New Ministry Partners: Pioneers

In between those trips to the beach, we spent a week at the Pioneers U.S. mobilization base in Orlando.  They have an amazing campus located right on a lake, complete with a KOA campground, swimming pool, and plenty of wildlife!  We even found a baby alligator wandering around the property while we were there! 

Anyway, we were part of a group of 30 candidates attending the orientation with Pioneers and it was an exciting time of finding out more about how this agency's vision for ministry and core values as well as getting to know the folks at Pioneers and the other candidates there.  We thought it was a very profitable week for us and we are happy to announce that we have been accepted as members of Pioneers.  And the more we learn about Pioneers, the more excited we are for this opportunity to partner with them in ministry!  We think that the ministry among the Totonac in Puebla will definitely benefit from this relationship. 

Highlights from this trip include (but are not limited to!) kid-free time to hang out as a couple (we left our kids behind in the Midwest with my sisters!), beautiful scenery in FL, friends both old and new, focus on missions, our beautifully decorated room, an atmosphere of grace, openness and transparency, and lots and lots of laughter.  We look forward to returning as a family in June for our next week of training! 

Pioneers' Mission statement:  Pioneers mobilizes teams to glorify God among unreached peoples by initiating church-planting movements in partnership with local churches.

Pioneers Core Values:

1. Passion for God...The Great Commandment is our motive for the Great Commission. We want to live our lives fully surrendered to Him so that all nations may know that He alone is God.
2. Unreached Peoples...Pioneers focuses on those with the least opportunity to hear and understand the gospel.
3. Church-Planting Movements...We want to see new believers united in fellowship with other believers, forming churches that plant churches—until all peoples are reached.
4. Ethos of Grace...Understanding that each person bears the image of God, we endeavor to cultivate an atmosphere of mutual acceptance and respect in all our relationships, encouraging each one to attain his or her full potential in Christ. 
5. The Local Church...Pioneers partners with sending churches to plant new communities of Christians. We also work alongside local, indigenous fellowships wherever possible. 
6. Team-centered...Teams that are both task- and member-focused are the core of Pioneers. This is crucial since many of the world's remaining unreached peoples are in difficult and isolated pockets of the world. 
7. Innovation and Flexibility...Reaching the world's remaining unreached peoples requires creativity and a sensitivity to the unique calling, vision, and needs of each missionary. 
8. Participatory servant-leadership...Pioneers has a decentralized leadership structure. We are principle- rather than policy-driven, applying an interactive approach to decision making that is based on trust.