Yesterday, both in Ann Arbor and Chicago, I talked about the importance of corporate worship. Even though private worship (via quiet time and personal prayer) are important, there are some things that cannot be captured when we worship alone or in a small group. There is something powerful about the whole church gathering together to […]
Lessons from the 2007 NFL Draft
I enjoy keeping up with any professional sports’ draft. One reason is that I enjoy sports overall, but also because I see the draft being very similar to leadership principles. It is interesting how many number one picks turned out to be a bust (no disrespect to JaMarcus Russell from LSU)… and many lower picks […]
Cultural Faux Pas
I turned on the news in Hong Kong and saw the blunder that Richard Gere made in New Delhi. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you can read it here. I don’t know what it is… maybe we, Americans forget that we cannot just do whatever we want to do especially in […]
The Hong Kong Experience
I arrived into Hong last night at 10PM. Since my flight wasn’t leaving until next morning, I went out of the airport to sleep at a hotel. As I was going to the hotel, I was able to see the Hong Kong skyline – it is incredible at night! I didn’t have time to go […]
2007 Vietnam Update 4
We finished off out time together with the final exam. There is a fine balance in producing a test. If you make it too hard then the students will get discouraged and may not want to try (the principle of the failure mentality). But if you make it too easy then the teacher will never […]
2007 Vietnam Update 3
This afternoon I finished off my New Testament teaching. I also covered some of the Old Testament studies. It was more of a general overview – much lighter in content than my NT materials, but I think the students got a good feel of the basic themes of the OT. Towards the end of the […]
2007 Vietnam Update 2
This morning, I had breakfast with couple of guys (one from Southland and other from HMCC) who are trying to look into the possibilities of a future business venture in Vietnam. They were updating me on some of the meetings that they had yesterday with some of the business people in this country. God really […]
2007 Vietnam Update 1
Yesterday was an incredible time of teaching on various levels. First of all, I don’t think I have stood up for 7-8 hours to just teach … but talking for 7-8 hours, I have definitely done that before 🙂 We start at 8AM and end around 4:30PM with a break in between. The age range […]
Good Morning Vietnam!
I finally landed safely in Vietnam right around midnight. I was warmly greeted by some familiar faces from my last trip in November 2006. They had flowers and warm smiles when I came out of the airport… it was truly humbling to know that they went out of their way to welcome me here. The […]
God’s Creation from 30,000 Ft
I don’t know how many times I have flown the DTW to NRT (Detroit to Japan) route. Most likely, I was probably reading a book or sleeping (possibly watching a movie that involved a drama/suspense). My flight this time around was different. First, I flew in the early afternoon (which kept me awake). Secondly, I […]
Vietnam Teaching Trip
We finished our Board of Directors meeting yesterday night in Chicago and we drove through the night to get back for our Sunday Celebration. It was good laying down some of the foundational pillars for this year of transition. It is always energizing for me to in environments where high level discussions are happening for […]
2007 Board of Directors Summit
Tonight, the Board of Directors and I will be heading out to Chicago to meet up with the Executive Team of the Chicago church. We are going to spend some time praying, planning and preparing for the 2007-2008 year. I have always been a firm believer that planning helps a group reach some of its […]
Family Time
With all the craziness that comes with the end of the year ministry, I wanted to make sure that I spend some quality time with the family. We were debating on what to do. But of the things that were suggested by the kids were more individualistic and it would not promote “togetherness.” Therefore, we […]
Junior Class Gathering
It is always encouraging when a whole class sets up an appointment to meet up with me. I love meeting up with college students. Today I had the opportunity to meet up with the Junior Class (a.k.a. Roots). They really had a servant’s attitude as they prepared a mini-breakfast for everyone […]