Our facepainting training was fantastic! This is in preparation for our Community Family Fun Day at our new preschool Windingwalk site (www.concordiachurch.com) . Photos will follow…..I lent my chip out. Maybe it was that break for creativity with our amazing volunteer trainer, professional body artist Crystal, but I did some scrapbooking at home (hadn’t done that for MONTHS). Hero Arts stamping company unveiled a new website. Tips and techniques galore for inspiration and motivation. Check it out HERE and their blog HERE Fun. Other sources of inspiration for me Photog Sites like THIS, scrapbookers sites like HERS and HERS. Create something today!
I am so excited about meeting parents and children at our first “Meet and Greet” this morning at the new site. It is going to be such fun to be among the little children ….. with all their energy and zest for life…… and oh are they CUTE!
The NOOMA video is still up. Just saw it again. Powerful.
Many months of dreaming and planning…..thanks to the talent of one of our creative Concordia volunteers (this volunteer has a combination of tech knowledge, dogged inquisitive got to figure it out mind, and is a creative thinker) we are close to launching our new web site and staff blogs! This will now be my ministry blog where I will post ideas, thinking, reading, praying, observing, etc. of a person dedicated to the mission of creating connections for people in their faith journey as part of this mission planting team! Don’t worry, I will include some personal notes (you can’t divide the heart) but this is the first post of the Concordia Community Life Coordinator Blog! Wooooohooooo! As I share with you what I am thinking about, praying about, reading about in ministry, I hope you will share with me also from your life and ministry. I am loving this journey.
Have you heard about the six word memoir? Ernest Hemmingway was challenged to write a story in six words. Clare Booth Luce told President Kennedy that “a great man is one sentence.” Reducing your life to six words is a mighty challenge. What do you want to be remembered for? What gets you up in the morning? This was an intriguing post in today’s Harvard Business blog. You can read more HERE.
What get’s me up in the morning? Maybe it’s because I know I am: ”Commissioned by God. Called to Love” Give it a try. Leave me a comment and give me your six words.
Well it is official. We are delayed on our new mission launch…..the opening of the preschool….the date is now August 3. I have used a widget both on our prayer partner blog and on my home page. I have changed it today. Well, it’s only 3.9 days on Jupiter until we open!
Dear Partners in Mission. As many of you know, I serve 3/5th time for CPTLN – LHM Mexico and 2/5th time for Concordia Lutheran Church in Chula Vista, CA (on the U.S. side). How can you divide your heart? I actually work two full time jobs or maybe I should say it this way……..I am a half time volunteer for CPTLN and half time volunteer for Concordia Lutheran Church!
Keep your eyes peeled for updates on the new daycare ministry in Tijuana. We will likely begin with some ministry outreach classes in about 2 weeks. Here in Tijuana we have the benefit of being able to use some of the building even though it is not all complete. We are working on the second level and the first level is nearly complete. Check again to see photos soon. PLEASE PRAY!
On the U.S. side we launch the new mission — also a ministry to children — in 23 days. Interesting to note that the two lutheran childrens’ ministry sites are less than an hour away from each other but in different countries. You would faint it I told you how much the US site is costing. The Tijuana site costs about .004% of what the U.S. site costs. Anyone who knows me knows has heard me say at one time or another, “Money is never the issue.” Actually, I should say, “It’s all on the Lord’s bill.” PLEASE PRAY. My pastor taped this 2 1/2 minute plea for more prayer partners. If you want to commit to 1 minute of prayer for the next 100 days (and I want you to), send your email to me at mgsalomon@gmail.com and I will include you. Friends, I have probably already asked you this…..maybe multiple times. OK, so have you told me “Yes” yet?
I started reading “The Principle of the Path” by Andy Stanley on my trip to Portland and this morning I had one of those early morning wake up calls at about 4am and had some quiet prayer time and I just had to finish the book. It is really excellent…..really convicting too! I also subscribe to Andy’s podcast on leadership issues.
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Andy Stanley is the founder and senior pastor of Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also one of the best communicators I have ever heard. His “Leadership Podcast” is designed “to help leaders go further faster.” I can attest to the fact that it delivers on its promise.
Today, while on my morning run, I listened to his episode on Effective Communication for the second time. I have read many, many books on public speaking. However, this is the simplest, most elegant advice I have ever heard on this topic. In the podcast, he provides five questions he asks himself while preparing a speech. These sit on his desk to remind him of the basic structure every talk should follow.
Information: “What do they need to know?” He forces himself to boil this down to the one thing. He is a proponent of preaching and teaching one-point messages. People won’t remember more than this, and it is a fool’s errand to shoot for more. It’s better to focus on one key take-away that people won’t forget. He provides several examples:
“Your friends will determine the direction and quality of your life.”
“Purity paves the way to intimacy.”
“When you see as God sees, you’ll do as God says.”
“Submission is an invitation for someone to lead.”
“Choose the hard right over the easy wrong.”
“Everybody lives forever somewhere.”
“Acceptance fuels influence.”
“Good people don’t go to heaven; forgiven people do.”
“God takes full responsibility for the life fully devoted to Him.”
Motivation: “Why do they need to know it?” This is the key, Andy says, to developing tension in your introduction. If people don’t believe they need to know what you are about to tell them, they perceive it as irrelevant—whether it is or not. On the other hand, if they believe it is relevant, it makes them hungry to hear what you have to say.
Application: “What do they need to do?” Andy talks about boiling the message down to something your listeners can do with what you are telling them. He even assigns homework and provides several real-world examples that are both creative and fun. He encourages communicators to be highly specific with their call-to-action.
Inspiration: “Why do they need to do it?” It’s not just enough to tell people what they need to know, why they need to know it, and what they need to do about it. They also need to know why they need to do what you are asking them to do. This is the missing ingredient in so many messages. This is an opportunity to cast vision. “Imagine what our company/church/organizaton/world be like if everyone did what I am asking you to do this evening?” The key is to get people to envision a different future and motivate them to act.
Reiteration: “What can I do to help them remember?” Andy is a big believer in sending something home with his audience that will serve as a visual reminder. For example, instead of just telling parents that the time with their children will pass before they know it, Reggie Joiner, one of Andy’s colleagues, gave bottles of beads to them with the number of weekends they had left before they graduated from high school. That’s a much more powerful reminder than closing a message with “Our kids are growing up fast. Let’s close in prayer and ask God to help us redeem the time.”
I follow a young pastor from D.C. Josh Harris’ blog and he had this posting today. I thought I would share it…….
I listened to Regina Spektor’s haunting song “Laughing With” several times today. I don’t know Regina’s personal religious beliefs, but I think she’s written a powerful song. To me the song speaks of the fact that suffering strips away our flippant attitude towards God. We can laugh at God when all is well or when we encounter a caricature of him, but when tragedy strikes we’re confronted with the reality that we’re helpless. “No one laughs at God in a hospital.”
The video and song lyrics follow. Let me know what you think.
“Laughing With” Lyrics:
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when they’re starving or freezing or so very poor
No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God when it’s gotten real late and their kid’s not back from that party yet
No one laughs at God when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God when they see the one they love hand in hand with someone else and they hope that they’re mistaken
No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door and they say “We’ve got some bad new, sir,”
No one’s laughing at God when there’s a famine, fire or flood
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they’re about to choke
God can be funny
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when they’ve lost all they got and they don’t know what for
No one laughs at God on the day they realize that the last sight they’ll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one’s laughing at God when they’re saying their goodbyes
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they’re about to choke
God can be funny
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God in a hospital
No one’s laughing at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when they’re starving or freezing or so very poor
No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
We’re all laughing with God
Laughing With by Regina Spektor from the album Far
Heart to Heart Sisters program involved 30 women who were born in 16 different countries. It was such a privilege to meet these women. They are passionate for the Lord’s work and were so excited to be with other women of color …women who are gifted and talented from the Lord for the Lord! I am so looking forward to seeing what will happen as they encourage and support each other!
This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch that I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
