Taxi Drivers and Communication Channels

The roads in Thailand are not as horrendous as they were described to be. Generally it is in good condition and the major arterial roads are world-class. There are more roads in Bangkok than is in KL by virtue of its size. With a population of at least 10 million depending on where the limits of Metropolitan Bangkok are demarcated there are at least 4-5 times more cars in Bangkok than in KL. This is a perfect place for a perfect storm with regards to traffic snarl-ups especially when the right conditions conspired together. It may be rain, an accident, road closure and on Friday.

Living in Bangkok without a car, freed me from driving in bad traffic conditions but continuous usage of taxis gave me another problem. After using taxis for almost two years to move around, I discovered that some of the drivers refused to admit that they need help even when they are having difficulty in getting to my destination. Sounds familiar? This seems to be a universal attitudinal problem. According to folklore it most often happens to men especially when it comes to asking for direction.

My observation is that this is not because I am a foreigner. I can speak good enough Thai and give instructions if I know how to get there and have got there before. If I am not sure, I would usually get the address written in Thai and give it to the driver on boarding. So, it is not the language issue but that of pride which spring from two personal conditions.

First, the driver could not read in his own vernacular. He is an illiterate or semi-illiterate and refused to let people know that. He will pretend to look at the address and feign comprehension. He will nod his head to signal understanding. Then, along the way he will try to figure it out with me by using a combination of English and Thai all the while trying to hide his lack of reading skills. This is thinking on the feet at its best! Just that it is not good on the wallet of the paying passenger.

It took a while for me to learn that oral speakers may not be able to read well or not at all. Their lack of education renders their extensive knowledge of roads useless.

Then there are those who are educated, could read but do not know the destination. Similarly, they will pretend that they know the destination as they are too proud to say the contrary. Again, they will figure it out as they drive. This again costs the paying customers extra fare.

So herein lies two learning moments. Do not assume that an oral communicator can read. A further illogical extension of this fallacy is that the speaker can write too. Language learning usually involves at least three components i.e. speaking, reading and writing. This is formal education. But there are many who may not have a chance and those who deliberately learn how to speak but not read or write.

I went to a twice a week night class for a year to learn conversational Thai in 1995 in Petaling Jaya. Seven years later, seeking to improve my Thai to include reading, I studied for four months in Bangkok’s Yen Akat, two hours a day, five days a week. And in Bangkok many long-staying expatriates are in my shoes, they can speak, read but not write. We figured that it is more important to be able to read and easier to can get someone to do the writing part as we simply don’t have the time or the energy to learn the difficult Thai script.

Language is like a bridge spanning and uniting two divided landmass. It is a communicative tool that can bring understanding to an idea that may be abstract or concrete in nature.But then it must be delivered in the preferred channels of the intended audience.

A practical application of this understanding can be put to work in the distribution of printed tracts. We cannot assume the intended audience can read especially in the rural areas and those who can read especially the urban young may not want to read as they may prefer audio-visual media in their acquiring of news and knowledge.

The tactics for the rural areas may be to use oral story-telling, CDs and DVDs and radio broadcast to communiacte the message. Better still empower local story-tellers and teachers. For the urban dwellers Youtube, podcasting, E-books, audiobook and the world wide web predominate their learning environment. To reach them we must knock at their door with their preferred communication channels. Only then, there will be a connection.

So before you communicate know the target group well. Analyse and determine what is the most acceptable and effective communicative tool. Otherwise noone will lend you their eyes and ears.

Urban Church Planters in a Restricted Access Nation

A noted missiologist said that the best way to church growth is to plant churches. But how do we get churches to plant churches that will plant churches? And especially in the urban centres in many of the world’s developing nations! In 2008 half of the world’s populace lived in urban centres. Many are migrants from the countryside and ill-fitted to live in the city. In the sea of humanity, they are so many needs and on many occasions these tapestries of human lack are compounded by persecution and continued harassment by the authorities.

On reflection, and working in restricted access nation for more than 10 years, it may not be the authorities that really hampered the work in the city. Materialism and the lack of passion in church planting are slowing the work of church planting. As materialism creeps in there is a need to present the message of the gospel in more relevant ways to these urban dwellers. Church planters need to understand the current socio-economic situation and present the gospel according to the present urban context. Passionate workers with the call of God must be released into the field.

After 3 years, working with 3 different groups, each with 7 church planters, we must say that the urban church planting has mixed success. There are a lot of lessons that we have learned. Some of the lessons are as follows:

1. There must be an exit strategy from the start. That means we must plan to end our direct involvement esp. when finance is part of the support package. This avoids dependency. Build capacity and utilize local resources and wisdom as much as possible. 

2. Careful selection of Church Planters that have the call, vision and passion. THEY MUST HAVE THE ABILITY TO EVANGELISE AND CHURCH PLANT FIRST AND FOREMOST. IT MUST BE PROVEN IN THEIR VOLUNTARY MINISTRY IN THE CHURCH. This is translated into passion to win souls and the tenacity needed to plant meeting places and later turning it into a local church. Works that fail to take off are mostly because of the lack of these three traits. 

3. Church planters must have the ability to adapt and fit into their community and country. They have the ability to go beyond one station of life in reaching out beyond their status or profession. 

4. A willingness to be trained, evaluated and taught. We mentor and fellowship over lunch with them as well as praying together. 

5. New curriculum and modules to address the latest issues in that country and community. Subjects like, Theology of Urban Church Planting, Socio-Economic factors in Church Planting, Planting House Churches, Church Planting Movement Methodology and others are taught and discussed together. 

6. Co-operation from the local network is important: 
a) Selection has to be done for those who have the call, character, capacity, charisma and capability. They have to avoid favoritism and rewarding those selected with a paying position out of sentiments totally unrelated to the above, 
b) The appointment of a suitable supervisor to help the church planters. This may be a full-time position. He needs to have the proven and successful experience to help and direct in evangelism and church planting. 

But for the successful church planters, we are looking into cooperating with the training these 2nd generation workers to perpetuate the church planting efforts. This will provide the impetus for 2nd generation urban church plants. And if possible we will see church planting done into the 3rd, 4th … generations.

Multiplication Effect for Church Planting

I have been involved in equipping and training church planters (CP) for the last 17 years. This ministry while under my watch have trained close to 10,000 CPs and evangelists. Every week there is a training going on somewhere in Asia, year in year out.

The graduates are planting churches and some have even planted a few. From our observation most of them practised these ‘universal’ principles for successful church planting: 1) Much Prayer and Fasting, 2) Much Sowing of the Gospel, 3) Having a Ministry Plan, 4) Bible Teaching, 5) Having a Local Leadership Structure and Mentoring, 6) Planting of Cell or House Churches, 7) Regular Training for the Church Planters and 8) Having Most of the Functions of a Biblical Church 9) Believing for the Miraculous

However, we feel that the CP has the potential to do much more than adding churches one by one. It will be realized if we launch them to plant churches that will plant churches that will plant churches. If churches planted by them reproduce and multiply down the line then we have a scenario of a multiplication effect. In order to create this multiplication effect church planting needs to consider the following factors.

1. Empowerment of the new believers (Eph 4:11-16; 1 John 2:27)

Most evangelistic and church planting efforts will taper off in relation to the time the CP spent on the field. The CP will eventually be bogged down with issues like counseling, teaching, preaching etc. Sadly, the CP did not have confidence in the new believers’ abilities and take sole responsibility. Dependency happened and took root. To avoid this, believers must be mobilized immediately by modeling to them, assisting them to do the ministry, coaching and finally leaving them to do the job. This creates ownership and responsibility. This template together with the impartation of vision for multiplication and missions at its very inception will cause the church to reproduce.

2. Healthy respect for local/homegrown wisdom and resources

The release of the laity at the onset of church planting avoids the need of a paid worker. The unpaid leader commands more respect when it comes to sharing the workload when the CP is gone. To increase their capacity there is a need to extract them regularly for a systematic training. Another local resource that is neglected is the use of homes for meetings. It requires no rental. If the work gets too big it gets to reproduce!

3. Leadership by example (2 Cor 11:23-28)

Leadership is not by seniority (how long one is in the church) or by the amount of training one receives. Workers earned their credentials by proving themselves faithful to their people and work even despite very difficult working conditions. In certain countries one’s credentials is earned through how one face persecution and not through an ordination exercise. Usually the church flowers when persecution dies down.

4. Innovativeness in breaking barriers (Matt 19:26)

It is the people who say, “Why not?” against “I have never done it before.” One leader learned from the FEBC radio broadcast and used the lessons learned in the church. This broke the barrier of isolation and the lack of training. Another brought the church to meet in the open e.g. garden, coffee shop etc. It broke the barrier of the need for a meeting place. In some areas of intense persecution getting a host is difficult. The key is to gather the church/people first.

5. Aggressive and bold leadership (Matt 11:12; Acts 4:29-31).

Pioneering new fields, facing off demons and human persecutors requires aggressive actions. A church can lose as much as 90% of its membership during persecution. A long term approach is to go low profile and train shepherds. A rather short term strategy that has proven to work in certain situations was practicing one’s faith openly unafraid of persecution. This requires aggressive leaders. Christmas and even funeral services are used to showcase the Christian faith. I knew of two places where strong persecution was broken due to the above aggressive actions. Thereafter church growth will be guaranteed.

6. Working speedily (2 Thes 3:1).

When the Lord moved quickly the people has to follow and act speedily. A recent student revival in one country was started during the Christmas season and is still continuing months later. In less than a month about 400 students were saved. Due to the rapid move of God there were not enough workers to serve. New believers were quickly organized and given responsibilities. New leaders were taught two Bible lessons and they in turn used it to teach their groups. Then they came back for more. The ability to cope with this kind of speed is important to reap and contain the harvest.

The Book of Acts chapter 11 in verses 21 and 24 describes the multiplication effect succinctly, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord….For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.” The mathematical difference between the addition effect compares to the multiplication effect is immense. Let us go for the higher calling.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for Mentoring Strategic Missions Coordinators (Part 2 of 2)

Specific	KPI	Measurable
1. Strategic Performance (15%)	Growth through Strategic Match · Able to match Field Partner’s philosophies with ours · Awareness of new opportunities available	· Plant ____ new projects a year · Results closely resemble those predicted
2. Leadership Performance (20%)	Mobilising and Influencing · Raise faith, friends and funds · Raise awareness and vision · Raise Material Resources · Raise Human Resource	· 1st Year (30%) of Projects Resources · 2nd Year (50%) of Projects Resources · 3rd Year (75%) of Projects Resources · 4th Year (100%) of Projects Resources · Field Partner motivated to progressively take responsibility towards part or all of the grounds expenses
3. Operational Performance (30%)	Logistics, Operations and Organising · Can assess viability, allocate resources and plan and control a project effectively · Able to motivate volunteers to exceptional efforts · Effective progress planning · Seamless and smooth operations. · Effective HR plans · Effective training programs · Effective and regular monitoring and feedbacks system · Plan B option · Work flow is monitored and according to Standard Operating Procedures · Documents/files are well organized	· All projects completed within budgeted resources · Able to manage each project while following all standard procedures · Reports and records are easily retrievable · Timely updates of reports and records
4. Project Performance (10%)	Satisfaction of Stakeholders · Satisfied Financial Partner based on project progress · Satisfied Field Partner based on project progress · Fully aware of Field Partner’s learning curve and sensitive to detect changes in needs	· Positive comments from Field and Financial Partner regular solicited feedbacks · Progressive improvement in Field Partner’s performance using agreed to performance measurements · Allow for changes according to Field Partner’s learning curve
5. Job Upskilling and Empowerment (10%)	Knowledge/Skill · Familiar with the objectives, concept, forms and templates of all levels of work, systems, processes and SOP	· Ability to learn and carry out diverse functions is deemed exceptional · Attend all in-house training classes · Attend at least 2 HQ meetings per year conducted anywhere in South East Asia · Study all the relevant articles in the monthly newsletter as well as those related to work function · Take own initiative research to improve work knowledge and technical skill
6. Communication (5%)	Soft Skills · Able to maintain open communications with superiors and team members · Open to feedback and critique · Able to communicate with Partners/Clients and gain their confidence · Able to communicate and encourage clients to improve · Able to communicate and release more resources from Partners	· Evaluation by superior/peers/partners/clients to be conduct on half-yearly basis · Give timely and immediate feedback to the supervisor and discuss the issue to address any anticipated problem without delay
7. Work Attitude (5%)	Work Ethics · Reliability · Initiative · Team work · Commitment & Discipline · Integrity · Positive attitude · Conscious of cost saving and productivity	· Take initiative to suggest improvement or corrective action · Carry out duty and function without reminder or prompting · Punctual /Sense of urgency · Not abuse resource /privilege
8. Appearance & hygiene (5%)	Deportment and Hygiene	· Always appear fresh and energetic · Cheerful · Neat & tidy

PERFORMANCE LEVEL	Percentage Obtained
Exceptional	>90%
Expectation Met	80%-90%
Improvement Needed	60%-79%
Unacceptable	<60%
Instructions: 1.             Appraisal on performance will be conducted on half-yearly basis 2.             Agree on performance plan during appraisal 3.             Implementation of performance plan according to agreed schedule

Part 1 - Mentoring Program

Becoming an Entrepreneur (Part 1 of 3)

The Intentional Entrepreneurs
They are always on the lookout for opportunities and not risk-averse. For some, it has never crossed their mind to work for others. Many are from Generation Y (below 30 years). There are blessed with FAMA (father and mother) interest-free, no-need to pay back 'loan' and morale support. With no baggages they are free to define the world of business. Once they have tasted entrepreneurship they will never be able to work for others. Who cares, they have a long runway to learn from their mistakes and succeed. 

The Eureka Entrepreneur
After working for others, they hit an ‘eureka’ moment when they realised, “Why work for others, while I can work for myself.” These 30 something folks are mobile, have a low financial commitment, confident and highly skilled. More importantly, they are not too deep in their salaried job to make entrepreneurship an uncomfortable and difficult option. The runway is still long and the working spouse can hold the fort when it comes to the big-ticket items.

The No-Choice Entrepreneur

The pay has plateaued. Fed-up by being classified a deadwood by the superiors. Has sat on the ‘cold seat’ at least once and wanted to or has dabbled in union activities. These are usually in their 40’s. These are in a high-risk group. They have high financial commitment, too salarised to transit into the business of self-employment. To make the breakthrough they need 2 – 3 years of hard work, study and mentoring plus stratospheric-level motivation before the great leap.

The Pensioner Entrepreneur
They have not rock the boat in their entire working life. Their salaried job is everything. Everything is stable and quiet. Probably flush with cash and EPF money. The crux of the matter is the question of how to turn the technician, supervisor or manager into an entrepreneur? A complete mindset make-over is imperative or they will flush their cash into the toilet.

Part 2
Part 3

Pioneer Church Planting – 8 Practical Principles

1. Small Beginnings (Zechariah 4:10)

“Do not despise the day of small things.”

Every church, cell, department, ministry has a beginning, a small beginning.
However, at the onset, we hold on to 3 important pioneering work ethics.
a) Build a strong leadership base
b) Build strong evangelistic  zeal
c) Every ministry must edify. 

2. Individual Oriented (Luke 15:4)

“Jesus left the 99 to look for 1 stray sheep.”

The church is not a group of people but consist of a group of individuals.  We touch them one by one.

3. People Oriented

a) There is no such thing as over-feeding, over caring or over-training a person.
b) Leaders much undergird others, with their time, energy and giftings.
c) Pay attention to teamwork. True success in ministry is the sum total of the interactions of people. The more of these positive interactions the better. It is not the sum total of each individual’s action.

4. Sign of Times and Direction of Church (1 Chronicles 12:32)

“… man who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do...”

a) Ask questions and advice from God, counselors and those with experienced.
b) Bring a problem but always with solutions.  This will keep things in perspective.
c) Don’t ignore details. They form the basis in understanding the sign and direction where we need to go.

5. Timeframe and Plans for Growth (Proverbs 16:9)

“The mind of a man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps.”

a) Time frames and plans must be unhurried to allow for mistakes and failure.
b) It must provide space for practice, learning, adapting an innovating.
c) It must be able to be monitored and accomplished according to our pace to produce the required quality and quantity.

6. Releasing or Forcing Growth (Psalm 11:3)

“If the foundation, are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

a) Good basics/fundamentals release growth.
b) Hyping/psyching forces artificial growth.
c) Every church has its rate of growth.  Know it and be satisfied otherwise you will overdrive your members. 

7. Challenges and Troubles (Luke 1:37)

“For nothing will be impossible with God”

Never be afraid of challenges and please don’t invite trouble.
a) Troubles need trouble-shooting and fire-fighting. It is a distraction that can divide and discourage.
b) Challenges are created by leaders.  It attracts people to join in a worthy cause.

8. Need is a hormone for Growth (Philippians 4:19)

“And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus”

a) Never over-extend the church resources, people or finances.
b) Never stake the church on a do- or die mission.
c) Be simple, lean and mean.
d) Investment for growth.  Spending in view of the future is called investing.
e) Buy what is needed and the “best” otherwise we may buy problems back.  However “best” must be affordable.

Twelve Practical Principles for Ministry

1. Working together. Cave dwellers and those who can’t work with others as well as others can’t work with them will not do well here. To serve, get onto ground zero with the rest. And for gospel's sake, work harmoniously.

2. Serving. There are 2 basic traits to serve well. Integrity and skill. Attitude and aptitude. Integrity comes by discipleship. Skill is imparted through coaching.

3. Delegating. Delegate responsibilities responsibly. Always delegate to whet the appetite and to stretch their faith. In delegating, remember that volunteers may not do what was expected, but always what’s inspected. The former, is abdication, while the later, is mentoring and coaching.

4. Leading. Encourage the slow to pick up the pace, make quick decision for the quick of the mark so that they are bottle-necked by leadership indecision. 

5. Persuading, reasoning and vision-casting. Some come in to serve because of persuasion, others through sound reasons, but those who stay for the long run are usually because of persuasion, reasons and vision.

6. Accountability. Without accountability there is no ministry and authority. Accountability sets the minister and ministry free. It protects the ministry, the minister and the one who is being ministered to.

7. Ministry flexibility. Promote flexibility especially in the early years of the church. There is no need for ministry and giftings match through specialising. Serving in multiple ministry is encouraged. 

8. Listening, seeing and doing. Hands-on work promotes respect and better learning. Respect comes as the leader model servanthood by the leader. Better learning comes from listening, seeing and doing.

9. Relating. Never put strained relationships and misunderstandings that comes along in the course of doing ministries in cold storage. The leader should take the first step to solve it.

10. Matching ministry with giftings. Specialise more as the church grows. Match temperament, interest and skills/giftings with the job at hand.

11. Planning Plan B. Always plan for contingencies for major projects. Having a Plan B is not optional. It is a must.

12. Discipling. Work yourself out of your job.

Entrepreneurial Mindset (Part 3 of 3)

Critical Massing the Capital
The capital invested into various forms will generate revenues. The first milestone each entrepreneur must reach before profitability will be the break-even point. This is where the revenue matches the expenses. From here every sale will turn a profit. This may be a simplistic explanation but it’s clarity is cannot be disputed.

A good entrepreneur won’t stop at the break-even point. He needs critical mass where his ratio of profit to revenue is highest. This is the confluence for all his resources, managed skilfully, meet at the point where profit is maximised. In sports, it is called the sweet spot.

There are two important points here i.e. the application of resources and skilful and wise management. What’s next after the first critical mass? A second critical mass can be achieved but it will be at the expense of losing the some profit margins gain in the first critical mass. This is due to new fixed and leveraging costs applied towards new capital expenditure and other resources link to expanding recruiting, training and retaining talent and etc. Further, management wisdom and skill need to go up a few notches to cope with the new business model which may be a entirely different animal altogether.

With this, it will lead to the next point.

Contentment and Critical Mass
At each critical mass the entrepreneur must evaluate whether his contentment is still there or in diminishing returns mode. This scaling up process will definitely exact a toll from the entrepreneur. Mitigating contentment’s diminishing returns will be paying careful attention to synergising the various parts of the business and reaping the benefits of economies of scale.

The ambition to take the business to a higher level is every entrepreneur’s dream. The question is how to make it worthwhile. A few important factors that need particular attention in a business are what I call the four R’s.

1) Human Resource (HR),

2) Public Relations, Marketing Communications (PR and MARCOM),

3) Back-Room Operations (OPR) and

4) Strategic Initiatives (STR)

Careful understanding and balance application of these factors will create a symbiotic effect thus releasing potent synergistic forces that will ensure that the venture will bear fruits and most importantly contentment.

Part 1 
Part 2

Entrepreneurial Mindset (Part 2 of 3)

Entrepreneurial activities require both sacrifice and risk-taking. Foremost in the mind of the business person will be the question of how much he is willing to sacrifice and the amount of risk-taking both now and in the future? Another relevant consideration is subject of time. Every business requires tons of it to be applied into each part and phase of the venture.

Counting the Cost 
Sitting down to count the cost in all that we do is important. There must be a plan, benchmarks and budget for resources needed. These will act as a spearhead for one's efforts to succeed and will certainly also reveal the hard truth if the venture has come short.

'For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' (Luke 14:29,30)

Counting the cost is a sign of confidence in one’s ability and in making the right choice of investment. In succeeding, we get wiser and not wilder. On the other hand, it is in no way a marker for lack of faith. It acts as a safeguard against falling into a bottomless pit. When the hard truth surfaces and the business position becomes irredeemable it allows for a wise and conscious decision to cut losses.

The country singer, Kenny Rogers, in his song “The Gambler” summed it up well in this part of the song, “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, Know when to walk away and know when to run.”

Contending with Contentment
What if the business take-off? And there is great potential for it to be scaled up either digitally or physically. How much/many is enough?

Contentment will be the rear-guard that will protect the businessman from losing his balance and succumb to stress and ill-health in the business’ jungle. The ‘contentment is great gain’ principle can be put to work in light of the many priorities the businessman has to handle. This will counter greed which is a bane to all who for the sake of profits forget what is more important to him.

'But godliness with contentment is great gain.' (1 Tim 6:6)

A growing business is a hard taskmaster. It gobbles more money for expansion. The danger of over-gearing creeps in. It guzzles more of your time. Family is relegated to the background and health matters take a backseat. He must keep his perspective and watch if the business has taken a life of its own and the master has become the slave. Putting these together, contentment is inversely proportional to the cost in time resources to the business person. Contentment will be the businessman’s conscience. Don’t start a business without it!

Part 1 
Part 3