From Tennessee to the
Tuvin in Southern Siberia

Cedar Springs Presbyterian adopts four unreached people groups--and calls it "the best thing that ever happened to us."

--Dave Geisler

When Mac Sells, Missions Pastor of Cedar Springs Presbyterian church in Knoxville, Tennessee, called the Mobilization Division of the U.S. Center for World Mission seven years ago, he had a problem. But today as a result of taking action on information provided by the Adopt-A-People program, his church, the Tuvin people and three other unreached peoples have been greatly blessed.

In the last seven years Sells has seen world mission giving go from approximately $750,000 to over $1.8 million dollars. Giving has always exceeded the faith promise pledges and giving to world missions has always exceeded giving to domestic missions which the church now gives about half a million dollars to. At the start of the 1990s church membership/attendance was 1,500 people. In the year 2000 approximately 3,400 people attend and are members of the church.

"Our church is so excited about missions now that we have a greater attendance on Mission Sunday of our eight-day world mission conference than on Christmas," said Sells. "Our people get excited to see the missionaries that they have been praying for from all over the world." Sells estimates that Cedar Springs supports at least 100 missionaries. "We received a set of unreached peoples cards from William Carey Library Publishers and prayed for the peoples on those cards for four to six months," said Pastor Sells.

Originally, when Sells told mission agencies that his church wanted to adopt a people group, he was turned down because most churches don't follow through. Sells was also referred--as he assumed he would be--to supporting individual missionaries who weren't working among unreached peoples.

Four Adoptions

After seeking the counsel of the Mobilization Division of USCWM about his problem, Sells and Cedar Springs were given the names of four unreached people groups and background research on those peoples.* The church missions committee prayed about these four groups for a month yet couldn't decide which one to adopt so they adopted them all. Today, they are praying and financially supporting work among the Tuvins in Southern Siberia, the Dong people of China, the Maithili people of India and the Nara people of Eritrea.

"Adopting these four unreached people groups is the best thing that has ever happened to us as a church, because it has helped us to keep our focus on unreached peoples," said Sells.

Their adoption strategy was designed so that each small group in the church was led by a church member who became an advocate for a different unreached people. If something wasn't happening with the Tuvin prayer group another breakthrough would be happening with the Nara prayer group. While something good has happened among all of their adopted people groups, the greatest impact has happened among the Tuvin people, a Tibetan Buddhist group of 180,000 living near Mongolia.

The Jesus Film

As part of their adoption strategy Cedar Springs has strongly supported The Jesus Film Project (The life of Jesus according to the Gospel Of Luke) and given $100,000 to pay for the entire cost of the Tuvin translation. In 1997, the premiere of the newly translated Jesus Film was an exciting day in the history of the Tuvin culture. According to Jesus Film staff, the people had such respect for the film that the only sound in the auditoriums was from the actors onscreen telling the story of Jesus in the Tuvin language. All of the seats were filled well in advance in the assembly halls of Kryzl and Shaganar, two Tuvin cities where the Jesus Film was premiered. Many children sat two to a seat, while the atmosphere was almost supernaturally quiet and respectful as people heard the words of Jesus in their own language for the first time.

Getting the Jesus Film is a major breakthrough for the Tuvins as their people have always depended on witchdoctors to manipulate the spirit world. Now they are learning that they can call upon the name of Jesus for salvation and healing. The goal of the two film teams Cedar Springs supports is to give every Tuvin the opportunity to see Jesus and respond to the Gospel by the end of the year 2002, and so far the project has helped to plant churches in twelve Tuvin cities. Additionally, Cedar Springs has also paid for 5,000 children's Bibles in the Tuvin language with a view to impacting the next generation.

Newfound Exposure

The Tuvins, who were once unknown to most of the Christian world, have become quite famous lately. A documentary in 1999, focused on a unique talent of the Tuvins called Tuvin throat singing where singers can produce a high note and low note at the same time. The film critic Roger Ebert gave a positive review to the film and called the Tuvin talent "amazing" on his nationally syndicated television program. The Tuvins were also seen on television by millions worldwide as they were represented in the Pasadena Rose Parade, New Years Day 2000.

A Heart For Missions

"The keys to the success of world missions in our church have been prayer and a pastor (John Wood) who sees the Bible as a missionary book and preaches sermons almost every other week from the Bible showing the mission emphasis running through every book of the Bible," said Sells. Sells believes that every church can and should get involved with the Adopt-A-People program. "Even a small church can get involved by partnering with a ministry working with unreached people groups. This is how we are working with the Nara people in Eritrea. Sells said, "When you understand that missions to the unreached peoples is what's on God's heart you can't help but be interested in missions." With a perspective like that and a senior pastor wholeheartedly pursuing the Great Commission it's no wonder Cedar Springs is an outstanding example of how a local church can become a primary key to penetrating unreached people groups.

____________________

*The USCWM's AAP Office is not currently staffed sufficiently to provide this level of service to inquirers.

For more information on adopting an unreached people group, contact any of the following ministries:

- AD2000 and Beyond, Ph: 719-576-2000 Email: barb@ad2000.org, Web: www.ad2000.org,

- Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse, Ph: 719-574-7001, Email: aapc@xc.org Web: www.aapc.net

- Caleb Resources's Advocacy Dept. Ph: 303-730-4170, Email: info@cproject.org, Web: www.takeitglobal.org

- USCWM's AAP Campaign, Ph: 626-398-2200, Email: aapcampaign@uscwm.org, Web: www.uscwm.org

- Accelerating International Mission Strategies (AIMS), Ph: 757-226-5850, Email: aims@aims-usa.org, Web: www.aims.org

- The Antioch Network, Ph: 602-242-4414, Email: antiochnetwork@xc.org, Web: www.antiochnetwork.org

David Geisler is a professional freelance writer who writes for the Global Prayer Digest. His work has appeared in Focus on the Family and Charisma magazines.