{"id":2,"date":"2009-08-14T17:05:22","date_gmt":"2009-08-14T22:05:22","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-12-09T16:07:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:07:23","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is where I tell you who we are, what we do, and how God “called us to our ministry.” \u00a0Or something like that…<\/em><\/p>\n

Who we are, and how we got here:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are an average, ordinary family of God’s Word-studying, Jesus-loving, Spirit-led, people. \u00a0We’re just like you. \u00a0I graduated from a small town, high school in Michigan, “not wanting to be involved in ministry.” \u00a0Tamara grew up wanting to be a missionary, wife, and mother.<\/p>\n

As I spent time “in the real world” going to college and working, I quickly realized that my parents had taught me differently. What I was doing wasn’t what God was doing, and this rightly troubled me. \u00a0I started working with Youth For Christ and met this young lady who was lit up with a fire to serve God; by telling others about Jesus and showing that she had a hope that was different from the world. \u00a0Tamara challenged me to check out “this Interface thing, in Papua New Guinea.” \u00a0So, I visited the country of PNG, with New Tribes Mission in 1998. \u00a06 intense weeks of seeing what God is doing on the other side of the world, to bring that same hope to people with no written language (or Bible) and no Gospel witness. \u00a0To this day, I can only blame the hardness of my own heart, for my lack of compassion and obedience to God’s command. \u00a0I came back radically challenged and aware that I was wasting my life trying to be a veterinarian. \u00a0But that’s just my story. \u00a0God may use you<\/strong> differently… \u00a0Tamara was in Costa Rica at the same time, sharing Christ’s love with street kids though another organization. \u00a0So, when we got back together again, I told her that I was going to start “this New Tribes thing” as soon as possible and “I’d like you to come with me.” \u00a0She did, and here we still are today.<\/p>\n

What we do:<\/strong><\/p>\n

On a daily basis, we are involved in the function of an institute of Biblical learning and study, which exists for the purpose of training men and women to take the Word of God into people groups that have no gospel witness.<\/p>\n

Tamara spends her time three to four mornings a week at the Bible school working in the office or making phone calls to alumni. \u00a0She works as an alumni coach, answering questions and offering hard earned insight on how to make it through the training and into the “work.”\u00a0 Tamara also manages my\/our household.\u00a0 Six children are an absolute blessing, that require plenty of blessed work.<\/p>\n

As of 2021, we moved to Wisconsin, where Ethnos360 has its Bible school that serves as the first phase of training.\u00a0 Our housing is across the street from the chapel, and we try to stay well connected “up the hill.”\u00a0 Tamara and I share an office, as Alumni CONNECT Coordinators and Alumni Coaches.\u00a0 This has been a blessing to work side by side.\u00a0 Some of our work isn’t “exciting” as we manage records in a database of all EBI alumni.\u00a0 Some of it is more exciting though as we spend time with students on Encounter Trips and Student Leader Training or in the dining hall.\u00a0 Are your tater-tots ever REALLY safe?\u00a0 I also get to teach a bit and occasionally share for chapel.<\/p>\n

While all of these things keep us busy during the day, what we are really here for is this:<\/p>\n

We are here to ultimately see men and women who have never heard the Gospel of Christ, hear the Gospel of Christ in their own language and experience the victorious, abundant Christian life as a direct result. We believe that God (with His divine humor and sovereignty) has seen fit to use us here to accomplish this task. Our desire is to be an encouragement to students as they begin training with Ethnos360, so that they can, in turn, be a part of planting a thriving church in every people. We attempt to challenge their thinking about missions and their involvement in God\u2019s plan to get THE message out, and the way they handle the Word of God in their lives.<\/p>\n

We love it and are incredibly challenged everyday as we realize our inadequacies for this \u201cjob.\u201d Pray with us, please.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is where I tell you who we are, what we do, and how God “called us to our ministry.” \u00a0Or something like that… Who we are, and how we got here: We are an average, ordinary family of God’s Word-studying, Jesus-loving, Spirit-led, people. \u00a0We’re just like you. \u00a0I graduated from a small town, high […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":330,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","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":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-2","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/330"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}