TUMBLING SHOALS — His office is nearly 7 miles outside of Heber Springs, but on a recent Wednesday afternoon, Ryan Bush was giving others advice on tarantulas that live in Shushufindi Canton, Ecuador.
Last month, Bush became president of the Tumbling Shoals-based nonprofit International Church Planters, which provides Bible training to pastors around the globe so they can be stronger leaders in their church communities.
“It is unique because our focus is training pastors and church leaders,” he said. “A lot of other mission organizations focus on felt needs. They focus maybe on job skills or disease eradication or dealing with economic stuff, micro-business — which is all really great stuff.”
Bush, a Lamar native who studied psychology and biblical studies at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, returned to his home state last year by way of Memphis, Tennessee, where he and his wife were missionaries who started two Spanish-speaking churches and a Vietnamese-speaking church, he said. His time in Memphis allowed him to experience Latino, Vietnamese, Afghani and Fulani communities, he said.
Bush replaces former president Bill Williams, who is now the senior vice president of operations. Bush said he wasn’t considering a return to Arkansas when he got the phone call one day for the offer to become president of the organization.
“We were in Memphis, and the last place I thought I’d end up would be rural Arkansas,” said Bush, who lives in Heber Springs. “It just wasn’t on my radar at all.”
While a student at Ouachita Baptist, Bush became drawn to other languages and cultures. After college, he spent two years in South America for mission work, then attended the Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis to earn a master’s degree.
Having a global reach is a part of the organization’s objective, but Bush doesn’t always have to be abroad to make that happen. He holds trainings from the nonprofit’s office in Tumbling Shoals and has even done trainings via Facebook Messenger.
“Every Monday morning, I meet with a pastor from Mombasa, Kenya, for an hour, hour and a half, over Skype,” he said. “Every Tuesday morning, I meet with pastors from India for a couple of hours on Skype. Daily, I’m visiting with pastors overseas.”
Bush has traveled consistently since 1999 to places such as South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Vietnam, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Italy. He speaks fluent Spanish, and his daughter was born in Peru.
International Church Planters — which includes a handful of staff members and is made up of members of various churches from across the state — spends anywhere from a week to six weeks conducting Bible institutes and Bible trainings for pastors abroad.
Bush said humility and faithfulness are some of the key characteristics a leader should have. He is implementing new strategies for the organization, and its mission-work schedule is currently in flux.
“Right now, next year, our goal is to have 10 to 12 on-site trainings in different parts of the world,” he said.
Bush said those who travel for mission work should remember that the visit is not about them.
“We’re very aware of the potential for trips to be a little more than religious tourism,” he said. “When a team goes, it can easily slip into just an experience for them and not so much producing long-term benefit on the ground. What we want to do is design a strategy and trips that are a great experience for the team members that go, but also have long-term benefit to the community there.”
International Church Planters does on-the-ground training in Tanzania, Kenya and Ecuador, and has relationships with individuals in about eight other countries.
“Our goal is by 2025 to have established 10 training centers across the globe,” he said, “fully established, with good cycles going and a faculty in place. We don’t have that anywhere yet.”
He said the countries became partner countries through connections.
“Someone in Kenya knows a family in Ghana, and we connected through that. We can talk and do an exploratory trip, and one thing leads to another,” he said.
Being abroad helped Bush realized how often he and other Americans live so closely to their calendars. He’s learned that he doesn’t value relationships as much as he should.
“We have appointments,” he said. “We tend to be work-driven, work-focused. Most other countries, that’s kind of turned on its head. They do have deadlines. They do have tasks, but more importantly, they have relationships that need to be maintained. If someone stops by your office unexpectedly, that’s an honor. This is an important relationship, so you stop what you’re doing, and you make tea, and you spend two, three hours with them.”
Bush said a common misconception about mission work is that it destroys cultures, which he noted can happen. Sometimes, he said, missionaries also encourage the communities they visit to adopt Western dress and song, too.
“True mission work doesn’t do that. Thankfully, we recognize that,” he said. “What true mission work does is actually make the culture better. It takes the Gospel into a culture, and people express their faith in their own forms, in their own language, in their own musical style and their own way of telling stories, dancing, whatever it is.”
Bush said there are not many resources for pastors in other countries to receive training, and that many pastors in other parts of the world look to television for inspiration. He said that when organization members go abroad, they are welcomed.
“For the most part, people around the world aren’t looking to harm Westerners or Christians,” he said. “Most people are hospitable, and most people are looking out for our best interests.”
One of the most challenging parts of the president role, he said, is securing fundraising for the nonprofit. He crisscrosses the state to meet with people and inform them about the organization in order for them to become partners with it, he said.
“We function 100 percent on gifts, on donations from individuals and churches,” he said. “Now that we’re expanding our work, that means we also need to expand how much money we have coming in. For an introverted-ish person like me, that gets exhausting.”
Since entering the role, Bush said he’s learned more about time management and not taking his work home with him. Instead, he focuses on spending time with his wife, who is pregnant, and their four kids. He also said he’s still developing his leadership style and becoming a stronger communicator.
“This is more like a day-to-day team effort, and that’s new for me,” he said. “It’s been challenging because I’m not great at constant communication and bringing people along in their project. What I’m good at is casting a vision and developing a long-term strategy and saying, ‘Here are the benchmarks we need to hit.’”
Bush said the goal is to conduct many international trainings over the course of 18 months. After the first cycle, those participants will become co-trainers during the second cycle. For the third cycle, participants will completely lead trainings on their own.
“In Kenya, we’ll be replaced by Kenyans. That’s the goal,” he said.
Bush said that in five years, he’d like the International Church Planters staff and international engagement to be doubled, with five training centers established in parts of the world. For now, he’s focused on reaching those goals and allowing the same feeling he had while working in Memphis to be with him in his new role with the organization.
“I feel so fulfilled and happy with what I do,” he said.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.