Mad about Marriage

BATHOS

This past weekend we had Mike and Gayle Tucker from Faith for Today at our church. Their website states:

"Faith For Today has had a television broadcast on the air each week since May 1950. Faith For Today's Lifestyle Magazine, The Evidence, and McDougall M.D. are broadcast around the world over the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) each week." 

Recently the Tuckers have launched a marriage workshop called  Mad about Marriage. They have already traveled to several places and we were blessed to have them this past weekend. Some may ask, 'Why Mad about marriage seminar?' The Tuckers will answer, "...some of us are madly in love, and some are just plain mad." The workshop covers a broad range of issues beginning with the ideal that God had for marriage 'oneness' along with:

• Negative Communication                                   
• Forgiveness
• Lack of Spirituality
• Too little sex
• infidelity
• Abuse
• Addiction/Substance Abuse
• Pornography
• Negative Past
• Anger

They began on Friday night with two sessions, Pastor Tucker preached for our worship service on Sabbath morning and then we continued the workshop with three sessions after a fellowship lunch. Mike and Gayle tag teamed the entire seminar and they truly did a great job covering nearly all the topics above.

It was also a pleasure for my wife and I to spend some time and glean knowledge about ministry from them being they had previously pastored the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist church for 17 years that has a membership of about 2,000.

I highly recommend the Mad about Marriage workshop for two main reasons. First and foremost in a society in which our divorce rate is projected to be 40-50 percent there is no doubt that our churches need marriage seminars such as this to help our broken homes. Yet the key to this seminar as it would be to any is to actually put what we hear into practice.

Secondly though the Tuckers truly make it affordable for a church of nearly any size to be able to have them come. All of the materials are provided free by Faith for Today and they do not charge an honorarium only travel, and even that because they travel so much they get for a very fair price. It's a win situation for everyone.

Once again Mike and Gayle thanks for blessing our church...

So what are you waiting for? Give them a call, tell your church, pastor and have them over!

Javi 

8.8 Earthquake Strikes Chile

BATHOS

It seems lately like a common occurrence to hear that an earthquake has hit some part of the world. By now I'm sure your well aware of the powerful earthquake that has struck Chile. First, our hearts and prayers go out to the people that have been affected by this earthquake. We should all be ready to help however we can as we did with Haiti.

Yet as the news updates keep trickling in and we begin to hear more of what is happening in the aftermath, thus far there is something that I keep on hearing and seems obviously evident. It's the fact that Chile though experiencing an earthquake 500X stronger than the one in Haiti so far seems to have fared much better than Haiti. The reason that I've been hearing reporters and experts say this is so is simply because they say how Chile was 'prepared' how they followed 'building codes' and therefore the loss of life and destruction though naturally still heart wrenching doesn't come close to seeing some 200,000 people die. (that we know of so far)

Hearing the aforementioned I couldn't help but to think how important it is for us as Christians to be 'prepared' for Jesus is coming soon! But in that same breath I also realize how important it is for us to be 'prepared' by building our spiritual life with the proper 'building code.' Friend that code is obviously Jesus!

Sometimes it seems that we are more concerned with the events that lead to the end instead of the PERSON who's coming at the end. Sometimes it seems that we're so busy trying to build our own lives yet we don't even have a firm foundation.

Hey listen the bible is clear crazy things are going to happen before Jesus comes, but the craziest thing that I hope doesn't happen... is that after everything the bible said about proper building, we never built on our firm foundation (JESUS) because we never made Him our foundation...

God I pray for Chile & Haiti! I pray that we make you our firm foundation Jesus! Even so come Lord Jesus...


Javi

image by [todosnuestrosmuertos] 

What causes a leader to fail?

BATHOS

It has been said that, "if you want to lead then you need to read." I have found the above statement to be true for several reasons. Yet this post isn't about the reasnons to read but about what I have read.

Derailed: Five Lessons Learned From Catastrophic Failures of Leadership by Tim Irwin, Ph.D. 

Essentially Dr. Irwin chronicles six CEO's and why they failed (derailed) as leaders of the companies they were in charge of. 

In the books forward Patrick Lencioni says, "...be warned that this book is not really about six famous leaders who derailed. It is about you. And me. And anyone who ever decided to accept a position of leadership. No one is immune from derailment."

His assessment is on target. Tim Irwin does begin by telling the stories of six CEO's:

• Bob Nardelli: Former CEO of Home Depot
• Carly Fiorina: Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard
• Durk Jager: Former CEO of Proctor & Gamble
• Steven Heyer: Former CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
• Frank Raines: Former CEO of Fannie Mae
• Dick Fuld: Former CEO of Lehman Brothers

Dr. Irwin writes that leaders derail for basically four reasons (or lack of these four):

1. Authenticity
2. Self-management
3. Humility
4. Courage

He continues, "Derailment occurs in a predictable progression--a process that those who derail seem to follow. Derailed leaders progress through five stages as they head toward their demise." (p.89)

The five stages he chronicles are:

1. A Failure of Self/Other Awareness
2. Hubris: Pride Before The Fall
3. Missed Early Warning Signals
4. Rationalizing
5. Derailment

Yet Irwin doesn't simply tell us about CEO's that derailed and the stages that derailed leaders go through, but also the lessons we can learn, "The purpose of Derailed is to shed intense light on our vulnerabilities--the irregularities and small cracks and fissures that can cause us to derail, whether we are leaders, emerging leaders, or simply navigating a career." (p. 160) Those five lessons are:

1. Character Trumps Competence
2. Arrogance Is The Mother Of All Derailers
3. Lack Of Self/Other Awareness Is A Common Denominator Of All Derailments
4. We Are Always Who We Are...Especially Under Stress
5. Derailment Is Not Inevitable, But Without Attention To Development. It is Probable.

Without a doubt this book is one that all leaders or those on a path to be leaders should read. Dr. Irwin has even set up a free Derailment Personal Risk Assessment online that anyone can take. 

If I had to sum up the book in just a few sentences I would say the following:

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" & "Pride goes before destruction a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 11:2 & 16:18 N.I.V)

So what have you read lately that you would recommend? Please let me know!

Javi

image taken from Dr. Tim Irwin's website