LifeChurch.tv : swerve
a leadership, technology, and innovation blog for pastors and church leaders
Your Words Can Change a Life
By Craig Groeschel on encouragement
As a senior pastor, youth pastor, or student pastor, God can often use your words in an extra special way. It is not that you are better than a non-pastor, but your words can carry more weight in a person’s mind. Like it or not, many people see you as a representative of God. You should “feel that weight” as you speak.
You can look someone in the eyes and tell them:
“I believe in you.” They may never have heard that from anyone else. Give them the gift of your faith.
“You are making a difference.” Many great people serve Christ and His church for years without ever hearing those special words.
“God has forgiven you.” Many people confess their sins to God but don’t “feel” forgiven. You can speak on behalf of God’s promises and help set someone free from any false guilt they continue to carry.
“God used you in my life.” Occasionally someone will encourage me when I’m down and not even know it. I love to give them a return gift by telling them what God did through them for me.
I’d encourage you to become more and more generous with your words! I like what God said in Deuteronomy 3:28, “But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.”
Commission others to ministry with your words.
Strengthen others with your words.
Encourage others as long as it is called today.
How has God used your words?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Wisdom of Warren Buffett: On Innovators, Imitators, and Idiots
written by bill taylor at http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/taylor/
I'm not sure who said it first, but I agree with the sentiment: "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste." We're all struggling to make sense of the financial crisis that has spread around the world, to learn some lessons that will guide us as we go forward. One of my worries is that many of us will learn the wrong lessons--specifically, that we will become too conservative and risk-averse, that we will learn to fear creativity rather than embrace it. It's easy to portray the credit crunch as a case study of creativity run amok. Who's the genius who invented subprime loans? Weren't we all better off before the creation of a $500-trillion market in derivatives, hard-to-understand financial contracts that are at the root of so much of what's gone wrong? Shouldn't we declare, once and for all, that our fascination with "disruptive" technologies, "breakthrough" innovations, and financial "reengineering" does more harm than good? Leave it to Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, to offer the most valuable advice on this score. In a recent hour-long television interview, Buffet gave a masterful course on how the world got into this financial mess. At one point, his interviewer asked the question that is on all our minds: "Should wise people have known better?" Of course, they should have, Buffett replied, but there's a "natural progression" to how good new ideas go wrong. He called this progression the "three Is." First come the innovators, who see opportunities that others don't. Then come the imitators, who copy what the innovators have done. And then come the idiots, whose avarice undoes the very innovations they are trying to use to get rich. The problem, in other words, isn't with innovation--it's with the idiocy that follows. So how do we as individuals (not to mention as companies and societies) continue to embrace the value-creating upside of creativity while guarding against the value-destroying downsides of imitation? The answer, it seems to me, is about values--about always being able to distinguish between that which is smart and that which is expedient. And that takes discipline. Can you distinguish between a genuine innovation and a mindless imitation? Are you prepared to walk away from ideas that promise to make money, even if they make no sense? It's not easy--which is why so many of us fall prey to so many bad ideas. "People don't get smarter about things that get as basic as greed," Warren Buffett told his interviewer. "You can't stand to see your neighbor getting rich. You know you're smarter than he is, but he's doing all these [crazy] things, and he's getting rich...so pretty soon you start doing it." Andrew Oswald, a professor of economics at the University of Warwick, has a more poetic way of making the same point. Oswald is a pioneer of a field that might be called "happiness economics"--the study of the interplay between money and human satisfaction. His rigorous academic work confirms the advice that we hear in our churches and from our shrinks--the relentless pursuit of wealth may fill your bank account, but it will leave you empty as a human being. "The curse of humanity is that people feel compelled to look over their shoulders," Professor Warwick told my colleague Polly LaBarre a while back. "Happiness and self-esteem depend on rank and relative income. We are consumed by relativism. If your neighbor drives up in a new Lexus, and you're still driving the Toyota that you were perfectly satisfied with yesterday, you start to become dissatisfied." So don't use the financial crisis as an excuse to stop taking chances or downsize your ambitions. But do use the crisis as an opportunity to take stock of what really matters--and to stop looking over your shoulder.
*********************
As I read this, I thought about the church, especially the "seeker movement". About 3 decades ago, there was an "innovation" in a couple of people, who started new churches in a new way. These new churches proved effective at connecting people with God in real and profound ways. The "neighbors" looked across the street, wished that their churches were as big, and imitated what they saw. Then along come the "idiots" Buffett talked about.
And poof...unintended consequences. Is it possible that, as the "idiot" sector gets ahold of these innovations in the church that we experience a crisis of sorts? I see one impact...when the "idiots" take things too far, then the rest of the church looks at the whole movement and condemns it outright.
anyway...not as articulate as buffett...just got me thinking on a Saturday morning.
M@
I'm not sure who said it first, but I agree with the sentiment: "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste." We're all struggling to make sense of the financial crisis that has spread around the world, to learn some lessons that will guide us as we go forward. One of my worries is that many of us will learn the wrong lessons--specifically, that we will become too conservative and risk-averse, that we will learn to fear creativity rather than embrace it. It's easy to portray the credit crunch as a case study of creativity run amok. Who's the genius who invented subprime loans? Weren't we all better off before the creation of a $500-trillion market in derivatives, hard-to-understand financial contracts that are at the root of so much of what's gone wrong? Shouldn't we declare, once and for all, that our fascination with "disruptive" technologies, "breakthrough" innovations, and financial "reengineering" does more harm than good? Leave it to Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, to offer the most valuable advice on this score. In a recent hour-long television interview, Buffet gave a masterful course on how the world got into this financial mess. At one point, his interviewer asked the question that is on all our minds: "Should wise people have known better?" Of course, they should have, Buffett replied, but there's a "natural progression" to how good new ideas go wrong. He called this progression the "three Is." First come the innovators, who see opportunities that others don't. Then come the imitators, who copy what the innovators have done. And then come the idiots, whose avarice undoes the very innovations they are trying to use to get rich. The problem, in other words, isn't with innovation--it's with the idiocy that follows. So how do we as individuals (not to mention as companies and societies) continue to embrace the value-creating upside of creativity while guarding against the value-destroying downsides of imitation? The answer, it seems to me, is about values--about always being able to distinguish between that which is smart and that which is expedient. And that takes discipline. Can you distinguish between a genuine innovation and a mindless imitation? Are you prepared to walk away from ideas that promise to make money, even if they make no sense? It's not easy--which is why so many of us fall prey to so many bad ideas. "People don't get smarter about things that get as basic as greed," Warren Buffett told his interviewer. "You can't stand to see your neighbor getting rich. You know you're smarter than he is, but he's doing all these [crazy] things, and he's getting rich...so pretty soon you start doing it." Andrew Oswald, a professor of economics at the University of Warwick, has a more poetic way of making the same point. Oswald is a pioneer of a field that might be called "happiness economics"--the study of the interplay between money and human satisfaction. His rigorous academic work confirms the advice that we hear in our churches and from our shrinks--the relentless pursuit of wealth may fill your bank account, but it will leave you empty as a human being. "The curse of humanity is that people feel compelled to look over their shoulders," Professor Warwick told my colleague Polly LaBarre a while back. "Happiness and self-esteem depend on rank and relative income. We are consumed by relativism. If your neighbor drives up in a new Lexus, and you're still driving the Toyota that you were perfectly satisfied with yesterday, you start to become dissatisfied." So don't use the financial crisis as an excuse to stop taking chances or downsize your ambitions. But do use the crisis as an opportunity to take stock of what really matters--and to stop looking over your shoulder.
*********************
As I read this, I thought about the church, especially the "seeker movement". About 3 decades ago, there was an "innovation" in a couple of people, who started new churches in a new way. These new churches proved effective at connecting people with God in real and profound ways. The "neighbors" looked across the street, wished that their churches were as big, and imitated what they saw. Then along come the "idiots" Buffett talked about.
And poof...unintended consequences. Is it possible that, as the "idiot" sector gets ahold of these innovations in the church that we experience a crisis of sorts? I see one impact...when the "idiots" take things too far, then the rest of the church looks at the whole movement and condemns it outright.
anyway...not as articulate as buffett...just got me thinking on a Saturday morning.
M@
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Bono on bailout...
H/T Julie Clawson via Reuters, September 25 (5 days ago)
As Congress debates a White House-proposed $700 billion bailout for the worst financial crisis since the Depression of the 1930s, Bono questioned why wealthy countries had not been able to come up with enough aid for the world’s problems.
“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger,” the U2 lead singer told Clinton’s fourth annual philanthropic summit in New York. “That’s mad, that is mad.” … “Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs,” Bono said, referring to the bankruptcy declared by Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. “But this is moral bankruptcy.”
* And the musician makes a good point...
what do you think?
M@
As Congress debates a White House-proposed $700 billion bailout for the worst financial crisis since the Depression of the 1930s, Bono questioned why wealthy countries had not been able to come up with enough aid for the world’s problems.
“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger,” the U2 lead singer told Clinton’s fourth annual philanthropic summit in New York. “That’s mad, that is mad.” … “Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs,” Bono said, referring to the bankruptcy declared by Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. “But this is moral bankruptcy.”
* And the musician makes a good point...
what do you think?
M@
Thursday, October 02, 2008
bosox
My BoSox are back in postseason baseball again! Repeating as champs should be a hard road through LA and Tampa...two teams they struggled to beat all season.
With the Cubs also in postseason, it's a fun time of year.
Went to Family Fusion last night (a great family event at my campus). During the music, my daughter, Libby, just grabbed my hand and started dancing with me in circles. Realizing she's been watching Cinderella a bit these days, I asked her if she was dancing like Cinderella. She just smiled and nodded her head.
My girl...truly a princess. I love being her daddy...
Had an amazing time up in the Dells this past weekend. F5 was given a gift of an overnight at a waterpark. amazing! The suite we stayed in was incredible - 2 rooms, kitchen, fireplace...the works. And 3 huge indoor water parks where we spent hours and hours running, swimming, sliding, and splashing. What a great time!
Thursday awaits...
M@
With the Cubs also in postseason, it's a fun time of year.
Went to Family Fusion last night (a great family event at my campus). During the music, my daughter, Libby, just grabbed my hand and started dancing with me in circles. Realizing she's been watching Cinderella a bit these days, I asked her if she was dancing like Cinderella. She just smiled and nodded her head.
My girl...truly a princess. I love being her daddy...
Had an amazing time up in the Dells this past weekend. F5 was given a gift of an overnight at a waterpark. amazing! The suite we stayed in was incredible - 2 rooms, kitchen, fireplace...the works. And 3 huge indoor water parks where we spent hours and hours running, swimming, sliding, and splashing. What a great time!
Thursday awaits...
M@
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