African Overachiever?

And I thought I was busy being involved with four different mission organizations!

But during the past couple of days, I learned it would be impossible to match the output of one particular Nigerian mission leader, especially one with the ambitions of Timothy Olonade.

With Timothy Olonade in Nigeria

This past Saturday and Sunday, I agreed to participate in a pastor’s conference that Timothy was presenting in the capital city of Abuja. I’ve known Tim for some time, meeting up with him here and there in various global consultation over the past twenty years. However, this is the first time I’ve had the privilege of seeing him in action—on his own turf. Passionate about getting local pastors to fully use the Bible in their own preaching, his practical workshop has taught them to use such resources as the Preacher’s Outline Bible. By the end of the conference, I was impressed how both pastors and their wives were capable of taking any passage and present a five minute mini-sermon complete with three or four points.

But this is just the beginning of Timothy’s impressive list of involvements. Summarizing all of it under the label of M2414 (for Mathew 24:14) here are just SOME of his activities:

·         BLM – Bible for Life & Ministry Workshop

·         Kairos: Connecting God, the Church and the World

·         GIST: Global Impact Strategic Training

·         EWI: Encountering the World of Islam Seminars

·         MDN: Mentor Development Network

·         PIN: Professionals into the Nations

·         EEG: Engagement with Elders at the Gate (encouraging senior leaders)

If that isn't enough, Timothy is also the Africa rep for Global Mapping International besides serving on the steering committees of the Lausanne Movement and the Ethne-To-Ethne consultation. Even his wife, Hannah has followed his example launching Women of God International and the SMILES Initiative, a ministry to widows and orphans.

I’ve learned that articulate national mission leaders like Timothy are usually in high demand on the international speaking circuit. That has certainly been true of him in the past. But what I really appreciate most about these two days of working together is seeing how Timothy is living out his new commitment to turn down international invitations and focus his remaining years on mentoring the next generation of pastors and leaders right here in his own country.

Overachievers or not, I'm praying that Africa can produce a lot more key leaders with that same kind of commitment!

eHarmony. . . Nigerian Style

While here in Nigeria this past week for a leadership training workshop, I've heard some amazing stories of the latest money-making schemes being concocted by creative scam artists.  Unfortunately, these are actually church leaders.

Nigerian young people worshiping in the church
 I attended this morning

Apparently one of the latest varieties of the “Name it--claim it” prosperity gospel is a way to tie the knot with that special someone you don’t have the nerve to propose to or whose parents you think would disapprove of you as a son-in-law. By simply handing over between 50,000 to 100,000 Naira to church elders, they will arrange a secret briefing with the pastor who will suddenly get a “word from the Lord” in the middle of a future sermon.

“God has just told me there is a young woman wearing a red dress somewhere in this section of the church who is supposed to marry a young man in a black suit over here,” he will say. “Come out, come out and be identified.  This is what the Lord wants you to do. If you disobey, you will pay the consequences of God’s wrath.”

And, of course... who would want to go against a "word from the Lord?!" For the scheming young man, wedding bells are just around the corner.

I’ve also learned this same technique is being applied in other ways as well, such as people wanting to get employed by a certain business or others needing to be forgiven an outstanding debt. Whatever the case, these false pastors are turning their Pentecostal-style churches into big business. 

However, in some recent case, there was such in-fighting between elders and pastor on how to divvy up their scam money that police had to be called in to settle the conflict, thus exposing their less-than-divine practices.

Guess the truth of Number 32:23 still stands: “Be sure your sin will find you out.”

Leadership Essentials Workshop

“This workshop has been a real eye-opener to what leadership is all about. I am much thankful.”

That was a typical comment I received after completing a three day leadership training on behalf of Wycliffe Associates here in Jos, Nigeria with members of the national Bible translation organization.  A result of an organizational capacity assessment exercise I conducted with them last March, this was the requested training workshop they wanted me to come back and conduct for them.

Workshop Participants (top) Teamwork exercise to build
the tallest paper cup tower (bottom)

So, for seven hours a day Wednesday through Friday, I presented a basic Management 101 type course based heavily on the Managerial Leadership handbook of Robert Orr, a Canadian friend who has been doing this sort of training for years with Brazilian and other national ministries.

What was particularly interesting for me was to hear the many responses from folks when I was talking about good practices in mentoring, job performance reviews,  and developing the next generation of leaders. “This is so foreign to our Nigerian culture,” they said. “So often, leaders are threatened by their subordinates and will actually try to keep them from being successful.” The chairman of the board, a retired Army colonel,  gave a dramatic example when a military superior assigned him a task that was virtually impossible to do. “I know he did not expect me to complete it, probably thinking it would prevent any further promotion for me,” he said. “When I worked hard and was actually able to finish the job, I could tell he was so surprised.”

Another topic that generated a lot of discussion was on how to help leaders finish well. Again, the amount of corruption among Nigerian business, political and even church leaders is so common here that it has come to be a regular expectation of anyone in leadership.

Working through these cultural differences is certainly a challenge for a ministry like the Nigerian Bible Translation Trust. But from the strong affirmation I received for the material presented, I certainly hope it will have an impact in spurring greater integrity, efficiency and effectiveness in future translation projects.