Culture Link

2022 Program Accomplishments With Larry Ragan's accident in early January, the first quarter of 2022 was marked by altered plans and postponed events. As you read below, although his recovery took months, the Lord still provided multiple opportunities (and the resources) to serve many around the globe.In February, Ryan Hurlburt conducted a workshop that focused on cross-cultural sensitivity and effectiveness for the MissionExcellence (formerly Standards of Excellence, SOE) annual conference on short-term missions, STM ConneXion. CULTURELink was also a conference sponsor. After the event, Ryan was invited to serve on the leadership committee for the 2023 conference.In the spring of 2022, CULTURELink. began an in-depth consulting role with an Atlanta-area church. For the past year, we helped the church strengthen its global outreach initiatives, develop policies and procedures, and create a system of mobilization.Ryan led a team to Costa Rica from Lancaster County Christian School (Pennsylvania) in March to serve alongside our ministry partner, Andy Gordley. The positive experience led the school administrators to request CULTURELink's training and leadership for future teams. Later in the year, Ryan traveled to Pennsylvania twice to train their next group.Larry and Karen spent the month of April in Jordan, Northern Cypress, and Israel (see the following three points).While in Jordan, they met with the leadership of an Iraqi, Syrian, and Jordanian congregation to encourage believers and strategically plan pastors' conferences for 2022 and 2023. They also visited and worked alongside their son, Luke, who lives in Jordan.In Northern Cypress, the Ragans participated in the Groundwork Conference, where 800 workers met for four days of prayer, teaching, and worship as they focused on reaching the Muslim world for Christ. Karen, who volunteers year-round on Groundwork's leadership team, served on the conference's administrative team. Larry provided pastoral care and counseling to these servants who work in the toughest and most persecuted regions of the world.While meeting with ministry connections in Israel and Palestine, the Ragans also had the opportunity to celebrate Palm Sunday in Jerusalem and visit important sites around the Holy Land.In July, the Ragans returned to Northern Cyprus for the OPEN Connect conference to equip and encourage Business for Transformation (B4T) workers. These B4T workers are using businesses to serve in Muslim-majority nations. Larry was asked to teach best practices for cross-cultural readiness to those launching new Kingdom endeavors. However, the majority of his time-over 30 hours-was spent in formal counseling appointments, with several more informal sessions taking place over meals and in hallways.Following the B4T conference, Karen went to South Africa to assist with and attend the wedding of a couple from the Groundwork community. Karen and Larry have an ongoing mentoring relationship with this couple who serve in Pakistan.Between August and October, Ryan led three Help! We're Going On A Short-Term Trip! seminars-one in Atlanta, GA, one in Tampa, FL with his home church, and one in Philadelphia, PA in partnership with Catalyst Services.Larry and Karen returned to Lebanon in September-their first visit since 2020. They conducted a four-day spiritual life retreat for the seventy Lebanese and Syrian staff of Heart for Lebanon (H4L). Following the retreat, Larry spent two days in one-on-one counseling sessions with H4L staff. The Ragans remained in Lebanon to encourage and serve two more teams serving with other organizations. After this time in Lebanon, Larry returned to Jordan to guide two more teams on conflict resolution, avoiding spiritual burnout, and other issues.Ryan trained and mobilized a short-term team for a local church at the end of September-the congregation's first trip since the pandemic. After their return, the response from the field site was encouraging-the church was asked to facilitate the same activities annually as part of the host's ministry calendar.On October 22, the Ragans boarded a plane to spend a month serving cross-cultural workers around the globe. First, they attended the Balkan Call conference in Istanbul, Turkey to assist with missionary care and administration. This event hosted over 300 pastors and strategic church leaders from across the Balkans.After Balkan Call in Istanbul, the Ragans were directed to a safehouse to teach on servant leadership and pastoral ministry to a group of Persian church leaders. These brothers and sisters are currently in the leadership development program with ELAM Ministries, preparing to reach the Persian population within and outside Iran.Following the two weeks in Turkey, the Ragans left for Somaliland to teach and invest in a multinational B4T team that is using their farming and land restoration business to reach people with the gospel.The conclusion of Larry and Karen's trip was an unplanned detour to Pakistan, where they spent a mutually encouraging and refreshing time with the B4T couple who were married in South Africa in August. Ryan returned to Costa Rica in November to disciple a group of college students serving on a Gap Year with Atlas Travel & Study Abroad. Our friends at Atlas also invited CULTURELink to recruit and lead specialized teams that will travel to Costa Rica in the future for a week-long intensive to study, discuss, and observe B4T concepts. While in Costa Rica, Ryan also met with a ministry using trauma counseling and small business training to transform communities and another local church to explore deeper partnerships with churches in the U.S.From relationships formed at the conferences mentioned above, Larry has been in regular communication with several workers in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans via Zoom for follow-up care sessions. These servants join the dozens of other workers CULTURELink already mentors around the globe.Since 2010, the total number of leaders CULTURELink has trained is now over 2600. These servants have gone on to mobilize teams and conduct ministry in 127 nations.CULTURELink continues to partner with another Atlanta-area nonprofit, Global Frontier Missions, to host a monthly gathering of ministry leaders and mobilizers. These events are helping other ministries better network and more effectively collaborate with each other.CULTURELink continues to invest in and serve our partners at Royal Kids School in Mombasa, Kenya.