Leading in Sri Lanka

With the departure of all the executive leadership in the Asia Region, I and my colleagues Rev. Steven Mahlburg and Rev. Matthew Wood, as the Asia Area Facilitators, are tasked with holding down the fort, so to speak, as the search for new executive leadership begins. It will likely not be until early next year that we have a new Regional Director in place. The search for a Regional Business Manager could take even longer.

So the three of us gathered in Sri Lanka to try and get a grip on the task ahead of us.

Fortunately, there are few places quite as picturesque as the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, for a get together!

We didn’t have much time to appreciate the natural beauty, though. This meeting had been planned back in April at our last Regional leadership meeting. Of course at that time we thought we’d have executive leadership on hand for this meeting. The real challenge ahead of us is working through budget matters. This was not an area the AFs were involved with previously, so getting budget information for last year and being able to apply it to this year are our main concerns. The LCMS budget/fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30, so all of the staff changes are occurring just as last fiscal year comes to an end and a new one begins. Fun, fun, fun!

Fortunately for our Region, at least two of the AFs are very capable and industrious men.

We had two days of meetings that were productive in helping ensure we’re on the same page as we approach the coming year and the changes that will occur through it. We’re grateful that Rev. Dr. Brian Gauthier will be helping fill the gap in regional executive leadership until a new Regional Director can be found. Please pray that process is expeditious. Our Regional team is chock full of experienced, committed men and women so we aren’t worried about work continuing to be done, and that’s a huge blessing!