love your enemies, damage your reputation

I recently read an amazing post on www.stevenorman.org. I loved what Steve had to say, but what hit me the hardest is the comment left by "S." I have no idea who "S" is, but I will say he or she hit the nail on the head. Too many times in life I think people forget why we do what we do. It's to make God and only God famous, it's to love unconditionally knowing your Father in heaven loves you the same. Even if that means to love those who seem unlovable. I know that I am the type of person who wears their heart on their sleeve. A friend of mine once described me as a person who calls a spade a spade, which can translate as both a strength and an opportunity for improvement.

When I am struggling with someone who I think is unlovable, I do two things;

1. ask for forgiveness
2. ask God to give me the love he has for that person

It may seem simplistic, but I will tell you I truly love all people because of the love God has given me for them.

Below is Steve's post, don't forget to check out the comment from "S" at the bottom. My only advice is this, go ahead and damage your reputation by loving others.....

John Wooden, legendary basketball coach from UCLA says “Your character is who you are. Your reputation is what other people think you are.”

The catch is only you and God know how close those two really are. Some people think more highly of us than they ought. From the outside, we appear to have all our stuff together. As a result, our reputation exceeds our character. For others, there’s a litany of bad choices with their name on them. But they’re making progress in their own journey, even if their critics can’t see it yet. In their case, their character is actually outrunning their reputation as a shady individual.
When we focus on rep. over character, we embark on a slippery slope. The temptation is to say “Everybody thinks I’ve got this issue nailed down. As long as I continue to portray that as the case, I can do whatever I want.” How many public figures have we seen maintain a public persona that’s at complete odds with their private behaviors? The problem is, unless you have an entire PR firm or publicist at your disposal, there’s very little you can do to manage your reputation. Your character, both it’s defects and its development, rest entirely on your lap.

s

Well said. Chaacter is what we do when others aren't looking. Character allows us to love our enemies, even if it damages our reputation to do so.

isn't she lovely

My family and I love watching American Idol. Who doesn't?? This week during the auditions a gentleman had to postpone his audition because his wife was going to give birth to their first child. Long story short, they had a sweet little girl, he tried out the next day, received three "no's" from the judges and still had a smile on his face. Next, this man asked the judges if they wanted to meet his wife and new daughter. I glanced over at my daughter and through tears she said,

I feel so sorry for that guy mom. He just had a baby and they didn't let him through.

What a perfect opportunity to talk about what is most important in life. We had a great conversation about family and faith. How that father put his child first, how in all things Jesus has first place. It was awesome!

Kids' are bombarded every day with the worldly view of fame and fortune. Lucky us, each weekend we have the opportunity to share with children what is most important. Gimme a J........gimme an E............gimme an S............gimme a U...........gimme an S.......

giddy up

You know how giddy you get when you buy someone a present and they are just about to open it? I'm not sure, but I bet I am more excited to give the gift than the person is to receive it. Usually I find some crazy thing, like a giant fortune cookie that I can personalize and send, and then I think of the perfect person and I send it! I can't wait to find out if they liked the gift. And even when they call to tell me they received it, you would think the giddiness goes away, nope it doesn't!

My husband and I were just discussing how crazy the last 7 months of our lives have been. And yep, the light bulb went on. God had this all planned! It was a gift He gave our family. He was probably so excited about giving us our new calling location, He was giddy. You know, I have never thought about God like that, but it just makes sense. Every good and perfect gift is from Him, He knows the plan for our life, a hope and a future, we can do all things through Him who gives us strength. Duh!!!! I feel like I can just picture Him watching us follow His lead with total excitement.

How giddy He must feel when we encourage volunteers who give and give of their time, talents, and resources to further His kingdom. How about when we equip others to serve Him with excellence? What about each hug, high five or handshake given in His name? Makes me smile just thinking about it. If you haven't stopped and thought about your calling like a gift that God chose just for you that He couldn't wait to give you and to see you use, you might want to think about that right now..................

You're smiling aren't you? I know your giddy, I just know it.

what are you waiting for

Volunteers ROCK! Seriously! If you haven't said thank you this week to each volunteer you lead, you need to! Volunteers are the backbone of your organization! They could choose to do anything, they have chosen to serve God by serving in your ministry.

yep, it's broken

As long as I have been in ministry, it happens. I don't know who to give credit to but I have heard a saying that fits perfectly; "Where God is at work, the evil one will lurk." Whenever there is a large gathering of leaders for training and/or encouragement God will be glorified and people will grow stronger in their faith. That is not what the evil one desires and he will try to do what ever he can to throw a monkey wrench into your plans. Case in point. Yesterday our church put on TRANSFORMER night. An evening of encouraging and equipping for those who serve or who want to begin serving in all ministries of the church. Children's ministry had 27 brand new volunteers for the preschool area alone! That totally rocks! I planned on spending my day preparing for these new leaders, but then.....the monkey wrench! The night before, my daughter went to volleyball practice just like she always does. Right before I picked her up, she fell backward and landed on her wrist. We went home and did the ice on for 20 ice off for 20 and decided we would wait until the next day to get it checked out if needed. Well, I spent all day Friday at the doctors office and hospital getting x-rays. After 8 hours, it was confirmed, her wrist was broken. After getting a splint and taking her home, I had 25 minutes to prepare for the amazing volunteers.

I could tell story after story how the evil one has tried to stop the plans of those who want to make the one true God famous. One thing I have learned is to be prayed up. Pray not only for the event and the people who will be attending, but pray for your staff, their family, key leaders, their family, and don't forget your family!! I know that because of the prayers that went up for all those mentioned above I was able to pass the "monkey wrench" test with flying colors! My team rallied behind me and stepped up where needed. I saw Jesus in each one of them! I am honored to serve with a team of leaders who want to make sure God is glorified at every turn, or in my case at every break!!

it's kinda like toothpaste

If you squeeze all the toothpaste out of the tube, you can never put it all back in. Kind of like the words you use, Proverbs 12:18 says; "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." What a powerful verse! I'm guessing it would be very hard to find someone who hasn't said something they regret.

During this past weekend, I heard a parent tell their almost 2 year old to stop what he was doing and that he was a "bad boy." They continued by saying, "you are always bad, do you hear me, bad." I wonder if that parent realizes how powerful those words are. I wonder if that little guy will live up to the prediction.

We are all human, but as children's leaders we must always be mindful of our words. We need to seize each opportunity to be positive in a negative world. Children are bombarded with negativity on a daily basis. Especially if their parents choose to watch the news. I heard this example this past weekend. "Have you every noticed during the weather forecast you never hear the weather person say '80% chance of sun today," no they say '20% chance of rain'." This world is a negative place, but as christians we are called to be the light in the darkness. As children's leaders we can impact children in a positive way each and every week. We might be the only positive they get! But, what about the parents?

Are we doing everything we can, or can we do more to help parents be everything God wants them to be? What about a shared family experience? Reggie Joiner is an amazing servant. He has allowed God to work through him to bring the "Orange" concept to life. What is Orange you say? Reggie and his team put it this way on www.orangeleaders.com;

Orange is our color because it represents the idea that "two combined influences will make a greater impact together than just two influences alone." Red and yellow are fine on their own, but combine them and you get a third, more vibrant option: orange! It's why we want to put children's leaders and student leaders in the same room discussing their strategy for graduating Godly students. It's why we want church leaders to combine their influence with parents. And it's why we want ministries to be both relevant and strategic, to teach truth while offering hands-on experiences, to be more together than we could ever be alone.

Sounds like a pretty positive way to give parents the tools they desire to raise great kids who know Jesus as their Savior! I'm just saying.....

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It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
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I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

tuna tees

If you are looking for a fun place to order t-shirts, I've found one for you!

www.youthgrouptshirts.com

If you click on design shop you will be spending the next hour designing your own way cool t-shirt. You can upload your logo and they have several design elements available for you to choose from as well. I had an absolute blast creating a new children's ministry t-shirt and the shirts arrived 12 days after I ordered them! It would be wrong of me not to tell you that I ordered the shirts 5 days before Christmas! That is awesome customer service!

Crap Hole Weekend

Have you ever had an idea that just made you laugh your head off? Recently during a team meeting that included our youth pastor, small groups pastor, executive pastor and myself an idea just flew out of our youth pastors mouth that made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. As we were trying to think of new ways to highlight weekend ministries and recruit for those ministries, the idea of "crap hole weekend" was born.

There would be a buzz created that everyone should be ready to be "inconvenienced" for one weekend. During that weekend, there would be no children's ministry, youth ministry or first impressions ministry (greet, distribute worship folder, provide coffee, etc). Babies might cry during the message, okay let's just be real, they WILL cry during the message. No coffee will be available. Preschoolers will forget to use their "inside voices." First and second grade students will wiggle the entire time. Adults might see the youth texting each other. There would be NO COFFEE!

At first we could not stop laughing, and then it just made sense. That would be a really crazy way to get everyone's attention, but isn't that what we want to do? Get the people's attention and inspire them to see the blessings they receive on a weekly basis and to encourage them to be a blessing. We decided right away we needed to be a little more creative on the name of the weekend, but we all thought this would be awesome! We brainstormed for 2 hours and decided to send the idea to the decision makers.

Were we just plain crazy or was this idea innovative? I read on Kem Meyer's blog 2 questions about innovation;

Q: How do you know when an idea is innovative?
A: When it scares the hell out of everybody.
Q: Then where will innovation come from?
A: Most likely from the outside, or from people inside who think outside.

Well, I am guessing you want to know how it went, well, it didn't happen. I think we really scared the heck out of the leadership. Some ideas just don't happen, and that's okay, but it sure was fun brainstorming together. I appreciate the freedom to dream big and share ideas. I guess on this day we were just crazy!! Check out Kem Meyer's blog, it's good stuff.