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 i...
KIND bars are growing on me, and actually the whole subject of actually being kind is too. About 15 years ago I was really wrong about something. I know, I know...you aren't surprised.
I invited a well known speaker to come and preach at one of our women's events and I was so anticipating what was going to take place at the meeting. I was expecting a Holy Ghost meltdown, and instead the speaker got up, quoted, "Be ye kind one to another" and gave more like a little "speech" or "talk" as they are so often called today. The whole speil was about how we needed to be kind to each other and let people in line in front of us at the grocery store and all that kind of stuff.
She brings this "talk" and then after a few minutes turns it back over to me to close in prayer.
"Seriously???!" was exactly what I was thinking.
"Are you seriously coming here after all I was anticipating, getting up here and telling my ladies we need to let people get in line in front of us in the grocery store and that's it?"
To say I was a little miffed is an understatement. I was kind to her, but inside I was a little frosted. One of my leaders asked me afterwards, "were you expecting something more, PD?" "Well, yeah, you could say that..." I responded.
My thought at the time was just, "this is so basic...everyone should know it already...why have I gone through all this time, trouble and expense to bring the speaker here to tell us this??"
Today my thought is completely different. This past weekend Lisa Bevere talked about this in one of her messages. I thought about how relevant this is for today. There is such a famine of kindness that we do need ministers to rise up and sound the call that we must, "be ye kind one to another." We've got to focus on telling people how important it is to shine the light by simple acts like letting people in line ahead of us, driving with courtesy, or helping someone purchase something they need and don't have the financial resources for. To me this has always been a no-brainer however I suddenly realized this past weekend during Lisa's message that over the past few years kindness has taken a major hit in our world. There is such a shortage of it there are actual books, churches and a whole movement that has spawned the "Random Acts of Kindness" or "Conspiracy of Kindness" ministries which I think are wonderful.
The real truth is that some of us will sponsor a child in Cambodia or we will go even go overseas ourselves on a mission. However, while doing those things we sometimes treat the people around us like crap. And many times we treat those in our household with more contempt than we do a cashier in a checkout line or the guy who cuts us off in traffic.
I realized this weekend that with the shape our world is in right now, we needed a "kind" message a long time ago. I myself should have been listening up years ago, instead of tuning out. A Holy Ghost meltdown occurs in people's hearts when we are kind. In fact it's the kindness that melts and softens their heart in the first place.
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