July 9, 2025

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

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Leadership

Not Trying to Share the Stage with God

In the leadership course I recently taught in Khabarovsk at the Far East Russia Bible College, one of my assignments required my students to read through the first 6 chapters of Nehemiah. They were to describe five leadership characteristics or actions of Nehemiah that explain why he was able to motivate and organize the people to build the walls of Jerusalem in such a short time. During the week that I was in Khabarovsk, I decided to re-read Nehemiah for myself in my personal devotions, and pay particular attention to his leadership qualities. Over the years, I have read Nehemiah many, many times, and marked dozens of papers on this subject. But again, I noticed leadership qualities in Nehemiah that I had missed before, particularly in the chapters following chapter six. My reading and reflection on Nehemiah continued after my return to Kiev, and I would like to share a… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Training, Leadership Training

New Leadership Couples’ Retreat in Budapest

From May 4-8, nine new leadership couples from various parts of SEND’s world joined our International Director and his wife, our Europe Regional Director and his wife, and Bertha and me at the Walzer Hotel in Budapest for training and orientation to their new leadership role.  Each of these new leadership couples is now responsible for SEND’s ministries and teams in a particular country, and a few of them are actually responsible for ministries and teams in two countries.   Most of the leadership couples are serving in Europe, and thus Budapest was selected as the venue for this training. The topics we addressed included transitioning to the leadership role, the leader profile, the leader’s vision, the role of the wife, dealing with loneliness, keeping your marriage strong, delegation & empowerment and managing area finances.   The complete list of topics can be seen on the SEND U wiki.… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Character, Hardship

Character Development in the Life of a Missionary

  SEND U is very much concerned about the development of both character and skills.  We can impart knowledge and provide ministry skill training through seminars and various types of technology, but real character formation is only possible as we humbly submit to the work of the Spirit of God in our lives.   We have a growing list of resources under “Spiritual formation” on the SEND U wiki.   But we recognize that at best, we can only seek to supplement what God is already doing in your lives through His Word and the life experiences He gives you.   … Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
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
Book Reviews

Creating Margin in Your Life

Many missionaries and particularly mission leaders complain about overload.   Too many emails!   The technological conveniences of email, Skype and Facebook have kept us much more closely connected to our supporting constituencies and loved ones back home than the missionaries of the past.   But they also have greatly added to the onslaught of information that floods our lives and puts pressure on the time available for ministry in our host cultures.   Often time set aside for personal development and training is the first to be sacrificed. Missionary life was much different in our first term of service.  No, I didn’t arrive on the mission field on a boat.  But my career as a missionary (I was single back then) began before the era of the Internet, or at least the Internet as we know it today.  Back in the early 90’s, we had no telephone in our home in the Philippines,… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
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