Visiting NTBI in Waukesha WI

Kristi and I got about 3 hours sleep before waking up at 4:00am and getting on the road for our drive to LAX. Our flight was fine, though not too exciting, but that’s just because I’m apparently unimpressed by the miracle of human flight. A comedian I like says that every time we are on a plane we should grip the armrests the whole time and yell “Oh my gosh! I'm flying through the air...in a chair...in the sky?!?"

The 10-acre Waukesha campus is located in the western suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The city of Waukesha has a population of about 65,000. The main campus houses the faculty offices, most of the classrooms, library, a dining hall that seats 170, student dorms, three student lounges, laundry facilities and a bookstore. The campus complex includes additional housing for married students and their children, a 300-seat auditorium, gymnasium, garages and physical plant shops, and playground for the children.                          

This is the classroom Kristi and I will be in most of the time our first semester. The freshman class in January is always smaller than in the fall semester. We will be a class of about 30 students. Many students and teachers say they prefer the small classes because of the closeness and one on one time students get with the instructors and fellow students.

We are looking forward to the blessing of attending chapel every day. We got to attend a special worship chapel that student bands lead once a week. I hope to join the bands on drums and guitar. Normally speakers from the faculty, local churches, and missionaries from around the world come to share with the students during chapel time.

This is another beautiful shot of the campus.  We had a great time, met a lot of great folks, and got a good idea of what to expect in January.    We hear that when we arrive all the grass and leaves will be long-gone, and the landscape will be replaced with an ice-cold wonderland.  We'll have to buy some warm cloths and a few beanies to keep my bald head warm.

Till next time...Mike

Q&A about our journey

How are we doing globally on the great commission? A research initiative called www.joshuaproject.net is seeking to bring definition to the unfinished task of the Great Commission. Their research shows that globally there are 6,631 people groups considered least-reached. The term "least-reached" is defined by things like how much of the Bible has been translated, what's the percentage of believers, is there an established church. The research through New Tribes shows there are about 2,500 unengaged people groups. Unengaged means there is no Bible translation in progress, no believers within the linguistic group, and no missionaries working among them to change that.

Is it even our job to reach the whole world with the Gospel? “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”(Matt. 24:14) "And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and open it's seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. (Rev. 5:9)

There are so many needs here, why not stay and serve the Lord here in the States? We are learning that the work force is out of balance. Globally about 1% of Christian resources go toward ministries focused on bringing the gospel to un-reached people groups, 9% goes to reached people groups outside the US, and 90% funds ministries for English speaking people.

What about your children and their future? We love our kids! We want them to be safe and healthy. We want them to get a good education. We want them to fall in love with Jesus and grow up to be dedicated followers of Christ. We will do our best to love, nurture, and provide for them wherever we live. The reality is, there are dangers, trials, and temptations everywhere. We must all trust God every day to give us the strength to endure whatever may come our way.

What about leaving family and friends? This will be the hardest part. In the New Testament Peter says to Jesus “We have left everything to follow you!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” (Luke 18:29-30) The point for us is not that we hope to receive material rewards from following Christ. We believe that walking with God and knowing Him more is the reward.

Should every Christian serve in cross cultural missions? We don’t think so, but many should. We believe that God has given every believer different gifts, abilities, and desires to be used in various ways. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10) We are considering cross-cultural ministry because our desires have changed as we became aware of the needs in the world around us.

How do you know God wants you to go to a foreign mission field? We are not sure yet. So many things have happened that lead up to this point. We’re just taking it one step at a time. We don’t know exactly where God will lead us, but we want to be part of declaring His glory among the nations. There are ministry role's here in the states, overseas at headquarter bases, and right in isolated tribes that all work together to make tribal church planting happen. We would like to be involved in one of those capacities

What will you do differently if God doesn't lead you to the foreign mission field? We are seeing more and more that geography shouldn't change our philanthropy. John Piper, in his book Let The Nations Be Glad says “For us to be loving we must exalt God, and for God to be loving He must exalt God. Love is helping people toward God. We do this by pointing people to the greatness of God.” We believe that up to this point our preoccupation with comfort, ease, affluence, prosperity, and assumed safety have produced weakness, apathy, and self-centeredness that hinders our ability to truly help others toward God. We want that to change wherever we live and work.

1st Missions letter in April '09

Dear family and friends,

For the past several months we have been going through a time of growth as we search the scriptures, pray, read Christian books, listen to sermon podcasts, and talk with pastors and friends about what God may have in store for us. This lead to us starting the application process for New Tribes Mission (NTM), a ministry dedicated to reaching remote and unreached people groups. For more information: www.ntm.org

If accepted, and as God leads, Kristi and I will go through a four-year training process. During the first 2 years we will work on an Associate Degree in Biblical Studies through New Tribes Bible Institute (NTBI), and in the second 2 years we will earn a Bachelors Degree in Intercultural Ministry at the Missionary Training Center (MTC). This training will equip us to be part of a team that is prepared to meet the challenges in planting churches among unreached tribal people in remote locations.

This has been a very difficult road for us so far. We know the implications are far reaching. That’s why we are telling those closest to us about our developing plans so that you can pray and process with us. If God continues to lead us in this way, we will not be the only ones sacrificing. The reality of distance and time will require some of you to go through a process of letting us go.

Please pray for us as we seek the Lord in this. Pray that our desires would line up with His, and that we will accurately discern His leading. Even in the midst of this time of growth we are so full of faults. We underestimate God, we are fearful when we should be courageous, we are impatient when we should be trusting, and we are sinful when we should be holy. Thank God for His mercy and grace through Christ Jesus!

With love,

Mike and Kristi Day

The purpose of this blog

Our family believes in purpose. We often get carried away doing things without considering their purpose. Blogging is no different. With that, the point of all this is 3 fold.

1. To share our ongoing story with family and friends.

2. To show that in the midst of pursuing God, our lives are an array of hopes and fears, victories and struggles, triumphs and failures.

3. To shape our experiences around displaying God as the ultimate treasure to be held in regard above any other.

This will be a family blog, and while all of the signatures will say "posted by the Day family", we'll let you know who's posting what. Who knows, we might even let the kids in on the action!