We started off 2020 with the big discussion and decision-making meeting of the year. The Board of All-Nations, together with the Advisory Council, several consultants, and the executive committee, gathered on Friday and Saturday of last week. We’re thankful for God’s direction during that time!
Reviewing and critiquing “The Film”
We spent the hours of Friday afternoon reviewing our upcoming apologetics film series, God’s Word: Enduring through the Ages. The amount of useful content in this 120-minute series is impressive. The project has come a long way already before this review, but we realized that some intense work still needs to be done to finish it.
A meditative evening
After sharing a meal together, we spent the evening reviewing new short videos about the mission and vision of All-Nations, hearing a presentation about the developing vision of community development, and praying for current teams and projects.
Passing the baton
For the first time in five years, Steve Clark was not chairing this annual meeting. Brother Steve served faithfully on the Board since the beginning of All-Nations in 2010. Though he is moving on and Harold Troyer is taking over as chairman, Steve’s heart is still in the work. We chose to honor him with the title of “board chairman emeritus.” Thank you, Brother Steve, and we’re glad you’re willing to stay connected with All-Nations!
Help needed!
We have realized the need to share responsibilities broader and provide relief for Joel, Aaron, and Bryant. We agreed to actively recruit an executive assistant who can fill a growing role in the organization over the next few years. Please pray for God’s provision!
A church-planting course?
We entrust the actual oversight of the church-planting process to the sending churches we partner with. But since church planting is central to our vision, how could we do better at keeping this church-planting vision central even during training? Much of training focuses on Bible translation and community development, but those are really a means to an end: communities of believers in every language group living out the Word of God!
We discussed indigenous church planting for quite a while, and then agreed to launch a project later this year to begin developing a course that could benefit sending church representatives. The course would incorporate resources we already use, as well as some experience that conservative Anabaptists have already had in this area. Our members would dig into the course material at a deeper level at Team Launch (formerly “Phase II Training”), just before they head to the field.
We appreciate your prayers for All-Nations as we face the year ahead. By God's grace we will be faithful.
