WE CAN DO MUCH MORE Beyond Our Limits & Limitations

The title above is the message I shared two days ago (on Wednesday, October 9, 2024) at a pre Year-End review and retreat for the staff of AHCoF. The event took place at the beautiful setting of Peduase Valley Resort, on the Aburi hills of Ghana.

For starters, AHCoF stands for Adventist Heritage Cooperative Fund, a thriving financial institution run by 14 Adventist young professionals in Ghana. The institution is a certified regulated body of the Department of Cooperatives. Its sole aim is to help church members and institutions become financially independent. It also supports and finances many church projects, missionary endeavors, and also responds to many needs in the community.

I serve as the Director of AHCoF Chaplaincy, a role that enables me to offer training, mentorship, and spiritual guidance to the staff at AHCoF—so that they remain committed to the practice of integrity, excellence, and service in their personal and professional lives.

OCCASION:

The one-day professional & spiritual retreat had 3 objectives:

1. To briefly review and analyze how AHCoF has performed in relation to their target from the beginning to of the year 2024 to the end of the 3rd Quarter.

2. To challenge the staff about what they need to do in the next 2 months before the year ends.

“The occasion was necessitated by the need to come together and think through the work we have done, and strategize to help us close the year triumphantly.” (Quoting the CEO of AHCoF, Mrs. Elizabeth Kusi Nsiah)

3. To be in a relaxing environment where the bond among the staff will be strengthened. The Peduase Valley Resort afforded them an opportunity “to breathe some good air, enjoy lunch together, recap our successes & failures, and and also to be challenged by an inspirational messages that will ginger us to do more…”

GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS:

The CEO reported that, during the first 9 months of the year, the following successful landmarks were reached:

(i) The AHCoF management and staff had worked very hard in 2024 year, and sacrificed a lot to end the third quarter on a very positive financial note.;

(ii) Despite the rather hectic pace of the year, the first 9 months of 2024 had already been blessed with with some great and measurable achievements: E.g.,

(a) AHCoF opened a new brach office in Kumasi, the Ashanti capital and second largest city in Ghana

(b) AHCoF secured and is about to commission its new Head Quarters in Accra; the event would take place on the 22nd of October 2024 (stay tuned).

(c) AHCoF will also hold its premiere AGM that same day that its new head quarters will be commissioned.

(AGM=Annual General Meeting. A term that is used for a yearly meeting between a company's shareholders and its board of directors. At this meeting, the directors present the company's financial performance and shareholders vote on issues.)

WE CAN DO MUCH MORE:

In my inspirational message and charge to the 13 young professional staff of AHCoF, I stated that, although we have achieved so much in the 9 preceding years, “we can still do much more.”

Basing my message on Isaiah 43:18-20 and Ephesians 3:20, I stated the following:

1. While praising the Lord for great achievements thus far in the year, I challenged the staff to not be content with the accomplishments. Contentment or satisfaction with what is destroys the possibilities of what could be.

2. I therefore challenged them to rise higher, go beyond their limits & limitations, and to far exceed all expectations. Excellence means going higher than the highest. It means we can always do much more.

3. Because God is able and willing to do “much more” for us, He also expects much more from us. Thus,

—If we have worked and given sacrificially to God's cause, let us give much more.

— If we have exercised faith in Him, let’s keep on trusting Him much more.

—If we have suffered for doing right, let’s not give up in our endurance.

—If we have grown in our ministries, let us seek to do much more.

It should always be our intent to exceed whatever we have done in the past.

COMPLIMENTARY GIFT:

I ended my inspirational talk by giving each of the staff members a complimentary copy of my book, “God Is Faithful.”

I challenged the AHCoF staff to read the book. As I keep saying to the youth, students, and young professionals, “Eagles read, but chickens watch TV.” "Those who read are those who lead."

AFRICA MUST READ! So that we can lead the world. In addition, we at AHCoF must read, so that “We Can Do So Much More!”

ASSESSMENT OF RETREAT:

In my 2-year work as AHCoF’s Director of Chaplaincy I can truly say that this one-day pre-Year End meeting was one of the most impactful. It was a “come rest awhile” moment for the staff members. A time to be away from the stressful office environment, to eat, relax, clown, and then think & pray.

Speaking for the entire AHCoF staff, the CEO stated:

“Our team spirit has been rejuvenated and we have all agreed to go and continue to do our best to end the year on a very strong note with extraordinary performances.”

I say a big Amen!

PICTURES: Attached are some pictures of the day (click https://tinyurl.com/m7ybs3hb).

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

1. For a more detailed account of the nature of my spiritual training of AHCoF staff, read my piece titled "The Best Kept Secret: When Competence Meets Integrity." I published that article at the end of the staff leadership training retreat at the Elmina Beach Resort, Elmina, January 6-9, 2022. Click on this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p8edz97.

2. For an overview of the evolving history of AHCoF, and for information on how to save with and benefit from AHCoF (Adventist Heritage Cooperative Fund), check their webpage: https://www.ahcooperativefund.org.

—Samuel Koranteng-Pipim, PhD

President, ANANSE Center of Leadership Development, &

Director of AHCoF Chaplaincy.

October 11, 2024

#LeadershipTraining #Mentorship #AHCoF #AdventistHeritageCooperativeFund #GhanaCooperatives #NGOs #DevelopmentalFunds #LeadershipDevelopment #LinkedIn