A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT

DISCOVER

This February, I participated in a Simeon Trust workshop in Louisville. One of the passages I was assigned to present was Mark 8:22–9:1. The passage begins with Jesus healing a blind man in Bethsaida. The story is an odd one. Jesus lays his hands on the man to heal him. It’s a miracle! He can see people, but not clearly. So Jesus lays his hands on the man again and completely restores his sight. What’s going on here? Why did Jesus need two tries to get it right?

Of course, Jesus could have fully healed the man after the first touch, or with no contact at all. But the following passage helps us to see what Jesus is up to. Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ—in other words, he sees! And then . . . he rebukes Jesus for telling the disciples about his impending rejection, death, and resurrection. In other words, Peter doesn’t see clearly—at least not yet!

Upon reflection, I realized that the physical encounter with the blind man in Bethsaida foreshadows the spiritual encounter with Peter on the way to Caesarea Philippi.

This observation reminded me why I’m so thankful for our global workers, men and women who are committed to teaching the full counsel of God’s Word so that people clearly see the cost of following Christ. In today’s rush to “finish the task,” I fear that a number of modern missions methodologies have left people with a cloudy vision of the gospel and a cloudy vision of what it looks like to follow Christ.

This is why we say we are committed to making mature disciples. Mature disciples grow in the soil of healthy local churches. So, friends, thank you for your commitment to supporting the long, hard work of making mature disciples, establishing healthy churches, and training local leaders around the world.

The last 90 days have been exciting.

I traveled with several of our staff and a couple of Canadian churches to South Asia where we launched two separate training tracts. This was my first global training trip since the pandemic disrupted international travel. Over the course of one week, we walked through the Old. It was a joy. You can read more about that trip in our Global Training update.

In February, 33 Reaching & Teaching staff members met up in Kissimmee, Florida for our annual retreat. I’m consistently blown away by the team the Lord has assembled. We packed everyone into a living room and praised the Lord for His faithfulness; we updated the team on new developments, and prayed for our global workers. Three of our team members have written their reflections on the retreat on the pages within.

We recently added Brian McKanna to our staff. He will be leading the Central Asia region for Reaching & Teaching. I’ve enjoyed a number of conversations with Brian over the years. He’s a trusted missiologist and his expertise in Central

Asia will be a tremendous blessing to our whole team.

I’ve just returned from a week in Ras al Khaimah where I attended the 10year anniversary of the Ras al Khaimah Evangelical Church. Reaching & Teaching took part in a 2-day conference on the mission of the church. I caught up with team members from Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. The Lord has done great things in and through our friends in the UAE. We have much to learn from them.

Finally, please take a few moments and read about the Corders, who are serving in the Caucasus region, and the Roots, who are serving in Mexico. Your generosity to Reaching & Teaching allows us to serve families like these. They’re a model of faithfulness overseas and I’m so thankful for the example they set for our organization.

Please continue to pray for our global workers and staff. It’s a tremendous joy to partner together to see God’s glory declared and displayed around the world through the witness of healthy local churches. Thank you for your continued partnership.