An interview with Ann Chow, Consultant, adaptiveleaders.com
Leaders with imagination have the power to inspire change. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Imagination is not a talent of some men but is the health of every man.” It’s not common advice to link imagination with long range planning, but that is exactly what Ann Chow recommends. Also, never underestimate the value of curiosity when problem solving; it can open fresh doors of insight, and redirect long range plan priorities.
Ann’s Story
When in university, Calgary-based Ann Chow attended her first Urbana Missions Conference, and it transformed her life. Accepting Jesus, and on fire to serve God, she pursued a job opportunity with Urbana. Hired at age 23 she stayed two decades, until she started her own business organizing huge missions related events for 3,000 plus participants each year.
For the past 15 years she has been enthusiastically engaged in mega project management for the Lausanne Movement, Cardus, Indigitous, and many other global organizations. Naturally curious, Ann felt intrigued and shocked when she heard a comment in 2012 from the Information Technology (IT) Urbana Conference participants that they felt they had ‘no place’ in the mission’s world. They had tried to connect with all 300 missions focused organizations present, but none understood their skills. This comment led Ann to accept an invitation in 2015 to run a hackathon in the midst of Urbana, a 16,000 person conference. At the time she had to google the word. It basically means an innovation type weekend session for geeks. She met two individuals from NASA and Ann invited them to help her direct the upcoming Urbana hackathon. They accepted.
Reviewing a checklist of problems encountered on the mission field, IT people began to brainstorm solutions. As ‘natural builders’ IT people tend to almost immediately build software solutions in their minds. Out of this exercise, it soon became clear that not only are IT personnel helpful as advisors to mission organizations, they are vital! They discovered there is a place for them in missions! Moreover, it’s a crucial role involving strategic planning leading to innovation and organizational change.
Ann’s favourite long range planning story is her participation in the program team in 2025 to Seoul Korea to develop a collaborative think tank as part of the Lausanne Movement congress. In this project 5,000 leaders from the global church were personally invited to brainstorm solutions to 25 of the toughest issues facing the world today, including, for example: refugees, climate change, corruption etc. Strong personalities clashed at times, making this project so challenging. But her faith and commitment to unifying the global church restrained her, and she kept on going.
Day one was focused on LISTENING to obtain global perspectives, which culminated in prayer for God’s guidance and wisdom. Day two focused on IMAGINATION, with the group asked to think what the world would look like in 2050, with this problem solved. Finally, on day three the group exercised CREATIVITY by articulating an action plan to identify what resources, communication networks and other changes would be needed, to see this vision become reality.
Inspired, Ann’s voice gets excited as she dreams of someday declaring this 2025 event as the potential ‘turning point’ in time for bringing the global church together to collaborate and solve some of the most pressing issues in our world today.
Biblical Principles
God Is in Control of the Future. Be humble and flexible. Recognize that plans may change due to God’s direction and sovereignty. James 4:13–15 NIV “Now listen, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
Planning is wise. Long-range planning reflects diligence and thoughtfulness, which God commends. Proverbs 21:5 NIV “The plans of the diligent lead to profit; as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
Priorities matter. Strategic planning involves setting priorities. Proverbs 24:27 NIV “Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.”
In conclusion, humility, accountability and flexibility in decision making and long-range planning are very important. Ann says that her friends from NASA changed her life by teaching her the value of keeping her eyes open, ready to pivot on a dime, if needed. That means listening to the Holy Spirit’s counsel and responding quickly after praying, praying, praying continuously.
Surprise is God’s reward! When you keep God at the centre of what you are planning, you’ll be delightfully surprised by what He does in answer to your obedience to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and humble submission to God’s authority!
“Connecting Your Sunday Faith to Your Monday Work” The Canadian Christian Business Federation exists to support business leaders in the study and application of Biblical Leadership Principles with peers, in order to transform lives, strengthen businesses, and positively influence and impact our world. ccbf.org
Writing Legacy: The right word at the right time, Nancy Kingdon is an author and freelance writer proudly serving CCBF ministries as their Story Writer. Her newest book release in March 2025 is Magnolia Grace Gardens: A Collection of Devotional Poetry. Visit her website at: www.writinglegacy.com
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