CEE Story From The Mission Field
Khakass Hear the Gospel of John in Their Own Language
March 24, 2006
Alex, one of the few known Khakass Christians, had never seen an American until Danny Griffin and Joe Veal came to his house in a remote Siberian village in Russia. He had heard that the Americans had tapes of the Gospel of John in his own language! This is something that has never been available before now. Something that Alex and others can use to tell their neighbors about Christ.
Though Alex lives in extreme poverty, he welcomed the guests into his two-bedroom home, even moving his family of 6 into a single room so that the visiting missionaries could have some privacy. The next morning a small group of believers met to have their daily prayer meeting at 9am. Together, they went to each house to give out the Gospel tapes all through the village.
Danny shared how incredible this opportunity was. “We went from door to door giving the news of Jesus for the first time in the 5000 year history of the Khakass,” he said. “We invited them to a meeting that night and 28 people came. We talked about Jesus and who he was for over 2 hours. In the end, we had 15 who prayed to trust Christ.”
The next day Alex came into the kitchen and gave Danny a heavy winter fur coat. "You will need this when you return here to tell my people about Jesus," he said. Danny was overwhelmed by he gesture, “This impoverished man gave me a coat that cost more than $100 in Russia so his friends could hear about the Lord,” he said. “He had also carried the Word of God to everyone he could.”
The Khakass people are one of our regions unevangelized people groups. There are only a handful of Christians and no complete Bible in their native tongue. The task of telling this people group the good news of Jesus and coming alongside the few Christian brothers that live there, has been shouldered by Danny Griffin and those serving with him.
Danny is one of our region’s first virtual strategy coordinator (VSC). This means that he doesn’t live on the field in Russia, but has engaged the Khakass people from his home church in America--Urbancrest BC in Lebanon, Ohio. As VSC, Danny sponsored and organized an audio recording of the Gospel of John being read in the Khakass language along with native music playing in the background. An IMB missionary, Lee Young, went to Khakassia in October to work on the actual recording with a representative from a Bible translation group affiliated with Wycliffe that had been working on translating the New Testament into Khakass for the last 4 years. After the recording Danny made 450 copies of the audio Gospel of John, loaded up his bags and went to Siberia. During the 10 days there they were able to train nationals in using the Evangecube and in doing basic Bible studies using the recorded word, and distribute the cassettes in 4 different villages--saturating them with the Gospel. He and Joe left the local believers prepared to take the project and run with it.
Being a virtual strategy coordinator (VSC) is one of the newest strategies developed to help reach the lost peoples and tribes of the world. This strategy allows supporting SBC churches or ministries to target and evangelize an unreached or unevangelized people group. Regional Leadership has developed an initiative called Key Partner Consultation (KPC)meetings to cast the vision and provide opportunities for those called to have a deeper level of involvement in the task of winning the lost. The next KPC will be in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 19-21.
Find out more about being a VSC or attending a Key Partner Consultation.