- What are some things we did in core that worked really well or had a positive impact? (Anything related to core: leader meeting, one-on-ones, core partners.)
- What are some things that we should revamp/rework for next year?
- What are some things that didn't work? How can those be fixed?
- What's one thing that you wished we did differently? Why?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Core Growth
Friday, April 3, 2009
Time
So this is my birthday wisdom, by the way. It has a theme of time, so I thought that was a good title.
Becoming Holy
I always knew that becoming holy was a life long venture. There's always some attitude, sin, ambition that needs to be removed or reworked for God. After I'd finally convince myself that now is the time to correct a certain aspect, it would usually go away or improve quite a bit. For example, I wanted to remove the default attitude and action of complaining. For two or so weeks, I'd be successful. I'd stay joyful and content, trying to find the good in everything, or at least not complaining about the bad. But then after a while I'd catch myself complaining. Perhaps while talking to someone at FOCUS or core, even more often at work (being in a world that loves to complain). This would usually get me down, to some degree it should, but I started thinking, "Is this never going to go away?"
After ready Every Man's Battle I started to learn that, although God wants us to remove sin and become closer to Him, that it's not going to be an overnight change. That it takes about six weeks to break a habit and to replace it with a new one. It's not instant, but it's not really all that long either.
Dating
Growing up in middle school and high school, if I was single and liked a girl, we'd be dating within the next month. It was probably due to being the coolest, most charming guy ever to grace Cedar Park. (That last sentence should be read oozing with sarcasm.) Once I got to college, that all disappeared. My pursuit to find a girlfriend quickly overran my pursuit to grow close to God. The fellowship dating talks (and various other things) reminded me that I'm just 22 (and 8752/8760ths). That I have a long time before I really should want to get married, and that for right now, fellowship dating is all that I need.
Two main differences between fellowship dating and the way that I used to date: physical contact, and conversational conjoining. (That's a great term right there.) Both of which would be best if saved for my spouse. I don't need to be married by 25. I need to grow closer to God and if I meet a girl along the way that's fine, if I don't, according to Paul, that's even better.
Serving
I wait for somebody to plan a service project, then if it fits my schedule, and I don't mind doing it all that much, I go. God doesn't really want us to be sitting down all the time. We are told to do what's best, not just what's good. But I end up valuing my comfort over somebody else's needs. Not only should I jump at opportunities to serve (and do so with a joyful heart), but I should be initiating my own service projects.
These service projects don't need to be five hour trips to a homeless shelter every time, although sometimes that is what's called for. Helping out somebody locally is an often overlooked aspect of serving. But the key is just to serve somewhere. Stop waiting and go!
Evangelizing
Self-comfort is Satan's greatest tool. We are told to go out and make disciples and to teach them to obey everything that Jesus commanded. The teaching them to obey part might take a while, even the making disciples part might take some time, but there is one part that I can do right now: go. When I'm at work, how often do I walk around to people's offices to start up a purposeful conversation? Maybe once or twice a week to the same person. There's even a guy (I don't know his beliefs or reasons) that does that, but I never return the favor. For all you school kids, how often do you go on campus to meet people and actually do it? I know that while in school I went on campus to meet people several times, but only thrice did I actually do it.
We often pray for opportunities to meet people and reach out to them, or if we're a little bit wiser we might pray that we see the opportunities that God has already given us. But I think we see a lot of those opportunities and we choose not to take advantage of them for the sake of our self-comfort. We question, "what will they think of me?", "will they think I'm just another religious person pushing my beliefs on to them?", or any number of other self-doubting excuses. What we have should be overflowing our cup, that we can't help but tell everybody about it.
Becoming Holy
I always knew that becoming holy was a life long venture. There's always some attitude, sin, ambition that needs to be removed or reworked for God. After I'd finally convince myself that now is the time to correct a certain aspect, it would usually go away or improve quite a bit. For example, I wanted to remove the default attitude and action of complaining. For two or so weeks, I'd be successful. I'd stay joyful and content, trying to find the good in everything, or at least not complaining about the bad. But then after a while I'd catch myself complaining. Perhaps while talking to someone at FOCUS or core, even more often at work (being in a world that loves to complain). This would usually get me down, to some degree it should, but I started thinking, "Is this never going to go away?"
After ready Every Man's Battle I started to learn that, although God wants us to remove sin and become closer to Him, that it's not going to be an overnight change. That it takes about six weeks to break a habit and to replace it with a new one. It's not instant, but it's not really all that long either.
Dating
Growing up in middle school and high school, if I was single and liked a girl, we'd be dating within the next month. It was probably due to being the coolest, most charming guy ever to grace Cedar Park. (That last sentence should be read oozing with sarcasm.) Once I got to college, that all disappeared. My pursuit to find a girlfriend quickly overran my pursuit to grow close to God. The fellowship dating talks (and various other things) reminded me that I'm just 22 (and 8752/8760ths). That I have a long time before I really should want to get married, and that for right now, fellowship dating is all that I need.
Two main differences between fellowship dating and the way that I used to date: physical contact, and conversational conjoining. (That's a great term right there.) Both of which would be best if saved for my spouse. I don't need to be married by 25. I need to grow closer to God and if I meet a girl along the way that's fine, if I don't, according to Paul, that's even better.
Serving
I wait for somebody to plan a service project, then if it fits my schedule, and I don't mind doing it all that much, I go. God doesn't really want us to be sitting down all the time. We are told to do what's best, not just what's good. But I end up valuing my comfort over somebody else's needs. Not only should I jump at opportunities to serve (and do so with a joyful heart), but I should be initiating my own service projects.
These service projects don't need to be five hour trips to a homeless shelter every time, although sometimes that is what's called for. Helping out somebody locally is an often overlooked aspect of serving. But the key is just to serve somewhere. Stop waiting and go!
Evangelizing
Self-comfort is Satan's greatest tool. We are told to go out and make disciples and to teach them to obey everything that Jesus commanded. The teaching them to obey part might take a while, even the making disciples part might take some time, but there is one part that I can do right now: go. When I'm at work, how often do I walk around to people's offices to start up a purposeful conversation? Maybe once or twice a week to the same person. There's even a guy (I don't know his beliefs or reasons) that does that, but I never return the favor. For all you school kids, how often do you go on campus to meet people and actually do it? I know that while in school I went on campus to meet people several times, but only thrice did I actually do it.
We often pray for opportunities to meet people and reach out to them, or if we're a little bit wiser we might pray that we see the opportunities that God has already given us. But I think we see a lot of those opportunities and we choose not to take advantage of them for the sake of our self-comfort. We question, "what will they think of me?", "will they think I'm just another religious person pushing my beliefs on to them?", or any number of other self-doubting excuses. What we have should be overflowing our cup, that we can't help but tell everybody about it.
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