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Hiring Quality #1 // Love Your Spouse

June 8, 2010 in Ministry with 6 Comments

Yesterday I introduced the topic of choosing a quality ministry staff team. Interviewing, reading resumes, checking references, and discussing a candidates strengths and weaknesses are all a part of the process. However, there are three things that I’m looking for in every person that has the potential to join my ministry team!

First, I’m looking for somebody involved in a healthy married relationship. (Of course if they are not married, they are exempt.) I’m not going to hire somebody that can’t say something nice about their husband (or wife.) I want somebody that is secure in their relationship, and won’t be coming to work everyday looking for my approval for them as an individual. It’s a dangerous game for me as a man to surround myself with needy women that don’t get enough attention at home. That sounds harsh, doesn’t it?

Now, how do I find this out? Legally, I can’t ask questions about their spouse; but I can listen for little things. For instance, do they mention their spouse when I ask about their purpose? Do they mention their spouse when I ask them to describe how they make decisions that affect their families? I’m always looking and listening for the little things people say about the person they’re married to. It always makes me feel more comfortable with a person that speaks well of their spouse.

You will disqualify yourself almost immediately if you disparage your husband, belittle his past ideas, or tell me that he doesn’t want you to work for the church. By the way, I’ve heard all these things in interviews over the years. This filter helps me to determine how committed a person will be to their purpose and passion serving our church in a ministry staff position. If they’re committed to their spouse, and consider themselves blessed to share life with them, then I know that they will feel the same way about many other committments they make.

I have a team of all women, besides myself of course, yet the same applies when the day comes for me to hire a male counterpart.

10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 21

April 13, 2010 in Links with 2 Comments

My Dad (BTW // Happy Birthday Dad!) sent me this article written by Mark Rutland, the President of Oral Roberts University. He wrote it for Charisma Magazine, and I find much of what he writes to be perfectly said. He writes on the “10 things I Wish I’d Know when I was 21.”

I especially liked #3 and #9…

3. Kindness is better than being right. Just before my friend Jamie Buckingham died, I asked him for a word of wisdom. He said, “It is better to be kind than to be right.”

At 21, I advocated my positions too aggressively. I argued with an eye toward winning, unconcerned about the heart of my “adversary,” who may not have been adversarial at all. I made debate a contact sport. In preaching I let the bad dog off the chain, to the applause of the gallery.

Should time travel be mine and were I to be back in the land of 21, I would be kinder and less concerned with being right. Too many young adults give little thought to kindness.

They Twitter hurtful words like poisonous birds. Their humor is mocking, acidic and unkind. And they are more concerned with being thought clever than with being kind. The value of gentleness has declined on the world market; if I were 21 again I would wish to know the worth of a kind word.

9. Forgiveness doesn’t fix everything. Not the happiest truth I wish I had known, but it’s among the most sobering. Had I known this I might have been less callous, less reckless and more mindful of the cost.

There are things, relationships and hearts that once broken cannot be fully “fixed” by forgiveness. The wound, the uncaring and insensitive word—they may be forgiven, but the damage from them may never quite be right again.

When I was 21 I just wanted to be forgiven. I wish I had known to do less damage.

Read the rest of the article HERE: http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/component/content/article/1078-features/26518-10-things-i-wish-id-known-when-i-was-21#ixzz0kc95Oe0O

The Four Ways

October 1, 2009 in Bible, Personal with 0 Comments

Earlier this week I wrote about finding your source before you find your purpose. It’s a great a misstep to think that if we fill our lives with activities, objectives, and functions that eventually we’ll discover our purpose. Purpose must preceed the planning!

The key is in knowing God and allowing Him to determine and direct your life. It all starts with knowing Him. How can we find purpose without knowing God? You can’t. We need to concern ourselves with what God concerns himself with. Then, and only then, will God’s purpose for us be revealed.

Now that we’ve established this important principle, let’s look at the four different ways that we can begin to find purpose. I’m sure my readers are smart enough to figure it out, but three of them are wrong and only one is right:

1. Deduction -These are the people that live their entire lives without purpose or direction. They live with no thought to what they are doing or why. They have decided to live their lives until the end, and then “add up the score” at the end. Think of it as “postmortem purpose.”

When I was in college I volunteered at the local Hospice. Being a perfectly unqualified 19 year old, I then sat by the deathbeds of men and women and listened to them talk of their lives. I remember one lady in particular that was so upset because she couldn’t figure out what she wanted said at her funeral. She had never taken the time to find her purpose, and instead sat on her deathbed drying to deduce what it might have been. What a sad way to live.

2. Association -Purpose gained through various associations: family, neighborhood, friends, school, churches, etc… These are great purposes, that are worth supporting and furthering. But rather than develop personal purpose, these people simply comply with the corporate purpose. Think of it as “adopted purpose.”

3. Emulation -Looking to “heroic figures” or other individuals whom they seek to pattern their lives after. Easily seen in hair styles, fashion, language, etc… I see this in my kids, as they will mimic my tone of voice, hand motions, and act like they love the things I love. Until of course I eat some grilled asparagus, then they distance. Think of Emulation as “vicarious purpose.”

These three ways of finding purpose all have one things in common. They’re all EASY. None of them require great thought or ambition. If you live your life by deduction, association, or emulation; you will experience burnout and tend to blame others for your own failures and disappointments.

4. Personalization -Developing personal convictions. Correct purpose is not determined by technique, but by the source. When a statement of Godly purpose on a personal level is derived, fulfillment follows! Think of it as “individual purpose.” God has something that is unique to you as in individual. You’re different, and it’s time we look at our differences as our strength!

To establish Godly purpose depends upon knowing God intimately, and in order to know God one must apply the Scriptures.

John 14:21 “Those who know my commands and obey them are the ones who love me, and my Father will love those who love me. I will love them and will show myself to them.”

Are you actively seeking His will? Are you intimate with His Word? Have you asked for purpose?

HT: Establishing Your Purpose, CMBC.com Ministry in the Marketplace Manual (This is OLD, but great stuff!)

The Source of Purpose

September 29, 2009 in Bible with 2 Comments

John 17:4 “Having finished the work you gave me to do, I brought you glory on earth.”

Philippians 3:14 “I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.”

Many people have been taught how to manage life via a “goals and objectives” model, but few have been instructed to give thought to the SOURCE of those objectives. Scripture teaches that purpose precedes planning. So how do we balance the activities of our life with the purpose from God? Which comes first?

Purpose is NOT the adding up of new activities. It is not realized while trying to meet certain goals. An objective is defined as a basic aim that a person takes in order to accomplish a predetermined end. Just as activities without objectives are unfulfilling, so are objectives without purpose. Staying busy racking up successes is not helping you find your purpose. Consider this a warning: Achievement can be stimulating, but it is not fulfilling over the long haul of life.

What is purpose? Purpose is simply what God wants our life to add up to and why.

The only difference for the non-believer is who he is pleasing with his purpose. Purpose is gained by understanding the program and story of God. If you don’t know God, you can’t know how to participate in His purpose for your life. It’s so simple, it’s hard.

Paul (Saul of Tarsus) perfectly illustrates this for us in Acts 9. As he is traveling on the Damascus road he has a supernatural encounter with Jesus. After Jesus gets his attention, Paul asked these two questions: “Who are you Lord?” and “What do you want me to do?” The first question is one of purpose, and the second question is one of objectives and activities.

The key is in knowing God and allowing Him to determine and direct your life. It all starts with knowing Him. How can we find purpose without knowing God? You can’t.

We need to concern ourselves with what God concerns himself with. Then, and only then, will God’s purpose for us be revealed.

How much of your life is directed by eternal focus (sensitive to what God is concerned with), and how much is strictly temporal focus (survival, getting ahead, doing what looks good)?

Can a video lead a child to Christ?

September 18, 2009 in Ministry, Technology with 6 Comments

Check out this video produced by the Content Development team at LifeChurch.tv. It specifically walks a child through a simple, straight-forward presentation of the gospel. A great tool for any kids ministry and parent that desires to solidify this truth in their kids.

Let’s state the obvious facts first. There isn’t really anything out there like this for kids. It’s animated, clean, straight-forward, and kid-friendly. This is unique, and anyone that works with kids in a church environment will immediately think so. Gina McClain, of the previously mentioned lifechurch.tv, asked if my readers would share some opinions on what you see or don’t see in this video.

Here’s some food for thought:

Is the video effective at meeting its intended purpose? When compared to sharing Christ in a one-on-one relationship, where does this measure up? If sharing Christ face to face is a 10 on a scale of 1-10; then where does this video rank on that same scale? Is it a 5? Is it a 9 or 10?

What ages would it be most effective with? 1st & 2nd graders or 4th & 5th graders?

Anyone done missions work with kids? Would something like this be more effective in another country (of course in their own spoken language) than it might be in the states?

On a purely theological level, is this video correct? Is it misleading?

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