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This week's module presentation experience in South Asia (via Zoom video - not all participants pictured)
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Hello from India! (sort of)
For six days last week, each of my mornings would begin at a time that my body clock was registering as 5:30 AM. You could say that I was jet lagged. Except without the jet.
Even if not there physically, I was in India (and Sri Lanka) virtually with the rest of the FTL team and 22 Christian ministry national leaders. We were doing a module presentation experience on Leading Change. Because we could not gather in person, we gathered in front of our screens from each of our individual locations. And due to time zones, our days here in the U.S. started quite early just as their days in South Asia were ending. It certainly felt like jet lag. Our time last week was filled with really good discussions as these Christian leaders interacted with biblical stories, current stories, and “role play” and thought deeply about how to apply these lessons of leading change in their current situations.
This coronavirus pandemic has turned the world on its head. Borders have closed, airports have shut down, and much of life happens inside closed doors. On a very serious note, however, life fares a whole lot worse over there (in South Asia and Africa) than anything we’ve been experiencing here in America. Most of us in America are inconvenienced. They over there are literally trying to survive. And the Christian leaders we work with are faithfully working in the trenches.
We’d like to think we are doing the best we can with what we have. Though we are not a compassion relief ministry, FTL worked to get together an emergency relief fund to help our global teams on the ground as they distributed food and supplies to people in desperate need - thanks to the generosity of people like you. We’ve also been looking for ways to keep the momentum in FTL's The Garden Project going by thinking a little bit outside of the box. Obviously, facilitating an “experience” of leadership development through our Garden Project modules is most ideal in person, face-to-face. But we also live in an age of internet video technology that allows us to at least try to replicate some parts of the experience, even if not the whole thing. And in the places our global teams are able to meet face-to-face (such as this past week in Ethiopia and Senegal), it still looks and feels quite different. We’ve had to get creative and think outside the box, all while managing our own lives in the midst of this pandemic.
But God is at work.
In Senegal this week, our FTL team reported that in a culture where men don’t cry, these leaders were struggling to hold back the tears as they personally interacted in a role play of “Jesus Meeting Rev. Fofana.” This role play that we use in one of our modules is more than a silly “skit.” It deeply resonates as leaders take on the person of “Fofana” and are deeply struck by the compassion of Jesus in their lives and leadership. When we encounter the living Jesus all over again our leadership is impacted.
It is hard to write this newsletter without acknowledging and responding to the fact that America is right now experiencing deep racial tensions. Like many of you, I’ve also tried to spend this time listening and learning. At the same time, since so much of my life and ministry is focused on other parts of the world, my gaze these days has often been to my brothers and sisters eastward (in South Asia and Africa). These kinds of tensions have been a daily reality for people in Africa and Asia for decades, as violence and wars break out fairly regularly between ethnic groups due to tribalism and long-held resentments. The church has been called to stand in the gaps somehow. I believe that only when we encounter the living Jesus all over again can we even begin to do this. Faced with these realities - coupled with a worldwide pandemic - Christ-centered leaders are needed just as much now as before. Maybe even more so.
Our world is turned a bit upside down in these days. But God is at work. Through FTL’s teaching, our ministry partners have recognized the special opportunities God provides during crisis, and they are seeing increased receptivity to their social media communication. The coronavirus has caused the spread of the Good News to unreached populations a lot faster. People are afraid, and they are actively searching for safety and hope.
THANK YOU for your prayers and support as we help these colleagues navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and escalating tensions in their nations and communities.
Please pray that we can continue to be good stewards of this time as we strive to do the best with what we have during these days.
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Until all have heard,
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If you missed my last newsletter (May 2020) you can click on the link below:
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It is my responsibility to form a team of ministry partners who will support Freedom To Lead with monthly gifts and prayers. Please continue to pray how you might be involved to financially support the ministry of Freedom To Lead.
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Make checks payable to “Freedom to Lead." Please put my name (Michelle Sessoms) on the memo line.
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Freedom to Lead
P.O. Box 3
Cary, NC 27512
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2. To give online: Visit www.freedomtolead.net/donate
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