BREAKING GROUND
I just got back from 10 days in Central Asia this past week. As with every short-term trip, there is so much to reflect on. God spoke to me personally in so many ways during the trip, and also moved externally. I wanted to share a few updates with each of you as you made this possible through prayer.
The purpose of the trip was to spend 3 days in a city to pray over the city. The long-term team that we visited has a vision to see every major city around them prayed over and have churches planted in each city. There is a total of approx. 158 cities and we were team number 58 to come! The trip is set up as a “Luke 10 style,” meaning we go to the city with no knowledge of where to stay or how we will be provided for (I encourage you to go read this passage of Scripture for more context). During the first few days in Central Asia, we spent time with the long-term team and then launched out to the prayer city. Immediately upon arrival, we were welcomed into this city. The very first lady we met invited us to stay at her home while she stayed at her moms home. God provided!! During the 3 days, we prayed over the entire city and asked God to move in powerful ways. There are currently no known followers of Jesus in this city. However, we were able to build relationships with 4 people while we were there in our short time (through much google translate. However, we learned a lot of the local language for such a short time). We left them with 4 New Testaments and the long-term team is following up this week. Please pray for those conversations. For privacy purposes, I cannot give more details in regards to names, conversations, etc.
The time in the prayer city was so formative because it showed the power of God's provision and also enlightened me to the truth that the battle we are waging is not one of flesh and bones. I believe that we were able to lay the foundation for God to move in this city. In addition, we very well could have been the first people to pray to Jesus in this city for the past 1,000 years or so.
After the prayer city, we went to another city for the remaining 3 days and met with a few other long-term workers. It was encouraging to see how the Lord is using many different workers to bring forth the kingdom in this country. In that city, we also went on a few tours to learn more of the history of the country, and have fun as a team debriefing.
A few main takeaways:
Spiritual darkness is real. This country has a total of 7,500 Christians and 120 known fellowships for a total of 80 million people. To put things in perspective, Austin, TX has an estimated 1.8 million people and a total of approx. 800 fellowships. With this, please pray that more people are willing to go to these dark places and that the kingdom of Heaven would shine brightly.
Prayer is the gateway to seeing the kingdom come. In dark places like Central Asia, you become much more aware of the spiritual battle that we are in. Our hope as a family is to be one of prayer and people who disciple others to have a praying life.
The local people need to be empowered to do the work of ministry. However, we (as Westerners) can come alongside to help catalyze, coach, and encourage.
Understanding how culture affects the reception of the gospel is so important.
