Preparing for the Spirit in Action 16^th Anniversary earlier this month gave me a chance to reflect on the role models that are the foundation of Spirit in Action’s vision. Below is my reflection on three leaders that keep me encouraged and inspired:

We spent three days with Canaan Gondwe in Malawi and it felt like we were there for weeks.

People had told us to prepare for “Africa time” nothing happens quickly or on-time. But Canaan had everything in order; he kept us on a tight schedule, rushing us off to meet with people, see farms, share and listen to people. There were so many in that rural village who wanted to meet us and thank us, as representatives of SIA.

[See photos of friends at our anniversary event!]

Right from that beginning, when Canaan quickly drove us back to his village because our bus was 1.5 hours late, I saw that Canaan was a strong leader. He commanded respect and showed respect to everyone – greeting men, women, and children on the road. He has a warm smile and a booming voice. When he gave his presentation welcoming us, people listened and clapped in agreement. When we went to visit farms, people sought his advice on pig farming and growing tomatoes. People willingly shared their car with him and worked in the office with him.

Serving happens person-to-person

So Canaan is our first role model today. There is a quote by Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen saying, “Fixing and helping create a distance between people, but we cannot serve at a distance. We can only serve that to which we are profoundly connected.” She is saying that serving is a closer relationship than fixing or helping. Serving is about being God’s channel and letting the service flow, rather than being a fixer or a helper with our own plans.

Serving creates a stronger bond. It is the best way for us to create chance – really allow chance to unfold.

Del’s dream of co-creation

Del’s dream, included here, talks about connecting with role models who contribute to their communities. Canaan is that role model, that leader – serving others by being there in the community, encouraging them, giving advice, modeling spiritual faith and practice. And his leadership is the strength of the Manyamula Savings and Loans group (MAVISALO).

Del was ahead of his time with his dream about connecting with role models already active in their communities. So Del is our second role model of the day. I think that Del really understood that international service is about encouraging others.

Many feel the call to serve others around the world – people who have less than us, people who lack their basic needs. And the challenge is to allow the service to flow through us, rather than expect the service start and end with us. This is the hard part – and yet I thank Del for his vision for an organization that allows and encourages others to lead change in their own communities. Spirit in Action is designed to recognize and encourage self-help projects and help get those started and flourishing. To summarize – we see that more change can come through a local savings and loans group, rather than a newly dug water well by American volunteers that no one uses.

Channeling a higher power

Del talked a lot about being a channel – Christ’s channel for healing and soothing injustices in the world. So our third role model is Jesus. Following Jesus’s model and being a channel for service recognizes that it is not our own power that will solve the problem or save a community. We see power in others and encourage that. In many ways knowing that we are channels, not the only power, is freeing for me. It lifts the weight of needing to have all the answers; instead the answer is to follow my role models.

Now, just because we are channels doesn’t mean we are inactive or passive – in fact our name, Spirit in ACTION, demands we do something. When we find our local role models like Canaan, we are called to manifest God’s spirit of goodness and love – and support and collaborate with Canaan and his community as they organize to assist the most vulnerable people, get more youth in school, help new families build houses and start farms.

So, it is with this spirit of our role models that we celebrate today – celebrate the model of Jesus, the dreams of Del, and the leadership of Canaan. We celebrate that through these 16 years we continue to stay true to the dream of cultivating leaders, co-creating with them, and channeling support to those leaders best poised to serve their fellow neighbor.

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Donna Thomas had the winning bid on this beautiful piece of cloth from DR Congo.

Wherever we go in the world,
we will look for the persons in that area
who can become a role model for their world.
– from Del Anderson’s Dream for Spirit in Action, 2004

This past weekend we celebrated sixteen years of sharing Del’s dream with the world through Spirit in Action. The gathering of twenty-three people was a special time to celebrate our work, bid on handicrafts from SIA partners, and meet friends old and new. Thank you to all who attended and all those who donated time and items to make the day a success!

At the event I shared about the exciting work of the Manyamula Village Savings and Loans group (MAVISALO) in Malawi, which is working to expand their reach. In the process, they are developing into national model!

MAVISALO recently hosted a delegation team from the Malawian Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Community Development, and COMSIP. The team interacted with all the members, learning about the group’s operations, systems, and finances.

Canaan Gondwe, the local coordinator shares of the visit, “it was again superb for us.”

Like Boyd and I, the delegation met with group members that have received loans from MAVISALO. “The comment they left with us,” says Canaan, “was that our group is a success story! Our future seems very bright.”

Not only is Canaan Gondwe a role model, all MAVISALO members are models of people who care about others and share their expertise with others for the benefit of all. This is just one story showing the way we are still following Del’s dream for Spirit in Action.

Thank you again to all who joined us on Saturday and who contributed to help support further growth of MAVISALO.

Click here for more photos from our visit with MAVISALO members last summer visit.

SIA supporters from all over gathered to celebrate 16 years of compassionate service.

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Today’s post is by Jerry Elmer, a long-time friend of Spirit in Action.*

Glory Tembo, who received a SIA grant in 2006, sells boiled fish in the Manyamula market (Malawi).

Most everyone has heard the old adage, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” It sounds very profound – until you realize that teaching someone to fish is relatively useless if he lives in the desert.Recently, I’ve been in a sort of desert, myself, advising an organization building a homeless shelter on the southern-most edge of Santa Clara County, which comprises most of California’s illustrious Silicon Valley. With county population about 1.8 million people, some seven thousand of them are homeless. For eight years I was one of them.

In his book, The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Sterns, President, World Vision U.S., says, “What I have discovered in my travels to more than forty countries with World Vision is that almost all poverty is a result of lack of options. It is not that the poor are lazier, less intelligent, or unwilling to make efforts to change their condition. Rather, they are trapped by circumstances beyond their power to change.”

When I read this, I was sure he was talking about the homeless problem right here in California. I realized that World Vision and our budding homeless shelter were trying to help people address the same problem: lack of options.

But it appears Del Anderson figured that out a long time ago. And although I have never seen it stated in so many words, he founded Spirit in Action to increase people’s access to a range of self-help options. He realized that by creating options for people – giving them choices – you give them the opportunity to make their own way in their own environment.

Del started out sending people seeds to grow vegetables and fruit, which they could use to feed their own families or sell for profit (Remember Oral Roberts’ seed-faith? Here it is in action!). Then Spirit in Action began giving small business grants so people could choose their own businesses and path to prosperity. Here in Silicon Valley, our shelter will include a job training center in cooperation with local businesses, as many of the homeless have no marketable job skills.

James said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2: 18-26). So along with World Vision, Spirit in Action and our homeless shelter work to the same task. And the options we create – they’re in the works. I have faith. How about you?

*Editor’s Note (2/22/12): This post originally included a link to a book written by Jerry Elmer. The author has now taken this book off the market because of a problem with the publisher. He does not want people to buy this book.

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Our work is in the world. Our mission is to be a “worldwide network” and sometimes, holed-up in my Spirit in Action home office in Minnesota, I forget the truly global nature of SIA.

I choose to see the the wide national and international reach of SIA as a positive characteristic of our organization. We bring people together from across the United States, North America, and the world – each sharing their perspective, traditions, and experiences with our strong network.

**To really understand our reach, scroll to the end of the post for a map showing the location of each individual connected with SIA around the world.**

Spirit in Action is right where you are

I wrote about the rootedness of our community partners in Africa. They benefit from living and working with their neighbors. Does of our lack of a street-front office show a lack of rootedness? No! Having a “worldwide office” means that for each member of our organization Spirit in Action is right where you are!

Rooted in the whole world

This summer I saw that SIA is deeply rooted in each community where we support projects. With me in Minnesota, SIA is rooted in the non-profit community here. Many SIA Board members live in California, giving us strong roots there. Each root of our large tree network brings local flair, regional understanding, and commands a respect for differences. 

God calling us

“A dream has no dimension, no boundaries, no limitations,” wrote Del Anderson in his Spirit-led writing, God Calling…. He encourages us to dream large for a SIA network that ignores geographic limitations. Although Del didn’t personally use a computer, he reveled in the miracle of the Internet, or “worldwide web,” to break down boundaries and connect us across the globe.

Del goes on to write, “In Me [God], you have the wisdom, love, and power to be My instrument in bringing My Kingdom into manifestation here and now.”

May we also embrace this call to bring SIA into our lives here (wherever that may be) and now (whenever we receive that special inspiration). In doing this, we fulfill our responsibility to put Spirit and love into action in our world. Let me know if you have ideas for rooting SIA in your community!

Spirit in Action is International! Map
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As a new year begins, I take a moment to rededicate myself to serve God and the world by serving others. This week I repost a writing from Spirit in Action’s founder, Del Anderson.

How often we follow society instead of the call of the Divine, pleasing people, not God.

I believe every Trustee of Spirit in Action should be aware they are purposed to follow the Christ and to say often “Yes, Lord, yes!” Living in the world a person can live a noble life without risk, and that is okay for the world, but Jesus has overcome the world and He has challenged us to go and do likewise.

It is our privilege to go beyond pleasing people and being a “good” citizen, safe and secure. We have been brought into Spirit in Action by God to take the risk of being aware of God’s presence within us and allowing God to think, feel, act and respond all day through us as we say “Yes, Lord, yes!”

Then the Sacred One will use us as its representatives, expressions and manifesters and we will fulfill God’s intent and we will hear, “Well done, good and faithful friend. You are incarnating My Spirit and Truth. You are moving beyond the safe and secure life.” Knowing about Jesus is not enough. We need to abide in Him and experience Him.

I am learning, finally, that in this life each of us has a Divine Plan and a special, particular mission. Our challenge is to be aware of God’s Presence and constantly listening and responding all day with the words, “Yes, Lord, yes!” Thus, the higher purpose and meaning of life become a set goal before us. This life of adventure and risk leads us into a daily fellowship with Jesus, a journey of fulfilling our high destiny, and becoming our own true self. This is our call to wholeness.

The Christ is still speaking to us the words Jesus said, “I have called you friends because I have disclosed to you everything that I heard from my Father. You did not choose me. I chose you. I appoint you to go on and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” (John 15:15-16) God wants to know God’s Self in you and me.

We are answering the call to be whole, the call to be truly all we can be. Are we ready? We answer, “Yes, Lord, yes!”

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