Heading to Ethne 2012

I have just arrived in Seoul, Korea for a major consultation occurring this next week. Called Ethne 2012, it is the third major meeting of global mission leaders who are focused on strategies for completing the Great Commission.

What makes this particular meeting stand out from others I’ve been to, is that it was initiated and envisioned more by non-Western mission initiatives than by North Americans.  As their own literature states:

The Ethnê vision is to see “Peoples Glorifying God among All Peoples”. The Ethnê purpose is to Celebrate Great Commission Progress; to Assess (and Connect) Resources and Needs; and to Accelerate Progress in Reaching the Unreached

In fulfilling its vision and purpose, Ethne strives to exemplify two characteristics. The first is trusted relationships - many non-Western participants have said that this is the first global network where they feel like equal partners. The second is that Ethne strives to be practical - the goal is do something together, not just talk.

Previous Ethne meetings that occurred in 2006 in Bali, Indonesia and in 2009 in Bogotá, Columbia made significant progress identifying families of unreached people groups that were least impacted by evangelism and church planting efforts. As a result, key networks have now sprung up in those regions thanks in part to the partnership and dialog from these Ethne meetings.

At this event, the objectives will go further in identifying more regions of the world that need proactive mission activity plus provide plenty of workshops designed to develop useful plans of action. As it says above, the theme will be to DO something together and not just TALK about it.

For me personally, it will be fun to attend a meeting for once without a specific agenda or responsibility that I have to fulfill. Instead, I’m here to learn as much as I can about the latest dynamics fueling these indigenous mission thrusts and hopefully discover new ways that my role as mentor, encourager and consultant for national ministry leaders might be used. I also hope to become introduced to some of my key colleagues working with OC International as a means of getting to know them and their ministry work better.

Stay tuned to this blog for some further updates as the week goes on.

My First eBooks!

I’m excited to announce that I've just launched my very first eBooks that are now available on Amazon for down-loading onto any Kindle reader.

For some twenty years, I've had a tradition of writing a Christmas short story and then reading it to my family on Christmas Eve.  Often, I've taken settings from places I've visited during my mission visits to countries around the world. Others stories are from imagined scenarios surrounding the first Christmas in Bethlehem. All of these are great for reading out loud in a family setting, so I hope many of you will give them a try. And, of course, please tell your friends!

Below are my first three titles which you can find by clicking on the following links. Stay tuned for more that I hope to up-load to Amazon in the coming days and weeks.

The Boy Who Missed Christmas

A teenage shepherd boy encounters a young stranger near Bethlehem and recounts to him his bitter experience of missing the excitement of the first Christmas. To his surprise, the shepherd discovers who his new friend really is.

Amazon price: $.99

http://www.amazon.com/The-Boy-Missed-Christmas-ebook/dp/B00A2YA2TI

The Tale of the Odd Soldier

A mysterious stranger, a magical tree and a set of toy soldiers combine in this Christmas fairy tale to teach the eternal lesson that it is better to give than to receive.

Amazon price: $1.99

http://www.amazon.com/The-Tale-Odd-Soldier-ebook/dp/B00A4TMBZ4/

 The Bridge

A heart-warming story of an orphan boy in nineteenth-century Paris who is searching for a clue to his lost family. His kindness to strangers pays off during a fateful encounter on his way to celebrate Christmas Eve mass at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Amazon price: $2.99

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bridge-ebook/dp/B00A8NGHYW

By the way - I want to give special recognition to my wife, Anita, who has done an amazing job of editing and cleaning up my stories to get ready for publication and also my son, Nathaniel, who has created all the cover art for the titles above.

eLibraries: Multiplied!

“We could use 200 more of these!”

That was the reply I received after supplying seven digital libraries on electronic tablets last August to a ministry leader working with house-church leaders in a key country in the Middle East (see blog post of Sept 16). Thanks to generous partnership help from Mission Aviation Fellowship Learning Technology Division and the Digital Bible Society, the basic content for these eLibraries has already been set up. So, fulfilling this new request should not be that difficult. It will mean acquiring the tablets, loading the memory card with the digital resources, and testing them out before sending them off for use.

 And the amazing thing is that I believe I can do it all for $300 each!

For that price, I can purchase a brand-new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, a micro SD card, a protective case, and a power adapter and still have enough to pay a young local geek to help me with the project.

One Challenge International (OC International), my mission organization, has already set up a special project account for me so that I can start accepting donations toward these units. To contribute, you first click on this link https://donate.onechallenge.org/, fill in the designation, “eLibrary Project #830451,” and submit your credit card information.  All donations will be fully tax-deductible.

Having been in mission work for some thirty-five years, I don’t think I've ever seen a ministry investment opportunity that has any more bang-for-the-buck than this project. Just think—for a $300 investment, someone can supply a turn-key, ready-to-use, personal digital library to a house-church leader that will contain two versions of the Bible, a Bible commentary, eight custom-picked books on Christian living, a lay-counselor’s guide, a hymnbook, two CDs of worship songs, an audio New Testament and videos of the Jesus Film, The Jesus Story (for children), and Magdelena (for women)—all in the local language.

Two hundred is a big number, but I intend to prepare these eLibraries for delivery in batches of ten to twenty as the funding resources come in. I certainly hope you’ll consider becoming an investor in this exciting project.

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.  

eLibrary: Delivered!

Seven are now in the hands of house-church leaders in a restricted-access country in the Middle East! What are they? Something I have been dreaming about for a long time—a complete personal library self-contained on a personal electronic tablet.

For a number of years, I have been wondering how to supply pastors, Bible students, and ministry leaders with access to books, commentaries, Bibles, and other resources that are simply not available to them. I’ve met so many in the  Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa who desperately want more training resources, but cannot get them due either to cost or an inadequate supply of printed material.

Thanks to a great collaborative effort by a number of friends, on August 1, I delivered seven Samsung Galaxy Tabs (tablets) to the head of a ministry working with underground Christians in that country. Each is completely equipped with a custom-designed library of resources for house-church pastors—all in the local language! What a treat it was for me to bring together content from the Digital Bible Society, special software developed by MAF’s Learning Technology division, and generous funding from a Sunday School class at First Evangelical Free Church, Fullerton, California, to make this project happen.

When the Tabs where handed out at a special discipleship training event in a neighboring country, the recipients were shown how they could access such things as books on understanding Christianity by R.C. Sproul, two complete Bibles, the MacDonald Bible commentary, a layman’s counseling handbook, a hymnbook, an audio version of the New Testament, CDs of ethnic worship songs, and several full-length videos, including the Jesus Film, Jesus Story, and Magdalena.

Now my friend tells me he could easily use 200 more of the units for other house-church leaders in that same country!  If that isn't enough, after showing demos of this eLibrary to church leaders in Congo DRC, I'm now receiving requests for the same sort of resource to be supplied to them, except in French, Lingala and Swahili. 

I'm excited to see this dream come to fruition and hope more useful applications can be developed for it in the months ahead.