MP3 Available Here
DAVID SITTON, President of To Every Tribe Ministries , will address the theme: "BRINGING THE GOSPEL TO THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD OF CHRIST".The vision of To Every Tribe Ministries is to bring the gospel to those hard-to-get-to places where the name of Jesus has never been heard so God will be worshiped by every tribe, and tongue.
In January, 1977, our guest David Sitton arrived at The School of World Evangelism in College Station, Texas.
Within weeks, David encountered a radical pioneer missionary to Papua New Guinea, Joe Cannon. Joe was on a mission; He was looking for young missionaries to join him on the unreached front lines of New Guinea.
Sauntering into the classroom with bows, arrows, spears, and bird feather head dresses jutting out from his hands and the Melanesian Pidgin language spouting out of his mouth. Joe was tall, lanky and loud. He bounced when he walked and was quick to laugh at his own (corny) jokes. He was eager to give the students a little taste of New Guinea culture and language. Joe proceeded to give a passionate plea that some of the students would turn their attention to the unreached, interior tribes of Papua New Guinea.
Between classes, one afternoon, Joe cornered David with a text and a question.
The text was 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, but as it is written, ‘Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
The question was personal and to the point! “Brother, there are whole tribes of people in New Guinea that have never, ever heard the name of Jesus. Some of them are cannibals and headhunters; some of them have bones through their noses and wear grass skirts. Many of them are wild and reckless and dangerous people. But they need the gospel of Christ!”
“Come with me, brother. I will teach you. I can mentor you. There are not many who will go with me into the jungles and rugged mountains to find them. Come with me, brother. Let’s go get some of them for Jesus.”
David’s life was set on a course for mission from that moment.
Eight months later, just one week after his 20th birthday, David left for Papua New Guinea – October 3, 1977. He departed Corpus Christi with a suitcase, a bible, and a surfboard!
Several of the early tribes David encountered did indeed practice cannibalism and were entrenched in violent tribal warfare. Even so, Joe and David (and a few others) endured much hardship to get the gospel established among these remote mountain tribes. Churches still remain in most of these places today.
In 1979, David returned to Texas. God was gracious and quick with his answer to David’s prayer for a wife! Within months he met, courted and married (June 27, 1980) Tommi Anne Moses from Harlingen, Texas. Theirs was the first wedding ever performed at the Chapel By The Sea on South Padre Island.
Over the next decade, David and Tommi worked together to make disciples and plant churches in remote regions of the highlands and swamplands of Papua New Guinea. A government problem with visa renewals in 1990 prevented the Sittons from returning to PNG to live.
From 1990 -1993, David served as director of The Institute of Tribal Studies, a ministry of the U.S. Center for World Mission located in Pasadena, CA. In 1993, David and Tommi relocated to the South Texas town of Los Fresnos, strategically situated just fifteen minutes from the Mexican border.
34 churches have been established through this ministry since 1977.
These days, David continues church-planting and leadership training in Papua New Guinea through regular short-term ministry trips and travels extensively speaking at many churches and mission conferences around the world. A prominent theme in his preaching is that fame of Jesus’ Name will be brought to the remaining unreached peoples through the persecution and frequent martyrdom of those that carry the gospel message.
David and Tommi founded To Every Tribe Ministries where he currently serves as president. They also founded The Center for Pioneer Church Planting, which began in January, 2006. This missionary training program is dedicated to recruiting, training and launching pioneer church planters into the far-flung regions where Christ is still unknown.
Moreover, Tommi is a precious helpmate to David. All who know Tommi recognize her sacrificial service to the To Every Tribe community and her invaluable encouragement and assistance in nearly every aspect of the ministry.
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