The weather is beautiful, upper 80's, low 90's. I've been able to cut back on landscaping. Kristen is over her toe infection. Mark comes home from Turkey in a week. This afternoon I'm going to organize the bathroom cabinets.
The last two days at work I've been able to organize the file cabinets, do payroll, and program! I never thought I would miss it. As I dug in, I found myself in that 'zone' again. Working on big, long, hairy formulas. Looking up function names online, in help, and in an Excel book (the book was no help at all). Focused, talking to myself, raising my hands up in the air and saying "Yes!" when I fixed a problem. It took me back to my days at Gallo, and the time flew by. What my boss was expecting me to work on sporadically over the course of the rest of this year, I have almost done. I think. We'll see what he says when he sees my graphs when he gets back. Tomorrow I get to make everything look pretty, since the data is there and the graphs are working. Exciting!
Worship practice is here tonight, so I'll be getting the words into the laptop for Sunday. Speaking of church, we are celebrating our one year anniversary of starting weekly Sunday services. It's August 8th at 9:00 a.m. if you would like to join us. BBQ to follow. Go to our website here. I've been making a little gift for everyone. They turned out great! I can't believe I did it. I bet everyone who knows me won't be able to believe I did it either!
We're also planning a community-wide evangelistic seminar where people can learn how to share their faith. It will be held at Family Bible Center, 5 East Main Street Turlock, CA on September 11th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Evangelism resources will be available for browsing and buying. This will be the first of a 3-part series on evangelism.
Blessings on this beautiful Thursday.
Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Nuggets #35
An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
Relating the Message
People have different levels of gifting; some have a unique anointing through which multitudes come to faith with what seems to be minimal effort.
Others establish one friendship at a time. Their strength is not the crowd or the masses. They are in no way social butterflies or honeybees that can move from one flower to another without any effort. Nevertheless, their relationships are committed to Christ, and - one person at a time - they build relationships deep into the lives of those who don't know Christ. Sometimes it takes years to see the fruit of their labor, but there is fruit in their labor. They are as faithful to an unbelieving world as those whose gifts are more obvious. Our commitment is not to become like someone else whose giftings flourish and inspire us all, but to be faithful in loving a lost and broken humanity and in opening up our lives to those who are willing to establish a meaningful relationship with a follower of God.
This final commitment is an investment of relationship. It is the fulfillment of the great commandment to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is a belief that God looks on how we treat others, care for others, and serve others as the genuine measure of what is in our hearts toward him.
Relating the Message
People have different levels of gifting; some have a unique anointing through which multitudes come to faith with what seems to be minimal effort.
Others establish one friendship at a time. Their strength is not the crowd or the masses. They are in no way social butterflies or honeybees that can move from one flower to another without any effort. Nevertheless, their relationships are committed to Christ, and - one person at a time - they build relationships deep into the lives of those who don't know Christ. Sometimes it takes years to see the fruit of their labor, but there is fruit in their labor. They are as faithful to an unbelieving world as those whose gifts are more obvious. Our commitment is not to become like someone else whose giftings flourish and inspire us all, but to be faithful in loving a lost and broken humanity and in opening up our lives to those who are willing to establish a meaningful relationship with a follower of God.
This final commitment is an investment of relationship. It is the fulfillment of the great commandment to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is a belief that God looks on how we treat others, care for others, and serve others as the genuine measure of what is in our hearts toward him.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Nuggets #10
An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
hapter 5 Cultural Architecture
If you can discover and unwrap a culture's metaphors, you can begin to understand the essence of that culture.
Unwrapping God's Power
Stories contain within them the essence of ethos. You can either talk to people about God's power or tell them the stories that unwrap the power of God. You can talk to them about the power of a small group community in the work of evangelism, or you can tell them a story that fleshes it out. You can tell people that creativity is not only the natural result of spirituality, but also an extraordinary tool for evangelism in the post-Western environment; or you can let them be the product of that reality. You can talk all day long about the importance of servanthood and service; or you can work from the pattern of Jesus and exalt those who humble themselves, giving positions of greatness to those who are willing to be the least in the kingdom.
The stories you choose to tell inform the emerging culture. Stories that are rooted in the life of the congregation breathe life into the congregation. Great leaders are great storytellers. Great churches have great stories. Great stories crate a great future.
Okay, so I didn't get a whole lot out of Chapter 5, but I did like the concept of storytelling. I'm not much of an evangelist, maybe because I don't have any friendships with non-Christians, though I have those 2 minute shallow conversations with checkers and salespeople occasionally. The concept of storytelling, for me, takes a whole lot of pressure off, when it comes to sharing my faith. I'm full of stories of the great things God has done in my life and I love to tell those stories. According to the author, that goes a lot further than the 5 Spiritual Laws approach. Does that take the pressure of you too? Just being yourself and telling your God stories? So do-able! Let's do it together.
hapter 5 Cultural Architecture
If you can discover and unwrap a culture's metaphors, you can begin to understand the essence of that culture.
Unwrapping God's Power
Stories contain within them the essence of ethos. You can either talk to people about God's power or tell them the stories that unwrap the power of God. You can talk to them about the power of a small group community in the work of evangelism, or you can tell them a story that fleshes it out. You can tell people that creativity is not only the natural result of spirituality, but also an extraordinary tool for evangelism in the post-Western environment; or you can let them be the product of that reality. You can talk all day long about the importance of servanthood and service; or you can work from the pattern of Jesus and exalt those who humble themselves, giving positions of greatness to those who are willing to be the least in the kingdom.
The stories you choose to tell inform the emerging culture. Stories that are rooted in the life of the congregation breathe life into the congregation. Great leaders are great storytellers. Great churches have great stories. Great stories crate a great future.
Okay, so I didn't get a whole lot out of Chapter 5, but I did like the concept of storytelling. I'm not much of an evangelist, maybe because I don't have any friendships with non-Christians, though I have those 2 minute shallow conversations with checkers and salespeople occasionally. The concept of storytelling, for me, takes a whole lot of pressure off, when it comes to sharing my faith. I'm full of stories of the great things God has done in my life and I love to tell those stories. According to the author, that goes a lot further than the 5 Spiritual Laws approach. Does that take the pressure of you too? Just being yourself and telling your God stories? So do-able! Let's do it together.
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