2009 Intensives

On Saturday afternoon, you may choose from three elective courses if you desire a more intensive workshop that will immerse you in the subject of your choice. These courses are taught by specialists and allow for interaction.

A Hop, a Skip, and a Jump! (and sometimes a giant leap) Crossing Cultures Effectively Amy Hergenroether, Literacy and Evangelism Int'l The crossing of cultures is now almost commonplace but do we do it? Well? Do we do it intentionally? Getting from here to there, and back again, is about a lot more than packing a suitcase.

Poverty and STM Brian Albright, Empowering Lives Should I give that street child some money or food? Should I sponsor that child's school fees? Is this feeding program the best way to help these people? Are these economic programs really helping these people? Can I leave my clothes here for this family? Why don't they just do this, this and this, and then they will be able to feed their family? These are questions often asked by short-termers when faced with the reality of poverty in the world. But what is the best way to help people break the cycle of poverty in their lives? This workshop will not be a how to list for short-term missions in poverty, but will be a time where the long-term strategies of working with the poor will be presented. Then we will discuss how short-term teams can be a part of the long-term solution. The goal of this time will be that you as a person responsible for short-term mission teams have a greater understanding of the issues of poverty in your quest to be effective in ministry.

Determining Your Leadership Style Doug Calhoun, Redeemer Community Church Ever wondered why you connect with some leaders and not with others? Or why some team members are on the same page with you and others just can't seem to get with the program? Maybe, this has more to do with styles of leadership than with personality flaws or immaturity (yours or theirs)! Given the intensity and complexity of a short term mission trip, knowing about your leadership styles and how to leverage them is a significant factor. This will be an very interactive session with exercises exploring leadership styles, one's own spiritual journey and how these can dramatically affect your team experience.

Team Building with your STM Teams Gail Drake, LEAMIS International People who participate in STM teams should be fruitful AND fulfilled within the team experience. Many people who go on trips reach only a minimal level of relationship with the team because they have a membership mentality instead of a team player-ship mentality. This workshop will help you learn how to create a team environment that helps team members to maximize their short-term mission trip experience and to be fruitful and fulfilled team players.

Hot Topics with Short-Term Missions and the Local Church Greg Clark, Mount Paran Church of God This discussion will center around the challenges and opportunities of promoting, preparing, sending and followthrough for Short Term Teams from the local church perspective only. You are encouraged to bring any tools you have developed to help manage your Short Term Teams and share them with others attending. For more information you may contact the workshop leader, Greg Clark, at gregc@mountparan.com. This workshop is not recommended for College and Agency Missions Administrators.

Experiential Spiritual Formation for STM Teams Greg Robinson, Challenge Quest There is no doubt that short term missions provide a powerful, life impacting experience. However, if we were to ask different questions, could those powerful life experiences prepare individuals for a life time of spiritual development? In this workshop, participants will consider how to think about their programs not just as powerful events, but as the learning lab where participants can learn the skills and mindset of spiritual formation. In the session, participants will consider what is the end that spiritual formation seeks to attain, how do individuals and groups truly learn to change.

Round-Table Discussion for Missions Administrators: College Kara Bergstrom, Trinity Western University This session will be an opportunity to learn together collaboratively. No matter how large of a group attends, we will do this round-table style by breaking the room into smaller groups as needed. The focus of our time together will be to address the basic question: What are the most significant issues facing you today as you direct a short-term mission program on a university campus? That question will create the agenda for the workshop. This time will not be an info-mercial for any one program, but rather a time to hear each other and to dream together for ways that short-term mission can be done with increasing excellence in your college setting.

Round Table Discussion for Missions Administrators: Agencies Roger Peterson, STEM Int'l Ministries Although ANYONE from church-based and college-based STMs is welcome to come, this will be an open-ended discussion forum geared from a mission agency sending perspective on how to best administrate short-term mission teams. Facilitated by STEM�s Founder/CEO Roger Peterson, group discussion will begin with these administrative functions: finance & accounting, board governance, pre-field timetables, accountability memberships, staffing & HR plus topics (by group consensus) that YOU wanna yak about.