Passing the Torch
Psalm 145:4: "One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts."
Are you at all concerned about your pulse? Early on in life, the thought never even crossed my mind. But as time goes on, and depending on what our activity level is each day, our pulse becomes a more important factor, something we monitor more closely and more regularly. In fact, it has become such a key piece of our health snapshot that millions now wear smart rings, fitness bracelets, and other tracking devices to monitor their pulse and the vital data that gives a healthy picture of overall well-being.
Thank you for taking valuable time to read these Pulse updates and for caring about the pulse of this ministry as we track and share some of the latest vital signs. I was recently able to secure another one-year visa for Papua, something that gets more challenging with each passing year. This provides a one-year window where we will work alongside village and church leaders to address community needs while proactively taking steps to pass the torch to Papuans who have a heart to serve their own people. It has been amazing and heartwarming to see gifted Papuans already grabbing that torch and surging forward, spreading God's light into the darkest corners of Papua.
A Gathering Long Overdue
Over 2,000 villagers trekked days over rugged mountains and made their way to Pogapa, where Joel and Keith, pastors from Georgia, were prepared to teach a seminar for 135 pastors and their wives. Joel had also donated 500 solar-powered Moni language audio New Testament Messenger units to be distributed to hundreds of Moni pastors. Those attending the seminar would be the first to receive this remarkable gift, and you could see the excitement and anticipation lighting up their faces.
After several years of fighting and rebel harassment that had prevented these large pastoral gatherings, they were thrilled to be free again to come together, be encouraged, and be motivated to love God and love God's people. The pulse was returning to villages that had been ravaged by war and killing.
You could not find a more fitting picture of passing the torch than Joel and Keith pouring truth into pastors who were ready and eager to carry it home to their villages. In addition to the Messengers, Keith provided copies of The Purpose Driven Life in Indonesian and reading glasses for those who needed them. Two Moni university graduates, Alion and Ester, helped translate from English to Moni throughout the seminar, and they were a living example of how God is allowing the Gospel torch to move from the older Moni generation into the hands of the younger generation today.
In the months ahead, we have plans to gather 10 to 15 of our other Moni graduates for several days of training covering spiritual formation, project planning, village needs assessment, donor relations, budgeting, and much more. A couple of experienced professionals will help them envision how they could launch a Christian Papuan foundation that carries the torch forward and ensures a strong, lasting pulse in the villages they call home.
The Torch That Never Goes Out
I was reminded recently of the spiritual pulse Mom and Dad Cutts lit back in the 1950s, and how the torch they passed on before retiring continues to burn brightly, even in the hands of some of those very first believers. About a month ago I started getting text messages from a Papuan man in his forties, telling me that his aging father was begging to fly in and meet me. We finally connected.
This exuberant man, Paulus Yarinap, old and stooped over, literally jumped into my arms and wept. The short version of his very long story: he and I had been baptized together as youngsters, and after all these years, he just had to come find me. His jaw dropped when I pulled out the actual photograph from the day we were baptized together, the tribe surrounding us as witnesses.
He went on to tell me about attending the little Bible school Mom and Dad taught when he was around fourteen years old. He remembered the day they challenged the class to put what they were learning into practice by trekking three weeks through the jungle to reach the Nduga tribe. Nobody raised a hand. Finally, he did, and his classmates called out for him to sit down because he was too young. Mom and Dad called him up, prayed over him, and a few guilt-ridden students came forward to join the traveling Gospel team. They left together to carry the torch to the distant Nduga area, long feared for its treachery and savage ways. And the rest is history. Today there is a living, ongoing spiritual pulse among the Nduga people. Missionaries Vanderbijles, Burns, and Vaughns later came into the tribe and spent their lives strengthening what that young, brave team started.
A Rebel, a Rescue, and a New Direction
When I was attacked on the porch of our house in Pogapa by ten rebel warriors, physically fighting with them as they threatened to kill me, I had no idea that God was already setting up another one of His miracles. After they threatened to take me hostage, then to kill me, and I told them they could just bury me in my backyard, you may remember what happened next. Suddenly one of the ten rebels sprang into action, pushing and shoving his rebel companions off my porch. He told them to leave me alone. Our family, it turned out, had been helping his sister finish her university education.
Fast forward to just three weeks ago. I was talking with that same man, challenging him to consider whether God had allowed his chaotic life as a rebel precisely to free him from it and give him a new direction. Maybe even as a pastor. He insisted God would never want someone with his past, that he would only disappoint God and fall off the path. I told him we were all dirt-bags, and that God didn't seek us out because we were so amazing and put-together, but because we weren't. And He had a perfect purpose for our lives anyway.
I have been talking with him these last few days. His plan is to move with his wife and four kids to Sentani in July, where the two of them will enroll in a two-year Bible school course to prepare for the next chapter of their lives. He has no job and no money, but he has a burning desire to change.
Talk about God giving new life and a pulse to someone with a wrecked story. What makes it even more remarkable is that his father, Albert Bagubau, was one of the very first Christians in the Pogapa area. The missionary who first met Albert hired him to help around the house and nicknamed him Peanuts because of his small, frail frame. Albert was a pastor, and he passed the torch of truth to his son early. God used those seeds, buried in a rebel's heart for years, to finally take root and bear fruit. As Psalm 145:4 says, God's mighty acts are declared from one generation to the next.
The Torch Is Yours to Hold, Too
Thank you for making it to the end of this long ramble! We are so grateful for our daughters, their husbands, and our grandkids, all deeply invested in keeping the heartbeat and pulse going in Papua and doing their part to work toward the day when we can fully pass the torch to our Papuan family and watch them take ownership of the future of their churches and villages.
We thank God for each of you. For your love, your encouragement, your generosity, and your faithfulness. This Pulse is about you and your involvement, because without your prayers and partnership, we would not be able to help people make new starts and find their God-given purpose. Keep the pulse going. Hold your torch high.
With love and much appreciation,
John and the Cutts Clan
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