F.I.T. Friday Focus: Social Stewardship

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common.”- Acts 2:44 (ESV)

Social stewardship was a core value of the early church.  It is demonstrated on how they cared for the needs of one another.  The biblical depiction of this act of selfless generosity and compassion is direct response to the teachings of the disciples to the early church in its infancy.

This common good was enough for the Levite named Joses who was also known as Barnabas.  He was struck by the demonstration of faith by others and he himself served as an example of faith by selling his possessions and share them with his fellow believers so that no one lacked any necessity.

The goal was to meet each other’s needs in the early church of the first century.  They demonstrated and displayed their faith by extending themselves to others in order to do good.

Key question: How do we demonstrate or display our faith today? Is it just among ourselves? Or, does the whole world witness it?

 

FRIDAY FREEBIE LINK BELOW:  

Social stewardship allows God’s people to have “all things in common” and it also allows for the believer to be more like Christ.

Social Stewardship TIP SHEET

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Grab Your Audiences Attention from the Beginning

We all have heard it before, but it needs to be said again.  It requires repeating.  It must be reiterated.

In the words of Rachel Blom,”Make your point and get out.” It’s just about that simple.  Get your audience’s attention and keep hold of it like a precious jewel.

Whether you preach or present, you want to grab your audience’s attention from the beginning. No matter who you are speaking before, you need to speak with such a command and confidence that you win the audience over with your opening. You will need more than the bells and whistles of PowerPoint slides and audio-visual gadgets to get their attention. They need to hear from you in order to listen to what you have to say to them.

Look at Classic Literature.  Opening lines stick to our memories like glue.  I love Charles Dickens’ poetic phrasings that begin his classic story A Tale of Two Cities, stating: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Or, perhaps, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick was more to your liking with what Wikipedia calls “one of the most recognizable opening lines in Western literature”: “Call me Ismael.”

Think Comedy.  Some of the greatest stand-up comics can take the stage and win the crowd over with a whirlwind of comedic routines from impersonations to improvisation.  They do so by reading the crowd.  I used to watch “A Night at the Improv”  back in the early ’90s.  The best comedians got a feel for the crowd and worked the crowd with a constant barrage of comedic flair.

Make a Connection.  Know who you are standing before as a speaker or presenter.  Make a connection with them.  I recall a television evangelist speaking of a blunder he made when speaking to a group of prison inmates by stating that he wanted to start by thanking them for being there.  Make a connection by having some idea of who is in audience and why they might be there.

Use a Conceptual Approach.  Incorporate concepts like engineering or gardening.  These convey mental images that can help the audience wrap their brains around the conceptual theme of your sermon or presentation.  Use a conceptual approach and work in imagery through clip art and photographs that can reinforce the theme of your speech.

Offer a Challenge.  Challenge your audience to pay attention to what you have to say.  Offer a challenge for the audience to open their minds to new concepts and ideas.  Allow the audience to rethink the status quo and challenge its validity.  That will start them to thinking and keep them thinking throughout the time that you speak and present.

Use these to grab your audience’s attention and win them over throughout your speaking.  They may also be incorporated in teaching and training.  Take them on one by one.  Try them out and make them work for you.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Power up Your Presentations

With modern technological advances, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations have become the norm of trainings and conferences.  It is almost a given that someone will pop in their flash drive and fire up a multi-slide presentation for the audience to sit through.  Some people even add the bells and whistles where the text scrolls up into view or fades in and out with music playing in the background or videos embedded here and there.

After a certain amount of time, that all becomes passe.

Power up your presentations with what really matters.  Offer some compelling and interesting content. 

• Start with Stats: Use some statistical data that sheds light on your subject. 
• Use Quotes from Famous People: Add some quotations from famous people who speak on the subject. Try http://www.quickinspirations.com/ or http://www.brainyquote.com/ for quote subjects.
• Add Interesting Inserts: Include video interviews or podcast clips that speak directly to your presentation’s main topic.  Check out videos on YouTube or http://www.ustream.tv/ or podcasts on iTunes.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Online Extensions for Your Ministry

You are in ministry.  You might be the pastor or a ministry leader.  You are responsible for the ministry’s or the church’s success.  Well, we can say at least to some degree.  We all know that Lord is the head of the church.  You know what I mean.

I believe in utilizing a variety of sources to keep Life Path Ministries & Services afloat.  Surely, I do not shun donations from supporters and friends, but I cannot rely solely on such support when hard times hit people all around America.  I have to spread out and seek other forms of support, especially online.

Here’s a short list of what you can do to spread out online:

• Sell, Sell, and Sell Some More: One of my earliest online ventures was to add a merchandising storefront on Zazzle.  I love it.  One of my most successful items has been the I Love My Neighbor t-shirt.  We used this for our Love Your Neighbor Campaign as part of Operation Reach Out.  It’ll be back again this year.  Maybe we’ll do tie dye.  You can sell all sorts of goods.  Got volunteers? Drive them (and direct them) to your storefront’s link via Facebook, Twitter and other online communities and communications, even your website.
• Start Publishing: It’s a gem.  I love writing and I really love writing about ministry, especially writing about evangelism.  I write and publish books on ministry, offering them to audiences online and in print.  How? I use Lulu.  Yep.  I said: Lulu.  On Lulu, I have a storefront for e-Books and print-on-demand books.  Frustrated with some materials that only catered to churches that afford and only dream of affording various software and systems to manage everything from accounting to just plain membership, I wrote “When the Laborers are Few.” This free downloadable e-Book has been downloaded by people in all sorts of ministries.  Missionaries, evangelists and prayer warriors, even a new pastor, have downloaded this e-Book and commented on how it opened their eyes to new ways to operating their church or their ministry.  Start publishing and start sharing.
• Look at Other Models: Anyone who knows me in ministry will eventually hear me mention Life Church.  I read about this church in Outreach Magazine a few years ago and got excited.  They do multi-site church like I don’t know what.  I love the whole concept.  Their tech guys are constantly whipping out something new.  You have to visit their site or YouVersion.  How often do bloggers- who scramble and scrounge everywhere for subscribers- compliment and tell readers to go to someone else’s blog? Well, I say check out Life Church’s Swerve blog.  You’ll get hooked and get hooked up, and I don’t get any glory for it.  I just think that it will help you in extending your ministry online.  It is worth a look.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Coin a Phrase

“To be or not to be…”

“Beware of the Ides of March…”

“Something is afoul in Denmark…”

“Et tu, Brute?…”

Hamlet .  Julius Caesar.   Shakespeare wrote all of these words. They are contained within his plays and have echoed on stage and in classrooms for years.
 

We can say that we don’t put much stock in what others have to say, but our own actions dispel that notion. Attend any seminar throughout the nation, listen to any speech on the radio or TV, or read any editorial in your local newspaper and you will see that many of these same people use quotes from others to drive home their point. The quotes may serve as accent points to highlight the theme and meaning of the author’s point.

Test the theory. Visit quotations page on the Web to see quotes available by subject or topic. See how you may be able to use quotes and add some color to your presentations and reports. Include some background information that helps shed light on the quote’s connection to your topic or theme.

These words seem like something good to share to break the ice and open a speech:

• How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.

• Inactivity is death.
• I find capitalism repugnant.

Be sure to study up the author of the quote. You do not want to quote someone who was totally opposed to government and bureaucracy when you go to endorse a political candidate. Inform yourself with as much information as possible related to the author and the context of your quote.
Why?

The quotes above come from: Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Fidel Castro. It does matter where you get your material from.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Finding a Connection

I met a girl a couple of weeks ago. She gonna tell me, “If you want to get acquainted with me and my son, you’ll have to take him to Disneyland.”

I went to pick her up the next day and here she got four more kids. I said, “Who kids are them?”
She said, “Them Bebe’s Kids.”
–Robin Harris
 
Presenters and trainers have to have a knack for knowing how to connect with other people.  You need to make a connection with people in the audience when you present. 
 

Do it like a comedian works with the crowd at a show duirng a stand up comedy routine.  Take notice of someone’s dress.  Remark on someone’s upside down smile.  Crack a joke to break the ice.  Make a connection like a Lenny Bruce, Robin Harris, Bernie Mac or Chris Rock, even Howie Mandel.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Makeover for Mondays

Got a case of the Mondays?  Much like the lead character played by Ron Livingston in Office Space, you may find yourself in such a predicament.  You may dread getting ready and going in to work.  That may be your issue with Mondays.

Change that malfunction into a makeover.  Approach Mondays with a new freshness.  Try some things that may get you going on Mondays.

• Schedule your catch-up time at the end of the day Monday (after lunch may be best).
• “Monitor of Motivation”: Adjust your screen saver and the settings to where an inspirational or motivational message scrolls across the screen when you come in on Mondays. Be sure to change it every Friday.
• Schedule a special lunch (with your wife, old buddy from high school or a retired mentor).  Get out of the office and strike up a conversation about anything but work
• Sunday Set-Up: Set your mind on work some time Sunday evening- maybe right after 60 Minutes.  Get your first orders of business together for the next day.  See if it helps .

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Daily Dabble

“To have a great day every day it helps to think great thoughts and to concentrate on at least one every day.”

–
Norman Vincent Peale

Daily you may find yourself bombarded with schedules and meetings.  Stop for an instance prior to 2011 and start prioritizing going beyond the norm.  Make an effort to approach each day with a new expedition to undertaken.  Seek to dive into today with dabbling.

Yes, I said dabbling.  Dabble in some of this and some of that, but dabble daily.  Set aside some part of the day to dabble into something new.  Learn Spanish.  Take up salsa or flamenco dancing.  Read biographies and autobiographies about famous business titans and politicians.  Start a new hobby.  Make your long-time hobby into a part-time business.  Make your daily dabbling deliberate.  Don’t get willy-nilly with it.  Plan it out with a month-by-month or week-by-week Day Planner.  Dabble in new things daily and see how much you grow from the experience.  Review each month’s activities and discover your daily dabble’s rewards.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Fundraiser Event Formula

“I am aware that only God knows the total plan and that I am part of it.” – Laurie Beth Jones, Jesus CEO



You need a formula for your special events, especially when they are used to raise funds.  Much like the Lord has a divine plan, you need to have a plan for your special events and fundraisers.

I always like to say that it is only special because of the special effort that you put into it to put it on and pull it off.  So, with that being said, you have to put something special into it for others to get something special out of it.

• Special Attention: Red carpets, paparazzi galore, and loads upon loads of glitter should be on the agenda for gala bashes.  Disposable cameras or digital prints with sizzling frames printed on the scene for guests.  Guest books are great, too! If it’s an arts fundraiser event, have your guests leave their handprints in “cement” (use clay) like the Hollywood walk of fame and scrawl their John Hancock to be displayed in this week’s society section.  Jazz it up as much as you can without going over budget.
• Special Attractions:  Yes, it sounds corny, but the real deal is the real deal.  People will flock to the dunking booth if the principal is on that plank.  How about the youth minister or the senior pastor? Got talent? How about the librarian who dresses like Lady Gaga or the softball coach who plays a mean violin– or, is that a fiddle? Either way, get people to attend your event by what you have to offer.  Try to find local talent.  Get in touch with local promoters and producers, club owners and talent agencies.  You never know what treasure is buried in your own backyard until you start digging around.
• Special Appearances: Is there a local celebrity who may grace your event? How about the mayor as the fry cook for your Friday night fish fry? Could you get that ex-football player to talk to dads in the community about the importance of fathers and male role models for young boys? What about that Negro League player? Is there a famous professor who won the Nobel Prize or Pulitzer at the local university or college? Check out who lives in your town or area, even those born there.  There are those who love to visit certain areas who may be inclined to show their faces at such an event if you can get close enough to their people who will call your people, and then you all can do lunch and see what works.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Excuses or Excellence

 

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”  ~Benjamin Franklin

Exceed expectations. Are you getting any closer to excellence?  Merely meeting expectations is a minimum.  When you exceed those same expectations, you start to enter into excellence.  We are to offer God our best every step of the way.  Excuses do not excuse us from the expectations of our Eternal Father.

We have to go further than we have ever gone before.  We have to take actions that will lead to exploring new territory.  Excuses are just excuses.  They do not excuse us from His expectations.  They can hinder us from doing His will or walking by faith.  They can harm progress in our spiritual maturity.  They may not even help us at all.  We have to see what excuses really do for us.  They offer nothing but trouble because they lead to procrastination, problems and poor performance or pitiful productivity.  That’s what comes forth out of excuses.

Let excellence serve as your trademark.  Lead by example.  Let excuses go.  Let others see the distinct qualities that set you apart from the crowd.  Demonstrate that you are not simply going with the flow.  In fact, if you live for Him, it may even cause you to go against the grain at times.  You begin to discover that God has put more in you than you think, but you won’t discover it until you have been put to the test.  When the tests, trials and troubles come your way, it won’t be time for excuses.  That will be the time you set your heart on excelling beyond expectations.  At that point, you become David facing a giant called Goliath.  Right then, you become Moses standing before a raging Red Sea.  In the midst of  it, you stand out like Paul, writing as a concerned parent to his dear children, addressing believers in Rome with an assurance that every Christian is more than a conqueror.  We overcome with overwhelming strength supplied by the Supreme God, God Almighty.

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