Dear Friends....

Blessings and wishes for a truly God-infused 2009!

I wanted to send you these new year greetings in the form of a sort of "year end report" or testimony. I would love to say a LOT more about each point, but I hope these brief summaries will help give you a picture of how we (you, me, our GLOBAL TEAMS missionaries and staff, our Board, and volunteers) have been used by the Lord. I will use an outline based on the four main things we feel God has called us to "be about" in GLOBAL TEAMS:


Insider Movements:

GT's members/missionaries introduce the Gospel to previously unreached groups by embracing and working inside -- from within -- the cultures to which they are called. GT members also encourage the new disciples to remain as yeast in the dough of their already existing social, cultural, and religious webs of relationship rather than extracting them out. Through this incarnational approach we seek, under God, to ignite numerous movements to faith in Jesus among people groups who have previously had little or no contact with the Gospel.

By the end of 2008, we are working among 55 unreached people groups and we have seen 12 new movements to Jesus begin...
International Mobilization:
Global Teams is intentional in equipping individual members/missionaries from various nations and cultural groups and pairing them to be sent out with other GT members/missionaries from cultural groups different from themselves. This distinctive gives them great advantage over teams comprised of exclusively North Americans, or of only Africans, or only South Americans. GT mission teams, at their very core, are themselves a cross cultural experience and witness.

By the end of 2008, we saw GLOBAL TEAMS grow to 159 missionaries sent from 16 countries through our international sending and training bases...


Business As Mission:

Global Teams pursues establishing businesses in the field where our missionaries are serving that will serve as missions in and of themselves as they foster Kingdom relationships for the spread of the Gospel.  GT's approach to business as missions encompasses finding Godly business people who desire to invest their time and talent in something that will produce a “return on investment”, not in terms of personal financial gain, but in successful missions in the field.  GT's call to business as missions is pursued with diligent obedience to local and international laws and will never circumvent integrity and honor as we engage in meaningful business pursuits in every nation where GT is on the ground.

God has already used early efforts in this area in Laos and Pakistan to help nurture new work and provide platforms for missionaries. As I write, a team is gathered in Costa Rica laying foundations for a coffee based business that will link our work with the unreached in coffee growing countries.


All Are Members:

Global Teams sees not only its missionaries and staff, but also its board, volunteers, and financial partners as members of GT.  GT strives to bring to all of its members/missionaries increased levels of care, commitment, and communication. GT is working to raise up, equip, train, mentor, coach, bathe in prayer, counsel, guide financially, improve health care and retirement benefits and travel assistance to the missionaries, staff, boards, and volunteers who serve among the unreached. In addition, GT does not see those who give of their finances and time as "donors", but as fellow laborers in this vision. GT desires to foster relationships with every person, church, or group who seeks to partner with us in this work of the Lord.


In 2008 we appointed a new International Member Care Coordinator and also began to rethink and rework our entire "way" and mind set about partnership with prayer warriors and financial partners.


One of my prayers, and commitments, for the year 2009 is that our partners at every level and in every place will experience a deeper bond in the Gospel with us and with each other. Indeed, my prayer is that we will truly feel and experience that WE are all members of GLOBAL TEAMS.

I will be honest: we are not there yet. But I believe that at the end of 2009, we will be able to look back together and see tremendous progress in this area.


A Final Praise Report:

As I sign off, I wanted to say one more thing as a praise report. One of the major accomplishments which we have achieved together is that for the first time that I know of in my entire 18 year history as a member of GLOBAL TEAMS, we ended the year with NO DEBT beyond normal payables. In 1990, as fiscal controls were introduced into what had been a more entrepreneurial and less managed organization, a significant amount of debt was discovered. This led to a long process of debt reduction and faithful management by our Board and staff. Many faithful and hardworking people have assisted along the way during these 18 years....but now, at last, here we are:


Free of debt!

The Lord did that....through us...through you!

Thank you Lord!

Bless you all,

Kevin Higgins

International Director
GLOBAL TEAMS
"To See The Heart Of Christ In The Skin Of Every Culture..."
GLOBAL TEAMS equips and sends teams of missionaries from many nations to multiply disciples of Jesus within cultures least familiar with the Gospel.
www.global-teams.org
212 21st St. Suite 2
Bakersfield, CA
93308
(661) 323-1214