In N.T. Wright's book, "After You Believe," he has a short phrase - a small, two word phrase - that really grabbed me: "uncomfortable borderland." His point? For Christ-followers, we live at the intersection of God's desires and designs and the actual world we live in. The world the way God wants it to be and the world as it is. This is the "uncomfortable borderland" God has called us to navigate. There is tension in the uncomfortable borderland. We see a wrong that needs to be righted - who should do something about it? I can't do everything. It seems overwhelming. It is overwhelming. That may be the whole point of dragging us into the uncomfortable borderland. To only live on one side of the border or the other releases us from the tension. We hole ourselves off and become hermits or we immerse ourselves in the darkness and…
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Seth Godin has a great, short post about the origins of trust. Here is a snippet: "We trust people because they showed up when it wasn't convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it."
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5 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People from Weinschenk on Vimeo. People learn best in 20-minute chunks. There must be a reason for the successful TED-sized talk format. Multiple sensory channels compete. During a talk, you engage both the auditory and visual channels – because we'revisual creatures and the visual channel trumps the auditory, make sure your slides don't require people to read much or otherwise distract from the talk. What you say is only one part of your presentation.Paralinguistics explores how information is communicated beyond words – be aware the audience is responding to your body language and tone. Record yourself presenting to get a feel for those and adjust accordingly. If you want people to act, you have to call them to action.At the end of your presentation, be very specific about exactly what you would like your audience to do. People imitate your emotions and feel your feelings. If…
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"Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us" (2 Timothy 1:14). As I grow older, I'm more drawn to the idea of stewardship ... being a good steward of all that God has entrusted to me. This includes finances but is so much more than that. It also includes my family, time, talents, dreams, and influence. Paul tells Timothy to "guard the good deposit that was entrusted" to him. Have you ever thought of your talents as God's deposit in your life? God invested in you. Your abilities are not your own. God gave them to you. To be a good steward of the resources entrusted to me, I must guard them. This does not mean hiding them. I do not honor God by refusing to share what he has entrusted to me. I honor…
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"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline" (2 Timothy 2:6-7). I read that passage yesterday afternoon, surrounded by towering redwood trees. I had hiked up the prayer trail at Opportunity Camp, settling in on a bench that provided a great view of the trees (especially when lying flat on your back). My thoughts and prayers drifted to the kids who were then enjoying open recreation time. I wondered how many of them had someone who spoke into their life the way that Paul spoke into the life of Timothy -- because he believed in Timothy. Too often, those who speak into our lives do not speak the truth into our lives but lies. They tear…
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