An Exclusive interview with Alumnus - Rev.Timothy Phaomei
Welcome to New Jersey Alumni
The terrible events of 1994 were still three years away when Jean Baptiste Mugarura attended H.I. Singapore. Employed by the National Bank of Rwanda, Mugarura had a vision to reach every young Rwandan with the Gospel. But he didn’t know the “how.”
“I needed to know how I should invest my time, talents and treasure,” he explains. “I wanted to improve my skills in leadership and ministry.” He found the 1991 seminar life changing. In particular, he was struck by Dr. Haggai’s lectures on fundraising and goal-setting. “Haggai Institute,” he declares, “helped me to redefine my vision.” He was to draw on these new skills more deeply than he ever dreamed. Returning to Rwanda, Mugarura developed a model of youth ministry he could take to the churches. He divided his teams into groups of six. This helped group members study the Bible together, and pray and minister together in the neighborhoods. At the first church where he applied the model, attendance at the youth meeting jumped from below 40 to 137. Within three years, Mugarura had trained 75 youth leaders in Christian leadership. His team reached all the markets and schools in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Some young people were won to Christ while they were on their way to the markets to steal! At this point, Mugarura received an invitation to start a Rwandan Youth For Christ. Realizing that YFC shared his vision for evangelism, he accepted. But Rwanda, a tiny landlocked state on the fault lines of the great African Rift Valley, was breaking apart socially too. A million perished in less than three months. A further three million were displaced, many going in to exile. The genocide left behind it a legacy of psychological trauma and widespread poverty. Many churches emerged leaderless.
During these cataclysmic events, Mugarura lost 90 percent of the people on his teams, his steering group, and his donor base. He admits frankly, “It was probably the darkest part of my life. It was the valley of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37.” But his H.I. training was to prove decisive. Seeing clearly the challenge ahead, Mugarura gave up his job at the bank and committed himself to serve fulltime with Youth For Christ. He did not even draw a salary. He plunged into a variety of programs to further the Gospel and rebuild the nation. Mugarura used all possible means of reaching young people in schools, in churches, on the streets and in the jails. He got involved in trauma healing, reconciliation work, and the promotion of sexual abstinence and faithfulness in marriage as a means of combating Africa’s raging AIDS epidemic. By these means, he estimates, he has “reached thousands of young people in Rwanda with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” In September 2001, Mugarura took up a new position as East African Regional Director of Youth For Christ. But he remains focused on his original vision. “I am committed more than ever to leadership development,” he insists. “My goal is to train 1,200 people in leadership by the year 2020. On a corporate level, we are committed to be God’s catalysts in faithfully developing a pan-African generation of young people who will be characterized by prowess in spiritual warfare, boldness in evangelism, passion in social involvement and godliness in leadership — a generation that will make a difference. Mugarura’s specific goals include:Training 300 youth leaders by 2003.
Reaching 30,000 young people with the Gospel by 2004.
Building a leadership training center, retreat center and high school by 2003.
Holding an international youth leaders’ conference for 1,000 delegates in December 2002.
Says Mugarura, “God saved me. He allowed me to attend Haggai Institute. I am convinced that I am going in the right direction. Through H.I., Jesus opened my eyes to see where I should go and how I should get there. I thank the sponsors of my training at H.I. Their investment is yielding heavenly dividends.”
Rev. Timothy Phaomei, Imphal, Manipur who attended H.I. session 227 in April 1995 in Singapore is a gentleman with ever smiling face and quite extrovert in nature. An M.A. in biblical studies from North-West Baptist Seminary in USA is presently pastoring Manipur Baptist Convention Centre Church in Imphal. Rev. Timothy recalls the wonderful session in Singapore and says “ H.I. training has equipped me to take the challenges of ministry with courage and given me a focus to go ahead. I was like a driver without having a road map. Now, I have it.” Apart from his pastoral ministries Rev. Timothy is involved with many other organisations. He conducts weekly bible studies for different groups thrice a week and a bible study for the professionals once a month. After Singapore he is regularly conducting leadership seminars for his people once in a year. He also a faculty of HI . He is so much convinced with the H.I. style of training he goes onto say that “ HI principles are glued in my life and it has become a system in me.” Every training he conducts he tries to do in H.I style .
About his ministry philosophy he says “.. my ministry is unique because it is people oriented. I mix up with the poor and the rich, the adults and the young. I like to be simple and informal whereas most of the pastors are very formal and less approachable by people. That’s sad. I even teach in Sunday school classes….” Here is a wonderful story of an evangelistic outreach conducted by Gospel For Asia, in Hiyangthang, Manipur on 12 June’00 where Rev. Timothy was the speaker. The outreach was mainly for the youths of Hiyanthang area where sixty Hindu Meitei youth participated. Rev. Timothy took the session in a class room setting and explained the story of sin and salvation. The deliberation was more like a H.I seminar rather than a usual gospel sermon. After having finished his message he appealed for a verdict from the youths and asked them to respond if they were willing to accept this great gift of salvation. 45 out of 60 responded immediately and raised their hands. Then, Rev. Timothy explained them about their commitment and the price that they might have to pay for. Some got frightened and when he asked them to raise hands again the number reduced to 42. But the three who backed out in the second round raised a pertinent question of how to face that kind of situation when they will be accepting Christ. Rev Timothy got another chance to explain the cost of following Jesus and how to respond to the situation when persecution will arise. Then again for the third time he asked all of them to think and raise hands as a token of their true commitment if they want to really follow Jesus in spite of all the hardship that they may have to face. Again all the 45 hands went up. All of them are Hindu Meitei of Manipur. Praise the Lord !
Is H.I. training impacting, equipping and motivating people to evangelise? The answer of this question lies in the above story.
Relighting the Leadership Fire
Ask On Hee Bae which leader he most admires, and he will tell you, “Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Then he smiles. “But the next one is Admiral Yi Sun-Shin, who rescued Korea from the Japanese invader.” Yi Sun-Shin was one of several Korean leaders who deserve the title “genius.” Faced in 1592 with a surprise attack by vastly superior forces, Sun-Shin responded with new technology. He invented the “turtle-ship,” the world’s first ironclad warship. Over the next six years, he used his small naval force to annihilate the entire Japanese fleet. When he died, hit by a stray bullet during the final engagement, he had scored twenty-three successive victories – and no defeats. Monuments to Yi Sun-Shin can be found all over Korea . But where now is the tradition of great leadership he represented? Nowhere outside the Christian church, says Bae. Korean Christians like David Yonggi Cho and the late Han Kyung Chik have exemplified true leadership. But in the secular culture, says Bae, “most of the people do not know leadership, and are not familiar with leadership roles. Americans always use the word leadership. Even the children use it. But not in Korea .” Bae, a 1994 alumnus of Haggai Institute, sees it as his mission to reverse that decline. He believes that Christianity holds the key to restoring true leadership in Korea . And he sees Haggai Institute's teaching as the most powerful embodiment of the leadership ideal. Bae himself became a Christian through the influence of a high school teacher.
He soon became an effective witness to his family. His mother, who at first discouraged Bae from attending church, soon accepted Christ. Similarly with his wife, Jung Sun Im. The brothers and sisters on both sides of the family, he says, “watched us to find out how to live in Jesus Christ.” Consequently, four of them became Christians. Already, Bae was a high-achieving student. Taejon High School, located in Taejon City, is one of the country's most famous schools. Bae went on to major in mechanical engineering at Korea University, and joined the nuclear power industry. This seventeen-year career took him to field sites in the provinces of Chalanam and Kyung Sung Pook Do, and also, in 1984, to Los Angeles , California . The nuclear power industry provided Bae with ample hands-on leadership experience. As a mechanical engineer he supervised a team of a hundred employees. The work called for dedication. Bae can remember times when he had the team on the job from early morning to late evening. But working in leadership made him realize how little he – or anyone else – knew about the art of leadership. “I encouraged the employees every day,” recalls Bae. “They worked very hard. But in my mind I was asking, ‘What is their call in life?’ and ‘What is my call in life?’ People say they want to live happily. But there was more. So I tried to find the answers.” He soon found the answers he sought – in his Christian faith.
“To live in our society, good leadership under Christ's challenge is most necessary. So I began to study. I returned to the University to get a Masters degree in management, specializing in leadership.” Bae now knew God was calling him to leadership training. The degree gave him some of the tools he needed. But not all. How was he to develop materials that would educate Koreans in leadership based on Christianity? How could he be sure that his own ideas on Christian leadership were following the right track?
At this point, in mid-1993, a friend from Nigeria introduced Bae to Haggai Institute. Bae applied, and was accepted for training. He quit his job, filling in with some freelance photography, and attended H.I. in Maui the following year.
Haggai Institute made a strategic difference to Bae.“I am very grateful to Haggai Institute. I was writing materials on Christian leadership before taking part in the H.I. program, but I could not be sure if I was right or wrong. When I went to Haggai Institute, I was sure that I was going the right way.” As part of his training, Bae set himself the goal of finding a form of leadership training he could use in his own country. “When I thought about real Christian leadership, the leadership God wants, I realized it came in three parts. I call them S1, S2, and S3. S1 means Servantship – Jesus said that to be a great person I must be humble and the servant. S2 means Stewardship. S3 is Shepherdship. I started writing educational materials there at the training center in Maui. At Haggai Institute, my life started again.” Bae's life “started again” because the H.I. program focused on practical advanced Christian leadership skills that he could not obtain from any other source. As Bae says: “When I was a student, I never heard about leadership. So when I was on a field site I didn't always know how to lead effectively, and I had much trouble. Haggai Institute gave me something I could not get elsewhere. I like the H.I. philosophy – not to try to develop people into leaders, but to train people who are already leaders.”
As soon as Bae got back to Korea, he founded the Tehilim Leadership Institute. The name is Hebrew, and means “Praise God.” Bae has passed on the Haggai training with striking effectiveness. He now has over 700 lectures. Through the consultancy work of the Tehilim Institute he has trained no fewer than 60,000 people.
Many of those who seek his services belong to secular business and organizations, so he has numerous opportunities for witness. He also lectures extensively on surviving earthquakes. This is a technical skill he acquired when he was designing quakeproof water pipelines for the nuclear power industry. Says Bae: “I realized that leadership based on Christianity makes good leaders and also creates a successful life.” In both secular and Christian contexts, then, Bae teaches the same Christian leadership ideal. He looks for what he calls the F.L.S. leader.
“F.L.S. stands for Following Leader, Little Leader, and Self Leader. To lead others, the leader himself must follow. We must follow God's word and the law of the country. Little Leader means we lead wherever we are in our organizations. Also, a leader has to live happily with his family in the home. Last, a leader must lead himself. Unless a leader can lead himself, how can he lead other people?” Bae exercises his own leadership in public service. In 1995, the President of the Tehilim Leadership Institute was elected council member for Gangdong, one of Seoul’s 25 administrative districts. Gangdong has 21 council members, responsible for auditing the work done by officers, for making an annual check on the budget, and for representing the interests of the 30,000 people who live in the district. Bae feels a special responsibility for the district’s older people. Periodically he exchanges his corporate suit for slacks and casual shirt, and visits some of Gangdong's many homes for the elderly. The residents are always pleased to see him. He listens to their stories and ensures their needs are met.
His manner is warm and disarming. He jokes with them and holds their hands. Some of the older men in Gangdong want a monument built for a colleague who fought in World War Two. The colleague wrote a poem, which they want inscribed on the monument. Bae promises he will take the matter up with the relevant officer.
But council work also raises more divisive issues.
Bae believes strongly in the need for “sound leaders,” and that not enough of God’s people get involved in the political field. Sometimes he feels compelled to take a stand. One such issue concerns the level of remuneration given to council members. “The congress was planning to increase the salary of council members. So I told them, do not do it. Already we have a monthly salary of about $1,000.00. It is not right to ask for more. Councilors work an average of six days in the month. For that, $1,000.00 is enough. It is unfair for people's taxes to be raised in order to give council members a salary increase.” Bae’s stand in the debate reflects his determination to base his leadership on the principles of Christian faith – on what God wants. The problem, he believes, is that not many people in the political arena follow God's word. He feels so strongly about the pay of councilors that he has set up a lone picket in the congress to make his point. Long-term, he wants to change the whole complexion of Korean politics. “Economically, the situation is bad in my country,” he admits. “But in my opinion, the big problem is how to live. A bad economic situation comes from bad leadership. So, that is why I work for leadership. With sound Christian leadership, we can overcome our situation. This society has to be changed by Christian leaders.” Bae’s goals include the establishing of a leadership center in Korea. “Sound leadership leads to a successful life, a sound society and a powerful country,” he says. Leadership training does not need to target everyone. Jesus spoke of His followers as salt in society. The salt in salt water takes up only 3% of the volume. Likewise, says Bae, a society is led by an influential 3%.
“Produce sound leadership in that 3%, and you will change society,” he insists. “Some day, I'd like to see such change reaching into the congress. That is God's way to change the society. I'd like to form a group to pray for this nation. And some day I'd like to train leaders to be congressman – based on Christianity.” Bae is barely fifty years old – a lean, energetic man whose life “started again” with H.I. leadership training. He has the time and the skill to make his dreams realities. “I'm very thankful for Haggai Institute,” he says. “Haggai Institute let me know what true leadership is, and how to be a more effective leader. I like the H.I. program very much.”