I keep wondering if there was something else that I intended to share with you about my list/organization system. For those that have been reading those posts, do you have any further questions? Anything more that you were hoping I would share? Click on the "responses" button below and I would be happy to hear from you. If not, I will leave well enough alone. :-)
From the guy who has to make sure things are completed,
--Noah
I am so proud of our friends Matt and Sioux-z Gary. They are driven, committed and inspiring in their desire for fitness and health. Their lives have been committed to it. A dream came true for them today. They opened their own business just minutes from their (new) home in Rockville. It is called Supreme Sports Performance and Training. You can click here to see their site (designed by another friend in our church, Adolph Key).
It was the last week of 2004 when I met the Gary's in the lobby of the church as they were seeking a place to get married in. They found that. They also found a church community that they have dedicated themselves to in a BIG way. They are in our Small Group. They are very special to Tricia and I, and we are totally proud of them tonight!
"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52
Here is a very simple review/recap of my message yesterday.
How does a CCF Partner commit to this ministry?
Answer: Embraces and lives the vision by
We believe that EntryPoint will be the main catalyst to move people through these steps, but there will be other catalysts too. We also believe that these above commitments will lead people into faithfulness in many areas of life including a financial commitment to this ministry. As I said Sunday...at CCF, we encourage people to give regularly and sacrificially. That may look different for each of us.
So excited about the people that God is already sending our way so that we can partner in ministry!
Last night, we got to hang out with Barak. Okanya that is. Davis and he are just a few weeks apart and are great friends. We were glad to have him for the evening. I count it a great joy to know that my Associate Pastor is also my friend! In fact, I feel like I am friends with every member of the team I am privileged to work with. What a blessing!
Well, I wanted to share this picture of Grammy (my Mom) reading to Davis and Barak last night. Precious!
This morning, we renamed membership! Instead of joining into membership at CCF...starting today, we invite people into partnership.
Why not membership?
Why partnership?
If you are local, we hope you will partner with us in this ministry! If you are out of state, we hope that you will partner with us in prayer!
"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:3-6
Yesterday we learned that we had no signal to the projector hanging from the ceiling in our Worship Center. No matter how hard our guys tried (8 hours yesterday), they could not get it working. We think it may be a cable issue or something. Buying a new one is not in the plan. Why? Because our Director of Worship (my Brother, Caleb) informed me this week that those suckers are like $10,000-$80,000. Whoa!! Well, since we had no media today, we printed the lyrics to the songs and laid them on the seats in the Worship Center.
Not convinced whether there is a connection or not, but here is what I noticed:
Couldn't help but wonder if it was a nice needed change of atmosphere. Couldn't help but wonder if it was a part of God's plan for us today. Maybe some of us stare at the screen for words we already know. I wonder what would happen if we put our eyes on the screen less and put our eyes on Jesus more?
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Hebrews 12:2a
After not blogging since Thursday, I post this. It don't take much to amuse me, huh? I got this email tonight and it fascinated me. I laughed pretty hard and it kind of creeped me out, actually. Not sure why, but, hey...check it out.
Can you read this?
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeilng was ipmorantt!
You never know what you will find on this blog.
Picking up on my recent daily posts about being a list person...let me address what I have began to affectionately call the "talking calendar." I know that this title errs on the cheesy side, but it makes my point.
I said in my post yesterday that the thrust of my organizational system is based on the conversation that exists between my task list and my calendar. Hence, the talking calendar. Or, I guess we could say, the talking task list as well.
Let me explain.
In short: I need "to-do" things to be prepared for what is approaching in my calendar. And I need to-schedule the things in my task list that I need to-do. If I am missing one or the other, something is going to crumble.
As a result, over the last 10 years, I have made a daily habit of ensuring that my calendar and task list communicate.
My calendar says things to my task list such as:
My Task list says things to my calendar such as:
Look, if it is going to get done, it probably needs to be scheduled. And if it's on the schedule I need to-do what I need to-do to get ready for it!
Sooo...the calendar and task list talk back and forth at each other, coordinate with each other and sometimes ask provoking questions about my priorities.
Let me know if you are finding any of this helpful. Or is it too long that you are not reading it? What would you add to improve this system?
Introducing…EntryPoint!
Launching on… Sunday, January 18th at 9:00am
EntryPoint is CCF’s connection ministry for all those wanting to take next steps with us! Designed for new guests and long term visitors, EntryPoint will coach you into partnering with CCF, its vision and its ministries.
Curious about joining CCF as a partner?
Curious about Small Groups?
Curious about ministry?
Come to EntryPoint!
The purpose of EntryPoint: To connect you to CCF and to the Lord so you will love God, love people and live as a disciple of Jesus!
How is EntryPoint set up?
See you at EntryPoint!
[You may wonder why there is no space in the title, EntryPoint? It is intentional...to remind us that EntryPoint exists so that no one falls through the cracks.]
Two years ago tonight, Tricia and I were sitting in a hospital room staring at the most beautiful creation we had yet seen in our lives. Our son, Davis Joseph. Nearly impossible to believe he was ours. Still hard to believe today. Formed in love, by the love of God for us to raise and nurture.
Two years ago tonight, Davis could pretty much breathe, suck and cry. Couldn't even poop yet, I don't think. TMI!
Well, tonight we went out to dinner, carried on semi-conversations, had ice cream, went bowling, read stories and prayed together. What a special day. I am not a big "birthday person"...unless it is my kid's birthday (so, I learned today)!
Here are just a few things that I have learned in the last 2 years:
Tricia and my life was changed two years ago tonight! We want to say thank you to each one of you in our lives who has loved Davis and made his first 2 years of life so special!
Here are some pictures comparing tonight to the night he was born:
Once you get me started, it flows. Lemme post this real fast and then I will stop. You would be shocked to find out how many people I have talked with that just do not know what kind of things are fair game for a task list. Everything is fair game! I do not and COULD not have multiple task lists. Everything is written in one list! One list including personal tasks, Daddy tasks, Hubby tasks, church tasks, ministry tasks, school tasks, etc. And all day, I glance at that list for my marching orders.
Here is a sample task list. It is (some of) my task list for TODAY, January 7, 2009 with some name changes where needed:
Note 1: This is just for today. I did not go into the things already on for tomorrow and the months ahead.
Note 2: I will NOT get all of this done today!
Note 3: Anything not done today gets changed to tomorrow's date.
Note 4: These tasks are done between meetings. Today, I have 5. Jesus is always one of them.
Note 5: In just one week from now, this list will be totally different as much will be done and many new items will be added.
Now that you know more about me than you ever wanted to know...
Later.
Continuing from yesterday, I thought I would share about my own personal homemade organizational system today. Later, I will share more about its strengths, weaknesses and so on. I also look forward to sharing about the conversation between my task list and my calendar. The talking calendar. So fun!
How it started: I started college in 1998. I was a full time student. After the first week, I had 5 syllabi in my hand, totaling hundreds of assignments, readings, tests, quizzes, deadlines and details. I knew that I would fail if I failed to organize it all, so I bought a monthly calendar at Staples and a pack of legal pads. I took the time to write all the dates and deadlines into the calendar and then I made a to-do list for that day. The calendar was for tomorrow and forward. The task list was for today! I slid the legal pad into my 8.5x11 monthly calendar and carried the 2 with me everywhere I went. Each day, I would:
The whole system rides on the relationship between the task list and the calendar. I will post about that soon.
--Noah
PS...in 2000 I made the leap from paper to electronic. Same system! Just using a mobile device (PDA). I am a HUGE Palm OS fan. To this day.
A brother in the church sent me this tonight. He expressed how appropriate these words are for our time. I agree. Warning: it is about the economy...in case you are just sick of hearing about it. But, it's good.
I always say that CCF is quite diverse:
Well, I found a fascinating collection of info this evening. According to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there exist roughly 39,000 Christian denominations worldwide in 2008. That is up from 500 Christian denominations in 1800, and the number is expected to grow to 55,000 by 2025.
If you like data and numbers...you must check out this one web page. It has some very revealing numbers. Wow! Click Here!
--Noah
I have been a serious list person for better than 10 years. This may sound crazy, but I often feel that my integrity is wrapped up in my lists. If my word means something, then I need to keep it. If I am going to keep it, then I need to remember it. If I am going to remember it, I better write it down. It started back in college when the load of responsibility seemed to be more than I could juggle. I knew that I would forget what I had to do or forget what I said I would do.
So, over the last 10 years I have stayed organized and on task with the same system. It worked in college, it worked when I was a College Residence Director, it works as a Pastor, a student, and even as a Husband and Dad! After 10 years of developing this system of organization, I thought I would write about it some. It is not from Franklin Covey or any other organizational guru. It is my own weird system by which I organize my world. It involves the relationship between my calendar and task list.
You may find it interesting and helpful. You may not. Regardless, over the next few days, I will post about it.
Are you a list person? How do you keep organized?
Luke 16:10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
Today, our Staff grew from 4 to 7! What a special day this is for so many reasons! This is my favorite day of 2009!! After a great time of prayer as a staff this morning, we all took turns completing the sentence, "I dream of a team..." Here were some of our responses. Pray with us that these dreams become our reality as we work together each day:
We dream of a team that...
What teams do you serve on? How do you want that team to function for the greatest impact?
What a start to 2009! Great service this morning. Not necessarily because it was the best planned, most organized, creatively presented, or that we were somehow more on top of our game. In fact, we weren't! We were stumbling through some things after most of us being out of the office this week. But, that stuff all matters much less than I probably think. What matters is that lives are impacted. And they were! Here are some testimonies from just this morning that I am excited about!!
Each of these things I just shared are signs of lives being impacted and transformed. This is why I do what I do. Look, there are just the few things that NOAH can remember about today. There are many things that others in our community saw and heard today that I have no idea about. And there are many things that the spirit of God did today that we cannot see and measure. For all of this...we give God the glory!
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. Romans 11:36
Does anyone else feel that these last 2 weeks have been exceptionally positioned to maximize the holiday break? Don't get me wrong, I probably worked 60-70 hours over the last 2 weeks...but much of it from my Pajamas and a lazy boy! Tricia has been off, we have chilled out big time, traveled and really enjoyed these last 2 weeks. She just told me this morning that this has been the best Christmas vacation she has had in 5 years of teaching. It has seemed never ending. We feel really well rested and connected.
Well, tomorrow it is church & football! Then, Monday...it is off to the races. 3 new staff members join the team, we are all back in the office and I am REALLY looking forward to staring 2009!!
Here we go, baby!!!
There is a verse in my heart today...
Isaiah 52:7 says:
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Are you bringing good news today?
Are you proclaiming and announcing peace and salvation around you?
Do you believe that you can?
I am really thankful today that OUR GOD REIGNS!! Always has! Always will!
I wanted to share with you a very impressive online program called YouVersion. It is designed to help you read through the Bible in a year. It has some really cool features that go along with it like bookmarking, emailing and journals. Here is the link. Check it out! It may be something that could really work for you in your journey toward faithful Scripture reading.
--Noah
Lover & follower of Jesus, devoted to my wife Tricia & my kids, Davis, Lily & Graceson, serving & living in Africa as a man on mission for the Kingdom of God.
