• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

Cross training developmentally

Posted on May 28, 2013 by wtdavid

One of the tried and true rules in sports is the importance of cross training.  Cross training means that when preparing for a distance bike ride or some other demanding sporting event, we include some kind of training in other sporting activities.  So, if you are preparing for that distance bike ride, you add in a swimming session or a 5 km run.  The effect is that the primary sporting activity is enhanced or bettered when the skills are transferred and integrated with other sports.cross training

Such is the case for our own development as believers.  A writer I recently came across wrote: “Forming a Christian mind is interdisciplinary.  In order to apply the Bible to a particular area of life – or to understand how another discipline interfaces with our faith – we have to know that area well. How can you expect to understand a biblical approach to, say, the economy, without a certain level of economic literacy?”

Now, I’m not advocating that we all go out and get an MBA degree.  However, our growth as believers and as workers in His mission would be enhanced if we engaged in further training in problem solving, team dynamics and priority budgeting, for example.

Cross training can occur in other ways as well.  It might mean reading works outside our theological spectrum.  It might mean changing my habit of spiritual disciplines to investigate other ways of encountering God.  It might mean reaching across an Area to mine the insights of others in World Team.

I’m not saying it’s easy.  I love to run, but I’m not excited about swimming laps.  I just have to push myself sometimes to do what doesn’t come naturally.

 

 

 

Filed under: Core competencies, Development, Lifelong learning | Leave a comment »

Gateway or bottleneck

Posted on May 17, 2013 by wtdavid

I was recently reading through a number of articles that I had placed in a file when I ran across this quote in one of those articles:

“Young leaders want and need a place at the table. I know of one church where the leader (who is himself in his thirties) meets weekly with the church’s key emerging leaders. They read books on church leadership to discuss, they engage in spiritual and theological reflection. But they don’t stop there. He regularly offers them opportunities and assignments to do critical ministry projects and innovations. In some cases these have led to whole new ministry organizations being started, with young leaders at the helm. It happened because his leadership became a gateway and not a bottleneck.”Bottleneck

Several things struck me.  First, this leader had a “developmental mindset”. In other words, when new workers came into his ministry, he viewed them from the perspective of how they could be developed and trained to grow in ministry.  He saw their need for ongoing learning and training from the day they walked in the door (see my post from 13.05.2013).  Next, he gave away or delegated ministry opportunity.  He gave people a chance to test out their gifts and abilities in a context where he could give feedback and counsel.  He did not micromanage what they did.  He followed what they did: praying, giving feedback and cheering them on.  Finally, this leader was a young guy (in his thirties) who was building and releasing a growing number of workers and leaders.

World Team workers have an average of eighteen years of experience in cross cultural ministry.  We have an “experience capital” that is significant.

Imagine what could happen, by God’s grace, if that “experience capital” were used to create “gateways” for younger workers and leaders.

Filed under: Challenge, Delegation, Development | Leave a comment »

Competency is not a bad word

Posted on May 13, 2013 by wtdavid

We never stop learning.  It might be a new word, a new expression in the language in which we minister.  It might be another way to send our prayer letters out (such as Constant Contact, Mail Chimp or some other program).  There is a good deal of motivation in this kind of learning because we see its tangible benefit, the help it can provide to our life and ministry.competencies2

We should never stop learning.  However, we also need to pro-actively look for learning that may not have, at first glance, immediate tangible benefit to our life and ministry.  Constant learning is a means to increase our competency, our skills to live as Christ would desire and to minister in more and more fruitful ways.  Paul said, “I urge you to excel still more” (1 Thess 4:1).  Increasing one’s competency is an aspect of glorifying God, a concrete way of worshipping him as we recognize our dependence upon Him and the need for further, ongoing training.

The core skills modules are part of this process for all WT workers.  How grateful I am for the participation of so many in our first module and the feedback we have received.

However, we cannot stop there.  Each of us should prayerfully consider, in discussion with others, our next steps in growth and development (competency), outlining a  quarterly or monthly desired growth goal.

Competency is not a bad word.  It should become an energizing word for us, calling us to never stop learning.

Filed under: Competency, Core competencies, Lifelong learning | 2 Comments »

Why plans are helpful, why they are not

Posted on May 1, 2013 by wtdavid

Planning usually brings out the best and the worst in people.  Some of us enjoy planning because our natural bent is more towards organizing material and our time.  Others of us see planning as a chore, busy work that doesn’t seem to provide any real help to us.  In many ways, both of these responses represent a misunderstanding of planning outcomes.Business people planing

Plans are helpful when they focus our energies on those priorities God has laid on our hearts.  Putting together a plan should facilitate us being able to say ‘no’ to a certain number of activities that will detour us from our main focus.  Planning brings focus in a context that is flexible enough for us to work out that focus in a number of different ways.

Plans are not helpful when they fill our time with loads of secondary tasks.  Some plans I have seen are pages and pages long.  This can give the impression of a strong and solid plan.  However, most often, the heart of the plan is lost in the flurry of tasks that most have difficulty accomplishing because there are simply too many tasks.  All these tasks may keep us busy, but not fruitful.

Chris (WT Global) has put together some helpful tools for writing plans.  In one of his presentations, he wrote this: “The old adage of “first things first” is quite misleading.  There is a big difference between choosing what task to do first and knowing what are the most important tasks.”

As I wrote in the post the other day, this is why we need God and a strong community around us.  Through prayer, study and interaction with other believers we can have the insight we need to “know what are the most important tasks”.

 

Filed under: Planning, Priorities | Leave a comment »

Help! I’m feeling overwhelmed

Posted on April 29, 2013 by wtdavid

It’s the kind of feeling that creeps up on you.  You may be unaware it is coming until it hits you.  It’s that sensation of being overwhelmed; that there is more work and ministry than time permits.overwhelmed

The disciples knew the feeling: “And Jesus said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.”  (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)”  (Mark 4:31)  There was so much work, so many people to whom they had to minister that they did not even have time to stop for a meal.  Everything was a priority except the basic need of life to eat.

Once this feeling hits we begin to drag, ministry goes into a slow motion pace.  We start voicing our “tiredness” more often to others.   Our focus shrinks from everything else to just ourselves.  We start to lose perspective and grow out of touch with the heart of the Gospel.

This is the very moment when we need to step back and take a deep breath. 

Stepping back is the action of pulling oneself out of our self focused world and gaining focus by asking others for help.  Selecting and following our critical priorities will occur as we, first of all, learn to say ‘no’ to priorities that are good, but not critical.  We all know this to be true, but it is so hard to practice it and to actually say ‘no’ to a priority or task.  Part of our unwillingness may stem from our people pleasing bent, not wanting to disappoint anyone.  This is where community can serve us well. People that know us and know the work in which we are engaged can enter our world and help us establish those critical priorities.

Taking a deep breath is physically getting up from where you are and going somewhere else.  It’s the effort to temporarily change locations to help clear one’s mind.  It may be a short walk, a run, a swim or just sitting in the grass.  It’s an activity that helps take one’s mind off of all that has been weighing on us.

Feeling overwhelmed like many of us?  Start by seeking the counsel and prayers of a strong community of friends and colleagues and taking some time outside the office or house.

Filed under: Priorities, Reflection | Leave a comment »

How are we doing?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by wtdavid

Awhile back, I launched this challenge to the World Team community:

That each worker in the World Team community would intentionally
disciple one person into a relationship with Christ and that each worker
would intentionally disciple one person into cross cultural ministry.

So, how are we doing?8842419_3104d8e9ae

Now I’m not asking for numbers or metrics in response to this question. Bringing others into a personal relationship with Christ or moving others towards a desire to serve in cross cultural ministry is a process. There are incremental steps or ‘spiritual thresholds’ as one person described it recently. There is work that we can do and there is work that only God can and that we need to be lifting up before Him.

So, maybe a better way to put it would be: where are you in that journey? What are you doing to help others get to that next step in the journey? What are you praying for that only God can do in another’s life as you encourage them to consider Christ or challenge them to move towards cross cultural ministry?

This past Sunday, I was sitting across the table from G. I have spent some time with G over the past few months. He and I actually are part of the same French association. The conversation got started by my friend Chris who asked G where he was in his spiritual journey. G says he believes in God, but he is not ready to become ‘evangelical’. Obviously, there is a fair amount of misunderstanding in his heart and mind. Chris and I encouraged him to consider the fact that faith without real practice or life change happening puts the reality of that faith in question. Chris simply challenged him as a fellow business owner to follow through fully with a decision to believe in Christ as he would in fulfilling any contract he had signed.

We can’t pull G across the threshold. We need people to pray for G that he would recognize his ‘half hearted’ commitment; that he is in many ways keeping God as one of many different masters in his life.

I loved Chris’ illustration in challenging G, but it is ultimately God who must open his heart. That’s where we are, that’s where I am.

Filed under: 1plus1, Sharing the Gospel story | 4 Comments »

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