I have, finally, posted pictures of my trip to Richmond online. These are pictures I took Sunday as I drove around. For more information on the route I took, see this post. Enjoy. The pictures can be found here
Leadership
While I was at the IMB for my interviews Monday, one of the team members I interviewed with was Carl. He mentioned in the interview that he had been to some leadership training that focused on Leading like Jesus.
Today, he sent me an e-mail to the group's website, www.leadlikejesus.com. The purpose of this group is:
It's no accident we exist. Neither is it an accident that you are here. You are a leader…whether simply (or not so simply!) at home or at work or at play…you are a leader! The Center for Faithwalk Leadership has but one purpose…
[ To Inspire and Equip People to Lead Like Jesus ]
We're guided by a simple, but profound set of values…
- Honor God in everything we do
- Build relationships based on trust and respect
- Maintain integrity and excellence in programs and services
- Practice stewardship
With a single purpose and simple-but-profound values, here's how we picture the future. To see…
- Jesus adopted as the role model of all leaders
- All Christian churches are being led by Jesus-like Leaders
- Every Christian is taught and is leading like Jesus
- Non-Christians drawn to Jesus by the practicality and positive effect of Christians leading like Jesus
Tour of Richmond
On Sunday after church, I decided to go for a drive around Richmond and see what I could see. I spent about 4 hours driving around different areas of the city. My goal was to try and get a general feel for different parts of the city, neighborhood conditions, etc…. I tried to focus on areas of the city that Larry didn't take us to on Saturday. If you want to see where I went, click the map below:
I started near the upper right-hand corner of the map at the H (that is where my hotel was…in the Insbrook Corporate Center). The route I took is marked by arrows indicating the direction of travel. the two spots marked with a 1 and 2 indicate two rental properties I saw that looked interesting. The Cs indicate churches that Cyndi and I may be interested in. I tried to put all this stuff together into one place so we could look and think about everything in perspective. I wish I had taken the map with us on Saturday to mark that route as well. If I had to do it over again, I would take my GPS unit to track where we were, and mark waypoints at the interesting spots. Oh well, hopefully someone else can learn from my experience.
I just Finished…
…the book I was reading (Christian Jihad) by the brothers Caner. It was an interesting read. It was, basically, a short history of Christendom focused around the development of a "Church Army" commanded by the pope that went on Crusades. Additionally, it talked about other "crusades" this army went on that focused on the extermination of heritics (heritics were anyone who did not agree whole-heartedly with the Catholic church). For some more information on this, see this post.
When I was done with that book, I read The Lie: Evolution by Ken Ham. This book was very interesting, and if you are a christian, you need to read it. You especially need to read it if you believe that God used evolution to "create" things. Folks, this is a lie straight out of the pit of Hell. The first 11 chapters of Genesis are true, and need to be taken literally. When the Bible says that God created everything in six days, he did it in sis 24 hour periods. He spoke everything into existance.
Reading The Lie has made me take a step back and think about some things. I think what I am going to do is write some short essays outlining what I believe and why (back that up with scripture) and put them on the web. I think this will do two things: first, it will make me evaluate what I believe and why so I can support it and, secondly, it will give others a resource they can go to while researching things. This may take me several months and years to accomplish, but as I get things done, I will keep the website up to date.
In the meantime, I'm looking for something else to read. Does anyone have any suggestions?
RIC
For anyone who cares, the Richmond Airport–RIC–has free WiFi! Thanks! Why does it always seem that the smaller airports or hotels always seem to offer stuff like this while the big guys charge extra?
Yet More Job Info
I don't want to read too much into this, but the job I interviewed for at the IMB is no longer posted on their website. Just an interesting tidbit of info I found while surfing the web waiting for my flight out of RIC.
Interview Results
Well,for those of you wondering, I had many interviews today with many different people. Among others, I met with the CIO of the IMB, Cheri! I haven't had a face-to-face meeting with the CIO of NiSource, let alone even be introduced to him (or our previous CIO, Pat)! While tiring, the interviews were pleasant. I think I had a good rapport with everyone, and conversation came easily. I think I gave satisfactory answers to all their questions. Of course, I think I would be a good fit, but the ball is now in their court. Amy said I should hear something by the end of the week, which is good.
Thanks for the prayers everyone!
W. A. Criswell
Dr. Criswell
was called to be pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. The legendary George Truett, after forty-seven years as pastor, had died. The young Criswell was given the daunting task of following this great preacher.
Under his leadership the church grew dramatically. In his early years as pastor he preached through the entire Bible, taking almost eighteen years to complete the task. He was known for his stand on the inerrancy of Scripture and wrote the important book “Why I Preach the Bible Is Literally True.” He became the leader against liberalism among Southern Baptists.
After a full life of ministering the Word he loved, Dr. Criswell was called home to Heaven on January 9, 2002.
–From the Sword of the Lord
If you are interested, the W. A. Criswell Foundation has put his sermons online so you can download and listen to them.
Martyrs
Have you ever read Foxe's Book of Martyrs? Do you think that people were only martyred for their faith in "the olden days?" Well, think again. Persecution of Christians is alive and well in the world today.
Voice of the Martyrs is a group that helps the persecuted church. Here is a brief summary of the group from their website FAQ:
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand founded VOM over 30 years ago. He was in prison in Romania for 14 years for his faith in Christ. In the `60s he and his family were ransomed out of Romania for $10,000 and came to the U.S. where he began traveling, educating the free world of the atrocities committed against Christians in Communist and other restricted countries. VOM's five main purposes are based on Hebrews 13:3. They are: 1. To encourage and empower Christians to fulfill the Great Commission in areas of the world where they are persecuted for their involvement in propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ. We accomplish this by providing Bibles, literature, radio broadcasts, and other forms of aid. 2. To give relief to the families of Christian martyrs in these areas of the world. 3. To equip local Christians to win to Christ those persecutors who are opposed to the gospel in countries where believers are actively persecuted for their Christian witness. 4. To undertake projects of encouragement, helping believers rebuild their lives and Christian witness in countries that have formerly suffered Communist oppression. 5. To emphasize the fellowship of all believers by informing the world of atrocities committed against Christians and by remembering their courage and faith. Read our newsletter to learn more about how VOM is helping the persecuted church worldwide.
Ever wish you knew more to help those who are bein persecuted for their faith? Well, VOM has set up a website with a list of those people. You can access it here.
Daylight Savings Time
Don't forget that tonight is when most of the USA makes the switch to daylight savings time. If you forget, you will show up at church an hour later.