The Sleeping Dragon… Awoken!
By Dr. Ronald Barnes
For years Source of Light has had ministry in the land of the “Sleeping Dragon,” as it is nicknamed. This country, the most populous country in the world, which we will refer to as “East Asia” for security reasons, has been a focus of much underground activity for SLM resources for decades. But because of the dangers associated with using the lessons, their use has been very secretive and very hard to track.
For years, the courses have been photocopied or printed off copies of copies, but in recent years new, clean, original digital copies have been distributed on USBs for redistribution. But tracking the use of these courses and getting adequate training for those who are using them has proven to be very difficult.
All of our SLM courses are illegal to distribute and being caught with them will lead to arrest and imprisonment. In fact, the author of this article was in the country to do training at the invitation of one of our partners, but the training was abruptly canceled when the organizer was caught using the materials, arrested, and sent to a “repatriation camp.”
As you can understand, the work of the Gospel and disciple making is tricky and yet we are discovering that the Gospel is flourishing in this country.
The “dragon” is very much awake and is wandering about seeking to destroy the work of the Gospel. Despite all the adversity, this country is believed to have 39 million believers. But with hundreds of millions yet unreached, the task is still significant.
At SLM, we have been praying that we would have real leadership on the ground so as to see the work blossom and spread, and to ensure that training and follow-up is being done. We have also prayed that God would give us key national leaders throughout this country to carry out the work locally, which wouldn’t require lots of connection which could endanger the other teams. In order to accomplish this, we have been praying that God would send someone to help launch this initiative and we believe God has brought such a person.
God has led us to a wonderful family, who our administration has known well for many years. We have worked together on cross-cultural assignments for over 15 years and even visited East Asia together in the past.
In fact, it was on that trip that this author introduced the SLM literature for the first time in the southern region in this country. Since that time, almost ten years ago, we know of about ten thousand courses that have been distributed, and many young people who have come to Christ and been discipled as a result. It was their desire at the time to even use the Source of Light curriculum, World Wide Bible Institute (WWBI), to train pastors who have limited access to Bible training, but that has been curtailed for lack of personnel on the ground to do the training. But for someone with the right experience and training this could come to fruition.
“T” as we will call him has been in education, ministry, missions, and administration for over 20 years, but his real heart and passion has been discipleship.
Further, it has been the dream of he and his wife to live in East Asia, and it now seems God has made this possible.
This will be a challenging assignment; it will require that both T and his wife work as “tent-makers.” T’s work will have flexibility and allow him to travel throughout East Asia to connect, train, and introduce our resources in a variety of new areas as well as to follow-up the early work that has been done in the past. T and his family are excited to join SLM in this new venture, but it will need a lot of prayer and support.
T and his family leave their jobs this summer and hope to be in East Asia by summer’s end. This will necessitate many logistical items and, of course, the support to make this transition. Even though T will have income from the tent-making job, the ministry will entail raising its own support. We are praying that God would provide $2,000 monthly to run the office, cover transportation costs in country, produce literature locally, and make up the difference in what a low-wage job will cover.
We are also asking God to raise about $10,000 to cover airfare, outfit, and passage for setting up a home in the country.
We are excited that God has fanned the flame of the gift in T and his wife’s ministry and looking forward to seeing how God will use their effort in this land of the “Sleeping Dragon.”
