Leadership 13: When Expertise Meets Energy

Leadership 13: When Expertise Meets Energy

by | Mar 2, 2020 | Connections Article

MBI’s newest ministry, Leadership 13 (L13) came into existence in 2010 when colleagues Ron Brewster and Dawn Masucci and I felt compelled to combine our years of leadership experience and expertise into a concerted effort to respond to a cry for help from a number of the promising young leaders serving within Youth With a Mission. Those leaders were being called upon to shape this rapidly growing, international, interdenominational movement of Christians called to bring the whole gospel to the whole world.

Though each of us desired to see YWAM succeed at the macro level, with all of its myriad of expressions, we shared an even more pressing passion to see this current generation of leaders adequately equipped to face the challenges of successfully stewarding their respective ministry locations. Having invested 30-plus years of service at the senior leadership level in one location, it was and is our firm conviction that any lasting leadership legacy can only be accomplished when those “to whom much has been given” graciously acknowledge and respond to the second half of this biblical mandate that “much is required.”

L13 was forged in the fire of finding ways to pass on our life lessons and expertise in any way God might want to use them for the benefit of YWAM leaders. The end goal was to see the advancement of the kingdom of God globally.

Since embracing that call 9 years ago, it has been our privilege to have assisted in training and coaching leaders in approximately 16 YWAM operating locations from the U.S. and Canada to far flung regions such as Cambodia, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and Barbados. Though some of the leaders we have had the privilege of serving are mature and experienced, the much larger percentage have been young, inexperienced , and, in some locations, first generation Christians.

These God-called, amazing servants find themselves responsible for some of the most innovative ministry expressions we have ever seen, ranging from the foundational YWAM Discipleship Training School (DTS) to numerous other secondary expressions such as the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) and School of Community Development, just to name a couple. Because 2 of the 18 foundational values of YWAM are about being “visionary” and doing “new things in new ways,” there is no end to the creative ventures we have observed as these ministries explore how they can more effectively take the age-old gospel message and contextualize it to reach the cultures to which God has called them.

The gospel is going forward to some of the least-reached areas of the world through creative approaches that include everything from very sophisticated English/computer education programs to AIDS orphan homes to micro business enterprise (designed not only to provide income streams for the local ministry but do so in a way that serves to generate financial support for full-time, indigenous workers). The challenge is that, in many cases, their remarkable effectiveness has become a double-edged sword. The accelerated growth these ministries are experiencing has outstripped the leaders’ knowledge and expertise as to how to keep the ministry healthy, thriving, and appropriately funded. These are wonderful challenges, but these leaders are often ill-equipped to navigate them.

This is exactly the point at which L13 discovered that our year-long approach of coming along side these ministries has borne good fruit. Our expertise joined with their energy and desire to lead well has produced a winning combination. The tools we’re able to give them through our on-site visits as well as Skype coaching and mentoring has proven to be very effective in equipping them with understanding in areas such as organizational dynamics, healthy systems, and strong staff development. Coupled with our core value and commitment toward “developing servant leaders for lasting growth,” L13 not only encourages the leaders we serve but arms them with the confidence necessary to lead those whom God has placed in their charge so that the entire ministry can learn to walk in the footsteps of our great servant leader and master, Jesus Christ.

Since its inception, L13 has been blessed beyond measure to add four more players to the team, Jason Howard, Lane Lackey, Veronica VanSchuylenburg and occasionally John Briggs. Each brings with them a skill set that has broadened L13’s ability to help in even more areas.

Just over a year ago, L13 was delighted and blessed to be invited to make Mission Builders International its permanent home. When the opportunity first presented itself, it almost seemed like a no-brainer. The call of MBI, “So Others May Thrive,” seemed like a hand-in-glove fit with all that L13 desired to accomplish.

Even though it seemed obvious, however, the final decision to join forces was only made after a great deal of prayer by all of those involved as well as a serious discussion with the wise and godly board of directors that serves MBI. At the end of the process, all were in hearty agreement that to add L13 to the MBI family was a match made in heaven. MBI’s call to the larger Mission as opposed to any one location is a call that we share together.

As the times we live in become increasingly uncertain, we invite you to join your prayers with ours that MBI and L13 will find ever-widening circles of influence where our passion, “So Others May Thrive,” can be expressed in and through our Mission and ultimately to the ends of the earth.

~Gordy McDonald

 

Where to from here?

Where to from here?

by | Oct 18, 2018 | Letter from the Director

Without hesitation, I can say I’m excited for Ron Brewster and our new team to come on board with MBI. They’ll take us to new levels of growth, both in recruiting and placing volunteers with YWAM worldwide as well as in pursuing new and different avenues for serving and building the mission.

I may flinch when reminded that I’m no longer “the leader” of MBI, but I’ll continue to enjoy the “new, novel and different” of each day. I look forward to solving problems for someone else (somehow easier than solving my own) while no longer having direct responsibility for leading others.

Life is in constant-change mode, which is hard for those of us who find change and transition to be challenging. It’s certainly true with regard to the current state of our culture, which affects our worldview on politics, policy, and our way of life.

It’s true on a personal level as well for my bride Donna and I as we release the fruits our 18 years with MBI to younger leaders and look ahead with wonder. Our next step is a sabbatical, including a study tour, serving at a YWAM base or two, and a Leadership Development Course as we prepare to return to MBI next summer, ready to take on new roles under Ron’s leadership.

These kinds of things may convey the sense that things are out of control, uncertain, and fear-inducing. But the question for us all—whether the sky is really falling or not—is where are we at?

At the risk of sounding trite, the antidote to fear and uncertainty has been and always will be Jesus.

Life is a never-ending series of beginnings and endings. Jesus is either our guide or merely an acquaintance (if that) along the way. I chose Him to be my guide more than 39 years ago, and I’m still learning to follow Him. I want to know Him, to love more, and to learn about what His concerns and desires are.

What I find is that it really is about how well we love one another—how we think about and treat our neighbor, whether stranger or friend.

This past summer, I was confronted with transition, change, and the finality of life when

I met Steve Peterson on July 7, 2018, at Tillicum Beach State Park on the Oregon coast.

Steve, at 68 years of age, was walking the length of the West Coast—part of his bucket list—before boarding an Amtrak train for Florida’s Disney World, and eventually entering hospice, where he would finish his life’s journey after a recent diagnosis of terminal Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

With no family (he never married) and driving trucks for the past 31 years, his only close friend is a retired Army colonel who is helping him arrange his life’s affairs. His only regret? Not marrying the woman he had opportunity to when he was young.

Was he lonely?  “Heck no,” he told me. “Jesus is my constant companion!”

Steve’s journey was not without interruptions, which brought him across my path (or vice versa). All his worldly possessions (his camping gear, backpack, tent, sleeping bag, etc.) were suddenly gone—stolen. Rather than reacting with anger, sadness, or disappointment, and recognizing the time remaining was too short for him to be concerned about it, Steve chose to keep moving forward, trusting Jesus for his daily bread.

As we talked and prayed, I was compelled to give Steve what little cash I had in my pocket to get him his next meal and a little farther along on his journey. God showed up.

Was I skeptical of Steve’s story? Yes, but not enough to second-guess what Jesus would do.

How about you? Are you skeptical about the future? Will you choose, along with me, to trust Jesus to guide and provide, despite inevitable changes and transitions, believing that the best is yet to come?

I’m believing it for MBI; I’m believing it for us.

Indeed—I’ll say it again—the best is yet to come!