Broad, maybe even big things are happening over here in this tiny nation. Pastors and leaders mentoring networks are expanding in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, China and likely other places we aren’t aware of. Monthly, Jim coaches the leadership team of an international evangelism ministry through Skype, following their Focusing Leader’s Retreat earlier this year and they begin to pass on these mentoring values to those under their leadership.
Nearly every month lately Singaporeans or others in Singapore have approached Jim and CRMS about the possibility of joining staff. This year we’ve doubled our 6 (4 Singaporean, 2 Chinese) to 9 (5 Singaporeans, 1 Indian, 3 Chinese).
And yet, it’s the seemingly small things, contradicting what we think of as “strategic” or “influential,” that I want to write two stories about this year.
Late last year (2009), I (Kimberly) was trying to hold firm in my Spirit led resolution to strengthen my “NO” muscle. I needed to focus on some challenges on the home front, so I sent a facebook message that went something like this:
“Your Church’s Christmas outreach with your Filipino congregation sounds like a great idea, but I can’t help you out that weekend. I also think it’s something that you two are equipped to do even better than I could. I won’t help you that day, but I will meet with you to brainstorm ideas of how YOU can do it.”
A few weeks later, on a Friday before our CRMS staff meeting, the young couple met me at a coffee shop near the CRMS office. Gabriel, an emerging leader, a Chinese Singaporean who works as his church’s administrator, and Hannah, soon to give birth to their firstborn. She’s an Australian young woman who had met Gabriel while a missionary in Cambodia and he’d come up to Phnom Pen on a short-term mission trip. We brainstormed some ideas of how to engage Filipino maids (domestic helpers) in an outreach by offering some creative and meaningful arts/crafts. They settled on helping participants create a journal. At the event, the participants would start it, then send it back to children or other family in the Philippines asking their families to add their own stories to return back to Singapore at the end of 2010. Hannah and Gabriel would also spend time at the event helping the women think of more ways to bridge the miles between them and their loved ones and give a short gospel talk about the bridge that God took to connect us to himself through Jesus.
What I didn’t know was that by my exercising the power in “NO,” I would also discover over coffee that this couple was in a “boundary time” in their development as leaders. They are dreaming of being missionaries to Japan, looking for an agency and needing someone to coach them through decisions in that direction. They didn’t know me through CRMS, they knew me through theatre connections. They didn’t know much about our organization. That day I invited them to follow me to our staff meeting that afternoon. They could meet the others and get a feel for the ethos of the office. In a society where day-planners are often packed with commitments, this couple had the afternoon free and we had a delightful afternoon welcoming them to our staff meeting.
And, their Christmas Outreach was a great success without me.
We’re now coming up on a year later. Gabriel and Hannah would still like to go to Japan and are determining next steps. They have a sweet baby boy, are part of a Focused Living Mentoring Group we’ve put together for some artistic younger couples who are in transition. Having got to know them better over the past few months, I have no doubt that the FL process is exactly what they needed and will be influential in helping shape their future – even though it will not likely be with CRMS. They’ve also had some set backs: Hannah’s been healed, and then recently re-diagnosed with cancer. They’re still waiting on God for a lot of things. They have astounding peace and grace in it all. They could use your prayers.
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