I received a great question from one of my readers:
Ron, how do you learn to be a good listener?

(He actually said this in reference to marriage, but I understand he wanted to learn to listen and hear better from God.)

Here was my reply of how to better hear from God. It may not be the answer he needed, but perhaps it is the one you need.

1. Recognize who God is and who you are. (Ecclesiastes 5:2) We should ultimately listen more than we talk.
2. Give yourself time to listen. (Psalm 46:10)  It is hard to really listen to someone when you are rushing through the conversation.
3. Learn His voice over time.  (John 10:14)  I do not need Cheryl (my wife) to introduce herself when she calls.  I know her voice well.
4. Practice, practice, practice. (Exodus 16)  I like the principle of the daily manna God gave to the Israelites.  This should be our principle of meeting with God.  We should do interact with Him on a daily basis.

Are you trying to hear from God these days?  How do you know His voice?

Just a couple days after our own celebration of independence as a country, today I want to honor another country.

We had the opportunity our last night in Lithuania to attend an opening weekend of celebrations for Lithuania’s 1000th anniversary. Thousands of people crowded the streets of Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, to hear presentations, sing songs of pride, watch period dances and have a good time. Lithuanians love to celebrate.

I cannot imagine history in terms of the thousands, but it is standard in this part of the world. One thing that spoke highly to me is the pride that was displayed in the people that night. For one thousand years the country has suffered periods of wars, domination and corruption, but one thousand years later they still have pride in their nation. I love the perseverance in that fact.

As someone who studies organizations and leadership I think there are lessons to be learned from us in this. For 1,000 year the Lithuanian people have:

• Continued with a common vision of pride in country
• Rallied together during stressful times to promote their continuance as a nation
• Made the best of the situation when bad circumstances faced the country
• Worked to consistently improve their circumstances
• Celebrated the good times

Could your organization take lessons from the Lithuanian people?

Happy Anniversary Lithuania!

For over a year Grace Community Church has partnered with City Church in Klaipeda, Lithuania.  This partnership has at this point consisted primarily of frequent Skype or Tokbox conversations between me and Pastor Saulius of City Church.  This trip was primarily a vision trip for our church, combined with a focus on building business relationships between our churches.  We learned a lot about the culture and how our churches can continue to learn from each other.

I love to invest in other pastors and churches and this provides a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other.  They currently are meeting in a T-shaped attic of an old hotel the church has purchased and is renovating, so the picture of me speaking here actually shows one smaller portion of the crowd.  They average about 150 people each week, which in relative terms makes the church a thriving Protestant church in a country fairly new to freedom of religion.

Last Sunday I was blessed to stand where Saulius stands each week before his people.  By the way, I love the cheer of applauds the speaker receives before he or she delivers the message in Lithuania.  (Their custom also has them applaud a safe landing of an airplane.  I thankfully got to experience that custom also.)

If you have never experienced a translated message before, here is an example of one.  Click HERE to hear last week’s message from City Church Lithuania.  This was a simple message of hope, something the Lithuanians (and all of us) need a lot more of, but God somehow used it last Sunday in some people’s lives, according to the feedback from Saulius.

I am praying for the years of partnership between our churches to strengthen each of us and help further the Kingdom of God.  This week I will continue to share highlights of our trip.

Yesterday, as I was preparing to leave a foreign country to return home after almost two weeks away from the United States, I posted a quick entry called 10 Reasons I Love the USA.  A comment to my earlier post convicted me that I needed another post.  I often write tongue-in-cheek satire posts that are a reflection of some of the random thoughts that go through my mind at times.  This post was one such entry.

Yesterday’s post was not at all meant to capture my true heart of patriotism towards our great country.  Sometimes it is hard when someone only reads one post of a blog to understand the real person behind the blog.  I write frequently here about some of the things I love about this country, but I decided it was a good idea to share another post with my real top 10 reasons I love the United States of America.

I love the U.S.A. because:

1. We still elect our leaders and have a stake in the direction of our nation.
2. Our nation, in spite of our political differences, still rallies behind the idea of independence as a nation.
3. The United States is still one nation that allows individuals who apply themselves and work hard to succeed.
4. We have a rich history of patriotism and fighting for freedom here and around the world.
5. We have so many dedicated men and women who are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect our freedom.
6. Our military families suffer separation as a family and even loss in order to have a strong military presence around the world. You can read another post about my love for military HERE.
7. We are a nation of many background, nationalities and ethnicities, but we have a common bond of freedom.
8. Our nation still is a commanding leader in capitalistic thought and practice.
9. I can complain about things I see wrong in this nation, without fear of retribution from government, and know in my heart that I am still very proud to be an American!
10. Our freedom allows me to do what I do (preach the Gospel) without fear of government interruption.

God bless America, land that I love!

We love to travel.  Through personal travel and missionary trips I have seen many wonderful places in the world.  I love discovering new culture and I believe there is much to be learned from other countries.  After almost two weeks away, however, I am reminded how much I love my country.

We are traveling home on the United States’ birthday.  In honor of her special celebration, here are 10 current reasons I love America:

1. I love the USA because we have air conditioning in hotel rooms.
2. I love the USA because we have baseball.
3. I love the USA because we call the right game football.
4. I love the USA because we drive on the “right” side of the road.
5. I love the USA because we smile when we meet people on the street.
6. I love the USA because we us deodorant regularly.
7. I love the USA because we value capitalism.
8. I love the USA because we appreciate good customer service.
9. I love the USA because we respect personal space.
10. I love the USA because we actually trust our police officers.

We have our faults, but when it is all said and done, there is no place like home.

God Bless the United States of America…my home sweet home!  Happy Birthday!  May your best days be in the days to come.

Why do you love America?

You can also read “The Real Top 10 Reasons I Love the U.S.A.”

Sarah Palin announced that she is resigning from her position as governor of Alaska while I was out of town.  Read a story HERE.

It appears she is laying the groundwork for a 2012 presidential race.  It will be interesting to see if she moves closer to Washington, DC soon.  I suspect she has people coaching her right now and we will see a sharper talking, more informed speaker in months to come.

What are your initial thoughts of an Obama verses Palin presidential race?  No doubt, it would certainly be interesting.

This past week I have been in Lithuania on a mission trip.  We are partnering with a church in Lithuania and this trip was to help us acclimate to the culture of this great country.

One of the first tourism visits we made in the country of Lithuania was to the KGB Museum.  Housed in a beautiful historic building, the three floors of facts and evidence of Soviet occupation are somewhat overwhelming.  As I walked through the museum this week here are the random thoughts I recorded:

• One visit will change your life
• More Lithuanians were deported from their homes than from any other nation.  (Over 60% of deportees were Lithuanians.)
• Anyone who questioned the new government or was thought to be negative towards it was thrown into prison.
• Prisoners were often subjected to cruel punishment, including standing for hours in ice-cold water.   We saw the specially designed rooms where this occurred.
• Prisoners who caused any problems were put is a 3 x 3 cell and forced to live on very little food for days in only their underwear, with no heat in the frigid Lithuanian winters.
• The main prison where detainees were kept was designed for 650 prisoners.  During the Soviet reign it held over 8,500.
• The Soviets immediately got rid of intellectuals, educated, and professional men, sending them to places like Siberia.
• Many times women went to work and led their homes with the forced absence of the father.
• Deportees tried to make the best of their situations, organizing basketball tournaments and producing dramas.
• The Communist Party believed they were right and justified in their actions.
• Soviets put out atheist propaganda to combat the growing Christian presence among deportees.  Christians rose to the occasion and ministered to hurting people during Soviet occupation.
• During Soviet occupation all Lithuanians had to learn Russian.  The language is still a large part of the country’s culture.
• On March 11, 1990, the Lithuanians declared independence from the Soviet Union.
• There were hardly any flowers during the reign of the Soviet government.  Flowers are now plentiful and inexpensive. They are everywhere.

Have you ever studied the Soviet occupation of former Soviet Union countries?

I will continue to share thoughts about my time in Lithuania in days to come.

Every organization needs change to occur to continue to grow and remain healthy.  Change is hard for some people and is often rejected or rebelled against.  Learning to lead change successfully is important for any leader.

Here are seven principles that can help you think through leading change in your organization:

• Lead change from a pre-established trust in your leadership.  New leaders should be careful not to implement a lot of change early in their leadership unless that change is vital to the organization.  Change will be easier if the leader is trusted.
• Introduce change as early as possible.  People need time to warm up to the change that is coming.
• Prepare people along the way by keeping them informed of progress during a change period. Include the good news and the bad news of change in these updates.
• Get buy-in from as many people as possible.  Sometimes leaders have to lead alone (For those times read this post on the loneliness of leadership), but wherever possible include others in decisions concerning change.
• Follow through on commitments made.  The quickest way to lose trust is to say one thing and do another. Likewise, do not make commitments you cannot keep.
• Be consistent.  You will keep people’s trust through the change if it is easier to figure out where leadership is at and what they will do next.
• Do not make change a rare occurrence in the organization.  Build a culture of healthy change in the organization so that change will be more naturally accepted.

What advice do you have for leading change?  Have you ever been in an organization that lead change poorly?

To spank or not to spank…that’s probably one of the most frequent debates I have heard about parenting, but something seldom talked about from those who teach on parenting.  I suppose I should not be surprised when I am addressed with this question often since I frequently teach on issues such as parenting, marriage and the family.  Recently when I spoke on 5 Words to Shape Your Parenting, I received several questions again about this subject.  Yesterday I began this subject of discipline. Read that post HERE.

Here are a few of my thoughts about the issue:

• This is a personal issue and one I do not feel comfortable solving for parents.  A parent can and will only enforce consistently those discipline strategies he or she agrees with personally.
• This is an important question, but not at all the most important question about parenting.  The bigger issue is having an overall plan for parenting.  I know too many parents trying to solve this question, but they have never fully thought through a strategy for where they are leading their children and how they are going to get them there.
• The goal of parenting is far more important than the methods used in parenting.  In our parenting we tried many different methods; some worked and some didn’t.  The key was that we were intentionally thinking through the goal and working towards realizing that goal in our boy’s lives.
• Each child is different.  We saw more positives in corporal punishment with one of our children than the other.
• You should never spank, or do any discipline, in anger.
• The child should never be able to question your love after the moment of discipline has passed.
• I did spank, but I hated every moment of it.  At a certain age it was the best method for one of our boys to discipline him through a strong-willed period. The cliché “this hurts me more than you” was really true for me.
• The Bible verse that is often questioned is Proverbs 13:24, which says, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”  I believe this verse can easily be interpreted as referring to spanking, based on the way the Bible uses the imagery of the rod and staff of a shepherd.  The shepherd’s methods to train the sheep were always for the sheep’s best interest, but would not have always been considered gentle discipline.  The verse is a principle, however, and I think it refers more to the principle of effective parenting than it gives us a mandate to spank.
• The mother and the father should agree on the form of discipline.  If they do not, they should perhaps get help to come to a sense of agreement.  Mothers and fathers should recognize that each plays a unique role in the process and one handles discipline differently than the other.  I was much sterner on my boys than Cheryl was and she was much more of a nurturer than I was, but both were necessary.

For me the end goal of my discipline was clearly spelled out in the Bible: Proverbs 29:17 says, “Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul.”  What parent would not want to see the principle of that verse come true in their life some day?   Good parenting should do what works best to accomplish the goal of parenting.

What are your thoughts on this issue?