Praying for the Elections

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Tom Bolton

I missed this in September, but Max Lucado’s push for Americans to pray for the    presidential election makes sense to me.

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/09/18/pastor-max-lucado-launches-40-day-prayer-campaign-ahead-of-election/

Here is the prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

You have given us this promise: ”…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

So, we pray to you. We turn from evil and look to you, our God. Please:

Unite us

Strengthen us

Appoint and anoint our next president

In the name of Christ we pray,

Amen

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Fruitful Leadership

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Tom Bolton

John 15 5-8 from The Message

“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

Thinking on John 15:5 after COR Leadership Institute on Wednesday.

Fruitful

That’s not how she gave when someone first invited her to Sunday School.   
That’s not how she gave the first day she read Noah.
That’s not how she gave when first she left for TeenServe.
That’s not how she gave when she first sang Christmas prelude.
The pre-work came.
And harvest day came.
God filled her and shaped her.
So too farmer Dooley fed the stock each day.
Each year on schedule he cultivated and rotated, repaired and pruned.
Farmer Dooley read each day. He planned.
He cared and nourished.
The farmer forefathers were disciplined and scheduled, and changeable too.
We know our mission.
We seek our mission.
We live our mission.
We connect each other, each place, filled with Jesus.  
We love.
We learn.
We grow.
We know him.
We produce fresh fruits.
We do this that others may share relationship with Jesus.
We bear fruit each day.
Let us bear fruit even on the days when we see no fruit yet.
And let us still remember: His fruitfulness is unpredictable.

(c) Tom Bolton, Leahwood, Kansas

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My Sons

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Tom Bolton

It is good to be pleased with one’s sons, I think.

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My Sons, Who Please Me

Will I sound blasphemous to introduce
My Sons:
These are my sons, in whom I am well pleased.
Will I sound evil to use God’s words that way?
Maybe not.
I am blessed most days as I meditate on His words.
These sons of mine–God’s blessings now and when old–
can they be any more than what God has made them?
This Nathan, husband and calm anchor,
who has taught him this way if not the Holy One?
What fathers mentored him? What wise ones taught him,  if not Abba, father, God-of-Grace, God-of- Love?
This quick-witted Nathan,
This one who calls out the false ones, the phonies,
Is he not a mighty son?
This John, gentle and sure, questioning and hearing,
Who has taught him his ways in this world? None here!
What father showed him? What booming bas sang the word  into him? None of this world, none of my time.
Was it not the wise One who breathed the Word into him,  our God-of-Grace, God-of-Love?
This angel of a son, this musical John,
This one who helps when he hears a call,
Is he not my son too?
Today I see my sons about me,
even as they are away from me,
and I know:
I am blessed by my sons.

(c) Tom Bolton, Milwaukee, September 27, 2012

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COR Leadership Institute: Finding Leadership Principles in the Ten Commandments

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Tom Bolton

At this year’s Church of the Resurrection Leadership Institute, I attended as my second pre-conference workshop on Wednesday: A Brief Overview of the 10 Timeless Principles for Next Generation Leaders. This packed presentation by Jim Lucas illustrated the bridge  of doing well by doing right, as he identified it. He effectively demonstrated over and over the remarkable connection between ethics and performance.  This exciting presentation was based on the 2007 book, High Performance Ethics:  10 Timeless Principles for Next Generation Leadership, by Wes Cantrell and Lucas.  I was pleasantly surprised by the power of Lucas’ speaking.

The book and this workshop were actually based on the 10 Commandments, and authors unpacked each of the ten commandments in a way that keeps the commandments timeless, and at the same time provides excellent management principles.

For instance, the first principle is First Things First.  This principle is based on God’s commandment that we have no other gods but He.  It leads us to the leadership principle:  High performance ethics leaders are Restless.  Lucas took us through a rapid series of questions for this principle, including:

How do we know what the first things are?

What are our core excellencies?

What actually differentiates excellence from competence?

He provides a list of key comments, as well as spot-on quotes, for each principle.  His key comments on that first principle included:

Not “First things first,” as though we have time for secondary things and nonsense.

Life is too short to waste on other things.

Do we have our eyes on the prize?

Are we devoting our work and lives to the “main concern?”  Do we know what that is?

Does everyone have a really good reason to do the work they’re doing?

During small group discussions, my group of eight discussed the first principle (First Things Only).  We explored from our experiences the difference between “first things only” and “first things first.”  What are the “first things” on which we want to have our teams focus relentlessly?  We particularly discussed a recent survey that found that 75 percent of employers said that don’t screen effectively for the job applicant’s moral character.  This was not much of a surprise to our group.  We think that employers don’t consider a “character check” as essential as a “background check” because of fears about litigation, difficulty in defining character, a vague notion that they are already doing, and concerns about how to do it.  We spent much our time trying to figure out how to do it.

Also at Leadership Institute Wednesday, I attended:  Bearing Fruit: God’s Alternative to Success.

I was most excited to get the new book (with a 2013 release date!) by Pastor Scott Chrostek, Pursuit:  Living Fully in Search of God’s Presence.  I have been a fan of Pastor Scott’s preaching since I first heard him in 2009 (on my iPod).  I look forward to opportunities to download his messages from iTunes as often as I find him.  I didn’t get a chance to meet Scott on Wednesday, but I hope to see him Thursday or Friday.

Later Wednesday, I got to visit COR’s mid-high Youth Group meeting.  It was tremendous.

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At the Edge

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Tom Bolton

From Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place 
throughout all generations.
 

Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

God is at the Edge

Our refuge always–
at the beginning and in the future–
the Light is with us and we are
Warm and Safe always when we take refuge with him.
 This earth is majestic,                                            
 Miraculously beautiful even as we abuse it.
Mountains and seas, our eyes open wider than
We can imagine.
At the edge of everything,
There is God.
Do we now edge him out,
in awe of technology and gadgets and self-healing cement?
New insects found, do we now take credit?
Insects lost and condemned by our pesticides, do we
also take credit?
New worlds seen through lenses-not-lenses and
barely understood by lay men,
do we now credit these stars and worlds to men?
New knowledge blown wide open,
Do we know too much more, as we edge past our Lord?
New answers found to questions barely heard,
Do we place ourselves on thrones?
New whats-found-wondrous,
 Do we lose the whys and forget the whos?
Can the wide-blown new knowledge edge out time-freed faith?
Will we yet let it?
We may yet look past the bright lights,
 leds, and laser tools,
to see Himself revealed,
Jesus still in us.
We open ourselves, miraculous and limited still.
We open ourselves, for the Holy one to enter each.

(c) Tom Bolton, Milwaukee, September 27, 2012.

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I am an Optimist

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Tom Bolton

My friends know that I love Optimist International.  I appreciate the fact that the group is focused on being friends to Youth. I certainly like the activities that my chapter sponsors to lift up youth. In club activities, I am regularly reminded of several lines of the Optimist Creed by how we interact with young people and with each other.

Promise Yourself…..

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best…….
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own……
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

I appreciate the Optimist Mission:

By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in kids.

Optimist International is an association of more than 2,900 Optimist Clubs around the world dedicated to “Bringing Out the Best in Kids.” Adult volunteers join Optimist Clubs to conduct positive service projects in their communities aimed at providing a helping hand to youth. With their upbeat attitude, Optimist Club members help empower young people to be the best that they can be.

Each Optimist Club determines the needs of the young people in its community and conducts programs to meet those needs. Every year, Optimists conduct 65,000 service projects and serve well over six million young people.

Optimist Clubs are dedicated to “Bringing Out the Best in Kids” and do their part through community service projects. Since each Club is autonomous and run by members in their community, Optimists have the unique flexibility to serve the youth of their area in any way they see fit. Optimist Clubs see a need in their community and react to it.

Optimists strive to live up to their name and keep up an upbeat attitude, which they try to pass along to the children they serve. The words of The Optimist Creed are well-known to Optimist volunteers and beyond. The creed gives volunteers a focus for personal improvement as they work to better the world around them.

Several Optimists in Janesville Wisconsin were partly responsible for my surviving adolescence.  I’m happy to pass it on today.  But I know I am not a leader in my Chapter.

Still, I was really proud and excited to receive an award at my Chapter banquet Thursday, as the Optimist of the Year.  The Certificate says it is “For your service to the Metro Milwaukee Optimist Club.  You brought out the best in kids!”  I was most pleased by the comments:  “You participated in lots of events, and you were always upbeat and positive and you had a smile for everyone.”  It pleases me greatly to receive recognition for doing something that I really believe in.

Of course, I may have received the award because I’m always willing to look like an idiot in Minute-to-Win-It competitions!  (This is a good U-Tube link if you want to laugh.)

Even though I’m probably the oldest member in my chapter, I’m looking forward to much fun and many opportunities to boost up youth in 2013.

I promise myself …..”To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.”

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Posted on September 28, 2012 by Tom Bolton

I like this. There is much wisdom in these words.

leighmarie27's avatarAlong For The Ride

  1. Make peace with your past so it doesn’t spoil your present.
  2. What others think of you is none of your business
  3. Time heals almost everything. Give the time some time
  4. No one is the reason of your happiness except yourself
  5. Don’t compare your life with with others, you have no idea what their joy is all about.
  6. Stop thinking too much. It’s alright not to know all the answers.
  7. Smile, you don’t own all the problems in the world.

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