We touched on Place and watched this cool video showing the transformation miracle of the city Almolonga in Guatemala. It started with a few people crying out to God, and He delivered them from the surmountable giants of crime and corruption in their land. A whole city was born again, and out from it flowed blessings and prosperity, which is truly inspiring. We had such an awesome time praying that God will begin doing the same in Jakarta, right now.

My client, Wijay who has an industrial lubricant oil business, has set himself right before God that from now on he will walk away from corruption and kickbacks in his business dealings. He has raised the bar, and he knows the price he has to pay for taking that stand of obedience. And to think that he came into equip with a business purpose of maximizing profit. Only the Holy Spirit can inspire such a radical transformation!! I am so encouraged and blessed by his testimony of faith.

The centerpiece of the venture is taking my client through a process of repurposing his business. Sutirto Karja came one day later and got off to a late start. Because the 70 hours of consulting is jam-packed and intensive, we’ve played catch-up. Sutirto owns a startup computer business. He and 34 employees assemble and sell PCs to education institutions and corporations. They also sell laptops. A godly man, he has served in his church as a volunteer pastor. In our consultation, his first great business discovery was that he could be a shepherd to his employees. He had always separated church ministry from business. Now he views his business as ministry. Sutirto speaks little English. My Indonesian interpreter, Joshua Sudarsono, has worked hard. Equip matches each US consultant with an Indonesian partner-consultant. They can interpret, and at the same time, learn how to be lead consult in future ventures. Joshua is a delightful, young, and fervent believer. His happy face and enthusiasm cheer us on in the repurposing process. After several marathon consulting sessions, we have created a plan and put it into Powerpoint. Sutirto will present his repurposing plan to the entire group on Friday.

Sunday Update – Amy Cheng, U.S. Consultant

How great it is to have Indonesian consultants as partners! Our partners helped arrange speaking times at 5 churches around Jakarta. Our team visited both English and Bahasa Indonesia speaking congregations to share about equip’s mission and involvement in transforming Indonesia. God is moving in the hearts of many here. It is so encouraging to see their desire to integrate work and faith.

Dr. Suparno and See Mun, a Godly couple, honored our team with a generous and hospitable gift – 1 ½ hour traditional Indonesian foot reflexology and body massages! These massages were much needed after a very long week of intense consulting, spiritual warfare, and stress. The reflexologists did a great job releasing toxins and stress. How refreshing and relaxing!

Suparno and See Mun also treated us to a traditional Indonesian dinner at “Sate Senayan.” We had yummy sate, gado-gado, fried fish, and due to the Holy month of Ramadan, the “Ramadan Special” for those breaking their fast.

See Mun sensed that there was intense spiritual warfare over a teammate and offered to be the intercessor. The women (See Mun, Sherry, Amy, and Jackie), “Bobby’s Angels” prayed for each other and the group. Please continue to pray for our team’s health and unity, our clients’ growth and understanding. Terima kasih.

Dear Friends of Equip,

We had an excellent first week consulting with our clients, and we followed that up with some sight seeing on Saturday. We went to the area of Puncak in the mountains outside of Jakarta. We only had one day of a “break” as we had to be back to continue the work that we are doing with our clients as well as visit churches on Sunday. Just getting out of the city of Jakarta and seeing some open space was encouraging for us. Our first stop was a tea plantation in the hills. We took a 4 km walk where we had our morning devotion from Americus from Genesis 30:25-43. God did a miracle in the marketplace when Jacob was blessed with many speckled sheep.

We then went out to the Taman Safari to see a variety of animals that roam the grounds. We were able to get close to big cats, bears, varieties of monkeys, and many others. The petting zoo portion of the park was a lot of fun. Several of us posed with the big white tiger, the lion cubs, and a very friendly young Orangutan.

Finally we went to the home of one our Indonesian consultants, Hense and Ellen. They are Orchid farmers. We saw the very elaborate process they use to grow orchids from seed. It is no wonder they are expensive!

My client is in the food and beverage industry and has shown great generosity throughout our time here. As an example of this, he provided a variety of snacks and two coolers full of water and energy drinks for our sight seeing.

—Don Smith, U.S. Consultant

Friday Update - Paul Busk, U.S. Consultant

Jakarta, Indonesia
September 29, 2006

Friday was a big day. The half-way point of any undertaking is a meaningful time. On one hand, we look back and are amazed at how far we have come; on the other hand, we begin to think about how much effort it took to get to this point and we’re confronted by the realization that we have at least as much effort ahead of us to complete the task.

As I stop to reflect at the half-way point of our two week venture here in Jakarta, I am thrilled with the progress we have made thus far. We have covered 5 of the 10 major sections of the consultation – also known as the 10 P’s. So far, we covered Purpose, Product, Presence, Positioning and People. In addition to this work on repurposing business, we also spent time on transforming society for Jesus Christ. We asked our Indonesian clients to list the “giants” that stand in the way of transformation. The list is sobering. It includes issues such as corruption, lack of education, hopelessness, injustice, and terrorism. Perhaps the most significant “giant” that was listed was “no fear of God.”

While the exercise of identifying the giants was sobering, the willingness of our clients to commit their resources to battle these giants was both encouraging and convicting. The highlight of the day for me was the commitment walk. Each “giant” issue was written on a separate sheet of paper and posted on the wall of the conference room. The clients then walked the room and wrote down on specific posters the actions they would take and the resources they would commit toward overcoming each giant. As I observed these commitments being made, I was moved by the level of faith and obedience that enabled these brothers and sisters in Christ to make such bold commitments toward overcoming seemingly unfixable problems. I was also reminded of the proverb that “Man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps”. As I watched these incredible plans being made to fell these giants, I was reminded to pray that the Lord would direct each client’s steps toward bringing it about so that we would be able to witness Indonesia transformed in the name of Jesus Christ for the glory of God.

My primary client, Yayang, is a distributor of car tires and rims. He employs about 70 people in his business. He is a new believer, having come to Christ about nine months ago. It is such a thrill for me to work with Yayang and to see him thinking through ways that he can use his business to impact peoples lives for Christ. Since coming to Christ, he has changed the way he markets to his customers and instead has committed his resources to enabling his employees to attend marriage conferences. He is currently working on a marketing presence strategy of establishing a reputation for complete honesty in his business dealings. Please pray for Yayang that the Lord would bless his plans and use him His glory.