Give Hope

Give Hope

I think given the choice between doing something that you are passionate about and something that gives others hope, you (and the world) would be better served choosing the latter.

The conventional wisdom of career advisers, management scientists and entrepreneurs says that if you want to be happy and engaged in your life’s work you should focus on things that you are deeply passionate about.

That by focusing on your passions, you will bring a level of energy and commitment to your work that will lead to both enjoyment and long-term success.

While I don’t disagree with this, I believe encouraging myopic pursuit of one’s passions fuels self-important self-supremacy.

In doing so we are training up generations to think that “following your dreams” is...

Putting it all into perspective

Putting it all into perspective

… now get back to...

Speaking at the 2010 Christian Leadership Alliance conference

Next week (April 19-21), I’ll be in San Diego for the 2010 Christian Leadership Alliance conference.

The Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) is the nation’s leading resource for enhancing the organizational effectiveness of churches and para-church ministries. As part of this year’s conference, the CLA partnered with Monk Development to create the Ministry Internet & Technology Summit to ministry technology leaders and leading thinkers together to address critical technology issues and prepare for the future.

Kingdom Conversations – Keith Duff, Shepherding Pastor, Village Bible Church

I just got off the phone with Keith Duff who is the Shepherding Pastor at Village Bible Church (http://www.villagebible.org/) in Sugar Grove, IL. I asked Keith what his top priority for the church is this year.

He said that the main thing they are trying to figure out is “How do we mover our people to be passionate about the kingdom of God?” Not just who they are as individuals in Christ but about getting involved in what the church is doing as a whole.

Within that Keith sees a number of things they as church leaders could be doing better: helping people to understand their own gifts and how they could be used; communicating about existing ministry opportunities; identifying and going after new ministry opportunities.

To...

Compounding

Compounding

Anyone who has ever taken an economics class or attended a Dave Ramsey seminar will tell you that compounding is an extremely powerful tool for multiplying the value of your efforts. Very simply, compounding is the cumulative effect of taking the outcome of your effort and reinvesting it back in as input. The result is the yield of your effort creates its own yield, which in turn creates its own yield… the cycle builds upon itself ad infinitum. Cool, right?

But like all strategic tools, the compounding phenomenon can work both to the benefit and detriment of your organization. A lesson that most companies (and people) learn the hard way.

A quick analogy.

Right now, there is infection in five of my toes. I’ll...

Is one day really enough?

Full text of the speech after the jump…

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 3)

The following is another excerpt from the BAM Survey 2007 Report. The BAM Survey 2007 Report is an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries. You can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99 here.

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 3)

Business as Ministry

It is clear from the survey results that the belief that missions/ministry work can be done in the business context is widely accepted (Exhibit 4). In fact, as many survey respondents believe that Business as Mission is beneficial to the kingdom as...

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 2)

This is the third installment sharing highlights from the BAM Survey 2007 Report. Today we take a closer look at the global leaders of the Business as Mission movement and the beliefs that drive their efforts in spreading the Gospel through global business entrepreneurship.

The BAM Survey 2007 Report is an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries. You can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99 here.

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 2)

Embracing the Priesthood of Believers

Our research...

Kingdom Strategist looks back at 2009

I haven’t fully gotten into the blogging groove yet. I’ve been at it for just over a year now but I’m only recently starting to feel like I’m picking up momentum. But I enjoy blogging and I’m especially enjoying all the new people I’ve met and interacted with this year. I know that my blog doesn’t have much to do with these relationships forming but it’s part of it none the less. Well someone forgot to send me the memo letting me know that bloggers have to do two things at the end of the year.

Write a really awesome retrospective post. Write a post highlighting your top content from the past year.

Check and check.

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 1)

We’re continuing with sharing excerpts from my BAM Survey 2007 Report, an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries. You can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99 here.

Today we look at the demographics of the survey respondents in order to get an better idea of who makes up the global Business as Mission movement.

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 1)

For the first time, the survey results enable us to describe the community of BAM leaders that has formed around the core elements that define Business as Mission (Exhibit 2). Of survey respondents that rated their understanding of Business as Mission...