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Jeff Kennon Posts

Why March 11 Is An Important Day!

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Why is March 11 an important date? It’s the day in 1917 that a man by the name of A.D. Wheat was born. Wheat was a high school teacher for almost 40 years (he taught Vocational Agriculture), a practical joker, a die-hard fightin’ Texas Aggie, a faithful husband, a dedicated dad, a proud grandfather and eventually, an even prouder great-grandfather.

To say that Mr. Wheat, as he was affectionately called, was a people person is an understatement. He loved being around others and became quite well known in the small town of Cleburne, Texas. But Mr. Wheat’s popularity was not due to his social connections however. What made Mr. Wheat’s name renown in Cleburne was the way he treated those around him. It did not matter to Mr. Wheat if you were the custodian of the local school or the president of the community bank. He treated everyone as royalty. And as a result, everyone wanted to be around him.

Though Mr. Wheat eventually retired from teaching high school, he never retired from being involved in the lives of people. It was during his retirement years that he established the “good deeds” club in which he personally involved over 20,000 members. What did one have to do to join? Just perform one good deed a day. Mr. Wheat believed that if more people were to do one good deed a day, the world would be a better place.

Mr. Wheat also established a personal ministry to the elderly in Cleburne. These were individuals who were either in nursing facilities or could not leave their home. What was this ministry he developed? Well, it was fairly simple. Week in and week out he would sit and listen and talk to these aging folk who really had no one outside of a few family to be their friends.

Mr. Wheat’s mantra was, “You just gotta love people!” Nowhere was this manifested more than in his unlikely friendship with a somewhat negative elderly gentleman. Some believed, especially the nursing staff in the facility in which he lodged, that he had never smiled. When Mr. Wheat first visited this gentleman, he wondered the same. “I’ve never seen a more bitter person,” he recalled.

Week after week however, Mr. Wheat kept dropping by this man’s room just to say “Good morning!” Most times, the visits and conversations were fairly short, as most one-sided conversations are. But one day, things changed. This gentleman who never smiled or said anything positive, began to open up and talk. And one day, he began to smile. Why? Because Mr. Wheat believed that “you just gotta love people.”

There is no way of knowing how many people Mr. Wheat influenced. At his funeral on September 26, 2005, there was not an empty seat. But no one was more affected by the life of Mr. Wheat than me. He took me fishing, camping, hunting, and made sure that I went to Aggie football games at least once a year. He taught me how to shake hands firmly and look people in the eye. He paid me a dollar a day for pulling weeds in his yard and never missed a single one of my basketball games. And I guess most importantly, he modeled some great theology for me by showing me that “you just gotta love people.”

As mentioned above, all of Cleburne called A.D. Wheat Mr. Wheat. Everyone, that is, except me. I called him Grandpa! Why God graced me with the privilege of having Mr. Wheat as my grandfather I don’t know. But I am grateful and hope that I pass on to those around me what was modeled to me: “You just gotta love people.”

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

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From Our Place of Worship To Our Place of Work

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Worship turns out to be the dangerous act of waking up to God and to the purposes of God in the world, and then living lives that actually show it.

This definition of worship, which I first read in Alan Hirsch’s book Untamed, was made by Mark Labberton. What Labberton seems to be saying to us is that true worship of God produces in us an awe of God that moves us beyond our worship on Sunday morning (or whenever you gather for to worship with the family of God) to live lives that glorify God throughout the week.

I want to be careful here not to make our worship seem too pragmatic. The worship of God is an end in itself. God is worthy. He is deserving of our praise. We do not worship God in order to get a certain feeling or motivation to do something.

However, to say that we remain unmoved and unaffected when we worship God  would be totally amiss. To not be changed by the knowledge of who God is and what He has done for us through the death and resurrection of His Son is not possible. To know God is to be changed by Him. Or, as the book title by G.K. Beale aptly proclaims: We Become What We Worship.

So if we become like that which we worship, then to worship God will lead to becoming like Him. Our lives will exhibit grace, mercy, and truth. We will love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And as James writes, If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:26-27).

As our worship of God changes all aspects of our lives, then naturally, our lives of work, whether we are students, stay-at-home parents, construction workers or business executives, will honor God. Our work lives will display our worship of God. But I would like to go one step further. Could it be that our lives at work not only exhibit our worship of God but also become our worship to God?

I want to be careful as to not make everything worship, but I also do not want to compartmentalize our worship of God either. The writer of Hebrews writes, Through him [Christ] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do no neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Hebrews 10:15-16).

This passage in Hebrews seems to suggest that “sacrifices,” our worship to God, involves not just praise from the lips, but our good deeds as well. So could it be that our everyday lives not only exhibit our worship of God but are, in fact, our worship to God as we work to His glory and do good to those around us?

What do you think?

 

 

 

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How To Listen To A Sermon

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Listening to a sermon should involve more than just staying awake. Christopher Ash, in his little booklet Listen Up! A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons, lists 7 ingredients found in healthy sermon listening.

1. Expect God to Speak

2. Admit God knows better than you.

3. Check to see if the preacher says what the Bible passage says.

4. Hear the sermon in church.

5. Be there week by week.

6. Do what the Bible says.

7. Do what the Bible says – and rejoice.

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5 Questions To Ask Ourselves When Sharing the Gospel

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As we think about sharing the gospel with those around us, there are some questions I believe we need to ask ourselves.

1. Do we realize how much WE need the gospel? 

We are prone to look at those around us, especially those who are not as moral as us, and are quick to say, “He/she really needs Jesus!” Now I’m not saying they don’t, I’m just wanting us to realize that we still need Christ just as much as the person we would consider the vilest of sinners. We have not graduated beyond the gospel ourselves.

Peter writes that we should “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Therefore, we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily for it is the gospel of grace that develops within us “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control” (Galatians 5:22-23). It is the gospel that causes us “to count others more significant” than ourselves” (Philippians 2:3). And, when it comes to sharing our faith, it is the gospel, the message of the cross, that develops in us an attitude of humility instead of judgment.

I realize I’ve written quite a bit on us grasping our own need for Christ, but I think everything hinges on this realization. We cannot develop a servant’s heart and become one who listens to, cares for, and helps others without the gospel doing its work in our lives.

2. Are we interested in others?

 Being interested in others cuts across the grain of our me-centered culture. I’m amazed at my tendency to make everything about me. This is why I need the gospel.

We should be fascinated by the stories and lives of others. There is not a boring person on the planet. All are created in the image of God. We just don’t take the time to understand and listen.

Can I offer a practical tip here? I think cell phones can be a distraction to showing interest in others. My phone is a great example. It beeps, honks, and rings at me when I get emails, texts, and calls. Can I encourage you (and me) to turn the thing off when talking with others? What does it say about our interest in others when we stop a conversation to answer a text?

3. Do we listen more than we speak? 

Sharing the gospel with those around us is a dialogue and not a monologue. In other words, it’s a conversation over coffee. So learn to ask good questions. And listen, listen, listen. Seek to understand before you seek to be understood. Could it be that the greatest need of some is to find someone to listen?

4. Are we helpful? 

When I think of being helpful, I am really thinking about helping others in what some might call “trivial” things. I think most of us do well in jumping in to to help those who are going through a major crisis, but what about when your co-worker is having a rough morning because he/she woke up late and didn’t get his/her normal cup of coffee? I guess it boils down to really learn to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31).

5. Are we praying? 

I know we know to pray! But moving from knowledge to praxis can be a journey of many miles. One thing that affects our praying is the fact that we live in an impatient society. We have fast-food restaurants, high-speed Internet, and on-demand movies. We are not conditioned to wait for anything. When we pray and nothing appears to happen, what do we do? Let us not give up!

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A Look Around the Web

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A Look Around the Web will be a Thursday post of articles found throughout the Internet that hopefully you will find interesting and helpful. This is just another way for this site to be a resource.

9 Magazines Worth Subscribing To – Trevin Wax, an author, blogger and editor at Lifeway Christian Resources shares magazines that he has found helpful for him personally.

Toughest Leadership Roles – This is from Forbes magazine. Want to take a guess at what they see as the toughest leadership role?

The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying – Some interesting thoughts on what it means to be blessed.

An Improvement-Proof Gospel – “If you know and speak the gospel, you are a channel for God’s destroying of strongholds and resurrecting of lives. Every Christian who can articulate the gospel has the launch code and access to the button.”

Dying to Disciple: How Far Are We Willing to Go in Our Pursuit of People -Great article in helping us think about what it really means to be involved in the lives of others.

What does it mean to work well? Matt Perman, the author of the brand new What’s Best Next: How The Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done, discusses this question and more with Colin Hansen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvl-JZx2PR8

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Things You Do Every Day Matter

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God calls us to be abundant in doing good, but you don’t have to run to the hills and leave the world to do this good.

-Matt Perman in What’s Best Next.

 Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount that we are “the light of the world.” Therefore, we should “let our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven” (Mt 5:14-16).

As Christ followers, we are to go about doing good. But where and when do we perform good works? Is it only on Sundays or when we volunteer at a soup kitchen? Matt Perman, in the beginning of his book What’s Best Next, seeks to answer these questions. He writes that “we tend to have a very narrow view of good works. We think that they are rare and special things that we do every once in a while, like going to Africa on a mission trip” (p. 76).

Understanding good works as only those special things we do every now and then is dangerous. It leads to living “disconnected lives.” As a result, we don’t see our everyday lives as venues for good deeds. One of the main reasons Perman wrote What’s Best Next was to help us to see everything in a “new light so that [we] can become an agent for good, right where [we] are, to the glory of God” (p. 80).

When we answer email, go to meetings, cook dinner, pick up kids from school, etc…, these activities are “not just things we are doing.” According to Perman, they are good works as they provide us with an opportunity to “make a contribution” and to leave “things better than [we] found them” (80).

“Good works,” writes Perman, “are not just spiritual things we do, or hard and rare endeavors.” Whatever “we do in faith, which includes the mundane activities of everyday life like raising kids, going to work, and even tying our shoes” can be considered good works (p. 78).

Perman helped me to see that the ordinary activities of my day might not be so ordinary after all. Returning a phone call might lead to an opportunity to encourage. Smiling at the check out clerk at the local store and sincerely asking about his or her day could be the first caring words he or she has heard all day. And organizing your schedule, your desk, and your to do lists, as mundane as these things may seem, are really the things that, if organized well, will result in freeing up more of your time to serve those around you.

So today, if you really begin to think about doing good, but you feel overwhelmed with the mundane tasks of work, remember that they may not be as mundane as you think. However, you still might need to think about getting organized and this is where What’s Best Next by Matt Perman can be of help. It has some practical tips that will help you in becoming a bit more ordered.

Remember that planning and organizing your days, weeks, and months are not ends within themselves. Doing these things matters, but they do so in that they lead you to more profitable work. And becoming more profitable and productive ultimately means you being “light in the world”–the doing of good to those around you.

 

 

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Book Giveaway: What’s Best Next

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I am giving away 2 copies of Matt Perman’s new book What’s Best Next: How The Gospel Transforms The Way You Get Things Done. Enter your info below and I’ll draw a couple of names early tomorrow morning.

Also, I will send a free sample chapter of Perman’s book to all who enter their info.

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You Really Should Care About Getting Things Done!

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Today, Matt Perman’s book What’s Bext Next: How The Gospel Transforms The Way You Get Things Done is being released. Should you get a copy? Personally, I think you should as it will challenge the way you think about being productive. Below is a simple synopsis of the book. I will be writing more specifically about it in my next couple of posts.

If you scan the list of leadership/management books being published today, chances are Matt Perman has read them. As a result of such research, along with Perman’s own personal leadership and management experiences, What’s Best Next is a book that needs to be consulted by future leaders, current leaders, and anyone else who seeks to do things for the glory of God.

The aim of What’s Best Next is…

To help you live the life that God has called you to live, and to live it with maximum effectiveness and meaning. If you are an executive, I want to help you be a better executive. If you are a homemaker, to be a better homemaker. If you are a pastor, to be a better pastor. If you are a creative professional, to be a better creative professional. If you are a missionary, to be a better missionary. And if you don’t know what life God has called you to live, I want to help you find it (p. 20).

Perman encourages his readers throughout this book to be people who care about personal productivity. He argues that because the gospel changes everything, then all areas of our life–“the workplace, business, the arts, culture, serving the poor, everything,” including how we get things done, should be affected by the gospel (p. 71).

It is Perman’s understanding of what it means to be productive that is most helpful. He concludes from the study of Scripture that to be productive is “to do good for others, to the glory of God” (p. 74). This others-centeredness is why Perman gives us practical instructions in how to develop a good weekly schedule, how to create project plans, how to manage workflow, and how to get your email box to zero everyday. He writes, “if you become more efficient with things (workflow system, etc…), you will have more time to give to being effective with people without feeling you are always behind on your tasks” (p. 49).

Understanding what it means to be productive is imperative. It is the key to knowing how and why to manage your workload. Therefore, Perman’s first chapters lay the foundation for productivity by helping us understand our calling. And for Perman, everyone has a calling. Whether you are a teacher or business person, you have a mission and purpose which is revealed to you in the pages of Scripture. If you do not understand this mission and purpose to which you are called, that is, that you are called to give God glory by serving others, then how you structure your calendar will be to no avail.

Perman brings What’s Best Next to a powerful conclusion as he helps us to see the relationship between our daily routine and the mission of God. He mentions that “making the most of our time right where we are transforms the world” (p. 317). The reason this is most significant is that many times, I don’t think workers in the secular arena (whatever that means) realize the impact they can have upon the world around them. Perman writes, “whatever your job is, wherever you are, it is both meaningful in itself and a means of advancing the gospel. It is through your work that God changes the world” (p. 319).

For more info about this book click here.

Purchase on amazon.

 

 

 

 

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