A Week Away

We are just about a week away now from the celebration of the birth of Christ. As you probably know, December 25th is more of the commemoration date than the actual date of Christ's' birth. There are varying and debatable historic dates ranging from 5 B.C., 4 B.C. and even 1 A.D.

Matter of fact, the birth of Jesus might not have even happened in December at all! Oh my!! What would "Christmas" be without snow. Is it even possible? Santa can't ride around in the spring or summer time. He will be too hot and needs the snow....or wait; isn't that when the bunny comes around with a basket?

Taken from Wikipedia ~ "Although a Christian holiday, Christmas is widely celebrated by many non-Christians, and some of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of greeting cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, and garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, Father Christmas (known as Santa Claus in some areas, including North America, Australia and Ireland) is a popular mythological figure in many countries, associated with the bringing of gifts for children."

So let's remember that it doesn't take the date of December 25th, snow, a man with a "belly like a bowl full of jelly", reindeer, dinner with family or a gift from a loved one to make our Christmas complete. It just takes a lot of time focusing and meditating on the Birth of our Savior and that it happened; God incarnate. Born into the crap and rotten stench of a stable to save us all.

From Luke 2

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^a]">[a] the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Passion In All Things Ministry

pas•sion: noun
a: ardent affection : love b: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept c: sexual desire d: an object of desire or deep interest

Like most people working or volunteering in ministry, with tight budgets come expanded roles. Throughout our days and tasks, Director of Operations often translates to spill cleaner, Director of Communications sometimes translates to receptionist, Children's Pastor often translates to babysitter, Trustee often translates to usher, and Senior Pastor sometimes translates to the dude BBQing at the church picnic.
Reflect for a moment about your specific job responsibilities and the teams you lead.
What areas are you passionate about? What areas are bundled into your package of responsibilities that are easy for you to neglect?

The areas we are passionate about take little effort on our part. After all, our passions connected to our relationship with Christ are what brought us to ministry in the first place. So, I would rather help you pinpoint the duties you neglect because of your natural passion in other areas.

When you are not passionate about something:
• People see it. You are always being watched because most volunteers want to emulate what you do and how you act. When you aren’t passionate about something, people can tell.
• Your volunteers and ministry leaders will feed off of you. For example: If you want all of your teams to be welcoming, but you are not passionate about your usher team, that usher team will be your least welcoming team.
• It becomes your crippled leg. For example: I oversee retail operations at Grace. This includes our cafe, bookstore and rentals. I love the cafe. I come more from that background than the bookstore background. I apply a lot of time, but little energy towards the cafe and love watching it grow. The results have been huge. At the same time, despite feeling and knowing the strong sense of purpose the bookstore brings to the church and wanting it to succeed, I end up applying little time, and a lot of energy towards the bookstore. Let's just say, the results have not been staggering.

When you are passionate about something, you don't need to post reminders in your blackberry or have a bunch of sticky notes on the edges of your monitor screen. You can put more of that effort toward what you are not passionate about.


Some initiatives to help you do this:
• Remind yourself that people are watching you. Sell new initiatives and ministry goals well to your teams. Force yourself to get as excited as you would when you interact with a passion driving team.
• When you can, place ministry leaders around you that live and breathe the passions you don't. If chosen correctly, this person will be knocking down your door with ideas and their example allowing you to feed off of their passion.
• Remind yourself daily and weekly to evaluate the areas you lack passion for. Remember that these areas don't come naturally to you. They are not your comfort zone. You put them off for a reason.


WARNING: Be careful. Initiative and effort toward areas you lack passion for can sometimes lead to a new found passion. That can happen when you pour a little bit of YOU into something.

Ode to Kelly

Ode to Kelly....
Never had the chance to say this last week. To make a long story short....most of you know that we decided to move on a moment's notice (in order to get a preferred tenant) and rent our house early before our new house was ready for us. Well, this simply caused us to pack, patch walls, paint, clean, organize, etc in a week and a half while also working. We could not have done this without the help of many of you who helped us (ps - might need help in December) and we are grateful for all who helped.
But I need to thank the one who deserves most of the praise. My amazing and beautiful wife Kelly. She did most of what needed to be done. She is SUPERHUMAN, I can't even explain it as well as she deserves. The endurance, strength and work ethic I see in her matches very few. I am completely blessed. The day following the night we decided to move, I came home from work and all of the beds were dismantled and headboards, etc down in the living room. Pictures were off the walls and holes were being patched. Boxes were already mounting.

Moving a whole house and prepping it for tenants does not normally happen in 11 days. It does when Kelly is your wife. She runs an amazing home.
I.love.her.

You are Invited!!!!

On any given day in the United States, our youth and young adults are faced with many negative issues that severely affect their lives for generations to come. Some of these events include;

o 6 teens commit suicide.
o 500 adolescents begin using drugs.
o 1,000 unwed teenage girls become mothers.
o 1,000 adolescents begin drinking alcohol.
o 2,200 teens drop out of high school.
o 3610 teens are assaulted.
o 4216 teens contract sexually transmitted diseases.
o 135,000 kids bring guns or other weapons to school.

My heart for the youth of this city has led me to Chair the Greater Erie Youth for Christ Board of Directors.
My passion for these teens has led me to sponsor and host tables at a dinner for you to come and hear how God is using this ministry to halt these negative issues with love and care.

You are invited to:
2009 Youth for Christ Banquet and Silent Auction
“The Time is Now”

Date: November 10th 2009
Location: Courtyard by Marriott - Ambassador Hotel and Conference Center
7792 Peach Street
16509
Time: 6:30-8:30

Please RSVP to me by October 31, 2009
aaron@whoisgrace.com

My Extreme Weeks

For one of the news Reports Click Here



FOR MORE PICTURES, CLICK HERE

My Extreme Week

“It’s amazing how much can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.” – John Wooden

As you can see in the details of the press release I posted yesterday, I had the opportunity to work with an awesome team serving with the Extreme Home Makeover Side Project. What an opportunity it was to serve over 50 houses (47 in the neighborhood) and a community park and alleyway. I can honestly say it was 10 days to remember. Everyone had their own unique experiences, so it makes sense that I am confident no one completely shared the experience I had and I no one else’s.

A few impacts for me were:

· TEAM – I was blessed to lead with an overly talented team of other leaders. At multiple times throughout the week I thought, “Man, what would we do if _________ didn’t step up to the plate? How could we do it without them?”. God pulled the right leaders, people and businesses together in with a few days notice and He orchestrated it all to work magnificently together. THAT IS A TEAM. And there are about 10 people I owe a huge thank you to – and they all know who they are!

· DEDICATION – On a regularly basis I was overwhelmed with the many, many, many volunteers who put their lives on hold to serve their community. Many hours were put in by so many. And with the power of TV, so many changes or decisions were made with minutes notice. The moment that caused my emotions to overflow: The night we got ourselves into hand mixing 100 bags of cement for the concrete slab of a tribute garden for Clara Ward. Most of the volunteers there came after a long day at their regular job. When most other volunteers finished their jobs, these fine 20 people were still there with cars parked around the garden with headlights on so the job could be finished. No dinner, barely any light – but teamwork, dedication and patience in sued. Literally, they were placing stepping stones with words that described the characteristics of Clara and the last stone they placed was patience. A good laugh shared by all!

· COMMUNITY – We have an amazing community in Erie! Those serving and those we served (some of who were both). I had the great honor of getting to know every family we served. All are great people with many different stories, some with a willingness to help. People were so grateful for being served and voiced it many times. All I could think as people were thanking us was to thank them. It was a true joy to serve them with others. Some of these people are in tough situations and don’t see and end it sight. That sometimes de-motivates people. I was reminded:

o People tend to become what people think of them. When they think the community doesn’t care they lose motivation. When they feel cared for by those they respect, most times – they strive for more.

o People don’t care an ounce what you have to say to them until they realize that you sincerely care.

o In tough situations, people tend to forget that the power to succeed lies deep within. How a community acts towards them can positively or negatively affect that.

Thank you to the many volunteers and businesses that without hesitation made the Extreme Make Over side project a success!