Saturday, April 08, 2006

Local Leaders West

I just returned from Estes Park where a group of campus ministry leaders gathered for a few days of strategery, prayer and r&r. As always, it is great to be with friends. This gathering represented all the Cru leaders from the 5 western regions. Small campuses, large campuses and whole cities. It was a fun gathering with lots of godly brain power in the room. Our discussions centered around two main themes. 1. The win, build, send dna of campus ministry. 2. Launching new movements of win, build and send.

One of the highlights for me was an early morning gathering put together by Mike Kelly. Mike works in Montana and has been diligently pursuing ministry opportunities in Native American contexts. He, along with other directors in Montana and a few men from North and South Dakota, are heading up our effort to establish a viable campus ministry for Native-American’s. They have consulted with Donnie & Renee Begay in New Mexico for insight and direction. These men, listening to God and trusting him in moving forward, are learning how to minister effectively in this cultural context.

They are planning to host a “Nations Summit” the first week in December 06 (in the Dakotas no less!). By this time they will have put together some information on a web site and build a Nations Freshman Survival Kit (Bible, Music, stuff to give out to incoming Freshman on campus). Already they have gotten some testimonies on CD from a partnering ministry and are working on a DVD to help explain the vision of Nations.

Mike and his posse are leading in a way that is absolutely necessary if we (Cru or the kingdom at large) are going to see success in untouched areas. These are the places where business as usual will not get it done, and we are in desperate need of leaders to step up and step out to create a new future. This is simply how the kingdom grows.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doesn't surprise me that Mike is taking charge of this unreached people group. What a great leader to have in starting Nations.

Trent

Matt Mikalatos said...

I sent a link to this post to our entire region. I think Mike is blushing all over the internet. Thanks for giving him props!