Please pray for this conference in the following ways:

• Holy Spirit’s guidance, peace, joy and love during preparations.

• More provisions for funding the trip and conferences.  Prayer for safety.

• Clear communication of teachings and there effective application and appropriation into their cultural and ecclesiastical situation.
• Amazing fellowship and connections between the national pastors and our team with them for further ministry opportunities and training.

As you can see from the latest posts, Senderis is going through a growth spurt. We need to to expand our “stateside” workforce to keep up! We are looking to fill two positions. Since this is a mission, these are support based, meaning we work together to raise funds for your salary.

Assistant Director

This is a person who will help run the organization. In coordination with the director he or she will help manage donor relations, do presentations at churches, organize fundraisers, help with web content and newsletters, help with bookkeeping, help dream and strategize, and occasionally travel internationally as well.

We are looking for someone who,

• is interested in  mission, leadership education and discipleship on an international level,
• is very well organized and a good communicator in person and in writing,
• has at least some knowledge of Spanish. This position is primarily oriented to our English-speaking supporters, but there must be willingness to learn if Spanish is not a strength,
• values theological education,
• is team oriented, flexible and works well in a brainstorming environment,
• is comfortable in an interdenominational environment.

Short Term Mission Trips Director

We are thinking about expanding to run short term mission trips. Our trips would be oriented to creative service that has a lasting impact, education of participants, and long term commitment to particular locations. The primary appeal would be to adults.

We are looking for someone who,

• is interested in  mission, leadership education and discipleship on an international level,
• is a mature and informed Christian,
• is very well organized and a good communicator in person and in writing,
• speaks and writes Spanish,
• values theological education,
• is team oriented, flexible and works well in a brainstorming environment,
• is comfortable in an interdenominational environment,
• a background in community development or social work would be helpful but is not required.

Please contact director Dan Herndon if you are interested in either one of these positions.

Senderis Mission is dedicated to training pastors and leaders in Latin America. We are looking for someone to help with all aspects of our state-side operations including:

• Fundraising (print and digital),
• Facebook updates and promotion,
• Filing and organization,
• Donor communication.

This is a great opportunity to learn about global missions and also how a non-profit organization works. You will have to raise your support or volunteer. I would prefer someone with Spanish speaking ability (specially reading or writing),  but there is enough to do that I can also use English only speakers. So if you don’t know Spanish and are really interested, feel free to contact me as well. Travel to Latin America could also be worked in to the position. I am looking for people with a passion for world mission who are also very well organized, computer and web savvy, and prompt communicators. You should probably also live in Bellingham, WA, which is where the office is set up.

See the full description HERE.

Please contact Rob Haskell, director (Dan Herndon | 360-224-4870).

Because or the growth they are seeing, there is also intense interest in leadership training. This is where Senderis will be able to help. Tower of Blessing is already creating a seminary course of study in conjunction with other ministries, so this will be our first project together. However, we are also looking beyond the Cuban context to partner in ministry in other countries as well.  Please pray for our growing partnership in Cuba!

Former Director Rob Haskell with some Cuban friends.

Contents:

• Welcome Brayan Llano
• Explorations into Cuba
• Conferences in Lima and Bolivia
• Help Wanted
• New Web Address
• Fund Raising Info Meetings
• Imagining Short Term Missions

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On my last trip to Lima I visited this zone a fourth and fifth time. Every time I’ve gone there all I have done is just walk around and maybe show the place to a traveling companion. This time, I finally went there and was able to talk to connect with the people. I took a large professional looking camera to take pictures in hopes of raising some support for a future something. No concrete ideas, just responding to a need to do something. The camera was the thing that broke the ice. People seemed to think that I was there for a special purpose (probably they thought I was a journalist) and they opened up and spoke to me about themselves. The kids absolutely loved the digital replay screen of the pictures. I would take one and then they would crowd around to see themselves in it. Some of the adults were more shy about pictures.

I was with Reynaldo Rubio, a local pastor, and we met a couple women who were very upfront about the needs there and wanted help. One of them was the social chairman of her area. I’m not exactly clear about what that means, but it seemed like an important position and connection. I asked what kind of helps we might provide for the area, and clarified that I was interested in the kind of help that would make a lasting difference, not just an activity that comes and goes and leaves nothing permanent behind. I suggested for example, classes for kids or young people on trades. For example, where you show them how to do some carpentry or how electricity works, or (inspired by Born into Brothels) photography. She agreed enthusiastically that this was a good approach, not so much for the actual things taught, but to open up the kids’ horizons so that they could see that the works is bigger than the situation they are in.

Here are some pictures. Help me pray about what can be done for this area.

This is why soccer is an international sport. You can play it anywhere.

This man is clearing ground for an extension.

Nice looking kids. They have good clothing, but probably not much of a future.

This woman spoke to us about the needs in the community. Most important: water and electricity. Water is currently trucked in and is not necessarily drinkable.

Areas of work: Brayan will work with Senderis in the following areas:

• Coordination of conferences and teaching events throughout Bolivia. Brayan is already working on an event in March 2011.
• Train pastors in “el campo” (the countryside). Pastors working in the valleys surrounding Cochabamba lack the training and resources to do their work and very little is being done to help them by the institutions in the city. Part of this training will be the development, in partnership with Senderis director Rob, of a course of study for these pastors and leaders.
• Brayan is also a talented web programmer. He will help Senderis maintain web sites and create new ones as needed (ex. Web sites for individual conferences). This includes not only Senderis sites, but the sites that Senderis hosts for other ministries.
• We also discussed the possibility that Brayan could coordinate short-term mission trips in Bolivia through his contacts in the rural areas around Cochabamba, should Senderis go that direction.

Well, as it turns out Randolph has decided to move into an international training ministry and teaching through conferences and other events. Since we had already worked together, he contacted me to see if he could join up with Senderis as a ministry partner. After several conversations, prayer and input from the board of directors, we are happy to announce that we are going forward! This is an historic step and promises to expand the reach of Senderis’ vision to train pastors and leaders in developing churches.

Randolph and his family

Another factor will helps put this in perspective and show just how good a match Randolph is for what we are doing. In January I had two separate conversations with Christian leaders in Mexico where I asked what were the most important topics pastors wanted to hear about. The answer on both occasions was that there are two topics everyone wants to know more about: How to interpret the Bible and pastoral counseling. So between Randolph and I we have it covered! I also want to highlight that Pastoral counseling is a great necessity in many small churches in Latin America, where pastors have no idea of how to handle personal problems in discipleship, or what to do with large sins like adultery, divorce and abuse. Sadly common responses are dismissal, condemnation, overly strict discipline, or… nothing.

About Randolph

Randolph is a Dutch citizen of Curacao (in the Caribbean), and he speaks four languages, English and Spanish among them. He lives with his family (wife Noraline and daughters Moriel, 15, Micheline, 14, and Melanie, 9) in McAllen, Texas where they will continue to reside for the time being. He is a very dynamic speaker and has a great report with people, not to mention great content. There always seems to be a line of people waiting to talk to him after he teaches.

You will be hearing more about Randolph and his projects in coming newsletters. Please pray for our transition into this new stage, and please consider donating to Senderis to help us grow with strength and responsibility.

Of all the places I have visited, Bolivia seems to be the most eager for outside help. However, Bolivian Christians are also very excited about missions. In Cochabamba there is a school training Christian workers to go all over the world. How can people in one of the poorest countries of the Americas raise funds for international missions? Well for one thing they are committed. But many missionaries from Bolivia also find ways to participate with other mission endeavors that help with financing. Good missionary practice says, however, that a missionary should never be fully supported by outsiders. Some support must always come from the local home church or region. Otherwise ownership of the mission enterprise is lost. So Bolivians are not off the hook!

When I was there last year I attended a meeting of COMIBAM, a Latin American missions organization, and was surprised to hear the president, an Argentine, tell everyone that they needed to stop depending on outside funds, stop waiting for others to begin projects or take the initiative because “we” (Bolivians and Latin Americans generally) don’t have the resources that “they” have in the North. Then he did one of those “if everyone gave a dollar a month” exercises and showed the enormous amount of resources that are available to the Bolivian church. It’s just a matter of motivation, organization and inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

Does this mean we ought to take a laissez-faire approach and let the Bolivian church take care of it’s own mission endeavors? Of course not. The buzzword is partnership.

By the way, I have a particular individual in mind in Bolivia whom I would like to partner with through Senderis. He is a middle aged single man that wants to go to Somalia as a missionary. Hard core, huh? If WE can get motivated and organized we can also participate with our southern brothers and sisters in the global mission.