Wantakia Within Reach! - Jack & Lael Crabtree

A mountain village with no written language now reads Scripture, forms elders, resolves conflict biblically, and plans outreach to nearby villages. We share how literacy, translation, discipleship, and tested leadership turned an unreached people into a sending church.

• creating an alphabet and literacy from field linguistics
• translating Scripture and building a full curriculum
• Junior and Jess’s conversion and contagious witness
• joy and sorrow as fuel for mission
• women launching and stewarding kids’ ministry
• conflict resolved by Ephesians 4, not custom
• preparing elders through counseling and peacemaking
• guarding against false teaching with open Bibles
• six-month service before titles for new elders
• missionaries transitioning to itinerant support and consulting

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:05):
In Revelation 7, John shares his vision of heaven
with members from every tribe,tongue, people, and language
standing in the throne roombefore the land.
Yet today, there are still over7,000 unreached people troops
around the world.
For the last six years, myfamily and friends have been on
a journey of high death and funthat has remained.

(00:40):
Hello, friends.
Welcome back to the UnreachPodcast.
Dustin Elliott here, your host,and today we have a very special
update episode on the Wantakeatribe.
If you remember episode one, thefirst one we did after the setup
episode with Todd Arend was JackCrabtree.
Jack and Lale Crabtree have beenserving in the Wantakea tribe.

(01:00):
It was at nine years at thatpoint.
I believe it's 11 years today.
Through Bless and other means,we've been supporting their work
since, I believe, 2018.
So seven years of ourinvolvement, eleven years of
theirs, and we get to hear, liketoday, y'all haven't heard an
episode like this yet.
We've talked a lot about gettingto the field and being in the

(01:24):
field, but today we get tocelebrate with the crab trees
and with the global church apeople group actually being
reached.
And what happens next.
So if you go back to the scale,the within reach scale, okay?
So the 10 steps, and it's on theblessed.world website.
You got mobilization andtraining in step one.

(01:44):
You learn the majority languagein step two.
You learn the minority languagein step three.
So think trade language and thenthe specific language to the to
the tribe or people group you'rein.
Step four, translatingscripture, which kind of
coincides with some of the othersteps as you're going.
Step five, actually sharing thegospel.
Step six, discipling newbelievers.

(02:05):
Step seven, new believers arenow making disciples.
Step eight, equipping theindigenous leaders.
Step nine, the indigenousleaders are now leading their
church.
And step ten, the church isthriving.
And praise the Lord.
We get to talk about steps eightand nine and ten today.

(02:29):
So, Jack, welcome back.
Lail, so glad to have you here.
Let's start with you.
Give us an update on what'sgoing on.

SPEAKER_00 (02:37):
All right.
Um, well, like you said, we'rekind of in that step, eight,
nine, ten.
I feel like we've beenministering out there for a long
time, just kind of pouring outour lives in a way.
And I think it's like we'reseeing the fruit now.
Um, just really just seeing Godat work.
We've been there, we've beenbeing used by God, but God has

(03:00):
been doing some amazing thingsout there.
And we're excited to just sharelike where the church is at.
There is a thriving church inWantaquia.

SPEAKER_02 (03:08):
Amen.

SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
Um, we're excited to share like what's next for the
church as far as there'soutreach on the horizon.
The church is just praying howto reach the villages around
them.
Oh, that's good.
Um, they have a huge heart forjust reaching un unreached lost
family in the community still.
They're pumped up about that.
And um, as we are stepping outof the tribe in in the coming

(03:31):
years, um the Wantikey leadersare stepping up, so it's
exciting.

SPEAKER_02 (03:35):
That's it.
That's so beautiful.
Jack, recap for us in the firstepisode.
We talked about the size of thetribe.
Kind of give us uh some datahere.
So eight or ten thousand folks,ten kind of villages along a
river.
Give us kind of an update.

SPEAKER_01 (03:47):
I think you've got a good memory.
Yeah.
It's uh yeah, we're about 7,000feet elevation, it's
three-season weather.
You know, we sleep in beaniesbecause it gets down in the
forties in your house at night.
But it's like an alpinerainforest, and we're up on top
of this mountain in this villagecalled Pingey, and we're at one
end of the language group.
Maybe in about five hours youcould hike to the other end of

(04:09):
the Wantequia people group, andyou would go through about ten
villages.
And uh the gospel has got afoothold in the village of
Pinji, but it's wanting to breakout now.

SPEAKER_02 (04:19):
I love that.
Uh give us an update, Jack.
I mean, we've met through thepod some of your key language uh
helpers, right?
And then some of your kind offirst uh believers and and now
disciple makers, and tell usabout your friends.

SPEAKER_01 (04:33):
Oh man.
Uh yeah, the last few yearssince we told, you know, kind of
what God had done at Wantakea onon this show, man, got God
hasn't been slowing down.
He's been doing some amazingthings out there.
Uh and you know, early on westarted giving work over to our
guys, like training them how toteach the church.
How do you teach God's wordeffectively and accurately?

(04:54):
And man, they took thatresponsibility and they've been
doing amazing with it.
And as we've gotten closer togoing, man, these guys are
becoming leaders, they're Bibleteachers, but what else do they
need?
We started realizing, man, we asthe missionaries have been the
acting elders in this church outin the village of Pinji.
But for these guys to becomeelders, they've got to grow in
shepherding.

(05:15):
Whereas we missionaries havebeen going and helping with
marriage counseling, or someonegot in a fight, or there was
some issue, some dispute tosettle, we would be the ones
going and sitting down andworking with our believers
through those issues.
But now it's like, no, we needto be taking these guys with us
and helping them grow asshepherds.
And it's been so cool to likebring them with us on on these

(05:36):
little counseling sessions orwhatever it is in our village
and see them grow as shepherdsnow.
And so that's been a huge focusis kind of preparing them to
become elders, and uh, it's beenawesome to see them uh just jump
into that and they're and theyknow their culture better than
we do.
We spend a lot of time learningthe Wantakean culture, but it's
their culture, and so watchingthem navigate some of these

(05:58):
tricky situations, it's likeit's awesome.
It's so much better.
The more it gets put into theirhands, it just the better it is.

SPEAKER_00 (06:05):
Yeah, and in the past, I would say they looked at
us like, oh, you guys do thingsa certain way, and it's
different from us, you know, youguys are kind of outsiders in
our culture, but now thatthere's believers, it's like,
well, this is the biblical way,this is God's way, and this is
how we can resolve conflict orum resolve issues in the church,
there is a biblical way, andit's universal for all of us.

(06:25):
So that's been kind of a cooluniting factor as there's
believers out there.

SPEAKER_02 (06:29):
Can you tell us about some of your closest
friends and who you're you'rereally working with?

SPEAKER_00 (06:33):
Oh, yeah.
I would say Tylisi is my verydearest best friend out there,
and she's been through a lot.
I feel like she's always justhad a heart.
Ever since we moved out there,she has had a hunger to just
know what what is this truth youguys came here to teach.
And so she latched on early on,was one of my just sharpest,
best language helpers.

(06:55):
Um, but she's been through it.
This is a sad part of theWantiquia culture, but um like
men will just marry multiplewomen, and it's kind of a sign
of status.
But she kind of married her highschool, they don't she didn't go
to school, but it's theequivalent of like her teenage
sweetheart, which a lot of timesthey do arrange marriages out
there, and so that her familyallowed her to marry this guy,

(07:15):
you know, she really liked himand they got married, and
shortly after we moved outthere, um, he got a second wife.
And so that was just reallyheartbreaking for her.
And at that time, she put one ofher kids up for adoption, she
was just so upset.
And at this time, she didn'tknow the Lord yet either.
And so she was going throughthat.

(07:36):
You know, I feel like in someways I was helping her walk
through that.
Well, shortly before we preachedthe gospel, he got a third wife
and he basically divorced her.
And this is like where her lifewas at when the gospel was
coming.
And so I feel like as we cameand taught through God's word,
it was like hope for her in herlife.
And I feel like it was almostlike, man, my husband has left

(07:59):
me.
Um, and when you don't, whenyou're a woman out there and you
don't have your husband to takecare of you, you're kind of down
and out.
Thankfully, it is a village, soher family was caring for her,
but she didn't really have herown gardens to garden food for
her family as easily anymore.
So as she heard the gospel, itwas like, man, Jesus.
I mean, I don't have my husband,but Jesus will take care of me.

(08:22):
He will, God will be myprovider.
I have hope.
Like she knew the Lord.
I feel like that was verylife-changing for her, but it's
just seeing her story unfold andjust even as more things came up
as she was a believer and beingable to encourage her from
scripture and having her come tome with scripture that the Lord
was encouraging her with.
I feel like um it's just kind ofcool, a cool.

(08:42):
I read this.

SPEAKER_02 (08:43):
Let's talk about this.
Hey, let's rewind for a secondbecause uh maybe some of the
listeners didn't hear the firstepisode, but the but the
Wantachians did not have analphabet or a written language.

SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (08:54):
And you were kind of a key part in creating their
alphabet and teaching them toread and write.
Tell us how in the world did youaccomplish that?
What was that like?

SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
By God's grace, Dustin.
Um well, we stuck around forsome extra training, some
linguistic training.
Like after our missionarytraining was done, we stayed in
the States for another semesterof linguistic training for me to
get trained up in that.
And thankfully, bec because Ididn't know that, you know, I
was maybe kind of gifted thatway.

(09:27):
But man, Ethnos is amazing.
They know you're going to anunreached people group without a
written language, and so theytrain you in these things.

SPEAKER_01 (09:34):
So first they give you an aptitude test to see like
can you even do this?
Okay.
And Leo got a perfect on theaptitude test.

SPEAKER_02 (09:43):
Oh, all right.
She's being humble.
You're the best at being humble.

SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
And I got like a score where they're like, well,
Jack, if you really want to liketough it out, maybe you could do
this, or you could just supportyour wife.
So I opted for the latter.

SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
Oh, man.
Smart man.
Support you support me, you didin that time.
Um, the kids were little, Renwas a baby, Nora was a toddler.
So we went and did thispracticum with the Cherokee
Indians in Tallequa, Oklahoma,where we kind of practiced it.
We didn't, I didn't learn theCherokee language, but we met
with a language helper, this oldsweet woman named Lucille, got

(10:19):
all these words in Cherokee,looked at how the different, you
know, we learned the phoneticalphabet, every sound your mouth
makes, you can write it with acharacter.
And so we were writing theseCherokee words out phonetically,
learning how to break it alldown.
And so that was like ourpractice.
And I remember thinking, man,Cherokee, these words are
complicated.
There's tone.

(10:39):
This is so hard.
I hope I'm not in a languagethis hard.
Uh-oh.
And little did I know we wouldbe in like the hardest language
in Papua New Guinea,practically.
But the Lord was preparing us,you know.
Um, so I feel like that was kindof a role that I had on the team
that the Lord gave me to do.
And it wasn't easy, I would say,having two small children at

(11:01):
that time and just meeting withlanguage helpers, getting all
this data, trying to siftthrough it all.
Um, but by God's grace and thehelp of Jack's mom, she flew
over to help out for a seasonwhile I was really hammering
that out.
Uh, because you spend a lot oftime collecting the words, the
data, checking it with helpers.

(11:22):
We developed a really strongrelationship with this one
family who was helping us kindof check, making sure we were
hearing everything correctly,writing everything correctly.
So that was really sweet.

SPEAKER_02 (11:34):
So I just I envision you with like a notepad walking
around with people and justlistening to them point at trees
and bushes and animals andthings, and you're just writing
down, okay, that's this word,and this is kind of what it
sounds like.
Is that kind of how it went?

SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Kind of, except think iPhone.
You're recording people becauseyou know, that way you can hear
it over and over.
So we would get a lot ofinformation on our phones,
recordings.
Um, we were writing it all outphonetically, collecting all
this data.
And then we did, we typed it allup and we'd check it with

(12:05):
Wantakea speakers, make sure wewere hearing it correctly.
Uh and then it really theprocess of creating the alphabet
didn't take a crazy long time.
About six weeks, I was kind ofin in the office, on the
computer.
There's a program where you canjust look at all the
environments and all the waysthe sounds fit together.

(12:27):
I know that.

SPEAKER_02 (12:28):
Yeah, let's go.
Let's keep going.
I love it.

SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
Yeah, but we wanted to have like accurate data for
that process.
So that's why we spent time onthe front end checking it.
But um, Jack's mom came overduring that time, spent a lot of
time with our girls, and I justhammered out like, okay, you
know, we're gonna create aworkable alphabet that the
Wantecans can read and writewith.
Because, you know, you don'twant all the phonetic symbols

(12:51):
there.
So my job was kind of combiningall that into a workable
alphabet.
So I spent several weeks workingon that.
And once it was completed, um,thankfully in PNG we have a
great support system.
I kind of submitted my report,my write-up to another lady
who's like just amazing withlinguistics, and she checked
over it, said, Yeah, this looksgood.

(13:13):
And then that was when westarted our like developing our
literacy program.

SPEAKER_02 (13:17):
Right.
And so so the next step fromthere was teaching them to read
and write.
And this was before I guesstranslation is just ready to get
started as you're kind ofgetting to a place where you
can.
The listeners may have heard mesay this, but y'all, y'all
brought back a copy of kind ofthe first go of the Wantakean
Bible, and I have it on my deskat home.

(13:38):
And it's it's interesting, Imean, because you can you can
tell what some of the words are.

SPEAKER_00 (13:42):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (13:43):
Like, how do you spell Isaiah?

SPEAKER_00 (13:45):
A-Y-E-S- Here, Jack, I'll I'll punt that one to you.

SPEAKER_01 (13:49):
I think you're on the right track.
That sounds pretty bad.
Keep going.

SPEAKER_02 (13:54):
Um, but you could read, you could see what some of
the words were.
How long did it take to what'dyou get?
Like 10 or 15 or 20 volunteersthat wanted to learn to read and
write and kind of set them up atthe in school.
And here's I mean, that is thatright?
Is that how it went down?
Well, I mean, first it's it'snot like you had other books you
could teach them from.
No, yeah.
It's not like you're readingthem other books.

SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
No, I mean it's it's pretty great.
Like we have this customsoftware that basically helps
you create a literacy coursefrom scratch.
So you plug in all this like ahuge word bank of several
thousand words, and then it itscans all those and says, Well,
these symbols are the mostfrequently used in the language,
so you should start with thesethree symbols, and then it gives

(14:35):
you a word bank of here's allthe words that just use those
three symbols.
So you write stories just withthose three symbols, like a
little kid's book.
This is like learning to playguitar, and it just builds and
builds and builds, and you writethe stories like it tells you
to, and by the end it it spitsout a fully uh formatted
literacy course for you.
And so it's it's prettyincredible.

(14:56):
Like Ethnos was like, we needcustom software that can help us
do this because we do this inevery language group we're in.
So they got with some softwaredevelopers and said, We need it
to do this, and now we have thattool.
So it's just awesome.
Like when you're with anorganization that's very focused
on this is the job that we'redoing, and we want to do it with
excellence, then you can iterateand and develop and create tools

(15:19):
that help you just keep gettingbetter and better at staying in
your wheelhouse.

SPEAKER_02 (15:23):
Oh, love.

SPEAKER_01 (15:23):
And so that's been really helpful to have that kind
of support, you know, wherewe're not trying to recreate the
wheel.
It's like you have anorganization backing you,
helping you do the ministry thatthat they sent you there to do.
I love that.

SPEAKER_02 (15:36):
So you you you had mentioned a couple of your
friends last time.
Kind of give us an update on onyour guys.

SPEAKER_01 (15:41):
Oh man.
I'm thinking of someone that Ididn't mention last time, uh
kind of a power couple.
So, you know, last time I talkedabout how when we first shared
the gospel, and we had about ahundred believers in that
initial time of teaching.
But as time went on and thechurch was maybe a year and a
half old, the outsiders who whodidn't believe initially were

(16:02):
seeing this change in all theirfriends and family who were in
the church and started gettinginterested, like, man, I think I
missed out on something here.
Like, I w I want to hear thisagain.
And some people had been likeout of the village when we
taught, and so they missed it.
And it was like there was a lotof interest in like, can you
guys teach again through thisthis initial teaching, creation
to Christ?

(16:22):
Can you guys teach that again?
So we're like, okay, we'll doit, we'll we'll teach again.
And in that time, there is a guynamed Junior and his wife Jess.
And Jess had family members whowere in that initial batch of
believers, and she was gettingvery interested.
And we had this Bible studygoing on, and she was like
praying, like, Lord, I just wantto.
She's like, I God, I don't knowwho you are.

(16:45):
I don't, but I I want to know.
And she tagged along to ourBible study.
She wasn't a believer, and wehappened to be talking about I'm
the way, the truth, and thelife.
And that was the verse she heardthat night at a Bible study, and
she's like, Oh, it's Jesus.
And she was like, Okay, I've gotto come to this teaching when
they start it in a few weeks.
So we do this teaching again.
Junior and Jess come like toevery single lesson, they become

(17:07):
believers, and they are justlike this rock star power couple
in the church.
They have just taken off, and uhjust recently, Junior's one of
our elders that that you knowthat's leading the church now,
and just an amazing leader.
But when he heard the gospel andbecame a believer, he just
wanted to start tellingeveryone.

(17:27):
It was just like he he couldn'tkeep it to himself.
He had this sister named Soy.
He was trying to witness to her,and she was like still thinking
about it, right?
He's sharing with her, but youknow how it is sometimes, like
people are they're they'rethinking through things.
Well, she gets pregnant with itwith her first child.
It was time for the baby tocome, and she started having
issues.
And you can jump in, Lil if youwant to.

SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
Yeah, you know, out there there's not really great
medical care, especially forpregnant moms going into labor.
There's just nothing, noemergency care whatsoever.
And so they come to us whenthere's problems, um, when women
are having issues in childbirth.
But what happens is when a womanstarts to feel contractions, she
has to go outside the village tolike a little hut, kind of like

(18:08):
clean, unclean.
It's like if men are exposed tothat, they're gonna lose all
their strength.
Just old spiritual beliefs theyhave around that.
So she is out at her birthinghut.
There's tons of women out there.
They come, her her aunt comesand gets me saying, Lale,
there's there's problems, thingsare not looking good.
And so, you know, I'm not anurse, I'm not a doctor, and

(18:29):
we're the only ones out there atthat time.
We don't really have the supportof our coworkers out there with
us at that time.
So I'm like, okay, we just gotthis new blood pressure cuff
that's like automatic.
I've never used it before, butI'm like, okay, I got to figure
it out.
So I head out to the birthinghead.
I've got, you know, all thematerials I have that I can to

(18:49):
check her vitals.
Um, and I put this bloodpressure cuff on her and it's
not giving me a reading.
And I'm like, what's going on?
You know, she doesn't look toobad.
She's just kind of staring offinto space, not being real
responsive, but she looks okay.
And so I'm trying and it's notgiving a reading.
And so I try it on her other antand it works fine.

(19:10):
And it gives a good reading.
And I'm like, what's going on?
So then I put the blood oxygenreader on her finger, and it's
giving this really low reading,like in the 60s, and I'm like,
okay, I'm gonna write ourdoctor.
I don't really know what thatmeans.
I don't know what it's supposedto be.
So I take all these readings,I'm checking her out.
I go back, I c we call up ourmission doctor who's out in

(19:31):
Garoka, out in town, and he'slike, uh, that does not sound
good.
We need to get her out.
You're supposed to do a milliondollars.
We're supposed to have a in theupper 90s reading.
And I did not know that.
I learned that that day.
He's like, that's not good.
You need to, we need to get aMedavec moving for her.
She she may not last long.
We may not even have time to getthe chopper out there for her.

(19:53):
And so I go back, and we don'thave cell service in the
village.
We have satellite, internet likeon our area where our houses
are.
But when you're out in thevillage, you don't have any cell
service.
So I would have to sprint out tothe birthing hut and then run
back to contact the doctor atour house.
Um, so I hear this from thedoctor, and I'm like, oh my
gosh, okay, I gotta get backthere.

(20:14):
He's like, give me some updatedreadings.
I think her her blood pressureis just so bad, she you're not
getting reading with the cuff.
So go try again, see.
And I tried again, same thing,same readings.
And then Soy starts to have aseizure and like she's shaking
and her body's gone rigid.
So the family is like, herhusband's not here.

(20:35):
We need to go get her brotherand and ask her brother what we
need to do.
And meanwhile, Jack's like backat our house getting the Medevac
in motion.
So we're there with Soy tryingto get her stable, but it's not
looking good.
And around this time, herbrother Junior, who is a
believer, who who Jack justshared about, he comes down to

(20:56):
the birthing hut.
Men, men don't do that.
Men do not come to the birthinghut.
But he's a believer.
He knows those old spiritualthings aren't true.
He comes straight to his sister,he scoops her up in his arms,
and he just starts praying outloud over her in front of all
these women.
Um, he's just hugging her,holding her tight, praying over
her, Lord, please save mysister.

(21:18):
Please, I know that you are thehealer, you can heal her.
Please save my sister's life.
And he takes her back into thevillage to a house where they
can kind of care for her alittle bit better.
And meanwhile, we've got achopper ready to leave Garoca
coming to pick her up.
So I run back to the house toget the update from Jack, how
the Medevac's going.

(21:40):
And he's like, Yeah, they'reready to go.
And around this time, a group ofmen come and they're like, Hey,
we need you guys to come.
Thing things don't look good.
We need you guys to come.

SPEAKER_01 (21:50):
Right.
So, yeah, Junior comes to ourhouse and he's like, Hey, you
need to come back with me uh towhere Soy is at the house.
Uh so so I go with him and I andI walk into the hut where Soy's
laying on the ground, andeveryone's sitting around and
they're just staring at meexpectantly, and so I I start
trying to like check her vitalsand I can't find a pulse.

(22:11):
And then I like try and shine alight in her eyes and her pupils
aren't reacting, and try to feelbreath, try to hear a heartbeat,
and it's like nothing, nothing,nothing.
And everyone's just staring atme, and and finally I I
basically just have to look upand like actually pronounce her
dead, like to the family.
And uh Junior's in there, andyou know, like over the years

(22:33):
we've heard the Wantiquia deathwhale um a lot out there.
Um usually, you know, we're atthe house and then we hear it
and we go and find out oh what'shappened.
Um and this is the first time Iwas there just when it started.
And so Junior leaves the houseand I follow him outside the

(22:54):
hut, and uh he just startswailing and sobbing and shaking,
and so I'm just holding him andpraying with him and just trying
to be there for him.
And um it was it was just one ofthose moments where um that's
all you can do is just just bethere with him.
And he had been sharing with hissister, faithfully sharing the

(23:16):
gospel with her with Soy, and uhbut it never heard like did she
believe, did she not believe?
Just a few months ago, we wereum we're in a section on hope
with the church.
And uh so we're in uh first andsecond Thessalonians.
There's a lot of great stuff inthere about Christ coming back
and us being with him, and uhthere's a part in Second

(23:36):
Thessalonians where it reallygets into what's the fate of the
lost, like what happens at theend uh for people who haven't
believed.
And in our language, we havethis word called yedaya, which
is like happiness, joy, and wehave cuth, which is the word for
your liver, but it also meanssadness.
And we're just talking like,man, you gotta have that yedaya

(23:58):
cut a life, you gotta have thathappy, sad, the joyful sorrow,
in the sense that you're sojoyful about what you have
because of Christ and who youare in Christ, and you're joined
with the Father now.
You're a child or a daughter ofthe king, and you can have such
joy in that.
But you've got to have yourfather's heart, which is the
sorrow that he feels for thelost.

(24:18):
And you've got to live in thattension.
And so Junior's helping me withthis passage in Thessalonians
and our little translationoffice there.
And he said, Well, you know,that was the moment when I got
that cut-day, I got that sorrowin my Christian life.
I had the joy before that, but Ididn't know what it was to feel
the sorrow until um until I lostSoy, my sister.

(24:43):
And he's like, I don't know ifI'm gonna see her again in
heaven.
I hope I do.
But he said, I told myself thatday, no one else, no one in my
family is gonna pass awaywithout having had multiple
chances to hear the gospel.
It's my mission uh to share witheveryone.
And and he's made good on thatuh that vow that he made to
himself.

(25:03):
He's he and his wife Jess arefaithfully teaching all their
unsaved friends, family, all thecousins, even the uh the village
shaman is like his uncle, likethe witch doctor out there.
He's faithfully teaching them inhis house through all our uh
Bible lessons, and several havebecome believers, and now he's

(25:24):
taking them on through Acts totalk about what the church is,
and he's letting that drive him.
But it's that that joy andsadness that yet I cut a life of
living in that tension, not justcelebrating what I have in
Christ, but going, No, my fatheris so heartbroken over the state
of the lost.
I've got to share in thatheartbreak, and I gotta keep

(25:45):
that kind of at the forefront ofmy mind because that's gotta
sort of drive the choices I makein life.
And so it's been cool to see umit's a sad situation, but to see
how the Lord use that inJunior's life to kind of propel
him to go, nope, I'm gonna beserious about my faith and the
urgency of eternity.
I mean, that's my message toanyone anyone who's listening to

(26:08):
this is no matter where you are,you can live that life.
Like you can live in thattension and just be faithful
with whatever opportunities theLord gives you.
Like it doesn't mattergeographically where you're at.
Um He wants us to live in thattension of celebrating the joy
you have, but it's a there's areal problem in the world, and
the Lord has designed it wherehe wants to work through the

(26:31):
church to bring people toreconciliation with him.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (26:35):
Amen.
Okay, so Soy's story wasliterally right when you got
back to the tribe after werecorded the first podcast a
couple years ago.
So it's been about two yearssince then.
And uh maybe give us a you know,get us up to date to today, like

(26:55):
we talked about steps eight,nine, and ten and kind of where
we are here, what does thecurrent leadership structure of
the church look like, and thenlet's take that forward to
what's what's coming up.

SPEAKER_01 (27:08):
I mentioned, you know, recently we've been in
this section about hope with thechurch.
And when we started getting intoepistles with the church, with
Romans and Ephesians, uh, wedon't do that in this haphazard
way.
It's very thought out, and wethink of it as like faith, love,
and hope, these three majorsections of the Christian life.
And so initially we got intothis faith section where we were

(27:30):
in Ephesians and Romans, andit's like re-teaching ourselves
the gospel from maybe adifferent angle, but they're
really getting solid on thegospel, and that's when we were
really teaching our guys toteach, right?
Teaching them to be Bibleteachers, how to handle the word
well.
Then we got into this lovesection where we were in 1
Corinthians, where you'retalking about body life, all
these problems that theCorinthian church had, and like

(27:52):
we're trying to help them seelike, man, how do we function as
this new family?
How do we deal with issues?
And we got into First Timothyand Titus with what are elders?
How are they qualified?
How do they do that job?
How do they, you know, protectthe flock?
How do they shepherd the flock?
How do they feed the flock?
And so um, those were amazingepistles to be going through and

(28:14):
seeing the church really startto grow in man, how can we love
each other?
And and that's when we startedbringing those guys with us, uh,
you know, to handle issues thatare coming up in the church.
You know, there there's noperfect sinless church anywhere,
right?
We're all sinners saved bygrace, and so you're out there

(28:34):
with these believers, and someof them are a couple years old
in their faith, some maybe justa few months, and it's been
awesome to watch these guys uhgrow in their ability uh to
handle these situations.

SPEAKER_00 (28:45):
Jack sharing the men are growing in this.
Um, I feel like the avenue forthe women is um we started the
kids' ministry out there acouple years ago, and it started
pretty small.
You know, my friend Tilesio, itwas just me and her going,
sharing scripture from thecourse one, sharing
chronologically the gospel withthe kids.
But over time, um, as more andmore kids start coming, more and

(29:08):
more women are like, oh man, Iwant to be a part of that.
I want to be doing the Lord'swork.
Um, what can I do to help?
And so it was perfect.
Some of them could read, and sothey would come and read
scripture.
Um, some couldn't read, so theywould come and and just pray or
kind of, you know, look over thewild boys in the back who were
just wanting to waller around,you know, sitting with them,

(29:31):
keeping the peace, you know.
So this group of women wasgrowing and it became a really
cool discipleship opportunitybecause we would um get together
before we we meet together onSaturdays to teach the kids
because the women just werelike, Man, we want this to be
open to the whole village.
We want all these kids to come,whether they come to church with

(29:51):
us or not.
We don't want, you know, theunsaved parents to be like, oh,
we don't want our kids to go tochurch, but they'll send them on
Saturday.
Don't they they wouldn't come onSunday morning, but they would
send their kids on a Saturday togo um hear God's talk.
And so we meet on Saturdays, butit just as we would get together
before Saturday and just talkthrough what we're teaching, the
women would come with scriptureand encourage each other.

(30:14):
And it was just really sweet.
So the women have been growingin that way, but you know, with
growth, uh attacks from theenemy come too.
And um, as this ministry wasstarting to flourish, you know,
there was starting to becomesome conflict among the women,
even like some jealousy aboutdifferent things.
And so there's this oneparticular woman, she had just

(30:36):
this sin in her life that she'sbeen struggling with.
Um, gambling is a problem outthere.
People play cards, put downmoney.
It causes a lot of issues outthere, but she is kind of
addicted to gambling.
And as she's become a believer,been doing the Lord's work,
she's been trying to pull awayfrom that just to protect her
testimony, um, just to take careof her family better.

(30:58):
She was just, it was consumingher time and energy.
But she had been coming to helpwith the kids' ministry, but she
was still being pulled by thesin in her life.
And you could tell she just feltso convicted about it.
So one week we were justtogether as women, just sharing
scripture.
And one of the other women inthe group was just sharing a
scripture about being holy,being called to be righteous as

(31:21):
believers, not targeting thisother woman, but just talking
about in her own life, just howGod really wants us to walk in
the spirit and live righteously.
And so this woman who's beenstruggling with gambling was
like, oh, she was saying that toattack me.
She knows that I've beenstruggling with this sin issue.
Oh man, she was calling me outin front of the group by saying

(31:43):
that scripture.
So she got really upset.
And the one to key a culturalway to deal with conflict is not
to go directly to that personnecessarily.
Um, you might go to the top ofthe airstrip and and shout to
the community what someone didto wrong you, or you'll go
around in other groups and andtalk about this wrong that's

(32:03):
been done to you.
And so that's kind of what washappening is this woman got
really upset and she juststarted going out to all her
family and being like, oh man,man, you know, he who is without
sin cast the first stone,basically.
Like they're throwing stones atme, but they've all got sin in
their life too.

SPEAKER_02 (32:21):
And yeah, what about that log in their lives?

SPEAKER_00 (32:24):
Like, yeah, exactly.
And she used that scripturespecifically about the log in
the killer.
I get it.
Yeah.
And it's true.
We don't need to be living thatway as believers, but um, it was
very unfounded.
There was a lot ofmiscommunication going on, um,
and it was causing a lot ofdrama and it was affecting the
ministry.
And so um I feel like just beingin that role of discipling these

(32:48):
women, um, it was uh kind ofintimidating for me.
Like, okay, you know,culturally, like I was saying,
they see us as different.
Like, well, you guys can do ityour way where it's peaceful,
but that's just not how we dothings.
And kind of being like, okay, Ineed to enter into their world,
their culture, and show themwhat God's way is, and how can I

(33:08):
do that humbly?
And it was so amazing.
I was able to meet with myfriend who had been kind of
stirring the pot, stirring upthe drama.
And I feel like as I prayed andjust asked the Lord to guide me
as the church, we'd been goingthrough Ephesians, we'd been
revisiting, going through thatbook.
And so I was going throughEphesians.

(33:28):
And in Ephesians 4, I opened upmy Bible that morning to read.
And the first thing I read wasbe completely humble and gentle,
be patient, bearing with oneanother in love, make every
effort to keep the unity of thespirit through the bond of
peace.
I was like, wow, that's exactlywhat we're going through.
And I kept reading, and it waslike, oh man, everything was
just perfect to just sit downwith my friend and and walk her

(33:52):
through just godly conflictresolution.
So I just went to her hut, satdown with her, and just read
scripture with her.
Like, hey, let's go to God'sword together.
You know, I know you've beenhurt.
Um, there's some stuff going on.
Let's just go to God's wordtogether.
And as we read through it, youcould just see her heart was
changing and she was justswitching from pride to

(34:14):
humility, just there.
It's just the Holy Spiritworking through scripture to
just change hearts, you know.

SPEAKER_02 (34:21):
The living word.
Yes.
You could have you could have inyour own way given her good
advice.

SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
For sure.

SPEAKER_02 (34:25):
But it pales in comparison to go into the word.

SPEAKER_00 (34:28):
Absolutely.
And so uh we decided like, man,we need to get together.
All the women involved in kids'ministry, let's just get
together.
We need to go directly to eachother and just talk about this
as a team.
And so that that followingSunday after church, we all got
together and talked about it.
Just, you know, there had beensome miscommunication.

(34:49):
We just laid out the situation.
And what was really sweet, thewoman that had shared the
scripture just about beingrighteous, and she was the first
one to apologize.
She was so quick, like, I didnot mean for that to sound like
I was accusing you.
I love you.
I just want to apologize.
That that hurt you.
She was the first one to be ableto apologize.

(35:10):
And it was just cool to see,man, the spirit is at work in
these hearts and lives.
Um, and you know, for my friend,it was hard for her.
It took a long time for her tohumble herself and actually face
to face to someone apologizebecause there's a lot of honor
and shame wrapped up in theWantiquia culture.

(35:30):
It's just really hard to go tosomeone and really apologize.
But that's God's word wants usto be quick to forgive each
other and quick to apologize.
And um, as we were theretogether in the church building,
as everyone was just forgivingand apologizing, finally my
friend was like, you know what?
I was wrong.

(35:50):
I was, I was gossiping, I wassaying things about you guys,
and I'm just really sorry.
And one of the women could notbelieve it, just my friend
Elise, she jumped up and she waslike, Pauline, I'm just so happy
you said that.
And she runs over and she givesher a huge hug.
And the other woman just jumpsup and they're like in this

(36:12):
group hug.
And it's like they'd never seenconflict resolved this way,
where you're truly kind oflaying out reconciled your
grievances and then reconciling.
And it was just a really coolsituation to see, man,
culturally, that's not how theythey do things.
I think in all of us, in oursinful flesh, that's not what we

(36:32):
want to do, but just by thepower of God's word and the Holy
Spirit, are you suggesting thatwe don't like to admit when
we're wrong?
No, I mean Really I don't.
No, if Jack knows.
Yeah, I have a question.

SPEAKER_02 (36:43):
I have a question, and this might be a segue into
kind of the next steps.
But having having been such asignificant part of planting a
church and this this wholeconcept, and then you you keep
referencing Paul's letters.
How do you feel differently ormore connected to Paul as a guy
who planted churches and thenwent to the next town and then

(37:04):
found out heresy and problemswere going on in his baby church
and he couldn't fly back.
There was no helicopter backinto the tribe, right?
He could only write a letterback, and so he wrote these
letters back to correct rightwhat was going on.
I try to tell people when you'rereading the New Testament, the
next time you read it, like readthis and experience his pastoral
heart for his baby churches.

(37:26):
Like that's that's what's goingon there.
Like we we get all these giftsfrom God through those letters
that we can use, and you'rereferencing them and using them
in real time in 2025.
How does your relationship withPaul change, having gone through
this?

SPEAKER_01 (37:43):
Oh man, it's it's changed dramatically.
I mean, I always think of uh theverse where he says, And daily I
feel like the anxiety for thechurch, like he just feels that
weight of responsibility.
And when that church was bornout there, that was the first
time where I was like, Oh, likeI'm the shepherd here, I'm one
of the shepherds, and and thereis a real responsibility for

(38:06):
like people's lives, andultimately it's the Lord, he's
the He's the Good Shepherd, I'mjust an under-shepherd, but he's
asking me to take part in thatresponsibility, and it's it's
serious, you know, and you careabout these people, they're like
your best friends.
Uh, but then translating hiswords too, it drives you deeper
where you're like getting intohis mind, and it's like just
seeing his drive and hispassion.

(38:28):
Uh yeah, it's it's uh I mean youget to feel the feels appalled.

SPEAKER_02 (38:32):
Do you realize how special that is and how unique
that is?
Uh yeah.
Most people will neverexperience that that feeling.

SPEAKER_00 (38:39):
Well, the the things he shares that he was worried
about on for the churches he wasministering to, like reading in
2 Thessalonians, he talks abouthow, man, I came and I shared
your very lives with you.
I feel sometimes like that wholeletter to the Thessalonian
church is like us with theWantikeans and the struggles
that the Wantikea church isgoing through.

(39:00):
Um, just anytime he talks aboutjust false teaching coming in, I
feel like I feel that for them.
We're not always there withthem.
And we're training them todecipher what is true and what
is a lie.
Um, because there are peoplethat come through our village
pre preaching falsehoods andtrying to pull people back to

(39:21):
their old ways.
And we're not, we're in thisseason, we're not on the ground
with them and we're trusting thethe leaders in Wantiquia, the
men and women out there leadingthe flock.
Man, you guys have to protectthem.
And like that's like Paul, hewasn't always there.
And man, I just I do.
I feel the feels with Paul whenhe's writing about these
churches that he cares about.

(39:42):
It's like that's want to kea forus.

SPEAKER_01 (39:45):
Well, and uh God's been so good these last few
years giving us chances to helpthem walk through some of these
things before we kind of moveout of the tribe full time.
Like one, uh, for example, therewas this Christian cult that was
gonna come in uh to our villageand do like a week-long
conference, and no one in thevillage really wanted them
there, but they're like, We'recoming, we're gonna do this

(40:06):
thing.
Well, all of us in the village,especially in the church there,
uh, we knew like what kind ofheresy they were gonna be
teaching about.
So we called all the Bibleteachers together and we're
like, hey, this conference iscoming.
We can't stop it, but let's goahead and today it's Saturday,
tomorrow's Sunday.
Let's just sit down, let'screate a lesson where we go
through all the heresy they'regonna preach next week, and

(40:30):
let's be like good Bereans andlet's hold it up to scripture
and analyze it and go, is thisscriptural or not?
So, right there we created thislesson the next day.
Our Bible teachers got up,taught the whole church, and the
whole church is like, Yeah, allthat stuff's false.
And then they got so excited,they're like, When they come
here, we're gonna invite theminto our house so we can talk to
them about this heresy.

(40:50):
Because that's what they did.
This this conference kicked off,and our believers weren't led
astray, but instead they wereinviting all these other people
into their house and lovinglywalking them through scriptures.

SPEAKER_00 (41:01):
And so it's just Yeah, my friend Noylan was like,
Hey, we need to be hospitable.
The Bible says we have to behospitable.
We're gonna let them sleep inour houses, and it'll be an
opportunity to share the gospel.

SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 (41:11):
Like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
So just these cool chances to like walk with these
guys and help them grow.
You know, you talking aboutgambling made me think of
another gambling story uhrecently, uh just in regard to
helping our guys grow as asshepherds.
So one of our young believers,his name's Bonis, uh, he's been
growing like crazy, but heneeded uh some money, so he went

(41:34):
to the nearest town, worked as asecurity guard for a little
trade store for like six months,saved up this money.
He hikes all the way back to ourvillage with the money.
He gets back.
His wife, who's also a believer,that night takes all the money,
steals it, goes up on theairstrip, and gambles it all
away.
Every every bit of it.

(41:55):
He wakes up the next morning,like, where's the money?
Uh, it's gone, and just getssuper angry, tears the door off
their house, and then this fighterupts between him and his
siblings and his dad, and someof them are believers and some
of them aren't, and so it's thismixed group.

SPEAKER_00 (42:10):
And again, this is Wantikea culture in action.
When you're mad, you show itoutwardly in big ways, like
tearing the door off your house.
Like it's a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 (42:18):
I want you to know, I'm serious.
I'm I'm upset.

SPEAKER_02 (42:21):
You know, I think there's some of that in the
Elliot bloodline as well.

SPEAKER_01 (42:25):
A little bit in all of us, I think.
But uh so me and BG are likeliterally down there, like bear
hugging guys, like trying tolike stop them with their
machetes, and eventually it'slike, okay, we just gotta get
out of here, let them calm down.
Uh well, that afternoon it waslike our elder meeting where we
meet every week and we praythrough every single thing that
the church is doing.

(42:45):
And in that time, we are like,are there any problems in the
church that need to beaddressed?
And everyone's like, Yeah, Ithink we heard about one today.
Yeah, and so it's like, okay,who's gonna go and and help them
walk through that?
And Top Man, if you listen tothe other.
I've been wondering if you weregonna bring up Top Man the whole
time.
All right, Top Man, Top Man,let's go, Top Man.
Top Man was a hero of a runwaystory.
Top Man is doing phenomenallywell.

(43:07):
He is just he he's just anatural leader and he's growing
so much.
He's like, I'll go.
And so he goes down there totheir area, gathers the whole
family.
All right, have you guys toldthe Lord that you're sorry for
what happened?
Each of you.
Yeah, yeah, we've done that.
Okay.
Have you told each other?
Okay, yep, okay, good.
Now, what about the familyaround here?
How's that gone?
Have you guys made it right withthem?

(43:28):
Like, well, we're working on it,you know, and and just
shepherded them through thatwhole process and helped them
basically be at peace again.
And it's like these guys arejust going and doing that now,
and they're so effective at it.
And uh, it's just been a joy,like seeing these guys mature
and these women, you know,they're man, they're all growing
and they're all just takingleadership roles.

(43:48):
And so as we were going along,we're like, we taught through 1
Timothy and Titus, and we seethese are the qualifications for
elders.
And then we look at Acts 20, theonly spot in scripture where you
can see what do elders actuallydo.
We go through that, andeveryone's clear on this, and
we're like, well, you know what?
Let's just ask the church.
One Sunday we get up and we say,Hey, this week we want everyone

(44:10):
here to just pray and ask theLord to show you who among us is
already fit to be an elder, whois already doing that work.
Pray and ask the Lord to showyou, and then come tell us, and
we'll come find you and we'llvisit.
And we just want to hear fromall of you all this week.
I love that.
I love that posture.
And so we had been praying aboutas missionaries.
We had like four people we werethinking of.

(44:30):
Like, okay, these are the four.
This seems like what the Lord'sshowing us.

SPEAKER_00 (44:34):
But we didn't want to make that decision as
missionaries, like this is whoit should be.
It's like, no, this decision'sgonna come from the body.

SPEAKER_01 (44:42):
And so that week every single person said the
same four names.
They said Keiko, Topman, Junior,Oxton, Keiko, Topman, Junior,
Oxton, over and over, and we'relike, man, those are the four.

SPEAKER_00 (44:54):
It was actually really fun.
We just would take these walksaround the village, visit with
the believers, and it was socool to hear people say why they
thought these men uh were readyfor this work.
It was just super encouragingthat the church was behind them,
you know, and they respectedthese men as leaders.

SPEAKER_01 (45:11):
And also all of them said one name, like, hey, don't
pick this guy.
And we were praying that waytoo, and it's Yados.
And if you listen to the otherepisode, super gifted, amazing
believer.
Amazingly gifted teacher,anti-teacher, oh an incredible
dude.
But at that time, he wasdistracted.
He he basically was distractedby politics.

(45:34):
He had this childhood dream ofwanting to be essentially the
mayor, they call it the councilof our ward area out there.
There's local level governmentin our area, and he wanted to
run for election, and he wasjust consumed with chasing this
dream, and he wasn't involved inthe church.
He got in sidetracked, andeveryone that came and talked to
us said, Hey, Yados could dothis work, but his mind's

(45:55):
divided right now.
Please, please, please do notpick him for this.
His his head's not in the game,basically.

SPEAKER_00 (46:01):
Not that he can't still serve the church,
obviously, he can still teach,be part of the ministry.
But as far as being an elder,they were like, he's just really
consumed with things of theworld right now.

SPEAKER_01 (46:12):
And and I will say, like, this was probably about
five months ago.
Now he's come back and he'sjumped back in with both feet
and he's doing well.
So keep praying for Yados ifyou're listening to this.

SPEAKER_02 (46:23):
Well, and maybe maybe some lessons there for for
Yados and for the whole body tosee a guy that looked very
promising to be one of the main,if not the main guy, and could
get sidetracked because youknow, we we all get sidetracked
and we all are gonna deal withthat.

SPEAKER_01 (46:36):
Oh, the Lord doesn't waste anything in our lives or
lives of others.
And he was the youngest of thegroup, too.
And I think the Lord's justgrowing him.
You know, he's he's living life,and the Lord's gonna grow all of
us.

SPEAKER_00 (46:46):
What was interesting is we visited him and his wife,
and I was sitting kind of asidewith his wife in the house while
she was preparing the meal, andum she was like, you know, I
think she said the names of theother four guys, and she was
like, But I love my husband, butI don't think he's in a place
right now to be an elder.
And she was like, I I I sat withhim the other night and I told

(47:07):
him, Yados, I really want to dothe Lord's work, and I feel like
that's not your focus andpriority right now.
And they had they they used tofight pretty big in their early
years of marriage, like many ofus do, and and they've matured a
lot, but just to hear that shecould calmly and from God's word
sit down with her husband andand speak that into his life,

(47:27):
and he was able to receive itwas pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_02 (47:32):
Yes, and um he was still my wife would probably
like him to call me and talkabout that.

SPEAKER_00 (47:38):
Well, I mean, you know, it's a growing process for
all of us.

SPEAKER_01 (47:41):
Here, let me let me just finish with the elders.
So the church said these samefour names, so then we went and
talked to those four guys andwe're like, hey, this is uh this
is a family decision for each ofyou.
Like, you want to step into thisrole of being an elder or a
deacon.
And so we had dinner with allfour of their families, and we

(48:01):
talked about what this wouldlook like, and they just started
looking around, going, as TopMan, he's like, Hey, we're the
ones doing it.
If we don't do it, who's gonnado it?
Of course we're gonna do this.
And so we were able to presentthem in front of the body and
say, hey, these are the guysthat are gonna be stepping into
this role, but in theirhumility, all of them said, Hey,
don't give us the actual titleyet.

(48:23):
We don't want the officialtitle, we want to function uh in
this role and do the work infront of the body for six months
at least, and let them justwatch us do this, uh, and then
you can give us the title, butdon't just give it to us right
away.
And so that they're in thatsix-month window right now.
So you can be praying for theseguys.
They're doing phenomenally well.
It's just awesome to see theLord working in and through

(48:45):
them, but be praying for them,they've got a target on their
backs.

SPEAKER_02 (48:47):
Man, I tell you, that's just uh that's just the
bride of Christ, that's theglobal church.
I mean, when we commission andappoint new elders at our
church, Brad stands in front ofeverybody and says, Hey, we talk
to their wives, we talk to theirkids, we talk to their friends,
we talk to we interview.
And you are doing the same thingin Wantaquia.
And and and here's a wife who'sstanding up and being honest
about the current state of herhusband and his heart.

(49:10):
And man, that is just that's soencouraging.
And that leads to kind of what'sgoing to happen next, because
now you're seeing the churchthriving under its own local
leadership, and God's now kindof saying this door may be
pushing closed, not closed, butsomewhat narrowing the gap.

(49:33):
And here's some windows ofopportunity.
So take us through where whatwe're what we're dealing with
now.

SPEAKER_01 (49:40):
Yeah, it's it's really special.
I think, you know, we're gonnabe involved in Wanta Kia until
the Lord takes us home, I think.
But our role should shift.
Like we shouldn't stay at theforefront.
Like that would just be a signof, I don't know, an unhealthy
ministry, I think.
Uh we're shifting more towardthe background.
And so what that means is we'vebeen living full-time in this

(50:01):
tribal village for the last 11years.
But when we go back to thefield, we're in the States right
now, when we go back to PapuaNew Guinea, we're gonna be
itinerant, meaning we're gonnabe living at a mission center,
we'll be making trips into thetribe to continue translating
and discipling, but we're tryingto give space to the church to
be on their own.
It's kind of like dropping yourkid off at college, right?

(50:22):
It's like, man, you're matureenough to handle this, but
you're you're gonna go toParents' Weekend and we're gonna
go, yeah, check out a couplegames.
Uh yeah, it it's like that.
And so that's kind of the phasethat we're entering into.
But that also means that likefor Layla and I and everyone on
our team, our time over there isgonna look a little differently.
We're still discipling, we'restill translating scripture, but

(50:43):
we're probably gonna be doingmore language and culture
consulting with othermissionaries that are in other
language groups and trying tohelp them out because we got
helped out by other missionariesdoing that for us.

SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
Um, we're gonna be man, we had couples coming out
to the bush, like guiding usthrough the process, and times
were hard when we first movedout there, some of the hardest
times of our whole lives, and tohave those married couples that
were our consultants coming outand guiding us through, but also
checking on us as how life wasgoing, how we're doing, it was

(51:16):
amazing, and we want to do thatfor other people now.

SPEAKER_02 (51:18):
I gotta tell you, listener, if you could see the
look on Lil's face as Jack wastalking about this next season
of transition, it would freezeyou in your tracks.
You were teary-eyed.
It was it really was it was likelooking at that Paul, like at
the face of of Paul and what heexperienced and what he felt,

(51:39):
and just like what this journeyhas been for your family, what
it's meant to you, what you knowyour girls are here, and your
youngest has really lived in thejungle her whole life, and I
just got to interact with herand talk with her about her
chickens and our chickens, andit's just so special, and some
things are similar, and somethings are not at all similar.
But just thank you.
I think just let me hear let mesay that.

(51:59):
Thank you for this commitment.
Thank you for letting my wifeand I partner with you and
several of our other friends inin you know support of this
work.
Um, you know, heaven's gonna becrowded with Wantians, and we're
gonna get to enjoy that for allof eternity, and you had such a
critical role in it.
And I think that man, just theverse on my heart as you share

(52:22):
this next chapter is just 2Timothy 2 2.
Right?
You've heard you've heard thesetruths, you know, they've been
verified.
Now you've taught them to othertrustworthy people who can teach
them to others.
So so someone with moreexperience in the field came and
helped you out when you wereearly on.
That was rewarding.
And now you don't know exactlywhere or exactly what, but you

(52:43):
know you're gonna continue tohelp, you know, one foot in the
in the tribe when they need it,and then this other foot kind of
in this ecosystem of supportingthe next goers and what their
challenges that they're gonnaface.
Our support of the crab trees issteadfast, and we're excited for
whatever comes next.

(53:04):
I maybe shouldn't say this liveon a pod, but I'm gonna say it.
I think we should write a book.

SPEAKER_01 (53:11):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (53:11):
I've got it on my heart to write a book of the
within reach, like the scale,and maybe call it within reach.
Dude.
And to describe each of the tensteps, and so like maybe like
the biblical basis for eachstep, and then stories from
y'all's experience of each step.
Oh man, I'm down.
That'd be awesome.
I think that could be a reallycool thing to do, and I know

(53:32):
you're a very gifted journalistin your past as well.
Um, but I think that justgetting the story out there
beyond uh podcast form, and Iknow you're gonna travel and
you're gonna people are gonnahave you come talk at their
churches and you're gonna get totell the story in different
ways, but yours is special.
It it really is.
It means a lot to us.
So thank you.
Any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 (53:54):
Well, thanks.
Thanks for all the love andsupport and prayers over many
years.
Um, we're just so grateful.
And just one last thought.
I just the Lord has just been sosweet and kind.
I feel like we consider it alljoy what you're talking about
from James.
We have that plastered on ourwall, actually, huge letters in

(54:15):
our living room wall, because umjust seeing God's faithfulness
in hard things has just been soreal in our lives over the
years.
I feel like it's a joy to passoff this work to the Wantakeans,
this Yeraya Kare Jack wastalking about, but we're also
kind of in grieving mode.
I feel like our kids aregrieving, we're grieving.

(54:36):
Um, this has been theirchildhood home, like you were
saying.
Um, this has been our life wherewe've raised our family.
We've raised our our physicalkids, our family, and then our
Wantakea church family.
And I think when we leftWantakea to come back to America
this last time, it was just aserious time of transition like

(54:57):
we've never had before.
Just walking our kids throughthat and walking through that as
a couple and saying somegoodbyes, knowing we'll be back,
but it's just not gonna be fulltime, it's not gonna be the
same.
But just God has been so sweetto meet us where we're at, to
have these men and women readyto be elders, um just other

(55:20):
leaders in the church taking onroles in ministry, just feeling
like, wow, Lord, you've done somuch in these people's lives and
they're ready.
And we can we can move to thisnext stage, knowing anything can
happen.
Satan can attack, anything canhappen, but just knowing that
they're ready and and our kidsare ready like socially, they're

(55:43):
becoming teenagers, it's veryisolated in the bush.
They're they're ready to be intown and be around um other kids
their age of their own culturetoo.
And so it's just cool how that'sall coinciding together.
We're grieving, but we're alsoexcited and just so just
thankful for what God has done.

SPEAKER_02 (56:01):
Can you I'm gonna ask Layle to pray for everyone
at the end, but before I do, canyou just give a word to everyone
that hears this that's eitherthinking about going to the
field, thinking about supportingsomeone in the field, thinking
about leveling up their standardof giving and getting more
serious about like, look, theGreat Commission was not a

(56:22):
suggestion.
It's real.
We got to get Jesus' name wherehe's not yet named, like this is
the task remaining.
Other other things are good.
Supporting other charitablecauses are are good, and and and
I'm not saying they're not, andpeople are called to different
things, but this particular taskwhere the harvest is great and
the workers are few, give themJack Crabtree's take on what

(56:44):
it's like to have given yourlife to this and to see the
fruit of God's faithfulness atthis point.

SPEAKER_01 (56:52):
Well, the thought that comes to my mind is you
know, when you hear about thestate of the world, how many
people are unreached, you hearthat staggering need.
You can get really excited aboutgoing.
Like, I've gotta go, I've gottado something, and that's kind of
how it was for us.
And to actually go and to leaveyour own culture, it takes total

(57:13):
trust in the Lord to do that.
You gotta just completely trusthim.
But to actually stay, what itwhat it really takes is daily
dependence on him.
Total trust to go and leave, butdaily dependence to stay.
I think the Lord has just helpedus to try to just walk with him
daily and be faithful with whathe gives us.

(57:34):
And what I would say is a lot oftimes when we talk about going
to the unreached or being aworld Christian in the sense
that these habits of going,welcoming, giving, praying,
sending, we start taking thoseon as our identity.
I'm a goer, I'm a sender.
But really, your identity isn'twhat you do for God, it's who
you are because of Christ.

(57:55):
And if you are in Christ, you'rea child of the Father.
And because you're a child ofthe Father, all of those other
things are just a part of thefamily business that you need to
be about.
So I would say you need to holdyour life with open hands to the
Lord if you're his kid and say,Father, how do I join you in

(58:16):
what you're doing?
It doesn't matter what your jobis, it doesn't matter your
socioeconomic status, none ofthose things matter, but we're
all called to be having aministry of reconciliation with
those around us.
We're all called to be givinggenerously.
If you look at the NewTestament, we're all called to
be givers.
We're all called to bewelcoming.
You know, all of these worldChristian habits, uh, that can't

(58:39):
be your identity, but out ofyour identity as a son or a
daughter of the king, those haveall those habits should be
evidenced in our lives.
And if we faithfully just walkeach day with him with the
opportunities he gives us, it'sjust like he says, you were
faithful with little, I'm gonnaset you over much.
And I know that'seschatological, that's that's

(59:00):
you know, talking about thefuture, but it's true today too
in our Christian lives.
As we grow and we're faithful,he's gonna give us more.
And you might find yourself inthe middle of the jungle one
day, going, How did I end uphere?
It was a lot of small steps ofobedience.
That's the answer.
We sow the seed, we water, butGod gives the growth.
And you just have to rest inthat.
That my identity isn't in theresults of a ministry.

(59:21):
It my identity is in Christ.
And if you can rest in that andjust be faithful, uh you're
gonna have a very fulfillingChristian life.

SPEAKER_02 (59:29):
Thank you for that.
Thank you for that.
Would you pray first and want tokein and then translate to
English?
I think it'd be fun foreverybody to hear from the woman
God used to create an alphabetand teach a people to read and
write so they could experiencehis word personally in their
lives.

SPEAKER_00 (59:46):
Oh, I would love to do that.
Yeah.
Oh, nina mangy, yatmonamware kisuya nange bo ketama no.
Come uh, woe we tragin njeginyeah.
Yantin y ginero.
Uh, please.
Tanege kaimono.

(01:00:07):
Yatmona mwari gi.
Saray Kuraba.
Yeah, wo we such uh kama yantinygignero suyavo.
Just Lord, Heavenly Father, um,just thank you.
You have all the strength.
You're the one who's able to doanything, you're the one that
can help us.
Um, please just work in andthrough us, Lord.

(01:00:27):
Amen.
Um, but I just want to keeppraying, Lord.
I just pray um just in my ownheart language, Lord, for all
these listeners, God.
I just thank you so much forthis opportunity to just share
what you've been doing among theWantekia people.
Um, it's just been a privilegeto get to do your work and allow

(01:00:47):
you to work in and through ourfamily.
Um, but Lord, wherever we're atin this world, you can use us
for your greater purpose.
Um, and you want to use each oneof us.
And I just pray for every personlistening today that you would
show them how they can beinvolved in all these ways.
Um, just help them to begenerous, um, to be bold and

(01:01:12):
welcoming as as people come andinto their lives and help them
to be bold to share the gospel.
Um, there's so many ways that wecan be involved and just help us
to just honor you, Lord.
The harvest is plentiful.
We say that all the time, butthe workers really are few.
And I just pray, God, that youwould move in people's hearts

(01:01:33):
and lives and just prompt themto step into what you're already
doing all over the world, Lord.
It truly is just such aprivilege, and we just thank you
for being a good father, forbeing so faithful.
You won't leave us or forsakeus.
You ask us to do these things,Lord, but you're right there
with us in the midst of hardthings on the mountaintops and

(01:01:57):
the valleys, Lord, you're withus, and just thank you so, so
much for that.
Um, we just love you and praiseyou, God, in Jesus' name.
Amen.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:06):
And amen.
Thank you for listening toUnreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you, andwe hope it does, would you
please rate and review thepodcast wherever you listen?
Also share with your family,your friends, your church, your

(01:02:26):
life group, small group, Dgroup, wherever you do life.
And if you want to connect withus, find us on Instagram at
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