Was reading these words from Introduction chapter of Ps Bill Hybels’ Courageous Leadership (pg 12), and was totally floored by how active verbs and adjectives can add vision and purpose to vision and purpose statements.. and what a divine coincidence to RiverLife's own..
“…churches can become the redemptive centers that Jesus intended them to be. Dynamic teaching, creative worship, deep community, effective evangelism, and joyful service will combine to renew the hearts and minds of seekers and believers alike, strengthen families, transform communities, and change the world.” - Ps Bill Hybels
Dynamic teaching (discipleship) – goes beyond material to address quality of teachers. Crucial if modern busy learners, bombarded by readily available material, make time (and pay) only for good teachers.
Creative worship (worship) – stretches beyond technical & operational achievements. Creativity helps truths go deeper and stay longer in the heart.
Deep community (fellowship) – simple yet profound. Goes beyond cell material & frequency. Depth begets depth in sharing life.
Effective evangelism (evangelism) – weeds out the ineffective, builds on the proven. Tangible & measurable.
Joyful service (ministry) – reminds who & why we serve. Simple yet maintains evaluative mindset to serving.
Renew hearts and minds of seekers and believers alike (Vision 1) – Rom 12:2. Adds focus/reminder on seekers.
Strengthen families (Vision 2) – goes beyond being an “advocate”.
Transform communities (Vision 2) – goes beyond “reaching” or “touching”.
Change the world (Vision 3) – goes beyond “reaching” or “blessing”. Sounded audacious at first, but true calling of the Church of Christ.
Still awed by how a single sentence can encompass both our vision & purpose statements, and added in so much more vision and purpose into them...has to be the Creator of language adding His divine touch...
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Monday, November 6, 2006
When God Speaks
During a recent conference, I grabbed an old notebook to take notes, and realized it was the same journal book I brought to Colorado Springs last Aug. Little did I know it was to be a divine revelation…
The trip was no normal vacation. Well, Allison was to attend a 3-wk course there, after a casual check with the airline, I realized to our great surprise that I have sufficient points for a free ticket there! It was a well needed vacation, long since we were able to afford one that far…but there were lots more..
I remember mtg e HL Core Ldrs @e airport b4 departure, asking for their prayer coverage. HL has reached a point in the ministry that felt like a plateau, & I knew I had 2seek God for direction on what’s next. I brought along a book “The Heart of a Great Pastor”, but has very little idea what I was suppose 2b seeking for. I knew I needed a long overdue personal retreat too…so it was an all-in-1…
After reading the last line “staying until a spiritual breakthrough & a clear-cut release”, I was just awe-struck. I cannot even remember what I read/thought or what was on my mind when I was writing these words. It seems obvious that I had asked God abt how long shd I stay in HL…it didn’t take long for clarity. That Dec at the retreat, God affirmed my gift of tongues that I prayed for so long. Yeah…I know…can’t imagine leading HL in a Spirit-filled ministry & church, even praying for numerous people to receive tongues right… God knew I needed the intellectual breakthrough first…highly recommend “Surprised by the Power of the Spirit”. Thereafter, HL was launched into 2006 in full stride with the HS. Both personal & as a ministry, there were spiritual breakthru…
In fact, shortly after the new appt into RCS that Oct, there were just so many miraculous opening of doors & blessings that where I stand, it is undoubtedly a God-thing! Guess spiritual break-throughs are contagious…cos the Spirit resides not in circumstances or ministry, but in pp…
Within a few mths, it was already so clear both ministries were growing fast, and consequently that I was short-changing both, that I had to choose… This was not unexpected, but probably a little too sudden & soon…but it was clear-cut all right… I thank Him for being so clear as He has always been, and I have to say, only now, that I feel truly, and peacefully released…
The trip was no normal vacation. Well, Allison was to attend a 3-wk course there, after a casual check with the airline, I realized to our great surprise that I have sufficient points for a free ticket there! It was a well needed vacation, long since we were able to afford one that far…but there were lots more..
I remember mtg e HL Core Ldrs @e airport b4 departure, asking for their prayer coverage. HL has reached a point in the ministry that felt like a plateau, & I knew I had 2seek God for direction on what’s next. I brought along a book “The Heart of a Great Pastor”, but has very little idea what I was suppose 2b seeking for. I knew I needed a long overdue personal retreat too…so it was an all-in-1…
After reading the last line “staying until a spiritual breakthrough & a clear-cut release”, I was just awe-struck. I cannot even remember what I read/thought or what was on my mind when I was writing these words. It seems obvious that I had asked God abt how long shd I stay in HL…it didn’t take long for clarity. That Dec at the retreat, God affirmed my gift of tongues that I prayed for so long. Yeah…I know…can’t imagine leading HL in a Spirit-filled ministry & church, even praying for numerous people to receive tongues right… God knew I needed the intellectual breakthrough first…highly recommend “Surprised by the Power of the Spirit”. Thereafter, HL was launched into 2006 in full stride with the HS. Both personal & as a ministry, there were spiritual breakthru…In fact, shortly after the new appt into RCS that Oct, there were just so many miraculous opening of doors & blessings that where I stand, it is undoubtedly a God-thing! Guess spiritual break-throughs are contagious…cos the Spirit resides not in circumstances or ministry, but in pp…
Within a few mths, it was already so clear both ministries were growing fast, and consequently that I was short-changing both, that I had to choose… This was not unexpected, but probably a little too sudden & soon…but it was clear-cut all right… I thank Him for being so clear as He has always been, and I have to say, only now, that I feel truly, and peacefully released…
My Hamster's World
One of my hamsters died sometime ago.
Coffee lived till a ripe old age of about two years old. She breathed her last on the palm of my hand. As I briefly sighed, “It’s only a hamster…”, I suddenly found myself pondering over her life, her purpose in living, and her achievements over her “full” life-time…
I found these thoughts going through my mind over the next hour…
For a large part of her life, she has spent competing with her “room-mate” Cookie, for the wealth of food that we feed them. I wonder if it must have seemed to her either “must-grab-as-much-otherwise-no-more”, or “the-more-I-possess-the-better-I-can-sit-back-and-enjoy-later”…
Apart from the hoarding and the slow savoring of the rich possession of food in the side of her mouth all day, the rest of her life is spent, in between naps, exploring every inch of her “world”, nibbling and biting at the cage, ever hopeful that one day she will be able to achieve a break through in extending her life’s boundaries, into the world beyond that she sees, always from the same angle, always looking better than her own…
Exercise! Yes! She must have achieved many miles by now. It has not only kept her slim, but it must have given her the huge motivation to keep at it night after night, tirelessly working for something that must have given her purpose…
What a revelation of my own life! Haven’t I invested most of my waking years going after the “once-in-a-life-time” opportunities – achievements that don’t seem much of a gain or loss now, at 37… I wonder what I will think then at 60… I wouldn’t wait to find out.
Yes, the other world has always looked different, and never looked more familiar after I have arrived. Haven’t I felt confined and limited? Haven’t I always needed a break through? No wonder the wise words of one who has it all, “Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!”
Haven’t I concluded such so many times? I worked and worked, I gave everything I’ve got, for a good 5 years… 10 years… and yet I seemed to be surrounded by the familiar that I started with, only missing the time I should have spent with those I treasured, the many things of God I should have slowed down to learn and enjoy, the abundance that I didn’t notice amidst all the needless worries…
As I looked into the cage at the remaining hamster Cookie, a 2-month old newborn, going about her new found routines, in the steps of Coffee, seemingly oblivious to what has just happened, I cannot help but sense the clarity that I, a much higher being, can see into her life ahead, yet knowing very well that I will not be able to communicate this to her, or make any difference… If only I can be a hamster, then I can help her understand, and help her see that there is a higher purpose…
Coffee lived till a ripe old age of about two years old. She breathed her last on the palm of my hand. As I briefly sighed, “It’s only a hamster…”, I suddenly found myself pondering over her life, her purpose in living, and her achievements over her “full” life-time…
I found these thoughts going through my mind over the next hour…
For a large part of her life, she has spent competing with her “room-mate” Cookie, for the wealth of food that we feed them. I wonder if it must have seemed to her either “must-grab-as-much-otherwise-no-more”, or “the-more-I-possess-the-better-I-can-sit-back-and-enjoy-later”…
Apart from the hoarding and the slow savoring of the rich possession of food in the side of her mouth all day, the rest of her life is spent, in between naps, exploring every inch of her “world”, nibbling and biting at the cage, ever hopeful that one day she will be able to achieve a break through in extending her life’s boundaries, into the world beyond that she sees, always from the same angle, always looking better than her own…
Exercise! Yes! She must have achieved many miles by now. It has not only kept her slim, but it must have given her the huge motivation to keep at it night after night, tirelessly working for something that must have given her purpose…
What a revelation of my own life! Haven’t I invested most of my waking years going after the “once-in-a-life-time” opportunities – achievements that don’t seem much of a gain or loss now, at 37… I wonder what I will think then at 60… I wouldn’t wait to find out.
Yes, the other world has always looked different, and never looked more familiar after I have arrived. Haven’t I felt confined and limited? Haven’t I always needed a break through? No wonder the wise words of one who has it all, “Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!”
Haven’t I concluded such so many times? I worked and worked, I gave everything I’ve got, for a good 5 years… 10 years… and yet I seemed to be surrounded by the familiar that I started with, only missing the time I should have spent with those I treasured, the many things of God I should have slowed down to learn and enjoy, the abundance that I didn’t notice amidst all the needless worries…
As I looked into the cage at the remaining hamster Cookie, a 2-month old newborn, going about her new found routines, in the steps of Coffee, seemingly oblivious to what has just happened, I cannot help but sense the clarity that I, a much higher being, can see into her life ahead, yet knowing very well that I will not be able to communicate this to her, or make any difference… If only I can be a hamster, then I can help her understand, and help her see that there is a higher purpose…
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