When we launched the idea of Servant Leaders we had the desire to correct a problem we had suffered in church planting for many years.  For to long we had celebrated church plants survival but not its thriving, in other words its ability to reproduce.  We had "graduated" local churches to "independence" and we had seen others do the same looking for one measure of success, survival.  We had raised up leaders to take over the local church and left the work in their hands, praying that God would fill in the gaps and help them to move forward.  What we never had confidence in was their ability to repeat our model.

The original idea of SL was to provide the tools and support to the churches we had a hand in starting gain the confidence to lead someone through their initial steps in Christ to a place where they could minister in the local church and begin to lead if God had called them to do so.  This would take tools such as materials such as courses etc. that could be placed in their hands.  Over 7 years ago we began writing material and created websites to house them.  This material would be available to everyone who needed basic discipleship studies to leadership training courses.  It has been amazing to see how God has taken this idea and moved it into a space we never envisioned.  We have over 23 courses and more on the way.  All free with presentations.  Our material is being used to train in many different ways.  We are conducting online training through two different platforms that have impacted over 500 individuales in the last 24 months.  We are conduction onsite training in 4 countries in Spanish, English and Portugues and will soon be doing so in German.  

It has been amazing to see God expand our team way beyond what we imagined possible.  We currently have 6 full time SLI Missionary families in Latin America, USA and Europe.  We have 7 other families working along side SLI in different capacities.  We partner with over 16 churches on 3 continents  in 8 countries where SL training is or will be taking place.  

Some of the things we are working on!

INTERNSHIPS,TRAINING and MISSIONARY ACADEMY:  Training is an integral piece of what we do with our local church partners.  We continue to expand our Ethnos online discipleship platform as well as our partnership with Anchor Christian University.  We are in the process of planning Ethnos Missionary Academy 10 days of front lines cross cultural missionary exposure and training for college and career aged men and women. The training will be conducted in Germany, Ecuador and the USA.  Pray with us as we pray and plan to get the pieces together for over the next 6 months.  We are also working hard to set up Servant Leaders Missions Internships where young men and women can spend 12-24 months ministering alongside missionaries/pastors on the front lines learning and growing in cross cultural missions.  Pray as we take steps to set this up in Ecuador and Germany.  We will share more about both of these in the months to come.

Woolford Year End Report 2017

We want to thank every church and individual who has partnered with us over the past year. We know that each one of you has been used by God to empower us to complete His call on our lives. Thank you so much. We want to share with you a summary of all that God has done in the past year. Cam and Kerry have been involved in....

Onsite Training Modules Conducted
1.  January SL Training Fredericksburg, OH
2.  March SL with Ecuadorian pastors Germany
3.  April SL Training Millersburg OH
4.  May SL Training Dover Delaware
5.  July SL Training Ecuador
6.  August Building Team to Costa Rica
7.  October SL Training Ecuador
8.  November SL Training Georgetown, Delaware
9.  December SL Training Brazil

Ministry Mentoring Relationships
10 relationships in 3 countries Ecuador, Costa Rica and USA

Ethnos2819.org Ministry Training
10 men in training Ecuador, Costa Rica and USA

Oversight of Church to Church Partnerships: Cam continues to grow the church on church partnerships as well as try to create new ones. This past year we have seen the partnership between Midway Baptist Church (Michigan), Beacon Baptist Church (New York) and Iglesia Bautista La Fe (Ecuador) come together and launch a new church. We have seen so much fruit from these partnership, such as Sussex County Bible Church(Delaware) working to help raise the funds for Roca Viva’s (Costa Rica) new building.

Servant Leaders Masters Partnership with Anchor University/Clarks Summit University:
SLI created a partnership with these institutions to help partnering missionaries work on their graduate level studies while on the field. Cam has been facilitating Joe DePuy (Ecuador) and Dave Carrel (Brazil) through their Master’s work over the past year. Because of the partnership the students have received a scholarship making the program more affordable.
Curriculum Development: Cam has been dedicating a lot of time over this past year to overseeing the translating and organizing all of the Servant Leaders materials into English, Spanish and Portuguese. Cam has directly been overseeing the Spanish team which consists of 3 Ecuadorians and the English team of 3 here in the States. We have made amazing progress in the development of these materials. We continue to see God bless as we make them available to churches for ministry and leadership development.
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Organizational Leadership for Servant Leaders International: Over the past year we have seen SLI grow in scope and influence. We have a training platform, website, curriculum, missionary families, partnering churches and nationals in North, Central and South America, all needing ovsight and support. When we launched as a 501c3 we took on a whole new organizational responsibility. We continue to expect great things from God and are very grateful for the ability to serve Him as He grows us and the ministry.
    
You all have been so very faithful to sustain us with prayer and finances. If you would like a detailed report on our finances, we would be more than happy to accommodate that. Please let us know by emailing us at cwoolford@servantleaderstraining.com

As we head into this new year please be in prayer for new ministry opportunities on the horizon.

1.  We have been working on starting a cooperative training program with Anchor Christian University to provide bachelor’s degrees in Bible to our partnering pastors and leaders in Latin America. We hope to launch the first course in January.


2.  We are always looking to grow our local church partnerships. In January Cam will travel with a team to investigate the opportunity of creating one of these training partnerships in Northern Mexico.

3.  It has been our dream to help mobilize young men and women into cross cultural missions. We are working on a local church missions training through ethnos2819.org We hope to have that launching within the next few months. Please keep this in your prayers, this will be the first step in raising up men and women who are willing to go and serve cross culturally.

Below is a list of the church partnerships where we are currently participating with mentoring, mobilizing and multiplying.
La Fuente Church – Quito, Ecuador
Iglesia Biblica Bereana – Yaruqui, Ecuador
Iglesia Biblica Renacer – Pifo, Ecuador
Iglesia Biblica Bereana – Quinche, Ecuador
Iglesia Bautista La Fe – Cuenca, Ecuador
Iglesia Bautista La Fe – Misicata, Ecuador
Iglesia Bautista Roca Viva – Paraiso, Costa Rica
Igreja Batista Koinonia - Arcoverde, Brazil
Kentwood Baptist Church- Kentwood, Michigan
First Baptist Church - St Louis, Michigan
Beacon Baptist Church - Clay, New York
Gage Chapel - Forestville, New York
Sussex County Bible Church - Georgetown, Delaware
Midway Baptist church - Watervliet, Michigan
​Cornerstone Community Church - Millersburg, Ohio

As we enter this new year we count on your partnership to move Servant Leaders International into new areas of ministry impact.
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Your Partners in the Gospel, Cameron and Kerry Woolford

Up until my mid teens I was raised in the Roman Catholic church.  After becoming a born again believer I spent my adult life reaching Roman Catholics with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  One of the questions I would ask family members and those I was trying reach with the gospel in Latin America was "what does 'Catholic' mean?".  No one could ever clearly explain what that word meant.  It is interesting to go back in history to documents such as the Nicene Creed, written in 381, and see the words  “holy catholic church”.  This holy catholic church was not referring to the Roman Catholic church but to the UNIVERSAL or one church of Jesus Christ.  The word 'catholic' refers the miraculous act of the gospel in creating a unified church of believers throughout time not limited by geographic location (The Universal Church).  Paul made reference to this in the powerful result of the gospel in Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."  The power of the gospel has given us a community that spans over every border, crosses every culture and overcomes every language barrier. That is amazing!  
 
We live in our local churches resisting this truth in so many ways.  Our focus is on a large  L (Local)  and a small u (Universal). We forget that the power of the Universal church lies in the local. We forget the power of the Local church is realized through the Universal. Our resources, our efforts all center on striving to thrive at the Local church even at the cost of the Universal. We hear stories of the need of the Universal, local churches around the world that need our spiritual gifts, our abilities, our resources and for a moment we are moved but so quickly focus back on ourselves and the apparent difficulty in helping the Universal church.  I have talked to many pastors who have told me they cannot give their time to equip and encourage the Universal church because their Local church will not permit time off, sharing of their pastors.  If these local churches recognized their responsibility/great opportunity to strengthen their church universal  We have done a great job disconnecting ourselves from the Universal church and its need and in doing so we have limited God's blessing on our churches.  I believe that God blesses local churches that have a Universal focus.

 July was full of opportunities to connect and serve.  We were able to teach multiple workshops to the leadership and women ministries of the three churches that partner with Servant Leaders in Northern Ecuador.  Tech Ministry Network provided us with a team to help record the teaching as well as assist the local churches with technology training and consulting.  In partnership with Hamilton Hills church in Fishers Indiana, Servant Leaders  and Tech Ministry Network provided assistance to a pastors retreat for over 55 pastors and their families.  We then traveled with the Tech Ministry team to Cuenca where they conducted training and assistance to the or partnering churches.  The above pictures show just a few of the moments of all that God was doing. 

How do we get churches in Latin America involved in sending out missionaries?  This question has been in my mind for many years.  I believe the key is to move the youth to gain a new vision for missions.  As a college student I had the opportunity to go on a one year missions internship in Ecuador that changed my life.  It confirmed God's call in my life to missions, opening me up to the need and possibilities that exist in other countries.  With this in mind it is the desire of Servant Leaders to create the same type of opportunities for young adults in Latin America.  We are in the process of creating a plan to make this happen in multiple countries throughout Latin America and now in Germany.  The trip to Germany helped not only to create the partnership there but also served as a learning time for the Ecuadorian pastors and creating a vision for the possibilities of this ministry in their region and in Europe.  Pray as we seek to pull the resources together to make this happen as soon as possible.  

Servant Leaders Ministry 2016

1.  SL Training (Trips with SL Trainers conducting the teaching)

           Costa Rica:   Iglesia Bautista Roca Viva
               January -  Church History and Theology 4
               February -  Church Planting  
               March -  Theology 5

          Ecuador:  Quichua Church Chimborazo, Iglesia Bautista La Fe Cuenca and Berean Bible Churches Yaruqui
              March - Christian Family, Quichua Church
              May - Church Planting, La Fe, Cuenca
              September - Theology and Practice of Servant Leadership, La Fe, Cuenca
              November -  Mentoring Ministry, Strategic Planning Centrality of the Local Church;  Berean Bible Church
                                  of  Yaruqui

          USA:  Ohio and Delaware
               April - Centrality of the Local Church, Cornerstone Community Church, OH
               October - Conflict Management, Cornerstone Community Church, OH
               October -  Missions, Centrality of the Local Church, Faith Community Church, DE
               November -  Multicultural Ministry, Calvary Baptist Church, DE

2.  Special Ministry (activities Servant Leaders has participated in)

     February - Leadership Retreat, Costa Rica 
     February - Men’s Retreat, Michigan/Ohio 
     March - Youth Missions Trip through Northern, Central and Southern Ecuador
     April - T4G with pastors from Ecuador and Costa Rica
     September - Strategic Partnership Meetings; La Fe, Cuenca, Ecuador
     November - Strategic Planning, 3 Berean churches in Quinche, Ecuador
     December -  Strategic Planning with pastors at Roca Viva, Costa Rica

3.  Churches where Servant Leaders teaching and resources are being used with some direct connection to Servant Leaders International.

     USA:  
     Beacon Baptist Church, Clay, NY
     Calvary Baptist Church, Brewerton, NY
     Cornerstone Community Church, Millersburg, OH
     First Baptist Church, St Louis, MI
     Heritage Baptist Church, Kentwood, MI
     First Baptist Church, Brunswick, OH
     Northbridge Community Church, Kalamazoo, MI

     Ecuador:
     Faith Baptist Church, Cuenca 
     Berean Bible Church, Yaruqui 
     Berean Bible Church, Pifo
     The Source Bible Church, Quito

     Costa Rica:
     Living Rock Baptist Church, Paraíso

     Brazil:
     Koinonia Baptist Church, Acroverde 

5.  Servant Leaders Ministry Coaching:  Currently there are 7 pastors in 3 countries being coached weekly or bi monthly.

6.  ethnos2819.org:  There are 13 churches using the ethnos platform with over 250 people receiving training at different times.

​“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin-
In life one of our greatest responsibilities and opportunities is to Mentor. We should be involved in mentoring our spouse,children, coworkers and many others. The problem is we don’t fulfill the role of a mentor and leave a vacuum waiting for others step into to the void and meet the need, many times it is for evil and not good.
A Mentor is someone whom I trust as a personal teacher and guide. They touch on three areas in the mentoring relationship.

They INSTRUCT me what I need to know. They accomplish this through instruction.
They SHOW me what I need to be. They accomplish this by giving a model to follow.
They GIVE me opportunity to do what I need to be doing. They accomplish this by giving opportunities to practice.

Each member in the mentoring relationship has three key practices to keep:
1. The Mentor must -  Instruct, Model and Coach
2. The Student must  -Learn, Observe and Practice

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We can look at the mentoring relationship as a bridge that starts with teaching and is connected to the other person through a modeling that leads to a desired outcome, direct application to life and ministry. The Local Church has been really good at
the TEACH piece. We have created many different opportunities for people to gather in large and small groups to learn. In many cases we have been successful in imparting information and some cases knowledge. What the church has lacked is the good at the MODEL piece. We lack the relationships that bridge the gap that creates a clear understanding that moves truth into action. The church has the tendency to expect men and women to apply the truth into life and ministry when they are not sure what it looks like and how to go about it. The three steps in the mentoring process increases the outcome where they move from hearers to doers.

Local church development should be intentional and orderly. As the church moves through stages of development there are certain resources that are needed for it to mature and move into the next stage of development. Many churches get stuck in certain stages because their development was not intentional and lacked the resources necessary for it to progress forward. If development is not intentional or for some reason is halted due to lack of resources, the church can get stuck in a stage and move into survival mode within that stage. So, for example you could have a church that is 10 years old but stuck in Stage 2 development. I have always seen church development in three basic stages. (This might be an over simplification) As a family we are working with a few churches at stage 2, helping them to create the leadership pipelines they need to sustain and multiply leadership needs.


Stage 1: Engaging Church - Evangelism to Discipleship is the focus of this stage. 
During this stage the focus is to engage the community with the purpose of spreading the gospel. Once the gospel begins to take root the focus is engaging new believers in discipleship to creat committed followers of Jesus Christ. During this period of time individual Christians become part of a group of Christians who birth a community of Christians, the local church. A formal local church is launched 


Stage 2: Empowering Church - Mentoring to Mastering is the focus of this stage. Disciples of Christ are now moved into participating members of their local church. Men and women are now beginning to use their spiritual and natural gifts to build up the body of believers. A leadership development process is instituted to provide the church with the men and women she will need to not only sustain her but to move into healthy reproduction. 


Stage 3: Establishing Church - Maintenance to Mobilization is the focus of this stage. The church is functioning as an autonomous local church (self governing and self sustaining). It now is capable of moving men and women beyond their local community of believers with a focus on planting new churches. This takes place through the sending out of men and women to plant churches locally as well as internationally.