March 19, 2025

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

All Blog Posts

Coaching

Training Missionaries to Coach One Another

Coaching in SEND is getting more attention these days.  From December 3-5, Dr. David Wood and I facilitated a coaching workshop for 24 participants in Farmington. The head of our mobilization department had initially requested the training in coaching for all the mobilizers in the US Office since he believes that coaching is one of the key activities for our mobilizers. A number of other members from the US Office and the International Office joined as well, filling our IO training room to capacity.… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
New Missionaries

Understanding our Youngest Missionaries

At our last Directors’ Council, we looked at how we can better incorporate the generation called “Millennials” or Generation Y (those born between 1980 and 2000) into our mission. Dr. Jim Raymo, assistant professor at Northwestern College, and former US Director for WEC International presented his research on this topic. For us Boomers, this generation is the age of our children, but almost all of our areas now have a significant percentage of members from this generation. We have every reason to be excited about the potential these young people bring to our mission, but we also recognize that there are significant differences in the way they (some of you) think. A great resource to understand this generation and their contribution to missions is a free Mission Exchange webinar entitled “Reset with this Student Generation: Engaging Millennials in Missions.”… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Do Not Make Me a Leader!
Leadership, Mission Leadership, Team Leadership

Do Not Make Me a Leader!

A man will seize one of his brothers in his father’s house, and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!” But in that day he will cry out, “I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.” – Isaiah 3:6–7 When a nation experiences God’s judgment, no one wants to become leader. Formerly leadership in Israel had been a desirable role because leaders used their positions to enrich themselves (Is 1:23).  But in the future when God’s judgment falls on these disobedient and ungodly people, Isaiah prophesies that no one will want the responsibility.  The need for leadership will be urgent, for all those in leadership roles will be killed in battle or taken away in exile (Is 3:24-26).  In these hard times, the bar set for leadership… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Book Reviews

Figuring Out Which Needs are My Responsibility

In the past few days, I finished reading a book, entitled Who is My Neighbor?  Being a Good Samaritan in a Connected World. Steve Moore, the president of The Mission Exchange, authored the book and has created a couple of excellent websites that significantly increase the learning value of the book. I read the book on my Kindle, but the book is also available for free, one chapter at a time, in PDF format from  http://www.whoismyneighborbook.com.The book explores the meaning of the question  “Who is my neighbor?” in a world where we are constantly bombarded by needs from around the globe.  Missionary newsletters, mission websites, and  mission e-mail blasts present us with a multitude of needs from every corner of the earth, to say nothing of what we see on CNN and read on Google News.  For us as missionaries, because many of us live in countries where we encounter… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Training

Easy Email Newsletters

As more and more of our missionary newsletters are being sent out by email rather than by snail mail, I have been looking at better ways of managing our email list, designing attractive email newsletters, and even tracking who actually reads our newsletters. Recently I have started using Mail Chimp, and see that quite a few other missionaries are doing the same. Mail Chimp is free if you have less than 2000 addresses in your list, and you send less than 12,000 emails a month to your mailing list, which fits both the budget and needs of most missionaries. Mail Chimp helps me design an attractive newsletter with pictures and columns (not just as an attachment). It will send out all of my newsletter in a couple of minutes, without forcing me to break it into batches so that Gmail will accept it. Best of all, it tells me how… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
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