...glimpses of where God is working...
...through a glass, darkly...
Update: Global Institute for Sustainable Peace
For the past several weeks, in my personal study and prayer time, I have been working my way slowly through the “Experiencing God Workbook,” by Henry Blackaby. His major premise is that instead of praying for God to bless our plans, we should pray that God would show us where He is working and how we can join in. About three weeks ago, on a Tuesday morning, I read his premise for the umpteenth time and then something Blackaby wrote jumped off the page at me. Too many times we pray for God to show us where He is working and how we can join in but then it as if we close our eyes and ears and miss His response. Blackaby advised that we should pray that prayer and then be alert for the next thing that happens. After reading that I thought, “Well of course.” Why pray for such guidance if I am not going to be looking for it when it comes.
So I did. I asked God to show me where He is working and how I can join in and I committed to be alert for His response. I told Him I particularly wanted to know because I had been cooking on this idea of launching an Institute for Sustainable Peace that would equip young leaders to engage in a collaborative discourse, prevent destructive conflict, and build sustainable peace. But I needed to know if I was just running off half-cocked on my own or could this be related to where God is working.
Then the fun began. All the rest of that Tuesday I began to watch and listen expectantly wondering what form the answer would take. If anything happened during the day, I missed it. But that night my wife and I went to a dinner party at the invitation of some friends who have been very supportive of the idea for the institute. At the dinner I met David Jones, a self-described liberal, who, with his lifelong friend, Gary Polland, a self-described conservative, has a local monthly program on Channel 8 in which they seek to find common political ground. David and I talked and I told him about my work with the ROM peace project in the Balkans and my idea for the Institute. He was intrigued and I was reminded that yes there are other folks out there working on finding common ground.
The next morning (Wednesday) I met with my friend Robins Brice, a lawyer in Houston that I hold in high regard for his commitment to professional and ethical excellence. When Robins heard my idea for the Institute, his advice was that our institute should serve other existing organizations with a mission that aligns well with our own. His thought was that existing organizations already have a constituency and a network for marketing. I immediately thought to myself, “OK, God, I think I saw that one.”
That night my wife and I went to the home of John and Ann Montgomery for a dinner party where we met Pete and Charlotte Berkowitz. Pete is chairman of the board of the Houston Holocaust Museum and Charlotte is a noted author whose work includes a remarkable linguistic analysis of the creation story in Genesis through which she earned her Ph.D. Charlotte spoke of her spiritual renaissance as a result of her study. Pete talked of the work of the Holocaust Museum and particularly the desire to do more to educate people in order to prevent genocide in the future. Once again I found myself saying, “You mean we could potentially serve the Houston Holocaust Museum?” while thinking of Robin’s advice.
Another guest at the dinner party was Rev. Celestin Musekura, a pastor who spends half the year at Dallas Theological Seminary and the other half in his home country, Rwanda. He is CEO of Africa Leadership & Reconciliation Ministry (ALARM), through which he works with hundreds of pastors who lived through the genocide in Rwanda. Celestin moved us with his account of his own experience of forgiving the family members of those who murdered his father and brothers in retaliation for his own reconciliation efforts. This time I found myself saying, “God, it would be such a privilege to serve such a faithful man as Celestin and his organization, ALARM.”
That night I also met a remarkable young man, Mark Hanis. Mark and three other Swarthmore Students, while still undergraduates, decided they had to do something substantive to stop the genocide that has been ongoing in Darfur for years. They created the Genocide Intervention Network. They have raised over $1.5 million to support their efforts sending a large portion of the money to support peacekeeping troops sent by the African Union to Darfur. They have successfully lobbied Congress to push through legislation to address the genocide in Darfur. Partnering with a student organization begun at Georgetown University, STAND (originally Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) they now have 300 university/college chapters and 400 high school chapters. I thought to myself, “OK I’d have to be blind and deaf to miss this one.” As we left the Montgomery’s house, I asked Mark if we would be willing to give me some feedback concerning our institute. He said yes.
We met at Starbucks the next morning (Thursday). For two hours Mark gave me feedback and we brainstormed the concept of bringing young potential leaders to a place like Estes Park Center in the Colorado Rockies for an interactive dialogue project. We would have teachers/mentors who were established leaders like former Senator and Ambassador to Burundi and later Malawi, Bob Krueger: former Ambassador to Uruguay, Christopher Ashby; John Montgomery, successful business man and social capitalist; and Jack Modesett, businessman and current chairman of Christianity Today. Our mentor/teachers would not just fly in for a couple of hours of lecturing and Q & A. They would take the time to invest themselves in relationships with the participants. The participants would be ethnically, racially and religiously diverse. They would learn to collaborate to solve problems through generative dialogue and principled negotiation. They would learn how to organize grass roots movements. And they would have fun in the process. We left Starbucks committed to work together experimentally. I will come to speak at one of the next regional conferences and we will work together to launch the leadership development gathering. By Thursday at noon I was pretty excited. It had been only one and a half days since I had promised God that I would pay attention if He would show me where He is working and how I might join in.
That night I met and then heard Samantha Power speak at a meeting co-sponsored by the Baker Policy Institute, Bridgeway Foundation, and the Houston Holocaust Museum. Samantha Power won the Pulitzer for non-fiction for her book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. Samantha committed herself to doing something about genocide when she was a journalist reporting from Bosnia during the war and genocide there. As I had her sign books for my daughters Lauren and Mary Katherine, I could not help myself but told her that I would love for her to come to the ROM Leadership Development and Peace Gathering in Croatia and hoped that I might be able to speak to her about it sometime. She said to give her a call. By the way, she is chairperson of the board of directors of Genocide Intervention Network.
On Saturday evening, as I was reporting all this to one of our founding directors, I told him I had to go to a fundraiser for the Zina Garrison Tennis Academy that night. He asked me whom I thought God might bring into my path that night. I brightened up and told him I did not know but I bet there would be somebody. I was kind of hoping it would be former President Bush, because I knew he was to be honored. It wasn’t.
As I looked at the silent auction items at the gala, I was despairing of finding anything to bid on when I came upon a donation by a pianist of two hours of piano playing at the winning bidder’s private party. The pianist had a Ph.D. from Rice and had debuted at Carnegie Hall and in Los Angeles. Her name is Loreta Kovacic and she is from Croatia. I found my wife and told her that I needed to speak to meet Dr. Kovacic. She said it was not a problem and promptly found her friend that had asked Dr. Kovacic to play at the VIP reception and to make the donation. Her friend introduced us and we had a great time visiting about the ROM project in her home country. She ended up sitting with me at dinner. And I was the only bidder for her donation. I can’t wait to have her play at a party to raise support for ROM and our new Institute.
I guess I ought to send Henry Blackaby a note of thanks. Yes, we see through a glass darkly. Yet there are times when God chooses to give us a glimpse of where He is working in the world and how we can join in. we just have to keep our eyes open.
Update: Global Institute for Sustainable Peace
For the past several weeks, in my personal study and prayer time, I have been working my way slowly through the “Experiencing God Workbook,” by Henry Blackaby. His major premise is that instead of praying for God to bless our plans, we should pray that God would show us where He is working and how we can join in. About three weeks ago, on a Tuesday morning, I read his premise for the umpteenth time and then something Blackaby wrote jumped off the page at me. Too many times we pray for God to show us where He is working and how we can join in but then it as if we close our eyes and ears and miss His response. Blackaby advised that we should pray that prayer and then be alert for the next thing that happens. After reading that I thought, “Well of course.” Why pray for such guidance if I am not going to be looking for it when it comes.
So I did. I asked God to show me where He is working and how I can join in and I committed to be alert for His response. I told Him I particularly wanted to know because I had been cooking on this idea of launching an Institute for Sustainable Peace that would equip young leaders to engage in a collaborative discourse, prevent destructive conflict, and build sustainable peace. But I needed to know if I was just running off half-cocked on my own or could this be related to where God is working.
Then the fun began. All the rest of that Tuesday I began to watch and listen expectantly wondering what form the answer would take. If anything happened during the day, I missed it. But that night my wife and I went to a dinner party at the invitation of some friends who have been very supportive of the idea for the institute. At the dinner I met David Jones, a self-described liberal, who, with his lifelong friend, Gary Polland, a self-described conservative, has a local monthly program on Channel 8 in which they seek to find common political ground. David and I talked and I told him about my work with the ROM peace project in the Balkans and my idea for the Institute. He was intrigued and I was reminded that yes there are other folks out there working on finding common ground.
The next morning (Wednesday) I met with my friend Robins Brice, a lawyer in Houston that I hold in high regard for his commitment to professional and ethical excellence. When Robins heard my idea for the Institute, his advice was that our institute should serve other existing organizations with a mission that aligns well with our own. His thought was that existing organizations already have a constituency and a network for marketing. I immediately thought to myself, “OK, God, I think I saw that one.”
That night my wife and I went to the home of John and Ann Montgomery for a dinner party where we met Pete and Charlotte Berkowitz. Pete is chairman of the board of the Houston Holocaust Museum and Charlotte is a noted author whose work includes a remarkable linguistic analysis of the creation story in Genesis through which she earned her Ph.D. Charlotte spoke of her spiritual renaissance as a result of her study. Pete talked of the work of the Holocaust Museum and particularly the desire to do more to educate people in order to prevent genocide in the future. Once again I found myself saying, “You mean we could potentially serve the Houston Holocaust Museum?” while thinking of Robin’s advice.
Another guest at the dinner party was Rev. Celestin Musekura, a pastor who spends half the year at Dallas Theological Seminary and the other half in his home country, Rwanda. He is CEO of Africa Leadership & Reconciliation Ministry (ALARM), through which he works with hundreds of pastors who lived through the genocide in Rwanda. Celestin moved us with his account of his own experience of forgiving the family members of those who murdered his father and brothers in retaliation for his own reconciliation efforts. This time I found myself saying, “God, it would be such a privilege to serve such a faithful man as Celestin and his organization, ALARM.”
That night I also met a remarkable young man, Mark Hanis. Mark and three other Swarthmore Students, while still undergraduates, decided they had to do something substantive to stop the genocide that has been ongoing in Darfur for years. They created the Genocide Intervention Network. They have raised over $1.5 million to support their efforts sending a large portion of the money to support peacekeeping troops sent by the African Union to Darfur. They have successfully lobbied Congress to push through legislation to address the genocide in Darfur. Partnering with a student organization begun at Georgetown University, STAND (originally Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) they now have 300 university/college chapters and 400 high school chapters. I thought to myself, “OK I’d have to be blind and deaf to miss this one.” As we left the Montgomery’s house, I asked Mark if we would be willing to give me some feedback concerning our institute. He said yes.
We met at Starbucks the next morning (Thursday). For two hours Mark gave me feedback and we brainstormed the concept of bringing young potential leaders to a place like Estes Park Center in the Colorado Rockies for an interactive dialogue project. We would have teachers/mentors who were established leaders like former Senator and Ambassador to Burundi and later Malawi, Bob Krueger: former Ambassador to Uruguay, Christopher Ashby; John Montgomery, successful business man and social capitalist; and Jack Modesett, businessman and current chairman of Christianity Today. Our mentor/teachers would not just fly in for a couple of hours of lecturing and Q & A. They would take the time to invest themselves in relationships with the participants. The participants would be ethnically, racially and religiously diverse. They would learn to collaborate to solve problems through generative dialogue and principled negotiation. They would learn how to organize grass roots movements. And they would have fun in the process. We left Starbucks committed to work together experimentally. I will come to speak at one of the next regional conferences and we will work together to launch the leadership development gathering. By Thursday at noon I was pretty excited. It had been only one and a half days since I had promised God that I would pay attention if He would show me where He is working and how I might join in.
That night I met and then heard Samantha Power speak at a meeting co-sponsored by the Baker Policy Institute, Bridgeway Foundation, and the Houston Holocaust Museum. Samantha Power won the Pulitzer for non-fiction for her book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. Samantha committed herself to doing something about genocide when she was a journalist reporting from Bosnia during the war and genocide there. As I had her sign books for my daughters Lauren and Mary Katherine, I could not help myself but told her that I would love for her to come to the ROM Leadership Development and Peace Gathering in Croatia and hoped that I might be able to speak to her about it sometime. She said to give her a call. By the way, she is chairperson of the board of directors of Genocide Intervention Network.
On Saturday evening, as I was reporting all this to one of our founding directors, I told him I had to go to a fundraiser for the Zina Garrison Tennis Academy that night. He asked me whom I thought God might bring into my path that night. I brightened up and told him I did not know but I bet there would be somebody. I was kind of hoping it would be former President Bush, because I knew he was to be honored. It wasn’t.
As I looked at the silent auction items at the gala, I was despairing of finding anything to bid on when I came upon a donation by a pianist of two hours of piano playing at the winning bidder’s private party. The pianist had a Ph.D. from Rice and had debuted at Carnegie Hall and in Los Angeles. Her name is Loreta Kovacic and she is from Croatia. I found my wife and told her that I needed to speak to meet Dr. Kovacic. She said it was not a problem and promptly found her friend that had asked Dr. Kovacic to play at the VIP reception and to make the donation. Her friend introduced us and we had a great time visiting about the ROM project in her home country. She ended up sitting with me at dinner. And I was the only bidder for her donation. I can’t wait to have her play at a party to raise support for ROM and our new Institute.
I guess I ought to send Henry Blackaby a note of thanks. Yes, we see through a glass darkly. Yet there are times when God chooses to give us a glimpse of where He is working in the world and how we can join in. we just have to keep our eyes open.
posted by Randall E. Butler at 10:45 AM
1 comments
