A bit of news...

Hey Everybody!

I’ve made some decisions regarding college and other future stuff recently, and I wanted to fill you in on those. God’s been doing some pretty cool things in 2009!

To start off, let me tell you a bit about what I wanted to do as far as missions before I went down to Texas this February. This part is very simple to explain, because I had no idea what I wanted to do! To back up a bit, I felt God leading me to full-time missions in February 2008. This meant that I was changing my whole life plan, because at that point I was planning on starting my own small-business with exotic animals. This would have involved getting a small business management degree online. After a lot of re-arranging of priorities according to God’s standards, not my own, I realized that I could never be satisfied unless I was serving Him in full-time ministry. It was really a time of re-dedicating my entire life to Him. I had really shut God out of certain parts of my life, and I realized that’s not how I wanted to live. I want God to govern each and every area of my life, and I want to follow hard after Him in everything I do.

Anyway, I started looking at different options for getting schooling for full-time ministry. I really had no idea what I would actually do in full-time ministry so I just started looking at getting Bible training. I was basically planning on getting a biblical studies degree and then going down to David Sitton’s missionary training school. The only real change to this plan was deciding to go to Covenant College instead of Kuyper College to get the biblical studies degree. This plan didn’t really change at all between February ‘08 and February ‘09, although I was still very curious where God was going to use me in ministry.

Then I went down to David’s school which is called the Center for Pioneer Church Planting (CPCP). I was able to sit in on a bunch of the classes there, both for Bible and missiology. I was very impressed with the solid, reformed teaching. I also found out that the school was going to be changing to a 2-year school instead of just a 1 year school. I had a chance to talk through my plan with David, and he gave me his advice and wisdom about that plan. We also discussed my gifts and talents. The main ones we discussed were these: I’m very hands-on, although I do enjoy learning by reading. I enjoy talking at churches overseas and sharing the gospel, but I don’t know that I want to be teaching full-time. Finally, I really like working with my hands and working hard.

Then we went on the trip to Papua New Guinea. I had many opportunities to discuss ideas and opportunities with David. I actually went down thinking that I would really enjoy the trip, but that I wouldn’t end up there permanently. As David and I got to know each other better, and he realized that I like challenges, working hard, and adventure, he told me about these missionary houses that New Tribes builds. These houses are built with lots of bush materials, but also incorporate things such as electricity through solar power, plywood floors, fans and lights, screens, and e-mail through shortwave radio among other things. These houses enable the missionaries to live quite comfortably in the harsh environment of Papua New Guinea.

I had a chance to see one of these houses when I was in Gavimas. One of the New Tribes missionaries gave me a complete tour of all the different aspects of the house. At this point, I was very interested in what I was seeing. After I got back from seeing this house I sat down and had a long talk with David over dinner. We talked over what my job description could be if I decided to be a missionary with To Every Tribe Ministries (TETM). (They do not yet have anybody to build houses for their missionaries, yet they have missionaries that are going to be graduated and heading to Papua New Guinea in January 2010). I was very fascinated with this missionary house-building idea, so I began discussing scenarios with David. If I decided to go with TETM, I could be their house-builder, and then when I’m not building houses I could be researching new areas. These new areas would be potential places for planting churches similar to what we did in Gavimas. These places could be 6 hours away by canoe, or 3-4 days hike through the mountain-that sort of thing. As you can probably imagine, this idea got me pretty excited, besides the fact that I was already excited about the house-building idea. To sum this part of the story up, I began doing some serious praying and thinking about building these missionary houses.

David has been going to Chambri Island for 20 years now. Because of this, the people have started building a center for TETM. This center has 3 rooms: 1 for guys to sleep in, 1 for girls to sleep in, and 1 big room for cooking, eating, and such. David would like to make a sort-of hybrid house; a hybrid between bush house and missionary house.

David presented me with the opportunity of coming back to Chambri and helping finish the construction of this center as part of a path towards becoming TETM’s house-builder. This was pretty fascinating to me, so I told him I would do some thinking and praying about it.

At this point I was very excited about these new ideas and opportunities that were in front of me. I told David and the Chambri people that I wanted to wait to make a decision until I got back to the States. We still had a week or so before our trip ended, so I kept learning more and more about these opportunities, while still keeping an open mind. I got back home and talked to my parents about these ideas, along with discussing it with other people who would come from different viewpoints as far as college. I listened to wisdom from my parents, my relatives, David Sitton, admissions counselors, and various other people. I also wanted to put some time in between my trip and making a decision because I realized that I’d be on a “mission trip high” for a couple weeks. I spent a lot of time thinking and praying during this time period, asking God to give me wisdom in this area.

After examining the various paths and opportunities I have in front of me, listening to wisdom from those who are older than me and know me well, and doing lots of hard thinking and praying, I made a decision about a week ago.

Of course, I don’t have every single detail worked out, but I do have the main goals hammered out. Here is my plan:

I’m going to be using this next school year to work on an accelerated bachelor’s program. I will be getting a bachelor’s degree from this program, probably in construction. I’ll also be learning to install the specialized parts of a missionary house in New Guinea, such as solar power systems and water supplies. I will also be going back to Papua New Guinea in July or August of this year. I’ll be staying there for 3 months with a partner. We will be finishing up this TETM Center.

Fall of 2010 I will be going down to David’s missionary school. For the next 2 years I’ll be down there getting missionary training. I’ll also be working on my bachelor’s degree online during these 2 years (mostly over the summers).

By the time all is said and done I’ll have my bachelor’s degree, I’ll be fully competent to construct a missionary house, and I’ll have received missionary training from the Center for Pioneer Church Planting. At that point I will be commissioned by To Every Tribe as one of their missionaries, I’ll be raising support, and then I’ll be going back to PNG for good.

I really feel God leading me in this direction, and I am very excited about it! My dad & mom are also excited about these opportunities that God has brought about. I am discovering how fulfilling and rewarding it is to follow hard after God and allow Him to govern every area of my life. Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord. I hope this letter finds you serving Christ with your life! I’d love to hear your thoughts about what God is doing in my life!


In Christ,


-Kelly Bryant

E-mail: kellyandhogs@yahoo.com