January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership

This is a book by leaders, for leaders, designed to prevent their readers from adding their names to the list of those who succeed greatly at spiritual leadership, only to have their "dark side" ultimately get the best of them and ruin their lives and ministries.

Nobody has to look very far to see spiritual leadership failures. Yet many wrongly think that these failings are merely the work of Satan:

Many Christian leaders have been taught to blame the "enemy" for their leadership failures. When a leader commits adultery, embezzles money from the church, or gets caught exposing himself, the most frequent explanation among the ranks of the faithful is "Boy, the devil sure is working overtime," with little attention given to the realities of human dysfunction. (p. 155)

The fact is, all of us have a "dark side" that consists of the unmet needs and "existential debts" that orient our lives and drive us from deep down inside. These often provide motivation to do good things-- such as spiritual leadership. But when these "dark side" characteristics continue to lurk in the darkness and are combined with spiritual leadership, we have a recipe for disaster. Pride, selfishness, self-deceit and wrong motives are identified as the tell-tale signs that the "dark side" is out of control.

Five different types of unhealthy leadership patterns are discussed:

* The Compulsive Leader
* The Narcissistic Leader
* The Paranoid Leader
* The Codependent Leader
* The Passive-Aggressive Leader

We will post about each type in the following weeks.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Badanegan Artsakank Is Back!

After six years of silence, the Badanegan Artsakank (The Youth Echo) of UAECNE is back.

Front Cover

Back Cover

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

ARMISS and the Christmas Concert

On Sunday, 4 January 2009, the Christmas concert of the Armenian Evangelical ARMISS choir was held in the First Armenian Evangelical Church.

ARMISS
The name of the Choir is the pen-name of the pastor, poet, compose and painter, the Rev. Armenag Missirian (1901-1977). In 1981, the Christian Endeavour Union (Քրիստոնէական Ջանից Միութիւնը) of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East established the Armenian Evangelical Armiss Choir together with its founding conductor Mr. Vatche Barsoumian.

In 1987, Rev. Nercess Balabanian reestablished the Armiss Choir. During the war years, and after extensive rehearsals, the group scheduled performances twice but was unable to give them. May 2001 signaled the group's rebirth when the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches established the Armiss Cultural Committee. Then, under the leadership of Rev. Balabanian, the Choir gave a sacred music concert at the Assembly Hall of the American University of Beirut to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of Christian Armenia. Since then, the Armiss Choir has given a number of performances.

Rev. Nercess Balabanian's move to the U.S. urged the Committee to seek new conductors. Mr. Nabil Melki offered his expertise in 2007, and the Choir gave a Christmas concert. Today, the Armiss Cultural Committee is happy to have Mr. Garo Avessian as the choir's new conductor.

Members of the Armiss Cultural Committee
Mr. Hrayr Jebejian, Chairman
Mrs. Roubina Artinian, Vice-Chairman
Mr. Nercess Baghdoyan, Treasurer
Miss Rima Cholakian, Member

ARMISS CHOIR
Garo Avessian, Conductor
Mathilde-Sandra Cholakian, Accompanist

Soprano
Ardemis Abrilian
Shushan Artinian
Silva Chilingirian
Rita Daderian
Taline Elmajian
Arlette Hovsepian
Armig Kazezian
Salpy Kouzouian
Pauline Sagherian
Rosy Sailian
Aline Tahazian

Tenor
Raffi Akbasharian
Luther Artinian
Manoug Chilingirian
Raffi Chilingirian
Raffi Elmajian (Dr.)
Ara Khederian

Alto
Rima Cholakian
Maral Haidostian
Esther Kilaghbian
Palig Kilaghbian
Nectar Palazian

Bass
Shant Aynilian
Hagop Kelougian
Séro Kelougian
Anto Ovigian
Ara Torkomian

News from Cyprus

Nicosia, January 2009: Mr. Hrayr Jebejian, and on behalf of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus, had a special meeting with His Excellency Mr. Marios Garoyan, head of the House of Representatives in Cyprus. The meeting was organized by the Armenian Representative of the Cyprus Parliament Mr. Vartkes Mahdessian, who was also present. The meeting took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, in Mr. Garoyan’s office.

Mr. Hrayr Jebejian briefed Mr. Garoyan on the ministry of the Armenian Evangelical Church worldwide. He then outlined the history of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus from the early days up to the invasion in 1974. Hrayr Jebejian updated Mr. Garoyan on the ongoing re-organizational work of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus and the present situation of the Church building in the occupied part of Nicosia. Recent photos and a copy of the deeds of the occupied Armenian Evangelical Church were handed over to Mr. Marios Garoyan for his reference.

Mr. Garoyan was very happy to hear about the re-organizational work of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Cyprus and expressed his willingness to support the ministry. He then shared his impressions of his recent official visit to Armenia. An Armenian by origin, Mr. Marios Garoyan’s visit to Armenia has been a very emotional one.

Mr. Marios Garoyan is the only Armenian political leader these days who occupies such a high ranking position outside Armenia.

Nejmeh Square and the Parliament

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Caroling - Spreading the Good News

(left pic): praying before starting our mission
(right pic): Shant Aynilian, Hovig Assilian, Garo Torkomian, Arek Karagoezian (not in picture)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Helicopter, by Shushan Artinian

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Christmas Event All Chanitz Associations

On Saturday, 27 December, and with the initiative of the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Chanitz, the joint Christmas Event took place in Marash Church, in the Hassessian Hall, with the participation of the Armenian Evangelical Marash Chanitz, and the Armenian Evangelical Ashrafieh Chanitz. Around 40 youth were present.
Mr. Hagop Gojigian was the host of the event. Mr. Vatche Khederian and Mrs. Loucin Akbasharian led the worship. After the worship, our guest speaker, Mrs. Vera Svajian shared with us the Christmas message titled "Mary's Disappointment".
It was time for games and dinner. Ms. Markrid Markarian, Ms. Nanor Kelenjian, Mr. Harout Attarian, Mr. Hagop Akbasharian and Mr. Koko Aynilian led the games. At the end of the event, Mr. and Mrs. Clause gave the Chanitzagans a visit and distributed Christmas verses to each participant.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Christmas at NEST Theological School

On Monday, 22 December, a small group from the Armiss choir participated in the Christmas gathering of the Near East School of Theology.
The choir presented two Christmas songs and later on they joined all for a Christmas sing-song in the Student Lounge, which was completely decorated as Jesus' birthplace. Afterwards, the principal of the school, Ms. Mary Michael invited everyone, as the big family of NEST, to a dinner.

(left pic): Rev. Megerdich Karagoezian standing on the left

(left pic): Rev. Sahyouni in front

Ara Khederian, Rita Daderian, Taline Elmajian, Dr. Raffi Elmajian, Sero Kelougian, Hagop Kelougian, Luder Artinian, Silva Chilingirian, Raffi Akbasharian, Shant Aynilian, Raffi Chilingirian

Leadership Training at NEST Theological School

On Sunday, 14 December, from 11:30 am till 3:30 pm, a leadership seminar was held for all the leadership groups of the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Church, at NEST (Near East School of Theology).
Mr. Manoug Ibitian presented the 1st subject titled "Accepting Others", after which the participants had lunch together at NEST. Ms. Houry Barsoumian presented the 2nd subject titled "Responsibility". At the end of each session, discussions were held and participants asked several questions for further explanations that were answered by the speakers.

Ms. Houry Barsoumian and Mr. Manoug Ibitian

During the 1st session

Having lunch at NEST

During the 2nd session