Author: Stacey Hare

I’ve been heavy-hearted recently. Heavy hearted for the political unrest occurring in “our” region of the world: Cameroon, Africa. And heavy hearted for the “unrest” among my four second-graders. There are likely grave injustices in Cameroon that have gone unaddressed for years and now the alleged oppressed are lashing out towards the alleged oppressor: the government. Some are expressing concerns peaceably and others are taking this opportunity to burn villages and murder the innocent. Thankfully we do not have any burning or anything of the sort among our children, nor do we have (physical) murder. And yet, there is nonetheless…

Several years ago, a missionary from Burkina Faso came to Eastern Cameroon to tell people about Jesus. He lived in a city called Bertoua and while he was there he met a young lady named Audrey. He shared the Gospel with her and she believed. However, when Audrey shared the Gospel with her mother, Carine, she rejected it. She didn’t believe that Jesus was enough, but instead believed that it was her good works that would make her acceptable before God. Through many prayers and conversations, Audrey won her mother to the Lord. Audrey and Carine then began to worship…

The miraculous cannot be brought about through human striving or effort. The sacredness of preaching the Gospel both within the context of missions and of parenting is nothing short of asking God to take a pile of dry bones and make them into an army of committed soldiers. The Teachings of Missionary to China, John Nevius John Nevius, born in New York in 1829, was a missionary to China who spoke out against the missions methodologies of his day. At that time, missionaries were employing national Chinese helpers to go out and preach the Gospel in order to reach as…

Understanding Scripture in a language other than the heart language in which we think and experience emotion is like trying to eat soup with a fork. You can get a little taste, but you cannot get nourished. William Cameron Townsend  William Cameron Townsend, or Cam, was one of the most influential missions leaders in the last two centuries. He founded three organizations: Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), and the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service (JAARS). These three have the purpose of promoting Bible translation among minority language groups.  His Life Cam Townsand was born in 1896…

At the end of the 18th century in England, an impoverished shoemaker started reading a book called The Last Voyage of Captain Cook. This book catalogued the exotic adventures of sailor and explorer Captain Cook and caused young William Carey’s mind to drift outside the borders of his native land. This book “became a revelation of human need.” The “savages” that were referenced in the book “were now seen as God’s creatures and in need of a Sovereign’s mercies” (13).* Carey then looked to the Scriptures and saw that the Sovereign’s mercies were poured out on the lost of the…

We just finished up another whirlwind round of classes. The last two months have been filled with late nights, neglected emails, and hours spent pouring over Bakoum folktales and the Word of God. The Lord has once again proved faithful to help us wade through technical linguistic information, figuring out how to exegete the passage about Melchizedek and how to deal with squabbling second graders. The Lord’s faithfulness, plus all the incredible things we learned this semester causes the excitement to overshadow the fatigue. Here are a couple highlights: Exploiting the Polygamous “god” for the Glory of JesusDave and I…

A few years ago, as we were having our house built in our village, I noticed an older gentleman peeking at us through the tall grass that was behind his house. My immediate thought was, “What does he think of us?” and after spending the next few years getting to know this man, I am sure he was thinking the same thing: “What do they think of me?” Both of us did not know what to expect from the other, but I am sure that both of us did not expect friendship. This man (Simon) was an unexpected blessing from…

Fifteen years ago, at The Master’s University in Southern California, the Lord used a return missionary to challenge me to devote my life to the mission field. I feel indebted to this man and indebted to this institution for putting people like him in front of me to expose me to a world of lostness that I knew nothing about.Fifteen years later, someone from this same university asked Dave and I to stand in front of the student body and tell them about this same lostness that I had learned about while there. It was their Global Outreach Week and…

by Brad Koenig (guest blogger) I love baseball. One of the most exciting plays in the game is when a base runner tries to slide under the tag of the catcher at home plate and score a run for his team. If he succeeds, the umpire signals with his arms outstretched and the broadcaster announces, “He’s safe at home!” Being a Christian in our home country is safe. There we attend church freely. We carry and read our Bibles without fear. We declare our faith openly. We have easy access to healthcare. Law enforcement officials are committed to our protection….

My father-in-law recently mailed us a book called From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions. As I have been reading this book, I have at times been inspired, encouraged and renewed in my missionary zeal. But, honestly, more often than not, I have been a little scandalized by the failures of those who have gone before me in missions. In a sense, I feel like this book is throwing mud on my heroes. Here are a couple of examples: William CareyWilliam Carey, a famous missionary to India in the 1800s labored for 7 years before seeing…