The basic way to see people for who they are is by looking at the fruit they provide in their lives and by doing so you will learn how to correctly asses others also judge people by the results of their actions. The book on (pg 23) gives the example of how a person was late for work, but it was out of his control because of car accident, however he is still late regardless which is unfortunate. There are circumstances where this process is drawn out and its not for some time before you see the fruit of peoples actions in their lives. Something the books points out on pg. 27 is "the other examples of "trees" and "promised fruit": 1) Parents believe it's important to be with their children, but spend no time with them;(no fruit-question the promise). 2) A friend clams to care for others, and during the week does several tasks such as visiting people in the hospital, baking casseroles for sick neighbors, etc;(very evident fruit-trust the promise). 3) An individual is supposed to be able to come up with new and better ways of doing things, never does so, but always has very good reason for not doing so;(no fruit, great intentions though-question the promise)." One of the harder challenges is assessing people's strength then matching that with the needs as it's not always a clear path for getting their and may take some time before they have a clear understanding of this looks like.
This section reminds me of times in the military when dealing with new leadership specifically officers who had a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove that they new what was best for us. One person comes to mind specifically and he was a relatively new 2nd LT and right away he was a big hit with the younger crowd of enlisted or those who liked to hit the gym, however we started to have issues with him because of fraternization with the enlisted. The senior enlisted warned him of his actions, even our C.O. wrote him up for fraternization, he became a liability later on in the tour as he took favorites, but then the people who were his favorites began to dislike him. He couldn't follow through on the promises or be trusted because he was a liability with how he acted therefore wasn't trusted by many of us. I respected his rank and authority, but not him or his actions as a leader, however he did have some redeeming qualities ie preventing stupidity from rolling down hill on to us.
Pages 502-509 hit on specifically accountability and the need to have someone holding you or you holding them accountable, in fact in businesses this is almost necessary because work needs to get done. Accountability is what I would refer to as a necessary evil because no one likes it, but we all need it regardless of what position we are, and if you're the leader then you need to hold the people who report to you accountable.
Accountability is one of those things where you can save yourself a lot headaches if you do it right the first time when setting it up, my first mentor held me accountable in a way that really challenged me. When we would meet he would ask me like: How's the devotional time or What do you thinking God is speaking to you? In essence it's still in play today when I go through life, but there is one piece I will be honest on and I do believe that I should be putting more time in my relationship with God because he is our source for everything. Accountability sucks because we don't like asking the hard questions especially for guys in terms of purity, I know because I had people who kept me accountable for purity. It sucked asking those questions and it's not easy at all, but completely necessary, the same goes for leaders.
Managing a staff is as hard as you think, as looking at this chapter you see all the different aspects of working with staff from what you expect of them to dealing with terms of pay then mediating conflict between staff members. These are all aspects of managing staff and it's not as glorious as it may seem, there is a lot of work that goes into this and this is when dealing with people you realize how much it sucks.
I've been around enough leaders to see how a good leader manages a staff versus how a bad leader manages a staff or just personal under him. There was a period where I was providing child care for a Women's Bible study and occasionally I would have one or two kids helping me so we would manage working with the children that we had. Occasionally there was conflict between me and the older of the two kids and occasionally I would have to be that authoritative leader/ manager versus my typical style which is here's what I expect, this is what needs to happen, and working with them as a team and individually. It was a great experience because that was one of the first times I was in charge of people outside the military. We handled everything rather well from kids getting fingers slammed on toys to peed pants, and I would 99% we didn't have any issues working together. Honestly it kinda clued me in on parenting kids as well as managing people under you because you find out right away with what works or what doesn't.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Blog: IYH 440-455; LHMA chapter 10
LHMA chapter 10 is really getting at how a church finds the right pastor and how the process really refines the candidates because they need to know who they are looking for in a pastor. It's ultimately a matter of prayer in aspects, but honing in on possible candidates who you believe would be a good fit for your church/ministry. It seems strange, but in some ways I took a similar process when choosing where to attend college when I fully understood God was calling me to be a pastor, there was a lot of time spent looking, communicating, and figuring out what is going to help me succeed. In the end it came down to two schools: North Central and Northwestern; it is obvious who won out and for many reasons I am glad that North Central was my choice because there are people, resources, and peace with where I am at here. There will always be a process when searching for the right person or place at times and we really need to pay attention to what is important not only to us, but God.
IYH 440-455 outlines the needs for two very specific aspects in an applicant, candidate, or recruit and that is being teachable and integrity, both would be paramount when entering the work force regardless of what you're doing. These become a major factor in searching for the right people who you want to bring a long on the journey or into a position of importance because you along with your coworkers need to know that you're willing to learn from others and they can count on you. In my life people have often described me as these, it is rather humbling hearing that from pastors, friends, and counselors. We had to be teachable and integrity was a trait that was rewarded in the military because it meant your leadership knew they could count on you to get tasks done. So now at 31, this is something that needs to be in my life constantly as it helps me in many aspects of who I should be versus what isn't needed in this world.
IYH 440-455 outlines the needs for two very specific aspects in an applicant, candidate, or recruit and that is being teachable and integrity, both would be paramount when entering the work force regardless of what you're doing. These become a major factor in searching for the right people who you want to bring a long on the journey or into a position of importance because you along with your coworkers need to know that you're willing to learn from others and they can count on you. In my life people have often described me as these, it is rather humbling hearing that from pastors, friends, and counselors. We had to be teachable and integrity was a trait that was rewarded in the military because it meant your leadership knew they could count on you to get tasks done. So now at 31, this is something that needs to be in my life constantly as it helps me in many aspects of who I should be versus what isn't needed in this world.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
BLOG: G2G 13-17
This section is rather interesting as a reader because not only does it talk about how to transform a situation and people, but the challenges in getting there because the steps are difficult, but in the end it is worth, The first example is Roger Briggs and what he did when he became a teacher in Boulder, Colorado and how he transformed the school he was teaching at, but also finding great teacher to partner with him on this journey. Then there is Wendy Kopp, a Princeton graduate who wanted other graduates from high end universities to teach low-income kids for their first couple years after graduating. She began gathering support and reaching out to recent graduates and began filtering the good from the great because she knew what it was going to take in order for this process to be successful. Both these people had to convince others that it was worth filtering out, holding to the strict standards that have been set, and willingness to commit to a long term project.
The hardest part of moving from good to great is the process because as Christians we are to be more like Christ and less like ourselves, but the only way we do that is the process. It's like the refiners fire or the potter's hand shaping us into what we are meant to be. Often as Christians we get content with where we are at and forget that we are to look more like Christ and less like ourselves; you see this is the same transition from good to great. A great leader in the church will motivate you as a follower, he will challenge you, and at times test you with how far you are willing to go with your relationship with Christ. You see in the New Testament there is constant language talking about being transformed which means to look like Christ, to throw off everything that entangles us and run the race marked out for us. However we need to remember we have the greatest teacher and that is Christ himself, he is the perfect example of how we should be striving to be greater than who we are now. People give up along the way, get content, or get scared that God might ask them to do something beyond what they are comfortable doing and for whatever reason people just stop right there, Sometimes the journey is was separates the good from the great, not the number of messages preached or how popular they became with the culture. To be great you don't need to have a huge impact, just look at Roger Briggs he started small and made a huge impact on the students where he taught.
The hardest part of moving from good to great is the process because as Christians we are to be more like Christ and less like ourselves, but the only way we do that is the process. It's like the refiners fire or the potter's hand shaping us into what we are meant to be. Often as Christians we get content with where we are at and forget that we are to look more like Christ and less like ourselves; you see this is the same transition from good to great. A great leader in the church will motivate you as a follower, he will challenge you, and at times test you with how far you are willing to go with your relationship with Christ. You see in the New Testament there is constant language talking about being transformed which means to look like Christ, to throw off everything that entangles us and run the race marked out for us. However we need to remember we have the greatest teacher and that is Christ himself, he is the perfect example of how we should be striving to be greater than who we are now. People give up along the way, get content, or get scared that God might ask them to do something beyond what they are comfortable doing and for whatever reason people just stop right there, Sometimes the journey is was separates the good from the great, not the number of messages preached or how popular they became with the culture. To be great you don't need to have a huge impact, just look at Roger Briggs he started small and made a huge impact on the students where he taught.
Friday, October 2, 2015
Blog: G2G 9-13 Issue Two
From the start of this section of the book Good to Great right a way we see is a picture of what leadership should look like in a cooperate office as "Frances Hesselbein was named CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA.(G2G9) " She goes on to explain that she is not at the top of cooperate ladder for her orgaization, rather she plays an integral role as she makes people aware of the realities facing younger girls such as teen pregnancy and alcohol use which helped bring a realization of what they are facing in our society. This whole sections focuses on what makes a level 5 leader and how we as becoming leaders can avoid making the mistakes. The big focus is on the level 5 leader who is at the top of the pyramid and defined by, "someone who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." The essence of a leader is different than the use of power, a leader is someone who inspires you to do something while power can be used to force you to do something that you may or may not agree with.
This book has a lot of ways that a person can become a better leader and by doing so they go from good to great; not overnight though as everything is a process. It is often easy for me to see the good leaders who want to improve versus those who are content with where they are at. If we are going to good leaders for our churches then we need to be willing to improve and become something better than before, emulate Christ. Leaders don't sit behind the desk and wait for their staff to do what they ask, but out front with their people working with them. That is something I always appreciated in the military was most of our leaders were there before and knew what was expected of us, they understood the challenges we faced. Sometimes people have false expectations, humility, and accountability which causes failings whether morally or ethically.
This book has a lot of ways that a person can become a better leader and by doing so they go from good to great; not overnight though as everything is a process. It is often easy for me to see the good leaders who want to improve versus those who are content with where they are at. If we are going to good leaders for our churches then we need to be willing to improve and become something better than before, emulate Christ. Leaders don't sit behind the desk and wait for their staff to do what they ask, but out front with their people working with them. That is something I always appreciated in the military was most of our leaders were there before and knew what was expected of us, they understood the challenges we faced. Sometimes people have false expectations, humility, and accountability which causes failings whether morally or ethically.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Blog: IYH 280-299
There are three topics covered here, the first being how we can use meetings to maximize our productivity and the second being One on One Meetings, and thrid using the input from others in coordination to focus on the goals. Starting with "Meetings Can Be Maximally Productive" there is six basic steps that the book lists to help beginning with: 1) What's the purpose we are here or the agenda?, 2) Get peoples opinions, ask them for their thoughts, 3) Use your knowledge and know the facts, 4) Decisions need to be made for or against, to move forward or not, 5) Hand out tasks to each person, everyone needs to play a part, and 6) Be willing to follow up with each to mark progress or to discuss problems. One on One Meetings is short with 4 clear points ranging from having a clear focus, listening to each, affirming what the other person said, and agreeing on what the next steps should and making them clear so no neither person is confused.At the end we Coordinating Input From Others: Keep It Focused and how the leader of employees, volunteers, or fellow staff takes their input then uses to help project the goals of the group. There are different paths each person will take that the leader is guiding in sharing their input, but the trick is keeping everyone on task, making sure it's relevant to the topic at hand. Here are four basic steps to ensure the input is on track with the topic.
There are a couple things to draw from this section that directly correlate with my experiences not only with the Army, but in life in general the first being utilizing the meetings for maximum efficiency. To often than not meetings are long, drawn out processes that don't really accomplish anything therefore when being in meetings that are actually working toward a goal there is a relief. I have found this to be true in my life when being a volunteer, in the Army National Guard, and working with other volunteers at times to understand the tasks at hand. One on One meetings are tricky in my opinion simply because if the leader isn't well versed in these type of meetings the other person can be left feeling unheard. It is necessary to have skills in one on one meetings
There are a couple things to draw from this section that directly correlate with my experiences not only with the Army, but in life in general the first being utilizing the meetings for maximum efficiency. To often than not meetings are long, drawn out processes that don't really accomplish anything therefore when being in meetings that are actually working toward a goal there is a relief. I have found this to be true in my life when being a volunteer, in the Army National Guard, and working with other volunteers at times to understand the tasks at hand. One on One meetings are tricky in my opinion simply because if the leader isn't well versed in these type of meetings the other person can be left feeling unheard. It is necessary to have skills in one on one meetings
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Blog: Death by Meetings
The basic thoughts behind this podcast is at what point do meetings become pointless and how can we as leaders keep them beneficial because there seems to be a point where meetings become useless. We've all been in meetings that have been painful to sit through and that nothing was really accomplished, so the challenge is to only have meetings when it is really necessary. Also the need to understand when people disagree with your ideas or have a negative response; that it's not an attack on your person. There becomes a point when people hate meetings, that is what needs to be avoided and I think there needs to be an evaluation of how the meetings are going to help understand what is happening or not happening.
Personally I have been a part of mandatory meetings which have been the death of me, but never meetings in a corporate or work setting because most of my jobs haven't required them. This podcast however highlights necessary information for those who are facing these meetings which are causing them to hate their jobs. The leaders or whoever is running the meetings needs to take ownership and figure out what needs to change in the meetings for them to be effective. Meetings are meant to be a time of information sharing or brainstorming ideas that can be used to further organization or business's projects and plans for the future.
Personally I have been a part of mandatory meetings which have been the death of me, but never meetings in a corporate or work setting because most of my jobs haven't required them. This podcast however highlights necessary information for those who are facing these meetings which are causing them to hate their jobs. The leaders or whoever is running the meetings needs to take ownership and figure out what needs to change in the meetings for them to be effective. Meetings are meant to be a time of information sharing or brainstorming ideas that can be used to further organization or business's projects and plans for the future.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Blog: IYH 646-665
Communication is necessary when working others to complete goals, tasks, or just sharing personal information with a friend. However there are proper ways to communicate and then there are wrong ways to communicate and in this section there are desirable ways along with examples listed along with their definitions. Right a way there are three basics for ongoing communication: why, their task, and result, each playing a different role when working with others, this lets your co-workers or the people you are leading know that you care. TLC2 talks about two seperate equations for TLC, the first being Two-way, Leading edge, and Circular; the second Tools, Leadership, and Consideration.
Basically what is being outlined in this part of the book are effective tools for proper communication and ways to acknowledge the people you are leading that they are being heard. With poor communication skills co-workers, volunteers, and employees will go about being frustrated and not feeling like you or I am hearing what they have to say. There are plenty of times in my life time when poor communication has caused serious issues between individuals or two parties which causes a lot of unnecessary frustration on both parts. This book and the material in it share very basic concepts, but are still valuable tools. I know I talk a lot about my military experiences, but communication was paramount and in some cases life or death. So when we talk about communication there needs to be an application to what we are learning or what good does it do? We go about reading it, but really do we learn anything?
Basically what is being outlined in this part of the book are effective tools for proper communication and ways to acknowledge the people you are leading that they are being heard. With poor communication skills co-workers, volunteers, and employees will go about being frustrated and not feeling like you or I am hearing what they have to say. There are plenty of times in my life time when poor communication has caused serious issues between individuals or two parties which causes a lot of unnecessary frustration on both parts. This book and the material in it share very basic concepts, but are still valuable tools. I know I talk a lot about my military experiences, but communication was paramount and in some cases life or death. So when we talk about communication there needs to be an application to what we are learning or what good does it do? We go about reading it, but really do we learn anything?
Friday, September 25, 2015
Blog IYN: 248-251
Sometimes there are challenges which almost seem impossible when alone, but there are times when a group of people working together runs into those same challenges. This is when the competency of the group is outweighed by the size of the obstacle or challenge. What needs to happen to overcome the challenge is a higher level of competency, but some observations must be made before that can happen. When empowering people, the challenge must be lower then the competency, when the challenges are beaten then they get higher and so does the competency, and for one to maintain the empowerment competency must improve. There are other problems that one can run into when empowering employees is they can reach capacity of their skills or the empowering plateaus in which case they need harder challenges.
In my life there has been times when I had to face obstacles where in my eyes the obstacles were bigger than anything I could climb, for a long time it burdened me. Then something happened as I was getting ready to deploy to Iraq, my squad leader called me out. Even when I came back to Christ obstacles just seemed to be another piece of the puzzle with managing school work and life. Empowering people doesn't just impact them, but it directly impacts everyone else they come into contact with because they see what you accomplished and they push the limits in their lives. My story seems like one challenge after another honestly, but I'm a better person for it.
In my life there has been times when I had to face obstacles where in my eyes the obstacles were bigger than anything I could climb, for a long time it burdened me. Then something happened as I was getting ready to deploy to Iraq, my squad leader called me out. Even when I came back to Christ obstacles just seemed to be another piece of the puzzle with managing school work and life. Empowering people doesn't just impact them, but it directly impacts everyone else they come into contact with because they see what you accomplished and they push the limits in their lives. My story seems like one challenge after another honestly, but I'm a better person for it.
Blog: IYH: 60-69
When working with employees to reach their goal one needs to take a certain look at what is needed and this part explains five helpful tips that you can teach your employees, volunteers, and ministry workers. There are five basic skills 1) Communication, 2) Initiation, 3) Direction, 4) Education, and 5) Delineation. Starting with communication this is something that needs to be constant, but not overbearing in the sense that they think you are micro managing them and they need to know that they can ask you questions. The only stupid question is the one that's not asked. Initiation is the being able to start the process, to be willing to volunteer yourself for projects knowing that this will not only benefit you, but others around you. Direction is simple, by showing others where they need to go or what the best path for them to take you give them a vision. Direction is key when working towards a common goal. Education is the means of having proper training so your employees know that they have been equipped. Delineation is the ability to allow your employees to make contributions and not putting the organization at risk.
This section is pretty self explanatory honestly, it just highlights what you need to instill in your employees, volunteers, staff, and so on to have a successful organization, but the reality is here is how many business miss this. The five skills that the book highlight are good, but my experiences don't really line up with them, but there are definitely aspects of these five that I've learned in my life and they have helped me when working with others toward a common goal. One job stands out specifically this summer where me and two co-workers were helping this lady pack her belongings so she could move back to Texas. My boss who just happens to be my friend leaves me inside to help them as I am the more experienced packer/mover which allowed me to make decisions on what goes where and work closely with the client and her mother. I had all the skills necessary to accomplish the tasks that were before, it was rather humbling in the sense because not only did the client trust me, but my friend did which was great because the job went smoothly. Everything this sections talks about I would say is much needed in the working world and in our churches because sometimes I think we forget about our staff at our churches and they may not be sure of themselves when they get tasked with a big project. But this is applicable to every day life as well, to mentoring and I would even say raising children.
This section is pretty self explanatory honestly, it just highlights what you need to instill in your employees, volunteers, staff, and so on to have a successful organization, but the reality is here is how many business miss this. The five skills that the book highlight are good, but my experiences don't really line up with them, but there are definitely aspects of these five that I've learned in my life and they have helped me when working with others toward a common goal. One job stands out specifically this summer where me and two co-workers were helping this lady pack her belongings so she could move back to Texas. My boss who just happens to be my friend leaves me inside to help them as I am the more experienced packer/mover which allowed me to make decisions on what goes where and work closely with the client and her mother. I had all the skills necessary to accomplish the tasks that were before, it was rather humbling in the sense because not only did the client trust me, but my friend did which was great because the job went smoothly. Everything this sections talks about I would say is much needed in the working world and in our churches because sometimes I think we forget about our staff at our churches and they may not be sure of themselves when they get tasked with a big project. But this is applicable to every day life as well, to mentoring and I would even say raising children.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Blog: IYH 404-423
This section covers a few different subjects from getting people engaged to the point they are locked, charisma and how it is actually a learnable skill vs something that people are born with, and how to keep people motivated from start to finish along the path. For getting people engaged there has to be an understanding and knowing that they can make an impact, that they have skills, and the objective is of importance. On charisma there is ten teachable or learnable skills, each one playing some significant role with how they can be used when interacting with people, this can help filling ministry roles. Sometimes there are hard paths we travel down to get to where we are going, but they can lake encouragement so leaders need to come along side those to encourage or motivate them to reach their goals.
The basis of the section is how leaders can come along side their volunteers, staff members, or anyone else for that matter and teach them skills, motivate them to reach goals, or help them understand why it is necessary for people to be full engaged. It's funny when I read this book because in so many ways before enrolling in this class there has been times where I've been doing this or currently am doing this in my life. My time before North Central I not only a soldier, but a student and a volunteer at my church back in Duluth, MN where I'm from and these were things that I just picked up on. I've been going to school far long than most people will ever want or would dare too as I started in the fall of 2008 and it's now fall of 2015 and by the time I will graduate it will be close to 8 years if not more since this journey started. People have kept me motivated from one semester to the next especially in the middle of the semester when everything closes in around you. This book has a lot of great tips and tools, it's just a little bland when a student as the experiences of someone who's older than the normal student by eight or nine years maybe more. So tell my fellow students I say to them stay the course, don't loose sight of who God is turning you into, and follow him wherever he leads you.
The basis of the section is how leaders can come along side their volunteers, staff members, or anyone else for that matter and teach them skills, motivate them to reach goals, or help them understand why it is necessary for people to be full engaged. It's funny when I read this book because in so many ways before enrolling in this class there has been times where I've been doing this or currently am doing this in my life. My time before North Central I not only a soldier, but a student and a volunteer at my church back in Duluth, MN where I'm from and these were things that I just picked up on. I've been going to school far long than most people will ever want or would dare too as I started in the fall of 2008 and it's now fall of 2015 and by the time I will graduate it will be close to 8 years if not more since this journey started. People have kept me motivated from one semester to the next especially in the middle of the semester when everything closes in around you. This book has a lot of great tips and tools, it's just a little bland when a student as the experiences of someone who's older than the normal student by eight or nine years maybe more. So tell my fellow students I say to them stay the course, don't loose sight of who God is turning you into, and follow him wherever he leads you.
Warfare: When Spiritual turns physical
So over the past year there has been a series of spiritual attacks which I've experienced beyond anything previously experienced in my walk with Christ, something that people may not put a lot of stock into. It has been an eye opening experience and a humbling one because it's forced me to rely on God even more, to the point where in my dreams when there has been something demonic in them I've cried out physically as if my spirit knew what to do. This is not meant to scare you, but to inform you that, "The devil roams around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8. That as Christians we must put on the full armor of Ephesians 6:10-18 and walk with God in a way that is more intentional than ever before, because with him and through him we have victory. Because Christ is the victor, the devil has been defeated and so has death and in the end we will be there in heaven with Christ, resurrected in our new bodies.
So about January after watching a T.V. show on a family that experienced a possession of their child by a demonic being that is when this all really took, but it really started when I made the commitment to come to North Central. A commitment to follow God wherever he took me, to be willing to the point if he asked me to lay down my life for the cause of the Gospel I would which details back to my discipleship. So in early August of 2013, I was laying asleep in my bed when my right ear began to ring intensely and when I woke up there was a dark figure standing in my door way, being that I couldn't move I called out to Jesus and it stopped. Later that week at church, there was a few people who I shared my events with and the prayers were helpful.
Then fast forward to either the fall of 2013 or spring of 2014, I was yet again sleeping or just just about to fall asleep, my head was in my pillow just enough that when this backward force was trying to push my head into the pillow I resisted. For a while everything went quite then in January of this year after watching a tv show about a real exorcism everything flared up where there was times when I was just about asleep then my feet would get grabbed waking me. This went on for a month or two, maybe more, but one morning after a rough night I texted a friend who came over and we prayed over my apartment and me. After that time spent praying everything went quite through the summer, but in late August of this year it started up again with the grabbing of my feet, crazy dreams that either had demons in them or crap, and noises in my apartment. So since then there has been people praying for me constantly and here's a little teaser in case you didn't know; the devil doesn't win. Yup!, he has already lost when Christ was killed on the cross then rose again three days later because death was defeated and we have a restored relationship with our God who created us.
Through this entire course there has been days of little to no sleep and in general a lack of sleep, but something has happened that I'm not sure satan could of anticipated and that is me drawing upon the word of God more than I have for sometime. The moments with God have been sweeter and the intimacy in the relationship has grown, but just because someone is experiencing spiritual attacks doesn't mean they are doing something wrong, quite the opposite they are doing something right. To the point that satan sees them as a threat and uses fear, lies, and anything else to take over us; fills our minds with lies; our emotions with guilt, condemnation, and shame; our hearts with fear and rejection.
God is seeing me through this time and continually shows up even though I "feel" lonely or isolated and the reality is that we aren't. The more time I've spent in scripture, the deeper the connection with God and Christ thus being able to see the lies much clearer than before. The fight doesn't get easier, but relying on God in all things becomes easier because he can do anything and his yoke is easy. You see satan likes take jabs at us where we are the weakest and exploit the weaknesses, from that point he then just begins to enter garbage into your life and spread all sorts of nonsense. A few of my weak points are distinguishing lies, when I'm tired, and emotions. In the past weeks these have all been flaring up, but each day I stand in the armor of God and fight against these attacks. Quoting scripture and worshiping are some of the best ways, but what has helped me is getting other people to pray for which means telling them what has been happening. God is stronger than satan will ever be and his love is perfect and perfect love casts out all fear.
So whatever you are going through reach out to others and start getting people to pray for you because there is strength in having other believers pray for you. Get friends to pray for you and pray over your house, door room, or apartment if necessary. Stay in the Bible, it's your firm foundation, and the gates of hell will never overtake you. Stay connected with other Christians, but above all else keep your relationship with God going.
Hope you've found this help! Take care and God bless!!
So about January after watching a T.V. show on a family that experienced a possession of their child by a demonic being that is when this all really took, but it really started when I made the commitment to come to North Central. A commitment to follow God wherever he took me, to be willing to the point if he asked me to lay down my life for the cause of the Gospel I would which details back to my discipleship. So in early August of 2013, I was laying asleep in my bed when my right ear began to ring intensely and when I woke up there was a dark figure standing in my door way, being that I couldn't move I called out to Jesus and it stopped. Later that week at church, there was a few people who I shared my events with and the prayers were helpful.
Then fast forward to either the fall of 2013 or spring of 2014, I was yet again sleeping or just just about to fall asleep, my head was in my pillow just enough that when this backward force was trying to push my head into the pillow I resisted. For a while everything went quite then in January of this year after watching a tv show about a real exorcism everything flared up where there was times when I was just about asleep then my feet would get grabbed waking me. This went on for a month or two, maybe more, but one morning after a rough night I texted a friend who came over and we prayed over my apartment and me. After that time spent praying everything went quite through the summer, but in late August of this year it started up again with the grabbing of my feet, crazy dreams that either had demons in them or crap, and noises in my apartment. So since then there has been people praying for me constantly and here's a little teaser in case you didn't know; the devil doesn't win. Yup!, he has already lost when Christ was killed on the cross then rose again three days later because death was defeated and we have a restored relationship with our God who created us.
Through this entire course there has been days of little to no sleep and in general a lack of sleep, but something has happened that I'm not sure satan could of anticipated and that is me drawing upon the word of God more than I have for sometime. The moments with God have been sweeter and the intimacy in the relationship has grown, but just because someone is experiencing spiritual attacks doesn't mean they are doing something wrong, quite the opposite they are doing something right. To the point that satan sees them as a threat and uses fear, lies, and anything else to take over us; fills our minds with lies; our emotions with guilt, condemnation, and shame; our hearts with fear and rejection.
God is seeing me through this time and continually shows up even though I "feel" lonely or isolated and the reality is that we aren't. The more time I've spent in scripture, the deeper the connection with God and Christ thus being able to see the lies much clearer than before. The fight doesn't get easier, but relying on God in all things becomes easier because he can do anything and his yoke is easy. You see satan likes take jabs at us where we are the weakest and exploit the weaknesses, from that point he then just begins to enter garbage into your life and spread all sorts of nonsense. A few of my weak points are distinguishing lies, when I'm tired, and emotions. In the past weeks these have all been flaring up, but each day I stand in the armor of God and fight against these attacks. Quoting scripture and worshiping are some of the best ways, but what has helped me is getting other people to pray for which means telling them what has been happening. God is stronger than satan will ever be and his love is perfect and perfect love casts out all fear.
So whatever you are going through reach out to others and start getting people to pray for you because there is strength in having other believers pray for you. Get friends to pray for you and pray over your house, door room, or apartment if necessary. Stay in the Bible, it's your firm foundation, and the gates of hell will never overtake you. Stay connected with other Christians, but above all else keep your relationship with God going.
Hope you've found this help! Take care and God bless!!
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Blog: IYH 260-271
Process and the People, there are times when both of these have to be taken into account when issues arise along the course of an organizations time. This sections covers what is necessary for people involved with organizations and identifies training that would be helpful along with wise decision making on who to hire. A lot of what this section talks about is knowing who is the right person for the job, do they have the right training or are they trained correctly, and do they have the proper leadership skills which encompass the roles they must fill. All procedures for the processes that leaders will need to be clearly defined as to have a better understanding of what it will take to complete tasks in order to assure no severe issues happen. There also needs to be a way to measure and quantify the process so you can measure when things are effective and understand when they are not. Once there is a process defined then steps need to be taken to continually improve the process this ensures that the process will be the effective for the time to come.
Throughout this section we are talking about how to make processes better and how to train our leaders to navigate the process which they will encounter. There is also the need to develop SOPs for the processes and clearly define them as well to make sure that, these are to help the processes and that there will be ways to refine each one. These area all critical because when dealing with people and processes you need to able to identify what is the issues and not misdiagnosing the wrong one, I think this can be an issue when Processes and people overlap in areas. There is also a strong need for solid training for the leadership to help clearly define the issues and facilitate the processes thus having a smooth running organization.
Throughout this section we are talking about how to make processes better and how to train our leaders to navigate the process which they will encounter. There is also the need to develop SOPs for the processes and clearly define them as well to make sure that, these are to help the processes and that there will be ways to refine each one. These area all critical because when dealing with people and processes you need to able to identify what is the issues and not misdiagnosing the wrong one, I think this can be an issue when Processes and people overlap in areas. There is also a strong need for solid training for the leadership to help clearly define the issues and facilitate the processes thus having a smooth running organization.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Blog: IYH 212-221 World Class Leadership Skills-"The Sterling Silver Cord"
The basics of this reading was talking about the Sterling Silver Cord which is essentially what a world class leader needs to be able to traverse to provide the best leader style regardless of the task at hand. On each end of the cord you have Strategic Skills and Tactical skills; while Strategic is more big picture thinking and developing the plan, tactical is more about putting the plan into action. Thus creating a working idea of what the strategic planning had been. Along the Sterling Silver Cord there is 5 basic categories: 1) Strong at conceptualizing, but can't execute, 2) Strong Strategically, w/ some appreciation of the impact of the day to day, 3) Excellent tactically, and with some ability to ensure that day to day activities contribute to the strategic direction, 4) Great at today's priorities, but unable to provide clear motivating vision, and 5) Able to appreciate both strategy and tactics and their relationship, but not yet able to sustain this understanding in turbulent times.
As we talked about in class there are various possibilities for someone wanting to create in their work place a leadership style that works well with others, but there is also the challenges that we face when working with others who don't change.The material is well thought out, but something that was ingrained in me while in the Army was knowing the job of the people above me, knowing the mission, the end state, and just about every detail there was. We would walk through on models and we are verbally vomit back the information to our leadership displaying that we understood the task at hand. I was never there at the planning stage for missions, but when working on a squad level of nine soldiers including leadership everyone has a part to play, you have to understand the strategical aspect as well as the tactical if you want the mission to be a success. You're always trying to minimize casualties, collateral damage. and risk, but somethings are unavoidable in war. The fact of the matter as a Specialist E-4 you hand to have a working knowledge and understanding of both Strategic & Tactical leadership. I may not have been in charge of soldiers, but I had to understand this world because my life depended on it. To me that church is depending on its pastors and not only that there are people who need us to succeed because we are called to live misionally in this world, and there will be people who need us.
Geldart, Phil. In Your Hands: The Behaviors of a World-class Leader. [Guelph, Ont.?]: Eagle's Flight Creative Training Excellence, 1998. Print.
As we talked about in class there are various possibilities for someone wanting to create in their work place a leadership style that works well with others, but there is also the challenges that we face when working with others who don't change.The material is well thought out, but something that was ingrained in me while in the Army was knowing the job of the people above me, knowing the mission, the end state, and just about every detail there was. We would walk through on models and we are verbally vomit back the information to our leadership displaying that we understood the task at hand. I was never there at the planning stage for missions, but when working on a squad level of nine soldiers including leadership everyone has a part to play, you have to understand the strategical aspect as well as the tactical if you want the mission to be a success. You're always trying to minimize casualties, collateral damage. and risk, but somethings are unavoidable in war. The fact of the matter as a Specialist E-4 you hand to have a working knowledge and understanding of both Strategic & Tactical leadership. I may not have been in charge of soldiers, but I had to understand this world because my life depended on it. To me that church is depending on its pastors and not only that there are people who need us to succeed because we are called to live misionally in this world, and there will be people who need us.
Geldart, Phil. In Your Hands: The Behaviors of a World-class Leader. [Guelph, Ont.?]: Eagle's Flight Creative Training Excellence, 1998. Print.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Blog: Podcast - Developing a Strategic Plan
What's needed for developing a strategic plan within a church is willingness to find a direction in which the leadership of the church wants to go. The necessary need for movement regardless if it's positive or negative. It's about setting a determined time and going forward as a team and if necessary coming before the congregation to let them know how the process is going.
When moving about during my time in the Army National Guard while deployed to Iraq we had to develop plans when moving from site to site or mission to mission. There was always a plan regarding our movements and how we would react if things didn't go as planned. Tactics, techniques, and procedures or simply put TTPs was how we operated; the enemy had their TTPs as did we so naturally we are trying to counter their TTPs, but in a real world that doesn't always happen.
When moving about during my time in the Army National Guard while deployed to Iraq we had to develop plans when moving from site to site or mission to mission. There was always a plan regarding our movements and how we would react if things didn't go as planned. Tactics, techniques, and procedures or simply put TTPs was how we operated; the enemy had their TTPs as did we so naturally we are trying to counter their TTPs, but in a real world that doesn't always happen.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Expect The Unexpected
This partial quote is the premise of this blog; it is rather funny because during one of my quiet times with God this quote came out and it was not me who formed it. I think as Christ follower we need to have an open mind when walking hand in hand with God as he does what he sees fit. There are times when he does it simply because he loves us, loves to see the joy in our faces, and hear our praises.
At times in life we think we have figured everything out; where we are going to live, what we will do for a career, and what the rest of our life will look like. Here is something though that is true for me because of where I am and the direction to where my life is heading only God knows. However even now during the midst of a summer that has been working two jobs, spending time with friends, and resting there has been a lot of unexpected moments, moments when nothing else matters, but what is right in front of me. Often at times we let things pull our attention in different directions and we forget what our center which is Christ. So how can we keep God at the center? Even now when I'm typing this my answer and thoughts aren't clear, but what is knowing that God is my first priority with his will for my life following closely behind him.
There is multiple differences between this summer and last, both were periods of growth, but challenging in their own rights. Last summer was filled with an out of control situation or so it seemed, with financial hardships, and isolation which led me down some very hard times. Now those hard times prepared me for what this summer had to bring, something which was not seen by me because I cannot see the future, but God certainly knew where this was taking me. This summer has consisted of my laptop dying, frustrations with one of my jobs, and now the typical brake job. Here's the difference though, when things got rough at the end of this past semester my eyes were fixed on God and throughout this summer that's where they have been through saving up for a computer and now getting ready to buy parts for my vehicle. You see things continue to pull at us, trying to get us to loose our focus off of God, Christ, and the Cross and it is our duty to keep our focus on the one who saved us, who provides continually.
This hasn't been an easy road, but what allows me to push through is my relationship with God and knowing that he's right there walking with me through these hard times when life seems to be going all wrong or completely right. It is nothing that I have done by my own strength, but what he has done for me. Most of my close friends know what happen last summer and they knew the bind which I was in and this is why we need community because those friends are the ones who came along side me, who cheered me up, made me laugh and forget what was going on. This summer has been so polar opposite that it's a wonder what happened between the two, however there has been much internalized for me that it is hard to share. Everything that I have is not because of me or the hours that I've worked to save up for items that are needed, but because God's provision you see in my life he the first and the last meaning he gets all the glory, all my praise even in the hard times when I doubt.
So in the end, do not wonder what the next day will hold, but hold fast to the one who loves you our heavenly Father and creator of us all. God. The beginning and the end, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the Alpha and the Omega. For he is my rock, my joy, my delight, my strong tower. When God is working in your life I would encourage you to expect the unexpected and see what he does for you. Find hope that comes from Jesus Christ the Risen lamb.
Hope you enjoyed reading this! Take care and God bless!!
There is multiple differences between this summer and last, both were periods of growth, but challenging in their own rights. Last summer was filled with an out of control situation or so it seemed, with financial hardships, and isolation which led me down some very hard times. Now those hard times prepared me for what this summer had to bring, something which was not seen by me because I cannot see the future, but God certainly knew where this was taking me. This summer has consisted of my laptop dying, frustrations with one of my jobs, and now the typical brake job. Here's the difference though, when things got rough at the end of this past semester my eyes were fixed on God and throughout this summer that's where they have been through saving up for a computer and now getting ready to buy parts for my vehicle. You see things continue to pull at us, trying to get us to loose our focus off of God, Christ, and the Cross and it is our duty to keep our focus on the one who saved us, who provides continually.
This hasn't been an easy road, but what allows me to push through is my relationship with God and knowing that he's right there walking with me through these hard times when life seems to be going all wrong or completely right. It is nothing that I have done by my own strength, but what he has done for me. Most of my close friends know what happen last summer and they knew the bind which I was in and this is why we need community because those friends are the ones who came along side me, who cheered me up, made me laugh and forget what was going on. This summer has been so polar opposite that it's a wonder what happened between the two, however there has been much internalized for me that it is hard to share. Everything that I have is not because of me or the hours that I've worked to save up for items that are needed, but because God's provision you see in my life he the first and the last meaning he gets all the glory, all my praise even in the hard times when I doubt.
So in the end, do not wonder what the next day will hold, but hold fast to the one who loves you our heavenly Father and creator of us all. God. The beginning and the end, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the Alpha and the Omega. For he is my rock, my joy, my delight, my strong tower. When God is working in your life I would encourage you to expect the unexpected and see what he does for you. Find hope that comes from Jesus Christ the Risen lamb.
Hope you enjoyed reading this! Take care and God bless!!
Monday, February 16, 2015
"The Despair and Doubt"
Over the course of the summer of 2014 I had one of the roughest periods since coming back home from Iraq and the depression was like nothing else honestly. I remember one afternoon is particular that when as I was watching a video series by John Eldridge and his sons. The video was specifically focused on that when going through trials pain isn't the biggest battle. The biggest challenge is with doubt and despair, that even now there are moments of doubt and despair, but the beauty of it all there is something bigger waiting in the end of my journey.
I think there is a lot of people out there in the world who deal with doubt and despair, who maybe have misconceptions about christianity and this "religion is all about." One of the biggest things that I have noticed in my life even when there seems to be darkness all around me in this peculiar light that tells me to look ahead and not to the moment. Not sure how to describe this, but even now amongst the challenges of life and the battles which have been waged for our lives there is this peace that surpasses all understanding.
But back to the video which I was watching this summer; last week I went through some of the thoughts that came from which helped me understand what was being spoken and how the challenges we face aren't the pain that comes from loss, but the darkness and despair which we face in the quiet of the night. Just last week I went through a bout of depression that Satan used to interject some nasty thoughts, but hey I'm still not because of anything I've done. Psalm 73:26 says this, "My flesh and my heart may fail. but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Instead of doing things on his own Asaph understood that God was his strength and his portion thus showing us that God can do everything and in our fragility we need his strength.
You see my biggest challenge is the doubt and the despair and for those of you who read this I'm going to be exceptionally clear here as possible. That being said, depression has been a constant battle since about 4th or 5th grade and along with that depression came dark and condemning thoughts of suicide which satan interjects when I am at my weakest. I can tell you that these are not my thoughts and that I've never attempted suicide, but in these moments of doubt and despair this thought comes trailing in like that of a cold nor'easter rolling into Duluth which is beautiful in it's own way, but just like that night when the Edmond Fitzgerald went with those waves on Lake Superior so do those waves beat against me.
But here's the flip side to that coin and the hope that doesn't disappoint which is found in Jesus Christ, the Cross, and his blood. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." You see this is exactly what I'm talking about because satan cannot overcome the cross and the power of the blood and will never overcome. What I am not saying is if you aren't have these struggles is that you're wrong, as every person has their own challenges and that's the reality of it. I can point to numerous other struggles in my life which pales in comparison to this. Just because your struggles are different than mine doesn't make them any less and regardless of what anyone says I can tell you this, that when Christ was on the cross he experienced everything we would ever go through on this earth so when you're weak cry out to him.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. You see everything we see in front of us is just temporary and yet we store up worldly possessions for ourselves to ease our pain, but the biggest hope we have is in our God that is unseen and his son who sits at the right hand of his father interceding on our behalf. So take heart in what is unseen and fixate on God give him everything that you have to offer. Our troubles are momentary that's the reality of it and the hope in eternity is beyond measure. Take heart! I hope this has encouraged you as you've read this and that you may find hope in the Cross.
Take care and God bless!
I think there is a lot of people out there in the world who deal with doubt and despair, who maybe have misconceptions about christianity and this "religion is all about." One of the biggest things that I have noticed in my life even when there seems to be darkness all around me in this peculiar light that tells me to look ahead and not to the moment. Not sure how to describe this, but even now amongst the challenges of life and the battles which have been waged for our lives there is this peace that surpasses all understanding.
But back to the video which I was watching this summer; last week I went through some of the thoughts that came from which helped me understand what was being spoken and how the challenges we face aren't the pain that comes from loss, but the darkness and despair which we face in the quiet of the night. Just last week I went through a bout of depression that Satan used to interject some nasty thoughts, but hey I'm still not because of anything I've done. Psalm 73:26 says this, "My flesh and my heart may fail. but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Instead of doing things on his own Asaph understood that God was his strength and his portion thus showing us that God can do everything and in our fragility we need his strength.
You see my biggest challenge is the doubt and the despair and for those of you who read this I'm going to be exceptionally clear here as possible. That being said, depression has been a constant battle since about 4th or 5th grade and along with that depression came dark and condemning thoughts of suicide which satan interjects when I am at my weakest. I can tell you that these are not my thoughts and that I've never attempted suicide, but in these moments of doubt and despair this thought comes trailing in like that of a cold nor'easter rolling into Duluth which is beautiful in it's own way, but just like that night when the Edmond Fitzgerald went with those waves on Lake Superior so do those waves beat against me.
But here's the flip side to that coin and the hope that doesn't disappoint which is found in Jesus Christ, the Cross, and his blood. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." You see this is exactly what I'm talking about because satan cannot overcome the cross and the power of the blood and will never overcome. What I am not saying is if you aren't have these struggles is that you're wrong, as every person has their own challenges and that's the reality of it. I can point to numerous other struggles in my life which pales in comparison to this. Just because your struggles are different than mine doesn't make them any less and regardless of what anyone says I can tell you this, that when Christ was on the cross he experienced everything we would ever go through on this earth so when you're weak cry out to him.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. You see everything we see in front of us is just temporary and yet we store up worldly possessions for ourselves to ease our pain, but the biggest hope we have is in our God that is unseen and his son who sits at the right hand of his father interceding on our behalf. So take heart in what is unseen and fixate on God give him everything that you have to offer. Our troubles are momentary that's the reality of it and the hope in eternity is beyond measure. Take heart! I hope this has encouraged you as you've read this and that you may find hope in the Cross.
Take care and God bless!
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Trust In Relationships
Time to dust off this blog and get back to writing I guess, as it's been a while since my last blog and this topic has been on my heart a while. Trust and how we view trust versus what God shows us what trust really looks like.
To kick this off I'm going to share what I thought was for the longest time and how God changed all that in the summer of 2014. My initial thought of trust was that if someone were to break your trust then how would you rebuild the trust you had with that person I viewed trust as something that was never constant, always changing and based upon the relationship you were in(because we are all in relationships with people all the time) which meant to me that trust wasn't lasting. For a long time I held the belief that trust was given at 100%, but then if someone broke the trust it had to start from 0% and rebuild from there. This kind of thinking in my opinion is flawed because when you look at the relationships in the Bible with God's people and those whom he called to them; the trust between God and the individual was always there, but because of sin or disobedience it was broken. Now if the individual or person repented then seemingly the trust would start off with where it was, not starting from zero, however there are times in the Bible where the trust is completely erased.
Now to share with you what God taught me this summer, please keep in mind this is still fresh and new to me in someways. "To me when someone breaks your trust and you've been building with that person I used to think that the trust didn't exist anymore between the person and you. In essence you would have to start at ground zero, but this summer when everything went to hell God was still there. When school came again he was still there waiting for me to trust him. When I did trust him with my problems he showed me just because I hadn't trusted him completely didn't dissolve our trust between us. Thus allowing me to build upon the trust that was previously established in our relationship. I'm learning how to bring that into my friendships with people.
So taking what I learned and applying to relationships today is the challenging part, but it's also the fun part as I get see how the dynamics change in relationships when the trust that I thought was gone really isn't. In the relationships that I've implemented this in there has been a stark difference in how the relationship works; something tells me that this is how God designed relationships and trust to work. Part of the problem goes all the way back to Adam and Eve, yep I went there and it's true because of their choices things are not the way God intended. The other piece is our experiences changes how we trust and it's not something that is easily corrected or healed because we don't like to address things that are uncomfortable. In the world we live in, I have found it incredibly difficult to always willing to walk through the hard times, there are times when it's easier to, but it doesn't mean they get any easier as you grow older. Heed this word as advice and warning, the older you get the harder it is from my experience to let God heal you from old wounds, they longer they fester the harder it is to confront them. It took some very painful experiences for God to show me what trust looked like through his eyes and those of you who were with through the course of this summer know how hard it was for me.
I'm going to leave you with this, "Trust in the Lord with your strength and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge him and he will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
Just because things aren't as we perceived them to be doesn't mean they aren't working as our God intended them to be, sometimes we need don't see what God is doing in our lives or the lives of others around us in the very moment. It's a couple months removed and that's when the revelation comes to us in which God is speaking to us, specifically to our hearts because that is the very core of who we are. As always I hope you enjoyed reading. Take care and God bless!!
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