Growing in Christlike Character

Last Fall, Pastor David Dayalan, Asian Access VP for Program Development shared a devotional highlighting letting Jesus take the lead with our board of directors. I thought you might enjoy seeing a taste of what we spend our time doing in seeking to prepare Christ-like leaders… You’ll quickly see that it’s not about us being leaders. It’s really about us being followers!

Why did Jesus lead the way he did?

He knew who he...

What a few weeks I have had! I’ve been in Asia for two weeks, covering three different countries, the first of which included our national directors annual gathering, the second a combined meeting of our international and Japan boards, and the third a visit with my colleagues and friends in another. My first day back home I went in for what I thought was a routine checkup. As I sat down on the doctor's chair, I quickly learned that this was a schedule for outpatient surgery...

Continuing to prototype its A2.business ministry to marketplace leaders in Seoul, South Korea. Just recently 9 CEOs and entrepreneurs gathered for the second ever A2.business session. In session two, the nine participants wrestled with the second outcome: becoming a Christ-like leader. In particular, this session...

"walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
– Ephesians 4:1

"I heartily endorse Asian Access as you are filling a vital need in the church in Asia. The emerging urban church leadership is dynamic yet fragile. They have no older generation of pastors to look up to. Asian Access' proven mentoring approach builds communities of leaders, providing needed accountability and encouragement while developing personal character and ministry skills."

Dr. Brent Fulton

Founder & Catalyst, ChinaSource (former President); Former Editor of the ChinaSource Quarterly

What do we want to see as the result of our work in the life and ministry of each participant?

Asian Access seeks the following outcomes of our work in the life and ministry of every participant.  We feel we're successful if the pastor is...

1. Living in a love relationship with God.

Effective ministry flows from our relationship with God—from the inside out. After 10-15 years in ministry, leaders can begin to lose their connection to the Lord—relying more on their strengths and experience. This brings trouble and weakens the impact of their ministry.  In contrast, leaders who continue to deepen their love of God are transformed and can bring powerful change to their sphere of influence.

2. Growing as a Christ-like leader.

Effective leaders who abide with Jesus, lead more and more like Jesus. Flowing out of transformed hearts, they exhibit fruits of the Spirit and grow in Christlikeness. If leaders are not growing in Christlikeness, ministry can get off track and they are more susceptible to spiritual plateau and abuse of power.

3. Reproducing disciple-making leaders.

Fruitful leaders say, “Follow me as I follow Jesus”. They live out that truth by reproducing themselves in others and equipping those new disciples to follow their example to make more disciples. This is the heart of the Great Commission to make disciples who not only follow Jesus but also make more disciples.

4. Planting multiplying churches.

Fruitful leaders build kingdom movements to expand the reach of their ministries. Starting new witnessing communities for spiritual growth, outreach, and multiplication gives more people access to Christ’s life-changing power. Catalyzing movements advance the kingdom and bring momentum that transform people, families, cities, and countries.

The fifth unspoken outcome of launching a church multiplication movement is entirely up to God. Yet, with His blessing, the first four outcomes can actually result from specific steps Asian Access takes. In other words, there are practical things we can do in structuring our program in order to help achieve these outcomes.

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OUR ESSENCE | Outcomes | Leader Development Model | Sustainability

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The last few years, the idea of leadership has taken a beating. Whether it’s the critique of “elites” in our cultures or the overuse of the word leadership by various training and educational institutions. In many ways I agree with these concerns and it is why Asian Access does what it does in focusing on Christ, Character, and Servant Leadership.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. – Psalm 78:72

This key verse captures the essence of what we teach and seek to live out at Asian Access: that we would develop shepherds in pastoral ministry and in business who lead wisely. The passage struck me this week as I looked at several episodes of erratic leadership in the...

Do you ever feel like your life follows the pattern of this biker? We make our plans but they often go in much different ways!

The theme of our recent Global Leaders’ Summit hit this very topic. David Dayalan, Adrian and Ophelia De Visser and Silk and I shared to spark the conversation. Each of us shared from our deepest places of pain over the past few years. We all have been on the roller coaster of life, much like...

Today, listen to Pastor JE from Chennai, India share how Asian Access is making a difference! In this video Jeyakaran will share how Asian Access is investing in pastors through their character development. This work is foundational as a leader in the church because in order to make disciples, a leader must first be a disciple – one who is deeply rooted in his relationship with Jesus Christ.

A2/Cambodia just graduated Class 4 and the stories of life change from the pastors were powerful. Many of them personally asked me to thank you for investing in them. As they shared the stories of transformation, it reminded me of Asian Access return on investment. We hope to see pastors for a lifetime who live out the Essence of Asian Access.

Living in Japan brings all sorts of new life experiences for me. Stateside I focus mostly on ministry and family but here in Tokyo, Silk and I share house duties more because she is teaching and we live in a world that requires us to do more teamwork when it comes to daily living. Areas where I try to help out are weekly shopping, cleaning the dishes and once in a while laundry. No one trusts me with cooking so this is the best I can offer and all of these things I rarely participate in stateside. It certainly helps me grow as a Christ-like leader. It helps me develop character, one of the biggest challenges in Christian leadership today...

A Pastor recently contacted me to ask if there was any hope for his church to survive. The few people in his church were aged, and the church was slowly but surely declining in numbers. My answer shocked him. I said there was great hope for him and his church—because the Father was already at work in his town. I then opened my Bible to John chapter 5 and shared the story of Jesus healing the man who had been sick for 38 years, and who...

Christ-like Leadership: A Gospel Imperative

“Church planting is moving at the speed of a bullet train with leadership development following on a bicycle.”¹

We are living in an era of unprecedented change. What we may not realize is that this includes exciting Kingdom change—rapid church planting and multiplication, throughout the world.

God's choice training ground for future leaders

It took some time for me to understand God’s University of the Desert and then to trust Him in those deep experiences. But then it took even further time to recognise not only God’s presence in the loneliness of the desert, but also God’s purposes in the desert as He would be preparing me for the next season of my life. In the process I found perspective as I began to read the scriptures with a desert paradigm and I was surprised how many of God’s choice leaders spent time in the desert at critical seasons in their lives.  Many of them became my mentors on how to live life in the desert. People like Joseph, Abraham, Moses, David, John The Baptist, Jesus, Paul and the Apostle John. Gradually it dawned on me that God has a choice discipleship training school called the University of the Desert. It is not one in which we can formally enrol and undertake classes of our own choosing and be graded on our academic achievements. Rather, it is one in which God sovereignly works through the circumstances of our lives to test us in order to approve us and then entrust us with responsibilities that are known only to Him. Sometimes it is only God and I that are aware of the fact that the class in the University of the Desert is in session. The following are some of the lessons I have learned as a result of...

Sometimes the biggest benefits our leaders gain from Asian Access come from one another. A2 National Director for Cambodia Meng Aun Hour is, like all of our national leaders, a volunteer. Like all of our national leaders, he has a primary ministry. And like all of our national leaders, he actually has several “primary” ministries.  But Meng’s list could make even the most Type-A leader pause for breath. It includes...