Video Mission Trip for RGLA

In January 2012, we (RGLA) will have the privilege of hosting 4-6 video producers in various locations where we work. These video producers will shoot and edit videos for our promotional and story-telling use -- all in the span of a two-week trip.

The Moving Latin America Pictures trip can only happen if God provides the right producers for the job, though. Please share the link to the trip description with your prayer partners, friends, family, and churches who may be interested in taking part (or who, in turn, may pass it along to someone they know).

You can also view a short blurb on the RGLA News & Stories site -- easy to share on Facebook or through email.

Download the Moving Latin America Pictures Information Packet to attach to emails or hand out to potential candidates or churches.

Even if the video producers do not come to your personal ministry location, keep in mind that this mission trip can benefit your future support-raising efforts as we create videos that promote the work of God in Latin America through ReachGlobal. You are a part of the larger story!

We also ask you to pray for God's provision of the right producers for the trip and for the planning and preparations that must occur pre-trip.

Ten Year Goals - Part 2 (and half as long)

In Part 1 of this series we spoke about the first four goals in our ten year plan. In this segment we will discuss two more goals that relate to our missionary staffing.  Thanks to your feedback we will keep these videos under three minutes long - although this one goes a little longer - and we will also post a written version for those of you who find your attention drifting or simply prefer to read.




Trivia question: Where was this video recorded in Costa Rica?
Hint: Some great trout fishing is just steps away

2010 Educational Survey Results

An update from Area Leader Omar Rodriguez:

I wanted to share the results of the recent survey that was sent out in an attempt to quantify our region’s educational ministry efforts. Although brief and incomplete, I think that it gives some encouraging insights into the educational ministries that ReachGlobal missionaries are carrying out in Latin America and the Caribbean.

First, let me thank all of those who responded. Of the 60 survey requests, 28 individuals responded (a 47% response rate). From those 28 responders, we were able to gather the following data:

• 226 individuals were taught in a formal education setting (formal = Seminary, Bible school or any other kind of institutional setting).
• 2,985 individuals were taught in a non-formal learning setting (non-formal = SS, CBT, church planter training program, workshop, conferences).
• 339 individuals were taught in an informal setting (informal = one-on-one or small group discipleship, mentoring or coaching relationship).
• 6 formal courses were taught.
• 67 non-formal courses were taught.

While numbers do not tell the entire story, they do tell part of the story. In fact, each number represents the story of a fellow brother or sister that God has, to a certain extent, entrusted to us. I think that we know each other well enough to know that these numbers do not represent notches in our belts. Rather, these are individuals who are working to equip themselves to better serve our Lord and Savior, and we have the joy and responsibility of being a part of that process. That’s a blessing and a privilege!

 

We know that you put your hearts and souls into your teaching, and we are very grateful for that. As we hear of events or occasions where teaching is being conducted, we do pray for you and for those who are studying. We know that it is not just an academic exercise but a powerful time that God uses to transform lives and to equip His children for ministry. As you engage in teaching throughout this year, know that your ministry is appreciated and valued!

Blessings,
Omar Rodriguez, Latin America Area Leader

RG LAC Ten Year Goals - Part 1

In our last video we introduced the vision for our division for 2020.  In this segment we will discuss the first half of our ten year goals that will help us achieve what God has set before us.



Your RG leadership team appreciate your feedback.  Feel free to contact any of us with questions, recommendations or concerns.

You may read this post instead.

Expenses - what was the policy on that again?

Sometimes digging up the mission policy manual and finding a specific item can be a bit much.  So to hit the highlights on expenses Wayne Anderson has provided the following "cheat-sheet".  Perhaps that is a poor choice of words when it comes to expenses.  Thanks Wayne!

v       Approved taxable compensation (should NOT run through pcard, verify a PCF sent to payroll

•       Adoption costs – up to $5,000 per child
•       Approved travel for bereavement or sick leave – policy specifically says staff are to pay for the tickets personally and be reimbursed through payroll
•           Relocation funds
•           MK education including home school curriculum
•           College child visits to field – 2 per year
•      Travel to help child enter college – one time
•           MK at boarding school – travel 3 times per year
•           Deacon fund grants/benevolence
•           Dependent travel for home assignments upon DBM approval
•           Foreign income taxes
•           Rent for field housing, also mandatory expenses required by rental contract
•           Renovation costs when missionary vacates field housing if required by rental contract

       Personal costs that are not allowed

• Pet expenses
• Payment of mortgage for field housing owned by staff when on home assignment
• Note: if staff is renting the field housing, it is allowable to pay rent to retain the housing while on HA and expense to IMA
•  Hotels and meals for any personal stops when traveling home for home assignment
• Utilities for housing
•  Mileage for commuting
• Travel for a spouse or child who do not have a specific ministry assignment
•  Moving due to personal preference (ministry expense if RG or landlord require it)
•  Extracurricular MK education costs e.g. music lessons, field trips, sports.
•  Child care
•  Base rate for primary telephone

v            Other

•       Ministry expenses are defined as those which are directly related to the goals and objectives in a missionary’s job description.
•            Pcard is default tool for reimbursable expenses – not personal credit cards
•            All personal advances (for MAP or unusual travel) must be processed by National Office
•          All giving for ministry projects or IMAs should be processed through National Office
•          Honorarium checks to missionaries should be made payable to EFCA (if possible), sent to National Office for deposit
•          Noncash gifts must be approved by Donor Services

Personal Prayer Teams: An Introduction

Arthur, Director of PrayGlobal, introduces you to the idea of Personal Prayer Teams and the role they will play in Latin America going forward. You can expect to hear more from Arthur and PrayGlobal in the near future!

Last month the Latin America Division Leadership Team met in Costa Rica to continue our work on our 10- and 3-year goals and our 6-month tactical plans.

One of the 3-year goals we established is for all of our staff to develop a small personal prayer team in addition to the broader prayer support we receive from those who are on our donor/supporters list. As a first step, each of the LA division leaders committed to developing our own small personal team in the next six months.

This personal prayer team goal aligns with the rest of ReachGlobal -- with the Africa and Asia Divisions already adopting this same 3-year goal for their area staff. As the Director of PrayGlobal, this is one of my first initiatives to strengthen and grow a culture of prayer in ReachGlobal.

A smaller, personal prayer team will be new to some of us, while others of us have had one for years (for ourselves or for our family). A personal prayer team is a formally recruited group of 3 to 9 individuals we personally know who are committed/called to pray for us regularly -- usually daily. It is this group that forms our core prayer support. They pray for our most personal, ministry and daily life needs, challenges and opportunities. They are the kind of people we go to first when effective prayer is critical or when we are in crisis.

In 2002 -- two years after Tim Addington became the senior leader at ReachGlobal -- I began to establish a small personal prayer team for him. This team has become a core lifeline for him and his wife, Mary Ann, for almost a decade now.

My wife, Karen, and I have a small personal prayer team, as well, who has prayed for our ministry, for us, and for the salvation and sanctification of our three children for 4 years now. We know from experience both the increased fruitfulness and the protection that comes from having a personal prayer team on our side.

I look forward to talking with you all more about how you can develop a team for yourself. And in the near future, we will provide coaching and teaching to better equip you in this area.

I know our God will do extraordinary things in and through us as we grow a culture of prayer and dependency on Him.

Area leadership update - March 2011

Have you ever wondered what the Latin America area leadership team does?  Do you know who is on the team? Do you ever wonder if there is an overall strategy for the area?  Watch this video to learn more...

Meet Taylor Knopf -- Communications Intern for LA

It's exciting to report that we now have a second set of hands working on communications projects in Latin America. Taylor Knopf arrived on March 2 to serve as the Communications Intern. Please read Taylor's introduction and contact her to welcome her to the LA team!

Taylor & Melissa in Costa Rica

Hola! My name is Taylor Knopf. I recently joined the ReachGlobal Latin America team as a Communications Intern. I will be living in San José, Costa Rica, for the next 5 months serving with Melissa in the area of communications. It is exhilarating to use my passion for writing to share what God is accomplishing in Latin America!

I am a university student, and, so far, I have spent three semesters at Miami University in Ohio studying journalism. Recently, I was accepted into my first choice college in Michigan, though. So, this fall, I will transfer to Hillsdale College as a sociology major in the journalism program to finish my degree.

My experience with ReachGlobal has been interesting. God’s hand was very apparent in the whole pre-field process. In June 2010, I planned to go to Budapest, Hungary, in March 2011 for a communications internship with EFCA. Some unfortunate complications arose, and the trip was cancelled in late December. I admit that I felt very disappointed then. It may have been shocking to me, but it wasn’t to God. He says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, [...] plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The Lord closed the doors in Budapest, but He quickly opened new doors in Latin America!

Arriving in San José just one week ago, I already love the city. My Spanish needs a lot of work, though. I am limited to very basic words and phrases at the moment. Therefore, I will be attending a one month language intensive in May and moving in with a Tico (Costa Rican) family!

I am really looking forward to what God has in store these next few months. It is so exciting to see Him work!

Missions in the Twenty-First Century: Two Circles, One Goal -- A Blog Repost

The following is the most recent blog entry written by TJ Addington on his blog, Leading from the Sandbox:

Missions has changed significantly since I grew up as an MK in Hong Kong in the sixties. My parents would leave for a term of four to five years to a place they had never been to before. Instead of Skype and phone calls there would be a weekly letter home. Our supporting churches knew only what we told them as short term teams were not an option with the high cost of travel. The world was big, travel was expensive, and communication slow.

Missions was also very local as signified by the left hand circle above. It was local because it had to be local given the realities I just described. It was also very hands on with missionaries doing the hands on evangelism and church planting. In many places where they went there were few local believers to partner with. But we saw ourselves as the practitioners, the doers! We also replicated our own brands, Methodist, Free Church, Presbyterian, Covenant - all the brands we had in the west. Huge strides were made for the gospel in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

We live, however in a very different world today. Travel is cheap, communication instantaneous for much of the world: it is a small, flat interconnected world. Missions is accessible to even the smallest church, indigenous movements around the world are sending their own missionaries and missionaries from the west are increasingly coaches, mentors, and trainers as they develop, empower and release local leaders, pastors and church planters and serve as partners rather than the leaders.

With the rise of movements around the world, cheap travel and easy communication, there is a whole new opportunity for missions as represented by the right hand circle above. Here, we come alongside whole movements and movement leaders who may span countries or even continents, helping them do what they do, mentoring and training their leaders, partnering in whatever ways we can to see the gospel penetrate whole regions. Those who work in the right hand circle are servants who mentor, train and equip movement leaders. The potential impact is huge.

The goal of both circles is to see Acts 19 communities emerge where the gospel penetrates not just a neighborhood but a large region. Acts 19 is the story of the church in Ephesus which impacted a huge area around it. This is an intentional church planting strategy to see a saturation of churches planted. The goal is not to replicate a certain brand but to work with all evangelical partners to see His church replicated.

 

Often this will be in complex urban centers as the populations of the world move to the city. This requires the willingness to partner with those who are present already, to raise up local leaders from the start and to not need to own, control or count anything as ours. Paul did not, we should not.

The two circles with the intersection of Acts 19 communities was not possible in the pre globalized world. The globalization of our world allows us to move toward multiplication in a way never possible before. But it requires us to make some basic shifts in our thinking and practice:

• From being in charge to serving the global church
• From doing addition to working toward multiplication  
• From replicating our brand to focusing on His brand
• From independence to interdependence
• From competition to cooperation
• From owning and controlling to counting nothing as ours
• From hands on to developing, empowering and releasing others
• From purely local to local and regional

 

Meet Mark Wold -- Global Training Team Interview Series (Part 4 of 4)

Name: Mark Wold

Where do you currently live? Indio, California

What is your history with RG? I was an EFC pastor for 35 years, focusing on pastoring unhealthy churches to help them and their leaders get healthy. Then, they all started growing and impacting the world.

What is your current position? ReachGlobal Director of Church Health and Development

What does that mean? What do you do? I am seeking to help RG personnel provide training for national leaders overseas to build healthy churches and leaders in their networks.

What is the most exciting aspect of your role? When RG personnel or national leaders choose equippers that I can train so that they can effectively train the others in their networks. That is our ideal.

Have you ever been to Latin America or lived here? I've never lived in LA. I have only been to Costa Rica for the last RGLA conference, done a tour of the Caribbean Islands and Puerto Vallarta, and last spring I went as part of a RG training team to help the churches in Venezuela. It was so effective that they invited us back to do more than we were able to do in one day each.

What excites you about doing ministry in LA? I see the Lord doing significant things despite many obstacles in LA. I also see the need for training pastors and leaders to be very high as the number of unhealthy churches seems very high.

My daughter-in-law is from Peru, and we had quite a few people in our church from LA, so our interest and concern for reaching its many cultures is very high.

How can you be a resource to our LA missionaries? Each of us [on the Global Training Team] not only has a lot of expertise in (and beyond) our primary training areas to bring to the field, but we also bring proven effectiveness in cross-cultural training wherever we've been.

I can provide training to help churches and leaders discern biblical and cultural health and growth tools to help them develop their people and ministries. I will also soon be developing a website offering a ton of teaching materials for national and RG personnel to use -- something that many have asked for and become excited about.

One of our priorities is that the nationals are the leaders, not us, so we adapt and adjust materials to fit the needs and requests they make.

How can we partner with you to enhance our ministry? Let us know about areas where we can bring or secure training, and you can be the bridge to enable those doors to open.

LA has been a surprisingly difficult setting for us to get involved with, but once it happens, it will grow and bring significant help, so please make this a short-term priority for your team. It will bring long-term results.

How can people contact you? Email me at mark.wold@efca.org or call me at 760-406-3506 or Skype at mrkwld.

Meet John & Cheryl Fornelli -- Global Training Team Interview Series (Part 3 of 4)

Name: Rev. John & Cheryl Fornelli

Where do you currently live? Aurora, IL

What is your history with ReachGlobal? Started with RG in 2009 after being with UIM as hispanic church planters from approximately 2000-2005.

What is your current position? Narrative Evangelism and Discipleship on the Global Training Team

What does that mean? What do you do? We give seminars on orality to national leaders in various countries, training leaders to use chronological biblical narratives for evangelism and discipleship.

John is also seeking to serve for longer periods of time on church planting teams as an evangelist.

What is the most exciting aspect of your role? Multi-cultural, multi-level acceptance and the quick develop, empower and release of leaders. Cheryl especially enjoys training leaders using biblical narratives, and John especially enjoys talking to people about Jesus.

Have you ever been to Latin America or lived here? We lived in Costa Rica for 10 months while studying Spanish, and we've done short-term trips to many LA countries.

What excites you about doing ministry in LA? The teachable, humble people and the opportunity to see or hear of people coming to Christ.

How can you be a resource to our LA missionaries? We are fluent in Spanish, and we can train people how to minister to those who can't, won't or don't have access to the Word of God. 

Our workshops are multi-generational, fun, flexible, interactive and practical.

How can we partner with you to enhance our ministry? Connect us to ministry trainers who will train others.

How can people contact you? John.Fornelli@efca.org or Cheryl.Fornelli@efca.org or call us 630-768-6351 / 630-977-9588.

Visit our website: http://www.jcfornelli.com/.

Meet Gene Wilson -- Global Training Team Interview Series (Part 2 of 4)

Name: Gene Wilson

Where do you currently live? Plantation, FL

What is your history with ReachGlobal?

• Church planting, Quebec (1981-99)
• Latin America Church Planting Coach (2000-2009)
• Church Planting Director (2009-present)

What is your current position? Church Planting Director

What does that mean? What do you do? My vision: A transformational church planting movement among every people where we serve.

My mission: Develop systems and key people to multiply healthy churches.

Major goal: 100 Acts 19 places from which 2,000 church planters are developed, empowered and released.

What is the most exciting aspect of your role? Coming alongside church planting leaders and empowering them.

Have you ever been to Latin America or lived here? I've never lived there, but I've traveled extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean (including Miami!).

What excites you about doing ministry in LA? They are embracing church planting and missions more and more, and that brings us together. They naturally integrate words and deeds, physical and psycho-social needs, local and global mission.

How can you be a resource to our LA missionaries? I am coaching Mike [Gunderson] and will join him in teaching/training occasionally. I try to keep up some of my relationships with national leaders and encourage them.

How can we partner with you to enhance our ministry? Just let me know if there is some way that I can help through consulting on new initiatives, teaching or helping you make connections.

How can people contact you? Gene.Wilson@efca.org or 954-915-8085

Anything else? We miss the Latin America leadership team and many of the missionaries. If you are involved in church planting, we would love to receive your email updates.

There are lots of resources available at http://www.globalchurchplanting.net/ that you can check out!

Meet Al & Edie Lewis -- Global Training Team Interview Series (Part 1 of 4)

Welcome to the beginning of a new short blog series introducing the members of the ReachGlobal Global Training Team. An amazing resource for training and equipping national leaders, this team travels all over the world -- and would love to come alongside our team in Latin America in any way they can.

Meet Al & Edie Lewis today, and watch for future installments introducing Mark Wold, Gene Wilson, and John and Cheryl Fornelli. Discover how they can partner with you in LA to multiply healthy churches.

Name: Al and Edie Lewis

Where do you currently live? Fort Dodge, IA

What is your history with RG? We joined RG two years ago after serving as a pastor in the EFCA for 23 years.

What is your current position? Director of Pastoral Training

What does that mean? What do you do? I [Al] provide biblical and theological training for pastors around the world who cannot otherwise get training. Edie teaches, counsels, mentors and trains pastors’ wives and other women leaders.

What is the most exciting aspect of your role? I am excited about starting training networks that allow us to train national trainers who, in turn, train national pastors.
I am especially excited about pastors learning to study and teach the Word accurately.

Have you ever been to Latin America or lived here? If so, where? I have made several missions trips to Mexico while pastoring and have been to Venezuela with RG.

What excites you about doing ministry in LA? I am excited about LA pastors becoming skilled in Bible study and teaching and preaching, especially those who cannot get training presently.

How can you be a resource to our LA missionaries? I can teach or train on a wide range of biblical or theological topics, and I can train staff or nationals to set up training networks.

How can we partner together to enhance our ministry? We want to be at your service to be used however you think is best. We are willing to travel and pay our own way to help you equip your pastors in the best possible way. I have limited ability to communicate in Spanish but not enough to teach or preach.

Examples of pastoral training courses:

• Biblical or systematic theology
• A framework for a biblical worldview
• Practical bible study methods
• Teaching and preaching skills
• Biblical counseling
• A biblical view of marriage and family
• Individual books of the bible
• Other courses as needed

Announcing... The NEW Latin America News & Stories Website

I (Melissa) am excited to share with you our new ReachGlobal Latin America website -- completely dedicated to news and stories from the field.

Why am I so excited to tell YOU? Because this site reflects the lifeblood of RG LA -- personal accounts, testimonies, stories and lots of God-moments from the field. Basically, it's a site focused on what you do through the grace and empowerment of the Lord.

While the RG website is more conducive to static info about our ministry, this new page will feature dynamic content. We will regularly share stories and photos from the field, and eventually we hope to share videos, too. Each story includes a variety of "Calls to Action" (Serve, Pray, Give, Connect, Share) and offers the option for comments and dialogue for anyone who would like to participate.

It's easy to search the archives, view stories by country, and share the latest news with a friend.

There are a few things we'd like you to do to make this new site a success:

• Share the link (http://www.rglatinamerica.org/) on your Facebook, blog, website, next newsletter, etc. We need to get the word out and word-of-mouth is the best way to do it!
• Continue to repost new articles on your Facebook, blog, website, newsletter, etc. Look out for the emails requesting your help.
• Consider stories from your ministry that we could publish on the site. The site can't function without an ongoing flow of new information. I am here to help with this process.
• Write a story or article for the site. Not everyone likes to do this, but there are some writers out there amongst our staff. Now that there's somewhere great to put an article, there's no excuse not to write what's on your heart!
• Take photos!
• Send me your feedback. I would love to know your thoughts on the site, so please contact me with any comments, questions, or ideas.

Leadership: Latin America and RG Directional team

Our Latin America / Caribbean area leadership team includes:

• Keith Anderson
• Miguel De Marco
• Michael Gunderson
• Omar Rodriguez

Bob Werntz serves as an ad hoc advisor, Arthur Ellison serves as the PrayGlobal representative, and Melissa Putney is our communications observer. 

This group meets twice a month via conference call and twice a year in person (our next face-to-face meeting takes place mid-February in Costa Rica) to review current work in Latin America and strategize for future endeavors. Each of these leaders brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to the table. They are available to you, so do not hesitate to contact them.

                                                                                                                                                        

The ReachGlobal Directional Team is the senior leadership of the mission. This team meets in person three times a year, and is comprised of the International Leaders from each of our five divisions; the associate executive directors for TouchGlobal, Personnel and Finance; and, of course, Tim Addington and Gary Hunter. 

The Directional Team met most recently in mid-November, and I would like to share a few highlights from that time:

• The ReachGlobal Sandbox states that we measure for effectiveness. In previous years, RG has focused on individual and team health, multiplication and holistic ministries – all important parts of the Sandbox. This year you will see more focus on measurement. While it is true that God is free to change our course in ministry and that spiritual advances are not easily measured, there are a number of indicators that can be tracked.
  
  Over the course of 2011, we will be implementing a new measurement process, beginning with the leadership. You will be hearing more about how it impacts your specific areas of ministry in the weeks and months to come.  Meanwhile, be sure to complete the little three question survey that Ken Warwick sends out at the end of each month.   

• One of our own staff, Linda Gunderson, presented a proposal to the Directional Team for improved care for missionary spouses who may not have regular check-ins with supervisors, KRAs or PRDs. We will pilot this program in Latin America this year, and we are praying for great participation on the part of our folks.

• ReachGlobal recognized that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to staffing can exclude valuable potential staff. In an effort to expand our impact in the world through non-North American and other “non-traditional” workers, RG will be implementing a five-level definition of RG staff relationship. This leveled approach will provide more flexible means of partnering with international and other non-traditional staff.  

If you have questions about our area leadership or mission leadership, please don't hesitate to ask.

Greetings, Saludos, Bendições and Bonjou

Greetings, Saludos, Bendições and Bonjou from Costa Rica. I trust that our loving God will bless you, your families and your ministries in this upcoming year. 

2010 was a fascinating year of changes for many of us. As you can see from the greeting above, although we live in a primarily Spanish-speaking world, we work in four languages in our area alone.

January 12, 2011, marks a year since the devastating earthquake in Haiti that resulted in a new field for our area. In 2010, we witnessed God’s hand and followed His leading in the immediate aftermath of the crisis. In 2011, we expect to see an international team of missionaries come together, committed to seeing healthy churches multiplied in Haiti – a country that has been without hope for so long.

Two veteran missionary families (the Hillis and Oates families) retired from ReachGlobal after many years of service. We rejoice in the testimony they are to God’s faithfulness.

At the same time, we welcomed a few new missionaries to RG LA – the Jenkins family, Melissa Putney, the De Marcos and the Wilsons. Others entered the on-boarding and support team building pipeline – the Ziels and Ashlee Nuest. God has been gracious in planting a vision for LA missions in people’s hearts. 

Roles changed in 2010 as well. A number of our staff have seen their focus move to new arenas and now serve from different places. Through these moves, we’ve extended several relationships with other organizations that share our heart for church multiplication. For example, as the Porters worked with a new partner ministry in the Dominican Republic, their relationship proved fortuitous as we launched into Haiti.

Communications became a new focus for the area. As Melissa Putney stepped into the role of Communications Coordinator for Latin America, she spoke with most of you as well as many supporting churches in the United States in an effort to better understand our communications needs. It was quickly apparent that we need to communicate RG work in LA better with you, our “on the ground” staff. Melissa and I have been strategizing about the best way to accomplish that, and we hope you’ve already seen some improvement. 

This year we plan to communicate with you more frequently, sharing area news and God-sightings. We will use this RGLA Staff Broadcast blog as the primary means of communication. It is important that you follow the updates. [Please visit the blog to set up an RSS feed. For more information on RSS feed and instructions on setting it up, go here.]

Childlike Faith: A Prayer Letter Repost

The following is an excerpt from the latest Happ family newsletter. What is your special story or memory from this past Christmas?

The Sunday before Christmas, [4-year-old] Jordan made a birthday card for Jesus in her Sunday school class. On Christmas Eve, when we explained that we would be lighting the Advent candles and singing to celebrate Jesus’ birth, she ran to get her card. Then she did something that was so sweet that we just have to share it with you.

She held the card high above her head, “so Jesus can see it,” and then pressed it to her chest, “so He can come into my heart.” It was so simple and so precious! There was no doubt in her little mind that Jesus exists, no doubt that He would see her, no doubt that He’d hear and respond. Of course He’d accept her; He loves her!

That is the kind of childlike faith that Jesus urges us as His followers to have. He wants us to trust Him implicitly, to follow Him without wavering, to believe that He really does love unconditionally, and to love as He loves.


A faith like Jordan’s is beautiful and wonderful, but even childlike faith must be nurtured. It must be educated and matured, for we are not to remain as children. If we were, Paul would not have admonished the Corinthians for being unable to handle the “solid food” of his spiritual teaching.

There are millions of believers in Latin America whose faith could be classified as “childlike.” We rejoice at this statistic, but we also know that it means there is a lot of work to do to nurture and mature the faith of those believers.

The mission of LATN/ProMETA is the same as Paul’s charge to Timothy, to “entrust [his teachings] to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2b), and well it should be! We’ve witnessed firsthand the abuses that take place within the church when the people and their leaders are not instructed in the Truth.

By making it our goal to provide sound theological training to the leaders of leaders in the Spanish speaking world, we are multiplying our effect across the globe. As our students share what they’ve learned with other leaders, their congregations, their seminary students, and their families, they are nurturing the childlike faith of those around them. The Church is growing in the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord, and we believe He is pleased!

Ready, set, repost!

Please read to the bottom where we have only one thing we’re asking you to do!

Let’s face it… most of us don’t go to websites frequently to see what may be new. While ReachGlobal and the EFCA websites are updated regularly, they don’t reach the broad audience that may be interested in what is happening. 

These days, people are looking less at traditional news and more at news websites, blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter feeds to see what’s happening in the world. 

Currently, Melissa Putney (area Communications Coordinator) and I receive most of the RG LA staff newsletters/prayer letters, and we have a unique opportunity to get a feel for what is being communicated back to our North American contacts. While many of these newsletters provide terrific information, we see two key areas that can help all of us improve the effectiveness of our communications as a region: breadth and reach.

Breadth refers to the scope of impact that we communicate as a result of our work in Latin America.  While each of us has individual areas of ministry, we are all also part of a broader mission in Latin America (and God’s broader story overall). It is important for our target audience to know that their support not only impacts your personal area of ministry, but that you are also part of a larger group committed to and accomplishing the work that is expanding the Kingdom across Latin America.

Reach refers to expanding the circle of people who will see and hear about our ministries. Reality tells us that a (sometimes large) percentage of our supporters never read our newsletter updates.

                                                     

But what if we could expand the number of people who have a chance to read the latest news beyond our current distribution lists? Instead of reaching a percentage of 200-400 people, what if we could reach that same percentage of 2,000-4,000 people? How might this impact our ministry? Increased support? Additional prayer? More people hearing and answering the call to missions? 

The purpose of this article is to get you thinking about the impact we could have in Latin America by increasing the visibility of our ministry and reaching a broader audience.

                                                                                                                       

How can we do that? Reposting articles/news stories online.

In December, Melissa began an experiment in increasing the reach of our LA news by asking us to use Facebook (and other social media) to repost well-written articles. The results were astounding. 

Without promoting it broadly, reposting has greatly increased online traffic for the RG LA website on EFCA.org. In fact, in December we broke our record for the most site visitors in the history of the RG LA site twice.

What is reposting? It is putting a hyperlink to the latest news article on your blog, Facebook wall, website, or Twitter feed. Often, it’s only a matter of clicking a button to “Share” the link. It’s simple and only takes a moment, but it multiplies the effect of our communications.

For example, between Melissa and my family alone there are probably two to three thousand people who see our blogs and Facebook statuses. Add the whole RG Latin America staff and just imagine how many people will see our stories/news!

Why does this help the division? It increases interest in the work that RG is doing in Latin America and reinforces that God is at work through the organization. It helps to remind people that Latin America is still very much a field of service and a region of need.

Although it’s too soon to tell, we hope that by sharing personal stories of the work God is doing, more people will be moved to join us in our efforts – not just financially but also as laborers for the field.

Why does this help you? Many of your blog readers and Facebook friends probably don’t currently support you. While the story you repost may not be your own, it is a link (literally and figuratively) to what is happening in your organization and your region of the world. It will likely peak people’s interest in what YOU do and may give you a platform to share more about your own work.

It also confirms that God is at work through your organization. For those who already support you, they can see that they aren’t doing it in vacuum.

One of the best ways to reach people, touch their hearts, and move them to action is through specific stories of individuals. In our case, we want to focus on individuals who are affected by the transformational power of the gospel. This gives glory to God and (again, we hope) moves people to action in Latin America – praying, giving, going.

One thing we would like you to do:  When you see a note from Melissa asking you to repost a link, PLEASE do it. She is ready to help you with any questions you may have about how and where to repost. 

Meanwhile, as we do repost, hundreds, perhaps thousands more people have a chance to be impacted by stories of what God is doing in Latin America. Will the next big impact story be yours? 

Monthly Personnel Health Survey

You may be saying, "Oh great, one more thing to do each month..." but have no fear. This new survey is a piece of cake -- and designed to ensure that your health and the health of your fellow missionaries is in top shape. 

If you didn't read it in the Big Yellow Envelope on December 27, read a bit about the new survey below (content borrowed from the BYE). And let's make sure Latin America has 100% follow through each month!


In ReachGlobal systems developed over the last six years, there are a few key disciplines which we've asked everyone to practice in order to encourage the health side of the Sandbox. The monthly check-in with your leader (face-to-face or voice-to-voice), the practice of a Personal Retreat Day each month and developing and using KRA's for your life and ministry constitute the core organizational disciplines to encourage health for our staff and the teams they serve on around the world. Beginning with an email you will receive on December 31, we will for the first time measure for these core disciplines throughout ReachGlobal every month.

The cycle is very simple:

1. On the last day of the month, the survey (customized for your division/department and that month) is sent to you via secure efca.org email.

2. You have five days to complete the survey for the prior month (though the survey takes less than a minute to complete, we know people travel, have emergencies, email Sabbaths etc., so we allow five days)

3. Ken Warwick and Rene Brehm then have three days to compile the data and send it to Tim Addington and Division/Department leaders for analysis and action.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 each month.

If you have any questions regarding this monthly survey, please contact your team leader.