2007 Update

I’m glad to say that a couple of our friends have noticed that our blog is a bit “overdue”. Although this is a bit lame, we just finished a very long road trip to the States and “too much happened too fast”, so I decided to wait until we returned home to try to sort things out and then give some sort of report.

I guess the theme of this blog will be one of uncertainty. Basically, as some of you already know, Noreen & I are beginning the process of transitioning from serving the Lord from here in Mexico to serving from the USA. Actually, we thought we were gradually phasing out... it turns out that the transition has been accelerated. Our original target date for our return was “sometime before December 2008”. However, our new timeline appears to be sometime following the end of this Summer.

This could be an extremely long blog, so I’ll try to summarize:

One of the key factors affecting our physical transition back to the US was that of turning our leadership in the school development over to a new board. As part of this transition we reorganized the board in December and then returned to the States. Our thinking was that this would force the new board to begin to act and assume oversight and, upon our return, we would be able to figure out how we would best “fit in” under this new structure. Our concern was how well our new board members would be able to adjust their personal schedules and assume board responsibilities.

As things tend to do when the Lord is “in” something, several “mini-crisis” events occurred while we were away and our friends had to step up to the plate to make board-type decisions. All of this is to say that the new board has become a real, governing board much quicker than we anticipated. This is a very good thing, but it has placed us in the awkward position of being “lame duck” missionaries. Now that we’re back home, the challenge will be not to allow the board to “give back” these responsibilities and to insist that the school leadership look to the board for direction instead of to us... I think that this is going to be pretty hard for all of us (especially for me as I tend to be pretty quick to assume a “decision making” role). Old habits are hard to break and all of us were very comfortable with the roles we had assumed in order to get the school up and running: I hate to admit it, but we’re not needed here any more (at least in the role that we played before); in fact, I think that the longer we stay, the greater the risk that I will undermine what we have struggled so long to achieve.

On a more personal level, as both of our parents are aging and all of our kids (and grandkids) are now in the US, we have been feeling that it was time to move back to the States to be near to them.

So... now what? After living here for almost a quarter of a century, watching our kids grow up here, having the privilege of working with some of the finest people that I know and seeing the Lord prosper this work; it’s time to leave. Rationally, I’m okay with this decision... objectively, I can see that it’s the correct course of action. Emotionally, I’m not quite so solid. Looking back, I can see how the Lord has brought us to this point; looking forward, I’m not sure that I’m ready for the “goodbyes” and the tension of being here, yet not here.

Do we have any sort of plan? Actually, we do (if the Lord wills). Over the next few months we have to sell almost all of our possessions and our houses in order to get ready to return to the US. We have made a verbal commitment to purchase a small farmstead near Winnsboro, TX (just north of Tyler). Although all of this is subject to change depending on about a million variables, our goal is to continue to work under PEF, assuming a new set of responsibilities that focus on:

1. The development of Hispanic ministry resources.
2. Leadership development (both Hispanic & Anglo) for Hispanic ministries in both the US & Latin America.
3. Developing “ministry partnerships” that will help to assist the US church in it’s outreach to Hispanic communities in the US.
4. We will also be working to facilitate other “tentmaking” type ministries with our friends here in Mérida... included will be the development of an English Language Institute, a Christian College and a “Animal Husbandry” Project.
5. Helping the PEF International Developer as the “Hispanic Ministries” representative.

Some of you have asked how you can be in prayer for us... now you know! The next few months are going to be full of activity and, probably, a bit of an emotional roller coaster. We need to get ready to leave here while, at the same time, getting ready to be there. While all this is going on, we will also be hosting several work teams as well as receiving some visitors that are involved in some of the developing “partnerships”. Although I’m certain that the changes in our ministry focus will have an impact on the financial support we have received over the years... our hope is that we will maintain enough support to be able to take what has happened here to the next step; helping the Mexican Church to become a “sending” church and the ongoing development of leadership training opportunities for Hispanic ministries.

BSK

He must increase, I must decrease.