Revisiting Effectiveness

One of the joys of my Sales and Marketing Directorship at Miracle Camp & Retreat Center is the shared role of mentor to our group of interns. We, the full-time staff, want their year long foray into the world of Christian camping to be a growing one, both experientially and spiritually, and besides time spent rubbing shoulders in the office (and hopefully rubbing off character by example), we intentionally take time to work through topics like personal budgeting, leadership, spiritual maturity, and self-management. We generally meet every two weeks and for the months of December and January, I'm teaching the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey.

I was first introduced to this book in the year 2000, my first year in youth ministry. Taking on a new new ministry job, working through my undergrad at WMU and being newly married forced me to take personal management seriously and Franklin Covey's "What Matters Most" seminar was recommended to me by my pastor. I was thrilled by the course, initially by the free organizer, but secondly and mostly by the vision of a highly organized, not-stressed, principle-driven me that our presenter made sound totally achievable. It was an ideal I would drag with me through the next eight eventful years of my life. 

Each job change (there were three in these past eight years) brought another opportunity to identify my core values, define my existence and articulate a personal mission statement. My commitment to those statements ebbed and flowed, but even at my weakest, most scattered moments,  I knew I should be putting "first things first", and "working in Quadrant II", and "going for Win/Win". At times, it was just a calendaring system, but in the back of my mind was the theme of spending my time, intentionally, on what matters most, that not only should I be doing things well but that I should be doing the right things.

As we knock on the door of 2009, I'm still at Miracle Camp but have also taken on the Executive Director role of Orphan Justice Mission. Once again, I'm revisiting my mission, working through who I am, what I do (and what I don't do), and how I want to do it. My responsibilities are broader and my schedule is tighter than ever before. I need to be more intentional, more efficient, more focused on the important things in order to succeed in my roles (and avoid a nasty case of burnout). The timing couldn't have been better for my chance to teach the interns, because the act of teaching is one of the best opportunities to learn (or recommit). I've reread the book, I've rewritten my mission statement, and I'm feeling stronger than ever in my calling, in my purpose, and my ability to execute it.

 

It's just another ride around the circle of internalization, a further solidification of a system of self-management and maturity. I pray that it's something that God uses both in my life and the interns' lives to shape us into the people He desires us to be. 

Welcome to my walk.

Okay, I'm trying to stay un-sappy about this, but my natural urge is to wax eloquent. No, attempt to wax eloquent. Notice even my blog title: "Taking a walk." A little cheesy, a little romantic. Maybe an abused metaphor. But, here in this first ever blog, let me explain that title and establish my reason for writing this word-chain of my life.

In the Bible, in early Genesis, it is separately said of two men that they "walked with God." Genesis 5:24 - "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." And in Genesis 6:9 - "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." Every once in awhile, I come across something, some description of life or unique view of the world and I think, "Yep. That's it." That's what I thought when I heard of a man "walking with God." In my mind I saw two friends strolling together down a path, walking and talking. It was a time out from the hectic-ness; intentional fellowship. I heard understanding for the difficulty of life, congratulation for successes, questions of interest and questions of admonishment. I heard humor and I heard silence. I saw acceptance through proximity and the realization that these friends were not alone because they had each other. I thought, "That's what I want."

When we walk with God, we go where He goes. We do what He does. We get to participate in His activity in the world and we get to know His thoughts. We get to enjoy His company and benefit from His radiant love, grace, and holiness. He goes to strange lands, though. I'm afraid that I too often reply to His invitation to follow with "Hey, I'll catch up with you later." So, trust me, this is an ideal I have yet to maintain. In no way am I an Enoch or Noah, or a Moses who the Lord used to speak to "face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11) But I unapologetically confess that I want to be like those guys; I want to walk with God.

So this blog, I hope, will be a small glimpse into where I'm walking and if nothing else, might encourage others to join in (via my successes or failures), to take the invitation God is extending, and go for a stroll (or a crawl, as the case may be).