A Calling for the Church

“They are all around us. The people who are suffering from stigma, denial, discrimination and their products of hatred , malice, evil, fear, poverty and inappropriate behaviors. We need resiliency so we can keep our head above water. Is there a plan to combat HIV and AIDS? YES, the plan is to love one another in the name of JESUS.”

That was my part of my preaching some months ago in one of our partner churches when they invited me to speak about what the local church should do in assisting the infected ones with HIV/AIDS within their congregation..I started by asking for a show of hands. Who knows someone…

1. Who is HIV positive?
2. Who has conducted or attended a funeral for someone who died of AIDS?
3. Who is HIV positive in your congregation?

You can guess the answer! Number 1 and 2 were a 100% hands up, while the third question was 100% no hands up!!!

And I said, if you do know someone, you really don’t need me to tell you what situation is. If you don’t know anyone…shame on you!! You are too isolated from what is happening in your community. That isolation could take one of two forms: You really don’t know very many people and those you know are very protected OR you don’t know enough about the people around to know what they are experiencing. In either case, you are not making a connection with people who are hurting and need your care and concern.

HIV/AIDS is not asking anything new of the church community, rather AIDS is confronting us with the necessity of becoming more fully the kind of people we have been called to be. We need to take up our role to:

• Provide Hope, Courage, and Healing.
• Work with God to confront the evils of the pandemic.
• Save the lives of many who are suffering and dying.
• Provide spiritual guidance and counsel.
• Bring salvation to humankind, and finally
• Share and use the knowledge that God has allowed through science to fight against AIDS.

Lastly, I questioned on how the church will respond to the Lord’s word in the face of civil disruption or to challenges faced by specific communities. There are stories that stretch the imagination of how much individuals suffer and sacrifice. However, there are success stories, in CARE for AIDS for example, where churches have woken up to the realization that admitting there is a problem is the first step. We are not going to be talking about being overwhelmed by HIV and AIDS. We are to be talking about the opportunities to represent our God, to minister to God’s children and our brothers and sisters who need our caring.

What do you think about Duncan’s message to the Kenyan church?  What issues are facing OUR churches that we should be addressing as the body of believers?   How are we being too passive or ignoring the reality here in America?  Leave Duncan a comment and we’ll get back to you!

4 Insights from the 2012 Chick-fil-A Leadercast

This last Friday, I had the privilege of attending the annual Chick-fil-A Leadercast produced by Giant Impact. The theme this year was “choices.” As leaders, we make hundreds of choices a day. Choices that not only affect us personally but our families and those we lead. It was a killer lineup of speakers including Andy Stanley, Pat Lencioni, John Maxwell, Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, Soledad O’Brien and more. While each of the talks probably deserve a separate post, I’d like to hit some of the highlights from a few different speakers and give you a handful of my personal insights for my leadership at CARE for AIDS. Hopefully, these will resonate with you and have application in your own leadership context.

1. “What would my replacement do?” Andy Stanley kicked off the day by giving us three questions to add to our decision-making arsenal. His first one was, “What would my replacement do?” I don’t think my job is in danger, but if someone with more experience was brought in, what is the first thing he or she would do? When I hit a dead end or my strategies and tactics seem tired, this is a great question that brings objectivity and focus to a matter that could often be clouded by personal bias or attachment to an idea or strategy.

2. The Law of Awareness.  John Maxwell shared with us a few laws with us from his upcoming book The 15 Laws of Personal Growth. He said that in order to grow ourselves, we must know ourselves. Mainly, we need to have awareness in three areas:

Requirement – What is required of me?

Return – What gives me the greatest return? (staying within your strengths)

Reward – What is rewarding to me?

Aligning those three answers creates passion. As we begin to coach our staff on their personal development, I will really be focusing on creating alignment in these areas.

3. “Flip the hierarchy.” I could write a whole post on Angela Ahrendts’ talk. She is the CEO of Burberry and assumed that role shortly after the organization’s 150^th anniversary. As you can imagine, she had to make some radical changes to bring Burberry into the modern and social era, but one of her strategies was really mind-blowing. She created a committee of the youngest, most innovative minds in the company and gave them the liberty to create the vision and strategies that would help Burberry succeed in this social age. Then, the executive team was responsible for executing that vision. What a radical idea which is so counter to the typical corporate culture! It has worked for them in a big way. To read more, visit Great Leaders Serve for a complete post on her talk.

4. “The real competitive advantage is a healthy organization.” The final speaker of the day was Patrick Lencioni. He said that there are two sides to any business: being smart (marketing, strategy, etc.) and being healthy (culture, values, etc.). He stated that in this day and age, being is healthy is the real competitive advantage because any organization can be smart. We as leaders have to create cohesive leadership teams through vulnerability and be very clear about the values and beliefs that drive our organizations. We must over communicate those values and reinforce them whenever possible. This was a good reminder that, in this scenario, redundancy is not a bad thing.

Do any of these principles resonate with you? How can you apply these lessons in your organization or family? If you also attended Leadercast last week, what were some of your takeaways?

Life Changing Stories

I recently read a book by John Eldridge called “Epic”. What I got from the book is this: God is telling a story in the world and in our lives. It’s an epic story that involves redeeming His people who were lost, healing them and bringing them back to Himself. It’s a beautiful story. Each one of us has a part in that story and we all have our own role to play.

It got me thinking. First, about how blessed I am to be a part of that story along with CFA, seeing God change lives. Second, about how everyone loves powerful stories. Or better yet, how we need moving stories. Maybe it’s the way we are made. We watch movies, read books, and share life with others because great stories inspire us, empower us, and energize us.

Unfortunately, when it comes to work, I sometimes get caught up in the numbers and figures. Don’t get me wrong, statistics and metrics are great tools (and they show that CFA is doing amazing work!). But they are not everything. There must be a personal connection. I think that organizations like CARE for AIDS can’t be evaluated by mere facts alone, you have to know the testimonies of those that have been touched.

I have the fortunate privilege of being on the ground in Kenya, close to the lives being affected every day. And I realize that it is harder to feel the impact for those further away, those who support the ministry and make this all possible. Believe me when I tell you, CARE for AIDS is changing lives. I have seen it myself. CFA is bringing spiritual, social, and emotional rebirth for individuals who thought their lives were over.

I spoke with the Thika and Limuru staff last weekend at the monthly staff meeting and encouraged each counselor to keep record of the success stories they are seeing every day. Together we want to share with you the stories that touch and affect us, the stories that really move us and keep us doing what we do. I want to bring you those stories. I want you to know that the work being done here is not just about the numbers to us. It’s about God’s bigger plan of redemption and salvation. It’s about life change, and every single person counts.

Meet Sharon Anyango Ouma. When she found out her HIV status, she was outcast and alone. While at the CFA program at Nanga Baptist Church, she accepted Jesus as her personal Savior. After being saved, she was baptized in Lake Victoria by Pastor George and joined the church. This is just one of many more stories to come!