LeadershipConneXtions

Amazingly Graceful Servant Leadership

I am currently reading the Amazing Grace biography of Wilberforce by Eric Metaxas. It is quite good. I held off reading it for some time since I had read several other biographies on Wilberforce in past years.

But I liked the movie so much that I decided to read Metaxas' book, and it is very good.

When I was in South Africa a few weeks ago, this movie/book played into our time together in a special way. We had spent all of Thursday morning looking at a "biblical theology of leadership" in the framework of Creation - Fall - Redemption - Consumation. We spent time looking at power and authority, their corruption and their reclamation through Christ. We spent time looking at the counter-cultural, no-so-with-you approach to leadership of Jesus. We considered images and metaphors of servant leadership.

It was a very moving time for the group and I really appreciated how this multi-cultural, post-apartheid group of leaders wrestled with these ideas. Then, in the evening, the group watched the movie - Amazing Grace. And it hit me again . . .

Wilberforce was one of God's counter-cultural, servant leaders who led as a servant, shepherd, steward and sufferer. He walked in the way of Christ and he imitated Christ much as Paul did. The words that Paul said in Colossians 1:24-25, about himself, were also true of Wilberforce.

Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant . . .

It was a powerful evening, as we watched a movie about a Christian politician, whose vocation was the elimination of slavery and the reformation of manners/morality in England. It was a God-moment as this movie showed the life work (and suffering) of a choice servant of God.

I felt privileged to be in the midst of this group as we were motivated by a historic mentor - William Wilberforce.

I'd also like to recommend that you either watch or revisit Amistad, which is one of the most powerful movies of leadership and passion and justice that I have ever seen. It is the story about the slaveship  Amistad and the slave uprising and the legal battle for their lives. Anthony Hopkins plays President John Adams, now retired, who is enlisted to argue the case before the Supreme Court. Even though the ten minute scene near the end of the movie, is not fully historically accurate, it is VERY POWERFUL and well worth watching.

There are great performances by all the actors and Cinque, the African leader, is extraordinary in the leadership role he portrays. Plus, there is one of the most powerful examples of the power of the biblical story to impact people!!!

Brian Rice

Reflections on South Africa and the Scripture Union Staff Conference

I used to post multiple blogs about my trips. But the last time (the Ethiopia trip) I did an extended reflection with lots of "bytes" on it. I had quite a few comments from people who liked that approach.

So, I thought I'd do something similar with this trip. So here are vignettes about the trip, or a collage of images and reflections about leadership, culture, people and some fun stuff from my time in South Africa last week. They are not in any particular order. Enjoy.

ONE:  Scripture Union has a senior leadership team of deeply committed leaders. It was a privilege and a pleasure to spend time dialoguing with them on issues of personal development, developing a leadership culture in the organization, mentoring and training leaders, and on issues about servant leadership. (The picture was taken on Friday and a few of the staff had already left due to other commitments.)

TWO:  Scripture Union's mission is to reach teens and children for Christ. They want to reach the next generation and instill in them the values of Christ and the Kingdom of God and also find and develop the next generation of leaders. For so many teens and chidlren, the family system is utterly broken. Click here to check out Scripture Union's website. (Tony Nzanzah, the director, is pictured to the left.)

THREE:  South Africa is now about 13 years post-apartheid. It is hard to explain what the experience is like. It would take several posts to talk about it meaningfully. It was a far more radical shift and experience than what the United States had with its civil rights movement of the 60's and desegregation in the south. While many good things have happened, many "not so good things" have also occurred. The country is struggling and the consensus of many is that "a new kind of leader" is needed.  For a brief explanation of apartheid read this.

FOUR:  Scripture Union in South Africa is a great example of racial integration where the different races and ethnic groups of South Africa come together in a synergistic way. I would say they are a microcosm of the Kingdom of God. (In fact, for our friends at  Crossroads in Amsterdam, it reminded me of the wonderful diversity in your church.) They have paid a price of losing some supporters and partners because of their steps in this direction. It is a price they were willing to pay.

FIVE:  The Sunday morning after I arrived in Capetown, Tony Nzanzah, my host and SU Director, took me to his church:  Edge Church whose slogan is "A Place for All." They are a "white" Assembly of God Church who are committed to racial integration in their church, missional living (locally and globally), and to social justice. Pastor Pedro, the senior pastor, preached that morning, and his heart for holiness and for reaching South Africa with the gospel of peace and hope was powerful. It was good AofG preaching (like my friend Tim Adour, senior pastor of Church of the Revelation, - I thought, Tim would love this place). Plus, like my friend, Steve Almquist (senior pastor of LWCC), world missions just oozed out of this guy. I see why Tony enjoys being a part of that local church. Visit their website at EdgeChurch. Also, discover what the word "Zanethemba" means.

SIX:  There are a number of people who have left South Africa and will probably not return due to the changed political context and an uncertain future. I certainly understand this and am in no way critical. We all have different callings. While in South Africa, I talked with a number of people who have wrestled with this on their own personal level and have made the decision to remain and Be the Change that needs to happen.  Pray for them. We discussed Philippians 1:29 and Colossians 1:24 in this context.

SEVEN:  Two things I was unable to do because of time constraints, and which are must activities the next time I have the opportunity to go to SA, is visit Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and to have a lengthy tour of a township.  Mandela is just one (although arguably the most famous) of those black leaders who was imprisoned for his social and political activism in the country. I had the opportunity to look through some of the museum that is on the mainland and that alone was interesting. To read a great book on this, get a copy of either this authorized biography, or Long Walk to Freedom which is his autobiography.

EIGHT: The townships were/are large, crowded, impoverished neighborhoods that were divided in "black" and "colored" areas. We have the language of "the other side of the railroad tracks" and that was/is the situation for the townships. Whether it is the "garbage slums" found in Latin American cities, the "shanty towns" in India, the villages of Ethiopia, or the 'townships" of South Africa, large numbers of the human race live in dangerous and damaging conditions. The message of freedom, shalom, grace and justice that was set forth in the Old Testament and re-inforced by Jesus MUST BE A PART OF THE CHURCH'S MISSION, if we are to be faithful to Christ. Many of the friends I met at SU last week have a heart for this as well.

NINE:  In America we have the big three sports - Football, Basketball, Baseball. South Africa has their big three as well, only they are:  Rugby, Soccer, and Cricket! Talk about cultural adjustments! And my friends in SU are pretty passionate about their teams! Here is something that is quite interesting. Even in the sports, you see the racial divisions of South Africa. Soccer is a sport played much more by blacks (By the way, blacks and colored are the terms the South Africans use. It took a little getting use to those terms since they (colored and black) would be considered derogatory and dated here in the States). Rugby is played by the Africaners, the Dutch descent. And cricket is dominated by those of British descent. There was an interesting article in one paper about trying to do more intergation in the sports teams!  Plus, I'd like to see some American football players play one game of rugby, without all the protective padding and have them compare the toughness of a sport that has constant physical contact with no padding and the constant running of soccer. I think there would be a few surprised football players. I met Hannes (pictured above to the left), one of the "oaks" who played professional rugby and is now a staff member of SU. I think, among other injuries, he had 16 or 18 broken ribs in his rugby career! Ouch.  They do love their rugby in South Africa (current world champions).

TEN:  Natural beauty! Spectacular country! Or at least the little part of it that I was in. And yet, many of the friends I made last week are working in other parts of the country and they each said their area of South Africa was equally, if not more, beautiful. I picked up a book, Overland Through Southern Africa, which is a book mapping out 14 tours worth taking to get in touch with the great natural beauty of the country.  (The photo at the bottom is looking out the back window of the place I was staying.)

ELEVEN:  Penguins (thousands of them on the beaches - I forgot to take my camera along), babbons (just a few of the big creatures - right outside of the car, but they moved before I could take a picture) and constant mongooses running around outside of the retreat house we were in) were fun to see. Oh yes, and four big seals who were sunning themselves! Of course to see the "Big Five Animals" - lions, giraffes, rhinos, elephants and zebras, I'd need to go to Kruger Park. (For more see this site.)

TWELVE: Gardens and hiking areas. I love gardens and flora and fauna and everything growing in the plant kingdom. I was amazed at the knowledge of several of the SU staff (Ron, the director of the Western Cape Region, pictured to the left was one of them). They knew the names of everything that was growing. The biosphere of the southern cape area is one of the most diverse in the world. I was told that in an area of just a few square kilometers, there is a greater variety of plant life than in the entire country of England. I had the opportunity to visit two gardens, both which were breath-taking, even if the prime of the flowering season was past. The Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden right outside Capetown and the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden which was just a few kilometers away from where we were holding the retreat.

THIRTEEN:  The sky was magnificent. The air was so clear. One night when the power was off in our area for a few hours, we were looking at the stars.  The Southern Cross, Orion's Belt, the Milky Way - were brilliant and more observable than the stars where I live. It was beautiful.

FOURTEEN: Biltong, Rooibos, crisps, boerwors, braai and more. All foods.  Biltong (to the left) is like our jerky only better, according to my South African friends. I tried the Kudu which is deer and didn't like it. The Ostrich is suppose to be the best. Rooibos is a tea. The first time I didn't like it, by the end of the week I liked it a lot. Crisps are chips, boerwors is sausge and braai is a barbecue. I was going to buy some Ostrich Biltong at the airport and bring it home. I'm glad I didn't, because the airplane announcement said that biltong cannot be brought into the country!  (Probably the beef jerky industry's doing!) For some South African recipes, visit this website.  If you want to order some biltong from a USA source, click here.

FIFTEEN:  International travel and making overseas friends is a wonderful thing. I owe the origins of this trip to John and Pat  Gerstmyer (a couple at Living Word) who went to South Africa for six months, many years ago and who met up with Tony and others while there. They introduced me to Tony about two years ago and this leadership training trip had its roots in their relationships. If you haven't ever been on a missions trip - sign up for one. Go overseas, meet new people, make new friends and build relationships, that if you nurture them, they will last a lifetime. You will be richer, better person because of it.  (The picture is of Jimmy and Jill who became good friends with John and Pat. All four are wonderful people.)

SIXTEEN: Okay, almost done. Back to the Scripture Union team. Generally I would say this about them. They were deeply committed to the work of Christ, they had a strong love for their families, they were a very fun loving group, very "out-doorsy" types who loved nature and the things associated with the outdoors, and they were passionate about reaching the next generation for Christ. Thank you to the entire SU team. It was a privilege to be with you for a week.  I will be praying for you.  (Later this week I'll have some pictures posted on this site for you to see the team.)

SEVENTEEN:  Tony Nzanhah.  Last year, when Tony was in the States for a visit, we spent several hours together and I was deeply impressed with who Tony was as a person and as a leader. Having the opportunity to see him in action with his team was great. Thoughtful, passionate, caring, visionary, motivating, integrity, faith, a man of God, fun-loving, developmental and so much more - this is who Tony is. And this is the kind of people the SU leadership team is. Like attracts like. Leaders reproduce and imprint out of who they are. Pray for Tony and the work that lies ahead for him.

Shalom, grace, hope and joy to all of you.

Brian Rice

Quick Update from Betty's Bay, South Africa

We are in the third day of our leadership conference. We have all day on Thursday and then Friday morning to go. I had yesterday afternoon off and went into Capetown. We had wanted to go to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned for so many years, but were unable to get tickets! But we still had a great time seeing the harbor area, the market place and some very nice gardens.

I've seen penguins (thousands of them), babboons, a few of them right beside our car, seals (lots of them) and a few minutes ago I saw a Mongoose go through the underbrush. The owners tell me they have some very tame ones that come looking for scraps of food.

It is a great group of leaders to work with.  We are having good sessions, planting seeds of ideas and models which they will decide what to do with in the months ahead. I am now done for the day and I am going hiking up a gorge to see some gardens (Harold Porter Gardens).

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the conference to post. I have been very remiss about getting pictures. I'll have to get some tomorrow. Plus, I am finally feeling better, I think I am over the viral thing I had!

Brian Rice

p.s.  I have to admit, this is one of the nicest places I've ever done a leadership retreat. We are staying in three beach homes that are owned by people who are friends with Scripture Union, SA.

Videos Worth Watching on South Africa

My friend Pat Gerstmyer gave me three videos on South Africa to watch. Each one was very good and moving.

If you want to watch some powerful videos that describe South Africa, I'd recommend any of them. Be ready for scenes of terrible evil and violence but also scenes of redemption and hope.

They are Tsotsi, a best foreign language film of 2005, about life in the townships.

Red Dust which is about the Truth and Justice

The Wooden Camera, also an award winning movie.

Brian Rice

Pictures of Ethiopia

Keith Trepanier took a lot of good photos of the Ethiopia trip the LWCC team was on. If you want to get a good image of Ethiopia, you'll enjoy his pictures. I have the link on tihs post and it is also listed with the websites on the left column. Check out both the Ethiopia gallery and the Sendafa gallery.

Keith Trepanier Ethiopia Pics

Brian rice

Arrived Safe in South Africa

It is 11:30 p.m. in South Africa and I thought I'd post a quick note.

Travel to Washington D.C. was a challenge with torrential rain much of the way. The one good thing about all the rain is that 495 had as little traffic on it as I ever recall. So I made it to the airport in a little over two hours.

The flight left an hour late but we arrived in Johannesberg on time. I had interesting talks with the people around me. Quite number of people coming to SA for work purposes, conferences, etc. On the flight from Jo-berg to Capetown, i sat beside a soccer player who is on the national team. Unfortunately they missed the quarter finals and were coming home early.

Then Tony and a friend met me at the airport. Short trip from the airport to his house. Supper, some conversation and I'll take a sleeping pill to knock me out. While it is almost midnight here, my body clock says it is 5:00 p.m.

Continue to pray for me. I am still feeling a bit sick.

Blessings,

Brian

Prayer Requests for South Africa/Capetown Visit

I am leaving today for South Africa.

Click here to learn more about South Africa.

Here are some prayer requests:

(1)  For complete health and physical stamina.  I think I overbooked my life for a season and am still feeling a bit run down. I was pretty sick but have been feeling better every day and would say I'm about 90% as I leave for the trip.

(2)  For the ability to really coach and mentor Tony's leadership team when we have five days together. I have nine sessions that I am doing for them, Monday through Friday.

(3)  To understand the South African context which was a very difficult one for so many years and to speak appropriately into their context.

(4)  To learn as much as I can from a group of leaders who are doing a wonderful work with Scripture Union in South Africa.

Thanks,

Brian Rice

Two Pictures From Ethiopia

Here are two pictures I received from Dr. Frew.

The one is of Melese Wogu and myself.

The other is of Dr. Frew and his wife Dr. Frehiwot and myself.

Wonderful leaders doing God's work in Ethiopia.

Brian Rice

I'm Not Superstitious . . . But I'm Starting to Have a Few Concerns . . .

Okay, I leave for South Africa in a few days and . . .

I haven't been this sick in several years (although I feel better than I did over the weekend, a 16 hour flight does not seem appealing at this moment).

And . . . speaking of flying in airplanes, I just heard that a South African Airline plane (that is who I am flying with) lost one of its engines on a flight and had an emergency landing . . .

Click here to read more!

Click here to see some pictures of an engine that fell off a plane as it was flying in the air!

It is hard to keep a plane in the air when it has lost half of its power . . . And speaking of losing power, I found out that South Africa (and Capetown) has been having massive blackouts due to power failures. There is not enough electricity. Mines have been shut down. Hospitals have been on emergency lighting. Teachers have used candles and lanterns to teach!

Plus, some poor tourists going up what I've been told is a magnificient cable car ride up Table Mt. were stranded when power failed!  Even though the view is supposed to be spectacular, I think I'll cross that one off of my list of fun things to do while in Capetown.

For more on the power outages, click here.

Just interesting stuff.

I leave in a few days. Keep me in your prayers, especially for my health.

Brian Rice

Post-Trip Reflections About Ethiopia

I am typing this on Sunday, to post on Monday, but it was written while I was sitting at the McDonalds in the Frankfurt, Germany airport about 6:00 a.m. waiting for my connecting flight.

Here are some miscellaneous thoughts about my time in Ethiopia.

ONE: My first trip to Africa. Wow! I've been travelling oveseas since 1984 and have never been to Africa. I was looking at the map of Africa that comes with the flight magazines, and it hit me. There are a lot of countries in this continent and I am pretty uninformed about them. I was glad that Ethiopia was my first visit to this great continent.  (By the way, get on line and pull up a bigger image of a map and just look at all the different countries.)

TWO:  Melese Wogu is my friend, an elder at Living Word and the founder and president of Ethiopian Outreach Ministry (click here to visit the EOM website). His influence on Ethiopia is significant. His ministry of teaching that is available through books, teaching magazines, tapes, and radio programs has all be devoted to the "maturing of the Ethiopian Church."  (Be sure to tie this one with the next thought).

THREE: The Ethiopian Church. I have been in a lot of different countries, and for me, this church context is one of the most complicated and hard to understand. In short, the Ethiopian  Church is mainly described as a "hyper-pentecostalism" kind of church at the expense of teaching people God's Word. Everywhere, there is a lack of maturity and the Church is not equipped (and in some cases, not interested) in growing Christians who are shaped by the teaching of the Bible.  This is hard for me to understand.

FOUR:  A "Voice in the Wilderness."  I think I would now describe Melese's ministry as a "voice in the wilderness." But there are large number of Ethiopian Christians and chuch leaders who want to hear his voice, who have grown through his teaching and are looking to Melese to show them a new way of following Christ, of being the church, and (for leaders) of being leaders.  PRAY FOR MELESE AND E.O.M. as they do this.

FIVE:  The people of Ethiopia are a beautiful and friendly people. I met so many wonderful Ethiopians. The pastors and church leaders at the conference were gentle and loving. Casual conversations with Ethiopians that we met gave us the same impression.

SIX:  Ethiopian Coffee! I had wonderful cups of coffee . . . way too many of them. Ethiopia is called the "birthplace of coffee." The Ethiopian government has had some "issues" with Starbucks. So, you don't see Starbucks restaurants in Ethiopia. But you can find restaurants that have the Starbucks logo, but with an Ethiopian word instead. It was pretty funny. But why go to a Starbucks version when there are endless little, authentic coffee shops to visit instead?

  SEVEN:  Dr. Frew is the founder of YeNoh Merkeb YeAIDS Mekelakel Mahber. A translation of this would be Noah's Ark AIDS Prevention Association. Dr. Frew is an AMAZING leader. He is medical doctor by profession. But his heart is devoted to reaching people with AIDS and helping them. In particular, Dr. Frew has reached out to help a very oppressed group of people - prostitutes (commercial sex workers) in Addis Ababa. It is a huge and growing problem in Ethiopia. These women suffer in so many ways and Dr. Frew and his team are one of the few ministries of compassion and hope that are reaching them. In this picture, we are sitting in an Ethiopian restaurant and talking after supper.

EIGHT:  Sendafa.  LWCC is working in this village which is about an hour outside of Addis Ababa. Like so many villages in Ethiopia, it suffers from poverty in many ways. However, this village is also experiencing massive growth as it is becoming a "commuter community" for those who cannot afford to live in Addis. LWCC is involved in wholistic mission there. We do medical work, provide help with micro-enterprises, reach out to help HIV/AIDS patients and make their living situation better, build churches, help with small home repair projects, we're now working on helping the village get sufficient and good water supplies and so much more. it is a model partnership for what a church can do to make a difference in just one small part of the world.

NINE:  The January 2008 LWCC team that was in Sendafa was a great team. In countless ways, they were the servant of Christ to the people of Sendafa. "Well done, good and faithful servants" is what I believe Jesus was saying to each of them at the end of each day.

TEN: Multi-cultural teams are great! This team was composed of Americans, Ethiopians, Romanians and one German (working as a missionary in Uganda and who came down to help with the water project). God's kingdom is so diverse and the body of Christ is wonderfully mulit-cultural.

ELEVEN:  Injera and wat.  This is the staple for Ethiopian Food. Delicious. I ate it twice a day while I was there. You eat it with your fingers and if you are good, you don't get any of the sauces (the wat) above your first knuckle.  Click here to learn more about Ethiopian Food.

TWELVE:  Children/teens do great on missions trips. There were three on this trip. They were just great additions to the team. They made so many friends and reached out to the children of Sendafa and in the area by the hotel where we stayed.

THIRTEEN: Team leadership.  The director (A) of the missions program at LWCC led this trip. A. is an empowering, delegating leader and so not only did he do a great job of leading, but so many on the team had leadership roles that made the work in Sendafa possible. Great job A!

FOURTEEN: Mike Johnson is my friend, partner with the Leading Edge Ministry of LWCC and now partner with Leadership ConneXtions International. This was Mike's first overseas trip for LCI/LWCC. Mike has had a passion for Africa since he was a child. For about a decade, he has had a special interest in Ethiopia. Literally, for Mike, it was the fulfillment of a life long dream to step foot in Ethiopia. He said, when he got off the plane "it felt like I had finally come home." It was a privilege to work with Mike to teach leadership to the Ethiopian pastors. (The picture is Melese Wogu, our translator Jonas who did a phenomenal job, and Mike.)

FIFTEEN:  Leadership ConneXtions International's mission is to resource the least resourced leaders around the world. Some of those leaders are in Ethiopia. For most of those in attendance, it was a financial sacrifice to even get there. They use their limited resources to get there and then they don't have money for food and lodging! They don't have money to buy a book or two at the conference! We have so much in the USA that it is hard to even imagine how under-resourced parts of the world are. Living Word Community Church provided a generous donation that covered food costs for the conference as well as helping the attendees buy books at greatly reduced prices (or in some cases, got them for free).

Well, there is much more I could say that are some general thoughts about this trip, but I'll stop here. This is already long for a post.

Brian Rice

Finished Teaching in Ethiopia

Mike and I had our final teaching sessions this morning (we finished about an hour ago).

Mike taught on dealing with failures and had some great examples of "what not do do when you have failed."

My last session was on being a life long learner and avoiding spiritual stagnation.

It was wonderful to work together with Melese Wogu of EOM to develop Ethiopian pastors and leaders. Melese has one final session this afternoon.

I head home tonight. Mike leaves on Monday night (pray for him, his back is giving him some problems and he has a lot of hours of travel to get home).

And Melese is going to the western part of Ethiopia for a week of training leaders and doing a conference. Pray for his ministry.

Thank you for all your prayers.

Brian Rice

Saying Hi From Ethiopia

It is Thursday afternoon and I am sitting in an Internet Cafe at the hotel where we are staying in  Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia) and working through a land line.

Mike Johnson and I have been teaching on leadership each morning. We have two 90 minute sessions each morning. Mike does one and I do one. We have had a great time being with about 200 pastors and church leaders. We have been talking about some of the dangers that leaders face and also mapping out for them what some new paradigms of leadership might look like.

The Ethiopian church culture is VERY different from just about any other situation I have ever been in. It is too complicated to explain here, but, it has made it very important that we do our best in contextualizing our sessions.

We've met some wonderful leaders. I'll tell you more about them when I am back and can upload some pictures as well as tell some stories. We have also met some leaders who are interested in and going through leadership development. We had some preliminary conversations about how we might resource them.

My friend Brian Newman lives outside the mile high city Denver (5000 ft.) . Addis Ababa is about 8000 feet elevation!!! In other words, I find myself "sucking wind" when I go up stairs or do any unusual exertion.

It was great to spend some time with Brian Newman in Holland the previous weekend. And it was really good to see some friends from Holland that I have not seen for some years (and meet a few new friends as well).

Tonight the team from Living Word that is doing developmental work in the village of Sendafa is going out to a nice Ethiopian restaurant where they will also have a cultural presentation. I am looking forward to that.

That's all for now.

Blessings,

Brian Rice

Pastors' Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

In the 1970's, I had the privilege of meeting Melese Wogu, who is the founder and director of Ethiopian Outreach Ministry. Melese has spent 30+ years in the minsitry of teaching and evangelism all directed toward Ethiopians who not only live in Ethiopia, but who are also dispersed around the world. Melese has traveled all over the world for his ministry.

You can check EOM's website by clicking here.

Melese is a prolific author who has written dozens of biblical and practical books as well as a speaker who produces weekly radio broadcasts that are heard all across Ethiopia.

Several years ago, Melese began to dream and plan to spend more and more of his time training and developing Ethiopian leaders, especially pastors and elders in the church.

Melese invited me (Brian Rice) and Mike Johnson to come to Addis Ababa to be a part of a pastors' conference. Mike and I will be teaching on the Dangers of Leadership for the morning session and then Melese will be speaking on Conflict  Resolution during the afternoons.

This is my first time in Ethiopia (I am almost embarrassed to admit that after having known Melese and the EOM team for so long!).  On Monday morning I fly out of Amsterdam, to Turkey, and then on to Ethiopia, arriving about 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Then teaching begins at 9:00 Tuesday morning!

• Please pray that Mike and I would be able to speak to both the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian pastors.
• Pray that we would be able to contextualize our material so that is very relevant for their situation.
• Pray that we would be an encouragement for these leaders (many who work in VERY difficult situations).
• Pray for the pastors and leaders who will attend this conference. Many of them will have to travel a great distance to get there and there will be financial sacrifice on their part to get this training.
• Pray for the translation and effective communication of our ideas.

Brian Rice

Partnering in Ethiopia for Developing Leaders

Mike J. is one of the facilitators/mentors/presenters who has a major role in the Leading Edge Ministry of LWCC.

Mike has a real passion for sub-sahara Africa. Mike has a couple of degrees, he teaches at Johns-Hopkins University, he has a leadership role at the university as well and he has his own consulting company.

And because Mike wanted to get even better at being able to develop leaders, he enrolled in a doctoral program in leadership and has started his studies.

Mike will be in Ethiopia in January. He will have two roles there. He will be part of a team that is helping to develop a holistic minitsry of LWCC in the village of Sendafa. And he will be working with LCI in a teaching course that Melese Wogu and Ethiopian Outreach Ministry is hosting for the purpose of developing leaders.  The course we will be teaching is The Perils (Dangers) of Leadership. We are going to use Clinton's typology of money, sex, power, pride, family problems and plateauing as our framework for this.

Mike (in the white shirt) is talking with another missions leader and good friend Steve N. who is also involved in mentoring leaders in his missions organization.

Brian Rice

A Great Time With Tony N.

Did you ever meet someone and, after spending a little time with them, come away feeling like you've been friends for a long time?

I spent about four hours yesterday with a wonderful man and a highly gifted leader, Tony, who is works in South Africa with Scripture Union. Tony is the general secretary for that organization and they have a great mission statement:

Supporting the church in introducing young South Africans to Jesus, the Bible and the Church.

I met Tony briefly last year and we hit it off when we realized we were both real interested in leadership and developing leaders. Tony invited me to come to do leadership development with some of the leaders in their organization. That trip is planned for February, 2008. Tony is back in the States on a visit and he stopped on the East Coast to spend some time with some friends (John and Pat, the ones who connected us). While Tony was here, we were finally able to spend some quality time together talking about leadership.

It was great to see how our values line up on so many things. In fact, the more I listened to Tony as he shared his story, his values, his ministry and his vision for developing leaders, (not to mention his great sense of humor and infectious laughter) I found myself thinking . . . I could not have scripted the conversation to be any better.

More than ever, I am looking forward to being with Tony and his team next February in Capetown! It is always a great privilege when God sovereignly makes "leadership connextions" like this. I'm humble and grateful.

Brian Rice

Ethiopia and Developing Leaders There

Melese Wogu has been a good friend for more than 20 years. Melese is the founder and president of Ethiopian Outreach Ministry. Click Here for EOM Website

Melese has had an incredibly fruitful ministry of evangelism and even more, providing mature teaching to the Ethiopian church through his teaching minsitry. They do daily broadcasts, provide monthly teachings on cassettes and he has written many books. All this in Amharic (the Ethiopian language). Melese has traveled around the world working with Ethiopians who are dispersed throughout the world. In recent years he has been able to re-visit Ethiopia and do on-site work there.

In this current season of his life and ministry, Melese is giving more time and energy to working with the emerging generation of Ethiopian leaders. He was recently in India for several weeks of leadership training of a select group of individuals.

Melese is opening a door for LCI to partner with him to provide leadership training for Ethiopian leaders. It is a great privilege to support him in this work.

I will be working with him to develop contextualized leadership training curriculum and LCI may be going to Ethiopia early in 2008 to train leaders.

Brian Rice