On the stage, with the camera rolling, he told me that I would now be acting.

Yikes.

A few days prior I was making pleasant conversation with one of our lead trainers (Mark Aranal-he’s the guy to my left in the above photo) in the Philippines. He had arranged for us to attend the soft opening of a new “Broadway” type musical that was about to open in Manila. I thanked him profusely and told him that I had done some acting back in my teenage years. And that’s where the conversation had ended.

Or so I thought.

Fast forward a few days later. The same friend had asked me to be interviewed on his Sunday evening show called Gospel Jam. During the interview, he brought up a Filipina actress handed her and I a script and had us “act” out the “Secret Love Letters of David and Bathsheba”. Yep.

And I did it.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

[caption id="attachment_644" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="N.O.A.H. was the musical where the "acting" conversation took place"]…

Is not something I’ve had much of since coming back from Asia. It has been a battle to get back into any sort of schedule and make my body want to eat and sleep during the times that this culture dictates.

The work that God is doing in Asia through Crown is glorious. It is a high privilege to serve these leaders. Korea is doing extraordinarily well. Taiwan has a solid foundation and great future plans.

Our time in the Philippines was met with a great leadership team, and a cool, young, edgy set of volunteers that are carrying the ministry forward. It was fun to join in with the stuff that God is up to over there.

Here are some more photos:

[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Me with the interpreter in Taipei"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_638" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Leading Stewards Course"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Leading Stewards discussion"][/caption]

Alex, Wayne Smith and I will be on our way to Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.

The next week will be filled with preparation for the trip, as well as making sure everything here is taken care of and running well during my absence.

Your prayers are appreciated. Korea and Taiwan have never had the Leading Stewards Course presented in their nations. My hope and prayer is that it ignites a fire. Both countries have incredibly committed people that are rigorous in their pursuit of knowledge and process. It seems like this course could be a good fit.

I promise to keep the blog updated with up to the minute prayer requests, praises updates and video updates while we are on the road.

Training people to inspire change from consumers to contributors is not easy, but it’s especially difficult in a culture very different from our own.