Sanders Party of Five

For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it– the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

To this end we have decided to partner with To Every Tribe. They are a missionary sending agency. They train and equip teams of missionaries to go to the field and plant churches among some of the most unreached people groups mentioned above. Our friends Alex and Kelley Sisson connected us with To Every Tribe during their training and preparation for leaving for Papua New Guinea (PNG). They are currently starting a new work in PNG to reach tribes deep in the heart of this mountainous country which is home to 879 people groups. Our first real introduction to To Every Tribe was last year in October of 2009 at their missions’ conference in Dalton, Georgia. Then this summer, we were able to spend a week on the campus of their Center for Pioneer Church Planting (CPCP) in Los Fresnos, Texas as we helped Alex and Kelley prepare to leave for PNG in July. We met with David Sitton, the founder and President of To Every Tribe, Rod Conner, the Vice President, and AJ Gibson, the assistant director of the CPCP. Our beliefs and our mission line up very well. This visit really solidified our choice of To Every Tribe as our sending agency to go to the mission field.

During this process we also approached our home church, Gardendale First Baptist, and expressed our desire to go to the mission field. They have affirmed our call and decided to partner with us in this endeavor. We are very grateful to have a church that wants to help us get to the mission field. They are going to pay our tuition and a few other one-time expenses related to school. This is a huge help for us and a big commitment on our church’s part to put faith in what God will do through us.

We are currently preparing to move to Texas around the end of July, 2011. This will give us time to get settled and be ready to start school in September at the CPCP. The CPCP is a two year program combining intensive in-class preparation and study with ‘hands-on’ training in church planting locations in Papua New Guinea and Mexico. This preparation primarily consists of trying to sell our house. We would like to sell our house as soon as possible so that we can eliminate this expense in order to save more for the upcoming transition. We have it listed with Robert Cloud with Realty South, and he would be happy to show it to anyone that is interested.

One of the questions everyone has for us at this point is, “Where are you going?” We don’t have a definite answer for that question yet, but there are a few places that we are considering. PNG is one of those places. Alex and Kelley have expressed interest in having us join their team in PNG. That is a strong draw, but we are keeping our options open at the moment to make sure we choose the path that God has laid out for us. Another group from To Every Tribe is trying to put together a team to Indonesia which is next door to PNG and is home to many unreached people groups as well. The third option we are considering is North Africa. We have some missionary friends working there and are going to visit them in January to see their area and the work that they are involved in. I am confident as we move through the CPCP training program, our destination will become clear. Our primary guiding principal in all of this is to follow Paul’s example in Romans 15:20, “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation”.

As we prepare to go to school, it is our hope that some of our friends and family and some other churches will partner with us in this effort. We hope that some of you guys will be those who send in Romans 10:15. I am planning on staying on as a part time employee of TekLinks while in school, but that will not be possible once we are on the field. The remainder of our monthly expenses during school and then all of our expenses once on the field will have to be met by support that we raise in this manner. I have budgets available for our time during school if anyone would like to see them. I also have some basic budget numbers for our move to the field after school and monthly expenses once on the field although they may vary greatly depending on what part of the world we decide on. There are some graphs below that I will update with every newsletter to let you guys know where we stand so far in our support efforts. To Every Tribe already has an account setup in our name and all support is tax deductible. You can start supporting us now, or when we move to Texas, or when we move to the field, or at any time in between. Any support over our monthly needs will be moved into our one-time expense fund which will go towards moving to the mission field after school is complete. If you wish to join us please let us know and use the information provided below. Be sure to include a note that it is designated for Jeremy and Kandy Sanders:

To Every Tribe

P.O. Box 1572

Los Fresnos, TX 78566

Most of all, we covet your prayer and friendship. We hope that we will be able to stay in touch during these changes in our lives and that we can pray for you as well. We hope that you will be missionaries of the Gospel wherever you are, that you will engage in intentional relationships with those whom God has placed around you in order to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ. If you would like for us to keep you up to date please join our mailing list by filling out this form.

I will close with this passage from Phillipians 1:3-11, one of the first missionary support letters:

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.