I am completeing our last leg of this trip here in Shanghai. Staring down at the maze of roofs below stretching as far as the eye can see--at least my eyes. Here in the worlds fourth largest city which boasts 3 million "floating" population. That is not the number of people who live here but the estimated number of visitors and transient people. Truly an amazing mass of bodies.
As we complete another set of projects I find myself most impressed with what all people have in common. We have met the most rural farmers--most who admit to have never seeing a foreigner before forget about a white one. We have worked alongside of ex-pat business men and women earning in excess of $400k per year. We talk with ex-pats working in the country of China. Church leaders, lay-leaders, service people, professional drivers. A pretty good cross section of human beings.
Without commentary let me share a few items which draw all those created in His image together.
1) We hurt when betrayed
2) We all seek to find purpose, significance and meaning
3) We all love our families and seek their security
4) We are all sinful by nature and know we need help to be what God made us to be
5) We are concened about the world's economic shake-up and the threat of loss or unemployment
6) We are usually way too busy but favor that to boredom
7) We are aware of the small world we now live in. Whether this comes by having your first foreign visitor or by the 24 hour a day emails which flud our inbox the world is starting to accept how small the globe is on which we spin.
Looking forward to being back in California tomorrow. Good ole USA.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
End of the World
Today I traveled with my son Tony to around 8 sights. Our target is always the most unserved areas. I believe all the places we visited admitted "we have never had a foreign guest here before."
I consider it to be quite an honor to be present in such locations. You might wonder where these places are. I wish I could tell you. Frankly I have no real idea.
One location stands out. we traveled along the side of a mountain for close to 30 minutes on a one lane road. Finally descending into a valley. There was a village with a rushing creek through the middle. We parked and crossed a walking bridge to the "main street' of town. Picture Indiana Jones meets Jackie Chan and you have it.
Narrow street with home on both sides. Doors open. Inside the homes were clean but bare. The group we met was nestled in a small building. A bare light bulb dangled over the middle of the room. On small boards sat around 40 people.
Behind the meeting room was another room. It was piled high with bags of husks for fuel and carefully cut sticks stacked to the ceiling.
We were invited to stay for lunch at the local restaurant. A bare concrete floor with a table prepared with the finest foods available. The owner sat with us. He graciously stated it was a privilege to serve the only foreign guests they had ever received.
Finishing our work we left. Reminded once again there are wonderful Christian people all over God's world. One of the hosts who lives in China casually quipped 'this is the end of the world.'
I was reminded of what was written 2000 years ago. Take my good news "to the ends of the world."
This is not literally it but I believe the mandate will and can be literally filled --- if we all work together.
I consider it to be quite an honor to be present in such locations. You might wonder where these places are. I wish I could tell you. Frankly I have no real idea.
One location stands out. we traveled along the side of a mountain for close to 30 minutes on a one lane road. Finally descending into a valley. There was a village with a rushing creek through the middle. We parked and crossed a walking bridge to the "main street' of town. Picture Indiana Jones meets Jackie Chan and you have it.
Narrow street with home on both sides. Doors open. Inside the homes were clean but bare. The group we met was nestled in a small building. A bare light bulb dangled over the middle of the room. On small boards sat around 40 people.
Behind the meeting room was another room. It was piled high with bags of husks for fuel and carefully cut sticks stacked to the ceiling.
We were invited to stay for lunch at the local restaurant. A bare concrete floor with a table prepared with the finest foods available. The owner sat with us. He graciously stated it was a privilege to serve the only foreign guests they had ever received.
Finishing our work we left. Reminded once again there are wonderful Christian people all over God's world. One of the hosts who lives in China casually quipped 'this is the end of the world.'
I was reminded of what was written 2000 years ago. Take my good news "to the ends of the world."
This is not literally it but I believe the mandate will and can be literally filled --- if we all work together.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Just Keeping in Touch
Today began in Jinan. Met up with five good friends at the airport. The Watkins are doing fine here as they work on literacy research for a minority group. Found Nate sitting in the hotel coffee shop strumming a guitar. Then met Eric Lansford from California who flew in with the Martins from Shanghai.
Great time of chatting. What a neat group. They are off on a four hour drive to continue the work nearby.
Then flew to Shanghai to meet with my son, Tony. His first trip to China. We took a short fight to meet our local hosts.
At the Shanghai airport I ran into Rev. Cao Shengie, recently retired President of the National CCC. We were privileged to work together in 2006 to bring the first ever Chinese Bible Exhibition to the USA. She looked as vivrant and energetic as ever. Was a delight to see her once again.
Deboarding from our final flight we were greeted by a Provincial CCC president and the City Religious Affairs leader here in the city where we plan to spend the next three days. Chatted and got better acquainted for a while.
Tomorrow we'll be guests in the largest church here in this major city. Once done the projects will begin for three days.
Weary of traveling but good to be a part in good things which happen when friends gather from around the world.
For those of you who are following our work for many years--just wanted to say "goodnight" before turning in.
Great time of chatting. What a neat group. They are off on a four hour drive to continue the work nearby.
Then flew to Shanghai to meet with my son, Tony. His first trip to China. We took a short fight to meet our local hosts.
At the Shanghai airport I ran into Rev. Cao Shengie, recently retired President of the National CCC. We were privileged to work together in 2006 to bring the first ever Chinese Bible Exhibition to the USA. She looked as vivrant and energetic as ever. Was a delight to see her once again.
Deboarding from our final flight we were greeted by a Provincial CCC president and the City Religious Affairs leader here in the city where we plan to spend the next three days. Chatted and got better acquainted for a while.
Tomorrow we'll be guests in the largest church here in this major city. Once done the projects will begin for three days.
Weary of traveling but good to be a part in good things which happen when friends gather from around the world.
For those of you who are following our work for many years--just wanted to say "goodnight" before turning in.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Glocal Finances in China
Writing from Shandong Province. It is the home of Taoism. Destined by govenment design to become the new "cultural center" of China.
Yesterday was a long day. Quick overnight in Shanghai and then trip to airport. One and one half hour flight to Jinan and then four hour drive to our location. Once arriving we went to work.
Found something amusing in the China Daily. For those of you who may not be aware it is a nicely packaged paper for foreigners complements of the Xinhau News Service. While certainly slanted to give the official position on most everything it is revealing to see the ever increasing openess even they are allowing.
A front page article was titled "Govt may have lost $80b in equities." To summarize "It appears the government agency wanted to diversify into equities early in 2007 and, rather than being deterred by the subprime crisis, it continued to buy."
The report comes after Premier Wen Jiabao said last week he was a "little bit worried." The government has lost over $80 billion on holding of about $160 billion in overseas equities.
Now for the humorous part. The investments were made by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange or-----SAFE.
Just goes to show us. In this world there is nothing SAFE. Think they might need to change those initials to NSSAFE or "Not so safe"
So for all of you who have looked at your portfolios recently and seen a drop don't feel too badly. Even the most brilliant minds at home and overseas may not have done any better.
Interesting times in this glocal world. Why are the Chinese so interested in home prices in Southern California? They owned your mortgage!
Yesterday was a long day. Quick overnight in Shanghai and then trip to airport. One and one half hour flight to Jinan and then four hour drive to our location. Once arriving we went to work.
Found something amusing in the China Daily. For those of you who may not be aware it is a nicely packaged paper for foreigners complements of the Xinhau News Service. While certainly slanted to give the official position on most everything it is revealing to see the ever increasing openess even they are allowing.
A front page article was titled "Govt may have lost $80b in equities." To summarize "It appears the government agency wanted to diversify into equities early in 2007 and, rather than being deterred by the subprime crisis, it continued to buy."
The report comes after Premier Wen Jiabao said last week he was a "little bit worried." The government has lost over $80 billion on holding of about $160 billion in overseas equities.
Now for the humorous part. The investments were made by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange or-----SAFE.
Just goes to show us. In this world there is nothing SAFE. Think they might need to change those initials to NSSAFE or "Not so safe"
So for all of you who have looked at your portfolios recently and seen a drop don't feel too badly. Even the most brilliant minds at home and overseas may not have done any better.
Interesting times in this glocal world. Why are the Chinese so interested in home prices in Southern California? They owned your mortgage!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
700 Wins
Just returned home from a banquet honring the coaching achievements of long time friend Mike LeDuc. He passed the 700 win mark this year for varsity High School basketball. I estimate around 400 people gathered for the 4.5 hour dinner and roast.
He graciously invited me to share a couple brief words and offer the Invocation.
You can quickly do the math. If you win 30 basketball games per year how many years does it take. He began in 1980. Before we sat down I offered my personal congratulations. He quipped "have to be pretty old to get that many wins and they should be remembering all my losses." Mike's self-deprecating attitude is one of his trademarks. One I enjoy as do many others.
I like basketball. I have some Clipper tickets. Shows how sick I am. I am even more enthralled however with excellence in leadership. Coach Mike is a far above average leader. I watched it as my son played for him during the late 1990s.
A few of his leadership traits were extolled throughout the evening. I extracted what seemed most important to me. The word choices are my own.
1) Passion and persistence
2) Know how to motivate players. Coaches do not score points.
3) Have a plan. Work your plan.
4) Develop the ability to get good people to work alongside of you
5) Don't take yourself too seriously. Take what you do seriously
6) Life is about people not things or wins
7) When you find something which works keep doing it. Do it long enough and the exponential curve works in your favor. Note: How do you win 700 basketball games? One game at a time.
Suspect all seven of these leadership principles for success are glocal.
He graciously invited me to share a couple brief words and offer the Invocation.
You can quickly do the math. If you win 30 basketball games per year how many years does it take. He began in 1980. Before we sat down I offered my personal congratulations. He quipped "have to be pretty old to get that many wins and they should be remembering all my losses." Mike's self-deprecating attitude is one of his trademarks. One I enjoy as do many others.
I like basketball. I have some Clipper tickets. Shows how sick I am. I am even more enthralled however with excellence in leadership. Coach Mike is a far above average leader. I watched it as my son played for him during the late 1990s.
A few of his leadership traits were extolled throughout the evening. I extracted what seemed most important to me. The word choices are my own.
1) Passion and persistence
2) Know how to motivate players. Coaches do not score points.
3) Have a plan. Work your plan.
4) Develop the ability to get good people to work alongside of you
5) Don't take yourself too seriously. Take what you do seriously
6) Life is about people not things or wins
7) When you find something which works keep doing it. Do it long enough and the exponential curve works in your favor. Note: How do you win 700 basketball games? One game at a time.
Suspect all seven of these leadership principles for success are glocal.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
International Partnerships
When people think of glocal, they most readily grasp that it is a manufactured word based upon a combination of global and local. That's the easy part. The glocal advocates acknowledge the shrinking of our world, and the opportunity and inevitability of working with people from around the world on a daily basis.
Glocalists accept our shrinking world and embrace -- not shy away from -all that it means.
The number one dynamic which made this happen in the past 7 years is the common usage of the internet and related technology. It is not enough for it to exist. It must be widely used to become relevant.
Today we communicate routinely with those on the opposite side of our spinning mass the same as we do with those across the hall way in our office. Data, personal words, and video images come to our hand held communications devices as we sit, walk, drive, and fly.
Today, I just want to comment on a personal observation. The unity of technology is far ahead of cultural oneness. While we can communicate readily with one another in words and pictures we still face a giant chasm of cultural assumptions and systems of thought. Philosophy and training in realm of mores, priorities, values and social custom still stand in the way of smooth and successful partnerships.
When only governments and large corporations interacted globally, they sent the experts to do intercultural work. Today, at the glocal level with everyone communicating cross culturally, it is easy to find ourselves embroiled in agreements which both sides express themselves ready to move forward but neither side has fully comprehended what the other is actually thinking.
Just one example... Are leaders in countries formally labeled as "third world" adjusted to the concept of entering into relationships as full partners? Are they ready to accept the responsibilities of daily accountability? Or is the assumption still one of "we take", "you give" and everyone "understands why that is necessary."
I am slowly learning. Slow in part because I don't want to accept it. Paternalism is still alive and well. Perhaps it is fed by USA's thinking and vocabulary. But it is equally the refusal of glocal partners to accept full accountability to perform whatever is agreed upon.
This may be greed. In some cases, yes. But I believe it goes deeper. It may be years of learned thinking. Cultural attitudes.
No solutions here today. Just sharing the glocal musings.
Glocalists accept our shrinking world and embrace -- not shy away from -all that it means.
The number one dynamic which made this happen in the past 7 years is the common usage of the internet and related technology. It is not enough for it to exist. It must be widely used to become relevant.
Today we communicate routinely with those on the opposite side of our spinning mass the same as we do with those across the hall way in our office. Data, personal words, and video images come to our hand held communications devices as we sit, walk, drive, and fly.
Today, I just want to comment on a personal observation. The unity of technology is far ahead of cultural oneness. While we can communicate readily with one another in words and pictures we still face a giant chasm of cultural assumptions and systems of thought. Philosophy and training in realm of mores, priorities, values and social custom still stand in the way of smooth and successful partnerships.
When only governments and large corporations interacted globally, they sent the experts to do intercultural work. Today, at the glocal level with everyone communicating cross culturally, it is easy to find ourselves embroiled in agreements which both sides express themselves ready to move forward but neither side has fully comprehended what the other is actually thinking.
Just one example... Are leaders in countries formally labeled as "third world" adjusted to the concept of entering into relationships as full partners? Are they ready to accept the responsibilities of daily accountability? Or is the assumption still one of "we take", "you give" and everyone "understands why that is necessary."
I am slowly learning. Slow in part because I don't want to accept it. Paternalism is still alive and well. Perhaps it is fed by USA's thinking and vocabulary. But it is equally the refusal of glocal partners to accept full accountability to perform whatever is agreed upon.
This may be greed. In some cases, yes. But I believe it goes deeper. It may be years of learned thinking. Cultural attitudes.
No solutions here today. Just sharing the glocal musings.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Building Teams
Spent a great 24 hours up in the mountains with some of our full-time colleagues this past week. Was great. We tossed the frisbe-Zack is the champion. We sat by the fire place and wondered why wet and green wood does not burn easily. We eventually succeeded at our task and had the smoked saturated clothing to prove it when we came home.We had a tremendous meal on the way up at A & W Rootbeer. No wonder that franchise has thrived over the decades. Where are the girls on roller skates?
We dreamed a bit, chipped golf balls onto roofs of cabins in the distance down the hill, threw snow balls, ate, sat, talked and relaxed.
We did come up with some pretty creative ideas. Proving once again, 11 heads are better than any 1.
Good to work together and have some time to relax as well.
Wednesday, I went with a buddy to see the Clippers play some basketball. Not the best brand of basketball but I appreciate the Clippers. They make NBA affordable. Hey! Maybe the Clippers need to get away to a mountain retreat.
All for now.
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