The time we put a grandpa in our trunk and picked up a bestselling author…

March was a busy month for us. We spent 26 nights on the road and drove over 4,300 miles. Funny thing is, in February, we thought our March was going to be kinda slow. It all started when we put a grandpa in our trunk so that we could pick up a bestselling author…

In February we were at Ethnos360 Headquarters in Sanford FL. for meetings. Every couple of years or so, Ethnos360 gathers it’s Representatives from across the country and brings them together for a week-long conference. We get to hear from our CEO, and the heads of various departments. Reports are given and strategies explained. It’s a great time. One of our favorite parts of the Reps’ Conference is getting to hang out with our fellow missionaries. Being a Rep can be a lonely job. We’re always on the road, and rarely are we around other Ethnos360 missionaries. So when we have the chance to hang out, share ideas and just encourage each other, we go for it.

 Ethnos360 headquarters

That’s how we ended up with a car full of missionaries, at the end of a long day, getting ready to go find a burger joint. My friend Doug “Tribal” Schaible had just climbed in the front seat when I said, “Hey, there’s Gracia. Somebody go see if she wants to go grab a bite.”

I’m an idea guy. Something pops into my head and I run with it, usually requiring Joan to jump in and work out details that I hadn’t considered. Details like, where is Gracia Burnham going to sit in this already over-packed car? Joan, quick as she is, was already climbing into the back of our SUV when Doug hustled over, and he wasn’t having any of it. Despite her protests, Doug got Joan out of the trunk and then took her place in it. He did such a good job folding himself up that I was left wondering how many Drive-In movies he’s seen for free.

At the restaurant, Gracia ran into some friends from South Dakota, because of course she would. Remember we’re in Florida. That led me to mention that I’d be going to Camp Witness (which is very close to South Dakota) at the end of that next month. Gracia, having been to Camp Witness before, asked if I would be visiting Sunshine Bible Academy while I was out there. SBA is a Christian boarding school in South Dakota. She said it’d be a great fit for me, and that she  would tell them about me sometime. To my surprise, SBA called me before we’d even left FL. and invited us to come be part of their 1st missions conference.

 Sunshine Bible Academy

Normally, I’d be pretty excited about the chance to make new contacts. But after some unexpected car problems, we were worried about how we’d pay for the trip. Our calendar was filling up, but there were still long enough gaps between events that I was starting to worry that we’d have to spend too much money on hotel rooms. But I was reminded that when we first agreed to take on this ministry, we told the Lord that if we had an invitation we’d say yes. We’d go through any door that He opened for us, trusting Him for what we needed.

1st stop – Catch The Vision campus visit event at Ethnos360 Bible Institute in Waukesha WI. Our friend Glenn Smith from Camp Witness brought a van full of students all the way from Nebraska for this event. We were able to be a part of it because the Mobilization Team there not only provided us with a big guest room for almost a week, but they also surprised us with money to help cover our expenses along the way. With the guest room we were able to have the students we know hang out late into the night. Joan kept the rooms stocked with coffee snacks and pizza. It was good to connect with our 10 “kids” and of course Connor and Sarah and Jonas.

 

2nd stop – Sunshine Bible Academy, Miller South Dakota. We were very impressed with the students and staff we met here. We were hosted by a staff family who’ve been teaching there for decades and really made us feel like part of the family. For a few days we spoke in chapel and in classes. A lot of the students live at the school so we made ourselves available to them as much as possible. We stayed up late, and made a lot of new friends.

3rd stop – Cornerstone Bible Institute, Hot Springs SD. After a last minute phone call introduction these nice folks gave us a room to sleep in and invited us to join their students for meals. We stayed up way too late talking and playing games in the cafeteria with these Bible students.

4th stop – Camp Witness, Long Pine Nebraska. We love this camp, and it was our privilege to speak at their first ever Spring Retreat. We were joined by students from Frontier School of the Bible as well as high school students from the area and surrounding states.

There are so many other stories from that month, too many to share. Friends we ran into along the way, unexpected surprises and “coincidences” that kept us encouraged. Things like young people who want to be missionaries and their supportive parents. Students who are growing in their faith and finding ways to overcome issues with sin. Even in the way God provided for us. We were gone for a month, a long way from our home in Tennessee, and yet we only had to stay in 3 hotel rooms. Our car kept running, and we were always able to fill the tank. Thank you Lord! I’m not saying that everything happened this way just because we were obedient to go where He led. But if there’s something the Lord wants YOU to do, step out in faith and do it!

 

 

January 2018 Ministry Update

 

We January was a busy month for us. We put 2,447 ministry miles on the car. We were in Ohio for a week of meetings at Cedarville University. We met with the head of the Intercultural Studies program and were invited back to share in one of his classes later this year. We’re grateful for the family that saved us a hotel expense by inviting us to stay with them that week, even though we’d never met. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend much time with them because we were on campus 13 or 15 hours a day and got ‘home’ after they’d all gone to bed. 
 
After Ohio we headed straight to Iowa for a weekend retreat with about 40 teenagers at East Iowa Bible Camp, where I was asked if I would be willing to “kind of run things” since the new program director wasn’t full-time just yet. I asked what that meant, and the director replied with, “You know, just do your thing. Do the whole Tim Carmical show.” I still don’t know what the whole Tim Carmical show is, but I was in charge of games, keeping things going, and of course teaching. We had 4 sessions from John 3 and 4 where we compared Christ’s interactions with Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman. It was a great weekend. 
 
Next we went to Emmaus Bible College. We encouraged students we know, and made a few new friends. When we heard that the Intercultural Studies majors were meeting the next day, we thought it would be worth the cost of another night in a hotel to have the chance to talk to them. I was right, it was totally worth it. Emmaus sends out students to the mission field each year, and we’re praying for even more.
The heat in our car quit working on our way to Emmaus Bible College. We had the heater core flushed out which seemed to fix the problem. (update: it didn’t fix the problem. As of March we’ve had the car in the shop 4 times.)
 
From Emmaus Bible College we headed to Wisconsin to visit Ethos360 Bible Institute. We have 10 students there that we’ve challenged into missions, including two Carmicals, one of whom just got married in December. It was great getting to see Connor and his bride Sarah in their tiny apartment. Sarah’s a much better cook at her age than either of us are now! We also got to spend time with our other ‘kids’. These are young people from Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska who we love dearly. We always take them out somewhere and either feed them or get them coffee, even if we can’t always get all of them together at the same time. They’re good kids, studying nothing but the Bible for 2 years. 
After Wisconsin we headed to Illinois to visit both our parents. After that we headed back to TN to see if our house was still there. It was.
 
What’s next?
 
I’m working on building a storage shed in the backyard. We have a room in the house that looks like a jungle! It’s filled with fake trees, bamboo and even a tribal hut. Combine that with all the other things I cart around the country and you can imagine why we need a shed.
 
Next month (Feb) we have meetings in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Florida at our mission headquarters. I’m thinking about doing something nice for Joan while we’re in FL to make up for the pictures of her I put on Facebook. Can you go to a big FL theme park if you never took your kids there? I don’t know. 🙂 
 
Prayer requests.
We’re starting to think about a newer car. We were given a camper trailer that we’d like to fix up to use during our summer camp season, but it would would be nice to have something bigger to pull it. 
We found a donor family who wants to help pay half tuition for students in our Bible school, we just need to keep finding new freshman each year. Pray that the Lord keeps sending them to us, or us to them. 
 
“Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” 
 
Tim Carmical
I forgot about our support. We are seeing more people join our team, and without us asking them. Most of our new supporters have been young people, some just out of college, young families, and parents of kids we’ve ministered to. We are around 80% of what our mission recommends. 

ETHNOS360

The mission board Joan and I serve with has recently changed it’s name from New Tribes Mission to Ethnos360. Here’s a letter from the President of Ethnos360 explaining why.

Dear Readers,

Why have we changed our name to Ethnos360 from New Tribes Mission USA? Because we’re positioning to reach a changing world.

Our founders had a vision for reaching the world: “By unflinching determination we hazard our lives and gamble all for Christ until we have reached the last tribe regardless of where that tribe might be.” (Brown Gold magazine, Issue 1, May 1943)

That’s a far-reaching vision. A vision that represents God’s heart for the world. A vision that’s worth you and me getting passionate about and working together to make a reality.

That vision hasn’t changed, but the world has. We face new challenges, and we are learning to face them together — relying upon God to unite His people to overcome them for His glory.

Ethnos360 is the name that anchors us to our foundations and points us to our vision.

Ethnos is the “nations” that Christ referred to when He commanded His followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) and “…that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all the nations…” (Luke 24:47).

360 represents the entirety of the globe — all 360 degrees. Our goal is to go wherever in the world is necessary to see a thriving church for every people, not only to focus on one particular type of people group.

Our vision is the same today as it was 75 years ago. As we move forward, we’ll draw from those lessons God has taught us in our 75 years of ministry to pursue new opportunities opening to us. Opportunities to reach a
changing world.

Together let’s continue to embrace God’s vision of reaching the whole world as you and I passionately pursue Him and His goals.

Larry M. Brown

Ethnos360 President

What We Do

It’s hard to briefly explain what we do as Representatives of NTM, because our day-to-day duties can be so broad and varied. Sometimes, when asked to explain our ministry in one sentence, I’ve replied with, “I stand in front of strangers and tell them that whatever they’re doing, they should be doing more, all while trying to become their new friend.” So I put together this infographic to help explain some of the aspects of our ministry.