Missionary to Latin America, Russell Cline

Russell Cline is a missionary in Quito, Ecuador. Although he is an American, he grew up in Ecuador. His Dad was a missionary and ran a short wave radio station where they would broadcast Christian messages all over the world (J. DeVore, personal communication, April 17, 2010). Cline attended Azusa Pacific University in Southern California. He studied business administration and religious studies. Upon completing his studies, Cline took a part-time job in Los Angeles as a youth pastor while he prepared for graduate school (Cline, 2010). His experience with missionary work and his love for youth ministry formed his  ministry in Ecuador.

In 1994, Cline partnered with Youth Builders to form a youth ministry training center in South America, called Youth World International. Youth World started out as a local ministry in Ecuador as a “multi-national, multi-faceted organization teaching, modeling and developing youth ministry throughout Latin America” (Cline, 2010). Over forty-five team members serve in over six different areas of South America. Because of Youth World, Cline has had the opportunity to train youth ministers all over the world. Of youth workers, Cline (2010) observes this trend: “they are stretched, on the verge of burnout, lonely and they need some help!” (¶ 5). His goal is to “empower nationals to be able to more effectively minister to those they are called to minister to” (J. DeVore, personal communication, April 17, 2010).

Youth world has since branched off into several other ministries. El Refugio is a camp ministry which Cline started. Extreme Response is a ministry which targets people who live in the refuse sites outside the cities. Cline and his team provide schooling for the children and job training for the adults. Cline has also set up an international relief team to serve the needs of people in crisis areas. Finally, Leader Mundial is an organization which travels all over the world to do conferences on leadership for pastors and youth pastors. Upon meeting certain criteria, the organization will also fly leaders to Ecuador for mentoring (J. DeVore, personal communication, April 17, 2010).

One of the things which really sets Cline apart from other missionaries is that “when he sees a ministry need, he begins to gather people and resources to lead the ministry. [Then] he lets go, walks away and oversees the various ministries he has started” (J. DeVore, personal communication, April 17, 2010). He isn’t in it for his own glory, but for God’s glory to be shown around the world.

References

Cline, R. (2010) Leader Mundial: Who is Russ Cline. Retrieved from             http://www.leadermundial.com/p2.cfm?pg=16

Image Credits: Leader Mundial