case study

Traveling with Jesus

/ Steinar Opheim

When giving our day to God, we will from time-to-time experience that he creates divine meetings. Lately, I have had many such incidents while traveling, writes the author of this article. Photo: Adobdestock

The Bible has many stories about people who seemingly meet randomly. When we look closer at things, we do however see God’s finger behind the encounter. It is like God brought the people together without them knowing it. Are you ready to experience the same thing?

At Tent’s GO Equipped courses participants are asked to commit to starting their days with God. Some of us are morning people and spend time in the Bible and in prayers in the mornings. Others like to sleep in and must hurry more before they head out to work or other duties. No matter your preference, you can always start your day with God, give it to him and ask him for help to meet the people around you in the way he wants you to meet them.  

When giving our day to God, we will from time-to-time experience that he creates divine meetings. Lately, I have had many such incidents while traveling. One was on a recent overnight flight. The airline I flew with changed my seat after checking in. Instead of getting an aisle seat, which is my preference, I got a middle seat in the window section. Even if I always pray for God to organize divine meetings as I travel, I did not see his hand behind this. Instead, I got upset, started complaining and felt sorry for myself. 

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A praying woman’s vision for Africa

/ Ari Rocklin

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The All Africa TI Tentmakers Congress brought together people from many African nations. Some traveled for days, by air, road, bus and sometimes walking great distances. 

We heard encouraging if not surprising reports of how tentmakers trained in Africa have gone to neighbouring countries and beyond, bringing the Gospel with them while looking for work or starting small businesses.

What is a small business?

How about a shoe shine stand or a crate full of Coke, mobile phone service or vegetable stand. God’s merchants in the marketplace.

What is different about this kind of mission?

No foreign money, no expectation of remuneration or assistance from the so called “West”. Could this be the start of a new wave of missions not dependent on the western church?

I see the church of Africa taking a leadership role for world evangelism, and proclaiming a simple but not watered down version of the Gospel. It is my personal hope to see African style worship coming to the west, and perhaps calling it “Africa Song”.

Why would this work?

A story was told of a shoe shine man, in front of a very large church building, shining the shoes of business people. As he started building his clientele and building relationships while serving them, the conversation always led to Jesus. One businessman asked, what is different about your religion compared to the large church behind me? The shoe shine man responded, I have come here from another country to work for a living and share the message of Jesus while working. You see Apostle Paul integrated his work and faith by making tents, I am only following in his footsteps but as a shoeshine man.

In a matter of months the shoe shine man had started a bible study in a nearby park with people who had never considered attending the large church.

Back to the congress.

At the rear of the main meeting room hung some paintings. The story behind one of them was told to me through an interpreter. An elderly woman had been praying for the congress for a long time and during those prayers she had seen a vision. It was so powerful that she thought it should become a panting. Not being an artist herself, she went to a local painter who then proceeded to paint her vision from her words and instructions.

The vision is of a woman symbolized as Africa, who is in distress, without hope for the future. On the right hand are two African tentmaker wheat merchants heading her way with the hope of the Gospel. She saw hundreds of these tentmakers from Africa going across Africa spreading the good news of Jesus as a result of this congress and the work of the All Africa Tentmaking Movement.

It is the conviction of this editor that Africa will train and send more tentmakers who will disciple more new believers and plant more house churches than any other continent in the next decade!

Underground to above ground church

/ Ari Rocklin

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The news reports from a country torn by civil war, where safety for locals and foreigners is getting increasingly challenging, focuses on the instability and mayhem. A viewer safely away in the comfortable peaceful west could not be blamed for thinking, where is God in all this?

While these images flash across large high definition TV screens, there is a greater story going on behind the scenes of destruction. Only a few blocks behind the latest bombing event, is a small but growing church of locals, all recent converts.

A year earlier a tentmaker had arrived to this area to work as a “construction” worker. At work he had been challenged by locals who were adamant in converting him to their majority religion faith.

Over time the tentmaker earned their trust through good humor, good questions, time spent together at meals and his ever present joy in work. One by one his co-workers heard about Jesus. Some claimed having seen a man in white in their dreams with out stretched hands beckoning them to come. Then the miracles started, as his co-workers started sharing in secret that they had accepted Jesus into their lives and had earnestly begun to read their Bibles.

They were impacted by the knowledge of a sure salvation, the character of Jesus who did not retaliate and in the Bible which made sense while being logical and reasonable. They fell in love with a God who loved everyone including their enemies and being able to have a relationship with him.

They started meeting with the tentmaker in homes and cafes, studying the Bible and watching videos.

Soon the group grew too big to continue meeting in homes and emboldened by the rapid changes in their country, they rented a location where they could meet in the open.

Then the police came to the tentmaker’s home. Politely but firmly they told him to stay away from the group as his presence there was jeopardizing everyone’s safety. If he promised to stay away, the police assured him that the group and their meetings would be protected.

It was with tremendous sadness that the tentmaker agreed to these terms even though it meant he could not continue to meet with his spiritual children that were so precious to him.

Not long after, the tentmaker had to leave the country for unrelated reasons. But the church continues to meet and grow in increasingly threatening conditions.

The lesson for us reading this is that God is not lost in the clouds, His Kingdom is growing when all we see is death and destruction. Pray for the persecuted church and the tens of thousands of people coming to Christ.

Captivated with Wonder

/ Guest Contributor

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So profound is Jesus’ coming that we have celebrated it for centuries. God humbled himself to enter our world to reveal himself and to suffer his own judgment to redeem us rebels—What an absolute wonder!

There is no story like this. It is incredible! When we take time to grasp again this staggering reality, we are captivated with wonder. This is why we celebrate Christmas—to take time to “see” again the wonder of Jesus’ incarnation.

Today he has returned to the Father and we are his heart and hands and feet on earth. He can only go where we take him. This is what Christ-filled tentmakers do—they take Christ to those who do not know him. They incarnate him so that people see Jesus in them. They exhibit the supernatural difference so that people wonder and ask questions. And by working, tentmakers exhibit Jesus’ life and power in one of the most central aspects of life.

Business as Mission in Practice

“Robert” builds servanthood into the whole ethos of his company in Asia. It is a stated core value. Employees study and discuss it in optional Bible studies. And the Christians in the company practice it constantly. One day Robert saw an employee looking for something in the break room. When he asked what, she answered, “I’m looking for a clean glass.” When she couldn’t find one, she gave up and left. So he washed one for her and filled it with water. When he brought it to her, she could not believe it and asked, “What is this?” Robert responded, “You said you were looking for a clean glass for water.” Several weeks later in the Bible study, she broke down in tears as they were discussing how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Concerned, they asked what was wrong. When she was able to answer, she said, “Robert, do you remember when you gave me that glass of water. No one has ever done anything like that for me before. Now I understand what you were doing.”

I am very grateful for every tentmaker connected with GO-Tent who has gone or is serving now or is considering going. Seeing them incarnate Christ in some of the darkest, hardest places on earth makes our work worth it. We are thankful to have equipped tentmakers from 36 nations to go to over 80 nations.

Many of you reading this Tentmaking Brief are part of this number and all of you desire to see more people captivated by the wonder of Jesus’ coming. You know that GO and Tent are untiring in calling Christians to go as tentmakers. Yet many, many more are needed. So we also want to give you the opportunity to help GO-Tent financially so that more people are captivated with the wonder of Jesus’ coming!

Have a Wonder-Full Christmas, captivated again with the wonder of Jesus’ coming.

Dave English