A LETTER TO MEN (AND THE WOMEN WHO LOVE THEM)

Hello Guys,

It is no longer news that times have become quite toxic. What we probably want to know is how do we ‘detox’ it?

These crisis  surfaces in every facet of our existence.

Job insecurity, financial marital insecurity (as more women seem to be earning more than their husbands) not to talk of the abysmal collapse of security in our erstwhile safe neighborhoods. Clearly every thing is broken down!

At such a time as this is there any hope for us men to come out of these depressing situations? Graciously, we have hope! I have discovered we can all learn a thing or two from a guy who went through worse things and survived it all. Job's Perseverance and what the Lord finally did in his life after all his travails (in Business, Family, Health, Associations and Relationships, Social standing, etc. This list goes on and on) were over.

By act of divine mercy, God brought back to him all that he lost.

Here is how scriptures recorded it:

James 5:10-11,NIV

“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

One thing that is commendable in all of Job’s travails was his commitment to God’s faithfulness and his patience through it all.

Now here are some interesting and encouraging thoughts from God’s Word that could help any man in any form of life’s troubles as Job’s.

#1. Be Courageous (1 Cor.16:13, NIV)

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong”.

#2. Develop fervent personal and family prayer life(1 Peter 4:7,NIV)

“…The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”

#3. Develop yourself to be spiritually alert so you can resist the devil. (1 Peter 5:8-10, NIV)

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

#4. Endure suffering.No man can truly walk steadfast unless he had first suffered just a little (1 Peter 5:10,NIV)

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Only after we have suffered for Christ should we expect to be restored, made strong, made firm and steadfast. This suffering comes mainly as a result of having taken a resolute stand against any form of unrighteousness.

Finally, I wish to remind you that as He said, God will restore your losses and all the years that the locusts have eaten shall surely come back to you in yet better forms.

By the Spirit of God, I declare this day that God is restoring all your lost fortunes in Jesus’ matchless Name!

35 Low-Risk Changes Churches Can Make (As adapted by Tokunbo Beulah Johnson)

Tony Morgan, chief strategic officer and founder of TonyMorganLive.com. wrote that:

One of the reasons churches get stuck is that they’re unwilling to change. They don’t want to rock the boat. Leaders are afraid. People may leave. People may stop giving.
Over time, the culture becomes reticent to change. The status quo becomes the driving value.

When churches stop changing, people get comfortable. It’s impossible for Christ-followers to get comfortable and be sold-out to Jesus at the same time. Comfort is not the goal.

This is probably obvious, but let me offer this advice: If you want to be in a church that embraces change, you have to begin to make some changes.

It begins with establishing a clear vision, values and strategy. Once everyone is on board with the vision, you have to begin embracing new methods. You can’t avoid changes and expect different results.

With that, my team and a few friends brainstormed a list of relatively low-risk changes that churches might consider making. Start with one or two of these changes to help you get a step closer to seeing the vision fulfilled.

Here are the suggested 35 Low-Risk Changes Churches Can Make :

1. Change service times.
2. Empower a volunteer leader.
3. Offer resources to help people engage Scripture outside of the Sunday service.(it could be offline or an online devotional(check out a template onhttp://thecapstoneonline.com/quietinthestorm/)
4. Prioritize cross-cultural “missions” opportunities in the same region where your church is located.(We just started a service translation for Francophone people)
5. Challenge staff to invest 20 percent of their time in leadership development.(We currently run a weekly ministry academy)
6. Limit yourself to one all-church announcement in every service.
7. Develop a teaching team rather than relying on just one teacher.
8. Add pictures or, better yet, video clips to your website to give people a taste of your teaching, worship and children’s ministry.(Media like Youtube,Ustream,iTunes,PodBean cost nothing)
9. Provide identical children’s ministry experiences at every weekend service so families aren’t limited in the services they can attend.
10. Stop something.
11. Create opportunities for students to serve and lead rather than just consuming experiences.
12. Plan to spend less than you anticipate receiving from offerings.
13. Create ways for people to share nuggets of teaching and worship content through social media.
14. Launch a new weekend service.(We currently run a fully youth-centric service once every other month)
15. Start using online solutions (like Asana,Drop Box) to keep the team on the same page.
16. Hire someone from the outside (staff or consultant) to bring fresh perspective and a new approach.
17. Share individual stories of life change when you baptize someone in your services.
18. Develop an annual ministry calendar and promotions plan to limit competing messages.
19. Partner with another church to tackle a community initiative.
20. Periodically invite other staff or volunteer leaders to your senior leadership team meetings.They will bring fresh perspectives.
21. Make it easier for people to give online.Provide Point-of-Sale terminals too.
22. Thank people for their giving by tying it back to vision and life change.
23. Develop an evaluation process for weekend services and every other event or environment.
24. Establish a hiring process that’s team-based and focused on matching the church’s DNA rather than just filling positions.
25. Align the church’s strategy with the church’s vision.
26. Align the church’s budget with the church’s strategy.
27. Redesign your website to focus less on sharing information and more on helping people take next steps.
28. Do something different in the weekend service so it isn’t so predictable.
29. Set aside one day each week in the office when meetings are not allowed.
30. Schedule coffee at least once a month with someone to help them take their next steps in their faith, ministry and leadership.
31. Invite people to your volunteer teams so your platform and your guest services teams reflect the diversity of the people you are trying to reach.
32. Cut back on printing and focus on social media and word-of-mouth.
33. Update your physical environments (including that gaudy, stained carpet) to reflect current culture.
34. Shorten your message, worship and services to leave people wanting more.
35. Change something so people expect change.

Here’s the great thing about most of these changes—they’re reversible. 
Test drive the change. If it doesn’t work, you can always go back.

Don’t let people grow comfortable.

It’s time you got unstuck.

Wouldn't You Make that change now! It's your call!

The 5 Biggest Mistakes We Make in Prophetic Ministry (As complied for 'City-Gate Ministers’ Academy')

I remember two of Apostle Paul’s instructions to two of the New Testament churches he planted: 

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.(1 Cor. 14:1,NIV)

“…do not treat prophecies with contempt .Test everything. Hold on to the good.” (1 Thess.5: 20-21, NIV).

These instructions continue to serve as head-lamps to our response to the use of true,accurate Prophetic Ministry.

Now, Lee Grady (former editor Charisma magazine) fingered 5 main mistakes we should guard against when operating the prophetic ministry. They are :

1. Giving prophets elite status. Nowhere in the New Testament are prophets exalted to a privileged class. Paul himself said all members of the body need each other, and in his discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, he warns against ranking spirituality by gifting. He wrote, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21, NASB). Many prophets get a disease that I call ‘egotisticus giganticus’. They are puffed up by their revelations. Then, when people line up to hear them, they are forced to come up with more sensational claims—along with names, dates and exotic manifestations.

2. Promoting charismatic chaos. Some people act weird when they prophesy in order to get attention. Some shake in funny ways, speak in affected tones or use archaic “Listen thou to me!” lingo. 
In New Testament times, pagan prophets spoke in ecstatic speech because they were possessed by demons. But Paul told the Corinthians, “The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets” (1 Cor. 14:32).
You should never be out of control when you deliver a word from God. The fruit of the Holy Spirit includes both gentleness and self-control.

3. Allowing harsh prophetic words to abuse people. In giving personal prophecy, some people routinely give personal words to people warning of calamities or judgments. They even say that God wants to kill them! Usually these angry “prophets” claim to know all the unconfessed sins in a person’s life.However, New Testament prophecy is specifically used to encourage, comfort and exhort believers (see 1 Cor. 14:3). That rules out condemnation and harsh criticism disguised as a word from God. Our heavenly Father does not speak to His children in a hateful, scolding tone. He is an encourager, even when He brings correction. Remember: Paul said that if you use the gift of prophecy without love, it is useless (see 1 Cor. 13:2)!

4. Not mentoring prophets. Today we have forgotten the importance of mentorship. We have Bible colleges for preachers, but we neglect training in other vital areas. We wrongly assume that if a person is blessed with a spiritual gift like prophecy, it just flows without any instruction.
In the Old Testament, there were schools of prophets. Second Kings 6:1-6 tells how Elisha went with some younger prophets to build an expansion to their school, and one of the men lost the blade of the axe he was using to cut down trees for timber. 
Don’t assume you know everything. Don’t be so eager to go until you grow to maturity.

5. Shutting down prophecy because the gift was abused. Because of the problems I’ve mentioned, some pastors just give up and shut prophecy down. They’d rather have a safe church environment than expose people to any possibility of a prophetic catastrophe.
If this were the wisest thing to do, why didn’t Paul clamp down on all charismatic expression among the Corinthians? Things were wild there—with off-the-wall prophecies, out-of-control prophets and harsh messages. Yet Paul offered these life-giving words: “Desire earnestly spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1), and he ended his discourse by saying “desire earnestly to prophesy” (v. 39). Shutting down charismatic gifts is unbiblical. Instead of limiting the way God wants to communicate to us, let’s honor the Holy Spirit and learn to exercise prophecy the way He intended.

Whatever you do,only remember that indeed "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"(Rev 19:10).

Happy sailing!

FIVE (5)TIPS FOR LEADING STRONG-WILLED (Written by Ron Edmondson)

Are you finding it hard to work with some people who appear difficult and simply impossible or problematic?
Here are some tips to helping you manage human capital and keeping your team motivated and reaching set corporate goals:

Have you ever tried to lead someone who didn’t want to be led? The same children that were labeled “strong-willed” by their parents often grow up to be strong-willed adults. Perhaps you know one … perhaps you are one. (I know one personally… me!)

I believe leadership should be individualized for the needs of the follower. Read a similar post here. With that in mind, here are five tips for leading strong-willed people:

1. Give clear expectations. People respond best when they know what is expected of them, especially those with strong opinions of their own.

2. Be consistent. Strong-willed people need boundaries. They will test them, but they want to know the limits of their freedom.

3. Give freedom within the boundaries. Once the guidelines and expectations are established, allow followers to express themselves freely within them.

4. Pick your battles. Don’t cross a strong-willed person for issues of little importance to the overall vision of the organization. If you back them into a corner, they may bite.

5. Respect their opinions and individualities. Strong-willed people ultimately want to be heard (as all people do), but they resist most when their voice is silenced. Learn what matters to them, and give credence to their opinions.