The Tolar Family Fall 08 Newsletter

Part of Our Family’s Journey
God has for many years been in the process of preparing us for cross cultural service. We have obeyed some but more often times we have abandoned the process He wanted us to walk through. This resulted in many years of wandering in a way and when the road was tough we would run in the other direction. About 3 years ago through a series of events God really got our attention or maybe we just decided to start listening with no reservations for the first time. Either way, we made a conscious choice to stop our busyness and seek after what it was specifically, God wanted from our family. We then took drastic yet quiet steps to change our life in order to prepare us and our children for the journey God was to take us on. Some of those decisions were: 1) Lacy not working outside the home 2) Selling and getting rid of unnecessary materialistic things 3) Home schooling our children 4) Getting debt free and much more. In other words simplifying our lifestyle to have more time to listen and prepare both physically and spiritually. God has shown us a lot by being proactive. However, the best times are just sitting back and watching Him have His way instead of us and our agenda.
The next major step of faith we took was attending a Next Step weekend at Cross-world in January 2007. While in Philly God made it very clear to us what He was asking us to do. That was to serve Him in a full time capacity, in what ever way we could, with the mission work in Thailand and _____. We were both extremely humbled by this task that was placed before us, especially after being unfaithful to Him for so long. During this time God showed us many areas of weakness and struggles we both had. Yet, God gave us a lot of grace and mercy to walk through those few days and know that He was looking at our availability and not at our abilities (or lack thereof).
We know now this was just the beginning of a great journey with the Lord and our family….

Our Mission to “the Persecuted”
Here is one story, of many, unfortunately of recent happenings to share with you.
The believers belonging to the Evangelical Church of ___ Village in ___ province, in a closed country, were all summoned by the village authorities, ordering them to desert their Christian faith. The authorities further directed followers of Jesus Christ in that village to cease holding services and religious gathering of any kind or face immediate imprisonment. The church leader, So..., had been encouraged by our ministry leadership to stay steadfast in the faith. So, the people defied the authorities’ orders to abdicate the Christian faith by holding Sunday worship service. The authorities’ impending threat of imprisonment was soon carried out.
Pastor So..., Bo.. and Kh… have remained in police custody since their arrest in Aug.08. On Aug.24th family members of these brothers went to visit them at the police station. When the families arrived at the detainment cell, the officials began tightening handcuffs around the wrists as well as wooden stocks around the legs of all three prisoners. The family members expressed to us that the tightening of handcuffs and leg stocks was to inflict pain in front of family members for the purpose of punishment for not renouncing their Christian faith. As the district police officials were tightening the handcuffs and leg stocks, they remarked these words to the three prisoners: “This is the consequence of not signing documents to renounce your faith. We have already given you three opportunities to sign these documents but you have refused.”
Please pray for the believers in ___ Village that God will make His face shine upon them and make known to the nation of ____ of His hand at work in their lives.

The Status of the “Great Commission”

1. The Biblical mandate is to “make disciples of All the nations” (every tribe & tongue)
2. 28-30% of people groups have yet to be reached with the good news of the Gospel
   
3. 80+% of missionaries are going to the already Christian or evangelized peoples
   
4. ONLY 1/2 of a penny of every dollar given to missions goes to the unreached areas
   
5. If we do not redirect our going and our giving the statistics prove to still be the same (of 28-30% unreached) in the year 2030

Ministries of Mekong Evangelical Mission in THAILAND & "a closed country"
The majority of the work carried out by Mekong Evangelical Mission is among the Issan people group of Thailand. This is around a twenty-two million people group with a dialect that is very close to that spoken in ______. Only the alphabets are different. Though very hard working, the Issan people are generally poor, mainly involved in agriculture, and mostly living in villages. Church Planting is the heart of the ministry in which the majority of workers are involved in the planting of churches in the main towns or villages of districts. Besides the main church at the mission station, daughter churches have been planted in 10 other locations. Training of national pastors and Christian leaders in regular biblical training settings is done at the well-equipped training center at the "Mission Station". Where there are also two newly furnished dormitories that will accommodate both singles and families. Our Christian School provides a Christian education for the children. This is critical to the future of the church in the Issan area. The school has nearly 1000 students in K-5 through the 8th grade. There are around 60 teachers plus staff members on site. They have already outgrown their first facility and two additional facilities are now complete. A new playground is also in place. One grade will be added each year until they have grades K-12. The school serves as a model now for future village schools. Mercy Home for children is where 293 orphans and abandoned children from the area are cared for in foster homes and 13 in a new facility with a homelike setting in the community. A Radio Station where two half-hours of Bible teaching programs on Saturday and Sunday for several years, have drawn large listening audiences in both Thailand and _____. Because of continued persecution, we can give only general references to how the church in _____ is being supported. Biblical materials are provided to our key _____ pastors to help train the people. Through a variety of means, nearly 70% of the unregistered and persecuted churches are provided oversight and help. This has encouraged Christians leaders to stand boldly even when their homes and property are confiscated, torched, or they are thrown in prison. New churches are being planted constantly even as church buildings are taken away by the government and sometimes given back. Villages of refuge are being set up for those forced to flee their homes under threat of death. In addition, support is provided to the families of pastors who are imprisoned or even murdered by authorities. A recent concern is that the government is trying to get all churches to register so the government can appoint their leaders from among those who are not of the family of faith. Please continue to pray for these believers for courage and faith.

Ways to get Involved with us...We are not merely looking for financial contributors but rather ministry partners who understand our vision and passion for the world. We need your friendship, prayers and sincere deep interest in God’s mission more than we need monthly support.
Ways to help:

• Help us Network & make connections with other individuals, churches and organizations

• Join our Immediate Support team

* Help us plan support trips
* Help us build contacts
* Advisory/Prayer team

• Pray for us $15,000 for school/language training for both our children as well as us
• Give financially (initial &/or monthly)

Prayer Needs:

• Personal & Spiritual development
  
• Financial & Prayer support
  
• Children's transition and schooling
  
• Ministry partners & team

Financial Needs:

• $15,000 for school/language training for both our children as well as us
• $30,000 in one time cost for travel, visas, passports, housing, set-up cost, etc…
• $2,000 per month in pre-field salary for 4-6 months
• $2,750 in monthly support while on the field
  

Any and all financial contributions and gifts needs to be made out to Mekong Evangelical Mission with a separate note stating for the “Tolar Family”.
Send gifts and support to:
Compassionate Hope Foundation

Tolar Family Support
111 Gloryland Lane

Antioch, TN 37013
615-941-1392