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Missions
Leadership Training
 Just
over 200 years ago, two men led a small party of soldiers, French-Canadian fur
trappers, a slave and a young woman with a baby on the greatest epic adventure
in the history of this country. The President sent them to explore the Missouri
River from the Mississippi River at St. Louis, to it's source, and then to
proceed on to the Pacific Ocean. They were to map the river and it's territory,
and catalog the plants and animal life along it; to make contact with the native
people of the region and to find, if possible, a northwest passage to the sea.
Their names were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They are my inspiration and
they are my heroes.
The Missions
Leadership Training program is dedicated to the memory and honor of our
dear friend and sister in Christ, Lena Piskunova, who went home to be with
the Lord on Dec. 30, 2007, and to the spirit of missionary
adventure.
"Lena's passing
had a profound effect on me. I have never had a friend whose very life so
reflected the love of her Savior. I realized for the first time, that I
needed to stop talking about being a missionary, and start being
one again...start walking and living as Lena did." - Hans Erdman
In 1997 we led a team of
missionaries from village to village on mountain bikes in northwestern
Russia. That trip was called B.I.K.E.Russia (Bicycling Into Karelia for
Evangelism in Russia), and it was one of the first modern, specifically
planned, targeted "adventure" missional expeditions. You can
read the story of BIKERussia HERE.
Missions
Leadership Training (MLT) is an on-going,
comprehensive training program for Christian missionaries, and
particularly missionaries who will travel using the most common form of
mechanized transportation in the world...the bicycle.
Areas of study that will be
covered in MLT include: Introduction to Missions; Bible Study; World
Religions and Cultures; Relationships, Friendships and Evangelism; Bicycle
Touring; Bicycle Mechanics; Leadership Training; Land Navigation and
"Topographical Missions" (Using Map, Compass, GPS and Google
Earth ®); Survival-Come back alive; and Advanced Wilderness First
Aid/Missions Medicine and Health. Hands-on training will include actual
short missions trips, field "shake-down" sessions and a planned
week-long trip to a to the Yankton and Lower Brule Sioux Indian
Reservations in South Dakota.
We are
already preparing for the 2014 trip to the Yankton
and Lower Brule
Sioux Indian Reservations. This year we are praying for God to raise up a team;
No more than four bicyclists, and a Support and Gear (SAG) van driver
(although the cyclists could rotate the drivng and support). (The Lower
Brule ride may
involve an overnight.)
In 2014 we will have the opportunity to minister to Native Americans,
through the “Ride Across the Rez”. On June 20th, the Ride is planned
to coincide with the Ft. Randall Casino Pow-wow Memorial Run and give the
team the chance interact with a number of Native American runners who will
be on the roads we travel the same day as we will. We'll be returning on
Sunday, June 22nd. Please pray about joining us as we once again
"Reach Out to the Nations Within" the borders of America.
We
will be using materials challenging your understanding of missions using training material
from Steve Saint and I-TEC (Indigenous
Peoples Technology and Education Center.); the "Missions Dilemma"
videos and "The Great Omission" textbook. 
Dr. Larry
Christenson's "Ride the River" is the book that
"birthed" this ministry, and we will use it as our study guide,
exploring what it takes to follow the call of the
Triune God to take the Word of God to the nations of the world. Using the
journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as a parable for finding and
following the will of God in your life, "Ride the River"
will move you to a new level of devotion and service to our Lord, wherever
the adventure takes you. Each session will include a short video, teaching
and discussion time and a time of prayer and intercession.
We
will also make use of Pastor Bill Moberly (director of our partner, East
European Missions Network) book, "Igniting a Passion for
Missions", an excellent introduction to the "how" and
"why" of missions from an evangelical Lutheran perspective. E-mail
us
for more information or click here for a Mission Trip Application.
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