Andronicus and Junia: Apostles?

"Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who are in prison with me and are prominent among the apostles. They belonged to the Messiah before I did." - Romans 16:7​

@garethindman8144 your proposed reading that they were of note among other apostles is a possible reading of Romans 16:7. However there is a more natural way to read it which simply states that they were apostles themselves. This view has also traditional and scholarly support:

1. John Chrysostom (4th Century Church Father): "Greet Andronicus and Junia... how great the wisdom of this woman must have been, that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle." ... "To be an apostle is something great. But to be outstanding among the apostles—just think what a wonderful song of praise that is!" - (Homily 31 on Romans)

2. Richard Bauckham (Modern Biblical Scholar): "The phrase 'notable among the apostles' does not mean that Andronicus and Junia were well known to the apostles, but that they themselves were distinguished members of the group designated 'apostles' in the early Church." - (Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels)

3. N.T. Wright (New Testament Scholar): "Andronicus and Junia were apostles, part of the foundational missionary group who were sent out to plant churches, preach the gospel, and represent the risen Jesus in the wider world." - (Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part Two)

4. James D.G. Dunn (New Testament Theologian): "The most natural way to understand 'outstanding among the apostles' is that they were themselves apostles, not simply well known to the apostles. The term 'apostle' was used more widely in the early Church than simply of the Twelve and Paul... It applied to key figures in missionary outreach and church planting." - (Word Biblical Commentary on Romans)

5. Eldon Jay Epp (Biblical Scholar): "Andronicus and Junia were apostles, recognized as such by Paul, because they fulfilled the role of being sent out (Greek: apostolos) to proclaim the Gospel and establish Christian communities. Paul’s praise of them reflects their apostolic authority and prominence." - (Junia: The First Woman Apostle)

6. Ben Witherington III (New Testament Scholar): "The phrase ‘notable among the apostles’ indicates that Andronicus and Junia were part of the apostolic circle, involved in missionary activity, and distinguished by their efforts. This phrase, within the broader Pauline usage of the term 'apostle,' implies a recognized leadership role." - (Paul's Letter to the Romans)

Step Up Your Game with 2018

Happy New Year 2018 to all the readers of Help Me Understand blog. Today marks the beginning of my first blog-post for the year 2018. I am feeling in a story-telling mood and that is exactly what I am going to do.  

'Why do you like reading books' my cousin Tony asked me exasperated once. He had tried unsuccessfully to bring me out of the bedroom where it seemed to him I had spent most of my holiday times in. The year was 1998, I had just started my fourth year of high-school. Though i wasn't able to answer him intelligently at the time on why my eyes clung to this particular book the whole holiday, I think I can do so now. I was reading my first troubling book, 'The Normal Christian Life' by Watchman Nee. He wrote differently from every other authors I had read at that time. His writing style was new to me. He could vividly describe a complex situation simply by appealing to casual words, no sophisticated words in his writing. He had a fine use of common words.   

Stacking books after books after it, my reading became intoxicating as I grew up, thanks to my parents' encouragement. Given that I had come to split my time between dialogues and debates with spiritual opponents, Brahnamists and Jehovah Witnesses, I had come to read a lot of their respective documentations. One of them which I came to like despite our opposite views on religion and Christian doctrines, was the Jehovah Witness book that dealt with youth, 'Les Jeunes s'interrogent.' It was the best resource out there I could find dealing with behavior and teenage lifestyle. The book was so accessible and less dogmatic which I think played in its favor unlike their Watch Tower editions. In one of its chapters, the authors encouraged teenagers to be careful about their reading habits and they made a remarkable comment that has stuck with me up to this day and I paraphrase it, 'Reading a book is like having a conversation with the author. And some authors are not worth having a conversation with.' This piece of advise has encouraged me to be selective in my readings and it has given me a different outlook on literature. Reading is an opportunity to be in conversation, so to speak, with an author. And boy, i have been in conversation with some minds that have totally changed me.

The year was 2007 and I was reading 'Dream and you will win the World' by Cesar Castellanos. I came to a chapter where the story of his wife is recounted. She was watching a particular TV program and on the program a lady practicing new age spirituality was the main guest. The new ager lady had many repulsive views to her taste. Adding insult-to-injury, she also revealed that she would be running as a presidential candidate in Columbia. By the end of the TV program, Castellanos wife found herself mumbling and lamenting to herself, 'How can this country change if we have people like this running our country?' and almost suddenly as she mentally uttered these words, she heard what she identified as the voice of the Holy Spirit challenging her with these mental counter-thoughts, 'Then why don't you run for presidency?'

She took it as a lesson realizing that you shouldn't just complain in life, sometime you have to act. She ran for presidency and lost the election in Columbia when there were only two remaining national candidates. Though she didn't reach the supreme position, she became influential and was able in many ways to influence public opinion with her perceived ethical views based on her Christian worldview.

This story really hit me like a load of bricks. As I was reading the book, incidentally at my campus was running a recruitment of student representatives. The position was widely advertised on campuses running for weeks. I didn't even think about it as I daily passed it on my way to or from school. Upon the book read, I was reminded that I had always complained that students at the University were doing drugs and other things that affected their academic performance. Sometime I did pray for it but that was all. Now things were different. I had been in "dialogue" with an author who would awaken my resolve into going the extra mile. I felt compelled to apply for this academic position. I became restless. My thoughts were agitated during day and night. Many objections came to my mind on why I should not go for it, chief of them: I was a foreign student, a foreigner! "Who will vote for me anyway?", I asked myself repeatedly. I wasn't even sure what would I do even if I became one of the elite student representative at the University in charge of five campus with close to 60,000 students. In brief, I was afraid and sweating fear.

Being unsuccessful to dissuade myself out it, I chose the path of least resistance - I embraced the challenge. Going one more time through the requirement listed, I decided to apply by faith. I was tired of complaining and running away each time I saw an opportunity to make a commitment to affect changes in my immediate surrounding. I had to make a decision that night in my room as I closed the book one last time. My choses were clear: Either I stop complaining at what happens in the Campus or I get involved and bring the little light I have as God's allows me. After some time in prayers, I finally decided to respond to the inner call. I went through the opening positions, and their requirements. I got confirmation that I was indeed eligible as Head Mentor_Student Representative candidate. I had only one problem, I wasn't known. A big issue since candidate would be voted. Mentor students from all campuses of our University (in Pretoria) would be present for the election. I proceeded anyway with my application. I chose a position that reflected best my immediate interest, Head Mentor_Student Representative in charge of Academic Portfolio. I gave God one condition though before I submit my candidacy, 'please, you know I know no body, I would appreciate as a sign that you are in this affair that you allow that I be elected at 100%'. If you dream big, why stop with the election success? I was in for the kill. I wanted a Soviet score. 

The election day came, we were at the main Campus of Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), a distant campus from Arcadia campus where I usually attended my classes. As expected, I saw probably 1 or 2 person that I knew among the participants coming for the votes. Not a good start, I needed more than 2 votes to be elected. Darkness started falling upon me. I kept hope rationalizing that this was just the beginning and were were still waiting for other voters to arrive fort the election.

By the time the election process begun, I looked again around me and noted with horror this time that all the rest of the voters were perfect strangers! The leader of the event, a psychologist/psychiatrist by academic training involved in student life, call the room in order and explained the electorate process. All candidates of different portfolios were invited to give a speech on who they were and to present their intellectual program, followed by votes from student mentors from different campus choosing who fit best the advertised position. Different positions, there were only 5 portfolios, were presented by the leader of the electorate commission. Candidates walked on the hot-spot to pitch their programs. And the votes were casted. Then came the turn of the portfolio on academics. I was shaking and almost cursing myself for being so vain and audacious as to think that I could even be a likely candidate. I had no faith at that time and in that room. I had lost my faith.  I forgot about the book I read, and if I remembered it, I would have cursed the author. I had a good life, a uneventful life but a peaceful life nevertheless until I read him. Why did I want to put myself in a position were failure was a possibility? Why did I do it? I regretted.

My name was called. I felt as pined on my chair. They called me twice and people started looking around. The one person who knew me looked at me as if to say, 'they are calling you!' Damn it, no where to hide. I stood up and walked to the stage swallowing my fear as much as I could. It seemed as a long walk. I ran mentally through my program speech that I had rehearsed the previous day and in the morning when my faith was still alive and incendiary. I gave my small presentation to the gazing audience, trying to find a friendly face I could focus on and administrate the totality of message. My presentation ended, people applauded respectfully. Then they called the other candidates for this same position on Academics. No one stood up. They insisted, no one was there. It looked like I was the 'Candidat unique'. I was voted at 100% with no abstention. The mentor group applauded their new student representative in charge of the academic portfolio. I smiled, barely realizing what was happening. I waived confidently, greeting them with a growing confidence. My faith at that time had completely returned! Did God really answered my prayers literally? I was mildly shaking my head as I was going to the new honorific chair prepared for the winner of this position.

The year 2007 to March 2009 was indisputably one of the best years of my student life and arguably my best intellectual years yet. I practiced faith as never before in my life. My wife sometimes asks me, 'what did they give you in South Africa? You always talk about it.' I always laugh. I can't stop thinking of my life then, for I have seen God walk with me in a new and unexpected way. Matter of fact, He has never stopped doing so even when I left South Africa to Rwanda, nevertheless what I had experienced there has left a mark in my mind. Probably because it was a formative year, a learning time, a time when I did many things for the first time. Maybe that is why it has marked me so much. I have lived other incredible moment of God's actions since then - sometime even more than what I lived in South Africa, but it is always difficult to compare the current moment when the marvelous is not new with when the marvelous is first experienced.

With this I end my story-telling, as I got on to vacate into my many pending project currently awaiting my attention. Be faithful and dare to believe and to try in this new year 2018. It won't cost you to try but it would cost you regrets if you do not try. To the immortal words of Pastor Rick Godwin from San Antonio, Texas: 

'Live full and die empty'

Have a blessed, prosperous and productive New Year 2018 in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Being a Great Christian

Being a Great Christian

It is not a carnal desire to want to be great among your brethren. When the disciples asked Jesus about who will be the greatest among the disciple in Luc 22:26, Jesus did not reproach them for wanting to be great in God’eyes. Jesus redefined for them what it meant to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. The greatest in God’s eye will be the one who will be servant of others. The better we serve, the greater we are in the Eternal Kingdom. Chip Ingram in his 2007 book, “Good to Great in God’s eyes”, he gave 10 practices that great Christians have in common. The 10 were collected through plenty of Christians’ biographies over the history of Christendom. Below are 4 of those practices that I selected for my Saturday sermon at the Living Word Association at Diplomat hotel.

1.       Think Great Thought

During 12 years of research, Dr. Jack Kaskin professor at the University of Tennessee reported the result of the influence of the Media on how people think.  Two groups of people were subjected for 5 min a day with news. 1 group listened to bad news, while the other group (Control group) heard good news. After evaluating the groups, the control group which had positive news was more positive about life and had an uplifted mood. While the one with bad news reacted in 4 ways:

a.       They were more depressed; b. they believed the world was a negative place, c. they were less likely to help others, d. they began to believe that what they heard would soon happen to them.

Simply by receiving the 5 minutes of news per day from the radio, their concept of life were shaped. Whether we like it or not, what we think influences what we do or how we live.

How to remedy that? Philippians 4:8 gives us a way. It teaches us to always think great thoughts.

Here are areas where great thought could be thought about: 1) Think great thought about God: Rom11:33-36; Es. 55.; 2) Think great thought about yourself. Not in a vain way but in a responsible way: Zephaniah 3:17. ; 3) Think great thought about others, Do not despise people. See them as being people of value. Do not rely only on what you see. 1 Sam 16:7.; 4) Think great thought about the Future, Believe that you have a future and that you biography doesn't necessary means it is your destiny. Things can and will change in the future. Jeremiah 29:11.; 5) Think great thought about the past. Let us not be slave of our sad and unpleasant past experiences. Let us learn to contextualize our past. Philippians 3:13-14.; 6) Thing great thought about challenges. With challenges come the opportunity for new victories and a greater renown. James 1:2-4.

2.       Read Great books

Great people read great books, they mostly have that in common. This is a way we can lear from other people success or failure and see how best to apply or follow their examples without repeating their mistakes.

Read books that:

a)      Shape your world view: biographies. Eg. Happiest Men on Earth – Demos Shakarian; b) Shape your mind: Apologetics: Eg. Mere Christianity – C.S Lewis; c) shapes your heart: Eg. Books about prayers: Prayer Key of Revival – Paul Yongi Cho; Beyond Jabez – Bruce Wilkerson. d) shape your skills: Eg. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey. e) Shape your souls: Eg. Books by Derek Prince. f) The Bible, which is the book that will guide you in the area of your future book readings.

3.       Pursue Great People

Great Christians learn from the best. There is an Axion that says: We become most like those we admire and those with whom we interact most frequently. The book of Proverb 13:20, encourages us to walk with the wise. Hebrews 13:7, encourages us to imitated those who have shown exemplary faith. You can also learn from influential people by proxy, by making use of Tapes, Videos, Books, Phones and Internet, etc.

4.       Pray Great Prayers

Great Christians pray great prayers. Few things to know about great prayers: Great prayers are birthed in brokenness. There is a way that makes us also broken without experiencing the harshness of life; it is the practice of fasting. We always remember the reason why we fasted just like broken people remembers what broke them. Great prayers take God at his word: Nehemiah 1:3-11. 

Top Young Entrepreneur of Rwanda 2012

It was a great and a humbling experience to have been initially among the Top 10 young Entrepreneur of Rwanda 2012. And then among the Top 3 young Entrepreneurs of Rwanda 2012. My company El Puente ltd. that i co-founded with Maurice Masozera has seduced more than one during the selection and the competition process.

May God be glorify for that!
P.S: Don't forget to check out my book - Help Me Understand Jesus. Check My Book by clicking here or more here.

EL PUENTE LTD.

 EL PUENTE LTD Company 
"Bridging the gap"
 Cell: 0783867447, 0788762856

Translation/Interpretation Services

Translation is vital to the success of every company that expands into multicultural markets. But not just any translation will do – to truly set our service above the competition in your target market you need the most accurate, most message-conscious marketing material translation services out there. And you'll get them from El Puente Ltd. Our mission is to provide businesses and organizations with the comprehensive, high quality translation service they need to reach out to customers and clients in different languages. We have a qualified and trained team of translators in French, English, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, Chinese, Spanish and more. El Puente Ltd used to be the language department of E_excellence Company for years. Now it has taken a juridical personality of its own since the year 2011. El Puente Ltd. is your company's source for multi-language translation solutions. El Puente Ltd. is registered by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) under the code 102527891 at the Office of the Registrar General (ORG).

Professional, quality multi-language translation services, offered by El Puente Ltd will assist you in communicating with your target market. Cross-cultural communication is what makes it possible for businesses and organization to expand internationally, and eventually globally. Translation helps brands strife in contemporary culture. El Puente Ltd. will assist you in keeping the clarity of your message as originally intended.

Clarity – Keep Your Original Message

El Puente Ltd will not just translate your documents, websites, ads and brochures word for word, but we will focus on your message. We make sure that the intent of your message goes completely undamaged through the translation process. We are as much culture sensitive as much as language experts. We are aware that a particular word or phrase might have the wrong effect in a different language, and hence we are committed in finding alternative wording that sends your exact message to your target audience, in their language, and within their cultural boundaries.

Our Translation Services


Here's a short list of services we can provide:
 Financial & Marketing translation
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Contact us 24 hours a day by email: elpuente12@gmail.com or call us at (+250) 788762856 / 0783867447. We'll get your translation project done better, faster, and at an affordable genuine value for what you will pay for.

The Courage To Bring Change

We are in a new year and we all are hoping to see some changes in our lives and around us. As Christian we really should also be thinking in those same terms. We definitely need change in our personal life if not  nationwide. A Mom, ‘Candy Lightner', saw her 13 year old girl be killed by a drunken hit and run driver as she walked down a suburban street in California. The year was in 1980. She made a promise to herself after beeing struck by  this tragedy. She resolved that this will never happen again to other moms'! Later, she founded an association called  MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). Few years later her voice reached the United State Supreme Court,  and that led to a change of policy in the whole country in 1987. Though she was not influent at the beggining, her association after 7 years changed the rule of the land. A young black minister, recently graduated from Boston University, was struck with the utter indifference and social intolerance in his country. He fought to revert the stream. Today he is remembered as one of the most  respected civil right leader of his country. His name is Martin Luther King Jr. A short and animated leader gave rise to what the world will never forget in 1940's. Hitler was singularly responsible for the annihilation of 6 millions of Jews. After the sacrilegious events of the 40's, Jews all around the world said "NEVER AGAIN" and boys they meant it! Today Hitler is probably the most hated dictator of all time. Even though unscrupulous man such as Stalin singularly was responsible for more killing than Hitler, Stallin slaughted 15 millions of his own people, but Hitler is still regarded as THE villain of villains. All this just to show you that change can happen, but it doesn't happen by chance, or merely by accident. First, a change and reformation comes when we cannot and will no longer tolerate a situation. Second, we need more than just to be dissatisfied about a situation, we also need to provide an alternative to the unpleasant  situation we are trying to change. Negative thoughts and mere speeches will not take us where we desire to be. Now, do you want to see a change? Or launch a movement? Do not only be "Anti- what you despise" but be "Pro - whatever change you want to see". Believe in your dream, dream big and embrace the change the 'Dream' brings to your life. I hope everybody reading this will take heed of the opportunity the new millennium has brought to us and may God make our countries incredibly productive in Jesus’ name. This is my wishes to all of you who will read it and  will start living your 'dreams' by God’s grace. ... Please feel free to also Check My Book here.

JUST D0 IT!

Hello friends in the Lord,



Today I'd like to go on the same line of thought as Laurianne did on the Jeunnesse Chrétienne forum (J.C). Yes, she has touched my darling subject -- Leadership!

"... imagine how much we are missing if the genius that is crying out in you is not heard." - Lauri   

She ended her post with these above powerfully charged strings of words. Indeed! How much we have been missing all these times before she wrote this (smile) and all we are again missing all these times that you are not writing on J.C - correction - you are no sharing your thoughts on J.C!?

We have all been gifted by God with talents - and i am glad to announce that the ability of writing is not one of them - that is what i believe. Nope. Writing is not a talentlearned. It is not an inborn gift. It is a mean that we acquire through academic training in order to communicate with others. Some write loquaciously, other do them poetically if not artistically, again other do them casually or more, academically, or technically, or Rhetorically and even worse enigmatically and so on. Each style reflects a person natural talents, passions, interests and gifting - just trying to avoid saying the word 'character'.

Writing is just one of the many tools at our disposal. Find out other venues to express your gifting or talents and use them. Do it, and live without regrets.

Lauri attracted our attention on the fact that we need to find out our area of gifting and then capitalize on that. It is our role to find that out. It is our role to make the choice to use it/them. If we don't choose to act, then no one will choose to do that for us - for you. Her advise reminded me a quote I read once:

"Change Starts with the Recognition of One’s Own Role in the Change" - Unknown Author

This means that if you want to see meaningful change in society - workplace, school, family, etc - then you have also to find out what will be your contribution about that. Why? Because meaningful change doesn't happen by natural selection. It is not the product of wish and effortless dreams. Those kind of Changes have to be driven. They have to be attained by striving. They only occur by design not by chance.

So please, Next time you feel that you wanna do something noble and consonant with your talents -  Just Do It! Id you probably know your talents, or maybe you suspect its existence - then stop dragging your feet by asking yourself hundreds of unanswerable questions and stand up and Just Do It. Use it! Don't talk yourself out of it. We have this terrible habit to talk ourselves out of great opportunities and potentially great experiences. Please Don't Do That! Don't sabotage your progress and your genuine capacity to use your talents and gifting.

As of an example, I know someone in this forum who read the Bible regularly and i am sure that once in a while the person learn a thing or two that is exciting and worth sharing. However, the habit of postponing the sharing of it either in few words or even in few paragraphs depending on one's facility to write, has always prevented the person to share what could be potentially a blessing to others.

I don't have a remedy for such a person than to tell him/her, just do it and stop lamenting on your limitation. Work in the quadrant of your influence and not in the quadrant where you can't change anything. Choose well the sphere of your focus. Avoid any dispersal of your attention because of the unknown. Here is an imprefect example but an example nonetheless! When I wrote my book, I did it with a broken computer/laptop, loosing at time my files. Moreover three of my keyboard touch did not work (namely, the vowel 'o', the letters 'w' and 'q'), which left me with no other choice but to use new coding techniques to make them appear while i wrote. This took me twice the time to write a simple paragraph. If I had to rely on what i couldn't change and complained or waited for a better laptop - i would have still been waiting and never done it.

Certain things in life requires just that you take a bold step and just do them despite the limitations. Imperfection shouldn't be your deterrent in living out your dreams or in expressing your talent and gifting or passion. My dad always reminded me this concept: "C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron". Which means that swordsmith becomes one through practice.

My philosophy about it is this: don't wait to be a perfect 'lover' to love. Just love imperfectly however passionately with authenticity. You'll grow to become a better one. If you write, accept to write imperfectly however with passion and genuineness. You'll turn out to be a better writer with time. And so on!

Hence - Just Do It! ... and let this issue get out of your way! We need your talent - stop making us wait for nothing! Unnecessarily!

Yours in the Master' service.

The Law of Priorities

 The Law of Priorities by Brian Tracy

The very worst use of your time is to do well what need not be done at all. The Pareto Principle says that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of the value of your activities. This means that, if you have a list of ten items to accomplish, two of those items will be worth more than the other eight items altogether.

To achieve great things, you must always be concentrating on the small number of activities that contribute the greatest value to your life and your work.

Determine the Consequences:
The value of anything in your order of priorities can be measured by assessing the potential consequences of doing it or not doing it. Something that is important has significant consequences to your life and your career. Something that is unimportant has few or no consequences of significance to your life or career. The mark of the superior thinker is your ability to consider possible consequences before you begin.

How To Succeed With New Year Resolutions - 2012

Hello all and welcome into the new year 2012. This post is just to call your attention about how you lived last year and how you are preparing to face up the future in this new year. Allow me to start my introduction with this comment:

"Have you ever made a New year's resolution and given up a few weeks or maybe a few hours into the new year? You are not alone. Researchers have discovered that 25 percent of New Year's resolutions are abandoned within the first week; 60 percent are gone within six months. Of those who fail, the majority will make the same resolution year after year for as long as ten years before they either give up or finally succeed in making a change that lasts for a least six months." (Christian Counseling, page 5. Gary R. Collins, Ph.D.; 2007)

Not very encouraging, heun?! You are right unless you do some things about it. Some things differently. Brian Tracy in his book, 'The million dollars habits', reveals that close to 4% of all those who make new year resolution without writing them up succeeds and more than 60% of those writing their new year resolutions do achieve them. What does it mean to us? It means that most of our new year resolution are often presented not as resolution but as simple wishes. Any serious resolutions are like agreements and agreement are not just verbally or imaginatively taken but they are lay down - written down. The difference between the new year resolutions agreement to other businesses or professional agreements, is that the new year resolutions are often/mostly agreement with ourselves.

Isn't it strange that when we make an agreement with ourselves we do them lightly? we do not take it seriously to the point of 'scriptwriting' it. Especially when we consider that we will live with the choices we will make and take! The year 2011 is gone and what we were not able to accomplish is also gone with it. But thank be to God we do have this new year 2012. Please, make the best of it starting by writing down and planning how to reach your expectations.

Here are some stuffs you may want to consider doing this year among many:

1. There is so many languages around you, why not plan to try and learn one new one this year.
2. There is so many knowledge preserved in books, why not start reading books on subjects that you have recently developed interest.
3. Why not starting reading one new book per month or old interesting books that you can't remember details in order to further your knowledge or your expertise?
4. Consider learning one new sport or starting going to the gym this year.
5. What about learning a new dance style or enhancing the level of the one you already know?
6. What about learning a new musical instrument?
7. Or starting reading your whole Bible within a year?

All these are good resolutions but unless it is written down with an action plan, they will just stay mere wishes or mood whims. I can only hope that you will use your intellect and your faith in God to make those dreams and wishes come into realization during this year 2011.

Remember that a year has 52 weeks. Make them count. Do not delay to take a prompt and proactive actions.

Best of luck for the year 2012 in Jesus' name.
P.S: An excerpt of my book can now be read online. Click here.

Why Great Men Fall - A Review

Few months ago, I read Wayde Goodall's magnificent book - Why Great Men Fall. His view is balanced and persuasive. It touches many aspects of a leader's life. The full book title, "WHY GREAT MEN FALL: 15 Winning Strategies To Rise Above It All" says it all.

The basic question found in the book is this one: Why do leaders derail? One said: "He didn't have any fences in life – safety measures." Another said, "He could not believe it was possible that he would fall." When a broken leader was asked what he felt was the reason for his fall, he said, "I didn't give anyone permission to tell me about my blind spots, I only gave them permission to tell me what I wanted to hear." One pastor said, "I didn't listen to my wife."

The author defends in his work that it is dangerous for anyone to live without accountability. Ted Engstrom said, "An unaccountable spouse is living on the edge of risk; an unaccountable CEO is in danger of taking his company down a wrong road; an unaccountable pastor has too much authority; an unaccountable counselor has too much responsibility and needs too much wisdom to be able to handle it on his own."

He make the assertion that 'Accountability is friend'. He strongly advise successful people, "So keep your ego in check and find a group of guys that like you but are willing to shoot straight with you." He believe that in life you'll always get hurt. The worst one is the hurt of falling so he recommend then to be instead hurt the right way, the biblical hurt, `Wounds from a friend can be trusted' (Prov. 27:6)"

He remarks that in his investigation that "The thought that 'I can do one more thing', 'go a little further' and 'risk a little more' is the common denominator with all who think they can get away with `whatever'."

The author encourage virtue and listening to one conscious but he also caution the blind following of conscience. He believe that conscience is the most important thing in avoiding falling so long that the person has a good basis on which his conscious can work on. The reason is that the author believes like H.C. Trunbull that there is something greater than conscience that need to be in priory firmly established.

H.C. Trunbull said, "Conscience is not given to a man to instruct him in the right, but to prompt him to choose the right instead of the wrong when he has been instructed as to what is right. It tells a man that he ought to do right, but it does not tell him what is right. And if a man has made up his mind that a certain wrong course is the right one, the more he follows his conscience the more helpless he is as a wrongdoer."

So he believe in the famous saying, 'Follow your conscience', as long as the person following his/her conscience has not corrupted his/her understanding of what is right or wrong. Since he is a Christian, he recommend the Bible teaching as the basis to ground one's view of what is right and wrong.

I really found his view fascinating and quite compelling. I give this book a two thumbs up in the category of Applied Ethics and Morality. Here is the Book Contents:

1. Why Great Men Fall; 2. Entitlement (I Deserve This ...); 3. Entrepreneurs without Balance; 
4. Compartmentalization; 5. Expectation of Silence; 6. The Sex Issue - A Magnet for Women; 7. Integrity; 8. Anger; 9. Accountability - Ego in check; 10. Conscience - Compromise; 11. Mentors and Coaches; 12. Ethics; 13. Stress and Pressure; 14. Money; 15. Depression and Moods; 16. The one who can keep you from Falling.

I can summarize his book with this word of his: "Don't let your character get lost in the confusion of what you do."

Excellent reading. I recommend it!

Have a nice day and weekend in Jesus' name.

Leadership: Who Is With You?

Recently as i have been thinking more about the role of leadership and as I prepare for the long overdue Leadership post series here on J.C as i promised, it came to my attention as I re-read the '21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership' book of John Maxwell that support the idea that effective leadership is really conditioned. It is conditioned by the team surrounding the leader.

In his 1998 movie 'Armageddons' Bruce Willis, the heroic character who saved the world from a dangerous asteroid threatening to cause extinction of all human life on earth, refused to work with the best agents from NASA after being solicited by the government officials. He explained why, "I am the best in what i do because i work with the best." With that he required his non- NASA team members to join him for the earth saving mission. And they beautifully succeeded in their mission.

What the Bruce Willis character was saying should make leaders really think long and hard. In the 11th Law of Leadership, Maxwell based the whole chapter on this rule: "A leader's Potential is Determined by Those Closest to Him". He go on telling the story when he was offered the job of leading a Wesleyan Church that had had a great history but couldn't grow. He said himself that after he was retained after the interview for the position of senior pastor at Skyline (the church's name), 'The task that laid ahead of me was clear. I needed to remove the weak leaders I possessed and bring in better ones. That was the only way i would be able to turn the situation around.' So he proceed changing existing leaders and bringing in the best people he could find even from outside the Church. By the end of the three years he had completely 'cleaned house', leaving only two on staff out of the original group. I know it sounds heartless for a christian to do that, but it isn't.

Leadership expert Jim Collin said, a leader should be rigorous but not ruthless. As a result, the inner circle of Skyline leadership had gone to a new level, the organization was able to go to a new level with an almost noticeable change. The Church started growing again after years of growth stagnancy. In less than ten years the Church had triple in size and the annual budget of $800,000 had grew more than $5 million a year.

In Maxwell chapter of the Law of Intuition, He tells the amazing story of Apple Computer. In brief, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started the company at Jobs's father's garage. The year was 1976. Just four years along the way the company went public and turned its forty employees and investors millionaires overnight.
However there was a dark side to story. In 1985, Jobs left Apple having been pushed out in a battle with CEO John Sculley, the former Pepsi president whom Jobs had recruited in 1983. By 1997, sales were depressed and the company was dying. That was when Apple looked again to the leadership of its original
founder, Steve Jobs, for help. They needed to be saved or less they'd perish into oblivion since Microsoft was the great vampire sucking financial life out of everybody. When Jobs came back on board, he reviewed the situation and immediately took action. As Maxwell put it, 'He knew that improvement was impossible without a change in leadership, so he quickly dismissed all but two of the previous board members and installed new ones ... Jobs wanted to get back to the basis of what Apple had always done best: use its individuality to create products that made a difference. Jobs said, "We've reviewed the road map of new products and axed more than 70% of the projects, keeping the 30% that were gems. Plus we're adding new ones that are a whole new paradigm of looking at Computer."'

That is when Apple started turning around, with the first fiscal quarter of 1998 year, within one year of Jobs return, the company registered a net profit of $47 million. 'Prior to Jobs' return,' Maxwell said, 'the company had posted net quarterly losses the previous year totaling more than $ 1 billion.' And you want me to think that leadership is useless? This guy with his new team turn the life of a whole bankrupting company almost in a year! What i am really trying to bring to your attention is the knowledge of how crucial leadership is for the success of a company, an institution or else. And a leader strength is in its surrounding. The Leader needs to be strong himself, and have a clear vision and then attracted quality people, effective leaders as strong as him/herself to get the job done! As i recently said to friends of mine here and there, when it comes to leadership we do not aim for good people. We aim for strong leaders who are good people. There is no compromise if we search for excellence! Mark my words on that!

It is interesting to notice that even in the Biblical world, the belief that a strong team was key to success. Moses asked Joshua to choose warriors before the fight with the Amalekites "And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek:" (Exodus17:9). Gedeons also had to reduce his army from 32000 soldiers to a humble number of 300 soldiers before his fight because he learned from the Lord that victory are won not necessarily by the number of the Army as much as by the quality of the army (Judges 7). Similar stories are found in the Bible, where it is clearly shown that leadership can only go so far and get limited by the quality of people chosen for any given task. Even the Gospel which is said to be the power of God or possessing life and immortality could not go and spread around the world with the wrong quality of people,

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." (2Timothy 2:2)

With this note I wish you all a great weekend under the Leadership of the Holy Spirit.

End 2011: It Is Time To Celebrate!!!!!

We are getting closer to the end of the year. Which means it is PARTY TIME! Right? The partying season has just started. Here are just some of those interesting events that fill this season: Halloween, Thanks-Giving Day (for the reasonable traditionalists), Turkey Day (for the unreasonable modernists), Christmas, New Year Eve, New Year After Party, Weddings, Birthday parties, imaginary birthday parties, School Holidays Parties, anniversaries of all sorts and ETC. With all these, you may feel at one point that your pockets and
your bank accounts will have holes - i don't mean little nails type of holes. I mean end of the world - ARMAGEDDONS Holes' type!!! But be assured, the fault ain't from your banks nor from your pocket design. The reason will be as always - YOU!! You'll have to bare the responsibility of your financial status by the end of this festive season.

You'll have to take ownership of your finances through the mastering of your desires and the ever increasing self-gratifying desire that shoot off on these festive season. What I can assure though, we can't avoid doing some fiesta time to time, especially if you are part of the 21st century youth. It is in our DNA to find excuses to party! The good news though, you can choose where to party, when to party, with who to party and how to party and most importantly how MUCH you'll party! That's the great blessing of free will. You can choose - hence don't be enslaved by peer-pressure. Don't even be a slave of your own emotions because if you are then the 2nd January 2012 - you'll be utterly, irrevocably and totally bankrupt! That's my prediction and it is as good as anything you can take to the bank! :)

When i was still in South Africa, i remember liquor advisement ending with note of caution: "Drink Responsibly". Well, that was so nice of them to say but they never showed nor even hinted how on earth are people supposed to 'Drink Responsibly' strong liquors! So i also feel like letting some of you down since
you just know within you without a shadow of a doubt that whatever i say and whatever you decide, you'll just end up the year with an empty bank account! You don't want that but you just know that this is inevitable. Not even EXORCISM can help you. Laying of hands will just leave you bald but sheer frequency of hands use on you as the weeks rolls down to the new year after parties!

It is at time like this that i will recommend you to re-read the Leadership posts i sent during this November month 2011 in the "ToDay with E.G series". I particularly recommend the use of the Table of priorities in my First Things First post. Make a draft of that table and as honestly as you can fill in the 4 quadrants:

Q1: Important/Urgent; Q2: Important/Not-Urgent
Q3: Not-Important/Urgent; Q3: Not-Important/Not-Urgent

Based on the availability of your funds, fill in the events and celebrations you want to attend. Correction, where did I have my head!? of course you WANT to attend all! Let me say it this way rather, start filling in the events and celebrations You NEED, You SHOULD and You HAVE TO attend as priorities!

In the rare case you happen to not know those priorities, and even by the end of re-reading the first 5 posts on Leadership you can't still figure out the priorities during this festive season and you still look at all the invitations for fiesta from friends, family, workplaces and the Media (News paper, e-News,TV and Radio) as events you NEED and HAVE TO attend - then my dear friend, YOU ARE TOASTED ... Completely!!!

Have a nice weekend in Jesus' name.

P.S: I feel good - Christmas is upon US! Don't U feel that ....  Euphoria ?

ToDay with E.G: Young Leaders! Part 12

When i was a teenager, i was starting to get annoyed with the continuous emphasis that the young people where the strength of the Church, the youth was the future and similar talk. Every single preacher had to find a way to  drop in that overused statement. I suspect that what really annoyed me more was that i didn't see anything of value that the young people around me, included myself, where doing. Most of the time when they were called in public seemed to be about some particular sin they did, which they needed to repent from.

Then the Lord started opening my mind slowly. It started with what i qualified as exceptions. But as exceptions accumulated i had no choice but to reform my mind on this issue. I was told that Watchman Nee wrote his huge tome 'The Spiritual Man' when he was 25 years old. I was impressed and rationalize that exploit saying, 'Watchman Nee is a genius and he was lucky'. Then it started falling on me. News after news. John Maxwell started his leadership practice in his 20's. Billy Graham started his evangelistic efforts in his 20's too. Leadership expert Jim Collins came up with his magnificent book project 'Built to last' when he was 28. In my campus, our department of Biotechnology was led by young lecturers who had their doctorates and even got tenure as professors due to their valuable contribution to science. One of my old professor of Research Methodology even had a microbial specie named after his name. He discovered that in the 70's. It is really a good feeling to walk and study under living legends. It marks you for life.

My mum' always enjoy telling us the story of her school years when she was taught by living legends in the field of Mathematics from Romany. I suspect that is what gave her the drive to never wanting to settle for something less. It is quite impressive as i read in the near past how Under/Graduate Schools that keep producing Nobel Laureates are usually the same kind of schools. It seems to me that beyond the rigidity and strictness of the scholastic endeavors of those institutions, there is also this psychological drive and recognition on the part of their students that they are the best and the elite among the world because their professors are noble laureates, award winners and so on. These students have legends in their faculties and so on, How on earth can they settle for less? The same should be with us. You and I have the greatest legend who has ever lived as a friend and big brother - the Lord Jesus Christ - how can we settle for anything less? Never!

I can say even more on that by naming people like TD Jakes, Martin Luther King Jr. etc, who started to influence the world from their youth. But those few examples above is sufficient to point out how my mind transformation on this issue started to catch up with what the old preachers where telling us. The youth is the key! At least one of the keys of change and ambitious progress.

It became clear to me through my readings that there is a specific range of age where our human innovation and contribution to this earth is high. And i'd like to remind you all of those facts. People can contribute at all ages, thank God for that, but let us remember that based on facts and evidences most of the valuable contribution that we enjoy today came from the youth. Even if we go outside the bible, that speaks of Joseph, Daniel, David, Mary or even Goliath - we find something interesting about what the youth have done in our modern life. Just because i expose that let me just make this biblical comment. It was even explained to David why Goliath was dangerous and terrorizing Israel's soldiers, "And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." 1Samuel 17:33.  He was a man of war from his youth.

Vox Day in his book about Atheism made this comment: 

"Scientists come with a sel-by date . The mathematician G. H. Hardy declared that math is a young man's game, while Albert Einstein formulated the mass-energy equivalence at twenty-six and Sir Isaac Newton's famous annus mirabilis occurred when he was only twenty-three. A California researcher has estimated that the mean age of a biologist's first noteworthy contribution to science takes place when he is 29.4 years old." (Vox Day - TIA - Darwins Juda, page 135)

Dr. Stephen Meyer who won awards because of his 2009 book, "The Signature in the Cell: the evidence for Intelligence Design", had started working on this since 1986 and wrote his doctorate thesis on that in 1991. He was young!

Here is a table that can support that point of views found in TIA quoted above:

Discipline	Mean age of first contribution	Mean age of best contribution
Mathematics	27.3	38.8
Astronomy	30.5	40.6
Physics	29.7	38.2
Chemistry	30.5	38.0
Biology	29.4	40.5
Medicine	32.3	42.1
Technology	31.6	39.7
Earth sciences	30.9	42.5
Others	33.4	41.6

SOURCE:Dean K. Simonton, University of California at Davis.

It has also came to my attention that most of the developments that we have in computers mostly came from young people- look at FaceBook, Google, etc. Some of the computer genius started their work when they were young - Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft and probably others that i don't know. :)

All this just to say that, the leadership advise i gave through the 'ToDay with E.G' are not just good advise that will be needed later in life, when we are getting older, when we will be serious to start doing great things in life. Nope! These advises and posts are given to you free of charge so that you may start looking at your life, hard and long, and see that effectiveness can be achieved by all if only all knew how to do it. Those who have been focused in life and learned a thing or two in their earthly pilgrim have contributed much more than for their own lives, they also contributed in the lives of others.  A last quick example. Remember that most of our warriors who stopped the Rwandan Genocide were young people in their 20's and 30's. Some of them are dead and some of them are alive. Both of these groups have something in common - they changed the lives of millions of people beside their own and we are indebted to them all - the living and the dead.

Now it is your time! This is not a cliché statement but a statement based on evidence and organized statistics as seen on the table above. Now is your time and mine to add value to this world with our lives, intellects, finances, times, knowledge and all kind of resources the Lord has availed to us by his grace. Some have gifts others have talents - let's make use of them at the best level of our abilities. Make sure that you do not cut yourself off of this rich world history of young people. Your time - my time!

In Mathew 25:14-30, Jesus teaches us two things about the use of talents. The first one is faithfulness (a habit) and the other one is laziness (a habit). The true fight for significance and productivity hang in the balance of your habits. Choose well your habits because the habits you choose will determine how you'll be remembered at your death and for years, decades and centuries to come if Christ Jesus is not yet back! And if He is back .. then just read Mathew 25 and you'll get the picture.

Leadership is about influence. The first person you need to learn and consistently influence is yourself. Influence yourself to adopt the kind of life that are consistent with the values you have decided to adopt as per the step two of the two creations we talked about: start with the end in mind!

I'll end with the word of an other J.C Moderator - Mr. Ngabe R. In the welcoming page of Jeunnesse Chrétienne Forum he quoted this scripture: "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";" Ecclesiastes 12:1, English Standard Version.

May the Lord in Jesus' name encourages you and inspires you for greatness in all the respective fields in which you are in.