Bits May

Building teams module

“The purpose of a team is to make the strengths of a person effective and his or her weaknesses irrelevant.” - Peter Drucker

Matias, a youth from Equador did a short
internship with us and we did a youth
worker seminar

This month we cast the vision for team led leadership within the church through a module. Cam Woolford the director of Servant Leaders came and taught the module with me as we would like our ministries to work as teams as well as be an elder led church. Being team led I believe is biblical and ideal and sounds great, but actually practicing it is very difficult. People are messy and we all make mistakes, are selfish and working together is against our nature. Fortunately the gospel can help that process. The gospel is unselfish, shows grace, mercy and forgiveness as well as requiring us to be dependent on someone besides ourself (Jesus… much more reliable anyway). 

We host a Pastor's breakfast for local pastors

A key for team to work is spiritual formation. Mature Christians are humble; a key quality when it comes to working well together on a team. No wonder team leadership is so difficult to implement! So pray for us here in the Sertão, Arcoverde and Tupanatinga; pray that we will grow spiritually so that we can work well together and shine the light of Jesus in the community around us. 

Our family feels more and more like a team as the girls are growing. Sarah and I are walking with several families with all different types of difficulties. Marriage is tough; raising kids can be challenging; navigating one’s youth and major decisions in life can all be helped by God’s Word. We seek to not only provide counseing in the difficult times, but try to form a Biblical worldview before going through those times so they do not turn into crisis but turn into growth moments. 

A group from our church in Tupanatinga 
came to visit the church in Arcoverde

Some choose to equip themselves in that way by humbly studying God’s Word and seeking application, while some choose to feel better about themselves because they go to church fairly regularly. It is a joy to see those who swallow the gospel hook, line and sinker and gain a worldview in which they learn to choose love, joy and perseverance in tough circumstances. Pray that we will take advantage of all opportunities to spread the gospel as well as ears to hear and transformed hearts. But include us in those prayers for transformed hearts as well. As missionaries there is a temptation to think we have arrived to give the gospel and sometimes we forget that the gospel needs to constantly transform us as well. 

Thank you for your love and support!

All for HIS glory,
David, Sarah and my youth group attender Evelyn and organizer Anna Claire who recently had her blog updated!