Templeton’s
in Transition
Dear friends and family,
After
four great years in Thailand we are facing a new transition. We have loved our time of ministry here. I have taught Theology, Ethics, Church
History and Spanish during our four years here.
I have especially enjoyed the discipleship aspect of teaching the
Christian Ethics classes. My students
have been great and I have loved seeing them mature and begin to live their
faith for themselves. I have also
greatly enjoyed the opportunity to coach both girls volleyball and boys
volleyball and soccer. Gina has
appreciated being able to work in the high school and elementary libraries over
the course of our four years here. God
has been faithful and good to us. We
have seen our oldest son Nate, graduate last year and Josh will be graduating
in May 2014. Together with our youngest
son Lucas, they have had wonderful cross-cultural experiences, have traveled in
Thailand and made many international friends.
And now
it seems that a new adventure awaits us.
We have been invited by our mission organization to assume a leadership
position at the New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I will be transitioning into the Dean of
Education position after our year of home assignment. I was able to discuss this potential
opportunity with NTBI leadership, this past summer when I took Nate back to the
United States following his graduation from high school. Over the past months we have prayed and
sought the Lord’s guidance and believe Him to be leading us to accept this
position. Though we will miss many
aspects of our current ministry in Thailand, we are excited about being
directly involved in the discipleship of believers in a Bible School setting
and also in the training of missionary candidates.
We
praise God for the relationship we have with you as our family, friends and
financial and prayer supporters. We
praise God for supplying our needs through your financial partnership with us. We trust that you will continue to partner
with us financially and through prayer as we make this new transition.
As you may know, student debt is a
painful reality for many, and perhaps most, college students. At NTBI we will continue to serve as
missionaries with New Tribes Mission. In
order to offer an affordable training program for missionary candidates and
eager disciples of Jesus Christ, NTBI does not charge tuition. Students pay only for room and board since
all staff members are full-time missionaries who are supported by local churches
and committed individuals. This allows
students to receive Biblical training and to graduate without incurring
debt. After their two years at NTBI many
students continue as missionary candidates with NTM, others transfer to four-
year Christian or secular universities while others return to their local
churches and use the Bible training they have received to nurture and encourage
their local church body.
We will finish out the current
school year at Grace International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand and will
return to America in June 2014. We will
be on home assignment until May 2015.
During this time we hope to visit many of you, share our new ministry
focus with interested individuals and churches and get reacquainted with
American culture after spending the last 9 years living Brasil and Thailand.
We would love to receive any feedback you may have for us regarding this
new ministry opportunity that we will be pursuing. We praise God for the role you have played in
our lives over the years and trust that God will allow us many more years of
partnership as we seek to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
Andy (for
the Templeton family)
