Author: Jonathan Dodson

Since I left my family on September 15, a tornado of trials touched down in the Dodson household. I write this from Malaysia, eager to get on the plane which departs tomorrow night for Boston. Over the past three weeks Robie’s severe cold turned into walking pneumonia, a biopsy came back as “melanoma suspicious,” and, just yesterday, she was informed that there is a “lemon-sized cist” in her body. In addition, she has been caring for our one-year old son, Owen, and carrying our second trimester daughter. Owen has also made trips to the emergency room amidst sickness and difficulty in breathing. On Tuesday, the day after I return, Robie and I will be in Boston for tests regarding the cist. We desparately desire your prayers. This is, no doubt, a time of testing and faith-strengthening in the greatness and goodness of God and a reminder of this curse-ridden, Satan-oppressed world.

All of this comes at a tenuous time of life, a time of transition into churchplanting, a time of family relocation, a time of uncertainty. Nevertheless, we will sing of the lovingkindness of God forever, we will proclaim his faithfulness to generations, beginning with our son. Pray for strength and focused hope in the Lord who works all things together for our everlasting good. In advance, thank you.

The Lausanne Movement is currently hosting an international conference of younger leaders from 110 countries in order to advance the cause of global evangelization. This meeting started on 9/24 and will finish on 10/1.

Here is a snapshot from one day of the conference.

Personal devotions were followed by breakfast with a South African, American, New Zealander and an Australian. Afterwards, our small group (Australian, American, Tanzanian, Nigerian, German) met for the third time to share our “life lines” and reflect on God’s calling on our lives. The executive director of CCC of Tanzania shared his story–one of early persecution, falling mute, attending an open air evangelistic event attended by 30,000 people, where healing was proclaimed and he was healed without touch. He returned home, put on a tape player, and sang to a large gathering, where people embraced Jesus as Lord. He later received the gift of healing and would walk into hospitals and heal children with burns, lame women, and people near death. This brother is incredibly humble, pursuing his entire country for the gospel and glory of Christ.

This meeting was followed by a workshop on “Building Teams,” led by an OMF churchplanter and missions strategist, which proved very helpful for our preparation for churchplanting. After that, I had lunch with another international table and connected with a like-minded Presbyterian pastor, who has been influenced by Keller and is theologically oriented. After that, I went to a meeting to discuss the Lausanne III meeting in 2010, which will hopefully meet Beijing. It was very interesting. Some people want to re-write the Lausanne Covenant (probably not for the best reasons). Doug Birdsall handled the metting with grace and skill, holding the line on the historic 74 document as a basis for evangelical, theological and missiologial unity.

This was followed by a N. America meeting where we discussed what we wanted out of Lausanne and how we would evaluate our experience at Lausanne for success. I connected with more people and had the opportunity to give some input and debate some concepts.

After dinner, we worshipped from 110 tongues and prayed for all the nations for half an hour. This was motivated by a compelling missions presentation by Jason Mandryk, co-author of Operation World. God is at work. During this time God broke my heart not only for the nations, but also for America. So often, the U.S. is overlooked in these conferences. We might be evangelized but there are many that have not received Christ. In many respects, we are an undiscipled nation.

With you taking the whole gospel to the whole world…

Houghton Mifflin and Harper Colins have announced the release of a previously unpublished tale by Tolkien called The Children of Hurin, due out next Spring.

According to the AP, Christopher Tolkien has spent the past 30 years working on “The Children of Hurin,” an epic tale his father began in 1918 and later abandoned. Excerpts of “The Children of Hurin,” which includes the elves and dwarves of Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” and other works.

I am in historic Cambridge, England today, visiting some good friends, Stephen and Emma Witmer. This picture is taken in front of Trinity College.