Global Frontier Missions - USA Expansion FAQs

But why would GFM start working in the United States if our goal is to reach the least-reached? If you have ever been on a mission trip to Oaxaca, you have seen how we have everyone hold up a hand and use each finger to represent one of the THUMB peoples.

GFM is a movement primarily of westerners (especially North Americans) seeking to make reproducing disciples of the indigenous people of least-reached ethnic groups. Using our hand analogy for THUMB, we could then call the United States and Canada the palm of the hand. (Understand this analogy is for GFM and its specific niche – no, we're not so ethnocentric as to consider the U.S. and Canada to be the palm of the world's hand.) Oaxaca, a tribal area, is located out on the thumb. If GFM is now going to shift its focus to the other four fingers on the hand, it makes sense to do that from the palm of the hand, where technology and transportation gives us easy access to each of the fingers, rather than doing it from the thumb.

We feel our niche is especially to mobilize Americans and Canadians to reach into the places no one else is reaching, so it makes very good sense for us to live among Americans and Canadians. It will give us access to nearly unlimited opportunities to connect with churches, college groups, and other organizations, pointing people to the overwhelming needs of the least-reached nations and calling them to commit their lives to reaching them. Establishing works in the United States will amplify GFM's voice and enlarge our fishing pond, ultimately resulting in many more laborers in places like the 10/40 Window (where 95% of the world's least-reached peoples are located). We understand that many other organizations are working to reach the lost of the 10/40 Window as well, and we know that more and more laborers from countries all over the world, not just the western world, are going to the least-reached. But until the work force is sufficient to complete the task Jesus gave us, we see this as an “all hands on deck” situation. We have scouted North Africa, India, and Southeast Asia in recent years, we have seen the need with our own eyes, and we have had many workers in 10/40 Window countries, both foreigners and nationals, tell us they need all the help they can get.

That explained, let's answer some more questions you may have:

Where in the U.S. would you locate?
God strategically chose Jerusalem, a cultural and communication crossroads of the ancient near East, as the birthplace of the Church. We will look for similar hubs in the United States – cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, and many others that are melting pots for internationals.

What exactly would be GFM’s work in the U.S.?
We intend to start Mission Training Schools, similar to the one we have run in Oaxaca the past several years, to prepare laborers for cross-cultural disciple-making. These schools will continue to integrate classroom learning with hands-on experience. We can also use a U.S. platform for more speaking, networking with churches and college groups, mission exposure trips, and anything else we decide down the road will help us mobilize more laborers for the task of making disciples of all nations.

So will GFM’s work in the U.S. be focused just on mobilization?
In today's world, it is not strictly necessary to move to another country to reach the least-reached. The nations are moving into our own backyard. GFM has always incorporated an element of hands-on training in our Mission Training School, and it would be no different with schools in the U.S. Our students and staff will have many opportunities to get involved in apartment ministry, college campus ministry, teaching English as a second language, and ministry in any other places we can find and make disciples of those from different ethnic groups. Many foreigners come to the U.S. for a time and later return to their own countries. We will especially target those who are likely to return to their home countries at some point, such as students and refugees. Never has a better opportunity existed to impact numerous nations of the world without even leaving our own cities. Not only will GFM be reaching out to these internationals, we will also be mobilizing and training churches to be more missional among them, getting many more people involved in fulfilling the Great Commission.

We have seen how long a process it is for a North American to become a fruitful church planter in a foreign country, due to factors such as language learning, cultural adaptation, dying to Western mentalities/methodologies, the length of time required to build relationships and trust with the local people, etc. We are hoping to see people who come to our country from least-reached people groups commit their lives to Christ, be discipled, and catch the vision to take the gospel back to their own people. Many of these foreigners are bilingual and could be trained in English in good disciple-making and church planting principles. We can then send them back to their places of origin where they already speak the language, understand the culture, and know how to best present the Good News in that context. They also already have networks of friends and family with whom to begin sharing.

In light of the THUMBs Up vision to start work in places like Thailand and India and eventually reach into all the THUMB peoples, isn’t moving a lot of GFM’s resources and energies from Mexico to the United States counter-intuitive? Make no mistake! GFM's heart and sole purpose is and always will be the fulfillment of the Revelation 7:9,10 vision – to see God glorified as disciples are made of every people, tribe, tongue, and language on the face of this earth until Jesus returns. We will not stray from this!

Moving our mobilization center to the United States is a means to an end. We would not do it if we did not believe it would make us more effective at what we've always been trying to do – to send Great Commission laborers into the most unreached people groups on this planet. We plan to reach out to believers, see them captured by God's vision of His glory among all peoples, and then send them out to pray, give, and go to the least-reached ethnic groups of this world, both on American soil and around the globe.

Practically speaking, it's somewhat difficult to be based in a corner of Mexico while trying to convince people to come and be trained there and then sent out for ministry to Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus. Since we can now fix GFM's gaze squarely on the 10/40 Window, it makes sense to set up camp near the Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus who are already our neighbors in North America.

I'm hearing you say 'schools' and 'works' – plural. Does that mean GFM is planning on working in more than one place?
Yes. As we train students in Mission Training Schools, we are not just raising up new cross-cultural church planters, we are also producing new mobilizers and trainers of others. As we multiply those capable of raising up new workers, it makes sense to release them into different metropolitan cultural crossroads of North America, expanding our mobilization capacity and allowing us to reach into more populations of transplanted least-reached peoples.

So would you start in more than one city immediately?
We do not yet know the answer to that question. We have talked about starting in either one or two cities, but which option will be better depends a lot on who we have to be part of our GFM USA team(s). Exactly who is on board will become clearer in the coming weeks and months.

In what city/cities is GFM considering starting work?
Though a number of cities could work out quite well, we have been talking the most about beginning work in Houston and/or Atlanta. Both Houston and Atlanta have large populations of THUMB peoples, and both appear to have a number of options of established ministries to THUMB peoples with whom we could partner.

Dan and Kelly Farr spent a few days scouting Houston and meeting with representatives from different ministries in early January, and Grant Haynes plans to do the same in Atlanta for four days in early February.

Who would make up the GFM USA team(s)? At this point, Grant and Jenn Haynes, Dan and Kelly Farr, and David and Joni Windham (who are currently MTS students in Oaxaca) all believe God is leading them to pioneer GFM's work in the United States. We are also discussing the possibilities with past and current GFM apprentices and MTS students, and we will accept applications from others who would like to be considered for the team(s).

If you are interested in being a part of this work, contact us.

What about the work in Oaxaca? It is only because we have a team committed to seeing the church planting work in Oaxaca through to completion that we are able to shift GFM's focus to mobilizing North Americans for the rest of the THUMB peoples. The Oaxaca church planting team will continue working there, just as before. They will accept apprentices as they are able to, in order to help raise up new church planters. They may receive mission trip teams from time to time, utilizing them in their ongoing church planting work. We do not foresee continuing GFM's Mission Training School in Oaxaca beyond the 2009-10 school year, in order to focus all our energies on raising up cross-cultural church planters for the remaining THUMB peoples.

What about the GFM base in Tlaxiaco? We have thought before about ways the base might be used if the day came that we did not have a Mission Training School in Tlaxiaco. We will be prayerfully considering whether the church planting team can use it in their work (as a location for a medical clinic, for developing well drilling technology, or for hosting high school students from the villages who study in Tlaxiaco, for example), whether it can be effectively utilized by another ministry, whether we could try and rent the space out, or whether some other option is better. We clearly saw God‟s hand in the provision of the base, and we believe He will show us the best course of action from here. We do not have to immediately make any decisions about the base, as it will be used to host mission trips in the spring and summer of 2009 and a class of Mission Training School students from September of 2009 through March of 2010.

When would GFM like to begin work in the U.S.?
Grant and Jenn have targeted December of 2009 as the time to hopefully move up to the U.S. and get rolling. Based on how everything plays out, though, their departure date could be several months earlier or later. Though no final decisions have been made, one possible scenario is for the Farr and Windham families to run the Oaxaca MTS through graduation in early April of 2010, and then to head up to the U.S. themselves.

We would like to receive our first class of Mission Training School students in the U.S. in September of 2010.

Will GFM continue running short-term mission trips? If so, what may they look like? We at GFM wholeheartedly believe in the effectiveness of mission trips for getting people involved in making disciples of all nations. So yes, we certainly plan to continue running trips.

This refocusing of our energies opens up some exciting possibilities. One, we can begin hosting cross-cultural mission trips to least-reached people groups living on United States soil. This has the potential to open the eyes of many, many people to the feasibility of reaching the nations living in our own backyard. Imagine people who, for one reason or another can't move to another country, catching a vision to engage least-reached groups right at home! We can also gather teams and take them on exposure trips to some of the least-reached places in the world, such as Thailand and northern India. These trips, as always, will incorporate great biblical teaching on God's heart for the nations and a strong call for people to commit their lives to making disciples of all nations, whether at home or abroad. Finally, it's very possible that the GFM church planting team continuing to work in Oaxaca will host mission trips from time to time as they have need.

What’s next? Numerous things will have to come together to bring this vision to fruition. Many logistics will be involved in transitioning GFM from a one-location organization to a multi-location entity. We will have to solidify the USA team(s) and then determine exactly where they are going and when they are leaving. They will have to figure out how to translate our current Mission Training School into a metropolitan context in the United States. We will also have to determine the leadership structure of the global GFM organization.

This all sounds exciting! How can I help?
* Pray, pray, pray!
* Contact us with information for like-minded people and organizations reaching out to THUMB peoples in the United States who would be worth contacting.
* The GFM families who relocate to the United States to start GFM USA will have extra expenses associated with that move. If you would like to help them out, designate a gift to "Haynes move", "Farr move", or "Windham move" and donate now, or mail a check made out to Global Frontier Missions to: Global Frontier Missions; P.O. Box 394; Lilburn, GA 30047
* Contact us if you would like to apply to be a member of the GFM USA team.
* Did we mention to pray?

Some facts about Houston, Texas:
* 139 different countries are represented and 209 different languages are spoken.
* Houston is home to 75,000+ Asian Indians, who have just 1 church among them
* Houston is home to 40,000+ Filipinos, who have just 5 churches among them
* Houston is home to 70,000+ Vietnamese, who have just 6 churches among them
* Houston is home to 60,000+ Chinese, who have just 10 churches among them
* 66 mosques and 24 Hindu temples are located in Houston

Some facts about Atlanta, Georgia:
* In the metro Atlanta area, particularly on the northeast side, 145 different countries and 761 different language groups are represented. The President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Conference has said, “90% of the 6,000 unreached people groups live in metro Atlanta.”

Some facts about immigration to the United States:
* From 1970 to 2005, the foreign-born population in the United States rose from 4.7 percent to 12 percent. By 2050, it is expected that half of the U.S. population will be of a different ethnicity than non-Hispanic white.
* The number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by 7% to a record high of 623,805 in the 2007/08 academic year. Enrollment increases were reported by host institutions across the United States with most states reporting increases in international student enrollments in 2007/08, according to Open Doors 2008. Colleges and universities in California hosted the largest number of foreign students with 84,800, up 9%, followed by New York with 69,844, up 6%, and Texas with 51,824, up 6%. The New York City metropolitan area continues to be the leading city for international students, with 54,861 enrolled in area schools, up 6%. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is second most popular with 38,825 international students, up 8%.
* There were 1.5 million foreign born from India residing in the United States in 2006, and the size of the Indian immigrant population more than doubled in five states and the District of Columbia between 2000 and 2006.

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