tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16045608493487049562024-03-02T17:46:17.058-08:00The Culp Family TalesJustin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-85809861548273146452023-10-27T00:00:00.000-07:002023-10-27T11:41:02.069-07:00Want the link for online giving?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-40586127940961558232023-10-26T23:00:00.000-07:002023-10-27T11:40:49.790-07:00Justin and Amy Culp: Reaching the Lopit People of South Sudan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"><b>“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes…” – Revelation 7:9</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;"><b>From 2010-2011, Justin
spent over a year in South Sudan doing evangelism in some very lost areas,
and helping disciple some of the local pastors.
While there, he came face to face with the great need for the gospel in
many parts of this new country. After
Justin and Amy got married in 2011, they raised support and went back to South
Sudan to work on church planting and discipleship among an unreached tribe called Lopit..</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;">Pioneers believes strongly in reaching unreached peoples, church
planting movements and a passion for God.
Justin and Amy have been working with Pioneers to start reaching the
millions of unreached people in Southern Sudan with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their goal is to disciple local believers to
be strong leaders in their local churches and to start reaching the rest of
their own tribes and fellow Sudanese people.
This happens mostly through relationship and Bible Study as we seek to avoid
dependency-building “platforms</span><span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;">.”</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;">Recently, Justin and Amy have returned to the USA to face some necessary family issues, and while hoping to return to Africa one day, have been given a new ministry focus.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;">Encountering the world of Islam is a team focused on equipping and mobilizing God's people in the USA and around the world to reach the largest and often most feared group of unreached people worldwide - Muslims. While working with the EWI team to help streamline some of their processes and better serve this mission, Justin also gets to focus on preparing his family to one day return to South Sudan.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "mongolian baiti"; line-height: 115%;"><b>Would you be willing to pray and/or financially support us as we follow
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Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-20070409758900898232023-10-26T22:30:00.001-07:002023-10-27T11:40:38.173-07:00October 27, 2023<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqwGUqCag-fAp5vwU5o76f69ZNkTnAO0fvsjbFSdH5RrBjt5YedWQ5I1jygQrfX20uVO-8m0DxMHjRd9in0V0VCxvJufkVcvYhXot3K7vXLXFlQbn1O3C6wsqnE5TG03ri2DXnrB1X6nZkJ6GPL_s3WLAhIPvfwjMDhxZ4V8CJ71a2kQDGlOQ3R-JtHXGd/s589/20231020_222650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="589" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqwGUqCag-fAp5vwU5o76f69ZNkTnAO0fvsjbFSdH5RrBjt5YedWQ5I1jygQrfX20uVO-8m0DxMHjRd9in0V0VCxvJufkVcvYhXot3K7vXLXFlQbn1O3C6wsqnE5TG03ri2DXnrB1X6nZkJ6GPL_s3WLAhIPvfwjMDhxZ4V8CJ71a2kQDGlOQ3R-JtHXGd/s320/20231020_222650.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ezekiel turned 11 last week. We had an impromptu birthday party at the community center pool, and had one friend from his class spend the night.</span></div><br /> This is one of those months where I’m scrolling through
Google Photos trying to figure out what story to tell. With
school underway our family has mostly been in the
routines that the school year brings. Ezekiel is in chess
club and has decided to be the school’s first Yell Leader.
Caleb is taking horseback riding lessons and excelling at
school. Amy works at a public behavior school as a para
and has daily adventure stories, but is also standing out in
the way that she loves the kids. Justin is visiting churches,
communicating with more churches about potential visits,
and making new strides with Salesforce programming and
architecture. <p></p><p> Amy has had some pretty incredible encounters lately with Muslim women at work and in her
other day to day errands. She has been communicating and building friendships with a few other moms.
We’ve also been praying about some special relationships with kids from our school. One family in
particular has some hard circumstances and just happens to have kids in class with both of ours. The
Lord has even opened doors with that family in the way He brought those children to our community
group’s Angel Tree kids. </p><p> On the nerdy side, Justin has basically finished the debugging process on a complicated API pull
for importing gift data into our Salesforce org. He also managed to design some useful screen flows that
will help streamline the day to day communication tasks that our team needs to accomplish. Now he is
working on figuring out how to clean up some data from 2700 contacts and get all of the useful
information into the same place (the right record fields) so that the screen flow project will actually
work. He has also been providing some technical support for remote teammates who have had some
challenges. Once the reports and activity task records are cleaned up and actually useful, this project
that has been in the making for quite some time will be ready to launch. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESniPHyO2gGh8AhnzeKRKXLyoRL-rQ9KSGYNgf7TDr9S3U2t3leoH8W9FMSUymYms4bHD8zU3QQN3mpUe1SgAB7CYmmdhyphenhyphen6ptakOj6m5DCA89zMZ8UNI0T7blylZvmuaLP3NijzyMYE23zLfxSK3zuzE63Z08ne1wndQXco2QspA8saAsY8YVuuc9jUL5/s1252/Screenshot%202023-10-27%20100825.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1252" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESniPHyO2gGh8AhnzeKRKXLyoRL-rQ9KSGYNgf7TDr9S3U2t3leoH8W9FMSUymYms4bHD8zU3QQN3mpUe1SgAB7CYmmdhyphenhyphen6ptakOj6m5DCA89zMZ8UNI0T7blylZvmuaLP3NijzyMYE23zLfxSK3zuzE63Z08ne1wndQXco2QspA8saAsY8YVuuc9jUL5/s320/Screenshot%202023-10-27%20100825.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ezekiel's 11th birthday party with a homemade cake.</span></div><p> Ezekiel had his 11th birthday. We are moving in a few weeks to a new place that will save us 2-3
hours a day in driving time, and make life a lot less hectic because of that. We are packing for that move,
managing homework and field trips and practices and the day to day American family busyness stuff.
Justin also does occasional side jobs for people who need handyman help to make up some of what we
lack in the support-raising department. </p><p> Thank you for praying, writing, giving and keeping up. Being in support-based ministry often
feels boring, but is also necessary and the Lord has
been working greatly in our family, church, school
and daily relationships. If you want a visit from
Justin at your church, please reach out!
</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-44029052306214954132023-08-29T22:30:00.001-07:002023-08-30T11:09:59.467-07:00August 30, 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6eDXV3FaPAkxlTeoZtsNtZR3NfU6VFqbinb0XdzZ10CntYqoTdw0ohhPWOugJSeRvIpncElo-NR0R0U_0jFpIVviy32W6sJV5eeSiJBLw2ipxt5u4VijOn3H-snBCmQhnDGW8O1Q6Mc5qZEcMLFciYG8Zc3z5TXtmR8NEjToBEF98N40iI6yBBT4J-Iue/s649/20230822_065703.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="538" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6eDXV3FaPAkxlTeoZtsNtZR3NfU6VFqbinb0XdzZ10CntYqoTdw0ohhPWOugJSeRvIpncElo-NR0R0U_0jFpIVviy32W6sJV5eeSiJBLw2ipxt5u4VijOn3H-snBCmQhnDGW8O1Q6Mc5qZEcMLFciYG8Zc3z5TXtmR8NEjToBEF98N40iI6yBBT4J-Iue/s320/20230822_065703.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;">We got a new dog this month, Lola. She had been at the shelter longer than any other dog there. She is super friendly and smart.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p> I hope
you had a good summer. Last time I wrote
a newsletter was around Independence Day… it doesn’t seem like it was that long
ago! We’ve had a lot happen in the last
couple of months, it feels like our lives are always busy, but the summer
months are particularly so.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> My job
has quite a few different faces. People
often ask me “What does a normal day look like for you?” and I never really
know how to answer. Since we made the
transition to <i>Encountering Muslims</i> my official role on the team is organizing
our CRM, which is the way an organization keeps track of contacts, leads,
fundraising activities, course participants, campaign management and other
information. If we were a typical
for-profit company, this would be the heartbeat of our sales program, or
inventory management, but in the missions and nonprofit world it’s a little
different. Most of the people on our
team have “siloed” information, meaning that whether the information is “local”
to a personal computer, or even stored in other out of date systems like a
spreadsheet or <shudder> index cards, it can take a lot of time to keep
track of what we’re doing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Siloed
information also causes other problems.
A few months ago I called one of my donors to ask him if we could get together
while I was in town. He told me that he
was busy that weekend doing a fundraiser for another missionary that the church
supports, but invited me to join him there.
Long story short, that other missionary was one of my coworkers. We didn’t even know that we were talking to
the same person about support at the same time – see how that could be
problematic?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Since I
have a programming background, and we decided to stay in the USA for a while,
The leader for <i>Encountering Muslims</i> approached me and asked me if I
would learn Salesforce, and design an org for our team to solve some of these
problems. If you’re a nerd like me, who
is also back from the field because of complex family dynamics that are unpredictable
and deserve a lot of focused attention in themselves, being asked to do a job
like this is pretty exciting!<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUBQmEvi0SebybQ2txvS1M9fdQOEXDnXG5fAi43cZg8GMzz8IMV_8tKJbjh1-EeCBcVdh14DRk5HO8U1-wP7_8FCCnxbFv59TRVfKks4W1OKqIvKMiqYpZo_KEhVUpTlSsAo7JsBIBctDtZ-QDhrYPNlZZqTaGXyC5uw33mbb5qzxlJ3i6l6lX6NnSoPp/s354/20230825_185307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="266" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIUBQmEvi0SebybQ2txvS1M9fdQOEXDnXG5fAi43cZg8GMzz8IMV_8tKJbjh1-EeCBcVdh14DRk5HO8U1-wP7_8FCCnxbFv59TRVfKks4W1OKqIvKMiqYpZo_KEhVUpTlSsAo7JsBIBctDtZ-QDhrYPNlZZqTaGXyC5uw33mbb5qzxlJ3i6l6lX6NnSoPp/s320/20230825_185307.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;">Ezekiel was showing Rosie how to drive the go kart... and then she broke my retaining wall with it.</span></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But that’s just one part of it. It’s hard to be a person who feels such a
call to reach unreached people, and to disciple people who are young in faith
and/or leadership, but then sit in the office all day learning how to use a new
program. This is especially true when
the team of which I’m a part has a mission to reach unreached Muslim people in
the USA and around the world, while </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">also
mobilizing US churches to do the same.
So another part of my role on this new team involves both of those
things. We live close to a storefront
called the Sudan Coffee Shop. I’ve gone
there with the kids and played cards with the guys and tried to build relationships. I’ve also been speaking in lots of churches
about <i>Encountering Muslims</i> and the importance of refocusing our sight on
lost people who need the gospel, but whom we typically treat as enemies. If I’ve visited your church recently, you’ve
already heard what I have to share, but that’s not the only reason I’m speaking
in churches.</span><div><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> As some
of you already understand, there are seasons of missionary work where the
majority of your time is spent doing fundraising activity. Mailing letters, making phone calls, having
meetings with pastors or potential donors, writing thank you cards, traveling
to various networking opportunities…it’s a full-time job in itself! That aspect of my job is always there, there
are always people to call and thank, always updates to give, always a little
bit more fundraising to do, but this has been a unique season for lots of
missionaries, including myself. Ever
since 2020, giving to charitable organizations has been tenuous. Jobs are less certain, everything is getting
more expensive, banks are failing… this
is a season where people are hesitant to take on new financial commitments, and
some who have been faithfully committed for a long time just can’t do it
anymore. Because this everyday reality
has been more pronounced in recent years, we’ve had roughly the same deficit in
our support level since joining <i>Encountering Muslims</i>. God has provided us with so many new friends
and financial partners, but at the same time, others have had to stop.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> This
summer has actually been a really busy and productive season for
fundraising. It’s hard to learn new
things in Salesforce when the kids are home all day, but I’ve spoken at churches
or visited with pastors in six different states, I got to be the missionary
speaker at a kids and youth camp where I met some new churches, and have really
spent the bulk of my “work” hours (way more than 40 in a week!) on these things
while they’re available. But now, the
kids are back in school, the house is quiet, and I want to be done!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> Now that
school is back in full swing, the busyness is different (homework, practices,
etc) but I’m free to get back into the Salesforce learning, and the other
various outreach opportunities that the Lord has provided me with, but that
means I have to trust Him enough to stop spending so much time on
fundraising! Pray with us that God
provides the monthly partners that we need (and maintains the ones that we
have) to ease up on that area of ministry and move into the next!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> I know
this is longer than usual, but it HAS been 2 months…and sometimes I talk to you
people at church or on the phone and realize that some of you still have no
idea what I’m doing now! Thanks for
reading, praying, emailing, giving, caring and being awesome!<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8XD9D2faIoomJK2IiY7rEI6TyosTXPWyV5AdsczLpV1wQ3d07A1aeLQdFlHApoe-ITS9eqhzdk2fKR-QZh3EXbM4E0l_d31JFzUAGsCwFAmwhndojaoHe9NkMooN_r_XjBmeomL_XYwTWogJiqGvYRTr9HwKr13EkGj75YRiOXbNRGuy-sEhSrE31i3R/s472/20230806_112742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="472" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8XD9D2faIoomJK2IiY7rEI6TyosTXPWyV5AdsczLpV1wQ3d07A1aeLQdFlHApoe-ITS9eqhzdk2fKR-QZh3EXbM4E0l_d31JFzUAGsCwFAmwhndojaoHe9NkMooN_r_XjBmeomL_XYwTWogJiqGvYRTr9HwKr13EkGj75YRiOXbNRGuy-sEhSrE31i3R/s320/20230806_112742.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;">At Alton Bible Church, Pastor Fred wanted to call me up for Q&A before I preached. I threw Ezekiel under the bus... He did great!</span></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></p></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-25079581872926567062023-07-06T03:00:00.001-07:002023-07-06T11:20:56.671-07:00July 10, 2023<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXviYr1BWbQhuunmeYlG6W3CR__MSx77oNlHlVFXcmdToawAKmV0c3iZ7hg_XwsliqSmjeFGeqOn3aPw3CvFUXmasstLglP1CYhZs5-Q5aRBILA1dJHcMkD8nNiirlQbQlOUrzHq66-tuTr4t2FFBVus9_FuVuS9t_mvhFJHrdtGb9HOa7iB__ldNf54BN/s649/July%20Pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="495" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXviYr1BWbQhuunmeYlG6W3CR__MSx77oNlHlVFXcmdToawAKmV0c3iZ7hg_XwsliqSmjeFGeqOn3aPw3CvFUXmasstLglP1CYhZs5-Q5aRBILA1dJHcMkD8nNiirlQbQlOUrzHq66-tuTr4t2FFBVus9_FuVuS9t_mvhFJHrdtGb9HOa7iB__ldNf54BN/s320/July%20Pic1.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Since I get so many "I love hearing about your car issues!" emails - </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I figured I'd put in a picture of last week's adventure!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The retired Righteous Rides van that I bought almost 3 years ago finally gave up her ghost!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope you had a good time with family,
church and friends on Independence day this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I reflect on the summer holidays
(Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans’ Day) I’m always struck by the
harmony and tension that a Christian feels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>About 20 years ago I saw a bunch of trendy young people getting tattoos
that said NOTW (Not of this World) which resonates with the idea that we’re all
“aliens and strangers” in the world which we currently inhabit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Depending on the church and tradition
to which one is accustomed, we can swing to political (and patriotic) extremes
one way or the other, but so often the Christian life seems to be one of
tension.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I thankful for the country I
live in and come from?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The freedoms and opportunities it
affords?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Absolutely!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, when I really reflect on the idea of
“home” it just never quite lands where I’m sitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having used that name for so many different
geographical locations over the last 20 years is part of my unease with the
word, but it’s even more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The New
Testament authors seemed to feel some of the same tension.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The obviously glaring imperfections of the
Roman Empire were hard to ignore, but being good citizens was still essential
to living out a Christian faith in the Roman world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, we all feel like foreigners and
strangers in a world that no longer understands us (or never did).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we eagerly await the promised redemption
of creation, the promised home in Heaven, the promised escape from the trials
and pains of this fallen world, the blessings and joys of this world start to
pale…but they’re still blessings and joys!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFimpiicTtSbmxKW1vqKOPGbbvoYmnaMy7wPAbNArstYx0WMwzHuvc0v54BCPfbRWowkpfdcG_-QNuG7NkeZYSeyCRUW4J2u2UftfNt9V7IrKrEgjjSVOIw67fI_Iwz_7XvkwhzFT5gMNGrGXbheuDkQDZ_GfVPJcasVLtWEthItlS-io0i8LAMddHgIF/s568/July%20Pic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="426" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFimpiicTtSbmxKW1vqKOPGbbvoYmnaMy7wPAbNArstYx0WMwzHuvc0v54BCPfbRWowkpfdcG_-QNuG7NkeZYSeyCRUW4J2u2UftfNt9V7IrKrEgjjSVOIw67fI_Iwz_7XvkwhzFT5gMNGrGXbheuDkQDZ_GfVPJcasVLtWEthItlS-io0i8LAMddHgIF/s320/July%20Pic2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Caleb lost a fight...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With a treadmill</div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When Amy
and I were first dating/engaged, she used to say “I’ve never met anyone who
looks forward to Heaven (and tries to get there) as much as you do.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope that’s still true, but while I’m here
I want to look at the things God is doing, even when they’re painful, and the
things God has given me as small glimpses of the eternity I’m eagerly
anticipating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave me independence,
but it was an independence that came with a glorious, shameless dependence on
Him, the One who creates, provides, redeems and justifies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happy Independence Day!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-24033247990031420572023-05-31T11:12:00.001-07:002023-07-06T11:15:36.451-07:00May 31, 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfraIDUvN4TwQnHzbcUq7NwiKBi643QjgTrTYHC5FoVu8ge9jLyLheHPksYHOGuyKqgI-W-t6WHb_Fnrp9XCu12cq3H-2_M8iwUrMdtAHvE81SiV5NPR4D5lHEM9uUZhN5l8T4B1dzfTpsghFx2yUo7r6sqZtGnUlGVZGUouEpzmHbE0DnQGBxqA2xxdL/s375/May%20Pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="282" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfraIDUvN4TwQnHzbcUq7NwiKBi643QjgTrTYHC5FoVu8ge9jLyLheHPksYHOGuyKqgI-W-t6WHb_Fnrp9XCu12cq3H-2_M8iwUrMdtAHvE81SiV5NPR4D5lHEM9uUZhN5l8T4B1dzfTpsghFx2yUo7r6sqZtGnUlGVZGUouEpzmHbE0DnQGBxqA2xxdL/s320/May%20Pic1.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> School’s out for summer. But not forever. I remember
when I was a kid and looked forward to summer vacation, and
then realized that it meant more chores, and getting bored, and
by the end of the summer I was excited for school to start again!
Now that I’m a parent with a home office, I still kind of feel the
same way. The kids are home! When do they go back!
We spend the month of May bringing school to a close.
Justin got a pie in the face on Field Day (that was a popular item
in our silent auction), standardized testing meant that the kids
were an absolute disaster in the evening, and shortened
schedules made everything feel pretty dysregulated. Now that
we’re all settling into the summer routine, it’s kind of exciting. </p><p> The kids have a whole mess of camps to attend. Justin is
the missionary speaker at a camp in the St. Louis area in July. One of the integration projects that Justin
has been working/waiting on with Salesforce is basically finished, so we get to move forward to some
more exciting stuff in that realm. There are lots of new churches to speak and share with, we are still
trying to get our support back up to goal (Pray for that, it takes a good chunk of Justin’s time that he’d
rather be spending doing other ministry). In a week Justin is officiating a funeral for his dad, which is
going to be difficult. Pray that the gospel is clearly communicated. </p><p> Last week we went on a “date” and had supper at a local restaurant owned by Iraqi people. The
food was great, and it was interesting to see how the owner went from being non-interactive with us at
the beginning, to being excited that these Christians were so interested in their home and culture and
language and religion and food. Did you know that Iraqis put sweet pickles in their Shawarma? We were
a bit surprised to find it, bit that’s how we started the conversation with the waitress who said “Oh,
Iraqis put sweet pickles in everything!” We also knew some of the same people from the local mosque,
overall it was a good connection to make. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgMcA0rzjIXV_3lwQfD3qjx-o5hGfulSQeau5NFzmtNVYKXoxPOdwHs6B5R-nkT5B6BrG6K4WQKMNKIYqWWrfDxW4Kv4ltk3bUQMOA7uJM7_Lnfq8C2s_hx_X4s_Q3b6DVtP-PY2eKzrrI9xyQoHOo61safzcXREPLWHobPwzZx7TgDIoysdOTsaxhkOW/s375/May%20Pic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="282" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgMcA0rzjIXV_3lwQfD3qjx-o5hGfulSQeau5NFzmtNVYKXoxPOdwHs6B5R-nkT5B6BrG6K4WQKMNKIYqWWrfDxW4Kv4ltk3bUQMOA7uJM7_Lnfq8C2s_hx_X4s_Q3b6DVtP-PY2eKzrrI9xyQoHOo61safzcXREPLWHobPwzZx7TgDIoysdOTsaxhkOW/s320/May%20Pic2.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> Cute story time: Two weeks ago Justin got to church early for security, and Amy and the kids
ended up not making it for various reasons. When I (Justin) got home from church, Ezekiel had written a
sermon, and he and Caleb picked songs and made communion so we could have church at home…and
then Ezekiel preached a sermon on forgiveness! I remember
most of what he said but I was a little emotional and forgot to
write down notes! </p><p> Thanks for keeping up with and praying for us. If you
haven’t heard from us lately and would like to (especially if you
want me to come to your church) reach out and let me know! </p><p>Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Cul</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-2781859864215204862023-04-28T11:07:00.001-07:002023-07-06T11:11:25.671-07:00April 28, 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7qLzz1lDzA9XTmZZ5RfERFqbiN-ufgWuf52d8dxTAPJf5NvHgqRnXlwwG8oi1soJJSDVN9y_crr4HLJeUh00UWcG2ecgY_9AFozypeIcgIn9zdyYJB37pwqcDHFiNrZd2ESosjeLCSXc7t8nuVKhu3f2xJOmqENyUJYekL8whp_oGTZJvao7KWWHVUSM/s363/April%20Pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="272" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7qLzz1lDzA9XTmZZ5RfERFqbiN-ufgWuf52d8dxTAPJf5NvHgqRnXlwwG8oi1soJJSDVN9y_crr4HLJeUh00UWcG2ecgY_9AFozypeIcgIn9zdyYJB37pwqcDHFiNrZd2ESosjeLCSXc7t8nuVKhu3f2xJOmqENyUJYekL8whp_oGTZJvao7KWWHVUSM/s320/April%20Pic1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> <i>For
you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have
received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of
God..” Romans 5:15-16</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> In the
past month, I’ve been remined about the reality of spiritual warfare, the
goodness of God, and exhaustion. It all
started the day I received a phone call about my dad dying. He has been an alcoholic longer than I’ve
been alive. I’ve seen him homeless, and
in other ways having to live with the outcome of his addictions. I’ve shared the gospel with him, others have
cared for him and shared the gospel with him, at one point he even “got saved”
but then fell back into his old lifestyle, and then one day a few weeks ago he
was found in his apartment surrounded by empty bottles.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> A few
weeks later at the kids’ school, we had our yearly spring fundraiser
event. It is the biggest source of
scholarship funds for the school, but involves lots and lots of work to get it
going. This year we had a committee of
already busy people who were stressed that the event just wasn’t going to
happen, or wasn’t going to be as fruitful as it has been in the past, but we
decided to do what we could do while remembering the things that are real
priorities in our lives. Last Saturday
the event happened, it was fun and everybody I have talked to loved it, and the
proceeds were actually more than last year.<o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"> This
week I had a plan to get caught up on calling some of you, calling new churches
where I want to go and speak about Encountering Muslims and our own
fundraising. I started the week by
changing the oil in my truck and found a broken spring shackle on the rear end,
rendering the thing undrivable until I can get it fixed. That day was a whole day of trying to arrange
another vehicle to drive, which a brother from church was able to provide. Today I was just reflecting on how much this
reminds me of working in Lohutok! <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGigXsiAhbuCtsGOJtQwDmIU8z_4jXJZhdkzuISrQiLyE0fZ1hAo12TAbkcBQevY0hL_9e9jrcDwTm5dQSuwr4QsUWlTtvIFPf4_VMzdp0zOiqJwOxMbThmZI4_3sUopbEFdwKvZiWMp8PGik95q1fOE1wcObsb-4sddnv4SAe-dvSDLyWIzKF1Nz1c0_/s363/April%20Pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="272" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGigXsiAhbuCtsGOJtQwDmIU8z_4jXJZhdkzuISrQiLyE0fZ1hAo12TAbkcBQevY0hL_9e9jrcDwTm5dQSuwr4QsUWlTtvIFPf4_VMzdp0zOiqJwOxMbThmZI4_3sUopbEFdwKvZiWMp8PGik95q1fOE1wcObsb-4sddnv4SAe-dvSDLyWIzKF1Nz1c0_/s320/April%20Pic1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p> <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I
spoke at River Oaks Church a couple of weekends ago, and Pastor Larry said,
“God used twelve years in South Sudan to prepare Justin for the ministry he is
doing today.”</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I kind of chuckled about
having never seen it that way before, but man he’s right.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">People die while others grieve and need help,
busyness just keeps going on and cars break… But the gospel is still there, and
still needed, and we are the ones who have it.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In the midst of all of this chaos, when giving up seems like an
attractive option, the Lord still has a heart for the nations, the nations are
still on our doorstep, and He is still providing opportunities all the time for
mobilizing churches and taking the gospel to the unreached.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Thanks for reading, praying, keeping up.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-7827567308477877102023-03-26T11:04:00.001-07:002023-07-06T11:07:49.256-07:00March 26, 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislB-K6Rd-4N6cYnnWn_xBZLeYutPfyCKwG9asBErIPT83Ihvdb6dRPdo_BDzvrtHST6Mh01DwZACvkSOP4y989d4ZIdZTHSXUCq23GHARAKS70XDNmHU0Gs_YklQDEHeg4xKNaHiGKW9gHtxPJz4LsxDaM2PPTpOKarQdbV-0I6aDdcppSEFS6E-4hSom/s323/March%20Pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="243" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislB-K6Rd-4N6cYnnWn_xBZLeYutPfyCKwG9asBErIPT83Ihvdb6dRPdo_BDzvrtHST6Mh01DwZACvkSOP4y989d4ZIdZTHSXUCq23GHARAKS70XDNmHU0Gs_YklQDEHeg4xKNaHiGKW9gHtxPJz4LsxDaM2PPTpOKarQdbV-0I6aDdcppSEFS6E-4hSom/s320/March%20Pic1.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Caleb's science project - Baking Soda rockets.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">How does adjusting the amounts of reactants affect propulsion?<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Where is the wise man?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where is the scribe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where is the
debater of this age?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Has not God made
foolish the wisdom of the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… For
consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the
world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to
shame the things which are strong… 1 Corinthians 1:20, 26-27</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> Last month I had a bunch of exciting things to write
about. This month has been all about
travel and kids. My time is usually
split between a few different roles.
Some days I’m a programmer, some days I’m a teacher, some days I’m an
evangelist, some days I’m a fundraiser, some days I’m a librarian and some days
I’m just the stay-at-home parent. If you
see our prayer calendars, you may know that one of my biggest priorities right
now is getting our support level back up to where it needs to be. Since our transition to US-based ministry for
a season, and the current economic issues that people are facing, we’ve lost
some donors and have been using a bit of reserve every month. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For me
that means lots of phone calls, visiting new churches and re-visiting churches
who know us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This last month, the
fundraising activity sort of took off and used up a good part of my time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spoke in 4 churches and had 12 meetings
with pastors, supporters and potential donors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I also went to a donor development training, the kids had their spring
break (which involved Ezekiel and me going to Mississippi) and then Amy had her
spring break (on a different week) and traveled to visit family in
Georgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s exciting to get some
momentum going in the world of fundraising, but today I sat here and said,
“What am I going to write about?!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhr4UrsO2gdULRRcv7Gn_TAtY8pFR4EuObxnr1ap5ODPPQiDwhlh-6sjz-8p-y1_sCSZWDCdby4PUIDRDrstF8UHUf1uoLJWcgod6p8XHe1xR2s4R3xSwCoYFYOqgEwV_I1U2cvV9Wg63TAf4Pglf-7wHF1urbrLa3FMHEw60YvdcouBe3fJiTaGiKRGSl/s539/March%20Pic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="539" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhr4UrsO2gdULRRcv7Gn_TAtY8pFR4EuObxnr1ap5ODPPQiDwhlh-6sjz-8p-y1_sCSZWDCdby4PUIDRDrstF8UHUf1uoLJWcgod6p8XHe1xR2s4R3xSwCoYFYOqgEwV_I1U2cvV9Wg63TAf4Pglf-7wHF1urbrLa3FMHEw60YvdcouBe3fJiTaGiKRGSl/s320/March%20Pic2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Ezekiel presenting his science project.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Which lego car will travel the farthest when being propelled by a balloon?</div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a few things developing that I am excited about,
but not ready to shout from the mountaintops until they’re a little more
certain. I went to Columbia a couple of
weeks ago to take Basic Archery Instructor training for possible use with
refugees, and then had an amazing person donate a bunch of the equipment that
we will need to get that started. You
can be sure I’ll write more about that when there is more information to share.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> The kids had their science fair, Ezekiel’s Sunday school
teacher told us how impressive and engaging he is in class, Ezekiel made honor
roll, Caleb has injured himself 4 times this month, the boys have injured each
other a few times. Caleb turns seven in
a few days, his birthday party is coming up.
Thanks for keeping up with and praying for us!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-71457420257236449362023-02-27T10:58:00.001-08:002023-07-06T11:03:43.158-07:00February 27, 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcVIIzWI37OOhrLlS4MoFGsSPy7vHlP3BlI7ixMdj-T35x_4XWIvXxieL_XN1PwaVpIcMCBA9hOdSVPIWc0Vpznf3cAYm57X8wya940UU6Y_ccTcyTxgkq85FkR7JjoIVX_QxPV-2r8HGrX9diZDQwg2tDXkRJJGxP_0cZYTKuxjkMA1A1t9CBn4VrvGRn/s525/February%20Pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="525" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcVIIzWI37OOhrLlS4MoFGsSPy7vHlP3BlI7ixMdj-T35x_4XWIvXxieL_XN1PwaVpIcMCBA9hOdSVPIWc0Vpznf3cAYm57X8wya940UU6Y_ccTcyTxgkq85FkR7JjoIVX_QxPV-2r8HGrX9diZDQwg2tDXkRJJGxP_0cZYTKuxjkMA1A1t9CBn4VrvGRn/s320/February%20Pic1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This month Ezekiel won the JOY Award at school.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">His teacher talked about how much he cares for other people and loves Jesus!</div><br /><p><br /></p><p> Some of you have asked me recently why I don’t write
newsletters as often as I used to. I honestly had to look back and realize
that it’s been almost 2 months since I’ve written! Our lives feel like a
constant whirlwind of activity and yet sometimes it feels like there’s just
nothing to write about in a newsletter! </p><p> 2023 has, so far, been a year with lots of learning. Amy is taking
teaching classes at Missouri State, Justin is constantly up against things
that he needs to know for the programming part of his job, and then
having to learn new things for there. Lately, on that front, it’s been
HTML and Javascript, which are necessary for making Salesforce work properly for our team, but I don’t think
most of you want to hear about my struggle with Document Object Models! </p><p> There has been some exciting stuff happening here lately. I (Justin) have been doing a lot of church calling and trying to get out to share the ministry we’re now called to. I’ve talked to quite a few churches about
the importance of changing the way we think about reaching Muslims with the gospel. I’m also working on a
few ways to partner with some of our local refugee ministries to use the resources and skills I have for that
work. </p><p> Last weekend I made a trip to St. Louis to visit some churches. In 3 days I visited four churches, and still
had time to meet a co-worker who lives in the area. Here was a guy I’ve met through online classes and zoom
calls, but never in person, so knowing nothing about who he is or what he does, I reached out to have coffee.
Coffee didn’t happen, instead he invited me to a meeting for Perspectives alumni where he was the speaker. I
heard him tell an amazing story about how small the world is becoming (we use the word “glocal”). My friend,
who spends time wondering whether playing video games with his Muslim friend in St. Louis should count as
“work hours” told us how that relationship led to him being in Bosnia, during that big earthquake a few weeks
ago, in that very city where the earthquake happened, with the parents and siblings of his friend in St. Louis. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlQ4tWnMtwwVhWpvJF29-31Lw3jifrDu8_NEE7hAlNGJlp8-4imrZqxszsF5NK7wIoW0cviDwO3JVg0FUrm4rzxDwgy4569Zt9VHOP8r-2quAlepN6KQENnpNX4euHDGYThOXVyI6uNWAaIPXQcTSsWrt1MTKcfpo8H5dbZ8O479XSAvJl1kouTgHHKd5/s306/February%20Pic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="230" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlQ4tWnMtwwVhWpvJF29-31Lw3jifrDu8_NEE7hAlNGJlp8-4imrZqxszsF5NK7wIoW0cviDwO3JVg0FUrm4rzxDwgy4569Zt9VHOP8r-2quAlepN6KQENnpNX4euHDGYThOXVyI6uNWAaIPXQcTSsWrt1MTKcfpo8H5dbZ8O479XSAvJl1kouTgHHKd5/s1600/February%20Pic2.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We also did the Family Timber Challenge this month</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We were the last ones to finish because the kids had to do every lane of every element!</div><br /><p><br /></p><p> Taking time to love someone and forge a friendship that wouldn’t
“normally” happen meant that the relatives of this immigrant Muslim man had
their lives be literally saved by their son’s Christian American friend who helped
them find a place to stay (It was 30 degrees and raining when the earthquake
destroyed the entire city). Now that family is forever related to missionaries
who speak their language, love Jesus, and love them as well. </p><p> Sometimes our work seems tedious, but days like that remind me why
I’m here and why it’s all worth it. Thanks for praying for us! </p><p>Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-61864521256138979172022-12-16T10:47:00.001-08:002023-07-06T10:57:54.683-07:00December 16, 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66xC-vdf0uLc8ZAikqBSiP2rWRMzDAN5ugvZRkvRYNuyymIwQeVgKBs-Ozm-5b2GqMquyijoNYJwj5zCeOSKv-YjIeThZ94WlL2CmTHfhrm5pFBTgj6MWr_EMT7Myc6BHY7gHcio0xjEYOhAc19YrRc-PHkPiA_DWsZKqWSnfItviFYZkemMHKB0EwCZG/s415/December%20Pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66xC-vdf0uLc8ZAikqBSiP2rWRMzDAN5ugvZRkvRYNuyymIwQeVgKBs-Ozm-5b2GqMquyijoNYJwj5zCeOSKv-YjIeThZ94WlL2CmTHfhrm5pFBTgj6MWr_EMT7Myc6BHY7gHcio0xjEYOhAc19YrRc-PHkPiA_DWsZKqWSnfItviFYZkemMHKB0EwCZG/s320/December%20Pic1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><i>He chose us in him before the foundation of the world to
be holy and blameless in his sight. In
love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace
which he has freely given us in the One he loves.</i> Ephesians 1:4-6</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I
think about the season of Advent, the word that always comes to my mind is
“waiting.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not a word that evokes
feelings of firelight and presents or food and family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my kids are begging me to go somewhere
or do something, the last word they want to hear is “wait.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spent all this past week at the school
book fair, and my son wanted a different new thing every day, and he always
looked crushed when I said “Wait until the end and then we’ll decide.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also hard pressed to think of an adult
that I now who enjoys being told to wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think patience is a fruit of the Spirit because it's one of those
things that doesn’t come to us naturally.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And yet,
waiting seems to be God’s modus operandi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the One who is Eternally present, waiting makes sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How miserable would tomorrow be if everything
we ever wanted happened today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most
miserable people I know are the ones who have everything they thought they ever
wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Waiting</i> is also the
anticipation of a kid for Christmas morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s the excitement of a bride and groom who kept the wedding day
sacred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s finally enjoying the fruit
of your long labor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The joy of holding
your baby after hours or days of birth pains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In my
own life, “hurry up and wait” is like, on my to do list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Longing for people whom I love but am
separated from for a season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hoping for
the Lord to come through in so many areas of life, family, ministry,
finance…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The temptation is to think that
if God doesn’t answer me right now, according to my time, it’s probably never
going to happen and everything is hopeless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But then that small voice reminds me that I’ve been saved from hopelessness
because I serve a God who authors hope, fulfills hope, and designs hope for my
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without that icky word <i>waiting</i>,
there is no such thing as hope!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Joseph
overcame betrayal, slavery, false imprisonment and literally just being
forgotten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kids books and movies
don’t do justice to the decades of waiting he experienced, and yet after all of
the victories seemed won, his grandchildren spent 400 years as slaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many generations of Israelites were born
as slaves in Egypt, lived their entire lives as slaves in Egypt, and died as
slaves in Egypt without ever seeing the outcome of their suffering?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many of them felt like God had simply
forgotten about them?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God
eventually called Moses to lead them out, but to what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kings lived and died, and eventually the Israelites were led into exile,
more waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophets were silent
for another 300 or so years…more hopeless generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But without waiting there’s no place for
hope.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paul
said that before the world was founded, we were chosen <i>In Christ</i> to be
holy and blameless, adopted to sonship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s worth waiting for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Israelites learned and proved that “holy and blameless” is impossible to
achieve on our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Lord knew
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He predestined us to the adoption
that Christ made possible…before the world was even founded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he can do that, working through thousands
of years of…<i>waiting</i>…what am I so worried about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_kU9x023aadCSIyHxkaGYt0mv3tn2eZKyfL-EtkwrgnsopqmgVOR6LzvoYH672hYMFeVVvDtyifbEEkWASRLBOufg2_2S288U4nqITTDxxIR9t2Dv_8Xh3Du13KO0dROHF5lH7gWIXoLaauOaUd_zamLIcuL5nqdB99pDsuQN99FMf_iD-RC-Tilm4T-/s415/December%20Pic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_kU9x023aadCSIyHxkaGYt0mv3tn2eZKyfL-EtkwrgnsopqmgVOR6LzvoYH672hYMFeVVvDtyifbEEkWASRLBOufg2_2S288U4nqITTDxxIR9t2Dv_8Xh3Du13KO0dROHF5lH7gWIXoLaauOaUd_zamLIcuL5nqdB99pDsuQN99FMf_iD-RC-Tilm4T-/s320/December%20Pic2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /> When I
think about the season of Advent, the word that always comes to my mind is
“waiting.” Not because Christmas is just
miserable and reminds me of the perceived misery of waiting, but because this
is the season where we remember that, after thousands of years of waiting and
hundreds of years of absolute silence, God finally broke through the barrier
and entered His creation to be with us and fulfill that adoption that was
predestined before the foundation of the world.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Waiting
feels miserable for limited, impatient, fallen people, but hope fulfilled is
worth the wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ is here, He’s not
a baby anymore, He satisfied your debt and freely offers you His perfect
righteousness, He inaugurated your adoption plan, He promises to end it all
with something even better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Merry
Christmas, following Christ is worth the wait.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp<o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-77777608467378012762022-09-30T22:00:00.001-07:002022-10-01T09:07:36.506-07:00September 27, 2022<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRV7J7V2ZGHBMNo-re__J-jTzjH_CzA-XzsEcOE4rWn7I0e2D-NLJHavsSmt3BuhGJeDSgcWLVSWIOnHT7x5MIgSSjqRWFBTWG5hrxtzgFVY_6mq2lOk1O9e5hfkA2UjKBRwt-omvWEgXmeEb3S8MIP1MQQ9iIhg4pQfPTOucHb9C-y3iKAABKnVC3Q/s415/20220902_113931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRV7J7V2ZGHBMNo-re__J-jTzjH_CzA-XzsEcOE4rWn7I0e2D-NLJHavsSmt3BuhGJeDSgcWLVSWIOnHT7x5MIgSSjqRWFBTWG5hrxtzgFVY_6mq2lOk1O9e5hfkA2UjKBRwt-omvWEgXmeEb3S8MIP1MQQ9iIhg4pQfPTOucHb9C-y3iKAABKnVC3Q/s320/20220902_113931.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p> I’ve been to more than twenty countries around the
world, and every state east of Kansas City, but I’ve never
been west of Wichita and Salina, KS. I’ve also driven
through a few mountains but, apart from the small hills in
Lohutok, have never spent time in mountains outside of a
vehicle. Labor Day weekend, Amy had a friend getting
married in St. Louis and I had the chance to go to a
conference in Estes Park. The kids came to Colorado with
me and it was an exciting weekend. </p><p><br /></p><p> The conference was an event for Merge and Vision 5:9,
which is an association of missions organizations who have
the goal of reaching the Muslim diaspora in the USA with
the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great chance to meet
people from other places in the USA who are involved in
the same kind of work. We got to talk about different
approaches and strategies, network with people who
would be interested in the training course our team provides, make some fun new friends, and connect
with some old friends. I even got to talk to some people about ways to use CRM to improve
processes…the boring stuff that I do now. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmuRcxpxRM1bqeJNW5IH_YSN9TFc1ofiX4QDYkHJQX1wmwBl_hTbXHBz3vBroV2WRSNJD8RKWeFnUm2V3PPRSN5svBAi-2HUrrQvhQ0lsKYjbqodMhcVHwYOka_ykOYJKjqg-Ly-GzVvOqXrDEau6koNYEt7wL2QfdFjKr1KCXien2j48ZDOjAsinZw/s415/20220925_165022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmuRcxpxRM1bqeJNW5IH_YSN9TFc1ofiX4QDYkHJQX1wmwBl_hTbXHBz3vBroV2WRSNJD8RKWeFnUm2V3PPRSN5svBAi-2HUrrQvhQ0lsKYjbqodMhcVHwYOka_ykOYJKjqg-Ly-GzVvOqXrDEau6koNYEt7wL2QfdFjKr1KCXien2j48ZDOjAsinZw/s320/20220925_165022.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> The kids are back in school full swing, Amy’s working as a para, I’m learning a new software and
networking with churches to talk about Muslim ministry. I’m also volunteering as the librarian at the
kids’ school (Don’t I strike you as a librarian? Haha). I’m speaking at churches and trying to get people
involved in reaching the Muslims around them, and also trying to get our support back up. Other than
that, these newsletters are hard to write because life just
feels…boring! </p><p><br /></p><p> Thank you so much for keeping up with us, our
calendars, praying and caring. We couldn’t do this without
you!
</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-10490039753273077202022-07-21T22:00:00.016-07:002022-07-22T11:48:38.629-07:00July 28, 2022<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8p2xACw03v7nSSqBPbtOl5ctjykQI6Pl7uIfthu6k-0bnqHgt-xklg8Un8b6_c_gxV-M4-NtmI0kCmbEM8mlu207rBy9Q8sH-kC7ORWi5VYuy_adnpujYLOsaaMuQTSI_gEKiiJYGNPho5Qd_wjW8Uxr31gewCrmjrqwlrxcZl2yKcqD7TG5jmx3tYw/s412/20220705_192343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="412" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8p2xACw03v7nSSqBPbtOl5ctjykQI6Pl7uIfthu6k-0bnqHgt-xklg8Un8b6_c_gxV-M4-NtmI0kCmbEM8mlu207rBy9Q8sH-kC7ORWi5VYuy_adnpujYLOsaaMuQTSI_gEKiiJYGNPho5Qd_wjW8Uxr31gewCrmjrqwlrxcZl2yKcqD7TG5jmx3tYw/s320/20220705_192343.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>I introduced the boys to Star Wars…Now they have a
whole new set of games to play hahaha. I went to the
supper table one night and saw this</b></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p> Do you ever wonder if you’re really accomplishing anything? I
do. Do you ever feel like the Lord has put you in a place where
everything you are supposed to be doing is something you just
aren’t good at or equipped for? I do. Sometimes the Lord gives
us little glimpses of what He is doing, but not always. When I
read where Paul was told “My grace is sufficient for you, My
power is made perfect in weakness” I’m like…yeah that’s good
for Paul who knew deep down that he wasn’t really
weak…right? When I think of the Apostle Paul, weak is the last
thing that comes to mind, but I’m starting to think that Paul
probably saw himself differently. Maybe when he talked about
only boasting in the cross, he wasn’t just speaking platitudes
because he knew he could take credit for so much more…he really did feel like he didn’t deserve credit for
anything. </p><p> In the past few weeks I’ve been struck with the degree to which I really don’t feel qualified for anything
that I’m doing right now! I’ve had seasons where I’ve thought “Wow, now THIS is what I was made for” but this
is not one of those seasons. Pretty much every area of responsibility I have today involves a steep learning
curve, and it’s hard to find a place to stand! </p><p> Last week I was working on SalesForce, which is part of what I am doing for our new Pioneers team.
When I talked to one of their nonprofit employees who helps people get started, he said “Most nonprofits I talk
to don’t have somebody with your level of understanding” and it felt like he was either trying to be nice…or
saying they all know more than I do! </p><p> Later that week, while running errands with the boys in the car, I was listening to a book called Seeking
Allah, Finding Jesus. Here I am today as a student in the course that I should eventually be able to lead, and the
author of this book was one of the speakers in the course material. The boys were in the backseat playing as I
listened to the book, and then all of a sudden Ezekiel said “Dad can you pause this?” I thought he was getting
bored with it, but he had actually been listening and wanted to clarify that he was hearing it right! People
actually believe that Jesus is the Messiah, Word of God, sinless, born of a
virgin, coming back to judge the world, and yet ISN’T God and didn’t die for
sins? I got very little work done that day because Ezekiel spent 3-4 hours
listening, stopping, asking questions, backing up to listen some more, and
comprehending things that so many adults have trouble with. </p><p> Are you in Christ? If you are, God is not inactive. In his
immutability, he is so infinitely active that He could never be more or less
so. Despite our weakness, insecurity and failure, God chose to use you,
and me, for His
kingdom…believe it or not.
Justin Culp</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiy7sxcA24Y3bxdz3zJftORgNoW4UReiLNwZUy4cWQRr45nBGQwMmZRaO8gqGVV9vPKpkaKUhjYRsy3caPAbz3bpazRRlXEGzilMu1s2RH4ZVB-S6MwjE2YD1AoXp6XH5wJFZ45TD4xiXNLrJUSyKsjajQnZLQZp65a-oH5UsPG7sERybY8-7WTFRPVA/s411/20220705_195302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiy7sxcA24Y3bxdz3zJftORgNoW4UReiLNwZUy4cWQRr45nBGQwMmZRaO8gqGVV9vPKpkaKUhjYRsy3caPAbz3bpazRRlXEGzilMu1s2RH4ZVB-S6MwjE2YD1AoXp6XH5wJFZ45TD4xiXNLrJUSyKsjajQnZLQZp65a-oH5UsPG7sERybY8-7WTFRPVA/s320/20220705_195302.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-88567753221914630752022-06-24T22:00:00.001-07:002022-06-25T14:11:31.292-07:00June 28, 2022<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIh5D-73DbrlKpwfL9ePDn3qoT6KCd_ThXyQFvf3kd0Dodpvc9y-ImQGqXJxEEv7DlB3cZbbtFrfyIjP8hUc8qtoixD8riX0O9RjFsXOk9zpKh_uTc9ehdS3UZSl_O9ovELOWK0_KbvbQJGL91Wn3poNv-NmLv290tUfRHn8RRFmZ6_EXanDx28Oi4mQ/s422/20220620_120619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIh5D-73DbrlKpwfL9ePDn3qoT6KCd_ThXyQFvf3kd0Dodpvc9y-ImQGqXJxEEv7DlB3cZbbtFrfyIjP8hUc8qtoixD8riX0O9RjFsXOk9zpKh_uTc9ehdS3UZSl_O9ovELOWK0_KbvbQJGL91Wn3poNv-NmLv290tUfRHn8RRFmZ6_EXanDx28Oi4mQ/s320/20220620_120619.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> What would it mean to you to “get your life right”? If you woke up one morning and said “Finally, I’ve gotten my life right, now I can follow God.” What would it take for you to be able to say that? </p><br /> This is part of a conversation I had this week when I was selling off one of our used vehicles. I listed the vehicle for sale online and 3 hours later I was riding in the passenger seat with a man who wanted to buy it. He asked me what I did for a living and I told him, and he said “Man I just can’t get away from you church people.” I asked him what he meant and he started tearing up, telling me about problems at work and home. I offered to pray for him and he said “I know what I need to do, I just need to get my life right, I’ve got a lot of problems.” <br /><br /> I asked my new friend what he meant and he said “I just have to stop doing some stuff.” When I asked him what he had to stop doing he just got kind of uncomfortable. I said “Can I help you with that?” He said sure, and I explained the gospel to him. The gospel is not “get my life right and God will accept me.” If someone preaches that to you, that person is preaching a false gospel. Jesus condescended himself to humanity so that he could fully and completely bear the sin, sorrow and shame of mankind. Those who hear the gospel and turn from their sin to follow Christ and faith are consequently hidden in Christ with God. That means that all of the righteousness and obedience that belonged to Jesus when God looked down from heaven and said “This is my son in whom I am well pleased” belongs to you if you belong to Christ. <br /><br /> Those sins that you need to “make right” are wrong and harmful and worth getting rid of, but trying to do it by your own strength in order to “get your life right” is like a snake eating his own tail. Jesus makes you righteous, Jesus gives you the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit gives you the conviction and power (through those sufferings and trials of life, work, church, family, and so on) to have victory over sin and shame as you rely more and more on Him to redeem your utter wickedness. That’s the gospel. That’s why we do what we do. That’s why we get up every morning. That’s why all of this is worth it.<br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1F1XB3JdMS-jUF-SRWtlSblE4z_yect43gRQFaz5Wme9pD6FXm7ChSap82t3hEOzFoAxJYHOjUTuuiY32r64RF7YKmT4czpw-k04H5f_T20v_lxBwbsV5pzrKvOmhJxElO99UU46ulgyNfiGkZjqVjMD937umSvA9m3ZlSvjndgXrNpZ6EZJ9yzf-bg/s456/20220620_131322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="342" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1F1XB3JdMS-jUF-SRWtlSblE4z_yect43gRQFaz5Wme9pD6FXm7ChSap82t3hEOzFoAxJYHOjUTuuiY32r64RF7YKmT4czpw-k04H5f_T20v_lxBwbsV5pzrKvOmhJxElO99UU46ulgyNfiGkZjqVjMD937umSvA9m3ZlSvjndgXrNpZ6EZJ9yzf-bg/s320/20220620_131322.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-32037897961340898732022-05-29T23:00:00.016-07:002022-05-30T13:56:30.345-07:00May 30, 2022 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFL4Z3QNtXcQcr2Q1LK1uPFVlKgu9PngauDDD-LJ_tVTpdIKfrKTxKi5eSCRwQx3pmVGCjISYl2UOJ0B3lzsXTffwMNrNeOWuLTdBtzmkkkLeWtasQFZImIcUVDHxFP6Qur0jTHu8ae9lntFqWsWzZCsMlDoplK4wOVpoK2G1Gspv6NNe9AU0ugeN6Lw/s530/20220517_191617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFL4Z3QNtXcQcr2Q1LK1uPFVlKgu9PngauDDD-LJ_tVTpdIKfrKTxKi5eSCRwQx3pmVGCjISYl2UOJ0B3lzsXTffwMNrNeOWuLTdBtzmkkkLeWtasQFZImIcUVDHxFP6Qur0jTHu8ae9lntFqWsWzZCsMlDoplK4wOVpoK2G1Gspv6NNe9AU0ugeN6Lw/s320/20220517_191617.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> It was fifty degrees outside and Amy, Ezekiel and I were
standing in Smithville Lake with a couple of hundred people
watching. We didn’t get very many pictures because we were
all in the water, so I don’t have any to share here, but it’s
probably the coolest thing that happened since I wrote to you
last. I asked Ezekiel why he wanted to be baptized and he said,
“I am repenting and believing in Jesus and I want everyone to
know about it.” </div><div><br /></div><div> The last couple of months have flown by. I’ve been
learning a new program for my new role with Pioneers, taking a
course on Islam, proofreading another one, helping with field
trips, speaking in churches, making hundreds of phone calls to
potential supporters and churches, speaking in some churches
both familiar and new, working on our house and cars, and
more! The kids and Amy are done with school for the summer, we don’t have any big plans to travel.
Amy is working on come continuing education/certification that she needs and we’re looking into other
needs that we are working on as a family but are harder to do during the school year. </div><div><br /></div><div> The past few weeks I’ve been taking the online Encountering the World of Islam course. We are
currently in lesson 4 out of 12. I’ve been meditating this week on the shame and disgrace of the cross
and the humility to which Christ calls us when He says “If anyone wishes to come after me he must deny
himself, take up his cross and follow me.” The cross is a hard concept for Muslims to grasp because
honor and shame are so important. Who could believe that God would shame his prophet like that? </div><div><br /></div><div> Even further, just thinking about honor and shame when witnessing to Muslim friends, it’s a
hard thing to do effectively. We frequently listen to someone talk about what we believe as if it’s
ridiculous and silly, and we are ridiculous and silly for believing it… I don’t like being talked to that way
and I want to answer in kind, but can I communicate the gospel
without attacking back? Can I accept the shame without
shaming in return? I’m not very good at being insulted without
defending myself, but that’s exactly what Jesus did. He bore
our sin without ever coming to His own defense and thereby
took our sorrows, shame, grief and sin on Himself so that we
could have eternal life. I have a long way to go, how about
you? </div><div><br /></div><div> Thanks for keeping up with us and praying. Feel free to reply
to this email if you want to communicate with us! </div><div><br /></div><div>Justin, Amy,
Ezekiel and
Caleb</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhru4iGSIyNGmt5qlsX4qHdOBnTjOTRFaxf0oBtwyAqZxoEq93zJ8PuQ-9cCSWzgOBvYlMglr80Q6viYFg2NMT_6rEG6pmBkNUNmybR2V0CwAPEBcdZ614qhkmbrSdNygWxoPvzpUc7p1Ch1_bIWdGQalXne95HkN-FDsNzwK6oAip0IOcVURStlK21GA/s530/20220517_192035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhru4iGSIyNGmt5qlsX4qHdOBnTjOTRFaxf0oBtwyAqZxoEq93zJ8PuQ-9cCSWzgOBvYlMglr80Q6viYFg2NMT_6rEG6pmBkNUNmybR2V0CwAPEBcdZ614qhkmbrSdNygWxoPvzpUc7p1Ch1_bIWdGQalXne95HkN-FDsNzwK6oAip0IOcVURStlK21GA/s320/20220517_192035.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-14688578265653361402022-03-27T22:00:00.001-07:002022-03-28T11:39:17.974-07:00March 28, 2022<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjferypWAPwqDhXwb1R3763VbGWLCovEZFiL9LhVpCmQP4L6YQTcZy8bLbLaAOXkYunbXA584buU0cmgo8Y2I9vFeZLQ_WAz0GdiZNNRnrh3TrICkvTLndFNyPjTEAdnWjX44zhCdmAltDSbb93tz4Z0lqdRSVPW9VNx_odMIZQDtGSQxfbt_lHkYhOqg/s225/20220314_143208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="225" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjferypWAPwqDhXwb1R3763VbGWLCovEZFiL9LhVpCmQP4L6YQTcZy8bLbLaAOXkYunbXA584buU0cmgo8Y2I9vFeZLQ_WAz0GdiZNNRnrh3TrICkvTLndFNyPjTEAdnWjX44zhCdmAltDSbb93tz4Z0lqdRSVPW9VNx_odMIZQDtGSQxfbt_lHkYhOqg/s1600/20220314_143208.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><span><div style="text-align: center;"> If you know, you know</div></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p>A few weeks ago we were getting ready to have
our nightly family Bible time. Amy and Ezekiel were
still getting ready, so it was just Caleb and me in the
living room. I asked Caleb, “If Jesus came back to
Earth right now, do you think you would go to
heaven?” He said yes. I asked him why and he said
“Because Jesus died for our sins.” I said “For
everybody’s sins?” He said yes. I said “So everybody
gets to go to heaven?” He said “No, only people who
repent and believe in Jesus.” I said “Have you
repented?” He said “Well, yes I did…” and I said “So
when you stand in front of God, are you going to have sin?” He said no. I asked him why and he said “I
repented.” Then I said “Have you sinned since you repented?” He said “Well obviously.” I said “So
what about that sin?” </p><p>He paused for a while and then said “I don’t know.”
I got my Bible out to start Bible time because Ezekiel had joined us, but Ezekiel stopped me and
said “Daddy can I try?” I said sure, and Ezekiel said something like this: When Jesus died and rose from
the dead, He had victory over sin and death. When I repent and believe in Jesus, He isn’t just forgiving
my old sins, it’s like when God looks at me instead of seeing my sin, He sees Jesus’ perfectness.” When I
finished crying, we had family Bible time. </p><p>I love that my nine-year-old already understands imputed righteousness better than a whole
bunch of people five times his age. Because Jesus’ perfect record is mine, I have the authority (and
responsibility) to preach the gospel regardless of what kind of morning I’ve had, or how ministry is
going, or how capable or dumb or strong or worthless I am feeling at the time. That’s been my
meditation for quite some time now.</p><p>I got back from Uganda and South Sudan at the beginning of March and then the kids had spring
break. I’ve started learning the new things I need to know for my role on the Encountering the World of
Islam team, and have been trying to get in touch with churches and others to find opportunities to share
and raise more support. Thank you all for praying for us
and keeping in touch. It means the world!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffqkSU0ZrUabJraE-gSoJtJxbSyOKm9i7EyAJPdPtDU_Lm5TvwXtUscnzscdNuAXHl9JhWeMXtuptZ-vJ8NA2Qgsi0ElUTqYHieWJFkEcKXaHHTs8rV8WxTKJ9RDSLhotp8WXPT2B19H6wJRGG6cdONWQExzErT6-0QiQoWJPz1DnIFhKgL9pheD-Vg/s225/20220314_151247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="225" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffqkSU0ZrUabJraE-gSoJtJxbSyOKm9i7EyAJPdPtDU_Lm5TvwXtUscnzscdNuAXHl9JhWeMXtuptZ-vJ8NA2Qgsi0ElUTqYHieWJFkEcKXaHHTs8rV8WxTKJ9RDSLhotp8WXPT2B19H6wJRGG6cdONWQExzErT6-0QiQoWJPz1DnIFhKgL9pheD-Vg/s1600/20220314_151247.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Would you vote for president Caleb?</div><p><br /></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-39273241983570724532022-02-28T11:58:00.014-08:002022-03-11T12:05:05.296-08:00February 28, 2022<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0lFg_BnjsR4gFSTl90Waom2tc-zqYiBbsLukGb7Ynnb8KLe6QIKnDcaw1XdNvYuRMfr7DyB8c1s4Y3d5KjS9hfNKCkcd-aCKfmZDr9lnVfa3H8dS6gUYp1pUSnWJOpsxljYN-W5S_QE0hjfRIR2SmMcZ0Nj-kk6JqiVq2Hg7RR0mOWp2qlE6d1v2Q-w=s545" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="545" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0lFg_BnjsR4gFSTl90Waom2tc-zqYiBbsLukGb7Ynnb8KLe6QIKnDcaw1XdNvYuRMfr7DyB8c1s4Y3d5KjS9hfNKCkcd-aCKfmZDr9lnVfa3H8dS6gUYp1pUSnWJOpsxljYN-W5S_QE0hjfRIR2SmMcZ0Nj-kk6JqiVq2Hg7RR0mOWp2qlE6d1v2Q-w=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Caleb made an
“Exploding Potion” for his school science fair this year.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">By now most of you know about the transition that we are
going through as a family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
extending our home assignment for a while to handle some educational and health
issues, and then adding “Maybe another few months” for a while, we were told
that we need to plan on spending a couple of years in the USA while we work
some of these things out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You can probably imagine
some of the range of emotions we’ve experienced during this process, other
experiences surrounding “re-entry” as it applies to relationships and everyday
life are a bit harder to relate to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
do appreciate all of the encouraging conversations we’ve had with our
supporters, and the time you spend keeping up with us and praying.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am writing this
newsletter from Uganda, I have been in Africa for the last few weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to come back and close down our
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anything we leave behind will get
destroyed by rats and termites, so most of my time was spent deciding what to
throw away, give away, sell away and pack away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was able to spend a few evenings having supper with other missionary
friends which was nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After twelve
years, these Germans, Kiwis and South Africans are people I can easily enjoy
and relate to, while at “home” it feels way more difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a few tearful goodbyes with Paul and
Michael and Teresa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I’m trying to
sell one last vehicle and getting ready for my flight back to Kansas City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I get back I will settle into a new role
within Pioneers on a team called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Encountering
the World of Islam</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will also be
reaching out to more churches for chances to share and hopefully replace some
of the donors that we’ve lost in the transition. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kids are enjoying their teachers and
classes at a Christian school that the Lord provided for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really is hard to see what’s next and know
what to write about in a newsletter!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7mcVA8yKo9_DkOB2lccGTnPqNgxTIduy11RlTS45emwWnEohx65fg4aVqfkf-Py7meeuEwW2TdYV69Ja6oQa11S5lyBKTyBmFVxq_6pAyPOf_k8kOvrknX5x-AItqrLZycP9MawRCQhV9O68XA5YC_gGqmWPTQB-ARq5DDD1ooy00GJma-mqAmFACyw=s634" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="475" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7mcVA8yKo9_DkOB2lccGTnPqNgxTIduy11RlTS45emwWnEohx65fg4aVqfkf-Py7meeuEwW2TdYV69Ja6oQa11S5lyBKTyBmFVxq_6pAyPOf_k8kOvrknX5x-AItqrLZycP9MawRCQhV9O68XA5YC_gGqmWPTQB-ARq5DDD1ooy00GJma-mqAmFACyw=s320" width="240" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For Ezekiel’s
science fair project his class did “Habitats.”
He chose savannah because that’s what we have in Lohutok. He was pretty proud of it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This morning I was reading
the Bible and I came to Psalm 13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
reading Psalms out loud and this one I just couldn’t get through!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started over again and again and was just
fascinated at the way that King David was saying the same thing that I’ve been
praying for months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it’s hard
to go from verse 4 to verse 5 (look it up <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
) but we know that in Christ we must!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
I am grieving the reality of leaving my friends and family behind for such a
long time, I’m trying to force myself to meditate on the truth of the
Gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No snakes, no stones…only good
gifts from a perfect and loving Father who is in Heaven.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Please pray for us as we
make this transition, talk about it with our kids, try to budget while
recovering from support loss, learn how to have meaningful Christian
relationships with people in the USA again, and work towards healing for future
ministry.<o:p></o:p></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-64845497199106739552021-11-27T12:11:00.001-08:002022-03-11T12:13:00.499-08:00November 27, 2021<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgR1ACma1CdSgdwLBZbN4MFt2noqmymtx4_6W4U_06P_Kw6ArIqV4mq3kyl0Jg9P6QSlPgWlxjF3lO1d01dTiIA1PtMyq5qdr32wdBMAieRiMX217E4ucywmvNvzRHUHWn_oUjt2VnG3VzJXjn-9ztsfzrbwiSP0CfiCQngV329y_tUj0STGegyoJ6xzw=s528" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="396" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgR1ACma1CdSgdwLBZbN4MFt2noqmymtx4_6W4U_06P_Kw6ArIqV4mq3kyl0Jg9P6QSlPgWlxjF3lO1d01dTiIA1PtMyq5qdr32wdBMAieRiMX217E4ucywmvNvzRHUHWn_oUjt2VnG3VzJXjn-9ztsfzrbwiSP0CfiCQngV329y_tUj0STGegyoJ6xzw=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Last
time I wrote with some big news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
months of praying about how the Lord would have us staying engaged in the Great
Commission during this season of rest and counseling, we were given a position
on a new Pioneers team, Encountering the World of Islam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t write last month because, to be
honest, it would have been boring!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Transitioning to a long-term stay in the USA and to a new team comes
with a whole range of excitement and other emotions, but for a while it is just…transitioning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve found a place to live that won’t
require moving every few months between missionary housing, a place we can keep
as long as we need it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This house required
a LOT of work, but we are here now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
(Justin) have also been contacting all of our supporters and churches to make
sure everyone is up to speed on what we are doing now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the transitional period has literally been
one of building, moving and calling people.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As I
write this the kids are playing in their new rooms, Amy is on her way back from
a trip to St. Louis, and I am working on a sermon to preach tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next few months I will be speaking in
various churches around Kansas City and St. Louis as we try to reconnect with our
partners and find new ones!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living in
the USA means a new budget, so we have some extra support to raise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since we’re updating all of our partners and
churches about the season of life God has given us there have been a few
partners who felt like their support should be sent elsewhere, so we don’t
really know how much more support we need until I’ve finished reaching everyone.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">If you haven’t heard from me yet,
please feel free to reach out to me, my phone number is at the bottom of this
letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am still working through our
list of supporters and trying to call all of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We really love and appreciate all of our
partners and have been humbled by how supportive most of you have been!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEht9thAiTR1Il6bR9CNxJ1WMK3XOLAX8tHT8dgqrrXVhByM_I7wj-QXEjmJWMXellOUx-NE03a1bH1yZf0oERxSTxc5Lo6YTgD-TdEm5sCL5ZTZTRAum61fIoMM_NMg64zr4Z7vDg58ni3cwFlApG2zUqjvMscQ9DC915ZvA42SCnk1bcP7Tl7RjR2YRA=s423" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="423" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEht9thAiTR1Il6bR9CNxJ1WMK3XOLAX8tHT8dgqrrXVhByM_I7wj-QXEjmJWMXellOUx-NE03a1bH1yZf0oERxSTxc5Lo6YTgD-TdEm5sCL5ZTZTRAum61fIoMM_NMg64zr4Z7vDg58ni3cwFlApG2zUqjvMscQ9DC915ZvA42SCnk1bcP7Tl7RjR2YRA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">If you’re interested in having me
come and visit your church, reply to this email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the prayer calendar I will list where I am
speaking on each Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look forward
to possibly seeing you!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I’m
writing this on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I rarely use newsletters for fundraising, but
with Giving Tuesday coming up, would you consider a monthly partnership or a
one-time gift to help our family in this new missions role? If you’re getting this as a letter, you can
use the enclosed envelope. If you’re
getting the email or facebook ad, just look for the giving link provided.</span></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-82679398331047663232021-09-20T12:05:00.001-07:002022-03-11T12:10:05.432-08:00September 20, 2021<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgV-s7iLLqcUQZoKaE5-2PTahcuz2E1h1cW83Cyd0MqREQ8KvDt59AXZbNf30omaOn8dC2t8EPP9QNOotTN_aInhR7RoZOjyxUsoZODw9NW3heci0Y0EzY8HrvJIvdNjbuan5Ord1GMHS3xpI0WgHxDUK2HxhWVzz8cuApT_zW2BKnVqBZ7_CZ4ZaUIDg=s250" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="250" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgV-s7iLLqcUQZoKaE5-2PTahcuz2E1h1cW83Cyd0MqREQ8KvDt59AXZbNf30omaOn8dC2t8EPP9QNOotTN_aInhR7RoZOjyxUsoZODw9NW3heci0Y0EzY8HrvJIvdNjbuan5Ord1GMHS3xpI0WgHxDUK2HxhWVzz8cuApT_zW2BKnVqBZ7_CZ4ZaUIDg" width="250" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p> Last
month I read a book called <i>The Imperfect
Disciple</i> by Jared C. Wilson. It was
kind of a last-minute, “I need something to read on this road trip” book, but
like so many other things that have happened with us in this line of work, it
was exactly what the Lord knew that I needed for the time and for what was
coming. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Most of
you know that, although we were planning to return to South Sudan and Uganda
last year, our home assignment was extended by many factors including Covid,
travel restrictions, counseling requirements, and educational needs for our kids. For the last year we have been focused on our
family’s mental health and healing, and I (Justin) have been working on the
pastor-training courses and making a few trips back to keep those things
moving.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> As we
have progressed through the counseling process and helping our children with
their needs, it has become clear to us and our leadership that there is still
more time to be spent making sure that we do this well, and that our family is
able to heal and grow in necessary ways before we return to Africa. On one hand it is a tough pill for me to
swallow, thinking about the relationships and ongoing work in Lohutok and the
urgency of the Great Commission, we are eager to continue with evangelism and
discipleship among the Lopit and see Christ’s church grow and flourish in that
place where there are so many hindrances.
On the other hand, we all understand that the Lord often calls people to
seasons of rest and healing, that this season is an investment in our family
that will bear fruit for the rest of our lifetime in ministry, it is important,
and that there is no sense in “kicking against the goads<b>.” Don’t stop reading yet!<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjK8foXlGbC8dtDu-B702OFQGL4GFF2w64Fxa4AqfHeyQ139cGgeOwxDvPJS3i5eF2Ak00jylRXqIQMSnIgXiBpWh1NAy4NvVb5H0vdcsMy84nZc_lFo6RwdWIz-vlz7GSBi-J-FPkKtby1-wZH8NL0QZpHvl5gM6h5bK1NAWbfbJl2vEuERhUwU5rK6A=s250" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="250" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjK8foXlGbC8dtDu-B702OFQGL4GFF2w64Fxa4AqfHeyQ139cGgeOwxDvPJS3i5eF2Ak00jylRXqIQMSnIgXiBpWh1NAy4NvVb5H0vdcsMy84nZc_lFo6RwdWIz-vlz7GSBi-J-FPkKtby1-wZH8NL0QZpHvl5gM6h5bK1NAWbfbJl2vEuERhUwU5rK6A" width="250" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 107%;">None of us
have ever been good at gardening, but we did get some turnips this year! The boys didn’t actually like them, but Peter
Rabbit got them interested.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> The past
month has been one of upheaval, prayer, phone calls, zoom meetings and
decisions. After lots of guidance from
our organization and our amazing home church, we finally have a path forward
that isn’t just “sit and wait” which most of you know I’m not good at! Amy and I both feel like God has called us to
the unreached, a conviction that you’ve heard us talk about and seen us chase
tirelessly. We’ve come to a point where
we can’t just keep saying “maybe six more months” and have decided to find
where God would have us engaged with His heart for the nations while we also
seek to be obedient during this season of necessary family investment. <o:p></o:p></p>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Last
week I had meetings with the leader of Pioneers’ <i>Encountering the World of Islam</i> team. There is an overwhelming need in the USA and
in the rest of the world for engaging with Muslims, and also for engaging with
the local church about the need for the Gospel among Islamic people groups here
and around the world. I have accepted a
role on the EWI </span>team that feels like a perfect fit for this season of our
family’s journey, and we are excited to hear the Lord say “I’m not finished
with you yet.” <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4PBnlbvQZNGSB89xnoD80dSDTkqpXa2eBrO69FY9BHSBeUaRd8w_S9aHzb5S-I5YcQTJYjmqIwTkuNrfgLHgWMo9QITuJaisEWCN14EZOfF_uJvFjENcBWcjBoQJKpmxHrnjUAYxbgCAh2tz7JEhQM5GeQijO4Z1iNhyK0vgIoAvBsA8vNJCvzQWw5Q=s250" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="250" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4PBnlbvQZNGSB89xnoD80dSDTkqpXa2eBrO69FY9BHSBeUaRd8w_S9aHzb5S-I5YcQTJYjmqIwTkuNrfgLHgWMo9QITuJaisEWCN14EZOfF_uJvFjENcBWcjBoQJKpmxHrnjUAYxbgCAh2tz7JEhQM5GeQijO4Z1iNhyK0vgIoAvBsA8vNJCvzQWw5Q" width="250" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those of
you who support us have been incredibly understanding and encouraging to us
throughout this process of counseling and transition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve struggled with the shame that brings
humility that brings trust in the Lord as we think about the fact that so many
people are praying for and partnering with us to reach the Lopit, and now we
are taking such a long break from ministry in Lohutok.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So many of you know our kids’ names and the
names of our Lopit coworkers and disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t think that calling and mission have gone away, but we’re
accepting the Lord’s leading to do it in His timing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thank
you for sticking with us through all of this, and we pray that you would
continue to partner with us financially and in prayer as we start with a new
team, continuing to work towards Christ-Centered Churches among every tribe,
tongue and nation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most of
you will be hearing from me by phone in the next few weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be patient with me, there are about 160 of
you with whom I need to connect!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want
to answer your questions and let you hear how excited we are to be on the
Encountering the World of Islam team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please continue to pray for our family as we transition to kids in
school, new team roles, new family routines that will eventually be more restorative
and restful, new support goals (America is more expensive than Lohutok!) and
new living arrangements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to
reach out before I get to your phone call, as always, you’re always welcome and
my contact information is below!<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieY1Tk2uWIa3nU0lKOfz6-yL-wrcjakRS4EDiBQqKq3WYe3tqSYpWismGSCGFR0ADG0FOuTLUxOLXKOFKdFHpm1zM_zt8WQXM4UZXv9d88Hit4Z_k393afiTW0xPFR6JBnsmCQRrOHGYC-hu8_J_o3cN2MQvUJyw9jhXD455_PpBEOKXofcy8gPA9waQ=s196" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="147" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieY1Tk2uWIa3nU0lKOfz6-yL-wrcjakRS4EDiBQqKq3WYe3tqSYpWismGSCGFR0ADG0FOuTLUxOLXKOFKdFHpm1zM_zt8WQXM4UZXv9d88Hit4Z_k393afiTW0xPFR6JBnsmCQRrOHGYC-hu8_J_o3cN2MQvUJyw9jhXD455_PpBEOKXofcy8gPA9waQ" width="147" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p></div>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-71512821548053251702021-07-27T22:00:00.001-07:002021-07-28T13:25:23.561-07:00July 28, 2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf3cw45SguEYDHPd46eAv7-hUW7DvKiQPYeIrYsDum4e7_O2LDRxPcGQ0TONkIQ0sI5Vk0nIB83ntNM3Na_8C7t3f0xaq1Sq3LASiARVOt68-qqrjHo6erkqTpQynP9MeWF74ULtxYElef/s653/IMG_20210726_115513757_BURST000_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="653" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf3cw45SguEYDHPd46eAv7-hUW7DvKiQPYeIrYsDum4e7_O2LDRxPcGQ0TONkIQ0sI5Vk0nIB83ntNM3Na_8C7t3f0xaq1Sq3LASiARVOt68-qqrjHo6erkqTpQynP9MeWF74ULtxYElef/s320/IMG_20210726_115513757_BURST000_COVER.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> <span> </span>The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of
travel and other things. We spent most of July in
Georgia. Some people from a great organization in
Atlanta helped us with some speech and language
evaluations for the kids and the rest of the month we
spent visiting Amy’s parents and some supporters and
churches in Columbus. We had a nice break visiting the
family, and even got to do the Ark Encounter and
Creation Museum on the way home. </p><p><span> </span>We’ve had a lot of news and updated plans for the
future in the last couple of months. We are waiting for
some answers from Pioneers and a few other people before making final decisions, so more will come about
that later. If you are one of our regular financial partners, I will be reaching out to you personally over the next
few weeks (unless you are one that I’ve talked to recently already!), please keep praying for us as we trust in the
goodness of the Lord and this season of family development in which he currently has us. </p><p><span> </span>I (Justin) am trying to plan a trip back to Africa in the next couple of months. Right now Uganda is on
another lockdown and there are some restrictions in South Sudan that would make a trip back impossible. I
could get there, but then wouldn’t be able to move between places to meet Teresa and teach the pastor training courses we have in the queue. Thank you for your prayers for our family and for the Lopit people, keep
praying that God will open doors for me to continue traveling, that pastors and churches would grow and that
the gospel would go out among the Lopit tribe and the rest of the world’s newest nation! </p><p><span> </span>Since I wrote last, we have helped Teresa get into a program for new mothers. She will be able to go to
school while also learning some vocational skills and basic parenting things, and is much better taken care of
than she was in the old arrangement where she was staying at our place and having visiting teachers. I also
talked to Paul last week and he is continuing with his course work and with discipling Michael. He said that they
have had a terrible drought again this year and that lots of people
haven’t even planted crops…another thing for you to be praying
about! </p><p><span> </span>Feel free to reply to this email and reach out if you want to
connect. I’ve been making lots of phone calls lately and I can add
yours to the list! As always, thank you so much for your prayer and
support!
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9XrqpbM92Kqvkg7vNXQ4AejO2oFv4oZJ8ZYcDG0jDmA8kv3_ok_FscNgZ-99b4aopeuDNS_bRs_h0XQY6tIPOuCyEPUIqT0WYUgi8sse8_S1sO6gsL0bSq8SfafzejUBISx4Cl6DtOEk/s832/IMG_20210723_190339712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="624" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9XrqpbM92Kqvkg7vNXQ4AejO2oFv4oZJ8ZYcDG0jDmA8kv3_ok_FscNgZ-99b4aopeuDNS_bRs_h0XQY6tIPOuCyEPUIqT0WYUgi8sse8_S1sO6gsL0bSq8SfafzejUBISx4Cl6DtOEk/s320/IMG_20210723_190339712.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-35607586665751617562021-05-25T22:00:00.001-07:002021-05-26T12:17:05.987-07:00May 27, 2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHvFyIaNoD09cRmmhkuOZ9kIbnQyfXWVOqoNSqqCBOFduThNO2IuPcgi3ySf0xu1wxoVY-UTgJ9S0vyCmr8AB1cgXfyi7tIxxTZT8jjO4b5HxhRjd7QxwH2q8Yp4bOmltR5-6_a5XUNX2/s422/20210212_094223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHvFyIaNoD09cRmmhkuOZ9kIbnQyfXWVOqoNSqqCBOFduThNO2IuPcgi3ySf0xu1wxoVY-UTgJ9S0vyCmr8AB1cgXfyi7tIxxTZT8jjO4b5HxhRjd7QxwH2q8Yp4bOmltR5-6_a5XUNX2/s320/20210212_094223.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Ellen and Teresa waiting for their Covid tests to cross the border.</div><p> Teresa has been part of our family since soon after we
came to Lohutok. She came asking Amy to teach her the Bible,
and has been with us ever since! Her family is a tangled web of
difficult relationships, most of them abusive toward her, and a
few of them who actively mistreat her because she is close to us
and wants to follow Jesus, so for most of the last seven years
Teresa has either stayed in our home (when we are gone) or in
our guesthouse. She is with us for supper, evening Bible time,
she watches our kids, and even cares for our house when we
are gone. </p><p> Teresa has always been the top student in her class, but
after she finished primary school her options were limited.
There isn’t a secondary school in Lohutok, so continuing with
school meant traveling. There is a friend in the USA who has
visited a few times, and always gives to support Teresa, and
who really wanted to help her with going to school in Uganda,
so on this trip I got her there. It took two years to get her passport straightened out, so even though
Teresa is 20 years old, she is ready to start Senior One (the US equivalent to ninth grade). We got her
settled in Uganda the same week that Chuck flew back to the USA. We were praying for a good gospel preaching and Bible believing church for her to be a part of that was within walking distance of where
she is staying, and God provided that for us on the first try. </p><p> Because of some unfortunate but understandable decisions, Teresa found out after being in
Uganda for a few weeks that she would have some difficulty in starting secondary school. She has some
exciting but difficult months ahead of her, and it kills us to leave her there alone. We’ve encouraged her
to call certain people and make friends, and even to make friends at the church, but she is so used to
being mistreated and alone that it is hard for her to do. There are lots of people around her who want
to help, but you can probably understand the reluctance to feel like all you ever do is ask, so sometimes
she needs help but won’t ask for it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-3Dy5_ByS2SAEwycNXFiwjmXF13qfmJ7AFsL7SpzV_4al89qBVjfh5kGhu69cxRCkRW_XeDO2inYPJvoeXUiRKo9nHIZVAEq_2qHsh7115Pj-RYkz5MROxM3H1RyKFUklCsDRYCNXdbm/s2048/20210216_085828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-3Dy5_ByS2SAEwycNXFiwjmXF13qfmJ7AFsL7SpzV_4al89qBVjfh5kGhu69cxRCkRW_XeDO2inYPJvoeXUiRKo9nHIZVAEq_2qHsh7115Pj-RYkz5MROxM3H1RyKFUklCsDRYCNXdbm/s320/20210216_085828.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Teresa met the leaders of her secondary school in Uganda. She was a bit nervous!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p> Pray for Teresa, that God would keep providing for the details of her schooling and other
difficult situations she is facing. Pray that God would surround her with people who love and care for
her, and that she would have the humility to receive that love and care. Pray that She would find her
place in Uganda, and that the power of the shame-killing,
life-giving gospel would overwhelm her life. Also pray for
us as we see our daughter struggling, and long to go back
to her, but wait for God’s timing in our current process. </p><p>Thanks as
always! </p><p>Justin, Amy,
Ezekiel and
Caleb</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-92043597284100755442021-04-26T04:00:00.005-07:002021-04-26T12:11:48.923-07:00April 26, 2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUR8gwy7JOmJvxJDdkbSjlxySPNDc16OrIXOa4nEUlIiIqCh529ExCZZxJdWPrB_DDTgB56DYr3EdpP1Uv1E0G-mlFFVh3kcqXaxLgt8t_sfrY1ytIBXxRz0EGP-LpEGuNe78qwrF1dq7h/s317/werh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUR8gwy7JOmJvxJDdkbSjlxySPNDc16OrIXOa4nEUlIiIqCh529ExCZZxJdWPrB_DDTgB56DYr3EdpP1Uv1E0G-mlFFVh3kcqXaxLgt8t_sfrY1ytIBXxRz0EGP-LpEGuNe78qwrF1dq7h/s0/werh.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> When we left in 2019 Michael was asking lots of questions
about the gospel and following Jesus. He and I had been studying the
Lopit language for a while, and translating Bible stories. Listening to
one of Paul’s sermons and translating it got Michael angry and asking
questions. I left having encouraged Michael to keep reading the Bible,
talking to Paul, and studying a book called “Following Jesus.” </p><p> When I went back last year, Michael had finished the book and
was working on it with Paul. He said that he definitely wanted to leave
the village system and follow Jesus, and I had encouraged Paul to keep
working with him. </p><p> I got back at the beginning of February and talked to Michael
early on. Paul also sat with Michael and talked to him about the gospel and how to repent and believe
in Jesus. We found out that Michael had recently been elected as one of the leaders of the monyimiji.
The monyimiji are the ruling class of initiated men in Lopit culture. They are the ones in charge of
enforcing rules and culture in the village. They are also the ones in charge of keeping the traditional
customs, including many forms of ancestor veneration and traditional medicine or spiritual
appeasement. I talked to Paul about how someone could be in this position of leadership and still follow
Jesus, and Paul told me that it would be really hard to do. </p><p> The next day we were going to Lalonga for church, and Michael came with us. As we were
getting ready to leave, I tried to give Paul the front seat, but he pulled me aside and said “I need to be
sitting next to Michael for this trip…next to his ear.” Michael and Paul talked the whole way to Lalonga
and the whole way back, and Paul seemed encouraged that Michael would be able to step up to the task
of leading the monyimiji in a way that glorifies Christ and communicates the gospel, and said that he
would continue to meet with and disciple Michael. We’re praying that Michael is a good person of
peace in Lohutok to break through some of the cultural issues that hold people back from trusting
Christ. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1zp0FPYGJBa6ZlzBAtc5vmOgbs2vLoN4W5WOnNRnbfokmdw7ozv48XYDeGGLztOWDJi_9cGMMijsiieGzuLdh1YywydQ3Mikspm-3ptrbq636MN_SJ4lrlf6B6XT2gwyyS_h3CMXr_iQ/s929/sgg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="929" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1zp0FPYGJBa6ZlzBAtc5vmOgbs2vLoN4W5WOnNRnbfokmdw7ozv48XYDeGGLztOWDJi_9cGMMijsiieGzuLdh1YywydQ3Mikspm-3ptrbq636MN_SJ4lrlf6B6XT2gwyyS_h3CMXr_iQ/s320/sgg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> Pray for Michael. We’ve been praying for years that the
gospel would break through in Lohutok, and it’s hard for us not to
just lay all of those expectations and pressure on him. Alcohol is a
huge problem in the village, it’s a normal part of everyday life
usually starting early in the morning, and Michael is not immune to
that pressure and temptation. Michael is also closely related to
some of the spiritual power brokers in Lohutok, so leaving the
traditional practices will be a hard thing for him to do.
Thanks for praying!
Justin, Amy, Ezekiel
and Caleb Cul</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-46746468122635778932021-03-25T04:30:00.011-07:002021-03-25T12:07:55.629-07:00March 27, 2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMlpdCPpE7W_YUGqs7QVe6-6f4ZgGfHTG9hyphenhyphen7C_X64frafmA6GYy4-itPe9G9uHxx5Q83QOK4QTD8XagLKa7n6hAaHxpPaQP2wEBUolgoJUcT06sAe8NDgkSeeVet53_PqEBQ1DEift_p/s801/20210223_092128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMlpdCPpE7W_YUGqs7QVe6-6f4ZgGfHTG9hyphenhyphen7C_X64frafmA6GYy4-itPe9G9uHxx5Q83QOK4QTD8XagLKa7n6hAaHxpPaQP2wEBUolgoJUcT06sAe8NDgkSeeVet53_PqEBQ1DEift_p/s320/20210223_092128.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Paul and I completed four of his Bible courses. First we reviewed some basic gospel...which road are you on?</div><p><br /></p><p> After Chuck left on his flight back to South Carolina, I went back
to Lohutok to spend more time with Paul. If you get our prayer
calendars you can see the picture I put on the April calendar that
came out a few days ago. Front and center is Issaye, Paul’s wife,
who is noticeably pregnant. That’s a big deal. </p><p> Paul and Issaye struggled for nine years of being marriage with
infertility. They had gone through so many things with village
healers and other traditional ideas about why they couldn’t
conceive. By year seven, Paul had met Chuck and heard the gospel,
and decided to repent and believe in Jesus. As part of that, Paul,
who was overwhelmed with the stress and shame that comes with
infertility and living in the village (rumors, gossip, traditional
pressure) decided to publicly repent of his trust in human and
demonic powers to control his family, publicly renouncing all of
those things and profess his trust in Jesus to provide him with a
family (or not, if He so chooses). Paul and Issaye were scheduled
to go to a doctor in Kenya (arranged by Chuck) for possible treatment for endometriosis, but a week
before that flight, we all found out that Issaye was pregnant with their first son, Joseph. </p><p> That was such a joy, but Joseph is five years old and after many more years of trying and failing
to conceive a second child, Paul was again sad but was determined to trust the Lord to provide when the
time is right. He has sat in my office many times in tears begging God for another child, and now they’re
going to have one! Issaye is always kind of a joker, but is also from a culture where one doesn’t get too
happy or excited until the baby has come. We do the same thing in our own way, saying things like “I
don’t want to jinx it but…” </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1gTyNhrYQGc2IOV67TdZeX6zHGDS62hHNwFtipWGE1BDfCNmZQ8mG6_AWZsZzvao66e0IeZ5-las8r9iJ_IAWB7Bd5IKZjA05xAiCvtLOq5Pj6UYLMwQdT2DLQhjLR1t5LP-ItR5ve36V/s422/20210210_084212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1gTyNhrYQGc2IOV67TdZeX6zHGDS62hHNwFtipWGE1BDfCNmZQ8mG6_AWZsZzvao66e0IeZ5-las8r9iJ_IAWB7Bd5IKZjA05xAiCvtLOq5Pj6UYLMwQdT2DLQhjLR1t5LP-ItR5ve36V/s320/20210210_084212.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Michael's wife had a new baby while we were away. Meet Amy!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p> While visiting with Paul and Issaye, I started a joke with her that always made her blush (I don’t
know if blush is the right word with people whose skin tone is so
dark that it never changes!). When we meet I greet her, and then
I reach out to greet the “new person” as well, and she laughs and
slaps my hand away. We did a Bible study on Psalm 139 that Paul
was eager to do with his wife. We talked about how God had
written all of our days in his book before one of them had even
passed. I told Paul that the first day of life doesn’t start at birth,
it starts at conception, and that this new life is one for which God
has already provided, planned and blessed. Praise God with us
that He provides the miracle of life, even when the process of
waiting feels hopeless!
</p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-20249017347101668092021-02-27T02:00:00.001-08:002021-02-27T08:41:23.345-08:00February 27, 2021<p><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BmX9MVp5Yg3wam8WqGYIH_0dQAW4uDagYm5SPxdpLDhrVO_2cqzJwoCO1ovCHW9CFW-T30dTo7vKESKP6rG96t5gtnUhblYI1r3ig8SOycVz52uTQ-rdezAsW1qP4DQSaI_4Owj6oLYN/s317/20210208_144939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BmX9MVp5Yg3wam8WqGYIH_0dQAW4uDagYm5SPxdpLDhrVO_2cqzJwoCO1ovCHW9CFW-T30dTo7vKESKP6rG96t5gtnUhblYI1r3ig8SOycVz52uTQ-rdezAsW1qP4DQSaI_4Owj6oLYN/s0/20210208_144939.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Chuck came back for a couple of weeks and helped with the pastor training. We were all thrilled about the things God had him explain.</div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> Chuck and Shelly Parker were our team leaders when we first came to Lohutok. When we came, the Parkers had already been here for a couple of years as Chuck started Bible studies in at least five Lopit villages, with occasional meetings in a few more. There is a lot of discouraging potential in working here, lots of people will come to your meetings if it might mean gaining something material from the foreigners. Within eight months of Chuck and Shelly leaving, we saw all of those Bible studies dry up, but God left Paul and Issaye. Paul had been coming with us as a translator, there were a few other guys who seemed involved and interested that eventually faded out of the picture, but Paul persevered. Even when we were driving 4 ½ hours to Lacharok every week just to find that nobody wanted to come anymore, Paul was thinking up new plans to evangelize and disciple the few women in his church who were still coming and hungry. Chuck came back with me on this trip. He was hoping to reconnect with and encourage some of the Bible study “leaders” who had stopped coming, but I think what he got was better. Our initial plan was for Robert, our Kenyan team mate who lives about an hour (10 miles) up the road, to bring two pastors with whom he had been working to my place in Lohutok. Paul was set to do a course on pastoring called The Shepherd and His Work and since Chuck is a pastor (I’m not) I asked Chuck to do a short workshop with Paul and two of the other pastors (Thomas and Clement). When we got here we found out that the pastors from up north refused to come. There has been some inter-village fighting that makes people fear driving through that stretch of road, but Paul was immediately willing to drive to Ohilang and have classes there.</span></span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> Chuck spent four days talking to six guys (Thomas and Clement brought 2 of their disciples, and Robert was there participating as well) about how to communicate a clear, non-moralistic gospel, and how that gospel affects one’s work as a pastor. He said things like “If, at the end of your sermon, you have not communicated the Gospel, you have not preached a Christian sermon” and “Ask yourself, would this sermon work in a mosque? If it would, you need more Gospel.” The pastors were provoked in some practical ways, and Paul’s fire is noticeably re-lit.</span></span><div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZAcObYqiC9PWZMuekTOCIQNFdHAlnBuOwlZmZQGrVxFUtXJGaSI656QaBN5MJZjqhQwgL1CURqGHzdVG5wYia-Xk-_qXm0618GMGYE5S0n-geFD6AmHL28zcIecbL77d1wug8KzzaHYL/s423/20210213_185554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZAcObYqiC9PWZMuekTOCIQNFdHAlnBuOwlZmZQGrVxFUtXJGaSI656QaBN5MJZjqhQwgL1CURqGHzdVG5wYia-Xk-_qXm0618GMGYE5S0n-geFD6AmHL28zcIecbL77d1wug8KzzaHYL/s320/20210213_185554.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The day we arrived back in Uganda we stopped somewhere to get supper...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Teresa may have been experiencing a bit of culture shock in busy Kampala!</div><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> At the end of Chuck’s stay we went back to Uganda and took Teresa with us so she can start secondary school when it opens. She acted tough, but when we got to the busy city she was noticeably stressed. God made all of the details for her needs in Uganda come together despite my worries, those details will have to come later! Pray that Teresa gets into school without any hassles, and for the rest of my time here with Paul!</span><br style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;" /><br style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Thanks!</span></span><h3 class="h3" style="color: #3f3f38; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f38; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb </span></div>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-56923631577367301762021-01-22T22:00:00.002-08:002021-01-25T09:03:03.145-08:00January 25, 2021<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDEPS3a0_FUxOn7j6dE7mN-qBxkzg1_QQIsGWMG69QUY85jJJYy7FyNPr5je20FPsjrViKt8ByPrkboBMNypUASAFBUIT8wFfRK0lsmUjvTIaT9hlSASJqYOxP72CsiJG4K6otlnGLhjz/s2048/20210112_093747.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDEPS3a0_FUxOn7j6dE7mN-qBxkzg1_QQIsGWMG69QUY85jJJYy7FyNPr5je20FPsjrViKt8ByPrkboBMNypUASAFBUIT8wFfRK0lsmUjvTIaT9hlSASJqYOxP72CsiJG4K6otlnGLhjz/s320/20210112_093747.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Amy's birthday! The kids picked flowers to buy with their own chore money...</div></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">and then made homemade gifts to go with them!</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’m going back!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
about a week I will be on an airplane to go back to Uganda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not going by myself, I’ll even have
company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chuck, who was our team leader
when we went to Lohutok in 2010 is ready to go back and visit so he is
accompanying me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The timing works out
perfectly, one of the classes that Paul is ready for is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shepherd and His Work</i> which is a 10
module course on how to be a pastor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since I’ve never actually been a pastor, and Chuck is coming with me on
this trip, he will have the chance to lead Paul and hopefully some of the Lopit
men who have been working with Robert through this course.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I got a
message a few weeks ago from Scott about Michael.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scott asked Michael about his work in the
book that I gave him, and Michael seems to be repenting and following
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I am in Lohutok for the
next month and a half I am hoping to have lots of time to sit with Michael,
read Scripture, and talk to him about his faith and what it means to follow
Jesus as a Lopit man.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Teresa
has been preparing for almost two years to go to secondary school in
Uganda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She now has all of the documents
she needs to travel, and I am hoping to help her get there during this trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A friend from a church in Kansas gave money
last year for us to buy a 4-wheeler, which is sitting in Kenya and I’m hoping
to get that to Lohutok while I’m there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Paul has been preparing for classes that I’m hoping to teach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a lot going on for the next few
weeks!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will be gone until mid-March.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> Pray</span> for Amy who is staying in Kansas City with the kids and navigating
homeschool while I am in Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank
you so much for keeping up with us, and for your faithful prayer and support!<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6OuhVhV1H8sgb8LHgRbKGhN7N599XR-jcZlfHWCYNb9kjAsNo1_yHob6EsOoiTJeK10GVOajLSpjRzL7Z3h4KBPt2IDbKa1FlCzGMfG9eaCtXtGPAZZ7QSwVwQyNKwf_DEkSNbcLMbqqD/s2048/IMG_20210111_135648723_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6OuhVhV1H8sgb8LHgRbKGhN7N599XR-jcZlfHWCYNb9kjAsNo1_yHob6EsOoiTJeK10GVOajLSpjRzL7Z3h4KBPt2IDbKa1FlCzGMfG9eaCtXtGPAZZ7QSwVwQyNKwf_DEkSNbcLMbqqD/s320/IMG_20210111_135648723_HDR.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">What do you do when one kid is distracting the other one during school?</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb<o:p></o:p></p></div>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1604560849348704956.post-25858967956909998452020-12-14T22:30:00.015-08:002020-12-15T13:36:35.127-08:00December 19, 2020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_LBLWyNNxKrwgXkylXMXtCeCwpnOm7O2UepyKHMr8mcpnh6A067dJWijUrHG97VDkNhNElK4rHefxNVOysIwlht18xpVeFosGFNN-hQMLG1d7CMB8vXGwjoGy9tRoc_S88mf7kbr7fw7/s203/IMG_20201211_173940957_BURST000_COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="203" data-original-width="152" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_LBLWyNNxKrwgXkylXMXtCeCwpnOm7O2UepyKHMr8mcpnh6A067dJWijUrHG97VDkNhNElK4rHefxNVOysIwlht18xpVeFosGFNN-hQMLG1d7CMB8vXGwjoGy9tRoc_S88mf7kbr7fw7/w479-h640/IMG_20201211_173940957_BURST000_COVER.jpg" width="479" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> Merry Christmas from the Culps! </p><p> We’ve had a somewhat
eventful couple of weeks. Vehicle issues, finding a place to move,
planning travel, and what in the world do we plan for Christmas?
We had planned a small get-together with some family for
Thanksgiving, but that was cancelled because everyone was
nervous about Covid numbers and stuff. We talked about whether
we should travel for Christmas, but all of this exhausting
uncertainty just leads to a lot of sitting around! </p><p> I booked tickets to go back to Uganda and Lohutok next year.
We’re moving in mid-January and then I get on an airplane at the
end of the month and will be gone for six weeks. Since I’ve been
doing extra work to earn the extra rent money and counseling fees
that aren’t in our budget, trying to plan for six weeks away was
fun. Basically we are praying for a few extra year-end gifts to cover some of that gap and take some of
that burden off of my hundred-hour work week. </p><p> A couple of Sundays ago we were at church and the pastor was preaching on one of the Psalms.
He was using Aslan from the Narnia books as an illustration of safe strength. He talked about how as a
child you know your father is strong, and therefore dangerous, but you feel safe around him. He’s safe
for you, but dangerous for anyone who seeks to do you harm. Since then, we’ve had a few issues (it
feels like it’s daily…or hourly, am I right?) with Ezekiel and Caleb fighting. Usually those fights start with
one kid trying to overpower the other, and the other fighting back. I used the illustrations from Pastor
Sam’s sermon to explain to the kids why God gave us strength, so when one kid is bullying the other I
can say “What is your strength for? Are you using it to make God happy or sad? </p><p> The illustration of God’s safety and strength is a comfort because, although we don’t like our
circumstances and are not particularly satisfied with the way our lives are going, we know that God is in
control of it all and that He has good plans. Those good plans
don’t always feel good at the time, but they are good
nonetheless. As we get into the Christmas holidays, 2020 style,
and grieve the things for which we had hoped, we’re keeping
that in mind. He doesn’t give us stones when we ask for bread,
He doesn’t give us snakes when we ask for fish, and He is
already on the other end of this season with complete
understanding and control of the outcome. </p><p>Merry Christmas! </p><p>Justin, Amy,
Ezekiel and Caleb
Culp</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDk4aQ2qnobEeEL3phE99Waj0GItzK5cTlVF3Id8rbZZ-l810AKC9ENVpGyu9nEwXmnmGXMuEVMv7d8U-OEjDhKArnI44jDy52zgJJce2KYxQ1cZ6dVW-C7JfX3B-qOgCWb_m2thMJMin3/s317/IMG_20201209_104302373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="238" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDk4aQ2qnobEeEL3phE99Waj0GItzK5cTlVF3Id8rbZZ-l810AKC9ENVpGyu9nEwXmnmGXMuEVMv7d8U-OEjDhKArnI44jDy52zgJJce2KYxQ1cZ6dVW-C7JfX3B-qOgCWb_m2thMJMin3/w481-h640/IMG_20201209_104302373.jpg" width="481" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Justin Culphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09311955899380060341noreply@blogger.com0