[RUDDICK REPORT] VIETNAMESE HELPING VIETNAMESE

Morris Ruddick September 22, 2014 Elijah said to Ahab, 'Go, eat and drink for there is the sound of heavy rain.' 2 Kings 18:41

As we wrap things up for this most recent venture helping the Vietnamese, we've been dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s for our next trip -- just after the first of the year. However, with those plans firmed up, we have also been finalizing schedules for what we'll be doing on our second trip here next year. Indeed, word has gotten around. It also is God's time. With our focus of investing in and mobilizing the poor among the brethren in persecuted nations, the Vietnamese have been applying what we're teaching -- and against incredible odds, these principles have been working for them as they reach for more of God and set their course to become self-sustaining. There's been a momentum building, along with the sound of the rains of revival. We've been a part of the turning taking place in this nation. Change for good is emerging. While persecution remains a reality -- the spiritual climate has begun responding to the fervent prayers of the righteous. The application of God's economy is also becoming a reality and it has been spreading. With that, Vietnamese are helping Vietnamese. What strikes me most about the Vietnamese response to Truth is the way they embrace and navigate Truth -- into the way they live their lives. Their priorities are in the right place. Indeed, they are walking out the admonition of James: "To be doers of the word and not hearers only, who deceive themselves." There's something about God's heart for sacrificial giving and revival bleeding together. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 2 Cor 8:2 Not only are they reaching for more of God and the goal of becoming self-sufficient, but our Vietnamese co-laborers are truly operating as "community-builders." They're becoming the head and not the tail, as Vietnamese help Vietnamese. Vietnamese Helping Vietnamese Here are a few examples. * Many of the church networks we work with operate as missionary churches, reaching out to Vietnamese communities across Vietnam and Southeast Asia. One gathering was an annual conference attended by local leaders from across the region, the fruit of their efforts. These were communities they have mobilized to be the "head and not the tail," from the poorest of the poor, with majority of those attending being from Vietnamese tribal groups. Also, one of our workshops we hosted had an leaders from distant provinces and seven different tribal groups. * We have initiated a matching fund program to help launch new businesses with three different leaders of church networks based on matching seed capital coming from Vietnamese business people with established track records. * One of the business people we have worked with has a track record of helpingyoung people and orphans. Since touting orphanages can be an overused fund-raising technique, I take care when I hear of orphanage activities. In this case, we know the founding couple well and have played a part in their plans becoming a reality. They had already been raising six orphans in their home, besides their own two children, as well as giving scholarships enabling 18 teens from the poor region of this brother's hometown to attend secondary school. Since then he has used a property he owns to build a facility to house his expanding family of orphans with plans to expand it into a private Christian school. The application for the next step, the Kindergarten, has already been filed. What a joy to visit, minister and share devotions with these happy children and house mothers. * We have opened the doors for an alliance with a Vietnamese firm that uses half of its facilities to house a Bible school that brings in rural pastors for intense, short-term Bible training. Through the Internet, the goal of this new alliance is to expand the market of their products into the US. * Across a wide group of church networks leaders are meeting together to pray, collaborate and bless their communities with agendas ranging from feeding the poor to digging water wells. I was honored to be the keynote speaker concluding three days of a monthly fasting and praying gathering. * A group of business owners in a coastal city who attended one of our prior workshops have been meeting regularly in support groups to seek God and help each other become successful. Their businesses have been growing. On this trip we conducted a special seminar for them, to review, pray for them and answer questions on "next steps." They've entered God's economy and they want MORE. * One of the key church network leaders we work with has just received government approval for a travel service. We have been a part and have encouraged this initiative as it holds the potential of supporting his already significant efforts to advance the Kingdom. This man is not only a proven leader, but a serious giver and an Isaiah 58 practitioner. Strongly related to these most recent testimonies of Vietnamese helping Vietnamese is the story from one of our previous missions. A village chief/ pastor of a tribal minority group attended one of our workshops. Not long before he came to our workshop, typhoon-level weather had torn out the electrical lines of his village and made many of the dirt roads impassable. Authorities told him: "Let your God help you." Shortly afterward, he was invited to attend our God's economy workshop. After the workshop, we learned he had expertise in breeding a special variety of livestock used in high-end restaurants. We assisted with the purchase of three of these animals. When we returned less than two years later to see how his venture was going, we were surprised to find four other smiling village chiefs/ pastors greeting us. What happened was that with the birth of the first offspring of the animals, this pastor gave half to another village chief/ pastor and trained him in the business. The process multiplied, as the second village chief did the same. Vietnamese helping Vietnamese. The result was a cash flow being established in which these pastors began feeding their families, supporting their ministries and in each case extending their self-sufficiency with generators to provide them critical, consistent electrical power. The time commitment for raising these animals was less than two man hours a day. Even the authorities, who had previously denied them the services they provided to others, were impressed. With the upswing in demand for our workshops has been an increase in the requests for my books in Vietnamese. I've investigated further to determine current pricing, as well as which book(s) should have priority. The Dynamics The parable of the talents, among many other like-truths in Scripture, teaches that as good stewards, God expects us to bring an increase. That's the foundational premise behind Biblical entrepreneurship. Indeed, God's very nature is to create, to innovate, to build and to multiply. In the wisdom of God, in establishing their own foundation, our Vietnamese brethren avoid the snares that divide, as they fear God alone and apply the simple biblical wisdom to pray, to listen to God's Spirit, to serve and to place their dependency on reaching for more of Him. The result has been the sounds of rain, heavy rain. Becoming the head and not the tail means resisting the trap of missing the real potential of God being their source -- by placing their trust in Western donations. It's about making a way where none seem to exist within their own cultural and economic infrastructure. That's the creative foundation for establishing God's economy. Jesus' Kingdom message raises the bar. It establishes a standard, a dimension in God, beyond our human capabilities. The church in Vietnam has been through the fire. They've had everything possible thrown at them. Still, they've heard the sound of rain, and will settle for nothing short of it. The Expectation and Turning Wherever we've gone, when received, it seems we've been igniters for revival and newdimensions in God. The stewardship of something as significant as God's economy, through the imperfect vessels of God's people, can at times seem daunting. Yet, as I ponder the developments noted above, two things are clear. Our efforts are taking root. With that, we're also at a threshold in the turning underway. Something new, vital and subtle is emerging. As a boy, I recall my mother frequently commenting: "Thank God for small favors." Sometimes it's the simple things that are the easiest to overlook when the turning and the birthing of the "new" comes forth. It's the "small favors" from the Lord that we don't want to miss.   Please pray for the development of our role in each of the above examples, as well as for what may be a new role with the American-Vietnamese community, the next steps in my writing, as well as our return to Israel the middle of October. We deeply appreciate you for holding up our arms in the midst of all this. Thank you for your continued support that is making these efforts possible. With every blessing,

Morris Ruddick Global Initiatives Foundation www.strategic-initiatives.org www.strategicintercession.org

"Leadership Through Love" - More Needed

"Leadership Through Love"

My latest book, 
Steve Martin

The world needs leaders. Oh, there are plenty of men and women who want to have the power, fame and fortune, but how many of them are really leading because they love people and want to serve them out of a heart of true love? 

There simply are not enough good leaders. Especially ones that our sons and daughters can and should follow after.

Several years ago a friend of mine for over 24 years, Indira Persad, spoke these words to me, “Steve, you need to write a book on administrating.” I passed it off, thinking that no one needed to read another book on administrating, or on leading.

A while later, in church on Sunday, May 13^th, 2007, (Mother’s Day in the USA), I sensed the Lord speak to me that it was time to write this book. This would be for the sake of those who are now leaders in all fields of work, administrators and office staff in ministries and businesses, and for those who earnestly want to walk in the calling that the Lord has for them in leadership and discipleship training. 

I believe this book will be even helpful to pastors, business owners, and other leaders, to further understand those they lead, and who assist them. 

It will be an encouragement for the "average Joe or Jane", who simply want to do a good job, on the job.

For over 37 years of my life, my position in businesses and church/ministries has been given to being the office manager, the manager, the administrator, the Director of Operations & Finance, or the guy who “wore all the hats and got the job done.”

Often during those years I wanted to be “the man” at the top, the one who called the shots, steered the ship, or set the policies. Or the one who traveled the road and airways, while others sat behind the desk doing the 40 hours instead of me.

But the Lord has clearly shown me that my role was very vital to those who did those things, and though I longed to do what they did at times, they could not have done their job if I was not doing mine. I was to do what I had been gifted and called to do.

Where would churches, ministries or businesses be without the administrators, the directors of departments, or the executive secretaries and administrative assistants? Those organizations who have them know their value. Those who don’t may or may not realize what they are missing.

Read some of these concepts I learned along the way, if you too desire to lead in a godly manner. This is for those who believe they have the gift of administration, and seek to better use it; or for the one who simply works in an office, retail business, or any position where good character and work ethics are desired, and want to improve. This will help.

Take a moment and look over the chapter list below.  Look at which I will be sharing over the next weeks, one chapter at a time. And see what you might glean from some of the words, to make them active in your life. I think you will find some very practical and useful lessons for yourself.

I love to share, what the Lord has taught me, with you. And so, as I call them, following are some “adventures in administrating” – practical and actual situations, joys and sorrows, with persistent diligence, in order to express the gift that I have been given from Him, for the sake of His kingdom.

May the Lord encourage you as you read my thoughts and what has worked for me. I hope the stories and suggestions will impart to you further measures of blessing, for those you support and also to those you give direction to. 

Be blessed in your leading and serving. Faithfully use the gifts that He has bestowed within you, for His purposes in all the earth.

Ahava (love in Hebrew) to you,

Steve Martin

P.S. If you'd like to get this via e-mail, to save each chapter in your InBox, please request with a message to me at loveforhispeople@gmail.com. You are welcome to share this at will. In fact, please do!  Thanks very much (todah rabah in Hebrew)!

Chapter Listings

1.      A Gift for His Purposes

- The Early Years

- On the job training

2.      Use the Tools You Have, But Not the Staff

- Treasure the people, while digging the foundations

- Do unto them as you would…

- Bless and curse not: honor those who serve with you

3.      Right Man (or Woman!) for the Job

- All are created equal – make the most of this!

- If the Shoe Fits, Have Them Wear It

4.      Train and Let Loose

- It IS Who You Know and Are Known By

- Hire To Complement Your Strengths

- If you are weak, then they are strong

- Outsource as needed

5.      Burn Candles At Both Ends? – NOT!

- Rest and Sabbath Days

- Mornings with the Lord

- Trust in Him at all times

- We all are given 24 hours each day 

6.       The Visionaries Need You!

-          They dream it - you make it happen

-          It takes a team

-          Head Won’t Get Far without the Neck

        (or heads will roll) 

7.      Field Trips and More!

- Staff Retreats

- Party Time!

- Birthdays and BBQs

- After Hours

8.      It Doesn’t All Depend On You

- The Lord is the Rock – Not You

- Whose strength  - yours or His?

- Key Staff to Lean On

- Trustworthy managers and assistants

9.      Practically Speaking…and Walking

- Handle each piece of paper once

- File so you can find it!

- Early morning – before the others come

- Take a Break

10.  Meetings – Time-manger or Time-waster?

- Do you really need all those meetings?

- Group or One-On-One?

- Why Morning and Mid-Week?

 - Prov. 24:6 “By wise counsel…multitude of counselors

11.  Acknowledge Him in All Your Ways

- Heart of Thankfulness

- Heart of Worship

- Heart of Service

12.  Another Man’s Vineyard

-          Follow & help fulfill their vision

-          Faithful with another’s

-          Learn and growth until your time

-          The proper way of moving on