July 9, 2025

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Team Leadership

Character, Team Leadership

Another Edition of Online Training for Team Leaders Completed

Online module completed.   This week, I finished reading the last assignments and forum posts in the online Team Leader Orientation module I had been facilitating in February and March.   The second edition of this course is now history, and I am very pleased to see that 12 more team or area leaders have completed all the assignments and have “graduated” from this 5-week course.   During those five weeks, each of the course participants identified their key areas of responsibility as a team leader, and what outcomes they desired to achieve in each of those key result areas by God’s grace.  They sought to describe how they would know whether they had achieved these outcomes.  These different components were assembled in an outcome-based job description for themselves, which they then submitted to their classmates for comments and critique.   The job descriptions were very well done, and I know several of the… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Church Planting, Team Leadership

Training for Cross-Cultural Church Planters

In SEND U, we are very open to partnering with other organizations in providing training for our missionaries.   As the saying goes, “Why re-invent the wheel?”  One of the more profitable partnerships for SEND has been with ReachGlobal, the international mission arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America.   Through ReachGlobal’s training arm, EQUIP, SEND U has developed and facilitated an online training module for SEND team leaders.   A second edition of this training module is scheduled to begin on February 14, 2011.   Although the primary target of this training is for SEND team leaders, I am willing to enroll a few team leaders from other mission organizations. More information about this training module is available on the SEND U wiki. Contact me if you are interested in enrolling. Another opportunity for partnership in training comes in the area of training church planters.  Our SEND Directors’ Council recently asked SEND… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Coaching, E-learning, Team Leadership

Team Leader Training Module Concludes

We have now completed all four weeks of the online SEND Team Leader Orientation. Some of the participants are still completing their assignments but a number of them have already submitted their final evaluations. Since this was the beta run for this module, we did not charge anything for the training, but in exchange we asked all the participants to track the number of hours they spent on the course and post their evaluations of the material at the end of each week, and again at the end of the course. I see a few areas where I need to revise the material, but by in large, the evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive. As has been documented by others, follow-up coaching after providing some training greatly enhances the impact of the training (see Keith Webb’s blog about this).   So in a couple of months, I will be contacting each of… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
E-learning, Team Leadership

Upcoming Online SEND Team Leader Training

On September 6, the first-ever SEND Team Leader online training module will begin, and I am thrilled to see the course is full.   Seventeen SEND team leaders registered, and I even had to turn a few away because we already have more than I had expected in the class.  I plan to offer the online module again early in 2011, after I have had a chance to work through the suggestions for improvement from the first group.    I am sorry that I was not able to accommodate everyone who wanted to take the course the first time around. But if you are interested in taking some other online training modules offered by Grow2Serve, check out their list of upcoming courses.   I see that they are offering modules in Ministering in a Muslim context, Coaching for Fruitfulness and Effective Online Facilitation.   I took the course on Effective Online Facilitation earlier this… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Team Leadership, Training

Finding Assignments for Missionaries

What responsibility do mission field leaders have in finding suitable ministry assignments and opportunities for other missionaries?  In the last few weeks, this question has been asked in a number of different contexts. These missionaries needing a ministry placement could either be missionaries on the leader’s own team, or new missionaries who are finishing language school or missionaries returning to the field after a period of home service or “furlough”.    Sometimes missionaries returning to their home countries after completing their overseas assignment are open to a continuing ministry with the mission if a suitable assignment could be found.   Who bears the responsibility for identifying potential ministry placements? To some, this may seem to be a strange question.   There are so many acute needs on the mission field.   Aren’t mission organizations always looking for more missionaries?   Why is there ever a need to “find” a ministry assignment for a missionary?   Isn’t… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
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