FEATURE: STAFF RETREAT

Dylan Eagle

Working for an organization where your many of your teammates are scattered around the globe means that any time everyone gets to be together is quite special! I’ve only been a part of Reaching & Teaching for four months, so this was my first opportunity to attend a staff retreat. But three words come to mind when I reflect on our time together: prayer, stewardship, and joy.

Prayer. We set aside time to pray not only for the organization at large, but also for each individual worker and their family. Praise God, Reaching & Teaching has grown to nearly 90 missionary units around the world; we’re in countries and among language groups that we never could have imagined a few years ago. We spent a lot of our time together hearing updates and prayer requests from each individual family—and we were happy to do it. As stateside staff, we are here to serve and support our global workers. Is there a better way to do that than prayer?

Stewardship. I came away impressed by how seriously each staff member takes their role. All of us, in various ways, are committed to advance the gospel around the world. We all desire to steward our time and resources to ensure our workers are well equipped to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders for years to come.

Joy. This group loves working together! We are brothers and sisters in Christ. God has brought us together to serve local churches. I was moved when I sang, along with 30 or so staff members, “Come rejoice now, O my soul, For His love is my reward, Fear is gone, and hope is sure, Christ is mine forevermore.” Our shared commitment to Christ makes our work that much more enjoyable— and that much more fruitful. Over the next year, I can’t wait to see how our staff serves our partners and workers so that more healthy churches can be established around the world.

Chris Phillips

One of the unexpected strengths of the Reaching & Teaching staff that I have grown to truly appreciate is how involved staff are in personal evangelism and discipling. After our recent staff retreat in February, I reflected on how many conversations I had over a meal or in between meetings that naturally flowed into ministry that had nothing to do directly with Reaching and Teaching. Over and over, I heard someone talk about a person they were reading the

Bible with, or an evangelistic Bible study they were hosting in their home, or a Sunday School class they were leading.

While we are an organization that’s all about ministry around the world, it was truly encouraging to hear how much ministry is going on “at home” through our staff. Though we all strive for excellence in our specific role, I left staff retreat most encouraged by how we’re also striving for excellence in our Christian lives at home.

We’re all best at our jobs—sending and supporting missionaries—when we’re making much of Jesus where we already live. I pray this would continue to mark the staff of Reaching & Teaching well into the future.

Katie Mitchell

8:00AM on a Tuesday. A living room in Kissimmee, FL. Surrounded by close to 30 strangers.

This is where I found myself a few weeks ago. I joined Reaching & Teaching only a few months prior and was attending our first staff retreat a few days after taking on a new role for the org. I looked around the room and saw a few familiar faces—some I knew personally, but most I only knew from intently scanning the staff page. By the end of the week, I would consider them all family.

As the Reaching & Teaching newbie, the week truly felt like a fire hose of relationship-building. I was learning names, roles, convictions, plans—all things I was familiar with, but needed a deeper understanding of. As the week went on and I heard from various members of the Reaching & Teaching team about the work the Lord is doing stateside and abroad, I found myself humbled and grateful that God brought me to this team.

To be honest, when I first joined staff, I was just a seminary student looking for a flexible, part-time job. But our staff retreat made me realize that I’d been blessed with much more than a job. I now had a unique opportunity to serve a faithful missions organization as it seeks to accomplish the beautiful tasks of making mature disciples, establishing healthy churches, and training local leaders.

What a privilege. What a joy.