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Dear Friends of REACT Services,Welcome to the new and "official" REACT Services Newsletter! We hope that this communication and our just launched website will provide you with ongoing information and updates about what's happening in our ministry adventures. Please let us know what you think, and thanks for your friendship and support.Brian O'Connell
For two weeks in August, I was privileged to teach on partnering and collaboration to two different leadership development events. The first was at the International Sports Leadership School (ISLS), and the second was at the African Leadership Institute for Community Transformation (ALICT). The ISLS was made up of 27 leaders from 19 countries around the world (shown in the picture); ALICT had 29 leaders from 21 countries in Africa. These leaders were some of the finest caliber people I have ever had the privilege of working with. Serious, dedicated, sacrificial, and highly motivated to see the church be more effective in their communities. Along with my colleagues, we taught over 35 sessions which included topics such as:
Here's a some comments that a couple of people made about our sessions. My new friend, Mikael from Tanzania encouraged me after our time together saying, "You have brought light to many dark rooms in my being through your teaching. Thank you for the sacrifices you have made to be here for us." Phil from Malaysia said, "You have given me significant tools and information that I can now bring back to my church and my community to make a difference and an impact for Christ." And there are so many more. You might imagine what impact these words have had, for these are people working on the front lines of outreach and evangelism -- many times within countries and governments that can be hostile to Christianity, and with people that are often suspicious of their motivation. The enemy has been active, but God's love and grace is winning the day!! 
This month I am involved in two major projects. The first is a gathering of the Refugee Highway Partnership called the "Connections Roundtable." This event will be quite strategic bringing approximately 5-7 key people from each geographic region (North and South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia) as well as for three cooperative working groups (Advocacy, Children and Leadership Training). Attendees will include refugee leaders, representatives from refugee ministry groups, and representatives from resource organizations such as foundations and the World Evangelical Alliance. The roundtable will provide an opportunity to hear first-hand reports from around the world and to discuss ways to share information, strategies and resources across regions and issue areas. For more information check out the Refugee Highway website: www.refugeehighway.net Just before the Connections event, I'm helping to facilitate some of the Viva Network's Cutting Edge Conference in Oxford. Based in England, Viva is one of the leading global organizations seeking to address children at risk in our world. They will be bringing together nearly 400 significant global leaders. Check out their website at: www.viva.org Can I ask you to please pray for me as I participate and help lead these strategic events in England? If God might be leading you to participate with us financially, click the link below.
Some have asked us, what kind of things are you involved with in your ministry? The short answer is that we are a ministry serving Christian churches and organizations by providing expertise and consulting on strategic planning, facilitation, training and coaching on partnering. REACT stands for Resourcing, Evaluating, Alliance building, Coaching and Training. We work primarily in global and multi-cultural outreach settings, serving as a catalyst, trainer and coach in the development of grass-roots partnering strategies. We provide core educational and training materials to leaders that strengthen and enable involvement in partnering. REACT also identifies and brokers strategic relationships for ministries looking to be better facilitated in their outreach programs and organizational development. We work with a number of other specialized groups creating a virtual network of available resources for our clients and projects.Some of the initiatives we work with are able to pay for our services, and some are part of our ministry support program. Of the ministry support projects REACT identifies (or are invited to participate in), we choose only those where we can add signficant value and where financial investments can be highly leveraged.
Our July newsletter was an update on Indonesia and my evaluation of the projects there in response to the Tsunami. As news about Hurricane Katrina, Rita and other things take more of a center stage, we continue to be involved in conversations about appropriate next steps in collaboration there. The need and opportunity is still substantial.
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