I’m working on developing a plan for Eagle TV and Steppe-by-Steppe that will, hopefully, take us through the next three to five years of ministry. Part of that process has been to survey and listen to Mongolian church leaders and foreign missionaries about the impact Eagle TV has right now, and what they believe the most important needs of the church community are. Where, in their views, are we succeeding and where are we failing?

Of the many people we’ve resourced so far the number one most important need, hands down, is leadership development. Many of the Mongolian pastors have related that many in leadership today, especially in the countryside, don’t really have a biblical view or approach to leadership. In fact, of all the needs surveyed so far, leadership, discipleship, and materials seem to be the most widely stated needs. Our challenge will be to readjust our ministry operations to come along side and find ways to use our television and field ministry to help meet these critical needs.

One of the local pastors also mentioned, briefly, the problems that happen when ministries focus too strongly on so called “miracle and healing” ministries. He noted, “Mongolians believe in magic and chanting. If we focus only on miracles, healing, etc, it will [result in] superstition for today’s Mongolians.”

It’s very encouraging to see how much the leaders taking part in our surveys have focused on leadership and discipleship issues. It’s always been my belief that strong discipleship is what makes the most important difference when working for spiritual transformation. Witness Jesus’ words to the disciples in Matthew 28 when he said, “Go and make disciples.” Jesus never portrayed the work of ministry as making converts, or social action only. His view was, and is, ongoing transformation that results in people becoming like Christ—that’s discipleship.

As I continue to go through the responses we’re receiving I’m sure that my own views of what makes for transformative television ministry will also go through a process of change. I’m looking forward to seeing what God will do through this process, not only in me, but in the work of Eagle TV.

Today my youngest daughter, Whitney, turned 17. Cool for her. She’s growing up. But all I can think about is how much this reminds me that her days with mom and dad grow fewer.

Happy birthday, Whit.

Now slow down.

Yesterday I finished reading, The Sumerians, by C. Leonard Woolley. It was a fascinating read uncovering the history and culture of one of the world’s first civilizations.

What made the book of interest to me was its reflections on Sumerian culture and the impact the practices of Sumer and Akkad had on the history of the biblical patriarchs. Learning about the cultures of the Ancient Near East (ANE) opens a door of understanding to the scriptures that is sometimes limited without such background information. Reading this book gave me a deeper understanding of the life of Abraham and Sarah and how the decisions they made reflected the culture and laws of Ur of the Chaldeas where Abraham was raised. One great example of this influence on Abraham and Sarah’s thinking comes when you discover the legal status of barren women in Sumerian society.

Under Sumerian law (under which Abraham and Sarah spent most of their lives) a barren women was deprived of her exclusive rights in wedlock. The man could take a second wife, but the barren wife still had preeminent rights over the new wife. In fact the new wife could be regulated to a position of servanthood to her. The first wife could present one of her servants to her husband to bear children for her.

The Bible’s record of the Hagar episodes in Abraham and Sarah’s lives demonstrate that they did not act, as Woolley says, “arbitrarily,” rather, they were “putting into practice the old Sumerian law in which he had been brought up.”

Learning about the ANE societies opens windows of information regarding the lives of the Bible’s early figures and helps us understand why these early figures made the kinds of decisions they did when faced with their trials.

A recent archeological find has uncovered coins from ancient Egypt’s Hyksos dynasty that contain the image and name of Joseph, the biblical patriarch. The news appeared in an article in the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram:

“Joseph’s name appears twice on this coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name, Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer. There is also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian administration at the time.”

Read more about the story from Israel’s National News, or from this Assist Ministries article which outlines additional biblical and historical material related to the find.

This morning I met with a young American man who is in Mongolia doing a research project for a policy foundation he works for in the States. We discussed the July 1st riots, a small bit of Mongolian politics (which I only pay minimal attention to these days), and the current state of media freedoms in Mongolia. During our discussion I was reminded of a post I wrote in 2005 about Free and Fair Media. I drew a comparison of free and fair media using Natan Sharansky’s book, The Case for Democracy (a must read). My guest asked me, “In five years do you think the condition of Mongolian media will be significantly improved?” I thought about it for a moment and gave a resounding yes.

In the Sates conservatives complain about the liberal slants on the big three networks, CNN, and MSNBC. The left complains about the conservative slant on FOX News. In some ways there are similar things happening here. For instance, many people complain about the MPRP slant of TV9 and TV5. Others complain about the Democratic Party slant of C1 or NTV. In many ways, comparatively speaking, the Mongolian situation is similar to the U.S. Regardless of the bickering between sides it is a legitimate exercise of media freedom to slant stories however a station may wish. If MSNBC wants to slant left, that’s their right. If TV9 wants to slant toward the MPRP, that’s their right. The principles of press freedom are not violated. Such practices may not necessarily be good journalism, but that’s a different issue. Each station has a right to report the news from a perspective and in the manner it sees fit. That’s part of what press freedom is about. It’s also why Eagle TV tries to remain as neutral as humanly possible. That is also the the legitimate exercise of press freedom.

So many positive things have happened in Mongolia regarding freedom of speech and press. The state of media here today is much better than it was seven years ago when I moved to Mongolia. As I explained to my guest, there is no legal censorship or pressure on news organizations, but certainly there is some political and cultural pressure from time to time—though not nearly as bad as it was seven years ago. Significant strides in media freedom have been made. There are still some problems regarding transparency of operations and political ownership issues, but overall the improvement has been great. And I believe it will continue to improve as more and more Mongolian journalists exercise their legal rights and forge ahead to take risks covering the truly important stories.

As I already noted, the discussion I had today reminded me of a post I wrote in 2005 on this subject. You can catch that post by clicking here.

Diane and I are on a weight loss regiment. We both want to shed about 80 pounds before our 25th wedding anniversary in December. So today I decided to get some exercise done on the elliptical machine. About thirty minutes into my exercise the steel bar for the right side pedal snapped. No kidding. My bulbous frame snapped a steel bar.

Man. I’m powerful.

I met today with the manager of a TV station operating in the Mongolian countryside. He came to UB to meet with us and ask if we would provide their station with Christian programming. The man is apparently a believer and wants to use his TV station to win people to Christ and help disciple them. As you can imagine, we agreed to provide them with as much ministry programming as they are prepared to take. Our next job is for me to sit down with our ministry department director and plan how and specifically what we will distribute to the station.

I’m very grateful for this opportunity to distribute our ministry programming in this manner. This is an opportunity to reach completely new people who don’t know the Gospel. That means we will probably provide entry level programs like Christianity 101, Together Through The Bible, Colors of Life (a testimony program), and some basic discipleship. A good dose of our Bible reading program, What Does The Bible Say, should also go a long way to introducing the Bible and its context to these new viewers.

It’s estimated that 99 percent of Mongolia’s population is literate. However, in the countryside Mongols tend not to be big readers. Therefore reaching them through audio and video projects is very successful. Our Steppe-by-Steppe field ministry has demonstrated this to be true. Therefore, we believe our Bible reading program, What Does The Bible Say, can be highly effective in reaching countryside Mongols. On Eagle TV, which primarily reaches city Mongols that tend to be more urban, the program is rated number one in its time slot against all other TV stations. Mongolians are hungry for the simplicity of God’s word! So I expect the program to perform just as well, if not better, in the countryside.

As I was thinking about this opportunity to spread the Gospel through this new TV opportunity my mind immediately turned to Luke 16:10,

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.”

May God count us and our new programming partner faithful with this latest opportunity to bring Christ to areas where his name and work is yet to be fully heard.

I’m halfway through a little book about the imprecatory Psalms of the Old Testament. The book is called, War Psalms of the Prince of Peace, by James E. Adams. In today’s reading I came across this:

“Where do we get the idea that it is wrong to ask God to bring judgment on the wicked? That mentality creeps up on us so subtly that it has become a very common idea in our day. You may have even heard a fellow Christian express such an intense love for friends or relatives that God’s judgment against their evil deeds is rejected. It is possible to perceive such deep feelings of love for another as very “Christian”while failing to realize that what is being expressed actually evidences a lack of love for God.”

I think I’ll make this my quote for the week.

I have not been active here for many months—since November of 2009. That’s a long time away. But recently I’ve been thinking about returning to the blogsphere to spend some time sharing and reflecting upon my life in Christ and what it means.

So, expect me to start posting again soon.