Our world is changing at a monumental pace - making it imperative for us to rethink how we reach the lost at home and around the world. Recently my family and I, along with 23 young people from Master's Commission, visited the island of Trinidad. The purpose of this trip was twofold: to minister to a multiplicity of people in a wide array of venues and to meet with the National Board of Open Bible Standard Churches in Trinidad about partnering with us to establish the School of Global Leadership.

To accomplish the first purpose, Master's Commission youth conducted street evangelism, visited young men in a reform school, prayed for people with AIDS, and ministered to some of our Open Bible churches. Young adults want hands-on involvement with missions - and we want to create a new venue for them to participate in Global Missions. By providing such opportunities, we allow the Lord to guide these young men and women into fulfilling the Great Commission and the calling God has place on their lives.

The U.S. is no longer the exclusive hub of missionary sending, and Trinidad is a fantastic launching pad for such missions training, thus, our second purpose - establishing the School of Global Leadership. Open Bible sent its first missionaries to Trinidad in 1953. In 1972 the Open Bible work in Trinidad and Tobago was nationalized. It is to our benefit to establish missionary training facilities overseas where revival is taking place and let our young people be prepared and nurtured with on-the-field training. They will be enriched to learn in a fertile and effectively reproducing ministry environment. Trinidad has been sending out their own missionaries for years and demonstrates a contagious, strong missions zeal and fervor.



Therefore, now in 2008 the Department of International Ministries is looking to Open Bible Standard Churches of Trinidad to partner with us as we start the first School of Global Leadership (SGL) and prepare future missionaries.

During the trip Lois and I met with the National Board of OBSC in Trinidad and with Monte LeLaCheur, senior pastor of First Church of the Open Bible in Spokane, Washington; and Master's Commission leaders Jonathan Lumbard, Nick Trueblood, and Josh Stelly. Dr. Andy Homer, the National Director for OBSC of Trinidad, and the National Board shared with us their desire to have some of the Trinidadian youth participate in SGL. This aspect of intercultural participation and learning between young people from the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago is absolutely exhilarating!

Please Pray:

God will choose just the right couple to go to Trinidad and establish the SGL (this is pivotal as this couple will set the foundation for SGL Trinidad and establish a model for other potential countries); for us as we work on the procedures and programming; continued financial support as we launch this new training school

The main purposes of the School of Global Leadership were established:

(1) to give young people a one- to two-year exposure to missionary service overseas; in return some will return to their churches with a heart for missions as they minister locally according to their giftedness; and

(2) to create a new delivery system for Open Bible to train and equip future missionary candidates and assist carefully selected young people who acknowledge the calling of God on their hearts for missions and missionary service around the world. The structure of the school is still being developed but will contain academic studies and involvement in ministry.

A verse of scripture that strikes me as a clear word for the School of Global Leadership is 1 Chronicles 12:32: "The sons of Issachar…understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do" (NASB). We also must understand the times in which we live and how to minister effectively. The advancement of technology, education, and travel has forever changed the world. As a result of these mediums, we live in a global society that is broken down into global communities here in the United States and abroad.

This was aptly illustrated one evening on the trip when we shared dinner with a Trinidadian family. Before the meal was over the young people at the table (U.S. and Trinis alike) had already "facebooked" each other using the wireless Internet on their cell phones. To effectively engage the millennial generation for long-term missions involvement, the School of Leadership will need to retool the methods for recruiting, training, and sending missionaries. This will happen through the Department of International Ministries joining forces with Global Outreaches Unlimited, Master's Commission, Eugene Bible College, INSTE (Institute of Theology by Extension), and Open Bible Trinidad to form the School of Global Leadership. This partnership will produce a cross pollination between different countries and people groups.

I am thrilled that our Open Bible family in Trinidad wants to partner with us in this exciting new missions endeavor. SGL's tentative launch date is fall 2009. Many pastors and lay people have already inquired about the details. As we depend upon the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we, like the men of Issachar, understand the times in which we live and how International Ministries and Open Bible need to prepare future laborers for the harvest field. But we can't do it alone; we need you to partner with us. Thank you for working with us to make this a reality.