Enlarging the Tent, Lengthening the Cords, and Strengthening the Stakes at SLM
Letter from the Editor – Ron Barnes
There is nothing significant about “numbers” in the ministry and I’ve always been hesitant in using them as some sort of gauge as to whether we have been a success. In fact, if I went off of numbers, certain seasons of my own individual missionary work would have appeared to be utter failures, had I not been convinced we were in a season of planting seeds.
Among mission agencies, some might see SLM as “the little guy,” that “little mission in Madison, Georgia.” There might be elements of that statement that are true. But given the size of our administration and overhead compared to the impact the ministry is having around the globe, our ministry “numbers” often dwarf the numbers of the “big guys.”
It is in no way a competition and we pray diligently for our partners in ministry that they would make judicious use of their time and resources in the same way God has blessed the efforts of SLM these many years.
But just because SLM has been effective these many years at its mission to “bring people of every nation, language, and ethnicity into a mature relationship with Jesus Christ and into fellowship with a local church family,” doesn’t mean we are even close to fulfilling it and thus, the Great Commission. There is so much more yet to do.
This most recent season at SLM has given us some time to look around at how we are doing what we are doing and evaluate the operation, the oversight, and approaches to doing ministry with a vision for the future. It has become very clear that in order for us to achieve the next level of ministry, we are needing to “prepare our tents” for expansion, similar to the exhortation in Isaiah 54 verses 2–3:
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
God instructed Israel, that in faith, even in her barrenness, she should prepare herself, craft her life, in such a way as to be prepared for an unimaginable expansion. The tent metaphor sets the stage for a mentality that I believe to be very intentional about how He expects us to live. God could have chosen some sort of fixed structure analogy, but instead focuses on a structure meant to be temporary, flexible, movable, and inexpensive. With so much focus placed on facilities in ministries, the disproportionate amounts invested in underutilized facilities over money used to minister to people, it’s fitting that God prepared the “barren woman” to whom He promised a rich blessing to do so from among the most modest of accommodations.
When one visits SLM they are always surprised to see that it was “bigger than they imagined.” I am thankful for those who went before me who invested in ample acreage and those whose vision involved expanded facilities. Our modest facilities are not fancy, but they meet the needs of what we need to accomplish for our many Branches. But even in our facility use, we need to do more with what we have been given. Our Branches have also been attempting to make sure they are ready for the expansion of their ministries. These are just a few examples:
Uganda just recently purchased land for an office, a residence, and facilities that can house some income generating micro-enterprises so that the ministry of SLM Uganda can expand and reduce some of its overseas dependency.
Brazil is looking to move from its donated office space to a plot of land that has been offered to them and build its own offices as God provides the resources.
Guyana has just finished the relocation of its offices after adding an office and storage facility to their church plant building.
Romania seeks to expand their ministry into a rehabilitation facility of their own that would see former inmates continue in their spiritual growth after incarceration, and also be trained for various trades.
The Lord is also challenging us to stretch the curtains and lengthen the cords. In recent months, we have completed both the World Wide Bible Institute and our Basic Courses in Online formats and we have begun uploading them in different languages to be used by each of our Branches. This will give unprecedented access to our courses for students from around the world and in many places where the Word of God is prohibited. This will also allow those who desire a deeper study of the Word of God, particularly the many pastors, evangelists, and missionaries who have no formal training, to receive the training that they have always longed for.
The Lord has already allowed students in restricted access countries of the Middle East to be taking our courses in online format. Those who operate in underground churches have previously been prevented from attending any formal Bible training. We are also making strides in updating the courses in wording and design and in over a dozen new languages. We want to make these courses more universal in their appeal to different cultures and easy to understand and translate.
But finally, understanding the frailty of our “tent”, particularly as we anticipate expansion, we have spent a significant amount of time “strengthening our stakes.”
Our staff and administration have been feverishly preparing and studying for newer and more efficient methods to strengthen how we operate. This training, study, and research has impacted every department and every missionary at SLM. We have improved how each of us, our foreign missionaries included, are reporting various types of information for greater accountability and more streamlined administration of that information.
Our Accounting Department has “digitized” many processes that were time consuming and have reduced the amount of paperwork and “man-hours” for doing some of these tasks. We have created systems so that viewing of their accounts were made more accessible to our missionaries in real time and systems that donors and donations can be more easily tracked.
Many of the tasks that required missionaries to do on the network on the main campus at SLM has now been streamlined so that they are available wherever our missionaries have an Internet connection.
These improvements have come at some cost, yes financial, but also with significant learning curves. But we have been determined to see the vision and mission of SLM be continually carried out far beyond each of us and bigger than any of us could dream it to be. So, it has been a small sacrifice and a short inconvenience, to know that God will begin to fill the tent that we have expanded, in His time!
