Tag Archive - leadership

Sinners in Desperate Need

December 12, 2008 in Blog, Uncategorized with 3 Comments

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:37-40, MSG)

On November 30, a limousine was parked in front of Princeton Pike Church of God in Hamilton, Ohio.  No one knew why.  A week later, the members of the church learned something about that limousine: 9 celebrities had been inside that limousine.  Not the celebrities we would think of.  Not at all.  But they were celebrities in the eyes of the King.  That limousine had carried 9 homeless men to church that Sunday morning.  It just so happens that the owner of a limo service attends that church.  On November 30, he went out into the streets and found 9 homeless men and brought them to church.  7 of the 9 came to know Christ personally that Sunday morning.  That’s what I call a bus ministry!

To most limo owners, that would seem like craziness.  You don’t normally let dirty, smelly homeless men ride in your limo for free.  But that man saw something more important than their physical state: their spiritual state.  In his mind, they weren’t homeless.  They were sinners in desperate need of a Savior.

Continue Reading…

I went gold.

November 6, 2008 in Blog, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Starbucks Gold I went gold today.  No, I didn’t take first in the Olympics.  I went into my local Starbucks  and talked to our store manager, Jennifer.  After I gave her my $25, she hooked me up  with my Starbucks Gold membership card.  Now, I get a 10% discount on every  purchase, get a free birthday beverage, get to enjoy special discount days, and more.  Now I’m part of the elite membership community.  This made me think of something.

 Why don’t we try the same thing in our children’s ministries?  Why don’t we reward the  kids who are our most faithful?  Why don’t we have a “gold” program?  Now, obviously,  we can’t give our kids a 10% discount on coffee makers, but you could tell your kids  that if they come every weekend they’ll save $50 off their camp registration.  You could  meet them at school for lunch.  

Kids today want to feel special.  They want to feel loved.  We have to give them a reason to keep coming back, especially kids who come without their parents.  Balance is important here too.  Don’t play favorites, but make sure that you acknowledge those kids that are always faithful, and really want to be there.

So how do you make the kids in your ministry feel special?  How do you let them know you appreciate their faithfulness?  How do you balance this without playing favorites?  Let us know in the comments.

Be an Actionary

October 25, 2008 in Blog, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

As you’ve probably learned before, I love quotes.   Like, with a passion.  In fact, I like them so much I actually subscribe to the Quote of the Day RSS feed from BrainyQuote.com.  At about 1 this morning, I’m looking around my RSS feeds and see the new quote of the day.  It’s from Pablo Picasso, and it says: “Action is the foundational key to all success.”

Initially, I kind of just brushed the statement off.  Then I really got to thinking about it.  It’s really true, and very applicable to our ministries.  Our world has lots of visionaries.  They’re really smart people who tell us what the world could be like if we did this, or how the world would change if only this happened.  They’re fascinating to listen to, and we’re enthralled just hearing what they have to say.  Leonard Sweet is one of the first visionaries that comes to my mind.  (He has an interview in the November/December issue of K!)  Visionaries are pretty cool people, in my opinion.

However, for as much as I love our visionaries, they don’t do much.  They spend their lives in “what if’s” and “could be’s”, but it’s up to us to actually make it happen.  Go back to the Picasso quote.  Imagine if Picasso had just spent his life talking about what his paintings could look like and what would happen if he painted them.  Needless to say, Picasso certainly wouldn’t have been quite the art celebrity he became.  Picasso found success because he acted on a vision. Continue Reading…

Can you handle it? Part 5/Wrapup

September 28, 2008 in Blog, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

This post is part of a 6 part series.  To read the previous posts, click here.

Guideline 5: Do I really have time for this?

So, at times during the course of human events things come up that cause the blog post that was supposed to be written Friday to be written Sunday afternoon!  This is one of those times.  Now, on to the actual post…

This last guideline really wraps up the previous 4 guidelines into one, just with less detail.  The other 4 should still be used, this one is just like the free bonus.  ;)  What do I mean, however, by do I really have time for this?  Here’s what I mean:

  1. Will something else have to suffer to do this: calling, family, spiritual well-being, obedience, physical condition.
  2. Time for emergencies: if an emergency situation came up (death, injury, child sick), would it put me behind for days on my work?
  3.  Previous commitments: In the most basic sense of the term, do I actually have the physical time to add something else to my day?
Now, I understand that at times there are necessary evils that may be required of you: Christmas programs, your child’s kindergarten graduation, VBS, camp, and so on.  There’s no way around those most of the time.  Certain times of the year are simply lent more towards busyness: Christmas, Easter, and summer.  I get that.  But during those times even, we have to make sure that we aren’t working ourselves to the bone where our bodies and minds can’t even keep up.  That’s not God-glorifying.
I’ll share with you a secret that even I haven’t mastered: saying no.  I hate saying no.  And I know that you most likely have the same problem too.  Sometimes, no is the best thing we can say.  Enlist the help of your significant other, friends, or whomever you have to help you make sure you’re not going insane!  Even Jesus sometimes just wanted to float on a boat out in the middle of a lake, away from everyone.  He needed that time.
Don’t let events and things take up your entire life.  Do everything you do to the glory of God.  And that’s the way I see it.

Can you handle it? Part 1

September 22, 2008 in Blog, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

This post is part of a 6 part series.  To read the previous posts, click here.

Guideline 1: Will my family, friendships, or daily God and I time suffer?

This is one of the first things we need to think about when dealing with doing all to the glory of God.  God is not glorified through something if it causes our relationships with others to suffer.

Jesus had a crazy schedule.  Massive crowds followed Him everywhere from morning ’til night.  But somehow He still found time to have a deep relationship with His 12 disciples.  He set an example for us.  Yes, He was very busy doing God’s work.  And that was good.  Yet He never let the rest of His life suffer for it.

We need to do the same.  Make sure that taking on that new responsibility or helping someone with something won’t take the place of your family, friends, and God and I time.  Those are some of the most important things in the entire world, and it is a horror to lose them.

That’s just the first question we need to ask ourselves.  Come back tomorrow for another guideline for doing all to God’s glory.

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