Dr. Delron & Peggy Shirley
Teach All Nations Mission (TAN) is a global evangelical educational ministry birthed from the teaching ministries of Delron and Peggy Shirley. The name Teach All Nations Mission was chosen to carefully indicate exactly what the heart of Delron and Peggy’s mission is.
TAN’s commitment is to establish a solid foundation in the national pastors and leaders so that they can help enrich the people. The vision is Christian teaching materials (in English and the local languages) in printed form and on audio and video, providing scholarships to Christian colleges and Bible schools for promising students, assisting in establishing and building of Bible schools, and broadcasting via the internet, radio, and television.
We have been ministering in the Dominican Republic on a regular basis for more than twenty years, working with our long-time friends, Tim and Trena Johnson. Over the years, we have brought numerous mission teams to minister in schools, churches, and open-air outreaches. In addition, both of us have ministered in a majority of the local churches and held many pastors’ conferences for leaders from throughout the nation. On our recent visit, we were thrilled to be reminded of the remaining fruit of previous missions as numerous individuals shared how our ministry over the years had blessed their lives and ministries. Many recited specific points from before I tell you the story of my recent mission trip to Liberia, let me share a bit of the history behind this West African nation. The third poorest country in the world, Liberia was essentially the United States’ only attempt at colonization in that it was established in 1820 as a homeland for freed slaves. Unfortunately, the abused became abusers as the former slaves treated the indigenous people like they were slaves. The distinction between the native peoples and the settlers from America never went away, resulting in the civil war a century and a half later. The fourteen-year-long conflict left the country devastated with most of the population living in fear and starvation. One of the hosts on my first mission to Liberia eleven years ago told me how he and his family lived off of one cup of rice at a time and an occasional banana and perhaps one piece of chicken if someone would share with them. It was during this time of devastation that Dr. Lester Sumrall brought in the Feed the Hungry ship laden with food and medical supplies to rescue the starving nation. Ever since that epic act of compassion, it had been in my heart to visit the country and bring further blessing to it as it was going through the healing process.
At the end of a morning service, I told the congregation that I was going to minister to them in the evening service on “After Having Eaten the Baby.” After meditating all afternoon about what they thought they were going to hear when they came back to the service, there were many varied ideas. Some recalled the Old Testament story of the Samaritan city under siege by the Syrians. The enemy had surrounded the city and set up blockades so that no supplies could get to the people. The people were starving to the point that one woman actually ate her own child. (II Kings 6:28-29) Others came to the service anticipating that I was going to tell them the story of black-robed Satanists who had participated in some kind of human sacrifice and had actually eaten human flesh in some kind of cannibalistic mock of the holy communion. Perhaps I was going to tell of a deliverance of one of those Satanic high priests who came to Jesus after having eaten a baby. Some thought I was going to tell the story of aboriginal cannibals wearing nothing but war paint and blood splattered across their faces as they gorged on the feast of their conquered foe.
I surprised them all when I opened my Bible to the book of Ephesians and read from chapter six, Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness… (verses 6:13-14) Of course, everybody wanted to know what that had to do with eating babies. I told them that they had only heard half of my sentence. My sentence actually says, “After having eaten, the baby threw his bowl to the floor.”
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God’s Unique Book The Bible is the most extraordinary book that has been written in all of human history. Through history, it has been outlawed, confiscated, and burned by the thousands of copies. Armies have marched in attempts to destroy it. Whole organizations...
When it seems that the whole world has been turned upside down, that’s the time to remember that Jesus has come to make things right again. This is exactly what has happened with the ministry that Teach All Nations partners within Myanmar. First, the pandemic shut the...
