A Flywheel: "We love you, but please don't visit."

Last week, I had lunch with Dave Genzink, a friend, partner of DML, and former colleague from my time with Partners Worldwide.  As he heard me share about some of the transitions we are seeing with DML this year (good ones!), he shared with me that it reminded him of a flywheel.

A flywheel is a mechanical device that stores rotational energy using inertia.  It acts as an energy reservoir, maintaining speed and providing a buffer for fluctuations in power or demand.  Think about a potter's wheel - when you push the pedal, the speed doesn't fluctuate because the flywheel stores the energy and uses it when needed.  

If you have read the book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins, you are familiar with his talk about flywheels.  The difficulty is in getting this very heavy wheel to turn the first time.  It takes a lot of work. And once you achieve one turn, you don't stop.  You keep going until you get two, then four, sixteen, sixty, six hundred, one thousand turns.  Then ten thousand, then one million turns.  He says, "Big things happen because you do little things consistently and very well, and they compound over time."  He emphasizes the importance of consistency.

Jim Collins says, "Despite the differences between business and social-sector economics, a fundamental truth remains. Those who lead institutions from good to great must harness the flywheel effect. Whereas in business the key driver in the flywheel is the link between financial success and capital resources, I’d like to suggest that a key link in the social sectors is brand reputation built upon tangible results and emotional share of heart, with potential supporters believing in not only your mission but also your capacity to deliver on that mission."

Dave explained that the flywheel in ministry needs commitment, through long-term engagement and passion.  It requires alignment in what we do and say, as well as learning about what works and what doesn't.  It needs continuous improvement through the sharing of best practices.  And it needs momentum, by building on success and local ownership.

The story I shared with him that triggered the memory of a flywheel was that I was told by the DML Francophone leaders who are starting the work of DML in several French-speaking countries, "We love you, but please don't visit."  The presence of a white American can disrupt momentum by potentially undermining opportunities for ownership and contribution.  A flywheel that is moving well can slow down when those pushing begin looking for energy elsewhere.  These leaders continued by saying, "In a few years, when it's going well, then it would be good for you to visit and see what is happening."

I took this as a very positive sign, a sign of the flywheel turning now because of momentum and many more hands pushing it.  In fact, so far this year, we have seen THOUSANDS of new DML trainers trained across many countries.  

In French-speaking Africa, we are seeing amazing growth.  With over 300 million French speakers in 18+ countries, DML teams are moving!  This population frequently laments that many materials relating to faith and transformation are in English only.  Our partners have been working hard to ensure all materials are translated into French and are getting them out there!  We now have fully established teams in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Togo, and we have teams starting and in training in Chad, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal; and we have teams heading out very soon to Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Madagascar.

We aren't yet to the point of ten thousand or one million turns, but we are on our way!

When Overdoing Something Results in It Being Underdone

Imagine a carpenter building a table. He puts all his time, energy, and resources into crafting one leg—strong, polished, beautifully carved. But he neglects the other three legs. When he finally lifts the table, it topples. It can’t stand, no matter how perfect that one leg is.

In the same way, some churches and believers place an excessive focus on the Great Commission — making disciples and spreading the gospel — that they neglect the rest of Jesus’ teachings: loving one another, pursuing justice, cultivating spiritual depth, stewarding creation, and working with excellence.

The Great Commission is essential, but it was never meant to stand alone. Christianity without the fullness of Christ’s commands becomes unstable and imbalanced.

Jordan Raynor, in his book, The Sacredness of Secular Work, explains that the idea that evangelism is the only thing God calls us to do is relatively new in Christian history.  For the first 1,600 years of the Church's life, Matthew 28 was not read and understood as fanfare for Missiology. In fact, before the 17th century, the Great Commission was largely ignored when discussing the Church's missional assignment. In fact, the "Great Commission” label didn't even appear in print until the 1600s. But in the last few centuries, we've begun acting as though sharing the gospel is the only eternal, significant thing we can do.

The CEO of Operation Mobilization said, “I may be labeled a heretic here, but I actually think we have overplayed the Great Commission.” I believe this to be true, especially as seen in mission movements.  Millions and even billions of dollars are spent on helping every person hear the gospel, but comparatively, almost none is spent on helping people know how to live it out.  We make converts but we don't make disciples.  I don't say this lightly.  However, after twenty years of mission work, watching and participating in mission organizations and church-planting movements, we continue to reduce the message and teaching of Christ to one part of His message, rather than the whole package.

Please don't get me wrong.  I believe we are to share the good news with those who have not heard it.  However, I think that we need to invest in the priesthood of every believer to equip them to integrate their faith and work, so that they are living disciples, "preaching constantly and using words only when necessary." 

The real heresy of overdependence on the Great Commission is that it hurts our people by devaluing 99% of their lives in which they are not explicitly preaching the Gospel.

Jordan Raynor shares that there are five problems with making the Great Commission the only Commission:

1.      Jesus never did. Jesus told them to obey, teach others, to obey everything he had commanded them to do. The Gospels recorded him giving about 50 unique commands. After Jesus's resurrection, he appeared to the apostles over 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God. But the Great Commission text takes about 20 seconds to read out loud. And yet we have interpreted it as the exclusive mission of the Church.

2.      It leads to a diminished view of Christ's redemption. Jesus came to reverse the curse in full and usher in the renewal of all things. But when we only preach that the church's Commission is to save souls, it inevitably leads us to an implicit and often explicit message that the only thing God will save in the end is people.

3.      It neglects the other aspects of the Kingdom. God's Kingdom contains far more than just the King and his subjects. It encompasses the intangible qualities of justice, peace, and love, as well as the tangible work of our hands. When we focus solely on the Great Commission, we can easily overlook these other aspects of the Kingdom. Justice doesn't matter. Beauty doesn't matter. Cultural excellence doesn't matter. This leads to the fair accusation that Christians are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good.

4.      Ironically, it makes us less effective at the Great Commission, for at least three reasons. First, it is when Christians are the most “earthly good” that Christianity becomes the most attractive. Quote from NT Wright: “It is when the Church acts with decisive power in the real world, to build and run the successful school or medical clinic, to free slaves or remit debts, to establish a housing project or a credit union for those ashamed to go to the bank, to enable drug users and pushers to kick the habit and lifestyle, that people will take the message of Jesus seriously. Second, when we turn the Great Commission into the only Commission, Christians feel guilty for working in the very places where they're most likely to carry out the Great Commission. According to Tim Keller's research, 80% or more of evangelism in the early church was done not by ministers or evangelists, but by mere Christians working as farmers, tent makers, and mothers. That was true in the early church and is likely to be true in the foreseeable future, as non-Christians are more reticent than ever to darken the door of a church, and entire nations are closing their doors to Christian missionaries. Third, making the Great Commission the only Commission creates unbiblical obstacles to following in Jesus. Young people are leaving the Church in part because of our overemphasis on the Great Commission. We tell our young people that if they really love Jesus, they will move to a mud hut 5000 miles away from home to work as a full-time missionary. Overemphasizing the Great Commission may keep people from ever committing to Christ in the first place.

5.      It blocks us from seeing the full extent of how our work matters for eternity. God has set eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). But if our work has only instrumental value, then most of us are wasting most of our time. What is the purpose of building a business, working a register, or planning an event if those actions don't lead to an opportunity to share the gospel? Sure, they are a means of loving our neighbor as ourselves in the present. Not beyond the here and now. How do these actions matter for eternity? Due to our modern emphasis on the Great Commission, we must travel an unexpected path to find the answer to this question.

Sadly, our emphasis on the Great Commission has not yielded the results that were hoped for, according to the "State of the Great Commission report" released by Lausanne last year.  In this report, we observe that the percentage of Christians has remained relatively unchanged for the past 125 years, at approximately 33%.  As Rick Warren says, "Methods are many, principles are few; methods change often, principles never do."  If we aren't seeing the return on investment, we must look at other ways.  Doing more of the same - or overdoing something - doesn't work.

The principle of making disciples is important.  But it must be done within the context of whole-life discipleship by every believer.

But God: Living and Working in Africa for 20 years!

It was twenty years ago this week (July 21, 2005) that Bob, Renita, Hannah, and Noah said tearful goodbyes to house, family, and friends in Grand Rapids, MI, and moved to Liberia.

Twenty years.

In many ways, it seems like a lifetime ago.  So much has happened in twenty years.

Liberia was a challenging place to live, especially in the immediate aftermath of the civil war.  There was no running water or electricity in the entire country.  Break-ins happened every night from the recently disarmed ex-combatants.  We had no colleagues there to guide us on how to live and work in a culture that was so very different from what we were accustomed to.

But God showed up.  And we fell in love with the place and the people.  And the work prospered - from counseling to community development to business development.

And after 3.5 years, we left the work in competent Liberian hands and moved to Ghana.

Ghana had a school that Hannah and Noah could attend (after being homeschooled in Liberia).  It had the hope of running water and electricity (which actually turned out to be more frustrating than not having it at all, because it would go out daily, and we never knew when it would come back).  I was tasked with coordinating business development work in Liberia, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Nigeria.  Bob was tasked with promoting peace and reconciliation in West Africa.

But God called Bob home, just seven months after we moved to Ghana, on March 20, 2010.  Hannah was sixteen years old, Noah was fourteen years old, and I was 41 years old.  Our family shifted in a way that we never anticipated or expected.  In a still new and foreign land, a land with witch camps for women who have these types of events in their lives, we now wondered what to do. 

Despite being away from family and friends, and in a culture that felt less welcoming than Liberia, we felt led not to make a significant change and to stay the course until God showed us what to do.  So, I finished my three-year commitment, Hannah graduated from high school and went to university, and then Noah graduated as well.  This takes us to June 2012.  I no longer felt that teaching wealth creation without ongoing discipleship by the church was a responsible approach.  I was about to leave Ghana with no idea of what to do next.

But God showed up, just in that last week, through a conference speaker named Dr. Phil Walker with International Christian Ministries.  He was frustrated with not seeing the church have an impact on the nation, and I was frustrated with doing business development without the church. So, an opportunity presented itself to bring this work into the church by starting with a seminary in Kenya.  

I moved to Kenya in January 2013, and it was there that Discipling Marketplace Leaders was born. Pictured here is the first class that took the Church-based Business as Mission course in February 2013. It started slow.  Changing the paradigm of church leaders and denominations to view the church not as a building and its programs, but as the people and every sphere of influence, especially the workplace. This change doesn't happen quickly.  

But God showed up again.  We began to see where He was working and joined Him in that process.  We decided to operate not on a "push" but a "pull."  Twelve years later, we are working in twenty-five countries with thirty partners across three continents.

The work has not been easy.  There have been sacrifices, pain, and challenges.  There has been a loss of friendships and connections due to the difficulty of trying to live in multiple places simultaneously.  The stress of fundraising takes its toll.

But God continues to show up, and there has also been incredible joy in joining Him in what He is doing.  His promise that His yoke is easy and His burden is light is right, especially if I keep my eyes focused on Him.  I have been blessed to meet hundreds of faithful disciples of Jesus who are willing to sacrifice, disciples, and build the church.  I’ve been blessed with remarriage, and my husband, Michael, is incredibly patient and supportive of my long trips and my unending burden to share this message.

There’s no one else I’d want to follow BUT GOD.  And I’m thankful for how He shows up through each of you in encouragement and partnership!  Thank you for being on this journey with me!

A Fowl Problem with a Faithful Solution

[Warning:  this post talks about animal droppings!  Sorry if it offends!]

During the entrepreneurship training in Burundi last week, our DML leader from Cameroon divided the young adults into groups based on their residence and asked them to address the question, "What challenges is this community facing and how can we solve the problem?"  The underlying root of the question is the understanding that every social problem is a business opportunity.

One group said that their avocados all come ripe at the same time, and they don't have a market.  They decided to begin processing avocado oil for hair and body lotion and grinding the seeds for animal feed.

Another group said there was a lack of charcoal in their community for cooking.  They recognized a need for alternatives to charcoal for cooking, including recycling waste.

Another group said that everyone in their community harvests their maize at the same time, and they all sell at the lowest price because they don't have the means to store it well.  They learned that they could use the "Zimbabwe model" of boiling their maize and then drying it, and no pests would bother it.  They also discovered that the leaves of the neem tree, which is known as the King of Trees, can be dried and sprinkled among the bags of stored maize, as weevils (the common pest) hate neem.

And so on.  It was really great to hear their thoughts, and they had time throughout the week to discuss and plan together how they could organize themselves to address this.  

For me, as I couldn't listen to the individual group discussions in Kirundi, my mind immediately went to my community and the problem that I am facing:  goose poop.  Geese are everywhere.  And apparently, they poop every 12 minutes.  So, thirty geese in my yard, pooping every 12 minutes, means 360 poops per day.  You can't hardly walk without stepping on it.  I've tried everything to chase them away.  They keep coming back.  We aren't allowed to kill them (not that I could), but we are allowed to break their eggs to slow the population (but I can't do that either).  

So, what to do?  As the groups were pondering their challenge, I sat and pondered this.  We know that everything God created is good...so what is the good in this?  I was still stuck and didn't have an idea.

The next day, the agricultural speakers from Uganda trained the young adults on "chicken poop soup."  They shared that the white substance in chicken droppings is nitrogen, which is very good for growing crops.  They showed them how to make chicken poop soup.  

And suddenly the lightbulb went off for me.  Having avoided stepping on goose poop for years now, I am pretty familiar with how it looks...and there is a lot of white in fresh droppings...which means nitrogen!  I knew it was good for the grass, but what if I could harvest it, make goose poop soup, and help my own gardens grow...plus maybe some of my neighbors' gardens as well!  

As I shared from Philippians 4:9 on the last day of the conference, I shared my goose poop soup plan and told them that the next time they see me, they can call me the "Goose Poop Soup Lady." Philippians 4:9 tells us to put into action what we have learned.  It says:

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.  And the God of peace will be with you.”

During the week, we learned, received, heard, and saw how to do farming in a way that is restorative to creation and good for the farmer as well.  We learned to be innovative and problem solvers in our communities with our time, treasure, and talent.  And now it's time to put it into practice.  The verse encourages us to have the confidence to tell others to do what they see in us as followers of Christ, knowing that it will lead others closer to Christ as well.  It's scary to say, "Follow me as I follow Christ" because I know how often I fail!  But when we live out what we have learned, we should be able to increase in that confidence.  And most of how we teach and preach is by our actions, not our words.  So, how we work, how we treat God's beautiful creation, how we seek the flourishing of others over self, this is how we practice what we have learned.  

From teaching about God directly to finding a use for goose poop, and everything in between, our call to do our work as worship is holistic! May God help us view our challenges as opportunities to bring God-inspired solutions!

What can you do with $6.71?

What could you do with $6.71?  For many North Americans, it is not a lot of money and so it doesn't inspire a lot of imagination.  We easily spend that amount on a cup of coffee, without thinking twice.

However, in Burundi, the story is different.

I was blessed last week to have attended our second Youth Work as Worship conference in Burundi, attended by 400 youth.  We are halfway through a five-year study to assess the impact of workplace discipleship on young adults aged 18-35 in four different cities and twelve different churches.  Last year, after 1.5 years of teaching and training on entrepreneurship, we were already hearing exciting testimonies.  But this year's testimonies topped those.  

I couldn't capture all the testimonies, but the first three young adults shared a similar theme: how they used the equivalent of $6.71 to get their businesses started.  This was the amount of money that each youth was given at last year's conference to help them get from their homes to the bus pick-up point, and to cover their food for their travel.

The first woman, Janet, shared that before starting with DML, she believed students couldn't earn money - they just had to study.  But after the training, she learned differently.  She had been taught to differentiate between her needs, wants, and desires, and began to save some money (about $11) when she was given the $6.71 travel funds. While her peers were buying food and getting transport to their homes, she decided to keep that money and add it to her savings.  Now she had almost $17.  With that money, she bought a piglet.  She raised it and sold it for $117.  She purchased another piglet for $34 and diversified her business by investing in a rooster and a chicken.  Those two produced seven chicks, and in a few days, there should be six more. 

Janice tells a similar story.  She had been doing business but was taking loan after loan and not moving forward.  At last year's Youth Work as Worship conference, she was awarded a prize for "Best Business Idea" and received an award of $17.  Then she received the transport funds of $6.71, and now she had $23.51.  With that, she purchased flour, sugar, and charcoal in bulk and began selling them retail.  Eventually, she too bought a piglet, and that pig is now full-grown and about to give birth to piglets.  She no longer takes loans, saves regularly to invest in her business, and is thrilled to see that the culture is changing, allowing women to do business.

Lastly, Jessalyn used her transportation funds to buy bananas.  She turned that $6.71 into $67.  She bought a goat for $60, and it turned out to be pregnant.  She continued to sell and save and then purchased another goat, who also turned out to be pregnant!  So she soon she will have four goats.  She also has purchased a chicken and hopes to start enjoying eggs soon.  She is no longer dependent on her parents.  

These are just a few of the results of teaching over 2.5 years.  A successful Burundian businessman who started with nothing told them that they all have capital - their mind, their hands, their feet, and their health. 

This week, we spent an intensive time teaching them about conservation agriculture, including how to plant high-yield crops, how to reduce the cost of inputs by using natural products, how to make compost, and os much more.  They were taught how to raise rabbits.  They were taught the importance of saving, which serves as a refuge, and how to save even with a very small income.  They learned how to make perfume, how to problem-solve and innovate, and how to package. They heard inspirational testimonies from Burundian businessmen who had failed repeatedly in business until they finally succeeded, and they chanted, "Never give up!"  They were told that they could make a difference in their families, communities, churches, and country.  And they didn't have to leave Burundi to do so.

At the same time, leaders of four different denominations were present and they are ready to go full steam with this for all their local churches.  They have already been trained to be trainers and have a full-time person assigned to disseminate this message across Burundi.  And two of the pastors where the youth are attending told us that they have been able to build new church buildings because of the increase in tithes.  

God is good!  And when people change their mindset from poverty to potential, it is amazing!  We are deeply grateful to our partner in Burundi and their ability to convey this message with such passion and integrity.

The Gospel According to the Ground

Greetings from Burundi!  

In DML's 2024 annual report, we announced that this year would have a special focus on agriculture, as we recognized that the majority of members in our partner churches and denominations are farmers.  While we had been equipping people to do their work as an act of worship and teaching basic business principles, we continued to face the significant challenge of "hungry farmers" (as addressed in this blog this past March).  

When an opportunity came to partner with an organization that was teaching conservation agriculture through the church, it didn't take long to see the potential of working together.  Conservation agriculture aims to improve soil health, increase water use efficiency, reduce labor and input costs, enhance biodiversity, and increase crop yields (by 4 times, we are told).

We planned to have three pilot studies:  Sierra Leone, Burundi, and India.  

But as our other partners heard about this opportunity, it became apparent that they didn't want to wait for the results of a pilot study.  They wanted in!  

Our partner in Burkina Faso came on board.  They have been trained to be trainers and have taken this message beyond their borders and into Togo and Guinea.

Our partner in Nigeria came on board.  They were trained to be trainers and have taken this message beyond Nigeria, to our partners in Tanzania and Kenya.

Our partner in Uganda will attend a training next month.

And at the same time, Sierra Leone is moving forward.  The training in India happened last week.  

This week in Burundi, we are hosting our youth conference, which will bring together 400 people over three days, with a focus on agriculture.  Last week, 30 trainers were trained to coach the 400 young adults, along with the DML Cameroon leader, who wants to start in this in Cameroon as well as other Francophone nations!

It's been an exciting season.  

Yesterday, I spoke at a church with approximately 1,000 people about creation care and our call to preach the gospel to "all creation" (Mark 16:15).  

I reminded the church that creation care is a gospel issue.  From Lausanne, “If Jesus is Lord of all the earth, we cannot separate our relationship to Christ from how we act in relation to the earth. For to proclaim the gospel that says ‘Jesus is Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel that includes the earth, since Christ’s Lordship is over all creation. Creation care is thus a gospel issue within the Lordship of Christ.”

Job 12:8 says, "Speak to the earth and it will teach you." We listen, we learn, we teach, we preach.

To those who have supported this effort through your partnership with our scholarship fund, we extend our sincere gratitude.  Enjoy this video from Burundi, worshiping as they prepare the land!

Shifting Perspectives in a Parable: On Being the Injured Jew

I can't tell you how many messages I've heard about the Good Samaritan.

I can't tell you how many talks I've given about the Good Samaritan (a businessman who had compassion, capacity, competence, and courage).

It's a great parable with numerous applications to almost any time and place.  

I'm not sure about you, but when I seek to understand a Scripture, I often place myself in the text.  With the Good Samaritan, I've most often pictured myself as the Good Samaritan, which makes sense as that is how Jesus challenges us to act.  Sometimes, I've pictured myself as the Priest or Levite, recognizing my issues and challenges with "getting involved."  

Never have I pictured myself as the person who was beaten.  I find that interesting and wonder whether that is the case with others.

A friend and DML board member recommended that I read "Finding Spiritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul to Rest" by Bonnie Gray, who explores this perspective.

In this book, the author writes that she has always known that she is the wounded stranger, "a casualty stripped bare on the side of life's highway...That stranger is me, too wounded to step closer to joy."  She sees herself as a time-waster to the Levite, who is too busy and needs to get to his temple duties.  She sees herself as an unacceptable risk to the priest who doesn't touch anything lifeless.  She then says that she is both priest and Levite because she also passes by the wounded "me," trying too hard to be useful, and neglects herself.

It's easy to stop for others.  But will we stop long enough for ourselves?

Some cultures believe that doing self-care is a sign of weakness, and they engage in "boundary shaming" for those who attempt to protect themselves.  Other cultures may have taken self-care too far, allowing people to prioritize their comfort to such a degree that they are never willing to love their neighbor sacrificially.  I'm not speaking of either of these extremes, but I do believe there is a call for balance.

It is out of this balance that creativity, ingenuity, and thoughtful engagement can emerge.  It is out of quietness that we can hear the voice of God.  It is often when we take a break from something we have been working on that we have an "aha" moment for how to solve it.  

Jesus not only wants but needs me to stop on the side of the road of my busy life and take care of my wounded self.  He needs me to acknowledge the wounds in my soul and address them.  We take time to offer kindness and compassion to others, but we shouldn't neglect ourselves in the process.  We should not become a stranger to ourselves by being so outward-focused.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 says that we are to "make it our ambition to lead a quiet life."  For most of us, those words make no sense.  A quiet life as our goal, our ambition? Our world, instead, tells us that we are supposed to be faster, louder, busier, and more engaged.  

Alternatively, God calls us to engage the world with thoughtful creativity, seeing life as an adventure, as ambassadors of God.  Our goal is not just to avoid stress, but to cultivate the opposite.  We aspire for spiritual rest which brings joy and healing.

May God grant you spiritual rest this week as you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, minding your own business, and working with your hands.

Remembering Walter Brueggemann: Sabbath as Resistance, Saying NO to the CULTURE OF NOW

Last week, Walter Brueggemann, a theologian who has written 50+ books, passed away at the age of 92.  A group of DML leaders just finished reading his book, Sabbath as Resistance, Saying NO to the CULTURE OF NOW, the day before he died.  We were reading this book in our leadership self-care group (where we hold each other accountable for sleep, eating, exercise, tech use/abuse, and Sabbath), challenging ourselves and each other to honor the fourth commandment.  In honor of his passing and a life well-lived, I would like to share what we learned from this book.

Most Christians can recite the Ten Commandments fairly easily, and many would say that they try (imperfectly) to follow them.  But the fourth commandment, to rest, is one that many Christians almost brag about breaking.  We say that we are too busy, too needed, too compelled by others to take a Sabbath.  We don't usually directly say it, but it is implied in our excuses that we are too important, too critical in our circles of influence, to take a Sabbath.  

In this book, Brueggemann argues that the fourth commandment is a BRIDGE between the first three commands to love God and the last six commands to love our neighbors.  He states that for me to love God and love my neighbor, a Sabbath must be taken.

There are more words used for this command to rest than for any of the other nine commands.  Inside this command, everyone was to rest - people and animals.  Sabbath is the great day of equality.  Not all are equal in production or consumption, but on this day, all are equal in rest.

There was no Sabbath while the Israelites were in Egypt.  They were to work seven days a week, in an anxiety-ridden situation.  Through this command, God nullifies anxiety-ridden production and emphasizes committed neighborliness.  A system of rest counters a system of anxiety.  As someone who has struggled with anxiety, I know that I am not at my best when I am anxious.  I don't love well.  I don't listen well.  I don't focus well. I need rest to remember how to love God and love my neighbor. 

Our world behaves like Egypt during the Pharaoh's time of Israelite captivity.  Anxiety-driven connectivity without rest.  

God shows us that after creating a world that was new, young, and unproven to take care of itself, He rested.  He trusted that it was good.  He stopped.  He enjoyed.  

Can I trust my little influence in my little world to operate without me?  Do I have the courage to disconnect?

My personal Sabbath is from 6:00 p.m. on Saturday to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.  I have found that this rhythm works best for me, and I have someone in the DML team who holds me accountable for this.  (It doesn't often work when I'm on the road, but when I'm home, I can do it.)  I love my Sabbath time.  But I'm learning now that unchecked rest is not good enough.  It's not enough to nap, read, and stay off technology.  

It's not just a pause.  It's a pause for transformation. 

It's an occasion to reimagine all society "away from coercion and competition to compassionate solidarity.  Such solidarity is imaginable and capable of performance only when the drivenness of acquisitiveness is broken."

"The economy is not just a rat race in which people remain exhausted from coercive goals; it is, rather, a covenantal enterprise for the sake of the whole community."

I still have a lot to learn about taking a Sabbath.

It's interesting to note that there is no command to work.  Working is what we have been created to do.  There's no command to breathe or to sleep.  It's also what we naturally do.  But there is a command to rest.  As we preach a theology of work, we also need to remember to teach a theology of Sabbath and rest, to help people maintain balance.

Thank you for your work, Dr. Brueggemann!  Rest in peace!

Looking Out and Up: A Call to Humble Work

I love the joke I heard as a child about the boy who received a medal for being humble, then had it taken away the next day because he pinned the medal on his jacket.

Growing up, I knew that humility was a goal, but it was a tricky one. How do you seek it and still remain humble?

As an adult, I have come to a better realization of the call of humility. The irony of the joke I just shared is that one could argue that the boy should NOT have had the medal taken away. The adults may have been confused between the words modesty and humility. What the boy may have lacked in wearing the medal was modesty, NOT humility.

Let's explore this further.

I recently read Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work by Ariana Molloy, which reminded me of the important difference between these two words.

Modesty is focused on avoiding attention, even to the point of belittling our accomplishments. It can appear to be a lack of confidence or be phrased as "thinking less of yourself."  It can get caught up in being consumed with one's faults and failures.  

The modest person looks down, not seeking attention.  

But humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less (C.S. Lewis). Molloy points out that an identity of humility is not looking to please people, but to please God.  The humble person is not blind to their strengths; they are looking to see how their strengths can help others.  They are self-aware without being self-consumed.  

The humble person looks out and up, seeking to connect with God and others. The humble person sees that they and others are made in God's image.  

Therefore, humility is not a personal virtue but a relational one.  A humble person prioritizes the needs of a group or relationship rather than focusing on self.  

Molloy argues that gratitude is the foundation of humility. Colossians 3:15 says that we are to recognize that we are members of one body and be thankful.  

Healthy humility involves three things.  

1. It is knowing your strengths and weaknesses.  
2. It means being teachable, embracing an openness to learning.
3. It means knowing how to step away, delegate, take a break, and remove yourself from work, trusting that it will be fine without you for a short time.  This involves a vulnerability of resting and reflecting, acting on the strong belief that EVERYONE needs refueling.

Another way to think of the three essentials of humility is know, learn, and rest.  

So what does this have to do with the call to work?  

When we work, we do it with humility, knowing that we have something to offer that is needed.  We work hard, and we do it with excellence, looking up to God as our role model for working, and to others for contributing to their flourishing.  We are aware of our strengths but it is not for us, but rather for others.  We are aware of our weaknesses and seek to partner with others with different strengths, remaining teachable by those different from ourselves, in terms of culture, age, gender, and other forms of diversity.  We are in relationships with a global people in a global marketplace where our work releases the potential of others, and the work of others releases our own potential.

It's a beautiful thing.  May God bless you this week, as you do your humble work!

Tanzania: From Charcoal to Creation Care

One of the four goals we teach every person to consider in their workplace is creation care.  While this goal has lagged behind missional and economic goals in the past, it is rapidly catching up as people see themselves as partners in caring for the world God has made.  Here is one story recently shared with me from our partner in Tanzania, relating to charcoal, which many people use for cooking.  Valuable trees that took twenty-plus years to grow are cut down for cooking without considering the environment.  But now people are looking for alternatives:

From Charcoal to Creation Care - A story from Tanzania

In a profound act of change, a former charcoal maker has purchased 100 trees, which were distributed for planting as a personal commitment to creation care. (Pictures show the handing out of trees and planting of trees) His decision to quit the charcoal trade is especially significant, as he was a key distributor who sourced from many local makers. This change is bound to inspire others in the industry to follow his lead.

In his words: 

"There was a time when these hands made charcoal—cutting down trees and wounding the earth. The land suffered, the air darkened, and creation cried out.

But now, by God’s grace, we have turned. The same hands now plant trees. Together, we have made a commitment—to care for creation, to restore what was broken and to honor the God who made all things good.

May every tree we plant be a sign of healing, hope and new beginnings."

The mandate for creation care comes from Genesis 2:15, where God commands us to "work and care" for the earth.

The Cape Town Agreement from Lausanne says this regarding creation care: 

"The earth is created, sustained, and redeemed by Christ.  We cannot claim to love God while abusing what belongs to Christ by right of creation, redemption, and inheritance.  We care for the earth and responsibly use its abundant resources, not according to the rationale of the secular world, but for the Lord's sake.  Creation care is thus a gospel issue within the Lordship of Christ.

Such love for God's creation demands that we repent of our part in the destruction, waste and pollution of the earth's resources and our collusion in the toxic idolatry of consumerism.  Instead, we commit ourselves to urgent and prophetic ecological responsibility. We support Christians whose particular missional calling is to environmental advocacy and action, as well as those committed to godly fulfilment of the mandate to provide for human welfare and needs by exercising responsible dominion and stewardship. The Bible declares God's redemptive purpose for creation itself."

Our teams celebrate this on different days and in various ways. (Pictured here is tree-planting in Kenya.)   April 22 is Earth Day, June 5 is World Environment Day, and September is the "Season of Creation" month, supported by Lausanne and many other organizations.  We are excited by this declaration as the church has ironically lagged behind the rest of the world in creation care for many years. 

We are thankful that the Global Church continues growing in its advocacy of caring for this earth, to the glory of God, and the flourishing of all neighbors!  We are also excited about all the advocacy we have been engaged with so far this year regarding farming God's way.  Below is a picture of a "black forest cake" (aka compost pile) made in Kenya with the DML Kenya team, as taught by Dr. Gaga, DML Nigeria team leader.  Yum!

Making disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples...

The Great Commission tells us that we are to make disciples, who can make disciples, who can make disciples. We need to make intergenerational disciples and build capacity in those we teach so the message doesn't rely on one person but can grow and spread.

Recently, while in Burkina Faso with DML leader Pastor Theo Pare, he mentioned a recent training of 1000 people that was done by a "third-generation disciple."  When I asked him to clarify, he said that he (first generation) had trained someone to be a DML trainer (second generation), who had then taught someone else to be a DML trainer (third generation), and that person had just done that training.  

Throughout my time with Pastor Theo, he kept referring to this or that person as second or third-generation trainers.  

It was thrilling to hear. It reminds me that we are "losing control" of the message and tracking it. I call it "Godly confusion" as people are traveling here and there to share this good news of "work as a gift" rather than "work as a burden."  Below are just a few pictures I have received over the last few weeks, as DML leaders are making disciples, who are making disciples, who are making disciples.  Please join us in thanksgiving for open doors, as well as in supplication for those spreading the message in difficult areas, and for those hearing the message of purpose and calling for their time, treasure, and talent.

DML in Congo Brazzaville:  Receiving the message for the first time from DML Cameroon leader, Sister Joy.

The DML Pakistan team is in action, bringing the message of "work as worship" to pastors in a second city this year, with three more cities planned for the remainder of 2025.

A new partnership with the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, made up of many denominations and 70,000 churches!  Three workshops were held in three cities, led by DML Kenya leader Caroline Sudi and DML Tanzania leader Anthony Kayombo.

105 new trainers in Burundi from three major denominations: The church is responding strongly in Burundi as it seeks to eradicate poverty through combined efforts in business, government, and education.

Last week's group in Egypt.

Egypt: For Such a Time as This

I'm writing this blog from a balcony in Cairo, a city of 24 million people, making this city's population higher than many countries worldwide.  It's been eight years since I was here, and there are so many new roads and tons of new apartment buildings.  In many places, Cairo seems to be a sea of apartment buildings.  It is quite a remarkable city, contrasting between "Old Cairo" and "New Cairo."  One has buildings that date back hundreds and hundreds of years, while the other is new and modern.  I've always said that Cairo is the one city I would never want to drive in, and while there have been significant improvements with expanded roads, I still stand by that statement!  The driving here is still crazy!

DML operates on a "pull," not a "push."  That means we don't have an agenda for working in certain countries or places.  We wait to see what God is doing in a particular place, as evidenced by His people who reach out to us, and then we have multiple online meetings to determine if there is an alignment of vision.  But we didn't always do it this way.  In the beginning, when DML was very new and unknown, we did a bit of pushing.  Egypt was one of those places, so it didn't take root.  (Read here to see the writing on the wall from our first visits in 2015.  The title of this blog was "A Problem for Every Solution.")

What a difference it makes to join God and His people who share a similar call!  I was able to meet a number of leaders from all sectors who have started, are starting, or feel called to start reclaiming the marketplace for God.  The time seems ripe, not just for Egypt, but for MENA (the Middle East and North Africa), as some of these partners work in multiple countries.

Last week, I joined a meeting of about 30 leaders from business, government, education, and the church, all discussing how Christians must work together to reclaim the marketplace for Christ!  Although they were speaking Arabic, these people were speaking my language! This group is about three months old, debating whether to engage the church or work directly with businesspeople. I did my best to encourage them to engage the church and bring them along on the journey.

The main group I came to meet held a four-day DML conference at a Christian retreat center in Beit El Wadi, about 60 miles outside Cairo. We had a pretty intense four days of teaching and learning about a theology of work, Kingdom-focused wealth creation, and stewardship. Those in attendance came from a number of cities across Upper and Lower Egypt. It was a rich time of fellowship, sharing, worship, and learning.  

Lastly, another group works with churches to move outside the four walls of their buildings to do community development, and they want to add economic development to their portfolio.  

God is good, and I am so grateful to see Him work through His people worldwide!  While on this trip, I received many pictures of the rest of the team at work as well - in Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Burundi, and more!  

I leave for home on Wednesday, and ask for your continued prayers for these new seeds that have been planted!

Voodoo Easter

Travelling through different countries during holiday times gives interesting insights into the culture.  While Benin is more than 60% Christian, it is also considered to be the birthplace of voodoo, as I described in a blog post last year.  The common understanding is that when the Catholics arrived in Benin many decades ago, they allowed them to keep their animist gods, and since then, the two have blended.  While Benin may be the birthplace, voodoo is prevalent in many other countries, including Togo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Haiti, and elsewhere.

This past Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter, when we left the entrepreneurship training, traffic was backed up due to a considerable crowd on the road.  I was told that this was the voodoo Easter or voodoo Passover.  At this time, chickens are killed, and the blood is put on each person, which will then protect them for the next year.

January 10 is known as Voudon Day, a national holiday in Benin. For the first time this year, the President changed the celebration from one day to three days and offered international guests the opportunity to enter the country without visas to encourage tourism. When challenged by Christians, he reportedly said that this is their culture, the birthplace of voodoo, and it should be celebrated. During these days, various animals are killed, their blood is drunk, and ancestors are honored.

As always, seeing this in real life differs from reading about it. It becomes more real and sobering, and prayers for this country and its beautiful people become more urgent.

I observed another interesting fact in contrasting Burkina Faso to Benin.  Ouagadougou is known as a city with some of the highest numbers of motorcycles and scooters. It's a flood of these two-wheelers everywhere you go.  Consequently, there is no need for motorcycle taxis as most everyone has their own means.  You will see as many men as women driving them.  I learned that the goal is to give your son or daughter one of these as a gift when they graduate from high school.  Unfortunately, very few wear helmets, and I witnessed the death of one person as a result of a scooter accident.  

In contrast, in Benin, there are also many motorcycles and scooters, but they are only driven by men.  Parents are expected to give their sons these two-wheelers as gifts when they graduate, but not their daughters.  So, most women are riding on the back of these motorcycles as customers.  But everyone is wearing helmets! 

This observation informs me that these countries are doing better economically, especially compared to Burundi, where most families simply hope to purchase a bicycle at some point in their lives.  I have often observed three men pushing one bike up and down hills with their produce. Not an efficient use of time and we pray that this will change at some point in the future!

My time in Benin was encouraging, as I heard reports of people and the church doing better since they started the work of DML. The leader, Rev. David Sessou, the President of the Missionary Alliance Church in Benin, is now seeking to implement this in the seminaries and Bible schools and reach out to more denominations. While there, I was introduced to two other Presidents of different denominations.

I'm sending you this message from Cairo, Egypt, another unique city of 24 million people!  More updates on that next week.

While my Easter was a bit unusual, I pray this prayer from Peter Greig for myself and for you:

May this Easter day bring resurrection life to my heart and my home.  May renewal radiate within me and revival emanate through me.  May dawn displace the darkness, and spring replace the winter in my life.  May the God of hope so fill me with joy and peace this Easter, that I may overflow with hope by his power and life forever. Amen.

Butterflies and Terrorists

The butterfly effect states that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it causes a tornado in Texas. Small, insignificant events can have far-reaching consequences in complex, interconnected systems.

Last Wednesday, we were driving downtown Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to visit with the Senior Executives of the Assemblies of God church.  Traffic stopped for a while, and soon we saw the road was closed and people were forced to turn around.  

When I asked what was going on, I was told that it was because Algeria shot down a drone from Mali two weeks ago.  Curious as to what that had to do with the closed road in Ouagadougou, I was told the following:

Last year, Burkina Faso joined with Niger and Mali to form the Alliance of Sahel States.  [Sahel is the belt of land just below the Sahara Desert.] All three of these countries are ruled by the military (due to coups) and had been sanctioned by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).  So, they decided to leave ECOWAS and work together.  They have broken their ties with France and are now partnered with Russia, who is supplying them with weapons.

Two weeks ago, Mali was flying an armed drone close to the border of Algeria, searching for terrorists.  Algeria claims it crossed the border; Mali says it did not.  Mali said that Algeria harbors terrorists. Regardless, things have escalated, and now Algeria has closed its airspace to Mali, and all the countries have recalled their diplomats.  

Therefore, in Ouagadougou, security close to the president has also been escalated, hence the reason for the closed streets.

What a complex and interrelated world.  It's beautiful and difficult at the same time.

There was one word in the explanation that caught my attention.  The word "terrorist."

The word "terrorist" seems to be a word easily used.  However, it is a word that dehumanizes groups of people, reduces the image of God in them, negates their stories, and gives permission for starving, torturing, and even killing without remorse.  It justifies bad behavior and is dangerous.  As Christians, we should be very careful about using such words.

Some governments label certain groups as terrorists simply because they don't like what they do.  Some groups that are fighting for the rights and freedom of their people end up being labeled as "terrorists" by the stronger party. It gets picked up and passed along news channels.  And before you know it, all people in that group, men, women, children, old, young, sick, and disabled, are seen as terrorists.

That's not to say that some groups aren't doing horrible things to others.  I had a conversation with someone in Burkina Faso who shared that in his grandfather's village, the Muslim extremists came, lined everyone up, counted people off, and killed every tenth person.  The goal was to convince all the others to convert.  Burkina Faso has seen, and continues to see, its fair share of unlawful and inhumane use of violence and intimidation. 

But it's complex.  Like a butterfly flapping its wings and contributing to weather changes thousands of miles away.  We like things to be black and white, easily differentiating between right and wrong.  But there is a lot of gray when we believe that every person is made in the image of God, with the capacity to love and flourish. Every person has the capacity to grievously sin; every person has the capacity to be redeemed through Christ.  Everyone has a story.

What to do with such complexity? I seek to live this prayer written by Thomas Merton:

Lord, give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride, which is the heaviest of burdens.  Possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love.  Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for you alone.  Amen.

In other news, I am hearing so many testimonies of how God is reclaiming the marketplace in Burkina Faso.  What a joy to hear of the passion of those who are doing their work as an act of worship!  As we have been working here for about six years now, I'm hearing about "third-generation trainers," meaning that the ones we originally trained have now trained others, who are training others.  This is a delight to hear!

I had the opportunity to visit some farms and businesses last week, which is always so much fun to do (although doing it in 42C/107F heat made it a bit challenging). I saw a farm with 800 trees, 300 of which were a variety of mango trees that were so small. The trees in the pictures are only three years old and already very heavy with fruit!  The challenge is that the fruit is so close to the ground that their chickens can no longer be free-range as they peck all the mangos! 

This week, I'm continuing a youth entrepreneurship workshop and teaching a foundational workshop for pastors and church leaders in Ouagadougou. On Thursday, I fly to Benin, where I will do another entrepreneurship workshop over the Easter weekend. Then, on Sunday afternoon, I will fly to Egypt. Meanwhile, another part of the DML team is in Burundi, then going to Ghana; another team is traveling from Cameroon to Congo Brazzaville; another part of the team is heading to Malawi.  We covet your prayers as this team is on the move!