RTIM Review: Reflections on 2024, Prayers for 2025, & Gospel Infrastructure Around the World

RTIM REVIEW Reflections on 2024, Prayers for 2025, & Gospel Infrastructure Around the World

Read about what the Lord has accomplished over the last year around the world and what we’re looking forward to in 2025 and more inside.

2024 VOL 3 - ISSUE 4

INTRODUCTION It’s that time of year when we start making plans for the New Year and reflect on the year that’s passed. Staff reviews are held, reports are compiled, data is mined, and plans are made.

There are a number of benefits to this rhythm, but five stand out.

our organization at large. The Lord continues to supply our needs through your gifts, through “fragrant offerings” as Paul described them in Philippians 4:19. God is glorified through these sacrifices that support gospel work around the world.

First, thanksgiving flows from our hearts to the Lord for all that He has done.

He’s the one who has moved churches to send some of their best to the ends of the earth to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders. He’s the one who has transformed men and women from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). It’s his glory that we order our lives and our work around.

Third, we’re thankful for our Reaching & Teaching staff, starting with our global workers. These remarkable men and women spend countless hours learning new cultures and languages in order to share the gospel. They’re raising families without the support structures so many of us have, for the sake of their Savior. They’re evangelizing, discipling, translating, and church planting. In short, they’re working hard—and we’re so thankful for them. We’re also thankful for our Global Training team that travels around the world to equip those who otherwise wouldn’t have access to formal theological training. Their work strengthens churches around the world.

We’re so thankful for staff who mobilize

Second, we’re thankful to the Lord for the thousands of supporters, both local churches and individuals, who prayerfully and financially support our global workers, our staff, and

“ 2

global workers and provide counsel, logistical support, and care. We’re thankful that they raise funds to support Reaching & Teaching’s infrastructure.

Finally, I’m particularly thankful for my Board of Directors. They ensure accountability and oversee all that has been entrusted to us. I pray that God will be gloried by our staff as we work throughout the world.

Fourth, we’re thankful for specific things the Lord has done over the last year. As you read further in this issue, you’ll read updates from various departments: Global Training, Mobilization, and Long-Term. I’m especially proud that we published our 10 Distinctives, a document that outlines our core missiological convictions. I’m also thankful for our very first Global Retreat that took place in Southeast Asia this past spring, and for the donors, volunteers, and churches whose generosity and service made it happen.

In fact, we loved it so much that we’re

... our work may vary according to our gifting and our station, all of it means to support local churches as they send qualified workers to gospel needy areas.

planning to do it all over again in 2027, Lord willing. Finally, it was a joy to host our first Sending Church Summit in the summer. Churches gathered to help one another think well about what it should look like to send missionaries. We’re looking forward to hosting a second Sending Church Summit in September 2025 in Atlanta. As you read this issue, join us in praising the Lord for all He has done.

Fifth and finally, as we look back with thanksgiving, we also look forward with anticipation. In just a few weeks, we’ll be at the CROSS conference in Louisville, Kentucky with 15,000 friends who are seeking to make their life count for the gospel. I’m certain we’ll hear a version of this question dozens of times while at our booth: How do we get from here to there? Thankfully, our Mobilization and Long-Term staff have spent lots of time answering that question. Check out Matt Bennett and Rachel Ware’s answer in this issue.

One more thing as I close. I’m excited about our commitment to build what we’re calling “Gospel Structures” around the world. We’ve been greatly helped by our colleague Scott Logsdon in this area. In the coming months and years, you’ll hear us talking about Gospel Structures more and more as we’re made aware of various needs around the world. Scott’s article in this issue is a helpful primer to begin those conversations, and we’ll be writing more on the topic throughout 2025.

Please pray with us that the Lord would bring much fruit from our labors in the year ahead. Though our work may vary according to our gifting and our station, all of it means to support local churches as they send qualified workers to gospel needy areas. May all the work and all the workers of Reaching & Teaching continue to glorify God as we make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders across the world.

Friends, thank you for your partnership in the gospel.

Sincerely,

Ryan Robertson

RYAN ROBERTSON

RYAN ROBERTSON President

Ryan Robertson serves as the President of Reaching & Teaching. Robertson has previously served in executive leadership positions for public companies and other non-profit organizations and has been a board member of several different charities. In 2014, he obtained his CPA from the State of Massachusetts. Robertson is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Missiology program at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ryan and his wife Erin have three children and are members of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, where Ryan serves as an elder.

3

GOSPEL STRUCTURES AROUND THE WORLD Scott Logsdon Global Worker

Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48) As God’s people, Christians get to play an instrumental part in proclaiming repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus to all nations! What an honor.

According to estimates, there are a 400,000 missionaries in the world. On average, these men and women serve 7–10 years. In a good year, 5 percent leave the field. At least 20,000 new missionaries begin their service each year. Approximately 97 percent of those will minister among people and in locations where there are already Christians and churches.

Before any missionary moves to their new field of service, they should determine ahead of time whether they’re needed where they’re going.

They should also plan to work on what is needed and get the right training so they are qualified for that work. Before moving overseas, they should establish support structures. This includes a church, specific prayer partners, and usually financial supporters. It sounds strange, but missionaries should be thinking about what they will leave behind before they even begin their missionary career. That’s the best way to cultivate lasting missionary work.

the percent of a people group who identify as Christian. If this is all the data we use, then our missions strategies will veer toward “flipping” a people group from “unreached” to “reached.” We’ll aim to increase the amount of Christians in unreached places, so that ongoing evangelism and church planting can continue without outside help.

What can we leave behind that will continue to reach the nations for generations to come? The answer is simple: proclamation of repentance for the forgiveness of sins found in Christ alone.

Knowing the number of Christians among a people group or in a city is important. But finding that number— and ensuring it’s reliable—is extremely difficult. The Joshua Project doesn’t count the number of born again Christians. Instead, they count the number of people who call themselves as Christians or are loosely aligned with “evangelical” churches. They acknowledge that the actual number of converted Christians may be only one tenth of those presented in their data!

One of the first steps in our pre-field planning, should be getting a clearer picture of the status of the church in the cities we hope to live. Consider consulting resources like Joshua Project.

The Joshua Project website measures the status of missions work by tracking

To make matters more difficult, populations are often spread across both densely populated urban centers and rural areas. Then there’s the difficult question of the relationship between our efforts and the fruit of conversion that God alone can bring. Sure, we can

SCOTT LOGSDON Global Worker

(PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is pastor of an English speaking church in Central Asia, where he resides with his wife. He has 20 years of experience in crosscultural church planting.

4

set goals for how often we proclaim the gospel, but we can’t set goals for how many of our hearers will be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life.

But what if lasting gospel proclamation is our goal? In this case, it would be helpful to have more data about a people group and the status of the church among them. With more data, we could determine what work actually remains in places missionaries have long vacated. With more data, we could determine which Christians have the right skills for the job at hand. For example, what if we could include these data points in our planning:

– –

–

The number of healthy and true churches that are faithfully proclaiming the true gospel.

How well the gospel is spreading throughout a people or place and whether it’s being proclaimed among less populated areas as well as urban centers. Gospel witness will be more stable when it’s proclaimed widely by national Christians.

Whether the Bible has been translated into their language so that it’s fully accessible.

Instead of working to increase the number of Christians according to

a target, we can work to provide “structures”—for lack of a better word—that will continue to broadcast the gospel for generations to come.

This is the kind of work for which new missionaries can prepare themselves.

We can lean on Scripture and learn from wise mission practices throughout church history. Certain activities and institutions seem particularly effective at providing lasting access to the gospel.

Better yet, these are familiar to all of us.

–

– –

–

– –

Bible Translations: A faithful Bible translation can last for many generations and provide ongoing witness for Christ.

Healthy Churches: Through healthy churches, God can provide a steady output of new witnesses.

Evangelism: Evangelism by Christian witnesses is biblically faithful and practically effective, especially when engaged by national believers throughout a city.

Pastoral Training: Pastoral training will establish a steady pipeline of trained church leaders who are ready to lead God’s people.

Seminaries: Historically, theological schools have helped safeguard the faithful transmission of the gospel.

Christian Literature: Christian literature helps Christians pass on the teachings of Christ, respond

–

–

to the particular questions of a people, and demonstrate they are thoughtful creators of culture.

Worship Music: Christians sing robust songs to each other so that the teachings of Christ can dwell in them richly (Colossians 3:16).

Base: A “base” is either a durable team or a healthy church that gathers in a language that expat Christians understand. Through this base, expat Christians can be spiritually nourished.

Undoubtedly, other structures could be identified. But as we coordinate the missionary efforts of Christians in cities and among people groups, we can focus the work of those 200,000+ new missionaries in the next ten years.

Building structures that will provide lasting gospel witness will help us answer important questions: where missionaries will go, what they will do, how they can be qualified for their target work, what kinds of support structures they’ll need, and what they should aim to leave behind.

There’s much work to do as we proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations. And there’s much more at stake: the honor of our King!

5

GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE Matt Bennett - Director of LongTerm & Rachel Ware - Director of Mobilization

In our conversations with potential missionaries, we often hear the question, “How do I get to a particular field?”

Sometimes, that’s a helpful, even appropriate question. Other times, it might be better to ask a slightly different question: “Where are there needs around the world that my particular giftings and abilities might meet?”

We’d love to talk about a slightly different way to approach the process of getting from here to there.

STARTING WITH “THERE” Before we consider all the steps, it is important to have a clear vision of what we are aiming for. Instead of starting with a place that we would like to go, let’s start with a vision of what we would like to see happen around the world and in every place.

Reaching and Teaching is committed to helping churches send qualified missionaries to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders. As the Lord brings that vision about, we would love to see hubs of healthy churches partner together to create a mutually supporting infrastructure that will expand and extend the ministry both geographically and generationally.

We think about these hubs as “gospel infrastructure.” You may have already read about this concept in a previous article in this issue. This includes the elements that typically are included 6

“

A strong gospel infrastructure will help us to identify what labor is needed in each place.

in missions work: Bible translation, evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and leadership training. However, it also includes seeing these churches begin to produce and share their own worship songs, theological resources, and even seminary training. We would love to see associations of churches formed around the creation and sharing of these resources so that the local churches in those places can flourish and refresh themselves and their neighbors for decades to come.

Here’s the question for a missionary candidate: what parts of that vision are you equipped and eager to do? Your answer will clarify where you might be needed. Recently, one of the developers of the gospel infrastructure idea compared this approach to dentistry. He said that he doesn’t want his dentist to show up and just start drilling randomly.

His treatment should be targeted and his solution should be appropriate to the problem.

A strong gospel infrastructure will help us to identify what labor is needed in each place. If we can identify the type of labor we need, then we can also assess individual laborers’ ability to engage in that particular task.

BACKING UP TO “HERE” Once there’s a bit of clarity on what a prospective missionary is aiming to do, the Sending Church can begin to discern how he or she may fit a particular need.

Perhaps they already have a connection with another team and the need fits well with their skillset.

It’s also possible that churches will come to Reaching & Teaching and ask us to connect the dots between their prospective missionary and a particular opportunity. Our Global Workers have created job descriptions to meet their needs, and our Mobilization team is happy to share more about these opportunities.

Typically, we assess candidates in three broad categories.

Character: Does this person exhibit a faithful walk with the Lord and is there evidence of spiritual fruit?

Conviction: Does this person have doctrinal convictions that align with Reaching and Teaching’s convictions?

Competency: Can this person disciple people to maturity? Is there evidence of this type of ministry in their current context?

WHERE TO START? So perhaps you read this and think, that’s helpful, but where do I start?

Here’s a simple list to get you started.

1. Make sure you are an active, serving member of your local church.

The adjectives “active” and “serving” are critical. If you aren’t laying your life down for the local church here in the United States, then you won’t lay your life down for the church overseas.

2. Seek to receive assessment and affirmation from your church leaders.

Missionaries aren’t self-appointed. Yes, they desire to go, but God has given the local church the authority to send missionaries. So, if you haven’t started a conversation with the leaders of your church about your desire to go, begin that now. Ask them to weigh in on ways you can grow. Be humble to receive their feedback, even when it means slowing down.

3. We would highly encourage you to pursue some kind of ministry training.

Pursue a robust church internship, theological education at a like-minded seminary, or specialized training like Radius or Radical. Even if you receive affirmation from your church leaders, there might still be some training to come.

Connect with an RTIM Mobilizer at rtim.org to learn more.

7

YEAR-END RECAP

“ These numbers represent the responsibility we have to steward relationships around the world. Each individual trained, each global worker appointed, each new location represents a relationship for us. We are thankful for each of these relationships and look forward to stewarding them well for the glory of God in the years ahead.

RYAN ROBERTSON, PRESIDENT

8

Global Training

Long-Term Sending

5 New Training Sites

21 New Missionary Units Appointed

3 New Countries 3 Site Graduations

48 Total Countries Represented by Global Workers

19 Training Sites 786 Individuals Trained

Mobilization

RTIM Highlights Global Retreat Held The RTIM Global Team gathered for the first time in Southeast Asia for a time of encouragement & worship.

Publication of the RTIM Press 10 Distinctives Book A resource that highlights who we are and what we believe about missions at Reaching & Teaching.

Conference Participation - CROSS - SBC - ACME

- Pillar International - The Missionary - Coram Deo Conference - Pillar Unite

Preview Days - California - Minnesota

- New York - Texas - South Carolina - Louisville

Plans for 9 Preview Days in 9 Locations in 2025 33 Practicum Students in 9 Locations Around the World

First Sending Church Summit Held A conference designed to assist local churches in their mission to send qualified missionaries to the ends of the earth. Join us next September!

Launch of College Missions Night In partnership with local churches near college campuses, we launched a night to discuss global missions & next steps that college students can take.

The total number of units serving around the world grows to 137 9

Assisting local churches in their mission to send qualified missionaries to the ends of the earth.

September 15-17, 2025

rtim.org/give 10

Why You Should Come Whether you are considering long-term missions or want to mobilize your church, our Preview Day is a great place to start!

What you can expect from the day:

Portland, OR Thursday, January 30, 2025

Hinson Baptist Church

Seattle, WA Friday, January 31, 2025

Downtown Cornerstone Church

Grow in a biblical understanding of missions Discover RTIM’S DNA Connect with like-minded Christians Learn how you can partner with us

Tampa, FL February 28, 2025 rch Covenant Life Church Raleigh, NC Thursday, April 10, 2025

Christ Covenant Church Atlanta, GA Monday, September 15, 2025

Mount Vernon Baptist Church

Time: 8am - 5pm Price per Individual: $50 11

GLOBAL WORKER REFLECTIONS The Abisrors - Argentina We have seen the Lord be near to us through different medical issues and family losses. God’s grace has been good to us to get us through. The Lord provided us with a wonderful global retreat with our RTIM family.

We were able to get to know new families and be refreshed by the Word and fellowship. The Lord gave us a wonderful stateside assignment. It was a time of encouragement to be with our sending church and speak at different churches about the importance of the great commission. We have been able to disciple believers here in Argentina that are excited about the prospect of missions in their own life. The Lord continues to grow the biblical counseling ministry in Argentina.

Churches are continuing to see how the word is sufficient and how the local church is indeed the context of true counseling.

Prayer requests: 1. We are the parents of 5 wonderful boys. Our desire and prayer is that they pursue the Lord and become five men of God. 2. Pray for us as parents. On a daily basis we see our need for God’s grace in our parenting.

3. Continue to prayer for the various ministries here in Argentina.

(Biblical Counseling, the seminary, the association of churches that we work with, and our local church on the ground)

MENA J & D We have been encouraged to see some small areas of growth among the members of the international church I pastor. The church began a monthly prayer service in January, and we have been encouraged by both the consistent attendance and the way the Lord seems to be using it to grow the members of the church to more faithfully care and pray for one another. This was in evidence several months ago when a flood hit our city. Members were quick to jump in and serve those in the church who were affected, which was a positive witness in the community. God’s Word has also become an increasing source of encouragement for many. Several ladies committed to reading through the Bible in a year, a growing number 12

of men are gathering a couple of times a month to discuss the most recent sermon, and it is increasingly common to hear people share how the preached Word has encouraged them.

There is much to be encouraged by, but also much to still pray for. We ask that you would pray that the Lord would raise up more elders in the church, that the Lord would save many of the nonbelievers attending our services, and that the Lord would grow the culture of one-on-one discipleship in the church.

The Ripleys - Poland Ploughing, thankful, weary, encouraged, sorrowful, rejoicing, eager, anxious, sick, elated, and many more adjectives could describe these first seven months in Poland. If we had to choose only two they would be “relieved” and “hopeful.” “Relieved” in that the last decade and a half of ministry stateside felt like training for this endeavor – and we are finally here to labor and invest in others what we’ve been given.

“Hopeful” in that we are in a land of spiritual opportunity where friendships are forming, language is coming, and we are smiling, praying, fasting, preaching, and asking the Lord for a church plant here in the future, maybe even from this embryonic Bible study that has started.

1. Pray that we would be steadfast, immovable, And always abounding in the work of the Lord.

2. Thanks be to God that we’ve been warmly received into a small, intimate, and very rare healthy church to begin our time in country.

3. Pray that we would keep first things first and not forsake our first love, nor our family of four children with the intensity of demands, requests, and opportunities.

Central Asia C & R We moved to our country about a year ago, and we have seen the Lord provide for us over and over. Early on, when we didn’t know much of the language, we were constantly faced with seemingly impossible tasks, stuff as simple as paperwork submission, but the Lord was always faithful and provided what we needed. We’ve been able to connect with and develop relationships with the few believers that are in our city.

Prayer requests: 1. Right now, we are in a season of language learning, so we are not doing any direct m work. You can pray for wisdom as we discern what the best way to begin the m work is.

2. We have a baby due the beginning of February. Pray for the safe delivery of our second child!

13

LONG-TERM REFLECTIONS Matt Bennett Director of Long-Term

People tell you that time starts to go faster with each year that goes by. That sure seems to be the case this year. I’m blown away that it’s already the end of 2024. Still, the chance to reflect on another lap around the sun is a blessing because the Lord has done some sweet things for and through the Long Term department this year.

Let me share a glimpse from my vantage point.

PEOPLE-CENTERED REFLECTIONS In God’s kindness, RTIM is growing.

Churches are choosing to partner with us to send their commissioned workers.

We’re all excited to see what our next global retreat will look like. We were all blown away by our time together in SE Asia in March. Since then, we’ve

14

only grown—in staff, in deployments, in almost every respect. The year kicked off with Chris C. joining us to give some dedicated leadership to the Asia region—a region that continues to flourish with church-centered examples of faithful missionary labor.

We’ve also seen the Lord add our first Member Care units who live and serve outside of North America. Stuart and Lisa Bell will serve for the Member Care from Bangkok. They’re able to pour themselves out for our global workers while also being willing to jump on video calls with the US team at odd hours of the day. As they chart this new path, we trust that the Lord will use the Bells to help us learn how to expand and extend the work of our Long Term Team.

Finally, by the end of 2024, we’ll have seen nearly twenty new units deployed

to various fields. People have left the US to serve struggling churches in Europe, to work among unreached people groups in Southeast Asia, and to serve the misreached in Sub-Saharan Africa.

May the Lord use all these workers for his glorious purposes as we move into 2025.

CHURCH-CENTERED REFLECTIONS The Lord has also been incredibly kind to connect us with many new church partners. Between July’s Sending Church Summit and the various conferences we sponsored—like Pillar International and Unite—we’ve been able to connect with new churches and new church leaders.

Generally speaking, these new partners are most excited about our churchcentered DNA.

Some of the most humbling new partnerships have been formed with churches outside of North America.

AJ Gibson has developed fruitful partnerships with churches who want to learn how to send missionaries from South America. Peter Brock has developed significant partnerships with churches throughout Europe, and Chris C has brought a number of church connections with him in Asia.

We’re in awe at the opportunities the Lord has given us to champion the church around the world. Even more so, we’re thrilled by the response of churches around the world who have responded gratefully. Our prayer is that the Lord would allow us to help facilitate the sending of many—whether directly through RTIM or by helping local churches work together to create their own sending arms.

Lord, use your bride around the world to send workers into the harvest to raise up local churches that will do likewise!

VISION-CENTERED PROJECTIONS Where is all of this work headed? Over the past year, a vision for the future of RTIM is emerging. If the Lord sees

“

fit to continue to grow our numbers and provide us with talented global workers and staff, we will need to grow structurally. In 2025, we hope to add more regional leaders. Specifically, we are praying that the Lord would provide us with at least one more regional leader for Asia and a regional leader for MENA. Along with RLs, we would love to grow our Missionary Care teams, too.

We’d also love to develop some hubs on the field so that a church or network of churches could provide natural, more localized support for global workers.

We would love to utilize regional conferences as natural places for RTIM global workers to collaborate together, encourage one another, and support shared values at a more local level than the whole region. Please pray for wisdom as we seek to develop these structures in an effort to provide layers of support for global workers and their churches.

Finally, as we prayerfully attempt to steward the opportunities that the Lord is giving us, we are encouraged in our efforts to develop and produce resources. AJ and BM—along with several of our field units and staff— contributed to our Ten Distinctives book. It has been very well received. The

Institute for Church Centered Missions’s first test-course is nearly complete.

Next summer, we’ve planned the inaugural Missiology Summit. We hope this event will contribute to a broader missiological dialogue on the everimportant issue of contextualization.

The Lord has been so kind in 2024.

Would you pray along with us that he would continue to remind us of our weighty stewardship? Lord, help us cling to you desperately and joyfully, reminded that the strength for this task is from you, and all glory for its successes is due to you.

Learn more about Long-term opportunities by connecting with a Mobilizer at rtim.org.

We’re in awe at the opportunities the Lord has given us to champion the church around the world…

15

GLOBAL TRAINING REFLECTIONS Scott Mescher -

Director of Global Training

It’s been an exciting year for the Global Training (GT) Department. By the numbers, the GT Team has facilitated 52 church partners on 37 trips to 13 countries. We completed three Site Surveys, which will lead to new training sites in 2025. We also saw two Pastoral Training sites graduate and one Women’s Institute completed.

Sure, these numbers are exciting but they only provide a small glimpse into our work.

As an organization, RTIM began with a single focus: training pastors and leaders who lack access to sound biblical and theological education. In the last few years, we established the Women’s Institute. Currently, there are nine sites for the Institute. We’re currently revising our curriculum to provide a more effective tool for teaching teams.

More recently, the GT team has explored ministry in new regions and discovered new opportunities to help establish healthy churches. We’ve built a strong relationship with a group of pastors across post-Christian Europe who are leading their churches to biblical health. To support them, the GT Team is developing seminars that will support and supplement the pastor’s ongoing teaching.

The core of this department’s task is obvious: “Train Local Leaders.” But we’re also working to fulfill another core task: “Establish Healthy Churches.”

That’s the goal of the Women’s Institute and the Church Strengthening Seminars.

16

We’re thankful for the avenues of ministry God has opened and hope to be faithful to the opportunities He sets before us.

Please read the following testimonies to see the fruit of our efforts and partnerships: WOMEN’S INSTITUTE: Dublin, Ireland – The coordinators at the Irish church have been so encouraged, so much so that they recently formed the full teaching team for one of the training weekends.

Cisterna di Latina, Italy – As the women of this church gained a deeper understanding of biblical womanhood, they have become bolder evangelists in their community. Also, the resources provided through the visits have encouraged the pastor in his ministry to the church as whole.

Belmopan, Belize – This second Women’s Institute in Belize is being established through women who already completed the training in Belize City. It’s encouraging to see women from the first site contribute to the teaching at this second site.

PASTORAL TRAINING: Chazuta, Peru – After a week of teaching Hermeneutics to a group of indigenous pastors from the Amazon region, one of them acknowledged, “I see that we have made many errors in teaching.

How we study impacts what we preach.

This week has helped me see how to prepare better.”

Guayaquil, Ecuador – Upon graduation at this site, some of the men have asked for materials so they can continue to train others without the help of visiting teachers.

Red Bank, Belize – Upon completing six of the nine courses, the Mayan pastors who meet at this site shared that the Pastoral Training is a reminder that God has called them to the task of leading churches and encourages them to continue forward.

San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic – A pastor shared how the teaching has encouraged him to move his church away from the charismatic influence it was under. His congregation is beginning to learn to value the Bible and sound doctrine.

CHURCH STRENGTHENING SEMINARS: Mantova, Italy – The weekend teaching on the History of the Christian church helped many believers see God’s Hand through history as He established and preserved the Christian church.

Rome, Italy – One pastor heard about the teaching RTIM could provide his church.

He thankfully responded, “This teaching will provide content to reinforce what I am already teaching and deliver to my people content I can expand on.”

LOOKING AHEAD: The forecast for 2025 is exciting. The Church Strengthening Seminar will continue to develop and among all three areas of ministry there is a potential of eight new sites. We have recently revised a process to mobilize North American partners to provide teaching teams to meet all of these opportunities. Two new staff have been added to the team and are currently raising their support. The Training Facilitators continue to learn how to be more effective cross-cultural teachers and equip the teaching teams.

There’s much to do. We’re thankful for the contacts, resources, and opportunities God sets before us.

If you don’t get to travel with us, then join us by praying for: 1. The pastors, leaders, and churches we serve through cross-cultural teaching. That His truth would prevail.

2. Wisdom and discernment to respond well to the different types of needs.

3. Good management of time and resources as we balance the different aspects of this ministry.

4. Protection of mind and body as this ministry requires a lot of travel.

17

MOBILIZATION REFLECTIONS Alex Galbreath Regional Mobilizer – Southwest

Looking back on this year at RTIM, our team has much to give thanks for! If you joined me for a Mobilization Team meeting or took a walk with me between sessions at a conference, you would pick up on recurring words, stories, and themes—all of which add up to a beautiful song of praise for the work the Lord has done in 2024. Even though I have only been on our team less than a year, I can clearly see the wins and celebrations our team is enjoying, and I am so encouraged to join the song.

As you read this article, join me in praising the Lord for the work of his hands. Let’s begin by recounting a particularly great privilege.

A GREAT PRIVILEGE That’s a word I have heard a lot this year: privilege. What an incredible privilege to walk alongside local churches and future global workers in our regions.

What a humbling experience to hear stories from across the world of how our current global workers are laboring, and to realize the privilege we hold in mobilizing future co-laborers to join them.

A particular privilege of this year was the Global Retreat. Even though I didn’t personally attend, I notice its effects reverberating throughout the organization. Our people left refreshed and redetermined. What a gift.

18

OUR FIRST SENDING CHURCH SUMMIT Another privilege our Mobilization team has reflected on this year is the success of our very first Sending Church Summit. We loved hosting an event that featured pastors and global workers who encouraged us all to think more deeply about church-centered missions. If you entered one of the breakout rooms with me, you would have heard insightful discussions and genuine questions about a host of

topics: preparing future missionaries, sending them out well, caring for them on the field, and receiving them back with careful attention.

Our Mobilization team is in constant conversation with church members and church leaders about the local church’s leading role in all this. What a gift to host a one-day event that teaches churches to engage their Godgiven responsibilities in the missionary endeavor.

“

What a humbling experience to hear stories from across the world of how our current global workers are laboring, and to realize the privilege we hold in mobilizing future co-laborers to join them.

THE NEXT GENERATION This past Summer, 33 young adults joined our summer Practicum program.

For six weeks, they lived alongside global workers and partners on the field. If you listened in on our debrief call, you’d hear a constant refrain: these young men and women grew in their love for the local church. They finished the Practicum with a greater resolve to be meaningfully involved with their church back home.

The Lord has kindly given us an increased amount of opportunity to speak into the next generation of goers and senders through our Practicum and events like Cross Conference. This year, we also began the first of many College Missions Nights. The goal here is simple: gather a room full of college students to speak about the role of the local church in missions. These nights are full of exciting conversations during such formidable years. We want young

adults to make the connection that “good missions work is good church work” as our president Ryan Robertson often says.

THE YEAR TO COME

Our team could certainly use your prayers as we board planes, exercise wisdom and discernment in conversations with potential global workers, execute events with excellency, and steward the relationships with local churches the Lord has given us to serve.

In 2025, our team is eagerly anticipating a busy calendar year. It starts with Cross Conference and then features several Regional Preview Days throughout the year. We’ll also get to connect with old and new friends as we host our second annual Sending Church Summit in September. Not to mention the countless calls in between as we walk with those the Lord sends our way.

We’re excited for our College Missions Nights to continue through 2025. We are prayerful that the Lord would use these nights to plant seeds of deep conviction that the local church must be central in the life of a believer, and therefore in the work of missions.

Learn more about our vision by connecting with a Mobilizer at rtim.org.

19

rtim.org