On Sunday, June 7th, Wellshire Presbyterian Church celebrated the Global Missions Trip to Guatemala with Healing Waters International and Habitat for Humanity. My last post was the sermon/message/homily that I gave at the service. Below is another one from Ted Griffith. This was Ted's first foray into Global Missions, and I think he is hooked. Enjoy and THANKS TED!
My name is Ted Griffith….my wife & I moved here April a year ago. Thank you all for your warm welcome & acceptance. Do you remember when you went home (the home you grew up in) after an extended absence……… That is the feeling you give me.
We are set apart for service to one another.
Everyone should experience international & domestic mission work. Those who are not able can sponsor someone & experience through them the satisfaction of mission service.
We are likely to consider ourselves middle class or above. By American standards our assessment may be accurate, but by global standards we are incredibly rich. .
I believe in a hand up not a hand out & that is exactly what Habitat For Humanity & Healing Waters International preaches.
I like to physically see progress like cinder blocks being laid, concrete being mixed & water being purified & distributed.
But to get involved in relationships with fellow workers, Ester, school kids takes me to a different emotional level.
When we see another as God’s anointed, our relationships are profoundly affected.
That is what this mission trip did for me.
We are set apart for service to one another.
Santos & Pedro were masons employed by Habitat For Humanity making a combined income of $200 per house, to pour the foundation, lay cinder block, install the roof, & pour the concrete floor…... With help they can complete a house in 15 days (& most of the time they don’t have help). (10 hr days …. do the math …. that’s $ .67 per hour)
Santos (recently married) & Pedro (Santos’ brother in law) worked hard, had a great sense of humor & their faith in God was very genuine. They live 2 ½ hours away so they slept in the tool shed during the week & cooked meals over a wood fire.
A neighbor at the Habitat site, unannounced, fed all of us that were there. (beans, corn & tortillas prepared over a wood fire).
A family invited all 19 of us for a meal, it was prepared over a wood fire
Propane, gas, or electricity is too expensive & not readily available.
What little they have they are so willing to share.
We are set apart for service to one another
When you come back from a mission trip you have flash backs & emotional swings at odd times.
I have laughed out loud (when I think of Brian or Graham waking me up – my travel alarm has a soft tone without my hearing aids, but it was annoying to Brian & Graham in the next room, or the van struggling to get up a hill, or the flat tire on the way to the airport) & also being awestruck by the Guatemala children, youth, & adults for their zest for life, their smiles, their laughter, their music, their worship service, & their love of God.
They have so little by our standards yet they really have so much.
The Monday after we returned I was fixing an egg for breakfast…….cracked an egg into a plastic dish, put it in the microwave, pushed the right buttons……..
All I saw was food cooking over a wood fire, smoke and all…..
Tears started to flow.
We all are set apart for service to one another.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Guatemala and Global Drinking Water Crisis Message
Last Sunday my church celebrated our mission trip to Guatemala. Seven members of our mission team gave short messages/sermonettes/homilies to share our experience in Guatemala with the rest of Wellshire church. Below is the message I gave, which sort of expounded on the bible study that I led the last day our group was in Guatemala. . . enjoy!
How many of you have had the opportunity and privilege of traveling to Mexico or Guatemala?
How many of you were given the advice “Don’t drink the water?”
Many people believe that advice is just for Americans and that the locals can drink their own tap water.
The sad reality is that is simply not the case. In 90% of cities in Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, the tap water that comes out of the tap is so contaminated it would make anyone sick, no matter what your nationality. You see little bugs like salmonella, giardia, fecal coliforms, e coli and others don’t discriminate based on your nationality, anyone who comes in to contact with these little buggers gets sick.
That is a daily reality for the people that live in Guatemala and other developing countries, they can’t just go to the tap and get a glass of drinking water and they have to treat any water they are going to cook with too.
Some facts about the global drinking water crisis:
-More than 1.1 billion people in the world, 1 in 6, lack access to safe drinking water
-More than 1.5 million children under the age of 5 die from water borne illnesses each year, like the equivalent of 16 Boeing jumbo jets crashing each day, no survivors.
-Diarrhea from water borne disease is the second leading cause of mortality among children.
-Poor, urban communities of the developing world pay the highest prices in the world for water.
These are numbers. Numbers and statistics are important for us to try to understand the depth and breadth of a problem, but numbers never tell the whole story.
These numbers have faces, and we had the privilege of looking in those faces each day we were in Guatemala. Many of those faces are the photos I took on the trip in this blog post.
But our trip to Guatemala was not a story of sadness, it was a story of hope, because each one of us who went on the trip to Guatemala and each one of you who prayed for us while we were on the trip. . .
is working to change these numbers and just as important, looking in these faces and building relationships and solidarity with the people that represent these statistics.
As Christians, we are called to help others in the world who are hurting, struggling and not getting their basic needs met. We are called LOUDLY to do this throughout scripture.
In Matthew 25, Jesus states “. . . for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me. . .
Truly I tell you, just at you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
I have felt this call strongly in my life and it has led me to do development work in Latin America as the Field Operations Manager for Healing Waters International.
Each person will respond this call differently, by helping out a neighbor, by working in the soup kitchen or homeless shelter down the street, by traveling to a native American reservation and working there, or by doing global missions.
Each one of these are equally important and equally good responses to that call, but it is so important that we heed that call and like Jesus, actively work to feed the hungry, offer drink to the thirsty, comfort to the lonely, care to the sick.
We could learn statistics about all of these hurting people in our world, and statistics are important to grasp the scope of a problem, like the global problem for safe drinking water.
But we also need to remember that these numbers have faces.
We need to look in those faces and shine the light of Christ through our eyes and treat those in need with the dignity, respect and help that Christ is calling us to do.
So all of this really begs the question: What are you going to do to heed that call?
This is your call to action. In Healing Waters when talking about the global water crisis, we call it the H2OATH:
I encourage you to take your own oath for your own passion and calling for missional work, work outside the walls of this church, work that Jesus comes along side and does with us.
How many of you have had the opportunity and privilege of traveling to Mexico or Guatemala?
How many of you were given the advice “Don’t drink the water?”
Many people believe that advice is just for Americans and that the locals can drink their own tap water.
The sad reality is that is simply not the case. In 90% of cities in Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, the tap water that comes out of the tap is so contaminated it would make anyone sick, no matter what your nationality. You see little bugs like salmonella, giardia, fecal coliforms, e coli and others don’t discriminate based on your nationality, anyone who comes in to contact with these little buggers gets sick.
That is a daily reality for the people that live in Guatemala and other developing countries, they can’t just go to the tap and get a glass of drinking water and they have to treat any water they are going to cook with too.
Some facts about the global drinking water crisis:
-More than 1.1 billion people in the world, 1 in 6, lack access to safe drinking water
-More than 1.5 million children under the age of 5 die from water borne illnesses each year, like the equivalent of 16 Boeing jumbo jets crashing each day, no survivors.
-Diarrhea from water borne disease is the second leading cause of mortality among children.
-Poor, urban communities of the developing world pay the highest prices in the world for water.
These are numbers. Numbers and statistics are important for us to try to understand the depth and breadth of a problem, but numbers never tell the whole story.
These numbers have faces, and we had the privilege of looking in those faces each day we were in Guatemala. Many of those faces are the photos I took on the trip in this blog post.
But our trip to Guatemala was not a story of sadness, it was a story of hope, because each one of us who went on the trip to Guatemala and each one of you who prayed for us while we were on the trip. . .
is working to change these numbers and just as important, looking in these faces and building relationships and solidarity with the people that represent these statistics.
As Christians, we are called to help others in the world who are hurting, struggling and not getting their basic needs met. We are called LOUDLY to do this throughout scripture. 
In Matthew 25, Jesus states “. . . for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me. . . 
Truly I tell you, just at you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
I have felt this call strongly in my life and it has led me to do development work in Latin America as the Field Operations Manager for Healing Waters International. 
Each person will respond this call differently, by helping out a neighbor, by working in the soup kitchen or homeless shelter down the street, by traveling to a native American reservation and working there, or by doing global missions. 
Each one of these are equally important and equally good responses to that call, but it is so important that we heed that call and like Jesus, actively work to feed the hungry, offer drink to the thirsty, comfort to the lonely, care to the sick.
We could learn statistics about all of these hurting people in our world, and statistics are important to grasp the scope of a problem, like the global problem for safe drinking water. 
But we also need to remember that these numbers have faces.
We need to look in those faces and shine the light of Christ through our eyes and treat those in need with the dignity, respect and help that Christ is calling us to do.
So all of this really begs the question: What are you going to do to heed that call? 
This is your call to action. In Healing Waters when talking about the global water crisis, we call it the H2OATH:-Learn about the problem
-Do something about it
-Tell others
I encourage you to take your own oath for your own passion and calling for missional work, work outside the walls of this church, work that Jesus comes along side and does with us. 
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A day in the life of Healing Waters Field Staff in Guatemala
Let me begin by saying that I believe God is blessing the organization and ministry of Healing Waters International. We are blessed in many ways, from the funding of our water projects in difficult economic times to the amazing staff we have working for us who we really shouldn't be able to afford but work for us any way because they feel a call and have a heart for safe drinking water in developing countries.
On that note, I want to tell you about our water systems technician/engineer in Guatemala. We generally try to hire locals to staff our field offices, but will make exceptions depending upon the situation. Well, the situation in Guatemala called for an exception, and his name is Ben Lengacher. He has a masters degree in water engineering but has a heart for Guatemala and community service. So for at least the next year, we have a highly over-qualified, very lovable gringo water tech/engineer in Guatemala.
Ben wrote a great blog post earlier this week that I wanted to share with you:
Friday, June 5, 2009
A day in the life
Guest Blogger: Ben
So what exactly am I doing for work in Guatemala, some of you may be asking? Actually, some=all since I hardly knew before I left Colorado two months ago, and am not known for keeping in touch. For starters, I work for a Denver-based non-profit called Healing Waters International (HWI), or Aguas de Unidad here in Guatemala. The just of HWI is simple – people need clean, safe drinking water here and in Mexico and the Dominican Republic where other HWI projects are. To provide safe drinking water, HWI partners with a local church and with funds donated by sponsors in the US, installs a water purification system. The system purifies either tap water, water from a well, or from a “pipa” (water delivery truck), and then sells the water in 5 gallon jugs for 5 quetzales here in Guatemala (equivalent to $0.63). This allows people in communities where HWI systems are installed to buy water at a third the price than what they pay in a local store. Granted, this may not seem to be a big deal to those of us who pay $1-2 for a 1 liter bottle of Aquafina or pay $30 per month for 10,000 gallons of tap water, but economics are different here: the tap water is not necessarily safe to drink, if reliable, and I remember reading somewhere that the average household annual salary is $3,500 (or roughly one tenth of ours). There are many other factors that make this a “win-win” in the words of a guy I met this week from the US – the church employs an encargado to fill the 5 gallon jugs and the church is able to use the money from the project for community outreach. For example, they may donate 5 gallon jugs to a local school that does not have purified water. For more info, check out the HWI website: http://www.healingwatersintl.org/
Okay, so that doesn’t explain what I do. My job is coordinating maintenance on the water purification equipment, scheduling water quality analysis, and organizing the delivery of what we call consumables, which are the jugs, seals, and chemicals used in the system. This is a tall task for a guy who speaks only 4th grade Spanish, so most of my time thus far has been learning from Juan Colmenares who has been working at HWI here in Guatemala since it's inception in 2004. Juan also doubles as my Spanish tutor and has the patience of a saint since I have mis-pronounced the word “cotización” five times this week alone (cotización = a quotation from a distributor to provide cartridge filters, for example).
So here is a run down of my week:
Monday: went to breakfast with the national director, Mario, to meet some people from Willow Creek church in Chicago who want to help sponsor new systems in Guatemala, Que Onda! (= how cool, new vocab for me); then drove to Chimaltenango with Cristóbal to visit system with pump problem, checked pump, plan to return tomorrow with parts; tried salad for lunch at Pollo Campero (=KFC but much fresher); return to office for bit, then home to Antigua where we ate pizza with Kim (Mario’s wife) and two daughters Megan and Lilian;
Tuesday: left for Guate (Guetemala City) at 5:30am so I could arrive at 8am for our car’s inspection at Insurance office, traffic was so slow I bought the Pensa Libre (newspaper) and skimmed front section and sports before traffic moved; Nuggets are in playoffs against LA Lakers, game 1 tonight at 7pm, Lakers favored go figure; arrived at insurance office 30 minutes early after only one major wrong turn; chatted with local guard for office who had standard-issue shotgun (every building has a guard here); went to meeting with insurance agent, who told me they need two hours to install LoJack detector, part of requirement to insure Dewey; called Juan who met me to go to pump parts place (PPP) meanwhile, waited for Juan and ate a tamale and rice milk from woman on street corner; went to PPP but found out they didn’t carry parts for pump in Chimaltenango (Chimalt); went to correct PPP where Mariano told me they don’t sell a replacement part ‘kit’, only individual parts but they can diagnose problem and fix in office; Juan and I went to Landivar where the HWI system has problems with taste in purified water, we tasted several samples in process and agreed we need to replace cartridge filters and change carbon filter media; Juan dropped me off at Insurance place, picked up Dewey after another hour of paperwork and photos for record; back to office without getting lost (first for me); back to Antigua for dinner with Mario+family and Krista;
Wednesday: drove different way to Chimalt and enjoying mountain scenery (reminds me of Colorado), where Cristobal and I removed the pump and talked with the church encargado and director about shutting down the system for the day – no spare pump available; then went solo to Petapa where there is an HWI system with leaks in some piping, replaced some PVC piping and talked with Pedro the encargado (water system employee), found out that Pedro’s dad lives in Philadelphia but he has yet to visit because he lacks passport, papers, etc.; returned to office and then back to Antigua to hang with Krista and watch Nuggets victory!
Thursday: returned to Chimalt to replace the pump we had repaired at the PPP, turns out I need to re-wire pump to controller which I don´t have diagram for; went to another system with the encargado, Felipe, to review the existing wiring there for the same pump; talked with the encargado there, Henry, who had a broken arm – he was in a motorcycle accident that Felipe chided him was because he was talking on the phone with his girlfriend; armed with diagram for pump wiring, return to Chimalt and wire pump with controller with help of Felipe while I find out that he plays guitar in local church band and loves American rock (Nirvana, Metallica, you name it); Felipe and I decide to trade music the next time I’m there since he has a collection of Guatemalan rock music; went back to office for afternoon and talked with Juan about scheduling water analyses at all the systems.
Friday: Wow, it has been a pretty busy week already but Juan, Cristobal and I return to Petapa to make sure we have all repairs made to system since the Ministry of Health may re-visit the system; check out pipe repairs and operation of the system – I still need to diagnose chlorine pump problem but not today; drive new way back to Antigua on way home and stop with Cristobal and Juan to eat churros (fried sweet bread, not to be confused with chorros = valves in water system); back to Antigua to eat dinner with Krista at Sabe Rico (=best food I’ve had in Antigua) and watch Nuggets lose to Lakers, go figure.
You can read more about Ben's experience on his blog:
http://fromcolfaxtoxela.blogspot.com/
On that note, I want to tell you about our water systems technician/engineer in Guatemala. We generally try to hire locals to staff our field offices, but will make exceptions depending upon the situation. Well, the situation in Guatemala called for an exception, and his name is Ben Lengacher. He has a masters degree in water engineering but has a heart for Guatemala and community service. So for at least the next year, we have a highly over-qualified, very lovable gringo water tech/engineer in Guatemala.
Ben wrote a great blog post earlier this week that I wanted to share with you:
Friday, June 5, 2009
A day in the life
Guest Blogger: Ben
So what exactly am I doing for work in Guatemala, some of you may be asking? Actually, some=all since I hardly knew before I left Colorado two months ago, and am not known for keeping in touch. For starters, I work for a Denver-based non-profit called Healing Waters International (HWI), or Aguas de Unidad here in Guatemala. The just of HWI is simple – people need clean, safe drinking water here and in Mexico and the Dominican Republic where other HWI projects are. To provide safe drinking water, HWI partners with a local church and with funds donated by sponsors in the US, installs a water purification system. The system purifies either tap water, water from a well, or from a “pipa” (water delivery truck), and then sells the water in 5 gallon jugs for 5 quetzales here in Guatemala (equivalent to $0.63). This allows people in communities where HWI systems are installed to buy water at a third the price than what they pay in a local store. Granted, this may not seem to be a big deal to those of us who pay $1-2 for a 1 liter bottle of Aquafina or pay $30 per month for 10,000 gallons of tap water, but economics are different here: the tap water is not necessarily safe to drink, if reliable, and I remember reading somewhere that the average household annual salary is $3,500 (or roughly one tenth of ours). There are many other factors that make this a “win-win” in the words of a guy I met this week from the US – the church employs an encargado to fill the 5 gallon jugs and the church is able to use the money from the project for community outreach. For example, they may donate 5 gallon jugs to a local school that does not have purified water. For more info, check out the HWI website: http://www.healingwatersintl.org/
Okay, so that doesn’t explain what I do. My job is coordinating maintenance on the water purification equipment, scheduling water quality analysis, and organizing the delivery of what we call consumables, which are the jugs, seals, and chemicals used in the system. This is a tall task for a guy who speaks only 4th grade Spanish, so most of my time thus far has been learning from Juan Colmenares who has been working at HWI here in Guatemala since it's inception in 2004. Juan also doubles as my Spanish tutor and has the patience of a saint since I have mis-pronounced the word “cotización” five times this week alone (cotización = a quotation from a distributor to provide cartridge filters, for example).
So here is a run down of my week:
Monday: went to breakfast with the national director, Mario, to meet some people from Willow Creek church in Chicago who want to help sponsor new systems in Guatemala, Que Onda! (= how cool, new vocab for me); then drove to Chimaltenango with Cristóbal to visit system with pump problem, checked pump, plan to return tomorrow with parts; tried salad for lunch at Pollo Campero (=KFC but much fresher); return to office for bit, then home to Antigua where we ate pizza with Kim (Mario’s wife) and two daughters Megan and Lilian;
Tuesday: left for Guate (Guetemala City) at 5:30am so I could arrive at 8am for our car’s inspection at Insurance office, traffic was so slow I bought the Pensa Libre (newspaper) and skimmed front section and sports before traffic moved; Nuggets are in playoffs against LA Lakers, game 1 tonight at 7pm, Lakers favored go figure; arrived at insurance office 30 minutes early after only one major wrong turn; chatted with local guard for office who had standard-issue shotgun (every building has a guard here); went to meeting with insurance agent, who told me they need two hours to install LoJack detector, part of requirement to insure Dewey; called Juan who met me to go to pump parts place (PPP) meanwhile, waited for Juan and ate a tamale and rice milk from woman on street corner; went to PPP but found out they didn’t carry parts for pump in Chimaltenango (Chimalt); went to correct PPP where Mariano told me they don’t sell a replacement part ‘kit’, only individual parts but they can diagnose problem and fix in office; Juan and I went to Landivar where the HWI system has problems with taste in purified water, we tasted several samples in process and agreed we need to replace cartridge filters and change carbon filter media; Juan dropped me off at Insurance place, picked up Dewey after another hour of paperwork and photos for record; back to office without getting lost (first for me); back to Antigua for dinner with Mario+family and Krista;
Wednesday: drove different way to Chimalt and enjoying mountain scenery (reminds me of Colorado), where Cristobal and I removed the pump and talked with the church encargado and director about shutting down the system for the day – no spare pump available; then went solo to Petapa where there is an HWI system with leaks in some piping, replaced some PVC piping and talked with Pedro the encargado (water system employee), found out that Pedro’s dad lives in Philadelphia but he has yet to visit because he lacks passport, papers, etc.; returned to office and then back to Antigua to hang with Krista and watch Nuggets victory!
Thursday: returned to Chimalt to replace the pump we had repaired at the PPP, turns out I need to re-wire pump to controller which I don´t have diagram for; went to another system with the encargado, Felipe, to review the existing wiring there for the same pump; talked with the encargado there, Henry, who had a broken arm – he was in a motorcycle accident that Felipe chided him was because he was talking on the phone with his girlfriend; armed with diagram for pump wiring, return to Chimalt and wire pump with controller with help of Felipe while I find out that he plays guitar in local church band and loves American rock (Nirvana, Metallica, you name it); Felipe and I decide to trade music the next time I’m there since he has a collection of Guatemalan rock music; went back to office for afternoon and talked with Juan about scheduling water analyses at all the systems.
Friday: Wow, it has been a pretty busy week already but Juan, Cristobal and I return to Petapa to make sure we have all repairs made to system since the Ministry of Health may re-visit the system; check out pipe repairs and operation of the system – I still need to diagnose chlorine pump problem but not today; drive new way back to Antigua on way home and stop with Cristobal and Juan to eat churros (fried sweet bread, not to be confused with chorros = valves in water system); back to Antigua to eat dinner with Krista at Sabe Rico (=best food I’ve had in Antigua) and watch Nuggets lose to Lakers, go figure.
You can read more about Ben's experience on his blog:
http://fromcolfaxtoxela.blogspot.com/
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Amazing, Inspiring, Profound and Thought-Provoking speech. . . excerpts below
A child in Guatemala. She lives in poverty without safe drinking water or other very basic things
but represents hope for the future. All of us need to
believe in a better future, no matter where we are
or where we come from.
My mother-in-law sent me the speech below. I have taken excerpts out of the speech to share with you. If you want to see the whole thing click here http://www.paulhawken.com/paulhawken_frameset.html
Then click on "Multimedia" and you will see the speech as a PDF.
This speech was given by Paul Hawken at the University of Portland graduation this May, 2009. Paul's short bio is: Paul Hawken is a renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, and author of many books, most recently Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming.
Here are some amazing excerpts from the speech:
Healing or Stealing?
The Commencement Address by Paul Hawken to the Class of 2009, University of Portland
May 3, 2009
When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” No pressure there. Let’s begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.
This planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. . .
There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn’t bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring. The earth couldn’t afford to send recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here’s the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.
When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, “So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.” There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.
You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way. . .
Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice,” is Mary Oliver’s description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.
Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown — Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood — and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity.
Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, non-governmental organizations, and companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history. . .
This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. . . We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Great article on leadership and management
JJ Gomez, the National Director for Healing Watersin the Dominican Republic. He exemplifies good
leadership and good management (two different skills)
JJ Gomez, the National Director for Healing Waters International / Aguas de Unidad sent me the article/study on leadership and management below. I thought it was really good, so I wanted to share it here.
The Law of Empowerment
By Dr. John C. Maxwell
Biographers universally agree that personal insecurity factored heavily in the downfall of former American President Richard Nixon. Rather than empowering others, President Nixon clutched at power so tightly that he lost all sense of morality and ethics. Obsessively fearing his critics, Nixon authorized a domestic espionage group to spy on his political opponents. When members of the group were caught burglarizing the Watergate Hotel, Nixon tried unsuccessfully to cover up the incident. Eventually he resigned in shame, having left a dubious legacy of scandal.
Nixon's behavior in office violated the Law of Empowerment: Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others.
Today, at a time when managers must do more with less - less people, less budget, less margin for error - leaders have no choice but to empower followers to share the load. Insecurity simply isn't compatible with survival. Even so, human nature resists empowerment. Let's look at three common tendencies that make empowerment a tricky task.
Three Obstacles to Empowerment
1) Desire for Job Security
The number one enemy of empowerment is the desire for job security. Weak leaders worry that they will become expendable if they train up talented subordinates. As a result, they retain a monopoly on select knowledge in the hopes of positioning themselves as irreplaceable. Some misguided leaders even go as far as undercutting those they perceive as potential rivals. Not wanting to be surpassed, they intentionally make others look bad from time to time.
Insecure leaders who prize job security are fiercely territorial. They stake out their turf and refuse to delegate. They want to be the go-to-guys so badly that they may senselessly refuse to train and empower others who could offer them assistance.
The truth is that the only way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself dispensable. In other words, if you are continually able to empower others and develop them so that they become capable of taking over your job, then you will become so valuable to the organization that you become indispensable.
2) Resistance to Change
Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck asserted, "It is the nature of man as he grows older to protect against change, particularly change for the better." By its very nature, empowerment brings constant change in that it encourages people to grow and innovate. Change is the price of progress.
Insecure leaders view change as a threat rather than an opportunity. They fear change rather than inviting it. As a consequence, insecure leaders have been known to act coldly toward newcomers. They cling to the established order and generally resent anyone who may disrupt it. Instead of empowering incoming personnel, they avoid working with them.
3) Lack of Self-Worth
Many people derive personal value and esteem from their title or position. When either is threatened, they feel as if their self-worth is under assault. Accordingly, they will firmly resist anyone or anything that could reduce their status.
On the other hand, author Buck Rogers says, "To those who have confidence in themselves, change is a stimulus because they believe one person can make a difference and influence what goes on around them. These people are the doers and the motivators." They are also the empowerers.
Summary
Enlarging others makes you larger. The purpose of power is to be distributed, not hoarded, but only secure leaders are able to give their power away. Recognize and resist the natural inclinations to keep a tight grip on power. In the long run, you'll be rewarded for letting go.
I'll close with a quotation on empowerment from decorated war hero and former vice presidential candidate, James B. Stockdale:
"Leadership must be based on goodwill... It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers... What we need for leaders are men of heart who are so helpful that they, in effect, do away with the need of their jobs. But leaders like that are never out of a job, never out of followers. Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away."
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