Greeting Friends,
2011 has had a wonderful beginning for us. We started with some vacation and then returned to our normal schedules which included travel, teaching, counseling, spiritual direction, and 1-2 days/week at the microbiology lab.
Our most significant events, however, occurred in February for Paul and March for Christie. In those two months, we both celebrated our 40th “spiritual birthdays” – 40 years since we made the greatest and most life-changing decision of our lives: to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. “40” has all sorts of biblical significance – and we won’t be reflecting on that here – but we are celebrating throughout this year. We hope to have a party later in 2011 – watch your mail!
This note is largely to say thank you for investing in the empowerment of servant leaders through your financial support of Development Associates International (DAI) and us. We want to report on the leaders that we and you are invested in, so here are two stories of the people we’re privileged to serve – especially through training in the Master of Arts in Organization Leadership (MA) program.
The first story is about Tanka, a World Vision worker from Nepal. We won’t tell his story here other than to show some pictures. Tanka was in the DAI Nepali cohort which Paul taught in 2009. He wore a unique jersey to class one day which led to questions and to the story written in the Spring 2011 World Vision Magazine (p. 30). The pocket logo on Tanka’s shirt refers to a hygiene project that he was part of in a Nepali village. To get the full impact of his work, however, you must see the reverse side of the shirt.
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| Tanka | Reverse side of Tanka’s shirt |
Read Tanka’s full story at http://www.worldvisionmagazine.org/stories/surrendering-status/. We wanted to share it because his story reflects the return on investment that we and you as our support team reap when we invest in true servant-leaders whom we attempt to empower through our DAI partnerships (with groups like World Vision), relationships (with men like Tanka), and training through the DAI MA program. By joining with Tanka and his team, entire villages in Nepal are being touched with practical expressions of Christ’s love.
The second story relates to a recent DAI training. In February, Paul returned to north India to facilitate a course in the DAI MA program with leaders from India and Nepal. Again the lesson learned: investment in these leaders will have far reaching effects into communities of the poor, Hindus, Buddhist, Muslims, and beyond any place we could ever touch. Some of the leaders serve as pastors, community health workers, and ethnomusicologists (using cultural forms like music and dance to share the Gospel). Others serve by helping the poor break the cycle of poverty through micro-finance programs. Below is a picture of our recent cohort. What an amazing investment they represent!
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Thanks always for partnering with us in this training. In addition to this India trip, international travel in 2011 will include investment in Tanka-like leaders in Nigeria, Poland, Finland, New Zealand, Ghana, and potentially Belgium, Egypt and a return to Grenada.
We deeply value your prayers, and we are always grateful for your financial support. If you'd like to join us in financial partnership, tax-deductible contributions designated "Borthwick Support" can be made online through DAI or checks can be made payable and sent to:
Development Associates International
P.O. Box 49278
Colorado Springs, CO 80949
We always thank God for you!
Paul & Christie