Hat Tosses & Transitions

A few years ago on furlough we went to the Minnesota Children's Theatre to watch my cousin act in the play, The 100 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Each time young Mr. Cubbins took off his hat, another one magically appeared - time and time again. (Watching that on stage was quite something - how they kept making hats appear was a closely guarded secret, and even with a relative in the play, the secret was not divulged to us). By the end of the play, there were 100 hats laying around the stage, but each one had always been replaced by a new one on his head.

For the last year or two I (Dan) have been a bit like Barthomlomew Cubbins - except that "hats" have been been appearing on my head, without waiting for the other to disappear! My head has been collecting these hats for near simulataneous usage. It has been a juggling act at times keeping each hat straight, and being sure I was wearing the right one at the right time.

While in the US last summer, listening to the radio while driving, I heard about a juggler who doubles as an Organizational Consultant to top executives applying the principles of juggling to handling the multi-tasking required in business in this day and age. The emphasis of his teaching is not how to catch the juggled items, but to release the items - all success in juggling, he says, is in the timing and manner of the release.

After a year plus of wearing and juggling these hats, the time has come for the strategic release of select hats. For review, for the last year and a bit I have been:

1. Bethany International Ministries (BIM)
a. Africa Area Coordinator
b. Kenya Field Leader
c. Developing a Global Internship site for Bethany Interns in Kenya.
d. Chairing a Strategic Initiative Task Force for BIM, involving leaders from around the world.

2. FTT National Coordinator
a. Chairman of Kenya Outreach & Research Network
b. Facilitating the start of the National Missionary Training Network
c. Facilitating the start of the National Mission Mobilization Network

3. Agape Fellowship Centre - Mission Pastor
a. Developing a mission committee/team in our home church.
b. Preparing foundations for a long-term outreach project among an unreached people group in Kenya (can't state where due to security)

When we returned from furlough in November 2006, believe it or not, I was wearing just one of those hats. However, God has given the grace for this period of time to help catalyze some very strategic initiatives in each of these areas. In the recent weeks, the Lord has arranged for about 5 of these hats to be released, and others to transition into the roles. God has used me to start these things, but will use others to keep them going.

Watch for upcoming postings as we'll share more about the juggling and releasing of these hats!