Dr. Bill Donahue

Developing Life-Changing Leaders

Archive for November, 2010

Black Friday vs. Good Friday

Nov 26

Posted by Bill Donahue in Uncategorized | No Comments

Was thinking today about the mad rush for stuff, for sales for early shopping. No doubt there are some great deals out there and if you have a specific purchase in mind and you can save a few hundred, go for it. I am already writing this way past the store openings. But I did have some thoughts.

On Good Friday darkness covered the land.

On Black Friday excess covers the land.

On Good Friday He paid our debts.

On Black Friday We make our debts.

On Black Friday the prices are very low.

On Good Friday the price was very high.

On Black Friday the stores move into the black.

On Good Friday He stepped into the black.

Before Black Friday shoppers stay up all night to make a deal.

Before Good Friday He was up all night to settle a score.

What happens on Black Friday is barely remembered.

What happened on Good Friday is never forgotten.

Only some get a bargain today, Black Friday.

But we all got a deal on Good Friday. Hard to pass that one up.

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THANKS

Nov 25

Posted by Bill Donahue in community | 2 Comments

For a friend coming to Christ after 16 years

Fo a wonderful wife and family

For grace and mercy despite failure, sin and ignorance

For opportunities to see your hidden work

For a fresh start on a new venture

For a church and a community of deeply loving and supportive friends

For a global ministry undeserved

For partners and like-minded ministry zealots

For people who will debate and challenge me

For people who will laugh when I do and cry when I cry

For Christ…His Kingdom…the Banquet to come

For the Trinity–the first Small Group

…and for everything I can neither remember nor take room to post!

GRACE TO ALL AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

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The Next 10 Years

Nov 23

Posted by Bill Donahue in Leadership | 2 Comments

Satisfied with the last ten years? Eager for the next ten? Or does thinking about this overwhelm you because you’re not even sure what you should focus on? Asking the right questions is a big part of the process. When working with leaders who are making adjustments, corrections and re-evaluations in life, I guide them to ask the following:

1) What “social capital”  do I have that can be invested in my future?

Time
Money
Knowledge
Experiences

2) What defining moments have shaped my view of the world as I look at the next 10-30 years?

3) What motivates me about my current work (other than making money) that I would like to carry forward? (negotiation skills, the art of the deal, connecting with people, strategic analysis, making the sale, helping a client be successful, controlling my time, leveraging my network, etc.)?

4) How can I enhance my capacity for what I want to do next? (reduce hours, re-define focus, downsize the organization’s need for me to be there, build new networks, redeploy funds toward launching my next era, taking a personal retreat to reflect and explore options, etc.)

5) What are my energy drivers? (Where do my passions lie? What gets me up in the morning? Identify areas of joy, inspiration, and enthusiasm in any area of life)

What are the questions you need to be asking yourself? Do you have someone to help you with the process?

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Growing Pains

Nov 20

Posted by Bill Donahue in Group Life | No Comments

No one likes it. No one wants it. No one desires their loved ones to experience it. Sometimes we wish our boss or enemies or opponents had a lot more of it. It can be debilitating, distracting, wearying, annoying, and just simply overwhwelming. We all get it. But can we learn from it? PAIN.

Pain surfaces our true character and forms it at the same time. Some say pain is our friend, but I don’t see anyone I know praying for more friends like this.

It may not be our friend, but it can be a partner. And it will always prompt spiritual growth. One writer has said, “All real transformation begins at the edge of suffering.” I wish it were not so.

Pain creates awareness, and without awareness there is little growth. In pain we are aware that we have sinned, or that we have made a destructive choice, or that there are others who spend every day — all day — in intense pain and our hearts are more tender toward them.

We become aware of weaknesses that limit us, strengths that are overused and hurtful, behaviors that annoy others, and people who need us to be better. Almost every compassion-focused non-profit I know was founded by someone in pain or who became aware of the extreme plight of others.

Pain is the real founder of ministries that change the world.

So, the next time you have a pain (or become one, or meet one…smile) allow awareness to be your teacher. What is being revealed about God, others and the world? What deep brokenness is being surfaced within? What opportunity for grace emerged? What mercy is needed? 

Learning to grow through pain is the Kingdom way, and asks God to bring heaven to earth. Henry Cloud and I were just talking about this in Germany together, and about how we grow when we meet life’s demands.

A new resource to help with that very theme has been created by Donald Miller. The Series is  Convergence and Henry is on it. Great stuff for groups, by the way. Lot’s of leading thinkers doing 20-minute teachings and prompting transformational discussions. Very affordable and FREE leader’s guides on the web.

DVD teaching from Henry Cloud, John Townsend, Randy Alcorn, Dan Allender, Phyllis Tickle, Tremper Longman and Lauren Winner is pretty challenging.  To promote the new resource, the first 25 people from my blog get a free episode; just go to the Convergence site and use the promo code DONAHUE .

Then go to Mark Howell Live on November 29 — he will be talking about how to balance content with real life discussions in groups, and talk about another episode of Convergence.

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Trim Your Lamp

Nov 1

Posted by Bill Donahue in community | 2 Comments

Reading Matthew 25:1-13 and reflecting on my last 7 days. Taught in Germany with Henry Cloud; met with two long-term church pastors and consultants; took an overview of the N. American church conference landscape; reflected on the Lausanne Event; had dinner with a CEO talking about his searching 26-year-old son and his physically-challenged daughter, both rejected by evangelicals who labeled them instead of loving them; saw the mid-term election polls again.

And I wonder.

I wonder if I/we are focused on the right things. Why are we so distracted? Why do I let the pleasures of sin distract me from the joy of the Kingdom? Why do we debate the lesser things, and neglect the urgent, deeper issues of the day? Why do I judge before I listen? Why do we use fear instead of faith to engage Muslims? Why do we need to be in control of everything?

Why are we so obsessed with content over substance, teaching over training, tweeting over thinking, talking over learning, leading over serving?

How many conferences, study Bibles, degree programs, classes, talk shows, radio programs, sermons, and church events do we need before we get it…before I get it?

Are we making disciples or just making noise?

The Bible tells us that in the beginning was the “Fellowship of the Word” — a communal conversation. A holy tri-alogue that broke into the darkness, confusion and silence of the void. That “Word” (not a book) has been speaking, revealing, creating, calling, urging, giving, serving, teaching…ever since.

My friend’s children do not need someone to talk at them– they need someone to walk with them. A living Word. They need a community — not a diagram, an illustration, a list of rules, or a theology lesson. They do not need to have their viewpoints minimized, spiritualized, or sanitized. They need a person who will be with them.

REVIEW: A MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAM

“For God so love the world, He sent  …”

__ a sermon

__ a cable network

__ a theological system

__ a list of rules

__ an institution

__ a relationship with His Son

(I hope you got that one right — there is no answer key.)

Why did Jesus tell this parable about Ten Virgins and their oil lamps? I think to make us ask a question.

As I ponder and listen to Dark Night of the Soul, by Philip Wesley, I ask,

AM I READY?    ARE WE READY?

Ready for what? the rapture? a new congress? the legalization of pot? another 9/11? No.

“But while they (the 5 unprepared virgins) were on their way to buy oil (too busy, too little, too late to trim their lamps), the Bridegroom arrived.”

Oh my. Is that me? Is that us? Is that the church? Am I among the 5 whose lamps are ready, or the 5 who are running on empty? this is more than just a parable about salvation. It is about the Kingdom, and our focus on the King.

Jesus’ parable shatters all illusions about the nature of His return and the full establishment of His Kingdom. While we debate the timing, the order, the theology (pre-post-mid trib…amill, pre-mill, post-mill…or just run-of-the-mill) Jesus delivers shining hope and yet unmitigated clarity.

He says, BE READY!

Not,  ”Be Right!”  Not, “Be Cool!” Not, “Be Afraid!” — but be ready…ready to enter the banquet when the Bridegroom arrives.

Before they close the door.

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