Using this, we randomly picked 5 people to give a copy of Blue Parakeet to.
Christie Murray
globalandy
chrismil
chrysannet
applebyday
If I don’t have your address, email me at mgoldsworthy [AT] parkcrest [DOT] org, and we’ll mail the book next week.
A phrase that’s made it’s way into multiple leadership conversations that I’ve been engaged in recently is, “Let’s not say no for them…let them decide for themselves”
We talk people out of commitment without them even knowing it, because we talk ourselves out of asking.
I made, what I thought was a huge ask this morning. I almost talked myself out of it, but made an appointment in order to force myself to go through with it. The person I was talking with ended up making a significant and really helpful commitment right away. And I almost didn’t even ask.
We say no for people far too often.
Ben Arment has a great article up on Collide. Heres’s a piece
Here’s an important lesson: never say no for other people. That’s their job. In the pursuit of a goal, everyone has a job. Your job is to dream audaciously, act courageously, and make the ask. Their job is to say yes or no. And this is their job and their job alone.
You can finish reading it here
Stop saying no for other people
Andrew Marin, author of Love is an Orientation and Founder of The Marin Foundation, will be at Parkcrest this weekend (May 22-23) as we kick off our FAQ Series. He’s going to be dealing with the most asked question for this series – What’s the Deal with Homosexuality and the Church? Figured we’d start with an easy and non-controversial topic :)
Come to hear a thoughtful and engaging discussion, and to probably have some preconceptions challenged.
Also, if you’re a ministry leader in the Long Beach area, we’ve invited Andrew to lead a Ministry Leaders gathering on Monday (May 24) morning from 9-11am. We’d love to have you be a part of it, just email Sylvia to let her know you’ll be there.
I’m a big fan of Scot McKnight. Not only is he a thoughtful scholar, but he’s a good guy and easy to relate to. He combines those two traits in his book Blue Parakeet, where he writes a thoughtful way of engaging the Scriptures, but makes it easily accessible.
Allison and some friends were doing a book club on it this weekend, and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed both Scot and the book – its one of those books that I’m regularly giving away. I actually have a pile of them for the purpose of giving them away. So, I thought I’d give a few of those away on the blog.
So, I’ve got 5 copies to give away here.
2 ways to get one:
1. Leave me a comment below
2. Or, Twitter this:
I’m hoping @mikegoldsworthy will give me a free copy of @scotmcknight’s book, Blue Parakeet http://bit.ly/bY4Blo
On Friday morning, we’ll put all the entries into a random picker thingy and have it pick 5 out. So, comment and Twitter to have your name in there twice. We’ll connect with you on Friday to get your mailing address.
And if no one wants one, that’s ok, you’re not hurting my feelings…but you might make someone else cry.
“Almost nothing that makes any real difference can be proved”
~ Frederich Buechner, Wishful Thinking
For those of you who are a part of Parkcrest, here’s a brief update on some of what’s going on with the relief work that we have been involved with in Haiti that you helped to fund…
Our partners in Haiti, New Missions, wrote to tell us that they were able to recently ship 2 large cargo containers containing construction materials as well as medical supplies for their 22 school clinics and their hospital which served 25,000 patients in 2 months. Thanks for making a difference!
Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. A day when followers of Jesus from around the country commit to praying specifically for the country and our leadership.
We decided to engage it a little differently with Parkcrest this year. Rather than trying to get everyone to the church for a gathering that really only a few are able to make it to, our prayer team instead put together a guided prayer CD for this day. We wanted to make something available that could be used as a resource no matter where you are at on Thursday, and to recognize that you don’t need to show up at a specific place in order to pray.
I was shocked at how many people wanted to use this resource. We actually ran out of CD’s. But we also have it available online.
If you’re interested in using it, you can download the podcast here
Or you can listen directly in your browser here
I had an abnormally crazy week this week, which was capped off with a crazy weekend. On Sunday, after about 11 hours of being out of the house, I got this voicemail from Isaac.
Every once in a while you’ve got to have days or weeks like this. But it was a good reminder that every time you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else.
