So I did a little bit of self-discovery today while waiting at the lab for blood tests to get done. During the 2 hour wait I finished reading ‘Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership‘ as well as made a good start on ‘Strengths Finder 2.0‘. Now I don’t really read too many leadership books because frankly I think a lot of it is humanist bunk. That said, these 2 books (one ministry based, the other secular) gave me some good insight into my leadership styles, weaknesses and strengths. These books lead me to go further on my journey of self-discovery by doing a number of tests….
Tag Archives: Ministry
Celebrating the Good, not Mourning the Bad
Why do we always fixate on the ministries that are struggling or just don’t work? Why do we mourn some ministries while neglecting to celebrate and give thanks for those that are doing well? These are some of the questions that I have been asking recently as we work at overhauling some of the ministries at the church.
Quote from ‘The Gospel Driven Life’
I’m really enjoying Michael Horton’s book ‘The Gospel Driven Life‘. Here’s a thought-provoking quote from it…
“Pastors have increasingly become experts in crisis management. Some of that is simply part of shepherding a flock, but a lot of it is due to the fact that we expect our pastors to be personal coaches, therapists, and life managers rather than faithful prophets who diagnose our condition and heralds of the Good News that actually solves our deepest crisis. We may be a little more sophisticated in our spiritual technology, but the pattern is familiar. We will gladly follow preachers who tell us that everything is fine, that there is no wrath to fear, that either God is too nice or we’re too good for any final judgment to land on our heads. We will even pay a lot of money to spiritual designers who will help us weave cobwebs to hide our guilt, assisting us in shifting the blame to our parents, our circumstances, society, our spouse, and ultimately God. As false prophets we lie to ourselves, to others and to God about who we really are. As false priests, we offer whatever pitiful sacrifices we think might buy God off for a while. As false kings, we seek to dominate rather than serve, expecting everyone- including God – to assume their role in our supporting cast.”
pp 49-50
Downsizing Dave
Every year our Jr. High youth group has a fundraiser. We’ve done pie auctions, collected garbage along highways and other various things to raise funds. This year, I had a new idea. I decided that I would diet for dollars.
From now until April 1st I will try to lose 30-40lbs. People in the church are being asked to pledge a dollar amount per pound that I lose. This challenge started today and I received $54/pound in pledges-wow! This number may still increase as we will continue to advertise for the next few weeks.
Besides being a great idea for a fundraiser, I decided to do this challenge for a couple of other reasons;
1) My family has a history of poor health. Recently, I’ve realized that I need to get healthy to avoid this.
2) As a pastor and follower of Christ, I want to exercise and model self-control.
You can check out my progress on the side bar to the right of this post. I will update it weekly. Thanks for your support!
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