Prayer Restrictions - A Presidential First

Notwithstanding the president’s righteous campaign talk about how committed he is to the separation of church and state, White House aides are now in the business of vetting prayers said before Obama rallies by individuals whom they’ve asked to do the praying.

Read this remarkable story by the enterprising Dan Gilgoff of U.S. News & World Report. Apparently no previous White House has gone down this road. If Bush had done so, Gilgoff wouldn’t be the only one on the story.

[from the Weekly Standard Blog by John McCormack]

Improving Your Leadership Presence

1. Get feedback. And don’t ask just anyone. You need to know how the people you serve really feel. You also need to know how your contemporaries feel. To know how people really feel, the feedback must be anonymous in some cases. Every organization's culture is different. But you cannot lead effectively without influence. You have to know if the influence is there. "He who thinks he leads and no one follows, is just taking a stroll in the woods."

2. Get advice. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Allow God to guide you through His Spirit and others He has placed around you. I heard one leader say, "I don't care what or how they are doing things in another state." Knowing where you stand against the target is important; so is getting advice on what to do differently. Every leader at every level needs more than one mentor. One mentor can sometimes be wrong. Also, get advice from your colleagues.

3. Observe role models. One leader said, "I am the role model." Be careful. Pride goes before a fall. Start paying attention to other leaders who are being effective. Watch how they conduct themselves, and see if there are things you can pick up.

4. Use a coach or consultant. External coaches or consultants are often used to help prepare high potential leaders to get ready for or transition into senior positions, and are often called on to assist with presence. It is easy to develop tunnel vision without the fresh look of an outside consultant.

5. Take a presentations skills course. A lot of leadership presence has to do with honed presentation skills. Giving good presentations is a known technology, and there are several workshops you can take, including:
- Blessing White’s Leading Out Loud
- Communispond’s Executive Presentation Skills
- Dale Carnegie has a number of programs
- Join your local Toastmaster’s

6. Take a media training course. Too many leaders do not understand how to effectively communicate with this generation. They use all technology and media. While learning how to deal with the media is something only the highest ranking executives will need to learn, you can use the same techniques to improve how you field tough questions thrown at you. There are also executive presentation and media training consultants.

7. Talk to an image consultant. This is a resource and industry I've only recently become familiar with. I was asked to find help for a leader who kept injuring his own reputation. There was no moral failure, but his likeability factor was just very low. After some research, it turns out there’s actually an Association for Image Consultants International that provides professional certification and a consultant directly.

8. Join a gym or work out regularly. Body language speaks volumes. And, much body language comes from how we move around. If our balance is off, we have difficulty getting up or down, or if we can't dodge a thrown shoe quickly, we come across as out of shape. People feel better about following a (physically) strong leader. It also speaks well of our health stewardship.

9. Learn how to lead meetings. Meetings are where we “show up” as a leader. Like presentation skills, there’s a science to meeting management that can be learned. And honing your meeting leadership skills helps you become a better meeting participant. Ask a skilled trainer to teach you "facilitation" (how to lead a discussion) skills.

10. Read. Among other titles, consider books on leadership, presentation skills, and biographies of role model leaders.

Are there other ways to improve leadership presence? Please comment with your ideas.

[Based on Great Leadership by Dan McCarthy]

Today's Word

"So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'" — Matthew 25:20-21

Lent

Lent, in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where according to the Bible he endured temptation by Satan. Different churches calculate the forty days differently.

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Western Christianity (with the exception of the Archdiocese of Milan which follows the Ambrosian Rite), Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.

[From Wikipedia]

Today is Ash Wednesday, The Beginning of Lent

In the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days (forty days not counting Sundays) before Easter. It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.

Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. The ashes used are gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. In the liturgical practice of some churches, the ashes are mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens (one of the sacred oils used to anoint those about to be baptized), though some churches use ordinary oil. This paste is used to make the sign of the cross, first upon the forehead of the clergy, and then on each of those present who kneel before him at the altar rail. As he does so, he recites the words: "Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

[From Wikipedia]

A Prayer for Lent, by Henri Nouwen

"How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it? But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent? How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death?

Yes, Lord, I have to die — with you, through you, and in you — and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection. There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess.... I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it.

O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again.

Amen."

How Are Denominations Doing?

The 77th annual edition of the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, long a highly regarded chronicler of growth and financial trends of religious institutions, records a slight but startling decline in membership of the nation's largest Christian communions.

Membership in the Roman Catholic Church declined 0.59 percent and the Southern Baptist Convention declined 0.24 percent, according to the 2009 edition of the Yearbook, edited by the National Council of Churches and published by Abingdon. The figures indicate that the Catholic church lost 398,000 members since the appearance of the 2008 Yearbook. Southern Baptists lost nearly 40,000 members. Both membership figures were compiled by the churches in 2007 and reported to the Yearbook in 2008. The 2009 Yearbook also includes an essay by the editor, the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, on the various ways churches count their members. Neither figure is earth-shattering given the size of the churches. Roman Catholics comprise the nation's largest church with a membership of 67,117,016, and Southern Baptists rank second in the nation at 16,266,920. But this year's reported decline raises eyebrows because Catholic and Southern Baptist membership has grown dependably over the years. Now they join virtually every mainline church in reporting a membership decline...

Here is the breakdown of the largest 25 church groups in the US: (You can read more here)

- The Roman Catholic Church, 67,117,06 members, down 0.59 percent. (Ranked 1)
- The Southern Baptist Convention, 16,266,920 members, down 0.24 percent. (Ranked 2)
- The United Methodist Church, 7,931,733 members, down 0.80 percent. (Ranked 3)
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,873,408 members, up 1.63 percent .(Ranked 4)
- The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no change reported. (Ranked 5)
- National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., 5,000,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 6)
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,709,956 members, down 1.35 percent. (Ranked 7)
- National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 8)
- Presbyterian Church (USA), 2,941,412 members, down 2.79 percent (Ranked 9)
- Assemblies of God, 2,863,265 members, up 0.96 percent. (Ranked 10)
- African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 11)
- National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, 2,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 11)
- Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., 2,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 11)
- The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,383,084 members, down 1.44 percent. (Ranked 14)
- The Episcopal Church, 2,116,749 members, down 1.76 percent. (Ranked 15)
- Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, no change reported. (Ranked 16)
- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 17)
- Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 17)
- The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,400,000 members, down 3.01 percent. (Ranked 19)
- American Baptist Churches in the USA, 1,358,351, down 0.94 percent. (Ranked 20)
- Baptist Bible Fellowship International, 1,200,000, no change reported. (Ranked 21)
- United Church of Christ, 1,145,281 members, down 6.01 percent. (Ranked 22)
- Jehovah’s Witnesses, 1,092,169 members, up 2.12 percent (Ranked 23)
- Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, 1,071,616 members, no change reported. (Ranked 24)
- Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), 1,053,642 members, up 2.04 percent. (Ranked 25)

[from MMI Weblog by Todd Rhoades]

Beware of Deception

Galatians 6:7-8: "Don't be misled -- you can not mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from their sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." (NLT)

The first few words of this passage brought a challenge to my heart. I must be alert to the tactics of the enemy and not allow him to mislead me. The Bible declares that he is a predator (walking about as a roaring lion) and he is always seeking to lead me away from my walk with Christ.

Satan will use any and all means to mislead my heart so that I will have a broken relationship with God rather than a healthy and maturing relationship. I must be alert and awake to the tricks of the enemy and not allow the flesh to be in charge of my life.

We open ourself to deception if we think that we can disobey God and not suffer the consequences or that we can ignore God and still receive His blessings. We are opening the door to deception when we live with only this present world and what it has to offer as our major desire and priority. The Bible declares that this world will pass away but he that does the will of the Father will abide forever. I want to walk with eternity in my view and realize that only what I do for Christ will last.

Make sure that you are investing in eternal things that will produce a harvest of eternal blessings and rewards. The best way to defeat deception is to keep your heart open to God. An open heart toward God allows His Spirit the freedom to minister direction and correction to our lives. Ask Him to help you develop an open heart which lead you down the path of spiritual maturity which will ultimately place you in His presence for all of eternity.

[from Heart for America by michael]

Grand Bahamas Centennial Crusade

This year the Church of God of Prophecy celebrates their 100th year of existence in the Bahamas. Recently, they hosted their Grand Bahamas Centennial Crusade which was held at the Community at Heart Tabernacle on Coral Road, Freeport.

The week long crusade was held under the theme "We've Come This Far by Faith" with much anticipation people from everywhere flocked the church house nightly and the excitement grew as the nights went on.

The special guest speaker for the week was Dr. Bishop Robert Jones of Kingston Jamaica, who is also a pastor of the Church of God of Prophecy. Each night Bishop Jones encouraged those in attendance with a quick and powerful word with precision and clarity. With topics such as "In My Time," "Engaging God;" "Closure-Guilt and For-giveness" There was no doubt that this man was hearing from God during the week.

Many accepted the Lord, received the Holy Spirit and brought closure to personal situations in their lives. No one left the church house disappointed as the Lord showed up nightly pouring out of His Spirit and meeting the needs of crowds of hungry and thirsty souls.

The National Overseers of the Church of God Of Prophecy, Bahamas Bishop Dr. Elgarnet. B. Rahming was also at this great Crusade nightly and welcomed those visiting. Also on hand were Bishop Cleophas Capron, District Overseer, Bishop Rudolph Arthur, National Field Director, Rev. Steve Dean Administrative Assistant to Bishop Arthur Knowles, District Overseer of Church of God.

The Word for the week was accompanied by great musical renditions by, The Remnant, Glenda Stubbs, Charo Charles, Peter Gray, Hattie Williams, Annamae Delva. the Church of God District Choir and Praise Team, the Centennial Praise Team. The Boyz and special guest the Interdenominational Mass Choir.

Coordinators of the Crusade were: Pastor Steven Cefort, Minister Cecil Bethel and Minister Barbara Gray.

[from The Freeport News]

WALL-E: Best Animated Feature and Best Spiritual Film of 2008

Disney’s "WALL-E" has been recognized as last year’s best movie for families, the best spiritual movie, and now the best feature-length animation.

The robot romance blockbuster won the Academy Award for animated feature on Sunday, beating out doggy hero flick “Bolt” and martial arts tale “Kung Fu Panda.” It had also been nominated for five other Academy Awards, including original screenplay, original score, original song, sound editing, and sound mixing.
"Creative seeds are sown in the oddest of places,” said director Andrew Stanton upon receiving the Oscar.

”WALL-E” tells the story of a garbage collecting robot who has been left on an abandoned earth to clean up the mess in a “distant, but not so unrealistic future” where the planet has become covered with trash from products sold by the powerful multi-national Buy N Large corporation. Though very much alone, WALL-E eventually falls in love with an advanced, feminine probe robot named EVE who lands on the planet, and follows her into outer space on an adventure.

“WALL-E not only does what Andrew Stanton says is the essence of the movie, directly quoting Jesus in John 15:13 of the New Testament, ‘No greater love hath a man than that he lay down his life for his friends,’” stated a review by faith-based media ministry Movieguide, which earlier this month selected “WALL-E” as the best movie for families in 2008. “It also clearly manifests Christian acts of compassion, kindness, respect, and all the other cardinal virtues throughout the story.”

In addition to Movieguide, multi-faith site http://www.beliefnet.com/ also declared “WALL-E” at the top of its annual list, recently dubbing it the “Best Spiritual Film of 2008” out of a pool of films that “are bound to touch your soul in some way.”

Film judge Sr. Rose Pacatte called the movie "Disney's best film ever in terms of its themes of the consequences of soulless consumerism and the need – the hunger for truth, beauty, and goodness that we all share.”

“Spirituality is living our beliefs in relationship with God and others,” Pacatte added. “The word God was not present, but the reality was in WALL-E."

Walt Disney Pictures released “WALL-E” in the United States and Canada on June 27, 2008. After a $63 million opening weekend, the movie went on to gross $533 million worldwide. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on Nov. 18, 2008.

[By Josh Kimball - Christian Post Reporter]

True Team Leadership

There are a few leaders out there today who have jumped on the plurality of leadership bandwagon just because they think it to be in vogue. They tout themselves as leading with a team, but they continue to revert back to old habits of leading from authority. When challenged, they may even resort to using fear and intimidation. They publish a list of team members, but the team is never given vision, purpose, nor structure (because the leader really doesn't intend to use them fully).

If you are serious about using team leadership, if you fully intend to use them, the team will need structure. Your ministry will not effectively meet the needs of others without it. Selecting the wrong structure will not only impact how you execute as a ministry, it often leads to dysfunction across the church.

Here are some measurements:

- Does your team have a well-defined structure (peer-based, team-based, or depth-based)?Without structure, your volunteers will not know where and when to go when they need help. They’ll feel helpless and give up.

- Is your team structure documented (organizational chart or outline)? Your team needs to know where to go when they need help, so make it easy on them by keeping a chart available and up-to-date.

- Does your team have job descriptions for each job role your team performs, including the duration required for new signups? How can your team do their job if they don’t know what their job is? Make short, easy to understand job descriptions that help everyone stay focused.

- Do you have a process for locating new managers and leaders to grow your team? Developing structure helps you to see where future managers and leaders are needed. Develop a simple process for locating these future team members.

[from Agile Ministry by James Higginbotham]

FREE Leadership E-Book

Exponential Network just gave the church world a huge gift. They sifted through thousands of blog posts from some great church leaders and compiled an e-book of the best of the best.

You can get your free PDF copy here ... click Leadership Learnings From Bloggers.

[from LeadingSmart by Tim Stevens]

Wall Street Worries About Nationalization

U.S. stock futures pointed to a strong opening Monday as a report the U.S. government would increase its stake but not fully take over Citigroup eased some of the nationalization fears rampant in the market.

U.S. stocks slumped on Friday on concerns that Citi and Bank of America would have to be taken over by the government -- stoked by an interview Sen. Christopher Dodd gave to Bloomberg Television in which he suggested as much. The Dow industrials fell 100 points, the S&P 500 lost 8 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell a point.

However, The Wall Street Journal reported that Citigroup is in talks with the government on Uncle Sam converting its preference shares into common equity. The U.S. government may hold between 25% and 40% of Citi, according to the report.

[By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch]

Today's Word

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself." — Philippians 2:3

Technology Drives The Generation Gap

Young people have always been at the forefront of adopting new technologies. The latest Barna research shows just how significant this “generation gap” is today.

Find out about the types of technologies used by every generation and those that are becoming the domain of the young.

Click here