During this season in the USA we celebrate Thanksgiving with an amazing spread of food and special time with family and close friends. We want to take this opportunity to especially thank you for standing with us in so many ways. The best way we can do this is by giving you some ‘clips’ of events that have taken place recently and exciting opportunities ahead of us:
Africa Brother Henry met in Mabonga with “more than 100 people eager for the Word of God”. He taught from God’s Plan for His Church which brought transformation in the church. “Church chairmen” resigned and became biblical “deacons and deaconesses”. After preaching from Luke 15:11 “about the lost son, 57 people believed in the Lord Jesus”. 13 were set free from demonic oppression, and 3 were healed from different diseases. “We really felt the presence of God and the Holy Spirit moved mightily.” There was further teaching for GPHC on New Testament principles of order in the church. Persons are asking how to plant churches like Paul did. Henry is being used by the Lord to teach these principles from Scripture. We have helped Henry purchase two new tires for his vehicle because of the amount of travel he is doing and since the tires he has now are very smooth. There are 22 other repairs that need to be done, so if the Lord moves you to help, please let us know. Remember that Henry has also launched a ministry to the Pygmies which is already bearing fruit. Myanmar The Burmese translation of GPHC is complete and in the proof-reading stage. Pray for printing to take place soon in view of Tim’s visit in January. Thailand GPHC training will take place at the Siloam Bible Institute, January 13 to 17, 2014. Pray for students to have completed the lessons in preparation for a week of review and writing their projects and strategy. The GPHC Karen translation is nearly finished. It will need type-setting and proofing before it can be printed. The opportunities with the Karen in Thailand and Myanmar are many. Please pray for the completion of this translation and for God to open effective doors to train and promote a focus on the unreached of these countries. Pakistan The translation work in Urdu is complete and we have sent partial funds for printing. Our Brother in Christ has a vision to train key men who will impact this country and beyond. Pray that this amazing opportunity will result in a spiritual awakening throughout this part of the world. USA Tim has had amazing opportunities to attend the Campus Crusade Conference in October and present GPHS which received wide acceptance by many, including a representative from Global Alliance for Church Multiplication. He also will attend the Finishing the Task Conference in CA the first week in December. The purpose of this conference is to identify current unreached people groups and to connect churches, missions and missionaries to them. Paul’s “ambition was to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named” (Ro. 15:20) Pray for God to use these occasions as divine appointments for spreading biblical principles for accelerating God’s work among the unreached of the world. Liberia Through a chain of contacts from the US and England, a brother in Liberia heard about our ministry and asked for our material. We sent two copies of GPHC along with instruction on working through the lessons. Here is a brief quote from his last email: “Our churches and some of our sister churches in Liberia are facing serious problems that this training manual gave an answer to. Therefore, I decided not to delay but to start studying the materials and to organize some men who are willing and also can be used to train others, as we see in 2 Timothy 2:1-2." Pray for God to use this brother in reestablishing the church in Liberia on a biblical foundation in preparation for God’s expansion throughout Africa. Changes: We are in the process of upgrading the Seminary Course to be used anywhere in the world. We are convinced the time is right for this to be used in equipping students before they launch out into the Lord’s work. Along with this, we have decided to change our ministry name to NEW FOUNDATIONS, dba Go and Reconcile We believe this new name more accurately represents our goal; to follow Paul’s example in Romans 15:20. Ministries: We have so many reasons to thank you for standing with us in prayer and support for God’s work through unworthy and unlikely servants. We are humbled by His grace, yet inspired by the continual renewal of the Holy Spirit. It is a joy to also report that Sherman’s health is much better--thank you so much for the prayers, emails, cards, phone calls and visits. There is another three weeks of physical therapy, but he is beginning to get back into the work. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14).
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From the jungles to the cities in Burma or Myanmar, many came for training, hosted by a dear Chin Brother who lives in Burma and Australia. About 3 years ago, he located a copy of the manual in Australia, and after reading it, contacted me about teaching the material to his church planters so they can be more effective by becoming more biblical, Holy Spirit dependent, indigenous and self-sustaining. We had about 50 hungry students from Chin area, desiring to follow Paul’s model as he followed Christ. As always, we soon realized we lack the power of the early church, so we renewed this area of our lives and pushed on to the importance of our personal relationship with Christ, its effect on families and how it results in Spirit filled church planting and renewal. Through the Holy Spirit, much of the teaching was soon turned over to them. They taught and preached the Word concerning factors that made the early church so powerful, making disciples or leaders like Jesus, strengthening the churches using Paul’s letters, the value of family in their ministries and how to solve or resolve different current issues facing the family and church biblically. Testimonies afterwards were so encouraging to hear! These simple truths applied to their lives personally, and Lord willing, we will see the church renewed in Burma which is really (as in the USA) the answer to so many of the problems we all face in these last days. I walked about 30+ minutes each day to and from the meeting winding through the streets of Yangon, the main city in Burma. As always, I find the people so interesting in contrast to our culture, but something particularly fascinating is to see four religious buildings within a rocks throw of each other: a mosque, a church building, and Buddhist and Hindu temples. I felt fairly safe there because if anyone gets or even starts to get out of line, the military or police will stop them dead in their tracks. I am now back in Chiang Mai; spent yesterday washing clothes, being lonely, but I did meet with one Rawang Brother who has a ministry to the Lahu people group which is interestingly located in Burma, Thailand, Laos, China and Vietnam. We will be making training plans for some of the leaders from Lahu leaders from the tribal areas in Thailand. Yesterday I met with my dear friend and Karen Brother to make plans on training here and in the jungle areas “new” evangelists or maybe I should say, “New hungry souls”. I spent today with an elderly brother, 78, who is fired up and taking the gospel to remote areas of Thailand. He is the one I went with several months ago where they have no electricity etc... With him around, can I even think about stopping at 67? We talked over the process and concepts in translating the manual into the Karen Language. Also, keep Henry and Peter from Zambia in your prayers that they will be able to come to Chiang Mai for training and preaching in the Karen and Lahu Churches in Northern Thailand. They just now received their visa applications. Thanks for your prayers! Tim This week (July 29th to August 3) there is a conference in Yangon, Myanmar. The initial report for the first two days is that there are "about 50 - 60 hungry souls" at the meeting and we are seeing "a real work of the Spirit".
These two things will always go together; hunger for God's Word and a work of the Spirit. Notice the example in the Book of Acts: Acts 10:33, "Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." There was a readiness to hear what God would say, which we receive primarily through His Word. This is followed a few verses later with Luke's record; "While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word" (verse 44). If you want to see God's Spirit work in our day, promote a hunger for His Word, not yourself. In all things, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). As Tim prepares for his next trip to Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand, we want to give you a few details so you can be praying for each event. We feel very dependent on the Lord that He would go before us and provide a "wide open door for effective work" (1 Cor. 16:9).
July 24th - Leave Raleigh for Yangon, Myanmar (via Bangkok, Thailand). Pray for safe travel and rest in preparation for the conference in Yangon. July 29th to Aug. 2nd - Through a Chin Brother originally from Myanmar (now living in Australia), there will be a week long conference teaching the manual, God's Plan for His Church. Those attending will be given GPHC on the 15th of July so they can prepare for the training. Please pray they will complete the preparation and that those called to be church planters and apostles like Paul will follow Paul as he followed Christ. This instruction and application helps to prepare "unstoppable church planters" in any culture, anytime, and under any circumstances. August 3rd to August 17 - Training with leaders from Africa. Part of their learning process will take place as they help Tim do training with the Karen and Lahu people groups of Thailand (see below). Pray for the work and power of the Holy Spirit in these leaders. August 18th to September 28th - Specific dates have not been set, but there will be instruction of ten Thai Karen evangelists who will work among many Karen people who have been displaced from Burma and are living in refugee camps. Our desire is that they will be equipped to eventually reach their own people in Myanmar and the other 55 unreached people groups. In addition, there will be training with the Lahu people of Thailand with a goal that they evangelize the 82 unreached people groups. Please pray for God to give vision through His method they learned from Scripture. We are providing 30 GPHC manuals to a Chinese Missions Training Center in Chiang Mai in preparation for instruction in May of next year. Please pray that these students will absorb the Scriptures and principles so they can be effective in ministry in China. Tim returns by October 1st. Here is an interesting comparison between Myanmar and Thailand: Myanmar: Total People Groups = 155 Unreached = 55 Unengaged = 13 Thailand: Total people Groups = 112 Unreached = 82 Unengaged = 41 It is critical that we plant a biblical mindset in leaders so the task of reaching the unreached people groups with the gospel happens rapidly. We hope, Lord willing and through the work of the Holy Spirit, to challenge from the Word of God, that they consider reaching these unreached people groups, especially since the Karen and Lahu are primarily reached people groups, similar to churches in the US. Now that is not to say that we do not work with the existing church to strengthen through renewal, but we see from Acts that it was not either/or but both, working within the traditional establishment while sending and going to those who had never heard. But, it does seem the apostles number one focus in life and teaching was giving priority to those who had NEVER heard. Now I know not everyone is called to "go", but they are called to be "set apart" and be in one accord with the Holy Spirit in the mandate and commission given to His Church. The advantage of our training center in Chiang Mai is that these leaders learn in a setting free from distractions and where fellowship strengthens their learning. It has proven cost effective and the effectiveness of this one-on-one mentoring, as Paul did with Timothy and others, is undeniable. Please pray for God's continual direction as we use this facility. We continually thank the Lord for "your partnership in the Gospel" (Phil. 1:5) through faithful praying and support. Our only desire is "that we should go and bear fruit and that our fruit should abide (remain) for the Father's glory! (John 15:8, 16). Here is the testimony of someone from Myanmar who recently went through God’s Plan for His Church training. “By taking GPHC training in Chiang Mai, I learned your heart for His kingdom, your teaching style one by one, your desire for the family of Christian leaders, your perspective on the life of Paul and the methods of Paul for imparting to present day church planters.”
Tim and I are home and very thankful to see our wives and families. Picking up from our last letter, on May 14, we spent four days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia training a church planter among the Khmer people. He is unique as he seeks to following Paul's example of working to provide for his own needs. To accomplish this, several helped purchase a Tuk Tuk which he will use for income and transportation. His vision is to train other "Timothy's" with GPHC and help them start a business that will provide their income. He clearly has a heart for living and duplicating the Early Church model.
Tim and I left on the 19th; Tim to Laos to deliver Bibles which had been provided by Wake Christian Academy, Raleigh, NC and others here at home. I proceeded to Chiang Mai to start training a pastor from Pakistan. Tim arrived a few days later and we focused on one-on-one training him and then two other men from Myanmar for the next three weeks using God's Plan for His Church manual. We are convinced of the effectiveness of this method! The personal interaction, valuable discussion and fellowship over how the biblical principles work out in each culture brought inspiration and a fresh appreciation of Scripture in their setting. With a few, time was taken to complete the "pre-assigned" work, but these brothers were diligent and hard-working so that each one completed the final project, developing their own strategy for ministry in their setting with the principles they learned. These men represent the Karen, Chin, Katchin, Burmese, and Naga people groups of Myanmar and the Karen in Thailand. Translation work is already in progress for these languages. Let me summarize how the Lord has led us to this point in our ministry. Having taught the manual in conferences for many years and seen little multiplication from this venue, we felt that Paul's method of mentoring Timothy was more effective and would multiply much faster. After much prayer and searching for about a year, Tim found a Christian couple in Chiang Mai who would rent us a four bedroom house with a kitchen and sitting area for a very reasonable price. Paul said in I Corinthians 16:8 that he would “stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened for me.” God has opened many doors for us, but like Paul, we desired to enter this “effective” opened door. It allows us to train one-on-one, face-to-face, where persons are away from the responsibilities of ministry, culture and family in a quite neighborhood, yet within walking distance of village stores for food and necessities. The owners are convinced this is the purpose God has for this place and are fully behind us. While we were there, God opened another door through the owners. Here is a comment from them: "A new teaching team from the United States viz., Pastors Tim Bunn and Sherman Driver of Go-Reconcile, will train our evangelists in August; and our regular mentor Rev. Dr. Tan Wai Choon in November." This training will be with the Lahu people group in Thailand. We praise the Lord as we share this with you. Please continue to pray for us that we remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit for His "effective work", humble in spirit, and physically able to meet the demands. Also pray that God will raise up Timothy's who God will call to this work. Tim will be returning to Burma/Myanmar at the end of July for a conference in Yangon. From there, he will return to Chiang Mai, Thailand to train leaders from Africa and the Thailand Karen and Lahu. Pray that each of these open doors will turn out to be God's "effective work" for His glory! One of the most fruitful meetings we have ever experienced took place in Turkey a couple of years ago with key leaders from the Middle East, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria. I believe a couple of factors were in play here which greatly enhanced the results. One was isolating the leaders from their busyness, cell phones and ministries. Secondly, was their diligent pre-meeting work in the manual in preparation for the meeting, therefore we are going to try the same method in Asia and see what happens. Also, there are several other benefits: it costs less for the indigenous leaders to travel to a neutral location and for us to travel to a location that is easily accessible and many times less dangerous. It sounds like a win win situation, but we will wait and see. Actually, there is another aspect of this new training. We are training one or two key leaders instead of holding a conference. Many times, we train leaders but the “key” leader is never really on board with the teaching which sometimes can create problems. By training the key leader one on one, he will then be able to go back and do a conference on his own hopefully without our presence, which is also a cost saving factor. We would appreciate your prayers for discernment and wisdom, but most of all, that we be filled with the Spirit and focused on our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It will also be our joy to deliver approximately 2,500 Bible to believers in Laos, a country where the Word of God is only in the hands of a few. Also, through the gifts of many, 1,000 Bibles are being given to the Karen Refugee Camp that burned down on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. Please rejoice with us that God has provided these and pray that they will arrive safely without incident. For a long time we have encouraged ministers of the gospel to be self-sustaining so they do not need outside support. We have the joy of helping a brother in Christ purchase a Tuk Tuk so he can provide for himself and use the profit to help others do the same. Following this model of Paul will accelerate the spread of the gospel and give a living proof of its life changing message. Please pray that this brother will become a model to many in his country and beyond. To God be the Glory! ITINERARY May 5 – 12 Key Karen Leader from Thailand: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy for Karen Baptist of Thailand. Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. May 12 – 19 Key Leader from Cambodia: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy for the Khmer of Cambodia and purchase Tuk-Tuk to help key leaders become self-sustaining. Training will be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. May 19 -21 Distributing Bibles in Vientiane, Laos May 19 – 26 Key leader from Pakistan: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy for Pakistan. Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. May 19 – 26 Distributing Bibles and encouragement to the Karen refugee camp on the Burma/Thailand border which was burned to the ground. May 26 – June 2 Key Burmese and Karen Leader from Burma: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy. Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. June 2 – June 8 Key Chin Leader from Burma: Will work through the manual, God’s Plan for His Church, completing the projects and developing a church renewal and church planting strategy. Training will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We are very excited to announce God’s Plan for His Church, (GPHC) a new manual for Church Planting and Church Renewal. This revised edition has new lessons not previously covered, illustrations for better visual understanding, and a format that makes it easy for anyone to follow.
Considering Christianity is growing at a 0.5% rate in the USA (Operation World p.862), we believe this revision is momentous and relevant for today’s church because GPHC: · Lays a foundation in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture in the Holy Spirit. · Provides an opportunity for a fresh work of the Holy Spirit in willing hearts and churches. · Reveals the value of marriage and family in the process of church planting and renewal. · Visually illustrates the principles of God’s plan for His Church from Pentecost forward · Helps churches and leaders become Christ centered and self-sustaining like Paul. · Uses powerful supra-cultural and timeless principles from Scripture. · Gives biblical solutions to many of the current issues facing today’s family and church. · Teaches a time-tested and proven model of church planting, growth and renewal that can actually thrive in financial deficiency, illiteracy, and persecution. We ask that you take a serious, prayerful look at this enclosed material for a way that God would begin a fresh work of the Holy Spirit in you, your family and your church. There are life changing testimonies on pages 3-5 from those who have worked through previous editions published in 30 languages so that you can read firsthand how God has used this tool around the world. We are so convinced of the importance of God’s Plan for His Church that we are willing to personally meet with you face to face. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us via information on the "contact" page for further details. A digital interactive CD or Internet copy is available upon request. All the materials and services are offered at no charge. We are praying for you as you consider this timely opportunity for a new beginning of power, oneness, freedom and joy in serving our wonderful Savior. I will get right to the heart of what God has done and then what we are asking you to pray that He will do in the future. First I will give you a glimpse into Tim's last trip to Thailand and Myanmar by way of testimonies from those who attended the CPM conferences and contacts that were made. There were clearly ‘God ordained’ events and the working of the Holy Spirit. 1. The General Secretary for the Karen Baptist Association tells us that the Thai translation of the GPCP manual is in process and they plan to have it printed by October when we return.
2. The same brother from Thailand reports: “We owe you a lot, and we believe that we can surely apply what you have shown us in our church-planting missions. We will not look backward, but go forward. We will do our best for the Lord. Please pray for TKBC because we believe that with God's grace and prayers of the righteous, we can make a great impact here in Thailand. We will try our best to be a good example for young couples…but we will always be careful and not let any space for Satan. Please pray that we will never fall nor make others upset. Brother, I have been looking for my Paul, but I have not found one yet…. Could you accept me as your Timothy? Many godly people are too busy like Martha, but I can see you care that I become a faithful and fruitful servant of God.” 3. The following is an email from another brother in Yangon, Myanmar. “We could not help talking about how we appreciate you and your teaching. We look to you as our model after Christ. We would like to do the course again with you with another group in October or November this year. Let me know what time is good for you. Then we will bring the two groups together in March 2013. Do you think we should have more time for the course - for 5 or 6 days? We have finished the 18 days training with the group and now we are going to start another training with a different group on Tuesday the 27th of Mar for 4 days. Please pray for us. We are so blessed to have you and your training. It is God's divine appointment for training the church planters in Myanmar for the end time.” We agree with this brother!! 4. Tim met with Moses in Myanmar who is translating GPCP into the Chin language. He is requesting a CPM Conference this fall when the CPM will be complete so they can start biblical church planting. 5. We have a request from the Burma Karen Baptist Association to teach graduating students for a month in the seminary in Yangon. We have also received a request from the Arab Baptist Seminary representing North Africa and the Middle East to provide GPCP in a seminary course format. This has tremendous potential for all Arabic speaking nations. Along with this we are also working on reformatting the present manual so that it is simpler to use--adding diagrams so that the student gets the most out of the Scriptures with the teaching help of the Holy Spirit. Please pray for both of these endeavors as they potentially could have a huge impact in countries around the world. Here is the testimony of a dear brother in Cambodia: “I would like to share about GPCP manual and how it has been used in Cambodia to train Church leaders here to strengthen and grow their church. I found feedback from them about this manual; it is a great and powerful tool contained with biblical principles inspired by living word of God to their personal life, families, church and mission breakthrough so much more than they expected, especially to plant more new churches in new areas where no church exists. Lastly I would like to say thank you for Pastor Tim Bunn that God has blessed and found this great tool to our Cambodian’s Church and in region.” Let me add one final testimony from a brother in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: “The solution rests in a radical return to God's Plan for Church Planting! This is a serious, long-term answer to help call the Church back to New Testament Biblical Principles, as we enter this new era." With the Lord opening these doors of opportunity, we feel deeply dependent on the Him, first to work in us so that God’s Word may be spoken without hindrance and in the Spirit’s power. For we “do not count our life of any value nor as precious to us, if only we may finish our course and the ministry that we received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). _We want to bring you an update on Tim’s recent trip to Myanmar, Cambodia and Turkey. First, we are still rejoicing that our awesome Lord supplied all our needs including the printing of 1,000 Church Planting Manuals in Burmese and 3,000 in Khmer. He also provided FULLY for the leaders' travel from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon and their room and board for our meetings in Turkey. This brings to mind what Paul said to the Philippians in 4:16-21: "Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen." Cambodia: For two days, a new group of church leaders launched into a study of God’s Plan for Church Planting. We have been praying for God to raise up indigenous “Timothys” who will catch the vision for laying this biblical foundation throughout Cambodia. Please pray with us regarding this. Tim commented that “I just sense the same spirit of dependency on the “West” except one lady and her husband, who have planted 11 churches with no support. She seems so free, whereas others are so bound by our “western system”.” Pray that the Spirit will do a fresh, powerful work in this land. Myanmar: A very important contact was made with the head office of a denomination which may open a very exciting door for us. What really brings joy to the heart is that a local brother is teaching the CPM on his own and reaping the fruit of planting God’s truth and principles of church planting and renewal. Pray that this will multiply. Turkey: Tim writes: “This is the most awesome work of God, particularly as it relates to GPCP, that I have EVER seen in my life or could have ever dreamed. They completed their final projects; unreal and just unbelievable. I believe we are going to see a great movement of God in these countries in addition to what our Lord is already doing. I just do not know how to express it to you, even in a very remote way. It can happen, it has happened; they have completed their manuals and things are moving in the Spirit. I have never ever experienced a meeting like this. I am encouraged beyond words.” They return home to their own countries with a “complete picture” from God’s Word of His plan for the church. They will not need follow-up from us, except to encourage them. We in the West have a misconception that these places are very difficult to plant churches. Much like China where persecution is on the loose, the church is growing rapidly and God is doing a might work! We hope this report will ignite a spiritual revival in your heart! Are there any “Timothys” out there willing to re-examine Scripture and see with Spirit-filled eyes God’s plan, purpose and power to fulfill Mt. 24:14? If you are interested in learning more, please contact us.
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