4 Hard Lessons for Measuring Ministry Success

Interesting read this morning:

We all know the drill. Faithfulness isn’t measured by the size of our church. It’s foolish to compare ourselves with others. A big church isn’t necessarily a healthy church. A small church can have a big impact. And so on.

Easy to say. Easy to write.

But it’s not so easy to take root in our soul. I know firsthand. In my first three years at North Coast Church, not much that we tried worked. Church growth was nonexistent. It was a season of significant depression.

Then suddenly, everything changed.

It wasn’t because of a turnaround in our ministry. It wasn’t a new facility or new people.

My depression started to lift after a spiritual kick in the gut. All I remember is a sudden and intense awareness that God was not pleased with the way I was evaluating my “lack of ministry success” and the church’s lack of growth.

He showed me that the thought process leading to my depression (Our church isn’t growing; it’s all my fault; I must be a bad person and pastor) was the same thinking that would produce arrogance if we ever experienced rapid evangelistic growth (Our church is growing; it’s all my doing; I must be a lot better than those who are struggling).

It shook me to the core. It was one thing to feel like I was coming up short of my ministry potential; it was another to realize that I had a deep-seated spirit of arrogance and haughtiness masked only by my lack of outward success.

The result was a complete realignment of my ministry scorecard. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1) Focus on the flock I have.

1 Peter 5:1-4

I worried so much about the sheep I wanted to shepherd someday that I forgot to care for the sheep I already had. It’s no wonder God wasn’t too keen on sending more of them my way to be ignored or used.

2) I can prepare the horse for battle, but I can’t control the outcome.

Proverbs 21:30-31

Like most leaders, I’m often quick to take credit for victory and quick to cast blame for defeat. But the fact is, especially in the spiritual realm, all I can do is prepare my horse for battle; the outcome belongs to the Lord.

3) The harvest is determined by the soil’s quality, not the farmer’s skill.

Matthew 13:1-23

Even with the best farming techniques, the best seed planted on hardpan will produce nothing. Some of us minister in great soil; some of us minister in rocky or weed-infested soil. It’s foolish to take too much credit or too much blame for the size of the harvest.

4) Do my best, then take a nap.

Matthew 16:18

It’s nice to know that the success or failure of the kingdom does not depend on the success or failure of my particular ministry. It’s not about me—or you. It’s about Him. He won’t fail. He’s God. And He’s got our back. We just have to do our best—then go ahead, take a nap. That’s all He asks, even when our board, congregation and peers want a lot more out of us.

I discovered I really could find my identity in Christ, not the size of my church. I could savor the incredible privilege of ministry, even when times were tough and fruit was sparse. Best of all, I found myself inching closer to a goal my mentor was constantly putting in front of me: “Jesus wants you to get to the place where you have nothing to prove and no one to impress.”

I’m not there yet. Maybe I never will be. But I am a lot closer

Mid-Autumn Festival

After 3 years in Quito, Ecuador, we finally found mooncakes here! :)

Although they do not taste fantastic, we are glad to be able to eat them during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Peiru, Jiexian and I had mooncakes with Chinese tea and fellowship together on the day of MAF.

Below are a few photos:

The box of mooncake we bought in Quito

Zoom in of mooncakes

Mooncake with Chinese tea

What do you think?

Why the Missional Church Will Fail

by Mike Breen

It’s time we start being brutally honest about the missional movement that has emerged in the last 10-15 years: Chances are better than not it’s going to fail.

That may seem cynical, but I’m being realistic. There is a reason so many movements in the Western church have failed in the past century: They are a car without an engine. A missional church or a missional community or a missional small group is the new car that everyone is talking about right now, but no matter how beautiful or shiny the vehicle, without an engine, it won’t go anywhere.

So what is the engine of the church? Discipleship. I’ve said it many times: If you make disciples, you will always get the church. But if you try to build the church, you will rarely get disciples.

If you’re good at making disciples, you’ll get more leaders than you’ll know what to do with. If you make disciples like Jesus made them, you’ll see people come to faith who didn’t know Him. If you disciple people well, you will always get the missional thing. Always.

We took 30 days and examined the Twitter conversations happening. We discovered there are between 100-150 times as many people talking about mission as there are discipleship (to be clear, that’s a 100:1). We are a group of people addicted to and obsessed with the work of the Kingdom, with little to no idea how to be with the King. As Skye Jethani wrote in his Out of Ur post a little while back “Has Mission become an Idol?”:

Many church leaders unknowingly replace the transcendent vitality of a life with God for the ego satisfaction they derive from a life for God.

Look, I’m not criticizing the people who are passionate about mission…I am one of those people. I was one of the people pioneering Missional Communities in the 1980′s and have been doing it ever since. This is my camp, my tribe, my people. But it has to be said: God did not design us to do Kingdom mission outside of the scope of intentional, biblical discipleship and if we don’t see that, we’re fooling ourselves. Mission is under the umbrella of discipleship as it is one of the many things that Jesus taught his disciples to do well. But it wasn’t done in a vacuum outside of knowing God and being shaped by that relationship, where a constant refinement of their character was happening alongside of their continued skill development (which included mission).

The truth about discipleship is that it’s never hip and it’s never in style…it’s the call to come and die; a “long obedience in the same direction.” While the “missional” conversation is imbued with the energy and vitality that comes with kingdom work, it seems to be missing some of the hallmark reality that those of us who have lived it over time have come to expect: Mission is messy. It’s humbling. There’s often no glory in it. It’s for the long haul. And it’s completely unsustainable without discipleship.

This is the crux of it: The reason the missional movement may fail is because most people/communities in the Western church are pretty bad at making disciples. Without a plan for making disciples (and a plan that works), any missional thing you launch will be completely unsustainable. Think about it this way:Sending people out to do mission is to send them out to a war zone. Discipleship is not only the boot camp to train them for the front lines, but the hospital when they get wounded and the off-duty time they need to rest and recuperate. When we don’t disciple people the way Jesus and the New Testament talked about, we are sending them out without armor, weapons or training. This is mass carnage waiting to happen. How can we be surprised that people burn out, quit and never want to return to the missional life (or the church)? How can we not expect people will feel used and abused?

There’s a story from World War II where The Red (Russian) Army sent wave after wave of untrained, practically weaponless soldiers into the thick of the German front. They were slaughtered in droves. Why did they do this? Because they knew that eventually the German soldiers would run out of ammunition, creating an opportunity for the Red Army to send in their best soldiers to finish them off. The first wave of untrained soldiers were the best way of exhausting ammunition, leaving their enemy vulnerable. While this isn’t a perfect analogy, I sense this is a bit like the missional movement right now. We are sending bright-eyed civilians into the battle where the fighting is fiercest without the equipping they need, not just to survive, but to fight well and advance the Kingdom of their dad, the King.

The missional movement will fail because, by-and-large, we are having a discussion about mission devoid of discipleship. Unless we start having more discussion about discipleship and how we make missionaries out of disciples, this movement will stall and fade. Any discussion about mission must begin with discipleship. If your church community is not yet competent at making disciples who can make disciples, please don’t send your members out on mission until you have a growing sense of confidence in your ability to train, equip and disciple them.

Here are some questions I have leaders I’m working with ask regularly:

• Am I a disciple?
• Do I know how to disciple people who can then disciple people who then disciple people, etc? (i.e. does my discipleship plan work?)
• Does our discipleship plan naturally lead all disciples to become missionaries? (not just the elite, Delta-seal missional ninjas)

5 Truths about your ministry calling (Perry Noble)

Right now in my personal time with God, I am journeying through the Gospels…and the other morning (while in the book of Mark), several realities overwhelmed me as I readMark 3:13-19. (I would ask you to read that text before you read the rest of this post, trust me!)

1. He called me to be in ministry because He wanted me on His team, (Mark 3:13 – “and called to him those he wanted…”) WHOA! I didn’t choose Him…He chose me; that thought completely overwhelms me as there was NOTHING in me that was worthy of His calling on my life. (It wasn’t my greatness…it was and is HIS!!!)

2. The primary thing this text teaches is that He called me and appointed me that I might be with Him. (See Mark 3:14, the FIRST thing Scripture says after He appointed them as Apostles is that He did so “that they might be with Him.”) Vision and power are the direct results of a leader's personal time with the Lord…and we can never become so busy doing ministry that we fail to spend time with the One who called, gifted, anointed, and empowered us to do so in the first place.

3. In Him, I have direction to do what He wants…and the authority to do it. (Mark 3:14-15) Notice He gave them specific directions as to what to do (the result of time with Him) and with those directions came the authority to do so. God will never give us a vision to do something great without the ability to do exactly what He has asked us to do.

4. Jesus knew every stupid, foolish, selfish, and sinful decision I would ever make…and yet He chose to call me and use me anyway (Mark 3:16-19). As you read over the list of men Jesus chose to be Apostles, keep in mind that every one of these men abandoned Him when He was arrested and ultimately denied Him. He knew this when He chose them…and yet He chose them anyway. God did not call me into ministry because I’m that good…but because HE’S THAT GOOD. He knew the mistakes I would make and yet He chose me anyway. This absolutely causes me to well up inside with a sense of overwhelming gratitude…because if my calling were based on performance, I would be in so much trouble. However, reality is that I am in ministry as the result of God’s mercy on me (II Corinthians 4:1)!

5. God’s not finished with me yet (and He’s not through with you either!) Mark 3:13-19 is only the BEGINNING of what God had in store for these men. They had no idea what they were going to be able to see and participate in. AND…I am quite sure that they HAD NO IDEA when they said “yes” to the Carpenter’s call that they would have ever believed the scene we see in Revelation 21:9-14!!! Jesus ALWAYS has more in store than we could ever imagine!!!

Wedding photos

Found a few wedding photos on Karen's handphone when she attended my wedding about 4 years ago:

My beautiful and lovely bride

Serving tea to my mother

My family and relatives with us

An insightful read

4 Ways to Lead Like Jesus

by Perry Noble

I believe Jesus was the best leader that has ever lived. Seriously, look at what HE accomplished with just three years of a public ministry…it’s STILL impacting people all over the world. In today’s post…I wanted to cover four things (and there ARE way more than four) that I believe Jesus did that made Him an effective leader.

#1 – Jesus Spent Time With His Inner Circle

The idea that the leader cannot be close with the people he works with simply isn’t Christ like. Jesus did not isolate Himself from “his staff,” but rather He did life and ministry with them. The leader who is afraid to be known by the people he has been called to serve with is in a dangerous place as he either thinks himself better than them or is quite possibly trying to hide something from them. Jesus didn’t lead through fear…He led through relationships and these only become stronger as we spend time with one another. In fact, He actually called them His friends (see John 15:15.) If Jesus can be friends with His “staff”, then why can’t we do the same?

#2 – Jesus Was More About Who His Followers Were Becoming Than What They Were Doing

If a leader cares more about the work his staff produces rather than the fruit that the Lord is producing in them, then he will often put his team in a dangerous place because he will attempt to DRIVE them through his agenda rather than attempt to lead them through the Lord’s agenda. He knew if they developed fully devoted hearts for Him that the quality of their work would show it!

#3 – Jesus Was Patient With Those Closest To Him

As we read the Gospels we never see Jesus going on a rant against His disciples. Sure, there are places where He offers correction and/or rebuke…but this is the exception, NOT the rule…and He does not go on and on for chapter after chapter. He addresses the issue and then moves on. He approaches His “staff” with a patient attitude and does not assume that just because someone makes a mistake that they are either disloyal to Him or simply an idiot who is incapable of doing anything signifiant. A leader that is always losing his/her temper with others because “they don’t get it” usually does not realize that the reason many people don’t “get it” isn’t because they are lacking intelligence but rather because they haven’t been led well.

(And…btw…when Peter “blew it” by denying Christ…Jesus did not write him off or “fire him,” he went from Jerusalem to Galilee to find him and restore him to the ministry! See John 21! Great leaders don’t look to fire people first…they look to walk them through the mistake and restore them!)

#4 – Jesus Was Not Paranoid

One of the craziest things that takes place in Christian leadership circles is the incredibly insane idea that a leader always needs to be paranoid about which staff are and are not with him…and who might ultimately betray him. Jesus KNEW He was going to be betrayed by Judas…and yet that did not distract Him from what God had called Him to do. (In fact, I would argue that Judas’ betrayal ultimately led to Jesus moving into a greater place!!!)

If you are in leadership long enough someone WILL betray you…it will hurt; however, that does not give us an excuse to run around and constantly create an atmosphere of fear and doubt on our staff and call everything that we don’t like or perceive as an attack against an idea we might have as “disloyal.”

The better question for a leader to ask is NOT, “are these people for me,” but rather, “am I for these people?” Because…if a staff knows that the leader loves them, that he wants the best for them and is willing to fight to lead them, love them and be patient with them, then betrayal is far less of a threat than the leader who is always freaking out about who might and might not be fully sold out to the vision.

Date with my wife

Peiru and I took a break from work and ministry on Monday night. We went to a restaurant to have dinner and surprisingly there was live piano music. We really enjoyed the ambience in the restaurant. Below are a few photos:

The table by the window

My beautiful wife

The white piano and I

Team Singapore

Thank God for Pastor Jeff who visited us in Ecuador. It was a great time of fellowship. We really enjoyed his friendship and his jokes. :)

Team Singapore in Ecuador

Beautiful Quito

This is a photo taken from the company of my student while I was waiting for him for class. Quito is beautiful! :)

Mountains in Quito

Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed

By Bronnie Ware (who worked for years nursing the dying)

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly,in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved.Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip.But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks,love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have sillyness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again,long before you are dying.

Dinner in the house of Agustin and Carol

We went to visit Peiru's student, Carol in her house yesterday. Carol's husband, Agustin is a chef so we really had some good food for dinner. Below are some photos:

Chef Agustin cutting the chilli

Chicken with Mexican mole sauce

John Maxwell on the Hardest Thing in Leadership

Here are 10 questions with leader John Maxwell:

1. When you were growing up, is this what you thought you would be doing vocationally? If not, what did you want to do?

From my earliest memory, I’ve known that I was going to be a pastor. My brother and I even played church together when we were little. I was a senior pastor leading churches for 26 years. During that time, I felt God call me to teach leadership, which I began doing with fellow pastors. As time went by, more and business people came to learn leadership from me. I left the full-time pastorate in 1995 to teach leadership, now not only to pastors and business people, but also to educators, government leaders, and others. And through my nonprofit organization, EQUIP, we’ve been able to train millions of leaders worldwide.

2. What’s the most different job you’ve had from what you are doing now and how did that job help you with what you are doing now?

One of my first jobs was in a meat packing plant. And being the high-energy, curious person that I was, I wanted to learn everything I could about what we did. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the general attitude at the plant. They actually told me to slow down at my work and stop asking questions. As one worker told me, “Look, I just kill the cows and go home.”

From that experience, I realized that I wanted to be in work that was mentally stimulating and engaging with people.

3. Who is one person, besides Christ, who most helped to shape your leadership and how did they help you?

My father, definitely. I grew up in a leader’s household. He modeled good leadership and taught me and my brother how to lead. His influence has impacted everything I do. He’s my hero.

4. Besides the Bible, what is one book that has most helped to shape your thought process in life and ministry?

Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders. That’s the book that really made me aware that everything rises and falls on leadership.

5. What are three words other people would use to describe your work style/ethic?

Energy, passion, encouragement.

6. What is your greatest strength in leadership?

Understanding people and caring about them. That’s really at the heart of leadership, isn’t it? If you don’t care about people, you shouldn’t try to lead them.

7. What is your greatest weakness in leadership?

Hiring. I’ve made some messes there. That’s because I believe so much in people that I tend to see only the best in them. I believe anyone CAN grow, so I can make a mistake in thinking that everyone WILL grow.

8. What is the hardest thing you have to do in leadership?

This goes with the last question. The hardest thing for me is to realize that not everyone continues on the journey with you. Saying goodbye as I move forward and others stay behind is very sad for me. But it’s important for every leader to learn that sometimes people either can’t, won’t or shouldn’t go the whole distance with us.

9. What is one misconception about your position you think people in your church may have?

Of course, I’m not senior pastor anymore. I still preach several times a year for my friend Tom Mullins at Christ Fellowship in West Palm Beach, but I don’t lead anything there. But from my years of experience, I’d say that people seem to think that being the top leader in an organization means you have ultimate freedom. The reality is that if you’re doing leadership the right way, then the higher you go, the less freedom and more responsibilities you have. The path gets narrower.

10. If you could give one piece of advice to young leaders, from what you’ve learned by experience, what would it be?

Pay the price for growth. People won’t give you credit when you’re early in the journey, but keep growing, learning, leading. The return doesn’t often come till years later, but it’s worth the price.

12 Confirming Questions for Calling

The following is from Mark Driscoll's teaching "The Calling of a Church Planter."

Calling Confirmation Questions

1. Is the Holy Spirit out ahead of you planting the church? You don’t plant a church for God, you plant a church with God. If money, people, and a place start showing up as you’re preparing to plant, that is potential evidence that the Holy Spirit is out ahead of you. (Acts 1)

2. Is your church planting call obvious to other godly leaders?

3. Has God confirmed your church plant by showing up in miraculous (big, supernatural, no-other-way-to-explain-it) ways? In Acts 3 and 4, Peter heals a man, preaches, and then thousands of people get saved.

4. Are you reaching lost people? The goal of church plants is the salvation of lost people. If you’re not doing this, don’t plant a church. If you want to be a shepherd, there are plenty of existing flocks in need. (Acts 8:5-9)

5. Has Jesus showed up and told you to plant? (Acts 9)

6. Has God told you to plant through a vision? In Acts 10 and 11, Cornelius and Peter both have a vision: Peter is called and Cornelius welcomes him.

7. Has God providentially relocated you to plant? In Acts 11:19-21, believers scatter due to prosecution and plant a church where they resettle.

8. Is God calling you to plant because you’re not totally necessary at your current church? If you’re in a church with good leaders that will be fine without you on their team, God may be calling you to relocate to a place where you can use your gifts and resources to their full capacity. (Acts 13)

9. Is God calling you to plant because you’re currently wasting your time in a toxic place? (Acts 14)

10. Are you called to be a catalytic church planter or to plant a church-planting center? In Acts 14, Paul goes from one city to the next planting churches and then sends in other men to establish elders whereas James (Jesus’ brother) plants a church in Jerusalem and stays there, sending other men out.

11. Has God called you to plant by giving you a deep burden for a city or people? (Acts 17:16)

12. Has God called you to plant by giving you a core group? (Acts 18:7-8)

5 reasons why leaders quit

Read an article by Perry Noble on leadership this morning. It is about the 5 reasons why leaders quit in church. Here it goes!

#1 – Burnout

I once heard someone say, “I would rather burn out than rust out.” Uh…BOTH are bad because NEITHER of them finish well. Too many people in the ministry work themselves into a frenzy, never take time to disconnect and refresh, and do absolutely nothing for fun--this always ends badly!

When it comes to leadership circles in America, we’ve equated being busy with being godly; however, the haunting reality that confronts that idea is what God Himself said in Psalm 46:10, “BE STILL and know that I am God,” not “be busy!”

If we are not taking regular breaks, doing things “just for fun,” and disconnecting, then burnout isn’t a matter of “if,” but “when!”

#2 – Unrealistic Expectations

Too many people believe that "ministry = easy" despite the fact that it seemed to go really badly for everyone in the Scriptures that sold their lives out to Him! Jesus went to the “place of the skull” to be crucified…why would we ever believe He would lead us to “the place of the mattress?”

When we impose our plans and ideas on God and refuse to surrender to His, it usually leads to people “giving up” because “God just didn’t come through.”

#3 – Criticism

Criticism hurts, it always will, and if it ever doesn’t, then, according to my counselor, something is dead inside of you. And it is always personal (especially when someone begins with, “Don’t take this personally, but…).

You can’t let the critics dictate what you think/feel! If you have a ministry that constantly responds to critics, then you will not have one that responds to Jesus. You MUST respond to the people who God has placed in your life to surround you and protect you–that’s not criticism but rather correction. However, you cannot allow those who know you the least to control you the most–period!

#4 – Discouragement

Every church leader I’ve ever chatted with has done some serious battles with discouragement. After your message on Sunday, the enemy comes in and begins to accuse you, telling you that you did a pathetic job and that no one is going to come back next week. I’ve had to battle discouragement during the message before, hearing voices inside of my head saying things like, “You stink, these people hate you…you need to quit the ministry…” and so on.

This is why it is essential for leaders to get in a place like David did in I Samuel 30:1-6. David faced an incredibly discouraging situation and yet somehow managed to find His strength in the Lord. I do this by reading through encouraging letters and e-mails that I’ve received in the past, placing myself in encouraging environments, and focusing on what God’s Word says about me.

#5 – Losing Focus on God’s Power

When we actually believe it is up to us to make people come back to church every week rather than believing we are conduits that God wants to work through to do that very thing…it’s over! Because we fall into the trap of trying to outdo ourselves every week, every series and every year and prayer/seeking the Lord become some things we love to talk about but fail to do. He saves…He draws people…and He uses us to do it. It’s not up to us but rather we need to allow Him to work through us to accomplish all that He wants to do!

Face it; on our own, we don’t have enough power to blow our noses. We need Him. He is the game changer!

Katty and Claudia playing Chinese chess

I taught two of my friends in church, Katty and Claudia Chinese chess last Tuesday. They seemed to enjoy playing the game.

Claudia (left) and Katty (right) thinking intensely.

Interesting food in Ecuador

Found some interesting Chinese and Thai food in Ecuador:

Wanton

Satay

Pineapple rice

Phad Thai

11 leadership questions I need to ask myself

A good read this morning:

A friend in ministry recently asked me what questions church leaders should be asking. I thought about the types of questions I try to help answer when I’m working with them in the church consulting or coaching relationships. Here are the first questions and some bonus thoughts that came to mind:

1. When was the last time I heard from God? Am I doing what he called me to do? This is the “Acts 6″ question. Acts 6 is a great reminder that it’s possible to be doing the ministry of God without doing the ministry God has called us to do.
2. What should our church be known for in this community? For a moment, ignore anyone who attends your church. What does the rest of the community know about your church? That’s a better reflection of whether or not you’re really accomplishing your vision.
3. Are we really focusing our time, money, leadership, prayer behind the things that will produce life change and community impact? If not, there’s a good chance that “fairness” is driving these decisions. Fairness never produces revolution.
4. Is our church growing both spiritually and in numbers? Churches that are stuck and not bearing fruit hate this question. As I’ve shared before, I don’t believe healthy churches are necessarily big churches, but healthy churches are growing churches.
5. Is there a clear path to help people take steps in their faith with the ultimate goal of them becoming fully-devoted followers of Christ? Having a vibrant Sunday worship experience is only one component of that. I’m amazed at how many churches haven’t really established a discipleship strategy beyond Sunday morning.
6. Have you taken the time to identify what a fully-devoted follower of Christ looks like? Most churches haven’t done this, so they end up just “doing church” without any intentionality of purpose or process.
7. Are you empowering the people of God to do God’s work? This is the “Ephesians 4:12-13″ question. Declining churches pay people to do all the ministry. Growing churches challenge people to use their gifts.
8. Are you developing leaders? This includes both spiritual discipleship and leadership mentoring, and I think it’s what’s going to distinguish the churches that last longer than one generation.
9. Is my community any different because of my ministry? We may need a whole new set of measures to confirm whether or not our churches are really making an impact.
10. Do believers see their ministry happening only at the church or have they become missionaries to their families, their neighborhoods, their workplaces, their schools, etc.? Honestly, I’m really tired of Christians thinking God saved them to go church on Sunday and then eventually experience Heaven. Our purpose is much bigger than that.
11. Do I have the right leaders around me to accomplish the vision? Read Exodus 18:18-23. This isn’t some new business leadership principle. This is biblical advice that’s been around for thousands of years and still applies today.

Cutting hair at our church member's hair salon

Thank God for our church member, Glenda who opened her hair salon specially on Sunday to cut hair for us. She usually closes her hair salon on Sundays but she opened especially for us this time round. :)

Glenda cutting my hair

Glenda with her gold and silver scissors! The gold scissors cost USD$200!

My new look!

Winning my first table tennis medal

Peiru and I played in our Hope Quito Table Tennis Tournament and we won the doubles champion! :)

Peiru and I beat Billy and Dario in the Doubles Finals. It is my first ever table tennis medal in my life.

Peiru and I in action

Katty presenting to us the medals on Sunday

My goals for 2011

1) To share the gospel to at least 3 of my students.

2) To depend on God more through spiritual disciplines like reading the bible, prayer and worship etc.

3) To know God more personally through reflecting my life experiences through the WOG.