Enjoying a satisfying life

By end of September this year, it will be 4 years in Quito. I have been enjoying God and missions in this place, especially the recent years. First year was difficult because of the language barrier and cultural difference. But things got better ever since. Thank God for the wonderful weather in Quito. Because of the dry and cooling weather, we don't really perspire much except when doing exercise. Food can be stored outside the fridge for a long time without getting spoilt. I am also thankful to God for the new people in church. They are really nice people. Thank God for Lorena, Anais, Juan Jo, Diego, Arthur and Elena. God has sent them to our midst and we are really grateful for their lives here with us. Most importantly, I have learnt to be contented with where I am and what I have. I have also learnt to pray more and do less. Waiting on God and seeking Him is also much more powerful than being busy with many activities all day long. Thank God for His presence in my life! :)

$400 for my IPPT

Just came back to Quito from my visit to Singapore in August. I took my annual IPPT and got my $400 for achieving gold in the results. I ran my 2.4km in 10min 11sec and got full points for other stations too. Thank God for the training and the supernatural energy! :) It's a breakthrough for a 33 years old like me.

Training for 2.4km

Thank God for the opportunity to get to know Daniel who is my trainer now. He is the younger brother of one of the new believers, Gustavo. We got to know each other through a picnic. :)

I have trained with Daniel for 2 times on Saturdays. On the first Saturday, we ran 8x200m in Carolina Park. I felt pain in my calves the next day. He told me that I need to run tip-toes instead of running on my soles. If I run on my soles, I will be running in a sitting position and it will be slower. Although it was hard to change the running habits, I manage to change to running on tip-toes on the second Saturday.

On the second Saturday, we ran from Carolina Park to Metropolitano Park. The Metropolitano park is very beautiful as it is on a forest terrain. We ran 15km in 80 minutes. It was good training for me as the terrain was up and down,and my body has to adjust to the unpredictable terrain.

My goal is to run 2.4km in about 10 minutes as I will be taking the fitness test in October when I visit Singapore. I also hope to outreach to Daniel so that he can get to know Jesus too. Pray along with me that our run every Saturday will be fruitful and filled with the presence of God.

10 Ways to Keep People Engaged in Your Message

1. Be real.

Let people see the actual human inside you. Most times, that will occur through your personal stories.

2. Talk like normal people talk.

I didn’t grow up in the church, so I don’t understand when you talk with a Christian accent.

3. Use humor.

If you don’t make me laugh, I’m probably going to tune you out. By the way, the best humor is revealed through your everyday life.

4. Don’t tell me what to think.

Lead me on the journey toward truth, but let me reach my own conclusions. In other words, don’t try to sell it.

5. Be honest.

If I think you’re credible, there’s a better chance I’ll think your message is credible.

6. Avoid being too polished.

In fact, I love it when you leave your prepared statements and share anything off the cuff.

7. Reveal your weaknesses.

As silly as it may seem, it makes me smile when I hear about your mistakes. It helps me to respect the areas where you are gifted.

8. Be brief.

Shorter is better. I’m probably only going to remember one or, at the most, two things that you say.

9. Make me smart.

I don’t care how smart you are, but I like it when you make me feel smart. That’s easier when you use small words and make it easy for me to apply what you’re teaching.

10. Tell me why I should care.

Help me understand why I should listen. If you don’t help me understand why it’s relevant to my life, I’ll tend to be thinking about my next blog post or my next tee time or my favorite 80s slow dance songs.

I’ve never had a seminary course on preaching, so I really don’t know anything about what it takes to prepare a good sermon. I think I’m pretty knowledgeable, though, when it comes to keeping people like me alert and engaged. Hopefully, this helps you help people like me.

Prayer after ministry

"Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray." Mark 6:45-46

I think God has been speaking to me about prayer recently. After feeding the thousands, Jesus dismissed the crowd and made his disciples to get into the boat to leave before him. He was all alone and then he went up on a mountainside to pray. Jesus did not only pray in the morning but also after ministering to people.

I need to follow Jesus' example more - not only pray in the morning, but also after ministry, alone! I need to draw strength from God and continue to pray for His people.

Jesus walked on water after that. Wow!

Conviction to pray early in the morning

I was reading the bible and doing my journal this morning, and God spoke to me from a verse in Mark 1:35: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." It was interesting to note that before he was praying, he was teaching with authority and healing many people. And after Jesus prayed in a solitary place, he continued to preach and heal and cast out demons. We can see where Jesus received his power for ministry - through seeking God and prayer. I am convicted to spend time with God in prayer early in the morning and pray through my activities in the day as I want to see God's hand moving when I minister.

I also read an article on prayer this week which i find rather helpful. It is about how to pray for our church:

I'm realizing ever more the need, my need, for God's help in serving the church. I'm realizing the need for us to fall on our faces before the Lord. Only God can grow the church. So, as you consider how to make your church better, here are five ways to help your church.

1) Pray for your pastor. I know this is cliche. I know people pray for me. But I really, really need prayer. And your pastor does too. He may not ask you for it. He may seem strong and courageous and "with it" all the time. But underneath that is a fragile, desperate soul often squeezed by the pressures of serving God's people. So pray for faithfulness, refreshment, wisdom, creativity, humility, people skills. I never fully realized the need to pray for pastors until I actually became one.

2) Pray for the pastor's wife. This is a tough role. There is really no template for the pastor's wife. She's thrust into a role that often asks more of her than she can handle. She's the one keeping the home life somewhat normal and consistent. She's the one holding things together when the pastor is at the bedside or meeting with someone in crisis. And sometimes the pastor's family has their own crises that need prayer. Pray for your pastor's wife.

3) Pray for God's spirit to move in the hearts of people in the community. In our community, something like 85% of people are unchurched, likely unconverted. That's a huge mission field. And it seems that with every passing day the church is becoming less of a factor in people's lives. Pray that your church would be a lighthouse, a place where people discover the eternal truths of the gospel, where the Word would shine and the Spirit would convict hearts to repentance. Sometimes we get so program-oriented that we forget to pray for a mighty moving of the Spirit.

4) Pray for unity among God's people. The devil loves to divide and conquer. He loves to sow seeds of strife in a church. He loves to prey on the natural, human, sinful tendencies of God's good people. Unity has to be intentional. It's not natural. It must be a spirit-connected thing. It's fragile. And here's a secret. If you are praying for church unity, you will be spending less time focusing on the hurts and faults of others that moves to destroy that unity.

5) Pray for the church staff and leadership. Don't just pray for the pastor, as if he's the only one who is on the front lines, as if he's the only important, exalted member serving your local body. He isn't. Pray also and earnestly for the paid and volunteer staff, for the leadership team -- elders, deacons, team leaders. Pray for their families, their spirituality, their faithfulness. Pray for God to enrich and refresh them and give them strength for His work.

4 Hard Lessons for Measuring Ministry Success

Interesting read this morning:

We all know the drill. Faithfulness isn’t measured by the size of our church. It’s foolish to compare ourselves with others. A big church isn’t necessarily a healthy church. A small church can have a big impact. And so on.

Easy to say. Easy to write.

But it’s not so easy to take root in our soul. I know firsthand. In my first three years at North Coast Church, not much that we tried worked. Church growth was nonexistent. It was a season of significant depression.

Then suddenly, everything changed.

It wasn’t because of a turnaround in our ministry. It wasn’t a new facility or new people.

My depression started to lift after a spiritual kick in the gut. All I remember is a sudden and intense awareness that God was not pleased with the way I was evaluating my “lack of ministry success” and the church’s lack of growth.

He showed me that the thought process leading to my depression (Our church isn’t growing; it’s all my fault; I must be a bad person and pastor) was the same thinking that would produce arrogance if we ever experienced rapid evangelistic growth (Our church is growing; it’s all my doing; I must be a lot better than those who are struggling).

It shook me to the core. It was one thing to feel like I was coming up short of my ministry potential; it was another to realize that I had a deep-seated spirit of arrogance and haughtiness masked only by my lack of outward success.

The result was a complete realignment of my ministry scorecard. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1) Focus on the flock I have.

1 Peter 5:1-4

I worried so much about the sheep I wanted to shepherd someday that I forgot to care for the sheep I already had. It’s no wonder God wasn’t too keen on sending more of them my way to be ignored or used.

2) I can prepare the horse for battle, but I can’t control the outcome.

Proverbs 21:30-31

Like most leaders, I’m often quick to take credit for victory and quick to cast blame for defeat. But the fact is, especially in the spiritual realm, all I can do is prepare my horse for battle; the outcome belongs to the Lord.

3) The harvest is determined by the soil’s quality, not the farmer’s skill.

Matthew 13:1-23

Even with the best farming techniques, the best seed planted on hardpan will produce nothing. Some of us minister in great soil; some of us minister in rocky or weed-infested soil. It’s foolish to take too much credit or too much blame for the size of the harvest.

4) Do my best, then take a nap.

Matthew 16:18

It’s nice to know that the success or failure of the kingdom does not depend on the success or failure of my particular ministry. It’s not about me—or you. It’s about Him. He won’t fail. He’s God. And He’s got our back. We just have to do our best—then go ahead, take a nap. That’s all He asks, even when our board, congregation and peers want a lot more out of us.

I discovered I really could find my identity in Christ, not the size of my church. I could savor the incredible privilege of ministry, even when times were tough and fruit was sparse. Best of all, I found myself inching closer to a goal my mentor was constantly putting in front of me: “Jesus wants you to get to the place where you have nothing to prove and no one to impress.”

I’m not there yet. Maybe I never will be. But I am a lot closer