This week Assist News Service published an article about Paradigm Shift entitled, “Paradigm Shift Extends God’s Family by Empowering Entrepreneurs.”

The article provides a comprehensive overview of the four key components (business training, microcredit, discipleship and mentoring) the Paradigm Shift program uses to connect business-minded members of local churches with microentrepreneurs in their communities.

Please forward the article to anyone you think might be interested in learning more about Paradigm Shift!

21: The most recent number of microentrepreneurs who finished the first Paradigm Shift course last Saturday. Most of the entrepreneurs pictured below live in a  community where there is no running water and electricity. Their level of interest, engagement and desire for future involvement was unbelievable.

This group and another are signed up to come through 18 weeks of weekly meetings where they will study additional business topics along with looking at what the Bible says about their lives, their families and their businesses.

Should be a fun road of growth in the next 18 weeks.

Paradigm Shift’s team just grew by 25!

That’s some incredible growth huh?

How you may ask… well by a new volunteer team being trained up through a partner church. It is a team of business trainers, life coaches, table trainers, microcredit coordinators and mentors.

Each person fills a specific role that works towards the greater goal: seeing their church engage with the poor both spiritually and economically.

Paradigm Shift uses the powerful principle of leverage. The team of five Paradigm Shift staff members leveraged the time, energy and efforts of over 100 last year. This year, the team of seven Paradigm Shift staff members will leverage the time energy and efforts of over 500 this year.

This isn’t the amount of entrepreneurs trained. This is the number of South Africans empowered to be the answers to their own communities pressing needs. This is a gathering of South Africans taking the initiative to hold out hope for those forgotten. This is ultimately Paradigm Shift’s reason for existence: training, equipping, empowering South African churches to muster together the requisite human capital within their congregations and offer it in service to those who need it most.

It started with one church.

It grew to two.

Then to four.

And now to eight.

Eventually twelve.

Soon sixteen.

Then to twenty.

It is at twenty churches that we cap it. Why? Because we are making the Paradigm Shift better and better so that eventually it will become a replicable outreach put into the hands of congregations across South Africa and then soon into other parts of Africa.

It is an exciting road ahead… Looking forward to sharing the journey with you.

Looking back of an entire year is always a bit surreal and 2009 is no different. Recently in a Paradigm Shift staff meeting, we recounted where we were personally and organizationally exactly one year ago.

Paradigm Shift South Africa didn’t exist one year ago!

There was no curriculum, training materials nor training classes.

There wasn’t any empirical evidence that Paradigm Shift model of ministry would even work.

But here we are, an entire year later with a very different story.

Three entire courses have been written, tested and revised.

Paradigm Shift is now seven staff members strong (two of which are South African)!

Training manuals have been written, tested and refined.

And after training entrepreneurs from 7 different nations speaking 10 different languages we can rest on the successes of last year to propel us into 2010 with vigor and strength.

Paradigm Shift’s vision is long-term as we work with churches being the change both individualy and systematically. Should be a fun year and look forward to sharing it as it unfolds ahead.