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Do What You Do Well

As a leader, one of the most critical steps you need to take is developing your purpose, vision and mission. In other words, what is is that you do? And why do you do it?

When you answer these questions, you’ve defined some of the most essential and foundational elements for your organization, whether that’s a business, a ministry or a church.

Hebrews Purpose Statement

A few days ago, I had to drive to Springfield, Missouri, for an appointment. It’s about sixty miles from my home, making it an easy drive most of the time. And Springfield is home to a couple of my favorite places, one of which is a coffee shop called Hebrews.

Every time I go to Springfield, I make it a point to stop and grab a cup of some incredible coffee. In the past, I’ve been known to haunt the place for a few hours, and more than one blog post, lesson and sermon have been written at these tables while consuming my beverage of choice.

But in all the dozens of times I’ve walked through these doors, and through all the conversations I’ve had with the owner and his staff, I saw something this time that I’d never seen before. I saw a sign of success.

As the barista grabbed some supplies out of a cabinet behind the counter, I spied a small paper, with a handwritten message. And I was impressed. You can see a shot of Hebrew’s purpose statement in the image above. It’s simple. And it’s effective.

I see three principles in these few words that can help you make your purpose as focused as you can.

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Becoming A Model

I love it when I read a passage from the Bible that I’ve read dozens of times, and notice something completely new. Have you ever had that happen? It happened for me just the other day.

Coin In Sand

I was reading through the book of 1 Thessalonians this week, and I stumbled across a phrase, and a challenge, that I’d never noticed before.

Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonian church while he was in Corinth, right around the halfway point of the first century. The church in Thessalonica was a young, small church in a very large and pagan city. These early Christians faced sever challenges to their faith at every turn, including persecution and social pressures, temptations from their old, previous lifestyles, and conflicts with other Christians. Paul’s letter to these readers sounds strikingly familiar to our culture today.

In the first chapter, Paul is expressing his thanksgiving for the believers in this church, sharing how they labored and endured in the face of the trials they were experiencing. Paul writes of how they were chosen by God and how they became imitators of the Lord, in spite of severe persecution and suffering.

And then, he writes verse 7:

And so you became a model to all the believers…

A model…

How many times have I read this passage and never noticed this phrase?

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Coffee Break – 09.23.2013

Coffee Break

The Coffee Bean Color Spectrum – One of the most frequent questions I hear when people ask me about roasting coffee is how to know when it’s done. This chart gives a great breakdown of what the beans look like through the roasting process. Most of the time, I like to pull my beans somewhere around 9 or 10. Occasionally, depending on the bean, I will go as far as a level 14.

Next Level Origami – The art of origami has always intrigued me. I can make a paper airplane, but that’s about it. These paper masterpieces blow my mind.

Camera Lens Jewelry – I have a coffee cup that looks like a camera lens. And I’ve seen other interesting crossovers. But this is just cool. Not sure I could justify the price to buy one of thee for my wife though…

Lord Of The Rings And The Modern Surveillance State – There has been a lot of talk of “big brother” over the past few weeks, months and years. This article presents an interesting view of our modern data mines of information by the Nation Security Agency. And it’s compared to the work of Tolkien, no less.

Confrontation – Not too many people seem to really enjoy confrontation. It’s not something that comes easy to very many people. But sometimes it becomes necessary. So, how do you handle it?

Christians, Protect Each Other From Busyness – Our culture seems to be more and more inundated with frantic busyness. There comes a time when you must say no to things, even good things. As the body of Christ, we need to help protect one another in this area.

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. – General Douglas MacArthur

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Memorize Scripture: 1 Timothy 5:11-12

As Paul continues discussing widows in his letter to Timothy, he shifts from older widows to younger ones. His instructions concerning older widows were pretty generous, but that changes for the younger women.

Take a look at this week’s passage in 1 Timothy 5:11-12:

1 Timothy 5:11-12

Paul gave several characteristics that an older widow should display in the preceding verses.

In this next section, Paul explains why younger widows should not be included on the list with the older women. Exclusion from this list would not prohibit Timothy and the church in Ephesus from helping them if they were in need. Rather, this exclusion is based upon their youth and higher likelihood of remarriage.

Paul seems to indicate that their desire to remarry could become overwhelming, disturbing their devotion to Christ. That does not mean that a desire to remarry is an abandonment of the faith, as some seem to suggest; but rather, that the duties to a new family would be more immediately pressing than widowhood would allow.

Paul’s instructions here, while allowing remarriage, seem to suggest that he holds a very high view of the office of a widow. However, he does encourage remarriage later, in 5:14.

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Book Review – Red Like Blood by Joe Coffey and Bob Bevington

Red Like BloodWhen I saw the subtitle to Red Like Blood, by Joe Coffey and Bob Bevington, I really wanted to read the book. Confrontations With Grace… Intriguing. It captured my attention.

Unfortunately, it’s the only thing about the book that help my attention.

I found the book to be unengaging and uninspiring. In fact, it was crass, even to the point of offensive a few times. I wasn’t impressed.

I’m not knocking their story. Bob’s story is centered around a failed marriage, largely his own fault, an affair, and a new marriage. And how God worked in his life to restore him to grace, and to rebuild relationships with his first wife and kids is nothing short of amazing. Joe’s willingness to work with him to explore the depth of God’s grace is incredible.

It’s a great story. But the book isn’t written in a way that captures the reader and draws him into the story.

In my opinion, these authors tried too hard to make the book sound like something by Donald Miller. I enjoy a lot of Miller’s stuff, but Red Like Blood felt like a copy of that style. And a few choices of wording and language were inappropriate. I understand that this is a book on grace. But the apostle Paul made it clear that grace isn’t to be taken advantage of.

All in all, stories of grace are encouraging to read. But I didn’t find this one to be encouraging at all. If you have the opportunity to read it, you may gain something from it. But I wouldn’t recommend that you spend the money to purchase a copy. Look for something better. You’ll be glad you did.

How has God expressed his grace visibly in your life? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Cross Focused Media as part of their Cross Focused Reviews blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

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Book Review – Chronicles Of Dinosauria by Dave Woetzel

Chronicles of DinosauriaOne of the most often claimed statements heard from the evolutionist worldview is that man and dinosaurs did not co-exist.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

And Dave Woetzel has done an incredible job of presenting the evidence that this is the case. Simply put, land dinosaurs were created on day six of the creation week, along with every other land animal… and man. Aquatic dinosaurs would have been created the day before with the rest of the sea creatures.

In Chronicles Of Dinosauria, Woetzel gives breathtaking details of the history, the mythology and more of dinosaurs throughout the centuries since God created the earth and everything on it.

Here is the video trailer for the book.

Woetzel starts off by establishing the facts of the existence of dinosaurs, presented in the creation story and how they would have fit into the flood event of early Genesis. From there, he examines the fossil evidence of dinosaurs and how that fits into the story of humanity. Following that, he presents several chapters examining the historical, the artistic and the cryptozoological evidence, finally concluding with the biblical evidence.

There are several amazing elements to the Chronicles Of Dinosauria. There are several human artifacts found in the lower fossil record, such as the bell found in a lump of “300 million year old” coal, bearing similarities to both Babylonian and Hindu religious characters. How did it become encased in that coal? The obvious answer is that the coal isn’t as old as it is assumed to be in an evolutionary worldview. It must be much younger.