Day 9, Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Big Day!  
This is the day where all our efforts this past week come together.  
After a devotional on the passage in Isaiah 61:1-6, we waited for Clients to arrive.  The rains have subsided, the streets are draining, and traffic is getting back to normal.
Errol started the day with Convergence.  How much margin is there in your life?  Margin that the Lord can use for His Kingdom purposes!   What balance do you have between your Calling, your Community, your Creativity, and your Career?  Do you know each of these in your life?   Are they as God has intended?   Or, are they from the world’s influences?  Some of the tools offered are a convergence assessment, and a convergence bible study.  It’s an inspiring discussion on what Brett Johnson has identified as the seven seasons in a persons life.

What next?  Errol continued onto a discussion about what’s next.  This is an overview of what the Clients can do, after we have left Chennai.  The Clients are encouraged to get involved in a bigger way, build a support network with other Clients that have been through a rep venture.  Go deeper in to prayer, where the progress onto a place of continual improvement on the scorecard.  The scorecard is a living document that needs to be improved as deeper relationships with God and other Clients develop.

Don’t just fix the temple; rebuild the city!
After a short lunch, local pizza, we prepared the room for the Client presentations.  This is the exciting part of the ventures.  We get to hear first hand, what God has done through out the venture, in the lives of the Clients, their families, and their businesses.
After the Clients’ presentations, Errol, Izak, Beverly, and Cecil are making arrangements for getting to the airport by around midnight.  Their flights are at 3:30AM and 4:40AM.  I will be staying another day, visiting and praying with some of the Consultants.  I’m looking forward to more divine appointments!
That’s all for today!  That’s all for this venture!  Thank you Lord!  
Clint

Day 8, Monday, November 16, 2015

More rain, rain, rain, the rain continued through most of last night, such that streets were flooded even more, schools are closed, and businesses are severely impacted.  The airport has had long-term delays of 10 hours or cancelations.

I’m amazed at the creativity at the airport; using snow plows to push excess water off of the runways.  Where did they get snowplows?   This is a hot and wet place, it doesn’t snow here!

Because of the rains and flooded roads, the Clients were very late today.  We started out with an empty conference room.

After the intercessors started praying, by late morning, all of the Clients arrived safely!  Thank you Lord!

The final “P”, Izek presented Profit.  In the context of the business world today, are you living in “Egypt”, “The Promise Land”, “Self”, or “God’s Kingdom”?  A very good presentation on where the heart should be, doing God’s business, not our self-centered business.  He added some new material, on Debt.  Powerful!
The presentation included a very moving testimony by Beverly Chongo, one of the Consultants from South Africa.  She described first hand, the impact on her own life and that of her family, as she and her husband have been learning Kingdom Partnering, and Profit (or as in the case of many couples – the harshness of carrying debit).

After the day’s debriefing session with the whole team, we discussed the final day’s presentations, how the Clients have been progressing on their scorecards, and what to expect from their presentations.  The weather has impacted many people here, their schedules, and family and business activities.  It will prove to be an interesting day tomorrow, as we wrap up the November 2015, Chennai, India venture.

That’s all for today!  Thank you Lord!  
Clint

Day 7, Sunday, November 15, 2015

We started the week by worshipping at two services with our brothers and sisters at David’s Tabernacle.

The first service was in both the Tamil and English languages.  We enjoyed a time of praise and worship, and gave thanks to God as the children sang a song of praise that was a beautiful expression of praise to God. 

This was followed by a short message by the pastor, and a message from our own Errol Smith. 
The pastor summarized quite accurately what Errol had said and expressed his support and the support of the church for the vision and purpose of rēp. 
A former participant in the program, Phillip John, took us all to lunch afterwards and some of us who will remain nameless had way too much to eat. We are swiftly coming to the end of our time here and many people have wanted to invite us for a meal and for fellowship. And so, it seems we are constantly eating. We thank the Lord for our growing rēp community and the impact they are having and will have across India.
After a great lunch, we drove back to the hotel and some of us had a chance to take a nap. We rested and went to the home of our brother Joseph for dinner; for even more great food.

We had a chance to fellowship with his family and with two other families who joined us.  

It was an enjoyable time of more great food and good fellowship.
We are now back in our rooms preparing for our next-to-last full day in this city that we love.  It continues to rain and the streets are quite flooded but the people seem to take it in stride even though travel is difficult. Because of the rains, school has been cancelled and children have been out of school for a week now.  
I spoke to two of the children today and they were thrilled at the prospect of being out of school for a few more days. If the rains continue overnight, tomorrow’s program may be delayed in starting as travel may prove difficult for some of our clients. Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits…
Blessings and peace from Chennai.
Cecil 

Day 6, Saturday, November 14, 2015

The day off, unstructured outing, down south a ways, to see HandsOnHouses, and reconnect with Pastor Jayaseelan.

Our driver, Manual, arrived promptly at 7AM, four of us, Errol, Izak, Cecil, and myself were joined by Thomas.  Off we go, driving south, on the new coast highway.  We picked up Praveen and his son Davin, along the way.  With a car full, we proceeded through what’s locally called the high tech district.  I’m amazed at the amount of construction that has taken place in the last seven years (since my last visit).  High rise apartments and office buildings; many very fancy office buildings with companies from around the world are represented.  And yet, many segments of the highway go through the old pour towns that have all of the old world congestion, including cows walking around.

Hands On Houses, a non-profit that builds houses for the widows in the area south of Chennai.  They started with a small lot in a field as the initial manufacturing site for the type of house that Don designed and trained locals to build.  The new site is an adjoining lot to Pastor Jayaseelan’s church.   The following pictures are an example of the latest style of house they build for widows.

The widow who lives here is very happy to have a home!

From here, we had a short lunch at Praveen’s house, and a short boat ride on one of the local backwaters that leads to the ocean.  We enjoyed a leisure walk on the beach!

This boat is an example of the many fishing boats paid for by donations from countries around the world, after the tsunami that hit the area in 2008.  Sadly, due to corruption, many boats were paid for multiple times, without over site to the overseas donors.  This one had been in a serious accident, and the stern was busted open.

That’s all for today!  Thank you Lord! 

Clint

Day 5, Friday, November 13, 2015

The heavy deluge continues!  Rain, Rain, Rain!

This morning, the conference room we have been using for the venture was flooded, by outside rain overwhelming the drains, and coming into the building.  The conference room is in the “-1” floor of the building.  The floor of the conference room is actually just a few feet below the surface outside the building.  There are a number of steps you go up, to get to the main floor of the building, then down a flight of stairs to the conference room.  So we found the hotel staff pulling up carpet, drying the floors, and moving our venue to another room where the water had not reached yet.

Here’s Praveen, a young local Indian Rēp consultant, leading worship, with two songs, both in Tamil.   Us foreigners just joined in, clapping, and lip-syncing!  This was followed by “The Days Of Elijah” music video.  I then proceeded with a devotional from Matthew 13:3-9.  I paraphrased the verses, using the local and foreign consultants from Rēp community as the “sower” and that much has been sown into the Chennai business environment.  I followed this by a simple diagram that shows the heart, and the four types of soil, with a “plow” (the Holy Spirit) plowing through the rocks, and thorns (cares of the world), in the process of making productive soil for Kingdom purposes.

While we are waiting for clients to arrive (many were delayed because of heavy rains that are flooding their usual routes), Praveen showed a short video produced in Chennai, which depicts the rich heritage Chennai is built on.  One fact I was not aware of, Tamil is one of five ancient languages.  The official language of India is Hindi, but here in Chennai, they speak Tamil.  Many do not understand the Hindi dialect.

This was a busy day, with three of the “P’s” being taught: Planning and Partnering, talk by Errol and People, talk by Thomas.  The Partnering also contained a presentation by Preveen, and how the Lord has blessed him these past two years with tremendous growth in his startup company, TruTechSolutions. 

Here’s Thomas, teaching on People.

Following “People”, Errol taught on the importance of Affirmations and used a simple diagram of subconscious mind – conscious mind interactions, and where God intervenes between the two to correct our self-perception.  We each wrote affirmations to the others, both Client and Consultants at our respective tables.  We are also required to write an affirmation to someone close to us and send it via email, by tonight.  The Affirmations must be true, and it must be positive – learn to do this daily, to those around you, home, family, church, work.

After lunch, the Clients continued to work on scorecards.

That’s all for today!  Thank you Lord!  
Clint

Day 4, Thursday, November 12, 2015

8:30 worship and devotional led by Cecil was an important start to our day!  He offered a great explanation behind Judges 17, Lev 6:2-5, and Exodus 20

Cecil doing devotions

The first “P” for the day was “Process”, taught by Bernard a local Indian Rēp consultant.  The basic foundational principles of processes, various pros (God’s processes and ways) and cons (relying on process and not on God, process is king, customer is king) were discussed.  It’s where we hear the concept of “Structure without stricture”.  Processes are described in various verses in the Bible.  The structure is needed, but not legalistic restriction!  Clients were asked to identify the top four processes their respective companies follow.  Interesting responses followed, depending upon the owner’s own perspective.  These ranged from how to do payroll, to how to do hiring, to how to start and run a machine

Bernard presenting on Process

This was followed by LEMON Leadership, taught by Thomas, another local Indian Rēp consultant.  Thomas is also the local Rēp team leader.   LEMON, to those unfamiliar with Rēp, is an acrostic, “L” is Luminary, “E” is Entrepreneur, “M” is Manager, “O” is Organizer, and “N” is Networker.  These are five basic leadership styles that Brett Johnson has recognized in his years of experience, consulting with many companies around the world.  He’s identified characteristics of each leadership type that leaders exhibit in strength (good days) and in weakness (bad days).

Thomas talking about LEMON Leadership

After a break for lunch, Errol gave a presentation called “BELTS”.  I first heard this in May 2010, at the Global Day of Prayer in Cape Town, South Africa.  The acrostic standards for “B” – Bless, “E” – Eat that which is set before you, “L” – Listen, ask questions, show interest, “T” – Tell them, be ready to give account, and “S” – Signs and wonders, this is the place to pray (and heal the sick)!  It’s a very interesting teaching, based mainly on Luke 10.  This is an important concept; all are commanded to go and make disciples.

At this point, one of the clients asked a question; is it ok to accept food that you know came from a Hindu temple?  A range of viewpoints arose.  All of 1 Corinthians 8 was read.  What impact does accepting this food have on the weaker believer?  In most cases, these are children that observe their parents accepting the food, yet are taught not to eat food dedicated to idols.  In the Indian culture, it’s almost impossible to not come across food that has not been touch or handled by a Hindu.

The rest of the afternoon, clients spent working on their scorecards, and two of them started their intercessor and visioning times.  The intercessor time is where the client gets private one-on-one time with them, discussing and praying into what ever the Lord brings to heart.  The visioning time, is where the client is “stretched”, meaning what is your current scope of the number of households you will reach with your current company plans.  Then this is taken to the next level, by discussing what God would have happen if all of the households touched by the company were aware of the Lord’s work and presence through the owner and his/her company.  It’s amazing how many people a small, simple company can reach if you simply add up all those who come into contact with the company directly (and indirectly in that the person working for you has a family, so you are impacting the whole family).

That’s all for today!  Thank you Lord!  
Clint

Day 3, Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Today the consultants traveled to the place of business of their respective clients. We got an opportunity for a closer look at the client, employees, and in some cases the families. It was also a chance to discuss how the clients might weave the concepts being learned into the fabric of their company culture.

I was picked up by my client and was joined by two of his trusted colleagues. Together, we were privileged to have the opportunity to pray with the client regarding purpose, direction, strategy, and vision. Afterwards my client presented me with a bouquet of flowers which were grown and shipped to Chennai from another part of India. 

We then had lunch together, then journeyed to the site where the new company building is currently being constructed

This building, slated to be completed in four months, should be open for business by April 2016. This will allow the company to consolidate their three separate facilities into one central location where all staff may be housed.

It is expected that this will create synergistic relations and connections that will help fuel the company’s growth. Together we prayed over the plans, the effect the business would have in the neighborhood, that there would be no delays in the construction schedule,  and for God’s blessing over the client’s family and greater household.
We then adjourned for coffee. It was a great time of fellowship and comradery. We reveled in the realization that God had a hold of our hands and our hearts, that He had put us together, and had bid us join him in being about His father’s business; challenged to do it His way, cleanly, ethically, and morally.
God is at Work in India!
Cecil

Day 2, Tuesday, November 10, 2015

            The Park Hotel, Chennai, announcing the Rēp Venture

The offering for today: Product, Place, Positioning
The Fire hose!
Today, we pushed through three “P’s” today, as well as identifying the Giants.  These are the societal issues that are blocking the Kingdom of God from manifesting in the lives of the local people.  Examples are Corruption, Bribery, Obsolete Labor Laws, Low Skills, Access to Capital, Lack of Technology, Disparity of Technology, Tax Evasion, Castes, Unemployment, Blaming Others, Gender Inequality, Red Tape, and Nepotism.  Each client identified the Giant of most concern to them and their business on large sheets of paper, which we taped to the conference room walls.  The client and their respective consultant went from sheet to sheet, praying over the Giant, that God’s power and love would break through, setting captives free!

Many of the clients made progress on their respective scorecards when opportunity arose between presentations.
I spoke for about 20 minutes, on hearing God.  I shared many things deep into relationships, differences between the carnal mind and the spirit man, listening to the spirit man within, walls that interfere with hearing, some of my testimony, walls that need to come down so that we get out, and the Holy Spirit can come in, expressions of love, and the Fathers’ love.  It seemed to plow deep into the hearts of both client and consultant.
This was followed by 10 minutes, quietly waiting on hearing from the Father.  Some were willing to share what they heard.
Tomorrow, we, the consultants, will travel to our respective client’s place of business.  We get an opportunity for a closer look into the client, their families, and their business.
Thank you Lord!  
Clint