Snapshots of Navigators Around the World
By Bulus Silas Bossan
I often yearn to hear stories of God showing up in the corporate world. We hear of corruption and hindrances to people doing business ethically, and many Christians have been compromised or have failed. My heart’s desire has been to see Christians in business who are bringing the Kingdom of God near in spite of all the challenges there. Do we have testimonies of God coming through for his people in the midst of the challenges of an unhealthy environment? In Rudy and Donna, I found a very big “yes!”
Rudy and Donna are ordinary people, so they are doing the normal things most Navigators do, but with an additional job. They are living out our vision of “ordinary people, in many walks of life, who are joyfully leading integrated lives.” They are bringing the Gospel to people in their natural networks, showing the difference that God makes in their lives.
Rudy has been able to combine extensive responsibility in the work world with very significant responsibility in the Navigator ministry. He is now in the process of co-founding a startup company. Earlier in his career he was the CEO for Indonesia over a large IT security distributor headquartered in Europe. In 2016-2017, he was voted Best CEO in all of Asia Pacific for his company. Donna provides almost daily home care for sick relatives and keeps multiple households running.
Rudy and Donna are deeply committed Navigator laborers and leaders. They mentor many younger leaders, and God has used Rudy's work experience to encourage those leaders as they build their own families and careers. God has also enriched the national leadership team of the Indonesian Navigators with Rudy’s corporate knowledge.
Rudy told me that very early in his career, he discovered that it made a huge impact when he applied the principles at work which he had learned from the scriptures and from Navigators (like how to treat colleagues, self awareness, integrity, and excellence). God used him to solve large problems while he was still fairly junior in the company. Senior management recognized Rudy and he received speedy promotion because of what he had learned.
When Rudy applied Scriptural principles at work, he was like Joseph in Potiphar’s house in Genesis 37. Potiphar could see that God was with Joseph; God blessed Potiphar’s house because of Joseph. In the same way, the company Rudy worked for experienced a great deal of growth and peaceful relationships. The work prospered because of God’s blessing on him. That’s a beautiful story.
I asked Rudy and Donna what has kept them going, both in their Christian lives and in their commitment to ministry, while keeping a full-time job. They don’t see tension between those two worlds; they see synergy. Rudy told me that what he learned and applied was not unidirectional (learning from the Bible and blessing the workplace). He has also applied ideas from the corporate world to ministry. Rudy and Donna live an undivided life. They treat their colleagues like family by serving them, and they also invite people into their home and involve their children in ministry. God has given them close communities as they live out an authentic faith in front of everyone in their lives.
Rudy and Donna find encouragement from Psalm 16. They point out that God directs our lives (verses 5-6); he can and does speak to his people so we should spend time in the Word listening to him (verse 7); and he will never leave us so we can entrust ourselves to him (verses 8-9). With this kind of simple and undivided trust, Rudy and Donna have been a blessing to their community and nation.
