It is very important to understand the work and employment culture wherever you are doing international ministry.
Example: Here in Peru, the typical workday runs from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. This means that if we have a ministry meeting, most Peruvians will not be able to arrive until after 8:00 PM, particularly if they are working full-time. No one in Peru is singing "9 to 5" with Dolly Parton. Peruvians sing "9 to 8."
As well, there is almost nothing in terms of workers' rights or union protection here in Peru. Overtime is frequently demanded, without any additional pay. If a worker wants to leave the office early - let's say for a ministry meeting or study - then he or she risks being fired, as it is not work-related or a family emergency. It's a tough situation in a country where unemployment and under-employment is around 50%.
In our case, knowledge and understanding of the Peru work culture helps us to make our ministry more effective. It allows us to know more precisely when to schedule meetings and conferences and studies.
It is just as important that you know the work culture wherever you are doing international ministry. Don't try to schedule an after-work meeting at 6:00 PM if everyone there is working until 8:00. All you'll do is scratch your head and wonder why no one showed up. It's probably not the case that people don't want to attend, but that they fear losing their jobs if they cut out of work early. It's important to know the difference, and to know the local employment culture, and to ... work ... around it.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Larry Lesson
A few days ago I blogged about my encounter with Red Sox great Ted Williams down at spring training in the 1980s. Today I want to share with you another story of another encounter with another Boston sports legend.
The 1980s was an awesome decade for the Boston Celtics, the 17-time NBA World Champions. The Celtics of the '80s were led by stars such as Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, Danny Ainge, and Dennis Johnson. Oh, and there was one other player, too, who contributed a little bit to the success of the 1980s Celtics teams. His name was Larry Bird.
Larry Bird was the greatest NBA player of the last three decades. You can have your Dr. J, your Michael Jordan, your Magic Johnson, your Kareem, your Shaq, your whoever, but Larry beat 'em all.
I used to go to Celtics games a lot in the '80s at the old, musty, dusty, cramped, but altogether glorious old Boston Garden, which of course is pronounced "Gah-den" when it's pronounced correctly. The gates at the old Gah-den opened an hour before the game, and usually I was right there when the gates opened so I could try to score a few autographs before the game.
Normally I was one of the first fans to arrive in the old Garden. And frequently, when I made my way down to courtside, there'd be exactly one player out on the fabled parquet floor, warming up an hour before the game.
It would always be Larry Bird.
Larry would be out there an hour before the game, by himself, alone, practicing free throws or 3-pointers. I was mesmerized to watch Larry swish ball after ball. I think he could've done it blindfolded.
As I think back to those moments watching Larry Bird practice by himself in the old Boston Garden, it makes me think of how we can apply this Larry Lesson to international ministry.
What impressed me so much about Bird practicing silently by himself an hour before game time was that he already was the best player in the game! If there was anybody who could probably walk in off the street 5 minutes before the game, throw on his #33 Celtics jersey and shorts, and still go out and light it up for 40 points, it would be Larry.
But there he was, already the best player of his time, still out there with nobody else, still working to make himself an even better player.
We need to have the same attitude as Larry Bird when it comes to international ministry. We need to be out there, alone, by ourselves, silent, practicing, and perfecting the little things that become very big things once the game begins. We can never rest on our laurels. We can never think that we've become so good at whatever we do that we don't need to practice anymore. We need to be out there even when no one else is, perfecting our ministry, always seeking to improve, always seeking to bear more fruit.
That's what made Larry Bird ... Larry Bird.
That's the Larry Lesson for today.
The 1980s was an awesome decade for the Boston Celtics, the 17-time NBA World Champions. The Celtics of the '80s were led by stars such as Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, Danny Ainge, and Dennis Johnson. Oh, and there was one other player, too, who contributed a little bit to the success of the 1980s Celtics teams. His name was Larry Bird.
Larry Bird was the greatest NBA player of the last three decades. You can have your Dr. J, your Michael Jordan, your Magic Johnson, your Kareem, your Shaq, your whoever, but Larry beat 'em all.
I used to go to Celtics games a lot in the '80s at the old, musty, dusty, cramped, but altogether glorious old Boston Garden, which of course is pronounced "Gah-den" when it's pronounced correctly. The gates at the old Gah-den opened an hour before the game, and usually I was right there when the gates opened so I could try to score a few autographs before the game.
Normally I was one of the first fans to arrive in the old Garden. And frequently, when I made my way down to courtside, there'd be exactly one player out on the fabled parquet floor, warming up an hour before the game.
It would always be Larry Bird.
Larry would be out there an hour before the game, by himself, alone, practicing free throws or 3-pointers. I was mesmerized to watch Larry swish ball after ball. I think he could've done it blindfolded.
As I think back to those moments watching Larry Bird practice by himself in the old Boston Garden, it makes me think of how we can apply this Larry Lesson to international ministry.
What impressed me so much about Bird practicing silently by himself an hour before game time was that he already was the best player in the game! If there was anybody who could probably walk in off the street 5 minutes before the game, throw on his #33 Celtics jersey and shorts, and still go out and light it up for 40 points, it would be Larry.
But there he was, already the best player of his time, still out there with nobody else, still working to make himself an even better player.
We need to have the same attitude as Larry Bird when it comes to international ministry. We need to be out there, alone, by ourselves, silent, practicing, and perfecting the little things that become very big things once the game begins. We can never rest on our laurels. We can never think that we've become so good at whatever we do that we don't need to practice anymore. We need to be out there even when no one else is, perfecting our ministry, always seeking to improve, always seeking to bear more fruit.
That's what made Larry Bird ... Larry Bird.
That's the Larry Lesson for today.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
How well do your neighbors know you?
Wherever in the world that you do ministry - do your residential and commercial neighbors know who you are and what you do?
Do the people who live on the same street as you, or in the same apartment building as you - do they know about you and your ministry?
Do they know you at the local supermarket?
Or at the local restaurants and cafes?
How about at the local gas station?
Or the local laundromat?
Or pharmacy?
Or bookstore?
Or at the local schools and universities?
How well do they know you - wherever you are?
Have you made a footprint in your community?
Have you ever walked your neighborhood or community or city?
Too many international ministries want to have an impact in foreign lands, but then adopt a circle-the-wagons mindset once they get there, hanging out with like-minded foreigners and ministry partners, and never getting a feel for the place where they are.
Walk your neighborhood. Say hello to your neighbors.
Frequent local shops, restaurants, and cafes. Chat with the employees. They're always interested to know why a foreigner has arrived in their country. Also be a generous tipper.
By doing this, you will become more embedded in the local community, and the word will spread about your ministry, and you'll make more friends and contacts, and eventually you'll bear more fruit which, as Jesus tells us in John 15:8, is really what it's all about.
Get out there, neighbor!
Wherever in the world that you do ministry - do your residential and commercial neighbors know who you are and what you do?
Do the people who live on the same street as you, or in the same apartment building as you - do they know about you and your ministry?
Do they know you at the local supermarket?
Or at the local restaurants and cafes?
How about at the local gas station?
Or the local laundromat?
Or pharmacy?
Or bookstore?
Or at the local schools and universities?
How well do they know you - wherever you are?
Have you made a footprint in your community?
Have you ever walked your neighborhood or community or city?
Too many international ministries want to have an impact in foreign lands, but then adopt a circle-the-wagons mindset once they get there, hanging out with like-minded foreigners and ministry partners, and never getting a feel for the place where they are.
Walk your neighborhood. Say hello to your neighbors.
Frequent local shops, restaurants, and cafes. Chat with the employees. They're always interested to know why a foreigner has arrived in their country. Also be a generous tipper.
By doing this, you will become more embedded in the local community, and the word will spread about your ministry, and you'll make more friends and contacts, and eventually you'll bear more fruit which, as Jesus tells us in John 15:8, is really what it's all about.
Get out there, neighbor!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Goin' To The Chapel
There is one big difference between wedding traditions in the US and in Peru. In the US, it's traditional for the bride's family to pay for the wedding. In Peru, it's the exact opposite: it's traditional for the groom and his family to pay for the wedding. I discovered this difference when I married my Peruvian bride!
One day I was explaining this difference to a Peruvian pastor, and I asked him what he thought about it.
His response: "In Peru, have daughters. In the US, have sons!"
One day I was explaining this difference to a Peruvian pastor, and I asked him what he thought about it.
His response: "In Peru, have daughters. In the US, have sons!"
Monday, October 6, 2008
Keep Your Eye On The Ball!
I grew up in Boston, MA, and every March during that glorious decade known as the '80s I would go down to Winter Haven, FL, to watch my beloved Boston Red Sox in spring training.
It's easy to be a Red Sox fan these days, with 2 World Series championships in 4 seasons, but back in the day we were traumatized by the foul memories of Bucky Dent, Mookie Wilson, and other post-season Red Sox debacles, and being a Red Sox fan had a certain stigma attached to it.
One March in the '80s when I was watching the Red Sox in Winter Haven, I ventured down to one of the minor league fields to try to hustle an autograph or two. When I arrived there, I saw a large man with a loud voice, clad in his white, double-knit Red Sox uniform, shouting instructions to a bunch of nervous-looking minor leaguers trying to make the Show.
"Keep your eye on the ball!" the Red Sox coach boomed at the minor league hitters. "You've got to focus! Watch the bat meet the ball!"
Watch the bat meet the ball? Was this guy crazy? Did he have any idea how impossible that was to do? I played baseball in my younger days, and I knew that this guy was asking the minor leaguers to do something absolutely impossible.
Then I got a glimpse at the number on the back of this crazy coach's uniform.
It was #9.
It was Ted Williams.
The greatest hitter in baseball history.
The Red Sox minor leaguers were learning from the master. It'd be like taking painting lessons from Picasso, or guitar lessons from Eric Clapton.
"Keep your eye on the ball! Focus!" Ted Williams kept barking at the minor leaguers.
As I reflect on Teddy Ballgame's words today, I realize that it's much the same in international ministry.
The enemy is going to do everything that he can to make you lose your focus and to take your eye off the ball. He'll throw curveballs, knuckleballs, and right-under-the-chin fastballs to knock you on your seat. The enemy will try to cause you to focus on absolutely anything but your ministry. He'll try to cause you to focus on language problems, cultural problems, visa problems, customs problems, tax problems, medical problems, denominational problems, technology problems, weather problems, team problems, governmental problems, financial problems, Wall Street problems, family problems, parent problems, children problems, or whatever it takes to cause you to lose your focus.
Stay focused on the ministry at hand. Keep your eye on the ball! Excel and focus on your ministry the same way that Ted Williams excelled and focused on his hitting, and watch your ministry become Hall of Fame-worthy in no time.
It's easy to be a Red Sox fan these days, with 2 World Series championships in 4 seasons, but back in the day we were traumatized by the foul memories of Bucky Dent, Mookie Wilson, and other post-season Red Sox debacles, and being a Red Sox fan had a certain stigma attached to it.
One March in the '80s when I was watching the Red Sox in Winter Haven, I ventured down to one of the minor league fields to try to hustle an autograph or two. When I arrived there, I saw a large man with a loud voice, clad in his white, double-knit Red Sox uniform, shouting instructions to a bunch of nervous-looking minor leaguers trying to make the Show.
"Keep your eye on the ball!" the Red Sox coach boomed at the minor league hitters. "You've got to focus! Watch the bat meet the ball!"
Watch the bat meet the ball? Was this guy crazy? Did he have any idea how impossible that was to do? I played baseball in my younger days, and I knew that this guy was asking the minor leaguers to do something absolutely impossible.
Then I got a glimpse at the number on the back of this crazy coach's uniform.
It was #9.
It was Ted Williams.
The greatest hitter in baseball history.
The Red Sox minor leaguers were learning from the master. It'd be like taking painting lessons from Picasso, or guitar lessons from Eric Clapton.
"Keep your eye on the ball! Focus!" Ted Williams kept barking at the minor leaguers.
As I reflect on Teddy Ballgame's words today, I realize that it's much the same in international ministry.
The enemy is going to do everything that he can to make you lose your focus and to take your eye off the ball. He'll throw curveballs, knuckleballs, and right-under-the-chin fastballs to knock you on your seat. The enemy will try to cause you to focus on absolutely anything but your ministry. He'll try to cause you to focus on language problems, cultural problems, visa problems, customs problems, tax problems, medical problems, denominational problems, technology problems, weather problems, team problems, governmental problems, financial problems, Wall Street problems, family problems, parent problems, children problems, or whatever it takes to cause you to lose your focus.
Stay focused on the ministry at hand. Keep your eye on the ball! Excel and focus on your ministry the same way that Ted Williams excelled and focused on his hitting, and watch your ministry become Hall of Fame-worthy in no time.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Money, It's A Gas
Peruvians are breathlessly running up to me these days, full of panicky questions about the US financial crisis.
"Will the New York Stock Exchange collapse like it did in 1929?"
"Will this effect my family in the US?"
"Will my family lose their bank savings?"
"Can I still get a job in the US?"
"How does this affect the economy in Peru?"
"How does this affect the free trade agreement between the US and Peru?"
"Does this affect the Lima Stock Exchange?"
"Can I change my US Dollars for Peruvian Soles?"
There's panic on Wall Street and on Main Street in the US, and in Ovalo Gutierrez in Lima, Peru.
The US financial crisis is Issue #1 in both the US and Peru, and also all around the world.
Our Lead Pastor at Flamingo Road Church, Troy Gramling, recently said how the US financial crisis presents all of us with an opportunity to share with others about the lessons of Matthew 6:19-34, and how Jesus talks about storing up treasures in heaven, and not on earth, and how where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus goes on to say how you cannot serve both God and Money, and that worrying about all of this won't add even a single hour to your life. In fact, it may subtract from it.
This same opportunity exists in international ministry. No matter where God has placed you on this planet, there is an excellent chance that people there are talking about the US financial crisis and bank failures, and wondering and worrying about how it might affect them personally. The US financial crisis is a global issue, not a national one, and it also presents a huge opportunity for you to share the same lessons of Matthew 6:19-34 with the citizens of whatever country you are in.
Take advantage of this opportunity! It's like taking a wide-open jump shot or swatting a hanging curveball. People are worried and anxious all over the world, including wherever you are, and God can use you to calm them down about this financial crisis, and to get them to focus on the words of Jesus about true treasures, true service, and true peace.
"Will the New York Stock Exchange collapse like it did in 1929?"
"Will this effect my family in the US?"
"Will my family lose their bank savings?"
"Can I still get a job in the US?"
"How does this affect the economy in Peru?"
"How does this affect the free trade agreement between the US and Peru?"
"Does this affect the Lima Stock Exchange?"
"Can I change my US Dollars for Peruvian Soles?"
There's panic on Wall Street and on Main Street in the US, and in Ovalo Gutierrez in Lima, Peru.
The US financial crisis is Issue #1 in both the US and Peru, and also all around the world.
Our Lead Pastor at Flamingo Road Church, Troy Gramling, recently said how the US financial crisis presents all of us with an opportunity to share with others about the lessons of Matthew 6:19-34, and how Jesus talks about storing up treasures in heaven, and not on earth, and how where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus goes on to say how you cannot serve both God and Money, and that worrying about all of this won't add even a single hour to your life. In fact, it may subtract from it.
This same opportunity exists in international ministry. No matter where God has placed you on this planet, there is an excellent chance that people there are talking about the US financial crisis and bank failures, and wondering and worrying about how it might affect them personally. The US financial crisis is a global issue, not a national one, and it also presents a huge opportunity for you to share the same lessons of Matthew 6:19-34 with the citizens of whatever country you are in.
Take advantage of this opportunity! It's like taking a wide-open jump shot or swatting a hanging curveball. People are worried and anxious all over the world, including wherever you are, and God can use you to calm them down about this financial crisis, and to get them to focus on the words of Jesus about true treasures, true service, and true peace.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Mr. Personality
Earlier this year I was at a conference in Dallas, TX, and I heard Bishop T. D. Jakes of The Potter's House say that a church mirrors the personality of its pastor, whether that personality is warm and friendly, or cold and icy.
This is something that is so true - and so important - in international ministry, and it is something that many foreigners struggle with when they leave their own country and culture for a new one.
Different countries, regions, and even continents around the world have different cultural reputations when it comes to friendliness or iciness. Here in Lima, Peruvians have a well-earned reputation for being warm, friendly, social, and conversational. We try to mirror that cultural warmth at Flamingo Road Church. As campus pastor, I spend a lot of time in the lobby after each service, greeting people, chatting with them, praying with them, and answering questions about the church, all in an attempt to help personalize FRC-Lima and to make it a warmer and friendlier place, and reflective of Peruvian culture. Our First Impressions team at church (ushers and greeters) also does a great job with this.
I have seen foreigners, though, from "less-warm" countries or regions around the world who have come to Peru, and who have struggled mightily with this. They seem to think that presence, not personality, will be the key to their ministry success. Usually they fail.
It is important to adopt the cultural personality of the country or region where you are doing international ministry. In 1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul talks about becoming all things to all men, so that by all possible means he might save some. Apply that same philosophy to your international ministry. Be very intentional in embracing the cultural personality where you are - and not where you are from - and watch what a difference it will make in your ministry.
This is something that is so true - and so important - in international ministry, and it is something that many foreigners struggle with when they leave their own country and culture for a new one.
Different countries, regions, and even continents around the world have different cultural reputations when it comes to friendliness or iciness. Here in Lima, Peruvians have a well-earned reputation for being warm, friendly, social, and conversational. We try to mirror that cultural warmth at Flamingo Road Church. As campus pastor, I spend a lot of time in the lobby after each service, greeting people, chatting with them, praying with them, and answering questions about the church, all in an attempt to help personalize FRC-Lima and to make it a warmer and friendlier place, and reflective of Peruvian culture. Our First Impressions team at church (ushers and greeters) also does a great job with this.
I have seen foreigners, though, from "less-warm" countries or regions around the world who have come to Peru, and who have struggled mightily with this. They seem to think that presence, not personality, will be the key to their ministry success. Usually they fail.
It is important to adopt the cultural personality of the country or region where you are doing international ministry. In 1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul talks about becoming all things to all men, so that by all possible means he might save some. Apply that same philosophy to your international ministry. Be very intentional in embracing the cultural personality where you are - and not where you are from - and watch what a difference it will make in your ministry.
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