Austronesia | Beyond

From Gangster to Disciple Maker

Sep 30, 2024 | Austronesia, Stories

Pastor *Wint was from a mixed Muslim-and Hindu-background area of Bali, Indonesia. One of his concerns was the unreached tribe on the mountains bordering where he lived. He knew he couldn’t reach them. He didn’t speak their language and they were suspicious of outsiders. So he prayed.

And instead of asking “What can I do?” he pondered, “What must be done?” As he prayed and sought guidance and wisdom from God, Wint felt the Holy Spirit urging him to approach a man named *Phaing.

Phaing was notorious in the community, a feared gangster with a fierce appearance marked by tattoos and piercings. Despite Phaing’s intimidating exterior, Wint courageously shared the gospel with him.

Miraculously, Phaing accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Although known for his excessive drinking, often downing a whole bottle of whiskey in one go, Phaing immediately gave up alcohol, believing God had healed him of that addiction. As his understanding of Jesus grew, so did his faith. He obeyed Scripture and was soon baptized.

As Wint continued to disciple Phaing, he began to see potential in him for a unique mission. Maybe Phaing could reach that remote and insular tribe high up in the mountains of Bali that Wint knew he couldn’t reach. They were known for speaking an ancient version of Balinese and shunning outsiders. Wint believed that if anyone could connect with this tribe, it would be the fearless Phaing.

After more prayer, Wint challenged Phaing to introduce the tribe to Jesus. Phaing knew that this task required a unique approach. He prayed for wisdom and discernment, and during his prayer, he was reminded of his large Bible with an embossed cross on the cover.

With the Bible in hand, Phaing climbed the mountain. When he met the tribespeople, he held up the Bible and asked, “What symbol do you see on the hospitals where you go for healing? What symbol is on the packages of medicine you take? Yes, it’s the cross, the same cross you see on this Bible.” He then shared his own testimony of salvation and healing, and stories from the Bible.

Moved by Phaing’s testimony, the Bible stories, and the analogy of the cross, several tribe members came to faith in Jesus. Two families were baptized, and even the tribe’s leader became a believer. Phaing is now dedicated to discipling many more in the mountains. Pray for him as he continues equipping others to read, share, and obey the Scriptures.

*pseudonyms

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Small Business Opens Doors to the Unreached

Sep 18, 2024 | Austronesia, Stories

*Charlie and *Sarah participated in a retreat with local church planting teams focused on reaching unreached people groups, in their province in Southeast Asia. They were honored to support young leaders by helping them develop and refine business platforms to enhance the effectiveness of their ministry.

These business platforms have the potential not only to generate income, to sustain their lives and ministry (much like Paul’s tent-making) but also to open doors for accessing new, unreached areas. Some platforms even allow ministry to happen within the business itself. Often, these platforms can achieve a combination of these goals.

Over the past 20 years, Charlie and Sarah have started and managed several businesses in Asia and the U.S., with the majority of their financial support still coming from one of these ventures. However, since arriving on their island in Southeast Asia, they hadn’t felt led to pursue this area—until now.

The meetings they attended sparked several ideas, one of which is gaining traction and shows potential for replication with other church planters.

One example is *Netra, a Muslim-background believer struggling to provide for her family. Her husband, handicapped by a stroke, is limited in his ability to help. Netra was making homemade snacks, selling them for 20 cents each, and earning no more than $6 a week. Despite being trained in Disciple Making Movement (DMM) principles, she was overwhelmed by the struggle to make ends meet and had little capacity left for ministry.

In response, Charlie and Sarah helped her start a used clothing business.

Now, each day, Netra travels from village to village, selling used clothes. As villagers browse through the clothing, she engages them in conversation, subtly weaving spiritual topics into the discussion, hoping to find “people of peace.” This new venture has increased her income to $10 or more per day. With her work taking only a few hours, she now has more time to follow up with those who show interest in the Good News, with the goal of starting groups of Jesus Followers.

Pray that Netra remains faithful in using her time for Kingdom work and that the Holy Spirit stirs the hearts of those she shares with.

Next month, Charlie and Sarah will travel to another city in their province to help another team establish another business platform, which has the potential to open doors into nearby villages.

This weekend retreat had rekindled a passion in Charlie and Sarah for using business to advance the Kingdom of God. Please pray for more ideas that will help Kingdom workers generate income and gain access to the unreached communities they serve.

*pseudonyms

READ OTHER STORIES FROM CHARLIE AND SARAH BELOW

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Charlie and Sarah met with Ali, who has shown great hunger for reading stories from the Bible about Jesus. Charlie and Sarah wanted to establish him in the pattern of reading read more …

JESUS HEALS AS IS WRITTEN IN THE QUR’AN
“This was the same lady, Ibu Muli, in whose home we now sat. She told us that immediately after the prayer, her back had been healed, and read more …

I TOLD HIM I WAS QUITTING
*Charlie worked in the IT industry. He specialized in indirect sales and marketing; he educated and supported hundreds of salesmen. He also led efforts to simplify read more …

One Bold Couple, Five New Disciples

Jul 24, 2024 | Austronesia, Stories

*Aninda and her husband came to faith a couple of years ago and became bold witnesses to their families about the change Jesus Christ brought to their lives. Then three of their four parents became Christ-followers.

Shortly thereafter, Aninda’s aunt and cousin attended a celebration of Jesus’ birth with other people from their ethnic group. Their eyes were opened that they could follow Jesus and not deny their ethnicity.

Seeing this openness, Aninda and a close friend, *Gemi, began studying about the prophets and Jesus with these two ladies. The cousin’s husband abandoned his family after his wife started learning about Isa al Masih (Jesus). One night Jesus appeared to her in a dream, bringing her comfort. Shortly after this both the aunt and the cousin received Jesus as their Savior and Lord and they now plan to be baptized.

A few weeks later while Aninda and Gemi were visiting a neighboring town, they met *Salsa and invited her to learn about the prophets and Jesus. At the conclusion of each story they asked her, “How will you obey this story and who will you tell?

Weeks of this pattern passed, and one day Salsa realized that her attitudes were changing. She also observed that of her various communities, only the community of genuine followers of Jesus showed love to each other.

Salsa has given her life to Jesus and wants to be baptized!

Pray that God would give each one the courage to follow through with this decision to be baptized.

*pseudonym

Desperate to Know

May 9, 2024 | Austronesia, Stories

Ali* is a poor carpenter from a large Muslim Unreached People Group in Asia.

He wondered why his religious leaders never discussed their second greatest prophet — Isa Al Masih (Jesus the Messiah). They rebuked Ali for repeatedly asking about Isa. He asked his construction boss (who was a Christian deacon) about Jesus — and was refused every time!

Ali’s ethnic/religious group and his boss’s group dislike each other. Riots had caused businesses in his boss’s community to burn. He suspected Ali was faking interest to generate accusations of Christians forcing Muslims to convert.

For two years, Ali begged people to tell him what Jesus taught!

One night, a man in white appeared to Ali in a dream. When he awoke, he immediately biked for an hour to his boss’s home. It was 3:00 am when his sleepy boss opened the door. Ali blurted out, “Tell me about Jesus!” He finally received a gospel tract.

When Ali was later asked what had led him to follow Jesus, He cried and said: “Jesus looked down from the cross and forgave me! He said, ‘Father, forgive him, because he does not know what he is doing.’ And He was right! I did not know what I was doing, but he forgave me anyway!”

Who knows how many hundreds or thousands of people are like Ali: eagerly longing for the Good News, many of them desperately. Would you consider how you might contribute to serving the unreached – whether through prayer, joining a team, or providing financial support?

*pseudonym

The Bridge of Hair and the Lamb

Jan 24, 2024 | Austronesia

Kent was prayer-walking, which is simply walking while praying for people along the way and the area. On his walk, Kent visited an Indonesian mosque. Quickly, he was surrounded by young men curious about “the foreigner.”

Abruptly, a young man shouldered his way to Kent and sternly asked, “How can you claim Jesus is God if he cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?’”

Kent answered briefly, then met with him on several other occasions. When Kent moved to another city, a coworker continued meeting with the young man.

They discussed a story well known among his people group: On Judgment Day, people will be trapped at the edge of a fiery abyss. The only way to God will be over a bridge the width of one-seventh of a hair. The bridge breaks from the weight of people’s sin, and they fall into the fire below.

Occasionally, they say, God sends a pure lamb across this narrow bridge. Anyone who rides this lamb can safely cross the abyss to God.

Nothing spiritual happened during the first discussion of this story. Yet weeks later, perhaps through the working of the Holy Spirit, when the story was mentioned again, he looked startled. He slammed the table and said, “Jesus is that Lamb; isn’t He?” That day, he trusted the Lamb to carry him safely into God’s very presence!

We give glory to the Holy Spirit for this revelation and acknowledgement that He is the best teacher. May the Holy Spirit continue to reveal His truths and multiply disciples in this region!

*pseudonym

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