January 2012

Matt Taylor

Media Luna Dinner

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year!

Reections I hope youre having a blessed start to this new year God has gracefully provided! As this week past week has ended, we had our 2012 To Every Tribe Open House and some of you may recall my visit to last years open house to visit right after I was accepted as a missionary trainee. The staff and students were praying through Matthew 9:37-38, where Jesus tells his disciples that, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. The comfort is that Jesus has all authority and mission agencies dont have to convince anybody to be a missionary, but we go straight to the God who possesses complete controls over everything! Its His harvest, His world, His reign, and ultimately His rule, authority and His Spirit who will convict His children to GO where He pleases. And the best part is its OUR privilege! Last year there were about 8 of us; this past weekend, there were around 26.
Oscar: one of the three believers in Media Luna

I had a blessed time back in Illinois during our two week winter break. God provided a sufcient amount of rest and enjoyment with family, friends and my church. The time away aided to my excitement to get back to Texas and back into our training. As I was in Illinois recapping for people how my experience has been since moving to Texas, I found it to be a challenge to shrink the massive work God did in four months into just a few minutes. What do I communicate? Do I share the emotional struggles? Do I just share the stuff we did? Do I try explaining the hours of time in the classroom or the work done in Mexico? And thats just the worldly stuff! What about the spiritual side of things? How has the methodology of church planting and discipleship Ive learned in the 4 and a half years in Dekalb t into my amateur experience of engaging unreached people groups to plant churches in? How did God receive glory? Did He even receive glory? Theres just so much to communicate while I understand life goes on for the rest of the world. But if you are partnering with me in what Jesus Christ is doing in the world through this ministry, this has direct-massive-Kingdom-of-God implications for you! I say that because any effort for the advance of the gospel in my life and ministry down here is not a ME thing, but my partners are just as responsible for this effort as I am. I praise God for you. So, it hit me the other night. My life is not marked by good works, but I was pierced by Jeremiah 9:23-24 which says this: Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, BUT let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows ME, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. The greatest thing I rejoice in from my time in Texas since September is that I have grown closer to knowing Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater and nothing more I take pleasure in, regardless of the hardships in life. Im not sure I would have gotten closer to Jesus hadnt He lead me to take a step of faith and shift my life in this direction (though thats just somewhat of an assumption).

January 2012

Matt Taylor

Biblical Exposition and Missions I love the Jesus. And I love how the entire bible reveals the story of how God brings redemption to His chosen people: those who trust in Jesus to make payment for their sins and restore them to God. I have so offended God by my rebellion against Him that the more my days go by, I recognize more and more of His mercy to have placed His wrath on His Son and call me RIGHTEOUS! It blows me away that He has revealed Himself through His Word, the Bible. Jesus is the Truth and since He is the Truth, He is the standard and objective for Truth for the entire world. He is also called The Word (Jn 1:1). Ive been blessed to have training in Bible Exposition back in Illinois and here at TET. A principle that has had a profound impact on me has been one that says, The point of the text is the point of the sermon. And that ought to be applied not only to pastors and their sermons, but bible study, personal devotions, etc. God did not change the meaning of His Word just back its 2,000 years later. Another principle has been taken from places in Scripture such as Luke 24:27, where Luke points to all of Scripture being about Jesus. The Bible makes clear that every text in Scripture points to Jesus in some way! Learning some of these principles has been monumental for my understanding of the Word of God and also in the training and discipleship of others. For our most recent trip into Media Luna, I was assigned a passage from Marks gospel (Mark 4:1-20, the sower and the seed) to lead for our outreach bible study. On days that we do these types of bible studies, well spend several hours walking around the village of about 300 people in hopes of inviting some of them to the bible study. While we walk around the village, our goal is to not only meet and talk with people we havent met before, but to meet with and love those who weve been in contact with for a while and invest in building relationships, which we hope God would use to open a door for the gospel to be given and the Holy Spirit to work in a persons life. We desire to give people Jesus because He is their greatest need of all, and people come to know Christ in these villages, they are called a church. Ultimately, Gods glory is most revealed through His church and so the big picture of what we are trying to accomplish is planting churches (Eph 3:10). From a personal experience, this responsibility (of leading this kind of bible study) was a major highlight for me this past semester. About 9 people showed up and I walked them through my passage in Mark 4 and AJ (our trip leader) translated into Spanish for them. It was so powerful to see them interact with what was written in the bible and respond, from Scripture, to the questions I was asking. I remember their faces and those A-HA moments hit them from the bible. God works through the ministry of His Word! Hebrews 4:12 says that Gods Word is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. Ive been there often when the Holy Spirit, through the words in Scripture, breaks me and the redemption that is Christ Jesus heals me. And it was amazingly powerful to see it in the eyes of some of the people in Media Luna a few weeks ago. Please pray for these people!

For the glory of God,

Matt Taylor

Email: MatthewrTaylor@yahoo.com Phone: 708 220-1726 ADDRESS: 602 W 6th Street Apt 3, Los Fresnos, TX 78566 Online donations accepted at www.toeverytribe.com/donations Art: http://matthewtaylor.daportfolio.com/ Support address: To Every Tribe, PO Box 1572, Los Fresnos, TX 78566

Media Lu na Pictur Matt Taylor e

Minerva and Paul Joseph (son of one of the students)

Our house in Media Luna

Oscar Filleting Our Trout

Trout Dinner

Prayer Requests
-Growth in my Love for Jesus -Growth in life disciplines and stewardship -Media Luna believers: (family) Oscar (Father) Minerva (Mother) Arianna (Daughter)