Movements Everywhere

I have found and subscribed to several blogs recently by Campus Crusade staff with their thoughts on how to see movements everywhere become a reality in the Campus ministry.

• Shane Deike's Movements Everywhere Rant


• Leadership for Movements Everywhere by Rich Swanson


• On Movement done by several contributors.

Last week, I helped my former team leader Gilbert Kingsley set up a blog for his coaching tips. In his own words, "Coaching Tips are intended to help our staff be more effective in helping to launch and resource new ministries on other campuses and within other communities on campuses with existing ministries."

Priorities and Planning

A colleague gave me some very good advice last week. She said that I needed to be more disciplined and plan out my week with all the different projects I am involved in. Otherwise I will not get anything done. Even that day I saw that prediction be true. I recognize one of my weaknesses and an area I need to grow in as a leader is discipline and planning.

Here is some good perspective that I came across through another colleague's' blog.

Remembering Hungary

Chain Bridge and Matthias Church
Originally uploaded by Jeff Bridgforth.

This is one of the many photos I took this summer in Hungary. God provided a really nice day for me to take some pictures in Budapest.

God's Glory

I have been thinking about God's glory a lot this week. I am reading a book, Revolution Within and I listened to a message by John Piper on Tuesday. I have read several of Piper's book and God's glory is his biggest theme. I have been thinking about Piper as I have read this other book.

Both the book and the message have really impacted me this week about living for God's glory as being the central motivating factor in my life. I liked that Revolution Within had some very practical insights that helped me to think about what focusing first on God's glory would look like in my marriage, my work, my parenting and my responses to the difficult and challenging things in life. It is hard to describe how this is impacting me but I feel like it is really penetrating my heart and will lead to life change.

Revolution Within - Approaches to Spiritual Lives

I am currently reading Dwight Edward's book, Revolution Within. Dwight is a descendent of Jonathan Edwards. We did a Bible study this summer in Hungary based on this book.

This week, I was reading in chapter 3. He talked about focusing on God's glory as the main motivation in our lives. It was a very practical chapter. Dwight says that there are 2 ways to approach our spiritual lives. The first is to live for God so we can fully exploit His blessings. The second approach is to live for God so we can fully reveal His name. I liked the way Edwards describes the differences in these approaches. The first asks, "what must I do to gain God's blessing?" The second asks, "what can I do to better reflect God's glory?"

I pray that God changes me so that I approach my spiritual life with a focus on His glory. I am just beginning to see how this approach would bring a different perspective in response to things like suffering.

It's About Time Amazon

When I am interested in a book, I will usually add that book to my Wishlist at Amazon.com. Then when I am ready to buy the book, I go to my wishlist and add it to my cart and purchase it. In the past, I have thought it would be really nice if once I purchased the item, it would automatically be removed from my wishlist. But reality was that I had to do it manually.

Last week when I purchased some books, I went back to my wishlist to delete them and noticed that Amazon had automatically done it for me. I was so excited.

This is an issue of useability and to me it only made sense that once I purchased something from my Wishlist, that item would be removed. I am glad that Amazon finally made that a reality.

What is the value of knowledge if not combined with faith?

Yesterday, my pastor preached from Hebrew 4. At one point, he talked about needing to act when we hear God's voice and he went to verse 2 of Hebrews 4:

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

I thought about something I had seen last week on TV. I watched the end of a program that was a tribute to Peter Jennings. One of the things that they highlighted was his curiosity about the historical Jesus. He had suggested having a religious editor several years ago and done several specials centering about Jesus. It seemed that Peter Jennings had a lot of knowledge about Jesus, but sadly it does not seem that he ever combined his knowledge with faith. I came to that conclusion based on a comment that one of his friends made. It is sad to think that Peter was close but it really means nothing apart from faith.

I think this really struck me now because of my experiences in Hungary this summer. It was so good to be back in a situation where I observed students hearing the gospel and then challenged to make a decision on what they were going to do with Jesus. There were many who decided to act on what they heard and asked Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. Others were still in the process and then there were others that just rejected the offer.

As I thought about it this summer, the most important question any human being must answer is "Who is Jesus?" and "What am I going to do in response to Him?"

Humility

I finished reading a good article this morning in the latest issue of Discipleship Journal. The article is entitled "Downward Mobility" by Gary Thomas. Gary is one of my favorite authors. I always find his thoughts challenging and wise. A lot of his writings are influenced by the Christian classics.

In the article, Gary mentioned that humility is not such much something that we become as it is something we practice. His gives several practical ways that we can practice humility in our own lives. I always appreciate the stories he shares from his own life that help illustrate his points. I was challenged as I read this article and used it to launch into a time of prayer asking for God's help to produce the fruit of humility in my life and relationships.

Back in the Saddle Again

I just returned home from Hungary last Thursday. My family and I spent 7 weeks there as part of a Campus Crusade for Christ summer mission project. We also spent a couple of weeks enjoying the capital of Budapest and taking a trip to Debrecen, Hungary. My wife and I lived there for a year as we worked with university students there.

I am looking forward to getting back to work here in the office. I have several major projects to pick back up. But I have been hesitant to engage as I am still trying to adjust to the time difference and re-entering my home culture. So far it has not been too weird. I was a bit freaked out about how much gas prices have gone up since we left in June.

I am looking forward to posting many of the pictures that I took. It is a daunting task to sort through them all and come up with a few that best tell the story of the summer or just to pick out my favorite shots.