Missions Minded

Do you know what Amber wants for her 28th birthday today?…

Well, besides a laptop with a pink bag…plus accessories…

She wants to hear from you!

You can leave Amber a comment on this blog post, email her, send her a tweet, a Facebook message, Skype her…or all of the above! Let’s surprise Amber together by filling up all of her inboxes! I’ll start by commenting below…

I had so much fun doing “five questions” last week with Bill Cecchini, we’re going to make it a regular feature on the blog. Now, this is supposed to be for the CFCI-Nicaragua blog. But since I’m doing all the work, I reserve the right to post these interviews on Missions Minded too! And I’m even throwing in a little bonus for the Missions Minded readers: you get a sneak peak of my conversation with Josh Ray right now…before the Monday morning post time on cfci-nicaragua.org. Without further ado, here’s “Five Questions on Short-Term Missions with Josh Ray”:

continue reading » »

We appreciate your ongoing prayers as we serve with Christ for the City International in Nicaragua! Amber and I rely on our team of prayer warriors for encouragement and support. Here is our current list of prayer requests and praise reports:

• We’re Coming to America! We’ll be visiting the U.S. in November, touching down in Charlotte on the 7th. Please pray for safe travels and a blessed time with family, friends, and supporters from KY, TN, NC, SC, GA, and FL.
• Amber’s family. Amber’s aunt, Connie, passed away recently. Please continue to pray for her family as they grieve. And rejoice with Connie as she is in a much better place!
• Amber’s grandfather, Scott. Scott has Alzheimers and is now in a nursing home. Please pray for him to be comfortable, and please pray for Mimi, his wife (and Amber’s grandmother) during this difficult and painful time.
• Nathan’s grandmothers. Both of Nathan’s grandmothers, Dorothy and Pat, have health problems. Dorothy is in a nursing home and is grieving the passing of her husband, Elmer, a few months ago. Pat has knee and back problems, but still lives on her own in the house Nathan’s mother grew up in. Please pray for the health and well-being of Nathan’s sweet grandmothers.
• Team unity. Pray that the CFCI-Nicaragua team will be united in purpose, passion, and vision as we serve together in ministry. And pray for the ministry to seek and remain in the Lord’s will in the upcoming year.
• Future missions. Pray for the future leaders and members of short-term missions teams. Pray that Christians will listen to God, have open hearts, and be faithful in following the Lord’s calling to serve in missions. And especially pray for the upcoming teams from Literacy & Evangelism International, Grace Church, and Hope Center Covenant Church.
• Adoption process. Please pray for us as we continue the process of adopting a child from Nicaragua. Pray for us to have patience and to be encouraged — and for the process to go smoothly and quickly.

I could probably come up with a list of 100, but here’s 10 off the top of my head:

1. Always be honest, transparent, and approachable.

2. Lead by example, don’t just supervise.

3. Another way of stating #2: serve in the trenches with your team.

4. “Lead with a Limp” - don’t just admit to your weaknesses as a leader, embrace them.

5. Give your team a clear vision, mission, and goals.

6. Practice what you preach.

7. Provide clear feedback to your team members…and not just when they’ve messed up.

8. Give your team members ownership of the area(s) you want them to drive.

9. Ask for feedback on your own job performance (from people under you, people over you, and from mentors, peers, and friends).

10. Always remember that leadership is an endowment, not an entitlement; a responsibility, not a right; and a burden, not a birthright.

What leadership lessons have you learned along the way?

Record October rains in Nicaragua are causing the rapid erosion of the road to our house. (The busted pipe that’s pouring water down the hill isn’t helping matters! Umm, Water Co., you might want to fix that…) You’ll see some more from Carey on the rainy situation tomorrow. Check out these pictures.

Luckily, we have a 4×4. But we may have to invest in a tank…or a boat!

I planned on wrapping up “Twitter Week” last Friday, but I found a new tool that I really like: TwitWall. Consider today’s post a bonus Twitter tool. I know, I know: it’s just one more social media site created to suck the remaining minutes of fresh air out of my day. But before you pan TwitWall as a useless Twitter knock-off, take a look at this from KillerStartups.com:

It is not inaccurate to describe TwitWall as a kind of younger brother to Twitter, a fact that is underlined by the way its creator defines its uses: “When its too long to tweet, but to short to blog.”

This Twitter companion is the brainchild of a Mr. Micahel E. Carluen, a Twitter enthusiast who looked for a way of posting audio and video files with the practicality and reach of Twitter.

As a result, the provided tool has been put together with ease of use and versatility in mind. TwitWall enables anybody to embed videos and widgets as well as upload photographs and other files while enjoying the social approach as popularized by Twitter.

TwitWall is very easy to use; all it takes is logging in using an existing Twitter user ID to get started. There are no fees of any kind, and in the event you don’t have a Twitter ID you can get one by following the featured link.

Twitteraholics, if you’re not buying it yet, here are a few more selling points from TwitWall FAQ Log:

It’s an easy-to-use random-thought blogging content companion for Twitter.

If you’re signed up for Twitter, you’re already signed up for TwitWall.

The original intent of TwitWall is to provide a ‘space’ for Tweeps/Tweeples who understand tweeting, but do not (i.e. have a or want to) blog. Unlike blogging which are composed formal writings (essays), tweeting are random thoughts. Often however, random thoughts exceed 140 characters, or may not even be just text.

If you are a blogger, occasionally you may have thoughts that may not generally fit the general theme of your blog content. To that, you may want to post those thoughts on your TwitWall as an alternative to your formal blog.

Every newly added TwitWall entry posts a status update on the user’s Twitter timeline.

Comments made by the readers of the entry post an in-reply status on Twitter.

TwitWall inherits most of the user’s Twitter design preferences (background graphic and color schemes).

It’s free.

Now, I’m not sure what I’m going to use TwitWall for yet, but I’m guessing I’ll at least give it a try for pictures, podcasts, embedded videos, and those “in between posts” — too long for Twitter, but not quite blog-worthy. We’ll see where it goes from there.

I did a “blog interview” with one of my favorite bloggers friends, Bill Cecchini, for a series we’re doing on the CFCI-Nicaragua website called “Five Questions on Short-Term Missions with…” The entry is set to post on Monday morning. But I couldn’t wait that long! So the loyal Missions Minded readers get a sneak peak of my conversation with Bill right now! Here you go: “Five Questions on Short-Term Missions with Bill Cecchini”:

continue reading » »