Update on July Trip

Dear Friends of Mission Surge:

I wanted to follow up last week's newsletter with a quick update if I could.  I mentioned last week an unexpected trip that I need to take in July.  I will be making a dashing trip to the Dominican Republic to meet with our point-man there and discuss the future of our partnership.  This is a critical meeting and will dictate much of our future work there.  I ask you to pray for us both as we seek God’s direction as to the next step.  During this trip, there is also a great opportunity.

I will be preaching in a missions conference in Santo Domingo where 400-500 Haitian pastors will be gathered.  It is my hope that God would raise up a couple from among the Haitians to go to Martinique in order to engage the 3400+ Haitians in that country who have no church, no pastor, and no missionary.  According to the International Mission Board, “The Haitian of Martinique have a population of 3,500. They are part of the Afro-Caribbean, Francophone people cluster. The global population of this people group is 11,248,200. Their primary language is Haitian. The primary religion of theHaitian is Roman Catholicism, the world's largest Christian branch. Their GSEC status is 1, which means this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.”

I plan to go to Martinique on the way to the Dominican in order to see the situation there and verify the reports from the IMB and Joshua project.  I am praying that God would connect me with someone there that can help us get our feet on the ground.  Pray that God would connect us in Martinique with who we need to be connected with.  Pray that God would call out and raise up a Haitian couple to go to Martinique and begin a church planting effort among the Haitians there.  Pray that God’s will would be done.  

Finally, I mentioned last week that there are many expenses that are involved in this conference and trip.  I have had some ask for specific numbers, so I wanted to share with you the budget.   

• Transportation for the Haitian pastors:  $1050.00   

Pastors and some wives will be transported into Santo Domingo from all over the island for this Saturday conference.  These men have to work hard in order to keep a roof over their heads and a little food on the table.  It is literally day to day for them.  There is no way they could travel from Santiago, Monte Cristi, Puerta Plata etc. to the capital where the conference will be held.  This is an opportunity for them to be challenged and encouraged as they serve the Lord.  It is also an opportunity for them to hear the call of the Haitians in Martinique!  

• Lunch for the Haitian pastors while at the conference:  $1450.00

The conference will last all day Saturday so lunch will need to be provided for those in attendance.  We are estimating as many as 500 in attendance so lunch has been provided at a very reasonable rate of less than $3 per person!  

• Travel and Lodging expenses:  $1800-2000

Getting from Mississippi to Martinique has proven challenging.  I will have to purchase a round trip ticket to Santo Domingo.  Exit the airport, return the next day with a round trip ticket from Santo Domingo to Forte de Franc Martinique.  I have searched high and low, called Delta, American Airlines, and our Travel Agent and there seems to be no good way to get there from here.  Total cost of tickets will be between $1300 and $1500.  Lodging will be approximately $500.  

The total budget for this trip to explore Martinique, meet with Wilfrido about the future of our work there, and help with the Haitian conference in Santo Domingo will be $4300-$4500.  If God would utilize these efforts to engage and reach the 3400+ Haitians of Martinique, it will all be worth it.  

In closing:  This past Sunday at Providence we studied Acts 15.  We read in Acts 15:3, “So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.”  What is it that brings us great joy?  For the early church it was news of the Gentiles (the heathen) coming to faith in Christ!  It would be my joy to see souls saved and churches planted in Martinique.  And it would be an even greater joy if we all could say, at the end of the day, that we were privileged to have a part in it!  You can have a part!  Would you commit to pray…to give…and maybe even, in the future to go? 

If God would move you to give to this effort, please feel free to send your check made out to Mission Surge with the code 0001 in the memo line.  You can mail it to 

Mission Surge

1126 Tanyard Road

Crystal Springs, MS 39059

Or you can contribute through paypal by going here:  

http://www.missionsurge.com/new-page/

Thank you so much for your prayers, your financial support, and your words of encouragement.  May God continue to bless and prosper our efforts to carry His gospel from here to the ends of the earth!

In Christ,

Kevin

May Newsletter

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,

I want to begin this May edition of the newsletter by thanking you for your faithfulness to pray for our ministry and missionaries as well as for you willingness to give sacrificially to see the work go forward.  I truly covet your prayers!

There are 5 main things that I want to put before you in this newsletter.

 1.  Oblivious:  We finished the actual filming of the material for the Oblivious Documentary two weeks ago and are currently reviewing and editing all of the information together into what will be the completed documentary.  Please pray that the editing process would go smoothly and quickly.  Please pray that the film will open the eyes, ears, and hearts of those in the Bible belt to see the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  Without the power and blessing of God upon this effort, it will all be in vain.  Updates will be coming soon as to release dates and viewing opportunities.

2.  I will be speaking at Audubon Drive Bible Church in Laurel, MS on June 1.  Please pray that God would do a great work in the hearts and lives of the people there.  I also ask you to please please pray that I would have more opportunities to preach revivals, harvest days, missions conferences, and family discipleship conferences.  Please pray that more pastors would open up their pulpits to me on Sunday nights and/or Wednesday nights so that I can share with them what God is doing in and through the work of Mission Surge.

3.  I also ask you to pray for me.  An unexpected trip has become necessary for me in July.  I will be making a dashing trip to the Dominican Republic to meet with our point-man there and discuss the future of our partnership.  This is a critical meeting and will dictate much of our future work there.  I ask you to pray for us both as we seek God’s direction as to the next step.  I will also be preaching in a missions conference in Santo Domingo where several hundred Haitian pastors will be gathered.  

This is a unique opportunity because it is my plan on this trip to travel to Martinique (God willing) to explore the 3400+ Haitians in that country who have no church, no pastor, and no missionary.  According to the International Mission Board, “The Haitian of Martinique have a population of 3,500. They are part of the Afro-Caribbean, Francophone people cluster. The global population of this people group is 11,248,200. Their primary language is Haitian. The primary religion of theHaitian is Roman Catholicism, the world's largest Christian branch. Their GSEC status is 1, which means this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.”

I plan to go to Martinique AND call out the Haitian pastors in the Dominican Republic to pray for them, give for them, and go to them.  Pray that God would connect us in Martinique with who we need to be connected with.  Pray that God would call out and raise up a Haitian couple to go to Martinique and begin a church planting effort among the Haitians there.  Pray that God’s will would be done.  

Finally, there are many expenses that are involved in this conference and trip.  If God moves you to give to help, please contact me asap.  Please pray that God would raise up funds to help transport the Haitian pastors into Santo Domingo for the conference.  Pray that God would provide funds for their meals and pray that I would be able to cover my travel expenses to Martinique and Santo Domingo.  Above all, pray that God would work to bring the gospel to the Haitians in Martinique!  

4.  Fourth, I want to invite you to check out our new website.  It is not yet fully complete, but you can still explore most of it without issue. 

Go to www.missionsurge.com and learn who we are, how we operate, what we believe, and about our partnership with Refugee Ministries International, Coram Deo, and ECCI.  Click on the “From the Field” tab or banner.  Please take time to do so and pray for us and our missionaries.

Also, several of you have asked if our paypal account and link is functioning.  Finally, I can say yes!  So you can give online and even choose to do so monthly if God leads.  You can find it all at www.missionsurge.com

5.  Finally, if you have not been keeping up with my blog at kevinivy.com please remember that I am posting twice each week quotes and notes from the autobiography of John Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides.  His life is amazing!  I would encourage you to go to the archives and read about him and his work if you have not done so already.

We desperately need God to work.  We are so grateful for your willingness to pray, to give, and to go!  Please pray pray pray!!  And if God is moving you to get involved and go, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  There is a whole world out there!

In Christ,

Kevin

Quotes and Notes from the Autobiography of John Paton, Part 7

In this addition of notes and quotes, we begin to see Satan strike closer to home with John Paton than ever before.  Paton had left his comfortable and godly home.  He had left his fruitful mission at Glasgow.  Now he has arrived on a dreadful island where the natives were constantly fighting among themselves, eating one another, murdering widows, and threatening the lives of Paton and his wife.  Nothing could have been more difficult to bear than what was coming.  We read…

“My dear young wife, Mary Ann Robson and I were landed on Tanna on the 5th November 1858, in excellent health and full of all tender and holy hopes.  On the 12th of February 1859, she was confined of a son; for two days or so both mother and child seemed to prosper, and our island exile thrilled with joy!  But the greatest of sorrows was treading hard upon the heels of that joy!  She had an attack of ague and fever and then in a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she died on the 3rd March.  To crown my sorrows, and complete my loneliness, the dear baby-boy whom we had named after her father, Peter Robert Robson, was taken from me after one week’s sickness, on the 20th March.  Let those who have ever passed through any similar darkness as of midnight feel for me…as for all others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows!”  79

It would be more than vain for him to attempt to paint his sorrows for us indeed.  The loss, risks, and sicknesses challenged him and his resolve, but it could not break it.  He wrote, “My reason seemed for a time almost to give way.  Ague and fever, too, laid a depressing and weakening hand upon me…the ever-merciful Lord sustained me, to lay the precious dust of my beloved Ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the end of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite breaking heart, had to take the principal share!”  80

Imagine the heartbreak and distress that Paton must have felt?  It is a wonder that he did not return to Scotland after such a loss…but the loss could have been part of what anchored him on Tanna and emboldened him with determination to reach the island for Christ.  “Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord, and is won for Christ, men in after-days will find the memory of that spot still green, —where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that land for God in which I had buried my dead with faith and hope. But for Jesus, and the fellowship He vouchsafed me there I must have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave!  80

Lest we think Paton was the only one with such faith and resolve, let us pay careful attention to the words of his beloved Mary Ann, “She fell asleep in Jesus, with these words on her lips:  Not lost, only gone before to be for ever with the Lord….It was very difficult to be resigned, left alone, and in sorrowful circumstances; but feeling immovably assured that my God and Father was too wise and loving to err in anything that He does or permits, I looked up to the Lord for help, and struggled on in His work.  I do not pretend to see through the mystery of such visitations, —wherein God calls away the young, the promising, and those sorely needed for His service here; but this I do know and feel, that, in the light of such dispensations, it becomes us all to love and serve our blessed Lord Jesus so that we may be ready at His call for death and Eternity.”  85

As we attempt to process all of the pain and suffering that Paton experienced I think it appropriate to end with one more brief quote from Paton:  “All trials that lead us to cling closer in fellowship with our Savior are really blessings in disguise.”  89

Until next time….

Quotes and Notes from the Autobiography of John Paton, Part 6

I am currently in Birmingham, AL at The Church at Brookhills at the Radical Intensive for pastors and church leaders.  I appreciate your prayers.  During the break, I wanted to post part 6 of quotes and notes.  

If you haven’t read the first 5 installments, it would benefit you to do so before reading this installment.

Paton steps foot on one of the most depraved islands in the world in order to preach the gospel and call cannibals to repentance and faith in Christ.  He begins describing his encounters with the Tannese at this point in his autobiography.  The challenges were many.  To summarize his findings in a sentence we read, “The depths of Satan outlined in the first chapter of the Romans were uncovered there (on Tanna) before our eyes in the daily life of the people, without veil and without excuse”  (66).

Here are some excerpts….

We were informed that war was on foot.  One day two hostile tribes met near our station; high words arose, and old feuds were revived.  The Inland people withdrew; but the Harbor people flew to arms and rushed past us in pursuit of their enemies.  The discharge of muskets in the adjoining bush, and the horrid yells of the Savages, soon informed us that they were engaged in deadly fights.  67

We were afterwards informed that five or six men had been shot dead; that their bodies had been carried by their conquerors from the field of battle and cooked and eaten that very night at a boiling spring near the head of the bay, less than a mile from the spot where my house was being built.  68

It is said, that the habitual Cannibal’s desire for human flesh becomes so horrible that he has been known to disinter and feast upon those recently buried.  89

We were informed that one of the wounded men, carried home from the battle, had just died; and that they had strangled his widow to death, that her spirit might accompany him to the other world, and be his servant there, as she had been here.  Now their dead bodies were laid side by side ready to be buried in the sea.  Our hearts sank to think of all this happening within earshot, and that we knew it not!  69

Oh how sad and degraded is the position of Woman, where the teaching of Christ is unknown, or disregarded though known!  It is the Christ of the Bible, it is His Spirit entering into humanity that has lifted woman and made her the helpmate and the friend of man, not his toy or his slave.  90

It was to flesh and blood weary work, and in many ways disheartening—no responsive faces and hearts there to cheer us on and lift us up into fellowship with the Lord.  91

Quotes and Notes from the Autobiography of John Paton, Part 5

If you have missed the first four installments from John Paton’s autobiography, I would encourage you to read them in the archives before continuing with this portion of quotes and notes.

John Paton, while working at Glasgow City Mission, felt the tug of the Lord to go to the heathen in the New Hebrides.  This made no sense to the common mind because God was so blessing his work in Glasgow and because it was a dangerous and difficult land.  We read about his calling, the opposition he faced, and his determination below.

“The Lord kept saying within me, ‘Since none better qualified can be got, rise and offer yourself!’ Almost overpowering was the impulse to answer aloud, ‘Here am I, send me.’  But I was dreadfully afraid of mistaking my mere human emotions for the will of God.  So I resolved to make it a subject of close deliberation and prayer for a few days longer and to look at the proposal from every possible aspect.”  53

Being compelled to go, he met discouragement.  

“Dr. Symington, one of my professors in divinity, and the beloved Minister in connection with whose congregation I had wrought so long as a City Missionary argued that, ‘Green Street Church was doubtless the sphere for which God had given me peculiar qualifications, and in which He had so largely blessed my labours; that if I left those now attending my Classes and Meetings, they might be scattered, and many of them would probably fall away; that I was leaving certainty for uncertainty—work in which God had made me greatly useful, for work in which I might fail to be useful, and only throw away my life amongst Cannibals.’” 55

“I replied that my mind was finally resolved; that, though I loved my work and my people, yet I felt that I could leave them to the care of Jesus, who would soon provide them a better pastor than I; and that, with regard to my life amongst the Cannibals, as I had only once to die, I was content to leave the time and place and means in the hands of God, who had already marvelously preserved me.”  55

The dangers were fresh on the minds of most in the church.  We read…

The ever-famous names of Williams and Harris are associated with the earliest efforts to introduce Christianity amongst this group of islands in the South Pacific Seas.  John Williams and his young Missionary companion Harris, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, landed on Erromanga on the 30th of November 1839.  Alas!  within a few minutes of their touching land, both were clubbed to death; and the savages proceeded to cook and feast upon their bodies.  Thus were the New Hebrides baptized with the blood of Martyrs; and Christ thereby told the whole Christian world that He claimed these Islands as His own.  His cross must yet be lifted up, where the blood of His saints has been poured forth in His name!  75

Again, therefore, in 1842, the London Missionary Society sent out Mr. Turner and Mr. Nisbet to pierce this kingdom of Satan.  They placed their standard on our chosen island of Tanna, the nearest to Erromanga.  In less than seven months, however, their persecution by the Savages became so dreadful, that we see them in a boat trying to escape by night with bare life.  76

Christianity had no foothold anywhere on the New Hebrides, unless it were in the memory and the blood of he Martyrs of Erromanga.  76

“Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, ‘The Cannibals!  You will be eaten by Cannibals!’  At last I replied, ‘Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.’  The old gentleman, raising his hands in deprecating attitude, left the room exclaiming, ‘After that I have nothing more to say!’”  56

Some retorted upon me, There are Heathen at home; let us seek and save, first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors.  This I felt to be most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that those who made this retort neglected these home heathen themselves; and so the objection as from them, lost all its power.  They would ungrudgingly spend more on a fashionable party at dinner or tea, on concert or ball or theatre, or on some ostentatious display, or worldly and selfish indulgence, ten times more, perhaps in a single day, than they would give in a year, or in half a lifetime, for the conversation of the whole Heathen World, either at home or abroad.” 56-57

I am not sure too much has changed since the days of John G. Paton!  We are just beginning to meet the jovial, blunt, and powerful personality of the great missionary.  He is about to go head to head with some people almost as stubborn as him.

Until next time…

Quotes and Notes from the Autobiography of John Paton, Part 4

If you have missed the previous notes and quotes from John Paton's Autobiography please read them in the archives before continuing here.

Paton left home to serve at the Glasgow City Mission.  He did not take this responsibility lightly.  You can see some of his father’s determination in him as he worked to win the lost and minister to the hurting.

He wrote, “The city missionary was required to spend four hours daily in visitation-work; but often had I to spend double that time, day after day, in order to overtake what was laid upon me.  About eight or ten of my most devoted young men, and double that number of young women, whom I had trained to become Visitors and Tract Distributors, greatly strengthened my hands.  Each of the young men by himself, and the young women two by tow, had charge of a portion of a street, which was visited by them regularly twice every month.” 40

Imagine if we spent four hours daily in visitation work?!  Imagine if we saw the need before us and felt compelled to spend double that time?  Then imagine if we mad it our goal to train 8-10 young men and 16-20 young women to go out and visit and distribute tracts as well?  What if they followed up twice each month in these areas?  We might win the world, or be cast from it!

Our excuse is likely that they lived in a different time, and indeed they did.  We might say that we just don’t have the time.  Maybe we have the time, we are just too distracted.  Their focus on the Kingdom was so consuming that nothing deterred them.  Paton wrote, “Of other so-called ‘attractions’ we had none, and needed none, save the sincere proclamation of the Good Tidings from God to men!”  40

Paton just would not give up.  He devoted himself to ministering to one of the hardest hearts in Glasgow; a heart that no one else seemed to be able, or willing, to devote themselves to in order to reach with the gospel.  He wrote of his efforts, “Visiting him twice daily, and sometimes even more frequently, I found the way somehow into his heart, and he would do almost anything for me, and longed for my visits.”

God was truly blessing the work at Glasgow, but he had other plans for the determined Paton.  He was about to call him to one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult fields in the world.  He was going to call him to one of the most dangerous and deadly, if not the most dangerous and deadly fields in the world.  And Paton would meet it all head on.

Until next time….

Quotes and Notes from the Autobiography of John Paton, Part 3

If you have not read the first 2 installments, please search the archives in order to do so now.

As we continue considering the early years of John Paton and the way his father shaped him as a man and missionary we must recognize that John’s father’s ministry was not only to his family.  He was a stocking maker (he ran a very small factory from his home).  He was not a pastor or elder in his church.  Yet, he was a faithful churchman and evangelist.

Paton wrote that, “Dumfries was four miles fully from our Torthorwald home; but the tradition is that during all these forty years my father was only thrice prevented from attending the worship of God—once by snow, so deep that he was baffled and had to return; once by ice on the road so dangerous that he was forced to crawl back up the Roucan Brae on his hands and knees, after having descended it so far with many falls; and once by the terrible outbreak of cholera at Dumfries.  All intercourse betwixt the town and the surrounding villages, during that awful visitation was publicly prohibited; and the farmers and villagers, suspecting that no cholera would make my father stay at home on Sabbath, sent a deputation to my mother on the Saturday evening, and urged her to restrain his devotions for once!”  15

Paton’s father was so faithful to attend Sunday worship he only missed three times in 40 years!  Not even a cholera outbreak could keep him away from worshipping together with the family of God.  Can you imagine how he would feel about missing church for a soccer tournament, baseball game, or even vacation!? 

Paton’s father was a faithful evangelist to his community.  He wrote, 

“For the last twelve years or so of his life, he became by appointment a sort of Rural Missionary for the four contiguous parishes and spent his autumn in literally sowing the good seed of the Kingdom for the Tract and Book Society of Scotland.  His success in this work, for a rural locality, was beyond all belief.  Within a radius of five miles, he was known in every home, welcomed by the children, respected by the servants, longed for eagerly by the sick and aged.”  18

Surely part of what shaped Paton as a man and a missionary was his father’s leadership in the home.  However, his clear devotion to the local church and to spreading the gospel in the area was an influence as well.  Next time we will begin to see Paton’s missionary strategy unfold as he begins his work at the Glasgow City Mission.

Until next time….

Quotes and Notes from the Autobiography of John Paton, Part 2

John Paton’s father was clearly the most influential person in his life and ministry.  He shared much about his early days and the way his father influenced and shaped him as a person and missionary.  I want to share a few more of these quotes today.

“The very discipline through which our father passed us was a kind of religion in itself.  If anything really serious required to be punished, he retired first to his closet for prayer, and we boys got to understand that he was laying the whole matter before God; and that was the severest part of the punishment for me to bear!  I could have defied any amount of mere penalty, but this spoke to my conscience as a message from God.  We loved him all the more, when we saw how much it cost him to punish us; and, in truth, he had never very much of that kind of work to do upon any one of all the eleven—we were ruled by love far more than by fear.”  (Page 17).  

Sadly, our discipline doesn’t generally reflect the grace, love, and seriousness that Paton’s father’s did.  Yet, how differently would my family look if I patiently and reverently, and with concern for their soul, disciplined my children?  Paton’s father was characterized by faithful and sincere prayer.  It seemed that his prayers pervaded every area of their lives. 

“How much my father’s prayers at this time impressed me I can never explain, nor could any stranger understand.  When, on his knees and all of us kneeling around him in Family Worship, he poured out his whole should with tears for the conversation of the Heathen World to the service of Jesus, and for every personal and domestic need, we all felt as if in the presence of the living Savior, and learned to know and love Him as our Divine Friend.  As we rose from our knees, I used to look at the light on my father’s face, and wish I were like him in spirit,—hoping that , in answer to his prayers, I might be privileged and prepared to carry the blessed Gospel to some portion of the Heathen World.”  (Page 21)

The prayers and influence of Paton’s father really welded their hearts together.  As Paton was leaving to go serve at a mission in Glasgow, he recounts the experience of saying goodbye to his father.  It is one of them most moving accounts in his work.

“My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence - my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in hand, while his long flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later years white as snow) streamed like a girl's down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: "God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!"

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him - gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I rounded the corner and out of sight in instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dike to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dike and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his face toward home, and began to return - his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as he had given me.” (Pages 25-26)

May we seek to unify our hearts with God and see God, in response, give us the hearts of our children so that we can in turn give those children back to God for the advancement of His Kingdom on earth.  Paton’s father is a shining example to us all!