Vetrean Pastor, Life time Learner, Problem Solver, Servant-Leader and Motivational Speaker.

Strict but Trusted, Sister Dolores Is Irreplaceable at Fontbonne - NYTimes.com

The school’s mission today is, as it has always been, “to offer a superior educational program while forming and empowering young women of confidence and compassion.”

All 132 in this year’s senior class plan to attend college in the fall. Their choices range from small Catholic colleges like St. Joseph’s (New York) and St. Joseph (Connecticut) to Ivies.

Fontbonne has both the advantages of a small school (average class size: 20), as well as some of the disadvantages (only eight Advanced Placement courses offered).

One of the advantages would be Sister Dolores.

This month, in a move that surprised absolutely no one, she was inducted into Fontbonne’s Hall of Fame.

She expects excellence in whatever the girls do — even fire drills. “Our average is 2 minutes and 10 seconds,” she said, standing in the street on a recent day, watching the girls leave the building.

After the last girl had filed out, the assistant principal, Gilda King, checked the time and said, “One minute and 40 seconds.”

“A record,” Sister Dolores said.

At a party held by the school before the annual prom, girls bring their dates to meet Sister Dolores. “She looks deep into the boys’ eyes,” said Effie Maldari, the school’s finance director and a member of the class of ’68. Sister Dolores is checking to make sure they are worthy of a Fontbonne girl.

Plus it unsettles the boys a little.

Before the buses leave for the prom, Sister Dolores boards them to search for contraband.

Stephen Gordon said after the rigors of Sister Dolores, his daughter Danielle, class of 2011, was prepared for the eight-week basic training program at West Point known as “Beast.”

Sister Dolores doesn’t ask the girls to do anything she doesn’t ask of herself. Most mornings she is in by 6 a.m., and, if lucky, she’s back at the convent in Park Slope by 6 p.m. for supper and prayers.

via www.nytimes.com

Just Surfacedhttp://www.markbeeson.com/mark_beeson/2012/05/just-beneath-the-surface.html?utm_sour

Pay attention and you'll see what lies just beneath the surface. Eventually it'll come up and you'll see it. What was hidden is then exposed. What was concealed is then revealed.

President Obama has surfaced his views on gay marriage.

He has concluded that same sex couples should be able to get married. His opinion isn't hidden; it's exposed. He's not concealing what he wants. He has revealed his personal views. 

That clarity helps, don't you think? 

You no longer need to imagine what's going on beneath the surface. You don't need worry that you're lending credence to an outrageous conspiracy theory: that the president is pro gay-marriage when he has so often limited his support to legalizing civil-unions between same-sex couples. When he surfaced his views, speculation ended. 

You may have sensed this coming, but you weren't sure you were seeing what you were seeing. A few brief glimpses of his position put us all in a difficult situation. Advocates for gay-marriage were frustrated because they wanted him come right out and say it. Advocates for marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman faced mocking and ridicule if they suggested the president was for gay-marriage.

I recently mentioned I thought the president was for gay-marriage. I was told, "How can you say that? You're lighting the match and fanning the flames of a fire that doesn't exist. He hasn't ever said he's for gay marriage. Don't put words in his mouth." 

Well, now he's said it, and with his statement (made without the counsel of my brother-in-law, his spiritual adviser) the debate on what the president wants ends....and another debate begins.

For those who care, the United Methodist Church's position is crystal clear. Last week the General Conference of the UMC (its only authoritative body) declared: 

"The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching. We affirm that God’s grace is available to all." 
Book of Discipline - Paragraph ¶161F

via www.markbeeson.com

POTUS and Hunter...Thank you Dr. Joel Hunter via markbeeson.com.....good thoughts on Obama's decision.....

My brother-in-law is Dr. Joel Hunter. I admire him. He has my absolute confidence. I trust his courageous faith and remarkable intellect to inform his leadership. I trust his love for Jesus to empower him for the path God asks him to walk. He is brilliant. He is God's man, my sister's husband, my mentor and friend.

The President of the United States asked him for help. He didn't ask him to join a particular political party, adhere to a philosophical position or shrink back from his mission and responsibilities with Northland - A Church Distributed. As I expected (and as I would have encouraged him to do) he accepted the invitation and spent the last few years offering POTUS pastoral guidance, personal friendship and the perspectives of a professorial and orthodox evangelical with the track record of astounding pastoral success. He doesn't make decisions for the president; he speaks with him; and he prays.

Watch this video. It will help you pray for the president...and it may prompt you to join me in praying for my brother-in-law as well.

By the way, the Associated Press has misquoted Joel. That's why I want you to see his actual words here. Notice he does NOT say he politically supports the president. Thousands of articles carried this misinformation because they were AP sourced.  

 

Obama's spiritual adviser disappointed in stance on gay marriage: MyFoxORLANDO.com

 

via www.markbeeson.com

Dan Reiland | The Pastor's Coach

There are only three things that consistently drive any church forward.

1. Prayer (This is about spiritual intensity and includes the worship service.)
2. Evangelism (This involves reaching people who are far from God.)
3. Leadership Development  (This is specifically about systematically raising up new leaders.)

There are a multitude of variations that impact, as I call them, The Big Three.  Things such as your church’s DNA and culture, the city where you are located, your history, the gifting of the pastor and the list goes on. But regardless of the size of the church, the essence of The Big Three doesn’t change. They just get more complicated as a church gets larger.

The curious thing is that as I consult with churches I find these three areas among the weakest in what they practice consistently.  Or for those who do them, it’s often program oriented rather than in the culture, organic and Spirit driven.

Leadership development is consistently the weakest of the big three in most churches. So, for the remainder of this article, I’d like to make that my focus. Candidly, I think some churches want “the secret” more than the practical truth. A secret carries the promise of something easy, like a new fad diet. The truth involves discipline and grind just like a real diet. You never escape the reality of “get up the next day and do it again.”

• Good leadership is different than leadership development.

You can be a good leader and yet not develop other leaders.  You may be highly gifted, have a winning personality and be effective at what you do. But your church or organization will never grow beyond what you can personally carry if you don’t invest in and raise up other competent leaders.

If you don’t develop other leaders to help further the mission, you become the lid. Everyone has limits. Whether you are the pastor, CEO, or a department leader, your productivity will eventually stall out as you hit the ceiling of what you can do. When you develop other leaders you multiply, expand, and increase your potential.

Let me be candid. It takes more energy to develop other leaders than to develop yourself. That’s why so many leaders don’t do it. You are under pressure to make things happen and get things done. Your first instinct is “just do it” and you think, “I don’t have time” to develop others. Resist that instinct and commit to invest in your team!

• It’s essential that you continue to grow as a leader.

How are you growing as a leader? What specifically are you working on so that you are a better leader? I mentioned that it takes more energy to develop others than to develop yourself, but it’s no small feat to improve as a leader.  And to be good at developing leaders, you must continue to grow yourself.

You first need to be self aware enough to know where you need to improve. Then you need to be willing to pay the price and dig in.  In most cases you need a coach. You need someone to tell you the truth, give you wisdom, and encourage you along the way. You don’t need to meet with this person as often as you might think. In fact, you could meet with a great coach 3-4 times a year for 2-3 hours of process and that’s it. It will usually take you several months to practice what you talked about in your coaching session. If you have multiple coaches, ones who cover different areas of your life, you can literally meet with each one only 2-3 times a year!  There are good coaches who meet much more often and that’s OK, but know that it’s not always necessary.

• Focus on simplicity and consistency.

Let me leave you with a practical plan to get started developing others. First let me say that development is different than equipping.  Equipping involves training people for competence in a specific ministry task.  For example, t

via danreiland.com

Dangerous Calling: Pastoral Ministry Is War

Why do so many pastors report being over-burdened and over-stressed? Why do so many pastors report tension between family life and ministry life? Why does pastoral ministry often seem like more of a trial than a joy? Why is there often disharmony between the private life of the pastor and his public ministry persona? Why are there often dysfunctional relationships between the pastor and his ministry leaders or staff? Why is the ministry life of many pastors shockingly short?

Perhaps we have forgotten that pastoral ministry is war and that you will never live successfully in the pastorate if you live with a peacetime mentality. Permit me to explain. The fundamental battle of pastoral ministry is not the battle with the shifting values of the surrounding culture. It is not the struggle with resistant people who don't seem to esteem the gospel. It is not the fight for the success of the ministries of the church. And it is not the constant struggle of resources and personnel to accomplish the mission. No, the war of the pastorate is a deeply personal war. It is fought on the ground of the pastor's heart. It is a war of values, allegiances, and motivations. It is about subtle desires and foundational dreams. This war is the greatest threat to every pastor. Yet it is a war that we often naively ignore or quickly forget in the busyness of local church ministry.

via www.christianpost.com

8 Principles for Churches That Want to Grow | The Resurgence

1. Begin with the end in mind and know how large you want to be.

The following is a rough breakdown of reported (which may not be entirely accurate) church attendance. Admittedly, these numbers are a few years old, but, as a general rule, they do give you a rough idea of church-size barriers. 

• Churches with 45 people or fewer = 100,000 churches or 25% of all churches
• Churches with 75 people or fewer = 200,000 churches or 50% of all churches
• Churches with 150 people or fewer = 300,000 churches or 75% of all churches
• Churches with 350 people or fewer = 380,000 churches or 95% of all churches
• Churches with 800 people or fewer = 392,000 churches or 98% of all churches
• Churches with 800 people or more = 8,000 churches or 2% of all churches
• Churches with 2,000 people or more = 870 churches or 0.22% of all churches
• Churches with 3,000 people or more = 425 churches or 0.11% of all churches

Lyle Schaller, considered one of the best church consultants in the world, states in his book, The Very Large Church, that the two most comfortable church sizes are under 45 people and under 150 people, likely making them two of the hardest thresholds to pass through, in addition to the 800 mark.

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell states that 150 is also the maximum number of people someone can purposefully connect with, which explains why some people do not like bigger churches. It may also explain why John Wesley divided people into groups of about 150, the average hunter-gatherer village is about 150 people, most military units are under 200, and the Hutterites allow their communities to grow no larger than 150.

Understanding group dynamics like this is important in understanding that there are significant challenges that come with each phase of church size, and being aware of where you want your church to grow allows you to begin preparing for those growth phases more effectively.

2. The larger the church, the more different it is from other churches of the same theology and tradition.

As a church grows, while the theology remains the same, the organization complexity doesn’t, often requiring new methods of ministry. 

Size affects the number of lines of communication, how an organization stacks or does not stack leadership, access to the senior leader and family, etc. Simply put, church size does matter for how a church is run, much like a married couple who some years later find themselves with a dozen children cannot simply organize their life as they did with their first child—everything must change.

For those wanting to learn more about the dynamics of church size, Tim Keller has a helpful paper, and Larry Osborne has a helpful book called Sticky Teams. 

via theresurgence.com

Article for Church Newsletter in April after Easter Service FBC Elma 2012

Good Morning Church,

• God is continuing to do marvelous things at First Baptist Church Elma, WA. The unchanging, compelling and uncompromised word of God is being preached.  People are repenting of sin, Christ is being exalted, and over 60 people are attending Sunday services every month. New faces are joining us to celebrate the creator and designer of these great planet and some of them are coming back. More children are enjoying and attending our services God is working through His Spirit to accomplish His purpose in us.
•  Our average attendance for March 2012 was over 65 people. Thank God for over 85 people who attended our Easter Service 2012. The soul stirring testimonies, truth filled expression of worship in the music selection, our children singing, the Christ exalting scripture reading and Holy Communion were used by God to touch lives. It is invigorating to see what God does through us when we are obedient students of His word. God does His best work in us when we are obedient to His call upon our lives.

 

•   Since December 2012 when I started preaching here; I have seen that God is obsessed with First Baptist Elma and loves the city of Elma. Satan is really working to destroy the work of God in this town.  Despite his efforts, God who is greater than our enemy. He is working through us to display His glory to in Gray’s Harbor County. Your love for God and people is so contagious it could make an Alaskan Fisherman buy sun-tanning lotion for next winter. Thank you Church!!!!!

• Hope you are enjoying the series of sermon “The Unstoppable King Jesus”: reflections on the life of Christ and seven of the many miracles in the Gospel of John. Obedience to God is one of the most difficult decisions we can make in our life.
•  We are learning over and over that obedience to God paves the path for  His power to change our lives and use us to change the lives of other people.  Keep praying for those who received the CD.’s before Easter Service 2012. Enjoy the picture below of what God has done at FBC (Interim Pastor)

Grace and Peace

Pastor James Owolabi.

 

 

Mission and Values | Celebration Church

God-First is our foundational value that expresses itself in the following ways:

• Experiential Worship - Places value on encountering God through songs not only sung about God, but to Him in an environment that invites His presence.
• Transformational Discipleship - Is learning that exhibits a transformation- there should be a change in the way you live and how you love others.
• Authentic Relationships - Real relationships that establish heartfelt community.
• Strategic Service - Where your unique gifting and wiring matches your area of service.
• Impactful Evangelism - Goes beyond just influencing people, it’s reaching them for Christ and connecting them to a local church. We want to have a sustainable impact.

Accepting Atmosphere

Accepting Atmosphere is our cultural value that incorporates the following:

• Attractively Diverse - The beautiful church that looks like heaven with every nation and race represented.
• Genuinely Sincere - No masks, no undue formality, no pretense.
• Comfortably Friendly - Not overly friendly and weird, just relaxed and at ease in how everyone is received.
• Intellectually Safe - Leading people through deliberate explanation into an understanding of their experience.
• Outward Focused - Because “once you’re focused inward it’s over.”

Relevant Environments

Relevant Environments is our expressional value that embodies the following:

• Intentionally Designed - Environments that provide a place that expresses the particular preferences of any given ministry group.
• Targeted Ministry - Requires having specific goals for ministry to children (nursery to high school) and by meeting the expressed and felt needs of adults as well.
• Culturally Connecting - Provides for generational and cultural differences that relate to individual expectations and helps people to remain engaged in their experience.
• Predictably Enjoyable - Embraces an environment where people can anticipate their experience will be real, relevant and enjoyable.
• Visibly Safe - Provides the processes of safety incorporated in our ministries and the presence of security and ushers is obvious and intentional.

via www.celebration.org

WORLDmag.com | 'God's man' | Emily Belz | Apr 21, 12

Upon his release from jail, Colson decided to start a prison ministry. Prison Fellowship’s logo since shortly after the group’s founding in 1976 has featured a bent reed, referencing Isaiah 42:3: “A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” That reflected Colson’s belief that no one—not the most hardened criminal nor the most egotistical Washingtonian—was beyond hope.

“A lot of people falsely accuse Chuck of being overly political—but Chuck’s whole emphasis has been to say that the root problem is a spiritual problem,” said Timothy George, a close friend of Colson’s and the dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University. George, who for many years co-wrote a column with Colson for Christianity Today and serves on the Prison Fellowship board, added, “He was an evangelist at his deepest heart … but he realized that preaching the gospel is not just dropping tracts from a blimp.”

Today Prison Fellowship is at work in most U.S. prisons and in more than 115 countries around the world. The ministry helped to launch Justice Fellowship, an advocacy arm for criminal reform, as well as Colson’s career as an evangelical leader, an author of more than 20 books, and the lead commentator for Breakpoint, a radio program with an estimated 8 million weekly listeners.

A Southern Baptist, Colson remained politically and theologically conservative his whole life, but Prison Fellowship gained a reputation for working with both Republicans and Democrats for criminal justice reforms focused on transitioning prisoners into society. Colson also gained a reputation for working across theological aisles, helping to launch the 1994 Evangelicals and Catholics Together initiative and becoming co-author of the 2010 Manhattan Declaration, a statement on conscience and marriage endorsed by a broad spectrum of Christian leaders and now with over half a million signatures

via www.worldmag.com

Are You Trying To Avoid Change?

Nearly 300 people accepted my invitation and met me in LaPorte County Tuesday evening. It was fantastic. We're praying about where GCC is going to launch our next campus and LaPorte County is a possibility. That's why we went west, to another time zone for the meeting. We're asking God if this is a change God is inviting us to make.

via www.markbeeson.com