Challenging Perceptions 8,500 Feet Above Sea Level

Esteban Larrosa, TWR’s international vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, spoke at TWR’s biennial Ibero-Americas National Partners Conference Tuesday.

Imagine you are on the streets of a large city and you’re approached by six teenagers, wanting something.

Just a bit unsettling? Or at least unexpected?

I am among 50 people from 21 nations here for TWR’s biennial Ibero-Americas National Partners Conference, an event celebrating our shared mission “to reach the world for Christ by mass media so that lasting fruit is produced.”

We are here, where TWR is known as RTM or Radio Trans Mundial, also to find encouragement from one another and share ideas. An innovative approach that brings results in Brazil might be worth trying in Honduras or the Dominican Republic, for example.

We’re hosted by the team from RTM Colombia, and it’s impossible to imagine any group being more warm and welcoming.

It’s a gathering that no one is taking for granted.

“I don’t know if there will be another opportunity for this,” said 80-year-old Lemuel Larrosa, “retired” director of Latin America ministries for TWR, as he began the opening devotions on Tuesday morning. “Because our world is changing so rapidly.”

Then, he added: “Seeing one another is a great blessing.”

Love From Norway

Although most people are here from the region, there are also people representing Spain, Germany, Canada, the United States, New Zealand – that would be new TWR President Andy Schick – and Norway.

Norway?

“What are you doing here?” I asked Kenneth Hjortland, president of the board of TWR partner P7 in Norway.

Hjortland explained that P7’s listeners provide support for some of the Latin America ministries, and he was happy to make that trip that turned out to take 37 hours. The Norwegian listeners’ support was affirmed not long after I talked with him when Gabriel Fernandez of RTM

Venezuela presented Hjortland with a plaque honoring P7’s support of a beloved children’s program called Pedrito the Little Octopus.

Looking Ahead

Although it is a time for celebration, the conference also is a time for acknowledging challenges.

During Tuesday’s morning session, Esteban Larrosa called on the partners to think about the next generation of leaders. Esteban, who is Lemuel’s son, is TWR’s international vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. He cited 2 Timothy, which is the conference’s study text, for the example of how Paul was preparing Timothy and others after him to continue the work.

“You need to be planning about who’s going to take your place,” Esteban said. “You can’t leave that to chance.”

In his address, Schick affirmed the servant leadership style of TWR.

“I believe that the best ideas rarely come from the top,” said Schick, who was meeting with most of these regional leaders for the first time since becoming CEO. “They emerge from the crevasses and the cracks of an organization. … Leadership’s role is to listen, to nurture and to amplify those innovations. That requires humility from all of us.”

Walk, Interrupted

The conference began with a meal on Monday evening, with the rest packed into three full days. Still, from our downtown location, there’s a little time to explore this city of 8 million people, at an elevation of 8,500 feet.

I was feeling that elevation after climbing a flight of steps outdoors on a walk to the market with Schick, TWR Chief Content Officer Jon Fugler and Phillip Ruesch of the Human Resources team in Europe.

I had to pause and catch my breath. Perhaps that’s what gave the six teenagers referenced above time to intercept us. Using translators on their phones and limited English, they explained that they were on a class assignment to interview foreigners about their perception of Colombia.

Somehow, they figured we might be foreigners.

We agreed to their polite request, and each of us in turn was interviewed briefly. One question asked of each was what our perceptions of Colombians had been. We were truthful, and some of us mentioned words such as “drugs” and “violence” and "lawlessness."

The teenage interviewers, along with everything I’ve seen in Bogotá so far, bring those stereotypes into question. Instead, words such as “warm,” “friendly” and “polite” come to mind. I’m sure that’s not true of everyone in Colombia, but neither are the negative stereotypes.

That encounter in itself made me glad I came.

Images: (top, banner) Esteban Larrosa, TWR’s international vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, spoke at TWR’s biennial Ibero-Americas National Partners Conference Tuesday; (bottom, right) A young woman interviews TWR President and CEO Andy Schick while he and a group of TWR staff explored the city of Bogotá.