Leadership Meetings in Spain

Last weekend HCJB Global leadership gathered in Southern Spain. The mission's North Africa / Middle East office is in La Linea, perched at the edge of the region it ministers to, in a location with better security than it could have elsewhere. The president's team met for two days of planning, followed by a day of meetings that included the regional directors. This was my last official work with HCJB Global. I presented a major project--a report on the monitoring of the mission's Global Ends Policy. It was refreshing to see how much progress the mission has made in accomplishing the ends set out by the board of trustees two years before.

The Rock of Gibraltar at Night

La Linea is a charming Spanish town that borders Gibraltar, at the Southern end of Europe. The mountains of Morocco are visible from the Spanish coastline, and the history of the region is replete with tales of the interaction of Africa and Europe that has been underway for centuries. In fact, much of what we think of as Spanish influence in Latin America is actually Moroccan. Architecture, social structures and customs, even elements of the language have roots in North Africa. Even racially, many Latin Americans are similar to North Africans. As a result Latin Americans can move into North Africa transparently in a way that is impossible for North Americans. That is a part of the reasoning behind a plan to mobilize members of the growing Latin American evangelical church to reach the Islamic nations of North Africa.