Paul Long's Ramblings

Another old guard has passed on.  Got an email this morning from Colson's email list ... May God raise up more people to carry on his example of passion ans service Honor the life and legacy of Chuck Colson (1931-2012) Dear Friends, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Chuck Colson — our friend, founder, and brother in Christ — passed away this [morning, afternoon, evening]. Though we mourn the loss of a great leader, we rejoice knowing God has welcomed his humble and faithful servant home. When Chuck Colson left prison, he promised to remember the men who remained behind bars. “I will never forget you guys!” he told them. And for 36 years, Chuck faithfully kept that promise. In 1976, he founded Prison Fellowship, a ministry dedicated to living out Jesus’ command to remember the incarcerated and share the transformational love of Jesus...

I like this video very much

Another gem from the late Fred Smith ------ From the Breakfast With Fred vault here is a vintage Weekly Thought on understanding and measuring our character. It would be helpful if we could have a load-limit sign on our character, like that on a bridge. One of my preacher friends was coming under the influence of a man of extensive wealth. As the man plied my friend with benefits, this wealthy person began to ask questionable favors. My friend broke the relation, saying to him, "I am afraid I have a price, and you're getting too close to it." Character is a set of values we have chosen to live by, and hopefully ones that will work under pressure. It reminds me of the professional golfers who speak of a golf swing "that will work on Sunday" because it operates when the pressure is on. Personality has an effect on character, for it fosters different pressures and desires. I know a talented, wealthy young executive who is exceptionally introverted. Occasio...

Article speaks for itself. Ok - back to work ... it's calling me :-) Guard Your Calling, Frodo Every worthy task can wear you down. John Ortberg  |  posted 1/10/2011  1 of 2  Of course, lots of folks who didn't start in local church ministry will end up there. And we live in a day when job change is a way of life; "40 years and a gold watch" stopped a long time ago. I  ran across a striking statistic recently—90 percent of people who enter vocational ministry will end up in another field. (I wish I could remember the source. I'm pretty sure it was reliable, though I know our subculture is filled with what Christian Smith calls "evangelicals using statistics badly." And 80 percent of all statistics are just made up. You can quote me.) But it got me thinking about the notion of calling. There is something sacred about being called. And a sense of calling needs desperately to be guarded. My daughter and I were re-watching  Lord of the Rings before...

Yesterday was the Golden 50th Wedding Anniversary of our church's beloved former Pastor Dr. Max Liddle and his wife Helen. They were married on 27th April 1960 in Ootacamundalam, South India. Max and Helen have impacted the lives of countless people and continue to do so in their golden years. They have been incredible pastors (both of them) to me and I thank God for them. More celebrations this Saturday and Sunday! :-)

Taken from Out of Ur ... I love this line from his opening paragraph ... :-) So, I offer to you a list of my top ten books for leaders, and none of the titles of these books have the word “leader” or “leadership” in it. I think some of his choice of books are "out of my league" ... at least hopefully for my current stage in life. I am comforted that I at least have read some of the books on his list. :-) p/s Am celebrating by blogging a bit because I got a lot of work done this morning!! :-) October 20, 2009 Scot McKnight's Top 10 Leadership Books The best books for leaders you won't find at your next ministry conference. by Scot McKnight What makes a leader? Ideas. Courage. Contact with great thinkers. What makes a Christian leader? Great ideas, courage, and contact with great thinkers shaped by the gospel. So, I offer to you a list of my top ten books for leaders, and none of the titles of these books have the word “leader” or “leadership” in it. Some of these are ...

Another thought provoking piece by Soo Inn. Thanks "Yoda!" :-) GRACE@WORK MAIL 37/09 September 11th, 2009 Edition. This ecommentary is sent out free but your donations help this ministry in its commitment to bring truth to life. Details below. (Grace@Work Mail is a ministry of Graceworks: www.graceworks.com.sg ) Commentary: Not Another Leadership Seminar By Soo-Inn Tan Think of a few leaders you admire. How many of them were effective leaders as a result of some formal leadership training they received? Ruth A. Tucker has this to say about leadership training: [Enrolling in a seminar to learn how to be a leader is as unfeasible as taking a seminar to learn how to teach . . . Teaching elementary piano lessons, for example, requires a different set of skills than teaching calculus . . . If leading covers the categories of everything from playground monitor and supermarket produce manager to president and pope, then there is no effective way to teach leadership . . . training...

Got back from a Pastors Retreat yesterday. Sadly got sick before I left and so was sick ... and tired at the retreat. The 5 hour drive did not help, though it was actually a pleasant drive (scenery was great which makes a huge difference) and I enjoyed driving my new car and listening to both sermons and music on the journey. My colds normally last 24 to max 48 hours except a couple of times a year where they are prolonged (so I think that means it is the flu) and interestingly the times I have the flu coincided with the two pastors retreats I attended. I realise that one factor is the realisation that I come to the retreat tired and when I slow down for the retreat, my " resistance " drops, my body is more susceptible to all the wrong bugs.... Of course room mates who snore add to the tiredness during the retreat! :-) but that's another story ... Will blog more I guess on the retreat one day but one thing that was discussed was a recent survey done of Brethren pasto...

First workshop I attended was entitled "How can the baton of biblical preaching be passed on to young people?" Quite a few young people were there. Presenter was a doctoral student whose daughter (teenager) was very into preaching (all began during a mission trip). That was interesting.... as she had personal conflicts as she was from the older school (despite being a woman preacher) and more academically inclined where strong biblical exegesis is foundational for preaching. Presentation was excellent in terms of exploring some of the hows and whys (which was her bigger issue) and a quick look at the general differences between "baby boomers, Gen-X and Gen-Y" and stuff like that. One of the funny parts was her showing of this video ... Mrs. Beamish, a song by a duo Richard Stilgoe & Peter Skellern. However in the end I was left rather disappointed as what I was looking for was not generalizations of things already known (true as they may be) like 1. Make the de...

Thought I'd blog on yesterday's forum. It certainly was an interesting one for me though I must say I had mixed feelings in terms of enjoying it because : 1. I had a bad headache - taking panadol every 4 hours *sigh* It took a lot of energy to focus. 2. I did not know anyone there except one of the presenters (whom I had met almost 2 years ago) and one other participant (one of the senior lecturers in the missions department of Laidlaw College) 3. I felt that most people were not exactly friendly (due to the fact that they had their own cliques, which was fair enough) and I had come alone. Just a handful made some effort to respond in friendliness to me. a. A very senior man who was a lay preacher. Rambling on and on (like me! LOL ) when he sat down for lunch which got me confused as i had a headache ... b. stand up comedian who works part time for his church as one of the preaching team members. (Yup- you read that right - and it was good to chat with him as I had actually bee...

Had a very interesting appointment today.... A lunch / breakfast meeting with some good ministry buddies from Malaysia. The four of us used to serve together as part of our seminary alumni committee. Patrick (NECF), Ron (New Life Restoration ..) and Frankli n (used to Pastor an FGA church but is now a College lecturer). And it was nice too to have someone I really admire join us at the last minute Rev. Lai (former pastor, NECF and now with Focus on the Family). Quite a privilege as the meeting was to catch up and have fellowship and after ward brainstorm on church leadership issues (Ron bein g the new chairman of NECF's leadership commission and Patrick being the NECF liason in this committee). They had their coffee and roti canai for breakfast while I had Fejoias and a pear for my lunch :-) Quite interesting especially since Patrick kept having to move the video cam every now and then so I could see everyone's faces as they talked. Very interesting conversations :-) But also...

Thought this was an excellent article by John Maxwell. I am glad he is debunking the oft misused and abused phrase that I hate! "It's nothing personal; it's just business." I found it both a challenging and encouraging article at the same time. The High Road Principle By Dr. John C. Maxwell "It's nothing personal; it's just business," is a commonly heard phrase in the workplace. However, I tend to disagree with anyone who tries to impersonalize business. At its heart, commerce is a human enterprise, founded upon relationships between people. Most of us spend a majority of our waking hours in our business or at work, and our vocations endow our lives with meaning or purpose. When we devote ourselves to profession, we're giving a piece of who we are to our work. In that sense, business is deeply personal. In the workplace, as in the rest of life, relationships get messy. Sooner or later, we will be mistreated. A boss will unjustly faul...