Leadership roles for the future..

In a recent post, I reported that we had been completely restructuring the international leadership of the KKI ministry. Some of you have written to me to ask what that meant, and what role I had taken on personally.

Any large global ministry needs different kinds of leaders around the world. In KKI, we have local leaders, who head up the ministry in a specific town or city. Then we have national leaders who coordinate the work within their whole nation, and we have regional leaders who oversee the work in a group of nations or even a whole continent. Often, the regional leadership is not carried by just one person, but is facilitated by a team of three or more people, such as the European KKI Leadership team that I'm currently part of.

In addition to these geographical roles, there are people who carry roles specific to a particular kind of ministry expression, heading up small task forces of people with a similar passion and calling. We call these little groups "circles" and they exist at national, regional and international levels. For example, I've been heading up the international training circle that seeks to serve the whole area of youth ministry training and leadership development. Others oversee circles relating to intercession, to ministry with families, or to mobilising for short term missions.

And finally, seeking to serve those in geographical leadership or circle leadership, we've had an international leadership team (ILT) mainly made up of leaders representing their region or circle in a more international leadership group. In recent years, the ILT group has grown to be nearly 25 people (and within it, we had a small core leadership team, the CLT, of five people.) It was great to have representation from all over the world, and we all counted the ILT members among our dear friends, but we realised that this wasn't a very effective way of giving leadership and making decisions. So, that's what prompted this recent restructuring process, that we've been working on for the past year or so.

As mentioned in my post of 13th March, our ILT is now a smaller group of only ten people, and the former core leadership team no longer exists. Others in the former ILT group sensed God's calling to focus more on their regional leadership than on carrying the international, and some felt they'd reached a stage of life where having some kind of "eldership" and supporting role was more appropriate for them.

So what about my own decision? Perhaps surprisingly, it didn't seem so obvious to me. When I prayed, the main thing I felt God saying to me was that it wasn't about title or position, but was about being in the role where I, where each one of us, could make our "best contribution." I had a sense that perhaps my international circle role in the area of training and leadership development was the best place for me to serve (it links with my role in the University of the Nations) and is an area that needs strengthening and development. I do serve on the European regional leadership team, too, so I thought that perhaps I might not really be needed in the new ILT. But when I shared this thought with some others, a number of leaders that I respect expressed their opinion that I have an important contribution to make in this transition time, and that it would be valuable to have me in the ILT, at least for the next couple of years.

So yes, I find myself part of the new ILT, and look forward to working more closely with this team of ten leaders from around the world. Looking ahead already to our next ILT meeting in March 2 017, there's even a possibility that I might host it here in Malaga. (Other options are Barcelona or England; we haven't made the decision yet.)

Thanks for your prayers for me and for all of us as we were seeking the Lord and processing our decisions about these new leadership roles.

The sad saga of my vintage computer...

Some of you have written to ask what's happening with my ailing computer, that I wrote about in my last prayer update. Rather than take up space in a newsletter or prayer update, let me tell you the latest news here.
I'm incredibly thankful for the online Apple support guys, who help you try to resolve issues at a distance. First in Colombia and now here in Spain, I must have spent four hours "chatting" with these people and trying out the solutions they suggested. The attempted remedies grew increasingly radical, culminating in a process that involved completely erasing the hard drive of my computer, and then restoring the data from an external backup drive. (I had a backup from March 4th, before my overseas trip.) Despite the hours that this took, it doesn't seem to have solved the problem, however. The only remaining possibility is for me to take my computer even further back in time - reverting it to where things were at the beginning of this year, before I upgraded its operating system. If this procedure causes things to work normally again, we'll have established that the issues were due to some sort of compatibility problem between the new operating system and the old software. If it doesn't solve the problem, it'll indicate that the problem is probably due to the computer's age and that the hard drive is simply beginning to deteriorate.

Either way, it looks like this year is the time for me to buy a new computer. I had to smile when the technician told me that there was no point taking the computer into the repair shop because they can no longer get the parts or do the repairs needed on "vintage" computers. He sent me a link to a web-page that explained that a "vintage" computer is one that hasn't been in production for more than five years, and an "obsolete" computer is one that hasn't been made for more than seven years. At nearly six years old, my laptop is definitely vintage and well on its way to becoming obsolete. It has served me well.

My main concern, as mentioned in a recent prayer update is being able to rescue the hundreds of documents (teaching notes and other ministry-related documents and resources) that have been created over the past ten years in an older version of the software that will no longer open up on a newer computer model. Turns out that there's a group of "application experts" that I can call on the phone, and who might be able to help me with ways of migrating and updating these old documents into a newer format for a newer computer. The prospect of a long and complicated Spanish phone call to achieve this was not very inviting in this busy week before the coaching workshop begins, and so I have put that course of action on hold for now. I'll have to do it at the beginning of April, and see what resources I can rescue before the leadership development course begins. 

A last resort possibility is that my mother, in Scotland, also has a "vintage" computer, or probably it's already an "obsolete" model - an eight year old desktop computer. If hers continues to work well, it gives me one final way of opening and rescuing documents the next time I am in Scotland.

In my prayer update last week, I said that I was dreaming of a "temporary resurrection" that might help me to rescue at least the most urgent of the documents that I need for this week and next. Well, there must have been some powerful intercessors in action, because that temporary resurrection happened last night. I've discovered that by opening a certain kind of document, I can sometime "force" the software to open again, and this allows me to work on the unfinished pages I've been preparing for various workshops and outreaches. I don't know how long this reprieve will last, so I'm working hard today to convert the most urgent documents into a format that I can read on a different computer when the time comes.

If my temporary window of grace expires, my next step this week will be to do the manual backup of files, and then once again erase my whole computer, restoring it this time with a backup from January.

This complicated, seemingly time-wasting and sometimes stressful saga has made me very aware of how much we depend on our technology for ministry and communication nowadays. Even missionaries whose work involves translating the Bible into the language of a remote tribal people group are also dependent today on having the computers and software that help them achieve scripture translations so much faster than in previous generations.

I'm thankful to the Lord for how well this computer has served me, and for the fact that He has already provided the money for me to buy its replacement. I'm thankful to those of you who partner in prayer with me, and can rejoice with me at this "temporary resurrection." And I'm thankful that I have the privilege of being able to use modern technology in the work of sharing the gospel, discipling believers, developing leaders and mobilising for missions.

Memories of Colombia

My time in Colombia is drawing to a close. Almost all of our group have flown home now. I leave today and the last two people leave tomorrow. As always, I'd value your prayers for protection on my health and on my luggage as I make the long trip (24 hours) from Bucaramanga to Bogotá, then on to Madrid and finally back to Málaga.

The photo above shows our KKI international leadership team and some of our Colombian hosts on a day when many in our group were able to do some parasailing above the city of Bucaramanga. It's a sport that's very cheap here, compared to European prices, and so several of our people were glad to be able to take advantage of this opportunity. Although it looked like a lot of fun, I decided it probably wasn't wise (because of my lung weakness) for me to be up there, sky high, flying through the cold wind. Instead, I added an extra day to my stay here, so that I could make an afternoon trip to the famous Chicamocha canyon, where a 30-minute cable car ride takes you down the valley, across the river, and up the other side to a small park with a monument and a museum to the indigenous tribes of this region. They also sell the famous edible ants and Colombian coffee that this place is famous for. 

In just a couple of hours, I'll be heading to the airport, and I'll be home in Spain by the weekend. A particularly "urgent" prayer request at the moment is that, since I arrived in Colombia, there has been a problem with my computer. I've been unable to open any documents or applications, because everything is unresponsive. It seems to be some sort of corruption on the start-up disk, and I've been unable to repair it in a way that makes my computer functional again. (It might simply be that the laptop is getting old and needs to be replaced with a newer model. Sadly, these things don't last forever.)

This is rather a stressful situation to find myself in, as it means that I'm unable to open any of the documents I've worked on over the past three months: manuals and handbooks that need to be printed for the LDC, curriculum I've been writing for summer outreach, my teachings in Spanish for next week's coaching workshop, and all the powerpoint presentations for the teachings I've prepared for this year's leadership development course. (Of course, I do have all of these things on a back up disk, but if it turns out that my computer can't be resurrected and I need to buy a new one, it'll mean that I'm not able to open all those old documents on a computer that has much newer software.)

Could I ask you to join me in praying for a solution? Perhaps the computer can be saved/ repaired and all the documents with it. But if not, it would be wonderful to have some sort of temporary "resurrection" or some way of getting all those documents (the work of the past ten years) into a format that can be accessed and worked on again in the future. Time is short, as I'm supposed to be teaching in a retreat next week with a leadership team from Sweden, then the Spanish coaching workshop, and shortly after that we go right into this year's LDC.

I don't know the answer; I don't know what's possible, but I'm praying there will be some kind of solution that won't mean the loss of so many resources and other documents. I've been aware that the computer is showing its age, and I already have the money to replace it; it's more the contents of the computer that I'm concerned about losing.

But for now, I'm packing my suitcase and getting ready to leave Colombia very soon. Thank you for your partnership in prayer during this South American missions adventure.

Natural beauty and spiritual processing

On Wednesday, we completed our days of preparation with the KKI core leadership team and got ready for the arrival of the other members of the ILT (international leadership team.) Amidst torrential rain, we made the drive to El Portal, the hotel and retreat centre where we're holding the rest of our meetings together. It's a spot of natural beauty, in a valley that used to be a production centre for sugar cane. With such a "rainforest" look about it, the torrential downpour seemed appropriate, but we were all hoping it wouldn't last too long. This photo, taken from the dining room where we eat our meals, shows - on the other side of the river - the little white hotel building where our bedrooms are. It's not much fun to make that walk a couple of times per day in the pouring rain, and not surprising that the centre provides big umbrellas for all guests.

On the day that our meetings began, the rain was so strong that the airport had to be closed, as no planes could land there. This meant that two of our people got stranded in Bogotá and another one had his plane rerouted to Cucuta. Fortunately, the rain stopped a little later in the evening, and they were finally able to join us around midnight. It meant that they'd missed the warm welcome from our Colombian hosts - where the KKI young people had done Colombian national dances, had shared some of the impressions they got when praying for us, and had given us small gifts that were typical of their nation. Some of the KKI staff (pictured above with some of the ILT) have also been working hard to welcome us and make our stay here go smoothly.

In fact, the weather has been mixed: the mornings cool and overcast, the early afternoons sometimes quite sunny, and the late afternoons and evenings the time for the heavy rain to start up again. This photo shows some of the ILT group, exploring the property during one of the sunny intervals. Our schedule's been fairly full, but the after lunch break coincided nicely with the sunnier time of the day, and so some have gone for long walks while others have been brave enough to go into the "natural" swimming pool which is fed by the river water that runs through it.

A main purpose of our time here was to restructure our international leadership in a way that would serve our worldwide ministry family better in the years that lie ahead. Our international leadership team had grown in recent years to a group of over twenty people as regional leaders from different parts of Africa, Asia and South America had come on board. At last year's ILT gathering, we had a sense that it was time to reevaluate this, and so we've been in a process of "preparing to restructure" for the past eight months now.  It has been a real privilege to witness how everyone approached this process with such humility and with a real desire to enter into God's best for them. There was no sense of selfish ambition, as can often be observed in the world's leadership structures; instead, there was a beautiful sense of people being diligent to seek what was on God's heart for us.

The outcome is that about half of our group made the decision to invest their time and energy more into their regional leadership role, instead of carrying responsibility year round for the international. A few others felt it was God's timing for them to move into more of an "eldership" role, and the rest of us confirmed the rightness of that. This left a more streamlined group of only ten people who felt called to step into our new international leadership team (ILT) for the coming season in order to serve the ministry worldwide and link closely with those whose primary focus will be on their regions and nations. We were able to commission this new group in prayer, and also take time to pray for all the other leaders and for the new elders.

Now that this transition has begun, we've been taking our remaining days to look at how these different kinds of leaders and leadership teams will function around the world and how we can strengthen our leaders through high quality training and leadership development initiatives. We also had a morning when we met with KKI leaders from Colombia and Venezuela, and were able to hear how God is leading them and what he's been doing in their midst over the past 25 years.

Our time is drawing to a close now. Some will be heading home within the next couple of days; others will be staying on another day or two to meet and plan further for different international initiatives. For me personally, I'll also be taking a "tourist day" to visit a national park here in the region of Bucaramanga, before heading home to Spain and arriving there next weekend. Thanks so much for your prayers during this time.

Bucaramanga

Thank you for your prayers for my transatlantic trip at the weekend. Everything went very smoothly, and I and my luggage all arrived safely at our destination. These first two days of meetings with the core leadership team are being spent at the YWAM missionary training centre which is on a mountainside overlooking the city of Bucaramanga. The yellow arrow in the photo is pointing to where my bedroom is. It was dark when we arrived late last night, but I still woke at my normal time this morning, and took this photo from the door of my room as the sun had just risen at 6 am. 

After a delicious breakfast, prepared by our hosts, we had a productive first day of prayer and preparation for the ILT meetings. Tomorrow our prep time will continue, and then the rest of the team (a further 17 people) will arrive on Wednesday, and we'll drive an hour north to the place where we'll be spending our week of ILT meetings.

Two continents, three flights, twenty four hours, twelve days...

Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn, I'll leave home and head for Malaga airport for the first leg of my trip to Colombia. Yes, I'm heading down to South America, but first I'll need to head north, as I catch a domestic flight from Malaga to Madrid. After I've changed terminals and waited a few hours in Madrid airport, my second flight will leave around lunch time. This transatlantic flight will be the longest leg of the journey; it takes ten and half hours to cross the North Atlantic Ocean and get from Spain to Colombia. After another three hours hanging around in Bogotá airport, I'll leave the capital of Colombia and take a short flight northwards to the city of Bucaramanga, which is not far from the border with Venezuela.  There I'll meet up with a friend who'll have just arrived after a similar trip from Switzerland; our hosts will meet us and take us to the Youth with a Mission training centre in Bucaramanga. By the time we arrive at our destination, although the time difference will mean I'm arriving on the same date that I left, it will actually be exactly twenty four hours after I left home.

The next two days, 6th and 7th March, are set aside for meetings with the core leadership team (CLT) of the international KKI ministry. We're a group of five people and our task will be to prepare the ground and finalise the schedule before the arrival of the rest of the KKI international leadership team (ILT.)  From 8th - 14th March, the ILT will be meeting together to work on a process of leadership restructuring, as well as hearing regional reports and taking time to to pray together, listening to what is on God's heart for our international ministry in the years ahead. Those six days of meetings with the ILT will be held in a retreat centre that's about an hour outside the city of Bucaramanga, in a setting of natural beauty that will be conducive to our times of prayer, worship and seeking the Lord. (At least, we hope so; there's also a possibility of rain and thunderstorms at that time of year.)

Our stay in Colombia will also be an opportunity for us to connect with current and emerging KKI leaders from Colombia and Venezuela. Some of these people grew up and were discipled in King's Kids Colombia, ten or twenty years ago. Now with families of their own, they are dedicating their lives to serving, discipling and mobilising the young people and families of their nation.

When the ILT meetings come to an end, I'll be staying on an extra two days in the Bucaramanga region. A busy season lies ahead for me when I get back to Spain, and so I felt it was a good idea to take a couple of days holiday in that beautiful part of Colombia before I head back to Europe again.

Thank you for your prayers as I travel and take part in this intensive week of leadership meetings.

Light up Europe in Sunshine and Snow

Last year at this time, we were preparing for our international KKI assembly that was held in West Africa last summer. Those international gatherings only happen every five years or so. In between those times, we have national and regional KKI gatherings in the different nations and continents of the world.

This year, it's time for our all-Europe regional KKI gathering, and we'll be holding it in Finland towards the end of October. Preparations are already underway: at the beginning of February, we sent some people to check out the conference location, clarify the cost of food and accommodation and take some photos of the place where we'll be staying in Pieksämäki. Another group of people is working on preparing the programme, and my role involves doing much of the communication about the gathering. Before I leave for South America this weekend, I want to send out a mailing that will spread the word to hundreds of staff, leaders and young people all over Europe.

The theme of the conference will be Light Up, Europe, and we're looking forward to enjoying God's presence in our midst as we worship, pray, hear speakers, attend workshops, and seek God's heart for how our lives and ministry can bring His light to the continent of Europe.