Happy Fourth of July!

 

 

Leading Major Change in Your Ministry by Jeff Iorg

Goodreads Description:

Many ministries must undergo major change in order to fulfill their mission, and more importantly, to fulfill God’s mission, in today’s world. This book tells the story of the relocation of Gateway Seminary—as well as other stories of major change. In doing so, it lays out the principles and processes necessary to get the job done.

The first section of Leading Major Change in Your Ministry outlines foundational concepts to leading major change. The second section explains a six-fold model for leading major change in churches and ministry organizations. The book includes illustrations throughout, not from hypothetical situations, but from real-life ministry challenges in both local churches and large organizations. While theories about leading major change are interesting, practical insight about how to do it—written by someone who has led multiple organizations through major change—is far more helpful.

The stakes are high. Leadership decisions in ministries have eternal consequences. Almost every church or organization needs—or soon will need—to be led through major change. Leading Major Change in Your Ministry is your guide to successfully getting it done. 

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I really enjoyed reading Leading Major Change in Your Ministry by Jeff Iorg. It was very easy to follow and he wrote at a level that anyone could understand. I didn’t have to be a ministry expert in order to make sense of what he was explaining. A lot of the illustrations and examples were familiar, and I think he may have used some of them in previous books, or they’ve been mentioned in class, but they were absolutely perfect for the context and topics where they were used.

The first thing I looked at closely was the definition of Leadership from the 1933 Oxford Dictionary “The dignity, office, or position of a leader, especially of a political party; also, the ability to lead.” I followed the instructions from the beginning and crafted my own definition of Leadership. “Leadership is guiding others, by example, design, and language, toward a common goal or purpose.” I also took note of this leadership definition from the team of Joseph Rost, “Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.” Some key take away items for me were that Leadership involves a relationship, includes real change, and that the parties involved need to have a mutual purpose for the change to be successful. In fact, he goes on to state that “without mutual buy-in, a leadership relationship does not exist, and real change cannot happen.”

Leadership is not only about real change, but the leadership relationship itself is dynamic and fluid, constantly changing and evolving as team members learn new insights, adjust to unexpected changes, manage personal challenges, and develop new interests. Leadership relationships by definition cannot be static because leadership is about change.

I really found his clarification between leadership and management enlightening. Both are important, but management is about improving processes, creating efficiency, streamlining progress, and making timely decisions to keep an organization running smoothly. Leadership is only in effect when real change is required.

Also, he reiterated many times throughout the book, “The mission matters most.”, even going so far as to state that it became not only a catchphrase at Gateway, but the definition of their mutual purpose. Meaning that the mission, God’s specific mission for your church or ministry organization, comes before anything else, that it is the key. “There are no self-serving Christian leaders, only self-serving people occupying leadership positions.” If you’re a true leader, you’re not in it for yourself, you’re there to glorify Christ and pursue the mission God has set you to complete. He also discussed the fact that the mission is not only the most important, but also the first step that should be taken. “Aligning your organization’s mission with God’s mission is a step you must take before initiating any other major change.” Even the very last chapter in the book brings this thought back with the heading “Focus Everything on God’s Mission”, and a reminder to keep fulfillment of it at the top of the list throughout the project. This also ties into another text we are reading for class, Aubrey Malphurs Advanced Strategic Planning. “Laying a spiritual formation is foundational to strategic envisioning. Zechariah 4:6 ⁶ Then he said to ^[a]me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of armies. Spiritual formation connects God with the strategic planning process and then its ministry product or model, and it must undergird the entire process” (Malphurs, 79).

I know I’m not perfect, none of us are, but when we’re feeling inadequate, we need to remember that God chooses flawed people as leaders – He chooses and uses us despite our shortcomings. In fact, he uses our shortcomings and our past experiences to prepare us or suit us for certain tasks. “Have confidence in God’s placement and bring all of who you are to the task at hand.”

Reading about ministering effectively during unhealthy conflict, and what happens when there is unhealthy conflict made me think about some conflicts that I have seen in churches. There are often illustrations shared in class that make me think of a specific conflict from my childhood. My family attended a local church, which at that time was a neighborhood church that was healthy, but not gigantic. This was still the era when Southern Baptist pastors didn’t stay. They came for a few years, and then moved on. In this case it was definitely not that they didn’t love Wyoming or wanted to be somewhere else. He has passed away, but she is 93, and in our frequent phone conversations she often talks about how much she loves Wyoming and misses all of us. That’s not necessarily relevant to the story, just some context.

During the search for a new pastor, the church had an interim pastor who stepped into shepherd the congregation for a time. The search committee and I guess the body agreed that they would not consider this interim pastor as an applicant for the position of pastor. I’m not sure on all the details, because I was 8, and I just know some of what happened, and what I’ve been told in the years since.  Several months, maybe even longer, went by, and some of the church members who had been praying earnestly really began to feel led to call the man who was serving as the interim pastor. It was a bitter battle, led by one individual in particular who absolutely refused to budge on the initial agreement, and refused to even consider that this could possibly be the person God had chosen. The church split. We left and went to another local church, where we stayed until my folks left the area. I know of other families who went to different area churches, and some who quit going at all.

I guess I feel this story relates to this book, because it was a Major Change, and there was definitely unhealthy conflict, and now I see how a united purpose to accomplish God’s mission could have negated that, or at least showed them how to work together for God’s goal, not just because “this is what we decided”.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is “When God guides, He provides.”

 

The Spindle's Touch by Dorian Tsukioka

 I had read other books in this series, but for some reason I hadn't quite picked up The Spindle's Touch. It's available at Amazon in paperback or Kindle.

Once Touched by the Sleeping Beauty Curse...
...The Spindle Steals Your Soul!

Princess Anna of Kyiv doesn’t believe in the Sleeping Beauty curse, or the Spindle: the evil spirit fated to steal her soul, causing her death on her eighteenth birthday. It’s just a fairy tale -- a silly superstition to explain away the fates of first-born princesses in her family line. Yet, something hunts her from the darkness, whether she believes in it or not.

Brandr, a Varangian prince from the north, has his own demons to contend with. While trying to prove his worth as a warrior on his father’s quest, Zirnitra, the dragon demon, haunts his dreams, reminding him of the blood on his hands and the sins he’s trying to hide. But there is no escape from his guilt and the demon’s continual torment. 

Fates intertwine, and the lives of future generations hang in the balance when Anna and Brandr fight for their souls against Zirnirta and the demons of Darkness.

Set in medieval Ukraine and Byzantium, The Spindle’s Touch is a faith-based tale of sin and redemption, Darkness and Light. You’ll love this historical retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story because it turns the classic tale on its head -- no one is who they seem to be. 

This is the fourth stand-alone novel in the Fairy Tales Through Time series.

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I absolutely loved this story! It's not just a fairytale retell, but a faith filled retell as well. I would definitely give this one additional stars.

This book is part of the Fairy Tales Through Time Series.

Get swept away in these fairy tale retellings set throughout history as classic tales are twisted and reimagined, creating tales told in fresh, creative new ways. Each tale is set in a unique location throughout time. Journey to Japan, France, Ukraine and ancient Egypt as you're spirited away in these stories filled with magic and a dash of romance.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

 I haven't even finished it yet, when I started writing this post, and wow! How have I never read this book???  I hadn't seen the movie either, so it's not one of those cases. I am going to be taking a long term sub position (actually, by the time this blog posts it will be over), but this is the book the class will be working on when I come in, so I wanted to read it and be prepared. And, wow, it's phenomenal! I hope it stays this strong, because I already have a great love for the characters and can't put it down. 

If you haven't read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton I highly recommend it. Also, once I finish reading it I will watch the movie. I think I have a pretty good idea of who I would have cast to play each character.

I absolutely loved the book. There are some heartbreaking moments, but it is well written and captivating. The characters stole my heart and I am still living in the book just a little...

Finding O'Hana

 

              

             Finding O’Hana on NetFlix

Brooklyn-raised siblings when a journal pointing to long-lost treasure sets them on an epic

 adventure with new friends, and leads them to reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.

 

Check out the trailer, here. If you have Netflix, you can find the movie here. There’s a great article I found after the fact, here.

Oh my goodness! I loved it! I had a sneaking suspicion I would enjoy it when I read the description, but as the movie progressed it was definitively proven.

There are some obvious nods to another strong movie loved by generations, from “Hey you guys” (not spoken in the same way, just the line), to a movie quote I thought I remembered but just can’t find, to Data (yes, the actor who played Data Ke Huy Quan,), to the caverns and water, but it stands alone, not as a copycat, but as a strong, good, clean, family movie all by itself. 

 

I highly recommend Finding O’Hana!

 

 

I told you it would be here. I knew it, I knew it the whole time.

Pastor Paul Page June 2021 - The Main Thing

 The Main Thing

1 Corinthians 11:17-26¹⁷ Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.¹⁸ For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.¹⁹ For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.²⁰ When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.²¹ For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.²² What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.²³ For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:²⁴ And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.²⁵ After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.²⁶ For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

As Christians we need to keep the main thing the main thing. The Apostle Paul has to have a chat with this church to get them back on track to the main thing. He chastised them and told them that they don’t come together for the better. The church is separated, and they aren’t coming together on the main thing.

He reminds us that he was taught these things by Jesus Christ Himself. Christ’s body was broken for our sings, Christ’s blood was shed for our sins. If we eat or drink in an unworthy manner, then we are guilty.

Paul is talking to Christians. We must examine ourselves and make sure there isn’t something in our hearts against another person, especially another Christian.

The first thing we need to remember is what Jesus did for us on the cross. 1 Peter 2:24 ²⁴ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. Galatians 3:13 ¹³ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

We don’t have to follow the laws of the Old Testament, Christ’s blood wiped away those. We have the Ten Commandments in our hearts with the Holy Spirit, and we want to follow God’s will if we love Him.

The Kingdom of God centers on my relationship with God and my relationship with other Christians. Our hearts and minds should be on Christ, and we need to remember what Christ did on the cross. Keep your heart on Jesus and you will have the peace of God.

Matthew 22:37-39³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Matthew 6:33 ³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We need to check ourselves. Let the Bible examine you and search your heart. Let it teach you what you need to know. James 1:22-25²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Being a doer means the mirror convicts me or what I’ve done wrong and try to change it.

Is there something you’re doioing that isn’t what God would want you to do? Is there something you need to deal with in your life?