Ministry

If you’ve ever wrestled with Microsoft Word for an hour trying to line up a few blocks of text and a couple of pictures to just create a one-page document, I feel your pain. Our monthly letters contain only two rounded rectangles (one at the top and bottom with our information), three main text boxes (for our main story, a box for prayer requests, and a caption for our photos) and two to three photos. It’s really that easy. Here’s how you can make a slick 1-page PDF in 20 minutes flat. ...

We all receive more email than we know what to do with. I receive a lot of email from other missionaries sharing their update letters. I love reading those letters and hearing about how the Lord is using my friends around the world. Unfortunately, my friends who send a massive BCC email have no clue how many people are actually opening their emails. Knowing who is reading about your ministry (or group, company or organization) is incredibly valuable. My favorite service for large group e-mailing is MailChimp. It simply blows normal emailing out of the water, and it’s incredibly easy to use. Here’s why: ...

When I was leading a Bible Study for leaders in our movement at Ohio University, I wanted to spend time affirming the guys in my group and helping them encourage one another. Just before we started our Bible Study, I scrapped our plan for that evening and the Encouragement Hot Seat_ _was born. Here’s how it works. Everyone sits in a circle, and we randomly start with one member of the group. It’s great if the group leader (or the one who has arranged for the The Seat_ _to happen) selects a person to start with and then sets the tone for the time. Say we start with Charlie. I, as the leader, spend 20-60 seconds or so telling Charlie what I admire about him, appreciate about him, and how I have seen him growing and developing. Each other person in the circle takes their turn sharing about what they see in Charlie until everyone in the group has spent time encouraging him. Then we move on to another person and the process repeats. None of this has to have a clear flow or direction–just let people start speaking as they feel led. People will naturally know when it’s their turn to encourage. The Encouragement Hot Seat has become one of my favorite activities for uplifting a team or group (especially in winter months). It’s incredibly simple, and I love it for four huge reasons. ...

There are two critical questions to ask when you’re presented with an idea that calls you to completely reorient your life. Is it true? and Is it worth it?...

There are two analogies that have helped students I work with understand how God reorients someone’s life. To start, God must become our first priority. Before we meet God, our priorities are all out of line. We live for money, travel, massive homes, and then our spouse and maybe our children fall in line later. If we live primarily for something or someone other than God our god can (and will) be stripped away from us. If our spouse is our god, our god can die, or leave us. If our career is our god, we could lose our job and thus lose our god. Any god that isn’t God is temporary and untrustworthy....

During our pre-marital counseling, our pastor shared a key question that has changed nearly every relationship in my life. The question is simple. Am I believing the best about this person? When someone shows up late to a meeting. When the dishes aren’t done. When the trash smells and hasn’t been taken out. When you haven’t heard from someone in ages. When your emails go without a response for weeks. When something is said that cuts to your core. It’s incredible what the benefit of the doubt does in a relationship. ...

I recently gave an update on a charity: water project I started in 2010 that raised over $5,000 to help build three wells in Africa. Some of you may wonder how it happened. Outside of a lot of prayer and generosity, it was a simply telling a compelling story (over and over again) that people wanted to be a part of. Below are the 12 steps I took to create a successful online fundraising campaign. Some of these steps may be out of your control, some may need tweaked for your campaign, and some may need thrown out all together. Nonetheless, best of luck on your exciting adventure. ...

Unless you’re a caveman, you probably put your money in some type of bank. You may stash your money with a mega-corporate bank (aka The Man). In that case you likely pay fees for your bank to hold onto and _use_your money or you jump through hoops to make sure you avoid stupid fees from said institution. I consider myself a bit of a bank connoisseur. Currently, we have five financial institutions at our disposal, and yes, that is too many. If it wasn’t for my rational wife, we’d have even more because I’m a bank addict (further confirming I’m an absolute nerd). From purely anecdotal evidence, lots of people have banks they are moderately happy or even unhappy with, but they don’t know what their other options are or don’t have time to research new options. Friends, your banking problem is about to get solved. Things I commonly hear from people with subpar banking experiences or from those rationalizing paying fees to bank: “My faceless, gimmicky, corporate, bloodsucking bank is everywhere, so I can always find an ATM.” “I’ve always had an account there, so it’s easier to stick with them.” “They have good technology.” “I have a credit card with them, so I might as well have my bank with them.” ...