Knot Tying

As many people know, I am an Eagle Scout. I admit that I have remained in scouting for two very important reasons. My son is in scouts and I feel that I should be part of the program. The second is responsibility. A number of adults helped me when I was young to earn my Eagle Scout. I feel responsible to them that I help others in achieving their goal in scouting. I continue on in the program. In scouting, the skills that I have masted are camping, cooking and rope work. I was never accomplished many of the "nature" skills of identifying trees and plants. Currently I am not able to tell the difference between poison ivy and ivy. So, I teach other skills. I also love to learn new knots and making things with rope. It is a current trend also. Many people want, ware, or make para cord bracelets now. There is a lot of information out there.

I have learned a bunch of new knots and braiding styles for para cord recently. My favorite is the Celtic button knot. I like this know because I have been attempting to make something for prayers. The Eastern Orthodox Tradition uses a prayer rope. It is similar to the Roman Catholic Rosary. Main difference is the number of beads and the material it is made from. The prayer rope is constructed by tying a special knot. There are many different sixes of ropes, but the most common used by is a thirty-three knot.

I attempted to master the special knot to make my own prayer rope. After several attempts, it never looked right. I found the Celtic button knot and realized it looked similar to the knot used in the prayer rope. As a Presbyterian, the Celtic knot seems to fit with my spiritual heritage better than the Orthodox Prayer knot. As I put together a prayer rope, I noticed a problem. It did not matter how many times I tied the knot, I still would get mixed up. I had to keep going back and looking at the instructions. This reminded me or what coaching is all about. When I need to look at the directions, I need focus on how to complete my goal. The instructions never told me how to complete the rope (my main goal). The instructions just helped my accomplish each part. 

Coaching is like looking at the directions for the knot. Coaches help us put together the steps we need for our ultimate goal. They help put in the instructions. Many of us already know what we need to accomplish to reach out goals. We just need someone to point us in the setting up the directions. I want to help you accomplish your goal. I want to help you write your directions. Email or Facebook me for how I can help. 

Small Church Coaching

"I believe small churches are uniquely poised to meet the needs of Millennials and perhaps turn the tide on the trend of the unchurched." 

KARL VATERS 

http://qideas.org/articles/why-small-churches-are-the-next-big-thing

I have been in ministry for over fifteen years. The over part is due to work accomplished in seminary and college. Of course, I was not ordained or much of what is considered "professional" church leader in those days, but I was in leadership in different situations in the life of the church. I was even director of the Vacation Bible School on summer in collage (I was a Christian Education major). 

In these fifteen years, I have been blessed to serve in a variety of settings. My home church is a larger congregation (1300 or so members). During collage, I attend what many would call a medium church. My plans when I went to seminary were to work as an associate pastor in a large church. As I learned and participated in internships, I started asking myself how I could be the second or third pastor in a church when there where churches with no pastor. I began sensing a call to small church ministry as a solo pastor. 

For the last fifteen years, I have served as a small church pastor. I felt the frustration the members of the church feel with limited and decreasing financial and personal resources. They see the building falling apart around them and costing more and more each year. I share in these frustrations as the leader of these congregations. As their leader, I would search and look for avenues to assist congregations with growth and new programs. I would get frustrated as I found consultants and coaches for churches that were expensive. Small churches do not have the extra income to hire these consultants. 

Karl Vaters is the mind behind a website based on serving small churches. He is the author to the quote on the top of the page. The whole articles are based on the idea that small churches are best situated to serve the younger generation. I believe he is full of truth. The whole article is encouraging for the small church. 

It is my passion, my calling, and my agreement with the above article that I see and want to serve small churches in a coach capacity. Coaching allows an outsider to come into the congregation, ask some important questions of the church to help them see themselves and discover what God is calling the congregation to accomplish in their community and the world. 

We Want . . .

"But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, . . ." 

(1 Sam. 8: 19-20, NIV)

These are the words of the people of Israel to Samuel. He was aging and the children were not following in God's ways. The people were worried about the future and did not want the children of Samuel to lead them. The people wanted a king like all the other nations. They wanted to be just like every other nation. Someone to lead them into battle. Someone to fight battles on their behalf. But they were forgetting something important.

It was not Samuel who was accomplishing this for them already. It was not any of the other leaders in the history of Israel. Moses was not leading them into battle or fighting on their behalf as they travel in the wilderness. It was not Joshua who battled at Jericho or helped them through the concurring of the Promised Land. All of these events and the time of the Judges was not accomplished because of the powers of the people in charge. No. It was all accomplished by the power of God. God lead the people out of Egypt. God gave directions to Moses through the wilderness. God lead the people through the Promised Land. 

The people were not rejecting Samuel at this time. No, God reported to Samuel it was not his leadership the people were rejecting. The people were rejecting God. They were turning their backs on the leadership of God. God had declared to the people when they were at Sinai that God was to be the king. 

This was the prescription through out the history of Israel. As we read through the prophets, the people kept turning their backs on God. And it is the the case of people today. We as followers do not want to follow. We want to make our own ways. We think we know more than God. Our ways are better than God's 

We can act like the Israelis  and reject God. Or we can learn to follow and accept God as our king. Jesus asked the same thing of His followers in the New Testament. Jesus did not want us to just give a portion. No, He asked for us to give and trust completely. Are you willing to fall into place?