By Andy Lyde, Amor Ministries Director of Mission Education

October is Pastor Appreciation Month and we certainly appreciate the Pastors with whom we work in Mexico and South Africa (and soon in San Carlos, AZ).  These men and women make up our Ministry Planning Boards in each of our Ministry locations and direct the work we do there. They choose who receives a house or who receives aid through our Project Hope programs.  They are present in the communities before we ever arrive and are there long after we leave. They encourage us when we’re discouraged.  They correct us when we’re arrogant.  They pray for us (and you) continually. In short, they are the Church and they are the heart of Amor Ministries.

Amor began working on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona in January.  We were invited there by friends and ministry partners Dale and Diana Lawrence to see the need for housing and see if we could do something about it.  We learned that there is an immediate need for 1,600 houses on the reservation!  To see what we learned, including our initial reactions as we drove out of town, watch this short video:

A foundational aspect of our model of Ministry is to partner with the local church in each community where we serve.  This ensures that we are meeting actual needs in the community and that we are connecting people to the local church instead of taking away from what the local church is already doing in that community.  It also reinforces that we are not a house building ministry; we are a ministry of relationships that serve the Church.

I was honored this past weekend to be invited by the Lawrence’s to attend the pastor appreciation dinner they held for the pastors of the San Carlos Apache Reservation.  It was a beautiful time of fellowship and encouragement in which the Pastors were told how much they are appreciated. Impromptu speeches were given by the Pastors about the need to unite in serving the people of the reservation and about the need for the Apache to be leaders in serving the poor.  Testimonies were shared about how God had worked in bringing people with needs together to have their needs met.

This is what we have been invited into – a community with significant material and spiritual need who is looking to lead itself by being the body of Christ.  This is what we invite you into – a relationship with the local church in which we give of ourselves and accept what it has to give us.

Pray for us as we continue to build relationships that will lead to a Ministry Planning Board in San Carlos, AZ.

Let’s appreciate the Pastors in our lives who serve us and lead us to service and transformation.

Hello Chihuahua group leaders and participants!

As we have been talking to some Chihuahua trip leaders about next year, a few have asked to be updated on Amor’s ministry there. So, we will be periodically posting updates on Amor’s blog specifically about our Chihuahua location. While our policy has been “no news is good news” in the past, our desire is to build partnerships with our valued trip leaders through open communication. Some months we might not have anything to report on the blog, but from what we have gathered from talking with various leaders, hearing that nothing is going on is more helpful than no messages at all!

So, let’s get started! After a rough start to the year, violence around the city of Juarez has decreased recently. The army moved into town this spring, and our experience in other parts of Mexico leads us to believe that this action will help further reduce the violence. We anticipate a steady decline from here. We do have several groups scheduled to arrive this year, although not as many as we would like. The area surrounding our camp and worksites has been clear of violence, and so we are confident in bringing any group to Chihuahua that wants to serve. However, we do understand that convincing parents of this can be difficult, and so we have the following suggestions:

-Amor will be building in Puerto Peñasco, south of Arizona, once again this upcoming spring. It is a small tourist town free from the levels of violence reported in other parts of Mexico. Several groups served in Puerto Peñasco instead of Baja and Chihuahua this past spring, and they all had a wonderful time. We will gladly answer any questions you might have about planning a trip there.

-Amor is also looking into the possibility of building homes on an Apache Reservation in Arizona, about two hours east of Phoenix. Details are still being finalized in regards to serving the Apache people, but please let us know if you would like to be updated about the opportunities for taking an Amor trip to Arizona.

-Plan a trip for the adults! Prior to the youth spring break trip, invite adults in your church to come experience Mexico for themselves over a long weekend. Parents may feel more comfortable after hearing positive first-hand information from someone that they personally know…or if they see it for themselves! With a pre-poured slab, 10-12 adults could easily complete a house in three days.

As always, Mission Services is always happy to talk through any questions or concerns that you may have, so feel free to contact us!

God bless,

Mission Services

619.662.1200 extension 6

Amor is hosting a weekly discussion about intergenerational politics and relations – specifically regarding Millennials (Millennial (Gen Y) Generation – Birth years: 1981-2000). Check back with us every Tuesday for more.

I have heard some of the most profound and most erroneous ideas about leadership recently:

• Leaders are born not made.
• You earn leadership roles, so bide your time.
• We call them “elders” for a reason.

These may make for good axioms, but lousy models for developing leaders. Leaders are developed intentionally or unintentionally through how others lead.  So leaders aren’t born ready to lead; leadership skills don’t come magically over time, and age doesn’t mean wisdom, unfortunately – or I should be a lot wiser than I am.

Historically and Biblically, we know that Jesus was not an aged man when he stepped out to lead, and more importantly, neither were his followers. It wasn’t the elders, the established leaders or the rabbinic leaders who followed him. It was young men, who were obviously open to seeking something more who dropped their nets, left their jobs and defied their century’s “helicopter” parents to spend years learning from Jesus.

One of my favorite stories about Jesus as a leader is found in John 4 – the Samaritan woman at the well, and not for the reason most people think. I think it’s a great example of leadership in action.

First: Jesus sent the disciples into town to get food. This probably wasn’t the first time they needed food and money was tight, because they were a non-profit, so they had to ask for donations. We know that’s hard, especially the first time, but if the disciples went into town on their own they had learned what to do already. So we know that not only had Jesus taught them, but he empowered them to do the task without hovering in the background or coaching from the sidelines.

Second: When the disciples returned the story narrative says that the disciples didn’t even ask him why he was speaking with her or why she was speaking to him. They surely had some ideas, but they waited and watched to see what he was doing. They had asked a lot of questions before, but this time they observed.  They knew to pay attention because Jesus had showed them paying attention helps.

Third: When opportunity presented Jesus used it to give the disciples an “Ah-ha!” moment of application. They urged him to eat, and he turned that request into an object lesson that taught them not to waste any opportunity presented. He didn’t evaluate their efforts, pontificate on what he accomplished in their absence or tell them how they need to “watch and learn”. He saw the opportunity in context to the big picture so that they would apply it in the future.

Finally: Jesus had spoken the truth in love to the woman, who, in turn, returned to her village and urged people to come and hear this man who gives living water. Her passion, in spite of her position in the community, drew many in the village to hear Jesus and believe. Jesus didn’t say to them, “This woman is new to the faith; you cannot trust what she says. You must hear it from someone who is older, wiser and definitely more respectable.” He allowed her stretch her learning right away, even if she got it wrong.

There are reasons business, cult, and political leaders use Jesus as a model for leadership and it has nothing to do with faith. In three years, he started one of the most radical and controversial movements in history using 12 average young people and left it in their hands to continue. And continue it did for over 2,000 years.

Now it is in our hands. Are we prepared to hand over the keys to the kingdom to our young people with just three years of training? We better be! Millennials have the potential to be the generation that will really change the world – just like the disciples. However, we have to be willing to let them try, fail, and learn. Are you ready to lead like Jesus and turn your Millennials into leaders in just three years?

Hola

Baño

Cuantos años tienes?

I may have just reached (or passed) the extent of your Spanish language ability.  And because of that you may find an excuse to not interact with the family you’re building a house for…except to ask where the bathroom is!

I was recently in Phoenix with Amor Ministries co-founder Scott Congdon, VP of Global Expansion Steve Horrex, and Director of Operations Ryan Perkio.  We drove out there to meet with Arizona Reservation Ministries (ARM), see their work on the San Carlos Apache reservation, and see if we could partner with them to build houses on the reservation.

Click here to see Scott’s post about our future work with ARM.

One of the exciting facets of working on the reservation is that our groups will have a cross-cultural experience without having a language barrier.  As we were  reminded of during our tour of the Heard museum in Phoenix, we have different cultures and ways of seeing the world despite some shared history.

Having dinner with Steve’s sister and her family (who graciously hosted us) we talked about our various travels in Spain and Latin America and discovered we had all had similar experiences in speaking the Spanish language to native speakers: Because we tried to speak the language, no matter how poorly we did it, our hosts graciously accepted our ignorance of language and culture.

Thinking ahead to how we structure the cultural interactions our trips to the San Carlos Apache reservation reminds me to remind you to interact in Mexico, despite your Spanish limitations.  What great respect you can show by learning a few phrases and using a lot of hand gestures!

Amor is hosting a weekly discussion about intergenerational politics and relations – specifically regarding Millennials (Millennial (Gen Y) Generation – Birth years: 1981-2000). Check back with us every Tuesday for more.

Much has been written about the role of the helicopter parent over protecting and removing barriers to success for their child’s experience in organized sports, education and free time. Other pejorative names such as “Black Hawk” or “Stealth” have been applied to parents who work behind the scene to ensure their child’s success by writing college admission essays, provide wake-up calls each morning for their college student, or contacting professors about grades their student received. We are only just beginning to see the effect this has had on the Millennial entering the work force. Human Resource executives tell horror stories about employee’s parents calling about jobs, salary negotiations, benefits, and performance reviews with increasing frequency.

It would be easy to blame the Millennial, but this is all they know – their parent has been doing this their entire life. Your job as the employer is to help them understand that you are not in a position to communicate with their parent nor will you become another parent to them. There is a great article on this at JobPostings.ca – that will help you and them with transitions.

In the mean time, don’t fall into the trap of thinking like a parent when dealing with your young team member. They deserve the development and trust you would build with any new employee.

1. Clearly communicate expectations and outcomes when assigning work.
2. Provide accurate and ongoing feedback on performance.
3. Never assume; always ask.
4. Listen for understanding.

Remember that for some, this is the first time they will be held fully accountable for their own choices and decisions. Take these words of a young woman talking about compassion and missions (emphasis mine):

Books, blogs, and podcasts are great, but they are often not enough to stir us into action. We need the opportunity to grow, and that means exposing ourselves to the situations that our mothers taught us to avoid.

We start by intentionally exposing ourselves to the needs of the world. This is how compassion grows. Maybe do so overseas or just down the street. Either way, it probably won’t be very comfortable.

“It probably won’t be very comfortable” applies to you as the leader, as well. Can you step out of the mode you are accustomed to operating in to achieve a new style of leadership for the Milliennials?