Hello SEND-ers,

Coaching in SEND is getting more attention these days. Dave Wood and I have just completed facilitating a 3-day coaching workshop for 24 participants in Farmington. Tom Engelsman had initially requested the training in coaching for all the mobilizers in the US Office, since he believes that coaching is one of the key activities for our mobilizers. A number of other members from the US Office and the International Office joined as well, filling our IO training room to capacity. The training curriculum we use gives the participants multiple opportunities to practice coaching or the skills of coaching with the other participants. By the end of the 3 days, each participant has spent more than 3 hours coaching others or being coached, and another hour or so observing someone else coach. The evaluations of the workshop were very positive and over 80% said they felt more prepared or much more prepared to serve in their ministry role after completing the workshop. Dave Wood and Larry Salisbury will be assisting me in facilitating the same workshop in the Philippines at the end of January for the PSC staff, and I believe we have a full enrollment again. If you are interested in taking the coaching workshop, let me know.

As we did last year, Ted Szymczak and I are again recommending the ReachGlobal church planter training in Minnesota for home service missionaries returning to church planting assignments. Last summer, I believe seven SEND missionaries attended the training. In 2012, the training will be held from June 19-22 in Apple Valley, MN. More program information and registration will be available in January and you will find it on the SEND U wiki page for “Cross-Cultural Church Planting School.” But for now, block out those dates in June, 2012 if you are a church planter who will be on home service in North America in 2012 and want to sharpen your church planting skills. Contact Ted (mailto:tszymczak@send.org) if you have any questions and once you decide that you will be attending.

Speaking of the SEND U wiki, I am looking for a “Wiki Administrator” to assist me by developing and keeping the wiki up-to-date. With all the travelling I am doing, the wiki is not getting the attention it did in the past, and there are still many training resource areas that could be further developed. If you would like to serve the SEND community a couple of hours a week with your computer skills, please check out the job description and send me an email indicating your interest. I also welcome any suggestions for content. My latest addition to the wiki is on overcoming in the battle with pornography. If you have a particular book or website or seminar that you would like to recommend to others, drop me a line (mailto:kenguenther@gmail.com).

The 2011 Directors' Council gave SEND U approval to implement our newest training program, called MOP-Recap (or Member Orientation Program under pressure). This training initiative will seek to help first-term missionaries review and apply the learning they did at MOP to their first assignment after language study. As a critical component of the program, each MOP-Recap participant will receive free coaching for a period of 3 months at that crucial and often stressful transition from language school to their first assignment. The final version of the MOP-Recap proposal accepted by DC is available on the wiki. Our SEND U Leadership Team will be contacting the L&O coordinators of each region early in the new year to identify who will be the first people to go through MOP-Recap.

As we approach the new year, I would encourage each of you to develop your own Individual Development Plan, or IDP. An IDP is simply a list of your planned learning activities for the coming year. I have created a Word template that you might want to use as you think about your personal growth and development goals for the coming year. The second page of the template is a reflection sheet to help you record what you learned during the year. Set aside a couple of hours during the Christmas break to think about what areas in your life and ministry you want to develop, and what kinds of things you could do to help you grow in these areas. Are there books you could read, people you could interview, seminars you could attend or habits you want to start? Set a few growth goals and share them with your team and team leader so that they can help you stay on track. As always, I or another member of the SEND U Leadership Team would be glad to help you find resources for your growth plan for 2012.

Keep learning,
Ken