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Friends, While we remain in Pasadena under all the continued constraints of the COVID travel lockdown, we have transitioned into a full fall schedule of teaching. I (Rich) do most of my teaching in the early morning hours.
 his past Saturday, I was teaching the passage in 2 Kings 4:1-7, where Elisha is petitioned by a woman, recently widowed, whose husband was a member of the school of prophets. The prophet left debts behind, and she is desperate because people are going to take away her children to clear her husband's debts. Elisha says, "What can I do for you? What do you have in the house?" to which she at first answers, "Nothing!" but then she remembers that, well, technically she doesn't have "nothing" so she adds, "... except a jar with a little oil in it". He tells her to borrow vessels, "and not just a few" and then to go home and begin pouring the oil into all the vessels. This meant her asking, not just her two best friends, but that gruff man down the block who always yelled at her kids. She borrows vessels from people to whom she has rarely spoken. And as she continues to fill jar after jar, she sees the miraculous provision of God. It is a fun and beautiful story.
I have taught this passage many times before, usually making the point that, while this is just a miracle story and hence not a direct teaching, it can also be viewed as a parable, a dramatic picture of how God often works. 1) He uses what we have. 2) He calls us to act in obedience, taking risks which require faith. 3) He often works through our community. 4) He meets our steps of faith with his unmistakable power. So, this can be a picture of how God works in evangelism. We must gather the vessels (outreach events, conversations with non-believers) and God provides the oil (interested people in whom God is already at work, soft hearts ready to receive the message, the work of the Holy Spirit in people's hearts). It is an inspiring reminder of how God works, whether to grow student fellowships or churches, or to provide for his people in need. As a parable. Certainly a fair reading of this story. But, when I was discussing this passage with about 15 church planters and evangelists in Odisha India, I wanted to make the point that this woman was not likely expecting her husband to die. Her husband was not likely an old man, nor was she an old woman, but a young woman with young children. Her husband likewise would have been young, not expecting to die. I asked the men on the Zoom call, "How many of you have young kids at home?" They almost all raised their hands. "The prophet who left behind this widow was likely about your age." They were struck by this in a new way, and soon I was hearing them share about how important it was to them that this widow was provided for by God through Elisha. These men intuitively identified with the man who had died, leaving behind a struggling widow. I must be honest and admit that I have never read this passage seeing myself in the position of the prophet who died. My widow wouldn't be without resources, our children wouldn't have been in peril. But these men are very like the prophet, living more directly by faith than I can reasonably claim to have ever done. It was no parable to them, and they didn't have to abstract the lesson of the passage in order to apply it. It was a comfort that the Lord saw them and would protect their wives and families in the case of an untimely death, especially in this COVID time. I was humbled as we carried on the discussion. These are not simple men--they also understood the parable that the story portrayed, and we discussed how it challenges us to be people who "offer up more vessels" into which God can pour out the Holy Spirit and move powerfully in people. One man, K_______, asked for prayer for the Hindu family he's reaching out to this week. As I prayed, all I could see in his video feed was his ear, pressed up to the receiver on his phone, which was near his phone camera. Like many of them, his electricity often goes out at night and he proceeds with the study by candlelight on his cell phone. He was eager to hear my prayer for him, though his English was somewhat limited. I continue to pray for Pastor K this week and am eager to get the update on Saturday. But my joy in the study was born out of a sense of what an honor and gift I receive each week, that I am able to study scripture with people who live lives very close to the context of the scripture we are studying, and from whom I can learn things I have not seen before because of that proximity. I know these men are grateful that I am spending time teaching them, and they are very motivated learners. But I count it a delight and a joy to be able to be with and pray with and for them! Please join me in prayer for the front line church planting work of these apostolic church planters in Odisha state.
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Adventures in Online Cross Cultural Teaching Part 3 I love teaching about the power of narrative. The stories of Scripture have always been my portal of choice into the deepest truths of our faith. One of my favorite theologians said, “What Jesus did was as authoritative and as much revelation of God as what he said and taught. When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, the act of healing became a text by which a true theology of the Sabbath was revealed.”[1] Neuroscience is confirming narrative’s power to evoke empathy and identification and allow us to take new perspectives. This podcast ( https://www.npr.org/transcripts/795977814) illuminates the concept of narrative transportation, whereby our minds really do enter a different realm and mode when we are swept away into the world of the story. We relate to the dilemmas even of characters we may not like much. That imaginative immersion is fostered by vivid scene painting, leaning into the tensest moments in the plot, and lively dialogue. Even more than teaching on the concept of narrative, I love empowering students to excel as storytellers. A few of them walk in already conceiving of themselves as natural storytellers, but many surprise themselves with their ability to be creative in response to some of the tasks I hand them. One such challenge I give is to bring a fresh and lively retelling of a story from Scripture, from the perspective of a minor character—and not necessarily a human! In previous courses, I have enjoyed hearing one of the lost coins narrate her journey from stuck deep in the recesses of the bedsheets to found and treasured by her ‘lady,’ and I relished hearing a stone in a creek-bed describe the day it was pulled out and engaged to knock out Goliath. My students in Malaysia rose to the occasion like champs. Karen became Aaron’s rod, recounting her many adventures in Egypt and the wilderness. Sheela spoke as Peter. She deftly sliced open the dejected moment when energy and hope was flagging in the upper room, shortly before the Holy Spirit came, then she walked us through his transformation to passionate preacher at Pentecost. Janice became Judas’ coin purse, and narrated with poignancy the moment she listened to her owner scoffing at the anointing of Jesus at Bethany, and had a sense her master’s heart was headed to a dark place. A few of them added creative backgrounds on Zoom—Janice spoke with this one: [1] Anderson, Ray, The Shape of Practical Theology, Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2001, p. 13.  Later, in other speeches, we worked with the more deductive skills of teaching an aspect of Christian doctrine, persuading listeners to act towards justice and mercy in our communities, and bringing a word of wisdom and care into the challenges listeners are facing in the pandemic. But we all agreed that the storytelling challenge was our favorite!
If you would like to sharpen your own skills as a storyteller, these are some of my favorite resources: Buster, Bobette, Do Story: How to Tell Your Story so the World Listens https://www.amazon.com/Do-Story-story-world-listens-ebook/dp/B00CT3JW6E MacKenzie, Alice, Making a Scene in the Pulpit https://www.amazon.com/Making-Scene-Pulpit-Preaching-Listeners/dp/0664261566 McKee, Robert: Story https://www.amazon.com/Story-Structure-Substance-Principles-Screenwriting-ebook/dp/B0042FZVOY Willobee, Sondra, The Write Stuff https://www.amazon.com/Write-Stuff-Crafting-Sermons-Convince/dp/0664232817/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+write+stuff+preaching&qid=1598146573&s=books&sr=1-1 Wright, John, Telling God’s Story https://www.amazon.com/Story-Structure-Substance-Principles-Screenwriting-ebook/dp/B0042FZVOY  Adventures in Online Cross Cultural Teaching Part 2 I thoroughly enjoyed the Filipino preaching students I taught this summer through the Asian Theological Seminary. A few of them were as eloquent as any students I have ever heard preach. All of them were sharp observers of their own cultures (plural because one student was Cambodian, and one Filipino was pastoring a church in Japan—one of the benefits of the Zoom classroom). They were also astute in their appreciation and critique of preaching in the Philippines, and they related the Scriptures to their contexts in striking ways. At the end of our second session, after I had lectured on the purposes of the sermon as it has been conceived by the church through the centuries, I asked them to name some characteristics of preaching in the Philippines. Renz said, “Our preaching is halo halo--and we love it like that.” They all smiled in agreement, but this professor needed some translation! Halo halo, it turns out, is a favorite Filipino dessert made of a mixture of colorful flavors of ice cream, various fruits, and other toppings. It looks like the above appetizing image. This was Renz’s way of saying that sermons in the Philippines can seem to meander a bit, moving in and out of story and more didactic modes, but as a whole the various elements form something delicious and a pleasure to hear. On a heavier note, they did not shy away from bringing in the sorrows of their nation, relating themes in Scripture to those struggles. For example, to illustrate the vulnerability of the disciples on the sea in the storm, a student shared about the vulnerability felt by Overseas Filipino Workers, particularly women, who often find themselves at the mercy of cruel and abusive employers in parts of the Middle East and elsewhere. In 2019 there were 2.2 million Filipinos working abroad, as this report shows: https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-force/sof-index Another student, in a powerful sermon on Psalm 88 and the practice of lament, related it to the Filipino practice of tampo, a Filipino word which roughly translates to sulking, withdrawing, and pouting. He then made this excellent point: “The language of Tampo or sulking, which is present in laments, is reserved for those who we share a close relationship with. We don't sulk against the mailman, we do Tampo to the people who are close to our hearts.” He went on to say that the psalms of lament show us prayerful engagement with God through the honest articulation of our struggles. At one point or another they all spoke poignantly of the toll the Coronavirus and the nation’s strict quarantine is having on their economy. One student was recovering from it, and one had many ill family members. They regularly commented that the course itself was good for them, both as it allowed them to see partners in ministry they had not seen in person in physical classrooms for a long time, and because it stretched them to proclaim the goodness of God into painful circumstances. It was a privilege to teach this gifted group of emerging preachers (yes, all men—not typical for the seminary, just how enrollment happened this summer for some reason), and an education for me, as well. Now to find some halo halo here in Los Angeles—it does indeed look delicious!  Adventures in Online Cross Cultural Teaching Part 1 If you teach or lead groups of people, whether children or adults, in classrooms, corporate, non-profit, or congregational settings, you have probably felt like you have been playing ping pong with your best hand tied behind your back for the past few months. We who teach are grieving the transformative moments that can happen in the shared space of a physical classroom. In those spaces, we work hard to cultivate not only ‘aha’ moments within individuals’ minds and hearts, but gracious learning communities which spur each other on to growth. I have been reflecting on how we can still forge community and catalyze transformative learning experiences even when seemingly reduced to tiles. I offer my zany experiments in hopes they may encourage you and that you might be able to transfer the essence of an idea here, if not necessarily the specifics, to the good work you are doing this fall. As a professor of preaching and communication I am particularly keen to build a sense of safety and freedom to experiment. It is a vulnerable act to get up in front of a group and speak about what matters. One on hand, the public speaking act is less frightening when one is merely speaking into one’s screen while seated. I saw no trembling hands and heard no quavering voices in my summer courses. But I knew that by the third session of the Effective Communication for Ministry course I taught to students in Malaysia and Singapore, they would be asked to share a Word of Witness, testifying to how God met them in a challenging season, and inviting us to trust the God who met them. This is a risky assignment, and I need them to trust each other for it to succeed. How to build that sense of community? This summer, I put my money on outrageous silliness. First, I briefly introduced a classic model for a persuasive speech: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence. Many of you know this basic flow from Need to Satisfaction (or Problem to Solution), moving to Visualization (painting a vivid picture of the good that will come if hearers adopt your proposal/purchase your product), culminating in a call to Action. I told them they would be selling items to each other, inviting them to pretend they had somehow come into a large supply of these items and were genuinely convinced they would transform the lives of their fellow students. I tucked in the element of Testimony since it is so central to my understanding of powerful persuasive speech. Monroe’s sequence begins with getting attention, but I figured I had that covered with the items themselves! I called the name of a student, showed him or her a slide, gave a whopping 15 seconds to figure out what problem this item could solve, and then asked them to sell us the item for a minimum of two minutes. These were my favorites:
I will add that I modeled the vulnerability inherent in this exercise by going first. I invited them to pick a number, and then I bravely sold that item--I believe I got a tacky tiara. Then it was their turn. I had no idea how this would go—would this silliness transfer across cultures? Would they rise to the occasion or pack it in?
To my relief, what ensued was utter hilarity. The students bravely embraced the challenge, convincing us that our lives were on the brink of destruction because we lacked chicken tutus or squirrel finger extensions. They painted glorious scenarios of the better futures we would enjoy if we bought an under-the-desk hammock or a napping hat-- NOW! We laughed uproariously, deepening connection and affection between us in the process. Laughter was a gorgeous gift, an injection of lightness and grace into a somber season. How can you inject laughter into a team meeting, class session, or congregational gathering this week? What other practices might serve to build joyful collaboration among the teams, online classrooms, or congregations you lead or participate in, this fall?  Art by Claudio Schwartz "Social distancing" was very familiar to Jesus. Lepers lived their entire lives socially distancing, keeping away from others and never getting near to someone who wasn't already a leper, for fear of making the other person unclean. In Mark 1:40ff, a leper approaches Jesus, boldly declaring, "If you want to, you can make me clean." Jesus does want to heal the leper, but he gives the leper more than he asks for--he reaches out in compassion and touches him. The leper would never have held his hand out to Jesus, but Jesus reaches across the vast social distance between himself and this man, and not only heals him, but accepts him, greets him, gives him his care. Presence is powerful, and we are poignantly aware of the lack of it as we teach this month. Zoom ministry, as exciting as it was 4 months ago, is getting a little old for everyone. The ability to see big groups of people, break them into small groups for discussion, and in general have an on-line session with most of the mechanics of a live one-- well, the thrill of that new experience is gone, replaced with a lingering sense of disappointment at not being present in person. Nevertheless, Lisa and I are grateful for opportunities to teach multiple groups in Asia this summer. Here's what we've been doing this month:
With a Zoom class, one thing that is more difficult is getting to know people in the casual way it is possible to do in a live classroom setting. We have both sought several ways to build connection points, in introductory videos and emails, Whatsapp chats, etc. This Saturday we will discuss student-generated case studies on the topic of leadership development..Students have created a case studies from their own life and ministry experience so that we can learn from both success and failure, strengths and weaknesses. (I stressed in advance that a story that is all about how well everything worked with no points of tension or disappointment may make for a good testimony, but not a good case study!) Tuesday night we looked at Matthew 14, the story of Peter walking on water toward Jesus, as an example of "successful failure". The students shared that, in Malaysian/Asian cultural context, success is highly valued and there really is not any good model of considering failure successful, which means people are often risk avoidant because the cost of failure is seen to be too high. My goal is to help people "lean into redemptive failure" and to be willing to be a learner, even in front of their peers. I am looking forward to discussions of the student case studies. I've seen a few of them--they aren't due yet--and I know that they are ready to share openly and to learn together. Even though we cannot be in the same room, or greet each other as warmly as we would like, we can still both cross the ocean of cultural distance and the natural hesitations that make vulnerability in front of peers or leaders a challenge, and build relational connections through our shared work and learning together. Please join me in praying for these women and men of Kuala Lumpur as we gather on Saturday morning their time to learn from one another.  Gratitude for Answered Prayer, and Prayer requests:
In Jesus, Rich and Lisa Friends, you do not need me to tell you that this has been a horrendously difficult season for the United States. We have watched the fissures of our racial divisions and societal injustices exposed in painful ways. We grieve along with our brothers and sisters who are more directly affected by that racism. The wounds of our nation are raw. Underneath that, a global pandemic continues to cause immense suffering, both physical and economic, to many of us, and to those living in poverty around the world. We mourn along with those of you who have been touched directly by the virus or the ensuing loss of income, or even both. Amid all that, it can seem callous or trivial to share our hopes for the coming weeks. Yet, several have asked for an update on our plans. So, let me (Lisa) first share two glimpses of hope from the past week, then our schedule as far out as we know it, and a few specific ways you may be praying for us. A Glimmer of Hope in the night: One evening last week, I stayed up late to join the staff prayer meeting of St. Paul’s Theological College. That same night, Rich and I got up at 4am to join their online chapel service. This is the college whose faculty I will join this fall, God willing. It was lovely to get to know them a bit better, and to chat greetings to the students in chapel. It was a little reminder of why we are so eager to join the good work of the vibrant church in Malaysia. This video of the churches of Malaysia singing God’s blessing gives a glimpse of that as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9vJw3tZ7E0  Last Friday, ninety pastoral leaders from Malaysia and Singapore gathered on a Zoom call, thanks to the agile leadership of Dr. Siew Pik Lim, President of Alpha Omega College (AOIC). They shared in breakout rooms the greatest challenges of leading their congregations while under quarantine, and the surprising ways they have seen God at work. I then spoke for about forty-five minutes about a theology of hope in hard times, followed by specific, practical resources for preaching and pastoring online. To prepare, I read broadly about how optimism is affected by trauma, disasters, and constrained resources within organizations, and studies of people who display surprising resilience in the face of those challenges. I dug into the little gem of a book, On Hope, by theologian Jose Pieper, and meditated on key Scripture texts. I also read multiple reports from the field regarding what is working well in the strange new world of online preaching, and reflected on what has gone well and not-so-well in the dozens of sermons I have heard preached online for my classes this quarter. (Suggestions included: Preach as if to one friendly-but-struggling person, expect humor and vulnerability to be much harder, expect it to be more draining and less rewarding, and yet celebrate all that it makes possible. Listeners can still be moved, inspired, and galvanized to action by your words…more than you can imagine.) The ninety-minute gathering was so inspiring! These pastors are passionate to serve their congregations well. Some are working in settings with limited or no internet, and most have experienced a loss in giving to their churches. They are persevering under more severe quarantines than many of us in the United States. They asked excellent questions and kept up a lively chat presence throughout the time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rich will do a similar workshop this coming Friday:  These workshops give us renewed hope that there is good work to do in partnership with the church in Malaysia, even if we cannot physically get there yet. We will both teach intensive online courses (Communication for Ministry, and Biblical Leadership) for Alpha Omega International College. In late May, we had to make an educated guess as to whether the borders would open for foreigners to enter Malaysia, and after much prayer we chose to seek housing in North Carolina, where we could teach these courses, which are scheduled for evenings in Malaysia, at 7am, rather than at 4am, from California. Housing there is also cheaper than in CA, and we are also of course happy to be a 4-minute walk from our daughter and son-in-law, Becca and Avery, for the month!
I will also begin a Homiletics course for Asia Theological Seminary https://www.ats.ph/ in the Philippines, two evenings (North Carolina mornings) each week for six weeks. Here is our itinerary for the coming weeks, after we leave our current perch at an Air BnB in Pasadena:
In Jesus, Rich and Lisa  6AM Bible Study with Ukraine Staff 2 Kings 4: 3-6: ‘Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. 4 Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.’ 5 So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another vessel.’ But he said to her, ‘There are no more.’ Then the oil stopped flowing.
“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.” James 4:14 “God the Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer.” Hab. 3:19 I have been pondering passages like these recently. James writes to urge his listeners to humility regarding their plans for the future. Habakkuk confesses his trust in God, in the midst of extremely challenging times, and finds that a nimble, deer-like agility has come his way. For all of us, the past few weeks have brought enormous and difficult changes. A sprightly deer is not the best picture of my mental state as we have faced challenges and uncertainty, but at moments I have sensed God infusing agility into my heart. When a friend asked today how the CoVid-19 situation is affecting our travel plans, I replied, “At this point we have travel hopes, not travel plans.” So let me share our updated hopes, and two prayer requests. We remain hopeful and excited about the potential to serve the church in Southeast Asia by equipping its leaders and preachers. The first leg of our journey was to have been Rich training students and staff of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES, known as InterVarsity in the US) in Nepal, leaving June 10. That is most likely postponed to September. Our hope is that by late June, we will fly together to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. The president of Alpha and Omega College (who is a three-time Fuller grad) continues to hope we can each teach an intensive course over the month of July. From there, we hope to travel to the Philippines to teach for a seminary in August. A promising development over the last month has been an offer for me to teach half-time at St. Paul’s Theological College (SPTC). This fast-growing college is an offshoot of Holy Trinity Bukit Batang. Many of you know the Alpha Course, which grew out of Holy Trinity Brompton, in England. Their sister church in KL is training leaders (from many denominations) for the church throughout Malaysia through SPTC. Rich and I hope to lead a retreat for their alumni in mid-July, and then I will teach theology, exegetical methods, and spiritual formation. Rich’s role with SPTC is less defined but his value to this and other colleges, churches and organizations, including IFES, will quickly become apparent.  wo Needs Have Arisen in Light of the Corona Virus:
First, our hope for this past month had been to drive to North Carolina to give our dog, Luna, into the care of our daughter and son-in-law. Since that was not possible, we now find ourselves hoping she could find a loving home with a friend in California. Luna is a sweet-tempered, gentle (barks about 4x a year) dog, about 8 years old, likely a blend of Black Lab and McNab Shepherd. Would you pray, think through your networks, and consider whether there might be a Luna-shaped void in your own heart and home, which you hadn’t known about until this very moment? Second, we find ourselves less confident of the rental market in light of global economic uncertainties, but we are moving ahead with packing up and preparing to put our house on the rental market in mid-April. Please pray for the right renters to emerge, for whom our home, with its quirky, older charm, will be just right. Fundraising Update: We are making progress! We are so grateful for the generosity of many of you who have given or committed to do so. Currently we have about 66% of our budget raised. If you desire to make your gift, or set up recurring gifts, please do so at our Paraclete page. Thanks so much! With love and hope, and even agility on our good days, Rich and Lisa  Dear Friends, I arrived home from Lviv, Ukraine January 25th, after 8 days in Ukraine and a day in travels each way. It was a short trip after a long 5-year absence from Ukraine, and only by the last day in Ukraine was I fully transitioned to the time zone! But the trip was well worth it. I had one full day in Lviv before the staff conference started. This day was scheduled, from my experience on past trips, simply to help me arrive ready to be able to teach when the conference started. I enjoyed a day in Lviv with Svitosar, the son of my friends Irena and Misha, whose English was excellent and who gave me a great tour of the city and of the principal universities, at one of which he was a student and a leader in the Christian student fellowship. The staff conference focused on Situational Leadership and the Leadership Development pipeline (see diagram below). We spent 3 sessions talking about the different leadership styles leaders need to be able to use when appropriate with people they are trying to lead, focusing on helping them to assess which style is appropriate for their specific students and contexts. This training is really helpful because everyone has a preferred style, and without thinking will tend to use that style even when it is not the right style for the person and situation at hand. Each staff person used as a case study for this training one or more of the students who would be attending the student leadership conference the next week. I heard from many of the 20 staff that this training was clarifying for them and helped give them specific directions on how to coach their student leaders over the following few days.  Situational Leadership Training Handout, emphasizing the invitation, coaching, supporting, delegating process to develop new students into mature leaders. After the weekend, the staff team was joined by nearly 40 students for the leadership training conference. My teaching, as requested by the conference director months ago, was focused on Biblical models of leadership, using the Sketches of Leadership curriculum recently translated into Ukrainian. The teaching was well received, and my interactive style with generous use of small groups, case studies and large group discussion format kept the interest of the students and even of the staff who were hearing from me for the third or fourth time. One highlight of the time was simply that many students had sufficiently strong English language skills that it was easy to talk with them outside the teaching time, and so I had several chances to do so over meals and breaks. Hearing their stories, of conversion or of campus discipleship, was inspiring and encouraging. Near the end of the conference two students approached me with a proposal, to continue to do the leadership Bible studies in a Zoom meeting (internet video call) format over the course of the year. Their English language skill is excellent, and they said that they'd have a small group of similarly motivated students to connect with me to go over the passage and discuss the case studies for other leadership topics we didn't have time to cover during the conference. It is always gratifying to hear from motivated students. The first session is in a few days--we'll see if they follow through, but I'm motivated! Finally, I asked for prayer for my connections with Irena (the CCX staff training coordinator) and Misha (the "Gen Sec" or General Secretary, the national leader of the movement). I had great conversations with both of them, and was able to hear from them about current challenges in their own ministry and to counsel them from scripture and my own experience. I look forward to continuing these relationships, over distance and perhaps with another visit to Ukraine in 2021. Thanks so much for your prayers on behalf of Ukraine, the country, as well as the CCX ministry there! (Below see pictures of Misha, the GenSec, and Vika, the conference director, with her husband Vasily, gifted team leader for the Kharkiv ministry.) More Clarity About July 2020 and Beyond We continue to see God opening doors and growing connections, to the point that now we anticipate a very full plate for the summer, and perhaps for the entire academic year beginning in the fall of 2020. We are actively seeking partners for our ministry now, so if you are open to considering this and we haven't personally contacted you, please do let us know or invite us to speak more personally about our needs, with our thanks! And thanks for your prayers and interest in this ministry. Rich Lamb Happy New Year! Nearly 20 years ago, I (Rich) went to Ukraine for my first time, teaching a "Developing Student Leaders" conference for staff in Eurasia. Staff from around the former Soviet Union attended the conference. In my class was a young staff person from Ukraine, Irena, and her English was good enough that we had conversations outside class about her life and ministry. Since then, I have been back to Ukraine many times, and Irena remained a fixture on that team, becoming more senior in the leadership of the movement in Ukraine. I always appreciate Irena's thoughtful and deeply poetic leadership style, and I have benefited from her meditations on scripture and our posture as leaders and servants. I've visited her home, with her husband Misha and their two growing boys, now mid-teens. A week from today I will once again be staying in Misha and Irena's home. They are hosting me again for the staff training conference and then student leadership conference that happens every year around this time. The IFES ministry to students in Ukraine is growing, and adding to their numbers through outreach and conversion. A growing ministry is fueled by growing leaders, and this strategic conference addresses that need. I will lead Bible studies in leadership and help students to sit at the feet of Jesus for a few days to learn from his example and teaching on shepherding and servant leadership. I will also be with the staff of the Ukraine student movement next weekend, just before the conference, to talk with them about leadership development, again learning from Jesus' model about how to develop rather than use students. Ministry and leadership with IFES should be a gift to students, an opportunity for them to see God at work in their own lives in a vital way. Watching a student fall in love with loving, serving and leading others in Jesus' name is, apart from conversion to faith itself, one of the great joys of being in student ministry. I was especially pleased to be invited back now. Five years ago Lisa and I went to Ukraine several times, and spent time helping Yulia, the new GenSec (senior leader of the IFES movement) and the staff there come around a renewed vision for the movement for the next five years. Recently, that young GenSec just stepped down from her leadership role, and a new leader, Misha (another Misha, which is Russian for "Mike") has been appointed as GenSec. I have a great deal of appreciation and affection for Misha, because he reminds me of myself in more than superficial ways. I look forward to getting to work more closely with him, at least during this next week, and potentially beyond that. Please pray for a good connection with Misha during my visit in Ukraine, and to listen to and serve him well as he leads to movement.  Conference Flyer for the "SALT" conference, "Richard Lamb, Sketches of Leadership" I was especially pleased to be invited back now. Five years ago Lisa and I went to Ukraine several times, and spent time helping Yulia, the new GenSec (senior leader of the IFES movement) and the staff there come around a renewed vision for the movement for the next five years. Recently, that young GenSec just stepped down from her leadership role, and a new leader, Misha (another Misha, which is Russian for "Mike") has been appointed as GenSec. I have a great deal of appreciation and affection for Misha, because he reminds me of myself in more than superficial ways. I look forward to getting to work more closely with him, at least during this next week, and potentially beyond that. Please pray for a good connection with Misha during my visit in Ukraine, and to listen to and serve him well as he leads to movement. More Clarity about What is Next While I have been in touch with people in Ukraine about my upcoming trip, Lisa has been communicating with a number of people in Malaysia, the Philippines, and elsewhere in Asia. As of now Lisa and I are planning to move out of our home by the end of June and to move to Malaysia, at least at first, expecting to teach two courses at a Bible College/Training Center near Kuala Lumpur for the month of July, and then for Lisa to teach her homiletics course at the Asian Theological Seminary in the Philippines in August. If you want to hear more about the process we've gone through to gain more clarity on where and why we are moving to Asia, please visit Lisa's latest post. We hope to be able to continue to invest in leadership development, in the context of the IFES work in Eurasia as well as in seminaries, training centers and with local church and ministry organizations, following our relational connections and going through doors as God gives us openings. We have are excited about the possibilities, but of course right now we are very aware of the losses, the dislocations, etc. If you have more questions, I encourage you to visit our blog. In general, more information is available at our blog, including our current understanding of our schedule in 2020. You may well be asking, "Are you raising funds for this ministry?" The answer is yes. We will be raising funds, not just for the trip to Ukraine that starts in a few days, but for an annual budget that would support our salary, our regional airfare and other ministry expenses. Of course, we would like for each person who reads this letter to consider becoming a part of our prayer/support team, and we do hope to connect with you directly over the next couple of months. Please prayerfully consider it, and please do pray for my trip and for the ministry in Ukraine (and the country as a whole, which still suffers in its war with Russia). If you know you'd like to be a part of the team, please visit our donation page to make a donation today. With gratitude and joy, Rich and Lisa Lamb  |
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