In Search of an
Unknown Land

by Pastor Tri Robinson

The people of John Fromm Village on Tanna Island

Memoirs of Faith

Memoirs of Faith is a series of events that have become the spiritual building blocks of Vineyard Boise. As we continue to move forward, we must also look back and remember our miraculous history. God is faithfully building our church!

Foreign missions is one of the more difficult ministries to establish in a young, growing church. It not only requires vision and funding but also having the right contacts in distant lands.  Nancy and I came to Boise with a real heart for missions due to our involvement in Asia as young Christians. It has always been in our vision to build Vineyard Boise with a vibrant missions focus. 

It all began with a vision that God gave me while returning from a mission trip in the mid 1980’s. I was coming home from a very stressful couple of weeks in the Thailand jungle and was feeling a little ill. I tried to sleep in a cramped seat in the rear of a crowded 747 without much success. At one restless point I opened my eyes to catch a glimpse of the video playing on the screen overhead. My eye caught the image of a very dark skinned man who was looking into the throat of an active volcano. On his back were the large tattooed letters “U.S.A.”. Something about the picture captivated me. I scrambled for my earphones in hopes of learning where this man lived and why the strange tattoo.  By the time I hooked up the earphones, the documentary was nearly over. All I found out was the man lived on an island and his tribe of people worshipped American G.I.’s. I was fascinated and remember wondering how I could discover where he lived. Little did I know some eight years later this image would launch our first mission effort at Vineyard Boise.

I had been home from my trip a little over a week when I attended a pastors’ conference led by John Wimber at the Anaheim Vineyard. During a ministry time John prayed over the leaders asking God to impart supernatural vision to them that would lead them into unique ministry. All at once the image of that native man flashed again before me. The Lord put a driving hunger in me to find him and share the Gospel with him.  I liken the experience to the Macedonian vision that Paul received in Acts 16:9.

I was driven to find the man in the vision. I had no idea where to begin my search or how to find the island he lived on.  I prayed; I searched the library; I even threw darts at a world map.  Everywhere I went I shared the vision with anyone who would listen. 

Three months later I was on a layover in Hong Kong on my way home from another missions trip in Thailand.  A missionary friend who was based in Hong Kong met with me and as usual I started sharing my story with him.  The Lord, in his sovereignty, had a man by the name of Ed Strong overhear our conversation from a back room. 

Three months after the Hong Kong conversation, Nancy and I were entertaining some people in our home, including our senior pastor and his wife. While dinner was being prepared I began to share about the same old story again.  By now people were getting a little tired of it. As I concluded, our pastor’s wife said, “Well Tri, one thing is for sure, if you ever find out where these people live it will surely be the Lord!” At that very moment the phone rang. It was Ed Strong, the man who had overheard my conversation in Hong Kong. He told me the following story. While waiting for his wife in the dental office reception area he thumbed through an old National Geographic Magazine from 1973.  While scanning the photographs, he saw a picture of a native looking into an active volcano with the letters “U.S.A.” tattooed on his back. He said he knew that the picture was important but couldn’t remember why. He wrote down the date and volume of the magazine and took the information home. As he prayed for God’s direction he was reminded of the conversation he had overheard in Hong Kong.  He now told me, “I found your island and I know where it’s located.” 

I checked out the National Geographic Magazine the next day at the public library.  Sure enough, it was the same picture and the same man. From the article I learned the island’s was called Tanna and it was the southern most island of the Vanuatus in the South Pacific.

During WWII, American G.I.’s had landed in Tanna and set up a military base as a staging area for the Marshal Island invasion.  Up to that time the islanders had worshiped the one active volcano on the island. They had been praying to its’ gods to send some people who would bring them provision and prosperity. The Americans were very benevolent to them and employed them to help build an airfield. A military leader named John Fromm was in charge of the army during the operations on Tanna. The locals saw him as a god and an answer to their prayers. After the war ended and the Americans pulled out. Some of the native people worshipped and prayed that the G.I.’s would return. They became known as the John Fromm people. 

For the next eight years I continued to pray that the Lord would allow me to take the Gospel to these people. Due to the remoteness of the islands it would be an expensive endeavor. It was during this time that Nancy and I moved to Boise to plant the Vineyard.

When the church was about three years old I shared the vision of the man from Tanna in a message I was preaching on a Sunday morning. After the service a businessman in the church approached me and offered to help finance a scouting trip to Tanna.  I excitedly accepted his offer. 

Two months later we found ourselves landing on a short grass landing strip in the interior of the three by five-mile island of Tanna.  The plane pulled up to a thatched roof building that served as a airport for the plane that arrived twice a week.  At this make-shift terminal we met an islander named Jolston Lingy who took us to his village on the other side of the island at the base of the volcano. As you can guess, the next day I met the very man I had first seen in the picture years before. They gathered the entire village so we could share our story about why we had come. We were given the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Little more than a year later, we sent twelve of our young people to live among these people for six weeks.

Today, Vineyard Boise is planting cross-cultural churches in three different nations and is involved in many 3^rd World countries. We have established a missions’ society that sends and receives dozens of people each year who are working in these foreign places.  It all began with a vision, prayer and the sovereign work of the Lord leading us to go to a remote island to share the Gospel.