My First Trip: Albania

During the first year of a child's life (or at least the firstborn's life), parents will often keep a baby book with all of the child's firsts. This week, I'll be logging a first in my "Baby Missionary's Book." This will be my first major expedition within my new role, where I'll be officially representing Bible Centered Ministries International (BCM) as an established worker. I'll be going to Tirana, Albania for a week, which has my innards doing somersaults from nervous excitement.

In conversations with friends, I've been asked a lot of questions about my trip. I'd like to go through and answer them for you all the best I can.

Albania is a country the size of Hawaii located east of Italy. I will be going to the capital, Tirana.

Where are you going? Where even is Albania?

Albania is a former-Soviet country that is located just east of Italy. It is about the same size as Hawaii. I'll be going to the capital city, Tirana along with a few other smaller cities and towns.

When will you be there?

I'll be flying to Albania on Thursday, February 27th and I'll arrive back in America on Saturday, March 8th. This amounts to my being in the country for about eight days plus travel time.

Are you traveling with anyone?

For this trip, I have the joy of being able to go with my mother, Esther Zimmerman! She will be attending the same conference I am, although she is going for the purpose of advocating for children's ministry, which is a slightly different goal than mine.

What are you going to be doing there?

On Friday afternoon we will arrive in the country, so the first day will be getting settled where we are staying.

On Saturday and Sunday, Esther and I will be connecting with some missionaries in the surrounding regions whom we have connections with. There will be two days of ministry trainings while we are there.

On Monday, Esther and I will head to Tirana, the capital, where we will be attending the C-25 conference put on by the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE). During this conference, there will be hundreds of delegates from around the world to think-tank Theological Education. There will be speakers, think-tanks, discussion groups, along with lots of networking opportunities.

I will be part of a think-tank group called "Contextually Rooted-Curriculular Engagement." Our goal is to think through how to make sure that any theological training curriculum is culturally relevant and culturally accessible to the area it is being taught in.

This conference runs from Monday, March 3rd through Friday, March 7th, and on Saturday, March 8th, we will be flying back home

Why have you prioritized this trip?

In my role as Director of Global Education at BCM, I wear three main hats: overseer of existing ministries, curriculum developer and tester, and networker. This conference is one of the main gatherings for those doing theological education ministry, and so there will be various missionaries, Bible college professors and leaders, and school accreditors (those who regular degree programs and certify that the programs are quality enough to be handing out degrees).

During this trip, I want to learn from others who are in similar roles as mine, but I am also looking for potential ministry partnerships during this time.

Are there any seminary professors who might be willing to volunteer teach at BCM seminaries on occasion? Are there any missions who are doing training ministry that might be willing to work together on a curriculum development project? Are there any institutions that might be willing to partner with us on a missionary training weekend in a given region?

These strategic partnerships like these would allow us to work smarter, not harder for our kingdom purpose

How can we pray?

• Pray that Esther and I will have safe and simple travels to, from, and in Albania during this trip.

• Pray for the Context-Rooted Curricular Engagement Impact Team as we grapple through important ministry questions together during the week.

• Pray for energy and focus through the jet-lag, so our time there will be beneficial.

• Pray that God will use this trip to continue to grow and shape me spiritually and on a personal level.

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Prayers and Praises:

Partnership Development (Support-Raising):

• Praise God that I am up to 17% funding! God has been faithfully bringing partners to be who are committed to pray and provide as I'm on this journey

• Pray that God will continue to make His will clear throughout this process.

• Pray that God will lead me to those He has planned for me to partner with.

Albania Trip:

• Praise God for the opportunity to attend this conference and network with many amazing world leaders.

• Pray that Esther and I will have safe and simple travels to, from, and in Albania during this trip.

• Pray for the Context-Rooted Curricular Engagement Impact Team as we brainstorm leading up to the conference and for our conversations during the conference.

• Pray for energy through the jet-lag. It will be an intense week full of amazing opportunities, so please pray that we'll be awake enough to take advantage of them.

• Pray that God will use this trip to continue to grow and shape me spiritually.

Upcoming Trip Dates: 

• Feb. 27th -March 8th-- International Council of Evangelical Theological Education Conference (Tirana, Albania)

• (Possible) May 6th-May 16th--Kampala, Uganda (Details to Come)

Current Support: 17%