A Singaporean Christian's Concept of Gospel - Liddat oso can

By Sharon Mah

Last night I felt called out… Not in a bad way… A familiar sensation of the Divine eyebrow being raised in my direction with an affectionate smile. "I see ya and no worries you're still My gal."

Hearing faith friends drop truth bombs like…

Our lack of margin could actually be repeated attempts to validate ourselves…

We fall into busyness maybe because we believe Jesus will love us a little more for being productive…

There's a story in the Bible about a father with 2 sons, who couldn't be more different. The younger son demands his share of the inheritance and runs off to squander it in decadence, only to return back in poverty, tail between his legs. Dad is ecstatic at his choice to return and throws him a huge homecoming party, no recriminations. It's the elder son's reaction that hits me every time.

‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here (working for you, being productive, bringing in results) never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’

Look what I did. See what I’ve done. I did the job. I was the one.

See me.

Notice me.

The corporate clamor. The professional push. 

Even the religious rush… I read that faith without works is dead, but when does faith in action start to become slavish striving? Ouch…

But it’s a good ouch. A reminder to me that my own faith journey is a perennial onion-peeling of masks (productive and otherwise) accumulated over years of validating myself through what I do. 

"The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross,” according to Henri Nouwen. The cross where there’s no hiding from all the ways in which I am broken.

But I need this, for here is where I begin to grasp why Christians call the gospel ‘good news’.

Tim Keller explains it so well. "The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

And God knows I need this, so that I can hear dad’s reply to the elder son… “My boy, you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours.” 

You have everything already. Not because of what you do.

I see you. Broken pieces and all. And I love it all enough to still give you everything. Gospel. Good news.

In Singlish (Singaporean English), we have a local phrase, “Liddat oso can!?” (English - Like that also can?) It is usually in “response to feats of achievement or actions which are almost impossible, or unexpected. Usually with a tinge of awe, sarcasm or scepticism.”

Gospel. Good News. Liddat oso can!? Can.  :)

Sharon Mah is a Senior Consultant at ROHEI Learning & Consulting in Singapore. She is a part of our Resource Global Family as staff, teacher, and mentor.

Changing Lenses

By Jacquie Njoroge

In 2019, I started a new tradition. I decided that before the end of every year, I would begin to ponder about the theme for the incoming year. That theme would set the tone for many of the things God and I would do throughout the year. 2020 was the year of expansion, and I can tell you that had I known what 2020 had in store for me personally, I am 80% sure I wouldn’t have chosen such a theme or made such a proclamation. 

Despite the chaos that came with the realisation of the theme of expansion, I embarked on a journey of understanding. As 2020 came to a close, one thing was certain; many things were about to change in my life. I didn’t know the what or the how, but I did know that change was coming, and it would be massive, and one of them revolves around writing.

2021 became my year of confidence. I remember struggling with this proclamation for some time, and for two major reasons. The first is that for the longest time, I struggled with having confidence in myself. The second is that I wasn't sure I was ready to have confidence in myself as bold as the proclamation sounded. 

Proverbs 19:21 says “that many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” I sat there with a proclamation I didn’t believe in or understand, but then something interesting began to happen.

God started to show up in the unlikeliest of places.
He began showing up in my dreams.
He began showing up in the way I plan my routine.
He even began showing up in my menu for the week, and that started to work something in me.

You see, for the longest time, confidence in me meant confidence in my ability. Confidence in me was captured through the lens of what I could and could not do. Confidence in me meant I was as good enough as I saw myself, and this was dangerous, especially when I failed at something. Failure coloured my lenses in certain areas and I had declared myself a second class citizen in many things, simply because I felt I was not good enough. I had labelled myself based on an imperfect analysis of who I was, and that had influenced a lot of the decisions I had made. This went on for a long time but it was time to change the lenses through which I saw myself. It was time to see myself through the lenses of the one who made me; my Creator.

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honour. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen — even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas”

— Psalm 8:3-8

I don’t know about you, but when I read this scripture this year, something shifted inside of me. I began to understand one thing I have missed for the last twenty-six years and ten months of my life. My confidence cannot be pegged on how I see myself, no; it must be pegged on who my Creator says I am. After all, He took time and made me. When He thought about creating the world, somewhere in His mind was a little girl called Jacquie born in a family of two children and with a mother and father of two Bantu tribes. He knew I would have one brother and that although we would be friends, we would be very different, and that was okay. 

I needed to change the way I see myself. Actually, He needed to change the way I see myself and change He did. In the last 3 months, I have learnt to see myself through three new lenses.

One lens says I am enough. God's creation of me was not a cosmic happenstance or a mindless accident. It was intentional and by design. And because it was by design, I cannot live as though I need to prove myself. 

The second lens says that I matter. Anyone who has struggled with self-worth will tell you they have felt like they do not matter. Like their presence or lack thereof would not make a difference, but guess what, it does. My existence makes a difference. In my family, in my workplace and even in my community. My existence does something somewhere, even when sometimes I don't feel it. Someone somewhere says they have a best friend because I exist. Someone somewhere thinks they have a great sister because I exist. Someone somewhere may have fallen in love and said they would want to spend the rest of their life with me. Who knows? To all these people I matter.

The last lens says that I am loved. This may not make a difference to you, but for me, it means everything. When I look back over the years and see the prayer requests I made, I know I am loved because the specificity to which God answered those prayers is too meticulous to call it a coincidence. My being here today is evidence of God's love for me because even where I am in all spheres of my life is an answered prayer and that in itself is a reason to rejoice.

These three lenses have taught me that I am here for a reason, and whether sometimes I know it or not, God is in the business of making sure I know what that reason is, whether in part or in whole. Ephesians 2:10 reminds me that I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that I should walk in them.

What this tells me is that God has a plan for me. That plan definitely involves other people because otherwise, there would be no need to exist in a family, a class or even a community. As I think about what to do and where to go, I must think about those who are around me and dare to dream. I must dare to dream because if God has prepared it, it means it can be done, and that gives me confidence enough.

I wonder what lenses colour your life that you are unable to see yourself as God sees you. Truth be told, even as I have three new lenses to see myself through, sometimes I still struggle, but each time I doubt, God is there to reassure me. I am on a journey and God doesn’t expect me to be perfect, only obedient. In the words of J. C. Ryle, “even the best of men, are men at best, and I think I can live with that.”

As we go through the seasons of life, one thing is evident, everything we go through and choose to do impacts someone. It could impact us solely as individuals, but oftentimes it affects more than just us. For this reason, we exist. To worship God in various forms of expression. By drawing, painting, acting, singing, defending the accused, treating the sick and even creating financial models for institutions that help them be better and do better. All of it needs each one of us because one person can't do it all. We need each other. I need you and you need me. And to do all these things, we all need confidence, I need confidence. Confidence in the One who made me, and confidence in who He says I am.

And so, as I write this today, I can boldly say that this is my year of confidence. Confidence in the One who gives me identity, and confidence in who I am in Him. And I look forward to seeing what that looks like for those He has placed and will place in my life both near and far. Until next time, adieu!

Jacquie Njoroge is part of 2021 Nariobi Cohort and is an Associate at a Law Firm in Nairobi. She is passionate about justice and reforming the legal industry.

The Hope in the Breaking and in the Making

By Tamara Dewi Gondo

During one Alumni zoom gathering, I listened attentively as other entrepreneurs from the previous cohort shared what God is teaching them. One alumni shared a story how his business was hit badly by the pandemic and he only had less than 6 months of runway. Drastic measures were taken, as well as budget cuts. I didn’t get it. Firstly, “For these Christian entrepreneurs who take God’s will seriously, how could their business be in peril?” I questioned God. Secondly, his face exuded peace and trust in God as He shared his story.

What others shared that day was foreign to me. 

Isn’t it that following Jesus and doing His will meant that He will bless our business so others can see how good He is?

Not long after, my business destabilized quicker than I could wrap my head around. Half the team left and we were a mess operationally. To make things worse, I was bed-rested with Covid. I was ready to close the business. These 2 weeks, God used to reveal my wrong way of doing God’s will.

___

I prided myself on doing my very best in the work God has gifted me. Upon a deeper heart check, it was this selfish desire to portray a ‘successful’ image with a Christian twist--”Look at me for what you can get from following Jesus!” (But that is not what the Gospel is about).

As a result, I often craft plans apart from Jesus. It made for being constantly overworked, with an underwhelmed soul. Each sick morning...

When I had little energy, I was forced to prioritize in the Giver of strength first.

When my body would remind me I needed rest, I rested.

When the cough held me from speaking, I learned only to speak words that build up.

Those whose flesh is not dealt with can only trust in their own planning; they cannot trust in God or believe in him. They can only fear and worry. Those who plan most, worry most.

When we do not trust in God and when we are satisfied by ourselves, we have to admit that God cannot prevail over us. When our minds are too active, and our heads are too big, we may be capable of doing many things, but we are useless in God's hand. Eventually, God has to touch our minds before His purpose in us can be fulfilled because we would never rest unless He makes us.

The isolated time was a space God allowed me to reset the way I am to live out His call. His hand is kind to stop me from running frantically--constantly burned out--as I was so used to. God made me tender. That I am no longer able to do things on my own accord nor boast in my own ‘craftiness’. I was taught to be malleable. To be fearful to keep in step with His. To desperately seek for His face, His will, and His strength daily. Surely, ‘His yoke is easy, His burden is light.’

He expanded my theology too. Following God’s will was not a sure proof that we will be successful entrepreneurs. For God cares more for the condition of our heart and who we are becoming, more than what our hands find to do. 

No longer am I daunted by the fear of failure. The size of the company was not the main focus for God anyway. Whether the Lord made us big or small, what matters is the purpose for which the Lord has through our venture, is accomplished.

“When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;”

God uses the breaking to mold us. And I leave it to Him, as jars of clay, for us to be broken to bless. To be blessed, in being broken.

“If ever I lift my head in price, may He humble me to the ground knowing no good things come apart from Him. If He sees fit to bless me with much success, I pray more that my depth of joy is found firstly in the Lord. And If He sees fit to deny me of my vision of success, I will remain in deep abiding peace in Him, my Creator”

The work is the means. The end is always, Jesus. 

Tamara was in the Jakarta Cohort in 2020 and is the CEO of Liberty Society is a transparent, ethical and sustainable fashion manufacturer & brand that empowers artisan mothers in Java Island, Indonesia.

A Season of Molding

By Sonia Wirya

Covid has been real for all of us. There is much to reflect on how God has been using this time to mold His children. Here is my take on how Covid had changed my life and my view of work.

Covid hit our family bad. We had to close down our family business of 20 years. This was a business which I gave my all to - restructuring after restructuring and many more. “Where did this add up to? What is the fruit of all those years? Have all that I’ve put in goes down the drain? What am I to do now?” Those were some questions haunting me shortly after the business closure.

But God is faithful, and God is good. The decision brought a certain lightness and relief to us as a family. We felt satisfied and God’s hand was truly evident. Not that everything was easy, but things simply flowed. We were grateful for the chance to steward this business along with the people, for this many years. We were able to pay what is due and see our employees “graduate”. And to help them also set foot on their next ventures.

I saw our employees give their all, to our very last days, as we “pack up”. And it was a feeling I can’t explain. Their dedication and spoken gratitude were a deep reward to us. Shortly after, there was also a social media thread of people (customers, employees and business partners) posting their fondest memories with us. To us, these were all evidence that what we poured into, has not gone to vain. An affirmation that we have done well and to our best ability. God was kind to answer my questions and doubts.

Through this process I have learned that everything will pass, and we must keep moving forward. When God moves us, no matter how uncertain it may be, follow. Because when we do, things work out for themselves - because God moves ahead. There was no extra lengthy analytical planning to our decision process this time. We simply prayed and waited and waited some more. And when we finally got the confirmation, we simply obeyed, and we proceeded. As simple as that.

We, as a family also experienced the value of corporate prayer, praying in unison and what it truly means to trust without overthinking. To leave the details to Him, and trust that He will reveal each step when we need to. I believe this was what made the process almost “effortless” and simple.

I also learned what it means to not hold things too tightly. God gives and God takes away. How we steward is of more concern to Him, because it is through that very process, He molds us. At the end of it all, God is more concerned about where we are with our journey and our character, rather than the physical fruits of the works He entrusted us with.

“At the end of it all, God is more concerned about where we are with our journey and our character, rather than the physical fruits of the works He entrusted us with. ”

Third, I began to really know, and see that everything is from God. This brought me a new perspective about how I see work. It brings a certain weight of responsibility in how I steward my existing ventures. As well as a certain lightness, and ease - because work becomes less of a burden and more of a journey. Work becomes a vehicle to mold me into a more Christ-like character. It shifts my perspective on how I see my relationship with work. It’s no longer about how much I achieve at work, and rather about where I am, character wise. How much I have changed and allowed the frictions and challenges at work to mold me to better character. I am now able to freely thrive rather than strive.

There is more to say, and I have surely learned a lot from this particular experience.

Today, I run two small scale businesses, with a much smaller team. We pivoted and took what we could from our previous business. In addition, God had also given me an opportunity to revisit some long-buried passion, and to start a new venture, in that new industry.

Where am I right now? I could have not been happier, more joyful and at ease. I am enjoying this new work-life balance. And I finally have the time to discover myself, to live and to bask in all that God has and is giving me. Honestly, I first feared that I would greatly struggle with my sense of identity. Because I used to put a lot of my identity in work - in who I am at work, how big my team is, how big our projects were, who my business networks are. But turns out, there is more to me than that. And God values me for who I am. It has been a humbling experience, a lot of internal refining, It hurts sometimes but it is also freeing at the same time. God has been good to me.

 So now, my prayer for you is, that whatever or wherever God may be calling you, trust the process and yield fully to the process and into Him. Things would be less painful when there is less restraint from our side. Take your time, wrestle it out before God. And when you’re ready, surrender and yield. Take heart friend, for the journey and the process is worth the reward!

Sonia Wirya is a Jakarta Cohort Alumni who continues to support the work of Resource Global by being a Triad Leader for the 2021 Cohort.

The Weight of Identities

By Cathy Njeru

From the moment we're born, we're given a label: An identity.

For me, it was female and African. We're also given what doctors call an Apgar score, which tells us how well a baby is breathing and how well their heart is beating. I like to think that I got a good score on what was essentially my first task in life.

I was then given a name, 3 names actually. One was a symbol of what my parents hoped I would be, the second was to honour my grandmother and the third was to state that I belonged to my father. I became a daughter, sister, cousin, niece and grand-daughter.

I went to school and there too, I was labelled. I was a good student. Unfortunately, I was also what you might call a 'goody two shoes' and a teacher's pet. As you might guess, it paid off academically, not so much socially.

Fast forward to high school, that's when I received Christ at a church camp. I got a new label- Christian- and I dutifully but it in my identity box. I figured that now, whenever appropriate, I had to throw in 'born-again Christian' as part of my introductions.

Fast forward again and now, I'm done with medical school. I liked school so much I went back for my post-graduate and now I had two more labels. Doctor and Paediatrician to be specific. Those are nice shiny labels, and relatives will proudly introduce me as 'daktari'. It's also very handy for acquaintances who I suspect don't actually remember my name, they too just address me as 'daktari'.

As I've grown older, my identity box has only grown heavier. Society has thrown in its labels too. You're single, married, widowed or divorced. You're a mother or childless. You are successful or a failure. Talented or ordinary. Beautiful or average. Simple words, but each carrying a connotation of worth and how society sees you and treats you.

So where does this label- Christian- fit? Is it one among the many or is it the one thing that needs to be a foundation for all the rest? And how does that even happen when the world is always loudly reminding us that these other labels matter too?

Where the world tells me that I must chase success and money, and that the most important thing is to be happy, I try to remember that I am part of a royal priesthood. God doesn't owe me anything, including happiness. It is I who owes a debt of gratitude, it is I who must serve Him with my life. I try to hold what I have with an open hand and offer it back to God. To quote Jim Elliot,

“ ‘He is no fool who gives what he can’t keep, to gain what he can never lose.’”

When I am tempted to define myself by how well I perform, God reminds me that I am His child and well loved. Not loved less when I fail, and not treasured more when I perform. So, I don't have to live in pursuit of the world's accolades. I don't live in fear that I'll be overtaken by someone younger, more beautiful or more talented. I am free to pursue my unique calling and to do the good works He appointed for me, before the world began.

I realize, as I conclude, that there are a lot of 'Is' in this story. In my defense, it's hard to use another pronoun as I talk about identity. However, to end the story, circling around myself, is to have missed the point entirely. I am a part of 'we'. A small part in a much bigger story, a thread in a beautifully designed tapestry. I am part of a chosen people, the body of Christ, that I have been called to love and serve, even as I allow them close enough to encourage, love, and even rebuke me. I am also part of a broken world and culture that is hurting and hurtling towards self-destruction. I am called and chosen to interrupt that narrative and bring a glimpse of God's kingdom on earth. 

One of the featured articles this month, reminded me of the many labels that Christ has given me. A saint, a servant, a steward, a soldier, a witness, victorious and a citizen of heaven. This is who I am, but so many times, I forget it. I am like a man under water, drowning beneath other labels and expectations. I must remember to come up, breathe deep from the truth in God's word, then keep swimming.

Cathy Njeru is a Paediatrician Doctor at Gertrude's Children Hospital. She has a passion for supporting families of children cancer patients. She is the Nairobi Cohort 2021.

Journeying with Jesus

By Wangu Joy

When Jesus turned water into wine, He beautifully crafted a symbolic invitation to us, it was His first miracle, setting the scene of what it means to journey with Him.

John 2:1-11 (TPT)

On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so, they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now.”

As I exercise my faith in the marketplace, this miracle setting is a grounding source. The whole parable reads like a series of unfortunate events: a wedding with no more wine, mama-son drama, Jesus clearly stating that His time had not yet arrived, Mary ignoring his comment, and giving an instruction of “do whatever He tells you”. Jesus instructing the servants to use six (6) jars – six, the number of imperfection – six ceremonial cleansing jars used to store purification water. Wait, what? Honestly, if I were one of the servants – I would respectfully decline, “no thanks – I’ll pass on that instruction sir, let us go buy some wine the conventional way… like normal people”.

Over time, I have come to see my life represented all over this parable. I am the feast; many seasons of my life have felt ‘out of it’ – empty with nothing more to offer. I have been called to act and I have dramatically responded to God with many PowerPoint presentations and analyses as to why the timing is not right. I am the six stone jars, imperfect, drained by culture and life’s rituals. I am the servant experiencing the unconventional path that Jesus often walks on. 

Then, there was “do whatever He tells you” and “fill the jars with water”. Two commands that called the servants to listen and act in obedience. Let us take a moment to visualize the filling to the brim of a large stone jar of 20-30 gallons approximately 76-114 liters, now visualize the filling of six of these jars which is over 600 liters! This process would take some time, require patience, I am picturing multiple visits to the well (or the source of water), and this whole process is confusing! Wasn’t the point to get more wine? Why are we wasting time filling jars with water instead of going to the market to get more wine?

There seems to be no sense of urgency here. 

Yet, this is me – every day in my journey with Christ. When I accept the command, actively surrender in obedience to His instruction, and I will myself to accept to be filled by His Spirit – nothing is the same. This filling requires waiting by abiding, the need to be constantly connected to the only Source that can fill me to the brim, and the painful acceptance that this process is often not on my time. It can be a waiting game, full of confusion, and it requires a daily act of surrender to His unconventional plan. It sometimes is a minute-by-minute choice to surrender and accept His will – and wait. Believing that when an imperfect situation meets Jesus, there is transformation.  

I think the hardest part of it all is this test of faith: “now, draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet”. So, the servants did not even taste the outcome before giving it to the master of the banquet? What if it turned out to be water from a stone jar? Trusting Jesus is scary – letting go of MY outcome is scary. This is surrender, in a world where carefully controlled environments and outcomes are the preferred option – surrender is unconventional. Despite this, the beauty and romance of journeying with Christ lie in this process and the promise that is at the end of the parable “but you have saved the best till now”.

Ephesians 2:7-10 (MSG)

Now God has us where He wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all His idea and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. 

...So, let’s get to it! Doing the work as we journey with Jesus. 

Wangu Joy is in our Nairobi Cohort for 2021. She is a Strategy Consultant with Dalberg Advisors.

Living a Steadfast Life Today

As a highly respected authority on the equities markets, often when Bob Doll joins us we have the opportunity to hear about the world’s financial markets and how he integrates faith and work. But at this year’s Global Cohort Gathering, we had the privilege of hearing Bob’s thoughts on living a life centered on the Gospel and how he has exemplified a life steadfast to the Lord. As we’ve journeyed with Bob, we’ve watched him navigate the ordinary, as well as through numerous triumphs, health scares, economic crises, and more. Throughout it all, we’ve seen someone who is immovable in his character and consistent in his journey with God.

Beyond all his myriad accomplishments, we asked Bob to share with our cohort members how he has cultivated a life that is consistent and committed to God and His mission. In true Bob Doll fashion, he shared seven simple yet profound principles to chew on.

1. Be reminded that our work is a holy calling. God has created an intersection of our abilities, our interests and the people around us. We need to recognize the redemptive nature of our work and as Christians in the marketplace, realize we  aren’t just the people who finance God’s work. For Christians in the marketplace, Bob reminded us this means “we have a phenomenal opportunity and responsibility.” He went on to quote Billy Graham, who famously said "I believe one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the believers in the workplace.”

2. Remember our standard for work because God, whether in creation, sustaining, salvation or sanctification, is a worker. We are made in His image and have “the ability, the responsibility, the goal of being excellent at our work as He is.” Our God cares deeply about what we do with our waking hours, and the majority of that time is spent at work.

3. Be a hearer and a doer of the Word. It is simple. Love God. Love God’s Word. Love God’s people. We can’t work for our salvation but once we are made righteous before the Lord, it is good deeds that naturally come if our faith is genuine.”

4. Prioritize the eternal. We are all on this planet for a short time, but in eternity forever. Like David Platt reminds us in his book Radical, the key is believing that the world is not our home. If our lives are going to count on Earth, we must start by focusing on heaven. To keep this at the top of his mind, Bob keeps three questions on his bathroom mirror that he asks himself daily - Am I going to have a Christ-like attitude today? Am I maintaining a “passing-through” mentality, because this is not my home? Am I going to have an “own nothing” perspective?

5. Be purposeful about longevity. Determine early-on what your priorities are, and develop the daily disciplines to set yourself up for a lifetime of faithfulness. This includes spending time daily in the Word and surrender to God, developing a deep dependence and interdependence on other believers, demonstrating faithfulness in giving, and determining as Romans 12:2 puts it, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind to ensure you aren’t conformed to the image of the world.

6. Pursue music. Martin Luther reminds us that while a sermon appeals to the intellect, music appeals to the intellect, the senses and the memory bank. Music transports us, and as it runs through your mind over and over. Perhaps one of the most poignant lessons we can learn from Bob is this “I have memorized more scripture through music….I commend music to you in some way, shape or form, but make sure it's good [theological] music.”

7. Ponder the lessons learned from COVID. How have you used this season, ordained by God, to honor Him? What unexpected joys have you found in this season of church at home? And how have you intentionally stewarded your resources to serve the poor - poor in spirit and physically poor? “Life is short. This episode has impressed upon me the importance of each day. Use it well.

Bob was asked how he remains humble in the midst of so much success. His reply? “Well I don’t know that I’m always humble, but I guess the center is to understand that it’s not of me. It’s of God...I think humility starts from recognizing who God is and therefore who we belong to.”

“Bob Doll is no stranger to Resource Global. He has walked alongside us, me, for years as we fought to establish this ministry and launch our cohorts. He epitomizes what I want all of us to be - he is a God-fearing man who loves the Lord and walks in humility.”

— Tommy Lee, Resource Global President

Leadership During Crisis: Guiding the Ship through the Storm

By Wayne Pederson

“The Lord has made everything for His own purpose, even the wicked for a day of disaster.” ”

— Proverbs 16:4

I’ve been asked to assemble a gathering (virtually) of a dozen or so global ministry leaders to address the issues and adjustments they’re forced to make out to the COVID pandemic.  No one could have imagined as we began the new year the challenges we would be facing in our ministries, in our relationships, our finances and our personal lives caused by the “invisible enemy” COVID-19.

However, we’re finding that all the news is not bad news.  This ad hoc group of think-tank ministry leaders is discovering there’s a silver lining in the midst of all of the confusion and anxiety in our culture.

Passion and Vision

One of the leaders in our group who’s based in Africa works collaboratively with a large number of indigenous partner ministries.  According to his report, partner ministries that have a clearly defined mission along with a fervent passion for their calling are thriving.  Ministries without a clear mission and vision see COVID as a disaster and they are struggling.

David Willis of National Christian Foundation and chair of ECFA stated in a podcast recently those ministries built on a solid foundation of strategic funding, carefully laid-out strategy and solid board governance and staff management will not only survive, but thrive.  Those ministries that have not built a solid financial, strategy, leadership base will not survive the crisis.  Recent case studies are bearing this out.

Audience Response

Almost every ministry represented in the group reported greater response to the Gospel.  Sheila Leech of FEBA in the UK said listenership has increased.  And her team is working on ways to be sure that growth is sustained long-term.

Jan-Eric Nauman of IBRA reported more people are coming to Christ.  Numbers are growing by the week. More listeners are responding with questions about knowing Christ.  International ministries are receiving more inquiries via text or email from listeners who are anxious, confused, fearful and needy.  He reported 40% of inquiries result in that person accepting Christ as Savior for the first time. 

Focus on the Gospel

Given the above information, ministry leaders are re-doubling their focus on presenting the Gospel, keeping the Gospel front and center in their content.  Lauren Libby, CEO of TWR is challenging staff to stay on the Gospel core.  Provide eternally rich content.  Doug Hastings of Moody Radio said they’re presenting the plan of salvation on the air every hour.  And Moody postponed their on-air fundraiser feeling it was more important to focus on ministry than raising funds.

Core Calling

This is not the time to delve into projects outside of our core mission.  Ed Cannon, CEO of Far East Broadcasting stated: Stay on your singular focus.  Stop doing things that are not core to the mission.  In the process of adjusting to the “new normal”, ministries are finding the need to abandon projects and strategies that have become obsolete or are peripheral in order to refocus on their basic, foundational calling.

More Virtual, Less Face-to-Face

Various opinions on the dependence on Zoom and GoToMeeting.  For Chuck Bentley of Crown Financial, they had already adopted the work from home model, which required almost no adjustment with the pandemic. They are now 100% remote.  Productivity and creativity is up.  However, they’re finding staff are working longer hours, because work is at home.

Others have discovered that virtual meetings have actually increased connection with staff, partners, volunteers, and donors.  One leader noted increased creativity and efficiency from partners and staff working from home away from distractions in the office. One coalition member has been out of the office for 3 month, but is actually doing more team care from home that he did at the office.  And his management style has become more pastoral, less management.  This from a leader who previously tended to be more managerial, less people-oriented.

Another reported that he wasn’t missing the 45 minute commute every morning and every night.  Another found that without those15 hours flights on a plane, his “think time” has decreased, because of handling one Zoom call after another.

Fund Raising

Covid has forever changed the way we raise funds.  The era of the “chicken dinner circuit” is over.  One global ministry CEO stated that getting on a plane, staying in a hotel, eating at restaurants, to meet with donors can take a whole weekend or the better part of a week.  Now, he can Skype, Zoom or Facetime a half dozens donors in a day at no cost and in a fraction of the time.  And most donors have expressed preference for this method.

In fact, Crown Financial has enjoyed their annual Fall dinner with hundreds of ministry partners, meeting with them face to face, telling stories and casting vision for the ministry.  This year they surveyed their donors asking whether they preferred an in-person banquet or instead a virtual fund-raising event.  A surprising 89% of their donors indicated a preference for visual.  So in October Crown Financial will have their very first virtual fund raising event, with greater attendance, videos from staff all over the world, and at practically zero cost!

An urban Chicago ministry called By The Hand cancelled their expensive annual gala.  In it’s place they held an all-day Saturday funding event that included an morning prayer time, videos from staff, and the children and families impacted by their outreach in the community.  it was an astounding success in storytelling, vision-casting and fund raising

One of our participants said this: Donors are not interested in responding to the “Help.  We’re in trouble” type of appeals.  His bottom take-away line: “People want plans, not pleas!”  If we can truly describe how our ministries are focused on their core mission during this time of crisis, they WILL respond.  In fact, a number of our think-tank team indicated even in the crisis, with limited personal contact, donations are up 12%!  

Isn’t it just like God to turn turmoil and tragedy into opportunity and triumph!

Allocation of Resources

Ministries are saving tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars because of cancelled flights and travel restrictions. The result is incredible opportunity to re-allocate spending towards more ministry.  One global ministry cancelled plans for a gather ing in the Philippines for 200 ministry partners  By cancelling airfares, accommodations, meals and other meeting expenses, they achieved a six-figure saving.  They have re-allocated those funds to help hurting partner ministries in Indonesia, Philippines, India, Bangladesh who are suffering because of the pandemic. And donors have responded enthusiastically to that reallocation from expensive travel to expanded ministry.

Tim Whitehead, executive director of Galcom is using funds normally spent on global travel and doing more advertising buys on Facebook and Google.  Because of the cutbacks by many companies on advertising, ad rates on social media sites are cheap.  It’s a good time to be buying.

Shorter, More Frequent Communication

Chuck Bentley is using input from his under 35 staff to help reshape the way they communicate.  They’re telling him we need 10X more content and 1/10 the length.  Crown is now editing their 50 minute daily program to 10 five-minute features.  That allows them to have more frequent contact with listeners and constituents.  

In fact, a number of our team stressed shorter, more frequent connection.  And that applied to print as well.  Supporters are more prone to read a concise one-page report than an extensive 8 page newsletter, which they may put aside with “maybe later”. 

Greg Thornton, VP of Media for Moody has turned his creative staff loose to create shorter content and even free e-books.

Greg told an amazing story.  Gary Chapman is Moody’s top selling author.  Every weekend Gary is out on the road presenting his 8 hour seminar on 5 Love Languages to married couples in cities across the nation.  Now, Gary and Moody have produced a 2-hour virtual Strengthen Your Marriage seminar. That 2 hour virtual seminar is attended by more couples attended the previous on-site model in a whole year!

“The church has left the building.” Somewhere along history, “church” has come to mean a building.  But Jesus made it clear, so did Paul, that the church is not a buildling.  Church is the people, the ecclesia, the “called out ones.”  A church in Cary North Carolina with a normal weekend attendance of 8,000 now has 25,000 weekly virtual attendees.  Many churches are now going to “huddles” or smaller groups of believers meeting together.  

Real Estate vs. At Home

A number of ministries are finding that having a large corporate office is no longer necessary.  Staff are finding greater flexibility, higher efficiency, greater creativity, higher job satisfaction working from home.  Yes, many miss the chats, the coffee breaks, the personal connection afforded by being physically together.  One manager expressed concern that some employees had adopted a kind of “vacation” mentality and needed to tighten up expectations and policies related to remote work.  Zoom actually did a study which showed efficiency actually increased 40% when people were working remotely.  The study also indicated greater job satisfaction, less stress, greater longevity without the daily time spent commuting to an office.  

One of our members is seriously questioning the need for a large corporate office.  Rather looking at ways to segment staff into smaller work groups, while maintaining a much smaller office for financial and development functions.  Selling the building and re-allocating those funds for reserves or expansion seemed to make a lot of sense.

In home, remote or at the office?  What will it be?  I’m guessing it will be some new kind of hybrid of the the best of both worlds.

Dr. Alan Cureton, president of University of Northwestern-St. Paul said: Stay true to your mission. But adjust applications to your mission. Will we stay with on-line learning, or will students return to the classroom?  More likely it will be some sort of hybrid. 

Alan continued: The virus is not going away.  How do we anticipate a COVID resurgence: How do we live with it long term.  In budgeting we must define a new paradigm to live on 1 year’s revenue for 2 years expenses. 

Take-away Bottom Line

Are we making decisions outside our comfort zone?  Yes!  Leaders are finding it increasingly challenging to make decisions in uncertain, ambiguous times.  One leader said: We’re learning from our mistakes.  That’s why the book of Proverbs says: “The prudent carefully consider their steps.  The wise are cautious and avoid danger.”  Proverbs 14:15,16

How much of these adjustments are temporary?  How many will be permanent.  Someone mentioned their staff is growing in their desire to be physically together.    Others have said we will never to back to how we did things a year ago.

Leaders must lead with calmness, clarity, speed, and steadiness in crisis times.

Leaders must acknowledge the uncertain, the ambiguous, the “I don’t know”..

Leaders cannot be territorial. We must collaborate and coordinate.

Leaders have to work with resources that we have, not what we don’t have.

Leaders have to be creative, flexible, transparent, decisive.

Leaders have to prioritize what’s crisis and what’s not.

Leaders have to keep in plan for the immediate AND the long-term.

And we do know this:

We will continue to meet more frequently using virtual meetings.

We will make greater use of digital, interactive, virtual tools for communication.

We will reallocate spending vast amounts on travel.

We will examine the benefits of owning or leasing a large corporate office.

We will adopt shorter, more concise, more frequent communication models.

We will stay focused on our core mission.

We will stop doing things NOT core to the mission.

We will keep the Gospel front and center in our content.

We will make use of virtual tools to connect with more donors more frequently.

We will not measure activity or hours. only measure results.

We will allow our younger creative staff more input into ministry leadership.

We will view this season as opportunity to create long-term contingency plans.

I’m finding the book of Proverbs exceptionally relevant to ministry leadership these days.  In an ambiguous, uncertain culture, we need to seek God’s combination of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, insight, discernment. God promises in James 1 that when we humbly ask for God’s wisdom He will give it.  

“The prudent understand where they are going.”  Proverbs 14:8  

For sure, that’s where we go from here! “

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Wayne Pederson was the former President of Reach Beyond and NRB and now sits as the Chair Board member of Resource Global. Prior to Reach Beyond and his work with NRB, Wayne served as vice president for Radio at Moody in Chicago, with 35 owned and operated stations, reaching 1 Million listeners each week, plus 800 radio outlets nationwide. He’s a writer, speaker and air personality for a number of organizations. Wayne graduated from the University of Minnesota and the Free Lutheran Theological Seminary in Minneapolis. He has two daughters, Christy and Michelle and 9 grandchildren, all in Minnesota.

Adopt-A-Dorm: Singapore Testimony

By Jillian Goh

Our Church Adopted a Dorm

When the foreign workers situation started to blow up in a Singapore, I didn’t know what to make of it. Pictures of foreign workers cramped in small rooms started surfacing in the media (again) as allegations of errant employers not providing food and protective equipment became more rampant.

And it made me uncomfortable. It made me uncomfortable because it made me confront the sheer amount of privilege I enjoyed as a Singaporean who never had to worry about the shelter over my head or where and when my next paycheck would come. It made me uncomfortable because there was injustice and gaps in our society that needed attention and action. More importantly, I felt uncomfortable because I knew God’s heart was broken by what was happening to them.

As I delved deeper into this issue, reading commentaries from local Christians, I was surprised to find that the Bible actually repeatedly calls on us to care for the foreigners living among us. Not in a vague and theoretical sense, but in very practical and actionable ways. Among them this verse struck a chord with me…

“Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.” Deut. 24-:14

It opened my eyes to our country’s insatiable demand for cheap labour, the cheaper the better. And I was recently challenged to rethink my stance during a sermon where the pastor challenged the congregation - will we collectively as a people agree to pay more for our houses and other infrastructure so that our migrant friends could earn a better living for themselves and their families? It is a difficult question to give a resounding “YES” to, because it potentially means taking away significant resources from ourselves and passing it on to the foreign worker community. But my prayer is that even as I struggle with these thoughts and challenges, God would continue to convict me of what He is true and right. 

Open the eyes of my heart

Before COVID-19 happened and threw Singapore’s migrant worker issue into the spotlight, there were two incidents that changed my perception and attitude towards our migrant worker community in Singapore.

One was a JC friend who despite her apathy for most things, shared with me that the one group of people she felt most deserving of help were the migrant workers in Singapore. It was probably the stark contrast in how she viewed most things rather nonchalantly versus her heartfelt “lobbying” for the migrant worker community that made me curious. We had many conversations in school about (i) why in particular did she care so much for the migrant worker community and (ii) what could be done to alleviate their situation. Those conversations sparked off an intellectual curiosity but there was still work that needed to be done in me.

My second encounter was a much more personal experience and has been etched in my memory ever since. On my way to school one day, I was approached by a group of young secondary school children who were doing fundraising at Little India MRT Station. As usual, I was in a rush and felt too lazy to do anything, so unsurprisingly I ignored them with a swift raise of the hand. Then, walking right behind me were 2 migrant workers who were NOT actively approached by the students, yet they walked towards the students and started to fumble in their pockets. 

As I saw them dig deep into their pockets, I realized they were looking for money to donate to the fundraiser. They happily dropped their 50-cent coins into the tin, smiled and walked away. Both the students who received the donation and myself were not only surprised but exceedingly humbled by their generosity. Honestly, after witnessing that incident, I remembered feeling so ashamed by my lack of empathy and so moved by their compassion. God opened my eyes and took the huge planks out of them as I recalled the story of the widow with her 2 copper coins. 

That incident really upended the stereotypes I had of migrant workers and softened my heart towards them. It made me realize that God does not see people as we see them, because He knows them for the entire being, while we on the other hand are limited by our prejudices, the stories we hear from others around us and the media. I would like to add that the unforgettable incident though impactful, is only a stepping stone to a longer, ongoing journey.

These two experiences were catalysts that I believe God allowed me to go through so that my eyes would be opened and it was no longer possible for me to sweep the problems I seem them face under a rug.

Adopt-A-Dorm Initiative: Why am I doing this? Why did I volunteer?

I am volunteering because I felt God place a burden for them in my heart and I wanted to respond to it without overthinking it, which I tend to do before serving. I felt challenged and honestly was quite worried, but with God’s faithful providence with each step I took, I was motivated to continue. 

After delivering food to the dorm, what are my impressions? What did I see? How do I feel?

I was pretty overwhelmed the first time I went to deliver food to the dormitories as I  visited multiple small dorms in the West of Singapore. I still remember at one particular dorm, I saw more than 10 curious workers in masks peering outside of a grilled window to see what we were doing at their dorm. When I saw how many of them were housed or rather squeezed in one place, it made me realize the plight that they were in and how difficult it must be for them to socially distance and quarantine themselves for such a long period. At the same time, I also caught my human self falling prey to stereotypes as I felt uncomfortable when they started staring at me. It made me reflect and realize that even though I have a burden for them, I still had a long way to go to correct my own attitudes and the deep-seated stereotypes I held while learning from the way God loves.

It also made me realize even though they might have very little at the moment, they still had a very positive disposition. One of them I interacted with told me that they didn’t need all 46 packets of food we brought them, he repeated that he only needed 45 packets and wanted me to know that that was enough for them. The fact that they were contented, and not just preserving their own well being was really humbling to witness.

The work of serving and loving migrant workers is continuing in Singapore through Adopt-A-Dorm and other Initiatives. Check out another story of a church serving with Adopt-A-Dorm here.

Jillian Goh is part of our first Singapore Cohort.

She was born in Singapore and is currently working in a Dutch fintech firm as a marketer. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies and dancing.

The Unwelcome Regression of Globalization

By Tommy Lee and Sarah Lee

Jun Du and Angelos Delis, professors from Aston University, recently published an article in the World Economic Forum about the inevitable change COVID will bring to globalization. But let’s be honest - unless you run a company that provides a product, or your long awaited new fillintheblank is delayed yet again due to the coronavirus, you likely aren’t thinking about global supply chains on the regular. But maybe you should be. The times are changing, and these changes have very real material and spiritual implications on how we run our businesses, our ministries and our lives.

How So?

A quick primer on globalization: It relies on a worldwide network of manufacturers, resources and information (a supply chain) to allow businesses to produce goods and services in the most cost-effective way. For example, the computer you just ordered - those manufacturers often use highly specialized pieces that are created by only one or two overseas suppliers. If one of those suppliers is shut down due to, let’s say, a pandemic, they can’t complete the production of your computer. Their efficient and cost-effective chain of supplies has been disrupted and you can’t get your computer until they find a new supplier or their existing supplier is able to get back into their factory again, create a product and ship that product. The implication? You can’t get your work done, make money, provide for your family. This concept applies to an unbelievable amount of goods and services we use today. 

Globalization really began to advance in the 1800s, with the First and Second Industrial Revolutions. As shipping, air travel and the internet has been made exponentially more efficient, international trade has become deeply embedded into the fabric of almost every country.

Why is Resource Global so concerned about globalization?

Every person reading this is affected by globalization and the supply chain. And every person reading this is affected by the way COVID-19 has severely deconstructed the “norms” we have come to rely on. Many in the Resource Global family run businesses and organizations in Africa and Asia and the factories you run have been brought to a standstill due to this pandemic. The economic impact on your businesses and the people you employ is astronomical. How do you lead in a way that honors God in perhaps the most difficult season of your lives, especially when leading will most likely result in cutting jobs and wages?

And for the rest of the Resource Global family who depend on these goods and services to run your ministries and families, you may not be a direct part of a supply chain but you are most certainly a consumer. The ease at which you obtained supplies to run your daily lives is disrupted. Let’s just talk toilet paper for a second. What was once just a grocery store afterthought has now become a scavenger hunt prize subject to price gouging. So much time and energy has been wasted on finding what was once taken for granted. And the same goes for prescription medications, medical supplies and even simple things like eggs and flip flops!

And don’t forget that as globalization is disrupted and the economy is in a freefall, those running or working for nonprofit ministries are watching their donations dry up overnight.

So What Are We to Do With All This?

• Be Prayerful - Thy kingdom come Lord! Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!

• Be Mindful -  Remember our cohorts, indeed all of our churches, are filled with young marketplace leaders who deeply desire to run their companies in a way that honors God. 

• Be an Intercessor - There are believers around the world who are weathering historic, and often life-altering, change due to this unexpected de-globalization.

• Be Flexible - God is not a “that’s the way we’ve always done it” kind of God. His heart is to conform us into His image and He rarely accomplishes that without trial and change.

• Be Humble - The glory is God’s alone, and that may mean your way of life changes indefinitely.

• Be Ready - How is God asking you to be ready for change, to be a bridge-builder, to stand in the gap for those on the other side of the chain?

Some of the hardest work is still before us. Businesses, many led by fellow believers, will have to rebuild or reinvent their supply chains. Jobs will be lost. The economy will continue to take a hit for the foreseeable future. Donors will stop donating and consumers will stop consuming while we travel the long road to a new stability.

According to Du and Delis, “Nobody can predict the next crisis. But the most reliable and efficient insurance by far is to build a strong international cooperation network.” While this is true for the efficiency of future global trade, it is undoubtedly true for the global Church as well.

To view the World Economic Forum article, click here.

Building Lives & Transforming Communities

An Interview with Rudy & Bao Yan on using their marketplace skills for Kingdom Work

Resource Global Singapore Cohort 2020: Husband and wife Rudy and Bao Yan are leveraging their professional architectural training and entrepreneurial strengths to accomplish amazing Kingdom works. In this interview, they share their journey on being missional with their business – and their goal to transform marginal communities.    

What led your thinking towards integrating faith and work, and being missional with your business?

After graduating, I (Rudy) worked in large architectural companies. After 7 years, I started asking God if there was anything more to my profession and my faith. In 2014, at the peak of my career, I resigned to pursue God in a mission school. I bought a one-way ticket to Africa where I was part of Heidi Baker’s Iris Global Ministry. We lived among the poor community – HIV stricken, lepers, widows, orphans, child soldiers and child brides. This proved to be life changing.

My eyes and heart were opened to poverty of epic proportions. It was no longer statistics to me. Poverty has a face. Poverty has a name. It has smell, and it has context. This brought about a paradigm shift to how I would later intersect my life, my profession and my faith. I became cognizant of my skills as tools of transformation.

After 3 months in Africa, I returned to Singapore and was determined not to live life the same way and thus Genesis Architects was born in 2014 and based in Singapore.

How did you envision that Genesis Architects would be different?

I wanted Genesis Architects to be used by God as a vehicle for purpose-driven design. The practice would strive for design excellence commercially, but it would also be equally focused on working on mission-aligned architectural projects that would transform lives and communities in developing countries. Architecture, in a simple expression, is humanitarian. It provides roofs over families, classrooms for children to secure a better future. Thus, we established our branch office for Genesis Architects in Rwanda.

Share with us some of your pro-bono projects?

In Rwanda, I teach at the University as a Visiting Lecturer and we started to hire and train some of these architectural graduates. The missional purpose was to empower them to transform their own nation - and we firmly believe that Rwanda shall be built by her people. In the recent Resource Global Online Class, Michael Ramsden shared that true leaders build capabilities, not create dependencies. This really resonated with us.

Our current projects in Rwanda include a blind school for 300 children - providing them with a safe environment for learning; and a vocational school for tribal communities to be equipped with literacy and practical skills - providing them with opportunities for modernisation. Telling them that God loves them is not enough, we should also give them practical ways of coming out of poverty.

In Mozambique, we are involved in designing a full-fledge university under Heidi Baker’s Iris Global Ministry. Our contribution is cross-disciplinary - from the masterplanning, to the architectural and interior design, landscaping, as well as fund-raising. The aim is to empower and equip the next generation of Africans, by offering a comprehensive range of courses from medicine, law, engineering, business administration, marine biology, maritime studies, and a theological school.

In Democratic Republic of Congo, we are partnering with a non-government organizations, including Justice Rising, to design prototypes and build 40 primary schools in rural areas. These schools are supporting child soldiers, child brides, and refugee children. Our works also include raising awareness. So far, 18 schools have been completed.

We also have works in Southeast Asia. The Living Waters Village in Kalimantan is home for about 700 children who were orphaned or abused/ abandoned by their parents. We are helping them design several facilities - from an air strip, to a 1200-seat auditorium, and elderly care facility for the older family members of the children to be cared for in the Village. Pastor Ronny Heyboer ,who founded the Village, wants the children to honour their parents as it’s commanded in the Bible.

I also lecture at the Singapore Polytechnic and, in 2017, started accepting interns, and focuses on students at risk. We expose them to our pro-bono humanitarian projects and we have seen how interns respond positively to the entire experience. Realizing how their skills can be used to make a difference in people’s lives have given them added meaning and purpose.

What have you learnt or how have you been changed through all these experiences that you have?

One thing we have learnt is that we must stay true to our call and our core beliefs. It’s easy to focus only on economic gains. We want our practice to glorify God, and build projects that will really transform lives.

We see God’s hand in the fruits of our work. In DR Congo, children used to be trained as soldiers to kill in exchange for food. The vulnerable get sold off as child brides; the defenseless coerced against their wills. In our schools, things are different. We provide the children with meals, love, and education for a better future.

We also see how God provides for us in our businesses. Once, when we were presented with a pro-bono University project, we weren’t sure how our involvement would look like – as a pro-bono project of this scale would require a lot of time and resources without the revenue.

We prayed, and felt God’s peace and leading to take this up. And when we did, God really surprised us - within the same month, we landed our biggest commercial project yet - a resort island project in The Maldives.

On another occasion, when we felt led by the Holy Spirit to hire and train genocide survivors who were architecture students from Rwanda. We knew it would also cost us a big sum of money. And praise God that when we obeyed Him, He provided. Soon afterward, we were awarded a very unique project - to design a production studio for a singer-songwriter in Taiwan and, through that, the funding for our African interns was secured.

Whenever we say yes to a missional project, God would never fail to provide. When we step into His vision, His provision always comes. It shows that we serve such a great, generous, and faithful God. Abba God wants us to serve our brothers and sisters without being short-changed ourselves.

For Christian business owners, I would say the most important thing is to sincerely seek God. Don’t embark on your own ideas, but seek God and listen for His assignment and leading. Do not despise what is in your hands, these are clues to the assignments God may have for you. And do not despise humble beginnings, it could be as simple as feeding one person and this is already delighting God’s heart. Remember that God’s economy is different from man’s economy. God is a God of abundance and can open heaven above for our businesses. God’s laws and economy work differently. The Bible says He measures the entire universe by the span of his fingers. That’s how big God is, and He can provide - just not always in the form and manner and timing that man can think of.

How can people contribute to the pro-bono projects that you are involved in?

We have various pro-bono projects in Africa and Southeast Asia. Perhaps God will put on people’s hearts how they can play a part to be used by God to impact lives and transform communities. It could be lending their direct expertise to help the schools, or contributing financially to help with the construction or operations (running the programmes and providing meals for the students), or any way that the Holy Spirit would inspire and lead. We would love to welcome like-minded individuals and corporations to come partner us in these Kingdom projects and experience what God is doing through and for His children and glorify Him.

Please visit www.genesis-architects.com if you are interested to learn more about our practice, or are looking to develop/ design your new space!

We can All be Mentors and Mentees

By Jennifer Manabat

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another

- Proverbs 27:17

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

- Titus 2:3-5

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

- 1 Peter 5:1-5

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

- Colossians 3:16

The bible is full of verses on mentoring and how elders (mentors!) can guide and build up those who have not traveled as far or as long on their journeys. When I first became a Christ follower, I had the opportunity to be mentored by an older woman at my church, and it was such a wonderful and life-changing experience. I was astounded that a woman wanted to come alongside me, teach me, and help me to grow in my faith. Seeing the benefit, it instilled in me a deep desire to do the same for other women that God would bring along my path.  

Having been both a mentee and a mentor, I’ve experienced both sides and I’m of the belief that anyone and everyone can be a mentor or mentee. Being a mentor has helped me to realize that I have authentic life experience that I can share with mentees to help them on their journeys. There is always the opportunity to grow and learn more about ourselves at any phase of our lives. And God calls us to share that life knowledge and experience with others in return. He can speak and work through us if we will let Him.

Mentoring also helped me to realize that mentees can benefit so much just from having someone to listen to them - to really listen and be a sounding board. And who doesn’t need that? There are so many voices talking at us and telling us to do this or be that to be happier or more successful, and it can be overwhelming. To find someone you trust that will come alongside of you and listen to you, and to provide wisdom, truth, and grace is a real gift. So don’t worry if you don’t know what to say or what specific advice to give to a mentee – just be present with them, ask questions, and listen.

If you have never mentored anyone, I encourage you to do so. It is such a rich and rewarding experience. One of the greatest things I’ve learned about mentoring, and why I continue to do so, is that the experience always grows me in the process. In seeking to guide others and provide insight, I have found that the women I’ve mentored always have something to teach me too. I’ve learned that I may not always get it right, that I may have imposed a thought or piece of advice, but I give myself grace and remind myself that I am a work in progress too. I have also realized you don’t have to have all the answers, and you probably won’t! Remember that mentoring is about relationship, and when you start there, you can’t go wrong.

Jennifer has been one of the mentors for Resource Global. She is currently a Pediatric Occupational Therapist at Kids In Sync and lives in the Chicagoland area.

Redefining Beauty

By Reina Ang

On May 31 st , I had the opportunity to sit and listen to Jessica Rey in her session about “Faith, Hollywood, and Fashion” for Global Cohort Gathering 2019. I was personally incredibly excited to be in her session as I’m also working in both of the creative industries she’s involved in: entertainment and fashion industry.

Jessica Rey is an actress, mostly known from her work as White Wild Force Ranger in the TV Series Power Rangers Wild Force. She is also currently the Founder, CEO, and designer for her modest swimwear brand called Rey Swimwear. During the session, Jessica told her story about how while doing her MBA program, she got offered to do castings for commercials and TV series that ultimately led her to a main role in Power Rangers Wild Force. Her experiences in Hollywood and its lifestyle led her to see the need of different and wider perspectives on what is the definition of beautiful for modern women. After much struggle and rejections, she successfully launched Rey Swimwear, a modest swimwear based in Los Angeles.

The fashion and entertainment industry are two very unique industries that have so much influence on dictating what is deemed beautiful in society. But at the same time, within these industries themselves, diversity and inclusion comes especially slower. As I was listening through her session, I was very convicted on how much influence the people in these industries can bring in term of redefining what is beautiful and how much I could’ve done as the part of it. Two of Jessica’s statement stood out to me the most.

““Only 4% of women feel beautiful. My goal is simple, how do I help make it 100%?””

As heartbreaking as it sounds, it’s true. Beautiful is a big scary word for most women. We find ourselves constantly trying to conform to certain set standard unconsciously, never fully satisfied on how we look. The pursuit of improving oneself is good, as long as it doesn’t come from self-hatred. As someone in fashion and entertainment industries, am I doing my best to help this cause or am I actually further enforcing this habit of placing our identity in this unrealistic beauty standard through my work? Am I forcing my own perception of beauty onto others, rather than God’s perspective of it? That brought me to her other statement.

“Your mission is not to make others know who you are, but to make others know that they are made in the image of God.” My goal and mission shouldn’t be centered around me and who I am. It should be about God and according to God’s Word. And what is God’s Word about body image?

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” - Ephesians 2:10 God’s message is loud and clear. We are made according to His image and we are His masterpiece. God sees us that way and that’s the goal, to help men and women to see not only their true beauty, but also their God-given dignity.

Reina Ang is part our Jakarta Team. She is also a professional model in Jakarta.

Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours: Reflection from GCG

By Esther Chengo

Global Cohort Gathering (GCG) 

Every year, cohort members from different countries gather for a global leadership retreat, where they participate in trainings and also get to be mentored and network amongst each other. The 2019 GCG was held in Los Angeles, and the theme was ‘Catalyst for Gospel Action’. Cohort members looked through the lens of Christian leaders and professionals who are implementing the hope and truth of the Gospel in some of the massive and well-known areas of their cities. 

Reflections 

Participating in the 2019 GCG was quite a wholesome learning experience for me. Listening to speakers such as Bethany Hoang talking about God’s passion for justice and for the vulnerable, and His invitation to join Him in the same space as He brings wholeness and restoration. 

As part of the program, we got to visit a mission in Skid Row, Downtown LA and do a prayer walk in the district. This was my first time to interact with homeless people living in tents on paved streets.

As part of the program, we got to visit a mission in Skid Row, Downtown LA and do a prayer walk in the district. This was my first time to interact with homeless people living in tents on paved streets. 

As we walked down the street from the Mission, we passed a set of tents, where in one tent, I heard a spirited shouting match between a lady and a man, with the lady pleading for the man to stop. 

While still taking this in, at the street corner, we walked straight into a birthday party! There was a young lady, turning 30, and she was dressed in a pink dress and a tiara, surrounded by her family, listening to music and dancing. When they saw our group, they asked us what we were doing, and we mentioned we were having a prayer walk in the area. So, they asked us to pray for them, and our team leader directly asked me to pray for the birthday girl. Incidentally, having turned 30 just weeks before, I felt that God couldn’t have mistakenly chosen me to be the one to pray. I thought about my realities, I thought about hers. Being 30 and probably wondering what the decade ahead would bring. And I prayed for her. 

We continued with our prayer walk. Most of the people I saw in or around the tents were senior citizens. No young children were in sight that day. Some were sleeping in their tents, others were seated on mats outside their tents, others were listening to music, others were having a meal, others were deep in conversation, while others sat and stared into oblivion. The prayers continued. 

After a couple of blocks, we got to a street corner, and I saw my first ever soup kitchen. There was a church that was distributing food, and I took note of this particular elderly lady. She wore a tea-length dress that had seemingly seen better days. She was pushing a hand cart with one hand and with the other, she held onto her jacket potato meal. The hand cart probably held all her possessions, as she seemed to have a tight grip and sharp eye. 

She walked slowly toward our group, and stopped right next to us. And she asked if she could sing us a song! I looked her in the face, and immediately faltered. Half of her face, from her eyes to her shin, had been scalded. Yet, the beauty of her smile caused the rest to fade away. And she sang a song about how Jesus loves her. Could have been the renown “Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me…” but I was moved. How could she sing about God’s love, yet her only assured meal was the one in her hand? How could she sing about God’s love, yet she has probably been judged by those she met even before she opened her mouth to speak? How could she sing of God’s love, yet her tomorrow was so unsure? How could she sing of God’s love, yet her family had probably deserted her? Where did her confidence come from? How could she sing the Lord’s song in a Strange Land?

As I asked myself these questions, before I knew what was happening, this lady opened up her arms and drew me in for a hug! It was so spontaneous, it could only have come from the heart! She then hugged two other people in the team, and turned and continued pushing her hand cart, as she walked away limping. I could only think about when her last hug had been, and when her next would be. And the prayers continued.

I see no better way to end this reflection, than to quote from one of the GCG theme songs that Sharon Ma led us in: 

““Heal my heart and make it clean, Open up my eyes to the things unseen,
Show me how to love like You have loved me;
Break my heart for what breaks Yours, Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause;
As I walk from earth into eternity.””

— Hosanna, Hillsong

Esther Chengo is our Nairobi Project Coordinator and works at HESABIKA.

Durian and the Gospel: Stinky Stench or Appealing Aroma?

By Sarah R.

Have you ever visited Asia and seen the “No Durian” signs in hotels and airports? Or have you had the chance to taste this “King of Fruits”, as it’s belovedly called here in Malaysia? It seems for those of us living in lands where this spiky fruit grows high up on trees, and falls to the ground only between 12midnight - 4am, one either clearly has an aversion to the smell and taste, or an addiction, never getting enough. In our own family of 7, we have 3 hard core durian “LOVERS”, and 4 that would prefer the fruit to be kept outside of the house when it’s consumed. One could go as far as to say that the aroma of durian is either an aroma that brings life, or an aroma that brings death.   

When we first left our hometown for a predominantly Muslim, metropolitan city in Asia 15 years ago, a friend prayed that we would “spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him” among those we befriended and did business with. Our friend was referring to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ amongst those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?”

As we assist Resource Global this year in exploring what God may have for the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we are praying that future cohort members would carry the aroma of Christ amongst the leaders and influencers of this diverse and strategically poised land.  Recently in a conversation with a top Malaysian marketplace leader here who has worked high up in one of the most prestigious and powerful companies of this country, he made the comment that too often “faith and work initiatives in Malaysia can use the lingo of conquering the marketplace for Christ.” He went on to share how he feels this perspective could be a mistake.  Instead of aiming for conquest, should we instead ask for God to make us an aroma?

In this very religious country, what is needed is not necessarily simply preaching of the gospel but living out the gospel in our daily lives, before our co-workers, neighbors and friends.  It means showing with our actions, more than with our words, the love of One whose love never fails. It means having the aroma spread out in unexpected ways, pointing to an integrity, a sense of character, small choices that speak loudly.  To some the gospel will always be a stench, perhaps like durian is to those who don’t like durian.  But to others, the gospel shown and “smelt” through devoted lives, will be the aroma of life.

Sarah and Jesse R. are our City Directors in Malaysia to see if we can start a Resource Global Cohort in 2020 or 2021.

100% Jesus, 0% Me - Interview with Abraham Viktor

During Tommy Lee’s last visit to Jakarta, in January 2019, he was able to meet with several Resource Global (RG) cohort alumni, including Bram. The two caught up after connect group, and shared the latest updates across Bram’s life (both professionally and personally) since his time with RG.  

Bram grew up in Jakarta, and received his accounting degree from University of Indonesia (UI). He always had an enterprising spirit so before his final year in school, he attempted to launch his first startup with a few friends: a Kaya jam company. They had a great formula, but struggled to find the right factory for production. Eventually, he had to make the difficult decision to move on. The experience would be the first of a couple of “professional failures,” through which Bram learned much about the world, faith, himself, and God.

After graduating, Bram found himself on his second startup - this time in the construction industry working on lightweight building blocks. However, after much time, and significant monetary investment, a series of unfortunate events lead to the closure of that startup too. This second failure was much harder on Bram. He found himself low on cash, and felt like the weak link in a group of friends who had gone into banking or consulting, were rising the ranks, and making good money.

Looking back, he recalls how this devastation was partially influenced by his own family’s financial crisis when he was younger. That experience had taught him to be driven by monetary gain in his own decisions. Desirous of more stability, he took a step back and decided to pursue work in investment banking and consulting. He went first for an internship with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), before eventually moving into investment banking. He remembers fondly that first paycheck, and the feeling of security it came with. However, he also remembers the disappointment he felt shortly into his tenure as he began to feel restless, thinking: What am I doing here?

Throughout his early career struggles, Bram recalls feeling God convicting him to rely not on his own desires and ego, rather on God’s plan and design. He also recalls how he always pushed those convictions aside, deceived by his own pride. However, the more restless he felt at work, the more he reflected on his failed startups, and the more he found himself turning to God.

In an act of faith, Bram asked God to purify his heart. In reconciling his desires to those of God’s for him, he found renewed clarity. Suddenly, he felt God impressing upon him that he should be working in financial inclusion. He took a leap of faith, and left his cushy investment banking job. That very day, he stepped into creating his next venture: Taralite.

Through much faith and hard work, Taralite is now a key mover for financial inclusion in Indonesia, providing micro loans and and micro funding to underserved people. They also lease their algorithm to banks for more efficient processing and greater financial inclusion across the country. Most recently, Taralite has been acquired by OVO - a large mobile payments player in Indonesia. Bram sees the move as synergic, allowing the team to work with mentors with more experience, as well as expanding Taralite’s own market share and impact on Indonesia as a whole.

Around the time Bram was working on Taralite, building it up into what it is today, he had experienced several other milestones as well. These milestones informed many of his decisions, and continue to shape his career and faith journey today.

First, he got married - to a woman he says is greater than his equal. “She humbles me,” he says - describing how his pride and self-righteousness often causes him to lack grace, whereas her own deep desire and honor for truth make her the opposite: humble, kind, gentle.

Second, he participated in Resource Global’s first cohort - an opportunity he credits for giving him clear and encouraging mentorship. The Christian guidance and focus on bringing the gospel into the business sphere helped him in many a decision, especially in the Taralite’s early days.

Third, he had a clear epiphany about finances. Whereas his upbringing and “the Old Bram” led him to focus on simply gaining wealth, the Bram of today who remains stayed on the Lord realized that money is a blessing from God. This blessing, he believes, is one that must be shared, and enjoyed. Ultimately, he says “my life and even my finances don’t belong to me. [They] all belong to God alone.”

And last of all, via redemption through, and trust in, Christ, Bram has received 2 priceless gifts from his turbulent professional experiences to date: humility, and trust in God’s sovereignty. Humility because, whilst he continues to struggle with pride, he remembers that he has never succeeded when he has insisted on doing things by his own strength. And trust in God’s sovereignty, because when he looks back at the last few years (his career trajectory, his marriage, his time with Resource Global, and his failures), he sees how God’s providence was upon him through it all.

“When I failed the second time, it felt like the lowest point in my life, it felt like I’d never get close to where my friends were. But somehow God just cared for me, equipped me, strengthened me. And it’s all God’s work. When I look back, it was 0% Bram, and 100% Jesus.”

Lemonilo: Adventures Beyond Expectations

On the afternoon of January 22, 2019, Tommy Lee paid a visit to past cohort member - Johannes Ardiant, at the Lemonilo headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia. Surrounded by the cheerful green and yellow murals, and beautiful paintings by local artists, the two sat down to catch up on faith, friendship, business, and responding to God’s call.

Lemonilo - the brainchild of Johannes and Shinta Nurfauzia, is a healthy home staples brand. Their hero product is healthy additive-free instant noodles in a country where instant noodles are King. This is, after all, the place that brought the world Indomie, and boasts street food dishes like InTerNet - a mixture of instant noodles, telor (egg), and cornet (corned beef). However, analogous to Johannes’ own eclectic background and professional journey, Lemonilo wasn’t always about food. In fact, its journey (from healthcare to health food), which closely mirrors Johannes’ (from engineering to politics to business and more), is a reminder that God’s call often leads to adventures beyond our own expectations.

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Johannes was born and raised in Jakarta, but studied in Singapore for university at the National University of Singapore (NUS). From an early age, he had a passion for politics, but somehow ended up in degree programs related to Computer Science. The decision had been made in response to pressures from family and the market that demanded for more engineers. After university, he took on a PhD program again related to Computer Science, but found it lonely, and knew deep down he was meant for something else. After his struggle through the program, he worked at International Business Machines (IBM) for a time, before finally admitting to his own political passions and aspirations. After IBM, he took on more finance and consulting roles across entities such as Tusk Advisory and the Indonesia Infrastructure Finance, until which point he found an opportunity to go back to school.

From 2013-2015, he took his passion for politics with him to Harvard University, and studied a Masters in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Governance. However, upon returning to Indonesia, instead of doors opening in politics, he saw doors opening in other areas to help the public as a private citizen. With his friend, Shinta, he started Konsula then - a healthcare tech startup that sought to connect Indonesians with doctors. Public health was a cause that he felt the Lord impressing upon his heart, even as he wished for inroads into policy. It then occurred to him, perhaps serving the public from this private sphere, was actually an inroad. After over a year of building the company, he felt a strong call from the Lord to think of an area he could help that was more organic to the Indonesian people. Something that they needed everyday, but weren’t even thinking about. This is where the idea for a health food startup came.

The statistics were clear: in 2015 alone, Indonesians consumed 13.2 billion instant noodle packets. That is 55 packets per person, per year, as a general average (counting even infants). The logical conclusion was that Indonesian adults ate instant noodles multiple times a week, despite what most in the developed world might consider common knowledge of how unhealthy instant noodles are because of the preservatives used. In late 2015, reports were surfacing of people developing cancer linked to their frequent consumption of instant noodles. Considering Indonesians’ dependence on the staple food, Johannes saw an opportunity there to provide a healthy alternative. With that seed planted, Konsula slowly grew into Lemonilo.

Since then, Lemonilo has launched a second instant noodle flavor (now with both mee goreng [fried noodles], and curry noodle soup), and is well along the path to launching healthy cooking oils, and other pantry must-haves. Johannes has found himself in a leadership position yet again in an area that was not his initial expectation: health products, instead of politics. However, he’s clear that, while it may not have been what he expected, he is learning that “God is teaching [him] the hard way” that doors will open and close according to God’s will.

As a leader in this new area in his life, Johannes says “the hardest thing is the draining work, the meetings,” but it is all worth it when rewarded with the blessing of mentoring others and sharing one’s values (something he feels he lacked as a young professional). He also credits Resource Global with a lot of the strength and confidence he has pursuing his work with a Christian perspective. For his cohort, their retreat exposed him to Silicon Valley’s challenges for people of faith - the money, idolatry, relativism, and more. He considers this an important component of his maturity today as a Christian business leader. On top of all this, to cope with the pressures of his work, Johannes says he leans on the personal mentorship he received from Resource Global with Ken Baugh (Saddleback Church), as well as time in the Word. “Being rooted in the Word, focusing on one passage per week, meditating on it…[also,] instead of just spending one prayer a day, taking short breaks throughout the day to converse with God,” these are the things he leans on most when times get rough. For him, now, he no longer mourns for his own dreams (such as a political career). Rather, he feels confident that God will open and close the right doors, at the right times, and his job is to faithfully heed the Lord’s direction.

Thinking Differently: Interview with Megan Adolph

Megan Adolph was in our first Chicago Cohort in 2016 and currently has moved for work in the West Coast.

Megan, can you explain what you are currently doing right now?

I live in San Francisco, just moved here from Chicago. I work for a company called Workday, which is an HR software company. So running a lot of finances and expenses for companies. My specific job is running design education. We have a very small design team and a very large company. I lead trainings on design thinking, how to conduct user research, and also how to facilitate meetings in a collaborative way, to help train employees of this organization on some of these fields.

For a good portion of your life in Chicago you were doing a lot of startup, and things like that. What has the transition been like from doing a bunch of projects, to now, staying and working with one company?

Well, it is easier to manage the details to only have one. In Chicago I was teaching at Northwestern, which I love doing. I helped students work on physical product design, and was also doing different client projects at the same time. There is a fun hustle and bustle, Tommy you mentioned that you love that too, doing lots of different things at once. There has been a sort of peace to have one specific company to work with, where I feel I can be really focused and go deep. I am not as worried about if I am going to book this project; I mean at the same time you are running a small business and making sure you have everything managed, as well as be a designer, run facilitations, teach, etc. Not having to worry about if I am going to have enough money to cover all my expenses as much this month is a nice relief to actually focus on the work that I am doing.

What about your spiritual life? From the change in to Chicago, to where you are, finding a new church, fellowship, etc. Where are you spiritually, and how have you seen God working through this journey during this time?

I will be honest, last week was the first time I really went to church and connected. In the midst of the transition it was just so easy for me to pull away because I was busy. I had such a good experience; I went with my friend Steve to Reality, two weeks ago. It was about two hours long, and I kept thinking, is it over yet? I was talking to him about it, and he says, actually they are really big on the response, and leaving the space. It was this really big call out to me, I haven’t been putting in that level of space in this transition. So coming this Sunday and spending the full two hours there, it was a freeing release; where the depth and the craving of what I really needed, was that time with God. I am really thankful for that. But in the transition it was so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of things. I wouldn’t necessarily say I was far away from God, but definitely not as prudent in communities. I took for granted in some ways, I was in Chicago for thirteen years, some of the bases of church all set up, so many friends, a depth of community. It was hard, and some ways still is hard, but recognizing that where you put your intentionality is where it will grow. Even just going to church yesterday, the girl who sat next to me works in Pleasanton, where I work, and we are going to connect. I am just thankful for that element of when you do put that foot forward, God will honor that. I am thankful for that reminder and connection.

Ever since I met you, you have been passionate about design thinking and training, when did you start realizing your passion? What is it about it that psychs you up?

I didn’t even know what these words were for a long time to be honest. I did a startup, about seven or so years ago, we hired a company to do design. I though design was just pixels, color, what it would be, but it had so much more to do with empathy and understanding people. I was doing more technical product management at the time, so I realized I liked their job more than mine. When we sold the company, I decided to switch careers. Since then I have just been loving the different angles. I started designing stores, I was doing physical product design with Northwestern. I love that it’s more of a methodology that helps you sort of understand what is a core human need and then what you’re designing; whether that’s a website, a store, a product, it doesn’t necessarily matter as understanding the process. I am not an expert in store design, I work with architects and interior designers to make stores. Or if I am doing physical product design, I also am not super great at welding things; but understanding this process I can come into and product and really understand the human needs and translate them into what will make a successful product.

What are you hoping for to integrate your skills with the gospel?

I have a core belief that everyone is creative. I think we can often confuse creativity with “I can draw.” I believe God is the ultimate creator, and there is a big part of me that loves creating space for creativity. If I am running a workshop for the day, and I can create conversations that can occur in a different way, or have someone think of a new idea, or just have fun in a way they haven’t done before. I guess I see how I want God to work through me as allowing other people to experience themselves as creative, or experience themselves in new ways. Being able to be a space for that is where I like to see my mission and work come in. Letting the reflection of being a creator show up in people, whether that is in their work, or brainstorming about their personal lives; I love to be a space for someone to think differently or to be more creative.

Serving God Faithfully in all Things

An interview with Lukas Limanjaya, Founder of Kalm. He was in our Second Cohort in Jakarta.

On Tommy Lee’s last trip to Jakarta from January 20-23, 2019, he had the opportunity to catch up with and interview past cohort members. One of these was Lukas Limanjaya - a sprightly, young business leader with a passion for counselling, improving mental health and well-being, and reducing stigma around mental health disorders.

During the interview, Lukas cited his past as formative in both his grounded faith, and his calling to help broken people cope with and heal from that brokenness. As a young child, he lived in Surabaya - the second largest city in Indonesia, and was raised by his grandparents. At around the age of 8, his parents - who were living in Jakarta, running the family businesses, decided it was time to move their children in with them. Lukas soon found himself and his siblings transplanted to the bustling national capital, and were immediately put into a Christian private school (Sekolah Pelita Harapan - known as SPH).

During those first several years in Jakarta, the adjustment for Lukas was significant, and home life was not ideal. His parents fought often, and Lukas felt acutely the brokenness of the world. To cope, Lukas turned to school. He says, “God’s providence stuck him at home” as he struggled to run off and get up to shenanigans with his friends outside. Instead, he found himself holing up in his room and running to his books, and his studies, to avoid the stresses of his family life. He credits his teachers and counselors at school for their constant support. Most of all, he cites that the key determinant to his success today is how God’s divine purpose brought people into his life to teach him that “Option A” (what he describes as the obvious choice, or other people’s expectations, or the way you’ve been brought up) is not the only option. There is always an Option B. And often Option B is the true option God has for you: His true plan for your life, the one you neither want or expect.

Going for Option B, however, requires what Lukas calls both an external factor (a spiritual mentor, for example), and self-reflection. After all, these types of choices sometimes require a leap of faith. Especially if it’s not what you initially envisioned. To Lukas, the crucial element here is humility. “Being humble isn’t about low self-esteem,” he insists. To him, humility is about knowing who you are, and who God is. “God shows me how big He is as I know him.” Knowing God, and knowing who you are in relation to God (how big He is, and how small you are, and how He protects and covers you) humbles you, and prepares you for his plans for you.

“Being self-reflective comes down to being humble. Being self-reflective means being reflective on who God is. When I acknowledge that everything is a gift from God, it’s ok to be proud of the things I am good at. At the same time, when I acknowledge God is there for me, means it’s ok for me to admit my weaknesses too.”

After university abroad, and a short stint working in the tech industry, Lukas returned to the United States to study a Masters of Arts in Counselling and Biblical Counselling from Westminster Theological Seminary. When he finished, he returned to Jakarta at the end of 2017 armed with the right tools to begin his new business venture: PT Sanubari Senantiasa Sejahtera. It was into this business that he took his passion for helping the broken. His journey starting this, coincided with his time with Resource Global - a time he credits for “emboldening him to keep moving forward in the path God has set for him.” The encouragement he received from his fellow Resource Global cohort members, reminded him that as young professionals, they were all in a similar boat. Whether taking on family businesses, working on new and challenging roles in their current companies, or venturing out on their own, all of them were experiencing many difficult firsts. The sensation that he was not alone, and that others were pushing themselves and supporting one another in Christ, gave him energy to continue.

“When I look back at my life, and I see my challenges and hardships, I don’t see wow look how great I am I went through [all this] and look at where I am right now. When I look back I see those ways that God tells me how I never was alone. I never walked through it alone. The only reason I survived, is that God brought me people, and He was there through those people, and that’s what brought me to my life at this point.”

Since then, Lukas and his business partner, Angela, at PT Sanubari have launched their app: Kalm, a mobile application that allows Indonesians to connect with counselors, offers tips for dealing with mental health issues, as well as encouragements to get you through the day.

As he described his advocacy, Lukas highlighted the muddled view on mental health and wellness as a key point he’d like to change.

“In the business world, if a person has a heart attack from overwork we say ah he worked so hard, what a strong man. But if a person gets anxiety or burnout or depression from overwork we say, ah so weak. Maybe we shouldn’t trust him. And unfortunately, it’s a mindset not only in the business world, but in churches too. Pastors, elders, people serving. We say because they’re doing the Lord’s work they must be perfect. But they’re under immense pressure too.”

His passion for the cause is clear, and it is with these thoughts that he continues to lead the charge on destigmatizing mental health, and pushes forward to help Indonesians who struggle. Still, as with any new venture, days have not been without their uncertainties.

Lukas remembers talking to a fellow Resource Global cohort member who was giving him advice on what not to do when kicking off a startup. Some of the advice that came up included avoiding products that required one educate the market with something completely new. At that, Lukas was immediately dejected. He thought to himself: oh no all the things I was told not to do, I’m doing right now. When he expressed his fears, he was encouraged instead, reminded that: “if you know and feel God brought you and told you to do it, if you have to fail, just fail faithfully.”

“That really changed my mindset,” said Lucas. “I don’t have to prove God called me to do this. Whatever I do, I just have to be faithful. Even in failure, fail faithfully that it honors the Lord. That lifted off so much burden from me. I don’t have to make my company successful. I just need to do things in a way that is faithful.”

These simple, yet powerful, words reminded Lukas of the truth that as Christians, our success should not be defined by what the world considers success, but by our service to the Lord. Just as God is faithful to us, so should we remain faithful to Him in all things. This revelation freed Lukas to work without worry, and to know that regardless of how “successful” his company becomes, he needs only to go forth in faith and rest assured in God’s promise of love and grace.

For Lukas, in the end, it’s not about success today, tomorrow, or in this lifetime now. It’s not even about his success as an individual and the number of other people he helps with his projects. It’s about an eternal purpose that serves the Lord faithfully, and becomes part of a tapestry that weaves God’s plans together into one beautiful, big picture. “Even if you fail, fail faithfully. Everything we do is to honor God”.

Antioch's of Southeast Asia

By Rene Alvarado

In 1978 I was graduating from Blaine Elementary school and on my way to Lane Tech high School where a friend would introduce me to Billy Graham for the first time. While I was trying to figure out how to navigate my way to classes with a 4-minute pass, Billy Graham was having a crusade in Singapore that year prophesying that Singapore would be the “Antioch of Southeast Asia”.  A reference to the ancient city in modern-day Turkey that was a key apostolic base in the early days of the faith.

Here I am, 40 years later, working with Resource Global with a mission to encourage young professionals to develop their cities of Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur into “Antioch’s”. Specifically, encouraging them that there is no difference between the sacred and the secular and that the marketplace is the key to fulfilling Dr. Graham’s prophesy.

Missions work is much different than the vision of missions I thought of when I chose to accept Christ as my savior sophomore year in college. I had heard of the Jim Elliot stories of missionaries’ who had traveled to unknown parts of the world to bring the gospel to peoples for the first time. The way I interpreted “taking up your cross” meant disconnecting with the western world and living off the fruits of the earth.   

Our trip to Southeast Asia was different. Instead of the jungle, I was meeting people in Board Rooms, Shared Office spaces, and cafes. Instead of traditional places of worship, I was worshipping with others in high rise community rooms and leased office spaces in professional buildings.

Instead of meeting with indigenous people who had never heard of the gospel, I was meeting with people who had graduate level education and corporate world experiences. People who had better command of the language than I had. People who had heard and followed many of the faith leaders that I follow and listen to back home.

This missions work is more of investing in God’s economy of multiplication where the investment is placed into instructing others who would then be “qualified to teach others”. This missions work is about discipleship, or what contemporaries call mentorship. It’s about investing in a co-hort: A group of Jesus followers who desire to apply those teachings in the marketplace.

A model that provides shared experiences much like the disciples had with each other.

This missions work includes the work of Mentors. Much like Eli helping Samuel decipher God’s voice in 1 Samuel, mentors are helping to re-train the mentees to hear and respond to the voice of God and His voice only. Instead of helping young disciples apply God’s truths at home, this mentoring is intentional about the field where these disciples spend most of their time and interact with others the most. The field for this new mission is the marketplace that offers a substitute for what are taught from scripture where identity, idolatry and meaning are the ploys of the evil one trying to pull God’s elect from connecting to the “true vine”.

This missions work is about relationships. The same relationship that God offers us in the midst of our suffering and joys. God favored relationships at every turn. Relationships with a Field Coordinator who is applying his/her gifts in administering the program at a local city. Relationships with mentors who volunteer their time getting to know and encourage the mentees. Relationships with co-hort members. Relationships with other co-hort groups throughout the world. Relationships with Board members who have graciously given their time, talent, treasures to develop and implement a vision for each city. And, relationships with church and faith leaders who are willing to provide the teaching form God’s word on it applies Monday through Friday.

It’s a mission that has a “heart for the city” where each co-hort member lives. A heart that cries out for the shalom and brokenness of the city. A heart that desires its city to be like Antioch. It’s mission work that is looking to make in impact from the inside out. From the places of work where most spend the majority of their waking hours. Cities where Jesus followers are a remnant. Cities where more trust seems to be given to the government and officials. Cites that claim Christ but were much integrity is needed. Where corruption is more of a business practice than integrity and honesty. Cities where  trust of government is broken and that brokenness has become the operational norm. Cities where westerners come and go with a message of Health and Wealth and leave the locals with the broken pieces left behind. Cities on hills, shorelines, mountain sides. Older cities. Man-made cities.

Cities that have a disparate level of wealth. Cities where indigenous people are favored and are still not able to compete. Cities that employ and emigrate other peoples to do menial work and labor. Where these same immigrants seek community and purpose in their lives and work.

Cities that look beautiful on the outside with great buildings, malls and public places. Cities where sites of cranes provide much hope for the future.

But .. cities like my home town that need to hear the good news of the gospel to provide redemption and restoration from its own brokenness. Cities that are waiting for a hero to reconcile itself to what was lost.  

This new mission field, like old ones, still needs the work of the only “true vine” that says “apart from me you can do nothing”.  I am not sure that this is the kind of missions work Mr. Graham had in mind but I can’t help but think it would have made his heart glad to see that his work continues past his time here on earth.

Rene Alvarado is an independent management consultant who has been a long-time friend of Resource Global and has helped visit multiple cities as we have looked to start our leadership cohorts.