In the Company of Travellers – Season 2, Episode 8 Transcript

Season 2, Episode 8, Tefera Endalew

(preview clip) Tefera Endalew: There are times where you make decision by yourself might be wrong. Likewise, a decision that you make as a group also can be wrong. But being open to seek what is right before God.

Jo Johnson: Welcome again to In the Company of Travelers, a podcast of the Wycliffe Global Alliance. I’m Jo Johnson and with me as always is Hannes Wiesmann.

Hannes Wiesmann: Hi Jo, and hello, everyone.

Jo Johnson: We continue in our series of conversations about discernment both from a personal level and an organizational level. As we’ve been speaking with leaders from all over the world, we’ve been hearing about different aspects of discernment that these individual leaders embrace. Together, they helped to create a rich and diverse picture that really does reflect the global body of Christ.

Hannes Wiesmann: Yes, indeed. And our guest today adds another section to that picture. He’s Tefera Endalew, the executive director of Wycliffe Ethiopia. Tefera is a leader who makes his discernment process very transparent to others in his organization as you will hear. Enjoy this conversation with Tefera Endalew.

Jo Johnson: Welcome Tefera. Thank you so much for joining us as we delve into this topic of discernment. Tefera is the director of Wycliffe Ethiopia, and welcome too to my co-host Hannes Wiesmann. Great to see you Hannes. So Tefera, perhaps you could start us off by sharing an example of a time when you needed to use discernment and what you learned from that experience.

Tefera Endalew: Yes. You know, life always is based on discernment. It is not really a one-time thing that you do. It is a continuous practice in life. It could be even from childhood. It depends how you use your instinct or your brain or your context. But discernment is part of your journey. It’s part of your life. Every day you make decisions. Every day you weigh things. Every day you find yourself on the decisions and the results of the discernment that you make. So in life, especially in my journey as a Wycliffe Ethiopia director, there are incidences, there are areas where I have to take a time and pray and make decisions or discern which way is the best or which decision would please God and have become a benefit for the people of God. There are many, many examples that I can share. In my personal experience, a very short experience in life of course, there are times that I was really, say, tempted to take my own will, you know, to serve my own ego at times. But there are times that I would just pause and then think whether this is a humble way of doing things, whether this decision sharpens the purpose, or whether this decision has this element of compassion, or whether I need to seek a counsel. For example, I was in a situation where I needed a very clear guidance from my mentor whom I really admire and love, and we had a wonderful discussion soon, you know, to make this decision. I brought everything to him and we had a wonderful discussion and we had prayer. And I’m still struggling with the advice he was giving me, and I said to him, “What if I say no to you, what would you feel?” And he’s a very wise man and he said, “Well, I think you will enjoy that consequence. That’s okay, you can say no, that’s all right. But don’t call me afterwards when you are stuck or when you are in that situation.” So, well, I said, “Yeah, I’m going to enjoy that consequence. I’m going to go for what I believe it should be done. I’ve heard you. I have asked your counsel. You have really advised me. But I’m gonna go for it.” I did. I did go for it. And as he said, it was a bad one. So, I literally got stressed and felt like, “Oh, Lord, rescue me, Lord,” you know, and I had to really pause, pray, and then also not regret even a decision that I made, because that would not be a good way to go about, you know. You might end up doing self-beating, you might hate those decisions that you made, but instead to be open and then learn from it, and I believe I’m a good student in those terms. I learn from my mistakes, okay.

Tefera Endalew: I learn from the decision that I make. But, you know, everything has a consequence whether we do good or bad, it’s natural. But in contrast to that, there was a time with the same mentor of mine. I ran to my mentor, I pray, I take time to reflect, I take time to analyze things, and it’s not easy to make decisions when you are like a pioneer or, you know, a leader in an emerging organization. So there are times that I had a discussion with the same mentor of mine whom I really appreciate. So actually I was out of the country and he told me that I got to do this and that, you know, he gave me his wise advice and I really felt, “Oh, Lord, again here is something he’s telling me that I need to do this and that.” And then I said again, “Well, this time I’m going to take my own way again.” He didn’t say anything. And then indeed what I tried to decide or discern was the right one. And then we had to talk about that time, it was specifically in Cameroon. We had to reflect back and then say, “Do you remember I said to my mentor you said this and that, I took this path and then it was good?” And he said, “That’s good.” You see, that’s the mentorship that I enjoy, that you have a room to make mistakes, you have a room also to learn from your mistakes, and you have a room again to make sometimes a right decision. So discernment in my opinion, in my experience rather, is more of like how do you frame it? What is your parameter? What is your standard to make those decisions? Our good example is Jesus. I always see the life of Jesus, and he has this passion, he has this compassion, and he has the care. In Matthew, what is it, 9, that says he saw the crowd and he really had compassion, yeah, it was Matthew 9:36, he saw the crowd and he has compassion towards the crowd. So, and every decision that we make, especially as a leader, is not for us. It’s not to serve us. If we are the center of every decision, every discernment that we make, we fail. The decision that we make, the discernment that, you know, we go through should be to glorify God and to benefit the people. So our standard has to come to that level.

Jo Johnson: Wow, that was really rich. I don’t know which part to start trying to tease out first. You talked about humility, and it seems like you almost had to learn humility by making mistakes. Can you unpack that idea of humility a bit more for us and the place it takes in discernment?

Tefera Endalew: That’s right. If you are the center of every decision, or if every decision is made with you being the center, then there will not be any humility. For me, if we’re making decisions, if we are taking action, we have to see again who is the center of this decision, why am I making this decision. And in that, even a decision that might not please yourself, your ego, or whoever you are, it needs humility to accept that. I can give this example. I once had all my staff—we used to sit in a completely flat room where there is no director’s office, nothing, we all sit together—and then I asked, “Please don’t write your names and just evaluate me as your director. Please be brutal, be open enough since you are not writing your name, and I will ask my personnel if you want to insult me, if you want to say anything, please do it.” And then I gave them that chance. And then after the evaluation, my personnel came to me and then she said, “It’s so funny. I mean, it’s like I enjoyed reading all those things, but there’s one person who wrote to you that sometimes you are like a rocket, and it’s very difficult to follow you, you know, and he has a very detailed critique. I mean, maybe she or he.” And I read all those comments, whether they were positive or negative, to my staff. That needs courage, that needs humility.

Tefera Endalew: I don’t want to serve, or I don’t want to lead in a context where Tefera is the center of everything. It has to be Jesus. It has to be the ministry. It has to be the mission that we are called into. It’s his mission. It’s not our mission, as we always reflect on the mission of God. So that was like a humbling experience reading their evaluation while I’m still their director, okay. That’s humility, I would say. Am I humble enough all the time? Maybe not. But I’m open to be humble. I’m open to learn. We should be courageous to let ourselves be vulnerable or open for critiques or open for any comments that they bring. You see, that’s what I would say is humility. But I can tell you that for leaders, that’s not easy. It’s not easy. It would not be easy when we are the center of everything.

Tefera Endalew: But if Jesus, if the mission, if the call is the center of everything, every discernment that we do would be with a humble heart, with a humble spirit, and even we have a time to listen to the voice of God.

Jo Johnson: I’m curious after you have read all this feedback to your team, how did you feel in that moment?

Tefera Endalew: Well, I felt relief because I don’t want to deceive myself that I am the champion, that I am their champion. I might not be, you know. So it is like peace because I really want to humble myself, learn, and the hard way. You see, you have to let yourself at times learn the hard way. Nobody would decide that you could just go on and on, on and on, but that’s for me like deceiving yourself.

Tefera Endalew: So it depends how you want to handle those kind of things. But again, if this is not your private company, even while it’s your private company as a businessman or whatever, you have to be humble enough. You are not working with donkeys and horses or, you know, monkeys in the bush. You are working with people. People have got talents, people have got wisdom, people have everything that you have, even much better than what you have. Why don’t we be humble enough and then expose ourselves to the care of Christ? He is in charge of me. It’s beyond—I mean, there is a system that we have to follow, there is order that we have to follow again, and there are rules and regulations that we have to abide. Above all, we are under his care. We are under his leadership.

Hannes Wiesmann: I just find it incredibly courageous what you did and quite a strong testimony how you felt afterwards also. It seemed like the truth set you free. There is no pretense. Everything’s on the table.

Tefera Endalew: Yeah, that’s true. You know, I would say, discernment again, it begins in your heart. It begins there. Unless this heart is softened, unless this heart seeks God’s guidance, it’s very difficult to discern things. And then you add humility there. And that’s the foundation, I would say. I had an old friend who says that a humble person does not fail because he’s down there already. You see? And then humbleness is not even a gesture. It’s not—you don’t see it physically even, you don’t read it facially, you know. You have a good discernment spirit, you can read from eyes, maybe I don’t know, but humbleness is that of the heart, and it’s, I think, that’s what pleases God.

Tefera Endalew: We have a lot of examples in the Bible. And then sometimes discernment is not like a magic that you have to acquire. It comes with God’s spirit, it comes from the word of God, and then also through experience. You will learn through experience. There are times that we make decisions by ourselves and then it can be good, and then there are times that you make decisions as a team, and there are times where a decision that you make by yourself might be wrong. Likewise, a decision that you make as a group also can be wrong. But being open to seek what is right before God and what good benefit it would bring to the people that we serve is always something that we should seek for.

Jo Johnson: Moving on a little bit, you had these two situations where you sought the advice of your mentor and didn’t take it. And I know you can’t go into details and we wouldn’t want you to, but I’m wondering what it was that you learned on the first occasion that helped you deviate from his advice again the second time?

Tefera Endalew: Well, you know, if I frame it right, sometimes again you want to be right, but the question is on what basis? What is your reference point to be right? Is it your own reputation? You know, to protect your own reputation. Is it to prove that you’re right? Is it building your own influence? Is it trying to impress others? Or is it my goal or the decision that I took by myself to please God? What is the driving force to say no to my mentor? Let’s say, I would say it was my tiny little carnal that tells me that, “Man, I got to beat this thing,” and, you know, if I go his way, you will lose that self-glorification, let’s say. That’s quite a stretch way of saying it. So, again, thank God that we have the word of God, you know, you reflect. Thank God that you can pray and then say, “Abba Father, you have someone beyond your mentor that speaks directly to your heart, to your spirit, if you are humble enough, if you come before him.” So I really prayed and reflected and then felt that that was really wrong. In addition to that, the consequence will tell you. I mean, every decision has its own consequences. So the result itself has taught me in a hard way. But, you know, again coming back, I have to tell him that, I have to reaffirm to him. That also needs humility. Are you saying that, “You know what, man, it was tough. You are right. What you told me was right. It was just me who was stubborn about your advices”?

Jo Johnson: Still on that first example when you made the wrong decision, it had consequences for your team, right? I wonder how you assisted your team to accommodate the consequences of the mistake that you did.

Tefera Endalew: That’s right. As a leader, a decision that you make sometimes remains with you. It doesn’t go further, you know. If you are a man who always wants to be on that ladder from here to there and then you just keep that ladder, there are a lot of things that you can hide, that you can defend always yourself so that you just keep that ladder. But again, if you are flat and humble enough, you have to share that decision with your admin team. I do that all the time. So there might at times they call you that, “That’s like terrible. Like, you are a stone head, you know, how can you do that?” And, you know, that’s okay. Again, did I make that intentionally? Yes. Do I take the consequence? Yes. So I have to be intentional again to learn from it, to share with my group, and then if it is a major, let’s say, disaster that was brought to your group, well, my group has chosen me to be their leader, they have to bear with me. They have to take that and then maybe lift me up and then move on. I can tell you one good example. Again, when we had our property, we made huge decisions, big decisions, and I was at the lead. This is a very expensive decision, you know, and then I can take that as an example of like taking a speedboat and crossing an ocean or a river and just putting my steering behind, just at the back of me, and I am the driver. I am like the guy who takes the speedboats. That was the decision that in that process I was truly at the lead. I was at the steering wheel and say, “Hey, guys, bear with me. Let’s go. Let’s dive in.” So, it was a tiny little mistake that we made. I would say I made that tiny mistake, had to be corrected with all my team, with all my board. I said, “Hey, guys, like 95% of the things that we did was excellent. I mean, we can get a prize for it. But the 5% that we, I personally, made a decision out of my good—what do you call it, maybe hurt, you know, just I thought that that’s like something a very good gesture that we can show as an organization to this individual, the landlord—it was a disaster one.” But I said, “Hey, can you help me?” We sought, we prayed, and then we evaluated. And then they said, “You’re right. That is very dangerous. Let’s correct it this way.” So it has nothing to do with the finance, but it has to do with something very critical decision. So we reversed the mistake or the problem that we saw, the potential danger that we saw. Maybe if I had left it as it is, the consequence might come after 20 years, it might come after 30 years, it might not be imminent, you know, it might not be now. So some of the decisions, some of the paths that we take, you might not see the result today. The result would be in 50 years, 30 years. So this is the time that you bring your team together, your board together, even other advisers together and then say, “Hey, we are doing this for generations to come. We are doing it for the generation that we have now and for the generation to come. This is for God’s kingdom. I’ll be gone. I will not be here in 50 years. Maybe, you know, I’m 50 and maybe another—if you give me another 50 years, I’ll be 100—but I would not be here forever. Every decision that we make, every action that we take, it has a consequence.”

Jo Johnson: Well, time is nearly gone, and I would like to just touch on something else that you said which talks about the two things that you consider when you’re making a decision is does it glorify God and does it benefit other people.

Tefera Endalew: That’s right. You know, our goal is to glorify God. It’s not to please man. If we fear man, as it says in Proverb 29 verse 25, it’s like a snare to fear. We rather fear God. If we fear God, if we seek his approval, if we truly want to serve him and him alone, all those decisions have to come before him and before his people too. At times we think big voices, standard way of doing things are the right ones, and at times you need to go against the crowd even if you fear God. But if you fear man, it would be very difficult for you to go against the crowd. Sometimes you need to go against the norm if you fear God, if you want to really glorify God, not to be the hero in terms of going against the crowd nor against the normal, the natural standard, but to proclaim that Jesus is the hero. He is the head of the mission. This mission belongs to God that we are invited, and then as a people, as human, you know, we make mistakes, and let’s be humble enough and bring even glory in our mistakes. Just say that we are human beings. We lack wisdom. That’s why we seek to get wisdom. So seeking God’s approval, glorifying him is something we should always seek. I’m still learning, and we all are learning all the time. We always learn from our mistakes. We learn from our good experiences. We have to really glorify God and do everything that we do for his glory.

Jo Johnson: Well, thank you so much. We appreciate all that you’ve shared with us. I’ll certainly be taking away that idea about needing humility, but also courage and learning from my mistakes. Thank you so much.

Hannes Wiesmann: Before we end, I have another question if I may, and maybe it makes it into the podcast or not. We will see. Ethiopia is, we all know, is the country of coffee. So, I wonder how is coffee shaping discernment.

Tefera Endalew: You’re right. Yeah, you can have your cup of coffee and then your smile will increase, you know, when you have a cup of coffee.

Hannes Wiesmann: Thanks again to our friend Tefera of Wycliffe Ethiopia. Aside from the idea of coffee as a discernment tool, one thing that’s going to stick with me from this conversation is how Tefera talked about the need for humility but also courage. I was impressed at his willingness to listen to others but still own the consequences of the decisions he makes.

Jo Johnson: Yes. And also learning from mistakes which is a part of life for everyone but can be especially challenging for someone leading an organization. I also see how being transparent is a very appropriate posture for wise discernment and appreciate how Tefera models this in his leadership.

Hannes Wiesmann: To our listeners, we would love to hear from you about this topic as well.

Jo Johnson: And the best way to do this is to email us at info@wycliffe.net. Thanks for listening. Jo, travel well.

Hannes Wiesmann: Travel well, Hannes. And travel well to all of you. See you next time.