Author: taethne

Highlights Around the World, #1 – India

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Here at Ta Ethne we want to hel you see different ministries around the globe that are making a difference for the Kingdom of God. These are people and ministries with whom we are in contact. Some of them we directly resource, others are lifted up in prayer. Some we partner with on the field and others we send training materials, finances or other resources. We will travel the globe over the coming weeks, showing you servants of our Great God who are doing a remarkable job. First up – India.

 

The Victory Baptist Association, http://www.vbai.org/ is one such ministry. There stated purpose is ” to give every person in India “ONE FAIR CHANCE” to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ,to make disciples of the Christian believers,to build a core of Christian leaders, and extend the ministry values and influence of Jesus Christ.”

VBAI works in the Agra area of  Utter Pradesh (state) of north India . Agra is in the state of Utter Pradesh, this is the largest populated state of India sending highest number of the representatives of the people to the “legislative” house [parliament] of the country. Most of the prime minister are elected from this state; here the famous Taj Mahal, which attracts millions of tourists every year from all over the World. This state has 13 million population, 630 cities and 8100 villages. It is the birthplace of the most of the gods of India . This state has many sacred rivers and temples, kasi Varanasi is considered as the second heaven people come and stay here in die.

This is a persecuted area, but this group has established a seminary and hold crusades regularly. Thousands are coming to Christ and this group is diligently working to train leaders through their seminary. They have trained over 100 pastors to serve in churches, and they hope to reach out to another 300 villages and 50 key cities in the next 10 years. A truly ambitious goal that they are trusting God to accomplish through them. Evangelist Pandu Maddala has reached out to Ta Ethne and we are currently praying about opportunities to work with VBAI over the next few years.

Check them out, pray for them, go and visit. God has many servants across the world. Come explore them with us.

Podcast – Ta Ethne – A Heart Hungry to Worship

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The God who who not only pursues us, but who woos us with His Spirit. Sermon from John chapter 4 on the Holy Spirit’s drawing of the Samaritan woman. Based on the speaker’s book, A Heart Hungry to Worship

Podcast – Ta Ethne.

Changing a Church’s DNA

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One of our missions here at Ta Ethne is helping churches to change from being missions-minded to becoming missions-active. To that end, one of the resources we offer is The Quest – a handbook that walks a church through the transition process. The Quest has been a huge success, but surprisingly in Great Britain rather than the United States. Could it be that churches in England recognize the problem more clearly than American churches? Or, maybe, are English churches less prideful and more willing to admit their problems and ask for help. Here in the US I run into church after church that believes they are active missionally, only to discover that they mean they give monetary support or take a “missions” trip once a year. A church that is truly missional is active 24/7, 365 days a year in ministering to people all over the globe. They sacrifice, sweat and pray. They change their priorities and their funding to be less about themselves and more about God’s Kingdom. They aren’t worried about adding staff, buildings or making cloned copies of themselves over multiple campuses. They are committed to making disciples across the globe. They are as concerned about people and events in Laos as well as Lincoln, as at home ministering in Florence as in Florida. They look and act different because they are different.

If your church is tired of playing and dreaming of being used by God to actually impact the entire world for Christ, please contact us to schedule a consultation or a seminar. Check out The Quest on Amazon as a starting guide and help to change your church’s DNA.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Quest-Missions-minded-Missions-active-ebook/dp/B0057H30JE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342717250&sr=8-2&keywords=the+quest+herndon

Unreached People Groups

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According to the Joshua Project, 41% of the world’s population (2.83 billion) live in groups that are as yet unreached by the message of Jesus Christ. Why? Two thousand plus years after the Savior gave us the command to make disciples of all peoples, why are almost 3 billion people without a witness? Could it be that we do not understand the command to love one’s neighbor as yourself? If I truly love my neighbor, I would want him or her to have what I have – a relationship with Christ. 

Some time ago, when I was working in retail, a disgruntled customer, upset over a company policy, told me to “Go to hell”. This, of course, upset and offended me. Yet, is that not what we are telling people when we refuse to share the gospel with them? In effect, we are telling them that we don’t care about their eternal destiny; we are telling them to just, “go to hell”. Now, you may not say those words – but that is what your inaction says to them. When we are broken over our fellow man’s spiritual condition, when we are horrified at the eternal doom waiting for them, when we are motivated to leave the 99 safe in the fold and go after the 1 wandering in darkness, then maybe all peoples will hear and come to Christ.Image

Newsletter Coming Soon

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Work has begun on a newsletter to keep subscribers informed of opportunities Ta Ethne is receiving. This will be a new venture for us, as everything to this point has been funded in house, along with proceeds from the sale of our books, paying for travel overseas, discipleship training materials, etc.  For us, we have reached the point where we will begin soliciting subscribers to a monthly (possibly in the future bi-monthly) newsletter, print or electronic. This will enable us to act on requests from India, Philippines, China and other countries who want us to come and share with them.

We are also setting up on-line donations through PayPal, accessed from our website, http://www.discernmentministries.webs.com.  The website is also undergoing transformation, with an easier book store page and navigation tools. We will also be actively looking for translators for our books and bible studies. We have had such success with translating Is Jesus Enough? into Chinese that we want to branch out into Hindi, Spanish and other languages.

Continue to keep us in prayer as we follow God in this exciting time of transition. Who knows, maybe you will join us as a partner holding the ropes or going with us overseas. With God, all things are possible.