(265) “Fathers, Teachers, and Intercessors—The New Face of Missions” with Peter Snyder

0:00 And my friend Samson, who's running a school there for the pastors who are coming out there and are leaving in droves, he said, from China. I said, well, where in the world are they going? He said, well, where else could they go? They have to leave. They're going into the, I want to cry when I say it, into the mission field. And so that's the next generation. We'll train these last 40 years in China. They're doing what we did 40 years ago. God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity. Welcome to global outpouring, where we contend for that promised outpouring, we equip for that outpouring, so that we may engage in that very outpouring.

0:51 I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today. We're so glad you've joined us. We have with us our dear friend Peter Snyder, who's been a missionary in China, in Haiti, and other nations. And he's just come back from Mongolia, and he's going to share with us what is the latest in missions. Thank you so much for joining us today. This is going to be a podcast you'll enjoy. I just love the passion of our brother Pete Snyder. He's just an amazing man of God with a passion for souls and a passion for teaching and all of the things of the kingdom. So before we get started, we want to encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to go to our website, globaloutpouring .net. And connect with us by subscribing to our email list so that we can keep in touch with you and notify you when a new podcast is coming out and notify you of other things that we're doing that will be of interest to you. If you enjoy this content that we have here, we know that you'll enjoy a lot of the other content that we have available on our website. So come and help yourself to that. And we're right on the cusp of Convention 2025. It starts tomorrow night, if you're listening as soon as this. podcast hits. And it starts tomorrow night in St. Louis, Missouri at the St. Louis Airport Marriott. If you can get there, please get there. If you can't get there, join us by Facebook or by YouTube.

2:22 We'll be streaming live all of the meetings and we want you to be able to enjoy what is there. And of course, it'll still be in the archives there so you can watch it at your own convenience if you aren't able to watch it while it's coming through live. But it is going to be full of the anointing, full of life changing. circumstances, life -changing miracles, life -changing teaching, life -changing intercession, life -changing worship. It's going to be a glory time, and we want to encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to tune in to our Friday night live worship that we stream every Friday on YouTube and Facebook and all of the other events that we have. post most of them. Not all of them we can, but most of them we do. And there's lots of content out there that will feed you and equip you and bring you into a deeper place in your walk with God.

3:19 Snyder, it is such a blessing to have you with us. Before we push the record button, I was talking about the last time we had you on our podcast, and you made a comment about the missions as we knew it. Everything's changed now. It's over, and you just saw like we've already done everything that needed to be done as far as we were concerned. I want you to speak into that. Can you bring us some clarification? Our thinking is being changed. Even Jesus, his thinking was changed as he learned obedience through the things that he suffered, right? Amen. He learned and we're learning. Well, you left off with a real good question for me, you know, what I had said earlier about my idea of traditional missions being over in as much as we learn a new language, go to a new country, tell them about Jesus. Because in the last 50 years, we've seen countries Christianized.

4:17 And their own indigenous people reaching out to the unreached people groups in their areas, whereas beforehand there was nobody at that point that could do that. But we did it, and we kind of saw a conclusion to that generation. And now what we're thinking about is what's next for us, like our baby boomer. Generation. What are we all about now? And what I'm seeing now more than anything else is they need teachers. They didn't have good Bible schools. They didn't have gospel truth teachers so much. But the Holy Spirit has taught them what to do and how to do it.

4:58 And I've been amazed in China to see what was available, which was nothing. All they had was a touch of the presence of the Holy Spirit. people coming to the Lord, them coming together, reading the Bible together. It was very complicated for them because they had nobody to help them, you know, plow through Numbers and Deuteronomy and that sort of thing. And it was just a totally different scene because then after that, what did they do? They ate together, they worshiped the Lord together, and then they went on to reach more people together. But it just proliferated. And what happened after that? There was no teachers.

5:39 And so now I'm coming in on the back end of things all throughout Southeast Asia now, bringing teaching, and they are so hungry. Peter, don't stop. Continue. And what do you need to know more than anything else? And then I find out from the pastors what they need to know and simplify it, bring it down to something that they can understand. And it's been such a blessing because they're so humble and they want to learn. They're teachable, not like so many situations I've come into where people weren't. And even we, you and I, like we said at the beginning, we have to be ready to learn and have a teachable heart. So my idea is a lot different than it was the last time we spoke when I was there at Engletown about, you know, the end of the great white missionary hope going into that area, learning the language, bringing them to Jesus, because now it's a totally different picture. All over the world and on back to Jerusalem through the Muslim nations.

6:47 And of course, Jesus returns. So let me clarify that. And I hope I did there to you. Yeah. The last time you were with us, you spoke about, you know, being the end of missions as we knew it. And it kind of left me with a question mark. So I appreciate the fact that you're clarifying this. And especially since you've just been to Mongolia. Tell us a little bit about that. That was a whole new nation for you. Yeah, and it was wonderful. It was a great experience bringing the Word of God there, because when I say the Word, I mean the gospel truth, because they had been through so much of these initial decades of learning to live and function and operate as a church. But there, you know, they were so hungry. And I'm a senior now at 70 years old.

7:37 And to go to places like that with only 1 .7 % Christians there, I thought, wow, that's what it was in China in 1987 when we went there. And then what happened next? It was like, whoa, it was an explosion. But the thing is, generationally speaking, I'm talking to you, Sharon, and me at our age. Things come in perfect timing. The Holy Spirit's timing is perfect. And even for this, you know, I thought, is that it? When I got over there and I saw the people and I saw their hunger and their love for each other, I thought, I almost don't want to interfere. And I did take a backseat. They brought me up to teach them these things, but I wanted to take a backseat and like a grandfather, which I am, Guide them and love them. And, you know, none of this grandstanding stuff. And they had found that some other denominations from other different countries would come in and want to control them in a situation. And they said, you need this.

8:44 They didn't. What I saw was just such love. And especially during this Easter season when we were there. They all came together in Ardennet, the pastors, leaders, and the teachers. And the place was just packed. They hadn't done that there before. And there they were. And it was just a festival of love. And when you have that kind of love, you have the Holy Spirit. And what do you really need more than that except somebody to maybe come up and impress on them the need for them to keep their freedoms? And that's what Paul was most interested in because he saw what was happening. He said these Judaizers and these legalists will come in and they'll try to steal your freedom. And he said, I'm afraid of that, the wolves. And I saw that too. But they have such a grasp on the Holy Spirit and his love among themselves in Mongolia that anything outside of that is suspect. And they discern it. right now. But me as an outsider going in, you know, I had to just kind of learn from watching them.

9:56 And I thought, how many other nations in Asia need this and need the old teachers to come in? And I thought I was very humbled to be able to do that. You know, they don't really put much emphasis on Easter like we do. Good Friday. But they did have that meeting. I walked in some of those churches and there was Santa Claus's picture up there. Oh, that's amazing. Santa Claus. We don't work here. So they do need grandfathers and fathers in Israel, and that's what we are.

10:37 So we held three full seminars in four different places, and it was on the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit to give them the theology of the gospel. Where we don't go back and we don't delve into the Old Covenant understanding of who God was and try to work our salvation out in the Old Testament. But we look at John 3 .16 and the good news and the context of John 3 .16 and then John chapter 3 and then the book of John and then the Gospels. And then we'll learn this all together. And then when we're finished. We'll go through the whole New Testament, learn everything we can about Jesus, and then we'll go back and look at some of the history and how it pointed to Jesus. But we don't start from there. Our foundation is in the gospel truth. And so when we held these seminars, I mean, we just being another guy and the head pastor there on the father. It was identifying who the father was, you know, the father. They never knew him as the father. And the son, of course, he's in and through everything. You teach him Colossians about that in us and who we are in the Holy Spirit.

12:03 And we're one. And then the idea of the body and what privilege we have in this. Last generation, chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation. And then when they get their identity in that, they're not as apt to slip. And that's where Paul was reinforcing that and just pounding that same nail. I told you on that one video I just sent that I was shocked because I asked the head pastor in Mongolia. I said, what denomination are you people? Because there's just all the Christians from everyone who were gathered here. What's a denomination? Wow. I love it. He just didn't even know. And I thought, wow, I don't even want to tell him. But, you know, I checked earlier. Do you know how many denominations there are of Christianity? Oh, my. There's over 10 ,000. Oh, my. Yeah. Just check it out sometime.

13:03 Well, a denomination is just the way certain people think and how they approach. Christianity and what they believe. But we all have our cohesion in the Apostles' Creed, of course. All Christians believe the same thing there. I believe in God the Father, Almighty Maker. Do you believe that? Do you understand that? Yes. Why do we say that? Well, Christians in the old days, many of them couldn't read. They didn't know what their faith was, but they would say that and reinforce who they knew they were as Christians, especially if they were going to be brought through fiery tribulation and persecution, which is sad, which the first century Christian church suffered like no other church before. Our church is built on the blood and the foundation of what they did.

13:53 When I said, oh, yeah, we see, we know, we understand. Do you do that? Do you say this? Do you all learn that? Yes, we do. And they also learn some other old covenant things that still don't apply to the new way that Jesus made for us, you know, into discovering the kingdom and discovering who he is. And so there has to be somebody like a father. that will come in and just help them. You say, hey, this is really good, what you're doing. And here's what you can do to make it better. Here's what we can do together. And that approach never loses. But if someone goes in like the old Christian missionary, guy you know this critical spirit are you doing this and you start pointing fingers at everybody and everything say this is wrong and that's wrong you know it just causes confusion and they want to learn and like a child you don't want to you want to be very simple about the things you present and um i was teaching them along the way in mongolia you know there's a new things that the Lord wants to show you, and revelation he wants to teach you on your own, and an awakening that we need in these last days to finish the work and get a vision for what he wants us to do. And at the end of these seminars, invariably, they were coming up to me, Brother Pete, we got a vision.

15:22 We had an awakening. I mean, there's tears and all kinds of wonderful breakthroughs there. Wonderful. Good. Now you're on track here. But then what does that mean for me? To say, okay, that's the end of it, ditch it and go? No, teaching is continuous. And being a teacher, I think, is the greatest thing. I'm not a pastor, and here I am, the Lord has called me to train pastors. Maybe that's better, because they're not thinking that there's any spirit of competition there among pastors or me. But just to be a teacher and bring the truth in a way that a father would. It was a wonderful experience for me, and that was the best part of Mongolia. And you've learned that too, your grandmother. And I just want the children to receive the bread, and I don't want it to be thrown to the dogs today. Amen. We know where they are. So let's see here. The girl who introduced me to the things there in Mongolia had been in China for 10 years. tribal regions all by herself, not as a Christian, but with the United Nations.

16:33 And I saw what she was doing in those areas that were totally unreached at that time. I said, hey, this is wonderful. And I came in and even helped her to understand what the idea was, how we could really help and brought her to Jesus. She became a missionary and started. teaching the gospel everywhere, including North Korea for nine years. She lived there all by herself and everybody else wouldn't dare to go. And now she's been in Mongolia these last nine years. And I invited her to our house here in Phoenix. And she was here. I said, hey, do you know any of the pastors over there? And she said, well, sure. I love those pastors. I said, well, ask them if they would like. It would be all right if a teacher came through and brought seminars because that's what I've been doing in Philippines, Thailand, China and everywhere else over there.

17:21 And they said, OK, we'll ask. And then she did. And they said, oh, sure. We would just love that. Wow. And so when I came there, I saw that the biggest problems. that they had were some of the things we saw in some of the deepest tribal regions with alcoholism. But they have their own rehab centers and they have their own prison ministries, which is wonderful. But what I really loved. And I wanted to be part of, and I told you this before I ever went there, I wanted to reach some of those lost tribes that nobody had reached. Because I heard there's 28 tribes and 23 of them haven't heard about Jesus. So everywhere I went there, I asked them, is there any outreach?

18:07 What do you guys do? And right then, you know, we were there. There's two blizzards we went through when we were there. But these guys were coming in on horseback. I mean, they looked, they're freezing to death. And they said, this is outreach. Isn't God good? We were able to go to some of these tribes. I said, can I go with him? And I thought maybe I couldn't fit on one of those horses because I'm a little bit bigger than they are, I thought. But then I saw some of them, they were bigger than me. And I thought, well, if they can do it, I can. I just would rather go at a time when it's not so cold. But up they went, down to the east. And right as we were leaving, the head pastor was going down into the Gobi, to the tribes there, and up by Russia and off to the west. And the head pastor's going to take three other pastors going into Uzbekistan and Kajikistan and bring the gospel to the Mongolians there and up into Russia so that they can. Do their own outreach from there and show them what they've learned. So all of that I learned in such a short time there.

19:10 And I thank God, you know, that I was able to do that. And I'm looking forward to going back. But first I have to go to Thailand and Philippines and teach and then into China. I'll take Lauren in there with me. We haven't been there since COVID. Yeah, Lauren, my wife. I'm looking to see how the pastors are doing over there because I've heard nothing from them. When we were there, it was called WeChat. Do you remember WeChat, how we would talk to each other? And today there's WhatsApp and Signal and some of these others, but I had all the pastors' names and their contact information on WeChat. As soon as I got to America and got an American phone number, they were all gone. And so I've had no contact with any of them, except for the pastors that came out to Thailand, who I don't see, and my friend Samson, who's running a school there for the pastors who are coming out there and are leaving in droves, he said, from China. I said, well, where in the world are they going? He said, well, where else could they go? They have to leave. They're going into the, I want to cry when I say it, into the mission field. Amen. So that's the next generation.

20:28 You know, we've trained these last 40 years in China. They're doing what we did 40 years ago. And it's so precious. And they have that, you know, the Back to Jerusalem movement. Yes. Not just the Chinese, but all the Asians. They want to go back and see where Jesus was and where he rose from the dead, where he was born. And Jesus himself said, you know, from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria to the outermost parts of the earth. And then, of course, it would go all the way around the world and back to Jerusalem. And the last time I was there in Jerusalem was with Gene and the Chinese pastor. And I took them.

21:12 I thought, well, praise God, at least I can go and see some of the Chinese. All the way back to where Jesus started his ministry is the Jordan River there outside of Jericho. And so Gene took us there. And so I took Pastor Sampson, who has that school in Thailand, a Chinese pastor, teaching the Chinese pastors. And I said, Sampson, go down into the water. And he started to go down into the water. And out of the crowd came these other Chinese. Wow. There's something about going to the toilet in China that one person has to go, they all go. They saw him go, and they came out from everywhere at about five or six of them, and they all went down in the water, didn't know each other. took a hold of each other's hands and went down and up and down and down. And they were singing this song. I tell you, Sharon, I knew the song, but I never had heard it before.

22:12 Like that song in the book of Revelation that they sing. And the presence of God was over that place like never before. Hallelujah. I've seen it. That's where Jesus started his ministry. And that's where he ended his ministry when he went back to Jerusalem himself to die on the cross. And Thomas said, come on, let's go with him, boys. And we all have to go through that valley there that goes back to Jerusalem. It's called the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Dean said, look up here. This is the mountain of temptation. I said, yeah, but do you know what that is down there? I've gone through it all the way back.

22:52 It's the valley of the shadow of death. And that's where Jesus went when he went back and raised Lazarus from the dead, which was a type of what he was about to do himself, and then redeemed the entire world. I'm saying this to say that all of the Asians are very, very keen on this notion of Jesus returning to Jerusalem and to finish the work through the Muslim nations. But there's something to be said for that in as much as the Muslims all know who Jesus is. But, you know, they don't know that he's the Messiah. Right. And it's just a hard nut to crack. It's like. It is in Israel with the Jews. The religious spirit is the hardest one to get through to.

23:41 And I mean, not many come to the Lord, but in the fires that they're going through now over there in the Middle East. That's what's going to bring it all forth because there's always one hand is the awakening and the other hand is the fires of the persecution. It's always like that. So I guess what I wanted to say more than anything else on this podcast is that our generation has a wonderful, wonderful responsibility and calling as teachers. And to me, there's nothing greater than being a teacher. I'm heading out in a couple of weeks to go back to Asia. And then a couple of weeks after that, back to China.

24:23 Hopefully, I'll come and see you in the late summer or early fall. And then from there, we're going to put our heads together and figure out what to do next. Now, I do have a little word to give. It's only just a minute. Sure. But I want you to hear this. Good. I found this morning, and it touched my heart, you know, Hezekiah had his life extended, remember? Mm -hmm. And chapter 20 of 2 Kings, and here comes Isaiah, and he speaks to him when these Babylonians came, looks at all the gold that Hezekiah had accumulated. So Hezekiah had given these extra years, and we've been given extra years now. Yes, we have.

25:06 I'm telling you. And there's a tight fear. But then he told them they came from a far country. And Isaiah said, they will come and take your sons who will descend from you, who you will beget, and they shall become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, and here's where I had the problem with this. The word of the Lord which you have spoken is a good word. For he said, will there not be peace and truth at least in my days? Yeah, that breaks my heart. Yeah, but listen, it did me too. It troubled me for a minute. But then I thought, he knew what was coming. We all knew what was coming to the United States, but it was averted.

25:52 We have an extended period of time now before Manasseh gets into the picture. You know, if Hezekiah's life hadn't been extended, there would have been no Manasseh. Think about it. I know, I have thought about that. Well, here, what he says, this will be good. Won't there be truth in my days? And it bothered me because I thought, well, what about his kids and grandkids have become eunuchs? Wouldn't he worry about them? But then in my days, in my generation, at least he knew he had that generation to make a difference, bring the truth, finish his calling, finish his work, like Paul said, and do what he had to do.

26:33 in his days, and our generation too. And so that's where my mind, what's going to happen is going to happen. You know, that's all been written in the books. But we have been given a very, very special period of time now. We saw what could have happened if things would have continued on the way they went. And thank God they didn't. But this is an extended period of time for us to get this mind about us of what we can do to finish well. Beyond that, there's nothing anybody can do about it. Not Hezekiah, not Isaiah, not you or me. But this is a very urgent time. And when I saw that, I was just like you. It broke my heart. Poor children. I've lost a son. I know what it's like. But the children, the children, if we do what we're called to do and finish the work the way we're supposed to do it, God will take care of our children. My father used to tell me that. My brother said, why are you selling everything we have and giving it to the Haitians?

27:47 He said, well, if I take care of God's work, he'll take care of my kids. children. He said, I don't want that kind of inheritance. I want the real kind. But you know what? This is the real kind. This is the real kind. Well, that's just about all I have here. In our generation, you said that there was another generation. There was this generation of baby boomers, the millennials, and a group, what did you call them? Gen Y. The Gen Y. I'd never even heard of it. Or maybe it's Gen X. Maybe it's Gen X. I'm not sure. Gen X, Gen Y. Or there's Gen Z. I know that. But then the next group that I don't know, that's the beta. I thought, what is the next bunch that are coming in? And they're the ones that will be most greatly influenced by technology. And we see the little kids jumping on the iPhones, jumping on this and using AI and doing all this stuff. What's that going to bring forth? Well, it depends on what the fathers and mothers, how they lead them and guide them into the next generation.

28:54 We can determine what smells fishy and what doesn't and can help them along. And so I guess when we spoke the last time and I thought maybe my role is an overseas missionary and the traditional sense is over. It certainly is not when it comes to being a guard dog. Amen. of the kingdom and a watchman, as it says in Habakkuk, remember? Yes, I will stand upon the ramparts. Yes, we do. I love you, honey, and I love you, Philip. I can't see you back there. Hope you're doing okay. Yeah, I'm doing good. Did you get that grease out of your fingernails? He was changing the oil, wasn't he? Yes. He's a man of many hats.

29:40 You know, I want to add something here, Peter. Something that the Lord has reminded me of, I studied this book a number of years ago, but there's a little yellow book called Praying Effectively for the Lost. And it's really, really powerful in just bringing a clarity to the importance of prayer when it comes to salvation for the lost. That you're not going to find anybody that's getting saved. Unless somebody's praying for them. And that's a part of missions that a lot of folks don't get a hold of. They don't feel called to the nations. Maybe they maybe they're interested in the nations, but they don't see themselves going there. But the value of prayer.

30:27 for bringing in the harvest is just enormous. Pray the Lord of the harvest that he'll bring forth laborers into the harvest fields. And the idea of binding the strongman. The strongman is the way of thinking, the mindset that keeps people from accepting the gospel. There's like a stronghold in the very center that it's unbelief in Jesus as the Messiah, as our Savior. It's a spirit of unbelief, or it's... a mindset, rather, of unbelief, and it's guarded by a whole bunch of other things that are besetting sins in a person's life, whether it's greed or lust or addiction or trauma or abuse or, you know, any of those kind of things that keep a person from getting the gospel in, like where in the parable of the sower, where you've got Instantly, as soon as that seed is dropped on the ground, the birds are there swallowing it up. And our prayer life is key in seeing this revival, seeing the outpouring, seeing souls come. And I just feel like that is a piece that we really need to bring again, anew, afresh, this idea of intercession.

31:48 for the lost is just enormous. Can I make an application to that? Please. Because it's something that I learned kind of the hard way. You know, I couldn't see any of the people in Israel and Jerusalem becoming Christians. And I tried talking to them about Jesus and the Orthodox synagogues and this and that. And as I was leaving, one man, he was a Holocaust survivor. He came up to me and as I was leaving, he said, Promise me something. I said, what? Promise me I can walk in the kingdom with you. I said, okay. And I left his house, and Satan just peed up on me.

32:31 He said, how dare you? How dare you say that to him? You have no authority. And then out of my heart came Psalm 116. I believe, therefore I spoke. Shut up, devil. And I went home and he was harassing me and harassing me. Got on my knees in my bedroom. And I started weeping and weeping for this guy and these other ones there. And the Lord spoke to me and said, how do you think you came in, Peter? It's those tears of your mother and grandmother and all. And I hadn't had that revelation. But, you know, I'm convinced. The love extended and where we make these relationships, they're eternal. They go beyond anything we can see, even if it's only a hope. Like you said that last time, Psalm 91, the last verse. Yes. And show him my salvation.

33:25 Exactly. Well, thanks for saying that. I'm going to look for that. I think I read that book. It's an old book, Pray Effectively for the Lost. Yeah. You don't know who wrote it? Yes, it's Lee Thomas. Lee Thomas is the author. He's got some nice YouTube videos out there, too. Yeah, he's got a 14 -year -old YouTube video that teaches some of this in nine -minute segments. It's like a 90 -minute total. But it's PEL Ministries, Praying Effectively for the Lost. PELministries .org, I think it is, is his website. And I've just been—I went back to my book. And I marked it all up the first time I read it. So I marked it up some more this time. And I'm just, I'm very, very moved about the importance of prayer.

34:12 And what you said about tears, one of the quotes that he makes in this book, and I've heard it other times when folks that were in the Salvation Army were reaching out to General Booth and saying, we are having no success in our outreach. We're just getting nowhere. And General Booth wrote back two words. Try tears. Try tears. It's the compassion of the Lord. We've got to get a love for the lost to be able to pray for them. When we have our children, we learn that. We have a mother's heart and a father's heart. Yeah. That's where we learn it. That's where we become fathers and mothers of the lost, too. It's true.

34:52 Well, honey, this is a new day for all of us, and we have a new beginning and a new start. I think everything began, was born new with this new administration in Washington. And it's our time extended that we have, and we need to use it wisely. Yes. And, you know, just redeem the time. And I really appreciate you giving me a chance to talk. All my friends that are out there I haven't spoken to in a long time. We'll be seeing you again sometime soon, okay? Amen. Amen. Do you want to pray for our listeners before we part here? I would like to. Father, we just thank you for this eternal moment. It's been so precious to be in your presence. I hope I can get through this prayer. I just speak life over everybody that's listening, Lord, and an awakening, a vision of the things of the days ahead that you would have us to do, that you enabled us to do, Lord, and that you would send us forth to do. Provide for us, Lord. Bring forth divine provision like never before. And more than that, Lord, give us a certainty as to what our calling is and our identity is in you, Lord Jesus, that we have this authority. I speak that into all those that are listening right now as we go forth and we speak it into the lives by impartation to those that you would send us to.

36:12 In the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all said it. Amen. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe, rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your review helps the podcasting platform suggest this podcast to other listeners who are also looking for a great move of the Holy Spirit. Check out our website at globaloutpouring .org to find out more information, read our blogs, connect with us and donate. You can also browse our web store for life -changing anointed books. Until next time. This is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with his overwhelming loving presence.