To celebrate turning 30 I joined a CrossFit box.
Let's see how this goes...
Monday, March 24, 2014
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
The Third Conversion
Recently I read R. Scott Rodin's "The Third Conversion," a short little novelette about fund development.
Sounds interesting, I know.
The basis of the title comes from a Luther quote, "There are three conversions necessary to every man; the head, the heart, and the purse."
The book offers great insight and reminders of what true stewardship is and who it belongs to and were great reminders for me as we are going through the strategic planning process for our command.
What we have is not ours. It all belongs to God. The glory belongs to Him and Him alone.
We need to treat our relationships with this in mind.
The book offers a summary and it lists seven things to keep in mind that translate so practically well to corps officers:
1. Be spiritually prepared for the battle
2. Trust God to be the fundraiser
3. Don't make decisions without prayerful discernment
4. Be willing to invest time in building kingdom relationships
5. Always make the ministry more important than the money
6. Seek and value accountability
7. Be sure God gets the glory
Sounds interesting, I know.
The basis of the title comes from a Luther quote, "There are three conversions necessary to every man; the head, the heart, and the purse."
The book offers great insight and reminders of what true stewardship is and who it belongs to and were great reminders for me as we are going through the strategic planning process for our command.
What we have is not ours. It all belongs to God. The glory belongs to Him and Him alone.
We need to treat our relationships with this in mind.
The book offers a summary and it lists seven things to keep in mind that translate so practically well to corps officers:
1. Be spiritually prepared for the battle
2. Trust God to be the fundraiser
3. Don't make decisions without prayerful discernment
4. Be willing to invest time in building kingdom relationships
5. Always make the ministry more important than the money
6. Seek and value accountability
7. Be sure God gets the glory
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Nehemiah--leadership in the face of opposition
Elijah and I have attended a weekly Bible Study at a church here in Murfreesboro for the past year and a half.
A quote was shared in class that says, "circumstances don't make you. They define who you are."
We spent a good part of the winter studying Nehemiah and how real the scripture was to me during that time as we were going through difficult times in the corps and the steadfastness of Nehemiah and his clear leadership abilities--including having a plan in the face of opposition--were great gifts from the LORD for me to digest.
Although there were several forms of external opposition Nehemiah did not get discouraged. He was focused. Rather than listen to the nonsense that was coming at him from nearly all sides he decided to listen to God instead and intensified his prayer (selective listening skills). Even that had strategy. Through prayer is how he received strength and courage. The tactics against him were: ridicule, mockery, insults, slandering, conspiracy, and threats against him. The more the opposition= the more he (they) prayed.
God entrusted him with a tremendous work as a result. Satan pushes against us when God is blessing our efforts. We are to stay faithful and press on. The victory has already been won. Hallelujah!
Something that spoke out to me loudly about Nehemiah was even though he was personally attacked he did not let it get the best of him. Taking up personal offense dishonors God.
Nehemiah was a man of prayer, was obedient, was an encourager, a delegater, a good communicator, generally level headed, responsible, diligent, focused, passionate and thoughtful.
In other words, he was a true man of God.
A quote was shared in class that says, "circumstances don't make you. They define who you are."
We spent a good part of the winter studying Nehemiah and how real the scripture was to me during that time as we were going through difficult times in the corps and the steadfastness of Nehemiah and his clear leadership abilities--including having a plan in the face of opposition--were great gifts from the LORD for me to digest.
Although there were several forms of external opposition Nehemiah did not get discouraged. He was focused. Rather than listen to the nonsense that was coming at him from nearly all sides he decided to listen to God instead and intensified his prayer (selective listening skills). Even that had strategy. Through prayer is how he received strength and courage. The tactics against him were: ridicule, mockery, insults, slandering, conspiracy, and threats against him. The more the opposition= the more he (they) prayed.
God entrusted him with a tremendous work as a result. Satan pushes against us when God is blessing our efforts. We are to stay faithful and press on. The victory has already been won. Hallelujah!
Something that spoke out to me loudly about Nehemiah was even though he was personally attacked he did not let it get the best of him. Taking up personal offense dishonors God.
Nehemiah was a man of prayer, was obedient, was an encourager, a delegater, a good communicator, generally level headed, responsible, diligent, focused, passionate and thoughtful.
In other words, he was a true man of God.
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