Leaving a Legacy of Loving Leaders

Note: You’re reading Part Two of a three part blog mini-series introducing four how-to’s of equipping. Read Part One, Want to Change Lives? Read Part Two, The 4E Ministry Training Strategy.

The Big Picture: Passing the Baton of Ministry

I dread seeing great effort expended on “programs” that don’t launch or don’t last. So for the past quarter-century I’ve focused on answering the questions, “How do we effectively disciple the Body of Christ for one another ministry in the church and to the community?” “How do we pass the baton of ministry?”

To paint for you the big picture of the ministry skills we need for “4E Ministry,” imagine with me passing the baton in a four-lap relay.

Lap One: Envisioning God’s Ministry—Core Values

Here’s what we learn in lap one—envisioning God’s ministry: How to jointly create a church-wide or ministry-specific Mission, Vision, Passion, and Commission Statement (MVP-C) that nourishes the compassion, conviction, and connection needed to launch flourishing training ministries. To continue the relay race metaphor, we learn to discern if we’re running in the right direction—core values. It does no good to equip people for the wrong purposes for your church and community. That’s why we need clarity about God’s calling.

I understand that some of you have spent countless hours in relatively unproductive “vision catching/casting” training. Learn why such sessions often fall flat and fall short of producing real congregational change. More importantly, learn how to facilitate relationship-building gatherings that excite people about mutually discovering and co-creating a powerful MVP-C Statement that results in a practical MAP—Ministry Action Plan. 

Lap Two: Enlisting God’s Ministers for Ministry—Committed People

Here’s what we learn in lap two—enlisting God’s ministers for ministry: How to mobilize ministers by birthing a family and building a team recruited to the MVP-C statement, prepared for change, and skilled in conflict resolution. Learn to discern if the right people are running the right lap in the relay race—committed people. It does no good to launch a ministry if your people are not passionately onboard. That’s why we need communication with the congregation.

I understand that some of you have spent endless hours in relatively non-relational “recruiting.” Learn how to move from “panic recruiting of warm bodies to a program,” to relational enlisting of like-minded, committed servant-leaders to a captivating vision. Of course, even the best laid plans can face bumps in the road and even the best prepared runners can stumble when jostled by other participants. So learn something else—something vital that far too many training curriculums omit—strategic change management and biblical conflict resolution.

Lap Three: Equipping Godly Ministers for Ministry—Coached People

Here’s what we learn in lap three—equipping godly ministers for ministry: How to apply transformational training strategies that comprehensively address the “4Cs” of biblical Content, Christlike Character, relational Competence, and Christian Community. Learn to discern how to ensure that every race participant is a skilled runner—coached people. It does no good, and potentially much harm, to send ill-equipped people into the personal ministry of the Word. That’s why we need comprehensive equipping.

I understand that some of you have spent wasted hours in relatively boring and haphazard training. Instead, learn how to creatively and biblically unite the “4Cs” of one another ministry equipping. Learn how to train the head (truth), the heart (love), and the hands (skills) in the context of the home (relationship).

Lap Four: Employing/Empowering Godly Ministers for Ministry—Comprehensive Strategy

Here’s what we learn in lap four—employing/empowering godly ministers for ministry: How to oversee the ongoing “organizing of the organism” by leading ministries that are built to last, that grow from good to great, and that leave a legacy of loving leaders. Learn to discern if the runners are running on all cylinders—comprehensive strategy. It does no good, and wastes boatloads of time, to envision, enlist, and equip, only to stop short of the ongoing “ad-ministering of the ministry.”

I understand that some of you experience a spontaneously negative reaction to words like “organizing,” “administrating,” and “programs”—because it all sounds, and often is, so un-relational. I get it. That’s why we need to learn how to organize the organism, ad-ministrate the ministry, and personalize the programs. Learn relational leadership that leaves a legacy of loving leaders. You have all of these train folks, now what do you do with them? How do you equip people in a caring way that builds community? How do you be a community as you impact your community?

“These Are Your Grandbabies!”

Sister Ellen Barney is the “First Lady” (Sr. Pastor’s wife) of a large, predominantly African American church just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. She has implemented the 4E Ministry Training Strategy for over a decade to equip over 500 women in her “LEAD” (Lay Encouragers And Disciplers”) Ministry.

They do it up big! Their graduation ceremonies are better than many colleges. I remember one of the first times I was invited to be their commencement speaker. As Sister Ellen introduced me, she looked over the crowd of over 50 graduates, and she said, with a wave of her hand, “These are your grandbabies Dr. Kellemen! You trained me and I trained them!” Now, years later, as Sister Ellen has trained trainers who train others, I’m told, “Dr. Kellemen, these are your great-great-great-grandbabies!”

Do you want to be a spiritual grandparent—equipping equippers? Learn more about the 4E Ministry Training Strategy.

Join the Conversation

Which of the “four laps” do you want to learn more about?

The 4E Ministry Training Strategy

Note: You’re reading Part Two of a three part blog mini-series introducing four how-to’s of equipping. Read Part One, Want to Change Lives?

Everyone Wants to Change Lives

The pastors, para-church ministry leaders, and lay leaders I consult with and equip are hungry for a comprehensive, practical approach to equipping God’s people for one another ministry. They want to empower others for the personal ministry of the Word—whether as lay counselors, care-givers, spiritual friends, spiritual directors, elders, deacons, small group leaders, care group shepherds, disciplers, or mentors.

Leaders want to change lives. However, for most leaders the training process can seem overwhelming—vision casting confusion, change management struggles, enlisting support disappointments, quality of care matters, training material questions, supervisory difficulties, legal issues, and many other legitimate, complex concerns often derail the equipping process.

As I speak in churches about one another ministry, lay people share with me their rejection of the old model where the pastoral staff hoards the ministry. They’re clamoring to be unleashed and mobilized for the personal ministry of the Word.

Lay people want to change lives. They care, but they feel ill-equipped to care like Christ. They want to know what to do after the hug. They know the Bible says they’re competent (Romans 15:14), but they also understand their biblical need to be equipped to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Been There, Done That!

The 4E Ministry Training Strategy offers a 21st Century best-practices manual for Christ-centered, church-based, comprehensive, culturally-informed mobilization of the priesthood of all believers. It assists churches to become places not simply with one another ministry, but of one another ministry; not simply with small groups or lay biblical counseling ministries, but of small groups and of biblical counseling. The goal is not the production of yet another program or yet another ministry on the sidelines. The goal is the promotion of a congregation-saturated mindset of every member passionate about and equipped for one another ministry.

It’s a “nice” goal, right? But we both know that you’ve “been there, done that.” You’ve heard the promises before. Lots of theoretical talk, but little practical, real-world, biblical help. You’re tired of equipping approaches that promise much but deliver little.

Some equipping “models” are like straight-jackets with a one-size-fits-all approach. The 4E Ministry Training Strategy has been implemented in mega-churches and small churches; it’s been employed in rural, suburban, and urban churches; and it’s been used in a wide diversity of ethic and multi-ethnic churches. It provides practical principles to be personally, relationally, and uniquely applied in your specific ministry setting.

Some equipping “models” offer piece-meal advice that address aspects of lay equipping, but lack a comprehensive strategy to move from launch to leaving a legacy of loving leaders. The 4E Ministry Training Strategy moves through the four stages that every ministry launch must address to establish ministries built to last and to grow ministries from good to great. Its Christ-centered, church-based, comprehensive, and culturally-informed focus will empower you to:

 Envision God’s Ministry

 Enlist God’s Ministers for Ministry

 Equip Godly Ministers for Ministry

 Employ/Empower Godly Ministers for Ministry

The Rest of the Story

Sorry…today is just the “tease.” Come back tomorrow for the rest of the story. We’ll paint the big picture of “Passing the Baton of Ministry.” You’ll learn how to run the four laps in the relay that results in leaving a legacy of loving leaders.

Join the Conversation

What have been some of your frustrations in trying to become equipped to equip others?

Want to Change Lives?

During the early days of television, two shows dominated the airwaves. One was on Tuesday night and the other aired on Sunday evening. Initially the most popular of the two shows was The Texaco Star Theatre hosted by Milton Berle. Originally it was designed along the lines of the old-fashion vaudeville variety hour with a host highlighting half-a-dozen guests each week. However, little by little, Uncle Miltie became the star each week. As the format changed, the accent gradually focused increasingly on Berle himself. There were fewer guest acts, and Berle began to dominate each show. In just eight years, the steam ran out of Mr. Television. No one person is talented enough to carry any show, or any ministry, for more than a short time.

The other show, The Ed Sullivan Show, experienced a very different fate. If any show in the history of television could be called an institution, it would be The Ed Sullivan Show. Every Sunday night for more than two decades this show brought an incredible variety of entertainers into homes. Sullivan’s show continued as a major hit for fifteen years longer than Berle.

Unlike Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan never wavered from his original format. He was the host who called other people to center stage.

Ed Sullivan and the Beatles

Numerous performers made their television debut on his show: Walt Disney, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and hundreds more. Though Ed Sullivan died soon after the last run of his show, he will not soon be forgotten. His legacy outlives him.

Are You Like Milton Berle or Ed Sullivan?

God calls leaders in church and para-church groups to be like Ed Sullivan, not like Milton Berle. If we’re like Milton Berle, and the spotlight increasingly focuses on us and our individual ministry, then biblically we are missing God’s mark as equippers. If Christian leaders—lay or pastoral—fail to focus on equipping, then we selfishly treat God’s people like children who have never grown up spiritually.

God wants us to be like Ed Sullivan—a host who calls others to center stage by equipping them to fulfill their calling. If Christian leaders—lay or pastoral—focus on equipping, then we leave an other-centered legacy of loving leaders.

I’m convinced that you want to be an Ed Sullivan, not a Milton Berle. I know that you’re passionate about fulfilling your biblical calling to equip God’s people for every-member-ministry (2 Timothy 2:2).

Join the Conversation

How will you be an Ed Sullivan equipper?

Ministering to Ministers

One of my greatest passions is to minister to ministers. In fact, ask me a one-word summary of my calling. Go ahead. Ask. “Bob, what’s a one-word summary of your calling?” So glad you asked.

Coach.

God has called me to coach coaches—to equip equippers, to minister to ministers.

This week at the Moody Bible Pastors’ Conference, I have the privilege of doing just that as I’m speaking five times on four topics all related to pastoral equipping. If you’re attending the conference, please drop by for some pastoral coaching.

Four Strategies for Leaving a Legacy of Loving Leaders: The 4E Ministry Training Strategy (Tuesday, May 18, 9:45-10:45 AM)

Presentation Description: You’re passionate about equipping God’s people for every-member-ministry. However, you’re tired of seeing great effort expended on “programs” that don’t launch, don’t last, or don’t result in leaving a legacy of loving leaders. So am I. That’s why this session teaches you a field-tested, biblical, practical approach to equipping God’s people using the “4E ministry training strategy” of envisioning, enlisting, equipping, and empowering godly ministers for ministry. Appropriate for all settings, special attention will be given to the urban ministry context.

Presentation Learning Objectives: Upon successful completion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

1. Envision God’s Ministry: Jointly create mission, vision, passion, and commission (MVP-C) statements that nourish the compassion, conviction, and connection needed to launch flourishing training ministries.

2. Enlist God’s Ministers for Ministry: Mobilize ministers by birthing a family and building a team recruited to the MVP-C statement, prepared for change, and skilled in conflict resolution.

3. Equip Godly Ministers for Ministry: Apply transformational training strategies that comprehensively address the “4Cs” of biblical content, Christlike character, relational competence, and Christian community.

4. Empower Godly Ministers for Ministry: Oversee the ongoing “organizing of the organism” by leading ministries that are built to last, grow from good to great, and leave a legacy of loving leaders.

Four “TEAM” Skills for Counseling in Urban/Intercultural Settings (Tuesday, May 18, 2:00-3:00 PM)

Presentation Description: One-size-fits-all, homogenous approaches to counseling are neither culturally-relevant nor biblically appropriate. Our increasingly culturally diverse society demands that we learn to build bridges of understanding across diverse cultures. This session equips participants to develop four championship “TEAM” skills necessary for effective counseling, relationships, and ministry in urban/intercultural settings. This session is based upon the biblical conviction that God in Christ is moving all of history toward an eternity where “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language” will stand before the Lamb in united worship (Revelation 7:9-10).

Presentation Learning Objectives: Upon successful completion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

1. T: Take another person’s earthly perspective through empathy and culturally-informed listening.

2. E: Engage in bridge-building spiritual conversations through focusing on God’s eternal perspective.

3. A: Abolish barriers through forgiveness and reconciliation.

4. M: Making/Mobilizing/Motivating intercultural peace through spiritual renewal.

Seven Ultimate Questions Every Pastor Must Answer (Wednesday, May 19, 9:45-10:45 AM)

Presentation Description: Everyone talks about “biblical pastoral counseling,” but how do we define and practice it? This session addresses life’s seven ultimate questions that every pastor, counselor, and soul physician must answer in order to use God’s Word accurately, powerfully, and lovingly. Learn how to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth by developing a Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed theological model of people-helping.

Presentation Learning Objectives: Upon successful completion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

1. Examine the spiritual anatomy of the soul by developing a biblical pastoral counseling model of people from the doctrine of Creation.

2. Diagnose the fallen condition of the soul by developing a biblical pastoral counseling model of problems from the doctrine of the Fall.

3. Prescribe God’s cure for the soul by developing a biblical pastoral counseling model of solutions from the doctrine of Redemption.

Four Methods to Master in Pastoral Counseling Ministry (Thursday, May 20, 9:45-10:45 AM and 2:00-3:00 PM)

Presentation Description: Do you care deeply, but sometimes struggle to know how to care like Christ? Do you often long to know what to do after the hug? Learn how to use God’s Word to empathize, encourage, enlighten, and empower others. This session will equip you toward becoming a skillful spiritual friend by helping you to developing the four biblical soul care and spiritual direction arts of sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding.

Presentation Learning Objectives: Upon successful completion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

1. Empathize with People: Learn how to weep with those who weep—offer sustaining care for discouraged people.

2. Encourage People: Learn how to give hope to the hurting—offer healing comfort for suffering people.

3. Enlighten People: Learn how to be a dispenser of grace—offer reconciling care-fronting for people struggling for victory over sin.

4. Empower People: Learn how to disciple, coach, and mentor—offer guiding counsel for people longing to mature in Christ.

Identifying the Ruling Motives of the Heart

I wanted to remind each of you who expressed interest in attending the series of four free webinars that the first one is tomorrow evening (Tuesday).

The presentation will be:

Speaker: Rick Thomas, Counseling Solutions

Topic: How to Identify the Ruling Motives of the Heart

Objective: In this seminar you will learn to identify the true ruling motive of the heart, the real starting place in the discipleship/ counseling process. Rick will practically teach you how to go beyond the presentation problem, to where the counselee really needs to change, i.e. in the heart.

Date & Time: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 7-8 PM EST

Here’s info on the other three upcoming webinars in this series:

*How to Help People Overcome Addiction to Pornography. Luke Gilkerson, December 3, 7-8 PM EST.

*How to Empathize with and Encourage Hurting Friends (My Session). Bob Kellemen, December 8, 7-8 PM EST.

*How to Resolve Conflict in Marriage. Brad Hambrick, December 10, 7-8 PM EST.

If you plan to view the webinar, please remember that you must register at:

http://www.christiancounselorresourcecenter.com/rpm/

RPM Ministries’ First-Ever Webinar!

One of life’s 7 ultimate questions is, “How can I help? Do I have a purpose and how do I fulfill it?” I want to help you to answer these questions…for free.

I’m excited to announce that I’m able to offer you something very valuable for the low price of…$0.00!

You’ve heard me talk about my How to Care Like Christ seminars.

Now, for the first time, I’m presenting part of that seminar as a webinar. From the comfort of your home and the privacy of your computer screen, you’ll be able to hear my presentation while viewing the entire PowerPoint presentation.

But That’s Not All!

But that’s not all. I’m working in partnership with three other nationally-known biblical counselors. Their three webinar sessions also cost…$0.00!

Over the course of two weeks, we’ll offer four interactive sessions that each last an hour. Topics include:

 1. How to Identify the Ruling Idols of Your Heart (Rick Thomas, December 1, 2009, 7-8 PM EST)

2. How to Help People to Overcome Addiction to Pornography (Luke Gilkerson, December 3, 2009, 7-8 PM EST)

3. How to Care Like Christ (Bob Kellemen, December 8, 2009, 7-8 PM EST)

4. How to Revise Conflict and Revive Romance in Marriage (Brad Hambrick, December 10, 2009, 7-8 PM EST)

All sessions will include practical advice, examples, and a Q/A time.

What You’ll Learn to Do in My Webinar

Everyone wants to do biblical counseling and to be a spiritual friend, but what does it actually look like in practice? In my webinar you’’ll be equipped to:

1. Use God’s Word to bring Christ’s hope to people’s suffering.

2. Offer sustaining care for discouraged people by weeping with those who weep—learn how to empathize with people’s hurts.

3. Bring healing comfort for suffering people by exploring Christ’s hope in the midst of people’s grief—learn how to encourage people with Christ’s truth.

The Details

The date/time for my webinar is December 8, 2009, 7-8 PM EST.

For more details and to register for any or all of the four webinar sessions,  click here.

This invitation is being sent to over 200,000 (not exaggerating) people, and we only have room for the first 1,000 people for each webinar. So registering quickly is a good idea.

Be equipped to care like Christ.

To Glorify God and to Comfort the Saints

*A review of Anthony J. Carter, “On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African American Christian Experience”

With one succinct sentence, Anthony Carter integrates historical Reformation theology and historical African American experience. “Our primary goal as theologians is to glorify God and to comfort the saints.”

Some may wonder what’s so novel about that declaration. A careful reading of most modern presentations of Reformed theology exposes the truth that God’s glory is always emphasized (rightly so), while the saints’ comfort is often minimized (sadly so).

Reformation theology has historically offered great treatises on anthropology (human creation and God’s design), hamartiology (human sin and depravity), and on soteriology (Christ’s salvation and human deliverance). Historically, what has been lacking is a biblical sufferology—a theology of suffering that brings comfort to human misery, that brings hope to the hurting.

Throughout “On Being Black and Reformed” Carter’s subtext reverberates. Reformed theology has much to offer African American Christians. And, African American Christians have much to offer Reformed theology. When separated from Reformed theology, African American Christians, according to Carter, are tempted toward a lower view of God, truth, and theology. When separated from African American Christianity, Reformed theology, according to Carter, is tempted toward a lower view of comfort, love, and contextual experience. Reformed theology and African American Christianity need each other equally.

Nowhere is this juxtaposition more clearly revealed than in the Reformed African American theological interpretation of American enslavement. How could a good and sovereign God allow an entire people group to be enslaved for centuries? African American pastors like Lemuel Haynes, Richard Allen, and Absalom Jones, and writers like Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, and Quobna Cugoano all offer the “Joseph Answer.” “You meant evil against me, but God intended it for good.” In God’s affectionate sovereignty, He shepherds good from evil, He creates beauty from ashes.

Anthony Carter’s retelling of this historical merging of African American Christian experience and Reformed theology is a gift to all people of all races.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of “Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction,” “Soul Physicians,” and “Spiritual Friends.”

Nominated for eight academy awards, “There Will Be Blood” plays like a modern-day version of Genesis 4. Though many Christians may resist seeing it, and many who do may wish they hadn’t, “Blood” is replete with themes of biblical proportions. It is certainly not a “Christian movie,” but Christianity thoroughly addresses the issues it raises: greed, envy, hypocrisy, rage, lying, manipulation, selfishness, self-sufficiency, and a plethora of other sins of the flesh and idols of the heart.

The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview whose sin is in plain view for all to see, despise, and be haunted by. Not a single word is spoken in the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Yet the scene speaks volumes. Daniel falls down a mind shaft severely hurting his leg. Rather than crying out to God or to anyone else for help, Daniel wordlessly and arrogantly works his way out of the pit rug by rug, dragging his lifeless limb behind him. The metaphor has been written: “I am my own Savior.” Daniel in the lion’s den refuses to pray to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

In the next scene, this sinner who thinks he can save himself learns from a mysterious stranger that there’s oil in those hills of New Boston. Traveling to the California oil fields at the turn of the 20th Century, Plainview brings his young son, H. W. (played by Dillon Freasier), who serves as a prop to provide the image of a congenial family man. Upon arrival in New Boston, CA, Daniel meets the Sunday family, headed by patriarch Abel (remember Genesis 4). Abel’s son Eli (played by Paul Dano) is a young faith-healing evangelist-pastor who turns out to be as consummately evil as Plainview, and a tad bit slimier.

Neither man displays a single redeeming quality. Both men play games with the Redeemer. Eli uses God to amass a following. Daniel uses God to manipulate God’s followers into signing land over to him, even to the point of feigning acceptance of Christ. In “There Will Be Blood,” blood is shed, but the shed blood of Christ is never received with a sincere heart.

The darkness of Daniel’s life is suffocating. As he ages (the movie spans nearly forty years in its nearly three-hour run), Daniel’s evil ripens. Where he once at least feigned love for H. W., by the end of the movie Daniel disowns him. In perhaps the only sign of grace in the entire movie, H. W., mute due to an earlier drilling accident, signs to his father “I love you” right after his prodigal father disowns him. Off H. W. goes with his wife Mary (yet another biblical allusion) to make a different life for himself in Mexico.

Christian theology sees life as a three-act play of creation, fall, and redemption. God designs humanity with dignity (creation), sin mars humanity with depravity (fall), and Christ restores and rescues humanity with salvation (redemption). There will be blood is an accurate portrayal of what our world would be like if there were no creation and no redemption–only fall. There is nothing redeemable in humanity because there is nothing human to redeem. We are, in the eyes of “Blood,” devolved animals seeking to devour one another.

You leave “Blood” feeling bloody, dirty, filthy. But “Blood” doesn’t leave you. It preoccupies your mind, disturbs your soul, and troubles your spirit. You ask yourself, “Is that all there is?”

And the answer is, “Without Christ, that is indeed all that there is.” Self. Self-sufficiency. Evil. Hatred. Rage. Hopelessness. Helplessness.

This decidedly un-Christian movie about the first decades of the 20th century has perhaps the strongest evangelistic message of any film of the first decade of the 21st century. Certainly unintended, “Blood” depicts exactly why every human being needs the blood of Christ. It is an amazing picture of the amazing sin that requires amazing grace.

Our worst sin is not our greed, evil, rage, hatred, drinking, womanizing, etc. Our worst sin, and the only unforgivable sin, is our refusal to acknowledge our sinfulness, the refusal to ask for forgiveness. We are sick undo death and in denial about our deadness, thinking that we can raise ourselves.

What can wash away our sin of self-sufficiency? Nothing but the blood.

“I . . . acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of my life.”[i] These words from the pen of the Christian Olaudah Equiano might seem trite until we realize that they introduce the narrative of his harrowing kidnapping and enslavement.

Equiano was born free in 1745 in the kingdom of Benin on the coast of Africa, then known as Guinea. The youngest of seven children, his loving parents gave him the name Olaudah, signifying favored one. Indeed, he lived a favored life in his idyllic upbringing in a simple and quiet village where his father served as the “chief man” who decided disputes and punished crimes, and where his mother adored him dearly.

Bathed in Tears: Weeping with Those Who Weep

At age ten, it all came crashing down. “One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both; and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, tied our hands, and ran off with us into the nearest wood: and continued to carry us as far as they could, till night came on, when we reached a small house, where the robbers halted for refreshment, and spent the night.”[ii]

His kidnappers then unbound Equiano and his sister. Overpowered by fatigue and grief, they had just one source of relief. “The only comfort we had was in being in one another’s arms all that night, and bathing each other with our tears.”[iii]

Equiano and his sister model a foundational principle of sustaining empathy: weeping with those who weep. Far too often we rush in with words, and far too often those words are words of rescue. Our hurting friends need our silence, not our speeches. The shed tear and the silent voice provide great enrichment for our spiritual friends.

[i] Equiano, The Interesting Narrative, p. 4.
[ii] Ibid., p. 24.
[iii] Ibid., p. 25.

Tom Brady.

If you know anything about sports, then the name Tom Brady jumps out at you.

NFL MVP.

Starting quarterback for New England Patriots.

A 60 million dollar contract.

Dating whatever super model he wants to date.

Well, watch this interview and seem Tom Brady struggle with life’s core question: “Is this all there is?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHSfiKAtPzk&NR=1

Use the video to reach others who long to know if there’s more than fame and fortune.