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Godward Toil

Pursuing productivity from God, for God, and with God


The purest words ever spoken from a pulpitToday

The first 17 minutes of this sermon by John Piper put a stake in the ground for my life.  Pastor John recites scripture from the heart the way I want to, and want my children to.  Paul said to the Corinthians, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."   So I am within God's plan for the body of Christ when I desire to imitate this precious brother's Word-soaked life.   These 17 minutes are my vision of biblical productivity.  These words are tools for Godward toil.   If you do nothing else on the Internet this week, watch or listen to (don't just read) this sermon about Scripture memory.

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D6 Ministry Urges Radical Family-CenterednessYesterday

Our pastor mentioned D6 ministry in a meeting earlier this week.  I thought I had heard of it, but when I went to explore the website, I realized I hadn't.  The ministry is founded on the biblical premise, found in Deut 6:5-9 and elsewhere, that parents have the primary responsibility for instructing their children in the ways of the Lord, and that ministry to children should be aligned accordingly.  That primary responsibility rests on parents from a theological perspective.  But the D6 ministry leads mostly with a practical argument:  that children will always be with their parents and families more than they will be in Sunday school or anywhere else, so that's where the emphasis will be.   It's a productivity argument for focusing on families.  They even have a T-shirt that emphasizes the 1:167 ratio of hours in Sunday school to hours elsewhere. 

The family-inclusive small group my wife and I are working on is precisely in this model.  And I think the D6 Ministry's radical commitment to family-centeredness can challenge and inspire all churches to think outside traditional models of children's programming.   Whether or not one dives in with the kits and materials of specific

Encouraging faithfulness to core disciplinesJanuary 5

I've been considering this morning how to encourage faithfulness to the core disciplines of hearing from God through Bible reading and prayer.   This topic has come to mind for three reasons: 

  1. I am always seeking strategies for defeating sloth and distraction in my flesh. 
  2. My current focus on church ministry teams has me pleading with God for a team of brothers and sisters who are in the word and praying every day because (as I've discussed in my posts on Psalm 127), the house we build will either fall down or do no lasting good unless the Lord builds it.
  3. I recently listened to John Piper's annual sermon exhorting his people to faithful and fruitful prayer.  It is always one of my favorites of the year (last year's blew me away).  This year Pastor John strongly emphasized building habits around prayer, including committing to a time and place.

I've heard the exhortation for having a time and place many times, and of course it is wise.  But I also sense it is incomplete for many people.   I needed to link my disciplines to other actions and

A lesson from a customer support experience from PelotonicsJanuary 2

As I mentioned in my last post, I am thinking a lot about ministry team productivity.   I want our children's ministry team to be massively productive for the Lord.  

We have a large team that is responsible for a large ministry.  One of the "tools for toil" I see as potentially helpful is a collaborative project management website.   I have tested several sites, and recently found one, Pelotonics, that I think will best match with the needs of our ministry team.  I have yet to roll it out to the team, so the proof will be in the putting, but my initial work with the site has given me a favorable impression.

That impression was strengthened today with a customer support experience that surprised and challenged me.  It was so good, and put such a stake in the ground for me in terms of productivity, that I have to share it here:   I completed a technical support form on the Pelotonics website with a question I couldn't find answered on the site's forums or wiki.  Within hours, I not only had an answer by email, but the company's founder, Troy Malone, recorded a video response to my question.  The response answered my question, and went on to offer additional useful

Current focus for biblical productivity: Church teams and childrenJanuary 2

I'm part of a new leadership team that is starting at our church to support and strengthen our ministry to children.  My wife and I are also working to launch a family-inclusive small group that aims to equip ourselves and other families to have vibrant and productive God-focused lives together, including discovering and practicing the most fruitful ways to have family devotional time, family scripture memory, and generally live a Deuteronomy 6:7 life with our children.

So there are two topics about which I'm thinking a lot right now, and will likely blog about in the near future:

1. Church team productivity.   I deeply desire for our team to be fruitful for God in every sense.  Part of the spiritual call to leadership is to steward well the time and energy God has given team members.   We want our work to matter for the kingdom.  We want to be wise and skillful for God, leveraging any available tools and resources to accomplish the work He has given us.   And we want everyone on our team to be strengthened by their service.
2. Productive avenues of teaching and discipling children.  Our church has adopted a phrase to describe our mission: "To make more and better disciples."   How do we do that more and better as a family and as a church with our children?

I'm thankful that God has shown me and my family some of what he wants us to focus on in 2009. In pursuing these callings, p