KyleGoen.com

Wow, I am back in the United States and I am so glad to have been able to go and represent the Lord and First Smyrna in S. Asia. What a great chance to see an amazing country and also serve the purposes of God.

Over the last couple of weeks our team had the privilege of serving in S. Asia with a couple of incredible MS and ministries who are involved in planting house churches. We taught brand new believers how to study the Bible. Most of the men and women we were working with had been followers of Christ for 2 years or less. They live in an area where internet access is minimal and study resources are few. We taught them how to use the Bible to feed their life without the common tools we would use to study; concordances, dictionaries, maps, and commentaries. We have many luxuries afforded to us as American believers that others in the world do not have access to in their personal study time. It was a real eye opener to me personally.

We also were strongly encouraged by seeing a movement beginning in a country that has less than 2% of its population who are followers of Jesus. We were able to see and hear testimonies of people who have left family, homes, and jobs to follow Jesus as Lord. We do not have to face this type of persecution in our lives. I was overwhelmed by the worship of people who have nothing left except Christ alone. I was challenged in my own comfort and my willingness to move past my comfort zones so that the name of Christ could be proclaimed in a dark region of the world.

I want to challenge you to go on the mission field and serve the Lord. He has a plan for you to join Him in the work He is doing all across the globe. You will be motivated to walk more closely with the Lord. Your perspective of American Christianity will be forever altered. You will be humbled by the selfless sacrifice of missionaries who give up much to follow God in obedience. Though I dare say they feel they have not given up much in light of what God has done for them. They have sacrificed much when you view it in light of what we have in the United States. God will open your eyes to see Him in a new way when you are taking His name to the nations. Don’t let money stand in your way, if God is moving in your heart to be on mission with Him, then He will provide the money for the trip. What a great opportunity to see God move in your life even before you leave for the trip.
Please pray for:
Ms in dark reaches of the world
More workers, the fields are ready to plant, water, weed, and harvest
For God’s name to be proclaimed in the dark places
For churches to be actively involved in mobilizing people for the task

We have just finished up our training with the second group from India. What a blessing it has been to see people so excited about learning how to study the Bible. They are so appreciative for the things we are leading in. The stuff we are teaching we take for granted in America. The people are so hungry for someone to show them how God’s Word can make a difference in their lives. They also want to touch you and shake hands with you.
We have been a real spectacle here in the area of the country we are in, very few white people at all. Maybe 25 in a state of 85 million. When we showed up there was a population influx.
There is a real movement of God in India right now. It is very exciting to know that our church is on the forefront of hundreds of new churches being planted. The gospel is going out everyday and it so great to see God moving in such a strong way. It is still very small compared to the vast number of people. Please pray that God will release His mighty power on the people of India.

We have made it through Holi. It was very interesting to see the bonfires in the middle of the streets and people painted head to toe in colors of paint.

But the real reasons we are here are to see the church planters and pastors trained in Bible Study. They are desiring to know how to study the Bible. Their Bibles do not have concordances, maps, references or anything to help them know how to study the Bible more effectively. We are teaching them basic observation, interpretation and application methods. They are really lighting up when they hear the concepts and see the practicle examples we help them with from the Word of God. We are truly blesse din the States to have the resources that we have, for Bible Study tools.
The Ms are very thankful for the support and the fellowship. We have been blessed to be with them. We are truly blessed to have them on this side leading the way. We need to figure out more creative ways to lend our support and encouragement from the States. They are so appreciative.
Please continue to pray for health. We are all very tired and some are weary in their body from the food. Our stomachs are not as strong as the Ms. Please pray that God will continue to move in a mighty way here in the area we are serving. Of the 25 church leaders and pastors we trained yesterday, there are over 600 people waiting to be baptized in Christ. Theses folks have renounced everything to follow Christ. As a result, many families have renounced them as children, husbands, and wives. God, please give them strength to carry on.
Please forgive the typos and sentence fragments. There is a line of people waiting to use the one computer we have at our fingertips. See you stateside.

Hello form the Land of cows, rickshaws and millions of people. We have experiences so much in the last few days. Lots of rice, spices, and millions of people. Please excuse the broken sentences, fragments and run ons. Some of you are saying whats new! I only have a few miniutes before the electricity will probably go out again.
The Lord is definitley moving here and we have meet some wonderul nationals who are trying to reach people for Christ. Please pray for the team who is here. We are beginning our training this morning. I am typing at 7:15 am in India and you are about to eat dinner. We will be teaching pastors and church planters today and tommorrow. They are anxious for us to be with them. Many have left everything to follow Christ and we have the privilege to encourage them in the faith.
Tonight begins a festival for all of India called Holi. Do a little research to find out about this festival. It is supposed to symbolize the death of evil from what we are told, but many unholy things go on during this festival. Tonight at midnight huge bonfires will be set to symbolize the beginning. There will also be people in the streets throwing paint on everyone and everything in sight for the next couple of days. This is a huge party time. We have been told to keep a low profile during this time. It is a Hindu celebrationa and openly Christian activity is not highly looked upon. I will try to post later. Thanks for the prayers you are lifting on our behalf and for the Ms here. Please pray for safety, sleep, and for us to enjoy spicy foods. God is moving and we are pumped to be in the middle of what He is doing.

I will be leaving tomorrow for a mission trip to South Asia. I will be out of the country for about 12 days. So, I will not be able to answer your questions attached to this blog. I would like to ask you to continue to check in to the blog every couple of days. I will be attempting to write about my trip so you can keep up with what is going on with our team. If you are trying to post, it will not show up for several days, because of me being away from the office. Please be patient.
A few prayer request:

1. Protection for the team
2. Protection for families left behind
3. Effective ministry with national leaders
4. Encouragement for the M’s we minister with
5. God’s glory to be revealed in great power
6. We will be obedient to God’s movement

Thank you so much for praying and I hope the blogging is successful while I am away.

I am sorry that it has been a few weeks since I last posted anything. It has been a little crazy and I am still figuring out how to accomplish everything and write a little bit each day.

Over the past couple of weeks in our Ministry Leadership Class we have been discussing how to study the Bible. As leaders in ministry we must learn how to study the Bible, there are Bible studies to lead, classes to teach and not to mention proper feeding of our own spiritual walk. We have been concentrating on learning to observe scripture and looking at how to do that without study materials. (ie) (commentaries, dictionaries and lexicons) We will get to these valuable resources, just not yet in the process.

I would love to know what you are doing for Bible study? When is the best time for you to study the Bible? What book in the Bible are you studying?