This link is a short story told by a pastor friend (Tom Nelson) about a real-life encounter with an eagle and a PHENOMENAL spiritual application for all Christ-followers.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Seven Presidential Promises
Many conservative Evangelicals were less than pleased with the outcome of the 2008 presidential election. Many of these same people were even less pleased with the contempt shown to our 43rd president. I found this list of promises that could be adopted to ensure that one does not become guilty of inappropriate dishonor and disrespect.
1. President Obama, I promise to pray for you each and every day that God would give you wisdom and favor and that He would protect you from those who are evil.
2. President Obama, I promise to respect you for not only what you have achieved personally and how you’ve taken advantage of all your opportunities, but the fact that you fulfill the role of President of my country, an office worthy of respect though the men who have occupied it have been imperfect, its ideal still abides; a Democracy ruled over not by a King, but by a President elected by the people.
3. President Obama, I promise to support you where I can and to reserve judgment over those things I disagree, believing that you may know more about the subject than I do.
4. President Obama, I promise to believe the best about you. I won’t listen to conspiracy theories and throw you under the bus at the first sign that you may not be doing something the majority of the people agree with.
5. President Obama, I promise to be the kind of American worthy of a great President.
6. President Obama, I promise I will not expect you to do for me what I should be doing for myself. I’m glad I don’t live in a Socialist state. I live in a Democracy driven by Capitalism, the idea that I am personally responsible for my actions. So I’ll not ask you to pay my house payment or feed me unless I have a catastrophic disability. I’m willing to pay my taxes and my fair share and fully take responsibility.
7. President Obama, I promise to remember that you’re human; that you occupy an office that no human can be expected to perform flawlessly. I’ll try to put myself in your place even though it would be hard to do.
Monday, January 19, 2009
When Nobody is Watching.
A friend posted a note on Facebook yesterday exposing the gaps between what she knows about herself and how she is perceived by others. There were no glaring hypocrisies, but God had made her acutely aware of the dualism in her life.
I am doing a self-study through some spiritual formation material developed by a fellow pastor. When looking at the description of King David in Psalm 78 and 1 Sam 17 he observes that David’s preparation for the throne was so obscure that his own father did not think of him as “King material.” David was off by himself in the back fields but God was preparing him for a task.
“An integral life is forged in obscurity and refined in visibility”
--Tom Nelson
One cannot turn on a news broadcast without hearing about tomorrow’s inauguration. One of the criticisms leveled against our new President was his perceived inexperience. “Could a one-term junior Senator from Illinois have the skills to lead our country?” His opponent in the primaries asked “Who do you want answering the phone at 3 AM?”
Political Pundits have already admitted that President Obama’s leadership will be tested soon after the oath of office. I guess that is the “refined in visibility” part of Tom Nelson’s quote.
If you are reading this you are most-likely a small group leader or teacher in a Christian education class. So I ask you (as I have been reflecting personally), Who are you when nobody is watching? Regardless of if you are like my friend on Facebook, the greatest King Israel has ever had, the 44th President of the United States or the facilitator of a group of six Christ-followers learning from each other, what you are when you are alone WILL be revealed, tested and refined in visibility.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Are we “making a Statement” or having an influence?
I learned this morning of a list of the “Top Ten Instances of Christian Bashing in America” as compiled by the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission.
My first thought was “Why are THOSE PEOPLE so offended by my values?”
My second thought was “THEY are misrepresenting my view”
My third (and continuing) thought is “Is this how I come across to those who disagree with me?”
Click here to watch the video that was #10 on the list.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Awkward Turtle
Is your group a safe place for people to admit real struggles? Sometimes people don’t admit their struggles because they are afraid of the response from others.
Last fall I was introduced to a YouTube phenomena called “awkward turtle” that is popular among some teens. The idea is that if someone does or says something embarrassing then you make a “turtle” with your hands who swims away (with you attached) from the awkward situation.
Because LIFE IS MESSY, you may have wished you had an awkward turtle following the confession of somebody in your group. You don’t want to embarrass the individual, you don’t want to ignore the sin. But what do you do? This comes from SmallGroups.com
One of the aims of our small groups is (or should be) to create a safe environment where people can grow closer to God. Well, growing closer to God often involves the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the need to repent of sin. If someone's confessing, it means you've done a good job leading your group and you should give yourself a pat on the back. (Okay, you can actually give God the credit, but you get the point.)
The Spirit has decided it's time for them to bring their sins into the light and deal with them, and you are the lucky person who's been chosen to help them in that process. So what do you do?
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Devil is in the details
It is often the small things that the enemy of our souls uses to undermine the things God desires to accomplish in your group members. This list from SmallGroups.com list some of the details you may want to consider. Once the details are addressed (do not obsess about them) you can focus on the big picture. Clicking on the link at the bottom of the page will give you an explanation of each bullet point and a few more details to consider.
Details matter. They matter to God, and they matter to your people. So here are some areas to keep an eye on as you prepare for your cell-group meeting.
- Home Atmosphere
- Temperature
- Seating Arrangement
- Lighting
- Materials
- Refreshments
Teach how you don’t learn.
A couple of years ago I took a class as part of my Master’s Degree. The biggest take-away from that class is that “If I am to be influential as a teacher I must know my own learning style and intentionally include teaching methods directed at the opposite quadrant if I want to maximize the impact upon all students”
I realize that some life coaches challenge you to work from your strengths rather than focusing upon your weaknesses, but leveraging your strengths to overcome your weaknesses may be a strategy to propel another person to maximize his/her strengths.
So What Is a Learning Style?
A learning style is simply how one perceives and processes information. And we all do that differently. That's the rub, and what makes an awareness of learning styles important for those involved with small groups. Let's go back to the definition. To perceive information refers to the way we take in data: through our senses. One person may do it best visually, another through hearing, yet someone else may prefer to be actively involved.
Then there is the processing aspect. That's what the brain does with the information after it has been perceived. Here again are significant differences. Information may be split into parts, organized, clumped together, analyzed, manipulated—any number of things. Most of us can do all these forms of perceiving and processing, but when it comes to learning, we tend to have preferences. The way we learn, especially in our early years, can influence our personality. How we learn matters.
Currently there are many models of learning styles. Some have to do with the influence of environmental factors, such as lighting or type of seating; others relate to influences on body rhythms, like time of day or the season.
One that I find particularly helpful deals with the cognitive and affective aspects of learning—how I think and feel about my learning. David Kolb developed the model in the late 70's, and shortly thereafter Bernice McCarthy contributed insights regarding the affective components of learning. The work of these two educators informs much of this article.
Kolb's model can be represented by a grid with two axes: one horizontal, the other vertical. The vertical axis has feeling (concrete experience) at the top and thinking (abstract conceptualization) at the bottom; the horizontal axis has doing (active experimentation) on the left and watching (reflective observation) on the right. The two axes intersect, creating four quadrants.
The top right quadrant represents imaginative or innovative people who like to diverge in their thinking (type 1 learners); the bottom right is analytic, representing those who assimilate facts (type 2); the bottom left quadrant is common sense for those who converge their learning (type 3); and the top left signifies dynamic people who experiment (type 4).
Learning Styles and Lesson Preparation | Articles | SmallGroups.com
Guest-friendly Groups
The following advice comes from the SmallGroups.com website. If you have guests who never come back, there may be some strategies below that could help. When your group members see guests being assimilated they know it is a safe place to bring their friends.
There are things you can be sensitive to as the small-group leader that will help your group to naturally embrace and include new members:
- Warmly welcome newcomers into your group. Learn a little about them as you greet them and walk them into your gathering space. Do your best to remember facts they share about who they are, their family and friends, and how they found your group. On this note, one of most simple and powerful ways of helping a newcomer feel at home in your group is to call them by their first name each time you refer to them. Connect them with a few people as they come in and help to strike up conversations before your study begins.
- Do not focus on them. Most guests like to be acknowledged—they just do not like to stand out or be spotlighted in front of a group. If you keep things normal, the group will feel more natural and comfortable to newcomers.
- Do not over-accommodate. Just be yourself and allow the group to be itself. For example, do not hesitate to pray or worship in your group if newcomers are present. Sometimes this is exactly what God uses to gather spiritually-unconvinced people to himself (see Acts 2:46-47.) If somebody needs prayer, pray for them. If you are going to worship, just do it. Do not attempt to explain it for newcomers. They want to see things how they really are and would rather not have you disrupt the flow of what you do on their account.
- Facilitate relationships. The more people your guests sense a possible connection with, the more likely it is they will want to return. So help newcomers get to know a few others in your group. The likelihood of newcomers returning increases by at least 50 percent if they experience a sense of belonging through their connection with others. This can be cultivated by highlighting things your guests hold in common with other group members, and by conducting timely follow-up.
- Exploit their interests. Find out what subjects your guests have an enthusiasm or expertise in and talk about those! People like to talk about things they know about. Newcomers will feel more empowered and comfortable talking about the things of interest to them. If you listen with interest, you will show that you are interested in them as a person, and they will not feel like a project.
- Hang out. When you have guests, leave plenty of time for people to socialize at the tail-end of your group. Newcomers tend to be more interested in being personal toward the end of a group, rather than the beginning. Use this time to introduce your group members to the guests, and to facilitate relaxed conversations.
- Follow up. Follow up with newcomers before your next meeting to let them know you hope to see them again. If a guest came with somebody, encourage their friend to welcome them back. Sometimes group leaders hold off from following up in this way because they're afraid of being intrusive or coming across as pushy. In reality, guests appreciate this act of kindness, and it makes your group more inviting overall. If you do not risk the remote possibility of coming across as intrusive in your follow-up, newcomers may feel like they are intruding.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Power of Encouraging Partnership.
I don’t know if this is a true story or not, but I don’t doubt for a moment that it COULD have happened.
One night I (a Doctor in Africa) had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).
We also had no special feeding facilities.
Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.
Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).
'And it is our last hot water bottle!' she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles.
They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts Your job is to keep the baby warm.'
The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough,mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. 'Please, God' she prayed, 'Send us a hot water bottle today. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.'
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, 'And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?'
As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say 'Amen?' I just did not believe that God could do this.
Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.
Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly.. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.
From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.
Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried.
I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.
Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!'
Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!
Looking up at me, she asked, 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?'
'Of course,' I replied!
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.
And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon.'
'Before they call, I will answer.' (Isaiah 65:24)
Might there be something your small group or class could do today that would be a timely blessing when received by a “frontline soldier in God’s army”?
HOW you say what you say makes a difference.
This video shows that genuine kindness DOES make a difference. Evangelism doesn’t always involve “crossing the line of faith.” Some plant, others water but God gives the increase.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Pah rumpa pum pum
Although Christmas was over a week ago I can’t get The Little Drummer Boy out of my head. There is no biblical evidence that a drum solo was ever played near the manger and knowing the protective nature of mothers who have just given birth (especially of their firstborn). I am pretty sure that Mary wouldn’t have allowed a Phil Collins wannabe within earshot of a sleeping baby.
But the principle of the song is relevant to our roles as Christ followers. The boy did not use his deficiencies as an excuse to withhold what was within his capabilities.
I have read a couple of blogs recently describing self evaluations as “bad pastors” and the conclusions are often “I don’t meet other people’s expectations or my own expectations but God, somehow, continues to use me.”
I don’t know how healthy it is to be self deprecating, but I do know that God has entrusted the treasure of the Gospel to ordinary vessels (Jars of Clay or “cheap gladware”) because the value is not found in the container, but the contents.
As you look forward to the next few months of teaching and leading. Rest assured that it is not your excellence that will transform people’s lives, but the power of the Gospel. Be encouraged and Honored that God would choose to use you!
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