Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." For the last several months, as a ministry we have been very specific in the application of that prayer.
 


Recently David Sitton had the privilege of preaching at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is a unique gathering hosted by Pastor John Piper and Desiring God Ministries that annually draws over 1400 pastors from around the United States and the world.


The theme of this year's conference was "How Must a Pastor Die? The Cost of Caring Like Jesus." David's message entitled, Missionary Martyrs: Fools for Jesus, for the Nations was a clear call to pastors to seriously pray and consider whether God may be redirecting them from pastoral ministry in America into cross-cultural church planting among an unreached people group. We here at TETM have been praying for some months now that if it would be God's will that He would give us a "tithe" of pastors from this conference for the nations that could then be launched into the world harvest. Knowing that there would be approximately 1400 pastors in attendance, we boldly asked God to give that tithe of 140 men that could then be presented back to Him for the glory of His name to the nations. We have been overwhelmed by the response to this simple prayer. At the time of this writing, one week since the close of the conference, 50 pastors have told us directly that they believe that they are part of that tithe of 140 for the nations! Praise God for His abundant blessing!

 

Now that God is showing His glory through the responses of these men, what role does TETM have in seeing these dear brothers launched? While we don't presume to have all the answers or know God's direction for this group of men, we do sense a responsibility for encouragement, training, and eventual deployment as our Sovereign Lord sees fit. To that end, we are hosting a Summit for the Nations here in South Texas, (near Brownsville) April 3-5, 2006. We are inviting these pastors and Christian leaders here to get to know them better, pray much, share more specifically what we are doing among unreached peoples and see if there is a specific place for them, with us, among one of these unreached peoples. We are currently praying and seeking God's direction concerning specialized training for experienced pastors and Christian workers who are sensing God's redirection into cross-cultural church planting ministry. We hope to be able to share some of those plans at the meeting as well.

Even if you weren't at the conference, we're opening this meeting up to those who are sensing that God may indeed be at work in their heart concerning church planting among an unreached people group. If that's your desire, e-mail us today for more information how you can be part of this exciting gathering. Contact Steve at steve@toeverytribe.com for more details.

Because of the Cross,
David & Tommi Sitton
Steve & Robin
Henry