Allen: Okay, welcome to the SCC Saver Podcast. We're normally savoring God through every bite of scripture, but this is a special episode. I've been in Asia getting to spend time with a worker here. just been able to take a visit, be encouraged, see what's going on, see all the work that he's been doing, and for the purpose of this episode, we're going to not share every single detail But we want to highlight great commission work. this is for the purpose of security purposes because we are in a a largely unreached place where it's pretty restricted as far as what you can and cannot do. So navigating security can be very difficult. So in this podcast, we'll give you some a picture of the work, ask some questions, have a conversation, but there is Yeah, just some privacy involved as well. But anyway, here here's the guest. his name is Jeremy. Jeremy, what's going on? How are you? Jeremy: Yeah, I do want to clarify that my name is Jeremy, like the other Jeremy, but I spell mine the right way. Allen: Dude, that's a shot right out the gate. She spelled it Jeremy Jeremy right versus wrong. We'll see what people say about that, who spells it right. But well so Jeremy, what's is the proper way to spell it then? Jeremy: J E R E Y. Everybody knows that. I I shouldn't even have to say that. Allen: That might be true. I think you're right. I'd agree with you. I'd agree with you. Yeah. But anyway, been able to spend time with Jeremy proper spelling. and that's how we'll distinguish between the two, Jeremy proper spelling versus Jeremy wrong spelling. but I'm with Jeremy proper spelling. and he's he's been on the field for how long have you been field? Okay. Jeremy: For eighteen years. Allen: That's a long time. I wanna ask a little bit about why you've been on the field this long and what it is that's actually got you on the field. Obviously I mentioned Great Commission, but what does that mean and why have you been on the field for eighteen years? Jeremy: What is the Great Commission? Well you may be surprised to hear that the term Great Commission does not exist in the Bible. Okay. But it was a term coined. Well, I guess when you have a special term that is coined, that means it's something means it's something pretty important. And the Great Commission is referring to Jesus' words to his eleven disciples. After he was resurrected and before he ascended, in Matthew 28, we find his words to his disciples, which was simply put, a charge to carry on his ministry and carry it on to the ends of the earth. So that's something that I think needs to be taken very, very seriously. I mean it's it's kind of like the culmination of you know 39 books of the Old Testament. we see in the beginning of the word, man has a relationship with God created perfectly, walking in the garden together, and that relationship was broken. And after that relationship was broken, God put a plan in place for restoration. We see starting in Genesis three fifteen, the first prophesying of somebody who would come. so In Genesis twelve, we see a promise to Abraham that all nations will be blessed through him. in Matthew twenty-eight, we see the charge to take the message of reconciliation, bringing mankind back into that relationship to God, to the ends of the earth. And then it's wrapped up with Revelation, where we see every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered around a throne of God. So it's something that I take seriously, something that I think you take seriously, Alan. Something we should all take. seriously as the church and so as to why I've been here for 18 years. Well first of all it's gone by pretty quickly. Yeah it's gone by in a flash but the work of the Great Commission of being part of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth it's not a quick one it's not a quick one it takes takes some time and so that's why 18 years. Yeah and more to come. Many more to come. Allen: Yeah. Thanks for thanks for sharing that starting from Genesis to Revelation. I think a lot of times when we think about the Great Commission, you we just think of that Matthew passage we forget the whole big picture. And so I think that brings it into this is a big picture story. This has been God's plan since before the foundation of the world, since Genesis through Christ, through Revelation, when the culmination of all things, when we'll this every nation, tribe, and tongue. And then our our story, your story, fits within that narrative somehow. And so, like you said, that's been a slow work, a long work, 18 years we said it's flown by. why so long? I think so often we think Great Commission will think, well, I'm gonna tell my neighbor about Christ and hopefully bring him to Christ, bring him to church. Which in a sense it is, in the sense that the gospel is in America, which many of our listeners are gonna be probably listening from, is a work that someone brought the gospel to America, but now you're bringing the gospel to a country in Asia and again you're 18 years in. So tell me a little bit about well one your kind of calling your testimony like again I think you painted a clear picture. We should all take this really seriously. You've taken it seriously. Tell us about what that looked like personally and why why you're out here and how you felt kind of the Lord's leading to hey that's my role in your commission that you've given. Jeremy: Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess we'll have to start at the beginning. why I take the Great Commission seriously. Yeah. so I was raised in in a church. I would say, it was a very, very, very conservative church, like like ones we know about back in the eighties and the nineties, very rule focused. they made me cut my hair a lot. Okay. Yeah. They didn't like my conference all stars, but I was very church. Yeah. read a certain version of the Bible and Only one. I think you get you get what I mean and so I I have to Allen: it wasn't a KGV only church, but they only preached out of the KJV. Like it was a like that type of church? Jeremy: Yeah, I was I just wasn't gonna use names. I didn't want to bring King James into it and here to defend himself. Yeah, so I guess all that to say that I had I had a bent or I had yeah, an interpretation of the Bible that was very I've got to say the right words and do the thing so God's not mad at me and I don't want to go to hell. And so I I knew about passages like in in John ten where where Christ says, I came that they might have life and that they might have life abundantly. And I never really it kind of struck me a little bit funny, like abundant life. I I was not feeling that I had abundant life. And so when it came to reaching out to friends or non believers that I know, I didn't have a lot of motivation because I didn't feel like I was inviting them to something that was worth being invited to. so I would say when I when I got to college it was the first time that I decided to read the Bible all the way through and see the big picture. And long story short, the the Great Commission and the implications for my life just kind of fell out of that. I should say that the reason that I was reading the Bible all the way through, sitting in the dorm while people in the other dorms were watching movies and having fun, and I was sitting in my room judging them. and reading the Bible as fast as I can and as much as I can every day. Stressing myself out. I had a read the Bible through in a year plan and I would do like one week every day. Allen: Every day. Jeremy: Every day. Every day and so I I had just this really strong urge to feel like I was doing the right thing. Yeah. To feel like I was being a good Christian. And so the motivation behind it wasn't good. But but the Lord used it greatly in my life. You can't you can't read that much of the word and not be exposed to the truth, like the pure truth. And I was finding a lot of things in the word that I hadn't really seen before. I hadn't really seen the word as one connected narrative we talked like we talked about in defining the Great Commission. Genesis on the Matthew to Revelation. It's one story. And to read it w was as one story was really really impactful. When I got to Galatians, Galatians kind of hit me hard. You've read Galatians before Alan I'm sure Allen: Yeah. Jeremy: and Paul's talking to to this young church in Galatia who, you know, they had understood the concept of being saved by grace, or as he puts it, beginning by the spirit, but then they were trying to perfect themselves by the works of the flesh. And I was like, That's me. Yeah. That's me. That's that's exactly you know, I couldn't do anything for my salvation. so why do I think that I can continue to do things that are going to earn that to continue to earn me Badges and gain acceptance before the Father. And so when I started to understand grace, that was the first time where I realized, you know what, I do have a message that's worth inviting people into. There is abundant life to be found. And sorry, this is getting long, but around the same time, some of you older listeners, like you probably know Keith Green, well, some of you younger listeners as well. Keith Green, he he passed away the year that I was born, actually, so it's not like I was. There watching his concerts or listening to his messages, but he was a very extreme kind of individual. Everything was like to the limit, to the extreme. And we when he discovered Jesus, he just went for it like crazy. And one of the things that he would say, he would say, you know, this generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of unbelievers. And if you're not called to stay, your default is to go. And that appealed to my young mind. my young college guy mind reading reading the Bible and I thought, still still a little bit legalistic in my mind. Yeah. So if I had to say why did I get into this kind of work, missions. it was probably a little bit of selfish motivation trying to do like the biggest thing possible for God. But there were some there were some pure motives getting mixed in there as the Lord was changing my heart. And so all those things put together, that is when the Great Commission became real to me. I understood that I had a message that should is worthy to be taken to the ends of the earth and that the people at the ends of the earth would experience experienced abundant life. And because I was young, my life was just an open road in front of me. It didn't seem like there was anything else I should be involved in apart from the work of the Great Commission. Allen: Hmm. Man, what a story. abundant life. Y it's interesting. we have an age gap. Not that not that big, so I'm not calling you old here. But I don't know Keith Green, but I had heard the expression of like, if you're not called to stay, you should go. but it it is interesting, right, where it's like once you see like, my gosh, I'm in this relationship with my God, Jesus, who loves me more than anything, there's abundant life in him. That's a that's a message worthy of sharing. I think it's really cool. And that's what you're doing is You're sharing that message here in you again, you've felt called to say stay, or I'm sorry, you felt called to go, you accepted the call, you've gone. Tell us a little bit about being sent out. So again, you're kind of having these thoughts, these conversations, like who sent you out? What was you know, kind of their motivation to send you out, and then what was their end goal? You know, everyone's got the goal, right? It's the Great Commission to. make disciples of all nations baptized in the name name Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But what is the end goal of missions and tell us a little bit about the process of being sent out to do this work? Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah, so when we talk about the Great Commission, obviously it was Jesus talking to his eleven disciples, and when he says, even I'm with you always, even to the end of the age, we have the implication that that that work carries on. And after Jesus ascended, as we see what the discipl the type of work the disciples carried on, and then as Paul was brought into the fold, we saw that they were going to places where Christ had not been named and when they went, they were being sent by the church. They were being sent by the church and when they got to a place and they got a a group of believers, they would organize them into a church. And so basically the the work of the church was to send and to see new churches established that would be brought to adequate maturity in order to send themselves. And so in my case in a broad way that that's what That's what happened is my church they had they had known it's it's actually not the the legalistic church I was talking about. But the church I was at, they had known me for a while. and when I got into missions, they kinda started learning about it as well. Like mission of unreached. You we're talking early two thousands. I think unr unreached peoples, unengaged peoples, those were new t new terms like in the church community. I mean not brand new, but think every church now kind of is familiar with those terms. Whereas back then you know, there was a big focus on on local missions and things like this, with people not knowing a whole lot about what the ends of the earth were. And so so my church learned along with me, and they started to get excited about the vision of sending someone from their midst and them being able to reach their hand around to the other side of the world and have an impact yeah, on on the end goal of the Great Commission. You asked question about the end goal. Yeah, the end goal of the Great Commission and and what we're trying to do here, my family and I trying to do here as sent out by the church, is is to see every tribe, tongue and nation gathered around the throne of God in worship. And there's still many, many language groups out here. People like we're in one Allen: Yeah, so you say I I think it's in your you said like hey unreached that's kind of a term. What do we mean by un unreached and you just said language. So what what does that that that mean? Jeremy: Yeah, so so actually where where we're sitting right now, Alan, is is we're sitting we're sitting in a village in Asia and you can go about two hundred miles I'd say in every direction before you find a church. And the people where we're at right now, they all speak a local language. where there's not the word of God doesn't exist in the language in a clear way. people have no reasonable shot of hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so that this is a situation where we would consider unreached because there's no there are no people that speak this language who understand who Christ is and understand what the cure for sin is as planned out by God. Allen: Yeah, 'cause faith comes by hearing in hearing through the Word of Christ. So if they can't hear, right, this is this is Paul in Romans ten, right? Like, how are they to be saved if no one is to go and preach to them? And so these people are unreached because they essentially have no one to go and preach to them because the gospel hasn't even been communicated in their language, and there are no believers in church to witness to them. And so that's the ultimate end goal of an un unreached language group is they don't have the gospel, they don't have the word of God in their language, so that's why they're unreached. And so that's ultimately what you know why we're sitting here, because there are workers here, laborers here, who are trying to build relationships with the community, rate learn the language, and then spread the gospel to them and see people be saved ultimately. and so why why is you know that's a big part of your work is language for the last really long time. Why is Why is language learning so important? I know we've just talked about it a little bit, but tell us if you can a little bit more of why language is maybe the unifier and why it's so important in the work of the Great Commission. Jeremy: Communication is hard. I I think you know any anybody listening to this and you understand this as well, Alan, or anybody who is married, I suppose. Yeah. can know how difficult communication can be when you're speaking the same language and you're from the same culture and you should be able to connect. But connection doesn't always happen. So it there's a lot going on because you have the seed of a thought, a proposition in your mind, and that exists within your own grid. And then you form that into words. And those words go out through someone else's grid. into their brain and there's a very slim chance that when the proposition arrives in their brain that the meaning remains the same. Now that we're talking about same culture, same language. Right. Now we're talking about languages that are radically different, cultures that are very different as well. And so learning learning the language of the people first of all is very important because we We can't fool ourselves into thinking that that working through an interpreter and just sharing the gospel is going to bear any fruit. it's been tried. And I think I think I don't think it's hard to understand why that doesn't work very well. And I say I'd say the second reason is, you know, you picture this community, when they talk about religious things, when they talk about life, when they talk in their homes, they're speaking their language. And if you picture that the goal is to see a church established in this area, they're going to to be using their language. They're going to be reading the word in their language, Lord willing. And that is where a church can truly thrive. We don't want them to base we don't want to teach them our language and we don't want them to base anything on something that is not culturally normal for them. Allen: Yeah. I'm just I'm laughing on the fact of how hard communication is just in your own language, your own people like even in the end, ramp it up to theological truths about you know, not that I think theology is hard, it can be spiritual truths, worldview shaping truths that are radically different than anything they've ever encountered. Think about how difficult difficult that is, even just with kids or back in America, and now it's something that is so foreign to the way that they've thought. before and how much harder that must be without language. And so yeah, there's just that desperate need. Yeah, so yeah, just you mentioned those two reasons, about why language is so important. And then especially you mentioned like, hey, if they're gonna They're gonna be worshiping Jesus, following him together. It's gonna be in their language. Talk a little bit about what it means to have indigenous, their own people, leaders, and then even you know what they're gonna study and think about and talk about is God's word. Talk about that, how that relates to their language, and then raising up and the word of God being in their language. Jeremy: Are you are you asking what basically what we envision for what a local church might look like here? Allen: Yes. Jeremy: Yeah, so in in places where we've seen this be successful, we'd definitely see the Word of God translated into the language of the people. because not only are they going to be use using that to teach, yeah, because back to the Great Commission we're talking about teaching them to observe all I command you. Mm-hmm. And people are gathered into a church, teaching takes place. and teaching is going to come from the word, which should definitely be in their language. And another thing about the type of church we're looking to be planted. It's going to be be mature, it's also going to be sustainable and it should also continue the work of the Great Commission. And so that means that they're gonna be going to reach their own people, and bring them into the church and possibly see other churches planted as they pick up the baton and carry on the Great Commission in this context. And so having the word in their language and being taught in their language. i i it's almost just common sense that it's indispensable. Yeah. Allen: Yeah, yeah. I I I think you mentioned it's common sense, except I feel like it's not at the same time where I think just we've been so privileged, I think in America, again where most of our listeners are gonna be listening, that we've never had to consider, I don't have the Bible in twenty different English translations that I can all go read and they're reliable. You know? So I think I think it just at least for me, having studied missiology, which is the study of missions, even this trip itself coming out here, n realizing how privileged I've been to have the word of God in my language, be surrounded by all types of churches, all types of people, and then come out here and these people literally have no access. And so I think just even for me, it's been eye-opening to see this work. to see man, there's a desperate, desperate need and I don't think about all the privileges that I enjoy. The fact that, you know, there are elders and people teaching, but then that takes time, right? But and then so that's gonna take time. Here to do as well. So yeah, I think it it's common sense. I think when when you actually stop to think about it, but I think maybe we don't stop to think about it as often as we probably should. and I think that's one of the great things about Santa Bell Community Church I've enjoyed since being here is just the great emphasis on the Great Commission and Great Commission work. And so yeah, it's just been such a joy to experience that. What's w it's something that's interesting, that I think maybe would prick the ears a little bit of listeners in America, is we want results fast. We want things fast. that's just we have a a a culture where you can order Grubhub and it'll be there in ten to fifteen minutes from any restaurant you want, right? You want we just want microwave results for things. But that's not how this work works. And so, again you've been out here for a long time. and you've just been laboring away, being faithful, being diligent. What's something now, after eighteen years, that you've learned that you wish you would have known about this work, before you came out, or even maybe I think again, as you said, the church was kinda learning along with you. What's something that advice you'd give back to a maybe a sending church, to her members, or something that you wish you knew eighteen, twenty years ago? Jeremy: Okay. Well, you know, I like things fast too. being here for eighteen years wasn't part of the plan. Okay. I figured I'd wrap it up in maybe eight or ten years. Yeah, it's been it's been quite the journey. I think the issue comes when when we make speed our entire motivation for how we go about the work and then It results in poor quality. and we're looking for a mature church. I guess maybe like you mentioned food delivery, DoorDash. I mean maybe you could you could probably get it even faster. but just imagine it showing up, everything's jumbled, everything's like mixed with everything else. There's broth that's spilling through. Like have you ever got an order where there's a coffee in there and it's just like a pool of coffee in the bottom of the bag? Yeah. Allen: Yeah, it's horrible. Jeremy: So We're trying to avoid being motivated solely by speed because we don't want coffee, a pool of coffee in the proverbial bag of church planting. Allen: That's a great that's a great illustration. Jeremy: yeah, so to answer your your actual question, I wouldn't phrase it so much in the way of things I wish I would have known because you know the journey with the Lord has been something I wouldn't crave anything for. but I think you know when when you're in it's When you're in the US, as the church, about missions, you have missionaries come, you hear their stories, but you know, maybe sitting here right now, you've realized that okay, this is maybe different than what I thought it looked like. so I would I would say that back then I think there was a bit of an assumption that these people are out here sitting and just waiting. To hear the truth. Like there's linguistic barriers, sometimes geographical barriers that are keep that have kept the cos gospel from reaching them for you know 2,000 some odd years. And we just need to bring it to them. We need to come there, learn their language, they're gonna let us teach them, and now they have the good news, and so they gather together and we, you know, disciple them, see see elders raised up. I see that church brought to maturity with the word of God in their language. And it w it made a lot of sense systematically. And I would say when I when I was headed out when I was preparing even more than twenty years ago, that was a picture I had in my mind that th it there was a system set up, there were good practices that we were going to employ in order to see the goal reached. So I think one thing that's important that that senders understand and that even goers understand is For the most part in the world, here we are 2026, and the gospel has not reached every language group. Like there are gonna be some good reasons for that. The world is becoming smaller, it's becoming more connected, but yet you still have groups of five hundred thousand, million, two million, three million people with not a single believer. for the most part, the low hanging fruit has been picked. And so you're left with high hanging fruit in areas where people are embracing other belief systems that they hold very, very close to themselves. and they're not even embracing them the belief systems as individuals, the worldview as individuals, they're bra embracing it as a community. So their beliefs are tied in with their culture, their collective identity, and so to think about believing something else, you're risking ostra ostracization. and so the the barriers that exist I would say are much much bigger than than I thought before I was going. And I think so goers should be aware of that, senders should be aware of that as well because you know they are investing their resources in in the work of the Great Commission and they should expect results, but they they also should understand that what their supported workers are doing out here. it's something full of pressure, full of difficulties. and then even trying to run a family and raise your kids in the community, they're going through a lot of things and they're pressure from all sides. So being able to support them and encourage in them in that and understand that, you know, sometimes years can go by and they're just, you know, workers are out here just banging their head against the wall. you know. striving, sharing truth, being rejected again and again. These things are happening and you know, it's it's only the Lord that can that can produce the results. Yeah. And so I think that would be important to understand. I wouldn't say that I wish I would have known that before coming, but I think it can be helpful for people to consider. Allen: Yeah, that's good. I love your your understanding of God's sovereignty and hey, I wish I would have known this versus, hey, your walk with the Lord has grown. This is where, you know, in his sovereignty and in his providence he's ordained that you be and that you grow and you learn certain things at different times, and knowing that, as you just mentioned, it's only the Lord who brings the growth. I think something that's interesting, the reality, maybe an illustration for this is here, this is a a little bit of a of an agrarian society. And so, you know, farmers are laboring, they're planting, they're making ready their fields and but there's a rainy season and a dry season here. And how do you know when rainy season starts? Well you just wait and see when it starts to rain. That's what some of the people here have told me, like, well it just once you see it start raining, it rains a few days in a row, it's rainy season. So it's kinda like that in a way, it's like you don't know when the Lord only the Lord can make it rain. You don't know when it's gonna rain. You're just gonna work and labor and work hard and then the Lord is gonna have to bring the growth and the rain, which you don't know when he's gonna do that or how he's gonna do it, but you know that it is him who's ultimately gonna cause the growth. And so no I think that's helpful for senders and for goers to understand that our labor is not in vain. it's gonna be arduous, it's gonna be challenging, but then ultimately fruitful. One of the questions that I wanna ask is as you of course are relating to other missionaries, other people in this field and this work, you've got obviously a big network, many, many friends. What has been maybe some qualities that are just absolutely required and necessary to do this type of work and to keep staying faithful and to keep pressing on? I mean I can speak personally from just having to get to know you. over the last, a few days or so that I've just seen your your hard work, your diligence, your trust in the Lord, and just faithfulness and I would say in the monotony of of the hard, you know, hard task. And so I would say that those are obviously just clear qualities that I've seen just from getting to to know you some more, just seeing your diligence, hard work, faithfulness. you know, I think that's, what's just given a great amount of blessing in this work and fruit thus far. But What are some of the other qualities that you would say are indispensable for missionary workers is the people that you've seen out here who have been just pressing on. Jeremy: Well I will say that ov over the years and and seeing people coming out, coming to the field and going home from the field, it's it's very hard to predict who's gonna stay, who's gonna succeed and who's not, based on some of the secondary attributes. so I guess I'm gonna focus on the primary attributes. Because the people that do have success, the people that stay, are people that have counted the cost. They have made the decision that no matter what sickness comes, no matter what struggles come, they are going to see those as part of the journey and part of God's refining work in their life. And so the way that they respond to them is: I can consider this joy. I hate this, but I can consider it joy because this is gonna bring about perseverance. And I'm gonna be a sharper tool that the Lord can use to see the task of the Great Commission accomplished. And just putting their nose to the grindstone and saying, I made a commitment to this and I'm gonna be here until it's done. this is what the Lord has for my life and there's nothing else that I would rather do. I think I think missions can be seen as like a one career option as something you can you know, people have told you like, Hey, you could be good at this and so you come out to the field and you're like, Yeah, I'll try this for a bit and then if it doesn't work out I can go do something else. if that's if that's in somebody's mind when they come, you know, as soon as like the fire, the heat gets turned up, you know, it's it's gonna burn away everything that's there and you're not gonna find that there's anything left underneath to be refined and and So as far as qualities go, just being sold out, just love the Lord, understand his word, hold on to his word, hold on to those promises. and just have have practice the discipline to keep going when things are hard. You know, having the expectation that things are gonna be hard and things are gonna look impossible I think is reasonable based on regular reading of scripture. Yeah. And so coming out expecting those things to happen and being willing to stay in the face of those things. Allen: Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I I think y you said it a a regular reading of scripture. You'll find out that that's the truth. I was reading this morning in first Peter and you know he's he's talking about sufferings. and he says here f first Peter three twenty one for to this you have been called he's actually he's talking about suffering. actually if we back it up a few verses, he says, For this is a gracious thing When mindful of God one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly, for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it you endure, but if when you do good and suffer for it, you in suffer for it, you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God, for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. So what Peter is saying is, Hey, Christ suffered, fulfilling his own commission His own mission to the cross of course, to go redeem people from every nation, tribe and tongue. And he goes, This is an example for you that you're gonna come out here and you suffer, but when you suffer, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. You're gonna suffer for the sake of the name and the reward, right? We haven't even talked about the reward. The reward is in in heaven. You know, Jesus would preach in in his Sermon on the Mount that don't f sow up for yourself treasures on earth with moth and rest destroy but treasures in heaven where none of these things can destroy. And so when you consider I know we've just been even talking about the work here, but in and in enduring, but then there's a reward in heaven for continuing to press on. And so I would love to ask, how much does that come up when, you know, you're kind of in the hard day to day I would say suffering, and not to frame this as it's only just suffering, you don't have tons of joy. You have so much joy in being around you, that's been so obvious. So just you're just such a joyful person to be around, you and your entire family, your wife and your daughter have been such a joy to be around. how much do you think about kind of the reward in heaven, and, you know, kind of that being the prime motivator and in motivation for the work. Jeremy: so I've been told that before where people think that I'm a joyful person because I smile a lot and it's not really the case. I actually just have big teeth, so they kinda stick out. It always looks like I'm smiling. Yeah, you know, you know, Paul Paul mentions it too in in Romans, talking about actually glorying in our sufferings. Like I mean I mean you showed up here on this trip with your arm in a sling. Allen: I did do that. Probably against the actual wise decision. Jeremy: Yeah. Allen: Two weeks out of surgery you probably shouldn't travel internationally a bunch, but hey Jeremy: Here we are. Yeah. And and I'm a I'm actually a fan of this podcast. You know, so me being here is kinda like being asked to be on Joe Rogan. And so so I know that when you tore your peck you weren't necessarily your immediate response wasn't glorying in the suffering. Allen: No, I was really angry. Yeah. Jeremy: I I think that's just part of being human. Yeah. I I will say that things things out here rarely go the way that we planned. Things out here rarely go the way that we think God wants things to go. and we can we can respond with frustration. I don't like to say suffering too much 'cause like, am I really suffering? I don't know if I'm really suffering. But like hard things come. You know, we've been we've been through s very serious things as a family and we've seen the reality of the word that that when we submit to him in those things and take his word to be true, we actually can come out with gratitude. And he's actually made us into different people. And so just I guess It's become a little bit of a mantra, the words of Isaiah. So much higher are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. Because our What we think about what we think how we think the work should go, it just it's just it just doesn't doesn't happen. And so I guess I could consider that suffering, but suffering for what? Like I mean it hurts my pride. Mm-hmm. It hurts maybe what I think I look like to other people. And then, you know, mixed in there there's a there's a heart to want to see this thing done. And I can't say how many times I've prayed the prayer, just kind of like pleading the Lord, Lord you love these people more than I ever could. Like these are the people that you want to see reached. Where are you moving? Like move in and out of these people. Break up the ground. You know, make it make it soft. I'm finding stony ground. I'm finding thorny ground. Like where is that fertile soil? Connect by your spirit. Be be revealing yourself to people in whatever miraculous way you want to. I don't know how it all works, Lord. Your ways are way up there. My ways are down here. But all we can do is just continue to be faithful and trust the word. And trust that, hey The world is full of examples of people who did what they were supposed to do and they didn't necessarily see the outcome that they thought was going to happen. His ways are above our ways. And and every once in a while, when something hard happens, you can't have an immediate joyful response. Not often, but it can happen. It can happen. Consider it joy when you encounter various trials. Not because the trials make us happy, but because we know the outcome. Hey, the Lord is doing something, his work. Allen: Amen. That's so so sweet. Those words of Isaiah. Yeah, one of the things I wanted to ask you was there's like a bib a Bible verse, a promise that you've held on to. And it sounds like it's maybe that. Yeah, man, I think that's just you said that line, Lord, you love these people more than I can even love them. You know? So it's like it's just in a sense of like seeing with the eyes of faith, the eyes of the promise of of the word that you can't see, but knowing that he sees more than you can see, than I can see. and so yeah, that's really sweet to think about. Tell me a little bit more about how your faith has been just grown in challenge. Maybe if there's one specific moment, as you're able to share again, k security risk things here. There's a specific moment, that's just maybe maybe a like a landmark thing that happened, something that you're always gonna recount or think back to that just really strengthened you or challenged you, whether it be joy or suffering. Jeremy: Okay. I've got a couple things. Hope this isn't too long. but the first thing that comes to my mind is in the very beginning when I came out to the field. I was young. I was younger than you are now. and I was single. And i it was myself and it was one other couple and we were tasked to to figure out the landscape of unreached groups in in this country. And in order to do that we had to we had to start a business Because we couldn't stay longer than, thirty, sixty days at a time if we didn't have a reason to stay there. we had no business going to these areas unless we had a legitimate reason where people could be like, yeah, yeah, you being here makes sense. We you know, can respond to so we had to start a business. We had to figure out how to get our other people into the country. We had more workers coming behind us and we had to figure out how how are all these people gonna get into the country. And so at that time, myself and this this this family that I was working with we talked about like altars where you know the Israelites would would build a pile of rocks, you know, when when when something happened then ev everyone anyone at any time in the future, as long as the pile was standing, could go back and look at that and and remember what the Lord did. And so kept a journal of of altars. Just things that like we had no business figuring out. We we weren't business people but somehow we got, contracts. Somehow how we found a way to stay there and it it If you see pictures of me at that time, you'll be like, What? This was a business guy? it just made absolutely no sense. Yeah. And then that followed into the Lord opening doors, into into some of the deepest, unreached areas, places we had no business being, but he he was able to set things up. And and it was just so clear that he was doing it. So made a huge list of altars and that was really faith building because those so those were things I I would mention them all if I could, but I think for the sake of time, just just to say that him opening doors and only the way he could was really fa a faith builder. We could look back on those things. I did lose the journal. Allen: No. Jeremy: I did. How? I don't know. I don't know, but I will say that most books I I had a pretty good library here in this country, but combination of humidity, mold, termites, most of them are completely destroyed. So I think the journal's probably one of those that got completely destroyed. But that's neither here nor there. I would say one more thing to answer your question. Uhhuh. I know we're probably running low on time here. we Allen: We can do whatever we want. Jeremy: can do whatever we want. Okay. Well this was really personal for us. you were talking about suffering and things that that we've been through. I'm not gonna give you the whole story. I know I told you this story, Alan, so so if any of you listeners want to know more about it you can ask Alan what the rest of the story is. Or Teddy. Allen: Yes. Jeremy: but there there was a time two two years into into our marriage. our daughter was eleven month months old. First trip Allen: Wait, wait, sorry, before you get into this amazing story, which I yes, I'll tell you more about you came out here as a single man and now you're talk now you're talking about the story of two years married with your daughter. Yeah. So what happened? Jeremy: We we only have one episode, Alan. How are we gonna fit everything in? yeah, speaking of altars, one of the things the Lord did one Allen: Okay. Jeremy: of the things the Lord did is he he while while I was preparing to go to an unreached group, I was working a contract at a university with the business that I had to set up to stay there. And whole campus was just full of people who are not believers. through a series of events, one believer ended up applying and I interviewed her and she ended up working for me as my employee. but we we you know, we worked together in the same office for a year and and I just be became very clear. my goodness, like the Lord just put us in this place together. I you know, I was like Bachelor to the Rapture was I guess I was I was ready for that. I was ready for that and and my pastor at the time, like I was talking to him about it. I was like, This is beyond what I thought. Like I didn't I didn't plan to go to Asia to find a way, you know. But I I could never imagined that I would have been put into a place where he was gonna put someone in front of me that I could work with. she became very, very interested in the work. She began meeting with our team and my pastor from back home said, Hey, you know, sometimes as we're climbing a mountain, we look over and someone's climbing the same mountain next to us and that's the person we're gonna be with. And so that's how it was with how we met. Now there's there's there are different versions of this story, longer ones, shorter ones. But I think we'll we'll we'll call it good at that. very, very thankful. So yeah. So two years into our marriage, we went through a situation where you know, we have one daughter, we we lost our our son to a miscarriage and through the miscarriage you know, my wife experienced sepsis and she went downhill really quick in a day. went into a coma for about eleven days, entire body shut down, cardiac arrest twice. And at the worst point of that, at the point where she was intubated, she was on vasopressors, blood pressure medication just to keep her heart going, she was on constant dialysis, continuous dialysis. She was being kept alive by machines and according to the blood work, her body wasn't responding. no white cells were active, a thing like that. And the doctors put you know, DNR, do not resuscitate in front of me. you know, we've already resuscitated her twice. becomes a point where we have to just admit that she's gone. And this this pastor that I had no idea who he was showed up and you know started talking to me. getting to know me a little bit and and he had heard about our situation from somebody, I can't even remember who. We weren't even close to our home. This was in the US. We were we were at home assignment. we weren't even close to our home. He shows up and he says, you know, I don't usually do stuff like this, but I have a couple verses that when I heard about your situation, the Lord put them on my heart. And I just feel like I really need to share them with you. And it was two f the two passages in John, I believe one is John in John nine and the other one in John eleven. In John nine, there's the man born blind, and the people are ask are asking Jesus, Hey, like who sinned, him or his parents? You know? And he's like, Well, neither of them sinned, but this happened so that the father could be glorified. And then he took it. Yeah. Bold. Allen: this guy came to you and said that your wife is suffering right now so that God can be gl glorified. Jeremy: That was the implication. And then he turns over to John eleven with Lazarus and reads the passage that sa where Jesus says, This sickness is not unto death, but so God can be glorified and that the Son of God can be glorified through this. so those were that was I I was like, that is very, very bold. Like how does somebody say that to someone they don't don't know? 'Cause basically he's saying to me that, okay, this is for the glory of God. okay, thanks a lot. But he was also implying that like she wasn't gonna die. I had just had the conversation and I was just processing that I was gonna have to sign this DNR and next time she arrested, like she was gonna be gone. I've got my eleven month old daughter with me there at that time and and anyways, long story short, later that day they ended up doing another round of blood work and her her white blood cell showed a little bit of activity. Just a little bit, but it showed that her body decided that it was gonna try to fight. And from that moment, day after day she got a little better, a little better. We were in the hospital for two and a half months. But it was just an incredible situation that that the Lord brought us through. And I look back I don't even remember your original question, but I look back at those verses and just think, you know what? Like the Lord does things that we don't understand. He allows things to happen. So that he can be glorified. And you know what? He was glorified through that situation. you know, through through our testimony and just telling other people our message and how God was faithful in that. there were people who hadn't been to church in years that were deciding we were getting messages from people, all decided to like give their lives back to the Lord. And so the message to us was okay, at that time I've been on the field seven years and I hadn't seen any type of fruit that I was hoping for. Remember I was I was I was ready to get the work done in eight to ten years. on year seven and things were moving slow. I did pick up a wife in the process. But you know now she was she was laying you know being kept alive by machines in a hospital. I'm I'm sleeping you know in a in a little little cot you know by her bed in the hospital. We're not doing anything and the Lord is using that story to bring fruit. He is using us when we're not doing anything to bring fruit and and it's just like, you know, a jar has to be cracked and then light can shine through it and that's what he was doing through us. So that's a big lesson that we have kept in our hearts year after year after year. That you know, things happen and we don't know why. We might try to figure out why, the people with the man born blind, like who sinned, like to to cause this or or you know, Jesus, why didn't you come earlier? Your friend your friend would have been healed and and we have all these things, whatever our situation is in in all of our lives that that we try to figure out and we can't. but yeah, again, like his thoughts and his ways are so much higher above ours and and that's a lesson that we'll we'll never forget. it's something that has built our faith. So that along with the altars, seeing the Lord do things that only he could do, those are things that have really left an impression. But I will also say that in order to experience those sorts of things, we as people we need to step out. We need to follow the Lord. We need to follow Him radically. We need to take up our cross. And we enter into a journey with Him where He's going to our faith is going to be challenged. We're going to have doubts and He's going to build our faith as we continue to be faithful to Him. Allen: Man, I kinda got goosebumps. Jeremy: Probably the tingling from your Allen: I don't know. I don't know, man. Second time I've heard that story in that hit just as hard as the first time. Just hearing God's faithfulness to you, to your wife, to your daughter, seeing him bring you through. And even just again, like, hey, he's gonna get glorified out of this. His ways are greater than your our ways. And just I think you were again, you weren't grateful for that at the time. Like you would not you were not grateful to see your wife in a coma to be going through these things, but now you can look back with and say, look what God did. Look how He had been faithful. And so it's just so cool. So sweet to hear you talk about that. And I think it encou would encourage anyone listening, you know, like you said, to to step out in faith, to take up your cross and and to follow him. And so maybe that's where we can kind of end the discussion here is what would be your encouragement for someone maybe praying about how to get involved in the mission field. And I say that to say as a sender, meaning an individual and who's, you know, maybe not going to go. Maybe they're a little bit older or just not you know, that's not their possibility. But they want to invest in the work. and then also to the young person maybe, or even you know, they don't have to be necessarily young, you know, some people can go a little bit later a little bit older, but what would your encouragement to be to that person praying about missions, considering missions, and then also to a church? So they kinda got those those three different three different people. Someone that wants to involve but not necessarily go, someone that's praying about going and then a church who wants to continue to advance the Great Commission. Jeremy: Okay, so first category, somebody who is wanting to be involved but not necessarily go. I would say that although missions refer specifically to somebody being sent, the Great Commission itself is commanding believers to make disciples of all nations and that starts where you're at. And so being involved in the Great Commission is something that anybody can do in the context where they're at. also that person could get to know people who are goers and figure out how they could support them, how they could be involved in encouraging them, disciple them. Now for people who are potential goers, I guess first thing I would say is start living out the Great Commission where you're at. because it's not like you enter into the profession and land on the field and you become a different person who all of a sudden has a passion and boldness to share the gospel with people. so if if you're working a job or working in your church and you're not sharing the gospel with people, start doing that. Going into the world around you, places that are uncomfortable and develop that boldness of sharing the gospel 'cause that's something that you could bring over here on the side. I would also say be ready to count the cost. Know what that means. before you depart, developing that mindset that we talked about that you know what, I'm coming, I'm committed. The Lord's strength can make up for any weakness I have in any trial that comes my way. That's something he can use for my refinement, for his purposes. Like really instill that into your head and take it with you. Because you can count on the fact that you will get sick. You can count on the fact that you w will experience culture. problems, culture shock, culture stress, you can you will experience discouragement. Those things are gonna happen. What are you gonna do when you when you face those situations? when you do face those situations there's gonna be a seed that that starts to develop in your mind. Mm-hmm. Hey, I think it's reasonable to go home. Like I have the sickness, I don't know where it's coming from and the more water you give that seed, the more it's gonna grow. there's another seed that that says, Hey, this could be for the Lord's glory. This is for my refinement. I know that he put me here, I'm gonna water that seed and that's when you come out the other side, refined like pure gold. Yeah. as far as your third category was was churches. Yeah. Yeah. now if churches are probably all over the map in what they're already supporting, what they're already involved in if if you're looking to be involved more in unreached unreached, unengaged language group work. there are a lot of resources that you can get get your hands on. I would say this may not be the time or place to list out a bunch of things or to say the names of organizations. But yeah, educate yourself on what what the work is like. And and I will say Alan and Teddy, what they've done is they've come out here. they've they've come and seen what the work is like for themselves. So Alan and Teddy coming from ascending ascending church and and seeing it for themselves, meeting with the people. understanding what what the the missionaries themselves are going through and and what unreached people are like to rub shoulders with and and what they're experiencing. so I think that would that would be a beneficial thing. And I I do wanna say that Alan and Teddy have been great. Been with them for what, about five days now. they've just been so sensitive to our situations here, wanting to be an encouragement, wanting to pray with us, not wanting to get in the way. yeah, I just wish that Alan came out here in a better physical state 'cause he tells me that he's someone that enjoys physical activity. we could have done some extreme hikes or or something like that, but he's got this excuse. He he's got his arm in a sling. So I'm sorry for that, you'll just have to come out again. But but yeah, thanks for letting Teddy and Alan come out here for those of you who are from Sanibel. It's been a tremendous encouragement. It's been great to get to know them and I hope that it's been really good for you guys to be out here. I think we could do a whole nother episode, me asking you questions about your experience and it'd probably be more interesting than this one. Allen: Not more interesting, but it would definitely be different. Jeremy: Yeah. Allen: Just as far as yeah, just it's been so sweet. Our church has, you know, been supporting wanting to be a you know that exports the gospel. and yeah, just allowing opportunities like this has been such a blessing to my soul. Like what it's done for me, in like I said, in learning, just experiencing what it's like. and I think that's great wisdom that you gave to both people interested in going supporting what you what you mentioned in and what I've gotten experienced. On this trip is get to know the people that are going. Man, like that is so much of a blessing. And it's like having to get to know you has been so much of a blessing in my own work. My heart for missions is just really expanded and blown up when you see the work. So yeah, and I think our church has some opportunities coming up where they're gonna be able to get to know. You know, we you've come to to our church, you know, and we prayed over you, prayed with and so yeah, I would encourage you guys if Next time Jeremy or another you know missionary comes by, just ask them out to lunch, get to know them, ask them how they're doing, things about that. And just it's a blessing, it's a blessing for the soul, to to see and to enjoy. Any Concluding remarks, maybe any final encouragements for our work that at SCC that looks different than your work, but maybe you came and visited, any any encouragements that you have for our church and what we're doing. Jeremy: Yeah, we we were able to join us a service at SCC and it was solid. We we were tremendously encouraged. we really, really enjoyed it. We were able to share a little bit about what we're doing. just just keep keep up with what you're doing over there. I mean you're making an impact on lives in that area and I want you to know that you're making an impact on lives over here. When when San Bell started partnering with us just the beginning of this year, it was a massive encouragement and you know like We haven't had visitors from partnering churches out here to visit visit us in over 10 years. Wow. And here you and Teddy are. So the impact that you're making over here, the encouragement that you're giving us, even more than just the finances that are enabling us to expand our work. It's very, very much appreciated. We we feel like we are an extension of what you're doing. And yeah, we'll love look forward to getting to know more of you next time we're in town. And you know what? I have publicly like made fun of Jeremy twice now. And I've never even met him. So Jeremy, I'm sorry. I'd love to get a cup of coffee with you. And so we can yeah repair our relationship possibly Allen: Repair the relationship that never got started. Good. Well, we're super encouraged. it's been a blessing again for our church and just seeing what you're doing in your family and accepting the call. I know that the reward for you in heaven is great and so whenever the Lord would call you home, I know that that'll be Just yeah, it's so sweet to hear. Well done, good and faithful, faithful servant. so we're encouraged by your work. and yeah, we just want to keep seeing the gospel go forth, the great commission go forth, and then one day worshiping around the throne with brothers and sisters from all over the world, singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And so that's our that's our that's our hope, that's our goal. and so we appreciate you guys. Listen for another special episode of the SCC Saver. we pray that this would be an enjoyment. If this maybe has encouraged you to think about missions more, reach out to info at CinnabelleChurch dot com or you're wanted just to know more and how you can be involved in what our church is doing in missions. you know we talk about it a lot, members meetings and things. But yeah, as we continue to press on, we're thankful for you guys and pray that this would be a blessing for your soul.