BottomLine Update | December 2008 Trouble reading this email? Click here to view it online. |
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Chabarman: Kyrgyz Pony Express Seeks to Reach Hard Places
This past month we were privileged to witness the birth of a locally-initiated missions sending organization called “Chabarman.” (That was why you needed to know the meaning of the word.) For the last couple of years there has been a mixed group of believers from different Kyrgyz fellowships that have been praying and brainstorming together about how they can begin reaching out to the lost in other countries as well. We have had an indirect connection to these people through “Flower-beam” who plays with Baysal (our local music group) and desires to go to China, and also through one of our team members who is helping these local believers think and pray through some of the issues they need to address as they try to obey the Great Commission themselves. >> What more must be done to spread the gospel? Read more
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In This Issue:
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>> Please pray for Jeni and the people of her island that God will destroy the spiritual bonds that keep them in fear and darkness, and that they will genuinely cry out to the God who is all powerful for protection and salvation.
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>> Register now for Story ’08.
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>> Apply today
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“Chabarman” is best understood if you know that “kabar” is the Kyrgyz word for news and that a “KABARman” is a bearer of news--a messenger. Also, you need to know that a “chaban” is a Kyrgyz horseman (a cowboy). If you put “kabarman” and “chaban” together you get the word “chabarman” which is a messenger who brings news on a horse. From Kyrgyz history, “chabarman” also carries the idea of a hard-riding, fast, horseback, message-delivery person. It is the Kyrgyz idea of our American “Pony Express.”
Jeni, the wife of a local member of parliament and a university graduate with a degree in economics, told her mother to call the sandro. She was in labor with her first child and things weren’t going as they thought they should so they needed the help of the family shaman. The shaman arrived and prayed for her by blowing into her scalp and mumbling in an unidentifiable language. For this family, and indeed for the majority of people on this island, the spiritual world is very real and very frightening. Before wedding preparations Jeni drank a concoction of milk, pepper and other ingredients while standing on a knife blade as a protection against evil spirits that might try to interfere in her life. After her little son was born, a mirror was placed in his crib, certain leaves put under the blankets, and garlic was pinned to his clothes—all to provide protection from spirits.
Although Jeni is Muslim and regularly prays Allahu Akbar, she doesn’t trust that he can protect her and her family from the dangers they face daily.
Get a front row seat on worldwide, eternal action at Story '08, a family-friendly mission conference in Orlando, December 28-31. Want to give your kids a global view of a global God? Story ’08 includes a program for children ages 12 and under. With a multimedia, multisensory, story-driven curriculum called “Kids Around the World”, your children will come away with an enlarged perspective of the spiritual and physical needs of people in other cultures—and they’ll see how they fit into God’s plan. Teens will be captivated by the missionary stories and the fast paced program. Let this Christmas be a time of shaping your entire family’s worldview.
Early bird pricing for only $150/adult is still available. Or bring 10 friends and come for free!
Do you have what it takes to serve in cross-cultural ministry? Find out on The Edge! Invest six to ten weeks of your summer serving alongside seasoned missionaries and learning more about God’s mission. Partner with African missionaries in reaching Muslim and tribal areas of Africa. Teach English or health care and business topics in the Middle East. Survey areas in Europe or Asia where no churches exist. Minister to Muslim immigrants in the UK. Get to know the Basque people of Western Europe, and share with them the love of Christ. Build relationships with Chinese students in the UK. PIONEERS’ summer program, The Edge, is bursting with these and other unpredictable possibilities. Are you or one of your family members up for the adventure? Thirty-five teams in 22 different countries are looking for a total of 246 people to serve alongside them this summer. Help us
spread the word.