Hi fellow SEND-ers,

MOP is just around the corner. 14 participants from 5 different countries are joining us in Farmington this Sunday for the second MOP this year. We would appreciate your prayers.

These days, I am following a training plan to prepare for a half marathon that I would like to run in September. The training plan is progressive. You start with running 4.8 km, then after a few weeks you move up to 6.4. When running 6.4 km is no longer a big challenge, then the training plan asks you to run 8 km. A few weeks later, when 8 km becomes relatively easy, then you are asked to run 10 km, and so on. There are no shortcuts. It is a 6-month plan, and slowly builds capacity up to 21 km as you faithfully follow the plan.

I am also reading the book of James these days, and reflecting on the relationship between trials and our personal growth. James 1:3-4 remind us that “the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James says testing produces perseverance, but then later he says that perseverance is required to stand strong in testing. “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). So which comes first - the perseverance or the trials?

I believe that the biblical pattern is that the more trials we withstand, the more capacity we have to withstand harder trials that will bring us to an even higher level of maturity and fruitfulness. James says that we must let perseverance finish its work. There are no shortcuts to maturity. We need to allow the training effect to complete its work in us so that we can be ready for the big tests (opportunities or challenges) that are coming. We should not expect life to become easier as we grow older, but rather we should expect that our capacity to handle challenges should become greater. Are you seeing your capacity growing? Are we persevering and allowing the trials to finish their work in us? Or are we complaining and giving up before we realize the benefits of the training?

Many of you have received an invitation from me to consider signing up for the mid-career retreat to be held in Thailand from March 2-7, 2016. This retooling or refocusing retreat is for those who have been with SEND for 15 years or more. If you are wondering how pausing to reflect and refocus might benefit you after many years of ministry, take a look at Keith Webb’s recent blog post - My Almost Mid-Life Crisis. We still have room for a few more at the retreat center in Thailand, but we can only accept a total of 25. If you believe this mid-career retreat would be profitable and you are committed to attending, please send an email with your names to Ted Szymczak (mailto:tszymczak@send.org) and me.

For the past number of years, Beth Eckstein and Ron Redell have represented the Asia and Europe regions on the SEND U Leadership Team, and both of them are stepping off at this time to focus on other responsibilities. The new SEND U regional coordinators for Asia and Europe will be Rita Haudenschild (in Taiwan) and Evan Parks (in Hungary), both very capable and experienced leaders and missionaries within SEND. I have been very thankful for Beth’s and Ron’s contributions, and am delighted that God has provided these excellent replacements.

Many of you are familiar with the SEND U wiki, our place for sharing resources and opportunities for training and development within the SEND covenant community. Many of the pages and resources are open to the world so that missionaries from many different agencies and countries can access them without needing a password or login. But increasingly, we have pages and files on the wiki that are somewhat sensitive (such as the section for mobilizers), and they are accessible only to those who have a login and a password. If you are a SEND member, you can have free access. Make sure that your login includes your name or is somehow recognizable by me as coming from another SEND member. If you already have a SEND U wiki login, make sure that your password is not something that could easily be hacked (include numbers and symbols). The security of these documents depends on you. You can learn how to create strong passwords, and check to see how strong your password is by going to this Microsoft site.


Keep learning,

Ken