April 3, 1978 God launched Jody & Barbara into a world that would change their lives forever. He sent them to the Philippine Islands to preach the Gospel and plant churches among the Southern Tagbanwa Tribe. They were part of a three family team involved in: culture and language acquisition, evangelism, church planting, medical & dental programs, Bible translation and community development. Today, nearly 1,500 Tagbanwa tribal believers meet regularly in 19 village churches to worship the true and living God in spirit and truth!
In 1999, Jody and Barbara turned over their tribal Church Planting Ministry to the Tagbanwa church leaders and accepted NTM Philippines’ Field Chairmanship for nine years. Then in 2007, they transitioned into their present ministry of training Asian tribal church planters. Still in the planning stages, please pray for the Crains as they work with other consultants in an initiative that opens doors to increased effectiveness in difficult to reach ministry areas of the world.
The Crains are continuing their tribal church planting ministry through the Tagbanwa Training Center. This is a one year discipleship program that integrates agriculture, animal husbandry, community health and Bible. The launching of this program begins this summer (’09).
They are also continuing to train culture & language acquisition consultants in Asia.