LeadershipConneXtions

Report on Asuncion Paraguay Trip and the Power of Mentoring

John is back from Asuncion, Paraguay. Asuncion is one of those places that it just takes awhile to get there. You can't fly directly into Asuncion from the USA, so you inevitably have a layover somewhere. John was in transit for about two days coming back to the States. He told me that one of the participants spent three days traveling from Bolivia, by bus, to get to the class. When we have participants like that, we want to give them the very best life transforming ideas and leadership shaping training we can. 

And that is what John did with the Mentoring Course. Here is one of John's reflections at the end of the course.  -bkr-
 

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“New Insights into the subject of Mentoring”

Being able to journey with another leader, especially cross-culturally is a marvelous experience.  I find myself pretty entrenched in our English Speaking North American context which is very individualistic and in many cases narcissistic and egocentric.  It is when I can visit another culture that these negative aspects of our culture become more obvious. 

In my recent trip to Asuncion, Paraguay I was privileged to work with ten top-level pastors and missionaries from South America.  The topic was mentoring which, in one sense is done quite frequently in the Latino culture but often more haphazard and without accountability.  Interestingly enough neither, ‘mentoring’ nor ‘accountability’, have equivalents in Spanish.  So we spend a good part of the class unpacking what those terms mean and how to apply them to the Latino culture.  Their engagement in the discussion was very enriching for all of us.  As they struggle with the day to day activities of ministry they were able to see how their lives parallel Moses example in Exodus 18:1-27. 

We focused on the purpose of mentoring and why it is so important as a multiplication factor for leaders and will help them to avoid burnout.  It is an activity that requires the four mindsets of a leader.  With all of the other demands of ministry the mentor must be strategic, intentional, self aware and surrendered.  Short of those disciplines the mentoring effort will just be another activity added to a long list of things to be done, like Jethro pointed out to Moses.

If it is done well the rewards are great encouragement in Joshua 24:31 “Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel”.  Moses mentored Joshua and Joshua mentored the elders leading to multiple generations of leaders who served Israel well.  I want to be part of that legacy and it appears that through mentoring it is possible. Thanks to all the participants in Asuncion for the blessing of sharing their lives with me.

John Hilliard  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

Update from John Hilliard in Asuncion, Paraguay

Here is an update from John Hilliard about his time teaching on mentoring in Asuncion.  -bkr-

The lessons are going well. Each of the students are engaged at high levels and the material is being well received. They can see the value in mentoring and how it could make a difference in their ministries. I was able to demonstrate a mentoring session with one of the students yesterday and will do the same today.

Thanks for the prayers, God is ever present

In His service

John Hilliard
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

John Hilliard Teaching in Asuncion, Paraguay

John Hilliard will be doing the mentoring course for Leadership ConneXtions and REG in Asuncion, Paraguay. This is the same course John has taught before in Argentina. Here are a few thoughts and prayer requests from John about his upcoming trip.

You are reading this on the first day that John begins teaching in Asuncion.  

Blessings my friend.  Brian

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I appreciate the opportunity to meet with the group of leaders from Paraguay this next week.  A couple of things that stand out most significantly: the Latinos are very comfortable with relationships, it is a strength of the culture that I am learning more about each time I minister there.  What I hope to share with them is to be more intentional in those relationships. There is no word in Spanish that accurately defines ‘mentoring’.  We will spend time understanding that mentoring is more than just being a teacher but also includes things like coach, discipler, counselor, encourager, and  trainer.  I have learned so much from the previous sessions I have facilitated and hope that I can connect with everyone at the session in Asunción. 

My prayer requests for this trip would involve health, safe travels, sensing God’s leading in each session, connecting with the participants in spite of the language barrier and that God would use me in the process at a transformational level.

Looking forward to reporting on where God was present…

John Hilliard  
Leadership ConneXtions International

update from Cordoba, Argentina (October 16)

Class is just about ready to get started for the last day. It has been a very good week working on two different topics with a great group of leaders.

It is a privilege to be a part of their training process.

We went to a great restaurant last night... ate waaay too much food.

Well, we are getting ready to start.

Thanks for your prayers for this last day with them.

Brian

Update from Cordoba, Argentina (October 15)

It is early Thursday morning. In about 45 minutes we will leave Carlos Paz where we did three days of training in facilitative learning and go to Cordoba for two days of looking at Emerging Paradigms of Leadership. 

We finished last night by watching the Argentine national soccer team qualify for the World Cup in their Zone. 

Soccer is REAL BIG here.

Here are a few photos.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Update from Cordoba, Argentina (October 13)

We had a great day today.

First, I am super impressed with the quality of leaders who are in this program. My good friend and colleague, Omar Gava, (in the red shirt) has been working for years to train leaders, and especially missional leaders... and it is so obvious that his labors are bearing much fruit.

We did a devotional this morning and one of the verses that we pondered was 1 Corinthians 15:10.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of  God that was with me.

This verse perfectly describes the heart, the humility and the hard work of Omar. He is one of the hardest workers I know and he is the first to declare it is all by the grace of God.  It is no wonder that top shelf leaders are attracted to Omar. They respect who he is and they value the resources Omar brings to their lives.

 

 

Second, the first three days are focused on training methodologies. They are working through a new (and much needed) paradigm to become Course Designers who can develop leadership training modules, write curriculum, prepare lessons and then use facilitative methodologies that lead to transformation. This is intense stuff.

This is hard work to move into a new paradigm when you have spent a life time working in an older one. And, they are having to get all of this through an interpreter! They are so patient with this learning process and so full of great questions.  There are going to be some great leadership development trainers that will come out of this group. Maybe every single one of them.
 
Third... dedication, commitment, devotion, discipline...  They are willing to pay the price to move up in their capacity and competency. I don't have to do much to motivate this group. They have it. It is a joy to work with them.

Finally, LCI partner John Hilliard was in Argentina sometime back and he did the graduate course on mentoring and then he taught on mentoring at the training center. One of the students that John had told me that what John taught him about mentoring, has fundamentally shaped how he is now working with leaders. Wow... great stuff.  

Thank you for your prayers. They are felt, they are appreciated, they are making a difference. One more day on the Training Methodologies and then we begin the course on Emerging Paradigms of Leadership.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Update from Cordoba, Argentina (October 12)

Today was the first day of the module on training processes that REG and Omar are offering to their facilitators network.

Leadership ConneXtions has been working with REG and Omar Gava  and the South American Theological Seminary in Londrina, Brazil, to provide a master's degree in leadership at sites throughout Latin America. We have been doing this for over three years. People have graduated from the program and others are getting closer to graduating.

At the heart of our (REG/LCI) vision for this is to develop leaders who develop other leaders. We want to train the trainers, mentor the mentors, equip the developmental minded leader who will turn around and do more of the same in a 2 Timothy 2:2 model. 

Our focus today was on the model that LCI uses (Content, Process, Relationships, Outcomes) and how they can use a similar model in their situations. We spent about half of oru day talking about the leadership development model that Jesus used:

Invited people to be WITH Him
So they could LEARN FROM Him
and BECOME LIKE Him
and then go out to DO THE WORK OF JESUS IN THE WAY OF JESUS.

But it all begins with designing processes that help people be with Christ in transformative learning.

We finished the day with them working on an assignment as to how they can apply these "concepts" in a practical way in their context. 

We will have supper together about 9:00 p.m. The culture in both Argentina and Chile is a late night culture and people eat late. The other night we went out to a restaurant about 9:00 for supper and we were the only ones there. About half an hour later, the place started filling up with people. 

The weather is simply beautiful. Low humidity. Warm during the day. Blue skies. At night it gets cool.

Thanks for your prayers.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Departing for Cordoba, Argentina

I will be teaching a graduate course on Postmodern Leadership for REG in Cordoba, Argentina. I was there last year teaching on Spiritual Leadership and it will be good to connect and see the students again. 

If you look directly above the word "Buenos" in Bueno Aires, you will see Cordoba. That is my destination.

After the course, I am doing a three day seminar on Training Methodologies for Leadership Development. This is a first time project and our goal is to equip graduates with models, skills and perspectives for them to begin doing leadership development in their organizations and in their regions. I am very excited about this course. 

Plus I will have time with my very good friends - Omar and Stella and their delightful family. 

I'll have a long layover in Santiago, Chile on the way back and I'll spend some time with a friend there as well.

Pray for good teaching times for both the graduate course and the training seminar.

I'll be pretty busy, but should have time for some daily blogsite updates from Cordoba.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Flying Home Today

I fly out of Santiago about 8:00 p.m. going to Atlanta. From Atlanta to Harrisburg, arriving before noon and then back home, in time for a busy weekend.

I finished teaching yesterday, but since the teaching is in the evening, I couldn't fly out until the next day. So I spent the day hanging out... 

It has been a good week. I am struck by the commitment to Christ that these emerging leaders have. Many of them are headed overseas (eventually). It was a pleasure to work with them. Many of them I now know, since this is the second time I have taught them. Plus, I met some of them when I had been down for my first visit, just checking out the team that is here and the situation and exploring possibilities.

That is some of the joy of connecting and returning... the deepening of relationships and mutual influence on our lives.

Thanks again for your prayers.
By God's grace and Delta's organization, I'll be home early afternoon.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Santiago, Chile Update (Tuesday)

I am really enjoying working with the (mostly) young, emerging leaders here in Santiago. When I am able to fuse together leadership development and spiritual formation of leaders - that is one of my favorite areas in which to teach and train.

We spent a good part of yesterday looking at models of transformation, paying attention to the Presence and Work of God in one's life and how to practice the Daily Examen.

Today I spent time working with pastors, elders and other church leaders in a morning session where we looked at the things that lead to burnout, ministry disillusionment, moral failure and what are some practices we can pursue to avoid this. They were a very thoughtful and interested group. A pleasure to work with them.

For the Institute course on Spiritual Formation for Leaders we looked a a model of personal development today, the "With Jesus" incarnational model of transformation and spiritual friendship.

And then more good time with my delightful hosts Doug and Shelly and family.

I am a very blessed individual.
Thank-you for your prayers.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Santiago, Chile Update (Sunday)

It is almost 11:00 p.m.

It's been a good day.

I spoke at my host's church this morning on the theme of wisdom and that was fun working with him as the translator.

We had a nice afternoon at home with the family.

Then taught from 5 - 9 on the theme of the spiritual disciplines, looking especially at lectio divina and how they can practice that discipline.

Afterwards, I watched a group of people practicing the national dance (I'll have to get the name of it for you later) and that was really fascinating. It is a little complicated. They tried to get me to try it, but I declined. When you have two North American left feet, you don't try a Latin American complicated dance. The Chilean independence day is fast approaching and they do this dance all weekend long.

Thanks for your prayers.

I slept 10 hours last night. I don't think I've slept like that in years . . .

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Blessings to all of you.

Santiago, Chile Update (Saturday)

It is about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening.

I left Harrisburg Intl Airport about two hours late to go to Atlanta. Then at Atlanta, we sat on the runway for about 40 minutes until we could get a berth. Then I ran to get my flight to Santiago. It turned out I had ten minutes before they closed the doors!

The pleasant thing is that I had two seats for myself so I could spread out a bit.

I slept for about 5 hours which is great for me.

Arrived at the airport.

My host picked me up. 

We went to the class about 9:00 and spent the day teaching. The focus today was on Dallas Willard's V.I.M. model:  Vision, Intentionality and Means of spiritual formation.

I know a lot of the students, having taught them before. They are a good group and a lot of them are eventually outside of Chile.

D and S and their delightful family are my wonderful hosts.

Thanks for your prayers.

I'll probably crash a little early tonight.

Hasta manana.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Leaving for Santiago, Chile

I am flying down to Santiago, Chile for a week of teaching at a training institute. I've been there before and they are really sharp, good students who are preparing for a variety of ministry options.

I love Chile and my friends there.
I love the great mobilizing work that is going on.
I love the culture and the friendliness.
It is always a treat to return.

Plus I'll have a chance to see the construction work that the LWCC youth team did when they were in Santiago a few short months ago.

The course I am teaching is Spiritual Formation for leaders. The core material is very similar to what I taught when I was in Hungary for the UWM conference but expanded somewhat.

I have a real nice Delta connection for this trip. I am flying out of Harrisburg at 5:00 p.m., going through Atlanta and arriving in Santiago about 7:30 a.m.  I start teaching at 9:00 a.m.

Pray for a good flight, some decent sleep on the flight down and a great launch to the course on Saturday.

I hope to be able to post while I am down there.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Delayed Going to Budapest, Hungary

In all the years of flying and with all the trips I have flown, I had a new experience yesterday. I had a flight cancelled due to bad weather. BWI shut down flights for awhile. And I couldn't get to JFK.

So I wasn't able to get my flight from JFK to Budapest.

And to make things worse, I stood in line for over two hours, just to talk to a Delta agent to rebook my flight.

So, I am flying from Baltimore to Cincinnati to Paris to Budapest. Only this flight is about 9 hours longer to get there! So I'll arrive Sunday evening in Budapest.

And I miss the first day of the conference.

I am a part of a conference for the African and European staff of United World Mission. I'll be speaking on the spiritual life of the leader in the mornings for them.

It has been a long time since I have been in Hungary. I was here in the early 1990's (I forget the exact year) and that was for a very short visit. I hope to have a little time to see some of the sights of this beautiful city.

I'll try to post an update on most days.

Pray that I'll have good sessions with the UWM staff and be able to encourage them on the pursuit of the spiritual life with Christ.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Philadelphia Update Day 2

We had another good day of sessions learning a lot more about the training methodologies for leadership development.

There are some really top shelf leaders, educational specialists, strategists, and missiologists who are a part of Developmental Associates International and together, they have created a very viable approach to leadership development.

So we've had solid conversations on leadership development. 

I've met some really good folks who I hope I'll be able to stay in touch with.

We are just back from supper and we are watching a movie tonight, Tuesdays With Morrie. I have read the book and only seen parts of the movie, so it will be nice to see the whole thing.

Then sessions until noontime tomorrow when I'll leave for York.

Plus, I found a Starbucks about two miles away from campus and made a coffee run this morning.

The campus coffee, let's just say, it's not Starbucks level.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Orientation With Development Associates International

I am down at Eastern University attending a 2 1/2 day session with Development Associates International.  They are an organization that does leadership development around the world (but with a concentration in Africa) and one of the things they have is an M.A. in Organizational Leadership.

There are about 12 -14 of us here learning about their program and having discussions about leadership development methodologies in the seminary. They have a very well developed model.

I find that on point after point, Leadership ConneXtions resonates with what they are doing. They are a great group to learn from. They have a lot of experience and have generated some good results already.

This is my first time on the Eastern campus. It is located in a very upscale area of Philadelphia.

I can't remember the last time I saw so many mansions (and by the way, quite a few of them are for sale.)

I was up at 4:00 a.m. and on the road about 4:45 a.m. to get here for breakfast. Since I had never been here before and only generally knew the area, I didn't want to risk getting stuck in traffic. The result was that I was here 90 minutes early!

So, I have a little work to do and then I am hitting the sack.

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For those readers from Living Word, remember to pray for the different missions teams we have overseas.

We have an Ethiopian Team, a Guatemalan team, and I think the Chile team left today.

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Blessings to all of you.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Church of the Revelation and Tim Adour

I spent Saturday and Sunday with my very good friend Tim Adour and his delightful wife and ministry partner - Diana. They are pastors at Church of the Revelation (Bronx). They took me around the city (it has been a loooonnnnggg time since I have been to the City). We had a great meal in China Town, visited Ground Zero, Times Square, walked a bit on the Brooklyn Bridge, a quick foray into Central Park... a fun time.  I spoke at their three services on Sunday.  8:00, 10:30 and 1:00!

I first met Tim in 1997, about eight months after I moved to New York to be senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Homer. Tim was the senior pastor of Church of the Resurrection (in Syracuse). It was one of those "divine appointments" when God brings someone into your life that, at the time, you have no idea how significant the relationship will be.

Tim became "a friend that is closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24) and as the years have gone on, that friendship has deepened. Unfortunately, my move away from New York meant we just don't see each other as much as we use to.

We have so many mutual passions. God, the church of Christ, world missions, leadership development, music (the good rock and roll kind), life long learning, personal growth, our sense of humor is equally warped . . . you get the picture.

Tim had been overseas twice for LCI, teaching graduate courses. He also travels for other teaching engagements to different countries. Tim just returned from teaching in the Ukraine at a Pastor's Conference. You'll hear some of his experiences and observations in about a week.

We have walked with each other through some very dark times. We have celebrated incredible God moments. There is no need to pretend with one another. We know when to speak a word to one another and we know when to listen and not say a word. It's good.

Tim moved to the Bronx about 18 months ago to be the senior pastor of Church of the Revelation in the Bronx. It is a great city church. It is large and growing. They have a great worship team and a choir that (in my opinion) is every bit as good as the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. I was blown away listening to them. Wow!

I was really hit by the mind-boggling needs of the city. Take a moment today and pray for Tim and Diana and their staff and for the ministry of Church of the Revelation.

And here is a fun video blog that Tim did.

Blessings my friend.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Trips to Paraguay and Argentina by LCI Partners Tim and John

In a few days, two LCI partners are headed to Latin America to do teaching and training.

Tim Adour is the senior pastor of Church of the Revelation. Tim has a passion for evangelism, reaching the poor, impacting the city (his church is in The Bronx), training leaders and furthering the work of Global Missions. Tim travels several times a year for leadership conferences and seminars, both with LCI and with his denomination - Assemblies of God.

Tim will be teaching a graduate course, Spiritual Leadership, in Asuncion, Paraguay. The group of leaders who are enrolled in the master's programs in Asuncion are an awesome group of leaders. I've been there twice working with them and I am a little envious of Tim going there. While he is there, Tim will be connecting with an old friend of his (Phil) who pastors in Asuncion.

And my good friend and colleague (both at LWCC and via LCI) John Hilliard is headed to Argentina about the same time.  John is going to teach a graduate course on Mentoring in Cordoba.  He is also going to travel to a missionary training center in another city (Mendoza) and teach on the subject of mentoring.

One of the key methodologies for LCI is training the trainers, or mentoring the mentor. A core part of our vision is to empower leaders to become developers of leaders. Latin America tends to have a more directive and often authoritative leadership model in place. That approach does not easily train, empower, and release others for leadership. We work to help leaders become a new kind of leader.

You can see on each map where Tim and John will be teaching. Just look a little, click on the map for a larger picture to come up.

• Please pray for both Tim and John's work of teaching. Pray especially for the work of contextualization that is always taking place as we teach.

• They each have connecting flights, so pray for good connections, safe travel, and good health.

• Finally, pray they will be an encouragement to wonderful groups of Latin American leaders.

Tim and John - thanks for your partnership in the work of leadership development.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Sunday Nite Leadership Community

Last night we had our monthly LCI leadership community meeting. I was sitting there thinking, I really love this time and I deeply value and love my friends as they share their stories and we reflect together as to what God is doing in our lives.

We spent a good deal of time talking about what it means to lead with grace and the tensions we feel as we try to be gracious but avoid terminal niceness at the same time. 

We talked about the tensions and struggles we live with as leaders and how those tensions and struggles are the fertile soil for creativity and God's work to grow stronger in us.

We also discussed a scenario. What if God came to us (like he did to Solomon) and asked us - "What do you want me to give you or do for you?"  What is the one thing we would ask for? Several people had great clarity on this. Others - it was more ambiguous.

I'm grateful for my friends and colleagues and that they are both of those at the same time. 

I am thankful for their wisdom and insight that guides me.

I am thankful for their modeling and inspiration that imprints me. 

I am thankful for their vulnerability and authenticity.

*********************

I am just about ready to head off to my Monday Morning Bible Study in Ephesians. That is a great time, week after week. Then I have meetings today with Paul and Hildi as we work through the Focused Life material. Then I have another friend from overseas who is in for one day to do some work on the Focused Life as well.

I'll finish up this day with our "Alpha graduates" who are going through the Alpha study on Philippians - A Life Worth Living.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

LCI Leadership Training with Paul and Hildi

Paul and Hildi are friends from Paraguay. I met Paul on my first trip to Paraguay teaching a grad course on leadership at the extension site in Asuncion. Paul came in to do some translating. While I didn't get to spend much time with him, we chatted. I also realized that Paul was one of the VERY BEST translators I had ever worked with (and I have had many very good translators in many countries over the years!).

The next time I was back in Paraguay teaching, Paul was there once again to do translation and this time Hildi also came in to work as a translator. We also spent more time talking about the content of course and I found out that they were both involved in working to develop leaders in Paraguay. We connected even more and Paul and Hildi invited me down to do a workshop on mentoring leaders for a group of about 12 senior leaders who were all involved in the work of mentoring and coaching. And to top everything off, they were wonderful hosts.

We have continued to develop our relationship at a distance with SKYPEing. Paul and Hildi were moving into a transition season of ministry and were looking for some retooling for their next season of life. They had a furlough scheduled and so we planned for them to come to the York-Lancaster area for three weeks.

Hildi is pursuing training in spiritual direction. Marcus Smucker is a long-time seminary teacher in this field as well as a practicing spiritual director who lives in Lancaster. He is resourcing HIldi in this. And Deb Turnow, Spiritual Director and trainer, is resourcing Hildi in this as well.

Paul is focusing on the area of leadership mentoring/coaching and I and a few of the LCI partners are walking him through the Focused Life model as a foundation for developing leaders.

It will be a great three weeks with them. I believe Paul and Hildi are a strategic couple for leadership development in Paraguay and it is privilege to be partnering with them and involved in developing them for their new season of training leaders. 

Thanks for your prayers for our time together.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A Week of Training

For the past week, a friend who is working in a restricted country was visiting us for a week of leadership training. Leadership ConneXtions was in that country several times to do leadership training, but is is always at the approval of the authorities. There are other times we have not been able to get in.

We made a great contact on one of our trips and met a leader who is passionate about developing and resourcing leaders in that country. Talk about a match made in heaven. Plus we really liked one another... just had great conversations.  It turned out that he was due to be in the USA for a visit and we arranged for him to come to York for the week and the week is over.

We had a great time working through the Spiritual Leadeship module. My friend will be able to teach this course for REG/Londrina when he is back home (plus use the material in lots of other settings as well).

Several of the LCI ministry partners who live here in York were involved in this week of training. Debra Bell, Mike Johnson, and John Hilliard all did sessions throughout the week.  Plus he had the opportunity to have some spiritual direction sessions with LWCC's spiritual directior Deb Turnow.  Tim had mutiple conversations with other LWCC staff who were generous in their resources for him. And he had very wonderful hosts, Glenn and Cheryl, who took care of him for the week.

Thanks to everyone who was involved in investing into our friend this week.  Your commitment to missions and leadership development is deeply appreciated.

One of the strategies of LCI is to invite key leaders to come to York for intensive training. We have other visits scheduled for later this year.

Blessings to all of you.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

New Comments Feature Added

Hey Everyone.

Typepad has upgraded the way you can make comments.

Now, it should be easier for you to make comments on a post. And, you can not only reply to the post, but once someone comments, you could reply directly to that individual.

Would several of you do me a favor in the upcoming days and post some comments and try to make some comments on what other say.

I'd like to see how this is working?

Thanks,

Brian

Brian Newman Resigning from LCI

Brian Newman has resigned from his position with LCI, effective as of September 5, 2008.

Due to the geographical distance from LCI’s center (York , PA), and because of the time required with his full-time ministry at Lookout Mt. Community Church where Brian is the Executive Pastor, he felt it best to resign from his position at LCI.

Brian Newman will continue to pursue leadership development ministry, both in his church setting and globally.

The LCI Board is grateful for Brian Newman’s contributions to LCI in helping LCI become a functioning ministry.

Best wishes to and our prayers for Brian in his ongoing ministry and leadership work in the church and mission.

Sincerely,

Brian Rice, John Hilliard, David Almquist

Leadership Development Conversations (with friends from Global Disciples, Hope International, EMM)

Yesterday, late afternoon, sitting in a family diner in Lancaster, PA, I had the opportunity to get to know Jon B. of Global Disciples a little better. Jon and I had met last fall. Then Jon was one of the speakers at the LWCC Leadership Summit in February. Our travel schedules kept us from meeting for a long time. We finally connected, just for an hour, to talk about our different ministries.  One thing that came out from our conversation is just how hard it is to contextualize leadership resources for other cultures. It is an area where Jon is working quite a bit. I am looking forward to future conversations with him on this.

Earlier today I had a phone conversation with Mark R. of Hope International. Mark is responsible for the spiritual integration of faith and life and business and leadership for the over 220,000 fund recipients that Hope has around the world. Wow...  A huge challenge in front of him. I really enjoyed hearing his ideas and hearing his heart  and passion for this.  I'll be getting together with Mark and Quenton of Hope Intl. in about two weeks.   Hope Intl. is one of those very promising organizations that is and will increasingly make a difference in the Two-thirds world.

And congratulations to my good friend Mervin Charles in his calling to be the new senior pastor of Mt. Veronon Church. Mervin has been working for many years as the Director of Global Ministries at Eastern Mennonite Mission in Lancaster.  Merv and I have been exploring ways for Merv to do some resourcing of leader partnering with LCI. Merv also has his own missions organization as a platform for developing leaders in cross-cultural settings.

It is a privilege and a pleasure to be in connection with people like Jon, Mark and Mervin.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Our First Video Post and Saying Hi to Everyone

Please give me some feedback on a few things:

What is the visual and audio quality like?

Also, did it take any longer for this to come up on your computer or did it load quickly?

Thanks,

Brian Rice