Join Us in Reaching the Unreached!
When we first began working in West and Central Africa (WACA), the Lord gave Chip the vision of opening up the bottleneck of laborers to the mission field. It took some time for it to dawn on Chip to realize that the Lord was referring to raising up indigenous laborers to minister cross-culturally in their own continent and even nation. Live School (LS) has become the main tool through which many indigenous laborers in WACA have been equipped, empowered, and mobilized to bring the Gospel to the nearby unreached in culturally relevant and effective ways. The Lord has continued to confirm His Word; many laborers are being raised up within WACA for the unreached in it, who can and do go to places and people that we simply cannot realistically go. These men and women are disciples who make disciples, who, in turn, are making disciples (2 Timothy 2:2).
Due to the COVID lockdown, country borders were closed, keeping us from getting LS units and video school supplies to countries in WACA. At the same time, the Lord began to focus us more proactively upon reaching specific Unengaged Unreached People Groups (UUPG) and Unreached People Groups (UPG).
Through a new intensive training we call "Frontier Missions Academy (FMA),” called laborers are being equipped, empowered, and mobilized to go to the unreached areas and make disciples, no matter the cost. For several years now, we have been strategizing with our teams on how to effectively cause movements of disciple-making among specific UUPG's and UPG's. Translating LS into Hausa was the first significant step in this direction. Hausa is the largest UPG in Africa and one of the top ten languages spoken there. We are even using it in audio-only format in many locations where even generator electricity is not available.
We also began sending some of our key co-workers to certain UUPG's and UPG's to "spy out the land" and are developing five-year plans to reach them. Already, feet are on the ground! The Lord is opening up doors that no one has been able to open! May you be in as much awe as we are to see how the Lord is focusing the Church to reach the unreached. May you be as motivated as we are, or more so, to be a part of what God is doing to reach these people through prayer, giving, and in other ways He reveals to you.
In 2023, right after Christmas, we had dinner with some evangelist friends. As I listened to my friend Mark discuss what the Lord was doing in their ministry, he began speaking about Disciple Making Movements (DMM). Suddenly, I was aware that the Holy Spirit was speaking to me! I had to bite my cheek to keep from talking!
Back in 2015 I read several books on DMM and was sold on it! I was convinced that we needed to operate by DMM principles to accomplish our mission, but due to other factors out of our control, the timing was off and the vision died. Yet, in an instant, the Lord spoke and RESURRECTED THE DEAD!
When He had me begin cattle ranching, He RESURRECTED THE DEAD! The dream of cattle ranching had died more than 12 years earlier!
When He had me re-enter into ministry, He RESURRECTED THE DEAD! It was more than 15 years after He led me out of ministry that He MIRACULOUSLY brought me back into it.
When I heard Mark speaking about DMM, the Lord was again RESURRECTING that which had died! I’m sure that Mark was unaware of what was taking place in me.
I left dinner asking the Lord to confirm that this was the “NEW THING” that He was speaking to me about back in Chad. “Every fact is to be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (2Co 13:1). By January 4, 2024, without a doubt, He had confirmed that this was the “New Thing”…three and four times!
We then began asking the Lord how and when we were to do this. Several times I tried to move forward by adding DMM to our existing work, overseeing WACA for World Mission Centre (WMC). But each time I tried, peace would leave me. I finally recognized that God was asking me to TRUST HIM…to let go of the one, in order to grab ahold of the “New Thing” He had revealed and confirmed to us. After much prayer, on May 6, 2024 we sent Willie Crew, our friend and the director of WMC, a letter of resignation. The letter also explained our intention to continue working in West & Central Africa, specifically to reach the unreached by starting Disciple Making Movements among them with God’s help. Willie and WMC have released and blessed us to follow this new direction.
In June of 2024, Kathy and I met together with WMC about our decision to move forward with DMM, and received their blessing, which is very important to us. We are so grateful to Willie & Lydia for their friendship, wisdom and the mentoring they have invested in us over the years. They and the WMC team remain close friends of ours. Our “job assignment” has just changed.
We continue to stand in awe of what the Lord is doing throughout West and Central Africa. Our team is going to Unreached Peoples and we are seeing many come to Jesus. It is like a wildfire among the people, truly disciples making disciples!
“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
Romans 10:14-15
