To There and Back

DESTINATION: THE GTN LEADERSHIP GATHERING IN COLORADO

In my last On Expedition (with Jesus) ministry update, I gave an overview of the first half of my 4,000 mile trip and some of the “Living Letters” I met. My ultimate destination was the Global Training Network Senior Leadership meeting in the mountains of Colorado.

GTN Senior leaders (not the dog, silly 🙂 )

What an amazing group committed to “training church leaders in the Majority World to effectively lead their communities for Christ.” Each of these men and women have years of proven character and ministry experience—as do GTN’s 200+ staff of seasoned pastors and leaders, now training in 88 countries around the world (see GTN.org).

VISION, NEED, AND VALUES

President Paul Madson keeps before us GTN’s vision:

“To provide quality biblical and theological training to thousands of indigenous church planters, pastors and Christian leaders throughout the Majority World—so that these pastors and leaders can then effectively equip and lead their congregations to evangelize and disciple their communities for Christ.”

The great need for this kind of training is captured by the Langham Partnership (founded by pastor and author John Stott):

“Today, at least 75% of the world’s Christians are non-Western, or living in what is called the ‘Majority World.’ This means Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. But 80% of Majority World pastors have no formal biblical training.”

In all our gatherings Paul also keeps our core values in view:

“To be Doctrinally/Biblically Sound, Grace-Oriented, Kingdom Minded, Spiritually Thriving, Indigenous in Practice, and Committed to Multiplying.”

Of course GTN’s “Beliefs” underly its vision and values (available at GTN.org).

WHAT WE GET TO BE PART OF

God is doing amazing things all over the world as He is faithfully building his church. On average, 77,000 people are coming to faith in Christ every day around the world! 7,000 of those are in the global North—primarily Europe and North America.

But 70,000 are coming to faith daily in the global South—primarily Asia, Africa, and South America, in what we call the Majority World. So, along with others in Global Training Network, including our Divine Expedition training, we have the privilege to be part of the global harvest spoken of in Revelation 7:9–10:

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

MAKING MY WAY BACK HOME

Holly and Ken. Who’s the jokester behind them?

After the GTN leadership meetings, it was a long drive though Colorado and the wild lands of Wyoming before stopping in Utah. There, I stayed with long time friends and “letters from Christ” (2 Cor. 3:2–3) Ken and Holly Korngiebel.

Ken was a high school student in Geneva and part of our church plant just across the border in France. I forgot to take a photo of Ken and Holly but had one from a previous GTN trip to Israel we were on together.

On the last leg of my trip, I listened to the Charlie Kirk memorial, an emotional ending to a 4,ooo mile journey, and a reminder of Jesus words in Matthew 5:11–12:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”