Of Leadership and Workshops

Viz and I had the opportunity to conduct a leadership workshop to some leaders of the Inter-Youth Fellowship in Tanjay last Monday, September 21, 2009. There were a total of 18 youth leaders from the ages of 17 to 26 years old. (I’m still 26 by the way)

Viz was able to facilitate 2 getting to know you games that allowed the leaders get to know others and learn the value of thinking and unity to solve issues or problems. We had fun trying to untangle ourselves without cutting the rope.

I also did an activity that made them aware of their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their plans in the future and the fears they have growing up. We shared to them the importance of being honest and being there especially when the hard times comes in.

After letting them write down everything, I asked them to put their papers in the board forming a cross and reflect how our common ground, Jesus Christ did for all our fears and weaknesses and the essence of growing up with the strengths and good plans for our futures.

Another highlight was the tearing of the notes that they had. I gave each individual a piece of paper from another person, and asked them to tear it to pieces symbolizing trust and acceptance no matter what they did or will do in the future.

It was a perfect opportunity to share what we have learned through the years as a leader and we are all the more excited to know how we can help out with the team in creating their vision and goals for the rest of the year and early of 2010.

Of Leadership and Responsibilities

I just got out from the youth meeting for the inter-youth fellowship. To my surprise, I was the one who facilitated the meeting and discussed a lot of other issues from dating to church-hopping.

Just to share with you, the Ministerial Fellowship of Tanjay gave their approval in realizing a long dream for their youth - an inter-denominational organization who can strengthen, uplift and develop the different potentials of their leaders. I am excited for this project!

To be honest, I like the group ( a total of 15 youth leaders) from the different churches in Tanjay joined the event plus another 60 plus youth who joined the pre-launch fellowship. This is a big number if you tell me. The pastors were also there and I was blessed to know they fully support the said gathering. It was surprising to expect only 20 youth to be present to an 80 young and vibrant young people from the different churches.

I was also ask to exhort and share the benefits of fellowship and the opportunity impart something to this new breed of leaders in the christian community. I have to admit, it's humbling enough to know that I still have the charisma, the personality and the mindset of a servant-leader. I thank the Lord that He is indeed faithful to let me grow in many ways to mature with my God-given potential.

For the 3rd time, I said "No" in becoming a leader. I guess I work effectively out of the core group.  I am not saying I'm not available but my vision is to see young people to rise up as leaders and I believe part of the plan is giving the authority to someone else.

Please pray for me guys, I am being asked to become the adviser, together with Viz and the pastors of the ministerial fellowship. I am all the more excited how  Viz and I can help out with the core group, developing this new breed of leaders for God's glory!

Thank You For Reading!

Thoughts About Fellowships

I'll be joining the first meeting for the Inter-Youth Fellowship in Tanjay City. The venue will be in our Church with the invitation from the different denominations in the area. This will be a second run of the former group Viz and I used to help out with around 5 years ago.

Well, most of the leaders we had before are either married or out of the country. And it leaves us with Viz and me helping out the group.

Just for the record, I was the former president for the Inter-Youth for almost a year before it went to it's "desert times". I call it desert times because it's the time or the season wherein everyone seems to be busy with their own churches forgetting that the travel and journey requires all christians - from all denominations alike - to walk and finish the journey set before us.

Unfortunately, when I was leading the said group, not all youth groups from the area was interested in pursuing fellowship and togetherness. There were other agendas from the different churches except for the leaders who passionately pursued togetherness even when there were a lot of hard times in the ministry.

I loved the time when the youth leaders from the different churches would meet in Rizal Park just to discuss what we can do and prayed for one another. It was exhausting on my part because I was studying in Dumaguete at that time and the rest were working as well.

Another reason why some churches pulled-out their youth at that time was because of dating and relationships. There were issues about where the newly weds will go to church and stuff that I believe was not supposed to be a good reason for a pull-out. But since the one involved was a former youth pastor of another church, they decided to pull-out.

Well, let's hope and pray this particular group will not do the same mistake as before. Of course, I am not being pessimistic about this one. There are just a couple of things I want to clear to the group before they decide whether they'd push through or not.

I dont want them to start out with so many youth joining only to find out a few months after that it became less than 10 youth joining with the leaders included.

Here are a couple of things I'd be asking them, just in case you want to know:

• What drives them to establish the youth fellowship again? This is one important question these youth have to ask themselves. This will determine whether their plan has sprouted out of the desires of God implanted in their hearts or it's just another man-driven activity because they long for something else.
• Have they prayed about this? Another important factor we need to remember is that, every activity or event needs to be covered and lifted up in prayer. It just doesn't count when we just speak about it in public. It needs to be speak forth in the spiritual realms through prayer in the inner rooms.
• What is their vision for the group? Although this may sound weird, but fellowship is not enough for a group to survive. It needs a vision to let them move on and continue. The people of Israel forced themselves to travel for more than forty years because they have envisioned living int the promised land. As a youth group, they need to have a bigger foresight on how this group can become effective witnesses to society, the nation and the world for God's Kingdom purposes.

Of course, there are a lot of other things I want to discuss with them but I believe this 3 important questions are what matters most before they start. And yes, I will definitely fully support this cause because I strongly believe in unity and fellowship of believers to reach this nation for Christ!

He Will Never Leave Us

"After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead.

Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them-to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.

Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates-all the Hittite country-to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” - the Lord, Joshua 1:1-5

I believe this is what every leader’s hope is – that the Lord would guide and be with us as we continue the journey of leadership.

After Moses’ death, the Israelites continued the journey to the Promised Land, Canaan. The Nation of Israel comprises of people who were the younger generation of Israelites. It was through them that the Promise would be fulfilled. But the question arises among the tribes when Moses was no longer with them: “who will lead us?”

The Lord called Joshua, Son on Nun, to lead them; He was one of the spies going to the Canaan Lands, He was Moses’ aide and companion. He grew up to be a fine young man that the Lord has called him to fill Moses’ shoes as a leader of the chosen people of God.

Joshua portrays a heart who believes in  a God who fulfills His mandated word. It was through this comforting words that, I believe, Joshua got his courage to stand tall and fight: “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you…” that’s what gave him the strength to move on and conquer.

And so is it with us called to lead this present generation. Whether we are serving in non-profit organizations, church ministries or even in the government, God will be with us. He has promised it through Joshua, the Judges, the good kings – like Saul, David, Solomon and many more. He was with the Prophets, and He was with Jesus and the Apostles and even until now. He fulfilled what He has faithfully promised to and through them and He will fulfill his promises to us.

“He will never leave us nor forsake us” no matter how hard the battle is- for He is God with us, our Emmanuel and let us trust Him with that!

Praying and My Blindspot

One of the hardest thing in being in a youth ministry is that we deal with different people. Although we are united to serve our Lord we oftentimes juggle up with other people who are not familiar with us or the way we do things. When I reflect on my flaws before, I honestly considered myself a curse rather than a blessing to my friends back then. My personality made me look bad and lost my effectiveness in becoming an ambassador for Christ.

When the Lord gave me the opportunity to lead, one of my greatest challenge is my personality. I was the kind of person who is a perfectionist and dominant. People around me noticed that and it hindered them to grow and mature in their gifts together with me. It was actually my "blind spot" and it was blocking me to make friends with my fellow youth.

The Lord slowly changed my personality after the group leaders decided to have an open forum and shared our difficulties and challenges in working with one another. It was during that time when the group decided to pray for one another and seriously ask the Lord to change us and mold us in his likeness. That the fruits and character of the spirit will be present in our lives so we can be effective witnesses of His Kingdom purpose.

It's amazing how prayer changes everything. I committed myself to pray daily for the Lord to change me inside-out. I was so conscious at that time that every time I speak or do something, I asked the Lord to guide me and have self-control, to be patient and mindful of my words when dealing with people. God used those unforgettable prayer times to change me.

After 3 months of praying people noticed a big changed in me. A close friend of mine told me that they've never heard me complain about something and that I was more approachable than before. I was no longer strict and that people liked me a lot when I talk. God was gracious enough to let me experience being changed slowly through prayer.

And I would like to challenge you, if you are a leader or aspiring to be one, ask the Lord to show you your own "blind spot" or weakness(es) and pray that He will change you. Ask a friend or two to pray with you and remind you always whenever your attitude changes. Although sometimes its hard to changed, I believe practice really makes perfect. Add prayer to that and you'll see exciting changes in your life from that moment on.

Thank You for reading!

Fear: The Moses Syndrome

Moses, one of my favorite character in the bible portrays the perfect example of my fear before. As what the Genesis accounts share, He was afraid in being in front of an audience. If you would remember, Moses met the Great “I AM” through a burning bush and with all God has told him, the first fear he had was that he doesn’t know how to speak.

I remember as a 15 year old teenager, our youth adviser would ask anyone from the youth to either share a testimony, pray in front or become the emcee for the activity and everyone would hide, including me. I often ran outside and wait for the affair to start literally because I was afraid to be in front. 

I was afraid to make mistakes. Although I had the passion to share God’s word, I was afraid . Like Moses, I was in the dilemma of trusting that the God who gave me these gifts is able to help me through thick and thin. 

Based on my experience, we don’t want to get involved  because we are all afraid to make mistakes. We fear that people will laugh at us with our grammar, or the way we walk or whatever our mind would tell us everytime an opportunity comes up. I missed those first few opportunities because I decided to dwell on my fear rather than asking God's courage and wisdom.

Overcoming fear will help us gain self-confidence and trust the Lord with our present need. It is only when we trust the Lord wholly that we can truly understand the Lord's word to the Israelites in Isaiah 41:10 -

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

After that opportune time when I first said “yes” to the invitation to facilitate that the Lord developed my self-confidence in being in front. Of course, there were times that I was pretty much afraid but there were a lot of times of humbling down before the Lord and asking for His much grace and anointing. It was a tough decision back then but it was God's way of letting me understand that it's not because of me or what I can do but it's because of His grace I am able to stand in front.

Like Moses, it only took trust to change all that. There are a lot of reasons to say “No” but there are good reasons to say “Yes” to these exciting opportunities. Moses was afraid to become God’s spokesman because He didn’t know how to speak but God dismissed that notion. When Moses decided to say yes to the Lord, He led the people of Israel out of Egypt, defeating the tyrannical Pharaoh and signs and wonders followed from then on.

Although I still experience the butterflies, I seldom say “No” when asked to be in front of a crowd because like Moses, signs and wonders does follow to those who believe and obey to God's calling.

A Dream Birthed

Dreams, they say, if coming from God is far beyond bigger and wilder than we have to expect. As one author defines it – it’s bigger than you are that it seems impossible to be done in one’s lifetime. I have to agree with what he said. Part of my God-given dream is influencing other youths to bringing change and impact to this world for His glory. That dream birthed six years ago and the same craving to see this dream come true is still alive in my heart today.

I always believe that the Filipino youth has so much potential that once it’s tapped, there’s no sense of knowing how it will ignite a movement of the new breed of leaders God is calling. These thoughts inspired me to start where I was and fulfill, one step at a time, what God has for me.  Understanding that God’s eternal clock is different from mine, I'm starting this blog to write about my own personal experiences in becoming a leader and the lessons it entailed.

Perhaps many of you are in the same situation as to where I am now. Like me, God has given you a desire to do something for Him only to find out you don’t have the idea on how to start with it. And yes, I am still in the process of pruning and has not reached the fulfillment of God’s dream for me, but I pray, that whatever things I’ve learned and experienced so far, can help you jumpstart your own journey as well in fulfilling your own God-given dream.

Just Another Blog About Leadership

This might be the _nth time I created a blog for the last 5 years I started blogging. Although only 1 blog remained out of the many I created,I believe this one will be the much loved blog aside from Melankoliko, the personal blog I have.

So, what's the blog all about?

This may sound crazy but I'll be sharing more on christian leadership - specifically youth leading.

I know our generation has a lot to offer with the tips and tricks about leadership and creating a blog again about leadership may sound old news. Perhaps to some, you kind of wonder whether I am the best person to share about leadership and I have to agree with you - I am not.

In matters of leadership, I still consider myself a "greenhorn". Although I have been a youth leader for so long, I am still dumbfounded sometimes about the many things I need to learn and relearn about leadership. It seems an endless discovery that I am excited to explore. God was gracious enough to let me experience in position of influence and do many things for His glory and purpose.

My blog's aim is not to become a well known "protege" about leadership but just a place where I can share what the Lord has taught me through the years about leadership - it's flaws and benefits and the enriching experience of growing in the likeness of Him.

Radical leading, if I may, is my own personal blog that will discuss about christian leadership and my own experience growing up as a Christian. I hope you'll find this blog insightful as you journey with me in learning valuable lessons in light of my life and the gems God has brought me through the years.

Thanks for visiting and please do come again!