The Summit

This past week it was our joy to attend the Southeast Asian Leadership Summit.

A lesson in linguistics

This event brought together MB Mission leaders from throughout the region.  As such, there were several languages being used.  At times my head would spin from not knowing which speaker/language to latch onto.

Andy organized the event.  He had our agency's mission and vision statement reduced to a quasi-mathematical formula that could be printed on t-shirts that our participants could wear--even in places not friendly to the gospel.




The summary statement was printed in full in three languages on our notebooks, and would have been in four, if Khmu had a written language.

We were blessed by a visit from Randy F. as he shared some stories of how the mission and vision of MB Mission is playing out around the world.




In a country where being a leader typically means having a title, an office and a nice salary while others serve you and do all the work, we were honored to be able to demonstrate the nature of leadership as modeled by Jesus in serving others.




Encouragement

We had the opportunity both to be prayed for and to pray for others.





Worship through music was in Thai, English, Burmese or Khmu--depending on which group was leading.





It is easy to get discouraged when we are constantly surrounded by "problems" that need to be fixed.  As our team has been working to implement changes to bring about lasting solutions, we were encouraged by this conference which laid out a foundation for what we are trying to do--and in a very timely manner.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

I’ve gotta see a man about a horse…

“Never do anything alone.”

I was recently going through notes on some of the books about missions I have read and I came across that piece of advice.  It has to do with the role of mentoring when it comes to trying to disciple others.  Those who are includers can greatly impact others.

Maybe this is why I was reminded during my waking hours of the night of those who impacted my life by including others in their life.  And so my mind went back a lot of years to a man named George Libby.

George Libby was a volunteer who maintained a good portion of the Tunxis Trail (Part of the Blue Trail system) in Connecticut.  But rather then do this on his own (which my more introverted grandfather did on the Mattatuck Trail), George had a well developed system for including young people on the task.

There were two levels on the crew, Juniors and Seniors.  One began as a Junior.  We earned points based on the number of hours we worked, which was reduced by things we missed or did wrong.  Upon earning enough points, one could qualify for the “Junior Trip”, awarded to the top 4 point earners of the season.  This was an overnight stay in a cabin in new Hampshire and a one day hike up Mount Welch.

Standing on top of Mount Welch

After completing the Junior Trip, one became a Senior.  Seniors worked to qualify for a Senior Trip, which was a overnight hike to one of the AMC huts in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  There was no limit as to the number of these one could go on. Again, it was awarded to the top 4 point earners of the season.

Our "Senior Trip" crew along with Dave Ford and his wife who were leaders-in-training.  (I'm the one with the stars and stripe shirt.)

I was probably about 15 years old when I started.  Our task was to clear a 6 foot wide and six foot tall trail way.  The tasks we did included clearing loose obstacles, swinging a weed cutter and assisting George who wielded the loppers.  Special trips were made for applying paint blazing or pushing the distance measuring wheel.

George even invited me to a meeting of the Appalachian Trail Club one year and later endorsed me for membership in the club (it was a bit of an exclusive club in the early days.)  I kept the membership up for many years—always expecting that I would one day end up living in northern New England.

George Libby died in 1986, but he left  behind a legacy that included more than just a well maintained trail.  It was people like him who helped others focus on doing something positive with their lives as opposed to engaging in self-destructive behaviors (which I did enough of anyway).

I learned from all of this the importance of inclusion, though I admit it is difficult for me as I am more like my grandfather who would rather do the job alone most of the time.  Paul alludes to this inclusive “passing of the baton” in his letter to Timothy.  “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses,” he writes, “Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”  2 Timothy 2:2 (NLT)

As we work with leaders of the churches here, there is also a kind of mutual inclusion that goes on.  We invite others to partake in certain activities and they also invite us to be involved in certain things and we learn from each other.

But I am challenged after reading that quote yesterday as to how we can include others more in what we are doing.

But before I finish, I should explain the title of this post.

One day, our crew (normal crew was 7 people) was all in the back of George’s  old International Scout as we made our way down some dirt track out to the paved road.  All of the sudden, he stopped, jumped out of the truck and said, “I’ve got a see a man about a horse,” and then he disappeared into the bush, leaving us young people wondering where on earth this horse was that he was talking about.  Then a couple of minutes later he appears and gets back in the truck and we continue on our way without explanation.  (Though by this time we were pretty sure we learned another way to say “I’ve gotta take a leak.)