On July 1, Isaac* officially stepped into his new position with Rosedale International (RI) as Director of Short-Term Programs – giving leadership to the REACH, City Challenge, and RI Internship programs.
Prior to Isaac, Kevin* held the position (previously Director of SEND Ministries) for eight years. “This role has been incredibly rewarding,” Kevin said. “I can hardly think of anything that I have enjoyed doing more.” Kevin has appreciated his daily interaction with youth and learning how to be flexible through all the schedule changes and time commitments that this position brings. But in the past year, he felt God telling him that a change is coming. When this transition was proposed, he knew it was time to move on.
As Isaac began, Kevin moved into the position of Mediterranean Regional Director, where he is providing oversight to the work in the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Kevin and his family have made deep connections in the region over the years they lived and worked in Spain with RI. “It’s a part of the world that has long captured my heart,” Kevin said. “I’m incredibly excited about being more closely involved with this region of the world and working with our long term workers there.”
This train of transitions continues with the previous Mediterranean Regional Director, Jerry,* stepping into the newly created position of Associate Director of Global Missions, where he will connect with our associated workers and help build new mission partnerships. He will continue his tenure as Vice President of Finance – the office he has held for the past three and a half years – and also expand his role within the CMC Church Planting Team.
These are all significant transitions for the office, but RI has seen God’s faithfulness in bringing the right people to these places. “I feel like Isaac is uniquely gifted for this role,” Kevin said, after explaining how well he did as a REACH team leader last year. “He brings a lot of strengths when it comes to the ways that he is able to think through things and express himself. Isaac has a quiet confidence that when he speaks, people listen. I’m really excited about seeing him take this role to empower and challenge this generation of young people to be fully devoted to Christ and ready to follow his call no matter the cost.”
“I want to inspire the participants coming through because that’s what REACH did for me the first time.”
Isaac first felt the call to empower and challenge young people about ten years ago when he was working at Bethel Camp in eastern Kentucky. The boys in his cabin that week were all raised in difficult homes and Isaac saw a lot of darkness that came out of that. “But then it was really exciting to be able to feed into them, encourage them, and live life alongside them,” Isaac said. “So after that week, I thought: I really enjoyed that and I feel like I want to do something more to take another step. That’s when I signed up for REACH.”
From that point on, Isaac’s life has been a series of steps leading to working for RI. Some of the steps were big – returning to REACH as a team leader to the Himalayas and graduating from Ohio Christian University with a Business Management degree. Other steps were smaller – plugging into his home church of Turkey Run as a music director and later an elder – but they all prepared him for this leadership position.
Isaac looks forward to taking more steps and seeing young people’s lives changed by God and for God. He also looks forward to working with others in RI. “It’s really exciting to be working with a team that shares a passion and wants to be doing this job. It will be great to throw ideas off each other and find out what works, what doesn’t work, and have that kind of support structure.”
There are many unknowns ahead in this role – some of those will create stress and long days, but others will produce unexpected joys and otherworldly rewards. Isaac knows that this is not an easy job, but he hopes to see God honored through the process.
“As I’ve been thinking through this transition, the word that keeps coming back to my mind is inspire. I want to inspire the participants coming through because that’s what REACH did for me the first time.” Isaac learned to see the Kingdom of God in a new light and he wants to pass that on to others. “There is something a lot bigger and a lot deeper, and we can all be a part of that. I really want to see people catch a vision for missions and for being intentional about God’s work.”
Please pray for Isaac, Kevin, and Jerry as they work in their new roles and continue to grow. Pray that God’s redeeming power would be known in the lives of the young people who go through the RI programs.
*last names omitted for security