Nonprofit Leadership

David writes:
Since January I’ve been attending classes at Portland State University in a master’s program in Nonprofit Management. Some of you are asking, “Nonprofit Management? What happened to your interest in global ministry?”

Good organizations have good internal structure and processes. This applies to the church right down the block and a ministry organization working 15,000 kilometers away. (Yeah, sorry for the metric stuff. There are only three countries in the world that don’t use the metric system: Libya, Burma, and the USA. As you prepare for your next mission trip, pack your mosquito repellant and practice converting pounds to kilos.)

I have felt handicapped over the years that my grasp of organizational management (people, money, governance, strategy, marketing) is limited. In order to do what I’m called to do, I feel an urgency to develop a set of basic skills that will help me sit at the table with other leaders and keep an organization moving the right direction.

The program at Portland State University is pretty cool. Twelve of us were selected to participate in a one-year Executive Leadership Certificate Program designed especially for nonprofit leaders. We are completing a string of seven classes (21 graduate-level credits) in seven key areas of nonprofit management. The instructors are a fabulous list of practitioners in the Portland nonprofit community. They have academic training, but even more important is their career experience in building and leading effective nonprofit organizations.

I’m using TellAsia Ministries (the missions organization with whom Shari and I serve full-time) as my focus of study. My coursework is designed around TellAsia’s needs and goals. This one-year program is helping me become a more effective team member at TellAsia, and is positioning me for other leadership roles in the future.

Shari is Helping Refugees

David writes:
In India our Blue Haven kids called her Auntie. Shari is still Auntie, right here in Portland!

Shari is involved with a community of Bhutanese refugee families who recently arrived in the USA and are settling right here in our own neighborhood in southeast Portland. Most of the children were born in refugee camps in Nepal and speak Nepali. Shari is helping them learn English and get assimilated into the American school system.

Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal (internet photo)

We’ve never had our own children, and it was a wonderful experience to pour ourselves into the beautiful boys and girls who live at Blue Haven Children’s Home in India. When we left India, we said goodbye to a community of children and staff workers who had become like family to us.

During this season of our lives we are living in a rented house in Portland and working full time for TellAsia Ministries. While we are in the USA we want to be involved with the international community here in Portland, so Shari signed up with a local refugee agency to be an academic tutor.

Several times a week Auntie Shari visits these Bhutanese families at a nearby apartment complex, drinks chai (sweet milky tea), and helps them learn English. She taught them to ride the bus to the library and registered them for library cards.

One time Shari arrived wearing one of the Indian outfits she wore daily in India. The girls were ecstatic, and ran to their rooms to change into their traditional Nepali outfits. A few weeks ago we attended a Bhutanese/Nepali culture night and Shari had fun singing and dancing with the families.

Each month new Bhutanese refugees arrive in Portland

Which international people groups live in your neighborhood? Take a moment to smile and greet them in the grocery store or on the public bus. Ask them where they are from. Tell them you want to visit them in their home to learn more about them. Get their phone number and address. They’ll be thrilled to have an American friend who wants to hear about their homeland.

As Great Commission people, we are called to GO but also to WELCOME. God brings the nations of the world to us, so that we can embrace them and love them just as he loves them. The Hebrew Scriptures are full of commands to love the stranger, which means the immigrants and refugees who live in our own neighborhoods.

You can read about the history of the Bhutanese/Nepali refugees here http://www.bhutaneserefugees.com/ .