Now is the Time...To Lead
A Call for 2015 Mission Leaders

Please play the video first...

Below is a transcript from the video.
For details of our mission proposal and survey, please scroll down.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Atlanta, GA!

Guess where we're going?  Guatemala!

Thank you again for your leadership, support, and sacrificial service to us, and our Lord & His Children this yr in Guatemala. 2014 was our most fruitful mission year ever, thanks to you. 

Ecclesiastes 3 says:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot...(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 NIV)

Our mission is called Now is the time for a reason...seasons change, and so must we in order to serve God with ALL of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. 

For our 10th anniversary of hosting missions in Guatemala, we believe Now is the time for us to uproot from our current projects, and to find new ones. 

We do NOT feel called to return to lead mission teams to our 2014 communities. We DO feel called to help new communities in 2015. 

However, we would like to continue to help our existing communities, if possible, because they could still use lots of help, and we have many former Crew Members who would like to return to those projects and communities.

We’d like to ask your help to make that happen…

We’re looking for leaders to organize and lead mission teams & projects in 2015, to our current mission sites, and to serve as Crew Leaders at our new projects. 

We are offering to help you organize a mission in 2015 by helping with the heavy lifting of registration, collecting $, and hotel, food & ground transport arrangements. We can even offer you some seed $ to help you get started. 

But we need your help to organize and lead mission projects and teams for 2015 to our current mission sites. 

Your mission projects would be part of one Now is the Time mission, and you'd have access to all of our resources, but these would be your projects, teams, schedule, and leadership. 

Plus, Damaris and I would be onsite with you to serve as your advisors, in a limited capacity, only as you needed us. 

If you could stay a week or two after to serve as a Crew Leader for our new projects, or even the whole summer, that would be super helpful to us, but not necessary. Details of our proposal are listed below. 

We are only sending this invitation to a small group that we trust to be solid leaders, and that we would like to work with on these projects. Leaders like you!

We believe now is the time for others to step up to leadership roles, that can free us up to serve even more communities in the name of Christ. We hope that you can help us do that. 

Please join our private Facebook Group below to start the conversation with all who have received this invitation, and please fill out and submit the short form below by next Mon, Jan 4th. 

Thanks for you prayers and consideration, and we hope to hear from you soon. 

Dios te bendiga and Happy 2015!

ADIOS! 

Shawn and Damaris Smith
Directors, Now Is the Time for Missions

Details, Details, Details!

So, here’s our proposal to you: If you can help us by leading mission teams and projects to our 2014 Mission Sites, we can help you with lots of the heavy-lifting of the infrastructure of leading a mission.

Basically, you would serve as a Program Director - responsible for the program, projects, teams, and leadership, and we would assume the role of Executive Directors - responsible for the registration, funds, flights, hotel, ground transport, etc. Here’s what we’re thinking...

Shawn and Damaris' Responsibilities as Executive Directors

As Executive Directors of the mission, here’s what WE can offer you for your mission to Guatemala in 2015. 

Shawn and Damaris Will:

• Give you $500-$1000/site of seed $ to use for advance planning flights/trips, online Mission Bootcamp training, or mission supplies
• Manage the mission bank acnt and overall budget (with the help from Valley Life Center)
• Make wire transfers to mission hosts and vendors for you (i.e. Fundacion Hunapu, stoves, etc.)
• Manage Mission Registration, flights, and mission insurance for Crew Members
• Set the Covenant - same as 2014, although you will set the schedule within the covenant (i.e. no one goes out after dark, etc.)
• Book and pay for flights, Hotel, Food, Ground transport for you
• Give you access to our Mission Website to post articles, photos, videos, podcasts, etc.
• Give you access to our Mission Google Doc spreadsheet to track registration, Crew Member payments, etc.
• Give you access to our complete Mailing List (750+) and Email Service to recruit & communicate w/Crew Members
• Put you in contact with our mission hosts & project contacts (i.e. Ana, Nico, mason for floors, stove manufacturer, etc.)
• Offer you access to our 4-6 wk online Mission Bootcamp training this spring (20 hrs of classroom training + weekly Q&A calls)
• Offer you access to our Private Mission Leadership Facebook Group AND Mission Bootcamp Facebook Group
• Offer you onsite support during your mission week - Damaris & I would serve as advisors, in a limited capacity, as needed

Your Responsibilities as Program Director

As a Mission Program Director, here’s what we would need from you to lead a mission week in Guatemala 2015.

You will:

• Select a week this summer & site to lead (see below)
• Recruit & select your Co-Director(s) and leadership team
• Recruit new and previous Crew Members (max 50/wk total at Hotel Candelaria)
• Select, prep, and manage Mission Projects (i.e. same as our previous projects - stoves, floors, vbs, etc. - or your own)
• Manage those projects before and during the mission (set & manage budget, order supplies, set daily schedule, manage crew members, etc. You can do it; we can help ;-)
• Communicate directly with Village and Project leaders to prep mission projects (email, phone, pre-mission visit(s))
• Communicate with us, your Crew Leaders and Crew Members
• Coordinate your plans with us, and other Mission Directors of Now Is the Time via Facebook Group, email, etc.

Something here doesn't work for you? Have other ideas of how to work together to accomplish the goal of serving our 2014 Mission Sites? Let us know!

So…what do you think? Please let us know ASAP by:

• Replying to our email

• Joining our private Facebook Group and conversing with us and others

• Completing the short survey below before Mon, Jan 4th.

Please join our Private Facebook Group: Now Is the Time...To Lead

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NowIsTheTimeToLead/

Simply click the link above, and wait for Admin approval. I have already added several of you to this group, but I don't have everyone's Facebook address. You must have a Facebook account to join. 

Group membership is by invitation only. If you'd like to add someone to the group, please email me or send me a private Facebook message. I will keep a running tally at the top of this page of those interested in leading projects at each site. This is the best/fastest/most efficient way I know for all of us to share ideas and communicate as a group.

Try it - it's fun! (just no sharing of what you had for every meal of the day ;-)

2015 Mission Leadership Survey

Thanks for taking this brief survey - it should only take you a few minutes, and will help us a LOT in our planning for next summer. Again, this is just a preliminary survey - we’re not expecting commitments as of today. We’d just like to know your thoughts ASAP. Thank you!