Marvin served for 21 years as the President of Heritage College & Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario until April 2011. Previous to that he served as an associate pastor in London, Ontario and a senior pastor in St. Thomas, Ontario for a total of 14 years.
He has ministered in many churches and conferences throughout Ontario and Eastern Canada and has ministered internationally in South Africa, Israel, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Western Europe. Marvin also serves on...
Testimonies from Passing It On! training in the Gujarati language. Here are some testimonies indicating life change. 60 pastors and mission leaders attended this training.
• These 3 days have revealed weakness in my ministry. It has opened my narrow mind. Fault finding has been my problem. I was not able to work with or pray for so & so. I have found openness of the Kingdom of God • I was going through a dry time in ministry. God brought me here at the right time. I have fa...
I just want to briefly share with you some of the outstanding things the Lord did for us during the recent Mentoring Conference in Jos, Nigeria.
We have 120 younger leaders who participated in the conference.
I had the privilege of having 120 of my Trainee Mentors who co-led the entire conference mentoring process with me. We had three main mentoring session daily.
We focused on four principal areas which form the broad division of our theme:
“Greetings in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. I returned from the training in Dilla for the mentoring training for three days. God is always good for me. I arrived by bus in Dilla 360KM from Addis on Wednesday and I preached on the opening program in the night.
The next day on Thursday morning I started to teach the participants. There were 35 participants which all is men because in Gedio it is hard to have women in the leadership. I told them the importance of mixing from lead...
The mentoring resources Doug Birdsall mentioned in his email can be found in the Global Mentoring Project below.
We encourage you to click through some of the pages and see what the Global Mentoring Project is and how it might help you as a mentee, mentor or partner. These mentoring resources are available to you and those in your ministries without cost once you register.
The Global Mentoring Project was developed and overseen by the MentorLink Network Coordination Co...
A new resource is now available for use by leaders who want to have the Jesus-way of leading boiled down to 10 simple statements with brief explanation and Bible references.
There is so much clutter in the Evangelical world about leadership that this piece will help sort out the trash from the pearls and simplicity of Jesus' heart, role and desire for leaders in His Kingdom.
One can have confidence in its importance because it is the work of over 30 leaders from multiple cu...
Our network of leaders, national teams and partners continues to expand. We are constantly amazed at how it is multiplying. Several weeks ago, I was in Canada and heard of one leader using our training in his ministry. A couple of months ago, I called one of our leaders in Ethiopia, shocked to reach him on his cell phone 100 miles from his home doing training with 40 pastors. Both were a surprise but these surprises are becoming commonplace.
Last year, we conducted ministry in 31 nations that we know of (not including US or Canada). We trained 3199 leaders that we know of. We opened 9 new nations that we know of (Latvia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mongolia, Serbia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Austria, Gambia)
New capacities developed 1. Six Modules packaged and put into pdf format 2. Four Orientations developed and put into pdf format 3. Other mentor and mentee resources developed 4. Coordination Council Developed...
Jesus’ Strategy I often stand amazed at how we (including me) ignore the words and model of Jesus. We like to think of ourselves as following Jesus – after all He is our Lord.
We all know Jesus prayed and so, as we think of prayer, we think of the times He prayed and the Lord’s Prayer. Because He prayed, we pray and we teach others to pray and we think this is the normal Christian life … to pray.
But how many times in the Gospels does Jesus talk with, questio...
A growing number of partners, leaders and mentors have formed the Global Mentoring Project to help provide mentors for leaders who want to live, lead and treat people more like Jesus.
The Project harnesses the power of the web to register mentors and mentees and to match them in Mentor Groups. In addition there are many resources designed to serve mentors and mentees which are available once registered.
After a year of work and months of testing the web processes, we we...
Our ability to serve mentors and mentees around the world just increased. Check out the Global Mentoring Project pages accessed from the main page of the MentorLink website.
After months of testing, we made the service available to the public on January 11, 2010. We continue to refine and improve the service.
We are in the final testing phase for our Global Mentoring Project. The “Project” is designed to serve leaders and ministries around the world as they seek to build others to lead like Jesus. It is being done in partnership with the Lausanne Movement and is being made available to all who will be part of the Cape Town 2010 Congress on World Evangelization.
Please join with us in prayer as we work through the final details and make the service available January 1, 2010. ...
This past week, I have been having my devotions in Matthew 24-25 where our King discusses His return. What struck me was His admonition to be ready. Am I ready?
What does it mean to be ready? There are many possible answers. For me the answer includes my desire to see Him. I reflect this regularly with the prayer, “Come quickly Lord Jesus!” It includes my longing for being eternally in His presences. It also includes the focus of my life in relation to what He values. Then...
I met one of our MentorLink partners from South Africa this week. His ministry is to the Zulu Tribe. He is a Zulu. He came to me pleading to bring additional training to pastors among his people. He was emotional and just shy of shedding a tear. I was moved and promised to make time in 2010 to serve his people.
Then he pleaded that we help rescue the youth of South Africa. These young people have rejected the hypocrisy they see in the Church and among its leaders and have turned...
I asked the Lord, what is on my heart that I can write about today? He brought the words of Jesus to mind, “And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’.” (Luke 10:2).
Our human strategies will not propel people into harvest work. Neither will our marketing or communication strategies. What propels people into harvest work is the Lord of the harvest. <...
The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) is the major organization of evangelical churches, denominations, and ministries in the Philippines. It is presided over by Bishop Efraim Tendero. He represents evangelicals to the government much like the Filipino Cardinal does on behalf of the Catholic Church. In 2001, Herman Moldez, a board member of the PCEC, was the Filipino Director of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. Herman had been praying about developing a mentoring ministry under...
We regularly pray for training events in different parts of the world. Last month we prayed for a team conducting mentor training in Caripe and Caracas, Venezuela. Lives really do change in these events. Here is the testimony of one pastor.
“Well, I want to tell you some good news. My wife and I attended the Mentoring Seminar in Caripe. We were unaware of how much it would nurture my wife and me on a personal level. I was confronted spiritually and my soul was broken, and my mind...
We want you to see the kind of people God has and is raising up through your investments in our ministry.
Petru and Gina Bulica are from Timisoara, Romania. They recently returned from ministering in Kazakhstan. Of all the Muslim “stans” Kazakhstan is the most open to the Gospel. With only the New Testament and four books of the Old Testament and the Psalms translated into their language, Kazaks are hungry for the Scriptures. So great is their joy in finding Christ that ne...
Asia’s growth has exploded. Diverse cultures and languages exist in close quarters– sometimes just an apartment away. The call for contextualizing the gospel and raising leaders who live close to the heart of God are critical.
Herman Moldez and his team are the good leaven of the kingdom in Matthew 13:33. Despite enormous challenges, the MentorLink Philippines team has sown the seeds of Jesus’ leadership style throughout their part of the world. The sum total of nations, deno...
Founder Stacy Rinehart, President Rick Sessoms and MentorLink Women Co-Director Rese Hood traveled to Mumbai, India April 4-10. Along with core members of the India training team, the progress of MentorLink’s five year efforts in the nation were assessed and plans made for the future.
It is an understatement to say that India is complex: thousands of people groups, caste system, ancient provincial/tribal issues, religious pressures which have massive social ramifications, a true di...
Dr. Tim Brannagan and Dr. Stacy Rinehart returned to southern Africa to build upon the foundation laid by a vision-casting meeting in September 2007. The theme of great needs and great opportunities is a fitting summary of the team’s time.
MLI in general has been reviewing its core training materials on developing leaders to lead like Jesus. We are aware of the great need to build in more interactive aspects as well as guidelines to implement the principles for the long-term into ...
In a Spirit-filled dinner event in Raleigh, NC on February 4, 2008, Dr. Stacy Rinehart officially passed the roles of International Director, President and CEO to Dr. Rick Sessoms. The keynote speaker was Dr. Jerry White, internationally respected leader, author and one of Stacy’s mentors at The Navigators. He likened the passing of MLI’s leadership to that of Moses and Joshua, noting that MentorLink’s greatest days are still ahead.
For over two decades as a missionary based in Ecuador, Frank Hankins has focused on leadership development through mentoring relationships. His influence was felt in one-on-one relationships, training pastoral teams, writing curriculum and developing schools for lay leaders. Dr. Hankins has taught on pastoral ministry and leadership development in eight Latin American countries as well as serving as a web-based instructor with Fuller Seminary’s Master of Arts in Global Leadership.
MentorLink International’s initiatives in Africa received a tremendous boost with the addition of Dr. Tim Brannagan. Tim possess that rare combination of a mind for academic proficient and a heart for authentic pastoral care. He has served as a missionary, a Bible College academic dean and teacher, a seminary professor and mentor, and more recently as a pastor on a large church staff in the Midwest.
God grabbed Tim’s heart for Africa nearly twenty-five years ago. He says, “My...
Dr. Stacy Rinehart, founder and International Director, is pleased to announce that Dr. Rick Sessoms has accepted the call to be the new President of MentorLink International. Dr. Sessoms has served in pastorates, as vice-president of a Christian college and,most recently, as a key leadership developer for TransWorld Radio.
Rick and Stacy met while working on several leadership initiatives for the Lausanne Committee’s Leadership Development Working Group.
MentorLink, Partners International and members of the Lausanne Younger Leaders Forum hosted two weeks of training in Senegal and Cameroon. Strategic leaders from the nations of Niger, Ghana, Mali, Liberia, Mauritania and Nigeria joined their Senegal counterparts in catching a vision for multiplying leaders in the pattern of Christ. Most of these leaders minister in heavily Islamic areas.
Rene, the host partner from Partners International, preceded the ministry with a seven day fas...
Clyde Hodson, Director of Prayer Ministries for MLI, spent three weeks this spring equipping intercessors for the work of MLI country leaders in Latin America. The Lord raised hundreds of intercessors for MLI partners and their churches and ministries during that time.
Clyde taught on subjects ranging from spiritual authority, prayer partners, healing, concerts of prayer, the ministry of deliverance, affirmation of leaders and their calling and forming strategic plans for prayer. Cl...
Six of MentorLink’s international leaders representing the various regions in which the ministry is currently at work convened at a ranch north of Dallas, Texas in early August. As MLI marked its seventh year of ministry, the International Servant Team felt the Lord impressed upon them the idea of “New Beginnings” as our eighth year commences.
A key part of the new things God will be doing will come through the formation of a working group of international leaders who will play ...
MentorLink and Partners International teamed up for a six day training experience for leaders representing strategic ministries in important areas throughout Indonesia. The inherent flexibility of MentorLink’s approach and materials enabled the trainers to adapt quickly and effectively to the unique needs of the participants.
The style of the MentorLink training represents the best of adult non-formal educational strategies and methods. Self-discovery learning is central, and act...
The Christian population in this country is very much like the leaven in the kingdom parable– it is hidden but influential and growing. Reasonable estimates have the number of believers in small gatherings in the millions. To keep the busy shepherds in this part of the world nourished and able to feed the Lord’s sheep, a leadership mentoring movement with many of the same characteristics - hidden and influential – is growing.
Recently a multicultural MLI team spent many days m...
The epicenter of the freedom wave that toppled a brutal dictator was in the central square of the southwestern city of Timisoara. In 1989 Petru and Gina Bulica joined tens of thousands of believers and non-believers in standing firm day and night against political oppression. Freedom came by flickering candlelight.
Now the Bulicas are carrying a new dream of spiritual freedom that comes through Christ and His Kingdom. The once-persecuted evangelical church is still on the margins o...
One of MentorLink’s partner organizations in this huge South American country is MAPI, sponsored by OC International. David and Debbie Kornfield have lived and faithfully ministered to pastors from their base in Sao Paulo for many years. In addition to ministry hardships, the Kornfields’ daughter Karis had to endure two multiple organ transplants
Since David’s initial meeting with Stacy, Gary and Clyde over two years ago, he has opened his heart and ministry to the Lord in new...
