Colleen Wong
…On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 

​Revelation 22:2 
What are you doing now?
I am focused on national (indigenous) leadership development.  This would entail coming alongside national leaders and raising the awareness of how the enemy seeks to bring down godly leaders.  I am a dot connector that connects churches, agencies and leaders to create platforms and partnerships to come alongside the current rise of national leaders coming out of East Asia and the Middle East. 

I am currently working in conjunction with
  • Bill Thrall, founder of (www.trueface.org) and author of The Ascent of a Leader and The Cure
  • ​Samuel Rima - founder of Spiritual Capital and Moral Leadership Institute (www.scmli.com) and author of Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership and Leading From the Inside Out ​
  • Steve Unangst – develops and trains national leaders
Our desire is to begin with a certain quality of leader.  We are looking for leaders who are willing to live countercultural  to the typical shame base model of leadership.  We are in the search process of looking for qualified candidates from these three countries, with the possibility of expanding it to Iran and Korea. 
  • Humble and not eager to climb a ladder of “success” as defined in the world’s eyes.  Sees himself/herself on the same level as their followers
  • Able to share transparently and vulnerably about their areas of weakness, to make known the power of Christ
  • Supported by indigenous financial structures and institutions, not funded nor supported by the west – free of western influence
  • Person of influence in his/her country
  • Fairly good command of English

​Vehicle of Delivery:  Utilizing on-line technology, Bill Thrall (8 week cohort) will mentor these selected leaders with the understanding that these leaders will share what they have learned to 3-5 others, who will also agree to share with others under them.  The desire is to see a multiplication effect of a new model of leadership in these shame based cultures, in which the area of shame, does not preclude them from being able to share about the temptations of the heart and mind (attacks from Satan to bring them down).  Samuel Rima will follow up with some coaching and training sessions, using the tools he has developed for self-evaluation in understanding the pitfalls that leaders can succumb to.   Steve Unangst will be partnering with Bill Thrall to deliver some of the leadership content.
 
How you can join us: 
  • Prayer is our biggest need.  Finding leaders with the above-mentioned qualifications is like finding a needle in a haystack.  Please let us know if you would like updates on the progress of this and join us in prayer.
  • If you have experience in working with national leaders, we welcome you into the dialog to gather more input and potential contacts.  Please contact us.
  • If you have a skill or an idea that you feel would complement this endeavor, we welcome you into the dialog.​  
Ultimately this “movement of maintaining healthy spiritual men and women of integrity and character”
​would be self-sustaining and reproducible. 

We understand that the initial generation might need some funding to enable that first generation to take it to the next level.  While meeting over a zoom format can be done, it can be risky.  If funds can be made available to pay for these two authors time and energy as well as to provide any air fare needed to fly them to undisclosed locations, that would be helpful.  There may be some needed start up costs for national leaders to start their own venue within their own country. ​
I like the way that the Bible opens with the Tree of Life and ends with the Tree of Life.  The completion of the story states that the “leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations”.  It brings a sense of completion and peace to the chaos, destruction and brokenness that is in our world, among all nations.  It also gives a sense that there is an epic battle that is moving toward this completion. 

This inspires me to enfold my life into that image and picture…to be a part of that “fulness of life” that Jesus promised in John 10:10 in response to the enemy who wants to “kill, steal and destroy”. 

As a follower of Jesus, I want to be a part of this epic story.
​" I want to be a part ​of ​this
​epic story "
Background:
A former high school biology teacher before transitioning into full time ministry, Colleen serves as an intersection between many diverse fields, with a breadth of experience such as supporting the inner city poor, providing pastoral care to long term workers, assisting church staff teams and serving with her late husband as part of an overseas church planting team in the Middle East. Under a pen name, she co-authored the book Tender Care, a primer designed to provide spiritual insight for those serving in the member care field, and has produced international radio broadcasts as a source of member care for the ex-pat community through partnership with Barnabas International and Trans World Radio.  She has been a Perspectives speaker for over 15 years and has served on their curriculum development team.
Interests: 
  • Seeing how the ethnic minority body of Christ in American can come alongside three major countries: China, India and Pakistan.  These three countries contain the largest sets of unreached ethnic groups. 
    • From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, we see that the Lord’s heart and intent was that ALL NATIONS would be blessed by Him.  We sit in a land full of riches and blessings and the freedom to know and worship our Lord Jesus. 
    • The darkest regions in the world have these common factors: women and children are exploited for economic or sexual gain, the weak are oppressed, extreme poverty and leaders rule through the use of fear. 
    • These happen to be the places in which Jesus is not known.  Satan has been granted permission by these ethnic groups (by default, b/c they don’t know anything else) to rule according to his rules: to kill, steal and destroy.
  • Finding ways to come alongside those who work in these dark lands to be a support and encouragement
 " We sit in a land full of riches and blessings and the freedom to know and worship our Lord Jesus [but there are] places in which Jesus is not known. " 

DW is primed to express “mission” in a whole new way.
They are representative of the 
current trend in technology and its vast resources.
                                                         
​                                                                          — Colleen Wong
References:​
​For more information, please contact colleen.wong(at)deoworks.org