Good progress: we are still learning.

It feels a bit like our strategy this year was to shop for new home furnishings by visiting the Chicago Swap-O-Rama flea market and hoping we would walk away with a well-matched ensemble. We wanted to make progress on recording Hausa; plan for the expansion of BiblePlus to neighboring African countries such as Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Chad, and Guinea; make local arrangements for Create Mobile instructors to visit in October for a month-long training; mount a mobile phone directional antenna at the Philip Centre North; repair computer equipment; and plan for new video content for C&C to record.

On other recording trips, all of the 100+ raw audio and video tracks would have been collected, and by today we might be bouncing down a dirt track to a new village, preparing to record a second language. In the cool of the evening, after a meal of jollof rice and chicken, we might be sitting outside under a “summer hut” (a thatched-roof gazebo with no walls) and editing in earnest.

Instead, we recorded Mariam in Hausa, English, and Twi. One beautiful story.  Mariam grew up speaking Hausa in Nigeria. As a child, she had questions about her faith — questions that can cause trouble when boldly asked by a young girl. Yet Mariam was blessed with a father who wanted to see her educated, even when local traditions did not support girls’ education. At school, Mariam continued her questions and her search, eventually learning about Jesus.

But her new life was costly. She was kicked out of her home and eventually moved back to Ghana. Today, she and her husband are missionaries to the Hausa in Nigeria and Ghana — answering the very questions Mariam had as a child and sharing Christ’s love with many people.  One powerful story.

A Planning Retreat

Yet. Yet. The metrics. While in a planning meeting with C&C, I made a joke about a graph that was “up and to the right.” I got puzzled looks — it was not an expression they were familiar with. Americans are driven by metrics. Even in mission organizations, annual reports highlight them with pie charts, “up and to the right” graphs, colorful infographics, and timelines showing improvement and projected growth.

As Beth and I sat with Ray, Cyrus, and Clement for a set of distraction-free planning meetings along the coast, the gap between our contexts was on full display.

My metric — 100 tracks — how I was considering progress and planning for remaining Hausa work — was misguided. Ray, Cyrus, and Clement were looking at impact, not integers. I was stuck viewing the world through a metric lens, and while I didn’t have little infographics floating through my thoughts, they may well have been bouncing around my subconscious.

Our short, one-day “retreat” to pray, sing, and plan for the next three years — with expanding to countries such as Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Chad, and Guinea on the horizon — was a fantastic success after we tossed out our metric-colored glasses and tabled discussions of finances and milestones. For Ray, the driving theme was clear: encouraging and training people. Changing lives. Impact.

As I reflected on the wonderful progress we had made building a plan for encouraging and training people, I thought of a passage from the Gospel of Matthew. Peter asked Jesus for a metric: “How often do I need to forgive someone? As many as seven times?” Jesus replied, “Seventy times seven” — which essentially means, “Stop counting. There is no metric” — check your heart.

Maybe in some situations, shifting away from the numeric score and looking at the people and the impact, can help reframe and set a new course. 

We have a bit more than a week left here in Ghana, so there is still plenty of time to learn more. 😊