Month: February 2016

7 Tips to Lead Your Business like a Visionary

Posted on February 11, 2016 by - Articles, Business, Change Management, Leading Organizations

The beginning of each year is full of grand aspirations to lead better than the year past. How are you doing so far? Last September, Pastor Sam Adeyemi (TGLS 15) provided 7 tips to help you take your leadership to the next level.  Even though January has come and gone, his insight is sure to help you continue taking the right steps to becoming a better leader in 2016:

 

Hi friends!

We hope you are having a great new month and enjoying God’s glory in every way.

We have had so much positive feedback, questions and testimonies on the Do Business series last month.

We truly appreciate your support and praise reports.

So, we have decided to run the Do Business series again for another month so you can share it with your friends and family.

We hope the series takes you to the next level because we believe in the practical application of God’s word for maximum impact in our lives.

 Here are some tips to help you lead and grow your business successfully.

  1. Vision/Revelation – Vision is key to the growth of any organisation or business. Let the vision drive your business to success and never lose sight of your destination as a business leader. Remember the scripture “my people perish for lack of vision.” (Hosea 4:6) You need revelation and how do you get it? Spend time with God! You need that information (revelation) for the next level. Let the revelation or vision you receive from the Father drive you as business leader.
  1. Core Values – Knowing the core values of your business or organisation is key to its growth. Core values are simply what your organisation stands for and the things you cannot (and will not) compromise as a business. Take some time to write these down and apply them to your business – every single day. One great core value? Let excellence always drive your work.
  1. Build Systems – Most successful businesses or organisations run on good systems. Leaders develop processes that make the business function without depending on one person. This might mean hiring people or outsourcing. Training is a huge component in building a system to propel your business to the next level. When you find what works for your business, keep improving it! If your business or church can’t run without you the leader, then it’s imperative to create a system that doesn’t depend on you. Start building your systems today and watch growth happen and your business will take flight!
  1. Training – This is an unavoidable action for any business leader. You must build your workforce by training them regularly for improved performance. Please do not underestimate this, as it can make or break an organisation.
  1. Hire Experts – When your business gets to a certain point, you need experts to help you take it to the next level. When you start, you are the janitor, web designer, admin, etc. You need to be able to identify when you need help and seek out that help from experts more qualified. Most businesses don’t survive because its owner refuses to bring in outside help from experts! In other words, fire yourself and hire those who complement your weaknesses!
  1. Stay Current – Staying relevant is the currency of life. Be quick to adapt and move forward. The life and the success of your business depends on this ability.
  1. Increase your capacity – Your business depends on your capacity as a leader. You can increase your capacity many ways. One way is by educating yourself and continuously learning through reading books, networking with people, following the leadership of a mentor and learning from the best in your industry. If your business is not growing, look at your capacity and make a point to improve it. This will take your business to next level.

Finally, DO NOT GIVE UP!

Your best is yet to come as a leader or business owner. There are so many ideas and helpful insights we can share to take your business to the next level.

Start with these and let us know how they are working for you!

Never forget to commit your business into the hands of Christ.

He is the author and finisher of our faith and He cares about what you care about. Let Him lead your business.

We’re so thrilled you’re enjoying the Do Business series! If you desire to learn more in addition to the tips shared above, request your copy of the Do Business series today!

Have a great new month!

Sam Adeyemi Ministries

P.S.: We would also like to thank you all for your support during the GLS conference in the USA. Your messages on social media and emails were encouraging and humbling. We love you and thank God for your lives!

God’s Call to a Retired Businessman | What Happened When He said “Yes”

Posted on February 10, 2016 by - Africa, Calling, Latin America, Stories

IMG_1328Jim Willey is a Vietnam war veteran and a retired businessman with 40 years of experience in the corporate world. After retirement in 2001, Jim decided to spend more of his time focusing on charitable work. As a regular attendee of the Summit, not only has he received fresh and tangible business skills over the years, but it has also equipped and encouraged him for his latest calling.

It started with folding chairs

In 2005, Jim was sitting in a church service at Celebration Community Beach Church in Naples Florida when he heard pastor Gene Scott explain how he had sent 250 used folding chairs to a school in Haiti, but wasn’t sure if they ever arrived. When Jim asked Gene about this, he challenged him to take a trip to Haiti to find out.

Jim accepted the challenge, and before he knew it, he was on a plane for his first trip to Cap Haitien. Jim was able to locate the chairs in a school that previously didn’t have any benches or chairs for students to sit on. But there was more to this trip that God had orchestrated.

Assaulted by poverty

At the time of his Haiti trip in 2005, the country was in turmoil. “My senses were assaulted by poverty,” said Jim. The scenes and images of hunger and despair that he experienced were devastating. “I came back from that first trip completely heartbroken. How could these conditions exist two hours (by plane) from Miami Beach?” he exclaims. “We are not talking about Africa or Bangladesh. We are talking about less time than it takes to fly from Chicago to Pittsburgh.”

But Jim experienced another side of Haiti that has stuck with him ever since that first trip—the tenacity and kindness of the people. “The people are so incredibly kind. There is a lighthearted, big-smile-in-the-face-of-adversity kind of attitude. There is a tenacity in Haiti’s people that I love.” Jim soon realized that his life would never be the same. God was urging him to do something to bring hope to these courageous and worthy people. In 2011, Help for Haiti was born with a different charity model behind it. Unlike many of the organizations that Haitians were used to seeing, this one was based on empowerment, partnership and self-sustainability.

An important decision

00000003One of Jim’s early experiences in Haiti was building 10-15 benches for students who attended a rural school. “When I showed up, I thought they had ordered wood that was the wrong length, but the carpenter said it was cheaper to order a 12-inch wide piece and cut off two inches, which could be used for support pieces.

“I worked on one 2×4, cut about 6 feet of length and was totally exhausted, soaking with sweat!” said Jim. “The two carpenters did it all day long, completing all the benches in a single day.”

Since that day building benches, Jim and his family made an important decision. Help for Haiti adopted a model that has shaped the organization and embedded itself in its mission to feed, educate and employ the people of Haiti so they can build a sustainable future. “We will never bring missionaries to Haiti to complete work that able-bodied men and women in Haiti are capable of doing, and desperately want to do. Can you imagine Haitian laborers watching a group of teenagers on a mission trip, wheel barrowing dirt to build a latrine when they have families at home that they could feed if paid just $1 per hour to do that same work?” Jim asks. “We need to re-educate ourselves about the difference between hurting and helping; that is, as I’ve come to call it, the difference between a ‘handout,’ and a ‘handup.’ When did a strategy to build dependency on a charity ever work to the benefit of the recipient?”

Defining a Vision

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Jim and his wife, Betsy, along with their two grown sons, Jared and Matthew, had a family meeting before they organized Help for Haiti in 2005. “We discussed what we could do that would not play into this paradigm of dependency that other charities so often succumb to,” said Jim. Out of this family meeting, they narrowed their vision to three major points: , Food, Education and Employment.

“We provide food so kids can stay focused on their studies, not their stomachs. We help them get educated, so they can become employable. We help them explore ways to create businesses, so they can be self-sustaining,” said Jim. He defines their vision to this statement, “We feed and educate kids in Haiti and stay with them until they have the employment skills and a job to be fully self-sufficient Haitian adults.”

The path ahead

Since its existence, Help for Haiti has built a school that educates 250 students in nine grades. They’ve also partnered with Feed My Starving Children, www.fmsc.org as well as local churches in New Hampshire and Massachusetts so far providing more than 750,000 meals. This year they added another school, and now feed 430 students each day.

“How does one small charity in Rye, New Hampshire take on a task this big?” Jim asks. “Where is all the money coming from to put all these kids through school?”

“Honestly, the path we are on excites and frightens me,” Jim shares. “God wants it that way, so we will never believe we can do this on our own. We are learning everyday and using common sense to deal with what is in front of us. We pray a lot, we keep moving forward and we trust that the answer will be there when we need it. In five years, the money has always come in when we needed it. We pay local Haitian leaders, Marcot, our manager; Nelson, our project manager; and 14 teachers every month. We supplement the teachers’ pay, and we have a plan in place to help the school become self-sufficient. We built a school and raised thousands to feed kids every day. How much louder can God tell us to just keep going?

“In five years, we will have kids in college in Haiti. Some will be in trade school and at least one I know wants to be a pastor. In five years, another church and school will be built. These are the challenges in front of us. God will help us figure it all out in His time.”

Motivated by the Summit

“The Summit was a motivator and a valued resource when we founded the charity five years ago,” Jim explained. “I don’t remember the first GLS I attended, but it was several years before I even thought about doing work in Haiti. The GLS recharges my battery. I have been moved by the idea that the local church and its ability to change the world with the love of Jesus Christ. This is at the base of the life I believe we are all called to live out.”

The Future of the Emerging Town of Samfya, Zambia

Posted on February 8, 2016 by - Africa, Stories

964709_10200535726849467_952864320_oDavid Temfwe is a native to Zambia, a former student of Moody Bible Institute and on staff at Jubilee Center, which equips and  serves pastors, professionals, missionaries and Christian leaders to bring about change in the moral, economical, and political transformation of Zambia.  He is also a part of the team coordinating the GLS events that take place throughout Zambia. Today he writes about a recent event held in Samfya, Zambia to give key leaders in the community a taste of the Summit.

 

 

“The Summit could not have been proposed at a better time for the people of Samfya, Zambia. We need this now!” These were the words of one of the people who showed up at the GLS promotional event held in Samfya in early January of 2016. Samfya is a small town located in the Zambian province of Luapula with a population of 198,000 inhabitants. It is comprised of a predominantly low income community with 64 percent living in extreme poverty.

It has always been considered a scenic town, known for its recreational, sandy beaches and picturesque landscape. Consequently, in recent years, the government and several private entities have shown an interest in Samfya. They are investing resources into infrastructure and more recently, paved roads, which has raised the value of property and the demand for a slice of this town.

The GLS promotional gathering was attended by 72 people. The objective was to give the participants a taste of the GLS and decide whether we should establish a host site in Samfya. The participants were deeply engaged in the post-presentation discussions, and what became evident as each person stood up to speak was their understanding that sustainable development is unequivocally hinged on selfless leadership.

Frances, a young lady from one of the local churches said, “The government wants to keep the power gap. It is up to us, the church, to crush it and the time is now.” This was a reoccurring narrative after Sam Adeyemi’s presentation. The role of the church was being clearly defined with respect to our growth as a nation. One pastor confessed to pursuing his own success instead of prioritizing his congregation. He learned the importance of being honest with one’s own intentions as it pertains to leading others. Another leader mentioned her resolve to renounce her fixation on money and redirect her efforts to nurturing great ideas.

After the session on the Intangibles of Leadership, the facilitator zeroed in on the question, “What’s your white hot why?” The question hit home with applications that included orphans, business, education, families, HIV and AIDS and politics. Attendee, Bishop Mukuka was fueled to break the cycle of poverty, “I want to be remembered as a person who helped people with methods of escaping the poverty trap, and my church is going to be known for that.”

Uganda’s grander vision video showed the role of church in bringing healing to the devastating trauma the nation had gone through. It was particularly impactful because Zambia hasn’t experienced anything close to what Uganda has endured, but if our peace isn’t guarded with unity, repentance, reconciliation and prayer, we could find ourselves in a similar predicament. Following the video, the whole congregation erupted into prayer and surrendered Zambia to the hands of the Lord. On that account, the churches have declared the 26th of January a day of prayer and fasting for their town and the nation as a whole.

Samfya is at a pivotal point. The 72 people in that building walked away knowing that the future of their emerging town will rise or fall at the hands of their leaders and they are fully aware of the role they will play.

 

Are you interested in supporting the launch of the GLS in Samfya, Zambia in 2016, and equipping leaders for their grander vision for their country?
Send your gift to give.willowcreek.com and indicate that you’d like your support to be sent to Zambia.

First Generation Christians Decide to Do Something That’s Never Been Done Before

Posted on February 3, 2016 by - Asia, Church & Faith-Based, Stories

UntitledThe impact of the GLS in India in 2015 is worth celebrating! A total of 26 events were hosted in different cities across the country with over 7,000 leaders in attendance. And still, nine more events are getting ready to launch in the beginning of 2016. The GLS continues to impact Christians by inspiring, challenging, stretching and equipping them to find their God given potential in making the church the hope of the world.

For a small group of seven first generation Christians out of a village in India, the GLS was a huge encouragement and inspiration. There are literally no churches in their village, and they experience great opposition and persecution for their faith. Just recently, a pastor was evicted from his home. When they found out about the GLS they decided to travel the distance to participate and be a part of this Christian community.

The opportunity to join together with other Christian leaders and learn from the speakers encouraged and challenged them.  They became passionate about the idea that the Church is the hope of the world. So they decided to return home to build a church in their village. A couple from the group donated land and plans are underway. Even though they know the adversity they will experience, their confidence and enthusiasm were visible on their faces when they exclaimed,

“We will build a church in our village!”