Visioneering ch. 18 & conclusion

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! Today I’m going to write the last blog about Visioneering. I have now read the last chapter and the conclusion to the book.
Chapter 18 is called The Leader’s Mandate. Apparently sometime after Nehemiah and company had finished rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem Nehemiah had to leave them to go back to his service to the king. During that time the people in Jerusalem fell out off the moral compass. Nehemiah had helped them regain their former glory by rebuilding the wall and helped them get back on track with God by obeying the Sabbeth and so forth. When Nehemiah left, the people went back to treating the Sabbeth day like any other day. When Nehemiah heard about this, he talked to the king about it, and went back their to get the people back on track again. You see, “visions require constant attention”. Nehemiah needed to remind them the hights from which they had fallen and help them regain that glory again. They needed bold leadership. That kind of leadership does two things. 1. Bold leadership must be vision based. And 2. Bold action must be carried out against a backdrop of clearly defined beliefs and behaviors.
Lastly from this chapter “Maintaining a vision requires bold leadership”.
And in the conclusion Stanley summerizes what he covered throughout the book. Visions are much more than mere imagination. You know full well what is and also a mental picture of what could be and what should be. This will require change. Some people are very much against change. But don’t let that stop you, especially if God is the One who birthed this vision in you. Keep pushing forward until you, by God’s grace, see that vision (or visions) comes to pass. I’ll end this post the way Stanley ends the book, “Pay the price. Embrace the vision. After all, everyone ends up somewhere in life. You have the opportunity to end up somewhere on purpose”. Please go out and buy this book. It’s great! If you have a vision (and I think we all do!) then you certainly need to read this book.
Thank you all for reading. God bless you all in Jesus’ name.
And please be praying for AIMers (those on their mission fields and those in Lubbock) and for my friends Elijah and Kristen (preparing to go to Auckland, New Zealand) and Rob and Denyce Hindman (preparing to go to Moscow, Russia). And lastly, my parents Richard and Teresa Blaisdell are leaving to go to Cameroun, West Africa on Tuesday to teach church leaders there with Jim Corner. Jim has lead mission trips there 3 times a year since 1996. Two of those trips are mission oriented and where you teach people the gospel using a chart from World Bible School. And the thrid trip is a teaching seminar. That’s what my Dad and Mom will be doing this time. My grandmother (Meme) is coming over to stay with me. So, I’m certainly not going to starve any. So please be praying for my Dad, Mom, and Jim. They’ll be gone for most of Febuary. Thanks! God bless!
Zack

Read Full Post »

Visioneering ch. 17

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope and pray all of you are having a great day.
I have now read chapter 17 in Visioneering. This chapter is called Maintaining Your Course. Chapter 17 is about finding a set of core beliefs and behaviors and operating by them. If we don’t find them and/or operate by them, we will be unblessable. We must make a line in the sand and refuse to step over that line, no matter what happens. And we must decide these as teams so everyone is on board with team and/or bussiness protocall. There must be a boundry. As Jesus said in Matthew 12:25, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. Everyone must agree to the agreed upon set of values. “Maintaining a vision requires adherence to a set of core beliefs and behaviors”. At several points in the Old Testament God and His people made a covenant together. If both sides held up their end of the bargain there would be blessing. Of course God always held up His. So if the people didn’t hold up their end, they would be punished.
We are nearing the end of this book. Tomorrow, Lord-willing, I’ll finish blogging about Visioneering and start blogging about 2 other books.
Have a great day everyone. God bless you all in Jesus’ name.
Zack

Read Full Post »

Visioneering chs 15 & 16

Yo, yo, and hello readers! I hope and pray everyone had a great Sunday yesterday and are having a great day today. I appologize for not blogging yesterday. I’m going to blog about chapters 15 and 16 from Visioneering today.
Chapter 15 is called The Inexplicable Life. This chapter pretty much talks about what God is doing through you and your vision. It’s not about you or me and our vision(s). It’s about God and what He is doing through us. And it’s about Him getting the glory and the credit for what has been done. We need to be very careful that we don’t sacrifice our families, morality, and faith in accomplishing our visions either. In which case God won’t bless us in our endeavors until we come back to Him. He won’t bless us if we are “unblessable” when we become “unuseable” as Stanley says. We must be constantly aware of the “divine potential in all yu envision to do”.
Chapter 16 is called The End of the Line. “The end of a God-ordained vision is God”. When the vision has been completed all people will stand back and proclaim that God was at work there. That is what happened when Nehemiah and company finished rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem and when Peter had a great catch of fish (Luke 5). Everyone will know and be amazed that the Lord was at work there.
Do you know what week this is folks? Super Bowl week! Sunday is the day of the Super Bowl. I’m excited! The Colts are going to win and Peyton Manning will be the MVP. It’s going to be a close high-scoring game. I’m going to say Colts 31 Bears 28. Please chim in on who you think is going to win, score, and MVP please.
I’ll blog more about the book tomorrow. God bless you all in Jesus name! Peace be with you.
Zack

Read Full Post »

Visioneering

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! How’s it going right now? I hope all is well. Right now the Mavs are playing the Kings. Go Mavs!
I have read the 14th chapter in Visioneering. It is talking about distrations to your visions. There are three things that can distract you from your vision. They are opportunities, criticism, and fear.
Nehemiah and his group had finished building the walls back up, and all they lacked was putting up a gate. But his enemies found out about their successes, and tried to throw them off track. They tried to get Nehemiah to go with them to have a meeting with them. But he wouldn’t go. This was an opportunity, but the men were really plotting to kill Nehemiah, so it was obviously good that he didn’t go with them. “Good” opportunities can throw us off our visions. We sacrifice our visions for a “good” opportunity. Stay focused on your visions.
The second distraction is criticism. Nehemiah’s enemies tried to get him to go with them four times and of course he said no. But on there was a fifth time too, and this time they said that Nehemiah was trying to make a rebellion against the role authorities, which of course wasn’t true. They were saying things about him that weren’t true. Nehemiah didn’t fight back though. He said they were making up stories that they knew weren’t true and that was the end of it.
The third distraction is fear. Nehemiah and those with him faced some intense life-threatening situations. Nehemiah’s enemies got Shemaiah, a fellow Jew from Jerusalem, to lie to him, telling him someone was out to kill him, and that he should run to the temple and grabe a hold of the alter. But if he had done so, it would be illegel, because only priests can go in there and the only exception is when one man accidently kills another and he can run to refudge there from the family of the dead one, lest they take vengance on him. But Nehemiah saw through the trick and said he would not do it.
We need to look at ourselves and see what “good” opportunities are holding us back from our visions. What criticisms are holding us back. And what fears are holding us back from pursuing our visions. We need to hand them over to God and step out on faith and take hold of the victory in Jesus’ name. If God has really given you these visions, He will give you strength to do it.
I guess that is all for today. I’ll write again tomorrow. God bless you all in Jesus’ name.
Zack

Read Full Post »

The Dirt on Learning/ Visioneering

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope and pray all of you are having a great day! Well, I have read the last chapter in The Dirt on Learning and the next chapter in Visioneering.
The last chapter in The Dirt on Learning just talked about steps to implement the book’s material into your church. Things like getting a group together who share your concern about the church’s educuation program, talking to the Education Minister (or Senior Minister, whatever the case may be) about your concern, of course praying about how and when to make changes, and so forth. This is a great book! I highly recomemend it. Learner-based teaching is no dought the most effective teaching method out there.
And in Visioneering, Stanley talks about Moral Authority. This is talking about influence. Everyone has influence for good or bad. If you have a vision to make good changes, then use your influence for good. But he suggests to give up your vision before you give up your moral authority.
I guess that is all for that right now. Tomorrow I’ll continue with Visioneering until the end of the month. The Dirt on Learning is over. I’ll start reading and writing about two new books at the start of Febuary.
On a different note, the Dallas Mavs got hammered last night by the Chicago Bulls. Oh well. We can’t win them all. Look out Sacramento Kings. Here comes the Mavs!
God bless you all in Jesus’ name! Adios.
Zack

Read Full Post »

The Books

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope and pray all is well with all of you.
I have read the next chapter in The Dirt on Learning and the next chapter in Visioneering.
The next chapter in The Dirt on Learning follows the last section of the parable: the good soil that produced a hundred, sixty, and thirty times what was sown. The good soil represents what Jesus is really going for. He isn’t interested in merely scattering seeds out there. He’s interested in producing crops. He’s not interested in temporary seed sprouting. He wants strong, healthy crops. He doesn’t want temporary converts that will fall away. He wants those who actively, and genuenly understand; and who have counted the cost of discipleship. To do all this, we need to take active steps to ensure that our teaching is learner-based. This means thinking outside the box in most cases. We need to take active steps for taking care of the fields to make sure they are able to yeild good crops. We need to take active steps to make sure we’re doing the best job we can in teaching in ways that are learner-based.
Now on to Visioneering. The next chapter in this book is called Alignment. This is saying we need to stay focused on the vision that the team has set. Everyone needs to be in “alignment”. Everyone needs to stay focused even in the mundane jobs we may be doing before we can act on the vision and in the day to day jobs we do for the vision. We need to set aside a time to make sure everyone is ok and still focused on the vision. “Visions thrive in an enviornment of unity; they die in an enviornment of division”. If there’s any division amoungst the team, the problem must be fixed, or the team and the vision will be destroyed. We must stay focused and take action to ensure everyone is still on the same page of vision.
On a more personal note, I have a lot of friends who are married and are having children of their own now. My church’s knew Outreach minister and his wife just had a baby girl just a few days ago I believe. Two of my sister’s friends have had baby boys. And some of my sister’s, brother-in-law’s, and my friends have had children. There is a lot of excitment and joy in the air! Thank you all for reading my Ebook. God bless you all in Jesus’ name!
Zack
ps. The Dallas Mavricks are on a roll! We’ve won 7 or 8 in a row now. We just defeated the Orlando Magic and face the Chicago Bulls tonight and play the Sacromento Kings over the weekend. Go Mavs!

Read Full Post »

The Books

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope and pray all is well with all of you.
I have read the next chapter in The Dirt on Learning and in Visioneering. Chapter nine in The Dirt on Learning is called From Drudgery to Delight. It is about making learning fun! The authors write Bible school ciriculum for Group Publishing and they include a lot of fun little gizmos to enhance learning. Jesus certainly brought delight to the learning process for His disciples. I think we can make learning fun today in the Church.
And the next chapter in Visioneering is called Warding off Criticism. It talks about what to do when we receieve criticism for our visions. The vision you have will most likely bring about change and those changes are going to be hard for people to accept. No one likes change who likes things the way they are. And there a lot of gaps too. For example, when Nehemiah envisioned Jerusalem as a walled-city there was no telling how long the walls there had been broken down, and all the people there had grown used to it being that way. There were several people (rulers from the surrounding areas) who were greatly opposed to the changes. But Nehemiah prayed about it, and decided to go along with the proposed changes and rebuild the walls. We need to think about the criticisms, pray about them, and look honestly at our selves. If we need to change our visions in some way, do it to bring about the best change possible. We must not confuse our plans with God’s vision. Remember, “a vision is what could and should be. A plan is a guess as to the bes way to accomplish the vision”. Also, “visions are refined- they don’t change; plans are revised- they rerely stay the same”. And “respond to criticism with prayer, rememberance, and if necessary, a revision of the plan”.
I believe planting churches somewhere here in the US (Northeast perhaps?) is what God wants me to do write now. I’m hoping and praying to be able to come back to the South and be an Outreach Minister and/or a Spiritual Development Minister. What are some of your visions for the future? Comments please.
God bless you all in Jesus’ name!
Zack
ps. This is Wenesday, so please pray for the AIM students today, and for Elijah and Kristan Peters (preparing to go to Auckland, NZ) and Rob and Denyce Hindman (preparing to go to Moscow, Russia) to be missionaries. Thank you all and God bless!

Read Full Post »

Lot’s of catching up to do:)

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! Once again I apologize for the extended time between blogs. I watched the movie Shallow Hal last night. I didn’t know it would last as long as it did (there were lots of comericals). I had decided to write my blog after watching the movie, but was too tired. So, I went to bed. But now I’m here and ready to write. I have read two chapters in The Dirt on Learning and 2 chapters in Visioneering to make up for lost time. So, here it goes.
Before chapters seven and eight in The Dirt on Learning, we see the next phase of the Parable of the Sower. That is the weeds that grow up with the plants that choke and kill the plants so they don’t bare any fruit. Chapter seven worns against the danger of competition, rewards, and bribes. What’s the point really in competition that pits teams against teams? It creates rivalrey. It creates an us-against-them mentality. Things like that are asking for trouble. Rewards and bribes can’t be good either. It fosters a do-this-and-get-that focus to all of us. The only reason they will do the “this” is to get the “that”. The authors propose that if we do competition that it is understood that having fun is the name of the game. That if we do rewards that everyone understands what the real goal and mentality really is supposed to be. In chapter eight they look at intrinsic motivation instead of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is what rewards and bribes are. If we constantly offer rewards and bribes for filling out lesson sheats during Bible class or sermon time, or coming to Bible class, or whatever then getting the reward is the only goal for the children, most likely. Intrinsic motivation is when learning is fun and the kids are there because they geniuenly want to be there and learn. They want to learn because it’s fun. They find something they like and are interested in, and they keep at it and really want to learn it.
Now on to Visioneering. Yesterday and today I read chapters nine and ten. Chapter nine is about The Power of Vision. This chapter tells about our own personal influence on other people and what they will do in life. When we recognize something in someone and we tell them, “Your really good at that! Your going to do great things in life with that gift.” that is casting a vision for their life. It works in both positive and negative ways. If you tell someone “I think you’ll do great at that in life”, that’s a positive way. But if we say “I don’t think your cut out for that” that is a negative vision. Some great Bible examples would be when God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah in Genesis 17; and Jesus changing Simon’s name to Peter in Matthew 16. No dought each of them thought back to those moments alot over their lives over the years after those moments. Parents have the greatest influence over their children in casting visions for their lives. And leaders as well have great influence over their followers as well. Now on to chapter ten. When we are ready to step out to take on the vision we have from God, we must be willing and ready to make sacrifes. There will always be an eliment of the unknown when stepping out on our vision, but we need to have the faith to do it. There will always be a chance that nothing is going to work out. We need to look into our hearts and see if it’s worth the risk or not. Again, in that area we need to have faith that things are going to work out no matter what. When we step out on faith on behalf of our vision, we to make financial sacrifies for that vision. And we can’t ask anyone else to make any more of a sacrifice that we our selves have made. When we do these things, we are well on our way.
I guess that is all for today on the books. I’ll post more tomorrow. God bless you all in Jesus’ name!
Zack
ps. I’m hoping and praying to get involved in church-planting mission work here in the US after Sunset for a number of years. After serving on the mission field I hope to return to the South and be on a church staff as an Outreach and/or Spiritual Development minister. What are some of your visions for your life? Comments please. God bless!

Read Full Post »

Payton exercises Patriot demons!

Yo, yo, and hello readers! Sorry I haven’t read the books yet. I’ll post about them tomorrow.
For now, let’s just say… How about those Colts!!!!!!! The Bears vs. the Colts for the Super Bowl. I’m pulling for the Colts. Your thoughts.
God bless you all in Jesus’ name!
Zack

Read Full Post »

Dirk for MVP

Y0, yo, and hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a great day today.
I was reading out of the One year NIV study Bible (study notes by LaGard Smith) today about Joseph and the Pharoah put Joseph in charge of gathering food during the 7 years of plenty in preparation for the 7 years of famine. During the famine years everyone had to go to Egypt to get food. And Joseph’s brother (the ones who sold him into slavery) went to get food. That is very forshadowing, is it not? They go to get food. Joseph immediatly recognizes them, but the brothers don’t recognize him. They bow down to him, just like Joseph dreamed they would back in his youth (which the brothers obviously didn’t appreciate). I found that very interesting.
What about you? Your thoughts.
The Mavs beat the Lakers last night! Yahoo! Dirk for MVP baby! Nash is having his best year ever right now for the Suns, but hay you gotta give it to Dirk this year. I think so anyway. Your thoughts.
I hope and pray all is well with all of you! God bless you all in Jesus’ name!
Zack
ps. Back to the books tomorrow. Take care y’all! God bless! Peace out!

Read Full Post »