Passing The Baton

The most exciting day in school, when I was young, was called "Field Day." That was an entire day dedicated to track and field competitions. I rarely got much sleep the night before Field Day. My mind went over details such as the perfect distance in front of the high jump crossbar to launch myself, planting the pole vaulting pole firmly in the hole, and anticipating the starter's gun in the 50 yard dash so I would have a chance to beat David Austin. All those previous events solely relied on my individual performance. But there was also a relay race with four boys on each team. Surprisingly, the winning relay team did not split a blue ribbon. No, each member of the winning team got their own blue ribbon to safety pin to their T-shirts. There were two other peculiarities of the relay race. Each team was given a baton. The first runner across the finish line did not decide the win. No, it was the first team to get their baton across the finish line that won. Thinking back, I suppose one team member could have run all four legs of the race. But even the very fastest sprinter could not beat four moderately fast runners, if they knew how to efficiently pass the baton.

Missions Application

Missions is like a combination of a relay race and a tug-of-war. You start out with a small group of people trying to reach the official goal line. The team starts tugging on the rope against the forces of evil and darkness. In this contest, the tug-of-war team is also given a baton. They can grow their team by teaching potential recruits the rules that govern the struggle and handing them the baton. And each recruit can also become a recruiter. One common mistake we make in missions is made when a team spends all their effort on tugging and none on recruiting. They not only lose the struggle but non-recruiting violates the rules of the competition. Another mistake is sending the entire team to recruit more tuggers. And, one more common mistake is failing to use each team member where they can best contribute to the common goal as defined by our book referred to as "Our Only Rule of Faith and Conduct."

A Role for Everyone

At ITEC we have some very clever and creative team members. Their best role is designing creative footgear and pulling techniques to help those on the tugging line pull more effectively. Then, there are the trainers who are ITEC's recruiters. There are days when the ITEC R&D facility seems alarmingly empty because we have multiple teams out in Haiti, Mozambique, Ecuador, Ghana, and India training new recruits for the struggle. We also have staff members who spend much of their time explaining this back to the future method of doing missions here in the USA. And there are those who meet four or more times a year just to make sure that we are taking the shortest and most efficient direction to the goal line defined by our operations Manual. There are also key team members of ITEC who never sit at an ITEC desk. You don't design new ITEC programs. You don't go to Madagascar to train. The way you pass on your batons is usually by filling out little pieces of paper which you put in little envelopes and mail to us. I have been asked to let you know that we could use some more of you. This is not a notice of financial crisis or emergency. We don't ever make commitments beyond our means. We simply have more opportunities to do what we do at ITEC than we have the financial ability to accept. So, I would like to invite those of you who support staff, tool development, and training of indigenous Christ-followers to offer a baton to a friend. If you want more specific information about these opportunities you can send us a message.  

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Where in the World?

Recent ITEC Trip Recaps East Africa: Our team recently returned from I-MED, I-DENT, I-FILM and I-SEE trainings in East Africa. We were able to train 30 African Christ followers, mostly pastors, from five areas of this country to meet the physical needs of their people as a door opener for the Gospel. During the week of training, these 30 Christ followers saw 25 people make first time commitments to the Lord. Watch the video recap of this trip on YouTube: Ecuador: During our most recent trip to Ecuador, we spent five days in the village of Tzapino, training a group of Waodani from multiple jungle villages in basic medical and health care issues. The Ministry of Health partnered with us for a weekend, holding a clinic and participating in some of the I-MED training. We look forward to continuing this partnership and working with ITEC Ecuador to provide medical training among the communities of the Waodani.

Paraguay: We recently returned from a trip to Paraguay to train 16 students from four different native people groups in I-FILM. We partnered with Joshua Chang of Green Window Ministries and Mike Goddard of Partners for Paraguay. We were also able to train a new I-FILM trainer. Henry Cabrera was one of our first I-FILM students in Ecuador. He was able to come along to help in the training so he can begin to facilitate the trainings in South America. At the end of the five-day training, we had a film festival to showcase the students films to around 200 people from the local village. One of the students, a pastor who came with his son for the trainings, said "As a native people, we never imagined that we could access this level of training and tools. Now our testimonies of what God is doing in our midst will be heard around the world."