by Becky Hefty | Jan 28, 2019 | Memorial
On November 24, 2018, our dear friend and co-laborer, Gregg Scott, gained eternity. He touched thousands of lives in his lifetime and is missed around the world. We echo what we’re sure the Lord is saying to him now: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
In 1994, leaving behind successful careers in their home country of New Zealand, Gregg and his wife Alison joined Youth With A Mission. Gregg spent 10 years at YWAM Kona, Hawaii, in an executive leadership role in the area of operations and campus development. He was known not only for his excellent work, but also his leadership and mentoring skills.
While in Kona, Gregg met Rus Alit, a highly respected world leader with Appropriate Technology, which dealt primarily with providing clean water in developing nations. Gregg went on to work with Mr. Alit for 20 years, helping to bring clean water to villages in Indonesia and later, Tanzania, Africa, opening the door to what would become known as the Maji Cooperative (maji means water in Swahili).
After moving to Lakeside, Montana, in 2006 as part of Mission Builders International, Greg met a Tanzanian priest, Father Hugo Lungu, who was serving in rural Montana. Father Hugo expressed to Gregg the need for clean water in his own village in southwest Tanzania. They had only 4 working wells in a village of 8,000!
Working with various Christian agencies, Gregg spearheaded a program to drill wells and install water pumps as well as train local teams to maintain and service those wells. In partnership with Lifetime Wells, Maji Cooperative installed more than 60 water wells in Tanzania, having an extraordinarily positive affect on the quality of life in the area.
In addition to the clean water ministry, Gregg established a pipeline for medical supplies and equipment between Montana and SW Tanzania. He solicited, collected, stored, packaged, and shipped donated excess medical items from hospitals, clinics, veterans agencies and so on in the Flathead Valley. Items such as wheelchairs, hospital beds, hospital supplies, crutches, diagnostic equipment and machines, and operating equipment were all donated and shipped in 40’ containers. The positive affect on the local African communities has been staggering.
Gregg was always community-minded, demonstrated by his involvement in local fire-fighting, speedboat racing, and business startups. He had a huge capacity to love and to serve others and remained active for as long as he could until Parkinson’s disease made it too difficult for him to travel. Gregg was diagnosed with cancer in the fall of 2018 and finally succumbed to the complications of surgery on November 24.
Gregg is survived by his wife, Alison, three children—Kate, James, Peter and his wife, Joanna—his grandson Blaine and unborn granddaughter, a tribe of relatives, and countless friends.
Gregg is greatly missed by his family and all the people he loved and served around the world.
MBI is helping defray expenses for Gregg’s family, and if you’d like to help, you may use MBI’s Donate tab at www.missionbuilders.org, or contact MBI by mail (PO Box 406, Lakeside, MT 59922) or phone +1-406-844-2683.
by Becky Hefty | Oct 18, 2018 | Connections Article
Some of us remember Ron Brewster as the fresh-faced 17-year-old kid with the spikey mullet arriving at YWAM Lakeside, Montana, in 1987 to enter his Discipleship Training School (DTS). We had no idea Ron would turn out to be a YWAM “lifer” (except for a brief stint as the college and admin pastor of a Foursquare church in Roseburg, Oregon). Nor did we dream he would one day be tapped to direct the YWAM Lakeside campus (2002-2010). What we know for sure now is that Ron was—and very much is—a gifted leader/administrator with a clear eye for making whatever he oversees run like clockwork, while encouraging fellow volunteers to reach their fullest potential in their service to Jesus.
Ron has an extensive resume (forgive us if we brag a little on his behalf) including:
1) A Master’s of Arts in Leadership.
2) A lead position with Leadership13, the coaching/mentoring ministry he co-
founded and dedicated to “developing servant leaders for lasting growth.”
3) One year living with his family of four in Chiang Rai, Thailand, in order to gain
the experience of living overseas and to better identify with and serve
alongside others.
4) Five years as managing director of YWAM San Diego/Baja.
5) A stint as an MBI corporate board member.
6) Current positions with five different YWAM corporate boards.
It all adds up to a high level of vision, dedication, and expertise. Can you see why we were excited when Ron called last December to let us know that, yes, he was now ready to step into an MBI leadership role?
Not only will Ron be taking MBI’s volunteer development ministry to the next level, but he is bringing three significant, intentional service ministries under the YWAM Mission Builders International umbrella, each one designed to be a resource for YWAM locations all over the world.
Perhaps the most noteworthy addition Ron brings to MBI is Jeanette—his wife of 24 years (as they say, “behind every good man…”). Jeanette has her own impressive history of YWAM and ministry experience: A DTS at YWAM Lakeside in 1990 followed by positions that included DTS staff, Schools Registrar, work in or management of various departments, and 12 years as a member of YWAM Lakeside’s leadership council. Her interest in serving others also led her to join the Debriefing ministry long-term, beginning in 2009.
Ron and Jeanette have two treasured “responsibilities”: their nineteen-year-old daughter Meraiah (away at university) and 15-year-old son Sebastian.
We’re pleased to have the Brewster family aboard, and we’re looking forward to the pleasure of seeing MBI grow into fullness and maturity as Ron applies his characteristic enthusiasm and wisdom. Stay tuned (yes, the best is yet to come)!
by Becky Hefty | Oct 18, 2018 | Letter from the Director
Without hesitation, I can say I’m excited for Ron Brewster and our new team to come on board with MBI. They’ll take us to new levels of growth, both in recruiting and placing volunteers with YWAM worldwide as well as in pursuing new and different avenues for serving and building the mission.
I may flinch when reminded that I’m no longer “the leader” of MBI, but I’ll continue to enjoy the “new, novel and different” of each day. I look forward to solving problems for someone else (somehow easier than solving my own) while no longer having direct responsibility for leading others.
Life is in constant-change mode, which is hard for those of us who find change and transition to be challenging. It’s certainly true with regard to the current state of our culture, which affects our worldview on politics, policy, and our way of life.
It’s true on a personal level as well for my bride Donna and I as we release the fruits our 18 years with MBI to younger leaders and look ahead with wonder. Our next step is a sabbatical, including a study tour, serving at a YWAM base or two, and a Leadership Development Course as we prepare to return to MBI next summer, ready to take on new roles under Ron’s leadership.
These kinds of things may convey the sense that things are out of control, uncertain, and fear-inducing. But the question for us all—whether the sky is really falling or not—is where are we at?
At the risk of sounding trite, the antidote to fear and uncertainty has been and always will be Jesus.
Life is a never-ending series of beginnings and endings. Jesus is either our guide or merely an acquaintance (if that) along the way. I chose Him to be my guide more than 39 years ago, and I’m still learning to follow Him. I want to know Him, to love more, and to learn about what His concerns and desires are.
What I find is that it really is about how well we love one another—how we think about and treat our neighbor, whether stranger or friend.
This past summer, I was confronted with transition, change, and the finality of life when
I met Steve Peterson on July 7, 2018, at Tillicum Beach State Park on the Oregon coast.
Steve, at 68 years of age, was walking the length of the West Coast—part of his bucket list—before boarding an Amtrak train for Florida’s Disney World, and eventually entering hospice, where he would finish his life’s journey after a recent diagnosis of terminal Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
With no family (he never married) and driving trucks for the past 31 years, his only close friend is a retired Army colonel who is helping him arrange his life’s affairs. His only regret? Not marrying the woman he had opportunity to when he was young.
Was he lonely? “Heck no,” he told me. “Jesus is my constant companion!”
Steve’s journey was not without interruptions, which brought him across my path (or vice versa). All his worldly possessions (his camping gear, backpack, tent, sleeping bag, etc.) were suddenly gone—stolen. Rather than reacting with anger, sadness, or disappointment, and recognizing the time remaining was too short for him to be concerned about it, Steve chose to keep moving forward, trusting Jesus for his daily bread.
As we talked and prayed, I was compelled to give Steve what little cash I had in my pocket to get him his next meal and a little farther along on his journey. God showed up.
Was I skeptical of Steve’s story? Yes, but not enough to second-guess what Jesus would do.
How about you? Are you skeptical about the future? Will you choose, along with me, to trust Jesus to guide and provide, despite inevitable changes and transitions, believing that the best is yet to come?
I’m believing it for MBI; I’m believing it for us.
Indeed—I’ll say it again—the best is yet to come!
by Becky Hefty | Oct 18, 2018 | Connections Article
Change is coming to Mission Builders International, bringing with it the excitement and challenges that accompany beginnings, endings, firsts, and lasts. As MBI grows and embraces change—welcoming new people and a fresh round of related ministries—we celebrate that change even as we continue doing what we’ve always done: recruiting and sending volunteers to help YWAM locations globally.
During this season of transition, we’ve come to a particular ending: MBI will no longer be partnering with YWAM Lakeside in hosting the Crossroads Discipleship Training School (but take heart—the CDTS will resume at YWAM Lakeside in 2020). To close this chapter, we’d like to share a handful stories from the graduates of the 2018 school. We love what God has done in and through them, and we know you will too!
“God is asking me to come on staff with the YWAM Puerto Vallarta team. I believe the CDTS has prepared me, because I am the most confident in who I am in Christ that I have been in my entire life. I know who He is, I know who I am in Him, and I want to make Him known. I’ve faced difficult things, I’ve worked with so many different people, I’ve moved into places where I knew no one, and I am ready and excited to take the next steps God is calling me to take.” ~ Jay J.
“My most significant experience was finding out that the voice I would hear or the prompting [I felt] really was the Holy Spirit speaking to me. That helped me greatly.” ~ Lynn C.
“The teaching on grace has changed my way of thinking, because I had lived so many years trying to please God in order to earn salvation.” ~ Mandi W.
“To my delight, I never felt unwelcomed by anyone because of my age. Both in the training and outreach stage, I felt very much welcomed and embraced, and that age was not at all significant to the ministry.” ~ Mike D.
“The first church we went to [in Puerto Vallarta] I asked the Lord, ‘What would you have me do?’ He said, ‘Sit down.’ I did, and He brought a five-year-old to me to sit on my lap. She was looking for a safe place. Thank you Lord! It was me!” ~ Laura W.
“At one of my low points in Mexico, when I was feeling inadequate about speaking with people, I was praying in the Catholic Church of the Square in Bucerias. I heard very distinctly: ‘I called you to be faithful, not successful.’ I left that place feeling God had met me in my time of need and that what I was doing was acceptable to Him.” ~ Kate D.
“I believe God is asking me to go further into missions with YWAM and has prepared me for what is next for me. I am putting my whole life in God’s hands; He has never failed me yet. My favorite verse is Isaiah 6:8: ‘And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Here am I; send me.’ This is what I pray: Here are my feet Lord; I will go where you send me.” ~ Jules M.
This final CDTS produced fruit that will last, maturing into richer relationships with the Father and good works for his kingdom. What more could we ask for? Thank you Lord for new beginnings and happy endings!
by Becky Hefty | Jun 16, 2018 | Letter from the Director
On the many occasions I walk through SeaTac International Airport, I generally enjoy joining the more than 46 million passengers heading somewhere through its gates each year for fun, for family, for reunions, for work, for weddings, for funerals, for service, for missions, for calling, for destiny. Walking through an airport means I’m heading somewhere for some (hopefully good) reason.
While I have a general disdain for early morning or overnight red-eye flights, I usually enjoy the journey, meeting new people and watching for those to whom the LORD might introduce me. Traveling means a change of location—even if temporarily. I enjoy the “new, novel, and different” that travel rewards its participants with and count it God’s mercy to have traveled reasonably safely these past 34 years in YWAM.
John and Donna Briggs – 2002
Perhaps travel is part of the reason Donna and I willingly tethered ourselves to an office in Montana for 18 years, helping thousands of Christians connect with worldwide missions, with the perk of joining them when we could.
At the same time, we have prayed and patiently waited for God to release His younger leader(s) in order to pass on the leadership of MBI with the charge to take it to the next level. Gratefully, God has answered those prayers with the return of Ron Brewster, a long-time personal friend, former director of YWAM Montana, current administrator of YWAM San Diego/Baja, and former member of MBI’s board of directors. Ron, his bride Jeanette, and a growing team of co-workers are scheduled to join MBI’s day-to-day team by January 2019.
Serving alongside YWAM ministries in more than 185 nations lends itself to change, and not just in location. We constantly take the risk of introducing volunteers to young, often inexperienced, often carefree, and occasionally undisciplined YWAM co-workers around the world. Volunteers are often willing to overlook some of those traits to discover and enjoy God’s appointment. And despite the frustrations, YWAMers—youth in general—help keep us young with the shared passion and goal of knowing God and making Him known. Keeping our focus on Jesus and not the foibles of imperfect people (we include ourselves in that description) has increased our love for the mission and missionaries of YWAM. It helps, of course, to be stubbornly called to serve alongside those who may not always recognize or appreciate the help MBI offers.
Sustaining and growing a ministry like MBI cannot be accomplished alone. In fact, over 80 friends and co-workers have labored together at one time or another over the past 18 years, guiding us with their wisdom from either a board of directors position or as day-to-day team members providing the practical service to get the job of recruitment and placement done. In addition, hundreds of prayer partners and financial supporters have provided their time and treasures to impact missions worldwide through MBI. As a result, it’s conservatively estimated that over 20,000 volunteers have served alongside hundreds of YWAM missionaries and ministries since July 2000 (including countless thousands more since MBI’s concept was formed in 1978).
Donna and I are especially appreciative of the help and support of tenacious co-laborers like Becky Hefty, who has researched, written, edited, and posted countless articles about the people, places, and opportunities for service that have helped communicate MBI beyond our borders. And of course, MBI is built around connections to friends like you, made possible by database programmers David McQuoid and, more recently, Greg Griffin, working in the background. But at the core of MBI for the past 18 years have been faithful partners on our board of directors, like Lynn and Jacky Battermann and Dean and Molly Ketchum. They have, like so many others, selflessly given time, talent, and treasure to follow Jesus wherever He leads.
I’ll conclude by starting at the beginning of my journey with MBI: Sitting in an office in early 2000, I met Don McGalliard, a former board member and mission builder volunteer who traveled to Colorado Springs from his home in Oregon specifically to meet with and encourage me to assume the leadership role of the ministry. His kindness and generosity helped re-launch MBI that day. This past month, the outcome of his generosity showed up on our doorstep in the form of a young missionary from Nepal. She was testifying that Don’s compassion and generosity as a mission builder volunteer—giving himself in a labor of love to help build a training center in Kathmandu—directly impacted her family. As a result, she responded to the call of missions in service to Jesus, which brought her to Montana and the opportunity to personally say thank you to the ministry and the people behind her calling. That thank you is also meant for those who have helped MBI directly, as well as those who have volunteered through the years.
And now it’s my turn. On behalf of Donna and our team, thank you to all of you for the years of Connections. The best is yet to come!
John Briggs
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