Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. -Mark 1:35
Back in August the Future Leaders took a trip to an abbey out in the Virginian country. It was really great to get away and have some time of prayer and stillness before God.
Today we’ll be returning to the abbey for our second prayer retreat, and it feels even more needed than ever.
The past few months have been marked by an overwhelming sense of “overwhelmedness” (which is not a word) and, honestly, in the fast paced atmosphere of ministry it’s easy to forget to stop and be still. Just as Jesus withdrew from the crowds and went off in the morning to a solitary place to pray, we need to recognize the value of alone-time with God.
Community is good and absolutely essential. But so is solitude. Both are necessary for growth, and it is all too easy to emphasize one at the expense of the other. It is at the intersection of these two realities that a Christian must live out their relationship with God.
Category: Thoughts on Ministry
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Seriously? You’re advertising a five cent difference?
I guess the moral is if you aren’t really offering something significantly better, bringing attention to how you’re better might not be worth it.
Just a thought.
Category: Random
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A lot of times we aren’t doing exactly as well as we think we are.
However, I’ve also found that a lot of times we are doing a lot better than we think we are.
Another way to put it is that we often take the blessings God has given us for granted. We have things that others can only dream of having. Our successes are incredible.
But the grass is always greener on the other side, so to speak.
One thing I don’t do enough is thank God for all that He’s blessed me with, and the amazing favor He’s shown on me, my work and my ministries. I think it’s good to realize how good we sometimes have it. Then we’ll be able to try to get better, not out of frustration at how bad things are, but out of gratitude to God for all He’s done and a desire to honor Him with our best.
Category: Thoughts on Ministry
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So today I realized I had goofed up and had given out the wrong date for a field trip our team is going to be taking. I got a hold of everyone except one, and it was kind of important that they knew. So my first reaction was to call, but their phone was off. I left a voicemail and hung up, and then took stock of what to do next.
I realized that the amount of ways that we have to communicate today are absolutely staggering.
I eventually reached them, and all was right in the world (except for the egg on my face), but if I had wanted to I could have:
Emailed two different addresses
Sent them a text message
Sent a Facebook message
Posted on their Facebook wall
Sent a Twitter direct message
Sent them a Gmail chat message if they were online
Sent them a Facebook chat message if they were online
Those are just a few ways that we have of communicating today.
Now the question for us in ministry then becomes, “How do we leverage that for the gospel?”
It’s absolutely astounding the opportunities we have to communicate today, and it’s our challenge to figure out how to do that.
Category: Random, Thoughts on Ministry
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Tomorrow I have a meeting with some volunteers who are helping to form a new team. Right off the bat there were 18 people interested in helping out.
Wow. That was a lot more than I expected!
All I did was put a small blurb in the bulletin asking for people who were looking to serve in a specific capacity, and within two weeks I got this tremendous response.
Pretty cool to see that if you give people an opportunity to participate in ministry they will eagerly take it. Most of them mentioned that they were waiting for an opportunity to use their gifts to serve. That’s a good reminder that perhaps the reason some people aren’t serving is because you haven’t asked them to yet.
Category: Giving Ministry Away, Thoughts on Ministry
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