During June and July, 2002, Coram Deo Consulting engaged in a consulting project with Eagles Communications.  Eagles is a Christian organization based in Singapore which, among other ministries, provides leadership training to ministry leaders throughout Asia.

 

Background: Eagles Institute for Leadership Development (ILD)

 

Since 2002, Eagles Communications has been conducting leadership retreats through the use of challenging sermons, creative activities, group discussion, searching prayers, quiet reflections and introspection. These retreats seek to renew the leader's resolve, transform their minds, energize their souls, and turn their commitments to realities.

 

 

The Coram Deo Consulting team with members of the Eagles team

 

Engagement: How we contributed to Eagles' ministry

 

Coram Deo Consulting and Eagles Communications have partnered to evaluate the effectiveness of Eagles leadership program for senior ministry leaders, “Sharpening Your Leadership Edge.”  Over the years, a number of individuals, mostly pastors, have completed the initial modules of the training.  These individuals return to their organizations with a new sense of self-awareness of their leadership styles and seek to implement what they have learned.  Eagles invited Coram Deo to measure the impact of its leadership development program on participants and their organizations. To complete this task, Coram Deo  conducted extensive research, mostly through interviews of pastors, their lay leaders, and pastoral staff members, and surveys of cell group members to evaluate and make recommendations to enhance the program.

 

 

 

Jean and Gang working in the Eagles office

 

 

 

The Team: Coming together in Singapore

 

 

Mo, Jean, Gang in the team townhouse - generously provided by friends of Eagles

 

This year’s diverse team members include Kevin Ford (MIT, IV Staff), Mo-Yun Lei (Harvard Business School, MBA ’02), Jean Mondelis (University of Rochester, MBA ’02), John Terrill (Harvard Business School, IV Staff, and Kellogg School at Northwestern University, MBA ‘95), Gang Wei (University of Toronto, MBA ’02), and Mathew Cobbett (University of Michigan, MBA ’02).  Each team member was led to participate through personal reflection on God’s grace and influence in their lives and a desire to return some of the blessings that God has given them

 

 

Jean, Kevin, and Gang enjoy a meal at a "hawker center"

 

Our team has been blessed by our experience here in Singapore and with Eagles, and we know that the friendships that have been forged will last well beyond our short time here.  We will cherish our memories and think back to many of the lessons we have learned.  As we venture into our careers in business and ministry, our hope and prayer is that we will be salt and light to the world such that our “light may shine before men, that they may see (our) good deeds and praise (our) Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16

 

 

John, Mo, Gang, Jean enjoying a durian, a tropical fruit with a distinctive taste and odor.

 

Mission Team Biographies

Mo-Yun Lei  - Ms. Lei is currently working at the Standard Educational Leadership Institute at Stanford University.  She graduated from Harvard Business School in 2002.  Prior to HBS, she was an assistant principal at a public high school in California with over 2,100 students and 100 faculty and staff.  Among her responsibilities were professional development, technology infrastructure and support, and student and teacher assessments.  Ms. Lei has three years of teaching experience in math and chemistry and has served on the Board of the Fremont Union High School Foundation.  Last summer, Ms. Lei worked at Yahoo! in business development and production and helped launch their education site.  Ms. Lei also has a Master of Arts in Education and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.

 

"After being a part of this project, I’ve come to a greater appreciation for the challenges that pastors and the church are facing in a demanding and rapidly changing world.  Inspired by the faith of the Christians here in Singapore and Eagles, I am determined to return to the U.S. to combine my experiences in education and business to make an impact for Christ and lead a lifestyle of evangelism."

 

Jean Armand Mondelis -  Mr. Mondelis has an agricultural engineering background.  At the end of his engineering studies in 1998, before pursuing his Master of Business Administration degree at the Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester, he joined the Central Bank of Haiti.  He received specific training in this institution through a program called “program of excellence” set up for outstanding students from the State University of Haiti. 

 

He has worked as a consultant trainee with the “Centre Canadien d’Etude et de Cooperation Internationale (CECI)” in Haiti during the Summer of 1997 within the scope of an irrigation project. His task was specifically to train local management committees to manage all the resources of the project during and after execution, to carry out a socioeconomic diagnosis in the region of the project as well as a diagnosis of all the farmer associations cooperating with CECI.  He has also worked as assistant trainee with Pan-American Development Foundation/Plus Haiti during the summer of 1996 within the scope of a project of rural development.  He was at that time training farmer associations in techniques of plant propagation and soil and water conservation as well as teaching them certain skills in identifying and managing micro-projects for their groups.

 

"I became interested in this research project for the following reasons:  1) to have the opportunity to be exposed to Christians of others cultures with a calling for very different ministries in the kingdom of God, 2) to have a good understanding of what missionary agencies, specifically Eagles, and Christian organizations are doing in the mission field and their relationship with churches, 3) to use my professional skills and my biblical understanding to contribute to the work Eagles is doing, and 4) to learn from Eagles’ approach of evangelism and kingdom perspective to serve better in my church and to be an effective witness in my work environment."

 

Gang Wei - Mr. Wei has seven-years professional experience in international business in China prior to pursuing his MBA degree at the University of Toronto, Canada. His experience working for non-profit clients includes a consulting project for United Way (Toronto) in summer 2001.  Engagements include survey designing, interviewing senior client personnel, and performance evaluation and analysis.  Mr. Wei is the Vice President of the Marketing Association at Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.  Mr. Wei is a CFA candidate.

 

"As a new believer, I strengthened my faith through interviewing more than 20 senior pastors and key leaders in churches in Singapore, through working with my team members from different schools in US and Canada, and through working with people from Eagles Communications. It is the first time that I have partnered with so many people outside church who are working under the calling of God, and I can feel their passion and joyfulness while serving God."

 

 

Part of the team, from left to right - John Terrill, Jean Mondelis, Matt Cobbett, Mo-Yun Lei, Gang Wei

 

Supporting the team were:

 

Mathew D. Cobbett (matt@coramdeoconsulting.com)– Mr. Cobbett was formerly a Senior Consultant with Deloitte & Touche prior to pursuing his Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Michigan.  His experience leading consulting projects includes many engagements for non-profit clients.  Engagements for non-profit clients include writing a five-year strategic business plan, an organizational restructuring, and several business process reengineering projects.  He served for several years as president of the Board of a community symphony orchestra in Detroit, Michigan.  Mr. Cobbett is a Certified Public Accountant.

 

"It was such a blessing to me to see God work in so many ways to make this project a reality. Another blessing was seeing each of the team members arrive in Singapore with such a readiness work together and to grow spiritually.  It has been a pleasure getting to know the people here at Eagles.  I look forward to an opportunity to work with them again in the future.  Thank you to all who have supported us in prayer over these past months.

 

Kevin Ford - Rev. Kevin Ford currently serves on the staff of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  He coordinates all six IV groups at MIT but primarily works with the graduate students (MBA and Ph.D. students) and the faculty.  Kevin and the rest of the IVCF staff are committed to making disciples of the students who come to be a part of IVCF.  As Kevin puts it, the goal for each generation (four year's time) of students is for the staff to "pass on the passing on" so that the students can in turn make disciples and replicate themselves.  With grad students and faculty there is also a major emphasis on the integration of faith and academic disciplines; this often means overcoming the presupposition that Jesus has nothing to do with the life of the mind.

 

"As a pastor to students, I came to Singapore much more concerned with how this project will impact the participants then the actual project itself.  With the current climate of ethical failures in US businesses, I was very encouraged to see that these recent MBA graduates were willing to forgo high paying opportunities elsewhere to give their time here.  As a witness to God’s transforming grace during the project, I hope to encourage more participants in future projects. That being said, I have learned a great deal from and about the church in Singapore and Eagles Communications’ role in it.  You are like the watchman in Ezekiel 33, but you take it a step further, desiring not only to warn the church but also to equip its leaders for the battle."

 

John Terrill (jrterrill@earthlink.net) – Mr. Terrill currently serves as USA National Director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's MBA Ministry.  Prior to serving in this role, John worked as a consultant with Hay Management Consultants, a worldwide human resources and compensation consulting firm.  Prior to the Hay Group, John worked with Bank of America as a workout lending officer.  John holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS from Indiana University.  He is presently a M.Div. candidate at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

 

"My time in Singapore working with and for Eagles Communications has been a wonderful  experience.  As a current seminary student and Director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA’s National Ministry to MBA students and faculty, I am grateful for the ministry of Eagles, the values they uphold, and the way they go about fulfilling ministry commitments and goals.  As I reflect on my experience, there are three things that stand out: (1) Eagles is crystal clear on Lordship issues.  They know what it means to love others with heart, soul and mind.  (2) They are super creative and take good and appropriate risks.  They are in motion, changing and growing in healthy ways, refusing to rest on past successes; and (3) they are committed to relationships.  For 35 years, they have co-labored together, choosing to build the kingdom together rather than apart.  What a glorious witness in a fractured world!"

 

Sze-Yunn Pang (pangs@umich.edu) - Prior to business school, Sze-Yunn, a Singaporean, worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore.  In the diplomatic service, Sze-Yunn served for 3 years as First Secretary (Political and Economic) at the Singapore Embassy in Beijing, where her main duties were to analyse political and economic developments in China, network with Chinese leaders and policymakers, and provide policy recommendations to the Singapore Government.  She has also worked on regional security matters in Southeast Asia, Singapore's relations with the United States, and represented Singapore at the United Nations in New York.  At Michigan, Sze-Yunn was Co-Chair of Coram Deo (i.e. Christian business students at UMBS), Co-Chair of the Asian Business Conference (one of the largest student conferences at UMBS) and Associate Editor (Arts and Leisure) for the Monroe Street Journal (the UMBS newspaper).  Sze-Yunn supported the team in the early planning stages of the project.