Wish somebody had told me

From the FSAOF-blog:
Perry Noble is one of my favorite (perhaps THE favorite) pastors who blogs, and it's because of posts like this:From time to time a church planter will ask me, “what do you wish someone would have told you before you began?” Here’s a list of fifteen things I came up with…

#1 – Everyone Will Not Understand You…SO Stop Trying To Explain Yourself. Cast Vision…And MOVE Forward!

#2 – Everyone Will Not Like You…So STOP Trying To Be Popular.

#3 – You Don’t Have To Be The Person Who Actually Solves Every Problem….Admit You Are Not The Smartest Person and Let Your Experts Be Your Experts.

#4 – Spend WAY More Time Talking About Who You Are Rather Than Who You Are Not.

#5 – A Leader Is Always An Easy Target Because They Are…A Leader. So, Get Over Yourself And Get On With What God Called You To Do!

#6 – When The Holy Spirit Presses Something Into Your Heart…Don’t Ignore Him.

#7 – Do NOT Expect God’s Next Step To Make Sense.

#8 – You Can’t Plan A Move Of God…But You Must Be Prepared For One!

#9 – Do Not Resist Something Just Because You Do Not Understand It!

#10 – People Who Claim You “Are Not Deep Enough” Are Obsessed With Information But Have No Desire To Live Out Transformation.

#11 – You Don’t Need To Listen To Everybody…But You Had Better Be Listening To Somebody Because God Didn’t Ask You To Take This Journey Alone.

#12 – Never Apologize For Asking People To Commit To Something…Jesus Didn’t!

#13 – The Church Has Been Underachieving For Way Too Long…So Dream BIG And Don’t Apologize For It.

#14 – There Will Be Days When You Want To Quit…Don’t…Jesus Didn’t! (Remember…DON’T GIVE UP…if you are discouraged, take a second and read this!)

#15 – The Gospel Changes Lives…PREACH Every Sermon Like It’s Your Last!!!

FROM BOB HOSTETLER Former USA East

Interview with former Ku Klux Klan leader

"God's verdict" more important to Canadian PM than historians'

From Christian Telegraph:
"In a notably personal interview in Quebec City, Prime Minister Stephen Harper explained that God's judgement on his life was more important to him than the judgement of history. The story will be published in the September edition of Prestige magazine, reports Patrick B. Craine, LifeSiteNews.com.
His comment came while speaking about his family, saying that his relationships with his wife and two children are more important to him than political accomplishments. "The important thing, for me, is to preserve family ties," he said. "I can win elections, but if I lose my family, it's a disaster."
"To be honest with you," he continued with a laugh, "I am a lot more concerned by God's verdict regarding my life than the one of historians."

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Confident Islam conquers relativistic Europe?

From Mats Tunehag´s blog:
Europe is no match for Islamic self-confidence: "When an insecure, malleable, relativistic culture meets a culture that is anchored, confident and strengthened by common doctrines, it is generally the former that changes to suit the latter."

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To lead is to make decisions

From FSAOF blog:

Someone said once, that the one thing all leaders have in common is that they have followers. True. But they also have enemies.

A friend recently defined leadership for me this way:
“Leadership is disappointing people at a pace they can tolerate.”

That makes more sense, in a real, down to earth type of church setting. It reminds me of a quote I read recently in a Teddy Roosevelt biography, which I adapted to:
To lead is to make decisions. To make decisions is to alienate some.
I wish it weren't so, but it is. Every time a leader makes a decision, someone is going to disagree--perhaps strongly--with that decision. But it is the leader's task to decide, and whenever possible to communicate the reasons for a decision as effectively as possible, so that (it is hoped) the majority of folks who might have an opinion are helped toward acceptance and even support of the decision. But every decision will engender disagreement, and the harder the decision, the more likely the disagreement will be both sharp and broad.

Some leaders, wounded by this reality, turn to a modus operandi of trying never again to make an unpopular decision (which, of course, makes them more followers of the crowd than leaders of the flock). Others of us try to survive by shutting down or shutting out all criticism because it's just too painful, demotivating, and even demobilizing to hear a constant thrumming of negative reaction. I hope to become a leader who can do neither. I hope to get better at facing the reality that decisions invite disagreement. But with THAT reality comes another: every disagreement presents an opportunity for a new decision, to fight, to flee, or (the choice I hope to take), to acknowledge the leader's role, responsibility...and respect for those who disagree.

Tom Wood (from Bob Hostetler's blog)

New soldiers at Riga 2 corps

For the second time this year there was a soldiers enrolment service at Riga 2. Most people coming to the corps are homeless people. Also the soldiers. After the meetings at Sundays and Wednesdays a full dinner is served to the people coming to the service.
See more pictures from the service>>

Hanks: Life in Latvia

From Statesman.com:
RIGA, LATVIA — Not every American who travels abroad visits this tiny capital, much less gets here two summers in a row. Yet having briefly worked for a newspaper in the region — and having friends in the area — I've somehow ended up here more often than expected.

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