What is the RTI Project?
We’re bringing together two cutting-edge organizations on opposite sides of the world: Reach Training Institute (RTI) in Salem, Oregon, and the Arab lands international church.
People in the Arab culture have a high respect for men with gray hair. It’s no accident that all three of the men acting as supervisors on this project fit this description!
RTI and ICS, working together
Reach Training Institute (RTI) is in its fifth year of operation at Salem Alliance Church in Salem, Oregon. At RTI, students are prepared for ministry as company workers to both neighborhoods and nations. Their motto is “debt free and field ready.”
How It All Started
At the Middle East Field Forum, in the summer of 2018, Brad and Laura Trosen met with Steve Dangaran, dean of RTI, and made this request: would RTI be interested in setting up a field work experience for its students in the Arab lands church? The Trosens had planned a four-month sabbatical (March-June, 2019) and the church would need interim pastoral support. Steve was excited about the idea!
Putting the Team Together
After the field forum, Steve D. brought the idea back with him and began to recruit the team. RTI students Sam Wieber and Samson Dumanovskiy were chosen from Cohort 4 for the field work assignment. RTI loves to send students out on overseas field work, but they must be supervised since they receive college credit. Steve selected two couples from Salem Alliance Church to share (with him) the role of supervisors: Dave and Cindy Hayden, and Dave and Karen Votaw. Both of the Daves have served as elders at the church. Cindy is currently Pastor of Preschool Ministries, and Karen is recently retired from working on church staff in children’s ministry.
Project Plan
Sam and Samson: preparing for ministry
Both Sam and Samson are in RTI Cohort 4, and that group of students is in its second year at RTI. By the end of this project, Cohort 4 students will be ready to take their ministry license exams with the company. Sam and Samson will be preparing for those exams while they are on their field assignment in the Arab lands.
A Sequence of Supervisors
Sam and Samson, our RTI students, will stay in the Arab lands for the duration of the Trosen’s four-month sabbatical. Steve will travel with them and help get the project started. After the first month, Steve will return home, with his place being taken by Dave and Cindy. They too will stay for a month. Then after a two-week break, Dave and Karen will arrive for their month, coming home just two weeks before the end of the project.
Where We Will Stay
All members of the team will stay in the building that houses the church. The Trosens have given us the use of their three-bedroom apartment which occupies the top floor of that building.
