Jim Collins: Six Attributes Every Employee Needs

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The Swell

From Loving the Overlooked

They are easy to spot. They look desperately tired. And dirty – like they haven’t changed clothes in weeks. Even in a crowd, they look alone; it’s almost as if you can see the despair settling into their eyes and the burden of worry loading down their shoulders. The swell of new refugees and immigrants into Greece simply doesn’t relent.

In July and August we met many new refugees around Athens: mostly from Afghanistan; often only having been in the city for a day or two; always displaying the despair and worry of new arrivals. With our building closed for construction, our ministry team spent extra time in the city parks and plateias (or neighborhood squares) around Athens this summer. This is where we first encounter these new arrivals.

Refugees and immigrants continue to pour into Greece. As the chart (above) indicates, while the numbers of illegal immigrants has tapered off in Italy and other European ports, Greece is unable to control its borders. Almost 3/4 of illegal immigrants headed for Europe in 2009 used Greece as their point of entry - that’s over 75,000 immigrants! Three years ago, Greece served as the point of entry for about 50% of illegal immigrants coming into the EU; 2010 estimates see that percentage swelling to around 80%. These numbers are coming from a recent article on illegal immigration in Greece in The Economist – it’s well worth the five minutes to read through.

As if not already overwhelming, we must remember that these numbers immigrants PEOPLE are entering a fragile economic and volatile social situation here in Greece. In short, these refugees and immigrants can expect little help from the Greek government – already crippled by innumerable crises in the past year. From the Economist article:

Detention centres for irregular immigrants in Greece are small and understaffed, and there are too few of them. Cash-strapped authorities encourage detainees to move on to Athens before their claims have been processed. And on top of the flow of tens of thousands arriving every year is a stock of an estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants already in the country. The €80m ($103m) the government spends each year on tackling the problem is far from adequate, but with austerity in the air more cash is unlikely to be found.

With this in the air, we are excited (jumping up and down, can’t hardly wait excited!) that we will be reopening our ministry center (the Athens Refugee Center) on Saturday! Please pray for our refugee friends, our ministry team, our updated programing (more on this later) and – of course – the many new refugee friends we’ll be meeting in the next weeks. Thanks for your support, love, and prayers!

Mass Grave Project Video

Take a few minutes and watch this powerful story by Tim Sliedrecht.

Hope While Learning and Launching

This is more of a personal update so feel free to move on and read something more interesting like saving the forests in places like Ethiopia.

As I reflect back on the past couple of weeks, I continue to be filled with hope but I’m reminded that “August is the new September”! In the midst of the summer heat and bygone memories of “lazy days” the motor is revving as we push up to the start line that is “Labour Day”.

These are the days of concentration and focus on top priority activities. These are the days that where we take full advantage of the long hours of daylight, add snippets of recreational activity in an otherwise fully productive period.

Craig Bauman is fully in his role as COO as this was a “form following function” appointment. Craig’s leadership and steady manner has been the rudder of our national operations for some time ... and there was a chorus of ‘amens’ with his role announcement.

On the partnership front, we had good meeting with leaders from Northpark Church, London ON. It was a great process of them putting us through an assessment for partnership potential, values and mission alignment and landing on a discernment process as our next step. Great stuff! Deepens my hope for long-term effective partnerships that empower widows, orphans and refugees.

We’ve been on the journey of partnership with churches around the world and the indicators are good if not powerful that we are on the right track. Better said, we are on the same track with many leaders and moving in the same direction. This week alone, we signed a partnership agreement, drafted the next level for another, had several requests for exploring new partnerships and turned down a couple that don’t fit with iTeams Canada. Wow ... lots of activity ... lots of decisions!

We had a BBQ at our place with the people who will be involved in a major project to help iTeams build on the growing interactive use of our online presence. (That was a mouthful of a sentence!) As we build, you will see more about our partners, get easy access to global projects and lots of information “flow” -- like news, what’s happening now, reports and plans. Our leaders and partners will have greater access and greater influence and that too gives me hope.

My great hope for this project based on recent results that tells us what “you” are looking for!

I had some great conversations with our leaders in places like Austria, Athens, Wales, US, Australia, Philippines and here in Canada. I met with a number of “old friends” or is that “long-time friends” on a variety of personal and organizational items. My soul takes hope in these friendships as I find that I receive more than I give. I trust my friends feel likewise.

Yvonne, Luciana and Nickie

And as a special treat, Yvonne and I had dinner and mini-holiday with our Brazilian friends Nickie and Luciana. They are a great couple and a wonderful addition to Canada. Nickie is working on his masters in Hydrology while Luciana has an extensive resume in marketing and has just been hired by Research in Motion (RIM) starting today! (Mon Aug 23). Bright, dedicated, young and ready to sacrifice for their futures, their families, their friends -- knowing new Canadians like Nickie and Luciana gives me hope for our country’s future.

For someone like me, taking time to reflect back and look forward brings hope. My spirit runs on ideas and inspiration and out these I work to create optimism and hope. I find that many people, hope is in short supply.

So my question to you is ... where does your hope come from?

I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains?
 No, my strength comes from God,
  who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
Psalm 121:1,2 The Message

Gut Wrenching Hope

Sebastian Biber

Pictured here is my friend Sebastian, a fun and happy kid from Austria. Yvonne and I love him and his parent Peter and Maria. Last time they visited with us, Sebastian made us laugh so much and brought real joy to our home.

He was traveling North America by "couch surfing" and introduced us to this cool kind of travel. Sebastian is just that kind of person ... the kind who can go from home to home (couch to couch), meet new people, make friends, bring laughter and leave a blessing.

Tragedy hit their town in Austria as one of Sebastian's close friends drowned. Peter told me that Sebastian gathered friends on the couch in his own home and was helping them process the grief. In the midst of his own loss, he was helping others. Well done my friend!

When a young life is lost, it is tragic, when those closest feel like they could have ... should have done something, it is even more tragic. To be clear, there is no blame here, nothing that could have been done, but that does not stop friends from playing out the "what if "scenarios over and over.

Our son Brett has been through this journey as he lost a very close friend and like Sebastian, helped his friends process pain, loss and grief while he walk that deep valley. Its just gut wrenching.

So Sebastian, we pray for you ... we pray with you. We cry with you and we love you. We pray for your friends and for their families as they go through this gut wrenching loss.

This is my hope ... as you face the reality that life and death live as neighbours in our world, may you continue to choose life. Yes, there is always hope! Gut wrenching hope.

Conservation of Ethiopia’s Church Forests

Conservation of Ethiopia’s Church Forests by bugcounter:

Closer view of Debresena church forest- South Gondar, Ethiopia (Photo–Alemayehu Wassie)
My primary reason for this trip to Ethiopia is to lend a hand to a team of researchers who are working to conserve the biodiversity of Ethiopia’s church forests. Ethiopia’s Christian heritage is about as old as the religion itself. The land that churches are built on are considered holy land and are spared the harvesting of trees for building material, fuel, and agricultural land.

Some of these forests are 1,500 years old and exist as “hot spots” or reservoirs of biodiversity. We will survey the relative distribution and abundance with special focus on assessing the ecosystem services that insects provide (as pollinators, herbivores, seed dispersers, and agents for seed germination, and nutrient cycling). With this data, we will make recommendations for conservation and management of these last remnants of Afro-montane forests of Ethiopia.

Another important part of our work here is to empower Sunday school children as the future stewards of these forests. We will engage children in the observations, surveys, and appreciation of their local insects. Because this conservation priority, the sites that were selected are adjacent to elementary schools with active Sunday school programs.

Craig Bauman appointed Chief Operating Officer

Craig and Leilani Bauman

I’m pleased to announce that effective August 1, Craig Bauman has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer of International Teams Canada, a strategic move that I feel will help us build even greater capacity as we work together on our common goal of helping churches help the poor.

Craig has been with IT Canada since 1999, most recently as our Director of Operations. As we’ve moved toward greater partnership with churches in recent years, Craig has taken a strong leadership role in the redesign of our systems and agreements, helping us to become significantly more effective as a result. As COO, he will continue to push forward with these initiatives, while also overseeing the management of our international programs, as well as our Finance, IT, and HR departments. Craig will continue to report to me, and staff in those areas will report directly or indirectly through Craig.

The Board of Directors has been very encouraged by Craig’s leadership over the past 11 years and have expressed their appreciation for Craig’s ability to increase the scope of his leadership and contribution to International Teams as his level of responsibility has grown.

On a personal level, I’m excited to begin working with Craig in this new capacity. The past number of years have seen solid growth in partnership with churches in Canada and around the world, and I very much believe that the stability he offers is foundational for our next phase of growth and ministry. Craig leads people and processes very well, and has a unique personal touch that ensures he is well-liked and well-respected within our organization and beyond.

Please join me in congratulating Craig on his new role.

Check out their family blog at Paths of Life

My friend Tim writes about "Within a Yard of Hell"

Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.  C. T. Studd

Athens at the height of the Financial Crisis

I was in Athens last week for a networking meeting of Christians working to care for refugees in Europe.  We made a brief visit to a ministry center in the heart of the city where I worked nine years ago, and it really shook me.  The situation when I lived there was desperate, but desperate is no longer a sufficient description of this place.  No picture would do justice.

Thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers find themselves stuck in the cycle of Greece’s overwhelmed and broken bureaucracy, living in hovels or just in the parks, dreaming of a way out.  Many have fled persecution and violence in extreme forms, while others left behind “only” abject poverty and hopelessness.  At certain times of the day, the street turns into an overwhelming and intimidating sea of faces from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa.  Inside an alleyway entrance to the center we were visiting, 50 Afghan women with children in tow lined up to collect basic food staples.  One man asked for money to buy medicine for the sick baby girl he was carrying, but we had to say no.

A few years back that same street became home to a methadone treatment center for drug abusers.  Now hundreds of addicts crowd the sidewalks — shaking, wavering and bobbing about with weak knees, seemingly oblivious to the world around them.  In a desperate search for their next fix, men and women drop their pants without shame or take turns stabbing each other in the back of the neck looking for a vein.  They’ve lost all sense of dignity and are lost in some other world, but it’s the needles in their shaky hands that make me shudder as we navigate the street.

In this same zone legal and not-so-legal prostitution runs rampant both day and night.  Women from Africa and Eastern Europe are lured in with promises of jobs and a new future only to be forced into sex slavery.  Some are physically held in confinement.  Others are kept through psychological and emotional abuse involving tales of impossible debts and threats of harm to their loved ones should they flee.  Brothels are lined up one after another, marked with simple white light bulbs left on outside the doors.  The men exiting brothels into the daylight look sheepishly at the ground, avoiding our gazes, and hurry on their way.

I think it is the unrestrained evil in this little triangle of Athens that strikes me most.  Overt, abusive, degrading evil is tolerated.  Police officers wander the streets in a show of power.  They spend most of their time checking immigrants’ documents while casually observing the drug deals an arm’s length away.  It’s like the authorities have given up, having resigned this section of the city to unrelenting darkness, perhaps only hoping to isolate it from the eyes of tourists.

I’m sure this must be what hell feels like.