during this

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-66189788594309330482009-07-09T06:23:00.002-05:002009-07-09T06:26:51.391-05:00

I've been advertising this one for quite some time now. I just got some numbers in from an Independent Fundamental Baptist mission agency. They are more shocking than I initially suspected they would be! I am hoping to get numbers from a second agency soon to be able to verify these, but I will post the findings next week no matter what.Stay Tuned!

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-51647577493510056042009-06-28T07:00:00.001-05:002009-06-28T07:00:11.840-05:00

Here's the line-up for this week in the Mission Blogosphere:"Simple Church", not so simple?: The MissioMishmash had a couple of good posts about "Simple Church". This is often a similar concept as organic and house church. There is quite a movement developing around the attempted return to a more New Testament model of church life. This blogger's first post contained a brief description and

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-48623797576735629312009-06-24T22:46:00.003-05:002009-06-24T22:55:29.516-05:00

I usually post 3-4 times a week. I am not stopping that, but it may be a little slower for the next week. We are planning a move. That process, as you all know, takes up much free time. Don't fret though! In about a week, I should be up and running on my more usual schedule again. Check back frequently.Here's some of what is planned for the near future:Where, how many, and who are the unreached

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-71328975643094523492009-06-22T11:30:00.001-05:002009-06-22T11:32:07.033-05:00

Need help visualizing the remaining World Mission task? Statistics and words sometimes do not help us to realize the condition of the world as they should. Sometimes pictures can provide a needed supplement to statistics. This is where resources like World Map come in.The World Mission Atlas Project (MAP) has turned statistical missions data into maps, allowing us to visualize the status of

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-89942667519474097152009-06-20T17:30:00.000-05:002009-06-20T17:39:55.966-05:00

OK. Here's the line-up for this week in the Mission Blogosphere:Why are we so afraid of NT house churches? On the blog of an IMB missionary, The M Blog, there was some discussion of house churches. His first post provided a description of a house church meeting on his field. This was done in response to some objections to house churches he had seen elsewhere. The second post contained a lengthy

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-41860389411605541292009-06-19T17:10:00.001-05:002009-06-19T17:10:00.861-05:00

The Missionary Goal of God is this: His glory expressed in the worship of a maximum number of people from every people group. The question was asked in the last major post, "Will we align our strategy and resource deployment with God's goal?" Another question is immediately begged, "How do we know exactly who the groups are that God wants reached, so that we can reach them?"Are they political

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-5602065680587167842009-06-15T12:00:00.001-05:002009-06-15T12:00:00.045-05:00

I love Skype. We use it for all of our calling (in and outbound). It saves us money and has allowed us to do things we wouldn't normally have been able to do (like letting grandma see her grandson regularly via a free video conference). So, I have regularly promoted personal use of Skype.What excites me even more about Skype is its potential for missions. What is Skype? I am no expert, but here

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-31648814379206500962009-06-15T08:00:00.001-05:002009-06-15T08:00:00.629-05:00

You have a ‘theology of Mission’ whether you know it or not. All of your missionary strategies reflect this theology. In fact, much of your life may be a reflection of this theology. It drives your passion (or lack thereof), your motives, strategies, methods, use of money and resources, time usage, etc.Bob goes to church every time the doors are open. He hears about missions frequently, but doesn

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-10630649806061351822009-06-13T23:00:00.003-05:002009-06-14T16:35:35.293-05:00

Three posts and a poem. That is our theme for this week in the Mission blogosphere.How NOT to Drop a Missionary's Support - An Evangelical foreign missionary made some good comments concerning missionary support ethics. It is inevitable that missionaries will lose some support while on the field. This is accepted. However, unacceptable is the way in which support is often dropped. No notice, no

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-2893751241611527272009-06-10T09:46:00.051-05:002009-06-12T17:31:48.528-05:00

In the first post of this discussion, we saw that God doesn't just seek a multitude of individuals, He seeks a variety of individuals from every people group to worship Him (Rev. 5:9, 7:9). The lesson in the previous post was essentially this: Since Babel, God describes the objects of His Mission largely in terms of distinct groups of people who have been separated by Him linguistically,

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-82411474753947911222009-06-10T08:00:00.002-05:002009-06-10T08:00:00.543-05:00

Much of the talk in missions (not among Independent Baptists though) over the last several decades has been about people groups, especially unreached people groups (who they are, how to reach them, etc.). As this discussion has been taking place, several related resources have been developed to help reach them. Perhaps the most well-known and valuable of these resources is Joshua Project."Joshua

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-34419600463292187002009-06-06T21:55:00.008-05:002009-06-06T22:38:56.385-05:00

This week the Mission Blogophere gave us several interesting posts. In addition to these I wanted to include an old post from the "Voice of the Martyrs" blog that was challenging. So here it goes:Solving the Southern Baptist missions dilemma (and others?) - One Mission blogger, Grady Bauer, posted a possible solution to the Convention's missions problem. The same day, another blogger, Alan Knox,

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-56505423108153462002009-06-05T11:30:00.009-05:002009-06-12T17:31:36.469-05:00

The Mission is God's. He is the One on Mission through His churches. The primary purpose of the Mission is to see God glorified as He ought to be, by everyone. These were covered in two previous posts. I don't think that those are hard for Independent Fundamental Baptists to accept. However, this one may be different for some.Think of this sentence: God is seeking whom? 'God' is the subject. 'Is

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-68315673928761490932009-06-03T07:48:00.002-05:002009-06-03T07:50:08.322-05:00

Coming Soon: Is there a missionary support crisis among Independent Fundamental Baptist churches? What is it? What can be done?

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-48047871576184628802009-06-01T10:55:00.002-05:002009-06-05T11:34:32.130-05:00

It can take quite a while to find what you want on the web. This can be frustrating. I have felt this frustration while attempting to learn about and research missions. In order to help myself and others, I have compiled a list of (what I consider) the most valuable Mission-related sites on the net.You can download it for free by clicking here.The links are contained in a table on a pdf document.

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-12250485464319816492009-05-30T09:00:00.001-05:002009-06-05T11:36:47.607-05:00

Church planting, economy, and methods. These three, in strange ways, seemed to characterize this week in the Mission Blogosphere. If we are satisfied with how church planting is going, then no need to consider stirrings this week. If not, it would do us well to listen in.Southern Baptist Convention Worries- The SBC has recently made known its economic concerns. Last year the Convention sent 1,088

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-17723077251811967432009-05-28T10:05:00.003-05:002009-06-05T12:38:19.012-05:00

Dedicated Mission resources are rarely provided by Independent Fundamental Baptists. Instead, an IFB must wade through faulty views of the church, missions, and Scripture to benefit from the available resources. There are several reasons why this is our situation, but it ought not to be so.Thankfully, I can report at least one IFB local church-based organization that is attempting to reverse this

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-31326502677600116892009-05-27T10:20:00.007-05:002009-06-05T12:03:49.738-05:00

Perhaps more than any other missionary, Paul was driven to preach the Gospel to those peoples who had never heard (today called unreached people groups). He said: He wished "To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you (the Corinthians), and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand." (2 Cor 10:16)"Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-34914698781834368632009-05-26T15:05:00.002-05:002009-06-12T17:31:23.173-05:00

Our motivation for doing things deeply affects the way we do them, and the passion with which we do them. This is no less true for missions. Why do we go? Why do we give? Why do we stretch ourselves so? Why do some of us do little, or nothing?Like with the first major question on this blog, my answer to these questions have changed over the past few years. The impression that I always received

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-83742585920953180482009-05-25T09:05:00.003-05:002009-06-05T11:43:49.520-05:00

Think of all the church planting work being done by IFB's today. Now, think of the church planting ministry of the apostle Paul. Think of how quickly he moved from place to place, leaving behind autonomous local churches. Be honest. Do you sense a discrepancy between our methods and results, and his? I know I do. Is anything being done to bring us back to a Pauline model so that we can get more

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-38496323427230091592009-05-23T08:00:00.001-05:002009-06-05T11:45:14.164-05:00

This is another type of post that you will see at the end of most weeks. In these I will attempt to bring you some of the most pertinent topics being discussed in the Mission blogosphere (i.e. - other, usually Evangelical, Mission blogs), filtered through my magical Independent Fundamental Baptist (Biblicist) lens. Hopefully, this will make them useful to us.So, let's get started.Ralph Winter,

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-41209424490991940282009-05-21T09:00:00.001-05:002009-06-05T11:45:41.056-05:00

Before it is asked, I will answer it. My pseudonym on this blog and elsewhere is Debtor Paul. Why would I not use my real name? If you read my introductory post, you'll remember that I am preparing for work in a 'closed' or creative access country. For security reasons I have thought it wise not to openly connect my real name to missions or my destination country on the web.Why "Debtor Paul"? 

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-26359891872315285802009-05-20T21:00:00.004-05:002009-06-05T12:06:13.818-05:00

Occasionally I will be introducing various missions resources. Some will be web-based, others in print.Disclaimer: Nearly all of the resources introduced will be Evangelical in nature, i.e. they will not hold to many Baptist distinctives. Also, they will follow a critical text translation, be more ecumenical than we are, and hold a wide range of doctrinal traditions. Therefore, none of them

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-62899715512622660002009-05-19T15:00:00.002-05:002009-06-12T17:31:00.621-05:00

My answer to this question is different now than it once was.In Independent Baptist churches and schools it is not uncommon to hear short rants on this topic. "Jesus wasn't giving the mission to the apostles as individuals! It wasn't given to some universal invisible Church! He was giving it to a local church!!" To these I say a hearty, "Amen!"However, those are answers to a different question

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1989595510439403225.post-7037684530013642802009-04-29T05:13:00.019-05:002009-05-10T02:31:30.272-05:00

Is there really that much left to do in world missions? I don't think that any rational Independent Baptist would even ask the question. However, it may be that how we have traditionally approached the mission has left many gaps in world evangelization. Is doing things the way we have always done things the best strategy in every case?As an Independent Fundamental Baptist I have been given an

Debtor Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12495919232407390495noreply@blogger.com0