All this week Mike is in Izmir, Turkey attending Mission To the World’s worldwide leadership training. Every Team Leader from each MTW mission team in the world will be in attendance. The conference is a time for training, evaluation and study to better prepare MTW’s Team Leaders for their mission work.

On Thursday MTW’s Director, Dr. Paul Koistra, blessed the group with two lectures on the biblical context of leadership. Dr. Koistra is challenging this group of worldwide leaders to direct their teams and ministries in a way that demonstrates a passion for the people we serve. True leadership is understanding that God has appointed leaders to administer God’s will because he loves all the servants, not simply the leader.

Dr. Richard Pratt, President and Founder of Third Millenniums ministries, is leading regular lectures on serving Christ as our mission. He is explaining how we all need to have passion for Christ in our service. We should serve others well with fervor because it glorifies God.

The 87 Team Leaders broke into our five geographic groups and had regional discussions about our vision. Our group talked about our charge in Latin America. How does this conference impact our work? Will we take serious the results of this conference? Why do we partner with national pastors? Our Latin American Team Leaders discussed some very constructive points.