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.
In the email invitation for our partners to read the April meditation on our website, I made a comment about all the challenges that Peggy and her team had encountered on their March mission to Sri Lanka and the “hoops” I had to jump through to get the flights for our upcoming mission to Nepal rerouted after the war in the Middle East closed the Dubai airport. I then followed with the hopeful anticipation that we would not have any further problems on the trip to Nepal. I have to confess that I was miserably wrong. Because we were not able to rebook with the same airline all the way to Kathmandu, I purchased tickets on one airline as far as Delhi and tickets from there to Kathmandu on a different airline. When Peggy and I tried to check in for our flight, we were refused boarding, saying that we did not have visas to India, and that were booked as going only as far as Delhi rather than being transit passengers. Although I could show the clerk that we had onward tickets to Nepal, I was repeatedly told that we could not board the plane without visas to India. After about an hour and a half of going back and forth with several different agents, a supervisor was able to solve the problem, check our bags all the way to Kathmandu, and issue us boarding passes for all the flights. When we thanked her for her help, she told us that she is a Christian and that she had prayed that morning that she would be in the right place at the right time to help someone in need. Of course, we told her that we are also Christians and were praying for the favor of God and man over our predicament. She was definitely in the right place at the right time to help us! When we met Linda Easton who was joining us in Newark for the rest of the trip to Nepal, we found out that the airline had allowed her to fly as far as Newark but had canceled her flight from there to Delhi for the same visa issue. We wound up with five customer service agents working on the problem, and they finally settled the crisis five minutes before we were to board the flight. When we eventually made it to Nepal, we discovered that in the rebooking process, I had booked our return flight to Delhi on the wrong day. Fortunately, I was able to get that straightened out; however, rebooking fees, the difference in the price of the ticket because we were so close to the travel date, and fuel surcharges because of the price increases due to the fuel shortage because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz essentially doubled our price.
Out of all the congregations that felt the impact of Paul’s life, I’d like for us to consider one specific church as an example of maximum impact because this particular congregation was birthed out of just three weeks of the apostle’s ministry – yet it became a viable and enduring church that, according to Paul’s own evaluation, was an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia and the epicenter from which the gospel was sounded throughout Macedonia and Achaia and beyond. (I Thessalonians 1:7-8) In spite of the fact – or possibly enhanced by the fact – that this church was birthed in much persecution by opponents who were not satisfied to just wreak havoc locally but actually followed Paul to his next destination to engender even more violence (Acts 17:5-9, 17:13), the congregation stood strong and flourished. Yet Paul was able to define in one concise passage what he did in Thessalonica that left such a powerful impact, “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.” (I Thessalonians 1:5)
The first avenue he mentioned was the Word. In fact, Paul’s writings are full of instruction to avoid various substitutes that can camouflage themselves as worthy ministry material but actually lead to confusion and disqualification of our ministries: philosophy (Colossians 2:8), vain deceit (Colossians 2:8), the tradition of men (Colossians 2:8), the rudiments of the world (Colossians 2:8), enticing words of man’s wisdom (I Corinthians 2:4), profane and vain babblings (I Timothy 6:20, II Timothy 2:16), oppositions of science falsely so called (I Timothy 6:20), fables (I Timothy 1:4, II Timothy 4:4), Jewish fables (Titus 1:14), profane and old wives’ fables (I Timothy 4:7), endless genealogies (I Timothy 1:4, Titus 3:9), the commandments of men (Titus 1:14), foolish and unlearned questions (II Timothy 2:23, Titus 3:9), teachers having itching ears (II Timothy 4:3), teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre’s sake (Titus 1:11), strivings about the law (Titus 3:9), the doctrines of men (Colossians 2:22), and even doctrines of devils (I Timothy 4:1). Paul himself had a personal experience with the temptation to make a substitute.
The Church at Thessalonica Out of all the congregations that felt the impact of Paul’s life, I’d like for us to consider one specific church as an example of maximum impact because this particular congregation was birthed out of just three weeks of the apostle’s...
In the email invitation for our partners to read the April meditation on our website, I made a comment about all the challenges that Peggy and her team had encountered on their March mission to Sri Lanka and the “hoops” I had to jump through to get the flights for our...
Obviously, the task of exploring the impact that Paul had on the lives of the individuals he touched during his lifetime would take us far beyond the limits of just one volume; therefore, I’d like to look at just two examples – one individual and one congregation. ...
Teach All Nations has had a long and well-established relationship with the churches and believers in the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic. Working with Tim and Trena Johnson, a missionary family that we have known since we were all members of Dr. Lester...
Since everything that Paul did was an outward manifestation of the internal mission that was birthed in him on the road to Damascus, our journey through the apostle’s life has helped us isolate a number of the things that caused his life to be one of maximum impact:...
When the world came to a screeching halt due to the pandemic in 2020, Teach All Nations had to cancel all our plans for the year, including a scheduled pastors’ conference in the nation of Myanmar – where we have had a strong presence for over three decades. Once...
