Leading Daily Online

The morning of Day Three once again saw ELC 2009 participants going to various locations to attend different seminars.

During his talk in Hall 601, Rev Dr David Wang got up close and personal with his crowd as he talked about Strategy and God Dependency: Are They Compatible?

Rev Dr David was like an expert storyteller weaving a beautiful story to the crowd. As he told stories of God’s goodness and graciousness, there was a deep silence amongst the listeners as everyone was mesmerized into becoming a part of the story. Truly the Holy Spirit’s presence was strongly there! “We’re in a joint venture with God,” emphasized Rev Dr David. And to support this fact, he pointed out that the Bible says God created the world, and He gave us stewardship over this world.

“Very inspiring,” said Pastor Harun, based in Singapore. “The way he speaks, the way he brings the Word of God into our lives, teaching us to apply it into our daily lives.”

On the second floor, Dr Low Guat Tin got this reporter and the audience roaring with laughter as she recounted her funny personal stories during her seminar Transforming Self, Loving People. Despite being born in the pre “tech-boom” days, her use of video clips, pictures, and slides to illustrate her message is amazing.

An educator and consultant for many years, Dr Low led the way in declaring the need for leadership by transforming ourselves first. She gives one instance of this in real-life: “Our mind-sets guide us. For instance, what you think of your domestic helper will guide you in relating to her.”

Said participant Yohun Muangta from Thailand, “Her last word was that it’s not about doing, it’s about being. I absolutely agree that we need to take care of ourselves first before we take care of others.”

Two doors away, Mrs Ding-Khoo Seok Lin, was giving a presentation on Coaching Underperformers, Changing Lives to a packed room.

It was a topic close to her heart because of her own “underperforming” experiences. During her time at the Singapore Economic Development Board, there was a period where she faced burn-out. But thanks to understanding bosses who treated her with dignity and respect during this episode, she managed to get back on her feet. And now she is blessing us with what she has learned.

An excellent and personable teacher, Seok Lin helped the audience to apply the lessons into their own lives – on how they themselves could help underperformers: “Jesus didn’t see people as they were. He saw people as they can be.”

Mrs Fang Ai Lian, Chairwoman of Great Eastern Holdings Ltd and also the Charity Council, shared with us her expertise on Corporate Governance and Accountability For Non-profit Organizations. This is a much needed topic, especially for the participants in this sector.

Despite her vast corporate experience, Ai Lian has a humble disposition and aimed to help the audience know as much as possible about what funds were available to them, as well as best practices that should be put in place. Giving real-life cases also helped. For example, a local non-profit organization emphasizes succession planning on its Board. It also systematically develops its Board members, and there is orientation for new members. All this serves to make the Board not stagnate, but instead be constantly refreshed by new faces and ideas.

In the seminar on Personal Lessons From Financial Tsunami: A Christian Perspective, Datuk Tony Tiah emphasized that the economic system is modeled after the world system and that God was not in the picture. But Tony stated that “Knowledge is not wisdom” and when we keep God out of the equation, evil will rear its ugly head.

He claims that God is the one who gives us the ability to make money, not ourselves. For people with a Christian heritage, their fortune will last for many generations if it is built on the Word of God. Money must be used for the right purpose and not to cater to our own pleasures – we must sow into the Kingdom of God and give to the poor and needy.

He ended off by saying that if we have not been following God’s way, we have to repent and pattern our lives on God’s Word so that we can truly enjoy success!

Even though the topics covered varied from seminar to seminar, this reporter was left with an awe-inspiring impression of God’s grandeur – of how our Infinite God can and should be Lord over each and every aspect of our lives!

ELC day two saw participants split into seven smaller groups for all day intensive workshops. It was a day to focus and really study leadership practices in the church and marketplace.

On the sixth floor, the Ortbergs, from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, started off the morning with the hilarious account of how they first met – through a blind date where John had to get Nancy’s contact through her mother! The crowd was roaring with laughter.

Taking turns yet speaking as one cohesive unit, John and Nancy Ortberg emphasized the importance of unity in teams. How many churches are in this conference? One Church. The Bible also constantly talks about the believers being “one.”

Sadly, “Community gets broken by sin. Sin is the enemy of community,” said John. And there are five pitfalls that plague dysfunctional teams: the absence of trust, fear of conflict, avoidance of commitments, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. The Ortbergs talked about how teams can overcome each weakness.

For example, Nancy shared a story from her own personal life of how her youth leader impacted her by encouraging her, and at times gently pointing out her mistakes. Through it all, she discovered what she was good at and what she was not. This is an example of how a leader builds trust in an organization. And in doing so, the team members will learn to trust the leader and one another.

Dan Chun’s session was both lively and interactive. The audience could often be seen and heard interacting with the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu.

In the comfortable and personable setting, Dan shared about the setbacks and miracles he encountered in moving the church to a God-given 242 hectare land. His listeners appreciated him for his honest sharing.

Throughout the session, Dan kept emphasizing the fact that we need to “work on humility as our prime virtue for leadership.” He stressed that as team members realize leaders are truly humble, they will understand that the leader is not doing things for personal gain or glory.

Said Winston Chong from Singapore, “This session is very inspiring and awesome. A testimony of how God moved them from a small church building to a large one. I’m looking forward to hear about the challenges they faced in bringing about the change. It brings to light the practical topic of change as an issue in our lives and how we as Christians can manage them.”

Together with his insightful teaching, Dan’s candid talk brought enlightenment and joy to his hearers.

The session on Building a Strong Church Staff and Board Relationship by Prof Freddy Boey, Rev Vincent Lun, and Dr Andrew Goh was similarly direct and frank. The three speakers from Riverlife Church wanted to be as open and honest as possible, in order to help the audience understand the struggles and joys involved in church staff and board relationships.

There was much questioning by the audience (made up of mainly church staff or board members). Rev Vincent expertly handled questions that were raised to him, sharing tidbits of wisdom from his own leadership journey. For instance, he was thankful to his church board for giving him the freedom to lead and make mistakes. After all, which leader does not make mistakes? It is important for the board not to jump on the pastor’s mistake, but rather to help the pastor through those times.

He also shared about how a team can argue all it wants inside a meeting, but once a decision is made – all members must be on board with the decision and fully support it.

Dr Freddy and Rev Vincent’s unity was also encouraging to witness.

Dr. Andrew Goh’s light-hearted comments, that poked fun at the idiosyncrasies of life, brought much laughter to the participants. As a marketplace industry leader, his teachings provided many real-life examples.

One floor below them, Sam Lam was having a great time spurring his group to become better coaches. Said Chew Why Hoong from Penang, Malaysia, “The way he presented and the things he said has inspired me to realize that coaching can be fun!” It’s fun indeed whenever the energetic Sam Lam is in the room!

His class was full of practical tips for the audience. He said that in coaching, we need to learn to push comfortable people out of their comfort zone and comfort hurting people. His sessions were also full of group activities to help the audience role-play; this helped them to apply what they learn. Not only that, it helped the participants to get to know one another better.

Overall, together with workshops from Dr John Ng, Paul McGee and the Scazzeros, it was one fruitful and meaningful day for all involved. Thank God for so many gifted teachers in His Kingdom!