Missions Leadership Training

"Lena's passing had a profound effect on me. I have never had a friend whose very life so reflected the love of her Savior. I realized for the first time, that I needed to stop talking about being a missionary, and start being one again...start walking and living as Lena did." - Hans Erdman

The Missions Leadership Training program is dedicated to the memory and honor of our dear friend and sister in Christ, Lena Piskunova, who went home to be with the Lord on Dec. 30, 2007,  and to the spirit of missionary adventure.

In 1997 we led a team of missionaries from village to village on mountain bikes in northwestern Russia. That trip was called B.I.K.E.Russia (Bicycling Into Karelia for Evangelism in Russia), and it was one of the first modern, specifically planned, targeted "adventure" missional expeditions. You can read the story of BIKERussia HERE.

Missions Leadership Training (MLT) is an on-going, comprehensive training program for Christian missionaries, and particularly missionaries who will travel using the most common form of mechanized transportation in the world...the bicycle.

Areas of study that will be covered in MLT include: Introduction to Missions; Bible Study; World Religions and Cultures; Relationships, Friendships and Evangelism; Bicycle Touring; Bicycle Mechanics; Leadership Training; Land Navigation and "Topographical Missions" (Using Map, Compass, GPS and Google Earth ®); Survival-Come back alive; and Advanced Wilderness First Aid/Missions Medicine and Health. Hands-on training will include actual short missions trips, field "shake-down" sessions and a planned week-long trip to a YWAM base in Idaho.

Phase 2: Prayer, Preparation and Planning

Ten sessions starting in September, 2008

New Life! Lutheran Church, 18275 Lake George Blvd., Oak Grove, MN 55303

"I have always believed in the concept of missions as an adventure. How else could I find myself in a country that we considered an enemy only a few years before? Adventure? Try traveling with a 24 year old, a 73 year old and five people who barely speak any English...on bicycles. Dirt roads, sand roads, mud roads...no roads. Just trying to balance on a log while you push your bike through the mud. Nobody thought it would work. Nobody thought is was a good idea except me, Steve, and God. Funny thing about that, because it was God's idea all along. I was just the guy up to my knees in mud in northwestern Russia, with a mountain bike and forty pounds of gear. It was the greatest adventure of my life."

-Hans Erdman, "The Two Wheeled Explorer"

Using Dr. Larry Christenson's "Ride the River"  as our study guide,  we will continue the exploration what it takes to follow the call of the Triune God to take the Word of God to the nations of the world. Using the journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as a parable for finding and following the will of God in your life, "Ride the River" will move you to a new level of devotion and service to our Lord, wherever the adventure takes you. Each session will include a short video, teaching and discussion time and a time of prayer and intercession.