Though summer took it's toll on attendance, we had a good meeting that focused on developing our Personal Mission Statements and learning about Core or Governing Values! If you couldn't make the meeting, the audio clips are included below.
Personal Mission Statements
Personal mission statements require us to define and write down what our key roles are in all aspects of our life: employee, spouse, caregiver, church member, teacher, team leader. . . we all have different roles. We define what our role should be in those areas or what our role will become as we begin working to improve. We try to foresee what our role will be like as we want it to be years from now.
Will our mission statements change?
Over time we'll continue to grow and to learn. God will move us through seasons in our walk with Him. Although our core values probably never change, our roles and the mission may change over years of growth.
Governing or Core Values
Every person is born with an individual personality, gifts, talents and values that are somehow imparted into us. We hone our personalities, use the gifts, and develop the talents but typically our values remain fairly constant. We grow in our understanding of them, and once we recognize what they are and what they really mean to us, we seek goals that will fulfill them. Benjamin Franklin carried his throughout his life and every week focused on one of them in order to keep his "internal compass" always pointed towards them. It brought him success and inner peace throughout his life.
Homework
1 Complete your Personal Mission Statement - write it down. Think about your roles as you want them to be, not necessarily as they are.
2 Read the handouts on Governing Values from the Franklin Covey system. Take notes so that you fully grasp the concepts.
3 Begin developing your Governing Values. Form a list of things you are willing to cross the "I-Beam" for! Then write down what that value means to you in your own words.
Audio from the August 24th meeting:
Discussion about Personal Mission Statements
Governing Values with excerpts from Hyrum Smith's training
Homework discussion and close
Note: Although the main text for our study is Newberry's "Success Is Not An Accident," we'll draw heavily from the Franklin Covey time management process. To learn more about Franklin Covey or Franklin Quest the following books are recommended: Time Management, An Introduction to the Franklin System - Richard I Winwood, and The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management - Hyrum W Smith. The latter is still in print, however both can be found on Amazon. They cover Governing Values very well along with a lot of other great practical applications for life management.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
The August 17th Session
During the August 17th meeting there was some great discussion about Chapter 2 on the topic of how each of us defines "success." If you watch nightly television or look at the adds on billboards, newspapers, or internet pop-ups we are presented with Madison Avenue or Hollywood's version of what success should look like. Most of those things will never truly satisfy us or give us the inner peace we desire in fulfilling what God has called us to do. Our call is to be comforters, not comfortable! For each of us that role will be different, unique, and special.
Why is it so important for you to understand and define what success means to you?
There are probably lots of good reasons, but I believe the most important one is so you can fulfill the purpose of God in your life. No one else can do that, and unless you know what it is, and choose to do it, no one else will.
This Sunday's class will focus on reviewing the work you've done to create your own personal mission statement. If you're not done yet, get going! The next month will be hard because you are going to look deeper into your heart than you ever have before. It will be uncomfortable and awkward and maybe even depressing as you prayerfully understand more of what God has placed inside of you to be and to do.
Don't give up! This will be the hard part, but it leads to the joy of renewing your dreams, setting goals and beginning to re-order your daily activities to achieve them!
Don't worry about making it perfect! The road we're on is a journey and we'll get smarter and modify our course along the way. Although the gifts, talents and values inside of you may not drastically change, our knowledge of them will continue to increase and be molded by His hand as he refines us.
Write it down! This will not work if it's only a mental exercise! YOU HAVE TO WRITE IT DOWN! It's a little more work, but it gives you a far greater understanding of what you believe.
If you missed the session on Sunday, the following are the audio tracks for the meeting. Please click on the link's below, take a listen to them, make notes, and keep pressing on!
Thoughts on Chapter 2
Your Definition of Success
Personal Mission Statement Worksheet
Homework Assignment
Closing Prayer
Why is it so important for you to understand and define what success means to you?
There are probably lots of good reasons, but I believe the most important one is so you can fulfill the purpose of God in your life. No one else can do that, and unless you know what it is, and choose to do it, no one else will.
This Sunday's class will focus on reviewing the work you've done to create your own personal mission statement. If you're not done yet, get going! The next month will be hard because you are going to look deeper into your heart than you ever have before. It will be uncomfortable and awkward and maybe even depressing as you prayerfully understand more of what God has placed inside of you to be and to do.
Don't give up! This will be the hard part, but it leads to the joy of renewing your dreams, setting goals and beginning to re-order your daily activities to achieve them!
Don't worry about making it perfect! The road we're on is a journey and we'll get smarter and modify our course along the way. Although the gifts, talents and values inside of you may not drastically change, our knowledge of them will continue to increase and be molded by His hand as he refines us.
Write it down! This will not work if it's only a mental exercise! YOU HAVE TO WRITE IT DOWN! It's a little more work, but it gives you a far greater understanding of what you believe.
If you missed the session on Sunday, the following are the audio tracks for the meeting. Please click on the link's below, take a listen to them, make notes, and keep pressing on!
Thoughts on Chapter 2
Your Definition of Success
Personal Mission Statement Worksheet
Homework Assignment
Closing Prayer
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Digging Through the Walls
Everyone struggles as we try to look inward and better understand ourselves. When looking deeper to discern the things God has placed in you - your gifts, talents, and values, it is hard to decouple our unlimited potential from our past failures. If you’re wrestling with this, you’re normal!
In John 15: 2 Jesus says "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” The chapter goes on to say that this pruning process is healthy and normal to enable the branch to bear fruit. Jesus is the vine, and God the Father is the Vine Dresser, who works with us to trim away the aspects of our lives that are not producing fruit.
In Ezekiel 8, Ezekiel experiences a visitation by a strange “appearance of a man,” with fire and glowing metal. He is taken from place to place and the stranger reveals to him the sins of Israel. Initially Ezekiel is shown an external view, clearly visible to anyone who would look. Then he is taken to the entrance to the court and shown a hole in the wall. He is told to dig through the wall and when he does, he finds an entrance. Ezekiel goes through and is shown even greater abominations than before.
The example in Ezekiel gave him a deep understanding of the call on his life. The idea of “digging” to gain entrance can equally apply to our challenge of understanding the call on our lives. It should be uncomfortable. It should be hard. If it’s not, we’re probably not digging deep enough.
Remember
- Spend time with God and let Him show you where to dig.
- Know that the past is in your rear-view mirror and if you’ve repented of your failures and sins, through Christ, God has forgiven and forgotten them. You need to also.
-Try to think about life as you did when you were eleven, when the world was simple and you didn’t know what you couldn’t do yet. The world is still simple.
Over the next few weeks as we start to define our mission in this world, and look to understand what our core values are, don’t be discouraged. You’re not writing the final chapter of your life, only the next one. Our goal is to begin looking forward and adjusting our daily activities to make our future better than our past. We want to take lots and lots of little steps that will lead us to the milestones and dreams God has placed in us.
Don’t give up! God’s best for you is just getting started!
In John 15: 2 Jesus says "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” The chapter goes on to say that this pruning process is healthy and normal to enable the branch to bear fruit. Jesus is the vine, and God the Father is the Vine Dresser, who works with us to trim away the aspects of our lives that are not producing fruit.
In Ezekiel 8, Ezekiel experiences a visitation by a strange “appearance of a man,” with fire and glowing metal. He is taken from place to place and the stranger reveals to him the sins of Israel. Initially Ezekiel is shown an external view, clearly visible to anyone who would look. Then he is taken to the entrance to the court and shown a hole in the wall. He is told to dig through the wall and when he does, he finds an entrance. Ezekiel goes through and is shown even greater abominations than before.
The example in Ezekiel gave him a deep understanding of the call on his life. The idea of “digging” to gain entrance can equally apply to our challenge of understanding the call on our lives. It should be uncomfortable. It should be hard. If it’s not, we’re probably not digging deep enough.
Remember
- Spend time with God and let Him show you where to dig.
- Know that the past is in your rear-view mirror and if you’ve repented of your failures and sins, through Christ, God has forgiven and forgotten them. You need to also.
-Try to think about life as you did when you were eleven, when the world was simple and you didn’t know what you couldn’t do yet. The world is still simple.
Over the next few weeks as we start to define our mission in this world, and look to understand what our core values are, don’t be discouraged. You’re not writing the final chapter of your life, only the next one. Our goal is to begin looking forward and adjusting our daily activities to make our future better than our past. We want to take lots and lots of little steps that will lead us to the milestones and dreams God has placed in us.
Don’t give up! God’s best for you is just getting started!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Passion
Isn’t it interesting that in many circles the term “passion” seems to have a negative connotation? Passion sometimes infers a lack of control, or recklessness.
Yet the greatest sacrifice of all time is often referred to as the “Passion of the Christ!” The example of Christ’s death on the cross creates images of His suffering and the agony of His death. Most of us think of that sacrifice as the “passion” He shared as an element of His human-ness. While true, I think the greater passion was in His love for mankind; that His love was so great, so pure, so intense, that He would willingly allow Himself to be humiliated, bruised, and finally crucified, when He had the power to easily save Himself. I believe that love for us was the real “passion” of the Christ.
God has called us to be a passionate people. He desires us to be “on fire” to serve Him and do His will with our very lives. The scriptures speak to the passion Christ showed in the temple when he overturned the tables of the money-changers (Matthew 21:12). They tell the story of how He wept when he learned of Lazarus’ death (John 11:35). He was a great orator who captured the hearts and minds of the people He spoke to, everywhere He went. All of these speak to a man who was passionate and compelling and purposeful.
Here are a few great quotations:
“A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.”
- John Maxwell (American Author)
“Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.”
- Hebbel (German Poet 1813-1863)
“Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.”
- Angela Monet
How passionate are you?
Can you still hear “the music” in your life?
How passionate is your walk with God?
Are you still “on fire” for the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission?
Are you still on fire for your family? Your job? Your lifestyle? The place you live? The friends you associate with?
Do you still have a passion for LIFE?
When our passion fades, our dreams die. Today, choose to dream again. Search the heart of God and find the thing He has called you to do. Then grab onto that dream with both fists. Embrace it will all your heart, all of your mind and all of your physical being. Let your passion to change and become all that God has called you to ignite the fire within!
It’s time to choose to live again.
Yet the greatest sacrifice of all time is often referred to as the “Passion of the Christ!” The example of Christ’s death on the cross creates images of His suffering and the agony of His death. Most of us think of that sacrifice as the “passion” He shared as an element of His human-ness. While true, I think the greater passion was in His love for mankind; that His love was so great, so pure, so intense, that He would willingly allow Himself to be humiliated, bruised, and finally crucified, when He had the power to easily save Himself. I believe that love for us was the real “passion” of the Christ.
God has called us to be a passionate people. He desires us to be “on fire” to serve Him and do His will with our very lives. The scriptures speak to the passion Christ showed in the temple when he overturned the tables of the money-changers (Matthew 21:12). They tell the story of how He wept when he learned of Lazarus’ death (John 11:35). He was a great orator who captured the hearts and minds of the people He spoke to, everywhere He went. All of these speak to a man who was passionate and compelling and purposeful.
Here are a few great quotations:
“A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.”
- John Maxwell (American Author)
“Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.”
- Hebbel (German Poet 1813-1863)
“Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.”
- Angela Monet
How passionate are you?
Can you still hear “the music” in your life?
How passionate is your walk with God?
Are you still “on fire” for the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission?
Are you still on fire for your family? Your job? Your lifestyle? The place you live? The friends you associate with?
Do you still have a passion for LIFE?
When our passion fades, our dreams die. Today, choose to dream again. Search the heart of God and find the thing He has called you to do. Then grab onto that dream with both fists. Embrace it will all your heart, all of your mind and all of your physical being. Let your passion to change and become all that God has called you to ignite the fire within!
It’s time to choose to live again.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Audio Tracks for Week 1
The following links are the audio tracks for our first session. The quality is not great but with some new gear, following weeks will be better! The important thing now is to GET STARTED! Making the time to need to read, pray and think about the subjects we're covering is not easy. It is the first of many changes you'll desire to make as you see the power of knowing more clearly what your purpose in this world is, and where your dreams and goals are leading you. This may be the most exciting journey you've ever embarked upon!
The first file includes the introduction and overview of the course.
This second file covers our discussion around discovering your talents and gifts, and why it's so important to understand and pursue them.
The last file below describes the homework assignment that's due this Sunday morning. Take a listen and get to work! Amen!
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