As I write I am on a train bound for Bistrita, Romania, the
closest major city to Ville Tecci, where we currently have two teams. I hadn’t planned to travel this
month. I traveled a lot last
month, across an entire country, moving every five days or so.
The plan was for me to spend the month in Bucharest with the
three teams we have working there with a ministry called “Casa Shalom” – or
house of peace. Besides our three
teams at Casa Shalom, we have one team that is working in Ukraine, two teams
traveling to some villages with a pastor to do outreach, and two teams in Ville
Tecci, a small village north of Bucharest.
At the beginning of the month I decided I didn’t want to go
to Ville Tecci. I had been there on my Race and for some reason I wanted to keep the two experiences
separate. I was also excited to
spend time with the teams that would be staying in Bucharest. I had talked through some things with a
couple of them last month that I wanted to follow up with. And Casa Shalom has 24-hour wi-fi, real
beds, and home-cooked meals every day.
Let’s face it, folks.
Staying in Bucharest was one of my most comfortable options.
About a week went by at the beginning of this second month
of ministry for the June 2010 World Racers. I worked with a team to get them talking about what they
wanted from God and to establish some goals. I worked with another team that was having trouble
connecting with each other and understanding one another. A leader and I grabbed pizza and talked
through some of the things he was doing really well before I challenged him to
pick up the slack in the areas where he could really use improvement.
Everything was going great. Through a little more than a week, with almost two weeks
left, God had worked in our hearts and done a month’s work in only 10 days.
Then I heard from our two teams in Ville Tecci. It turns out they were having some
communication issues. They
couldn’t get on the same page with their ministry host. People were offended and the teams were
terribly uncomfortable. I figured Jenny Brown, my co-leader on the Squad,
would be there in a couple days, as per the original plan for the month. I encouraged them as best I could and
advised them to try to get in touch with Jenny.
It turns out Jenny was out in a village with the two teams
that are doing some traveling outreach this month. I spoke with her one day and
she wasn’t exactly sure when she would get to Ville Tecci. Meanwhile the situation with our teams
there wasn’t improving. They
weren’t feeling any more comfortable.
Miscommunication was increasing and the team leaders were terrified they
were offending their ministry contact on a regular basis. At the same time, the uncomfortable
situation was eliciting questions from the teams that their leaders did not
feel equipped to answer.
Our goal as Squad Leaders is to set up our Team Leaders for
success. We want to challenge them
with the calls the Lord has placed on their lives to lead, while supporting
them to answer those calls in the fullness of who God has created them to
be. It was becoming evident our
teams in Ville Tecci needed support from their leadership, Jenny and I, as soon
as possible.
