ISCA Fall Retreat - ISCA Dance

Why I like ISCA's Fall retreat.

  • it was a great opportunity to have fellowship with others
  • we got to meet some new friends
  • the views were so energizing
  • the bonfire time was my favorite - I wasn't ready to leave
  • it was nice to get away and relax - I could have sat on the porch all day
  • my morning quiet time was wonderful - I watched the sunrise over the mountains while reading God's word. What a great way to begin the day
  • AND we got to see Josh's song:


Prayer and Organization

Prayer and Organization

I’ve been meeting with the President of ISCA this semester. We decided to read a book together on leadership but we also wanted it to be a Bible study, so we decided to read John White’s book: Excellence in Leadership. It is a book on leadership but it also follows closely the Biblical book of Nehemiah. One of the things that amazes me is that John White quotes me a lot!

Okay, truth be told, I read this book in the mid eighties when I was an emerging leader. As I read this book now, some 25 years later, I’m realizing how much this book influences the type of leader that I am. Now that is a sign of a good book, it lasts the test of time! I just looked, the book is still in print and you can buy it at Amazon or IV Press!

Excellence in Leadership: Reaching Goals With Prayer, Courage & Determination

Today we discussed the section titled “The Leader and Organization”.

One of the battles that I have fought over the years, often feeling like I’m calling out in the dessert, is the importance of beginning our planning in prayer. Instead of planning a lot of things, and letting the planning take up a lot of the meetings so that we end in a “quick prayer”, I've advocated that we start our meetings in Bible study and prayer and then let the planning squeeze in at the end. I apparently learned this in this book:

Nehemiah “illustrates a principle in godly planning – the principle of anticipating difficulties and bringing them in God’s presence beforehand. Prayer is where planning starts. Our first goal in prayer is not to get a steamhead of power but to find out what God wants. Planning that arises from and is the product of prayer is far superior to planning that is merely “backed by” prayer.” Pg 40

Prayer at the beginning of a committee meeting is of infinitely greater value than prayer at the end. If you allot ninety minutes to the meeting, let forty-five minutes be set aside for prayer. Prayer needs leisure. . . . The more time the committee spends in prayer, the less its members will need to spend in futile discussions and the more its discussion will count for the kingdom.” Pg 41

The plan that is God’s plan, revealed by him to those who wait on him, is a plan that cannot fail. . . If the plan is not of God in the first place, no amount of prayer will make it count for eternity.” Pg 40

I think it’s time to pray.

David and Goliath the musical?

I'm teaching on King David in a few weeks and I was trying to find a video on Youtube. I found the one I wanted but I also found this fun musical. They do a great job on one of my favorite songs from High School days. Check it out: Bethlehemian Rhapsody


His Master's Voice


His Master’s Voice – Brief reflections on 1 Samuel 3

There is a famous painting that become an iconic trademark for the music recording industry. It portrays a dog curiously looking into the “trumpet” of an old phonograph. The photo is called “His Master’s Voice”. The original name was “His Late Master’s voice”. The painting is actually based on a true story. After the dog’s master died someone was playing a recording of the master speaking on a recording. The dog walked up to the “trumpet” and looked curiously, recognizing “His Master’s voice.

This is the issue for Samuel in 1 Samuel 3. Samuel has been “ministering before the LORD under Eli.” (Verse 1) But he did not yet “know the LORD” (Verse 7). In 1 Samuel 3 Samuel is “lying down” when 4 times he hears his name called out. The first three times we ran to Eli, the priest whom Samuel was under. Eli sent him back to bed having not called him. On the third time Eli realized that something was happening and told Samuel that the LORD was calling him and the next time it happens to reply “Yes Lord your servant is listening”.

Samuel obeyed Eli and the LORD did indeed call Samuel’s name and Samuel responded “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Samuel then had his first encounter with the LORD. And what an encounter he has. I’ll leave it to you to read the passage (1 Samuel 3:11-21) but there are a couple observations I’d like to share from the first half of 1 Samuel 3:

  1. Know your master’s voice. Samuel hadn’t spent time with God, even though he was busy ministering before Him. This passage screams at us to spend time with God – read your Bible and know the God who reveals Himself to us. The Bible is God’s revealed word – we learn so much about Him in his word. Study it, meditate on it, memorize it. You will know God much better then and will be more able to hear His voice.
  2. Pray without ceasing. In prayer we have conversation with God. We know His voice when we take time to pray. HE invites us to pray! HE delights to answer our prayers. And during your prayers, try to take time to take a breath and stop talking – listen. Is God calling you?

  • For influencers: Are you keeping your leaders and disciples so busy that they are ministering before the Lord but they have had no time to “know God”? Do you take time out in your leading and discipling to help your disciples to pause and listen to God? Do you study the Bible together? Are you helping people hear God’s voice – or are you keeping people so busy that they can’t hear His voice?

Gideon - small to smaller

Gideon

Last night at our ISCA meeting Josh Skinner taught on the person of Gideon (Judges 6-9). Josh did a great job, complete with “circles drawn to scale”, showing us how Gideon started with 32,000 men to face an army of 120,000 so God had him release 22,000 men to get the army down to 10,000 (Judges 7:1-3). That was still too many men, for God wanted Israel to know for sure that it is by God’s strength that the battle is won. So God used another method of sorting the men and got the “army” down to 300. (see how Judges 7:4-8).

In josh’s drawings we started with a small green circle (the 32,000 men) going against a large circle (the 120,000 Midianites). Then he reduced to the 10,000 men, which looked like a slice of pie going against the big circle. Finally he reduced to 300 – a sliver of that original circle going against the big circle. God wanted that army so small so the people would know that it was God fighting for them so they wouldn’t boast.

It really struck me listening to Josh. God likes to reduce things. Gideon was already the of the “weakest clan in Manasseh and the least in my family”. He started with an Army that was logically too small, 32,000 ageist 120,000+. But God wanted to be smaller.

This all reminds me of the parable of the Mustard seed in Mark 4:30-34. The smallest seed becomes the largest plant – that even the birds can benefit from. At the time the crowds that were following Jesus was starting to thin out and Jesus began focusing on his 12 disciples and the others that were around them. (read the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-20) Jesus was going to train and prepare his faithful few because from this small seed he was going to grow the largest plant.

Great questions to ask: Are you part of the masses? Or are you a part of that small seed that God will use?

What do you need to do to become part of the inside circle, the small seed?

Infinity

I've been thinking about infinity a lot lately. Which reminds me of this quote from my reading material in my college days:

It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.” The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy - Adams