3 gatherings

The first part of this term has been rather monopolised (certainly in brain power) by 3 gatherings around the world. Previously, this would have involved a lot of aeroplanes, but in this new era of life and ministry that Lesley and I are in, I only showed up to one of these three. 

 The first (and the one I actually went to) was a gathering of all the leadership development and human resources leaders from each of our 13 areas (groups of countries) around the world to plan together and train in some of our key strategies that will move us forward as a global organisation, seeing "spiritual movements everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus". I count it as such a privilege to help lead and learn alongside these leaders.  If you are into prayer, please do pick one of these folk and pray for them: Leeboy, Ben, Angela, Jose, Joyce, Edouard, Austin, Barb, Doug, Ruth, Dave, Steve, Marc.  (If you email me, I can probably let you know where they are serving as well!)  The ministry of developing leaders and caring for staff is always a tricky one and has such wildly different challenges: physical hardship in Africa, persecution in Asia, legal complexities in the west - the challenges are different, but the unity in commitment to God and the gospel is wonderfully similar. 

The second gathering was round 2 of the "Centre of Excellence" training that was first held in Singapore last year.  I rather view this as "my baby", so it was the hardest thing not to be there with my team this year.  However; the philosophy behind the "C of E" was always to leverage the strengths of a national Human Resources department (Singapore, in this case) in order for them (rather than me and my team) to share their experience with the world.  It was over-subscribed again, but the Singapore team did a fantastic job in helping to equip leaders, mainly from the Asian patch, with a few Europeans and others thrown in for good measure.  The feedback from the participants was really encouraging: 

• “You did a great job! You all put a lot of heart and passion into this training. Thank you!”
• “I enjoyed the exposure to many great resources and wisdom from Singapore and around the world.”
• “Very inspiring”
• “This was the most excellent program that I have been involved in.” 

My thanks not just to my team but to Chee Yee, Wilson, Martha, Tjoh Dju, and the rest of the Singapore team that made it happen. 

The third and final gathering was arranged by Eduard (one of the 13 above), the Area leader for Francophone Africa.  It was the first training in staff care and development that the area had ever had and Edouard had just appointed leaders in each of their larger countries to carry the work forward.  They were new and eager to learn.  I worked with Edouard and John (on my team in the USA) to plan out the training and then John and a good (French speaking) friend of mine, Maggie, went and delivered the training.  This training has only just finished, so I’m still waiting to hear all the stories, but our prayer for them and for French-speaking Africa, as well as the rest of the world, though the other 2 gatherings is the same:  That more people will hear about Jesus for themselves, as a result of better trained and well cared for staff in their countries.