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Kudzu arrived in the United States in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia! The first recorded “Kudzu Planting” missionaries were Charles and Lillie Pleas. They have a historical marker in front of their Glen Arden Nursery in Chipley, Florida that states; “Kudzu Developed Here!” When the Pleas discovered that animals would eat the plant they began to promote its use for forage in the 1920s.

During the Great Depression the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu for erosion control. They gave hundreds of young men the job of planting kudzu through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Farmers were paid an incentive to plant kudzu in the 1940s.

Channing Cope of Covington, Georgia promoted the use of kudzu to control erosion. He wrote articles in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and spoke on WSB-AM radio. He was very disappointed when in 1953 the US government no longer promoted the use of kudzu.

The problem was that kudzu grows too well. It can grow up to a foot a day (or so they say). In 1972 the USDA declared kudzu to be a weed. The southeastern US has near perfect conditions for kudzu to grow out of control, hot, humid summers, frequent rainfall, temperate winters with few hard freezes, and no natural predators.

Kudzu is fully indigenous to Georgia, the Southeast, and many others parts of the US. If you will go back over this paragraph and consider what you read then you will have an idea of what our goal is as “church planting” missionaries. Today, kudzu is nearly considered a curse. You can’t kill it, you can only try to control it. The pictures should let you see that kudzu is really “native” to Georgia.

As we plant churches we want churches that will be indigenous or native to the area. The word indigenous means according to Webster’s Online dictionary; “having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region or environment.” A synonym is native.

The term indigenous church has been defined by three characteristics; self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating. Though these are not biblical terms you will see their necessity when you begin planting churches. As you travel, research, and see churches on the mission field you may be shocked. A great number of them will not be able to support their own pastors even though they have been an organized church for many years.

Missionaries, it seems, must stay many years before a church is able to become “native” to the land. They are unable to maintain their churches, pay their pastors, start other churches, effectively evangelize their own people. When the missionary is forced to leave, the funds are cut off the work dries up and dies. The only other answer is to urgently look for another source of income and another foreign missionary to prop up the church.

Is it God’s will for His churches to be so weak and dependent on outside support? Can a church be planted that will take on the characteristics of kudzu and become so “native” that it will not need outside help? Will the Bible, the church, the gospel work as well in all cultures as it has in ours?

What would happen if we were to train some national pastors who would have the attitude of Abraham when he said in Genesis 14:23 “That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.” Abraham wanted God to get all the credit for his success and not a pagan king or anyone else for that matter.

I do not want to promote a position of boasting or pride among the national believers and churches but nor do I want to promote dependency that lasts for years. After having received so much help for so long they become bitter and demanding. They expect you to give to them and if you do not then you are wrong, selfish and bad. They demand, are not thankful, become accusing, and everyone is hurt all around.

In this short study I hope you will learn how to achieve the indigenous or “kudzu” principle. I hope you will at least learn to think, research, argue with yourself until you are convinced of your plan of action as you seek to plant churches for the kingdom and glory of God.

This was written by  Austin Gardner

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Isa 60:1  Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

Isaiah is telling the people of the Lord (Israel) here to shine! In this chapter he’s pretty much telling them that they are failing miserably at shining and He will raise up another to shine forth His glory.

Praise God that “other” is us! The Church.

Unfortunately, we (the Church) are falling into the same stupid traps that Israel fell into. God has blessed us, God has shown us His favor in order to shine forth His glory to the world.

He’s coming soon. He’s going to take us home and there are going to be many left behind because we (the Church) fail to do what we were created to do, Shine!

How do you plan to reflect His glory to people who need Him around you today?
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As we (my brother-in-laws and myself) were returning to our hotel, after eating dinner Tuesday night, to get ready to leave for the bus station, I started talking to our taxi driver (Freddy). As I normally do, I asked him a little about himself, how his day was going, etc. I really wasn’t expecting what would happen next. Freddy decided, for some reason, to be very honest. He began to tell me about himself and a few of his problems, and then a few more. Finally he paused for a minute, kind of like he was waiting for an answer.

About that time I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit to give him one. I told him that I personally couldn’t help him with his problems, but I did know someone who could. He looked at me, surprised, and asked “¿Quien?” (who?). Of course my response was Jesus. He then looked at me again and said “¿Sî?” (Really?) I said, “Sí, Jesus!” Then I began to tell him my story and how Jesus changed my life just a few short years ago.

Well, long story short, our short three sole ($1) taxi ride ended up taking us over an hour and a half, and changing his life forever. Freddy accepted Christ. This was the same night the two young men were saved (Victor and Arturo).

God is so good!
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While I was waiting on them to change their money there in the plaza, I was being bothered by these young guys who wanted to make a little money by shining my shoes. (If you’ve ever traveled, you know what I’m talking about). Well, I finally gave in, sat down a let one of them go to work. My father-in-law quickly followed suit.

As they were working, we began to talk about many different things. About who they were, what they wanted to do in the future, etc. Then they proceded to asked me the same questions.

My answers took a little longer. While I was talking a crowd had gathered around. Two turned into three, three into eight. An hour and half later we were still sitting there talking. By this time all the white folks had left and returned to the hotel. It was just me sitting there and I was getting hungry, so I invited the few who had stayed around to listen (four teens) to go grab a bite to eat with me.

McDonald’s was just on the other corner, so the five of us headed that way. We went in, each got a breakfast sandwich, and sat down to continue our conversation. After another hour of talking two of the guys told me that they had never heard anything like what I was telling them (which of course was the gospel).

By this time, my group had arrived and were sitting behind us at different tables. I didn’t know at the time, but a few of them were praying for me as we continued to talk.

Long story even longer, Victor Suni and Arturo Amudio decided yesterday, that they wanted the Life that Jesus Christ offers. They both bowed their heads, with tears in their eyes, repented and were born again, right there in McDonald’s.

The two others that were there, Virgenia Gusero and Alvaro Quizpe, had already been saved and were just there listening, wanting to hear more. They asked if I could stay in Cusco and continue to teach them. Unfortunately, I had to tell them that I was already committed to a ministry in Arequipa, but that I would be more than willing to continue studying with them over the Internet.

I also invited them to come visit us in Arequipa, and that if they would come see us off at the bus station (eight hours later) then I’d pay their way. Three of the four showed up, so it looks like they will be coming to visit us in a week and half. The fourth one (Victor) already had plans, but will be coming too.

Please pray for these four young people:

Victor Suni (19 years old)

Arturo Amudio (16 years old)

Virgenia Gusero (17 years old)

Alvaro Human Quizpe (17 years old)

Lord knows I do not deserve what I have been given. What a privilege it is to be His ambassador here in Peru.
Later I’ll post about another miracle that took place yesterday….

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The group outside of Igleisa Bautista Omega

Press Conference

Our makeshift clinical rooms and a few workers

First day

A little more of the first day chaos

Mrs. Carlson in action

Dr. George in action (a little graphic)

The most important part, the gospel room

The gospel was not constrained to a room!!!! (this was a runner who was sharing her faith with a translator)

Please pray with us as our work has just begun. The follow up with the 1800 who received attention will begin on Monday.

I am excited to see how the Lord will continue to use this to advance his Kingdom.

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