I WRESTLE MORE WITH MY STRENGTHS THAN MY WEAKNESSES.  HOW ABOUT YOU?

Roy King May 2013 www.royking.org

I create a syllabus for a course in the seminary six months before the class begins because of the schedule for VA benefits and other regulations and guidelines.  No problem with that except I have this “creative & tweaking gift”.  I continue to hold up my teaching to what I since God is teaching me and I am always seeking to improve and clarify my understanding I carry into the classroom.

If you think of the syllabus as the 1.0 version months later I may already be working on the 2.5 version.  I consider it strength to be always learning and entering the classroom with fresh baked insight right out of the oven.  BUT for students trying to complete the assignments it can be confusing.  They may be using 1.0 language and I may be grading with 2.5 in my head.  SO – it can create a challenge.

Where I am at is to joyfully embrace the wrestling to reduce the unnecessary confusion in my poor students learning process and when they alert me to an issue be willing to go back and review my grading of a few papers to get it fair.

But — at this point I would rather wrestle with the messy aspects of this strength than to cut it out.

How about you?

 

Have what you know is a weakness?  Well — those are often used to keep you close to bending your knees and seeking God’s provision and protection.

 

Have what you would consider strength?  Well — recognize it can become destructive if it gets out of proper balance and wrestle with the down side it may bring up.

 

What do you think?

CLICK HERE   View a 20 minute video of Roy King providing the overview of BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP usually taught twice a year at Columbia International University Seminary & School of Missions www.ciu.edu . Usually it is offered in a one week intensive format at either our Atlanta, GA or Columbia, SC locations.  It is also offered in a once a week format in the day or or evening during the Fall or Spring Semester.

Call CIU at 800-777-2227 for more information.

RoywStudent

Click Here to watch a four minute overview of MIN 6320 The Holy Spirit: Understanding & Practice .  It is offered in the Spring Semester as an online course.

Want more information on courses at CIU?

Go to  www.ciu.edu  or call 1-800-777-2227

Mark & Jelayne w/ Roy & Pandora

You may want to subscribe.  It is free and offers many excellent insights into our heart before God and in  a community of Christ followers.

Here is a taste!

Creating Space for God

Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating. It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports. Discipline in sports is the concentrated effort to master the body so that it can obey the mind better. Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God’s guidance.

Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God’s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.

 

- Henri J. M. Nouwen

RoyGLRetrSep2010dMaybe it is part mid-life crisis and part empty nest but I have been under a sense of deep conviction in recent weeks. The only way I know to say it is, ” I am aware that I will answer to God for what he has given me.

Am I being a faithful steward?

Where is the balance between ego driven marketing of one’s “products & services” and humbly letting people know of the assignment I sense God has given to me?

I am not sure I manage this tension well.  But I have been spending time with God seeking to get my motives right and to hear in a fresh way His assignment for me.  HERE IS MY LATEST VERSION OF MY CALLING STATEMENT

My contribution:
I assist and encourage Christ followers, and especially ministry leaders, to live vibrantly and effectively for the long haul.

HOW do I invest in this contribution: 3 PRIMARY WAYS - 

  • TEACHING is a grace gift entrusted by Jesus Spirit to me so I may contribute to Christ followers being transformed by his grace and truth.
  • COACHING is a set of skills I employ to help people get clarity and make progress in facilitating change.
  • WRITING is a discipline to grow me as a communicator and a means for sowing in other hearts what God has made alive and fruitful in me.

BEING A MAN WITH A LIFESTYLE OF:

  • TURNING to God in faith
  • REJOICING  in my Lord in hope
  • and loving God and others through HONORING and GIVING

One of the places I come alive is when I am sitting with leaders over coffee or tea!

This document overviews my ministry and should answer most questions a leader or group might have if they are seeing how I might contribute
(Click to Download)

RoyAllBlacksTMay2010-e1295093522512 Read over the guidelines and look at the example provided of a team of Children’s Workers in a Congregation.

How would you adapt this for your context?

I welcome questions and suggestions.  Download the pdf by clicking on this link: Creative Collaboration Planning Example

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Who Am I?

 by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhöffer, a young theologian of great promise, was martyred by the Nazis for his participation in a plot against the life of Adolf Hitler. His writings have greatly influenced recent theological thought. [This article appeared in the Journal Christianity and Crisis, March 4, 1946. Used by permission. This article was prepared for Religion Online by Ted & Winnie Brock.]

Who am I? They often tell me

 I stepped from my cell’s confinement
 Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
 Like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
 I used to speak to my warders
 Freely and friendly and clearly,
 As though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equally, smilingly, proudly,
Like one accustomed to win.
Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were
 compressing my throat,
 Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
 Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
 Tossing in expectation of great events,
 Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
 Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
 Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?
Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God, I am Thine!
Ministry leaders cease to be LIFE GIVING when they see people as problems rather than as God sees them.
Complaining and THANK FILLED, PRAISE SATURATED, FAITH SEEN PRAYERS do not mix together well.
Notice how these leaders describe and pray for the people entrusted to them.
Romans 16:19 ESV For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

2 Corinthians 7:4 ESV I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

Philippians 1:3-7 ESV I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 ESV For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

Philemon 1:7 ESV For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

REFLECT: Would it help for you to paraphrase these biblical words into your expressions of encouragement and prayer this week?
LIFE GIVING LEADERS SEE PEOPLE AS GOD SEES THEM — AND IT LEAKS OUT SO OTHERS SEE AS WELL.

Life Giving Leadership!

royking —  February 6, 2013 — Leave a comment

“Life Giving Leadership” is my new short summary for Biblical leadership.  As I read through the Bible I see:

If leadership is INFLUENCE – surely God leads!

Ministry leaders should align with and be going in the same direction with the same priorities as God.

“For God so loved…. He GAVE… So those who believe could have life.”

“I have come that they might have life; abundant life.”

And think of the life giving images — Bread, Water, Vine, Shepherd. . .

And think of the fruit of the work of Christ — eternal LIFE!

Far to much of leadership stuff in our culture drains life….. but God’s leadership GIVES, RENEWS, and MULTIPLIES LIFE!

If people interviewed the people in your circle of influence would they describe your leadership as LIFE GIVING?

When you been touched by God’s life giving leadership what were the gifts it came wrapped in?

Eye contact,

Forgiveness,

Someone believing in and seeing potential you did not yet see,

Being invited to partner and get in the game with what had been given to you,

A safe refuge

REFLECT: HOW DO I RECEIVE LIFE FROM GOD?  HOW CAN I BE GIVING THAT SAME LIFE TO THOSE I INFLUENCE?

Robertson McQuilkin has two new small group studies that are some of his best writing yet!
Living the Life 1: God’s Standard For Christian Living
Living the Life 2: God’s Provision For Christian Living


Go on a eye opening journey over 6 weeks through the 10 Commandments and how they summarize in our daily life how God defines loving Him with our whole heart and loving others as our self.

In Living the Life 2 be caught up in a fresh experience of your love life with Jesus through the inside partner, the Holy Spirit.

Each week study is divided up into five daily studies. At the end of each week are questions to guide a small group discussion.

These studies are the core of the most valuable seminary course I received from Robertson in 1980. They are now filled with authentic personal illustrations, challenging questions that get all the way to our heart motives, and eye opening insight into the Bible.

Do Not miss these! Roy King www.royking.org

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