Category: Christian Missions

Most missionaries are not scared of death, at least not substantially. We have weighed the risks. We chose to become missionaries even though there might be terrorists not far away and we live in a region where nearly invisible bugs can bite you without you knowing and deliver an illness that kills more people in the world than any other. Early missionaries packed their belongings in coffins, and it is not surprising to me that ominous warnings like “You will be eaten by cannibals” did not keep men like John Patton off the field. Why? It is simple really, we…

It is interesting the things you notice when you jump into a different culture. We live in a small village next to a small town. On most days people are dressed in tattered clothing that is filthy from the field. Diapers are uncommon, so most toddlers just wander around without pants. The majority of houses in our village have dirt floors, and even with our cement floor it is impossible to keep our kids clean. But Sunday, that is a different story. On Sunday families wear matching outfits, clothes bleached to an incomprehensible white (seriously, I have no idea how…

If you have followed our ministry for a while, you know that we have spent a good amount of time with the Baka people. We visited them during our field visit, we lived among them for a few months while waiting for our house to be built, and we work right next to them here in Dimako. If you were to come and visit the Baka, one of the first things that you would notice how desperate their physical plight is.The Baka have for known history been hunter/gatherers and therefore lived as nomads, never settling in one place. However, with…

It is interesting that while we are far away from all things “Christmas-y,” (cold weather, carols, crowded malls, and parties with family and friends), I have never had another Christmas that has been more focused on Christ. The reason for this is because this holiday season has been filled with new-founded sorrows that only Jesus can remedy. To Those Under Life’s Crushing Load… Oftentimes I will go on a walk in the evenings and I pass many women who are on their way back from their fields. They are carrying baskets on their backs that are filled with wood they…

I often find myself daydreaming about how I could really make a difference here in Cameroon. When I look around me I see people trapped in their traditions and who literally cannot imagine any other way of life. I see poverty so extreme that some have no source of water other than a dirty river, and they are always sick. Their children die from measles, and improper sanitation, and lack of access to medical care. I see people that deal with conflict the only way they have ever seen yelling in the streets and threatening each other with machetes. And I sit…

While it is true that there are various aspects of missionary life that prove to be difficult, there are also so many reasons why I just love my “job.” Let me share a couple of my favorites: 1. Conversations are never boring when you are having them in your 3rd language. If you are trying to have a conversation in your third language, the mental gymnastics that you are doing prevents you from ever getting bored regardless of who you are talking to. Plus, you never know what is going to come out of your own mouth, which keeps things…

One reality of the missionary life is that missionaries will lose supporters. According to Ask A Missionary, most missionaries lose 5-15% of their support during their first two years on the field. It is very likely, then, that some of our readers will have to discontinue support at sometime. There are various reasons that you might want to stop supporting a missionary: financial problems, loss of a job, or a realization that you do not want to support their ministry any longer maybe due to theological or methodological convictions. Whatever the reason, I thought that I would offer some suggestions…

I have been asking myself the question how we can best love the poor since moving here to Cameroon. It was much easier to consider this while living in the States where there were no people living in houses made of mud and sticks right next door to me. There, “the poor” were more of a category as opposed to actual people that had faces and names. So let me begin by introducing one such man so that you too might begin to see their faces:   Introducing Simon Simon is an old widower that wears a white silky “Lancôme…

I try to read about translation methodology and principles as I am able. So, when I saw an article called “Microwave Bible?” I could not resist the draw. This particular article was about new methods being used to speed up Bible translation, a goal that I (theoretically) love. Here is a basic summary of the article: Wycliffe Associates (a sister organization to Wycliffe Bible Translators) has a program for rapid Bible translation called MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation). They seek out very small people groups that are unlikely to be targeted for a Bible translation project by any other organization. They…

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” – Luke 6:20-26 We have at times been asked (and wondered ourselves) why we would choose to work with a minority people group when we could work with those who would be more likely to have a world-wide impact. The thinking is that if a Bakoum person comes to know Christ, he may be instrumental for the Kingdom among those who are in his village, but he will likely never travel nor write anything that could influence the masses. Conversely, if those who speak languages of wider communication…