pioneers wanted/needed

OK so how do we ‘produce’ pioneers? Maybe some will feel this is a daft question – nurture versus nature and all that. However, if we can’t produce how do we harness those with the appropriate gifts for the kingdom – and, dare I say it, the church? Both the Anglicans and the Methodists are developing some training for pioneer Ministers of some kind or another and those of us in the so-called freer marketplace could easily be left behind once again. (I’m sure we don’t mean to, but there is a veneer of arrogance which Baptists  can find themselves coated in when we merely respond ‘been there, done that’ = we have nothing to learn). One of the problems is what Spurgeon’s discovered some years ago – which comes first the planter or the planted? Consequently, in the absence of up-and-running plants who wanted a character who was anticipating full-time, paid, accredited ministry, many of those ‘trained’ (what does that mean?) in, or for, planting had nowhere to go. As a result many gravitated to the pastoral ministry and became frustrated with a one-size-fits-all mentality. So, one question I’m asking again is can we equip planters on-the-job? Obviously, there’s a load of issues here, but why not? So far no one’s given me a good answer – plenty of excuses, but no answer, which has put me off thinking along such lines. If anyone wants to drop me an e-mail with the kind of wisdom I need to hear, feel free via nigcoles@tiscali.co.uk