1. Place more focus on the person than on the project
2. Look out for number 2. (place others first)
3. Don't compare your place of ministry. Take what you have and make something wonderful.
4. Be a lifelong learner
5. Realize failure is an option, occasionally. Take risks. Own up to your failure.
6. Remember you are not on your own. Surround yourself with a great cloud of witnesses. Get a team.
7. Love much. Don't put church before family, but don't use family as an excuse to shirk responsibility
8. Make the mortgage payment before you remodel the kitchen. (Worst first). Work hard.
9. Move tables. Don't disappear when the hard, dirty, and unflattering jobs need to be done.
10. Lighten up. Give yourself a break every now and then.
Good stuff, right? I though so. I think I'm doing pretty well on this checklist, but there are a couple that I struggle with a bit.
My next class was on Video Basics from Zach Cochran of innovative Media and dealt with understanding the vocabulary of video language - VGA, XVGA, 4K, etc... It was a refresher for the most part, but I was able to ask some questions about some situations with our current TV ministry issues that could possible steer us in a new direction there as far as equipment.
Worship today with Michael Catt was great again. I have to confess that I had reached my point of exhaustion in the week by this time today and was getting quite sleepy. I feared I wouldn't make it, but once again, the content was quite engaging and ended with a very nice time of prayer. The emphasis was on the power of a praying church. We explored the meaning of the word "fervent," which means fully stretched (as in a muscle), in the context of prayer.
After lunch, I had a couple of class blocks where I had no class options I was interested in. Therefore, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Prayer Garden. I spent a good amount of time there in Hosea 4, where God outlines His anger against the people of Israel because of their sin. But he doesn't stop there, as he also makes it clear that his anger burns towards the prophets and priests as well. We can gather from this a reminder that our positions as ministers are also held accountable for their actions or inactions in the decline of spirituality in a culture. Convicting stuff. Verse 13 also says: "They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and they burn offerings on the hills, and under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters act promiscuously and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. (Hosea 4:13 HCSB)". I interpret this as how "comfortable" the people have become in worshipping in the shade, so to speak, but then leaving and returning to their lives of sin right after. Boy, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?
This afternoon's LifeWay reading session was pretty good. The new Dennis Allen "Let's Sing" Christmas Cantata called "He is Here" was once again a winner, and will be a frontrunner choice for my Christmas Cantata this year. There was also a Thanksgiving mini-musical called "We Give Thanks" that was also quite good. A Christmas standalone anthem that I liked was "The Birthday of The King" arranged by Mauldin, which was quite nice.
The feature concert tonight began with a performance by the conference youth and children's choir. The youth performance was plagued by sound problems early, but they finished strong. The children (wiith my Nathan being among them) performed selections from the new CWS series of curriculum. It was a very upbeat and lively set of songs, almost dance club-like at parts. High energy! I'm still not sure I'm 100% on board with the new bent. I did enjoy the music and could see my kids choir doing it, though. Before the last half of the program with Shelley Johnson, we hear a surprise solo performance by one of the former members of the Imperials, and it was fantastic. Shelly's performance was quite good, but sometimes the track sort of overwhelmed her. The songs were really nice, though, especially her new spin on the classic hymn "The Love of God." It surprised me they had her back so soon after just having her a few years ago, but I was still blessed.
The evening concluded with ice cream at the Nibble Nook. :) 🍦
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