Its been a while since I last made a post, sorry about that. I’ve been helping with a program called CVS Leadership Institute (Not to be confused with the CVS pharmacy for those of you in America) in which students from the top universities in Japan come to Southern California for a couple months to learn business leadership skills by participating in real business situations. This program is well respected in Japan, over 100 students apply but only 24 are accepted. The competition between them is intense and the schedule is very demanding. They are divided into 6 team and participate in a variety of business and marketing presentations as well as athletic competitions. We even went to Mexico City to compete with students at Tecnológico de Monterrey, one of Mexico’s most prestigious universities.
My participation included driving the students around Southern California in a 15 seater van and acting as a judge for some of their presentations. My primary role was to help them with their English… there were a lot of sleepless nights with last minute corrections but it provided a great chance to build relationship with them and even share how Jesus has transformed my life. I really enjoyed being able to spend time with the students and there is much anticipation for a reunion in Japan this June… I am hoping and praying that I will be able to attend.
The leader of the CVS program, Tatsuo Hagiwara, became a Christian in the late 80’s through the Campus Crusade ministry in Tokyo Japan, we have mutual friends from there. Tatsuo was very successful in business and worked for one of the top three consulting firms in the U.S. as a senior manager. Currently he is pursuing a Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary. The CVS program is organized so that the students would learn about business from his experience and grasp the basics of the gospel, their business classes are held in a Church of which Tatsuo is an elder. For the most part all of the student participants are not Christian and it is the first time they will visit a Church or have a Christian friend. Here is Tatsuo’s blog where he writes more about the CVS program as well as business from a Christian’s perspective, many in Japan visit it frequently… sorry English readers, it is only in Japanese.
Please let me know if you would like to learn more about his program. It ended last week and most of the students are back in Japan. But when the program starts again this August Tatsuo will be looking to hire more English speaking Christians. CVS has a history of drawing students from the top universities in Japan as participants each year. Alumni from the program go on to work at leading consulting firms and businesses in Japan and around the world. Tatsuo and I share the same desire to reach Japan for Christ by reaching college students who will be the future leaders of Japan.
Here are a few videos made by past student participants of the CVS program.
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Congrates on all that you are doing.God speed in the name of Jesus.
Thanks, just taking the opportunities the Lord puts before me.