Spend more time looking towards your future than at your past.
Spend more energy on what you can change rather than what you cannot.
Spend more time reading a book than watching television.
Spend more time extending grace than holding a grudge.
Spend more time listening than talking.
Spend more time dreaming than dreading.
Spend more energy with people you love rather than things you can buy.
Do you have more?
I’ve got something BIG to share with you today. Some of you may remember last year’s Gifts of Water Team Challenge campaign. Ron Edmondson was a part of it and nearly 6,000 people (soon to be 9,000) received the gift of safe water and the opportunity to hear the Living Water Message through your efforts. The Proof – Malindi, Jaffna College
This year, Water Missions International is launching a major church initiative called Water Sunday. Water Sunday is one Sunday that a church dedicates to the global water crisis. All the materials will be provided to you to make this a fun and energizing Sunday for your church. Churches across the country are hosting Water Sunday’s in March. (March 22nd is World Water Day) You will be amazed at the work that the Holy Spirit will do in your church members hearts when they look outward at those in need around the world.
Water Sunday from Water Missions on Vimeo.
In the following months – inspiring photos, videos, and stories will come back showing the direct impact your church made.
Expect God to show up in BIG ways!
Visit the Water Sunday Website to learn more and sign up your church NOW!
Here is a short testimony of this impact:
“People are always questioning about how this system works and asking how they can acquire it. We always tell them about our Great God and there we end up with the chance of preaching to them the gospel. Can you imagine that even non believers come willing to offer us land to plant churches because of this water system. Not one or two, many have come to us! So to us, it is an iron tool for the gospel.” Pastor Charles – Glory Center church – Neddje, Uganda
Have you lost your way?
Have you given up on the dream?
Would you like to begin again?
I believe that hope is ultimately found in person of Jesus Christ, but sometimes our attitude towards receiving that hope determines our reality of living it. Perhaps you need a change of attitude.
Recharge – Recharge your drained batteries. Read a good book, hang out with someone positive, or attend a conference.
Rest – Struggles drain us personally. Sometimes we can’t continue until we have an extended period of downtime.
Reward – Reward yourself for small achievements. You may just need one win to spur you to greater things.
Re-energize – As strange as it sounds, I find exercising to be helpful when I need more energy.
Resist – Push through the pain and resist the temptation to quit.
Renew – Renew your passion for the vision you once believed in.
Restart – Invite some change, begin something new or try a different approach.
Reclaim – You had a dream. You believed in it. It had potential. Perhaps you simply need to reclaim what you already had.
Rejoice – Sometimes you need to throw a party…even before you realize the victory. A celebration may give you the motivation to try again.
Remind – People follow the leader. Remind them of their role in achieving the dream. Lead through the drought on to new victories.
Got any others?
Here’s the action plan. Pick the one that you feel you need the most, write it on an index card, then place it somewhere you’ll see often.
Whenever I post about my introversion, the introverts come out from behind their computer 
I re-posted 7 Pitfalls of Being an Introverted Pastor and received numerous Twitter messages from like-wired pastors.
I also received the following email:
Ron I read you article about the pitfalls of Being an Introverted Pastor. I can so see every point in myself and it is compounded by being the pastor of a small country church who thrives on personal relationships. The aloof title has been attributed to me more than once since coming here. it is so bad I am questioning my calling as a senior pastor and wondering if I would not be better working as an associate behind the scenes. Do you have any advice for a struggling fellow introvert?
Pastor ________
(I asked permission to share the email, but obviously withheld the name.)
Here is my reply:
You might read this post: 7 Ways I Work with Introversion to Protect My Ministry. Basically, I think you have to pray, suck it up, and put your extrovert on each Sunday. I know that’s hard advice, but it was given to me by a dear, wise deacon early in my ministry and I’ve been using it ever since.
I wouldn’t negate your calling because of your wiring. God didn’t let Gideon or Moses have that excuse. That one would be too easy!
By the way, I may use your email (without your name) as another blog post on this topic, since it’s such a popular theme. We don’t struggle alone.
Ron
Dear Introverted pastor! (Or dear whatever your personal struggle that keeps you from feeling completely qualified to be a pastor pastor),
Don’t allow your personality or any other weakness to keep you from doing what God has called you to do. Where you are weakest, God’s glory can shine brightest in your life.
Be honest. What’s one weakness that keeps you knowing you need God’s strength to overcome?
We launched a new series at Grace Community Church this week called “All In“. This year, we want to give God access to every part of our life. In this message, I addressed the issue of our minds.
Are you worried about many things?
Maybe Paul has an answer for us.
So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if He calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 1 Samuel 3:9 NIV
Has God been trying to get your attention lately? Is God trying to tell you something? Are you having a hard time hearing?
Samuel was in training to be a prophet. He was set apart from birth to be God’s anointed one. God had something to tell Samuel, but Samuel couldn’t yet recognize the voice of God. Eli told Samuel to lie down and simply say, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”
You and I live in an often crowded and busy world. There are lots of “voices”. I can’t remember the last time I had a day with nothing to do. My home is quieter than it once was when two boys kept the hallway filled with the sounds of football, basketball, and any other sport that Mom will let them get away with in the house, but there’s still plenty of noise and activity.
Often, I find myself surrounded by the “stuff” of life. The idea of hearing from God in the midst of all this clutter seems nearly impossible. Yet, I know that my very existence hangs on my God relationship. I need a word from my Father!
How about you? Perhaps you too would love to hear from God, but your life is too thick for His word to filter through.
First, he told Samuel got still. He laid down, in the stillness of the night and waited for God to speak.
Second, Samuel listened expectantly. He knew he was waiting, and he knew who he was waiting for. He wasn’t surprised when God spoke, because he was anxiously awaiting His voice.
Third, and perhaps most important, Samuel obeyed God’s word. It is one thing to hear from God, and quite another to do something about it. When God speaks to you, that is a monumental event! It is important to obey. I often wonder if God speaks most to those He knows will do as He asks.
God may be trying to speak to you at this point in your life. Are you in a position to hear?
Stop, wait, listen…and obey the word of God today!
One measure of an effective friendship, in my opinion, is that the people in your life are becoming more like Jesus, partly because of their friendship with you.
“Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 Do you have friendships that sharpen your relationship with Christ?
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Follow me, as I follow the example of Christ“. Could you say that to your friends? Could they say that to you?
Here’s one measure of an effective friendship: At the end of a year together as friends, could either of you say your life is more like Christ than before the year began, because of that friendship?
I know. Hard question, right? The encouragement in this post is to:
Do you have friendships in your life that help you in your walk with Christ?
This is my Christmas Eve message. It’s only 16 minutes long…and it’s Christmas…but you may still need to unwrap the gift of Christmas love!
Love from Gcomchurch Sermons on Vimeo.
Well, actually I am working. I’m writing a message for Sunday, I’m replying to dozens of emails, texts and phone calls, I’m thinking, processing, and dreaming about the new year.
I’m not in the office. Normally on this week there would be dozens of meetings. I’d begin implementing the plans I dreamed of over the month of December. I am a “hit the ground running” kind of guy.
But, instead, I’m on a “retreat” with my youngest son Nate. And, I’ll admit, it’s fun!
I’m at Passion Conference, a gathering of 44,000 mostly 18 to 25 year olds whose primary purpose is worshipping Jesus!
And, I’m not disappointed. I actually hope this is representative of my year.
I realize some would need no encouragement to do something like this to start the year, but you see, I don’t sit still very well. I’m more of a doer than a be…er. (Couldn’t find a way to write that word without you thinking it was an alcoholic beverage.) I struggle to rest in Christ. I’m more like Martha than I am like Mary. (Luke 10:38-42) I’d rather be doing something for Christ. Worship, as much as I want my life defined by it, is often pushed to the side for other, more “tangible” projects. (Sorry, just being honest.)
This year:
So, while this may seem like an unproductive start to the new year, I hope it’s the beginning of my most productive year ever. Hopefully, the older I get, the better I’m defining productivity.
How about you? Are you more like Martha or Mary?
One thing I’ve observed with many pastors and ministry leaders is that they allow their God-given vision to be controlled by the negative voices of others. They may know where God wants them to lead the people He has entrusted to their care, but as soon as negativity or push back comes, instead of plowing through by faith, they retreat, they settle, or they compromise.
Should this ever be the case? I’m not suggesting we don’t get wise counsel or that we act flippantly to others when they have something to share (I’ve posted numerous times how and why I listen to criticism), but when in Scriptures did it turn out well when men and women acted contrary to the call of God upon their life?
Be assured, when you step out in faith, you’ll hear voices rise against you. People, usually a minority, will try to dissuade you. Everything you’ve ever done worthwhile caused someone to complain. You can bet on some dissension if it’s truly of God.
Here’s my personal counsel:
Be honest, have you ever wavered in your God-given calling because of negative pressure?
You may want to read: 7 Ways to Tell if Something is a God-Thing
