Still on the list We were in South Sulawesi discussing unreached people when a local worker brought up a group in West Sulawesi. We looked them up. “Still on the list,” we acknowledged. In fact, three of every 10 people groups remain on that unreached people groups (UPG) list. We have been to South and Central Sulawesi in search of unreached people groups the past two years. “To make sure about the unreached people group that mission organizations mentioned,” Indonesia member Budi said. “Are they really unreached and no workers or not?” We discovered wor...
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Sulawesi jungles: lush, green, and shrouded in darkness. But God dwells even in the darkness, we are told in 1 Kings 8:12. (Photo by Gary Fallesen) Fear God, nothing less An invitation to GO on Mission: Indonesia 2020 By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Our brother watched as the deluge of rain moved the mountain in front of him in the heart of Central Sulawesi. He felt no fear. It was a holy moment. His driver, a Muslim, cowered in fear as flood waters rose and mud flowed from the hills around them. “Why aren’t you afraid?” the driver asked wit...
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Mission: Indonesia 2019, Part 1 By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Friday, May 3 Team C4C: Gary, Budi and Jordan in Central Sulawesi. It was a 35-hour Friday as Jordan and I traveled backward across 11 time zones from Jakarta, Indonesia to Climbing For Christ’s home base in Rochester, NY, USA. We left Indonesia praying the theme verse for this trip over the numerous tribes of this vast, mostly Muslim country: “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalm 96:3). Have Your way, LORD. Thursday, M...
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Gunung Sojol, the highest peak on Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. (Photo by Gary Fallesen) CLICK HERE for daily Dispatches.

Stand with us in prayer for Mission: Indonesia 2019 by clicking on the file link below. This Evangelic Expedition will take place April 22-May 3. Thank you for your precious prayers.

Aid for those in need of salt and light Devastation in Palu, Central Sulawesi, including a destroyed mosque, is seen in this aerial photo from the Reuters news agency. Natural disasters in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population continue to be a wakeup call to the church. There are millions upon millions going to hell. On Sept. 28, a series of earthquakes, including one that measured 7.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale, rocked Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It caused a tsunami that produced a 20-foot wall of water that washed over the capital city of Palu. Thousands w...
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Prepare ye the way The timing was divine: We were on a spiritual retreat when, first, an email arrived from Finishing the Task. It talked about getting the list of unengaged unreached people groups (UUPGs) remaining in the world from 964 to zero. This was followed by a phone call from the same association of mission agencies and churches. Many of the 964 UUPGs were located in “the hardest places,” which - by definition - is where Climbing For Christ GOes. We were asked to prayerfully consider adopting some of the UUPGs on the list. An explanation: More than 32 million lost...
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Hell in Indonesia’s high places By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ “Joe,” not his real name, thanked us for coming. He asked us to send people to work with him. He is lonely. He expressed his happiness to have brothers in Christ visit the place where he had served for three years because churches will not help him deliver the Good News. “They are afraid,” he explained, before adding again the joy he felt “to have a friend in ministry.” Joe and one other worker have seen 10 souls rescued from one of Indonesia&rs...
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Monday, June 11 Our little team‎ with an Indonesian worker: What’s wrong with this picture? There are only four laborers. Many more are needed! After we learned that Americans wouldn’t be welcomed among the unreached people group we were surveying, we wondered: “What can we do here?” The director of the ministry serving several UPGs on the island we visited told us, first of all, we can pray (and lead others in prayer) for the work there. Second, we can come and encourage the indigenous laborers. Finally, we CAN trek through the mountains and village...
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Jesus weeps over hundreds of millions of lost Indonesians We wept — just like our Savior, Jesus Christ. In John, chapter 11, we read about the death of Jesus’s good friend, Lazarus. He has been buried in a tomb for four days when Jesus arrives. “Jesus wept,” it says in John 11:35. But then, in the midst of his sadness, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Sadness turns to gladness. It can be done. As we met with like-hearted brothers and sisters to discuss Muslim unreached people groups, we were told about the 170 MUPGs (at the time) with populations of more than 100,...
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Combating violence, hatred, and the many challenges of Islam with love By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” – Matthew 5:44 (NLT) Brother Rachid. Brother Rachid (the Moroccan spelling for Rasheed) has used the power of God’s Word and prayer to deliver “more than 150,000” Muslims to the Lord through a satellite TV show called Daring Questions. Rachid’s own testimony is a miracle of God: the son of an Imam in Morocco, he was angered by the witnessin...
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Mission: Indonesia & Philippines 2017 Saturday, Feb. 4 C4C Philippines meeting: (left to right) Doc Jhoe, AA, Jhun, Gary, Jordan, Ace, Pat, Joel, Rory holding baby Max and husband Gutch,  Asiel and his wife, and Spencer. Nearly everyone in the photo is a Mission: Philippines veteran. We headed east today from Manila to North America, crossing many time zones and the international date line and flying and driving on a Saturday that lasted for 37 hours. Jordan and I returned safely to Rochester, NY, USA. We left Southeast Asia encouraged by time spent w...
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Please stand with us in prayer for this Evangelic Expedition from Jan. 21-Feb. 4. Learn more by opening the document below.

A friend of the ministry shelled out US$30,000 for the purchase of land on one of the more than 900 inhabited islands in Indonesia. This moved Climbing For Christ member Budi Yuwono one big step closer to realizing a dream of establishing a base camp for ministry to one of the 221 unreached people groups living in the world’s most populous Muslim country. Nearly 3 in every 10 people groups in Indonesia remain unreached, which accounts for more than 6 in every 10 people. Nearly two-thirds of the population of 254 million people is considered unreached. On the particular island where...
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Climbing For Christ’s first trip to Indonesia in June 2007 resulted in the ministry’s first chapter outside of North America. JEJAK (an acronym for following in the footsteps of Jesus) had more than 30 members at the time of their welcome. “Since the first visit by Climbing For Christ, we are burning with desire to serve the souls who have not known God’s love, especially those who are in the hills, valleys and mountains,” said Budi Yuwono, a C4C member since 2007. “We are so blessed with three visits by C4C teams (in 2007, 2010 and 2012), which is very i...
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  Budi Yuwono on 12,224-foot Mount Rinjani with the active volcano’s crater lake (called “Child of the Sea” because of its blue color) in the background. Return to Rinjani By Budi Yuwono Climbing For Christ member This trip was highly anticipated by Agus since the end of 2014. From December 2014 through March 2015, the ascent of Mount Rinjani on the island of Lombok was closed because it was the rainy season and the weather was not good. In April 2015, Agus continued to ask when we would be back to visit. Two trips there – in April 2012 and Ma...
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Photo of the Week by Gary Fallesen: Mount Rinjani on the Indonesian island of Lombok is that country’s second-highest volcano, standing 12,224 feet (3,726 meters). Climbing For Christ visited Mount Rinjani, Lombok, and the Sasak people for the first time on Mission: Indonesia 2012. C4C members from Indonesia had a reunion on Rinjani in 2013. Budi Yuwono of C4C Indonesia returned to Rinjani in September 2015. (CLICK HERE for that Trip Report.) There are no known believers among the 3 million Sasak people living on the island of Lombok. Most Sasak are Muslim, but many also still wo...
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Climbing For Christ’s first international chapter was established in 2007 in the world’s most populous Muslim nation (about 187 million people – or more than 80 percent of the country). JEJAK, an acronym for following in the footsteps of Jesus, became C4C Indonesia. PRAY: For religious freedom. Muslims in much of Indonesia have been tolerant of Christianity in the past. But there is a growing vision of an Indonesia without Christians. Pray against this movement. GIVE: To send workers to reach the many unreached. How can they believe in Him if they have never heard abou...
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Indonesian humanitarian mission to the Philippines By Budi Yuwono C4C Indonesia (Editor’s Note: Budi Yuwono’s home church of Abbalove in Jakarta, Indonesia partnered with DoctorSHARE, also known as the Physician Care Foundation, for a humanitarian relief mission to the Philippines. Budi participated in this mission. Here is his report:) Dr. Lie Darmawan, the founder of DoctorSHARE, led a humanitarian mission to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The mission was composed of 16 people – 14 doctors from DoctorSHARE and two volunteers from Abbalove. The team w...
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Reunion on Rinjani Sunrise on Rinjani. (Photo by Budi Yuwono) Budi Yuwono and Alexander Wijaya, two Climbing For Christ Indonesia members, went to the island of Lombok in early May to climb Mount Rinjani as a follow-up to Mission: Indonesia 2012. “Very good trip,” Budi reported. “So close with ‘A,’ ‘R’ and (their) families.” “A” and “R” were our guides on Rinjani in 2012. Our team, which included Budi, began to develop relationships with these two Sasak men. There are only a few hundred Christians among the ...
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