Frogs On A Log

Austen Ukachi was a university student when God first touched him with a passion for prayer. Soon after he graduated, he found himself at the head of a national prayer movement that really took off across Nigeria. Looking back, it’s possible to trace the spontaneous outbreak of spiritual revivals linked to students committing themselves to prayer.

Austen found many of the students he mentored joining him for weekly worship and fellowship that eventually grew into a full-fledged church. Today, that church is an active denomination called He’s Alive Chapel that involves some 60 pastors all across Nigeria and spilling over into neighboring francaphone countries.

With Pastor Austen and He's Alive Chapel pastors

It’s with these pastors that Austen invited me to come and spend three days of strategic planning. “We want to sharpen our vision and mission and help inspire our people toward greater outreach in missions,” he told me. I was looking forward to it, since it’s the first time an African-birthed

church had asked for my help in this way.

My first challenge was to convince folks  that a new vision and mission statement would really help propel them toward greater outreach action. They read:

Vision: Building a barn for the Lord for the end time harvest reflecting the fullness of his glory.

Mission: He’s Alive Chapel is committed to evangelism, church planting, discipleship, mission, and spiritual warfare.

I was delighted to see the interest by all the participants during our sessions. Between planning orientations that I provided and group breakout sessions, everyone was fully engaged. But the high point for me was seeing the impact of how the “frogs on a log” riddle, which I had learned from Jon Hirst, CEO of Global Mapping International, convinced them them their mission needed to be about something more than just commitment. It goes like this:

Seven frogs were sitting on a log. Six decided to jump into the pond. How many were left?

The answers from the group were many: “One. Six. Seven.” So I tried it another way:

Seven frogs were sitting on a log. Six were committed to jump into the pond. How many were left?

Needless to say – they got the point immediately! Here’s now how their new strategic plan statements read.

Our Vision: God's people prepared, equipped and bringing in a global harvest of souls for His Kingdom and Glory.

 Our Mission: To spread the Gospel everywhere by means of evangelism, discipleship, church planting, missions, prayer and building strong families.

My prayer is that He's Alive Chapel will truly become even more alive in it's dedication to take God's Good News to those who desperately need to hear it.