by Steve Richardson

Roger and Janice Dixon, veterans of thirty-five year's ministry to a large unreached people group in Indonesia, testify that prior to the mid-1980's they witnessed dozens of well-intentioned missionaries who came, stayed for a short time, and then returned to their homeland. The reasons varied, but the end result was the same in each case. Then, beginning in about 1985, a different pattern emerged. Young people continued to arrive, but now most stayed. In fact, whereas the Dixons had labored virtually alone among this people group for almost two decades, today there are approximately eighty international workers from several different agencies who have joined in the harvest. What changed in the mid-1980's?