Hi fellow-SENDers,

Christmas is over, even in Ukraine. As we take up once again the ministry that God has given us, let's make sure that we take time to think and plan of what we will do this coming year to further develop our capacity and passion to accomplish what God has called us to do. Paul encourages Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Tim 1:6). I believe that the process of rekindling our spiritual gifts involves both a deeper understanding of and reflection upon what we already have in Christ (our salvation, our calling, our spiritual gifting, God's process of preparing us) and a learning of new skills and ministry principles.

That process of reflection and learning can be greatly enhanced by having a coach walk with you through some of the challenges you face in ministry. Tony Stotzfus, in a recent article about coaching, notes that coaching takes the long view in working with people. Short-term help focuses on making sure the tasks are done correctly. Long-term help focuses on developing people's ability to take responsibility and make good choices. Rather than telling people what they should be doing, coaches work on helping people grow in their ability to take initiative and learn from their failures and successes. In the last while, a number of experienced leaders in SEND have indicated that they are available to coach more people, so if you are at all interested in being coached, please let me know.

In SEND U, we are very open to partnering with other organizations in providing training for our missionaries. As the saying goes, “Why re-invent the wheel?” One of the more profitable partnerships in training for SEND has been with ReachGlobal, the international mission arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America. With the help of ReachGlobal's training arm, EQUIP, I have developed and facilitated an online training module for SEND team leaders. A second edition of this training module is scheduled to begin on February 14, 2011, and thus far, 9 team leaders have registered for that course. There is room for a few more, so let me know if you are a team leader and are interested in taking the training. More information is available on the SEND U wiki.

Another opportunity for partnership in training comes in the area of training church planters. Directors' Council recently asked SEND U to develop a plan for church planter training – both basic training for appointees and continuing education for mission members. Fortunately, our Leadership Team had already been thinking along those lines and was ready with part of the solution to the DC request. We are recommending the ReachGlobal/ EQUIP church planting school for all SEND missionaries who have completed their language study and are headed into a church planting ministry. David Wood and Ted Szymczak attended the training last summer, and based on their very positive evaluation, our SEND U Leadership Team is making this recommendation. Thistraining is called “Multiplying Churches Globally” and includes a second track for those who want to coach cross-cultural church planters. The next church planter training will be held in Minneapolis from June 28-July 1, 2011, and so it best suits those who are on home service inNorth America during that time. The cost for the training, accommodations, and meals is about $400. More information about the training(including the training topics) is available on the SEND U wiki. Please contact me or Ted Szymczak if you are interested in participating in this training.

Well, I think that is enough information for now. If you want more, you can always check out the SEND U Wiki or read the SEND UTraining blog.

Ken
Ken Guenther

SEND U Director
email: mailto:kguenther@send.org