by Becky Hefty | May 18, 2016 | Connections Article
In September 2015, Mission Builders International recognized the growing challenges associated with using an internal database in a world of Internet connectivity. We were lagging behind in technology and efficiency. After years of successful use of the Access-based database designed by field staffer David McQuoid, the time had come for a change.
After researching and testing several platforms, MBI’s field staff member and computer IT technician, Greg Griffin, found one that allowed for rapid development and deployment. Working at all hours of the day and night for a month, Greg was able to pack over two months of development into one. Through his efforts, MBI reached its first milestones by October, relieving the most pressing problems associated with website locations and communications.
MBI now has a Message Center on
its website retaining correspondence with everyone in a single place—no more cutting and pasting! Also, visitors to the website can now easily find locations to serve around the world, and potential volunteers are able to complete their applications and references entirely and automatically online.
Greg also added in the communication and coordination components of application processing with YWAM campus locations. YWAM location coordinators now receive automatic notifications and have the ability to read and approve applications online in a matter of minutes, even from their phones!
The real benefit of Greg’s work on the new database and communications system hopefully will become more evident as MBI continues to increase the number of people it can serve as well as by the ease with which remote location staff will be able to process applications. Soon, volunteers will be able to enter their personal skills and talents on the MBI website and be matched with specific locations in need of those abilities. They will also be able to align their schedules with the times and seasons when those locations could most use the help. These, Greg says, are some of the features he looks forward to the most.
Gr
eg’s dedication to updating our application and placement process will potentially enable MBI to serve more volunteers and the missionaries who need their help. We welcome you to try out our new system on your way to the many ways and places you can make a difference around the world. Start by visiting us today at www.missionbuilders.org!
Special note: While Greg was pouring his time and skills into the development of MBI’s new database, he simultaneously carried on with his own multi-faceted ministry, speaking, teaching, encouraging and assisting in places as far away as Mauritius, Latvia and India. In addition, he and his wife, Jan, saw two of their three children not only graduate from university but also marry, all within the past six months.
by Becky Hefty | May 18, 2016 | Connections Article
Mission Builders International and the ministries it serves stand on the shoulders of a number of hardcore volunteers like Don McGalliard, who went home to the Lord January 20 of this year. He and his wife Lorraine shared a vision for providing support and education for children. Once they retired, they spent their time traveling the globe as mission builders to help build local schools. Don carried on after Lorraine passed away in 1997 and was instrumental in helping to build schools in Nepal.
“We have listened to our parents’ mission stories,” the McGalliard children say, “and watched MANY slide show presentations. We took in their mail, paid their bills, dog
-sat, watered and mowed their lawn while they were gone. We know how much Mission Builders International meant to them!”
Don left an ongoing legacy of service. He wished to donate to organizations making a tangible difference worldwide. Thanks to his vision, foresight and generosity, Mission Builders International has received a $40,000 gift to help pay down the remaining mortgage on our campus. The mortgage has been reduced to $66,085 as of May 16, 2016, bringing us closer to increasing our recruiting capabilities unhindered by debt!
Thanks to Don and dedicated mission builders just like him, MBI continues raising volunteers to help frontline missionaries, and ultimately, see lives changed both here and abroad.
Have you considered your legacy? By including YWAM Mission Builders in your will, you too can have a dramatic impact in the life of missions.
by Becky Hefty | May 6, 2016 | Places and Projects
Each summer for the past four years, I’ve participated in a summer English camp near Volgograd, Russia, sponsored by members of various location churches. These past two years, I’ve led the team of American volunteers, who come to help with the conversati
onal English lessons at camp and share their lives and love for God with the kids. This year, following my completion of a TESOL course (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at YWAM Montana, I took on the task of creating the lesson plan for this summer camp.
Each year the kids have become more and more receptive to the message of the gospel as we have built relationship with them. The camp organizers felt like this year the kids were ready to go deeper, and God did amazing things in their lives.
I met Yarik (short for Yaroslov) on the first day of camp. He was going to be in my lesson group, but when I spoke to him in English, he replied, “I only know German!” I wondered if he was going to be hard to crack, but as soon as he figured out I could speak Russian, he warmed right up.
One of our daily activities at camp after our group lessons are over is having one-on-one time with one or two of the kids for an hour. I knew Yarik came from a Christian family, but I didn’t know anything about his own walk with God. I figured he would be a good kid from my group to start with.
Most of our conversation was in Russian, as he knew very little English with which to practice. We talked about our hobbies, sports we liked and other general topics. Finally, I asked Yarik if both of his parents went to church. As he began to tell me about his parents and family, tears streamed down his face, but still he continued to share. His dad used to be a pastor, but his mom had walked away from her faith. He was so afraid for her and felt helpless to do anything. He was trying to be a good Christian and a good son, but it was so hard.
I could not imagine that already, on the first day, one of the kids from my group was opening up so deeply. He obviously was desperate for God to do something in his life. I felt God wanted me to encourage him with the story of the prodigal son. I told him not to worry so much for his mom. God still loved her even though she had walked away. He was waiting and longing for her to come back, but she was still his daughter and that would never change. We prayed together for her, and I also prayed for Yarik to find strength and rest in God’s love for him.
Later in the week, a special evening was set aside to highlight the gospel message with the kids at camp. It was ca
lled a ceremony of light. The atmosphere was charged by the presence of the Holy Spirit, who was touching everybody that night. Yarik was sitting next to me and very emotional as he thought about his sin and how God, in his love, sent his Son to pay for our sins so we could have a relationship with God.
At the end of the ceremony, we were encouraged to go around and say to our friends words of encouragement, care and love. After several minutes, Yarik approached me and gave me a big embrace, crying and not letting go. He said how, on that night, he finally understood just how much God loved him. It was a big moment for him in his walk with God, and a night he will never forget.
In this camp of 61 kids, we saw 6 decisions of faith in Christ, 3 kids who repented of sins and renewed their faith, 5 more kids who grew in their faith and 14 kids who were touched by the gospel and got more interested in the Christian
faith. In addition to that, two boys, Misha and Vitya, who came from an orphanage the churches work with, experienced a tremendous change in their lives. They had been addicted to alcohol and were known as “bad boys.” Since the camp, they have repented of the things they were doing and have become members of the local church. They both desire to get baptized and want to serve other orphans in the orphanage where they live. Praise God for the work in the lives of these kids at camp, and pray for the ongoing ministry in their lives by the local church and youth groups they are now connected with.
by Becky Hefty | Mar 25, 2016 | Uncategorized
Holy Work
by Amy Lindstrom
I remember looking in my husband’s eyes as we sat across from one another at a local restaurant. I had called a meeting. I had a lot on my mind.
I was fighting my way through the sadness of an empty nest, looking for new meaning and purpose. I knew I needed more and I wanted to “finish well.” I had deep fear that my last productive decades would be spent going out for lunch with friends, sharing photos of grand babies, scrap-booking and reading an occasional book. It wouldn’t be enough.
“Give me a few more years,” Paul said. So I did. I waited a few more years, finding more meaning than I’d anticipated. I finished a master’s degree in Christian counseling ministry. I was involved in mentoring younger women and mothers, counseling, praying, leading small groups, teaching. Still, I knew there was more. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was going to look like or how it would happen, but my soul longed for adventure, depth, more of Jesus and a community of others that longed for the same things.
Finally, God interven
ed and some rearranging began to happen in our lives. Some was good, some was difficult. Paul submitted to the changes, remembering the agreement he made across the table that winter day.
It was time for an adventure with Jesus. Depth, growth, challenge, pain, revelation, surrender; all of these were part of the MBI Crossroads DTS we participated in during the spring of 2014. Not even two years ago! Amazing, considering all that has happened since then. It was as if the waters of labor broke and the real me was birthed from a struggle I didn’t understand at the time.
Like many of you, I knew there was more in me than the world would want me to believe; more than what I saw so many in my generation settling for. I knew all of the experiences, failures, pain, loving and sacrifice I’d lived through was training that made me fit for a work that was somehow holy.
Yes, holy.
Holy is defined as: consecrated to God; set apart for the service of God. I knew the coming decades of my life were to be set apart in a way that was different from those now past. Motherhood and teaching had been services that were sacred in their own particular ways. But, I knew something was waiting that was different.
Looking back at the past 24 months, I find it amazing to see what the Lord has done with the days and weeks and months now in my rearview mirror. I’m blessed to have seen many of my life-long dreams reach their fullness. Some I had even protected from utterance in my prayers. There have been times when I was filled with doubt and painfully stretched, but the adventure I began in my Crossroads DTS has become a whirlwind of adventure, growth and delightful surprises.
Last January, I traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico, where I was a mission builder for 10 days. I went there in a desperate attempt to remind myself that God was working on a plan, ordering my steps, and there was something else to come after my CDTS. I went with small expectations, not knowing what would happen, just willing to serve in a warm and beautiful place. What happened was immeasurably more than all I asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20). I worked in hospitality and housekeeping, something I knew a little about. But the Lord gave me grace and favor, opening doors so I could also use my education and experience to lead a time of intercession and minister to staff and students through prayer, counseling and teaching. Those younger than me sought my wisdom, knowledge and friendship. They welcomed me as a valuable blessing to their community. This was the encouragement I needed to expand my YWAM training in order to use my experience in counseling ministry to bless YWAMers.
In April of 2015, I attend
ed a secondary school in Kona, Hawaii: Foundations of Counseling Ministry. This has opened further doors for me to use my master’s degree in YWAM. I completed three months of outreach over the fall and winter, ministering in Scandinavia and campuses in my home state of Wisconsin. Paul and I traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico, again where I taught, ministered, counseled and participated in local outreach. He assisted with campus projects and helped build a house with Homes of Hope. In future months, I will continue teaching, counseling and ministering to those who long to expand the kingdom but are hindered by the pain and wounds of life.
This is what I have learned since my adventure with YWAM began:
- Although the Y in YWAM stands for youth, the younger generation is hungry for the wisdom and experience that my generation has to give. Having lacked a God-like love as children, many still crave the care and nurture of those older than themselves; spiritual mothers and fathers to accept, mentor and cheer. God is a God of the generations. He desires to join the generations together in bonds of love and unity. Yes, they really want us, need us, and we are still part of the story!
- There is a real community available to us; a big family that loves us as we are and welcomes the chance to do life with us. There is a belonging that is unique to the Body of Christ, where we are able to transcend differences in cultures, colors, languages, age and gender. Yes, there is a community where we can belong!
- God is challenging my generation to surrender the selfishness of a retirement focused on pleasure; to use the blessings of our age and resources to benefit the kingdom. Yes, we really have much more to give than we realize!
- It is never too late to heal, find purpose, dream dreams, discover what else is inside of us. God has never stopped dreaming dreams for us and he has not forgotten the things he has whispered into our hearts, the promises he has made. Yes, he is faithful to finish what he started in each of us (Philippians 1:6)!
- God knows us. He knows exactly what we bring to his kingdom and the best place to set us. He knows every detail of our joys, talents, knowledge, and if we follow, he will place us exactly where we can most brightly shine for him. That may be behind a bulldozer, in a kitchen, playing with orphans, painting a sign or praying with the brokenhearted. He alone knows where we fit and the time of our arrival. Yes, we can trust him!
Be encouraged today! The Father is not finished with me or you. Perhaps, like myself, you can find YOUR place with YWAM and MBI. Perhaps you, too, will begin with a Crossroads Discipleship Training School. God may have another road for you to travel. But I am certain that however the Father chooses to do it, there is still meaningful purpose and growth awaiting you. Change and adventure are both exhilarating and terrifying at times. But to me, the alternative is even more frightening. God is good, trustworthy and faithful. Lean into ALL that he has for you.
by Becky Hefty | Feb 9, 2016 | Connections Article
MBI’s primary focus is connecting Christians with frontline missions, which typically means YWAM ministries. But sometimes our staff stretches our boundaries in God-sized ways, and we knew our readers would love to hear and perhaps be part of this unfolding story:
Gregg Scott knows that clean, available water is life’s most basic need. As part of MBI’s field staff, he has devoted himself to helping people in emerging nations supply themselves with this precious commodity using appropriate, sustainable technology tailored to their needs and abilities.
Since 1996 Gregg has served wit
h the Bali Appropriate Technology Institute (BATI), helping Indonesians cultivate local water supplies. In 2014, he was contacted by Father Hugo Lungu, an African priest from southwestern Tanzania serving small Catholic parishes in Central Montana. At Lungu’s invitation, Gregg accompanied the priest to his home village of Mwanamanga to conduct a water survey. There he found 8000 people with virtually no water except for what could be drawn from four barely-working wells by way of hand pumps. Three other pumps sat useless, including one serving 450 school children, forcing them to haul buckets of water to school for drinking and flushing toilets. Village women carried five-gallon buckets of “pure” water on their heads from open-pit, untreated wells.
Although Gregg wasn’t in Mwanamanga to work, like many mission builders, he says he just couldn’t walk away without doing something. Selecting three young village men willing to learn a new trade and take responsibility, Gregg set about making simple repairs and training the men to do the same. He has since made two other trips to continue that training.
“Our initial efforts were relief,” Gregg says, “but the long-term goal is community development so the village becomes self-sustaining. I have to be sure the people can and will do it; relief without the goal of development is nothing but a crutch, and that passes a welfare mentality on to other generations. I promote two things: there must be no corruption and no leaks in the pumps. I tell them corruption is like a leak, and it runs everything down. Water leaks are also a type of corruption that takes resources away from the people. If I can get them to learn these things, I feel I’ve done something.”
Gregg’s three “boys,” his pump maintenance crew, are a significant part of the community development plan. Along with a local engineer, Gregg is training these men, giving them as much responsibility as possible and taking care not to do anything for them they could do themselves. “It’s all about relationship. I was calling the shots and teaching,” he says, “but giving them choices to make that made them think they were doing it.” The crew repaired the old pumps, and Gregg taught them how to put in new pumps because he couldn’t stay to help. “The day after I left, they called to say they had installed the first pump—by themselves—and within a week had three in. I had to trust them to do it, and they did a great job without me. They were learning to be leaders!”
“I’ve had inquiries from four other villages,” Gregg says, “but I’ve had to turn them down for now. The need is huge. I could spend a lifetime there, so my goal is to find others to take over for me, to train one village so that it can train another. But each will need some funding from the West for the infrastructure (I tell them, however, if they don’t do the right thing with the money, I won’t come back).”
Gregg’s approach to the people of Mwanamanga has had a profound impact. He lives in the village whenever he is there and has a keen eye for their needs. He makes the women and girls giggle when he hauls water—traditionally a woman’s job. He gave a pair of shoes to an older man, of which the man was exceedingly proud. In a culture where respect for elders is obligatory, Gregg is approachable and has fun with the young men. When asked once what Americans like to eat, he had difficulty explaining hamburgers, so he made them for his friends (from sausage provided by nuns at the convent). After dinner, a man named Sampson, tears in his eyes, addressed Gregg for twenty minutes, saying: “White people don’t come stay in the village with us. You came and stayed.…”
It turns out there was more than just a need for clean water in Mwanamanga. Once again, Gregg found he couldn’t walk away without doing something about what he saw: a man lying on a mat, crippled by cerebral palsy; people dragging themselves along, their knees wrapped in rags—all because there are no crutches or wheelchairs to be had. These and other medical supplies are virtually non-existent, even in the clinics and hospitals, because corruption bleeds off such resources.
Prior to his time in Tanzania, Gregg collected donated medical supplies and equipment to send where they would be most needed. If he could get shipping containers, he knew he could send these necessities to the Tanzanian villages. The local Veteran’s Administration donated crutches and wheelchairs as well as other devices for the disabled.* Then a friend donated 4×40-foot insulated shipping containers—one per year for four years—which could go on to have a second life as either rodent- and heat-free storage for the villagers’ maize or as a workshop for the village maintenance crew.
But there is only so much one person can do. “I’m still involved in Indonesia, but this ministry in Tanzania has become bigger than I imagined. It’s only going to continue if I can get a team put together quickly and raise about $100,000 a year to be able to go from village to village.” Currently, Gregg works alone on all the logistics and funds his time on the ground in Tanzania out of his own pocket—a strain on any missionary’s budget. To make a real difference for Tanzanians, he needs a home team to tackle everything from fundraising to correspondence; from sorting supplies to managing a website and social media. Until then, he is one man against a mountain.
You are invited to help Gregg provide training, clean water, and aid for the disabled in Tanzanian villages. Donations may be made online at www.missionbuilders.org, or checks can be made payable to MBI—including a separate note that reads Tanzania Water Project—and sent to PO Box 406, Lakeside, MT 59922. Contact MBI at 406.285.8525 about hands-on opportunities.
*Gregg gratefully acknowledges the various Catholic parishes in Kalispell and Central Montana, the Rotary Club of Kalispell, the Veterans Administration, personal supporters, MBI staff and all the folks who have given so much and so selflessly toward this project.
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