Merry Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas from Matt, April & the girls!

We hope this finds you enjoying the holidays with your family and friends as we are with ours. Seeing Christmas through our girls’ eyes really brings the excitement back! They asked if we could bake a cake for Jesus’ birthday this year. I love it, but they could just be playing me for some extra sugar! Darby-Jewell turns eight right after Christmas. She and Maria (6, our poet & preacher) just finished their school work for this semester. Katherine (4) still speaks with her sweet mousey voice, but is changing from a toddler into a ‘big kid.’ Norah (18 mo.) is our mess maker. As soon as you catch her and stop the destruction, she runs off giggling to find a new target.

We would also like to announce that April is at the end of her 4^th month of pregnancy. We heard the baby’s heart beat together last week. The girls are beyond excited! Darby-Jewell and Maria have “asked” for a brother, while Katherine prefers another sister.

As we wrap up this year, I think some of my highlights were: Helping form the new Latin American sending agency…Participating in the Spanish and English minister’s conferences…Teaching at our South & Central American seminaries in Ecuador, Honduras and Colombia…training local pastors and working with our U.S. teams in the orphanages, feeding centers, and clinics in those same countries…and ministering to our former colleagues and missionaries in Costa Rica, once God got me out of Honduras!

Next year promises to be even more exciting with returns to those countries plus some new seminaries and training conferences as well as Mexico’s recently founded missionary school. God has blessed us with so many new connections, friends, and open doors that I am overwhelmed. With more invitations than we have months, we need your support now more than ever. Thank you for your prayers and for helping us get there!

We have begun a new model of going out with local churches on their mission trips, and staying after they leave to teach at that country’s seminary. THIS REALLY IS WORKING! Please let me know if your local church is considering a mission trip this or next year. I’d love to go with you to help work, translate, or preach…then stay a week to help train the pastors and students of that same country.

Christmas Blessings! Matthew, April, Darby-Jewell, Maria, Katherine & Norah

I really mean the following: Write or give us a call. We’d love to hear from you.

We are booking a Spring Tour. Please let us know if your church or special group would like to have us come and speak. We’d love to share with you what God is doing!

Matt & April Jett
101 Springfield Lane
Waxahachie, TX 75165

Phone: 817-764-0176
E-mail: matthewjett@gmail.com
Website: www.mattjett.blogspot.com
Facebook: Matt Jett (matthewjett@gmail.com)

Check out one of our websites, e-mail us, or call to find out how you can help or be a part!

Four Nations in Four Months!

It’s coming like a whirlwind! We are headed to Colombia, Honduras, Brazil, and Mexico. We’ll be in a different country for each month between now and December. I wanted to write a brief description of what we’ll be doing in each place, and how you can help pray for us:

1st Colombia: I’m leaving today for Colombia and will be gone until the 1st of September. The first part of the trip will be with a team from Real Family Fellowship. I’ll be helping them while they bring a fresh approach on training Children’s and Youth Pastors in the city of Cali, Colombia. We’ll also find some great opportunities for evangelism while building relationships with the local pastors and missionaries there. After the group heads back to the States, I’ll head over to the seminary in Bogata for a few days. I can’t wait!!!!
Pray: It is not the safest city on the planet, but there are some precious souls that need Jesus as well as some courageous missionaries and pastors that need some help. We don’t really know what all to expect, so pray that the Holy Spirit will open the right doors, and protect us along the way. Things not only work out, they get incredible when He steps in!

2nd Honduras: I’ve wanted to go with Kent and the gang from my home church for years to visit the Nuevo Esperanza Feeding Center. They are bringing literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies and food! I’m so glad to get to be a part of their ministry and help in anyway I can. We arrive on September 19th, but I plan on staying over to travel to one of our Bible schools in Honduras after the group leaves.
Pray: Honduras is a country of unrest these days. Our main mission is to give a cup of cold water to the thirsty souls living there. What a great time to declare the love and peace of God during such a time of turmoil! Pray for our protection and favor with the people and the powers-that-be. The new presidential elections are scheduled for October, after we leave. Pray for a peaceful conclusion to a difficult time. I’m still trying to get into one or more of the schools there. I’ve waited as long as I can to buy the tickets, and now I’ll have to make the arrangements from Colombia. I need favor, cheap airfare, good communication lines from Colombia, and some open doors.

3rd Brazil: We’ve been looking forward to the international conference of Christian Educators for a while, FIEL. We will be not only with some of the South American guys that I already know and love, but with all the leaders of the Central American Countries, the Caribbean, and Mexico! More doors, more schools, more influence, more students, more souls saved!!! Need I say more for October?
Pray: For direction and unity during the meetings. Pray for the new Latin American missionary sending agency that you can call “Amy” in English. I’m still looking for a school to teach at on the way home, pray a door opens!

4th Mexico: Mexico is blessed with some great leaders who are as excited about producing Latin American Missionaries as I am. I can’t wait to be with them at the mission conference as well as the new School in Guadalajara! Is Mexico cool in November?
Pray: For the new school, the teachers, the students, and the leaders in Mexico. Pray for open doors for the new missionaries, and for favor. Pray that a cheap route will open up for us to be connected frequently to a school that is only a 2 hour flight from Dallas.

We’re so excited for the season ahead! I love getting to teach and to help other groups minister, especially those who can help us train other pastors and missionaries. We’ll be back in the States for December & January, during the “summer break” of our schools! If you have an opening at your church during this time, please let us know. We’d love to come and share with your church family what we are doing, and how you can help!

Blessings,
Matt
817-764-0176
matthewjett@gmail.com
majett@juno.com
facebook: Matt Jett

A simple Plan

What a GREAT idea!!!

The following idea is very simple, costs little, works so well with our ministry, and helps you out at the same time!

If you or your church is taking a mission trip to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, or South America…Take me with you!

Medical missions, construction projects, youth group trips, Senior-Youth-Children’s or Music Pastoral training conferences, or any other mission trip or tour…whatever trip you have coming up!

I can help the group with everything from being an extra translator to preaching, praying, building, advising, counseling, or even serving as an extra chaperone…whatever you need. If this is one of your first trips, I’d be glad to help you plan the trip and place you in contact with some of the national workers.

The only thing I ask is that you pay for my ticket, and let me pick the return date. This can often be rolled into the cost of the trip. If I can stay over a few days after your group leaves, then I can work with the school of that nation! I’ll stay to help train missionaries and Pastors from the very area/country that you just fell in love with.

The last ticket a church purchased for me, allowed me to re-route through the city where the school was located and stay an extra week. It cost $4 extra! Sometimes, the total cost for my ticket can even be less than the others’ by staying later. What a great way to help effect the kingdom of God and give you one more helping hand while doing your trip!

Some of the churches are already helping a specific country or area. For example: If your heart is already in love with Bolivia, then let me go with your group on your next trip to Bolivia, and I’ll help you. Then I’ll stay and further help the people you love in Bolivia for a few more days by helping their pastors and future missionaries.

So, Help me by: Helping me…Help YOU!

Call or write me with questions.

Blessings,
Matt
817-764-0176
matthewjett@gmail.com
majett@juno.com
facebook: Matt Jett

Always Reminded

Every time I prepare to leave the States for the next mission, God seems to remind me of the basics. He does it in the way only a Father can. Because He knows his children well, He’s able to use just the right method for that particular time. Most of the time it is much more gently than we think He’d be. It is always amazing, but seldom easy.

A few months ago, I was reminded about the need to pray and fast before a trip. God allowed us to go into the same financial struggle that many have experienced as of late. April and I responded by pushing away the plate, not because we couldn’t buy food…but because we needed direction, a clear movement, and provision. Within just days the provision was there, and He gently reminded me of something I teach my own students but had forgotten for this trip. He reminded me of the hold that Hell had upon the people in the region where I was headed. I had been doing this stuff so long that I was taking it a little too lightly. I was going to the front lines of some major spiritual battles for the souls of that particular place. God used finances that time to remind me to push away the plate, seek His direction, presence, and provision for that mission, as I had been doing for the finances to get to that mission.

I hope that I remember and apply that lesson for a good long time…It was none too comfortable, if you know what I mean!

Well this time, God sent a gentle reminder concerning the bigger picture of what we, as Christians, “do.” He sent it through some good ol’ country gospel singing, or should I say, sayngin. I found a CD of one of my old favorites as a child at one of the book stores, and bought it a couple of weeks ago. It reminded me of all the reasons I started being a missionary in the first place. No, it was not a new song; and yes, I long to sing a new song of praise to God as the poet King David declared.

I can’t tell you that any of those songs took me to the wonderful place of worship where I find myself in His presence in a way that drowns out all the negativity and pain this world has to offer, leaving me in the sheer light of His presence. It often takes a new song, sung to the Great King of Kings who deserves a new sonnet to be scribed every second to do something like that. No, the moment that God sent to me had different intentions. These songs brought me back to a time where I remember hearing not only the song, but the message of the Savior for the first time. I remember what my heart felt when it discovered the forgiveness, the hope and the love of a God, I now call Father.

It did remind me of my first works. It reminded me of the way I felt the first day I met Jesus. It reminded me that “they” need to have a song, a moment to remember when they first met our incredible savior. It will be a different but similar song sung in another language. It will be new to them, and old to the next generation. But, it will declare in their heart what some of these old songs declared in mine.

I can’t wait to sing a new song with other siblings in the faith next week on a day of worship. That new song will be an old song in 10 years and will remind me of what God did for me way back when. But today, I remember through some old sweet songs, my first works…the sweetness of a Savior who left Heaven to pay a horrible price for my healing and forgiveness. I am fed with a new strength for my next mission oversees. A memory of the reason I do what I do.

AMAZING!

We are so used to using phrases like, “That was AWESOME!” or “He/She is AMAZING !” I often find we have “dumbed-down” those words to mean little more than something good, fun, or exciting. Rarely do we literally mean a feeling of “AWE,” that catching off guard found only in true ‘amazement’ that would speak against reality’s odds of occurrence. So, when my first thought concerning my recent return from South America was, “That was an AMAZING trip!” I began to check my own comment.

Why? Why was this trip amazing? Was it due to the fact that everything I thought and hoped would happen…did? Was it because God provided for my financial needs for the trip and my family just 2 days before we left, in His incredible and often playful timing? Was it because of the numerous relationships and additional doors opened up to countries around the world that I had not even counted upon before? Or, was it that I had now more clearly grasped the immense plan of salvation that God has unfolded in our Universe, demonstrated in the redemptive story of His beloved mankind. Moreover, that He has invited me to take an active role in such a love story!

That is it! When, I looked at the source of my strength, the source of my joy, and the very reason why I do what I do, I felt that rush of euphoric “amazement.” It was due to the nature of how and who the Great I Am…is. He constantly chooses to work through and in the lives of humankind. He chose long ago to create us for a relationship. He chose to redeem that relationship via His own great sacrifice after we broke and confused it. He still elects fallible men and women engaged in their newly redeemed relationship to accomplish His wonderful will and even allows us a part in the proclamation to others of that very redemptive act by which we are allowed communion with Him. In other words, the fact that God Himself chooses to use my imperfect hands, mouth, and ways is AMAZING! More over, He doesn’t “use” my efforts in the sense of a task master or slave owner would use their servants. Rather, He invites me to join along side of Him in the garden of life, much like that of a father inviting his little girl to get her small work boots and spade (both gifts from the father, enabling the task) and join him outside in the field. Are you kidding me? I can even hear the echo of “YAY” sounding similar to what my own 4 little girls would sing in unison at such an opportunity. However, my soul is the owner of that exclaimed song which rings from my heart to the God that I know as Abba, inviting me to walk with Him.

YES! “Amazement” perfectly describes what I feel…I am overwhelmingly amazed at His invitation!

Headed to Ecuador

Just a quick update to let you know I am on my way to Quito, Ecuador right now to teach another course in Missions! We are so excited about these next two weeks! Please be in prayer for these students, my family and my teaching efforts. I know God is up to something AWESOME! Can't wait to let you know how it goes!

What Exactly Do You Do?

Most missionaries are asked that question often, but our favorite answer is a more ambiguous one. And, we like it that way. We show the love of God in a practical way to the people of this world. To some missionaries, a specific or “exactly” statement may mean they dig wells for villages without water. For others, it may mean they start or maintain an orphanage or food center. For many short-term mission projects, it usually entails some sort of construction project for a church, home, or school.

For April and me, it has meant one or all of the above at various seasons. However, to give a specific/exact answer: “We are teachers! We make disciples who can make other disciples.” Our goal is to always teach ourselves out of a job. Isn’t that the way Jesus did it? He trained disciples then left them to do their work. Even more specifically, I left Lee University as a professor of World Missions to help train mission students in the Latin world. The vision and call that God gave me years ago concerned the missionaries He was raising out of Latin America and other places that were former mission fields, but are now becoming the mission FORCE!

Now, I teach world mission seminars and intensive courses in our seminaries and schools scattered across South & Central America. My hope is that those students will join the missions program in Ecuador, or be a part of the newly created Latin Missionaries Sending Agency. The bigger picture is that each year we reproduce greater numbers of ourselves with disciples who can make other disciples. This exponentially changes the world faster than one gringo dropped off in the middle of the jungle. We can save 10 to 20 years of language training and cultural acceptance by sending Latin Americans to the remaining strongholds in South and Central America instead of an English speaking gringo. We are also finding that the acceptance for Latin Americans in Asian and Middle Eastern cultures may significantly speed our evangelistic efforts there. Even now, we have former students scattered across the globe sowing seeds in new fields -- multiplying our harvest!

Yes, from time to time God opens other doors, and I love going through them. Our favorite “extra” events came last summer with nearly 80 screaming Campus Choir members from Lee University, with New Hope’s youth group, and with the Bruce family, who gave puppet and children ministry seminars. (You can read about those events in some of our previous postings.) Typically, anything that can help promote Jesus is welcomed. However, we concentrate mainly on events that can help train and equip our mission and pastoral students for their fields and callings.

We are so thankful for the opportunity we have. We love each and every school and are always amazed at what they are able to do with so little. Part of the reason they are able to continue is through supported missionary teachers like April and me. We are NOT salaried, and receive NO reimbursement from the schools in which we teach. 100% of our funding comes from supporters like you who read our articles and posts. If you want to learn more about how to help sponsor our ministry and reach more than just one field with every seed you sow, please click here or you can call or e-mail us.

We are very thankful to play the role that God has chosen for us. We LOVE what we do. Thank you all for being a part of it.

--Matthew Jett

Tour of the Semisud Campus: just for FUN

I thought I'd give you a brief view of the Seminary in Ecuador. If this goes well, I'll post some photos of the other schools as well.

Left: One of my mission classes is taking a 5 minute break. aka: "I'm trying to regroup my Spanish thoughts!"

Right: Although we do have projectors and computers, sometimes a teacher just likes a good ol' white board & markers!



"Doot, Doot, Doot, looking out my back door!" This is the view from most of the class rooms in the new World Missions Building. If it wasn't too cold or too hot, I liked to teach with that huge window wide open! Oh wait, this was Ecuador where it is 70 degrees every single day of the year. So, I liked to teach with that thing open! You'll have to look at some other post about the country. One area where South and Central America does not lack is beautiful landscapes.



We also work with the local churches by offering training seminars, preaching, service projects, etc...





The following are some fun videos that will help give you an idea of what I think is one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. You may remember the WYEA and other projects that many of us supported to help construct some of the buildings you'll see. When I was first there 12 years ago, there were only 2 small shacks on campus. See how it's changed.


Kitchen, Dining Hall, & Dormitories

Administration Building

Library & Auditorium

Chapel

Student's Question

Garden steps from Dorms: the Dining Hall is on the left & Administration is on the right.
There are park benches, gardens, waterfalls, a sand-pit-volleyball court, and a soccer field scattered across the campus.

Another Ah Ha!

Have you ever had one of those…“This is what I’m meant to do with my life!” moments? For me, most of those moments come from the times I am either: singing praise, preaching, praying, or witnessing in some way. Several months ago, I wrote a blog about one of those moments. It concerned new converts, led by their pastor and former student from our seminary. I had the privilege of interpreting the recent training sessions for them, where my friend from the states taught them how to use puppets to preach the message of Jesus. I watched a few days later as years of my life paid off while they presented Jesus in a remote area to a people who had never heard the gospel. You can read about that by clicking here.

The most recent moment occurred recently during a 2-week intensive course that I was teaching in Spanish at one of our Seminaries in South America. The class was called “Contemporary Missiology,” and was attended by almost a dozen Master’s level South American graduates headed to the mission field. The moment was not a singular moment realized after the event had passed. Rather, it was a lingering joyful fulfillment that occurred every day during the course of that 2 week event and left me with a clear reflection to remember always.

With every day that I walked to the World Missions Complex from my room in the school’s dormitory, every time I stood up to teach, every answer uttered from my imperfect lips to every question falling on my fallible ears, God seemed to whisper the words spoken to Esther so long ago, “You were born for a time such as this!” Every experience/adventure, every move from yet another home, every foreign piece of food, every long and tiring journey through the night, every friend and family member left, every book read, every long and boring lecture I had endured through college then seminary, as well as the enjoyable ones…all of the task, troubles, trials, triumphs, and trophies were piled upon those moments for the following realization: This is That! That calling, that vision, that hope, that drawing and yearning that has been in my heart for so long. It IS being fulfilled right now…in THIS moment! I did NOT feel like I was in the wrong place. I was there because I belonged. I belonged not because of who I was, but because the GREAT I AM had been working for years to bring me to who I am now.

Every time I looked into the faces of those students about to sacrifice the rest of their lives for the same drawing and calling that I too have felt, it deepened my sense of belonging. The best thing was, I actually had answers for their questions. I actually had insights to their dilemmas, compassion for their sufferings, and hope for their concerns. It was flowing out of me with the same anointing God had poured during those moments of singing, preaching, witnessing, counseling, etc… I loved it! No, this was not even close to my first time to teach. Then why was it so special?

The vision that we have held in our hearts included one of those infamous “one day” statements. It was the reason we had made so many of those moves, spent so much time in preparation, given up so many “other” opportunities, and made so many sacrifices. The “one day” was to be a time when there was a dedicated Spanish missionary training facility, a dedicated Latin Missionary sending agency, and the need to teach intensive training sessions in all of the “networked” schools scattered across South and Central America. I hoped I would see that sooner than expected, but never dreamt it would be during the first decade of this millennium. This session was the first of what I always thought would be step Y or Z in the equation. Now, I have had to redefine step Y from the old track to step A in the new track. In many ways I feel like the training (though never over) has finally led us to the real or BIG race/course. The two facts put together is what overwhelms me. One, that it is already happening, and two, that I’m actually ready/equipped for it. He really has called us for a time such as NOW!

Yes, there is still a lot of work left for Him to complete, but don’t miss what I am saying. This was my pay-off moment. That moment that finally arrives when you open your eyes and look around and say, “It’s really finally happening.” Like a bride and groom trying to look around at the surreal scene before them in order not to let one of the greatest defining moments of their lives pass them by. This is what I have spent all of the time, money, emotions, relationships, and hope on for the past decade!

It may not mean as much to everyone else, but for me, it was a long time coming. The word that God had spoken to me when I felt compelled to leave my favorite University in the mountains of Tennessee to eventually call South America home, was finally and clearly being fulfilled. I left Lee because God had told me if I wanted to keep teaching the mission courses I was teaching, I’d better learn to do it in Spanish. He told me that He was making the former mission field into the Mission Force for this century!

I am so thankful to the godly men and women who share in this task. Part of the reason I have been overwhelmed in the past was that the task was so big. I have recently realized that when God is speaking to you, He most likely has been speaking to others. Yes, there is much work to be done, but God and godly men and women are working on that. I love watching His beautiful orchestration come together, and love serving whatever role I can. So many people have worked hard to get these programs and institutions rolling, and I am thankful to merely be a part of it!

Campus Choir With Us In Ecuador

I find it difficult to fully comprehend and to somehow map out on paper all that happened during Campus Choir’s tour with us in Ecuador. If I could remember all of the opened doors, the God-sent moments of ministry, and the opportunities to be the hand of God extended to a thirsty soul with a glass of water, I would still undoubtedly miss the many unseen miracles, untold testimonies, and supernatural provision that He placed in our way. However, this is my short attempt to give a glimpse of one of the most incredible ministry events that I have ever been a part of.

For some of you who don’t know, Lee University’s Campus Choir is now under the direction of Pastor Jimmy Phillips. I had the opportunity to get to be with the current choir and their new director briefly a year ago during C.C.’s Homecoming event at Lee. However, this tour was a great time for me to really get to know him and the new members of the choir. They are a great group of annointed young men and women with a terrific leader. Right before the tour, I shared with Pastor Jimmy some of the conversations Dr. David Horton (Doc) and I had prior to his untimely death in the Bahamas. Many of the choir members on this Ecuadorian tour were in the Bahamas for a tour that had much preparation, but not a single note sung. One of the girls spoke over the group about how this new tour was the fulfillment of all the preparation made for the Bahamas with Dr. Horton. I shared with Pastor Jimmy that Doc had told me of his great desire to move the choir into open doors beyond the church. He had been speaking for a while about re-digging the old wells (older church movements and organizations), and now he wanted to start singing in more secular universities and campuses, and bring the same anointed worship into places that were not “accustomed” to such. When I was first approached with the idea of a Campus Choir trip, I felt like God immediately gave me an itinerary…but I needed some favor! God gave me that favor, and Campus Choir had the privilege of singing in the Catholic Basilica, at the University of Quito (the largest University in Ecuador), over Latin America’s largest Christian radio station, the Semisud Seminary, and several Churches.

Let’s face it, there’s not a lot of love between the Catholic Church and the many Protestant Churches in South America. So, the fact that a Columbian priest of the highest ranked Catholic Church in Ecuador and in much of Latin America (The Basilica), gave us permission to give a concert in such a beautiful cathedral…still blows me away. I knew immediately that God was giving us tremendous favor. As breathtaking as the sounds of an 80 member Campus Choir souring through the 100 feet cathedral ceilings were, it was even more amazing when a 50 year old nun told me that “denomination did not matter!” What mattered was that “your kids obviously love our Lord and savior and we are so thankful to get to praise Him with you!” I guess when one of the girls took off dancing to the side in a place that perhaps doesn’t see a lot of that, they must not have minded it so much. It was obvious to all of us who stood in that placed warmed by the very presence of God’s Holy Spirit that light from God’s Son was shinning through those high and brilliantly colored stained glass windows…

The secular campus of Ecuador’s largest University was met with the same favor at first, but took a little turn toward spiritual warfare as the event drew near. We were not allowed to enter the facilities at first, but found favor at a different gate with a different guard. Then our instruments and sound equipment van was not allowed entrance. Then we were told we could not do it at all. It was about this time we began to pray. Eventually the write men showed up, God gave us favor, and we ended up having the event in the middle of the campus, open air style, with all of our instruments and equipment. I’m sure you could hear us for miles. It was right in the middle of the day with thousands of students coming and going. Several stopped to listen, join in, cry, and pray with us. We really do not know what God may have done that day!

Unfortunately, one exciting door was closed to us. I was upset at first, but later God did what only He can do. Another door opened for us to sing on Latin America’s largest radio broadcast. Located in Ecuador due to the Andes Mt. range, HCJB is played around the world in syndicate and live in almost every South American country. I even got do due a free 15 minute interview/ radio plug for our seminary and mission training. It was awesome! They may still be playing our tunes, have you been listening for it?

Time doesn’t really permit me to tell about the multiple clinics we ran every morning and the lives that were touched there, or about singing at the seminary, churches, downtown parks, etc… We really may not know the fullness of what transpired that week until we ask Jesus face to face.

I just want to thank Jimmy & Johnna Phillips, Jonathan Kerley and the other Doctors, nurses, assistants, choir members, leaders, and musicians who poured out of their hearts the love of God upon the people of Ecuador.

Thank you God for an Awesome time!

New Hope’s Youth Group in Ecuador

We had a great time hosting New Hope Church’s youth group from Texas. They showed the love of God to the people of Ecuador through different forms of service projects. They blessed some feeding centers, orphanages, churches, and got to see some different faces of Ecuador. To read more or watch their video, visit their website at: newhopeforever.com. I really look forward to seeing how many missionaries that trip produced!