blind eyes open
-1 Corinthians 6:19~20-

This is the place of UCSD that I'll miss the most.

This place has always been a place of retreat, prayers, and worship for me during the past four dreadful wonderful years. Somehow standing on the head of the snake gives me more faith to believe for another level of invasion of God's Kingdom upon my life, upon the campus, and upon the nations. This is where I prayed "Jesus, I plead Your blood over my sins and the sins of my nations. God, end abortion and send revival to America" for the hundredth time. This is where I learned what it means to intercede. This is where I began to have a heart for America. This is where I met some of the greatest friends and giants in the Kingdom of God. This is where I contend and stand in the gap between this nation and God's throne of Grace and ask Him to have mercy and pour out His Spirit upon all flesh here at UCSD.

So on August 9th (Tuesday), I spent a good 10 minute before class on the snake head, and I met this elderly man who was doing some exercises by the grassy area. Long story short, I shared with him a little bit about my schooling and how I wish to pursue more education after UCSD. In the end I simply added, "God bless you," and he was a bit offended and said, "uh...nah... it's okay. I'm not religious at all." To his surprise I replied, "It's okay, I'm not religious either, but I just love Jesus." He suddenly looked confused and asked, "Wait... what do you mean that you are not religious and you love Jesus?" So I, to my best ability, explained to him what I meant in a short sentence, "Well, I am not religious because Jesus never was religious, He actually told me to LOVE Him and LOVE people instead of pointing fingers at others." He nodded and said, "Yeah... okay. I guess I see what you mean now. Good luck with your life. Bye." I'm still not sure whether I answered his question aptly, so if you have any better way to explain that, please let me know!

I'm going to miss all these wild rabbits all over UCSD.

About 40 minutes later a young lady and a young girl walked by, and the lady (whose name is Diana) asked me what I was doing. I answered, "I'm just here praying to God and worshiping Jesus." I explained the overall message about the snake path, and their eyes were opened and jaws were dropped in unbelief in the underlying (it's actually quite obvious) message of this artwork. (Click here to read a little more about the path). So I started sharing a little bit of how my standing on the head of the snake is actually the fulfillment of the entire picture, as mentioned in Genesis 3, that we (the bride of Christ) will crush its (the snake) head. Diana started to share with me that she is really open to a lot of beliefs, and I shared with her how I came to know Jesus and how Jesus is the only way to God. Diana was really free-spirited and she was so intrigued by Jesus, so I offered to pray with them. I knew that God was up to something, so after the prayer I told her that God's heart is to bring healing to her family, physical healing especially to her parents, and Diana told me that her mom is suffering from a big ulcer on her abdominal area, and she is actually a lover of Jesus who is believing for healing too. I told her that her family is going to encounter the Lord in a greater measure!

It got even crazier...

After sharing with her another healing testimony, she showed me her hands--on both of her ring fingers there are rashes and redness. She said it's been hurting pretty badly for the past couples days. So we prayed. And right after the prayer, her left ring finger stopped hurting! I began to tell her that God is right here, and He is healing her right now, and let's pray again to believe for complete healing. Right after I said that, she told me that the right ring finger also stopped hurting! God was really showing up and touching Diana. It was just an open door that God had for Diana and also Cali to come to know how much He loves her! We all prayed together in the end and I encouraged Diana to go home and lay hands on her mom and pray in the name of Jesus and see God break in and break through! Yay Jesus, You showed up and Your love never fails :D

Diana (left) and Cali (right). Holy Spirit showed up and touched them greatly!

"If you can't get excited over the headache that's gone, you can't be trusted with an empty wheelchair. A move of a God is a move of God. And if you measure it, you would put Him in a box where He has to set a certain standard before you applaud and before you move. Any indication of the Presence is the beginning of a celebration."
- Bill Johnson @ Jesus Culture Awakening, August 5 2011.

I think I need to tattoo this quote onto my cornea so I can memorize it into my heart.

Johnny

ps. A new post will be up in the next day or two. :) God's been giving me beautiful revelations about Himself, and myself too.

July 7 Morning - The morning session was so sweet. I had my good friend Eric Yun to play guitar and sing with me and also Jacob playing the djembe for the 3rd morning in a row. The presence of the Lord was so thick and so sweet that the speaker, Tony Kim, only spoke for probably 15 minutes, and the rest of the morning was all Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Many saw visions of heaven and Jesus showed them a glimpse of heaven. God once again reminded me the visions of the musical instruments in heaven, and He wanted me to keep dreaming with Him and bringing heaven's melody down to earth. It was so sweet. God was so sweet yet demanding because He is jealous for us. He's gotta have it all.


July 7 Evening - Throughout this week @ ReGen, I really really wanted to encounter God in a new way and to shake off all the junk and cloth myself with Jesus. Moreover, leading all these worship sets has really put me in a place of wanting more of His Spirit because I could not give out what I do not have. After the morning session, I took a good nap in preparation of tonight's time of worship and praise. I wanted to see Jesus. I wanted to be hungry for Him. I asked the Lord to expand my hunger for more and more of Him. I wanted a fresh touch from heaven.

As soon as the band started to play, tears flowed out from my eyes for the first time during this conference. I wanted more. I was not satisfied. I wanted Jesus. I desired more of His presence and His Spirit. During the worship time, God's presence fell like a huge and thick blanket covering the entire room, and I saw in a vision that I was running a race with my friends on a race track, and instead of competing with each other, we were supporting each other and cheering each other on to finish this good race of faith. I also saw myself riding a big wave on a surfboard.

After worship, I went up to Kenny to give him our CDs, and I also asked him to pray for me. He started to pray that I would receive songs from heaven and that the "best worship songs come from worship". And the Lord didn't stop there. He started to give Kenny words to speak over me. So Kenny started to tell me that God wanted to tell me that I am not alone, but I would feel lonely many times. I could not stop tearing up as he kept on telling me what God wanted me to hear. He started to speak identity into me, telling me that I am so worthy, I am so loved, and that it's not about me leading people and playing keys, but simply because I am a SON. I never knew that I still struggle with my true identity in Christ until God revealed it to me through Kenny. He also told me that I would be very critical of myself and I would beat myself down because throughout my life I received a lot of negativity from my family members, and I did not want to be a disappointment to those who love me. Kenny also told me to remember two things: 1) Submit under authority and 2) Obeying God's voice and that I shouldn't be afraid of those in authority, and also of obeying to God's voice.

Kenny sharing on Living in His Presence @ ReGen 2K11.

Kenny told me to write on the left side of a paper a list of lies that I believe and ask God to reveal the lies. And on the right hand side, the truth from God of who I truly am. I needed to ask God to reveal who I truly am and what He thinks about me. I thought the prayer time was almost over and I was ready to go home and write these all out, but it was far from it.

Kenny then started to tell me about my desire of wanting to find my wife. He told me that I shouldn't pursue her but rather I should pursue God and God alone, because as I draw closer to God and she draws closer to God, we will eventually meet each other IN JESUS. This was such a confirmation of the decision I made just the night before (as mentioned in Part 1) and my heart was rejoicing because God has a plan for me, and all I need to do is to follow him and pray for my wife to encounter more of Him.

And that was only the beginning of a breakthrough. Kenny started to tell me that I am loved, worthy, and accepted. And that I am NOT UNWORTHY. I started to cry out loud, with my head buried in his shoulder.

After a minute or two I started to cough. And as I was coughing, Kenny began to declare over me victory and that right now God's love is filling me up and pushing out of my body all the things that do not belong to Him, and that was the reason I started to cough. After a minute, the coughing turned into deep-burping that was much like my encounter during prayer time with Auntie Sharon; however, this time was even more intense because I actually puked out some type of liquid three times over the duration of deliverance. There are times when I hear voices to tell me to stop puking, but Kenny kept saying that God is not done with me yet and He wants to completely set me free. My mind knew that was and attack from the enemy, so I made a decision and proclaimed it within that I would not leave this room without being completely set free, and let God's will be done.

I felt so free and light afterwards. My mind was still in complete shock but I knew that my spirit man was set free. Kenny told me that what came out of me was all these loneliness, unworthiness, false humility, and SEVEN GENERATIONS of IDOL WORSHIP in my family. I am the only son of the oldest son (my dad) in the household, thus all the generation blessings and curses are now passed down upon me, and God was uprooting the curses caused by my ancestors worshipping idols. Not only that, He took all the fear and the spirits mentioned before away from me. I laid on the floor in fetal position for a good ten minutes, letting my body to recover and my spirit to abide in God.

Thoughts and Reflection:
Even though I was set free, now I am in a completely new season of letting my mindset to be transformed. I need to understand firmly who I TRULY AM in Christ and I need to break out of all the old mindsets that were built up when I was in bondage but are now surfaced after deliverance. The journey has just begun, and I am ready to step in and climb up to another level with the Lord. I need Jesus so much more now because every step I take I realize that I need to leave behind blessings to generations to come. The decisions I make will affect my future children and their children, and God took me through a burning fire to purge me from curses, sins, so that I could come out PURE and BLAMELESS. I don't know what He has in store for me, but I believe His plans for me are to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.

That's pretty much it. The journey has just begun. As someone who leads worship, I see the importance to know exactly who I am in Christ and that I AM WORTHY, LOVED, and ACCEPTED no matter what I DO or DON'T DO. I still need to chew on it and swallow it and chew on it over and over again until it becomes a PART of ME.

I trust in You, my God, I trust in You.

johnny

Jeremiah 29:11 has been the theme of the past two months. God took me on an incredible journey of restoring and strengthen my confidence in my true identity in Christ.

May 18 - Papa Mark & Mama Debbie came down to San Diego for a 2-night stay. I met up with them over lunch and did a one-hour worship/prayer set with them @ the Boiler Room in downtown SD. The worship time was so so so tender and it's been a while since I teared up and let God take my heart and break it open. Every time when I spend time with Mark & Deb, I always receive so much from the Lord because just by simply being with them, what they obtain from God would just overflow unto the people around them.

May 20 - @ my apartment in San Diego. I received a text from Annie asking me to listen through the mix of the Love*Togo album, and somehow when I reached the last two tracks, I broke down crying like never before. For an hour I kept on replaying those two tracks and letting God work with my heart (the song is called "God is at Work" too. It is such a beautiful song!). I was a wreck but God was opening up my heart and let Him in.

May 21 - Went to receive prayer from Auntie Sharon. The moment she started praying, river of tears started to flow out from my eyes, and after more prayers asking the Holy Spirit to come and fill me up, I started to cough uncontrollably. Then the coughs turned to burps, and I could not stop from burping, and it became so severe that at times I thought I was going to puke something out. And during those times, Auntie Sharon spoke to all the bondages and the spirits that were chaining me down and cast them out one by one by one, and that was the reason why I was burping and coughing and wanting to puke things out; and the burps were spirits leaving my body because the LOVE of God cast out ALL fear, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is FREEDOM. 

For a good 30 minutes I was on the floor, being delivered from darkness as God's light exposed my heart from the inside out. I have never, ever been through a deliverance session before--I've seen people being delivered, but I never thought I would encounter such a strong pull between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. I knew that God's going to win in the end, but the process of battle was not pretty nor was it comfortable. I felt like my body was this battlefield and God was tearing down the strong towers that the enemy had built within me. After that morning prayer session, I felt like a new person, cleansed and set free. And this encounter boosted my faith to a new level because I saw God's power and His hands at work within me, and that I needed to be filled by His Spirit constantly, day in and day out. But God wasn't done with me yet.

After a month and half.....

Kedrick Pinex - awesome!

July 6 - During ReGen night session, I felt the Lord telling me that he's going to do something special on the next day -- July 7. I quickly forgot about it, but I was very much looking forward to the worship night with Kenny. I was really exhausted from all these days of leading worship, but I didn't want my physical body to be blocking my spirit man to encounter God. This day was especially cool because Kedrick spoke words of knowledge from the Lord things that are just so beautiful and incredible into my sister Annie and brother-in-law Jack, and my soon-to-arrive niece Annya's lives.

Before I went to bed, I made a decision that I was going to completely give Jesus my full attention. For the past three months or so I have been wanting to have a relationship with someone, and we have been in contact, but I knew that God wanted me to stop because she has become a distraction for me to completely have my love for Jesus, and vice versa. Annie said to me a week ago that if I really care about someone, then what I should desire is to see this girl to have more of Jesus in her life more than my wanting to be with her. So I decided to really cut down our communications and set a rule because I knew that's what God wants, no matter how hard it was going to be for us.

I knew one thing -- I simply cannot afford to lose my relationship with Jesus, and if anything stands in the way, it has to leave. And once I realized that, the seemingly difficult decision was easy to make.

Check out The Way to Freedom - Part 2...


Johnny

I started working on this post the week after my 23rd birthday. There are too many things to mention, so I only typed out what I felt led to share. I have not written such long post for a long long time... but this post is definitely worth reading because God is really amazing. Here it goes:

Part 1: Childhood
A mother, 6 month into pregnancy with identical twins, was hospitalized because her water broke and the pain of her womb was too great for her to work. After being bed-ridden for one full month, the doctors decided that it was time to perform c-section, hoping to save the mother and the babies who were all in critical conditions. The mother's condition was stabilized, yet the two boys, each weighted around 1,000 grams, were delivered into incubators. With tubes all over their bodies, the little boys weren't looking too good.

LOVE GOD
With all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
LOVE OTHERS
As ourselves.

GO and DISCIPLE NATIONS and
BAPTIZE them in the name of
The FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT and
TEACH them to obey everything Jesus has
COMMANDED us.

This is the definite calling, and as we answer this call, we ought to surrender everything we have and leave everything behind and run forward and not look back. I asked myself, "Am I able to give up everything I have -- my time, energy, money, school, friends, event family -- for this calling?"

This reminds me of what Sarah Yang shared the other Sunday about Ananias and Sapphira how they were struck dead because said they would give God their ALL yet still kept a part of ALL.

And I believe God takes our commitment very seriously, especially when it comes to doing what HE COMMISSIONS us to do. He will chase us down until we really have nothing to lose because HE gives and takes away. He wants it ALL.

Lord, I am willing though my flesh is so weak.
But You know my heart. You have chosen me.
You will lead me on, like You promised.
You did it all for LOVE, now it's my turn to sacrifice.

Johnny

I've shared what I received from this trip with people verbally here and there for the past month or so, but I've never really typed it down. Not that I am lazy to type it all out...not. Anyhow, so here it goes:

In my previous post, written on the morning of the African voyage, I asked myself why I was going. There could be so many answers such as Because we're going to record some sick tracks, Because Luke is coming along, Because Jack and Annie asked me (did they?), or Because I just want to go. Maybe the closest answer would be that I would really like to go on a mission trip at least once every year since my life-changing trip to Cambodia last summer.


The first morning as we were having breakfast together, each of us shared our various expectations of this trip and what we wanted to see or gain from this journey. I did not know what to expect besides the mission to record some original songs from this part of the world, take it back, produce them and let the world hear the sound. I also was really expecting to see some crazy healing and miracles to take place during our stay here in Lome, Togo.


In General

Father's Day falls on the eighth day of the eighth month for Chinese people because the word "eight" sound very much like "Dad" in Chinese (and in many other languages). A week ago after the Sunday service, the worship band gathered with Jack and had a short meeting mainly because for the past month or two the worship on Sundays were not "there". We all knew in our spirits that something's missing. But honestly, I didn't know what exactly was missing... maybe I'm not sensitive enough to the Holy Spirit? Maybe the band didn't click, or because of the lack of practice? Jack mentioned to the worship leaders that song picking is very important because all songs would have a better and powerful flow if they are surrounded by a common theme that connect each other and sometimes in response.
So the songs were about God as a Father and the Love of the Father that heals, delivers, and set people free as they realize that they do not have to do a thing to receive the Father's love because they inherit whatever Jesus had when they accepted Him in the first place.

As I was going through the songs, many more songs caught my attention, so this was the final list:


During our band practice in the morning, we spent the last 20 minutes just blessing God and give Him all the honor, glory, and praise with our playing and our voices. It was one of the most powerful moments for sure. I did not know what was coming. As we started to sing I Know Who I Am, somehow I felt like God is going to restore identity in people's hearts once again as they sing this song over themselves. As we started singing All For Love, definitely an Impact all-time favorite song with beautifully written lyrics on the love of Father and the Cross, the love of God started to be poured out all over the room, and His presence was so tangable, so thick. And it kept on increasing as we sing "In Your presence, all fear is gone" and the simple, prayerful chorus:


Once again the song focuses on the identity of God as a Father and us as children, and our need for Him to come be our strength and carry us through the storms in His embrace. As I was considering whether we should close with this song or sing Bring Restoration, somehow my spirit started to declare freedom in this place as we sang a little new song to God, and He used Bring Restoration to break chains and loose bondages. It was beautiful. He is beautiful.
Your son, johnny

Love is blind, some says. But I propose that love is not blind. When you really care about that person, you would do ANYTHING for that person, even unto death. And right now, I simply need to come before the Lord and say: "Here I am, I would do anything for You, even unto death." I believe the brothers and sisters in China prayed this dangerous prayer which was answered time and time again. I wonder whether I have the faith to do the same thing. And now I need to do solely is to love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength and love His people.

I was praying to the Lord and a message from Bill Johnson came to me: when God is First, there is no Second. when God is the best, there is no second best. I believe this is the prayer and my yearning for this season. Let God be the best.

Watched more of Kim Walker's sharing on worship leading and song choices. Each one really put what I feel to words, and once again worship in its simplest form is to connect with God with a heart ready to love Him and receive love from Him. O how I want to get into that posture day in and day out, from the rising of the sun to the setting of the moon!

Today, I was supposed to teach some piano, but it ended being a prayer and deliverance session with the Holy Spirit where this person, having headaches because of depression, having depression because of rejection and heartaches from a relationship, encountered the God that is above all depression, all issues, all problems. After coming before the Lord and confessed sins and forgive whatever that's needed to be forgiven, whether it's others or self, the headache was lifted off, and energy came back bit by bit as I played on the keys with soaking music and hymns. O I just love the presence of the King because we bow down in all humility before Him and surrender our rights and life to Him and Him alone! Man that just gets me all pumped down (as in to bow even lower)! We closed with one of my favorite songs: Bring Restoration. I believe this song is the prayers of many during this week. We will sing this on Sunday!

While men fail us, God never fails and His promises are always true, and His love never-ends.

johnny

It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. 

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

-Eph 2:1~10- (The Message)

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

-Romans 7:19~21- (NIV)

What's mercy without judgement? Mercy would not have its power if there is no judgement. To God, they are two sides of the same coin. He created salvation because He desires to demonstrate who He is. As written in Ephesians 2: "Saving is all his idea, and all his work...God does both the making and saving." Not us. We cannot save ourselves by reading more Bible, singing more worship songs, going to more conferences, though they are essential to our walk with Christ.


What's mercy without judgement? Mercy would have its power if there is no judgement. To God, they are two sides of the same coin. He created salvation because He desires to demonstrate who He is. As written in Ephesians 2: "Saving is all his idea, and all his work...God does both the making and saving." Not us. We cannot save ourselves by reading more Bible, singing more worship songs, going to more conferences, though they are essential to our walk with Christ.


Maybe I'm not making it clear enough. We're all in the same boat of doing-the-things-we-hate in Ephesians 2. And when we want to do good, evil is right there (Rom 7). It's the Garden of Eden all over again. As we are in God's eyes "locked gardens and sealed fountains" (SoS 4:13), we ARE the embodiment of Garden of Eden. We have to make choices between the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death EVERY DAY, whether we like it or not. We either feed our spirit men with eternal substances or fulfilling carnal desires with a moment of satisfaction.


Following Jesus is not an easy task. We do not get to heaven simply because we accepted Jesus and were baptized in water when we were still babes, but through obeying what God commands: Love Him with all our heart, should, strength, and mind, and Love others as yourself (Luke 10:27).
Christianity should never be about names or fame. It's not about lighting and glitter. It's not about numbers. It's about making decisions with the love for God and others. It's about doing good works and singing songs with a heart that loves God and others. It's about casting our crowns before the Almighty instead of casting stones at our brothers. Christianity is never meant to be an "easy religion." We either go big or go home. THERE IS NO IN-BETWEEN because God will simply spit us out of His mouth as written clearly in Rev. 3:16. It's a matter of LIFE and DEATH, and the choice is ours.


This is the reality: We either stay as slaves of sin or become tramplers of the snake. We need to realize our identity in God as His sons and daughters and the authority we have in God's Kingdom over the kingdom of darkness. When we follow Jesus, battles are ensured to come, and our job is to win them with the assurance that the war has been won two thousand years ago on that Cross with Christ's sacrifice. We are prone to fall, but He picks us up and carries us because when He places challenges before us, He wants us to partner with Him to conquer them!

Once our eyes are opened to this eternal truth, it's so easy to share this love and take it to the streets of suffering, pick up the cross and follow Jesus into the homes of the broken, and be of ambassadors of Light in the valley of the shadow of death. It's time to get our of the four walls of church and BE one!

The clock's ticking.
Johnny

This test is very essential because it tests the heart of a leader toward those he mentors and trains. This chapter examines whether his heart is selfish (cares more about himself) or selfless (cares about developing and empowering others).

2. Describe the commonalities all teams must have. Do you have these functioning on your team? If not, how can they begin to be built?

The four commonalities for a team to function well together are VISION, VALUES, PROCEDURE, and HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS. I'll use my church Impact as an example: The core team members have common visions (encounter, disciple, send) - we know where we're going. We also have these values that we are willing to die for (the six qualities: influence, maturity, passion, anointing, covenant, truth). We also have some kind of procedure as in who is in charge of what (cell leaders, prophetic ministry, media, administration, worship...etc). Last but not least, we all have healthy, loving relationships like family members would.

These four qualities are meant to be built and grown, they do not appear over night. Thus, I am aiming to start building these commonalities in my cell group with Alice, whom I partnered with as co-leaders of this group. We only have 2 people in this team, but that's okay, because our job is to dig out the hidden treasures of each cell members and develop them and empower them (we'll touch on that in the next chapter), thus invite them into our team. We both have good relationships, and we hold the same vision and values as the church, but what we need to work on is the procedure - how to first build up people then train up leaders.

3. As a leader, how do you find ways for your team to win?

Well, the team that I lead has no goal of "winning" but rather "having breakthroughs". I do not think I can answer this question well because I do not have much experience of leading a team into breakthrough. But I believe that I need to acknowledge my teammates and value them and make them feel secured in the team environment; moreover, "they must all realize they have a job to do, and no one can do their job other than they." As a person who leads worship with a team, I have faced "The Calling Test" and "The Humility Test", and of course the Teamwork Test. And all I have to say is that I have learned how to follow the Spirit while I lead, and I have learned to appreciate every single musician on the team because each one of them has something unique to offer to the team. Cooperate breakthrough definitely requires unity and teamwork.

4. How does interdependence work on your team?

Larry writes, "The key is interdependence. We need each other... Organizational researchers reserved the term team for groups that have high interdependence--each task that you do is dependent on what the other team members are doing at that same time... When we understand others' strengths and weaknesses, we can build as a team, capitalizing on strengths and providing support where others are weak."

I have been learning how to be interdependence instead being independence for the past six months or so partnering up with Alice. I think we are compatible when we work together because in the areas where I'm weak, Alice is stronger than I, and definitely there are some areas to which we both are not very competent (thus we need to train up or partner up with people who can fill in that gap!).

5. How do you communicate and problem solve on your team? Do you give respect to others? Do you demand it for yourself?

Unfortunately, I'm a person who can be arrogant sometimes. And throughout the past five or six years of coming to know Christ, I see how God has dealt with my problem through communicating and solving problems with a team. I used to think that I'm always right and everything had to go "my way", but in fact many things really did not turn out the way I wanted it to turn out. No one likes that feeling of "unmet expectation", but thank God that I can always lean on Him and still praise Him! Now I probably would have a higher score when it comes to this Teamwork Respect issue after all these testing from the Lord. I thank Him that now I would listen more and talk less, and I would give respect to others when they talk and really listen to what they have to say. O I'm still learning... =)

6. What happens within you when a team member gives direct criticism or seems to resist the direction of the team?

Like I said, I probably would have some disappointment and/or anger within when a member criticizes me or my action or even resists the direction of the team, but I know that I should receive advice with humility, and not quick to judge (grr...it is a test indeed!). I'll most likely to sit down with that member and fight... i mean talk it through! "Good communication and respect for each other through committed relationships will result in successful teamwork."

 All quotes from 21 Tests of Effective Leadership by Larry Kreider

stay tuned for Chapter 4 - The Release Test!

johnny