2012 Goals Update

How are you doing on your New Years' resolutions this year? I didn't make any; I've seldom been able to keep them anyway. I did set a few significant goals for the year though, and I am beginning to make progress towards accomplishing those.

One of my goals for the year is to read a number of books. I just finished "Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Christ" by Kyle Idleman. I strongly recommend it.

Perhaps the main reason I want to read more this year is that I want to learn more. There is so very much to learn and I know so little. As someone very interested in performance improvement, I want to learn so that I can improve my performance in many differnt areas. I also want to learn much more so that I can teach others. If I am not continually learning, I may soon find I have nothing worthwhile to teach others. At the very least, due to the rapid increase in information we are now all surrounded with, I will find my knowledge is soon out of date.

Another reason I want to read more this year is more selfish and can, if I am not careful, lead towards me being arrogant. I want to read more, and learn more, because I want to be a learned person. I also want others to consider me a learned person. I want to know many different things and I want people to consider me as someone who knows many different things. Now I don't think this is purely selfish, nor does it have to be arrogant. I want to know much, and be considered as someone who knows much, because I want to grow into a mentor, coach, and advisor to many people. This relates directly back to my interest in performance improvement. I not only want to improve my performance but I want to help others improve their performance. Ultimately, I want to do this at both a personal and organizational level.

Another goal I have this year is to write more. My writing these posts from time to time is one way I hope to continue that. Writing has several benefits. It helps me clarify and refine thoughts and ideas by putting them on paper, even if I am typing them out on this digital paper. It also provides one way for me to potentially teach others. At the very least it gives me a potential opportunity to positively impact other's performance. If anyone reads what I write, learns from it, and applies any of it so that it causes performance improvement in their lives, that will be a good thing. Me writing also gives me a chance to become known as someone who knows much.

This leads me to another lifetime goal, though not one I will likely reach this year. I want to become a sought after public speaker. This is once again so I have more opportunities to positively influence performance. If I read much I hope to therby learn much. If I write much I will better crystalize my learning. If people read what I write, they will perhaps learn from it. If enough people learn from what I write, someone may want me to speak about what I am writing, learning and reading. One key to all these things coming into place is a word I used in the third paragraph above - worthwhile. What I am learning, and what I want to teach others, must be seen by others as worthwhile. If people do not see it as worthwhile, from their point of view, I will have a more difficult time getting speaking opportunities.

I sincerely hope others will see this as worthwhile. It is to me.

Confession Time

I'm a football fan, but not really much of a fan. I'm watching some of the playoff games, but I'm not really too concerned who wins. Some fans go absolutely crazy about how their team's doing in a game or for the season. They know all the player's names, most of their stats, their complete history and many other details about the team. They watch every game, sometimes even traveling far to see them in person, and talk often to other fans about their team. In general, they revel in the associations they have with their team. I guess that never really has been who I've wanted to be. I'm somewhat sorry to admit it; nevertheless, it's just who I am, or in this case who I am not.

This does't make me any better, or any worse, than anyone else. Once again, it's just who I am and how it is with me. I'm finding out over the last few days that I don't want to be a fan of Christ either. I have very much been a fan in the past, but I just don't want to be that anymore. Although this may come as somewhat of a shock to at least some of you, it is nonetheless true.

Jesus had throngs of fans when He walked the Earth. They knew the works He had done and much about His history here on Earth. They gathered to listen to Him speak, sometimes traveling days just for the privilege. They talked about him often with their friends and some even reveled in their associations with Him. Jesus had a name for some of these people; He called them hypocrites.

According to Kyle Idleman in his book Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus, hypocrite is a Greek word used for actors in a play. Kyle wrote, "Often, a single actor would play several different characters, and for each character, the actor would use a different mask." They played a part in a play but did not live the role in reality. Kyle went on to write about the parts many fans play today. He then wrote that some, "have worn the mask for so long they have fooled even themselves."

At this point (assuming anyone is still reading this), some of you might say, "Yep. That's why I don't go to church. It's full of hypocrites." Well, in Greek theater hypocrites wore many different masks and acted many different roles. Hypocrites today also wear many different masks and act many different roles. This includes wearing the mask of success or the mask of happiness and acting like they have it all together when they really don't. This occurs both inside and outside church; it is pervasive in much of our everyday lives. This, for far too much of my life, is how I have lived.

I don't want to live this way anymore. I don't want to be a hypocrite. I no longer want to be a fan of Christ. Instead, I want to be "Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus".

Starting Again

As you can see in the "About this Work" block, I started this blog in 2009 to document a trip to India I was taking with three other people. The group was from Fellowship Church Southwest in Austin, Texas. We went to visit the Ward family - Jeff Ward, his wife Trish, and their daughter Victoria. In 2011, another group of people went to visit the Wards. Unfortunately, I was not able to go on that trip. Now, in 2012, yet another group is going; I am very happy to have the distinct privilege to go with the group again this year.

I will be using this blog once again to document the trip. I will be writing as often as seems fit before we go. I will write as often as I can while there. When we return, I will write at least a few posts as a way of closing out the trip. I will also post as many pictures as I can before, during, and after the trip. If a picture says a thousand words, posting one should be a way of helping me communicate well about our trip without having to labor as much over writing a post.

I hope many people will subscribe to this blog and regularly read my posts. I encourage you to subscribe now. As part of my effort, I will be sharing support needs for the trip. I hope to do this not only for me but for others going on the trip. Many of the support needs I write about will be prayer requests. Knowing you are praying for us will be a great encouragement as we progress through the trip.

If you read a post, please also comment about it or respond to other's comments. Knowing that you are reading and interacting with us will also be a tremendous boost. Thanks for joining us. I look forward to taking this journey together with you over the next several months.

Strategic Planning

Jeff and I finished the stategic plan online. We then printed it out and cut up each of the individual objectives. We were then able to more easily see how each of them fit together and within the overall plan. We edited the plan online to arrive at a final version. "Final" is a somewhat relative term though since this will likely be a living document; it will need updated as changes occur.

Worship Conference Participants

The Worship Training Conference we held last week had over 60 people in attendance. Here is a group photo the last day.

This Weekend

Friday afternoon I had the privilege of working with Jeff and his team. I presented an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) model to them. This will help them with much of the training they are involved with; it will also help them with planning and implementing many other objectives.

Saturday morning Jeff and I worked on his strategic plan. In the afternoon we drove out to a village in the middle of a tea plantation about an hour and 15 minutes away. We traveled with Rajesh Hans, a local church leader Jeff works with. Rajesh works with eight church planters sent out from his church. He also works with several other discipleship groups. We met with one of those groups on the tea plantation. It was a great blessing seeing someone present a Bible story to a group believers, even though I could not understand the language.

As an aside, we saw several monkeys sitting or walking beside the road. We also saw a lynx that jumped out in front of us while we were on the return journey. He decided to turn and exit the road quite quickly once he realized there were so many cars around.

Today, Jeff and I spent several hours working through his strategic plan. He now feels he has a good working plan.

Conference Completed

The conference was completed on Wednesday. We finished with a great worship session led by Jeff Moore. On Thursday we visited a local church where we helped them reposition their sound system and speakers. We then drove up into the Himalayan foothills for some sightseeing. It was simply stunning. The rest of the team left on Friday to return to the states. They are all back home by now. I am staying on for another six days with Jeff Ward. I will write more about that in another post.