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1. What have you found most challenging as a church leader?

Being a Church leader is tough because I lead a team of volunteers. Volunteers have no financial motivation contrary to what happens in the corporate. Thus, people follow me because they love God, they want to follow, and that they believe in my vision. However, by God's grace being a Church leader is so fulfilling.

2. How did you become a church leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I became a leader in 1995, soon after giving my life to Christ. I was elected to become the youth chairperson. People believed in me because of my passion, zeal, and commitment to the things of God.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

My day begins with studying scriptures (two to five chapters, half from the old testament and half from the new testament) at 4 am (sometimes this happens earlier than 4 am). I study the scriptures (not reading), that is, writing notes and thinking deeply on the meaning of the scriptures and how I can apply the scriptures to my life, family, Church, and career/business. After studying the scriptures for 30 minutes or so, I pray for 30 minutes. At 5 am, I join my family for a one-hour corporate prayer. At 6 am, I do physical exercises for about 30 minutes (While exercising, I listen to motivational messages, business teachings, and/or sermons. However, I rest from physical exercises after every three days). At 630 am, I bathe, dress up, and take breakfast (on days that I am not fasting) in preparation to go to the office. While I bathe, I listen to motivational messages, business teachings, and/or sermons. From 630 pm to 7 pm, I read a book or articles on different blogs, and do a quick search of what is in the news, both locally and globally. At 7 am, I leave for the office. 730 am to 8 am, I get ready to start academic work which goes from 8 am to 5 pm. 10 am to 10:30 am and 1230 to 2 pm, I take snacks/food, respond to messages, pray for Church members and/or counsel them electronically, and depending on the day, I also preach online. From 6 pm to 8 pm I do executive coaching to my clients (mostly CEOs, CFOs, COOs, Directors, and Managers) and work on business consulting projects, except on days when we hold Church services. Between 9 pm and 10 pm, I go to bed.

4. What's one book apart from the Bible that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

'If I can, you can' by Sally Eichhorst

This book helped me to harness my potential and to pursue my purpose. In the book, Sally showed me that if I want to become a great leader, it all begins with self-leadership. Thus, in my life, I always remind myself that it does not matter how many signs and wonders I can be used by God to perform. It does not matter what image I project to the world. What matters most is me loving me, me loving God with all my heart, me loving and honoring my wife and children, me loving and honoring my parents (including my parents-in-law), and then me loving and ministering to other people.

5. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

I can not lead effectively if I do not take the time to listen to people. Not listening to respond, but listening to understand. Furthermore, I have learned that most of the people I come across daily have been judged more than enough. Many people are faced with problems that they do not know what to do next. Thus, they are not looking for another person to judge them, but to empathize with them and love them. This is what distinguished Jesus from the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. While all the others in leadership positions were always judging people and applying the law, Jesus came to show mercy and unconditional love. That is why Jesus performed miracles even on the Sabbath day, and he went out of his way to witness and show love to sinners and the desperate. We all need to be like Jesus.

6. How do you develop a healthy leadership pipeline in a church?

1. Train church leaders (pastoral assistants, elders, deacons, section leaders) and all church members to do self-leadership and self-empowerment (including studying books).
2. Form committees that are responsible for different aspects of the Church.
3. Coaching and mentoring upcoming leaders
4. Formal training - seminars, workshops, and conferences.
5. On-the-job training, job shadowing, job rotations, and delegation.
6. Networking and relation-building.
7. Use of 360-degree feedback

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a church leader so far?

As soon as I became a youth chairperson in 1995, we organized a conference to empower the youths. However, the conference also welcomed adults, including parents and church leaders.

Being a selfless leader, I have never been a position-minded leader. I value touching lives and making a difference to others. Therefore, I joined the team that was cooking for the conference. After cooking, we started serving the conference attendees. As we served, one person passed by and advised that the cooking team was supposed to set aside meat for ourselves, just in case the meat could run out. What this meant was that it was not good for us (hard-working cooks) to serve everyone and end up eating vegetables because the meat would have been finished by the conference attendees. To that, I responded by saying, 'We are here to serve. If we end up having more people than we expected, and the meat gets finished before we eat; let it be.' The elder was not happy with such a response. But to cut the long story short, my team and I ate with vegetables, but we were satisfied that we ate last after having done our best to satisfy the people we were serving. I have always believed that leaders must eat last. It is rare to see a mother or father who eats first before seeing whether the children have enough food. The same applies to leaders, whether at Church, in the corporate, in the community, or nationally. We can learn from Jesus who was a servant leader. Imagine if all people in leadership positions would put the needs of others first!