PLATINUM2023

A3 (formerly Asian Access)

Changing the few who change the many

aka Asian Access   |   Cerritos, CA   |  https://a3leaders.org

Mission

A3 changes the few who change the many. >> OUR VISION: A vibrant community accelerating Christ-centered movements around the world. >> OUR MISSION: We equip and unify visionary Christ-centered leaders to influence Spirit-led change.

Notes from the nonprofit

A3: Over 50 years of changing the few who change the many — now serving leaders in over 20 countries. For stories highlighting our work, see https://a3leaders.org/stories

Ruling year info

2003

President

Rev./Dr. Joseph W. Handley Jr.

Main address

PO Box 3307

Cerritos, CA 90703 USA

Show more contact info

Formerly known as

Language Institute for Evangelism

LIFE Ministries

Asian Access

EIN

95-6120630

NTEE code info

Christian (X20)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Many Christian leaders struggle with burnout, waning vision, persecution, or spiritual plateau. Leaders are discouraged and isolated, but often don’t call out for help. A3 nurtures intentional learning communities to build and sustain Christ's leaders. We are a leader development group that accelerates the capacity of leaders and helps them to thrive. We equip and unify leaders through a deep learning community, so they experience change from the inside out and hopefully make a significant Kingdom impact. Our process is centered around the belief that a Spirit-led community can change the culture of an entire nation—virtually anything—toward Christ's purposes. We give leaders a structure to connect and sustain each other, accelerate their own ministries, and expand the love of Jesus throughout their communities. A3 intentionally focuses on a small number of proven leaders with potential, creating cohorts of 12-15 leaders: Intensive, in-service, in-country, in-community, and ongoing.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Leader Development Program

DEVELOPING SPIRITUAL LEADERS
A3's leader development is recognized as one of the most creative and fruitful. A3 carefully selects emerging leaders. These leaders form a cohort of 12 that meets for 8 retreats over 2 years. An established curriculum and mentoring from mature leaders accelerate their own growth as spiritual and organizational leaders. And they develop a vibrant community built upon trust and friendship that creates the space for personal and corporate transformation.
Through the training, leaders are able to become more aware of their distinct strengths individually, as well as the unique giftedness of their congregations. They are also given the skills to determine more precisely the needs of the communities and the context in which they live and minister. Upon that knowledge, they then develop skills to equip their congregation for effective service. Following that they articulate their long-term vision and then begin to develop strategies for growth and multiplication.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Where we work

Awards

"Standard of Excellence" Web Award 2007

Web Marketing Association

"Standard of Excellence" Web Award 2008

Web Marketing Association

"Standard of Excellence" Web Award 2009

Web Marketing Association

"Standard of Excellence" Web Award 2010

Web Marketing Association

"Standard of Excellence" Web Award 2011

Web Marketing Association

eXcelerate Award for Innovation in Partnership 2012

Missio Nexus

"Standard of Excellence" Web Award 2006

Web Marketing Association

eXclerate award for Innovation in Partnership 2012

Missio Nexus

eXcelerate award for Excellence in Communications 2019

Missio Nexus

Affiliations & memberships

Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Charter Member 1979

Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) 1994

Lausanne Movement 1991

Missio Nexus 1993

Religious Liberty Partnership - Associate Member 2021

Alliance for the Unreached 2022

BiblicalTraining.org 2022

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of curricula designed

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Leader Development Program

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

During COVID lockdowns, our cohorts could not meet in person, so we developed an online learning site. These courses still help leaders toward ongoing personal development and connects them with A3.

Number of conferences held

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Leader Development Program

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Typically, A3 holds at least 2 large conferences per year: 1) National Directors Gathering and 2) Global Leaders Summit. Yet, during COVID lockdowns, we could not hold any conferences at all.

Number of conference attendees

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Leader Development Program

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

The two primary annual conferences A3 holds were impossible to hold during COVID. We were finally able to host 1 conference in 2022 and 1 in 2023. We hope to able to resume our typical schedule soon.

Number of online groups served

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Leader Development Program

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

This metric is the number of countries served by our online learning site. Since its launch in 2020, this number has grown. This number will likely not exceed 20 (our current number of countries).

Number of training workshops

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Leader Development Program

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Each A3 country usually holds 3-4 sessions per year. Again with COVID, sessions were only online. But now they have resumed holding sessions in person.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

A3 is striving for a vibrant community of servant leaders with vision, character, and competence leading the church across Asia. We hope to develop a global community of leaders networked with each other. For the rest of their lives, we hope these leaders will be...

1.) LOVING GOD: A deepening, personal loving relationship with God
2.) GROWING CHRISTLIKE: Community of leaders, growing in Christlike character
3.) REPRODUCING LEADERS: Multiply their impact by nurturing more disciples
4.) CATALYZING MOVEMENTS: Fostering movements that accelerate the Great Commission

Beyond this personal and corporate transformation, A3 strives to achieve genuinely sustainable indigenous ministries in each location. Our objective is to reduce outside resources by increasing resources within each of our partner countries, while fostering interdependence across the globe. Our goal is to accomplish this within a 12-year period. Sustainable ministry will be measured by:
1.) A viable Leadership Team in place.
2.) Increasing number of faculty coming from inside each country.
3.) Decreasing level of financial support needed from outside.

The A3 Leader Development Model brings together 12-20 pastors who meet quarterly over a 2- or 3-year period and is intensive, in-service, in-country, in community, and ongoing. By virtue of the fact that the selected participants move through the two-year transformational process with a group of other like-minded leaders who face very similar challenges, a strong sense of camaraderie develops which motivates the leaders to grow together and to push one another to a higher level of performance. The relationships that develop in the context of this experience often provide a network for ongoing friendship and development long after the program is completed.

A3 Leader Development Model
A3 is committed to equipping every leader to nurture a love relationship with God. This is the core from which godly leadership emanates and is the central element of the A3 Leader Development Model. Around this focus, the model is three-dimensional: creating a vibrant learning community through supportive and accountable relationships; incorporating an integrated curriculum through rigorous and extensive training; and fostering a transformational process that promotes life-long spiritual growth.

Focus on Transformation
A3 training focuses on a process of transformation rather than on an event for inspiration. As a result these leaders will have time for instruction, experimentation, reflection, evaluation, and relationship building.

Leaders with Potential Trained by Seasoned Leaders
The training is provided for exceptional emerging leaders by experienced senior leaders who are seasoned practitioners. The participants and trainers alike are carefully selected. It is the conviction of A3 that leaders are best developed by leaders, not by theorists alone.

Life-on-Life Mentoring
The training is designed to bring about a process of change that is accompanied by a commitment to implementation. This focus is intended to prevent the training experience from being a mere academic exercise. Central to this process is the life-on-life impact of the mentor on the pastor/leader. This mentoring is guided by the A3 national director in partnership with the country resource coordinator, along with the guests faculty who come to lecture and present case studies.

Key Church Leaders Included
A3 also involves the key leaders in a church so pastors are not learning in isolation of those they are leading. This endorsement by key church leaders at the beginning of the process increases their sense of ownership of the vision and strategy that is articulated as their pastor/leader moves through the program.

Training Marketplace Leaders
A3 launched for marketplace leaders the same leadership development we use for pastors. The vast majority of our church leader model transfers to the business sector. Developing leaders for the marketplace is a significant step toward bringing transformation to society at large.

A3 has over five decades of experience working in partnership with local churches. At A3, our most precious resource is our people...
https://www.a3leaders.org/community

Staff and Alumni
The strength of the ministry has always been the quality of the partnerships God has blessed us with—strong and enduring partnerships with the highest echelon of Christian leaders across the islands of Japan. Additionally, God has brought a community of highly-motivated staff and well-trained missionaries who bring additional strength and creativity to the ministry. This includes nearly 3,000 alumni from North America. Amazingly, the majority of our senior leaders has 25+ years of ministry with the organization, which has increased its stability.

Board of Directors and Council of Reference
The foundation laid by A3's outstanding Board of Directors has made the work of these missionary-national partnerships effective. We are privileged to have excellent boards in the U.S., Canada and Japan. Our Council of Reference endorses what A3 is accomplishing in the trenches.

Partnering Organizations and Teaching Faculty
The partnerships that A3 has enjoyed with leading churches, mission-minded schools, and generous supporters all across North America has made possible over forty-five years of fruitful ministry, and have brought us to a place of expanded ministry horizons across Asia. Many of our faculty, teaching across Asia, are serving churches, ministries and schools in North America and Asia.

Participants in the A3 Leader Development Program
Finally, the leaders who are participating in our leader development program are a big part of the A3 Community. Our graduates give back to the program in their given locale. Some serve on the working team to coordinate the work. Some serve on the reference council or board on the national level. Some serve as faculty to teach in country, and some are teaching in several countries across Asia. All of these graduates are volunteers for the movement, largely because they have benefitted themselves from participating in the program; they want to give back.

A3 is currently in over 20 countries across the globe, mostly in Asia where we started. But we are getting invitations from many places, within Asia and more recently well beyond this continent. That said, in our current countries, we are seeing significant progress toward our goals and objectives. We have developed over 1,000 leaders in these countries and they are a part of our vibrant community of servant leaders. We have seen growth and development in our graduates' personal lives, families, churches, and communities. Not every participant is a success story, but by and large, the majority do see meaningful transformation in their own lives—in their families, churches, communities, and even countries. We know we're doing well when our biggest compliments come from the spouses of our graduates, as they report the positive changes they have personally observed.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, Our people share in relationships, but formal surveys are received as corporate, not as relational.

Financials

A3 (formerly Asian Access)
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

A3 (formerly Asian Access)

Board of directors
as of 11/08/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Mr. Philip Foxwell

Foxmark Strategic Partners

Term: 2018 - 2021

David Bennett

Lausanne Movement

Kazuaki Uemura

Law Offices of Kazuaki Uemura

Philip Foxwell

Foxmark Strategic Partners

Kärin Butler Primuth

visionSynergy

S. Douglas Birdsall

Asian Access

Joseph W. Handley

Asian Access

Stephen Woodworth

Masterworks

William Duncan

ISU-The Olson Duncan Agency

Janice Munemitsu

Biola University

Michael C. Eicher

The Ohio State University

Francis Tsui

DMC Investments Ltd. (Hong Kong)

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 11/8/2023

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 11/08/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.