Policies and Procedures 3

Pastor Austin Gardner and VBM Director Jeff Bush finish the discussion on Vision Missions’s policies and procedures. In this last episode, they answer questions from missionaries about working under a veteran and about making the most of furloughs. Continuing on Policies and Procedures  These are things that Pastor Gardner learned from being a missionary  The […]

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Pastor Austin Gardner and VBM Director Jeff Bush finish the discussion on Vision Missions’s policies and procedures. In this last episode, they answer questions from missionaries about working under a veteran and about making the most of furloughs.

Continuing on Policies and Procedures These are things that Pastor Gardner learned from being a missionary The goal of the mission board is to see the missionaries prosper and to give them tools to serve the LordWhat does the first year look like for the husband and for the wife?Missionaries need experience just like for any other jobYou need to learn as much has you can in the first yearDon’t learn the language before you goLearn the language from a nationalYou need 2-3 months to get your house set up comfortablyThe husband and wife should have separate classesHaving them together usually causes fightThe minimum amount of work is four hours a day for five days a weekYou should be at the church every time the doors are openThen you need twenty hours practicing what you learned and getting correctedAfter language school, what should the husband and wife be doing?Pastor Gardner usually had lunch with his family right after classThen he would go out with a man in the churchHe spent multiple hours with him each weekThat man was his mentor who taught him more than even the language school didPastor Gardner’s wife stayed home with the baby sitter who taught her moreThe pressure is much more on the man since he is going to be preaching soonHow do you avoid getting caught up in routine life?Your wife should know how to drive in the countryThe first week or two, it’s okay to go to the store togetherAny time you spend with an English speaker, you aren’t learning the languageYou do need a break from the language, but only have you put your hours in If the wife is going to the bank, the husband needs to go somewhere elseIt’s better for the wife to be in a position to learn the languageIn the long run, if the wife can’t speak, drive, and get out of the house, she’ll be miserableThe husband needs to help the wifeIf I need to do homework, where should I go?Be around native speakersAny time you can spend with a native speaker will hep youStay around people all the timeYou can’t do ministry aloneHow much ministry should I be involved in?You are not involved in starting anythingYou are involved in the work that the veteran is doingYou should listen and be quiet You should go to meetings that you don’t even understandYou need to learn how to take!You can’t tell the veteran what to do or how to do it Go to every meeting Be involved in every ministryPray as soon as you can in the churchGet your prayer approved by the missionary and notional pastor Maybe the Sunday school teacher will let you teach for 1-2 minutesGet people who will correct the fire out of youJust cause you’re in language school doesn’t mean you don’t go to churchHow can I serve while I’m helping with my family in church?Train your kids so you don’t have to chase them aroundDiscipline them so they’ll behave in churchWhatever the missionary has, you ought to be doing thatDon’t let your wife use the baby as a shieldThat will hurt her in the long runWhat if I don’t learn the language well enough to teach in a few years?That shouldn’t even be a questionYou need to be able to teach in the languageThe only reason you don’t learn the language is because you don’t talk enoughMake language learning a social thingGet around people and talk with themYou may not be able to read because of the characters, but you ought to be able to talkThe only reason you can’t talk is because you’re hiding in your house too muchIf you aren’t comfortable to teach, get in a class and be a servant Stay around the people all the time, and you’ll pick it upDo not make excuses!If you make excuses, you won’t learn itGod wouldn’t send you there for you to not be able to learn the languageHe has a plan and you can get it doneWe are buying to the the devil’s lie when we think we can’tWhat should the wife and husband have accomplished at the end of the first two years?They should have learned the language well enough to be comfortableYou should read the LAMP bookYou should be at least at a level 3+ which the book talks aboutYou should have practiced thousands of hours in the language during those two yearsWatch the news in the languageWatch a tv program from the country so you can learn the language and cultureYou need to learn the cultureVisit funerals Visit hospitalsVisit different sporting eventsGo soul-winningYou need to et involved so you can get accustomed to the cultureYou need to drive around and get comfortable with the cityYou need to take your language across town, then to another city, and then to another stateTake a break and drive several hours to another part of the countryThat will help you adjust to different accentsYou need to be a language and culture student the rest of your lifeYou need to have learned everything you could from the veteranYou need to have lead someone to Christ and baptized themYou need to have done as much ministry as possibleIf you do all of that for two years, you will be able to say that you really learned how to live in that other countryYou’ll be ready for a brief furlough and be ready to go back to start your ministryWe ask our missionaries to take a brief furlough after the first two yearsSix months is the most you needThree to four months really is enough timePastor Gardner wants the missionaries to be around the church so he can help themWhat was only theory as a student is now reality as a missionaryYou need to be going for a full four yearsIf you spend two years learning the language out of the four years, you will only have two years to get a church startedYou need that language and culture experience, but you also need full four years to start a churchVBM believes in starting churches and training leaders to take over the churchWhen you are back on for the short furlough, you need to be around all that you canYou need to ask all the questions that you canLet your wife and family refuelFind a good and stable place to liveVisit your families brieflyNow that you really now how to ask questions because of your experience, you need to ask as many of them as you canFurloughs are not just for relaxingStaying with your in-laws for a month is not a good ideaYou need a baseA couple of weeks with your family is good enoughIf your’e going to prepare for the next step, you need to be around where you can learn and grow and get readyYou need to got to your home churchLearning the language is the next easiest step after raising supportIt’s not just easy-going from thereMinistry is uphill throughout your lifeIt’s hard work, and you need to be ready for it!Closing RemarksThe World Evangelism Fellowship is in November We would love to have you come!Find more info about it and about Vision Baptist Missions at visionmissions.com 

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