16 Months of Experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

Leslie/Todd:  So much for keeping this blog current!  It's been a remarkable 16 months - super typhoons, new partners, new office, and around the world in 80 days a few times over.  Our 2014 theme was "Go. Extend the Kingdom." and that we have tried to do by remaining sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading.  As we have tried to extend the kingdom, we have experienced a lot of it as well.


The word "kingdom" is used a lot by followers of Christ.  We've worked with our volunteers and partners and friends to try to come up with a decent definition, and here's where we currently are...

The kingdom is a time and place where Jesus reigns, and as a result...

• We honor and worship Him.
• We live with sufficiency and dignity and in right relationship with each other and creation.
• We have access to power to overcome forces of evil.
• We experience the truly abundant life.
• We joyfully extend this kingdom to others.

Perhaps when Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven coming to earth, He had in mind something like this.

These are unsettling days in our world.  Children are being used as suicide bombers, new undetectable bombs pose a risk to airplane travel, and the person you stand next to on the subway could have just returned from training for some special mission.  Yet in the midst of these days, I can honestly say we have been experiencing aspects of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

There are at least three dimensions to experiencing the kingdom of heaven on earth - the material, social, and spiritual.

For virtually all of us in North America, we experience the material aspects of the kingdom of heaven on earth every day.  We read about heavenly mansions - if Jesus were to walk in to our apartments or homes, He would likely see them as such.  We read about heavenly banquets - if Jesus were to open our refrigerators, He would likely see them as such.  We have access to healthcare that allows us to recover from ailments that have killed people for centuries.  We have much to thank God for in allowing us to experience the material aspect of the kingdom of heaven and to so easily be able to extend it to others.

Our material wealth sometimes leads to social and spiritual poverty - we don't think we need each other or God.  It doesn't have to be that way.  We have a wonderful global discipling community of PEER Servants volunteers and we are so blessed by the fellowship we have with each other across many lines - socioeconomic, racial, national, ethnic, denominational, age, and much, much more.  We also have God's Word, His Spirit, and constant reminders from God's provision and watching God's people of what an amazing God we have, and we cannot help but worship Him.

So these have been 16 months of tremendous blessing amidst huge challenges and at times difficult circumstances.  One of the many lessons we have learned from our brothers and sisters around the world is that one can still experience the kingdom of heaven on earth despite difficult circumstances.  The much bigger threat to experiencing such a blessed life is when we put our will and our interests first, before God's will and interests.

May God enable each of us to seek His kingdom first and as a result to experience life as He envisioned it for us and for others to whom we can extend that kingdom.

What a Summer!

Leslie/Todd:  As we head into the fall and already start to see the hint of color in the trees, we cannot help but look back and praise God for an amazing Summer of 2013!  We have tried to capture the summer in this 3x3 collage...

Starting upper left...

• Box 1 - We kicked off the summer with our June 1 Boston Walk for Economic Empowerment.  It was a beautiful day and through it we have already raise over $30,000, 100% of which will go to extend more of the kingdom to the materially poor.  We love days like that!  It was a family affair, and for the third year in a row, our 6-year old grandson Joshua raised over $1,000.  He'd actually still like to get to $1,500+ - click here if you'd like to help him get there!  (Thank you!)
• Box 2 - Days after the Boston Walk found Todd with a small PEER Servants team in the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa.  Our primary purpose of this trip as to provide consulting to Aloga, our South African microfinance partner, as they merge with another South African Christian MFI.  The merger has gone well and will allow Aloga to better serve the materially poor, like these clients "The Women of Integrity", a small cooperative of seamstresses Aloga helped form and support so that they could grow more effectively together.
• Box 3 - From South Africa, Todd headed to Zambia's Western Province to work with CEMFIN, our Zambian microfinance partner.  Joined by a Charlotte-based PEER Servants volunteer, we had very encouraging meetings with CEMFIN that significantly strengthened their board, shown here, and put in place much stronger governance that will allow CEMFIN to grow and serve more of the materially poor.
• Box 4 - The final stop of the June/July 24-day Africa trip was the very northwestern corner of Uganda - Arua to be exact.  Todd was joined here by 6 other PEER Servants volunteers as they served and were blessed by CAFECC, our Ugandan partner, in many ways.  It's at CAFECC that we have "Group to Group", a program that liaises groups of Uganda microfinance clients with peer groups in the United States to get to know other other better, pray for each other, and even get to meet each other, as happened here.  The Northern Ugandan people are some of the most hospitable on the planet and we learned so much from them of what it means to follow Jesus.
• Middle Box 5 - A week back in Boston was followed by a 9-day mid-July trip to Sri Lanka for Todd.  Here we focused on risk management training for the staff of YGRO-HEED, our Sri Lankan microfinance partner.  YGRO-HEED has a fantastic, very dedicated staff that has allowed this partner to grow to 5 branches serving over 1,300 clients amidst tsunami, civil war, and more.  It is always a great blessing to be among them.
• Box 6 - The end of July found the PEER Servants family at the home of our Board Chair, Dave Ryder, and his wife, Betsy, enjoying our Annual Volunteer Appreciation Party.  We had a beautiful day, a great turnout, and a relaxing venue to say "thank you" to these super-inspiring, very dedicated PEER Servants volunteers who are so effectively experiencing and extending more of the kingdom of heaven to earth.
• Box 7 - Early August found PEER Servants hosting the Annual Lydia Awards Celebration where Richard Candia, pictured here, and served by CAFECC/Uganda, received top honors.  Richard has started a cassava processing business (cassava is a staple food in the area) and, through it, employed over 10 women in his area.  He is now able to significantly increase his support to his church and the local youth program.  Our Lydia Awards Celebration may be our favorite night of the year in PEER Servants - this year's was probably our best event yet!
• Box 8 - The morning after the Lydia Awards Celebration, Les and Todd were on a 6:30 am flight to Washington, DC to meet with the folks from CCT, our microfinance partner in the Philippines.  We were joined by many other North American organizations also supporting them for an Annual Forum wherein CCT CEO and Founder, Ate Ruth Callanta, gave us an update on where God is leading CCT.  Attending organizations also discussed how we can best collaborate to support CCT in their amazing work that is extending the kingdom to the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.
• Box 9 - The morning after returning from Washington, DC, Todd headed to Cusco, Peru to work with Australian filmmakers as they created promotional videos for Kallarisunchis, our Peruvian microfinance partner.   Kallarisunchis is expanding beyond Cusco to better serve the rural indigenous populations, so Todd had the advetnure of going to some of the Andean mountain peaks in filming some of the Quechua clients involved in potato and avocado farming.  Australian filmmakers Tim and Kate Robinson volunteered their services and were wonderful to work with.  We can't wait to see the finished product!

While Todd traversed three continents, Les held down the fort at home and in the PEER Servants office.  It was a simply amazing summer as we got to see so much of what God is doing to extend His kingdom through our microfinance partners and their clients.  Thank you for partnering with us to make possible the business of extending a bit more of heaven to earth.

Soaring with the Super Eagles

Leslie/Todd:  We returned a couple weeks back from Nigeria, one of our favorite places to visit!  Our Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ are nothing short of amazing.  They live in turbulent times with ongoing Muslim-Christian conflict, yet they are so quick to love as Jesus loved and beautifully bold in their Christian witness.  We have so much to learn from them!

Todd with Reverend Panya Baba, the person who introduced Leslie and Todd, and one who has discipled both of them in more of what it means to follow Jesus.  Reverend Baba's wife brought Todd his favorite Nigerian snack.

We were pleased to see a semblance of peace return to Nigeria's Plateau.  In our previous visit, hundreds had been killed just days before our arrival and hundreds more were killed days after our arrival.  We were on a 6 pm to 6 am curfew then.  People were quite tense.  There remain smaller skirmishes to this day where a person or two are killed here or there, but in general, peace has returned for a season on the Plateau.  The peaceful Nigeria we had known for decades was back, and so beautiful.

Except for one night.  You see, if there is one thing than can bring peace to all of Nigeria other than Jesus, it's football, or soccer as we call it in these parts.  And while we were there, a great thing happened.  Nigeria's football team, the Super Eagles, won the Africa Cup of Nations - Africa's football championship.  As the 95th minute of their championship match with Burkina Faso ticked away and the Super Eagles claimed their victory, all of Nigeria broke out in celebration.  We didn't mind saying goodbye to peace for a night.

We need to be praying for our Nigerian microfinance partner.  This trip focused on discussing with them the way forward in the midst of these turbulent times.  Their microfinance program has been hit hard as markets have been burned down and many put out of business.  Management and governance of the program suffers in times like this.  What was once the strongest of our African microfinance partners was really struggling.  They have great resolve to turn things around.  Let's pray that they can do that, because there has never been a time when Nigeria needs a strong Christian microfinance program like now.

Les with members of a fantastic Nigerian organization doing urban ministry.

As you might suspect, in Nigeria Todd is "Mr. Leslie".  Les lived almost 17 years in Nigeria, so our visit was packed with visits from people we love dearly - those whom Les raised as literal babes are now taking their university exams.  Les has maintained ties with an urban ministry in Nigeria and they had some great meetings  while we were there.  We even found time to make some new Nigerian friends, and we can see how God may use their ties to further extend His kingdom from heaven to earth in the years ahead.

It's More Fun in the Kingdom!

Leslie/Todd:  It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but sometimes we can be so dull!  This seems to be particularly true when it comes to understanding truth from the Scriptures.  Our cultural bias and worldview significantly impacts and limits what we pick up on as key themes or what we dismiss as"surely that can't be!".

That has been the case with us when it comes to "the kingdom".  We certainly were familiar with the term, especially as it is used in the Gospels, but we often relegated it to heaven.  It was just something to come, and if we "believed" in Jesus (where that belief was never associated with works, because we held firmly that salvation is not by works), then someday we could extend our lives from earth to heaven.  Given our conviction, we hoped others would see the light as well and be saved.

As we have re-read the Gospels, we're convinced that is really shortchanging what Jesus meant by the kingdom.  Jesus Himself prayed "your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven".  I would go so far to suggest that was Jesus' Vision Statement.  Jesus talked about the kingdom being near, within, among, and to come.  So, Jesus seemed to be much more concerned with extending the kingdom of heaven to earth than just extending my life and a few others from earth to heaven.  Certainly extending the kingdom of heaven to earth starts with understanding who the King of the Kingdom is - it's Jesus Himself.  And as Jesus stated to Nicodemus in John 3, we need to be born anew or born again to see and enter the kingdom.  But we need to go much further than that if we are to experience the kingdom and extend it to others.

Imagine just how great the kingdom of heaven must be, and then imagine this King has entrusted you and me to join the Holy Spirit in the work of extending His kingdom to earth.  That's a HUGE calling!  It requires you and me to wake up every day and ask "what can we do to extend the kingdom from heaven to earth today?".  It's such a huge calling that I can now better understand why Jesus instructed us to go make disciples - not just believers.  You see, it's far too tempting for believers to be so focused on just getting to heaven that they really aren't too concerned on how they live their lives up to that time.  Meanwhile, disciples, at least the kind Jesus said He wanted, would appreciate that they have to give up everything, deny themselves, and take up their crosses daily to usher in this kind of kingdom.  They understand Jesus' teachings warning about how greed and money in particular could pose some of the greatest threats to experiencing the kingdom (Jesus said it will be very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom) and extending that kingdom to others.  They would appreciate how huge the task is, how short their lives are likely to be, and how critical it would be to put their hands to the plow to make way for the kingdom of heaven on earth.  They would be a people set apart, a people who realize their real citizenship is in heaven and they are here as ambassadors. They would also appreciate how focusing one's life on such may someday lead to hearing "well done" from the King of this kingdom.

Who, in addition to the Holy Spirit, has God used to open our eyes to the Scripture's teaching on the kingdom?  The staff, board, and clients of our microfinance partners from around the world. Inspired by an excellent ad campaign from the Philippines Tourism Board entitled "It's More Fun in the Philippines" (click here for their < 3 minute video, but be forewarned that you will want to hop on the next plane to Manila!), we have adopted a 2013 theme in PEER Servants of "It's More Fun in the Kingdom.  Experience It. Extend It."  You'll be hearing more about it in the months to come.

Imagine YOU can experience the kingdom of heaven on earth.  Something tells me once you experience something like that, you will be most eager to extend it to others.  As Jesus prayed, may it be so.

A final note since it has been 6+ months since our last entry - the latter half of 2012 was fantastic!  We were with teams in Moldova, Zambia, and the Philippines.  We are witnessing transformation in the lives of thousands of the materially poor and dozens of our volunteers.  We remain in awe of the place God has put us to get to see His Kingdom being extended to earth.

Uganda Makes it Two in Row!

Leslie/Todd:  June brought our Annual Lydia Awards Celebration - our opportunity to celebrate the microentrepreneurs served by our partners who are blessing others while they are being blessed.  It was an unusual year - of the 170,000 clients served by our ten microfinance partners, the three Lydia Award finalists were all men!  We have been doing these Awards almost annually since 2004, and that has never happened before.  Given that 70%+ of the clients served by most of our microfinance partners are women, it's quite a feat for the men this year!

The three finalists are pictured to the left - Nicolae, a custom furniture manufacturer from Moldova; Alex, a construction supplier from Northern Uganda; and George, a chicken breeder/retailer from Northern Sri Lanka.  After a Committee reviewed their applications, almost 400 people voted online, and the final votes came in at the Annual Lydia Awards Celebration, Alex from Northern Uganda was selected as the 2012 Lydia Award winner.  He is very deserving -- starting with a loan of just over $100 for some cement, he built a construction supply business that now has three branches and employs over 10 people.  He and his workers have helped construct and repair roads at no cost when the government was incapable of doing so.  He has used the growing profits from his business to support his church and fund a Christian daycare for 30+ children in a predominantly Muslim area.  We congratulate not only Alex, but CAFECC, our Northern Ugandan partner that has so effectively served Alex.  It is CAFECC's second Lydia Award winner in a row -- they are gearing up for a three-peat in 2013!  Click here to check out a 5-minute video on this impressive organization.

These three Lydia Award finalists may need to learn to smile when their picture is taken, but they have something to teach us about giving to support the extension of God's kingdom.  They, like Lydia of Acts 16, are using what God has given them to bless others.  God used Lydia to start the church in Europe -- just imagine what He may choose to do through these three inspiring men.

Hosting the Inaugural CCT KN Annual Forum

Some of the CCT KN Annual Forum Attendees (and family!)

Todd:  May's highlight?  Hosting the inaugural CCT KN Annual Forum.  You probably know by now that CCT is The Center for Community Transformation, our Filipino microfinance partner.   For the past two years, we hosted a forum for them to come and present to their US-based partners.  Last year, these organizations decided to more formalize their collaborative efforts to support CCT, so the CCT Ka-Partner Network (and thus, CCT KN) was formed.  It is the group of North American-based organizations supporting CCT in their great work of extending the kingdom.  Founding members in the CCT KN include endPoverty.org, HOPE International, and Five Talents.

Six people came to the CCT KN Annual Forum representing CCT, including three board members and three senior managers.  While most of our time was spent in meetings getting the latest updates from CCT and discussing ways we could partner together as CCT KN members to better serve the implementing partner, we also had some time for fellowship and relationship building.  Perhaps the two highlights were walking the campus of Harvard Business School with CCT Board Member Professor Quintin Tan, a HBS alum of some forty plus years ago, and enjoying a whale watch where a pod of seven humpback whales entertained us for the better part of an hour as we watched them consume lunch.  It was a rich time together -- encouraging CCT in their work, discussing ways we could collaborate better as Christian international development agencies, and enjoying the fellowship that comes from following Jesus together.

Winter/Spring 2012 Travel

Todd:  After a nice time together with family over the Christmas holidays, the significant Fall 2011 travel extended into Winter/Spring 2012, with travel to Haiti, India/Sri Lanka, South Africa/Zambia, and the Philippines.  Fortunately this time it wasn't trying to scrunch 6 countries into 6 weeks!

ACLAM/Haiti Staff with PEER Servants Volunteers

January is a great month to visit Haiti if you're from Boston, although this winter, even Boston didn't have much of a winter.  We had a great team of PEER Servants Team Haiti volunteers -- Elie Lafortune, Barb Crossman, and Marie Williams -- join me to co-host ACLAM/Haiti's Strategic Planning Staff Retreat.  It was our first time ever being with the entire ACLAM staff - all 35+ of them.  We were very impressed with their level of experience, dedication, and vision for empowering the materially poor of Haiti.  This is especially true of Christon Domond, the ACLAM/Haiti Executive Director, who has been leading the organization for well over 20 years.  We gathered a lot of very good information at the Retreat that will allow us to work with ACLAM in the writing of their Five Year Strategic Plan over the coming months.  They would like to become the leading Christian MFI in Haiti and to get there not so much on their own but by working closely with and serving other Christian MFIs so that they can complement more than compete with each other.  It's a great vision, and we look forward to working with them to pursue it.

CSS Clients on the outskirts of Kolkata, India

February included a fantastic trip to India and Sri Lanka with PEER Servants Board Chair, Dave Ryder, his daughter, Patty, Dave Leach, and Team Sri Lanka members Ramesh and Sheba Telore.  It was my first visit to Christian Service Society (CSS) in India after our decision to partner with them in January 2011.  We were so impressed with the work they are doing -- starting with very small loans, often less than $25, in predominantly Hindu and Muslim villages on the outskirts of Kolkata (Calcutta).  It is certainly a challenging area to do this kind of work, but they are doing it faithfully.  CSS serves almost 20,000 clients in the area, and from their microfinance work they are able to generate surplus that can be used to fund a boys home and a girls home for over 75 children.  They do animal husbandry work and much more.  Himadri Munshi, CSS Executive Director, is certainly one of my disciplers.  He lives very simply, all in an effort to channel as many resources as possible to extend more of the kingdom to the materially poor.  He is a great example for many of us in the West.  Dave Leach assisted CSS with some of their MIS work and then we were off to Sri Lanka for a week with YGRO-HEED, our partner for more than 10 years.  We joined them in celebrating their having become operationally sustainable and serving more than 1,000 active clients (over 5,000 since inception) -- pretty amazing accomplishments given the tsunami, civil war, challenging government environment, record floods, and more.  YGRO-HEED has a fantastic staff and they are really establishing an exemplary Christian MFI in Sri Lanka.

The CEMFIN/Zambia staff and local advisory board

The travel in March was to was to Western Zambia, with a quick stopover in South Africa.  The time in Zambia was spent training the CEMFIN staff and local advisory board to be ready to make their first loans in May.  They have a great team and I know the Lord will use them to empower the people of Western Province in Zambia -- one of the materially poorest areas in the country.  Leading the CEMFIN team is pastor Alick Kalonga -- he has been working tirelessly for many years to bring CEMFIN to where it is today, so the fact that they are weeks away from making their first loans is quite the buzz on the main street of Mongu!  Joining me on the trip was PEER Servants Team Zambia member Ken Lloyd.  Ken and his wife, Phyllis, were SIM missionaries in Zambia and exemplary ones at that - very much loved by the Zambian people given their humble and engaging posture.  I really enjoyed traveling with Ken.

Sri Lankans, South Africans, Ugandans, and Americans learning from Filipinos

The last trip of the Spring was back to CCT in the Philippines for a phenomenal training module on establishing and multiplying healthy microfinance branches.  Our partners from Sri Lanka, Uganda and South Africa joined us for this very practical training, and once again, CCT excelled at offering it.  CCT has 140 branches around the Philippines, and these other partners are just starting to establish their branches (none had more than 5 branches).  CCT showed them how to create a branch viability model (determining what it takes in financial and human resources to start a new branch), how to establish appropriate internal controls, how to disciple staff at a distance, and so much more.  We were further blessed when CCT decided to add to our numbers their new branch managers.  Having them as students right along with the others made for a great learning experience.  Three PEER Servants Team Uganda volunteers also joined in on the trip - Richard Kinyua, Canga Kamwambe, and Jake Mahon.  We all left the Philippines eager to return to our different parts of the world and apply what we learned -- not just the nuts and bolts of branch expansion, but such effective ways to proclaim the kingdom in word and deed.

The last day of the Philippines trip was the first day in May -- and no international travel on the horizon until August!  It will be nice to spend much of the summer in Boston and catch up on many PEER Servants and family-related issues.  Speaking of family, we were so blessed by one of our very close friends who made a family vacation to Hawaii (her residence) possible on my way to the Philippines.  It was the best family vacation we have ever had - Les, Ayak, Joshua, Berni (Les's mom), and I had a once-in-a-lifetime vacation together as family in one of the most beautiful places God has created on the planet!  We are so blessed by our many friends and partners in this ministry. 

Fall 2011 Travel

Todd:  I love my job!  And one of the things I love most about it is being able to travel around the world and witness not only thousands of microfinance clients being able to provide for their families, churches, and communities, but the indigenous Christian microfinance organizations serving them becoming stronger and more effective as well.  To top it all off, I get to see how God is using these very individuals and institutions we try to serve to transform us, and no one more than me.

This fall has been one of much travel for me.  Given Reciprocity 2011 (our global microfinance conference held in the Boston area in July/August 2011), I had not traveled at all in 2011.  The spring was let loose in October, and over a 6-week period, I was in Haiti, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Philippines!

PEER Servants Team Haiti volunteer, Frislain Isidor, and fiance, Martine

The Haiti trip was focused on strengthening our partnership with ACLAM/Haiti as they considered steps they could take to be even more effective at helping Haitians help themselves.  There may be nowhere in the world where this is needed most, given both the earthquake and the dependencies that many well-meaning North Americans have inadvertently created among the Haitian people.  It was a short trip - just three days, but a very important one as we laid the groundwork to prepare a five-year strategic plan that would capture ACLAM's vision for the future.  Joining me on the trip was PEER Servants Team Haiti volunteer Elie Lafortune, one of our most dedicated and insightful volunteers on issues pertaining to his native Haiti.  We will be returning in January 2012 to co-host a Strategic Planning Staff Retreat for the 35+ ACLAM staff.  I am really looking forward to that time together!  One of the trip highlights was the amazing hospitality I received from Frislain Isidor (pictured, right), a PEER Servants Team Haiti member.  I was so blessed to stay in his home and get to meet his fiance, Martine, and be blessed by her amazing hospitality as well.  They will be married in Port-au-Prince on December 17 and God will certainly use their marriage in exciting ways for extending His kingdom.

CAFECC/Uganda  and PEER Servants Teams

I returned from Haiti in time for our PEER Servants Annual Board Meeting and then off on a 17-day trip to four counties in Africa - South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, and Uganda.  There were four other PEER Servants volunteers joining various parts of the trip - Dave and Sue Leach, Richard Kinyua, and Jake Mahon.  South Africa was a short but good stop as we worked with reps from Aloga, our South African microfinance partner, as they prepared to head to the Philippines (more in the next paragraph on that).  We also saw PEER Servants employees Jesse and Vicki Ratichek for the last time in South Africa as they wind down their 2.5 years there and return back to the States in December.  Then on to Lusaka, Zambia where we took an 8-hour bus ride to Mongu, in Zambia's Western province, and saw elephants and lions on the way!  This is where CEMFIN, our Zambian microfinance partner, will launch their program next year.  It was my first time to Mongu (CEMFIN had been focusing on Lusaka up until now), and it looks like a great place for a Christian microfinance program.  We were encouraged by our time there.  The three days in Tanzania were to meet folks from Self-Reliance International, a Tanzanian microfinance organization.  They had joined us at Reciprocity 2011 given our ties with Bob Quinn (now PEER Servants Team Uganda member) who has been supporting SRI's work in Tanzania for a few years.  We really enjoyed the time with the SRI foks and will see how God leads regarding the future of partnership.  Finally, back through Nairobi to Entebbe and eventually Arua, home of CAFECC, our Ugandan microfinance partner.  We had a very encouraging time with them (pictured above) as they take more steps to become sustainable and transformational.  We also left Jake Mahon (left in picture) there as he started a 7-month internship with CAFECC.   Our last evening was having a wonderful dinner with Patrick Obiga, CAFECC Executive Director, and his fiance on the shores of Lake Victoria.  Then it was back home through Amsterdam and a couple days to unpack and pack before heading out once more.

Participating in the CCT training on Vision and Leadership

The Philippines trip was focused on providing training to three of the key board members from Aloga/South Africa in effective leadership and governance.  The board, management, and staff of The Center for Community Transformation, CCT (our microfinance partner in the Philippines) were our professors!  They did a fantastic job, and all of us, including the South Africans, left Filipino shores that much more encouraged and equipped to be leaders and effectively govern our respective organizations.  Visiting CCT is always a very inspirational experience.  Just when you think you've seen all one organization could do in extending the kingdom of heaven to earth, you see something that you couldn't have imagined ever seeing.  On this trip, it was attending a mass wedding of 21 couples who had been streetdwellers just months before.  Imagine - now they had jobs, their own place to live, awareness that they were loved by God, a commitment to follow Jesus, and a beautiful wedding with a reception that could match any wedding I have ever attended.  As I sat there, I couldn't help but think "this is the kingdom!".  The evil one thought he had all of these 42 people being married firmly in his grip to steal, kill, and destroy -- now they were experiencing life the way God intended, and much more of the kingdom of heaven right here on earth.  What made this trip even more special was it was the first since Nigeria in February 2010 that Les had been able to join me.  We were also blessed to have two reps from our good friends at Nairobi Chapel in Kenya join us as well.  CCT is one of the leading Christian microfinance programs in the world.  We'll be making two trips each year there (April 2012 and November 2012 are next up), and would love for you to join us on one of them.

It was a super special fall, with lots of frequent flier miles, and lots of frequent reminders of what a great God we serve and what an amazing kingdom He wants us to experience.

Walking Again

Leslie/Todd: Our Walk for Economic Empowerment is our largest annual fundraising event to empower the materially poor. This year we have four plus venues - Charleston, Columbus, Boston, and Chicago. The "plus" - right where you are! This option allows folks to walk when and where is most convenient for them with online fundraising support from us and even a Walk T-Shirt! Given the October 1 Chicago Walk, we had more walkers this year than any previous year. We're not yet breaking funds raised records (the 2009 Walk raised $90,000 for all organizations and the 2008 Walk raised $55,000 for PEER Servants). Our prolonged bad economy with its current bleak outlook is filtering down to limiting what funds can be raised to empower the materially poor.

The Walk accomplishes far more than just raising funds to empower the materially poor. It is our annual reminder to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and His great concern for the materially poor. We cannot escape the fact that His concern for them far exceeds ours, nor can we escape the fact that He, time and time again, encourages us to live in a way that we will be dependent on Him so that, even when rich (which is what the vast majority of us in North America are by the world's and Jesus' standards), we will be very generous to the materially poor. We set high goals for what we hope to raise through the Walk and we don't always reach them. The real lesson we learn in those times is our God takes great joy in taking what we can give or raise and multiplying it many times over so that at the end of the day we and others are not impressed with what we have done, but with what He has done. And He has done far more than we can think or imagine to provide for the materially poor.

So, it's been a very blessed Walk season. Not just in the number of walkers we have seen, but in how we have caught a wider angle on what God is doing in us, through us, and often despite us to preach good news to the poor and release the oppressed.

What A Conference!

Leslie/Todd: We had been preparing for years, literally, for Reciprocity 2011. We only have these global microfinance conferences every 3-4 years, and this was the first we held in North America. We wanted our guests to experience "heavenly hospitality" while being encouraged spiritually and learning a lot about how they could empower the materially poor more effectively. With such extremely high expectations, it would have been easy to come away from the event slightly disappointed.

Such was not the case with Reciprocity 2011! As high as our expectations were, they were exceeded with the event! What made it so special?

• Great preaching. While all speakers were excellent, Reverend Oscar Muriu from Nairobi Chapel in Kenya was exceptional. He spoke on unity, the body, mustard seed faith, sin (when's the last time you heard a message on sin?!), partnership, simply following Jesus, and coming off of the mountaintop into the valley. All were powerful and provided what conference attendees needed most -- being refreshed in their commitment to follow Jesus and encourage others doing the same.
• Great teaching. The highlight here were the intensive seminars at the end of the conference, led by Professor Ron Chua from the Asian Institute of Management. All of our microfinance partners identified steps they can take to better achieve their vision/mission of empowering the materially poor.
• Fantastic fellowship. Imagine gathering with 140 brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world 15+ countries) with a conference theme from Romans 1:12 that is focused on encouraging one another. We had a preview of heaven just in being together and remaining focused on Jesus.
• Wonderful worship. Our conference band was excellent - well-prepared, extremely gifted, and very sensitive to God's Spirit, but what made Reciprocity 2011 worship that much more special was how well the band integrated worship leaders from around the world. We were thus also led by Africans, Asians, Latins, etc. singing their own music, not just singing ours, and gained new experiences in worshiping God.
• Sufficient free and fun time. Reciprocity 2011 was not a conference where we ran from one session to the next. We intentionally created plenty of free and fun time for folks to interact with each other. One of the highlights was a phenomenal Kopano World Cup of Soccer (which we hold at every global microfinance conference) in which Team Eurasia finally edged out Team Africa after three overtime penalty kick sessions! And who kicked the winning goal for Team Eurasia? Duza Baba, a Nigerian! Now THAT's reciprocity!

The REAL highlight of the time together was God choosing to visit us with His Spirit. He seems to choose to do that when brothers and sisters in Christ gather from around the world seeking to extend His Kingdom. We thank God for blessing us with an amazing summer.

The next time we'll do this, Lord willing, will be 2015 in the Philippines with the central theme being "celebration". This will be a celebration of Old Testament proportions as we rejoice in how God has moved in our midst to transform the materially poor and non-poor! Stay tuned for more details as the year approaches - we'd love for you to join us in the celebration as well!

Celebrating Our Volunteers

Leslie/Todd: Once a year, we take time out to say "thank you" to our volunteers. They really are an amazing bunch of people. Susan Tavilla and Sandy Smith host and go "over the top" in making our volunteers feel special. Saturday, July 2 was the big day this year. Click here to see some of the pictures from the event.

We recently calculated that PEER Servants volunteers have given approximately 100,000 hours of their time in service to the materially poor and donated and/or raised $2.5 million. Perhaps now you understand a bit better why we celebrate them and thank God for them as much as we do!

Meet the 2011 Lydia Award Semifinalists

Leslie/Todd: One of our personally favorite PEER Servants events of the year is the Annual Lydia Awards Celebration. It focuses on the stories of transformation of the entrepreneurs served by our microfinance partners. We are always challenged and enriched by the Lydia Award nominees and the passion they have for pursuing what God has called them to. Yet again, God is using them as an example to us. If they can pursue the passion they sense God has given them and do so from a much more financially precarious position than you or we may be in, then how much more we should be willing to do the same. If we're not, perhaps we're letting our riches or something else hold us back from experiencing all that God wants for us.

We just announced the three 2011 Lydia Awards semifinalists. You can read their full stories on our website and vote for your pick for the 2011 Lydia Award winner. This is our more personal take on their passion.

Sara, from South Africa, has a passion for children. She started a creche back in 2006 in a "building" from some loose materials she could find. It wasn't pretty, but it allowed her to open her doors to 15 children. In stepped our South African microfinance partner, Aloga, and a few loans later, Sara has a 6-room brick building employing five others and taking care of almost 100 children. Is she in it for just the money? Consider this - she actually doesn't take fees from parents who lose their jobs, and she'll take their kids to church (when her creche is otherwise closed) if the parents have to work on their day of worship. That's passion!

Florence, from Uganda, has a passion for helping those with overwhelming obstacles. She knows something about that herself -- widowed with five children in northern Uganda and a physical disability. But Florence is a woman of prayer, and she knows that with God living through her, she is more than a conqueror. She's established a very successful secondhand clothing retail/wholesale business that offers her customers affordable clothing, has enabled her to employ two others, and gives her profits that she uses to bless orphans with HIV/AIDS. She even plays the drum in worship -- Florence definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer!

Juana, from Peru, has a passion for family. She's done everything she could to keep hers together after her husband abandoned her with three children. With the help of Kallarisunchis, our Peruvian microfinance partner, she started a hardware business. Now, a few loans later, she has three small businesses. Juana very intentionally established three businesses so that each child could inherit a business. She is teaching them how to do business well while using the proceeds from the business to support her local church. Juana loves business, but even that falls short of her passion for family!

We have the great privilege of being able to pursue the passion God has placed on our hearts to establish an organization, PEER Servants, with a vision to enable tens of thousands of the materially poor and non-poor to experience economic, social, and spiritual transformation. We've given up some things to do it, but received so much more in return.

What's your God-given passion? What steps are you taking to pursue it?

A Great CCT Donors Forum

Leslie/Todd: If you have followed PEER Servants much, you know that The Center for Community Transformation (CCT) is one of our most transformative microfinance partners. They serve over 130,000 of the materially poor in the Philippines and do it with the gospel being front and center. We are really honored to partner with them.

In May, we were able to host the second annual CCT Donors Forum. Ruth Callanta, Founder and CEO, joined us along with two senior staff -- Froilan Parado (who heads up their External Relations office) and Pastor Jun Gonzaga (who heads up their spiritual development efforts). In addition to CCT and many folks associated with PEER Servants, representatives from endpoverty.org, Five Talents, and HOPE International joined us as well. It was a fantastic opportunity to hear the current very inspiring vision of CCT and to discuss further how we could work together to support them in their vision.

This gathering should be a sign more and more of things to come. The church in the developing world is taking the lead. God's Spirit is moving mightily among them, not only in their growth (which is much more sizable than we see in the North American church), but in their depth of commitment to follow Jesus at any cost. They will then invite us to partner with them in areas wherein we can strengthen them and be strengthened by them. Certainly our material wealth is one thing we can bring to a partnership; our effectiveness at planning and thinking strategically may be another. What can we receive from the partnership? Mentors to help us make Jesus, not material well-being, security or stability, the central focus of our lives. We like to sing about giving our all to Jesus, but how many of us are really living that out? (As Dr.Erwin Lutzer of The Moody Church in Chicago points out - "oh the lies we often sing about behind the hymnal"!) God is raising up our materially poor brothers and sisters from around the world to help us see the true path of following Jesus. Certainly we have seen that path more clearly through our partners at CCT. May we take on the humble mantle of a servant as we see the footsteps of Christ and seek the power of the Holy Spirit to have the courage to walk in them.

Music to our Ears

Leslie/Todd: What was the highlight of April 2011? The inaugural Concert for Economic Empowerment. April 2 was the night. We had a wonderful evening of worshipful music by a great band (thank you Rich and Sue Musacchio for pulling all of that together) and a group of 100+ that lifted their praises to God while donating almost $10,000 to empower the materially poor. It was an evening rich in blessing, and one we will build on in the future. Music is one more means through which we can communicate God's concern for the materially poor. In future concerts, we plan to have bands/musicians representative of many more places in our world, so that the Concert for Economic Empowerment will allow all who attend to come to a greater appreciation of how God is worshiped around the world. Stay tuned - we think this event could become one of significant impact in the years ahead!

April had another highlight as well - a Uganda Dinner/Movie Night hosted by one of our Team Ugandan volunteers. 20+ folks gathered in their home for delicious African cuisine, watched an inspiring Ugandan movie ("War Cry"), and donated $1,140 towards the costs of our CAFECC/Uganda reps coming to Reciprocity 2011.

While both of these events raised funds, neither of them were fundraising events, per se. They were events wherein we could realize our PEER Servants' vision of witnessing economic, social, and spiritual transformation among the materially poor and non-poor. The Concert allowed attendees to understand more about how concerned God is for the materially poor and worship Him for His great love. The Uganda Dinner/Movie Night sent many home from a real fun evening having had authentic African cuisine for the first time and understanding a bit more of northern Uganda. The funds raised at the events put us a bit closer to carrying out our mission, but the transformation effected at the events puts us a lot closer to carrying out our mission.

Bigger Steps for the 2011 Walk

Leslie/Todd: If you have followed us throughout the years, you may recall that we have our Walk for Economic Empowerment in the fall. So why are we talking about it already? The Walk is growing, and it's not just a fall event anymore!

This year the Walk for Economic Empowerment will take place in 4+ locations -- Boston (September 17), Charleston (April 16), Chicago (October 1), and Columbus (May 21). What's up with the "+"? Because that's where you can have your own small Walk right where you are! Gather a few friends, family, church members, or whoever, choose your course, and have a funfilling day empowering the materially poor in the name of Jesus. You can easily create your team, prepare your own Walk webpage, and quickly contact your friends encouraging them to support you. Check out our "Walk Where You Are" webpage, the bigger Walk website, and the Walk video below.



If you can't walk but would like to support Todd is his Walk, contribute via his giving page. All of Todd's funds will be used as matching funds to what other volunteers or our microfinance partners raise, so you'll be doubling the impact. And 100% of what is raised goes directly to one of our microfinance partners to enable them to grow their microfinance program.

We're excited that there are 6 other Christian international development agencies taking part in the 2011 Walk. Check out the Walk website for full details.

Won't YOU join us in this year's Walk?!

Namaste, India!

Leslie/Todd: We were very excited that the PEER Servants board approved the Christian Service Society (CSS) of Kolkata, India as our 10th microfinance partner. As Todd noted in the October 2010 post, CSS, is an impressive organization. Under the humble and very effective leadership of Executive Director Himadri Munshi, it serves 10,000+ of the materially poor in the outskirts of Kolkata with loans that start smaller than $25. It has a very dedicated staff and high quality clients that faithfully repay their loans, allowing CSS to not only be sustainable, but actually generate a surplus. The surplus is invested in two children's homes -- one housing 25 boys at risk and the other 50 girls at risk. The love of Christ is witnessed very clearly through their work.

What does PEER Servants hope to be able to bring to CSS? First, insight that will help them more effectively tell their impressive story to the outside world and attract greater resources so that they can realize their vision to serve 25,000+ clients. Second, technical consultancy services that can help them operate more efficiently. Third, access to a network of other indigenous Christian MFIs from which they can learn and contribute to the learning of others. Our ultimate desire is that through this partnership, CSS will be able to more effectively communicate the love of Christ to the people of West Bengal, and PEER Servants volunteers will be able to more effectively communicate that same love of Christ to their North American neighbors.

2011 Reciprocity Movie Festival

Leslie/Todd: One of our favorite events of the PEER Servants year is the annual Reciprocity Movie Festival. Our volunteers can nominate movies they feel best capture PEER Servants' core value of "the reign of reciprocity". We vote to select three finalist movies, watch them and then select the Reciprocity Movie of the Year. We do this the Friday/Saturday of every Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Weekend. And the 2011 Reciprocity Movie of the Year is...

"God Grew Tired of Us". Check out this movie if you haven't already. It follows the lives of three inspiring Sudanese young men from the United Nations camp in northern Kenya to new homes in the United States. It shows them struggling with the adjustment to this new culture while capturing many of the strengths they had from their culture that they found amiss in their new world. One comes away from this film with a greater appreciation for the strong community, relationships, and values that the southern Sudanese people have. You appreciate their perseverance, their hard work, and their sacrificial attitudes. The movie helps the audience see southern Sudan as the beautiful place that it was before the attack from the north, and the beautiful place that it has become again with peace restored and new hope for the future. In a year where the world is preparing to invite South Sudan as its newest nation, it was only appropriate that "God Grew Tired of Us" should be PEER Servants' 2011 Reciprocity Movie of the Year!

All's Well That Ends Well

Leslie/Todd: 2010 started out pretty rough -- earthquake in Haiti, Muslim/Christian conflict in Nigeria, and floods in Peru. Yet, by year's end, 2010 had turned into a very rewarding year at PEER Servants. That's what we celebrated December 4th at what many considered our best Annual Meeting in PEER Servants in recent years.

We don't meet for large group training meetings as often as we used to in PEER Servants (we do it more now in monthly small group meetings that are focused on specific microfinance partner needs), so perhaps part of the reason we enjoyed the time as much as we did is it was just a time to be together again. There is a pretty strong sense of family within PEER Servants -- the "foundation of fellowship" that is our core value exists within PEER Servants as well as with our microfinance partners. We love to serve, but we also love to play, and we love to dream. 2010 was a year that had all three. And that's what we came together to celebrate at the Annual Meeting.

We celebrated the volunteers that went over and above what anyone would expect in their 2010 service -- Sandy Smith and her dedication to raising tens of thousands of dollars, Dave Leach and his hopping all over the planet to bolster the IT capacities of indigenous Christian MFIs, and Carol Mostrom and her focused, long-term dedication to serving the materially poor of Peru. We celebrated the progress made by many of our microfinance partners on their path to becoming sustainable, transformational MFIs. We celebrated the close walks we had with those microfinance partners in 2010 -- visiting all of our partners with active microfinance programs. We celebrated how our lives had been changed through the impact of our partners and how we could understand more of what it means to follow Jesus given the lessons of 2010.

But we also played! While PEER Servants is family, it is also a group of fierce competitors, and rarely does that come through more clearly than in a heated round of Microfinance Jeopardy. Dave Leach is Alex Trebek and he brought a little of his techno-love to the 2010 Annual Meeting game by having automated clickers replace the need to put unbiased Todd is the hot seat of determining which team responded first. We also maintained our longstanding tradition of the Virtuous Woman Award (I won't even try to explain that in this blog!), with Amy Heimberger taking home the coveted prize.

And we dreamed. That has been true since the early days in PEER Servants and we have never stopped dreaming. We started dreaming at the Annual Meeting of just how fantastic Reciprocity 2011, our July/August global microfinance conference, was going to be. The Les-led Planning Committee painted a picture of what lies ahead, the Reciprocity 2011 worship band gave us a preview of what worship would be like, and the Reciprocity 2011 co-emcee, the incomparable Elie Lafortune, kept us in stitches from the first bite of breakfast (delicious South Asian fare by Reciprocity 2011 co-emcee Sheba Telore) to the closing amen.

It was a great way to close out the year. Serving, playing, dreaming, and all contributing to our becoming more like Jesus. Isn't that what the Kingdom is all about?

...South Asia (SL), and the Philippines

Todd: The first day of November brought me from Kolkata through Chennai to Colombo to meet with our microfinance partner in SL. This is a partner that has been through thick and then -- tsunami, civil war, and now a really difficult environment where the government can make it very challenging to run a sustainable microfinance program. The 25+-year civil war ended recently, so there is a more relaxed mood within this beautiful, beautiful country. The long-term outlook is bright on many fronts. Our microfinance partner has overcome many of these challenges to be able to offer services to almost 1,000 clients in 4 branches around the country. They have a fantastic very dedicated staff who always inspire me to see more of the path of following Jesus and encourage and pray for me along that path.

Dave Leach, PEER Servants volunteer extraordinaire, joined me in Colombo. With the war now over, the organization could host its first countrywide staff training retreat. We had the privilege of being able to be a part of it. Our training focus was helping them see how they gather and share information and helping them find ways, ultimately culminating with better use of automation, that they could share that information more efficently and effectively so that the MFI could serve more of the materially poor. We were able to visit their Madampe branch and meet some impressive microentrepreneurs, like Ranjani -- a woman manufacturing and distributing spices. What started as something small selling to neighbors now has Ranjani distributing her product to 50 shops and 200 individual clients in 7 villages. Through her business proceeds, Ranjani was able to pay for their first paved road in her village! I stayed on a day after Dave's departure to meet with the organization's board, encourage them in what they have achieved already, and challenge them to reach 100% operational sustainability so that they can grow to empower more of the materially poor of this nation.

The trip back to Boston brought me back through Dubai where I was able to have a great layover visit with the Gimba family - close friends of ours now living in the United Arab Emirates but having been with us in Boston for many years just prior to that. Dubai is this amazing oasis in the desert. Home to the tallest building in the world, the largest mall, and the largest outdoor water show, it really is something else. May many there come to know Jesus in a way that allows them to enjoy this great adventure of following Him.

Five days after stepping foot in Boston, it was off to the Philippines with a team of 9 PEER Servants volunteers. Most of the team was on their first PEER Servants trip, focused on preparing a case study on some aspect of The Center for Community Transformation (CCT), our Filipino partner. I was especially pleased that my sister, Patrice, joined me on this trip - she was a great addition to the team. She and her husband, Dave, have been long-term supporters of PEER Servants and are very encouraging to Les and me. The one member of the team who had a different focus was none other than Dave Leach - the same Dave Leach who had been with me in Colombo just days earlier! Dave has been working with CCT over the past couple years to identify ways they could make better use of automation to make the operation more efficient. CCT is by far our biggest microfinance partner - serving over 100,000 of the materially poor in the Philippines. Bringing in some IT solutions to such a large organization won't be easy. If anyone is up to the consulting challenge - it's Dave!

If you see a picture of the CCT team next to the word "hospitality" in your dictionary, don't be surprised! We were just overwhelmed by the warmth and sincerity of the Filipino CCT hospitality. The only thing that impressed us more on the trip was their work -- not only in microfinance, but beyond it in empowering streetdwellers, creating places where they experience life the way God wants them to experience it. There were former streetdweller children getting a great boarding school education; former streetdweller teens learning vocations, and former streetdweller adults living sustainably by farming and building their own houses. There is no organization we have seen that empowers the materially poor as effectively as CCT. The long trip back from the Philippines to Boston gave us time to reflect on what an amazing team they are and thank God for them.

As great as this fall of travel was, it was awfully nice to get back on North American soil for more than just time to pack and unpack! It was a very inspiring season in which God provided glimpses of what He was doing through these microfinance partners around the world.

Moldova, India...

Todd: October starts travel season for me! Often through at least the middle part of the year, the fall looks like a heavy travel season. In most years, one or two of the trips get postponed and a reasonable travel schedule results. Not so in 2010! Over a 6 week period, I'll be in Moldova, India, SL, and the Philippines. And betwixt those trips is our Annual Board Meeting!

Now that we're to the end of October, I can write from South Asia and look back at wonderful trips to Moldova and India.

A team of eight PEER Servants volunteers were part of the Moldova trip. They included our board chair, Dave Ryder, his wife, Betsy, and three of our Team Moldova members -- Gary Nielsen (his wife, Peggy), Scott Purcell (his wife, Jill), and Leanne Horgan. We were blessed with great hospitality by Ghena and Alina Russ in Moldova. Ghena is the very capable and visionary Executive Director of Invest Credit, our Moldovan microfinance partner. What a privilege it's been to see Invest Credit mature from the day they opened their doors more than 10 years ago to become one of the leading Moldovan microfinance institutions. We have seen God raise up Ghena to position this organization such that it can really bless the nation, and especially the Christians, of Moldova. You have probably heard me tell the story of Vasile the sausage maker or Victor the construction worker/pastor -- there are now hundreds of businesses established through Invest Credit that are providing for Moldovan families, churches, and communities.

This trip was an exposure trip for new PEER Servants volunteers to see Moldova and Invest Credit for the first time, a relationship-building trip for the staff at Invest Credit to get to know the volunteers serving them at PEER Servants, and a strategic planning trip to discuss the bright future of Invest Credit. It was very successful on all three fronts and we look forward to increasing our support of Invest Credit. One highlight of the trip was being able to step into their new mobile office. The Invest Credit team turned a used van into a "branch for the rural poor" complete with computer, printer, internet access, and even a sofa to sit on! The mobile office will go from village to village once a week and offer microfinance services to those who would otherwise not have access given the high cost of establishing a bricks and mortar branch. This is just one example of the bright ideas Ghena and his team have come up with as a means of empowering the materially poor of Moldova in the name of Jesus.

Less than a week after flying west over the Atlantic returning from Moldova, I was flying back east over the Atlantic through Amsterdam and Dubai en route to Kolkata, India. This was an exploratory trip to meet the staff and board of Christian Service Society (CSS), a new prospective microfinance partner. CSS serves 10,000+ of the materially poor in the outskirts of Kolkata. They start with a loan of less than $25. I was extremely impressed with the vision, dedication, and effectiveness of CSS Executive Director Himadri Munshi and his team. CSS represents the "new" potential microfinance partner for PEER Servants. Historically, our partner has been more like an Invest Credit - an indigenous, Christian organization that is a micofinance start-up. The global microfinance landscape has now changed - many parts of the world have a sufficient number of MFIs already. What they need is for the MFIs that are there to be sustainable and capable of offering expended services. So, our new partner focus will transition from start ups to existing indigenous Christian MFIs that show promise of being able to have significantly more impact with the value added by a PEER Servants partnership. This trip suggests CSS is such an organization. I'll bring them before our Board of Directors for vote as a new microfinance partner in January.