“The missionary question is not, ‘Where are there unbelievers?’ and then send a missionary there. There are unbelievers everywhere! The missionary question is where are there peoples who don’t have any Christians in them, or don’t have a church strong enough to do the neighbor evangelism that we can do if we just want to do it. That’s the missionary question.” — John Piper
This quote encapsulates why we are going halfway across the world to an unreached people group, rather than staying here to do ministry.
There are over 3,700 people groups that are not only unreached, but unengaged. This means not only are there no Christians within the people group to be able to share the gospel with others who speak their language, but there is not even a single church or missionary working with them. Our prayer is to go to one of those people groups, share Jesus Christ with them, and teach them to share Him with others. Thank you for partnering with us to help make that possible.
We hit an exciting milestone this month- we broke past raising 50% of our monthly budget! We are now 53% funded. Yay! Our next milestone to pray for is to be 61% funded by the end of this month. We are moving right along and so far are on track for moving to Papua New Guinea next July.
On a personal note, we are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our new baby this month. Karissa is due September 21. Please pray for the baby’s and Karissa’s health this last month and through delivery. Please also pray for us and for Ty as we adjust to being a family of four. We would like to let you know that we may be somewhat out of touch for a few weeks after he is born, but will look forward to re-connecting with you all in late October.
Revelation 7:9a paints a beautiful picture of what we are working towards, “After this I looked, and there before me what a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” One day there will be believers from every people group worshipping Jesus in heaven, including believers from the Umeda tribe. Praise God for that! Aren’t you and I blessed to get to be a part of that coming true?
Till all know,
Matt, Karissa, and Ty Long
Blog: ntm.org/Matt_Long
K. (651)890-2632 M. (651)955-7268
Karissa_Long@ntm.org
Matt_Long@ntm.org
Please Pray:
– For a healthy delivery of our baby this month
– That we can get to being 61% funded by the end of this month
– For a friend of ours who is struggling spiritually
Praise God:
– God has been answering your prayers for more appointments lately!
– We broke past the 50% funded milestone last month!
– That no one was hurt in Matt’s car accident last month (I can’t believe I forgot to say that in our last letter!)
