| | To all of you out there working with us and who know us:
Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus to all you Global South servants. I trust this letter finds you resting in the finished work of Christ and secure and confident in the power of the One who works in and through you by His Spirit.
Much is happening, here and there and I would just ask that you join us in prayer for colleagues both field-based and office-based at Misson to the World Atlanta. First, please be praying for our Atlanta-based Resource Team that serves Africa, the Caribbean and all those bits and pieces of Latin America that stretch from the US/Mexcio border south to Chile. Early next year we will be getting together with GTD for training in team foundations and, running up to that time, our friend and colleague Barbara Jones has been leading the Atlanta-based team in weekly prayer times. Please join in praying with them and for them as they are praying together for all of us who are working out here.
Secondly, please be praying about the budget process and the steep learning curve some of our colleagues are on as they learn to both plan and submit budgets. Some of you well understand the process, have administrative gifts and count on team members that serve in this capacity; others are just beginning to learn the ropes. Pray especially for our Team Leaders/Country/Regional Directors as they work with Christie and our colleagues in finance to finalize things this month. And please, please, please don't hesitate to call or write with any and all questions and concerns. Of course, if you are simply reading this blog and not an employee of MTW, just pray....smile.
Thirdly, I want to encourage those of you who would like to learn more about how to best wed together the preaching and teaching of grace with a practical Christ-centered "kingdom agenda" to consider taking online courses via the Chalmer's Institute. As Christie was kind enough to remind us last week, there are scholarship funds available for you, for your team mates and for national friends and partners (who are able to study in English). The three areas of study are: Foundations and Principles of Holistic Ministry (International Ministry Track and the initial course work), Principles and Practices of Christian Microfinance and Microenterprise Development and Promoting Church-Centered Savings and Credit Associations. I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have and Christie is available to help connect the dots as necessary. And, of course you can contact the Chalmers' folks directly at www.chalmers.org or by email and phone at chalmers@covenant.edu and/or 706-419-1805.
Fourthly, please be in prayer with me about a fresh commitment to "mentoring." As I interact with missionaries, new and old, I hear time and time again of the need for more personal, proactive and intentional care in this area....both formally and informally and with expats and national friends and partners. In Africa and Latin America we have a wealth of seasoned world mission movement types and growing numbers of newer and younger workers. Please join with me in praying about how we can best care for our international community by promoting and cultivating a climate of mentoring across the global south. More to come on this one.
And, on a personal front, the next few weeks will be rather full and I would appreciate your prayers about movements and ministry. From my current base in Mexico City, I am going to be visiting with missionaries in several locations in this country prior to heading back stateside in mid-December and would very much covet your prayers for our time together and for traveling mercies. I will be visiting my old stomping grounds in the state of Guanajuato with Andrew Lamb, Alex Halbert and colleagues from Atlanta to see a property that was purchased this year to facilitate the training and development of short-term teams and to provide a needed retreat center for partners and church leaders here in Mexico. I spent 10 years living not too far from this center and look very much forward to the chance to "go home for a visit." I will also be attending another session of the executive leadership training that Dr. Kooistra organized in conjunction with GTD which, over the course of the next year, we will be rolling out with field leadership. More to come on that in the weeks and months before us. Just after Thanksgiving I will be traveling with Dr. Kooistra to Colombia, his first visit to that part of the world and a time to be with our colleagues and national partners in both Bogota and on the northern coast. Please pray too for our "mini-LEAD Africa" that John Shane is organizing in South Africa for our field leadership/missionaries in that region of the world. This will be a significant time to join hearts and hands with respect to our future work in the region - in both Word and deed.
Well, this got rather long so I bid you adieu....
May God richly bless your lives and labors and, please know, I am grateful for your camaraderie in the gospel of grace,
Bill
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| | Posted 11/11/2008 7:10 PM - 17 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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