I'm Going To...

Where are you going? That is a question that I have not had a specific answer for yet but, God willing, that will be changing very soon.  Next week, March 14-15th,  there are going to be representatives from the different countries that New Tribes works in visiting campus. They will be presenting the vision for reaching the lost tribes of that country. There will be times throughout the day where we will be able to talk with the representatives and even have them over for a meal to ask plenty of questions about the missions work going on in their country.

New Tribes works in over 20 countries so there are plenty of choices. In every country the need for tribal church planters is great, so the decision will not be easy.  There are a few countries that I have been able to cross of the list. The remaining countries that I will be considering are; Brazil, Bolivia, Asia Pacific, Mexico, Paraguay, and Philippines. It is extremely likely that I will end up serving in one of these countries in the future, and I want your help to figure out which one it should be.

There are many questions on my mind for the representatives. Some of these are: Are you planning on going into new tribal works or existing works? What options are there for educating children? What safety policies are in place? What does your language learning program look like? I would really appreciate your prayers during field fair. Pray that I would ask the right questions and not just listen for the answers that I want to hear. Pray that I would be sensitive to God’s leading to a country of service. Pray that I will listen to all the ways that God is speaking to me.  I really appreciate your prayers and any input that you may have into this decision. We are all a part of the Church that is trying to reach the lost tribes for the glory of Christ and you are very much a part of this task. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Seeking God’s direction,

Dan Thannum

Using the Sun to Spread the Son

Over the last few weeks in my Missionary Technology course, I have been learning a lot about electricity; specifically, solar electricity. Once I move into a tribe there will be no electricity available; therefore, I will need to be my own power company. The electricity will come from a solar power system. The sunlight will be turned into electricity by my solar panels and then be sent to 12 volt deep cycle batteries until I need the power. Because the electricity is going to be 12 volt Direct Current, most appliances that we commonly use in America will not be able to run since America has 120 volt Alternating Current. Probably the biggest difference you would notice if you walked through my tribal house is the outlets won’t be the traditional 3 prong style, but rather they will look like the cigarette lighter in your car. While I could go into more detail about inverters, power loss, wire sizes, and more, I will just assume that if you have questions or want to know more you will ask me, and then we can save everyone else from all the technical stuff.

The other day I had an interesting thought hit me: someday as a missionary I will be very dependent on the power of the sun to be able to do my job. Then I realized that every Christian is also 100% dependent on the power of the Son to be able to do anything. While the sun may not provide the needed power if there are a few cloudy days, the Son will never lack power. The sun will only give so many hours of sunlight each day that will be able to charge my batteries but there is no end to the power or accessibility of the Son. I find it amazing that during the creation of the world God was thinking of how we would be able to most effectively reach remote people groups with the Gospel. With solar power, we will be able to power the equipment for literacy programs, Bible lessons, and Bible translation and more; enabling us to communicate the gospel more quickly and effectively.

Using the power of the sun to spread the Glory of the Son to an unreached people group,

Dan

Dependent on Who?

This past semester was a great time of learning the skills that I will need to be an effective church planter in a remote village. Through all the classes and interactions with staff and new friends I would have to say the two biggest lessons that I learned are dependence on God and dependence on the body of Christ. I remember one of my instructors telling us that even with this training, we will be equipped just enough to fall flat on our face once we get to the field if we are not relying on God. There were four or five different things that we were told “this will be the hardest thing you will do in your life” which as intimidating as that can be, it is comforting to know that I don’t need to depend on myself, but rather I find my dependence in God.

This next semester will continue to test my dependence on God and the body of Christ. Classes are already underway and we will be covering many different classes such as; Animism, Field Health, Missionary Technology, Romans, Folk Islam, Field Safety and New Testament Church Principles to name just a few. This semester is really going to stretch me in ways that I never imagined.

I am hoping that by the end of this semester I will have all the possibilities of where I may be serving narrowed down to my top three county choices. Join me in prayer this semester as I continue to learn the skills necessary to be an effective church planter among the unreached.

In Christ

Dan Thannum

A New Kind of Resolution

7,114 That’s the number of unreached people groups currently in our world, that equals 2.86 billion people. That is 2.86 billion people that break Gods heart daily and 7,114 people groups that one day will be worshiping around the throne of our Victorious lamb Jesus Christ that currently have nobody walking in the light. These people show a great darkness in our world but there is a greater hope that is about to encounter many of these people for the first time this very year.

This is a time of year where everybody is making resolutions about what they are going to try to do to make their life better over this next year. Why don’t we, as members of the world wide Church, resolve to do something to bring one unreached person into contact with the amazing news of our Lord Jesus Christ this year. While it is admirable to try to lose some weight, or read more or whatever it may be, just imagine how rewarding it will be to one day meet someone in heaven and have them say “I don’t know if I would be here if it wasn’t for you, thank you!”

This year let’s resolve to not do even the good things if they get in the way of the best things. Let’s resolve to make the focal points of our lives the one who gave us life. Let’s resolve to see people how God sees them, and have the things that break Gods heart break our heart. Let’s resolve to make a difference in the life of one person, not just the kind of difference that will make a bad person into a good person, but the kind of difference that will make a person who is dead in sin, alive in Christ!

Effectively Communicating the Gospel

“Hiok a yid dayid da yideownin henoti oit oit ak” my professor shouts at the top of his lungs from the front of the class room, imitating a call to a village meeting among the Bisorio people in Papua New Guinea. While we have only had class for a few days at this point, at this moment I realized that I am going to learn a lot in my time of training, and I need to learn a lot in my time of training in order to plant a church among an unreached tribal group.

The major emphasis throughout all the courses up to this point has been how to be an effective communicator of the Gospel.  While effectively communicating the gospel in America may not be too difficult, I need to realize that someday I will be in a tribe like the Bisorio and then being an effective communicator of the Gospel becomes much more difficult.

To help in the task of effectively communicating the gospel, I will be taking 13 classes which range from 3-72 hours of class time this semester. So far my favorite classes are Worldview Analysis, where we are learning how to discover why people think and act the way that they do, and Foundational Bible Teaching, where we are learning the importance of presenting the gospel message only after a solid foundation from the word of God has been laid. Starting next week we students will begin preparing and teaching lessons ourselves.

This year is going to be a year of learning for me, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom as I train for ministry. Thank you for partnering with me while I am in training. I could not be here without your support.

In Christ:

Dan Thannum

The Beginning

You found me! This will be my blog site throughout my career with New Tribes Mission. I will be updating this site occasionally with what is going on in my life and ministry, hopefully around once or twice a month.  I hope that this blog will give you a window into my life and what God is doing through me to reach a tribe without the Gospel. I hope to see you back here soon.