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.

Julian's visit to Ecuador

Julian visited Ecuador last week and it was a fruitful time for us in terms of planning. We are clearer of where the church is heading and we have some concrete plans for 2011. Thanks to Julian and my core team, I believe that we are in the right direction now.

Julian and I

Our core team

Transiting in New York

Peiru and I transited and stayed in New York for 2 days and 1 night. The buildings and lights in New York are really spectacular! We really like them very much. I also managed to meet up with a track and field friend whom I have not met for 13 years. He has been working in New York for 4 years already. We met up for dinner and had a great time catching up together. I also met up with my cousin for lunch as she is currently working in New York. Below are a few photos:

Peiru and I watched The Phantom of the Opera in Broadway

My cousin and I in her workplace

My good old friend, Yongshun and I in Timesquare