November 2005

Technology Leadership Conference in Bangkok, Thailand

To view letter in PDF format, click here

Praises

- Praise for the opportunity for Thad to travel to Thailand and the Lord’s provision to send him there. - Praise for continued financial provision from the Lord and for the encouragement that continues to come our way.

Prayer Requests

- Pray for Thad’s safety as he travels to Thailand on November 27th and returns home December 3rd. His 29th birthday is November 29th...pray for him to have a chance to celebrate! - Pray for the Technology Conference as a whole, Thad’s role in ministry technology, and furthering relationships with other techies who have a heart for ministry. - Pray for Jana to have peace while Thad is away. - Pray for financial provision of moving expenses, travel costs, and other one-time needs we have in moving to Germany. - Pray for our focus to remain on the Lord and not our living circumstances or financial needs. - Pray for the completion of our ministry team...for 100% in our monthly support! Also for more opportunities to share with Bible Studies and Sunday School Classes. Pray for our understanding as we trust in the Lord’s timing during this last stretch!

Technology News from Zurich

Please pray for the implementation of quality technology amongst the many countries represented in Agape Europe, pray that all countries and ministries will be unified and willing to centralize technology resources relevant and essential to effective ministry:

“In my 19 years of working in administration, fund development, and different leadership roles, I realized that often the availability of an operational Ministry Application is crucial for real ministry acceleration. Often we challenge someone to start a national ministry but do not give them a powerful application that equips them early on to really succeed. It is a pity that many leaders re-invent the wheel again and again. Eventually, they have invested too much time and money into an individual solution that is inadequate. It is resource consuming and after a certain time, an awful lot of money is needed to bring it to a higher level. If the money is not available, the ministry has to work with an application that has many limitations. In addition, all the applications are different from country to country, so it is not easy to consolidate information out of it.

This situation brought me to the dream that we should have one combined, comprehensive application that manages addresses, seminars, conferences, newsletter subscriptions, financial information (i.e. donations for thousands of designations, salary, accounting, etc.), and many other functions. If every country in our Area uses the same application, we could use a Management Information System that creates reports without requiring countries to send reports individually. Thad would be the person to work with the countries, helping them to customize it to their situation, and install jobs and procedures they can run on a regular basis. IF the existing Accounting part builds the required figures that laws and financial departments of the different nations require, THEN we will start slowly to win country by country.”

- Horst Reiser, Zurich, Switzerland

What will Thad do in Thailand?

In October, I was contacted by the Agape office and invited to a Global Technology Leadership meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. This meeting will be held November 30th to December 2nd. So, yes, I will be in Thailand for my birthday on the 29th.

“The Global Operations team…has identified training as one of the ways we are seeking to increase capacity through improved infrastructure.” Technology has become an integral part of our lives and jobs, as everyone uses computers in some way. The amount of work that someone can accomplish, depends on how well they interact with their computer. Is there an aspect of ministry that can be done faster if they were able to do it on a computer? Can their ministry be improved if they know their computer better?

Several problems arise from this. One is that computers do not always work. In case of failure, was data protected? Could the problem have been avoided? How do we train staff to better secure their computers? Then progress into using common applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, email and the internet. As job requirements change, the need for understanding security, infrastructure and current technology increases. What tools are currently available? How can we increase capacity (do more), in this case, using technology?

So, now we need to figure out where everyone stands. “Our next step in improving capacity in an area is to assess where each country stands in relation to the skills in the generalist technology training. What training is needed? What is needed most critically?”

To this end, further agenda for the meeting involves a sample training session, developing an assessment tool to help us understand our training needs, and developing as leaders in respective roles. I am excited to be involved in the direction that technology is taking in ministry and see God do wonders through a machine.

Sincerely,