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stedi73
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Name: Steve & Diane
Interests: He: Travel with my wife, fast cars, reading, hunting.
She: Time with my husband, girl time, crafts, reading.
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/15/2006
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| Very interesting. All this stuff on leadership the last few weeks and today's daily bread is about background role. (John 3:22-36). Of course it's a background role to Jesus, but the point is important. It's not about me. Whatever God calls us to do, we should be pointing to Him. We should be in the background. Even when we talk about what God's done in our lives and even when we give God all the credit for what He's done in our lives, it's not enough. We should be giving the listener the opportunity for God to do the same in their lives. Giving God the credit doesn't excuse us from being an evangelist. I find that I'm guilty of this failure far too often.
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| It's been a very interesting last few days. Created this site simply to have access to our son's site and follow what was going on with his YWAM ministry. However, after attending the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, I decided to try something different.
The leadership summit was one of the greatest events I've attended in my 27 years of Christianity. Just one of the outcomes of that was confronting the fact that my daily devotions have become fairly rote and not of significant substance. Since the advent of the computer, I hate to write things out longhand the thought occurred to me on the drive home that I might make some use of this site. It'll be interesting to see if God uses this for anyone other than myself. Where to begin... Guess I'll comment first on those that are critical of the 'seeker' style church pioneered by Willow Creek. First, I'm not and have never been a member of a Willow Creek style church, so it is an outsider's perspective. I've attended 4 or 5 services of this type over the years at three different Willow style churches. In my mind it's quite clear the criticism is unwarranted.
What did I learn... Far more than could ever be conveyed in this space. The most moving aspects for me personally: - Get my priorities straightened out (again!). Whenever daily devotional time drifts, my walk becomes shallow and I'm at risk of drifting too. I'd let the pressures of work and the time demands there infringe upon my time with God.
- Dead Leader Running - All of the speakers were outstanding, but the session that was most relavent to me was by a Hawaiin named Wayne Cordeiro. He related his personal experience with being close to burn out and it was eerily close to where I am. This coupled with Andy Stanley's message on 'Focused Leadership' and it was clear I need to make some changes.
- Journaling. I hate to journal.
Even though I know it's the right thing to do and have experienced the
benefit, I find it difficult to take the time.
- Get back in the game. Over and over the last few months, God has been making it clear change is coming. I have no idea what it is, but that was re-inforced several times over the 2 1/2 day conference. Since returning home to the USA 18 months ago, time demands of my job have been an excuse not to be too involved in the needs of the church. God plans to change that (wish he send me a couple stone tablets with directions).
- Leadership. Lot's of excellent learning to take the game to the next level, but the one I found very interesting came from a man who is outside the church. Jim Collins noted that "good is the enemy of the great". I found that enlightening. It's a different way of looking at complacency. God has nothing but great in His plans. How often do we let "good" get in the way of being "great". E.g., A Sunday evening service is a good thing, but in many churches, it's reaching out to the churched and generally the older folks in the congregation. Is this bad? Of course not. However, what if Sunday evening were the proving ground for a new approach that reached unchurched people? That could be the step to great!
- Bono, One, Poverty, and Aids. I had no idea how bad it truly is in Africa. Not that I didn't realize it was serious, but the magnitude far exceeded my understanding. Our media is a constant disappointment to me. Why is this a second or third tier report? Take the time to visit http://www.one.org/ and dig into it for yourself.
Time to end. If you read this and you're a believer, pray for me to see God's direction for the future. If you're not a believer and are curious, I'll happily try to address your concerns.
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