Who do you know?

I attended a small group leaders meeting this morning at my church. While we were there one of the things that we were talking about was growth. And of course we began to talk about reaching out to the lost in the community around us.  As a part of that conversation the question was posed to the thirty or so small group leaders who were present, if they knew lost people in their life.  And predominatly everyone raised their hand as we all know someone who does not know Jesus as their Savior.  But as I thought more and more about the question I began to think that I really don’t know anyone who is lost.  I am aware of lost people, or I might associate with them, but I don’t know any lost people in my life.

In case you missed it I am making a jump off the work to know someone.  There are people in my life that I know, or aware of, but I have not invested much time in their lives.  I have not invested the time to get to know them.  I do not avoid them becuase they are lost, but for much more ridiuculous reasons. Because we don’t have the same interstes, or we are of different age groups, or a host of other reasons.  But as I thought more and more about this question I began to think more about this.

If I am truly about the kingdom then those in my life who do not know Christ are the people that I need to invest in. These are the people that I need to get to know.  They may never come to know the Lord as their Savior, but the likelihood that they will never feel, witness, or know the Love of Jesus if I don’t show them is a distinict possibility. 

So if someone asks you if you know someone who doesn’t know the Lord, stop and give that some thought.  Think about how much time you spend with the lost, and then look at how much time Jesus spent with the lost.

Annoucement

Just wanted to take a moment to announce a new page edition to the blog.  Coming this weekend I will be creating a new page entitled “Story Time”  or “Story Corner” something completly cheesy like that.  What this page will be will be a sampling of some of the short stories that I have written in my life, and ones that I am currently writing. I think the first one will be one that I am writing at the moment.  So it might not be finished when it gets posted for the first time. But chekc it out, and then come back and read the whole story.  Let me know what you think. Check out this weekend!

A Landmark Day in My Life

What an awesome day at church. Today in services we took part in the Lord’s Table, and as a Deacon I have the oppurtunity to serve communion.  That in itself is always an awesome privelege. But today held a special privelege for me, one that I will not soon forget.

During the second service there was a small presentation where the church presented me with my License to Gospel Ministry.  While officially this happened on December 10, 2008 that was the filling out and processing of the paperwork.  But today was the presentation in front of the church body.  It was short, it was too the point, but it was one of the moments I will never forget in my life.

For those that aren’t in the church world, or more specifically the Southern Baptist world, what this means is the church is putting a stamp of agreement on my calling to full time Ministry.  From my point of it is the next step in surrendering my life to full time ministry.  God placed a calling on my life when I was a youth at Brookside Baptist Church in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.  It was after that I went on to Taylor University and received degrees in Youth Ministry and Urban Ministry.  Then naturally I went on to serve in a couple of churches as the full time youth minister over the next several years. 

Six years ago I came to Columbia, TN and time flew by.  And this is the longest I have ever lived in one place my entire life.  To some people, like my wife, who have lived in the same area their entire lives this isnot such a special thing. But more importantly I have never been a part of one church, as a child, youth or adult, whether as a member or staff for this long.  There have been many things that I have done n ministry since I first accepted that calling that were absolutetly wrong. And to those I hurt I humbly ask your forgiveness.

Over the past five years God has used this time, this place, and this church to help me heal. To teach me so many things as a disciple of Christ.  But most of all this was the place that he had prepared for me when he called me to ministry twenty years ago.  This was the place that was designed to help me understand, to have perspective of ministry. And has God has prepared me and walked with me through this time of discipleship he has put people in my life that helped me to recover, to learn and to grow. 

And then today the church that for the first time in my life I call my church home, put its stamp of agreement on my calling into ministry and licensed me as a Minister of the Gospel! How wonderful a thing! How awesome a thing that God would not only choose me to die for me and pay for my sins, but to choose me as one who would carry his word to those that are lost!

I have no idea what the future holds. All I know is the prayer I shared to today with our Head Deacon at the altar.  After the presentation there was a message, and then a time of inivation and altar call before the communion time.  I went forward and had to pray.  I had to step forward and acknowledge the gift, the responsibility, and confess to God publicly at the altar that his servant was listening and waiting for a direction. That his servant no longer would attempt to control his life but surrenedered it wholly to the call that He has given me.

To those of my family and friends who were in attendance at this admittedly short presentation, THANK YOU.  It was a day that I will never forget and I will not forgot those who shared this next step in my journey with me.

Food for Thought

I came across this and it made me stop and think. So I share it with you. 

• The six most important words: “I admit that I was wrong.”
• The five most important words: “You did a great job.”
• The four most important words: “What do you think?”
• The three most important words: “May I help?”
• The two most important words: “Thank you.”
• The one most important word: “We”
• The least most important word: “I”

Slap in the face

Facebook is a funny beast.  We talk about all of these social networking websites that disconnect us from people and remove us from human interactions.  While I don’t argue that these sights, like facebook and myspace, can draw us away from interaction from others.  And I will admit that I am right now sitting in the living room writing this post, and I have facebook pulled up on another tab.  And I have a couple of instant message conversations going with a couple of the kids in the youth group and the head deacon at the church at this very moment. But these sights have a definte upside for people like me. 

Growing up I moved alot.  Until high school I never really lived anywhere long enough to develop a long time friend.  But it took all of about five minutes before I headed off to another town for college. And of course I couldn’t possibly go to school with anyone I knew.  Then after college decided I had to move again.  I have lived in Columbia, TN for six years now, and it is the longest timeframe I have ever lived one place for my entire life.  So facebook and myspace (which I gave up on) have allowed me to reconnect with friends from college and high school and even farther back that I have lost touch with.  To the friends I have reconnected with, I admit that I purposefully allowed those disconnections to happen and for that I apologize.

So yesterday I received a friend request from a high school friend that I have not spoken to since graduation many years ago.  And of course I was glad to receive the request, so I accepted.  Then today I received a message in my facebook inbox from her.  And in the message she complimented me on the life that I had been able to create. But the thing that slapped me in the face the most was the fact that she complimented me on knowing what I wanted back in high school, which was working with youth and also in the church, and then as she wrote, chasing after my dream and achieving them.  That blew me away!

While the compliment was extremely nice it made me stop and think for a moment. In high school there was one thing that I wanted to do with my life. And that was to work with youth and the church in some way.  I knew that with all my heart, and if you asked me what would make me happy it would to be doing just that, no matter what.  And low and behold many years later, that is exactly what I am doing.  Yet I forgot that was my dream!

I had gotten so caught up in what I don’t have, or what I want that I taughtly missed the wonderful things that I have in my life. And the dreams that I have acheived.  A simple comment from a long lost friend and it made my heart soar.  I drove back to work from having lunch at the house and just had to sing praises to God the whole way back.  The car is the only place I am allowed to sing as no one has to be tortured by my singing.  How quickly we get lost in the things we don’t have or want and miss the wonderful dreams that are coming to life everyday in your daughter’s laughter, your wife’s beautiful smile, the sight of your home after a long day.

Thank you God for the dreams come true that you have given me! The dreams are to many to list! You truly are a wonderful and might God!

my blindside… His Foresight

I guess this will be the final entry for this blindsided series.  As corny as it might sound, and as trite as might sound I went to church today and found God waiting.  I left this morning with a burning hatred and anger in my heart towards this whole situation.  I might have resigned myself to accepting it but I will freely admit that I did not like it at all, and cannot say as I do more now than I did this morning. But something changed, I brought the situation to God and found He had a different idea than I did about this whole situation.  I am not going to say that God told me to be all cheery and be happy about the situation.  I am not going to say that he mystically took away my anger, and frustration over the situation.  I will say that he gave me a new perspective on the situation.  Or actually showed me that while I might have been blindsided he most certainly was not and knew it was coming the whole time.

Earlier this week I was preparing, as I do each week, for my weekly supervision meeting with  my supervisor.  I jot down notes on subjects, situations and other things that need to be discussed and a supervisor’s stamp of approval or disapproval be placed on them.  One thing that I had written down of my own accord was that I would need another project to be working on. Things had slowed down and I was having time on my hand, so there was the idea of my own accord that I would need something else to be focusing on.  So already he was preparing my heart for a change.

And if I may put words into the mouth of my teammate at the office that is being transferred he was preparing him I think for a new task as well.  Thursday evening he and I were speaking on the phone after hours about the situation of another staff member quitting their position from the foster care team without proper notice.  I wish that this was a new thing but here lately in our office it has been an most too uncommon thing.  And as this was where he had transferred from, he shared the thought with me that he could offer his time to them to help in the interim so that the program could continue to run smoothly.  Of course I told him to keep his mouth shut, because I was being selfish and didn’t want to loose him.  But sure enough the very next morning the news rolled down and back he was going.

And the final support was there before I even knew it.  As a part of being a small group leader at the church I receive, on Wed. afternoons, the outlines for the Pastor’s sermon on Sunday mornings.  This is so the small group leaders can incorporate the subject matter into their lesson plans and maintain a congruity in all the services and ministries of the morning.  Well on Wed. I read the outline and pondered it for the remainder of the week. But I let it settle before I received the news on Friday morning of the pending changes at the office.

Then this morning I went into the service to help with the invitation during the first service which I normally do not attend.  But occasionally will come in during the altar call to assist as a counselor. As I waited outside in the hallway for the Pastor to reach the prayer time so I could slip in without disturbing the service I heard the last part of his message. And I heard him speak of disciples going through trials so that God could not deliver them from the trial but help them through the trial. In order that that person might be a picture, witness of beacon to others to point them to God.

I left the service and afterwards in between that service and the next asked the Pastor to pray with me so that I could receive guidance regarding how to proceed with the situation.  Then during the second service I listened to the message in its entirety.  And realized that the points that he discussed where extremely relevant to me and had been there before my supervisor shared the news with me.  The senior pastor shared the news that trials are there to discipline, develop and display.  Now there was much more to his sermon but these three D’s I focused on.  It is entirely possible that he is disciplining me for arrogance, pride or a whole other host of things that I will not deny that I am guilty of.  I will not doubt that to walk through this trial and the days ahead will develop my character and who I am.  And I hope that when this trial is over that it will display not me but Christ and his example through my actions in the coming days.

I began this rant with saying that I do not like it, and I still don’t.  Perhaps that will be part of the developing part.  But whether I like it or not, whether I was blindsided or not, Christ knew it was coming saw it coming, designed its coming.  If I am going to maintain my integrity it has to be developed that in the days to come I focus on displaying a Christ like attitude and behavior in how I respond and carry out my duties at the office.  Blindsided or not, the response can’t be different.  It has to display Christ and not me.

Blindsided, but refocused

So the decision has been made.  And no surprise, no one asked me what my thoughts were on the situation. So there is nothing left to decide, but is there?  The decision I have left to make is how will I respond, something completely under my control. And how I decide to respond will speak to my character but it will define what integrity I have.

I could leave the company and turn in my resignation come Monday morning.  That is one option that I have.  But this is not a reasonable response to the situation.  My partner who has been given the option of transferring it might be more of a consideration for him as he does not have choice in the work that he would be doing. I am returning to more work but it at the minimum is work that I signed on for when I came to the company as my wise wife pointed out, despite the fact that it is a little more than originally created. 

So that means that I stay.  And how I will stay is how my integrity and character will be defined.  There is always the option to act like a little child and throw a temper tantrum.  I could do half an effort, put half the work in to it, and do bare minimum of what is asked of me.  That does not indicate a man of character that I was raised to be. 

The man that I was raised to be was to give your best in everything that I do.  To do what is asked of you and to do it to the best of your ability.  If you are asked to walk a mile you not only walk the mile, but you walk it with focus, determination and purpose.  Walking in a way that the tracks you leave behind point to a man of honor, dedication and integrity.  If you do not walk in this way you do not walk at all.  There is no ninety percent in this effort.  There is no partial integrity, you either maintain your integrity or you don’t.  For once your integrity is lost it is lost forever.  It can not be reclaimed, so it must be protected with all effort and at all costs.

And there is the rub.  To maintain my integrity I have to not only do the job but do the job to the best of my ability with all my effort.  And that is hard, because I will honestly admit part of me wants to pout, stomp my feet, tank my efforts to spite those in authority.  To be the team player only benefits them, and they continue to get what they want with continued growth of the office and department. 

While the company reaps the benefit of the effort, despite how difficult it might be, or how hard a pill it is to swallow.  It must be swallowed and it must be stomached.  To please the company, absolutely not.  To please myself , no.  But to please my heavenly father, absolutely.  He has given me my integrity.  It is a gift from him, and I am responsible to Him and Him alone for it.  One day each one of us will have to answer for all the decisions that we made in this life.  We will be turned around to look at the path of our life and look at the foot prints that we left behind in this world.  And when I get to the end of my life, and it is my turn to look back and account for my decisions in this life I want to do that with integrity and a clear conscious. 

So there is no decision to make.  Monday morning I have to follow through to maintain my integrity.  Some might not agree with it and think that I am stupid. Some might think that I am stupid for even having to think through all of this.  I have to be who I am. The decisions that others make are theirs alone to account for one day.  The decisions I make are mine, and that includes how I respond to the effects that others decisions have on my life.  I can not control their decisions but I can control my actions. Integrity…….

Blindsided, but vision beginning to clear….

So here it is what I am coming around to. There are two sides to every situation and there are always many perspectives that need to be considered. So I am looking at the two sides of this situation, from the two different perspectives. One side being the top down from the company’s perspective and the second from the employee’s perspective looking up.

So let’s look at the company perspective.  It is no surprise to anyone that times are tough economically.  Everyone is making decisions that effect a lot of people, and those types of decisions are hard to make.  I do not envy those who have to make those decisions.  In the office I work in you have the second largest department in the state. second only to the department housed out of the corporate headquarters.  Growth that has occurred in the past two years has brought this department to this new level, that has been unrivaled.  Now in this office you have two partners that are working to continue this growth by one person recruiting and one training.  In the past there was one person doing both the recruiting and the training.  In either case the growth remained comparable equal, only about a fifteen percent difference in the growth between the two different operational styles.  And in all fairness the growth under the one person style was slightly higher than the two person approach.  So if I need to tighten the budget a little bit, it is a logical, economical place to start.  Go back to the one person modality, maintain the growth, and trim the budget.  Appears to be a win, win, scenario.

But there are two sides to every story.

So let’s look at the employee’s perspective.  And I do want to point out that I am looking at the employee who remains in the department, myslef. Not the partner that was being transferred to another department after learning that his position is being cut.  So I want to be fair to him that what I am now writing is completely selfish.  The things that I am processing are by no means comparable to the decisions that he is making this weekend.  For that I hope he respects my selfish nature in looking at myself.  I hope that he knows that he remains my friend, and brother in Christ no what department of company that he works with in the future. 

Looking at the second perspective from where I am standing.  In the two years I have been with the company I have met or exceed expectations or goals that were placed on me.  The first year blew past the expectations of growth and development.  The second year during the transition to the new style and the staff turnover the growth continued but not at the same rate, acknowledged.  Now here we are two years later.  In the past six months the work load was halved between myself and my new partner.  Now that partner is gone, but the work load remains just one less person to do it.  So I am back where I was at the beginning.  High goals, a pat on the back and go out and keep growing the department.  Nothing is changed, the rewards that were offered are gone, the promotions have passed me by but I am suppose to remain loyal and dedicated in my efforts. With no hope for benefit, reward or growth in my own career. The only reward for hard work, more hard work with the words, “thank you may I have some more.”

Two perspectives, one from the view of the company and one from the view of the individual.  One placing the needs of the many ahead of the needs of the one.  One placing his needs ahead of the many. And yes I love Star Trek in case you caught the quote.  Which philosophy is wrong and which one is right?  I think the better thought is that they are both wrong and they are both right.

So what now is the question that lies before me.  It is one of integrity.  More to come……

Blindsided…..

As I was driving home this evening from work I was sitting at the traffic light waiting for my light to turn so that I could continue my drive home. Finally the light goes green and I lift my foot from the brake to the move it to the gas.  As my foot touches the gas pedal ever so lightly, and begin to press down. Thwack!  My heart skips a beat and my mind races to what just happened.  A bird drop a huge load dead in front of me on the windshield.  Blindsided by the unseen bird flying by at the exact right moment.

It was a fitting end to a day that blindsided me like none other than I have had in recent past. I wish that I could say I have figured it all out, but I haven’t.  A couple of days my supervisor emails me and said that she was coming down to my office.  This is a little unusual, as she has not frequently come down without a particular reason since her office is two hours away.  In the pit of my stomach I thought that something was up, but dismissed it as normal.

She comes down along with my teammates supervisor.  A few minutes before I am suppose to meet with my supervisor my teammate and his supervisor walk into her office. A few minutes later they walk out and my teammates supervisor tells me that mine wants to talk to me.  I go in at our regular scheduled time and sit down. After a few minutes of cheat chat, she lays it on me.  They just cut my teammates position.  And the other shoe, I get his workload back on me.

This is a position that I once had.  But I must admit that I had thought that I had gotten beyond that position, and more importantly the work load.  But now for nothing more than financial reasons the position was cut, but not the work.  So now I have double the responsibilities. 

The company treated my partner well, giving him the option to transfer into other departments where there was a need. Which I am thankful for.  I am trying to process it all and I guess I will have to figure it out over the weekend because I take on his responsibilities first thing Monday morning.  A couple of trusted friends have given sound advice that is good advice. A trusted friend said don’t take it personally.  My wife has said be thankful that you have a job.  Both true, wise and sound advice.  But the thing that I am honest struggling with is the reward for doing good work, the expectation that you will continue to do even more good work.

I guess that over the weekend I will be thinking about what to do from here.  All day I focused on getting through the day, processing what had happened, keeping my mouth shut so that my emotions did not overtake my logic and I do something that I regret. I guess that I will be processing it throughout the weekend.  More to come……

Encouragement

Who Am I?

People hunger for me, but I’m not food. I motviate poeple, but I am not money. I strengthen emotional relationships, but I’m not love.  I serve the giver as much as the receiver, but many won’t share.  I dramatically change lives, but I’m seldom coonsidered. I am Encouragement

I went to a youth thank you service a short time ago and heard a speaker who was an illusionist.  I know that some that would seem strange that a Southern Baptist church would have this type of illusionist and be a speaker.  But this man had an awesome message. He talked about encouragement and he was wonderful.  His name is Barry Mitchell, check him out at his website, www.barrymitchell.com.  When he spoke he had some points that I wanted to share.

What type of people understand the power of encouragment? Winners.  Winners are the people who make a habit of doing the things losers are uncomfortable doing.  But what is encouragment? It is the skill of giving courage, confidence, and support.  The best way to knock the chip off a person’s shoulder is to pat him on the back.  A fifth grade definition of encouragment is putting up instead of putting down.  Ther are high spots in all of our lives, and most them come about through encouragement from someone else.

Within encouragement there are three levels.  One is to encourage personally.  Two encourage in front of peers.  Three encourage in front of ppers with a written compliment.  Father James Keller siad, as Mr. Miller quoted, ” A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” Think about that for a moment.

But encouragment also has power habits that will be motivators to get you started, but also to keep you going.  Private power habit of enourager is daily quiet time.  A positive power habit is to say it positive, self fullfilling prophesy, or read my lipes.  What we steadily, consciously, habitaully think we are that we tend to become. Partner power habit is to have accountable friends.  and final a postal power habit is to give encourgement through written applause.

I am not doing just to Mr. Mitchell’s sharing as he did a magnificent job in using illustrations, humor, illusions and personal stories along with magical personal interaction with thecrowd.   But here is why I share all of this here is to encourage one another.  As the body of Christ there is alot going on in the country right now.  It is now surprise that our economy is on the way down.  We have a new president and everyone is watching to see how he will step up and lead our country.  But most of all right now I think there is one thing that everyone needs and that is encouragement. 

Encouragement to let them know that tomorrow will come.  That there is hope.  I know that I need it myself and I thank God daily that he has given me a wife that encourages me moment by moment and day by day. I don’t know what I would do without her. 

Right now in this uncertain time the world, the lost, the hurting need encouragement. Encouragement that when they feel alone or lost that there is someone who is there and loves them.  In these hard and difficult days it is an oppurtunity for the church to reach out to those who are in need and are suffering.