{"id":4700,"date":"2016-10-20T09:52:18","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T09:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=4700"},"modified":"2016-10-20T11:48:51","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T11:48:51","slug":"the-god-we-serve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2016\/10\/20\/the-god-we-serve\/","title":{"rendered":"The God We Serve"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"africa16-2075-copy\"<\/p>\n

A week ago Joel made a trip down to visit some of our missionaries who are ready to move and begin work among a new people group. \u00a0He went down with another member of our leadership to speak directly with the leadership of the village about what our missionaries where there to do and if they would welcome them to their village. \u00a0During that time we were blown away by the God we serve and wanted to share some of that with you.<\/p>\n

However to explain this well, let me back up again. \u00a0Less than a year ago we sent this family down to a town surrounded by villages of the people group they were targeting. \u00a0They had already done 2 years in Dakar integrating into the church and learning French. \u00a0It just so happens that the pastor of the church they were going to was from this same people group. \u00a0So he put them in contact with his sister who was also living in this same town. \u00a0Yet besides that, they went down not really having any connections down there, yet hoping in a short time to research the villages around and figure out what village they were to work in. \u00a0There were so many unknowns about how or what this work look like, but our God is good. \u00a0This one contact they had put them in contact with another man, who we will call Luke. \u00a0Luke works with mediation to keep the peace between the different factions in the area. \u00a0Luke became a huge resource to them as they traveled around and visited these different villages. \u00a0He himself is not a believer, but he became an advocate and a friend to our missionaries.<\/p>\n

Now a village has been chosen and our leadership is coming to facilitate\u00a0our family moving into the village. \u00a0They started with meeting Luke and asking about\u00a0meeting the religious leader of the area. \u00a0This man is very important. \u00a0He has a literal throne in his living room where he has audiences with people much like a king would. \u00a0This is a man who could make life very difficult for our family. \u00a0However, as they arrived and Luke introduced them and they explained who we are and what we want to do, the leader was very welcoming. \u00a0It turns out that Luke works closely with the leader and often acts as his representative. \u00a0Our missionary’s relationship with Luke had created an open door. \u00a0The leader even went to the extent of saying that if they have any problems, all they needed to do was come to him and he would work them out. \u00a0Our leadership explained how our goal was to translate the Holy Scriptures and to teach them to the people in their language and this religious leader was in agreement with that – Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Next was the visit to the village leaders where the same explanation was made. \u00a0In the village as well Luke had a lot of influence and that resulted in a very warm reception, with even the offer of a house that could be used by the family so that they could move in faster. \u00a0What we were blown away by was how God had been working from the beginning by connecting this family with Luke. \u00a0They went down with almost no contacts, completely blind, and yet God directed them to the person they needed. \u00a0Now they are coming in with a highly respected advocate on their side and are warmly received, not because of who they are, but because of this connection they have. \u00a0All of this was outside of our control, but not outside of God’s control. \u00a0It was so encouraging to see that God is at work and sometimes in ways that we can’t see until we are down the road and can look back and see how he was placing each piece together.<\/p>\n

This is only a beginning. \u00a0Their advocate has opened the door for them and now it is up to them to earn the right to teach, by first allowing themselves to be taught and changed. \u00a0This will be a long a difficult road for them I am sure. \u00a0However, a good beginning makes a world of difference. \u00a0We are praising God for how these doors were opened and are hanging on to this reminder of the God we serve for the rough days that I know will come.<\/p>\n

\"We
We go into new works with great excitement, but often quite blind<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"There
There is so much we don’ t know about the life and context and so many decisions that need to be made<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"So
There are so many places that we can make huge mistakes without even knowing it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"God
God is so faithful each time to direct us to where we need to go<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This
This family hopes to be moving in in soon to continue learning language and building relationships<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"There
There is a lot to learn and a long journey ahead<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"But
But they do so with the hope of being able to teach God’s truth to these precious people<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"We
We know and trust that God will continue to direct them to just the right people as they press on in their journey, because that is the God we Serve!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week ago Joel made a trip down to visit some of our missionaries who are ready to move and begin work among a new people group. \u00a0He went down with another member of our leadership to speak directly with the leadership of the village about what our missionaries where there to do and if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-updates-and-news","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}