A few thoughts today on "Calling":

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
― Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC

 "God sees everything at once and knows what you are called to do. Our part is not to play God, but to trust God-to believe that our single, solitary life can make a difference"-Zig Ziglar

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart."-Bob Pierce. Founder of Samaritan's Purse.
 

 A word from The Call by Os Guinness

"Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service" P. 29

 My Latest TWEETS 

How your Church, School or non profit can use "Linkedin" as a tool for creating community.

What is "Community" How important is it?

 First your church needs to have a passion and desire to see the importance and understand what community is!

 Community 101 by Gilbert Bizezikian

"If you had to answer, in a single word, what God's dream for human beings is, what would you say?  Community?
God's dream for the creatures made in his image is that they begin to realize the beautiful words of the psalmist: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity" (Psalm. 133:1 NRV

 Then, start a Linkedin GROUP! 

Linkedin is a great "tool" that can help connect people.
That is the first step. Although not everyone is on Linkedin, it is very easy to create a short and basic profile. And it is FREE!  Linkedin is NOT like Facebook. As Author Wayne Breitbarth says, "Linkedin is Facebook on steroids"
Wayne is the author of The Power Formula for Linkedin Success. Also a member of our church. Thanks Wayne for teaching me 99% of what I know about Linkedin!

Benefits of having a private church or school  linkedin group:

1. Easy to see all the profiles quickly of everyone in the group. 2. Easy for "new" people to connect with others. Assimilate    quickly!
3. Can pray for each other better as you know them better!
4. Can be of help to people finding new jobs. Jobs at individual's place of employment can be posted! Person looking and applying for that job has a "friend" at the company. As we know, it's all about "relationships"!
5. Easy to start a discussion or ask a question of the group.
6. Group is searchable: Can find people with similar interests. Now you can call them and meet for coffee, etc

All this helps create "community"

Someone from the church or school can easily start a "GROUP".
Not a job for the pastor to do! Find someone with an interest and passion for this!

It helps if the staff is on board with this new endeavor!
Without promotion with the pulpit...the group will not flourish.

Someone from the church can easily start a "GROUP".
That's what I did shortly after joining Linkedin.
It's called Eastbrook Community. It is a closed group, meaning only people who have a relationship with Eastbrook are let in. WHY? My vision for starting the group was to help connect unemployed people from Eastbrook with employed people. Members can post available jobs on the site and unemployed people then know someone in the company.
That's part of the secret of getting a job.

Here is our PROFILE: 

Private group. To request membership, click Join and your request will be reviewed by the group manager.

As our pastors and church office give us names of new members, they will be invited to join our group!
What a great "tool" to use to get acquainted with fellow Eastbrookers!

We all have a place in our church. We should be radically welcoming as a church. A place for new people to experience community and get "connected" Our Groups 288 + members are only a small part of Eastbrook but we can take a lead in welcoming new people.
This is just a bunch of people whose lives have crossed in this place to come together with a view toward advancing the cause of Christ through God-honoring work.
If you have a desire to be a resource for our unemployed, either by posting job openings from your place of employment on this site or desire to pray for our people, please join our group.

This is a place for Eastbrook people to connect with the purpose of enabling careers, ministries, and new business opportunities. The depth of experience available in Eastbrook's people is remarkable. This group could enable Eastbrookers to reach out in new ministries, to start new businesses, to grow in their careers.
Wouldn't it be exciting if, as the economy languishes, Eastbrook people came together to start new things.
Mission statement and goals may change, so come back again. Your input desired!

_________________________________

 While on staff at Eastbrook I had a weekly prayer group for unemployed people. Anyone could attend, not only Eastbrookers. Besides praying for each other, we learned about using Linkedin as a "tool" for finding a job. It worked. People did find jobs!

Anyone who faithfully attended even if they were not a member of Eastbrook, I let in the group.

Also, a great benefit is that all 288 people can easily see each other's profiles!  
What is the benefit of that?

Well, we can easily get to know people better! 
New people from our church can see the other 276 members of the group. 

Can call them, invite them out for coffee or lunch...

The members of the group are searchable!

Wayne Breitbarth even found a golfing partner using linkedin. Great way for finding new friends!
Possibilities are endless!

If you are going for an interview and know the interviewers name...find them on Linkedin and you will know all about them. You can be sure that they have already looked at your profile. 

So, the bottom line is: Start a group on Linkedin! Your vision or mission statement may be different. 

Would love to hear how you are doing!

Blessings

Discovering our Abilities and applying them in service.

 Why we are interested in Discovering our Abilities!

Why always comes first...before How!

 The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, Strengths and a unique Personality with different Experiences. This class will help people put the pieces of the puzzle together, so we each can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world.  When we serve according to our SHAPE, we leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

Goal of Sunday's class:
We will be transferring our top 10 enjoyable and well done events in our lives to the IDAK Talent Discovery Guide.
Will then see all the abilities we have!

FIVE MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ABILITIES

(Skills and Talents)

1.      Myth: People aren’t born with skills. All skills must be learned by experience. This simply is not true. There are a number of skills, which seem to be inborn and develop very early in infancy. When people say, “He just seems to have a natural talent for it”, it’s probably true.

2.      Myth: Those skills, which must be learned, are learned primarily in the classroom. Actually some of your most basic skills were learned at home, “in the street”, or somewhere outside the classroom.

3.      Myth: If you have certain abilities, you will be very aware that you have them. Again, that is not true.You're probably using a number of talents or skills that you are not even aware of. You need some process of skill identification.

4.      Myth: Skills that I use at work are only usable in that environment. I couldn’t use them in ministry. Hopefully, by the end of this class, you will see the fallacy of that idea. Be creative.

5.      Myth: Most people only have a few abilities. The truth is that many national studies have proven that the average person possesses from five hundred to seven hundred different skills.

  Preceding comments on "Myths" attributed to Rick Warren.

HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR MOTIVATED ABILITIES

At our next S.H.A.P.E. Class, we will be taking our top 10 Experiences... where we enjoyed what we did and did well and transferring them to the IDAK Talent Discovery Guide.

Apply My Abilities

“There are different abilities to perform service.” 1 Cor. 12:6

“I (God)…have given him skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…” Exodus 31:3

One of the most common excuse people give for not getting involved in ministry is, “I just don’t have any abilities to offer,” Nothing could be further from the truth. They key is matching your abilities with the right ministry!

This is just one of the goals of our class!

A good book  you might want to check out: 

What You Do Best In The Body of Christ.

Discover Your Spiritual Gifts, Personal Style, and God-Given Passion. By Bruce Bugbee

Review of Sunday's Class: Using Your S.H.A.P.E

In a  nutshell...the theme of our class is discovering our Passion and Calling from the LORD.

We are and will be using several exercises in and out of class to recall and review some of the top experiences of our lives...from childhood to the present to document things we  have done well and enjoyed doing. These experiences give credible clues to our abilities and passion(s) that are helpful in showing us where the LORD is leading us...in ministry both at Eastbrook and out in the world. 

These common threads show us where the LORD has, is and will continue to lead us in ministry.

 Many of us are already very active in ministry at Eastbrook Church. That is great! Our churches should be the first place where we can use our spiritual gifts, passion or heart, abilities, personality and past experiences.  

For those who may not be active in a current ministry at Eastbrook: All our discovery of abilities, strengths, gifts, etc. in the near future...we will be able to enter them into a computer database at Eastbrook and easily find where we can be most effective use these "gifts". Isn't this exciting?!!! 

Our Eastbrook mission Statement:

"To proclaim and embody the love of Jesus Christ in the city and in the world."

That is the goal of our class: "In the city and the world" includes our family, neighborhood and our job or business.

In the coming weeks, we will see clearly how and where we can do that! 

I will be updating this blog daily as I have inspiration from the LORD.

Many of you don't know me...so you could check out my Linkedin profile to get a better picture of where I am coming from.
Richard Dassow: Linkedin Profile
 

More on "Strengths" http://strengthsforyou.blogspot.com/
Will be exploring more on this in coming weeks.  

Any questions...please email me. 

Have a great day!

S.H.A.P.E. Class Introduction notes

Some thought provoking comments and questions to start our class. 

Personal Assessment

Only you will see this. Bring to class next week. Will input some of this info in another form.

Other info for your personal reflection.

1.  Some of the books you have read in past few years that    have made an impression on you.

 

2.      List a few of your most important interests, hobbies.

3.      Have you taken any seminars, attended any conferences…outside of your career field?

4.      Your major organizations that you have made donations to in the past few years.  What motivates you to donate to these organizations?

5.      Your present or past involvement in Eastbrook Church.

6.      Do you volunteer in any other organizations besides Eastbrook?

7.      Are you involved with social media? Linkedin, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook.

8.      Some known abilities, talents, strengths, gifts you have?

9.      What is your passion? If someone gave you a million dollars…what would you do with it?

10,    Have you taken the S.H.A.P.E. assessment on Eastbrook Church page? http://www.eastbrookchurch.org/10809/ministry/ministry_id/394593/Serving

Assessment at bottom of page. You can take it as many times as you wish…update it. Save it. Bring to class. Will be inputting some of this info into a form for your personal use.

11.    Where do you see the LORD leading you up to this point?

Our class description or goal for the class!

The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, Strengths and a unique Personality with different Experiences. This class will help people put the pieces of the puzzle together, so we each can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world.  When we serve according to our SHAPE, we leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

Richard Dassow

Finding Your "Strengths" and "Spiritual Gifts" One part of Discovering your S.H.A.P.E. Eastbrook Church

Finding Your "Strengths" and "Spiritual Gifts" One part of Discovering your S.H.A.P.E. Eastbrook Church 

For the attendees of the class today...here is just a very short brief message. Please come back later today for a complete update!

 It was a real honor to be able to meet with you all today for the first session of our class!

 I will be back later today with a recap of the class and more information and help for next week.

Will email you with other info I mentioned in our class today and in the handouts. 

Why it is so important to recall the 10 events in your life where you did well and had a great time.  From the exercise on the handout

http://strengthsforyou.blogspot.com/2014/11/our-shape-and-strengths.html 

Be sure to watch the FREE Strengths site and find all  your strengths! FREE Strengths Assessment

Blessings

Richard

p.s.

One of the attendees of the class asked me after the class where I was going with all this.

I know I may have been a little scattered...going all over the place...but just trying to lay a foundation for next 3 weeks. 

A reminder of class description below. 

 Using Your SHAPE to Change the World!

The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, Strengths and a unique Personality with different Experiences. This class will help people put the pieces of the puzzle together, so we each can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world.  When we serve according to our SHAPE, we leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

-------------------------------------------------------

 

I will be facilitating or teaching a class on S.H.A.P.E at Eastbrook Church in July. 

Using Your SHAPE to Change the World!

July 12,19,26,August 2   Eastbrook Church 9:30 Fellowship Hall

The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, Strengths and a unique Personality with different Experiences. This class will help people put the pieces of the puzzle together, so we each can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world.  When we serve according to our SHAPE, we leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

For Boomers and Beyond!

Some of us…are in Half Time or 3^rd or 4^th quarter of our lives!

Great!

Just like a football game…a lot can happen in the last quarter and even in the last minute of the game!

This can be the most exciting time of our lives!

God has the script written!

Join us on Sunday July 12^th with other Boomers for the first session…If this time of life is alittle puzzling to you, we can all be an encouragement as we work together to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

You do NOT have to be a "Boomer" to attend. 
The earlier you discover some of these principles and put them to use in your life...the more effective you will be in your ministry, career and family!  

A good video about "Strengths" Strengths

If you would like to learn alittle more about "Strengths" before the class, you can go to "popular posts" on right hand side of this blog. This blog was started in preparation for a similar workshop I facilitated at the 2014 Annual Red Cross Disaster Conference Oct. 2014.  That is why you will not see any reference to anything relating to God or spiritual things before that date! 

This BLOG is Searchable by Keywords. See Search feature on right hand side. 

Can also "follow" me on Twitter 

Alittle more on "Strengths:

There are 34 or more "strengths" as defined by Strengthsfinder 2.0

My top 5 Strengths are: 
Connectedness or Connecting
Belief
Achievement
Responsibility
Relator

No one "strength" is better than any other. 
This is important! 

Whatever your "Strengths" are, you can use them in any volunteer position and do a better job! 


If you are volunteering in any non profit or considering it, ideally you should want to know your strengths and abilities. We are think we already know them, but do we?

You might also want to read a good book on what makes a non profit great.  Good to Great in the Social Sector by Tim Collins. 

Tim wrote this book after he wrote Good to Great.
He  looks at companies to see how they went from being good to great. 

The major key in their success was having the right people and those people in the right positions using their "Strengths". No one "Strength" is any better than any other.

Another good book that you can probably get from your library is: Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton.  This is more for managers & supervisors showing them how they can help their employees be more efficient in their work. A very good book!

There are several assessments that will show you what you "strengths" or "talents" are.

A good assessment is Strengthfinders.2.0  http://strengths.gallup.com/110440/About-StrengthsFinder-20.aspx       You can purchase at Amazon for about $15

It has a code in the back of the book that you use when you go online to take the 177 question assessment. After taking the assessment you get an immediate printout of your top 5 strength and a commentary on how to further develop those "talents" into strengths.
Taking either of these "Strengths" Assessments is not a prereq. for the class.


The results of knowing your "Strengths" is that you can use them in your job, career, volunteering and in your marriage.  


The Strengthsfinder 2.0 Assessment gives a beautiful 16 page printout showing how to further develope your "Talents" and how and where you can most effectively use them. More on this in class! 

If you are still in doubt about all this talk about "Strengths" watch this   Video

Now if you are ready to tackle your Abilities, a good book that is probably out of print is Discovering Your Natural Talents by John Brady and Jay Carty. 

For our class attendees...we will be doing an  assessment in class using their materials. 

If you wish to go further, you can find out your S.H.A.PE. 

S is your Spiritual Gifts.
H is your Heart or Passion
A is your Abilities
P is your Personality
E is your Experiences.

Red Cross Coal City Illinois Deployment June 23-29

All postings, comments are my personal ones as a Red Cross Volunteer. Does not represent the Red Cross.
Permission given to post from identifiable people.

As a local Red Cross volunteer, I was notified that they needed help in Coal City, Illinois...with my Gap (training, interests, abilities).
Within a few hours, I and another volunteer were off with our ERV ( Emergency Response Vehicle).

Our deployment was for one week. This was my first deployment so was grateful for Don who had been on many deployments.  Many of us also volunteer with other organizations. See link on bottom of post.

We were  off and checked in at the Chicago Red Cross office and got our motel assignment. Another ERV and 2 drivers also arrived from the Madison Red Cross office. An hour later, we arrived at our motel...about an hour from Coal City. Closest motel they could find.

The next morning we were off to Coal City and our base of operations was the United Methodist Church. The ladies of the church did a fantastic job of providing meals for the local people who came for help. They also had a lot of inside and outside room for all the donated supplies...which we delivered to the people in the community. Water, cleanup kits, first aid kits, toots, snacks and many other supplies. We always had a third person with us in the ERV, handing out supplies from the window. We would park and walk the streets offering assistance.

People could also come to the church to pick up needed supplies

Many organizations worked together to help this community.

Everyone we met was very positive and grateful for all the help and assistance the Red Cross and other agencies provided!

Wall Mart delivered a whole semi truck load of various supplies to the High School parking lot. Clean up Kits, Tubs for people to use to store items in. Many other items. Thank you Wall Mart!

Will be updated later, but wanted to show a few pictures.

We had 2 ERV'S (Emergency Response Vehicles) from our Milwaukee and Madison Chapter.

Don,Janelle and me. Our team for going into the neighborhoods one day.
We always had a third person in our ERV who worked through the window of the ERV...handing out supplies. The 2nd driver would be out of the ERV when it stopped...greeting & talking to the residents. The 3 of us worked very well together as a team.  

A good fast way for delivering materials. Salvation Army

A local church gave space for a MARC (Multiple Agency Response Center) where about 30 other agencies on one spot gave help to local  people in need. As they left the building, the Red Cross had supplies for them.

Pastor Mark Hein from Lockport Township Fire Protection District.

http://www.lockportfire.org/Chaplains_Page.htm
Several groups came with "Comfort dogs"...great for the children.

/http://www.ignitechristianchurch.org/
A local church had an emergency response vehicle traveling the area offering help for people.
The community was well prepared and worked together.

Everyone had a positive attitude!

2 Salvation Army volunteers with Don in the center. My teammate.

 Different ways to get to people in need. Our ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle) could not go into some areas at the beginning because of downed power lines.

Our local chapter from Milwaukee had 2 ERV's helping.

My insurance company set up a spot at the local high school where their clients could get speedy help. Other companies were there also.

Long days...usually got back to our motel around 9 p.m. 

Many Red Cross volunteers also volunteer with other organizations.
Don, the other driver also volunteers with a group called SMILES.
Smiles 

You can find me on Linkedin 

Also Twitter https://twitter.com/RichardDassow