IPA Summit Participants

There are almost 30 of us gathered for this week called the IPA Summit. IPA stands for Interdev Partnership Associates. All of us have previously received training in partnership formation and operation, and are currently working in partnership of some type. Most of you know what unreached people group and/or country Warren and I have focused our efforts toward for the 10 years. That’s one of the hats that I wear while I’m here. The other is getting to know key individuals involved in partnerships internationally. Building relationships with partnership facilitators will assist me in my role at WorldconneX is making key connections internationally.

Over the next few days I plan to tell you a little about each of the participants, but for now let me give you a big picture of the folks that are part of this forum.

This morning we introduced ourselves to each other by briefly stating our name, country of residence, native country, and partnership focus. None of us knew all of us, but many of us knew some of us. Make sense?! Most people probably think that a person’s country of residence, his native country, and his partnership focus would be the same. Not so. That’s where it gets complicated in this flat world in which we live.

For example, one fellow resides in America, hails from Argentina, and facilitates a forum of several dozen Bible Agencies spread out across the globe. Another participant is from Great Britain (half English & half Welsh), but lives in the US, and is the international director for a partnership of ministries related to the country of Azerbaijan. Attendees include Filipinos, Pakistanis, Indians, Indonesians, Canadians (whom should NEVER be confused with Americans), Brits, plus Africans from Senegal, Coite dIvoire, and South Africa. Mother tongue languages are Tagalog, English, French, Spanish, Urdu, Hindi, Hasa Indonesian, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Arabic, Maltese, and English.

IPAers have come from their homes in Manila (Philippines), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kabul( Afghanistan), Bangalore (India), San Jose (Costa Rica), Senegal, and even Texas (gettin’ ribbed ‘bout that ‘un). Specific mission agencies or organizations don’t receive as much emphasis as some might prefer, but the focus of this gathering is not about promoting our individual mission agencies such as COMIBAM, Pioneers, Frontiers, MUP, PI, World Ventures, SAAWE, IMB, etcetera. The focus is about how we can work together doing something better because we’re in partnership. We believe that God wants us united. We’ll be discovering exactly what that looks like by spending time together this week in learning forums, prayer, and fellowship. Stay tuned for a great week. I appreciate your prayers and comments on this blog.