Prayers move God to action. We cannot underestimate the power of this. James 5:16-18 says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Elijah was just a man like any of us, but he had great faith and prayed for it to rain even when there had been a drought for three and a half years. And it rained! God hears and answers prayers.

We can’t forget though, the power doesn’t come from us, it comes from God who loves us so deeply that his heart moved by us seeking his will. In 1 John 5, we learn that we can have full confidence when we approach God so that when we ask anything, he will hear us and answer us. That’s a promise.

The power of God has been moved to action through the prayers of righteous men and women all throughout history. After his people prayed, God defeated enemies (Psalm 6:9-10), overcame death (2 Kings 4:3-36), healed people (James 5:14-15) and cast out demons (Mark 9:29), just to mention a few.

She joined the team in the capacity of the Project Replication Specialist.

This means at Paradigm Shift, Elise oversees the national execution of sustainability plans for the project, ensuring the quality and long-term viability of the program in partner churches throughout the country. Elise is also responsible for researching and vetting future opportunities for Paradigm Shift’s international replication beyond 2011.

Elise Johnson has worked under the leadership of Joel Osteen as a financial consultant at Lakewood Church in Texas. Previously, she was an accountant at Church Compliant Services, where she provided financial and legal consulting to both churches and nonprofit organizations. She also managed the personal finances of a professional athlete, overseeing the accounting of millions of dollars per year. Prior to that, Elise worked on a legal team at Dewey Ballantine International Law Firm in London.

Elise has a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He is the Regional Discipleship Manager and Project Artist.

Which means at Paradigm Shift, Jonathan manages the writing and editing of the Paradigm Shift discipleship curricula. He coaches a and communicates with Life Coaches in the Gauteng region of South Africa. Jonathan also oversees the creation of artistic renderings for Paradigm Shift’s experiential learning curricula components.

Background

Jonathan Dockery has served in ministry both in Ireland and at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in the United States. There he taught a variety of Bible studies and Sunday School classes, mentored young people and was a part of the writing team for a range of discipleship curricula. He has been a freelance illustrator, concept designer and a storyboard artist on a number of projects for both film and video games.

Education

Jonathan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, North Carolina. He also has an Art Diploma from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California.

After praying together, the bail was miraculously reduced to $13! He was then open to prayer and to the things of God for the first time.

During the Paradigm Shift training, Sigauke learnt she should always be saving money for unexpected circumstances. So, when life hit hard, she was ready. For the first five months of this year, she used her savings to provide for her family while her husband was ill unable to work.

Before this, Sigauke’s husband had not been interested at all in her business and seemed to think it was a silly endeavor. Now, after experiencing hardship and having to rely on nothing more the savings from her business, he has changed his tune.

He now takes half of her items and sells them himself in another area of the community because he wants to replenish his wife’s savings before he goes back to work. He is truly a changed man,” reports Ms Wiid, Sigauke’s Mentor.

Ms Wiid has been deeply moved by Sigauke’s hard work, perseverance and her unconditional love.

As Ms Wiid has entered Sigauke’s world and coached her through this trying time, she has also been changed, further proving that mentoring is transformational for all involved.

George is an electrician who is mentoring an entrepreneur also named George, who is a handyman. They are developing a meaningful friendship while George (mentor) is coaching George (entrepreneur) in valuable skills such as how to collect payment from his clients and paying attention to details in his paperwork.

George (entrepreneur) was contracted to do a handyman job at his mentor’s home. The entrepreneur did an excellent job preparing a quote for the job, emailed it to his client and then texted to say it was in their inbox.

George completed the job and even followed up a week later to ask how his new customers felt about the job in terms of quality and timeliness. This follow-up demonstrated excellent customer service and a desire to improve his business.

With the help of his mentor, George is more and more confident in his work as he learns the details needed to retain repeat customers as well as gain new customers.

One key concept of paternalism and how to best avoid  this kind of attitude. The authors, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, argue that the number one thing to remember when avoiding paternalism is: “Do not do things for people that they can do for themselves.”

Paternalism comes in many different forms including: Resource, Spiritual, Knowledge, Labor and Managerial. Here are a few highlights from the book:

Knowledge paternalism occurs when we assume that we have all the best ideas about how to do things. Handling knowledge is a very tricky area in poverty alleviation, because the truth is that we often do have knowledge that can help the materially poor. But we must recognise that the materially poor also have unique insight into their own cultural contexts and are facing circumstances that we do not understand very well.

As image bearers [of Christ], unbelievers often have a lot of good ideas. To deny this is an affront to the One whose image they bear.

Labor paternalism occurs when we do work for people that they can do for themselves… [By doing so] we undermine people’s calling to be stewards of their own time and talents.

If you’re interested in learning more, checkout the website for When Helping Hurts.

Generosity inspires others to be generous.

This statement doesn’t have empirical evidence and multi-year studies behind it, but rather anecdotal evidence from recent conversations with some of the Paradigm Shift entrepreneurs who are becoming more generous as they connect with God and His generosity towards them as they participate in the Paradigm Shift program.

Neither in the Emmaus Road Course (cycle one) nor in the Pursuit of Purpose Course (cycle two), do the entrepreneurs have a session dedicated solely to giving sacrificially, being generous, or setting aside a tithe for God. Yet these behaviors are often being expressed by the participating entrepreneurs. This is a clear reflection of the inward spiritual transformation that is taking place in their lives.

It is reminiscent of Luke 3, where John the Baptist proclaimed the imminence of the Kingdom of God and the need for repentance of sins. The crowds asked John what they should do to bear the fruit of repentance. John said three things in verses 11-14: everyone should share clothes and food with the poor, tax collectors shouldn’t pocket extra money and soldiers should be content with their wages and not extort money.

Each answer relates to money and possessions. But no one even asked John about those things.

Bottom line–money and possessions are tied to what is happening inside our hearts. It’s of such high priority that John the Baptist couldn’t talk about true transformation without talking about how people handle money and possessions. The generosity of God compels us to be generous.

The outworking of generosity is only possible when inward transformation takes place.

Mwiza opened a small shop as a stepping stone to what she truly wants to do, which is hairdressing. Mwiza started her shop because she saw it as a vital need in her community. It nearly devastated her when her shop was robbed and everything but around $10 of merchandise was taken.

Mwiza has an amazing walk with the Lord and she is so diligent in her record-keeping. She has many aspirations for the future, so I feel terrible about what has just happened. It has really taken the wind out of her sails,” her mentor, Anne, explained at a recent gathering.

This setback has changed Mwiza’s trust in her community, and has significantly set her back financially. Mwiza she found comfort in the fact that she has a loving mentor who she trusts and could turn to for prayer and advise during this time.

Anne continues to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide her in helping Mwiza regain her confidence as she restarts her business and believes God for a better outcome.

One of the biggest challenges for the poor is that they don’t literally get $2 each day. Instead, their incomes are irregular and unpredictable. For example, they might earn $6 every third day or $10 every fifth day.

Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day explores the fundamental question of how the poor live on such small incomes. Over 250 families in Bangladesh, India and South Africa participated in this study of the financial practices of the world’s poor.

These households were interviewed every two weeks over the course of a year and researchers tracked all their financial transactions. What emerged is an amazing insight into the complexity of the financial lives of the poor.

This book shows that because of, not in spite of, their low and uncertain incomes, poor households must be extremely active financial managers. Many poor people have surprisingly sophisticated financial lives, saving and borrowing and creating complex “financial portfolios”.

Because the poor often lack access to formal financial services, they must spend valuable time and energy on frequent, informal and small-scale transactions in order to manage their daily cash flows.

The authors conclude that access to microfinance significantly improves the lives of the poor and they advocate expanding the financial services offered to the poor. They assert that convenient, reliable and flexible means of borrowing and saving reduces the amount of time poor households must dedicate to meeting daily needs, thus freeing up valuable time that can be spent working or taking care of their families.

Surprisingly, their conversation flows very naturally… just two people sharing life together, the mentor gently coaching on difficult topics, sometimes sharing a word of wisdom or a helpful idea. Each of them is inspired, challenged and sharpened by the experience.

Jesus spent three years mentoring twelve people. Yes, he taught the crowds, healed the sick and worked miracles; but the bulk of his time and energy was spent mentoring just twelve ordinary men.

Nothing Jesus did was without a reason. He was on a mission to accomplish something specific and mentoring was one of his key strategies to do so. It was on purpose.

Why did he chose this method? For one thing, Jesus was relationally-focused. People were (and still are) the most important priority to him. He knew we needed to see him mentor people so we could then go and do the same. He gave us a clear model to follow.

Across South Africa, Paradigm Shift mentors have taken up the challenge to mentor “on purpose”, just like Jesus.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. – Matthew 28:19-20