Skip to main content

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve

Great day with God's people...



Today was a FULL day, being with God's people and totally enjoying it!

Fantastic morning at Northside...God was in the house, and we had our game on today too. The choir did a phenomenal job - I was so proud of them. Wowza! Larry preached on momentum. Good stuff. We've got it going on right now...

After church we went out with a few families and enjoyed lunch at Hungry Harry's BBQ which is one of our favorite BBQ places. For those who don't live in Florida one thing you need to know about Florida is that it's known for it's BBQ. Did you know that the cattle/beef industry is bigger in Florida than in Texas? I never knew that before I moved here and was shocked to discover that! We've got some phenomenal BBQ here and Hungry Harry's is one of the local best. I love their pulled pork with sweet BBQ sauce, potato salad and baked beans and corn bread. Mmmm.....

We went to lunch with the Stewarts, Garlands and Mackleys and took over a whole section of the place. (And my boys weren't even with us today - they went to make a movie over at Stephen's, some project they are doing for youth...) But there were still 16 of us descending upon Harry's for lunch. I've included some pics here that Savanna took. In case your wondering, yes she did indeed even take the pic of herself and Britney, above. She's my little photographer and does such a great job taking pics for me whenever I ask.


I always have such a good time spending time with people after church at lunch I never want to leave! But I always have something on Sunday night to get ready for. Larry and I enjoy spending lunch time with some of our people whether we go out or have them to our home. Sunday is just a day to worship and also to invest, invest, and invest some more in the lives of people. Every moment we get to spend with them is precious.

After lunch I had to head home to get our leadership meeting stuff underway... (preparing more food...seems like that's all we Christians do at times is eat, eat, eat. Hence my passion for weight watchers and working out, as well...)

Tonight for leadership meeting I made my famous seafood bisque and chicken salad sandwiches, along with hot fresh cookies out of the oven. I made a big pot of the bisque and it was almost totally devoured. It was definitely a hit!

After we ate together as we normally do to begin our meetings, Larry and I gathered everyone in the family room and we pulled up our chairs, me sitting in my rocker as usual. We just talk to our team about what's on our heart. Sometimes it's more of a chat, sometimes more of a teaching. We talked with our team about momentum and where we're headed from here and just debriefed from the last month and shared time together. Larry and I are firm in always "processing relationship before task!" How some pastors can try to lead people and have absolutely no relationship with them always boggles my mind a bit.

Our leaders were so excited about what God is doing in the church. Things that were buzzwords of the night:

Opportunity - NOT obstacle!


Don't limit God!


Increase! Increase! Increase!


What is gained through intercession must be maintained through intercession...


and much more. Of course, we also ended with a powerful time of prayer.

We always have a pile of our kids at our house (leadership meeting or not) and tonight was no exception. Kirstie took some pictures during the meeting for me. I thought I'd include some here.

It was a great Sunday and now I'm ready for a good night's sleep.

Can't get the choir song out of my head...

It's in Jesus...all in Jesus...
It's in Jesus, He's the one...

Rock of Salvation, a
firm foundation
it's in Jesus He's the one...


Goonight Jesus...


Good night everyone...
Love you...

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's been a while, but I'm glad I stopped by :0) I noticed your going to Kenya in 2009! I hope that someday my hubby will get to take me back to his "home"! I can't believe the horrible things that are happening over there right now!

Popular posts from this blog

Some people will never understand this...

And that's okay. Just let us be as we lavish love upon the fur-kids of the world. It doesn't mean we don't care about people. We do care. In fact most of the people I know who are great pet lovers are also the greatest philanthropists. If you're not a dog lover, you might not understand the overwhelming intensity that many of us felt about Tank's reunion this past week. You might think we've lost our marbles. That's okay, we think you've lost your heart. ;)  Before I go on with this post, let me say that we were delighted that CBS 10 posted the video and article about Tank and his Celebration Church reunion yesterday. Click here to watch it. (But then come back!) If you haven't realized it, there is a revolution in America about dogs. Dogs have always been loved and known as the most loyal companions ~ "man's best friend". But things have gone way beyond this. Dogs aren't just dogs or friends anymore. They are family me

Fifty Shades of No Way

This weekend, the Fifty Shades of Grey movie will be released and millions of women are expected to flock to the theat er s.  I will not be one of those women.   As a leader of women , some have asked me about this movie. The following is my thoughtful response. Fifty Shades of Grey has topped best-seller lists around the world. The book series has sold over 100 million copies worldwide, and been translated into 52 languages. It set the record as the fastest-selling paperback of all time.   Is Fifty Shades of Grey just a harmless book or movie? Although n o one seems to be debating this fact, let’s first establish that it’s pornography.  And not just porn, but a genre that is even more dangerous for women. The book glorifies a female character that is controlled and abused by her partner.   Who is excited about this book and mov ie? Hmmmm….you might be surprised. Many women and girls in our churches have read it. Sadly, I am even aware of

Relevant Church doing something...

incredibly RELEVANT!

I just heard some news today that really inspired me. A church here in Tampa, Relevant Church is doing a new thing this month called the "30 Days Sex Challenge." (I've never visited the church but Pastor Trinity - our children's pastor - has visited or has met some people from this church and he was very impressed.) Realizing that this is a major element missing from some marriages (the frequency factor) their lead pastor, Paul Wirth, has issued a challenge for all the married couples to have sex for 30 days in a row. At the same time he has issued a challenge for all unmarrieds to completely abstain from sex. Of course we know the Bible says that those who are unmarried should not have sex in the first place but the point is, a lot of unmarried's aren't obeying the Lord's command to abstain and this is just one pastor's way of trying to get them to see that indeed, there is a better way! (God's way!) At the same time, many married couples are not